Apart from reading every review possible before making a purchase, what strategy do you have, or propose, for not being caught out?"
Don't buy new products. Seriously, if it is worth buying it will still be on the shelf in six months. Even then I wouldn't buy it until I had read a few *user* reviews, immediately disregarding the top 10%. Check out some forums. Unofficial forums that is, publishers are notorious for nuking negative comments. I do not trust professional reviews. Ever. Even for existing software things can be pretty sketchy for a while. Consider how often Apple manages to botch iTunes, and that's their billion dollar baby. I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but you have to do your due diligence and be patient.
Frankly I don't see this problem going away until it is legislated away. If the bills concerning paid advertisements (i.e. the Sony PSP blog et.al.) have any teeth and clear consumer friendly rules, then reviews might have some value again. Not a lot, but some. Beyond that, liability is the only thing that's going to reign publishers in.
Ready boost caches files there long term. Very little writing is involved and reads don't have an effect on life of flash. Second, errors are known at write time, corruption is not an issue.
Lastly, ready boost doesn't write through the cache. If it needs to be saved, it goes straight to the disk.
Let's pretend $MegaCorp dumps MS Office and implements Google apps. What the fuck am I supposed to use to write my documents, spreadsheets and now presentations if I'm in a car, plane, train, backwards country -- wherever I can't jack into the Net? Notepad?
Same thing you do now. Sync them to your laptop and use whatever apps you would normally. When finished, they get moved back to Google's servers.
Maybe someone could chime in with a use case that makes sense?
I think I figured it out. It's a stop gap for people who don't own iPods but own Bluetooth phones. A ghetto stop gap anyway. Maybe someone will come up with a better idea.
Even if it were more capable, why would you want to carry around a 20 gig drive in your pocket? I already carry an 80 gig iPod in there the only thing it lacks is bluetooth, and only until Apple puts a drive in their iPhone... Which would pretty much eliminate the need for transmitting data to a phone for display.
Any way you cut it you've got two devices, phone and drive, or phone and iPod. And an iPod doesn't drain my phone's batteries.
Maybe someone could chime in with a use case that makes sense?
The cheap/free content management system killed him. And replaced him with the cheap/free blogger, who now generates the vast majority of content on teh interwebs (for better or worse).
Fixed.
Sadly, the average blogger/forum member is a better source of information than the manufacturer. That's not saying much, most corporate web sites are about as useful as tits on a boar. Curiously, this is one area that our beleaguered vendor Microsoft actually has right. Documenting flaws and workarounds where customers can find them.
On a personal note, I fought with a broken driver for my USB wireless adapter for an hour before breaking it open to find out who made the chipset. Did a little bit of research and got it working with the MFR's driver. In the process I also learned that the shipping driver was composed of about 30 meg of re-branding cruft built around a ~280k driver. The manufacturers website doesn't even acknowledge the device exists, and their "support" area amounts to links to the drivers that came on the CD's.
Bah, forget him. People like this have such a narrow point-of-view that there's no way to have a discussion. No inquiry for elaboration, no consideration of how he might be incorrect. Patch managers have been around since the dark ages on all platforms, does he really suppose we've never heard of one? I don't think he really thought about his argument at all.
No surprise. This is the same company that charges you $10 for the ability to use their media player to play videos at full screen, for crying out loud.
I just played a bunch of movies out of iTunes and they all will play "full screen". Front Row plays them full screen. VLC will happily play them full screen... The Quicktime player component itself does not, but QT Pro is $30 (I have no idea if QT Pro plays movies full screen)? So what are you talking about?
They charge $130 for incremental OS updates every 12-18 months, which is basically a subscription service. No, OS X continues to work flawlessly regardless of wether I upgrade or not. Apple doesn't appear to have any trouble getting people to buy the upgrades so there is clearly something worth the time, money, and trouble of doing so.
It could be worse. Linux doesn't charge you, but that's only free if your time is worth nothing. The only reason Microsoft hasn't is because they've buggered themselves to the point that they *can't*. Windows 98, 98 SE, ME, and XP all shipped in close succession.
They're charging $2 to enable the 802.11n hardware that they will ship. This is pretty lame, but they feel they must do this as a matter of law. Paranoid perhaps, but we aren't under SEC investigation either. It's not a done deal either, nor do we have all the information regarding the specific regulations (yet).
Apple is the king of "nickel and dime"ing the user for all it's worth. You ever look at your phone bill?
My banks idea of security is entering a word in an image like you see on so many sites these days.
Those images are distorted so a computer can't just OCR the thing and brute force passwords (my understanding anyhow). This seems to have worked out well enough that you see it everywhere and brute forcing passwords is less of an issue (if at all).
Curiously my bank decided to implement this functionality differently. The background is a grey colored word, and it's always the same word. The "code" is always black.
