As a Best Buy employee, allow me to share some insight:
Whenever you purchase something there, the transaction is stored in the computer system and linked to your CC # and name. We regularly look back years in the past to get receipts for people so they have proof of warranty/etc.
This is strange, however, as I've never heard of us mailing out firmware updates...
Last time I checked, the cheap (sub $40) data plans only applied to standard handsets, not smartphones. If you buy a treo or E62, unlimited data is $39.99 a month. Which is why my treo came from ebay, not cingular (what they don't know can't hurt them, right?)
The difference between fairplay and playsforsure is that fairplay *only* supports ipod, playsforsure is compatible with all sorts of hardware. I get the impression that Norway doesn't have a problem with the DRM itself, it's because it forces you to use specific hardware.
First: 20 miles up is approximately 105,000 feet. As of yet, the only plane that can reach that altitude is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and those things aren't exactly common.
Second: The balloons are not intended to be pulled down and "topped off", they're supposed to be free-floating and come down at a set time. Also, it's pretty damn cheap to fill a balloon with hydrogen (yes, hydrogen, RTFA) and send it cruising. And if you look at it, 1,100 towers, conservatively priced at $250K each gives you about $275 million. Assuming that all the 642,200 people in North Dakota bought a cell phone, which they won't, it gives you a cost of about $428 per person, and that's just the startup cost. Say the electronics package costs $5000 at the start, and a $100 bounty is given for each one returned, and calculate a 50% rate of return, if 6 per day are launched, 3 are lost and $300 in bounty is paid, that's $1800 per day to operate the network, figure the cost of the balloon and gas is included, and figuring that 1/8th of the people in North Dakota have a phone, it's 2.2 cents per day per customer to cover equipment costs on the network. Still much cheaper than towers. Even if the equipment costs 10 times as much, it's still pretty cheap.
Third: Your point is irrelevant, and you'd know that if you read the article.
Fourth: These things are gonna fly above the storms, not in them, and even so, I'm sure a self-destruct sort of thing is gonna be incorporated so the balloons can be brought down in case of emergency.
Given the reduced costs and minimal danger, it's very practical.
It's not as if these iPods were babied...they were dropped on several occasions, smacked into walls while on my belt, etc...The point is, my experience with Apple support has been second-to-none.
One word-Applecare. I just got to the end of my 2-year warranty period on my 20GB gen 3. Blew thru 5 or 6 replacments, but every time something happens, Apple replaces it, no questions asked. Same with my Apple in-ear headphones. I'm probably on my 8th pair by now, and they've replaced them free every time. The $60-70 for applecare is trivial when you compare it to the $3000+ worth of replacments I've gotten over the past 2 years.
Just an fyi, but firewire is +5VDC as well. The benefit, however, would be that firewire provides quite a bit more amperage than USB, so you could run more off of it. Besides, with USB 2.0, who needs firewire?
Agreed. And besides, once you strip away all the monopolistic business practices, the small bit you have left is actually a halfway decent guy who does quite a bit for the community. Anyone have some numbers on his charity contributions to date? Pretty big.
Just because he happens to use a few less-than-noble business tecniques doesn't mean he's *totally* evil, right?
Just about anyone with a relatively big boat has to repaint the hull with antifoul paint every couple years. Not really that nasty, now, it's simply marine paint mixed with a bunch of (correct me if i'm wrong) aluminium dust. The older stuff used primarily copper, which had a few adverse effects on sea life.
Apparently some of the Cajuns down south use cayenne pepper, and they claim it works the best, but hey, to a cajun, cayenne pepper's good for damn near anything.
The navy these days has actually been using some pretty wierd coatings for ships, although mainly subs, in order to reduce friction.
Hell, just take the SPY radar system off the Aegis and use that to zap-fry anything within a few mile radius. 6 million watts (maybe more) of RF power directed down a 6-inch track's gonna ruin any computer's day, as well as producing FLKs (funny lookin' kids).
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As a Best Buy employee, allow me to share some insight: Whenever you purchase something there, the transaction is stored in the computer system and linked to your CC # and name. We regularly look back years in the past to get receipts for people so they have proof of warranty/etc. This is strange, however, as I've never heard of us mailing out firmware updates...
It's possible that it could be impregnated with some sort of resin, making it more of a carbon fiber, just a ton stronger .
Last time I checked, the cheap (sub $40) data plans only applied to standard handsets, not smartphones. If you buy a treo or E62, unlimited data is $39.99 a month. Which is why my treo came from ebay, not cingular (what they don't know can't hurt them, right?)
