I can see why this is marked as Troll, but the poster does have a point, at least in terms of numbers of losses etc. Nevertheless, it would be far better to point out the massive number of innocent casualties from US/UK trying to police the world, and also the way in which such statistics are reported. For example, the "enemy combatant" definition was stretched for the purpose of reducing the number of innocent casualties that were reported.
I'm from the UK, and I'd really rather they spent the tax money on health, education or transport, than on terrorising other countries. It all seems rather hypocritical
And come on - do you really think by giving them your vote you would risk a sudden abolishment of copyright?!
I would be uncomfortable voting for a party under the belief that their policies are less extreme than publically stated. I'd much rather a party attempted to engage in intelligent debate, as opposed to shock tactics. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that you are probably correct.
I'm pretty sure that T-Mobile is still known as T-Mobile in mainland Europe. It definately is in the UK (and it's probably the worst of our big 4 providers). I think they use the 'T' brand in Germany for the mobile phone part of the business; or at least the 'T-Com' that appears on the front of Bayern Munich's (football team) shirts would indicate this.
Cars are definitely less viable in the UK than they are in the USA. Petrol is really expensive here (a litre of petrol was 87p/1.5 USD in 2005). The motorways are very overcrowded at peak times and they only connect up the major cities which means that if you are travelling a long distance you have to use slower A roads. Parking is a nightmare in most city centres here and you're also likely have to struggle through an incomprehensible one way system. I'm at university in a city which has a very good tram system and my home city is flat enough to cycle almost anywhere. I use the train to travel home and the bus to go into the city centre. As for transporting large loads (I can drive but do not own a car) I would probably ask a friend with a car for help or get it delivered. All the supermarkets here do on-line ordering and cheap/free delivery. It's probably tricky for a family of 4 to cope without a car, but for an individual or couple it's pretty easy.
I do think that HDTV uptake is going to be very slow though. Unlike the USA, UK broadcasters aren't doing HDTV until the middle of next year. I'd be interested to see how many (if any) other countries have started it yet.
Unfortunately there are a large amount of people who wont even bid on an item if the seller doesn't accept PayPal. Furthermore, not accepting PayPal can lead to distrust because there are a few scammers who explicitly state 'no PayPal' in order to make the buyer use a service like Western Union which has no accountability.
Basically it's a catch 22. Either you accept PayPal and risk getting scammed, or you avoid it and risk people not buying your product. I'm wary of using PayPal because I know if quite a few instances where transactions have been reversed after the seller has shipped the item. It sucks.
Very true. However, I think most online game companies are very reluctant to ban people due to account sales. Although it's almost always against the rules, the company is usually more concerned with keeping the subscription going for that account.
What is really risky is the constant changes to elements of these games. I remember playing Asheron's Call a few years ago and seeing a particular item go for $500+ because it could no longer be found. This item could be dropped if your character was killed and I remember more than a few people being left with nothing to show for their investment after being killed by other players. Even worse than this, the makers reintroduced the item to the game a year or so later.
They are doing it because they were given a date to block keywords and haven't managed to do it. This stops them getting a massive fine and being forcably shut down, I think.
If I was being sceptical I would say that they were perfectly able to impliment the key word filtering but want to keep the network alive for anyone else around the world who uses it (if anyone still does, thought Kazaa died years ago)
The most laughable thing has got to be that the kid is pleading ignorance to the severity of his actions. Anyone with half a brain is going to realise that undercutting retailers by 100s of dollers is blatently stealing. To be honest though, I guess you have to be pretty daft to keep going back to the same place. 'I'm just a kid', give over, you're 19 son, grow up and accept your punishment!
Problem is that they are also doing things like shutting down webpages which state that Gator/Claira's program makes people's computers run slowly. Personally I still hate the idea because I'm sure the software is still too inconspicuous/sneaky to let a normal pc user know what is going on..
I'm not an advanced skiier or anything but I have been skiing for about 7 years and would choose sunglasses over goggles every time as long as the weather was good (I have both). I find them so much more comfortable and they don't leave me with the same crazy panda eyes as goggles..
Although I am in no way a fan of record companies or the way they work, this is a sad fact of capitalism rather than simply a problem with the record industry. It's the same if you buy dairy produce from a supermarket, clothes from most multinational companies or coffee from a coffee shop. You can pretty much be sure that the farmer or the guys in the factories are not receiving much money for what is essentially their product. At least successful artists are generally pretty much sorted financially, they are definately a lot better than people in far eastern factories who don't earn enough to eat properly.
Yeah but the chips have fake badges on them. It's not like they are going to sell you a pc and say, 'well this chip is a celeron that looks like a p4' the only point of doing this is for fraud
Surely that's sort of the point of the article? They weren't implying that this was a rip off or anything, just that they are making $100 chips look just like $400 chips..
It's white and looks like a tiny fridge, what more could anyone want? Even if someone came up with a better UI with more features the iPod would win because it looks cool and does exactly what it's supposed to
I fear that that majority of consumers will not notice enough to argue about things like that. A few geeks who understand aren't really going to change anything when products fly off the shelves...
To be fair, they don't allow their items to be exchanged to real money. It's just that there isn't a lot that they can do to stop it. I used to play Asheron's Call and people used to eBay items before there was even a way to trade items securely in game. AFAIK it's against the terms and conditions of most online games to sell characters/items on eBay...
Well, you have to return library books at some point so the idea is that if you like/need a book enough you will buy your own copy. If you could read most books on the internet then the authers and publishers wouldn't make any money. I definately wouldn't have bought any books for uni work if I could read them online...
