It depends. If you're a business, here's how to decide:
1. Calculate how many dollars you save by not spending the time to support IE6 2. Calculate how many dollars you lose by driving away IE6-only users 3. If #1 >= #2, stop supporting IE6
I have read arguments that antivirus is essentially blacklisting, and that blacklisting makes no sense for security. If you run an exclusive club, you make a list of who IS allowed in. You don't try to list everyone in the world who ISN'T allowed in.
The argument say that the same should be true of programs - instead of trying to keep an up-to-the-second list of all 5 trillion viruses in the world, why not keep a list of the 50 programs that SHOULD be allowed to run, and assume that anything else is bad?
This makes logical sense to me, but (apparently) it isn't done. I assume it's much harder than it sounds. Can anyone explain this?
1) Hopefully, a relatively small number of fonts will become common, and you won't often be asked to download a whole new font 2) In any case, your browser settings or an add-on can be used to say "I don't ever want to download new fonts, or only in these circumstances" 3) Even downloading a whole font is probably better than downloading an image for every chunk of text that uses that font 4) As mentioned before, you also get all the benefits of text: searchability, copy and paste, etc.
For Android to kill GPS, they would have to offer it cheaper than a standalone and provide a working GPS function that did not require a cell phone service contract for it to work.
The interesting thing (to me) is that Google could do this, and I don't see why they wouldn't.
All you need is a device with a decent size hard drive, touch screen, and Wi-Fi capability. It could store Google Map data for a whole country or region (just check off the ones you need), excluding most of the imagery for space considerations. It could auto-update via Wi-Fi at your home or hotel, or using your existing MiFi or whatever else. And it could serve whatever advertising purposes their standard navigation products serve (?), although not with up-to-the-minute info.
Google doesn't need cell carriers for this. Just call it Google Navigation Lite and crank it out.
Wow. Those are some pretty inflexible categories you've got there. Nerds are environmentally-friendly and anti-consumerism, eh? Except when they want shiny gadgets.:)
Also, jerk = low IQ = votes Republican. Yeah, those are all the same. There aren't any smart jerks, or jerks who vote for other parties.
You know what makes social interaction difficult? When everybody you see is "one of THOSE people" to you. You know what makes it easier? When you find people interesting, and try to see the best in them, and assume they're dumb then treat them that way. Yes, there are still jerks, but I've misjudged enough people personally. Better to give them a chance and consider that maybe you're part of the problem, too.
That's one reason why I really like my Android phone (HTC Hero). There's an App Store, but I also have control over whether to allow apps from other sources. (And I think that the App Store itself is much less controlled.)
Plus, apps can fundamentally change how the device works. You can customize the heck out of this phone. But it's still very slick and has a beautiful UI.
I think Android is going to gain a ton of traction with users soon. It should, anyway. It rocks.
Crapware isn't "anything that won't be used by 100% of users." I'd say crapware is "software that was pre-installed, not because it was deemed to be the best for the user, but because the manufacturer was paid to put it on there."
How clearly I remember the captain of the wrestling team accosting me in gym class in my sophomore year, throwing me against the wall, and sneering, "You know, you could really benefit from a more diverse set of interests."
Of course not. But part of why nerds are picked on is because they don't relate well to others. If you like computers, but also literature, soccer, skateboarding, backpacking, or whatever, it's more likely that you'll make friends and not be "that kid who sits alone reading fantasy novels."
You don't input votes on a keyboard or touchscreen but by feeding in an actual human-readable piece of paper
Added bonus: You need fewer machines. You can have as many simultaneous voters as you've got room to put desks, and just a few machines to scan the completed forms.
Well, if that's not your primary concern, why bother with a Wifi router? It's just something else to go wrong (e.g. local interference in the Wifi channels). If I have no desire to share my cellular internet connection, wouldn't it be a lot simpler to use an ExpressCard or USB dongle to connect to the cellular network?
