I don't know about that. I've met plenty of women who love the jealousy and control. If you're not jealous and controlling, to them it means that you "don't care" and aren't serious about them.
These things have had photo and video viewers, calendars and contacts, etc for quite some time now. You may as well ask why phones have cameras. An iPod is a media-driven device, so it almost makes more sense to have it there than in a phone.
On a practical level - your young children want music players, and they probably want cameras too. Why not have both, and not have to sign up for some onerous mobile phone plan.
When it comes to taking video the limiting factor on video quality/resolution in a handheld device is almost always the processing power needed to encode said video in realtime, not the optics,
Nonsense. The encoding part is becoming trivial with modern processors. But a tiny sensor and pinhole-sized lens will always be problematic. There's a reason that pro video cameras have big lenses and sensors. How do you do selective focus with a pinhole lens that puts everything sort-of-in-focus? You can't. How do you get low light performance with a lens that doesn't admit much light? You boost the gain electronically, ruining the picture quality.
Creationists and IDers will get their panties in a bunch no matter what you do. Best just to ignore them, because changing what you do for their sake is just a way of being manipulated by them.
With eBay it's always the sellers' fault. Power Sellers have dropped by the thousands, including myself, because of eBay policies. Starting 1.5 to 2 years ago they decided it was time to screw sellers to make buyers happy.
Except for when they blame the buyer (what do you think this "Paypal is mandatory" stuff is about?). I don't think eBay is out to make anybody happy - they are there to screw over everybody.
So, if they're off-duty, then how is it a police escort? It would be an escort of people who happen to work as cops in their day job. I mean, they aren't allowed to wear uniform and use police vehicles for private profit when off-duty, are they?
I was fine with seeing ads on slashdot, even though I had the option to turn them off. But then came along an obonoxious, large, animated ad from Microsoft which slowed down page loads, so ads have been switched off ever since.
Since when can't you backup DRMed media? In most cases backup is easy - you just need the keys to use it. Contrast with older, non-DRM techniques which use things like deliberately defective media, which are difficult to copy or backup, so you do need the original media, unless you hack it.
QuickTime Pro has some rudimentary editing capabilities built-in as well that are extremely useful if you just want to trim or combine a few clips (Apple finally started including this for free with Snow Leopard
Errr, no. Apple removed all that stuff with the version (Quicktime X) that ships with Snow Leopard. You have to use Quicktime 7 Pro if you want that goodness. Quicktime X has only the most basic player features - they say that in time those features will be added back into Quicktime X. For now, any serious user will be running Quicktime 7.
If anything, due to their lower contrast, eInk displays are worse than LCDs in terms of eye strain.
Higher contrast causes less eye strain? I doubt it. I routinely lower the contrast of my text displays on LCD, because the high contrast is so painful. If high contrast is so great, try looking at the sun right next to the blackness of space. Not very comfortable, is it?
Marketin is not just TV ads, you know. Got any evidence that it's getting less effective? Society seems more consumer driven and "brand aware" than ever. Heck, some people even watch the Superbowl just for the ads.
What if it identifies the 18 year old male who's captain of the football team with a couple of his female friends and the machine decides that there are three females in the party instead of two, and spits out an advertisement for tampons or makeup.
What if that happens? Uhhh... it shows and ad for tampons or makeup. Hardly the end of the word. What is this dreamy football captain and his companions doing looking at the advertisement, anyway? Surely there's sodomy to be had, which is a greater priority than some electronic billboard.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know about that. I've met plenty of women who love the jealousy and control. If you're not jealous and controlling, to them it means that you "don't care" and aren't serious about them.
Uhh, why not?
These things have had photo and video viewers, calendars and contacts, etc for quite some time now. You may as well ask why phones have cameras. An iPod is a media-driven device, so it almost makes more sense to have it there than in a phone.
On a practical level - your young children want music players, and they probably want cameras too. Why not have both, and not have to sign up for some onerous mobile phone plan.
When it comes to taking video the limiting factor on video quality/resolution in a handheld device is almost always the processing power needed to encode said video in realtime, not the optics,
Nonsense. The encoding part is becoming trivial with modern processors. But a tiny sensor and pinhole-sized lens will always be problematic. There's a reason that pro video cameras have big lenses and sensors. How do you do selective focus with a pinhole lens that puts everything sort-of-in-focus? You can't. How do you get low light performance with a lens that doesn't admit much light? You boost the gain electronically, ruining the picture quality.
