So, I buy what turns out to be a stolen laptop for $500. The cops show up and take my new laptop away and give it back to it's rightful owner. I don't get my $500 back.
Personally, if this happened to me, I'd be more than willing to co-operate with the police. "Yeah, I bought it from this guy named Tony I saw on Craigslist. This is his phone number."
I don't think you can do much, and the sooner you put this sorry episode behind you the better.
Agreed. On an entirely unrelated note: I just got this new Dell laptop and it seems to be going to off to an e-mail server somewhere. Anybody have any idea how to make it stop doing that?
Holding the phone in such a way that you cover the antenna or create a bridge to the other antenna will cause the phone to lose some of it's signal. This happens on any cell phone, but on the iPhone 4, it may be more likely to occur because of the placement.
The "bars" display is inaccurate, meaning customers have no idea whether or not they are receiving a strong enough signal that they can afford to have it cut in half.
Apple can't really do anything about the first problem without redesigning the phone. Apple can do something about the second thing, which will at least help users know whether or not they are likely to lose signal.
So, if you're getting a strong signal and you hold it in such a way that it's cut in half, you still have a strong enough signal. If you have a weak signal and you cut it in half, you lose your connection.
By the way, my iPhone 3GS gets great reception here in the Los Angeles/Orange County area. So therefore, all complaints about the iPhone dropping calls are overblown because my iPhone 3GS has never dropped a call. Or at least, it hadn't until I went up to San Francisco...
This is one thing I've been wondering about. What is the advantage of "low-power bluetooth" versus ANT? Will you be able to combine both "low-power" and "regular" bluetooth together on one chip so that I can use my bluetooth headphones while my bluetooth pedometer tells me how many steps I'm taking?
However, if you read the second article, it suggests that it was being brought in via remote control and the automated system on the Progress drone detected a problem transmitting the camera data and decided to break off.
From the second article (my emphasis):
Russian engineers suspect it was interference between the Progress vehicle remote control system on the International Space Station and a TV camera on the space freighter that forced the incoming spacecraft to abort its first approach on Friday.
Futhermore:
For Sunday's docking, Russian flight controllers opted to forgo any use of the remote control system, called the Telerobotically Operated Rendezvous Unit (TORU). Instead, they checked and rechecked the Progress 38's autonomous Kurs navigation system, as well as its backup system, to make sure the spacecraft was completely ready to dock itself at the space station.
Reading the latest articles can teach you even more stuff!
I have relatives out in the boonies of Vermont. Where they live, I don't get much of a signal from any carrier. Every now and then, I would pull out my iPhone and, on occasion, I would see two or three bars. But as soon as I tried to do anything--make a call or use the Internet--the bars would drop down until they finally read "No Service."
Sure, on Earth. We haven't been living in space for millions of years, but under the Earth's gravity
True. But this robot while be operating on the Moon and, possibly, on Mars where there is gravity.
It is a neat question, though. How will the lighter gravity on the Moon and Mars affect walking? Astronauts on the moon tended to "bunny-hop" because walking was difficult. Will this robot be able to "learn" to walk in 1/6 gravity?
Agreed. Now can your Atlas V do this while also supporting 7 astronauts? And can it bring that payload back home? That's what I mean about it being a jack-of-all-trades. If you need to do something in space (at least in Low Earth Orbit), the Shuttle can probably do it.
Don't get me wrong, though. Using a Shuttle to lift a satellite into orbit is a waste of money. NASA's plan for the Shuttle was to basically undercut private industry because they were spending money to send people into space no matter what. If Lockheed wanted to charge $20,000,000 to put your satellite into orbit, NASA would charge $15,000,000. What the hell, they're going anyway, and any money they can make taking a satellite with them makes human space-flight "cheaper." It's a stupid accounting trick--nothing more.
Though if you want to compare the launch capabilities of the Atlas V, I'd also point out that the Atlas V has been around since 2002. The Space Shuttle is 20 years older. So you could say that it took private industry 20 years to catch up with the Space Shuttle vis-á-vis payload capability. Now part of the reason for this, of course, is what I mentioned above. Why develop a rocket if NASA is always going to undercut you--they can operate at a loss all they want.
I don't have a problem with another NASA heavy-lift vehicle. But I think it's a better idea to detach lifting human beings off the planet from lifting cargo off the planet. NASA's accounting trick to reduce the cost of space-flight wasn't the way to go.
