UK government has much more clout against US pressure. They were in bed during the Bush/Blair administration, but that affair was completely consensual.
And there's the House of Lords, which resists bribes^H^H^H^H^H^Hcampaign contributions. Not sure if Sweden has an equivalent, but I'd imagine Swedish nobility is probably poorer than British nobility.
The fact is, the west has very little that the Chinese actually want to buy, or cannot manufacture themselves.
This isn't true. It applies most for the consumer market, though a lot of wealthier Chinese people like foreign name brands. But for the industrial market (B2B), foreign engineering is still leaps and bounds ahead of what comes out of Chinese factories. It's fine and dandy to be able to produce toys that have tolerances of maybe 1/4", but if they want machines that'll do 1/128" tolerances, they'll have to buy European or American, and that's really what a lot of foreign companies do there--provide the engineering and manufacturing expertise that China simply doesn't have. Now, whether they're going to be doing the same things there in 10 years is hard to say, but if the first world continues to progress in these fields, who's to say China will surpass the first world in this respect.
Likewise in the technology front, do you really think China has the equivalent of a CISCO or IBM? No. It's not just about hardware or software, but the expertise to manage, maintain, and improve and existing equipment. Otherwise, China could have bought one of each model of CISCO routers, reverse-engineered them, and thrown CISCO out of the country.
Maybe in 30 years, China will equal or surpass the first world, and it won't need the rest of the world. But as things stand now, it needs the expertise that the rest of the world has in order to continue to modernize and continue to raise living standards for the general populace.
Not that they place nice. Not at all. But neither do first world companies (especially the things they make their respective governments do), so it's actually an even playing field.
This is something of a special case. Google's not supposed to be evil. Setting this kind of prescedent when none such exists in the industry is pretty damn evil. Watch every other phone manufacturer change their terms to the same thing.
That having been said, I'm not getting a Nexus One, through the carrier or not. I was looking at it seriously, but now not so much.
There's also the manufacturing cost. It may cost a few thousand dollars to produce one. That cost is fine for a prototype, but not so fine for something to go to production. Something like the B&W screen probably would have to be produced for less than or around $50 for E-Ink to be able to sell it well enough to recoup their research and overhead costs.
I think the patent duration works in our favor for these types of things. It'll be another 20 years before we actually see somebody try to stuff this down our throats.
It's what the EFF should do--patent DRM schemes, and due the pants off anybody who tries to use them.
He's only a little too early because the "touch" of most touch screens still suck. As soon as they can come up with a capacitive touch screen that you can use with a stylus, you'd better believe that tablet sales will soar. That, and they need to extend the battery life, which is partly what eBook readers are trying to do. And if they can bring the price down to around 400 bucks, that's when tablets will really become popular.
I'll bet the technology is out there too. It's only a matter of patents.
I agree that the awards do a very important public service. Just because they do it in a humorous way doesn't make it any less important. Not everybody knows that paint is toxic to breathe in. Not everybody looks before they leap (how many times have you sat on your remote control that's laying on the couch). These stories, while humorous, have very important lessons. After all, common sense isn't nearly so common.
The humor softens the blow, so to speak. If a somebody went around telling grown adults to look before leaping or they might die, most people would likely brush it off as a nag or a lecture or some crazy talk. But if the lesson is masked with humor, it goes in easier. A spoonful of sugar, as some might say.
As for your classmate, I wouldn't judge without knowing the whole story. Perhaps the driver was distracted, or perhaps the driver had a heart attack.
I think the terminology used leads to confusion in the layman. "Dark matter" sounds like it's something real, like matter but that's undetectable. In actuality, it's just a placeholder for something unknonwn, like null in a database. It could be undiscovered matter, or it could be an undiscovered property of known matter. By giving it a term, most people end up with the impression that it's the former rather than both.
And you can always extradite, if the home country allows it. That seems to be very popular these days.
Though, if your home country was run by organized crime bosses, you'd be in the clear for whatever you did outside of that country as long as it was for them. But that applies to diplomats and possibly foreigners visiting. It certainly doesn't apply to interpol.
That, and the choice to stay on the balloon while he was drifting out to sea. Sure, he might've been scared at leaping into the air, but he should've been prepared for that scenario.
I believe it needs a small amount of power to keep the antenna pointed towards us in order to continue to receive commands.
Maybe in the future, we can design solar panels that won't collect dust over time. Or figure out how to turn the radioactive heating units into emergency backup power.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, we should limit drivers to only those certified and licensed.
Oh wait...
UK government has much more clout against US pressure. They were in bed during the Bush/Blair administration, but that affair was completely consensual.
And there's the House of Lords, which resists bribes^H^H^H^H^H^Hcampaign contributions. Not sure if Sweden has an equivalent, but I'd imagine Swedish nobility is probably poorer than British nobility.
Or, you could make everything out of Lego. But the power functions are made in China, so you'll have to make do with lots of hand-cranking.
It's a little too late. The bun in the oven is starting to rise.