Creationists and IDers will get their panties in a bunch no matter what you do. Best just to ignore them, because changing what you do for their sake is just a way of being manipulated by them.
We suspect that Safari 4 does better under OS X, however,
Well, I'm guessing that IE8 performs very poorly under OS X.
With eBay it's always the sellers' fault. Power Sellers have dropped by the thousands, including myself, because of eBay policies. Starting 1.5 to 2 years ago they decided it was time to screw sellers to make buyers happy.
Except for when they blame the buyer (what do you think this "Paypal is mandatory" stuff is about?). I don't think eBay is out to make anybody happy - they are there to screw over everybody.
How are those non-DRM, unless by non-DRM you mean "non-pseudo-cryptographic DRM"?
Umm, because it's not DRM in any way, it's just an attempt at copy protection?
I've never had a problem loading the site or having it work incorrectly,
Most of use don't have a problem getting slashdot to work incorrectly, it's true. However, having it work correctly would be more desirable.
So, if they're off-duty, then how is it a police escort? It would be an escort of people who happen to work as cops in their day job. I mean, they aren't allowed to wear uniform and use police vehicles for private profit when off-duty, are they?
So they score a double-hit combo of shallowness by simultaneously promoting a laptop giveaway contest AND making a Twitter reference.
3. ???
4. Profit!
I was fine with seeing ads on slashdot, even though I had the option to turn them off. But then came along an obonoxious, large, animated ad from Microsoft which slowed down page loads, so ads have been switched off ever since.
Since when can't you backup DRMed media? In most cases backup is easy - you just need the keys to use it. Contrast with older, non-DRM techniques which use things like deliberately defective media, which are difficult to copy or backup, so you do need the original media, unless you hack it.
QuickTime Pro has some rudimentary editing capabilities built-in as well that are extremely useful if you just want to trim or combine a few clips (Apple finally started including this for free with Snow Leopard
Errr, no. Apple removed all that stuff with the version (Quicktime X) that ships with Snow Leopard. You have to use Quicktime 7 Pro if you want that goodness. Quicktime X has only the most basic player features - they say that in time those features will be added back into Quicktime X. For now, any serious user will be running Quicktime 7.
Try to realise that everyone in the world does not speak English
Didn't we already mention the Australians?
Why didn't she simply use the elevator's emergency phone?
Why open a JPEG in photoshop when it's going to take a full minute to load?
Photoshop takes a full minute to load? What year are you posting from?
Um...the coding of C64 software was ALL ABOUT using peek and poke in unintended ways!
Stop talking about my sex life! That's private!
But geeks ultimately represent a loss of control. Geeks love to tinker... They love to expand functionality. They're innovators.
I thought geeks like to bite the heads off chickens.
If anything, due to their lower contrast, eInk displays are worse than LCDs in terms of eye strain.
Higher contrast causes less eye strain? I doubt it. I routinely lower the contrast of my text displays on LCD, because the high contrast is so painful. If high contrast is so great, try looking at the sun right next to the blackness of space. Not very comfortable, is it?
It won't affect me any my non-iPod Ogg Vorbis player.
If you're in Canada, yes it will. "iPod tax" is just a shorthand, the tax doesn't only apply to Appple-branded players.
That's a different thing than "making music" which can be almost free of cost. Those are the costs of selling music, an entirely different thing.
OK, so what basis do you possibly have to think that consumerism has decreased, or for that matter, marketing-driven spending?
Marketin is not just TV ads, you know. Got any evidence that it's getting less effective? Society seems more consumer driven and "brand aware" than ever. Heck, some people even watch the Superbowl just for the ads.
Marketing is fighting a losing battle
Say what? Marketing is doing just fine... probably better than ever.
What if it identifies the 18 year old male who's captain of the football team with a couple of his female friends and the machine decides that there are three females in the party instead of two, and spits out an advertisement for tampons or makeup.
What if that happens? Uhhh... it shows and ad for tampons or makeup. Hardly the end of the word. What is this dreamy football captain and his companions doing looking at the advertisement, anyway? Surely there's sodomy to be had, which is a greater priority than some electronic billboard.