I'm no genius but to the best of my knowledge this isn't much beyond an exercise in vigorous masturbation. Security through song and dance if you will?
Pretty much, and from what I've read (certainly I could have misunderstood) a Peter Jackson Hobbit movie is pretty much inevitable. The question is wether he does it for New Line soon, or (directly?) for the estate later. The question is how long would they wait after New Line finishes their Hobbit movie?
Certainly if New Line really makes a real smash of a flick without Peter Jackson they may not bother.
It's a shame that you have to be such a run away success in order to have enough money to sue for what you are due.
Why would I need 8 gigs of memory on my phone? I mean, really? Yeah, if you are using your phone as an MP3 player or a movie player, perhaps. But if you use your phone as a phone, why do you need 8 gigs? I have a 512MB SD card in my phone and I don't think it's even 10% full.
That's a straw man, we're talking about why you "really don't see what all the fuss about the iPhone is." and you think the phone is over hyped. Those are reasons why people are excited about it over a Treo et. al. Apple's Integration of the two is a huge part of that.
As soon as the iPhone or Treo has the same size and weight as an iPod Nano and I can comfortably strap it to my left arm when I'm biking, you might have a point. Until then, you're under the mistaken impression that everyone wants a single device for everything. I don't. I don't want a phone as small as an iPod Nano and I don't want an MP3 as large as a phone.
Again, the topic at hand, the question you put forth... Why would someone want this? I was perfectly clear there were many good reasons why someone (such as yourself) carry around two devices. Just because you select your self out of the market doesn't mean it's not interesting to anyone else. To be clear, nobody (not even Steve Jobs) cares why you don't want it. You asked why someone would. If you didn't want an answer you shouldn't have asked.
Don't get me wrong, the Treo is a great phone. I'm just saying in terms of features vs. cost (and then on paper) the iPhone has a number of advantages. Certainly if you do not use an iPod or other media player then this isn't the phone for you.
I'm curious how this repository of uncensorable documents intends to keep their credibility when the 9/11 conspiracy, and moon landing was a hoax crowd move in.
Try adding 8 gig of memory to your Treo. That's right, it will only take 2.
You understand that your Treo *could* be used as an MP3 player but you choose to use an iPod instead. I won't quarrel with you over that, there are a lot of very good reasons many people spend hundreds of dollars on iPod's to do something their phone already does, and they put up with fumbling with an extra device to do it. iPhone lets you ditch one of your devices and the cost is ultimately the same. Ignoring of course that you can not get more than 2 gig of ram in your Treo.
Did you see, the shiny new Treo 750? It is a very nice smart phone, $500 with a 2 year contract. 60mb of storage, 2 gig max.
If you've been considering upgrading to the new Treo 750, you're going to spend $500 with a two year contract. And it only comes with 64 MB of ram and a best case expansion of 2 gig which puts the price at $550 and is obviously inferior on paper.
I'm just saying Apple isn't breaking ground on cell phone price points in this category.
Indeed, part of the justification in this cost is that it is your iPod too. I would definitely buy this if I was inclined to carry a flash based iPod.
Factor in that convenience/expense and the cost is competitive. Of course if you don't use an iPod, you have the current argument that it's a damn expensive phone. Of course, if you outfit your smart phone with 8 gig of ram (ignoring for the moment that you *can't*!) it's actually a pretty good deal compared to many smart phones.
The only reason I am hesitating on buying one is that I like having my whole library with me and right now that comes in at around 45 gig of 128kpbs aac files. Well, that and it's a 1.0 product. I'd rather read the/. discussion on the odd problems than experience them. I'm not sure these will hold me back since I need a smart phone, and a lot of memory to begin with.
I've nothing against forming a clan for a ranked game (or ideally ranked games for clans) they just didn't design this particular game to support that kind of game play in ranked games.
There is no such thing as a "private" server, all games are played over Microsoft's Live service.
When the system is exploited this easily, finding a "clean" game can be difficult or impossible and is incredibly time consuming. Once you join a channel you're committed for 5-6 minutes. If you leave the game you get negative comments on your profile. Some of the exploits are not immediately obvious if you notice at all. Microsoft/Epic do care because they spent a tremendous amount of time and money on a game that has a reputation for a lame ranked game system. Valve too has spent a lot of time and effort resolving exploits and other problems with private CS servers. But as you said, you could always move to a different CS server if you didn't like they way someone ran theirs.
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Well, it's not really an "Award" as much as it is offering a developer a contract.
Just like this isn't as much an announcement as it is a PR stunt.
I don't think they can make a DS9 movie because of the law they passed that hollywood has to make only movies that suck.
I hear Shatner is in negotiations.
Apart from reading every review possible before making a purchase, what strategy do you have, or propose, for not being caught out?"
