Another suggestion over there was Y!Phone. That sounds like a good idea, we need that in America too (or at least China- 3 providers (one GSM/GPRS/WiFi, one other GSM/CDMA/1x- as in no GPRS, and one PHS) is NOT real competition. For that matter, China is really far behind Japan despite being so close- there isn't even EDGE, for that matter, and I have no clue when UMTS will happen. Eh- as long as Vodafone is still recognizable as Vodafone (or formerly Vodafone) at the end of this process, then I'll be happy when I move in a couple of years. Otherwise, DoCoMo and AU are not so attractive until I can use their phones in the US unlocked (or in the case of DoCoMo, at least a 3g-enabled country like HK (although Willcom phones can be unlocked to be used on Chinese PHS networks- and so cheap compared to GSM/CDMA phones with equivalent features!
They did something similar for the Athens Olympics(they opened up a temporary cell in Athens during the Olympics- not sure if they did this in Turin/Torino), and even charged as if the callers using the cell were still in Japan. This may be the start of DoCoMo opening up in Australia, or possibly 3G roaming- I think that the 3G phones all ran on UMTS 2100, same as 3 Australia. In the other hand, if it was a PDC phone, then you have a miracle on your hands. On yet another hand, if it was a PHS handset, then it could be a DoCoMo microcell. They sell a "home base station" that plugs into your phone line so that your PHS can act as a cordless phone. That may be illegal to use depending on radio transmission laws in Australia, though, and it definitely has to be set up for your PHS handset, but that might be more likely. If it was a clamshell or straight(or brick or candybar or whatever you call it) unit, it might have been a PHS
This might be the end of cool phones...
on
Vodafone Quitting Japan
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· Score: 3, Informative
I most certainly hope that Vodafone doesn't quit right now. Their biggest advantage is that they are attracting sales from people who want to unlock their phones to use in America/Asia/Europe/wherever else besides Japan and from foreigners in Japan. If a domestic company takes over, we might not see phones that can be unlocked in America (see DoCoMo's only 3G/GSM/GPRS phone) anymore, which means a loss in handset sales, and a drop in subscriptions from foreigners. A friend of mine from Nara says that she and her company use Vodafone, and while that may be personal narrative, she sounded genuinely satisfied with it, and Vodafone will be my next service provider as soon as I move out of China to Japan. That, or someone finds out a way to unlock a DoCoMo 3G phone to at least use in UMTS-enabled areas like Hong Kong.
Disclaimer- it's late in China where I'm posting from, so this might not be entirely coherent, but I try.
I was wondering why the Japanese ice cream shop said "everything in our ice cream fresh from the cow", when I thought that vanilla couldn't come from a cow...
Well... In China, I can get MP3 players that record off the radio at lossless (ok, only in WAV format at 32k stereo), and they are all over the place. If Chinese people at the factories decide to sneak unrestricted radio recording (or a foreign company "encourages" their manufacturing facilities to do so) into the MP3 players made for America and post the info on a Chinese website in English(to avoid the DMCA), then that might do one of 2 things-
A. make the RIAA lobby to cut China's "most facored nation" status because they infringe copyright, and maybe to drop trade with the country
b. make American companies move manufacturing facilities to America
c. make China confront the US on this issue and possibly make the first time that the US has to bow to China.
Maybe this doesn't make sense, but I'm posting from China late at night.
Maybe in America, but I just bought mine new for a friend at the Apple Store online in CHINA- I even provided the link earlier- it's selling NEW in the Apple Store (all right, I would like them to phase out this thing too, but I didn't see any macbooks at any of the apple resellers in Shanghai) (In fact, the Chinese site only got the MacBook announcement a few weeks after the rest of the world did so mabe China is just a little slow). It feels like Apple is sending a mixed message in China- "powerbooks are still available, macbooks aren't" at the stores versus "we have macbooks and don't really want you to buy macbooks anymore" online.