That's a good point. However, looking at it another way, it's one LESS thing to go wrong on your computer. Your computer is using the same WiFi connection it always uses to get on the web. You don't need software or drivers or a card slot or whatever. (Part of my job is supporting these things, and I do see them go wrong frequently.)
So basically it's asking this: "Does being able to create a WiFi hot spot FROM your laptop replace a method of getting a WiFi hot spot FOR your laptop?"
Seriously? The MiFi (for those that don't know) is a little credit-card sized WiFi router, offered by Verizon and Sprint, that gets its internet connection from the cellular network. So if you want internet and you're not near a network or hot spot, two options are:
Get a cellular data card and plug it straight into your computer, after installing drivers and maybe software to make it work
Get a MiFi (or similar router) and connect to it like any other hot spot. Let it make the cellular connection for you.
Yes, if your primary concern is "how do I share my mobile internet connection with others," there is overlap between "computer as router" and the MiFi. But if you don't have an internet connection yet, the software router doesn't help much, does it?
My guess would be that Google will, eventually, either put out their own local map offering at a price more or less dictated by what their data provider charges...
I'm not sure what you mean by "data provider," but Google recently started gathering their own map data, so they can price that however they like.
As for distribution of a local mapping service, I imagine they'd just put a paid app in the Android market.
Many people have pointed out that it will be hard to charge batteries as fast as you can fill a tank of gas. But what if you didn't charge? What if you pulled into a station and swapped your low battery out for a full one? You could be ready to go in seconds.
With some vehicle standardization, you might even have a robot arm that does it automatically.
The test of whether someone is fit for the list should really be "Would this company support the creation of such takedown laws factoring in the damage they can have on fair use if they did not exist".
Which is impossible to answer. You're giving NPR the benefit of the doubt, but not others. Why? All these organizations might say, via their PR people, "we don't like this tactic, but we have to do it." How would you decide who is lying?
It may well be that NPR agrees with you entirely, but if they don't use it it wont just go away, so they might as well use it, just as their opponents would.
And it may well be that NPR would send goons to beat up their enemies if they thought they could get away with it. I doubt it. But how can we tell?
You cannot judge people by the intentions you think they may have. You must judge by actions.
Ditto. There are already more movies available from Netflix than I will ever watch in my life. The chances are good that a new release is several months down in my list, anyway.
So, you don't get all the features if you port in an existing number. How... lame. Completely killed my interest in this most recent development.
You're missing something. I already have a GV account. If you call my special GV number, I get the full feature list. Now I get that, PLUS I can click to add the "Lite" version to my actual cell number.
That means that if you call my cell directly, I can still send you to GV voicemail, with the "Lite" feature set.
As they say:
If you already have a Google number, this new feature should also help with the transition to your new number, as you can now forward unanswered calls to your mobile phone to your Google Voice account. This way, people who still call your old number will reach the same voicemail as people who call your Google Voice number. If you already use Google Voice, you can add Google voicemail to any mobile phone you've linked to your account.
...Also working on a retina display of its own is NEC, which apparently hopes to incorporate a microphone into their display and use it as a real-time translation device that would quite literally display subtitles as you talk to someone."
That would be awesome, but isn't it a little too ambitious for a single product right now?
"Hey guys, I don't think that a safe, good, affordable retinal display system is hard enough. Let's add vocal recognition and real-time language parsing in two simultaneous languages!"
Either one of these things would be very impressive. It seems a bit much to be shooting for both before either has been done well.
Picasa is one of the few pieces of software that impresses me, and continues to impress me more with each revision.
I agree. And I'll add another reason: it's fast. I love that.
iTunes has nice features, but that sucker crawls on my (relatively new) Windows XP machine. If Google can trounce iTunes in the speed department, I'd take a serious look at their offering.
On that topic: how fast is Songbird, or other full-featured "library" players? (I do use Winamp when I just want quick access to specific songs, and it's fast, but it's a less full-featured program.)
1. Get a thermostat you can control with a computer 2. Give the computer inputs of temperature and energy use, and output of heating/cooling 3. Write a program to minimize energy use (genetic algorithm?) 4. Profit!!
