Step 1: Cut DEBIT "check" card in half
Step 2: Just use a CREDIT card. You're protected. Problem solved.
In Canada you need an ATM PIN to use a debit card linked to a bank account, but the PINs can still be skimmed by compromised payment terminals. I only pay by credit card.
Most people want to get by reasonably honourably, and actually contribute to the whole
That would be a very interesting social experiment... Imagine if a season of Lost was aired commercial free, and made available for free download, unencumbered by DRM and allowing free distribution. Also imagine that there was a web page where people could contribute financially for the free season of Lost. I wonder if the contributions would equal the ad revenue from the airings, the repeat airings & the syndication airings, as well as from the reduced DVD sales for that season? (I'm sure some people would still buy the DVDs, but likely not as many...)
Tax from cigarettes = 8.1 Billion.
NHS spending on cigarette related illness = 1.7 Billion.
How dare you taint this discussion with statistics.
Seriously though, as others have said, "bingo." In my opinion this is why governments are unwilling to outright ban ciggys. They don't know what they'd replace the revenue with... So instead they do these little incremental steps. For example, in my jurisdiction (British Columbia, Canada) it's illegal to buy smokes if you're under 19 years of age. It's not illegal to smoke, just buy them. So a thirteen year old can puff away on a park bench, but he can't pop into the 7-11 to buy a pack.
Oh, kind of like how the existence of free software turned paid software into a thing of the past?
Your analogy doesn't really hold up, though. It's mostly businesses that pay for software. Very few consumers do - Most paid for their OS with their computer, and it might have included an OEM version of MS-Office or something, but after that...? As a consumer, the only software I've paid for in the past two years is a $40 toddler-typing program for my kid. Image editing software, video editing software, ripping software, anti-malware software, browsing software and on and on - It's all 'free.' Almost all the games we pay in our house are fun puzzle-type 'popcap' games - All free.
Movies and TV shows are targeted at consumers, and once all content is free people won't pay any more...
Sure, but you can definitely influence policy. Look at these teabag people or whatever the hell they're called (I'm Canadian too). They appear to be directly influencing Republican policy by getting out there and protesting with their poorly-worded signs. No reason some coffeegrounds group or whatever couldn't get out there and do something similar with issues that they deem as important and in turn influence policy.
I do think movies like Star Trek and The Dark Knight will become a thing of the past - As "free" digital distribution moves more mainstream, the revenue streams that fund these $100M 'blockbusters' will disappear. Ditto TV - As digital distribution and timeshifting ends the 15 minutes of commercials per hour program I think shows like Lost and Battlestar Galactica will fade away. There may be a last gasp where content providers try to get people to pay $2 for an episode of Glee, but once content is free no one will pay it. Not saying it's a bad thing - There will always be creative people and there will always be content to consume - I just think it will be more like "Clerks" on YouTube and less like "Casino Royale" or "Avatar" at the Multiplex.
Why would the tween-teen market give a damn about the geek's distate for anything Microsoft?
It's not just the tween-teen market - The market in general doesn't give a damn about geekdom's hate on for "M$." Hell, I read/. regularly, and even I'm astounded at the amount of energy the/. universe puts into hating M$. If only they could put that energy into getting a haircut, some nice shoes and meeting a girl...
Goddammit America - You used to be this shining beacon in the world of leadership, democracy and sensibility. Now you're just descending into some kind of nutbar crazy JesusLand. Every week there's another story like this one.
What the hell happened? I want my old America back... Can't you level-headed Americans (there must be *some* of you left...) do something about it?
Sure, tricky to lock it down for power users, but very few mac users that I see are what I would class as "power users" - They bought their Banana Jr. 6000s because they wanted a computer that was easy to use that doesn't crash... So while *locking* it down would be unlikley, "latching" it down would probably be pretty easy, and for the majority of users "latching" is probably sufficient.
Goddammit America - You used to be this shining beacon in the world of leadership, democracy and sensibility. Now you're just descending into some kind of nutbar crazy JesusLand. Every week there's another story like this one.
What the hell happened? I want my old America back... Can't you level-headed Americans (there must be *some* of you left...) do something about it?
Did you *read* the wikipedia article to which you linked? Expensive popcorn is not price gouging. Price gouging is when, for example, you raise the price of your bread from $2 per loaf to $20 per loaf after a hurricane. If your bread was always $20 per loaf it's not price gouging. Also, price gouging typically only applies to 'essentials' like food, fuel etc. A big tub o' popcorn and a liter of pepsi is hardly an essential.
virtually all smokers have tried quitting and would like to quit.
A lot of smokers I know enjoy smoking - What they don't like is the fact that it's addictive. They'd like to be able to have a smoke after a good meal, or after sex, without suffering terribly on a 4 hour plane ride or having to go outside at work every 90 minutes...
Uh no. Interns are NET LOSERS for the company. Always have been, always will.