Don't compete with private industry. Instead, do things that private industry has no interest in doing.
While I agree, the benefits are "marginal" until you need them.
One advantage of the Shuttle is it is designed to be a jack-of-all-trades. It has a big cargo bay that you can fill up with stuff, including a space lab. The arm can be used to grab nearby things and put them in the cargo bay for maintenance. It allows seven astronauts to work in a shirt-sleeve environment for two weeks. It's a pretty impressive vehicle.
The "problem" is ISS can do most of the science stuff that the Shuttle did better than the Shuttle could (because it stays up longer). So as a science vehicle, it's not really that useful anymore. The Satellites you might want to maintain are outside the Shuttle's reach. While satellites like the Hubble Space Telescope are within the Shuttle's range, HST was designed to be maintained by the Shuttle and, in fact, has to do some crazy stuff to target stars while whizzing around the Earth within the Shuttle's range. So at this point, the Shuttle's only mission is to carry astronauts from Earth to ISS. This is akin to using a big honkin' four-wheel-drive SUV to pick up groceries at the corner store--sure it will work but it's kind of a wasteful way to do it.
Using the Shuttle to capture the Progress Drone could probably be done. But it's kind of silly to spend $60,000,000 to launch a Shuttle to rescue a Progress drone that probably cost $10,000,000 to launch. Just launch another Progress and be done with it.
I won't bag on the Space Shuttle--it's a great machine. But we really don't need it anymore. Let NASA get on to the next big thing (whatever that may be) and let private industry take over supplying ISS with people and supplies.
I've heard plenty of people complain about dropped calls on their iPhone. It's usually accompanied by a statement such as, "It's so weird because my phone is displaying four bars..."
Capacitors [...] are not meant to pop and leak fluid, but that is exactly what was happening earlier this decade, causing computers made by Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and others to break.
Of course, Apple fixed the machines without making a big deal out of it...
As much as I sympathize with people who would like to have completely ad-free content, Hulu has pretty much won the battle. People just don't seem to mind three or four 15-30 second breaks during a show, or the occasional 60 second ad.
True. But it might bother them if they're paying $9.99 for the privilege.
If Apple goes to another carrier, Sprint and T-Mobile are the more likely candidates.
Well, Sprint runs CDMA so it would probably be the same issue, I believe. T-Mobile is far more likely--like AT&T, they already use GSM/EDGE. An unlocked iPhone 3G will work with voice and non-3G data on T-Mobile. If I understand correctly, the only issue with T-Mobile 3G is it uses a different frequency than AT&T's.
Now, the iPhone 4 is a Quad Band phone, supporting 3G in the 850, 900, 1900, and 2100MHz bands and GSM/EDGE in the 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz bands. T-Mobile runs it's 3G service in the 1700MHz and 2100MHz bands. Does this mean that you might be able to get T-Mobile's 3G to work on an unlocked iPhone 4?
Also, Verizon will use LTE only for data, initially. So you'll still need CDMA for voice. So you'd need both radios. Surf the web, talk on the phone, watch your battery drain.
Suppose a particular band plays a concert in the Des Moines, IA. Let's also say that the record label is doing some marketing for the band in Cincinnati, OH. During this same time, the band sells 32% more music. Was it the marketing or the concerts that helped the band sell more music?
Currently, a music store will report sales of CDs to the labels--there's usually some sort of agreement there. So if the band plays a concert in Des Moines and record stores in Des Moines start selling lots of CDs of the band's music, you have some evidence that the concert helped sell CDs. In an iTunes world, unfortunately, you don't have that same data. The bump in sales could be due to the concert in Des Moines, the fact that their slick new video got mentioned on Slashdot, or the rumor that the band's drummer is dating Taylor Swift.
Slashdot Mirror
So, I buy what turns out to be a stolen laptop for $500. The cops show up and take my new laptop away and give it back to it's rightful owner. I don't get my $500 back.
Personally, if this happened to me, I'd be more than willing to co-operate with the police. "Yeah, I bought it from this guy named Tony I saw on Craigslist. This is his phone number."
I don't think you can do much, and the sooner you put this sorry episode behind you the better.
Agreed. On an entirely unrelated note: I just got this new Dell laptop and it seems to be going to off to an e-mail server somewhere. Anybody have any idea how to make it stop doing that?
