You can get a 17 inch iMac G5 with built in WiFi, Bluetooth, and iSight camera. Please point me to a vendor that has these features for half the $1299 price of the iMac G5.
don't know about the bluetooth, never really needed it myself, but wireless cards and webcams can realistically be purchased at a combined cost of less than $100. there are plenty of $600 computers out there. with 17" or larger monitors. And oh yeah, with PC vendors, you don't have to pay $3000 to expect to be able to do any kind of upgrading beyond what you can with a laptop.
actually, I'm don't think that per performance they're double the price, but the difference is signifigant enough that I've never been able to justify buying one to myself. it doesn't have to be double to be overpriced.
no is a bit extreme. Sure, I don't live there, and I never have, but that doesn't mean I don't have any kind of knowledge. In fact, the very issue at hand is that in some ways, the people who live there are less informed because that is how their government wants it.
I think it's funny as hell that all of these slashbots are the first to jump on the "stay out of Iraq" train, while simultaneously advocating actions like these in China.
I'm not suggesting we invade china. I think that, all else being equal (including having a substitute stabel governmetn,) having Sadam out of power is a good thing. my objections to the war in Iraq are rooted in that not all else is even close to equal. I'm more concerned that we destabalized the country, that we broke international law, that far too many people have been killed, no end is in sight 4 years after the war was declared over, the reasons our government gave us were a load of crap (and anyone who cared to know, knew it, thanks to something a little closer to true freedom of speech/the press, though it's not perfect in any nation) and that even if one thought it was the right thing to do, we didn't have a fucking plan!
I agree that it's not our business to overthrow the chinese government, and it sure as hell wouldn't be an easy task. But that doesn't mean we can't say what we really think of it. Of course, we all know what happens when a chinese citizen says what they think, and the government disagrees.
It's a colossally bad idea to go to Ireland and spout off about the Catholic/Protestant troubles. Why? Because you are bringing YOUR values to a system that doesn't have anything to do with YOUR values.
right, because no other culture has ever dealt with religous conflict of any kind. It's a colossally bad idea because you're likely to offend someone, and they may not nessicarily be kind about it, not because you don't have the right to an opinion. by this logic, people of the 1930's and 40's had no right to say what the nazis were doing was wrong, because they were "bringing their values to a system that doesn't have anything to do with their values." It's a pathetic arguement.
Furthermore, someone else responded to your original post by pointing out that their constituition gaurantees freedom of speech, and all that that implies. If this is the case, then my values seem to agree with their values on this one. their society is theorized on equality and rule of the people. the real government has hoodwinked those who ernestly supported that theory when putting them in power, and THAT is what I am objecting to.
It is exactly this insistence of "cultural superiority" that so many countries find distasteful about America.
while I agree that my countrymen can be rediculously arrogant sometimes, it's one thing to still think of Germany as the home of the nazis, and nothing else, but forget about the century or so of slavery after this nation became "free," it's quite another to object to genocide and repression in the present, provided one doesn't excuse what has happend and is happening on one's own soil.
I firmly belive that a government should exist only by the consent of its people, and one can't give legitimate consent without proper knowledge. The Chinese government disgusts me. More power to anyone who defies it.
Well yeah, that's the theory. but name one nation that is actually communist.
the communist manifesto says there has to be a brief dictatorship to get things in order before the permanent, communist government can take over. Unfortuneately, no country has ever gotten past the dictator phase.
Communism doesn't exist in the real world. therefor, we use the term "communist" to mean the type of dictatorship that claims to have communist ideals. I think it was perfectly understood what he meant.
Probably not that many, since according to these crappy numbers, tech companies deal with 42 compared to the overall average of 37. Probably around 5 of those types of suits. I can do that kind of math in my head.
