Check out the back page of a Consumer Reports magazine. They have great examples of silly ads, bad technical documentation, and veiled attempts at what can only be explained as attempts to rip people off. They are far more entertaining and funny than this list, which is not very funny or entertaining.
I'd have a web link but Consumer Reports website is a subscription based site you have to pay to get into.
They aren't so worried about $5 synthetics
on
Diamonds & the RIAA
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
The $5 synthetics are "industrial quality" diamonds and are used in manufacturing tools and products, not for being inset in jewelry. DeBeers is in the jewelry business and until the $5 synthetics can meet the same level of visual quality and appeal of a natural diamond, they aren't sweating it.
The real reason why DeBeers is sweating is the $1.5 billion worth of diamonds sitting in Israel which, if released into the market, could send diamond prices spiralling down.
If I'm not mistaken, its Chlorine that kills bacteria in water, not Fluoride (and check your spelling too you non chemist!;)) Fluoride is that stuff which is supposed to strengthen your teeth and reduce cavities and whatnot. Fluoride is added at the end of the water purification cycle after everything else and only in small amounts.
As a side note, if you don't like the taste of water from the tap, its often because there's too much chlorine in it because of the number of bacteria that needs to be killed.
My father and I were watching an old black and white movie set in the Roman empire and there was a chariot chase in it. One of the chariots barrelled over a cliff and rolled down the steep hill, leaving debris in its wake.
My father and I both simultaneously filled the last element by jumping up and making explosive noises in order to modernize the movie.
I'm currently trying to sell this idea to Mel Brooks.
You want to know something even weirder? On my Win2000 PC at work, I know where the outlook express folder is and it has the entire application. Its been "removed" from every control panel I can find but the folder remains.
I then try to delete the folder, and a few seconds later the ENTIRE FOLDER returns, including contents.
So now I have a software package that they no longer support that I can't get rid of. I need a drink I can't process this!
Cameras cannot turn a bad teacher into a good one, nor change the course of an asshole kid. Only human interaction can do that. And cameras are anything but 'human'. Have cameras stopped shoplifting? Not a chance. Have they stopped redlight running? Again, no. Would you feel comfortable under the camera every day, all day, at work? I wouldn't. Then why is it OK to do this to kids?
Be careful how you use this argument. Cameras are not used so much to prevent shoplifting, but to capture the shoplifter after the fact. And with cameras at stoplights, well if a cop sitting at the traffic light won't stop a speeder, a bight white sign saying "Traffic enforced by Cameras" won't stop them either, but typically it does because they have an immediate notice that they are on camera and will be caught.
I'm for cameras at traffic intersections. They do make people stop and thus prevent accidents. I'm okay with cameras in places of business. It's their property and they have the right to police it their way.
However, these arguments are not valid in a school. School is about teaching children and helping them learn and grow. All too often people think school is about pumping out an assembly line of meat machines who go out into the world and start producing worthless goods and services. Cameras help a child/teenager conform, they don't help a child/teenager grow and learn.
Somewhere along the lines, all this concern about cheating and safety was put ahead of the fact that kids need to be taught!!!
[sarcasm] I'm also one of 150 Million Americans actually busy with my life. I don't have time to rank every entry I get on a search. I don't live with my parents and sit at home doing nothing but tweaking my linux box, surfing tech websites, and dissing other people for their choice of technology. I have a job and I expect technology to, well... I dunno... just work? [/sarcasm]
I have a million gross overgeneralizations, too. I don't believe any of them, including the one I just posted above (and yours), and I don't think any of them are particularly funny. The thread starter had a great point. People just want things to work. I'm sorry if/.ers think that everyone has to be a computer programmer just to use a computer. By that logic everyone should be a lawyer/doctor/politician/gourmet chef/day care specialist as well.
I'm sorry to come down on someone who probably doesn't deserve it, but I'm really tired of people suggesting trackballs because they are easier/better/nicer/Ownz j00r azz.
For me, trackballs are NOT easier and they do not reduce RSI injuries any more than a good regular mouse. Or more correctly, they are not easier TO ME.