See? "You're holding it right."
There are two issues:
Apple can't really do anything about the first problem without redesigning the phone. Apple can do something about the second thing, which will at least help users know whether or not they are likely to lose signal.
So, if you're getting a strong signal and you hold it in such a way that it's cut in half, you still have a strong enough signal. If you have a weak signal and you cut it in half, you lose your connection.
By the way, my iPhone 3GS gets great reception here in the Los Angeles/Orange County area. So therefore, all complaints about the iPhone dropping calls are overblown because my iPhone 3GS has never dropped a call. Or at least, it hadn't until I went up to San Francisco...
801.11? Hmph. My Wifis go to 802.11.
Rather, it's a competitor to ANT
This is one thing I've been wondering about. What is the advantage of "low-power bluetooth" versus ANT? Will you be able to combine both "low-power" and "regular" bluetooth together on one chip so that I can use my bluetooth headphones while my bluetooth pedometer tells me how many steps I'm taking?
Really? Where have you been where it doesn't work?
The Earth would explode, since nothing would counteract its internal pressure anymore.
Okay, so, that would be bad.
But suppose we could lessen it's severity? That way, I could lose weight without having to change my personal habits. Sounds like a good plan to me...
I gotta admit, this old saw came to mind:
"God is dead."
--Nietzsche, 1882
"Nietzsche is dead."
--God, 1900
However, if you read the second article, it suggests that it was being brought in via remote control and the automated system on the Progress drone detected a problem transmitting the camera data and decided to break off.
From the second article (my emphasis):
Russian engineers suspect it was interference between the Progress vehicle remote control system on the International Space Station and a TV camera on the space freighter that forced the incoming spacecraft to abort its first approach on Friday.
Futhermore:
For Sunday's docking, Russian flight controllers opted to forgo any use of the remote control system, called the Telerobotically Operated Rendezvous Unit (TORU). Instead, they checked and rechecked the Progress 38's autonomous Kurs navigation system, as well as its backup system, to make sure the spacecraft was completely ready to dock itself at the space station.
Reading the latest articles can teach you even more stuff!
I gotta admit, I've seen this one, too.
I have relatives out in the boonies of Vermont. Where they live, I don't get much of a signal from any carrier. Every now and then, I would pull out my iPhone and, on occasion, I would see two or three bars. But as soon as I tried to do anything--make a call or use the Internet--the bars would drop down until they finally read "No Service."
Sure, on Earth. We haven't been living in space for millions of years, but under the Earth's gravity
True. But this robot while be operating on the Moon and, possibly, on Mars where there is gravity.
It is a neat question, though. How will the lighter gravity on the Moon and Mars affect walking? Astronauts on the moon tended to "bunny-hop" because walking was difficult. Will this robot be able to "learn" to walk in 1/6 gravity?
Agreed. Now can your Atlas V do this while also supporting 7 astronauts? And can it bring that payload back home? That's what I mean about it being a jack-of-all-trades. If you need to do something in space (at least in Low Earth Orbit), the Shuttle can probably do it.
Don't get me wrong, though. Using a Shuttle to lift a satellite into orbit is a waste of money. NASA's plan for the Shuttle was to basically undercut private industry because they were spending money to send people into space no matter what. If Lockheed wanted to charge $20,000,000 to put your satellite into orbit, NASA would charge $15,000,000. What the hell, they're going anyway, and any money they can make taking a satellite with them makes human space-flight "cheaper." It's a stupid accounting trick--nothing more.
Though if you want to compare the launch capabilities of the Atlas V, I'd also point out that the Atlas V has been around since 2002. The Space Shuttle is 20 years older. So you could say that it took private industry 20 years to catch up with the Space Shuttle vis-á-vis payload capability. Now part of the reason for this, of course, is what I mentioned above. Why develop a rocket if NASA is always going to undercut you--they can operate at a loss all they want.
I don't have a problem with another NASA heavy-lift vehicle. But I think it's a better idea to detach lifting human beings off the planet from lifting cargo off the planet. NASA's accounting trick to reduce the cost of space-flight wasn't the way to go.
Don't compete with private industry. Instead, do things that private industry has no interest in doing.
While I agree, the benefits are "marginal" until you need them.