Sorry I didn't make it clear the first time, but in my area of Shanghai, the locals tend to treat foreigners "differently"- for example "iLife costs exactly what you would pay in whereever you are from, and iPods cost about 50% more than in America" versus "oh, iLife comes at the really low price of $4 and iPods cost a little less than what they do in America (if you don't want sales tax"(this is achieved by the factories producing "extra" batches of iPods here, and I can see then do it- the factory is right behind my school). I didn't mean it as a racial insult. Oh, and officially, iPods do cost more in China (for most people- the shops will drop the price if you don't want to pay sales tax and make the transaction "under-the-table") - see here (for reference, 800RMB=$100US- Apple Store China and even then, they list the prices higher at the physical stores (estimated markup of 7%) to profit extra off the foreigners, and only offer standard or lower prices o ethnic Chinese/Koreans)(because they sometimes can't tell the difference if they all speak Chinese and Shanghainese)(yes, that is a real dialect of Chinese)
I'm amazed that they are still selling the 15in PB
on
MacBook Pro Reviewed
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· Score: 1
The MacBook Pro looks great, and it is amazing that they still sell the Powerbook 15inch at the same price as the MacBook Pro- and the MacBook Pro has a better configuration at the same price. If you think I'm lying about them still selling the 15inch powerbook, then look here- Apple China Store . But, the site makes no mention of how well apps perform under Rosetta compared to native PPC operation.
They presented themselves to me as an official apple store, and from what you say, it seems that this one does not "officially" exist- maybe they are just an authorized reseller, but I am most definitely not making shit up. If you think that, then you haven't been there as an ethnic Chinese person- you are just a foreigner that has no first-hand experience in the suburbs (or at least my particular suburb) of Shanghai, China.
I pity the poor people who don't understand enough Chinese to use Yahoo! China MP3 search and download because Yahoo has got it right in China. Free, and it's got to be legal, right? It's Yahoo that's doing this, the RIAA would have attracted attention to this a long time ago if this was illegal. Try it with the help of babelfish or something, and see if you like it. It covers a whole lot, and will most definitely have what you're looking for. Bonus- no threat of being sued! This is the direction that Yahoo may be taking with the discussion, but maybe not...
Really... If they can sell iLife for about 10% of its American sale price in China in an official Apple Store, then I think that they can use the profit margins from their iPods to keep them afloat (iPods are about 120% of their American sale price in China)
It seems that Apple's US operations seem to be running a little behind the times... because here in China, while I can get an iPod Shuffle 512MB for $70 (not a typo), the software comes along much cheaper (like I can buy iLife for about $5), and this is at an APPLE STORE. Also, while they didn't tolerate hacking as much in the US (witness this legal threat), they have done nothing to the main OSx86 BBS (I mean forum, to non-Chinese people) in China, OSx86 China and people at the Apple Store have directed me to that web site once they knew that I wouldn't complain to them if I couldn't make it work.
On a related note (disclaimer)... I have been using an example of an official Apple Store where I live to and what it does, but this store may not necessarily be official, just that they look official, and they say that they are official, and have sufficiently proved to me that they are official (showed me that they have access to internal Apple systems and all that).
What I mean is that they should not be trying to deter hackers, but rather encourage those who are smart enough to hack it, and discourage those who can't.
You have to look at Yahoo from all sides- its China deparement does more than what you read on Slashdot every so often- look at http://mp3.yahoo.com.cn/ provides a convienient search engine for all MP3s on the web, lyrics and ringtone versions included, Chinese or not. So while Yahoo America has to turn people in for downloading MP3s off the web, Yahoo "must comply with all local laws" and only those laws- forcing Yahoo to abide by American laws would also remove this wonderful service that I use in place of a P2P network.
