I thought I was the only one suffering these symptoms when dealing with LED tail lights. Everyone else I've mentioned this can barely grasp the concept of seeing a a "sea of lights" flooding your field of vision whenever your eyes does saccadic movements.
It's really annoying and drives me crazy. I live in Brazil so thankfully LED tail lights aren't still popular here yet as our cars suck. But I figure that if all cars had that, it might even compromise my ability to drive properly at night.
Brazil has a 200+ million headset market, roughly split equally between 4 major carriers (Vivo, Oi, TIM and Claro). This phone doesn't need to be the iPhone or Android killer - it just needs to be cheap and useful. I
f they're able to get 10% of Vivo's market share, it's a success - I mean, 5 million phones in Brazil alone meanss a lot of phones. I suppose other emerging markets would also have such similar characteristics, so a successful launch here in Brazil would pave the way for rolling this out to other South American countries and then, later, to other Asian emerging markets.
An current-gen iPhone here costs US$1000. If they're able to bring something that has good usability at a local US$200 price-point, they'll sell a lot of headsets, since the Android phones you can get here in Brazil in the US$200 are only fake Chinese crap (lower-end from Samsung start at US$250-300).
Not sure where you got this idea that developers are gods here in Brazil. It is seen by the general public as a good career choice (while, in the US, that doesn't seem to be the norm anymore) but it doesn't really pay that well for the average guy. And a great salary here is about what the average guy earns in the US. Living cost isn't that much lower: rent is cheaper but nearly everything else is 1.5-3x more expensive. In other words: you wouldn't be able to afford a view to the beach.
Also, the economy is not doing very well. Our current government has managed to fool the international community, but if the current economic crisis goes on for a couple of years more, Brazil will be in trouble. They gambled the crisis wouldn't last for a long time... but their bet is already starting to fall apart.
Finally, as a foreigner, you'd be a prime targe for robberies, purse snatchers, etc.
I'm Brazilian and keeping your stuff with yourself all the time in South America is called "common sense" around here. People will even tell you it's your fault you've been stolen if you don't do so.
I'm also from Brazil and I share the feeling... sadly, I think it's the same thing everywhere in the world. I guess we're entering the next Dark Ages of knowledge...
Sorry, but in the first page of results there isn't a single case where Google is suing anyone. Have you bothered actually reading the links instead of relying on bad journalists writing story titles?
Because as I read through the list of comments you've made, I noticed a fair amount (not a lot, but certainly not zero) of posts in which you make misinformed statements and promote FUD (albeit unknowingly for the most part, I'm certain).
Always good to make sure your own house is clean before pointing out the mud on your neighbor's floor, you know?
Well, you might want to point exactly to where I did that and, if I wasn't corrected right at the spot by another reader, then, please do so. I'm always glad when people correct me and show I'm wrong. I read through my first page of comments and couldn't find anything that seemed wrong to me - feel free to help me out.;)
Nevertheless, it's a flawed argument. Just because I can't shoot a movie, it doesn't mean I can't say a movie sucks and be right about it.
So... publicly, they are against software patents, yet they still hold many?
Isn't that kind of like the owner of a slaughterhouse speaking our publicly against eating meat? Doesn't matter what they say in public, they're still contributing to the problem they claim to be against.
Since software patents are, unfortunately, allowed in the US I'd say it's better to secure as many as you can, even if you're against them. Otherwise, your competitors (which are clearly pro-patent litigation) will grab them eventually and you'll have a much harder time in court when they sue you. This is basic common sense.
What you're saying is equivalent to saying that only murderers should own guns. You can clearly be against murderers and still own a gun. Cops needs guns in order to effectively fight murderers. In fact, this is a much better analogy.
FTFY. Incidentally, Google-owned/originated patents have been used by handset manufacturers to sue... well, Apple, mainly.
On the positive side, at least I'm just another ill-informed consumer, as opposed to a paid shill.