Rubbish. Here in Canada, "interns" are called "co-ops" and they're paid a basic salary. My company has a head count of 300 or so and we always have a half-dozen co-ops on staff at any time. They work on specific, measurable projects - Marketing co-ops might do market research on a segment we're considering, product management co-ops might work on competitive analysis, dev co-ops apply existing test cases to specific new projects. It's a win-win all around.
so I'm presuming that there are new industry leaders
Not really...It's a tough nut to crack, so the market leaders in the ruggedized notebook sector tend to get there and say there. As others have said, your best (& costliest) options are Panasonic and Itronix (General Dynamics).
Another approach would be to ban ridiculous gigantic.sig files, complete with name, email address, snail-mail, address, three phone numbers, URL, twitter link, facebook link, linkedin link, blog link, some kind of logo and a giant block of text mandated by legal. Oh yeah, and coded in HTML so it matches corporate colours. Ugh.
Sometimes I get emails where the sig is longer than the body of the freakin' email.
Most murders are committed in the heat of passion by mentally unbalanced people. This guy rationally and knowingly RUINED many people's lives. He can rot in prison for all I care.
Try maps with the Earth overlay, like we have on the Droid
But again, as others have said - This is Google Maps with satellite & aerial data, not Google Earth. The question remains: What is google *Earth* good for, other than 'fun stuff.'
this is a telephone. This is device whose primary purpose is to facilitate verbal communication
Not any more. These devices are largely small(ish) wireless computers with touch-screen interfaces. I don't have an iLeash, but my friends who do appear to use them as 'computers' much more than they use them for verbal communications. Sure, they allow for verbal comms, but it's only one of many features.
hey might just wait for him to die and then overthrow the government.
I dunno about that... when Kim Il-Sung died in 1994 and his son Kim Jong-Il took over there was no overthrow of the government - No rumblings of any kind...
I consider that in no government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. If a sovereign oppresses his people to a great degree, they will rise and cut off his head.
While I generally agree with this (witness the former Soviet Bloc, the American South etc.) I sometimes wonder if it always applies. For example, the conditions in North Korea have been appalling for 50+ years. How much longer before the people rise up and cut off the sovereign's head?
Slashdot Mirror
Step 1: Cut DEBIT "check" card in half
Step 2: Just use a CREDIT card. You're protected. Problem solved.
In Canada you need an ATM PIN to use a debit card linked to a bank account, but the PINs can still be skimmed by compromised payment terminals. I only pay by credit card.
Most people want to get by reasonably honourably, and actually contribute to the whole
That would be a very interesting social experiment... Imagine if a season of Lost was aired commercial free, and made available for free download, unencumbered by DRM and allowing free distribution. Also imagine that there was a web page where people could contribute financially for the free season of Lost. I wonder if the contributions would equal the ad revenue from the airings, the repeat airings & the syndication airings, as well as from the reduced DVD sales for that season? (I'm sure some people would still buy the DVDs, but likely not as many...)
Tax from cigarettes = 8.1 Billion.
NHS spending on cigarette related illness = 1.7 Billion.
How dare you taint this discussion with statistics.
Seriously though, as others have said, "bingo." In my opinion this is why governments are unwilling to outright ban ciggys. They don't know what they'd replace the revenue with... So instead they do these little incremental steps. For example, in my jurisdiction (British Columbia, Canada) it's illegal to buy smokes if you're under 19 years of age. It's not illegal to smoke, just buy them. So a thirteen year old can puff away on a park bench, but he can't pop into the 7-11 to buy a pack.
The cost of most movies could be cut a lot by lowering payroll
Sure, and you wind up with movies like "Clerks." Nothing wrong with "Clerks" - It's a great movie - But it's a different movie-going experience.
Oh, kind of like how the existence of free software turned paid software into a thing of the past?
Your analogy doesn't really hold up, though. It's mostly businesses that pay for software. Very few consumers do - Most paid for their OS with their computer, and it might have included an OEM version of MS-Office or something, but after that...? As a consumer, the only software I've paid for in the past two years is a $40 toddler-typing program for my kid. Image editing software, video editing software, ripping software, anti-malware software, browsing software and on and on - It's all 'free.' Almost all the games we pay in our house are fun puzzle-type 'popcap' games - All free.
Movies and TV shows are targeted at consumers, and once all content is free people won't pay any more...
Sure, but you can definitely influence policy. Look at these teabag people or whatever the hell they're called (I'm Canadian too). They appear to be directly influencing Republican policy by getting out there and protesting with their poorly-worded signs. No reason some coffeegrounds group or whatever couldn't get out there and do something similar with issues that they deem as important and in turn influence policy.