Really, I think that a large part of this copyright extension is profit motive, because when you go to look at countries like China, where World of Warcraft sells for about $12, and online play is not a subscription system- a $3 prepaid card gets you about 67 hours at a time. Also, in Shanghai, an OFFICIAL Apple Store near where I live sells copies of programs like Aperture and MacOS X for about $4-5, and allowed a measure of "haggling" over the prices of iPods and accessories (not on the actual Macs, though)- These are examples of companies willing to dump profit to accomodate a market used to cheap EVERYTHING, and if such prices existed in America, the sales would be so high that there would be no need for artificial "protection".
And before anyone calls BS on me for this, keep in mind that I LIVE in Shanghai, and I am a native Chinese, so I feel like I am qualified to comment on the situation here (and also, to the paranoid people- I am NOT introducing race as a factor of preference, just stating it because I feel like it might comfort people to know that it is not just a tourist spewing off about a place he barely knows about (again, not a stereotype, just that I've seen a lot of those lately)
We might not see decent broadband usage until we start getting the same value for money that exists in Asia-
China: 2Mb connection is about $15 per month or dialup (full 56k V.92) at about $.01 per minute ($20 with Starbucks and McDonalds hotspots, and certain others, bundled in) (This is the "budget" end that the US should be aiming for)
Japan- 100Mb connection comes in about $50 per month (This is the "high-end" that the US should be aiming for)
The US- far behind in therms of value, with a 6Mb connection costing about $50 per month.
And before you start calling BS on me, I've lived in both countries (actually, currently living in Shanghai, China) for about a year each VERY RECENTLY.
Only when broadband is this cheap or this fast will broadband be widely accepted in the US.
I just saw that page and most of it is NOT true (at least, not in Shanghai) but maybe that's because of the cheap labor (and cheap everything else) here in China (?)
They're not piracy-free, but what I also want to say is that if these things can still turn a reasonable profit (I asked, they have a 3% profit margin) at such a cheap price (and Apple China is condoning this action, otherwise they would crack down on such actions IN THEIR OWN STORES if it is not in their best interests) then why isn't Apple making enough profit to untie Mac OS X from the Mac?
Slashdot Mirror
Another suggestion over there was Y!Phone. That sounds like a good idea, we need that in America too (or at least China- 3 providers (one GSM/GPRS/WiFi, one other GSM/CDMA/1x- as in no GPRS, and one PHS) is NOT real competition. For that matter, China is really far behind Japan despite being so close- there isn't even EDGE, for that matter, and I have no clue when UMTS will happen. Eh- as long as Vodafone is still recognizable as Vodafone (or formerly Vodafone) at the end of this process, then I'll be happy when I move in a couple of years. Otherwise, DoCoMo and AU are not so attractive until I can use their phones in the US unlocked (or in the case of DoCoMo, at least a 3g-enabled country like HK (although Willcom phones can be unlocked to be used on Chinese PHS networks- and so cheap compared to GSM/CDMA phones with equivalent features!
They did something similar for the Athens Olympics(they opened up a temporary cell in Athens during the Olympics- not sure if they did this in Turin/Torino), and even charged as if the callers using the cell were still in Japan. This may be the start of DoCoMo opening up in Australia, or possibly 3G roaming- I think that the 3G phones all ran on UMTS 2100, same as 3 Australia. In the other hand, if it was a PDC phone, then you have a miracle on your hands. On yet another hand, if it was a PHS handset, then it could be a DoCoMo microcell. They sell a "home base station" that plugs into your phone line so that your PHS can act as a cordless phone. That may be illegal to use depending on radio transmission laws in Australia, though, and it definitely has to be set up for your PHS handset, but that might be more likely. If it was a clamshell or straight(or brick or candybar or whatever you call it) unit, it might have been a PHS
I most certainly hope that Vodafone doesn't quit right now. Their biggest advantage is that they are attracting sales from people who want to unlock their phones to use in America/Asia/Europe/wherever else besides Japan and from foreigners in Japan. If a domestic company takes over, we might not see phones that can be unlocked in America (see DoCoMo's only 3G/GSM/GPRS phone) anymore, which means a loss in handset sales, and a drop in subscriptions from foreigners. A friend of mine from Nara says that she and her company use Vodafone, and while that may be personal narrative, she sounded genuinely satisfied with it, and Vodafone will be my next service provider as soon as I move out of China to Japan. That, or someone finds out a way to unlock a DoCoMo 3G phone to at least use in UMTS-enabled areas like Hong Kong. Disclaimer- it's late in China where I'm posting from, so this might not be entirely coherent, but I try.
