I'm well aware of that, but read the quote from TFA.
But I live in Brazil, one of the mains backers of this project, at least vocally. And I know that many kids here could benefit from these computers. But I am sure that this money could be spent elsewhere, because even in this country, which has in general better living standards than many others, there are still a lot of desperate people. People that don't have enough to eat. Millions of people still don't have access to clean water and basic sanitation. I say they should be a priority.
This project is a blessing for corrupt politicians, and we have plenty of them here. They will hand them thinking only in their electoral benefits. They will not care if the laptops will be taken care of, whether there will be proper maintenance or if the kids will be subject to robberies because of the computers. They won't lose a minute of their time wondering if teachers are prepared to deal with computers in the classroom.
I am all for technology, and I do believe they can be of great help to a student. But I believe first that everyone should live in humane conditions, and that the money that's somehow left from corruption should be spent *very* wisely.
"Critics fear that the poorest countries need food, malaria protection and clean water far more than computers. But the XO deserves to overcome those fears."
What a great argument. Of course people in poor countries don't need medicine, clean water and food. They have other priorities, such as laptop computer. And of course they'll just work it all out with these new wonders of technology! It's like the iPhone, only for barefoot, illiterate, sick, starving people.
Maybe Pogue should care to see first-hand what misery is really like before making these outrageous statements from the comfort of his suburban home.
"This is why vinyl fanatics get laughed at by people who know how and why digital audio works."
There's only problem with this: vinyl lovers are not worried about signal-to-noise ratios or the frequencies that are audible to the human ear. It is simply a matter of taste.
Vinyl records, if played in a decent setup (good turntables, good capsules, good speakers - but by no means audiophile gear), do sound different to CDs. They sound warmer, with more presence. That's what vinyl collectors are looking for.
For those wondering about the name, "jogar" means to play. I wonder why they chose Portuguese, though. In Spanish, ti would be "Jugar".
And just to give you a dimension of the Orkut phenomenon here. It had in February some 22 billion page views. The largest portal had something like 1.5 billion page views in the same period. Orkut here is *really* huge.
The funny thing is, as far as I know, they don't make one dime from Orkut. Anyway, I guess it is far easier to make a deal with Nike in a World Cup year than trying to find a way to make money from this huge web property that is Orkut.
PS: I'm from Brazil. And yes, we'll win the World Cup.
Perhaps Gates (and his wife Malinda) are satisfied with vaccinations and hand outs. Things like food, clothing, water, etc. While these things are very helpful in the short run, they unfortunately result in the poor remaining dependant on you for more hand outs. This is convenient if you wish yourself to be seen as a provider.
Well, I don't know where you live, and I really don't care, but let me guess: you have never seen poor people with your own eyes, have you?
These things like food, clothing, water and a *very long* etc. may well result in dependency. They are really useful in the "short run", and you know why? Life is very short indeed if you have no access to these "things".
Without these "things", human beings die. And, as far as I know, people have no use for computers in the afterlife.
So please, stop making everything about Evil Bill. It may get you quickly modded as "insightful" in Slashdot, but not much more than that.
That only images of the Prophet were not allowed, but writing his name was OK.
First China bows to the chinese dicatorship, now Yahoo! tries to out-Islam the islamists...
I guess Bill Gates is not so evil after all.
I don't think will mean much for 99,9% of podcasters out there, since these guys mentioned in the article were already famous when they started their show and, on top of that, had the benefit of being promoted by a newspaper such as The Guardian.
For most podcasters, I still think that donations are the way to go. There's one problem, though. Once you subscribe to a podcast, you rarely return to the site, so I would guess "impulse" donations are harder to come by.
Maybe iTunes (or other aggregators) should include a donate option. I know, it will probably never happen, or they'd get a cut, but this seems to be a fair way of compensate podcasters without creating paid subscriptions.
Let's be realistic.
Rootkit? Bad, bad move.
But thinking that this will keep people from buying the PS3?
What's "so much attention"? We're talking about millions of consoles. Well, Sony might lose some Slashdot customers (not me, by the way).
One very frequent comparison between Wikipedia and Britannica is the number of entries, in which your encyclopedia has a huge advantage.
But is size a good way to measure quality? Isn't there a disporportionate amount of effort put into creating and editing entries that should never make it into an encyclopedia in the first place?
Shouldn't there be some way of prioritizing relevant entries or subjects?
Slashdot Mirror
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/15/funny-pictures-welkum-to-mythbusters/ :D
I'm well aware of that, but read the quote from TFA.
But I live in Brazil, one of the mains backers of this project, at least vocally. And I know that many kids here could benefit from these computers. But I am sure that this money could be spent elsewhere, because even in this country, which has in general better living standards than many others, there are still a lot of desperate people. People that don't have enough to eat. Millions of people still don't have access to clean water and basic sanitation. I say they should be a priority.