No, and I didn't. I have a Zen Touch and I love it. but that's not the point. do you think reviews get written before someone buys a crappy product? It's not Apple's fault if you do something stupid like that, but it is reasonable for someone to expect that a product will work for a decent amount of time. if the screen scratches so much you can't see it, then an important feature has quckly broken, and I would consider it a defective product. again, I agree that people should think before they spend that kind of money, but they shouldn't have to think, "will this work at all?"
that's because you don't hear about the average company, you hear about big ones. the aformentioned 9 PhD, no lawyers, one project companies would likely fall appart if they had anywhere near this "average" number of lawsuits to deal with. and there are a lot of companies like that.
again, the ones that are high enough profile to frequently make the news tend to get a number of lawsuits just because they are well known enough and are taking on enough projects that someone is going to feel like they've gotten their toes stepped on, or just think they can get some money by suing.
with one tiny little project that isn't even designed for consumers, but a more niche audience, the chances of legal trouble are alot slimmer.
which isn't a problem if you're building a machine yourself (since every component comes with its own drivers,) which is the most common (if not only) reason why a computer wouldn't nessicarily come with its own copy of windows.
But there already IS a ratings system in place, I think this obscure body known as the ESRB manages it. the criteria is pretty similar to that of movie ratings, though the reasons for a rating are actually written on the box, so that you know that, for example, Half-Life 2 is rated M for "Blood" and "Intense violence" instead of having to guess whether or not your kid is going to be seeing sexually explicit material too.
On a practical level, I don't really care about this legislation, beacause, on a practical level, it won't have any effect. Most stores have a policy of not selling M an AO games to 13 year olds anyway. However, the comments about how violent games increase crime rates piss me off. It's simply not true. There was like a six page article in Computer Gaming World a month or two ago on the subject, and it showed a graph of video game sales vs crime rates. If there was a relationship at all, it was perfectly inversely proportional (at least until the war in Iraq started, when the crime rates started to creep up again.) Video games are still a scapegoat for politicians and the media, and they will continue to be until people who grew up with the medium, and actually understand it, find their way into positions of power.
In the US, it's pretty rare to find a desktop/Laptop preloaded with linux. I've actually never seen one. all of my linux systems I've installed myself.
It's a milestone partly because of that, but also partly because Dell is the largest computer distributor in the US, and their laptops are nutroius for not playing nice with linux. My Inspirion 3200's cd drive, wireless card, and sound card still don't work. with HP that's even true with desktops, though not to the same extent.
Slashdot Mirror
don't know about the bluetooth, never really needed it myself, but wireless cards and webcams can realistically be purchased at a combined cost of less than $100. there are plenty of $600 computers out there. with 17" or larger monitors. And oh yeah, with PC vendors, you don't have to pay $3000 to expect to be able to do any kind of upgrading beyond what you can with a laptop.
actually, I'm don't think that per performance they're double the price, but the difference is signifigant enough that I've never been able to justify buying one to myself. it doesn't have to be double to be overpriced.
no is a bit extreme. Sure, I don't live there, and I never have, but that doesn't mean I don't have any kind of knowledge. In fact, the very issue at hand is that in some ways, the people who live there are less informed because that is how their government wants it.
I think it's funny as hell that all of these slashbots are the first to jump on the "stay out of Iraq" train, while simultaneously advocating actions like these in China.
I'm not suggesting we invade china. I think that, all else being equal (including having a substitute stabel governmetn,) having Sadam out of power is a good thing. my objections to the war in Iraq are rooted in that not all else is even close to equal. I'm more concerned that we destabalized the country, that we broke international law, that far too many people have been killed, no end is in sight 4 years after the war was declared over, the reasons our government gave us were a load of crap (and anyone who cared to know, knew it, thanks to something a little closer to true freedom of speech/the press, though it's not perfect in any nation) and that even if one thought it was the right thing to do, we didn't have a fucking plan!
I agree that it's not our business to overthrow the chinese government, and it sure as hell wouldn't be an easy task. But that doesn't mean we can't say what we really think of it. Of course, we all know what happens when a chinese citizen says what they think, and the government disagrees.