I was wondering why the Japanese ice cream shop said "everything in our ice cream fresh from the cow", when I thought that vanilla couldn't come from a cow...
Well... In China, I can get MP3 players that record off the radio at lossless (ok, only in WAV format at 32k stereo), and they are all over the place. If Chinese people at the factories decide to sneak unrestricted radio recording (or a foreign company "encourages" their manufacturing facilities to do so) into the MP3 players made for America and post the info on a Chinese website in English(to avoid the DMCA), then that might do one of 2 things- A. make the RIAA lobby to cut China's "most facored nation" status because they infringe copyright, and maybe to drop trade with the country b. make American companies move manufacturing facilities to America c. make China confront the US on this issue and possibly make the first time that the US has to bow to China. Maybe this doesn't make sense, but I'm posting from China late at night.
Maybe in America, but I just bought mine new for a friend at the Apple Store online in CHINA- I even provided the link earlier- it's selling NEW in the Apple Store (all right, I would like them to phase out this thing too, but I didn't see any macbooks at any of the apple resellers in Shanghai) (In fact, the Chinese site only got the MacBook announcement a few weeks after the rest of the world did so mabe China is just a little slow). It feels like Apple is sending a mixed message in China- "powerbooks are still available, macbooks aren't" at the stores versus "we have macbooks and don't really want you to buy macbooks anymore" online.
Sorry I didn't make it clear the first time, but in my area of Shanghai, the locals tend to treat foreigners "differently"- for example "iLife costs exactly what you would pay in whereever you are from, and iPods cost about 50% more than in America" versus "oh, iLife comes at the really low price of $4 and iPods cost a little less than what they do in America (if you don't want sales tax"(this is achieved by the factories producing "extra" batches of iPods here, and I can see then do it- the factory is right behind my school). I didn't mean it as a racial insult. Oh, and officially, iPods do cost more in China (for most people- the shops will drop the price if you don't want to pay sales tax and make the transaction "under-the-table") - see here (for reference, 800RMB=$100US- Apple Store China and even then, they list the prices higher at the physical stores (estimated markup of 7%) to profit extra off the foreigners, and only offer standard or lower prices o ethnic Chinese/Koreans)(because they sometimes can't tell the difference if they all speak Chinese and Shanghainese)(yes, that is a real dialect of Chinese)
The MacBook Pro looks great, and it is amazing that they still sell the Powerbook 15inch at the same price as the MacBook Pro- and the MacBook Pro has a better configuration at the same price. If you think I'm lying about them still selling the 15inch powerbook, then look here- Apple China Store . But, the site makes no mention of how well apps perform under Rosetta compared to native PPC operation.
They presented themselves to me as an official apple store, and from what you say, it seems that this one does not "officially" exist- maybe they are just an authorized reseller, but I am most definitely not making shit up. If you think that, then you haven't been there as an ethnic Chinese person- you are just a foreigner that has no first-hand experience in the suburbs (or at least my particular suburb) of Shanghai, China.
I pity the poor people who don't understand enough Chinese to use Yahoo! China MP3 search and download because Yahoo has got it right in China. Free, and it's got to be legal, right? It's Yahoo that's doing this, the RIAA would have attracted attention to this a long time ago if this was illegal. Try it with the help of babelfish or something, and see if you like it. It covers a whole lot, and will most definitely have what you're looking for. Bonus- no threat of being sued! This is the direction that Yahoo may be taking with the discussion, but maybe not...