Possible problem: do we need to factor in some increased wear & tear on the machines for higher temperatures? That would complicate things.
Durability - Both are ruined by water, but I can bang a paper book around pretty good and it's still readable. Even if I totally destroy a paper book, I'm only out the few dollars it cost me for that book [I buy most books used].
All of your points are good, but if DRM does not interfere, e-books actually win in this category. If your books are files, you can back them up on multiple media in multiple locations. Your physical book will wear out eventually, but your files don't have to.
The glass blocks cell signals? Cell phone antennas are weak anyway. You can buy external antennas that mount on your card (like police use) and either re-broadcast inside the vehicle or plug directly in (if your phone has a plug).
Wilson Electronics is one manufacturer of this kind of equipment. (My company is a dealer.)
Honestly I'd like to see vehicle manufacturers give an option to have this kind of equipment built in to a vehicle.
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It depends. If you're a business, here's how to decide:
1. Calculate how many dollars you save by not spending the time to support IE6
2. Calculate how many dollars you lose by driving away IE6-only users
3. If #1 >= #2, stop supporting IE6
I have a question.
I have read arguments that antivirus is essentially blacklisting, and that blacklisting makes no sense for security. If you run an exclusive club, you make a list of who IS allowed in. You don't try to list everyone in the world who ISN'T allowed in.
The argument say that the same should be true of programs - instead of trying to keep an up-to-the-second list of all 5 trillion viruses in the world, why not keep a list of the 50 programs that SHOULD be allowed to run, and assume that anything else is bad?
This makes logical sense to me, but (apparently) it isn't done. I assume it's much harder than it sounds. Can anyone explain this?
1) Hopefully, a relatively small number of fonts will become common, and you won't often be asked to download a whole new font
2) In any case, your browser settings or an add-on can be used to say "I don't ever want to download new fonts, or only in these circumstances"
3) Even downloading a whole font is probably better than downloading an image for every chunk of text that uses that font
4) As mentioned before, you also get all the benefits of text: searchability, copy and paste, etc.
Actually, I may be wrong about one major thing: if Google needs to user their servers to compute good routes, a standalone unit might not work.
The interesting thing (to me) is that Google could do this, and I don't see why they wouldn't.
All you need is a device with a decent size hard drive, touch screen, and Wi-Fi capability. It could store Google Map data for a whole country or region (just check off the ones you need), excluding most of the imagery for space considerations. It could auto-update via Wi-Fi at your home or hotel, or using your existing MiFi or whatever else. And it could serve whatever advertising purposes their standard navigation products serve (?), although not with up-to-the-minute info.
Google doesn't need cell carriers for this. Just call it Google Navigation Lite and crank it out.
Whoops! Should have previewed. I meant "RATHER THAN assume they're dumb...".
Which is how I feel now. :)
Wow. Those are some pretty inflexible categories you've got there. Nerds are environmentally-friendly and anti-consumerism, eh? Except when they want shiny gadgets. :)
Also, jerk = low IQ = votes Republican. Yeah, those are all the same. There aren't any smart jerks, or jerks who vote for other parties.
You know what makes social interaction difficult? When everybody you see is "one of THOSE people" to you. You know what makes it easier? When you find people interesting, and try to see the best in them, and assume they're dumb then treat them that way. Yes, there are still jerks, but I've misjudged enough people personally. Better to give them a chance and consider that maybe you're part of the problem, too.
That's one reason why I really like my Android phone (HTC Hero). There's an App Store, but I also have control over whether to allow apps from other sources. (And I think that the App Store itself is much less controlled.)
Plus, apps can fundamentally change how the device works. You can customize the heck out of this phone. But it's still very slick and has a beautiful UI.
I think Android is going to gain a ton of traction with users soon. It should, anyway. It rocks.
Crapware isn't "anything that won't be used by 100% of users." I'd say crapware is "software that was pre-installed, not because it was deemed to be the best for the user, but because the manufacturer was paid to put it on there."