Don't buy new products. Seriously, if it is worth buying it will still be on the shelf in six months. Even then I wouldn't buy it until I had read a few *user* reviews, immediately disregarding the top 10%. Check out some forums. Unofficial forums that is, publishers are notorious for nuking negative comments. I do not trust professional reviews. Ever. Even for existing software things can be pretty sketchy for a while. Consider how often Apple manages to botch iTunes, and that's their billion dollar baby. I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but you have to do your due diligence and be patient.
Frankly I don't see this problem going away until it is legislated away. If the bills concerning paid advertisements (i.e. the Sony PSP blog et.al.) have any teeth and clear consumer friendly rules, then reviews might have some value again. Not a lot, but some. Beyond that, liability is the only thing that's going to reign publishers in.
Forget that. Get them before they hire lawyers!
Ready boost caches files there long term. Very little writing is involved and reads don't have an effect on life of flash. Second, errors are known at write time, corruption is not an issue.
Lastly, ready boost doesn't write through the cache. If it needs to be saved, it goes straight to the disk.
That is all.
Let's pretend $MegaCorp dumps MS Office and implements Google apps. What the fuck am I supposed to use to write my documents, spreadsheets and now presentations if I'm in a car, plane, train, backwards country -- wherever I can't jack into the Net? Notepad?
Same thing you do now. Sync them to your laptop and use whatever apps you would normally. When finished, they get moved back to Google's servers.
Did I miss the point? Why would anything change?
Maybe someone could chime in with a use case that makes sense?
I think I figured it out. It's a stop gap for people who don't own iPods but own Bluetooth phones. A ghetto stop gap anyway. Maybe someone will come up with a better idea.
Even if it were more capable, why would you want to carry around a 20 gig drive in your pocket? I already carry an 80 gig iPod in there the only thing it lacks is bluetooth, and only until Apple puts a drive in their iPhone... Which would pretty much eliminate the need for transmitting data to a phone for display.
Any way you cut it you've got two devices, phone and drive, or phone and iPod. And an iPod doesn't drain my phone's batteries.
Maybe someone could chime in with a use case that makes sense?
The cheap/free content management system killed him. And replaced him with the cheap/free blogger, who now generates the vast majority of content on teh interwebs (for better or worse).
Fixed.
Sadly, the average blogger/forum member is a better source of information than the manufacturer. That's not saying much, most corporate web sites are about as useful as tits on a boar. Curiously, this is one area that our beleaguered vendor Microsoft actually has right. Documenting flaws and workarounds where customers can find them.
On a personal note, I fought with a broken driver for my USB wireless adapter for an hour before breaking it open to find out who made the chipset. Did a little bit of research and got it working with the MFR's driver. In the process I also learned that the shipping driver was composed of about 30 meg of re-branding cruft built around a ~280k driver. The manufacturers website doesn't even acknowledge the device exists, and their "support" area amounts to links to the drivers that came on the CD's.
Considering the quality of Google Maps other airplane based imagery I think they'll be alright.
Bah, forget him. People like this have such a narrow point-of-view that there's no way to have a discussion. No inquiry for elaboration, no consideration of how he might be incorrect. Patch managers have been around since the dark ages on all platforms, does he really suppose we've never heard of one? I don't think he really thought about his argument at all.
No surprise. This is the same company that charges you $10 for the ability to use their media player to play videos at full screen, for crying out loud.
I just played a bunch of movies out of iTunes and they all will play "full screen". Front Row plays them full screen. VLC will happily play them full screen... The Quicktime player component itself does not, but QT Pro is $30 (I have no idea if QT Pro plays movies full screen)? So what are you talking about?
They charge $130 for incremental OS updates every 12-18 months, which is basically a subscription service.
No, OS X continues to work flawlessly regardless of wether I upgrade or not. Apple doesn't appear to have any trouble getting people to buy the upgrades so there is clearly something worth the time, money, and trouble of doing so.
It could be worse. Linux doesn't charge you, but that's only free if your time is worth nothing. The only reason Microsoft hasn't is because they've buggered themselves to the point that they *can't*. Windows 98, 98 SE, ME, and XP all shipped in close succession.
They're charging $2 to enable the 802.11n hardware that they will ship.
This is pretty lame, but they feel they must do this as a matter of law. Paranoid perhaps, but we aren't under SEC investigation either. It's not a done deal either, nor do we have all the information regarding the specific regulations (yet).
Apple is the king of "nickel and dime"ing the user for all it's worth.
You ever look at your phone bill?
Just to be clear, those words aren't distorted at all. Always the same (very clean looking) font, always in the same position.
My banks idea of security is entering a word in an image like you see on so many sites these days.
Those images are distorted so a computer can't just OCR the thing and brute force passwords (my understanding anyhow). This seems to have worked out well enough that you see it everywhere and brute forcing passwords is less of an issue (if at all).