There aren't? Sorry... I've been fooled, apparently. That is a clarification I thank you for, since I would not have known better otherwise.
Really... If they can sell iLife for about 10% of its American sale price in China in an official Apple Store, then I think that they can use the profit margins from their iPods to keep them afloat (iPods are about 120% of their American sale price in China)
It seems that Apple's US operations seem to be running a little behind the times... because here in China, while I can get an iPod Shuffle 512MB for $70 (not a typo), the software comes along much cheaper (like I can buy iLife for about $5), and this is at an APPLE STORE. Also, while they didn't tolerate hacking as much in the US (witness this legal threat), they have done nothing to the main OSx86 BBS (I mean forum, to non-Chinese people) in China, OSx86 China and people at the Apple Store have directed me to that web site once they knew that I wouldn't complain to them if I couldn't make it work.
On a related note (disclaimer)... I have been using an example of an official Apple Store where I live to and what it does, but this store may not necessarily be official, just that they look official, and they say that they are official, and have sufficiently proved to me that they are official (showed me that they have access to internal Apple systems and all that).
What I mean is that they should not be trying to deter hackers, but rather encourage those who are smart enough to hack it, and discourage those who can't.
You have to look at Yahoo from all sides- its China deparement does more than what you read on Slashdot every so often- look at http://mp3.yahoo.com.cn/ provides a convienient search engine for all MP3s on the web, lyrics and ringtone versions included, Chinese or not. So while Yahoo America has to turn people in for downloading MP3s off the web, Yahoo "must comply with all local laws" and only those laws- forcing Yahoo to abide by American laws would also remove this wonderful service that I use in place of a P2P network.
Really, I think that a large part of this copyright extension is profit motive, because when you go to look at countries like China, where World of Warcraft sells for about $12, and online play is not a subscription system- a $3 prepaid card gets you about 67 hours at a time. Also, in Shanghai, an OFFICIAL Apple Store near where I live sells copies of programs like Aperture and MacOS X for about $4-5, and allowed a measure of "haggling" over the prices of iPods and accessories (not on the actual Macs, though)- These are examples of companies willing to dump profit to accomodate a market used to cheap EVERYTHING, and if such prices existed in America, the sales would be so high that there would be no need for artificial "protection".
And before anyone calls BS on me for this, keep in mind that I LIVE in Shanghai, and I am a native Chinese, so I feel like I am qualified to comment on the situation here (and also, to the paranoid people- I am NOT introducing race as a factor of preference, just stating it because I feel like it might comfort people to know that it is not just a tourist spewing off about a place he barely knows about (again, not a stereotype, just that I've seen a lot of those lately)
We might not see decent broadband usage until we start getting the same value for money that exists in Asia- China: 2Mb connection is about $15 per month or dialup (full 56k V.92) at about $.01 per minute ($20 with Starbucks and McDonalds hotspots, and certain others, bundled in) (This is the "budget" end that the US should be aiming for) Japan- 100Mb connection comes in about $50 per month (This is the "high-end" that the US should be aiming for) The US- far behind in therms of value, with a 6Mb connection costing about $50 per month. And before you start calling BS on me, I've lived in both countries (actually, currently living in Shanghai, China) for about a year each VERY RECENTLY. Only when broadband is this cheap or this fast will broadband be widely accepted in the US.
I just saw that page and most of it is NOT true (at least, not in Shanghai) but maybe that's because of the cheap labor (and cheap everything else) here in China (?)
They're not piracy-free, but what I also want to say is that if these things can still turn a reasonable profit (I asked, they have a 3% profit margin) at such a cheap price (and Apple China is condoning this action, otherwise they would crack down on such actions IN THEIR OWN STORES if it is not in their best interests) then why isn't Apple making enough profit to untie Mac OS X from the Mac?