Some people like trackballs, others like traditional mice. I prefer the latter, because the movement and motion of my arm work better with a traditional mouse. I'm faster and more productive. A trackball has me spending too much time getting the fine movement down with my fingers. I spend half of my time moving the cursor across the screen as normal, but the other half fine tuning my movement to actually center on an icon or menu because it feels so inaccurate.
I'm also not arrogant enough to claim "traditional mouse is better you just suck at using it" so no one else should be an ass an attempt to claim the same thing about trackballs. They are just different.
If we were sticking with creating an ideal for all consumers, computer companies should offer trackball replacements for traditional mice. That would be something very innovative. I wouldn't be surprised if some companies do already, but I don't see it happening in any big retailers myself.
Because they are actually delivering the pills, they aren't breaking the laws.
Actually, knowingly selling pills that do not work as advertised is quite illegal, though it is a lesser crime than not delivering the product and taking your customers money.
As some people have pointed out, the service that is best nationwide is not always the best region to region.
My mother and sister have Cingular. It is by far the worst I've ever experienced and we can never talk to them because they are constantly breaking up. My father has a Nextel phone which is pretty good. I have a T-Mobile phone which is almost as good, though in some areas I get this bad echo which I believe is in fact my phone's fault and not the network (the echoing problem didn't start happening until they replaced my previous phone with a current phone, and they are the same model).
A good cellular article will be broken down by region, or will be left to regional news outlets. Otherwise its little more than pandering to national phone companies.
I really don't know for sure, but I do have a theory.
First of all, when you deal with credit card companies, you have to get a deal with what's called a third party transaction processor. That's someone who actually handles authorizing the cards for you and getting your money from the cards into the bank. They charge you transaction fees based on each sale and certain agreed upon terms.
Each agreement is different. Therefore, to make a long story short, its quite possible Apple negotiated good terms with a third party transaction processor in order to make smaller transactions more profitable.
Its also possible that the average music store browser buys at least $10 worth of tracks every time they go there.
President Clinton's job approval rating was 68% on the day he was impeached. It is misleading to say "you are a group of people who thought that a president who nailed his intern with cigars should be impeached". 2/3 of the population in this country disagreed with the impeachment.
Actually that's extremely telling. Because despite his approval rating, we let it happen anyway.
Despite Bush having no real evidence, we let it happen anyway.
Americans don't care as long as they have cash in their fists and they are alive and people leave them alone.
One day we will be so utterly alone that the entire world will turn against us and I will suddenly become a Canadian.
Actually I haven't come to the conclusion yet. The executives control all that distribution and marketing etc, etc. My point is not what goes to everyone else, my point is to find out what goes to the "creators," the "artists."
I've made it a point that if I am to support some piece of entertainment, that the creator/artist gets a decent cut. Obviously I won't get an answer 99.99999% of the times I ask but just maybe I'll get a few good answers.
This is my counter point to anyone who says "don't pirate because the artist won't get what he deserves." He may not be getting what he deserves any way and I don't agree with the current business models that force such people to put out content for peanuts while executives rape them.
Before I buy the Matrix DVD, individually or the entire set, I would like to see the contract that the Warner Bros and the "creators of the matrix" signed. If I buy a DVD, is a portion of that sale going to the creators or did they get a flat fee? Or did they sign over much of their copywrites in order to get the funding they needed?
In today's media environment, you cannot use the argument that by paying for the CD ensures the creator gets paid. It doesn't! In fact many "artists" get screwed and only the major businesses get any money due to the types of contracts they have to sign.
This is my new copywrite mantra. You want me to pay for a new CD or DVD? Show me the contract. Either that or have the brothers who originally came up with the Matrix come over to my house and give me a copy and I'll personally give them $25 per episode.
1) How much higher are these murder rates? Are they only 5% higher or are the astronomical? 65 is higher than 64, but that doesn't statistically mean anything. 2) How close are those strict law states close to states without strict laws? It's like fireworks, if you want them, go to a state that makes them legal and easy to get. Blaming your neighbor when you contribute to the problem is not fair. 3) How many of those states have local city statutes with strict laws but lax state laws? How easy is it to get a gun 2 hrs from the city? The most common place to get a gun is from a delinquent not in the city, but out in the country where he can steal or buy a handgun cheap and sell it for two to three times the price to a delinquent in the city.
I remember at that time, When X was in its infancy and people were hyping it, that Adobe was really against the hype.