Curiously my bank decided to implement this functionality differently. The background is a grey colored word, and it's always the same word. The "code" is always black.
I'm no genius but to the best of my knowledge this isn't much beyond an exercise in vigorous masturbation. Security through song and dance if you will?
Pretty much, and from what I've read (certainly I could have misunderstood) a Peter Jackson Hobbit movie is pretty much inevitable. The question is wether he does it for New Line soon, or (directly?) for the estate later. The question is how long would they wait after New Line finishes their Hobbit movie?
Certainly if New Line really makes a real smash of a flick without Peter Jackson they may not bother.
It's a shame that you have to be such a run away success in order to have enough money to sue for what you are due.
Why would I need 8 gigs of memory on my phone? I mean, really? Yeah, if you are using your phone as an MP3 player or a movie player, perhaps. But if you use your phone as a phone, why do you need 8 gigs? I have a 512MB SD card in my phone and I don't think it's even 10% full.
That's a straw man, we're talking about why you "really don't see what all the fuss about the iPhone is." and you think the phone is over hyped. Those are reasons why people are excited about it over a Treo et. al. Apple's Integration of the two is a huge part of that.
As soon as the iPhone or Treo has the same size and weight as an iPod Nano and I can comfortably strap it to my left arm when I'm biking, you might have a point. Until then, you're under the mistaken impression that everyone wants a single device for everything. I don't. I don't want a phone as small as an iPod Nano and I don't want an MP3 as large as a phone.
Again, the topic at hand, the question you put forth... Why would someone want this? I was perfectly clear there were many good reasons why someone (such as yourself) carry around two devices. Just because you select your self out of the market doesn't mean it's not interesting to anyone else. To be clear, nobody (not even Steve Jobs) cares why you don't want it. You asked why someone would. If you didn't want an answer you shouldn't have asked.
Don't get me wrong, the Treo is a great phone. I'm just saying in terms of features vs. cost (and then on paper) the iPhone has a number of advantages. Certainly if you do not use an iPod or other media player then this isn't the phone for you.
Excuse me?
Oh heavens, they aren't in the "truth" business. They're in the secrets business.
I'm curious how this repository of uncensorable documents intends to keep their credibility when the 9/11 conspiracy, and moon landing was a hoax crowd move in.
Try adding 8 gig of memory to your Treo. That's right, it will only take 2.
You understand that your Treo *could* be used as an MP3 player but you choose to use an iPod instead. I won't quarrel with you over that, there are a lot of very good reasons many people spend hundreds of dollars on iPod's to do something their phone already does, and they put up with fumbling with an extra device to do it.
iPhone lets you ditch one of your devices and the cost is ultimately the same. Ignoring of course that you can not get more than 2 gig of ram in your Treo.
Did you see, the shiny new Treo 750? It is a very nice smart phone, $500 with a 2 year contract. 60mb of storage, 2 gig max.
And you still need an iPod.
If you've been considering upgrading to the new Treo 750, you're going to spend $500 with a two year contract. And it only comes with 64 MB of ram and a best case expansion of 2 gig which puts the price at $550 and is obviously inferior on paper.
I'm just saying Apple isn't breaking ground on cell phone price points in this category.
Indeed, part of the justification in this cost is that it is your iPod too. I would definitely buy this if I was inclined to carry a flash based iPod.
/. discussion on the odd problems than experience them. I'm not sure these will hold me back since I need a smart phone, and a lot of memory to begin with.
Factor in that convenience/expense and the cost is competitive. Of course if you don't use an iPod, you have the current argument that it's a damn expensive phone. Of course, if you outfit your smart phone with 8 gig of ram (ignoring for the moment that you *can't*!) it's actually a pretty good deal compared to many smart phones.
The only reason I am hesitating on buying one is that I like having my whole library with me and right now that comes in at around 45 gig of 128kpbs aac files. Well, that and it's a 1.0 product. I'd rather read the
Yay, only 548 days left until we catch up to where the iPod was a year ago! I mean where second rate game playing is concerned.
I've nothing against forming a clan for a ranked game (or ideally ranked games for clans) they just didn't design this particular game to support that kind of game play in ranked games.
There is no such thing as a "private" server, all games are played over Microsoft's Live service.
When the system is exploited this easily, finding a "clean" game can be difficult or impossible and is incredibly time consuming.
Once you join a channel you're committed for 5-6 minutes. If you leave the game you get negative comments on your profile.
Some of the exploits are not immediately obvious if you notice at all.
Microsoft/Epic do care because they spent a tremendous amount of time and money on a game that has a reputation for a lame ranked game system. Valve too has spent a lot of time and effort resolving exploits and other problems with private CS servers. But as you said, you could always move to a different CS server if you didn't like they way someone ran theirs.