One advantage of the Shuttle is it is designed to be a jack-of-all-trades. It has a big cargo bay that you can fill up with stuff, including a space lab. The arm can be used to grab nearby things and put them in the cargo bay for maintenance. It allows seven astronauts to work in a shirt-sleeve environment for two weeks. It's a pretty impressive vehicle.
The "problem" is ISS can do most of the science stuff that the Shuttle did better than the Shuttle could (because it stays up longer). So as a science vehicle, it's not really that useful anymore. The Satellites you might want to maintain are outside the Shuttle's reach. While satellites like the Hubble Space Telescope are within the Shuttle's range, HST was designed to be maintained by the Shuttle and, in fact, has to do some crazy stuff to target stars while whizzing around the Earth within the Shuttle's range. So at this point, the Shuttle's only mission is to carry astronauts from Earth to ISS. This is akin to using a big honkin' four-wheel-drive SUV to pick up groceries at the corner store--sure it will work but it's kind of a wasteful way to do it.
Using the Shuttle to capture the Progress Drone could probably be done. But it's kind of silly to spend $60,000,000 to launch a Shuttle to rescue a Progress drone that probably cost $10,000,000 to launch. Just launch another Progress and be done with it.
I won't bag on the Space Shuttle--it's a great machine. But we really don't need it anymore. Let NASA get on to the next big thing (whatever that may be) and let private industry take over supplying ISS with people and supplies.
Where do you get the fuel to nip out, catch the vehicle, and bring it back in?
What to do about it? Launch another one. Either that or wait until November and have the Space Shuttle go pick it up...
...even when held the same way?
I thought not.
I've heard plenty of people complain about dropped calls on their iPhone. It's usually accompanied by a statement such as, "It's so weird because my phone is displaying four bars..."
FTFA (emphasis mine):
Capacitors [...] are not meant to pop and leak fluid, but that is exactly what was happening earlier this decade, causing computers made by Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and others to break.
Of course, Apple fixed the machines without making a big deal out of it...
As much as I sympathize with people who would like to have completely ad-free content, Hulu has pretty much won the battle. People just don't seem to mind three or four 15-30 second breaks during a show, or the occasional 60 second ad.
True. But it might bother them if they're paying $9.99 for the privilege.
Three letters: D, V, R.
If Apple goes to another carrier, Sprint and T-Mobile are the more likely candidates.
Well, Sprint runs CDMA so it would probably be the same issue, I believe. T-Mobile is far more likely--like AT&T, they already use GSM/EDGE. An unlocked iPhone 3G will work with voice and non-3G data on T-Mobile. If I understand correctly, the only issue with T-Mobile 3G is it uses a different frequency than AT&T's.
Now, the iPhone 4 is a Quad Band phone, supporting 3G in the 850, 900, 1900, and 2100MHz bands and GSM/EDGE in the 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz bands. T-Mobile runs it's 3G service in the 1700MHz and 2100MHz bands. Does this mean that you might be able to get T-Mobile's 3G to work on an unlocked iPhone 4?
Also, Verizon will use LTE only for data, initially. So you'll still need CDMA for voice. So you'd need both radios. Surf the web, talk on the phone, watch your battery drain.
Oh, certainly, if I grabbed the antenna on the Nexus One, I suppose the same thing would happen.
That said, I would rashly assume that HTC didn't place the antenna on the Nexus One somewhere where I might actually be holding the phone.
Actually, I'll come up with an answer for this.
Suppose a particular band plays a concert in the Des Moines, IA. Let's also say that the record label is doing some marketing for the band in Cincinnati, OH. During this same time, the band sells 32% more music. Was it the marketing or the concerts that helped the band sell more music?
Currently, a music store will report sales of CDs to the labels--there's usually some sort of agreement there. So if the band plays a concert in Des Moines and record stores in Des Moines start selling lots of CDs of the band's music, you have some evidence that the concert helped sell CDs. In an iTunes world, unfortunately, you don't have that same data. The bump in sales could be due to the concert in Des Moines, the fact that their slick new video got mentioned on Slashdot, or the rumor that the band's drummer is dating Taylor Swift.
So, yeah, information like this can be useful.
While I agree with the sentiment, I'm not sure that license plate belongs to you.
I'd point out that one of your Shuttle mission failures is a problem in re-entry, something that the other boosters don't have to deal with.
Or, to quote Tom Lehrer, "'The rockets go up. Who cares where they come down?' These are the words of Werner Von Braun."