Of course not. But part of why nerds are picked on is because they don't relate well to others. If you like computers, but also literature, soccer, skateboarding, backpacking, or whatever, it's more likely that you'll make friends and not be "that kid who sits alone reading fantasy novels."
Added bonus: You need fewer machines. You can have as many simultaneous voters as you've got room to put desks, and just a few machines to scan the completed forms.
That's a good point. However, looking at it another way, it's one LESS thing to go wrong on your computer. Your computer is using the same WiFi connection it always uses to get on the web. You don't need software or drivers or a card slot or whatever. (Part of my job is supporting these things, and I do see them go wrong frequently.)
"The water jug as faucet killer."
So basically it's asking this: "Does being able to create a WiFi hot spot FROM your laptop replace a method of getting a WiFi hot spot FOR your laptop?"
Seriously? The MiFi (for those that don't know) is a little credit-card sized WiFi router, offered by Verizon and Sprint, that gets its internet connection from the cellular network. So if you want internet and you're not near a network or hot spot, two options are:
Yes, if your primary concern is "how do I share my mobile internet connection with others," there is overlap between "computer as router" and the MiFi. But if you don't have an internet connection yet, the software router doesn't help much, does it?
I'm not sure what you mean by "data provider," but Google recently started gathering their own map data, so they can price that however they like.
As for distribution of a local mapping service, I imagine they'd just put a paid app in the Android market.
Many people have pointed out that it will be hard to charge batteries as fast as you can fill a tank of gas. But what if you didn't charge? What if you pulled into a station and swapped your low battery out for a full one? You could be ready to go in seconds.
With some vehicle standardization, you might even have a robot arm that does it automatically.
Which is impossible to answer. You're giving NPR the benefit of the doubt, but not others. Why? All these organizations might say, via their PR people, "we don't like this tactic, but we have to do it." How would you decide who is lying?
And it may well be that NPR would send goons to beat up their enemies if they thought they could get away with it. I doubt it. But how can we tell?
You cannot judge people by the intentions you think they may have. You must judge by actions.
Ditto. There are already more movies available from Netflix than I will ever watch in my life. The chances are good that a new release is several months down in my list, anyway.
You're missing something. I already have a GV account. If you call my special GV number, I get the full feature list. Now I get that, PLUS I can click to add the "Lite" version to my actual cell number.
That means that if you call my cell directly, I can still send you to GV voicemail, with the "Lite" feature set.
As they say:
That would be awesome, but isn't it a little too ambitious for a single product right now?
"Hey guys, I don't think that a safe, good, affordable retinal display system is hard enough. Let's add vocal recognition and real-time language parsing in two simultaneous languages!"
Either one of these things would be very impressive. It seems a bit much to be shooting for both before either has been done well.
I agree. And I'll add another reason: it's fast. I love that.
iTunes has nice features, but that sucker crawls on my (relatively new) Windows XP machine. If Google can trounce iTunes in the speed department, I'd take a serious look at their offering.
On that topic: how fast is Songbird, or other full-featured "library" players? (I do use Winamp when I just want quick access to specific songs, and it's fast, but it's a less full-featured program.)
1. Get a thermostat you can control with a computer
2. Give the computer inputs of temperature and energy use, and output of heating/cooling
3. Write a program to minimize energy use (genetic algorithm?)
4. Profit!!
Possible problem: do we need to factor in some increased wear & tear on the machines for higher temperatures? That would complicate things.
All of your points are good, but if DRM does not interfere, e-books actually win in this category. If your books are files, you can back them up on multiple media in multiple locations. Your physical book will wear out eventually, but your files don't have to.
How does one get started running Win XP in a VM under Ubuntu?
The glass blocks cell signals? Cell phone antennas are weak anyway. You can buy external antennas that mount on your card (like police use) and either re-broadcast inside the vehicle or plug directly in (if your phone has a plug).
Wilson Electronics is one manufacturer of this kind of equipment. (My company is a dealer.)
Honestly I'd like to see vehicle manufacturers give an option to have this kind of equipment built in to a vehicle.