I honestly don't understand what you were implying by linking to my profile. If you go and read my posts you'll basically see a lot of stuff about Brazil, because that's where I'm from. I occasionally comment on other technology and random subjects as well.
Am I a paid shill from the Brazilian Govt. trying to spread information about the country on a "News for Nerds" board? I better go collect my payment then, before a corrupt politician robs it first...
Google has never sued anyone for patent infringement. They only use their own patents defensively and have spoken in public they're against software patents. Please stop spreading misinformation and FUD.
Actually, as a Brazilian, I can say that Brazilian workers have more rights than the ones in the US and a lot of other places in the world. Yet, strikes here are commonplace because people always like to bitch about everything...
Use this tool and have fun: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ You can't actually buy the tickets, but once you've found what you want, you can just go to any other travel site, airline site or real-world travel agent and issue the tickets.
Because Apple is the company which promised to replace his laptop up to 4 years after the date of purchase if it failed but then refused to replace it 3 years later? Sure, the problem is with the GPU, but since Apple itself *promised* to do something for a customer, they should respect their own words.
The "fasten seatbelt" lights are on for good reason: if the airpline suddenly loses altitude, you won't crack your skull on the roof. You should avoid spending any time at all without your seatbelts in an airplane because, in some rare occurrences, these drops will happen without any warning at all.
I've tried really hard to like OpenStreetMaps, even contributed several street names and fixed some bad street geometry issues in my neighborhood... but overall it's next to useless here in Brazil. And I live in one of the largest cities here (metro area with 6 million people).
So, yeah, maybe it's useful in the US and Europe, but not everywhere...
1) Here in Brazil, mostly everyone trusts the e-voting systems.
It's much much better than the paper ballots which used to end up in rampant fraud in smaller cities, since corruption is widespread. With the e-voting system, the only possible fraud is if the federal government wants to rig the elections (and does a *very* good job at it) neither the government or the opposing parties consider this an issue so, unless they're all colluding with each other (which would make the elections pointless anyway), I think it's reasonably safe. I actually worked for a year and a half in the IT dept. of the Elections Branch in my state and, with that knowledge, I trust the e-voting system.
2) No one here really cares about providing personal data to third-parties. It's common to have to provide your RG (ID card number) and CPF number (something similar to SSN) at a store, when you're making a regular purchase such as shoes or a t-shirt. When designing any sort of IT system to store clients, etc, the CPF number is usually the natural primary key.
Most people here think it's reasonable to collect fingerprints and no one cares when, for instance, the US consulate collects our fingerprints when we're getting our US Visa. Almost all our government documents (we have several: ID Card, CPF, "Voter's Card", Driver's License, Passport) have tons of personal data and fingerprints. This is a non-issue here.
3) People here care about privacy only inside their homes. For instance, everyone (including me) thinks it's a good idea to install more CCTV cameras in some areas to stop crime. In some places, crime is a much more pressing issue than expectation of privacy in a public place. "Big Brother" reality shows are the top 1 programs on public TV, so I would say the next generation might even not care about privacy in their own homes.
The rest of the world is very different from the US - just keep this in mind.
I'm Brazilian and a few weeks ago I was contacted by my bank regarding some very odd charges which seemed fraudulent - these transactions were made on New York parking garages (something like, NYC DOT Parking). The cancelled the credit card, cancelled the charges and sent me a new one.
I visited New York in July 2011 so I was thinking that maybe they stole my credit card details back then and kept the info until they finally decided to use it for fraudulent purchases. It seemed like a long shot, but it was the best explanation I could think of. When I read the story it ringed a bell: I was probably affected by this issue.
Not sure if it was due to online purchases I did in the last few or if it was related to my visit to NYC last year (and this credit card processor could have stored my CC info somewhere for all these months - who knows).
So, yeah, this is actually a global issue - not sure if it's because of tourism or the internet. Personally I think it's nice that they made these news public since this explains a lot for me.