I can't say why they are doing this, but I think all the speculation on the post so far is too short sighted (they must have had this planned for a while) and I wouldn't be surprised if Adobe has had an exit strategy for years. This doesn't bode well, because while I don't use Premiere, I do use some of their Acrobat products.
1) Buy a $20 PDF writer which writes all printed documents to a PDF file. 2) Mail said document to your office overnight. 3) Print said document and quickly dash over to the printer and snatch it before your local bean counter or IT gastapo catches you using company resources. 4) Lower personal costs to zero.
Try seeing things from their angle. This world is built for people who can see perfectly, hear perfectly, walk perfectly, and talk perfectly. This goes double for the technological world. There are more "imperfect" people out there than you think. Small little things which aren't the same in you are me which we take for granted which cause a great amount of difficulty for someone else because no one even thought to ask them about their condition or what they could do to make things easier for them.
To give you an example, this technical feature also discriminates against the color blind as well, and 10% of Americans are color blind in some fashion. 10% of americans. Not so insignificant any more huh?
Some great information on accessibility is located here, and you can probably find plenty of papers on accessibility on google, but if you need to go looking for them, you obviously aren't disabled enough to be able to look for them yourself.
Would you trust a business that notified you that your account might have been cracked and you could have some of your valuable precious data being floated around the Internet?
Short answer... yes.
Why? Because it means they are paying attention and trying to make an effort at security.
It is doubtful all attacks will be prevented, and its also doubtful all attacks will be monitored. However, all banks will experience attacks by crackers. If one slips by and its detected, I would want to know about it. It means to me that my institution cares. Obviously its my money so I should be informed and I should direct the company what to do.
My bank recently, and voluntarily, informed me of an attack where it thought my check card could have been stolen. They offered to replace it at my discretion, free of charge. Changing card numbers, simple effective security. I jumped at it and double checked my statement and have had no problems.
To say it may be a burden on businesses or businesses can't be expected to catch crackers is silly, because its not a burden and they can be caught. Banks are notorious for trying to pass the burden of securing money to their customers. I've seen banks refuse to reimburse people for funds stolen directly from their account, and had to be taken to court even though it was clear that the signature on the withdrawl slip was not the customers!! Banks have to step up and provide a secure environment for investors and laws like this raise the bar to where it needs to be.
Hmmm, I'm not a phish fan, but lets think about this for a second.
Phish doesn't want other people making money on their free music. Sounds a little like GPL doesn't it. Are you Anti-GPL? Its a serious question, I'm just curious because in the world of file swapping it is real easy to do this:
1) Set up a phish website with a banner add and copy all of phish's free music to the site for download. 2) Get a hit on the banner add every time soneone comes to your site. 3) profit!
Phish wants its free music free.
As for free speech, defamatory speech amounts to slander or libel, which is not protected under the first amendment. Illegal speech and actionable content come under the same header. Not all speech is protected, and basically what phish is saying is in order to offer this content you can't have any speech which is not protected by the first amendment, such as slander or libel (and quite possibly speech made "illegal" by the DMCA, but thats the DMCAs fault). You aren't losing any rights because you didn't have those rights in the first place. Its a pretty simple legal clause to protect Phish from "endorsing" such speech.
As for offensive, this is a bit broad, but minors can download these songs, and Phish doesn't want to endorse excessive swearing, or even worse, racial or ethnic slurs.
So all in all, it is my opinion that your reaction to their EULA is an over-reaction and Phish is covering their ass by simply saying "We don't ensorse your sites if they do things which are illegal or do things which parents might object to, or are trying to make money off of our free music." Simple as that.
Taking an old PC case and putting new hardware into it? Boring... been done before... and this one isn't even fully functional. It's little more than an attempt at something visually cool, and even then it has no visual appeal whatsoever.
Now the Telefunken 2003... a 45 year old radio upgraded to Internet Radio... that's a nice hack with unique artistic appeal!!
Slashdot Mirror
Check out the back page of a Consumer Reports magazine. They have great examples of silly ads, bad technical documentation, and veiled attempts at what can only be explained as attempts to rip people off. They are far more entertaining and funny than this list, which is not very funny or entertaining.
I'd have a web link but Consumer Reports website is a subscription based site you have to pay to get into.