The difference between fairplay and playsforsure is that fairplay *only* supports ipod, playsforsure is compatible with all sorts of hardware. I get the impression that Norway doesn't have a problem with the DRM itself, it's because it forces you to use specific hardware.
You must not be a native Minnesotan....I managed all the snow last year with about 2mm of tread on my front (drive) tires...
And being a corporation, can easily be forced out of business by pissed-off customers going to UPS and DHL.
Then where did she get a right-hand-drive car?
First: 20 miles up is approximately 105,000 feet. As of yet, the only plane that can reach that altitude is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and those things aren't exactly common.
Second: The balloons are not intended to be pulled down and "topped off", they're supposed to be free-floating and come down at a set time. Also, it's pretty damn cheap to fill a balloon with hydrogen (yes, hydrogen, RTFA) and send it cruising. And if you look at it, 1,100 towers, conservatively priced at $250K each gives you about $275 million. Assuming that all the 642,200 people in North Dakota bought a cell phone, which they won't, it gives you a cost of about $428 per person, and that's just the startup cost. Say the electronics package costs $5000 at the start, and a $100 bounty is given for each one returned, and calculate a 50% rate of return, if 6 per day are launched, 3 are lost and $300 in bounty is paid, that's $1800 per day to operate the network, figure the cost of the balloon and gas is included, and figuring that 1/8th of the people in North Dakota have a phone, it's 2.2 cents per day per customer to cover equipment costs on the network. Still much cheaper than towers. Even if the equipment costs 10 times as much, it's still pretty cheap.
Third: Your point is irrelevant, and you'd know that if you read the article.
Fourth: These things are gonna fly above the storms, not in them, and even so, I'm sure a self-destruct sort of thing is gonna be incorporated so the balloons can be brought down in case of emergency.
Given the reduced costs and minimal danger, it's very practical.
It's not as if these iPods were babied...they were dropped on several occasions, smacked into walls while on my belt, etc...The point is, my experience with Apple support has been second-to-none.
One word-Applecare. I just got to the end of my 2-year warranty period on my 20GB gen 3. Blew thru 5 or 6 replacments, but every time something happens, Apple replaces it, no questions asked. Same with my Apple in-ear headphones. I'm probably on my 8th pair by now, and they've replaced them free every time. The $60-70 for applecare is trivial when you compare it to the $3000+ worth of replacments I've gotten over the past 2 years.
Yeah, he probably should, and damn, I had mod points yesterday.
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Or just a tinfoil car.
That's nothing. My spare carkey has 24 MB RAM!
Not as funny as iMac guts transplanted into a PC case. Turns all sorts of heads.
Fact 2: bread slice always falls with the butter side down
Two buttered pieces of bread, stuck together. Much cheaper, and you don't have to worry about PETA.
Just an fyi, but firewire is +5VDC as well. The benefit, however, would be that firewire provides quite a bit more amperage than USB, so you could run more off of it. Besides, with USB 2.0, who needs firewire?
Oh, he'd show up in System's Security......as a student.
Agreed. And besides, once you strip away all the monopolistic business practices, the small bit you have left is actually a halfway decent guy who does quite a bit for the community. Anyone have some numbers on his charity contributions to date? Pretty big.
........right?
Just because he happens to use a few less-than-noble business tecniques doesn't mean he's *totally* evil, right?
Just about anyone with a relatively big boat has to repaint the hull with antifoul paint every couple years. Not really that nasty, now, it's simply marine paint mixed with a bunch of (correct me if i'm wrong) aluminium dust. The older stuff used primarily copper, which had a few adverse effects on sea life.
Apparently some of the Cajuns down south use cayenne pepper, and they claim it works the best, but hey, to a cajun, cayenne pepper's good for damn near anything.
The navy these days has actually been using some pretty wierd coatings for ships, although mainly subs, in order to reduce friction.
....fsck. Fixes kernel panics in OSX 9 times out of 10.
Would there be anything left of them?
I agree.....it hertz too much
Hell, just take the SPY radar system off the Aegis and use that to zap-fry anything within a few mile radius. 6 million watts (maybe more) of RF power directed down a 6-inch track's gonna ruin any computer's day, as well as producing FLKs (funny lookin' kids).
Amen, brother.
Who needs karma, anyway?
...a 600-hp v-12, but my car runs LINUX!