I do think movies like Star Trek and The Dark Knight will become a thing of the past - As "free" digital distribution moves more mainstream, the revenue streams that fund these $100M 'blockbusters' will disappear. Ditto TV - As digital distribution and timeshifting ends the 15 minutes of commercials per hour program I think shows like Lost and Battlestar Galactica will fade away. There may be a last gasp where content providers try to get people to pay $2 for an episode of Glee, but once content is free no one will pay it. Not saying it's a bad thing - There will always be creative people and there will always be content to consume - I just think it will be more like "Clerks" on YouTube and less like "Casino Royale" or "Avatar" at the Multiplex.
Why would the tween-teen market give a damn about the geek's distate for anything Microsoft?
It's not just the tween-teen market - The market in general doesn't give a damn about geekdom's hate on for "M$." Hell, I read /. regularly, and even I'm astounded at the amount of energy the /. universe puts into hating M$. If only they could put that energy into getting a haircut, some nice shoes and meeting a girl...
iPhone/iPad is great because Apple owns every aspect of it.
iPhone/iPad is inadequte because Apple owns every aspect of it.
Back in the day (I'm 43) if I didn't do well is school my dad would whup my ass. That was all the incentive I needed!
Goddammit America - You used to be this shining beacon in the world of leadership, democracy and sensibility. Now you're just descending into some kind of nutbar crazy JesusLand. Every week there's another story like this one.
What the hell happened? I want my old America back... Can't you level-headed Americans (there must be *some* of you left...) do something about it?
Tricky to lock that down
Sure, tricky to lock it down for power users, but very few mac users that I see are what I would class as "power users" - They bought their Banana Jr. 6000s because they wanted a computer that was easy to use that doesn't crash... So while *locking* it down would be unlikley, "latching" it down would probably be pretty easy, and for the majority of users "latching" is probably sufficient.
Goddammit America - You used to be this shining beacon in the world of leadership, democracy and sensibility. Now you're just descending into some kind of nutbar crazy JesusLand. Every week there's another story like this one.
What the hell happened? I want my old America back... Can't you level-headed Americans (there must be *some* of you left...) do something about it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging
Did you *read* the wikipedia article to which you linked? Expensive popcorn is not price gouging. Price gouging is when, for example, you raise the price of your bread from $2 per loaf to $20 per loaf after a hurricane. If your bread was always $20 per loaf it's not price gouging. Also, price gouging typically only applies to 'essentials' like food, fuel etc. A big tub o' popcorn and a liter of pepsi is hardly an essential.
virtually all smokers have tried quitting and would like to quit.
A lot of smokers I know enjoy smoking - What they don't like is the fact that it's addictive. They'd like to be able to have a smoke after a good meal, or after sex, without suffering terribly on a 4 hour plane ride or having to go outside at work every 90 minutes...
Uh no. Interns are NET LOSERS for the company. Always have been, always will.
Rubbish. Here in Canada, "interns" are called "co-ops" and they're paid a basic salary. My company has a head count of 300 or so and we always have a half-dozen co-ops on staff at any time. They work on specific, measurable projects - Marketing co-ops might do market research on a segment we're considering, product management co-ops might work on competitive analysis, dev co-ops apply existing test cases to specific new projects. It's a win-win all around.
If you want 2012 or the latest Transforming robots movie just effing go Wal-Mart or hit Amazon and buy the effing thing!
The Usenet? That thing still around?
so I'm presuming that there are new industry leaders
Not really...It's a tough nut to crack, so the market leaders in the ruggedized notebook sector tend to get there and say there. As others have said, your best (& costliest) options are Panasonic and Itronix (General Dynamics).
Another approach would be to ban ridiculous gigantic .sig files, complete with name, email address, snail-mail, address, three phone numbers, URL, twitter link, facebook link, linkedin link, blog link, some kind of logo and a giant block of text mandated by legal. Oh yeah, and coded in HTML so it matches corporate colours. Ugh.
Sometimes I get emails where the sig is longer than the body of the freakin' email.
You'll get less for murder.
Most murders are committed in the heat of passion by mentally unbalanced people. This guy rationally and knowingly RUINED many people's lives. He can rot in prison for all I care.
Try maps with the Earth overlay, like we have on the Droid
But again, as others have said - This is Google Maps with satellite & aerial data, not Google Earth. The question remains: What is google *Earth* good for, other than 'fun stuff.'
this is a telephone. This is device whose primary purpose is to facilitate verbal communication
Not any more. These devices are largely small(ish) wireless computers with touch-screen interfaces. I don't have an iLeash, but my friends who do appear to use them as 'computers' much more than they use them for verbal communications. Sure, they allow for verbal comms, but it's only one of many features.
hey might just wait for him to die and then overthrow the government.
I dunno about that... when Kim Il-Sung died in 1994 and his son Kim Jong-Il took over there was no overthrow of the government - No rumblings of any kind...
I consider that in no government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. If a sovereign oppresses his people to a great degree, they will rise and cut off his head.
While I generally agree with this (witness the former Soviet Bloc, the American South etc.) I sometimes wonder if it always applies. For example, the conditions in North Korea have been appalling for 50+ years. How much longer before the people rise up and cut off the sovereign's head?