The $5 synthetics are "industrial quality" diamonds and are used in manufacturing tools and products, not for being inset in jewelry. DeBeers is in the jewelry business and until the $5 synthetics can meet the same level of visual quality and appeal of a natural diamond, they aren't sweating it.
The real reason why DeBeers is sweating is the $1.5 billion worth of diamonds sitting in Israel which, if released into the market, could send diamond prices spiralling down.
If I'm not mistaken, its Chlorine that kills bacteria in water, not Fluoride (and check your spelling too you non chemist! ;)) Fluoride is that stuff which is supposed to strengthen your teeth and reduce cavities and whatnot. Fluoride is added at the end of the water purification cycle after everything else and only in small amounts.
As a side note, if you don't like the taste of water from the tap, its often because there's too much chlorine in it because of the number of bacteria that needs to be killed.
My father and I were watching an old black and white movie set in the Roman empire and there was a chariot chase in it. One of the chariots barrelled over a cliff and rolled down the steep hill, leaving debris in its wake.
My father and I both simultaneously filled the last element by jumping up and making explosive noises in order to modernize the movie.
I'm currently trying to sell this idea to Mel Brooks.
You want to know something even weirder? On my Win2000 PC at work, I know where the outlook express folder is and it has the entire application. Its been "removed" from every control panel I can find but the folder remains.
I then try to delete the folder, and a few seconds later the ENTIRE FOLDER returns, including contents.
So now I have a software package that they no longer support that I can't get rid of. I need a drink I can't process this!
Corruption is almost unknown in the US Government.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
*wipes the tears from his eyes and gasps for breath*
Thank you... I needed a good laugh today.
Like George Carlin said...
"The Earth is going to be fine. It's the people who are fucked."
Cameras cannot turn a bad teacher into a good one, nor change the course of an asshole kid. Only human interaction can do that. And cameras are anything but 'human'. Have cameras stopped shoplifting? Not a chance. Have they stopped redlight running? Again, no. Would you feel comfortable under the camera every day, all day, at work? I wouldn't. Then why is it OK to do this to kids?
Be careful how you use this argument. Cameras are not used so much to prevent shoplifting, but to capture the shoplifter after the fact. And with cameras at stoplights, well if a cop sitting at the traffic light won't stop a speeder, a bight white sign saying "Traffic enforced by Cameras" won't stop them either, but typically it does because they have an immediate notice that they are on camera and will be caught.
I'm for cameras at traffic intersections. They do make people stop and thus prevent accidents. I'm okay with cameras in places of business. It's their property and they have the right to police it their way.
However, these arguments are not valid in a school. School is about teaching children and helping them learn and grow. All too often people think school is about pumping out an assembly line of meat machines who go out into the world and start producing worthless goods and services. Cameras help a child/teenager conform, they don't help a child/teenager grow and learn.
Somewhere along the lines, all this concern about cheating and safety was put ahead of the fact that kids need to be taught!!!
you must be a Mac user, right?
/.ers think that everyone has to be a computer programmer just to use a computer. By that logic everyone should be a lawyer/doctor/politician/gourmet chef/day care specialist as well.
I know I am a Mac user.
[sarcasm]
I'm also one of 150 Million Americans actually busy with my life. I don't have time to rank every entry I get on a search. I don't live with my parents and sit at home doing nothing but tweaking my linux box, surfing tech websites, and dissing other people for their choice of technology. I have a job and I expect technology to, well... I dunno... just work?
[/sarcasm]
I have a million gross overgeneralizations, too. I don't believe any of them, including the one I just posted above (and yours), and I don't think any of them are particularly funny. The thread starter had a great point. People just want things to work. I'm sorry if
I'm sorry to come down on someone who probably doesn't deserve it, but I'm really tired of people suggesting trackballs because they are easier/better/nicer/Ownz j00r azz.
For me, trackballs are NOT easier and they do not reduce RSI injuries any more than a good regular mouse. Or more correctly, they are not easier TO ME.
Some people like trackballs, others like traditional mice. I prefer the latter, because the movement and motion of my arm work better with a traditional mouse. I'm faster and more productive. A trackball has me spending too much time getting the fine movement down with my fingers. I spend half of my time moving the cursor across the screen as normal, but the other half fine tuning my movement to actually center on an icon or menu because it feels so inaccurate.