This project is a blessing for corrupt politicians, and we have plenty of them here. They will hand them thinking only in their electoral benefits. They will not care if the laptops will be taken care of, whether there will be proper maintenance or if the kids will be subject to robberies because of the computers. They won't lose a minute of their time wondering if teachers are prepared to deal with computers in the classroom.
I am all for technology, and I do believe they can be of great help to a student. But I believe first that everyone should live in humane conditions, and that the money that's somehow left from corruption should be spent *very* wisely.
"Critics fear that the poorest countries need food, malaria protection and clean water far more than computers. But the XO deserves to overcome those fears."
What a great argument. Of course people in poor countries don't need medicine, clean water and food. They have other priorities, such as laptop computer. And of course they'll just work it all out with these new wonders of technology! It's like the iPhone, only for barefoot, illiterate, sick, starving people.
Maybe Pogue should care to see first-hand what misery is really like before making these outrageous statements from the comfort of his suburban home.
hahahahaha Best comment in ages in /.
This is the ultimate copying technology: pirate the records onto new vinyl slabs!
There's only problem with this: vinyl lovers are not worried about signal-to-noise ratios or the frequencies that are audible to the human ear. It is simply a matter of taste.
Vinyl records, if played in a decent setup (good turntables, good capsules, good speakers - but by no means audiophile gear), do sound different to CDs. They sound warmer, with more presence. That's what vinyl collectors are looking for.
It's election year in Brazil, and Lula is going for four more. So I guess that says a lot about the use theses "computers" will have...
I'll still have my martinis without vodka, especially Smirnoff.
Thank you.
... if it's labeled "stupid" and "whocares", why bother posting this in the first place?
For those wondering about the name, "jogar" means to play. I wonder why they chose Portuguese, though. In Spanish, ti would be "Jugar".
And just to give you a dimension of the Orkut phenomenon here. It had in February some 22 billion page views. The largest portal had something like 1.5 billion page views in the same period. Orkut here is *really* huge.
The funny thing is, as far as I know, they don't make one dime from Orkut. Anyway, I guess it is far easier to make a deal with Nike in a World Cup year than trying to find a way to make money from this huge web property that is Orkut.
PS: I'm from Brazil. And yes, we'll win the World Cup.
Perhaps Gates (and his wife Malinda) are satisfied with vaccinations and hand outs. Things like food, clothing, water, etc. While these things are very helpful in the short run, they unfortunately result in the poor remaining dependant on you for more hand outs. This is convenient if you wish yourself to be seen as a provider.
Well, I don't know where you live, and I really don't care, but let me guess: you have never seen poor people with your own eyes, have you?
These things like food, clothing, water and a *very long* etc. may well result in dependency. They are really useful in the "short run", and you know why? Life is very short indeed if you have no access to these "things". Without these "things", human beings die. And, as far as I know, people have no use for computers in the afterlife.
So please, stop making everything about Evil Bill. It may get you quickly modded as "insightful" in Slashdot, but not much more than that.
For you Americans with that watery black liquid you call coffe, make it a jar.
Ugh. Gross.
Or maybe this is intelligent design after all, sprinkling your seed all over one planet.
the data is really safe, since we've seen in the past weeks how this administration is really focused on internet privacy...
Jeeez
...to splash on those annoying people at movie theaters, restaurants...
Will it work, too?
...with pr0n.
(And why did it take Google suche a long time to profit from the mother of all online businessess?)
Of course, Allah is God and Mohammed the Prophet...
That only images of the Prophet were not allowed, but writing his name was OK.
First China bows to the chinese dicatorship, now Yahoo! tries to out-Islam the islamists...
I guess Bill Gates is not so evil after all.
I don't think will mean much for 99,9% of podcasters out there, since these guys mentioned in the article were already famous when they started their show and, on top of that, had the benefit of being promoted by a newspaper such as The Guardian. For most podcasters, I still think that donations are the way to go. There's one problem, though. Once you subscribe to a podcast, you rarely return to the site, so I would guess "impulse" donations are harder to come by. Maybe iTunes (or other aggregators) should include a donate option. I know, it will probably never happen, or they'd get a cut, but this seems to be a fair way of compensate podcasters without creating paid subscriptions.
Let's be realistic. Rootkit? Bad, bad move. But thinking that this will keep people from buying the PS3? What's "so much attention"? We're talking about millions of consoles. Well, Sony might lose some Slashdot customers (not me, by the way).
it showed up in his urine sample. Man, these guys are getting really insidious.
One very frequent comparison between Wikipedia and Britannica is the number of entries, in which your encyclopedia has a huge advantage. But is size a good way to measure quality? Isn't there a disporportionate amount of effort put into creating and editing entries that should never make it into an encyclopedia in the first place? Shouldn't there be some way of prioritizing relevant entries or subjects?