The fact is, the west has very little that the Chinese actually want to buy, or cannot manufacture themselves.
This isn't true. It applies most for the consumer market, though a lot of wealthier Chinese people like foreign name brands. But for the industrial market (B2B), foreign engineering is still leaps and bounds ahead of what comes out of Chinese factories. It's fine and dandy to be able to produce toys that have tolerances of maybe 1/4", but if they want machines that'll do 1/128" tolerances, they'll have to buy European or American, and that's really what a lot of foreign companies do there--provide the engineering and manufacturing expertise that China simply doesn't have. Now, whether they're going to be doing the same things there in 10 years is hard to say, but if the first world continues to progress in these fields, who's to say China will surpass the first world in this respect.
Likewise in the technology front, do you really think China has the equivalent of a CISCO or IBM? No. It's not just about hardware or software, but the expertise to manage, maintain, and improve and existing equipment. Otherwise, China could have bought one of each model of CISCO routers, reverse-engineered them, and thrown CISCO out of the country.
Maybe in 30 years, China will equal or surpass the first world, and it won't need the rest of the world. But as things stand now, it needs the expertise that the rest of the world has in order to continue to modernize and continue to raise living standards for the general populace.
Not that they place nice. Not at all. But neither do first world companies (especially the things they make their respective governments do), so it's actually an even playing field.
This is something of a special case. Google's not supposed to be evil. Setting this kind of prescedent when none such exists in the industry is pretty damn evil. Watch every other phone manufacturer change their terms to the same thing.
That having been said, I'm not getting a Nexus One, through the carrier or not. I was looking at it seriously, but now not so much.
There's also the manufacturing cost. It may cost a few thousand dollars to produce one. That cost is fine for a prototype, but not so fine for something to go to production. Something like the B&W screen probably would have to be produced for less than or around $50 for E-Ink to be able to sell it well enough to recoup their research and overhead costs.
Actually, they tend to stick together, so maybe it's the opposite.
I think the patent duration works in our favor for these types of things. It'll be another 20 years before we actually see somebody try to stuff this down our throats.
It's what the EFF should do--patent DRM schemes, and due the pants off anybody who tries to use them.
Google reportedly does not have plans to actively become an energy broker
Yet.
These aren't the droids you're looking for.
After all, that's how he reads 'em fancy newfangled electronic males.
He's into gay porn too?
Yeah, when I went to Disney, those mouse heads were huge!
How's that for anecdotal evidence?
He's only a little too early because the "touch" of most touch screens still suck. As soon as they can come up with a capacitive touch screen that you can use with a stylus, you'd better believe that tablet sales will soar. That, and they need to extend the battery life, which is partly what eBook readers are trying to do. And if they can bring the price down to around 400 bucks, that's when tablets will really become popular.
I'll bet the technology is out there too. It's only a matter of patents.
Oops, I meant tablets.
Though tables that run Android may be a good idea too...
when I'll get a tablet that provides support for open source.
I believe there are tables running Android.
And here I was wondering exactly how Goldman Sachs could be posting "record profits" every quarter for the last year. This explains everything.
Psychology can be described with game theory and statistics. Though admittedly, most UI designers probably are more intuitive than calculating.
I agree that the awards do a very important public service. Just because they do it in a humorous way doesn't make it any less important. Not everybody knows that paint is toxic to breathe in. Not everybody looks before they leap (how many times have you sat on your remote control that's laying on the couch). These stories, while humorous, have very important lessons. After all, common sense isn't nearly so common.
The humor softens the blow, so to speak. If a somebody went around telling grown adults to look before leaping or they might die, most people would likely brush it off as a nag or a lecture or some crazy talk. But if the lesson is masked with humor, it goes in easier. A spoonful of sugar, as some might say.
As for your classmate, I wouldn't judge without knowing the whole story. Perhaps the driver was distracted, or perhaps the driver had a heart attack.
I think the terminology used leads to confusion in the layman. "Dark matter" sounds like it's something real, like matter but that's undetectable. In actuality, it's just a placeholder for something unknonwn, like null in a database. It could be undiscovered matter, or it could be an undiscovered property of known matter. By giving it a term, most people end up with the impression that it's the former rather than both.
More like GP needs it so he can do whatever he wants while his son sits completely preoccupied in front of the TV.
And you can always extradite, if the home country allows it. That seems to be very popular these days.
Though, if your home country was run by organized crime bosses, you'd be in the clear for whatever you did outside of that country as long as it was for them. But that applies to diplomats and possibly foreigners visiting. It certainly doesn't apply to interpol.
That, and the choice to stay on the balloon while he was drifting out to sea. Sure, he might've been scared at leaping into the air, but he should've been prepared for that scenario.
Now that's a true lifetime achievement award.
I believe it needs a small amount of power to keep the antenna pointed towards us in order to continue to receive commands.
Maybe in the future, we can design solar panels that won't collect dust over time. Or figure out how to turn the radioactive heating units into emergency backup power.