I'm also not arrogant enough to claim "traditional mouse is better you just suck at using it" so no one else should be an ass an attempt to claim the same thing about trackballs. They are just different.
If we were sticking with creating an ideal for all consumers, computer companies should offer trackball replacements for traditional mice. That would be something very innovative. I wouldn't be surprised if some companies do already, but I don't see it happening in any big retailers myself.
Because they are actually delivering the pills, they aren't breaking the laws.
Actually, knowingly selling pills that do not work as advertised is quite illegal, though it is a lesser crime than not delivering the product and taking your customers money.
As some people have pointed out, the service that is best nationwide is not always the best region to region.
My mother and sister have Cingular. It is by far the worst I've ever experienced and we can never talk to them because they are constantly breaking up. My father has a Nextel phone which is pretty good. I have a T-Mobile phone which is almost as good, though in some areas I get this bad echo which I believe is in fact my phone's fault and not the network (the echoing problem didn't start happening until they replaced my previous phone with a current phone, and they are the same model).
A good cellular article will be broken down by region, or will be left to regional news outlets. Otherwise its little more than pandering to national phone companies.
I really don't know for sure, but I do have a theory.
First of all, when you deal with credit card companies, you have to get a deal with what's called a third party transaction processor. That's someone who actually handles authorizing the cards for you and getting your money from the cards into the bank. They charge you transaction fees based on each sale and certain agreed upon terms.
Each agreement is different. Therefore, to make a long story short, its quite possible Apple negotiated good terms with a third party transaction processor in order to make smaller transactions more profitable.
Its also possible that the average music store browser buys at least $10 worth of tracks every time they go there.
President Clinton's job approval rating was 68% on the day he was impeached. It is misleading to say "you are a group of people who thought that a president who nailed his intern with cigars should be impeached".
2/3 of the population in this country disagreed with the impeachment.
Actually that's extremely telling. Because despite his approval rating, we let it happen anyway.
Despite Bush having no real evidence, we let it happen anyway.
Americans don't care as long as they have cash in their fists and they are alive and people leave them alone.
One day we will be so utterly alone that the entire world will turn against us and I will suddenly become a Canadian.
Actually I haven't come to the conclusion yet. The executives control all that distribution and marketing etc, etc. My point is not what goes to everyone else, my point is to find out what goes to the "creators," the "artists."
I've made it a point that if I am to support some piece of entertainment, that the creator/artist gets a decent cut. Obviously I won't get an answer 99.99999% of the times I ask but just maybe I'll get a few good answers.
This is my counter point to anyone who says "don't pirate because the artist won't get what he deserves." He may not be getting what he deserves any way and I don't agree with the current business models that force such people to put out content for peanuts while executives rape them.
Before I buy the Matrix DVD, individually or the entire set, I would like to see the contract that the Warner Bros and the "creators of the matrix" signed. If I buy a DVD, is a portion of that sale going to the creators or did they get a flat fee? Or did they sign over much of their copywrites in order to get the funding they needed?
In today's media environment, you cannot use the argument that by paying for the CD ensures the creator gets paid. It doesn't! In fact many "artists" get screwed and only the major businesses get any money due to the types of contracts they have to sign.
This is my new copywrite mantra. You want me to pay for a new CD or DVD? Show me the contract. Either that or have the brothers who originally came up with the Matrix come over to my house and give me a copy and I'll personally give them $25 per episode.
How much money did this "panel" get for restating the obvious?
Sounds like an informative post but its not.
1) How much higher are these murder rates? Are they only 5% higher or are the astronomical? 65 is higher than 64, but that doesn't statistically mean anything.
2) How close are those strict law states close to states without strict laws? It's like fireworks, if you want them, go to a state that makes them legal and easy to get. Blaming your neighbor when you contribute to the problem is not fair.
3) How many of those states have local city statutes with strict laws but lax state laws? How easy is it to get a gun 2 hrs from the city? The most common place to get a gun is from a delinquent not in the city, but out in the country where he can steal or buy a handgun cheap and sell it for two to three times the price to a delinquent in the city.