It's a colossally bad idea to go to Ireland and spout off about the Catholic/Protestant troubles. Why? Because you are bringing YOUR values to a system that doesn't have anything to do with YOUR values.
right, because no other culture has ever dealt with religous conflict of any kind. It's a colossally bad idea because you're likely to offend someone, and they may not nessicarily be kind about it, not because you don't have the right to an opinion. by this logic, people of the 1930's and 40's had no right to say what the nazis were doing was wrong, because they were "bringing their values to a system that doesn't have anything to do with their values." It's a pathetic arguement.
Furthermore, someone else responded to your original post by pointing out that their constituition gaurantees freedom of speech, and all that that implies. If this is the case, then my values seem to agree with their values on this one. their society is theorized on equality and rule of the people. the real government has hoodwinked those who ernestly supported that theory when putting them in power, and THAT is what I am objecting to.
It is exactly this insistence of "cultural superiority" that so many countries find distasteful about America.
while I agree that my countrymen can be rediculously arrogant sometimes, it's one thing to still think of Germany as the home of the nazis, and nothing else, but forget about the century or so of slavery after this nation became "free," it's quite another to object to genocide and repression in the present, provided one doesn't excuse what has happend and is happening on one's own soil.
I firmly belive that a government should exist only by the consent of its people, and one can't give legitimate consent without proper knowledge. The Chinese government disgusts me. More power to anyone who defies it.
the communist manifesto says there has to be a brief dictatorship to get things in order before the permanent, communist government can take over. Unfortuneately, no country has ever gotten past the dictator phase.
Communism doesn't exist in the real world. therefor, we use the term "communist" to mean the type of dictatorship that claims to have communist ideals. I think it was perfectly understood what he meant.
yep. went off without a hitch.
Probably not that many, since according to these crappy numbers, tech companies deal with 42 compared to the overall average of 37. Probably around 5 of those types of suits. I can do that kind of math in my head.
No, and I didn't. I have a Zen Touch and I love it. but that's not the point. do you think reviews get written before someone buys a crappy product? It's not Apple's fault if you do something stupid like that, but it is reasonable for someone to expect that a product will work for a decent amount of time. if the screen scratches so much you can't see it, then an important feature has quckly broken, and I would consider it a defective product. again, I agree that people should think before they spend that kind of money, but they shouldn't have to think, "will this work at all?"
that's because you don't hear about the average company, you hear about big ones. the aformentioned 9 PhD, no lawyers, one project companies would likely fall appart if they had anywhere near this "average" number of lawsuits to deal with. and there are a lot of companies like that.
again, the ones that are high enough profile to frequently make the news tend to get a number of lawsuits just because they are well known enough and are taking on enough projects that someone is going to feel like they've gotten their toes stepped on, or just think they can get some money by suing.
with one tiny little project that isn't even designed for consumers, but a more niche audience, the chances of legal trouble are alot slimmer.
which isn't a problem if you're building a machine yourself (since every component comes with its own drivers,) which is the most common (if not only) reason why a computer wouldn't nessicarily come with its own copy of windows.
Don't know firsthand about dell, but the OEM XP that came with my HP worked fine on my home-built machine.
On a practical level, I don't really care about this legislation, beacause, on a practical level, it won't have any effect. Most stores have a policy of not selling M an AO games to 13 year olds anyway. However, the comments about how violent games increase crime rates piss me off. It's simply not true. There was like a six page article in Computer Gaming World a month or two ago on the subject, and it showed a graph of video game sales vs crime rates. If there was a relationship at all, it was perfectly inversely proportional (at least until the war in Iraq started, when the crime rates started to creep up again.) Video games are still a scapegoat for politicians and the media, and they will continue to be until people who grew up with the medium, and actually understand it, find their way into positions of power.
If you're going to go the illegal route, why spend money at all?
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/17/ 1539212&tid=147&tid=184
not sure what the deal is, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
In the US, it's pretty rare to find a desktop/Laptop preloaded with linux. I've actually never seen one. all of my linux systems I've installed myself. It's a milestone partly because of that, but also partly because Dell is the largest computer distributor in the US, and their laptops are nutroius for not playing nice with linux. My Inspirion 3200's cd drive, wireless card, and sound card still don't work. with HP that's even true with desktops, though not to the same extent.