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I can see why this is marked as Troll, but the poster does have a point, at least in terms of numbers of losses etc. Nevertheless, it would be far better to point out the massive number of innocent casualties from US/UK trying to police the world, and also the way in which such statistics are reported. For example, the "enemy combatant" definition was stretched for the purpose of reducing the number of innocent casualties that were reported. I'm from the UK, and I'd really rather they spent the tax money on health, education or transport, than on terrorising other countries. It all seems rather hypocritical
And come on - do you really think by giving them your vote you would risk a sudden abolishment of copyright?!
I would be uncomfortable voting for a party under the belief that their policies are less extreme than publically stated. I'd much rather a party attempted to engage in intelligent debate, as opposed to shock tactics. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that you are probably correct.
I'm pretty sure that T-Mobile is still known as T-Mobile in mainland Europe. It definately is in the UK (and it's probably the worst of our big 4 providers). I think they use the 'T' brand in Germany for the mobile phone part of the business; or at least the 'T-Com' that appears on the front of Bayern Munich's (football team) shirts would indicate this.
One man's claustrophobic is another man's cosy. It all looks pretty cosy to me, although I wouldn't want to stay there more than a night or so.
Cars are definitely less viable in the UK than they are in the USA. Petrol is really expensive here (a litre of petrol was 87p/1.5 USD in 2005). The motorways are very overcrowded at peak times and they only connect up the major cities which means that if you are travelling a long distance you have to use slower A roads. Parking is a nightmare in most city centres here and you're also likely have to struggle through an incomprehensible one way system. I'm at university in a city which has a very good tram system and my home city is flat enough to cycle almost anywhere. I use the train to travel home and the bus to go into the city centre. As for transporting large loads (I can drive but do not own a car) I would probably ask a friend with a car for help or get it delivered. All the supermarkets here do on-line ordering and cheap/free delivery. It's probably tricky for a family of 4 to cope without a car, but for an individual or couple it's pretty easy.
I do think that HDTV uptake is going to be very slow though. Unlike the USA, UK broadcasters aren't doing HDTV until the middle of next year. I'd be interested to see how many (if any) other countries have started it yet.
Basically it's a catch 22. Either you accept PayPal and risk getting scammed, or you avoid it and risk people not buying your product. I'm wary of using PayPal because I know if quite a few instances where transactions have been reversed after the seller has shipped the item. It sucks.
What is really risky is the constant changes to elements of these games. I remember playing Asheron's Call a few years ago and seeing a particular item go for $500+ because it could no longer be found. This item could be dropped if your character was killed and I remember more than a few people being left with nothing to show for their investment after being killed by other players. Even worse than this, the makers reintroduced the item to the game a year or so later.
If I was being sceptical I would say that they were perfectly able to impliment the key word filtering but want to keep the network alive for anyone else around the world who uses it (if anyone still does, thought Kazaa died years ago)
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69741,00
Wonder if Sony will pay to clean up all the ad-jamming attempts as well?
The most laughable thing has got to be that the kid is pleading ignorance to the severity of his actions. Anyone with half a brain is going to realise that undercutting retailers by 100s of dollers is blatently stealing. To be honest though, I guess you have to be pretty daft to keep going back to the same place. 'I'm just a kid', give over, you're 19 son, grow up and accept your punishment!
Problem is that they are also doing things like shutting down webpages which state that Gator/Claira's program makes people's computers run slowly. Personally I still hate the idea because I'm sure the software is still too inconspicuous/sneaky to let a normal pc user know what is going on..
I'm not an advanced skiier or anything but I have been skiing for about 7 years and would choose sunglasses over goggles every time as long as the weather was good (I have both). I find them so much more comfortable and they don't leave me with the same crazy panda eyes as goggles..
Although I am in no way a fan of record companies or the way they work, this is a sad fact of capitalism rather than simply a problem with the record industry. It's the same if you buy dairy produce from a supermarket, clothes from most multinational companies or coffee from a coffee shop. You can pretty much be sure that the farmer or the guys in the factories are not receiving much money for what is essentially their product. At least successful artists are generally pretty much sorted financially, they are definately a lot better than people in far eastern factories who don't earn enough to eat properly.
Signing up for websites is a total pain, however, www.bugmenot.com is a total saviour...
Yeah, they are bloody slow!
Yeah but the chips have fake badges on them. It's not like they are going to sell you a pc and say, 'well this chip is a celeron that looks like a p4' the only point of doing this is for fraud
Exactly, why would you rebadge processors and offer masking software if it wasn't to hide something? Very daft attempt at justification!
Surely that's sort of the point of the article? They weren't implying that this was a rip off or anything, just that they are making $100 chips look just like $400 chips..
It's all the, the only reason I have an AOL name is to talk to a few people who live in the states. Literally everyone here uses MSN messenger
It's white and looks like a tiny fridge, what more could anyone want? Even if someone came up with a better UI with more features the iPod would win because it looks cool and does exactly what it's supposed to
Blatently stolen from Primal Scream's XTRMNTR album. If only they'd patented taking letters out of words!
I fear that that majority of consumers will not notice enough to argue about things like that. A few geeks who understand aren't really going to change anything when products fly off the shelves...
To be fair, they don't allow their items to be exchanged to real money. It's just that there isn't a lot that they can do to stop it. I used to play Asheron's Call and people used to eBay items before there was even a way to trade items securely in game. AFAIK it's against the terms and conditions of most online games to sell characters/items on eBay...
Well, you have to return library books at some point so the idea is that if you like/need a book enough you will buy your own copy. If you could read most books on the internet then the authers and publishers wouldn't make any money. I definately wouldn't have bought any books for uni work if I could read them online...