$500 for the scalp of anyone who says the words "Beowulf" and "cluster" in the same post in response to this article.
I knew this sounded familiar, and for once its not a Slashdot repeat. Here is an article I found. Its pretty weak, but it describes the attitude Adobe had two years ago at a Macworld Expo.
I remember at that time, When X was in its infancy and people were hyping it, that Adobe was really against the hype.
I can't say why they are doing this, but I think all the speculation on the post so far is too short sighted (they must have had this planned for a while) and I wouldn't be surprised if Adobe has had an exit strategy for years. This doesn't bode well, because while I don't use Premiere, I do use some of their Acrobat products.
1) Buy a $20 PDF writer which writes all printed documents to a PDF file.
2) Mail said document to your office overnight.
3) Print said document and quickly dash over to the printer and snatch it before your local bean counter or IT gastapo catches you using company resources.
4) Lower personal costs to zero.
Try seeing things from their angle. This world is built for people who can see perfectly, hear perfectly, walk perfectly, and talk perfectly. This goes double for the technological world. There are more "imperfect" people out there than you think. Small little things which aren't the same in you are me which we take for granted which cause a great amount of difficulty for someone else because no one even thought to ask them about their condition or what they could do to make things easier for them.
To give you an example, this technical feature also discriminates against the color blind as well, and 10% of Americans are color blind in some fashion. 10% of americans. Not so insignificant any more huh?
Some great information on accessibility is located here, and you can probably find plenty of papers on accessibility on google, but if you need to go looking for them, you obviously aren't disabled enough to be able to look for them yourself.
Would you trust a business that notified you that your account might have been cracked and you could have some of your valuable precious data being floated around the Internet?
Short answer... yes.
Why? Because it means they are paying attention and trying to make an effort at security.
It is doubtful all attacks will be prevented, and its also doubtful all attacks will be monitored. However, all banks will experience attacks by crackers. If one slips by and its detected, I would want to know about it. It means to me that my institution cares. Obviously its my money so I should be informed and I should direct the company what to do.
My bank recently, and voluntarily, informed me of an attack where it thought my check card could have been stolen. They offered to replace it at my discretion, free of charge. Changing card numbers, simple effective security. I jumped at it and double checked my statement and have had no problems.
To say it may be a burden on businesses or businesses can't be expected to catch crackers is silly, because its not a burden and they can be caught. Banks are notorious for trying to pass the burden of securing money to their customers. I've seen banks refuse to reimburse people for funds stolen directly from their account, and had to be taken to court even though it was clear that the signature on the withdrawl slip was not the customers!! Banks have to step up and provide a secure environment for investors and laws like this raise the bar to where it needs to be.
Hmmm, I'm not a phish fan, but lets think about this for a second.
Phish doesn't want other people making money on their free music. Sounds a little like GPL doesn't it. Are you Anti-GPL? Its a serious question, I'm just curious because in the world of file swapping it is real easy to do this:
1) Set up a phish website with a banner add and copy all of phish's free music to the site for download.
2) Get a hit on the banner add every time soneone comes to your site.
3) profit!
Phish wants its free music free.
As for free speech, defamatory speech amounts to slander or libel, which is not protected under the first amendment. Illegal speech and actionable content come under the same header. Not all speech is protected, and basically what phish is saying is in order to offer this content you can't have any speech which is not protected by the first amendment, such as slander or libel (and quite possibly speech made "illegal" by the DMCA, but thats the DMCAs fault). You aren't losing any rights because you didn't have those rights in the first place. Its a pretty simple legal clause to protect Phish from "endorsing" such speech.
As for offensive, this is a bit broad, but minors can download these songs, and Phish doesn't want to endorse excessive swearing, or even worse, racial or ethnic slurs.
So all in all, it is my opinion that your reaction to their EULA is an over-reaction and Phish is covering their ass by simply saying "We don't ensorse your sites if they do things which are illegal or do things which parents might object to, or are trying to make money off of our free music." Simple as that.
Taking an old PC case and putting new hardware into it? Boring... been done before... and this one isn't even fully functional. It's little more than an attempt at something visually cool, and even then it has no visual appeal whatsoever.
Now the Telefunken 2003... a 45 year old radio upgraded to Internet Radio... that's a nice hack with unique artistic appeal!!