If you wany an apples to apples comparison, you should, at the very least, compare mobile web traffic from iOS to mobile web traffic from high-end 4G Android device - which is what the CEO was talking. And no one seems to ever announce this sort of data.
For instance, it's nearly useless here in Brazil. I've contributed several street names and actual physical correction for my neighborhood but I just wouldn't have time to fix everything so I just gave up.
I imagine there's several countries where it's also like that.
Since I don't particularly like Apple and despise their walled garden policies, I see this as a good thing: they'll definitely lose some users because of this, since their apps will become much less useful.
This is ridiculous. Someone in the computer monitor business should get his ass kicked. My 24" monitor has a resolution of 1920x1200 and even that was difficult to find - most were only 1920x1080 (a.k.a Full HD).
How come a puny tablet has more pixels than a 24" monitor and no one is doing anything about it?!
Well, I'm not sure about the other countries you mentioned... but Brazil would actually be something like $10/hour + a lot of benefits according to the local labor law: - 8 hours/day max (or paid overtime at 2x the regular rate, up to 10 hours/day) - 30-day vacations each year - unlimited sick leave - reasonable job security (there's a fine when you fire employees) - can't fire people for going on strike
All workers are unionized in Brazil (by law). Factory workers union agreements usually also state that: - company pays for employee transportation - company pays for employee lunch - health insurance
They only considered moving here to Brazil because Brazil has a ridiculously high import tax. If they produced iPads here, they would avoid that aqnd, even though the local labor cost is much higher than China's, the final product would still be cheaper to consumers. And Brazil is consuming a lot right now.
Brazil has very employee-protective labor laws which make in impractical for a company such as Foxconn to work here, so they requested labor laws reforms from the government. Conceding in the labor laws area would be a very bad scar in the image of the current (theoretically center-left) Labour Party, so the deal didn't go through.
Brazil has no shortage of skilled labor. We do lack decent transportation infrastructure (only options are usually air or road, no train or water transportation). Also, our customs are very outdated, with absurd tariffs (which are also supported by the current government).
As a Brazilian, it was possible the deal was bound to never go through from day one.
Slashdot Mirror
I thought I was the only one suffering these symptoms when dealing with LED tail lights.
Everyone else I've mentioned this can barely grasp the concept of seeing a a "sea of lights" flooding your field of vision whenever your eyes does saccadic movements.
It's really annoying and drives me crazy. I live in Brazil so thankfully LED tail lights aren't still popular here yet as our cars suck. But I figure that if all cars had that, it might even compromise my ability to drive properly at night.
Brazil has a 200+ million headset market, roughly split equally between 4 major carriers (Vivo, Oi, TIM and Claro). This phone doesn't need to be the iPhone or Android killer - it just needs to be cheap and useful. I
f they're able to get 10% of Vivo's market share, it's a success - I mean, 5 million phones in Brazil alone meanss a lot of phones. I suppose other emerging markets would also have such similar characteristics, so a successful launch here in Brazil would pave the way for rolling this out to other South American countries and then, later, to other Asian emerging markets.
An current-gen iPhone here costs US$1000. If they're able to bring something that has good usability at a local US$200 price-point, they'll sell a lot of headsets, since the Android phones you can get here in Brazil in the US$200 are only fake Chinese crap (lower-end from Samsung start at US$250-300).
Not sure where you got this idea that developers are gods here in Brazil. It is seen by the general public as a good career choice (while, in the US, that doesn't seem to be the norm anymore) but it doesn't really pay that well for the average guy. And a great salary here is about what the average guy earns in the US. Living cost isn't that much lower: rent is cheaper but nearly everything else is 1.5-3x more expensive. In other words: you wouldn't be able to afford a view to the beach.
Also, the economy is not doing very well. Our current government has managed to fool the international community, but if the current economic crisis goes on for a couple of years more, Brazil will be in trouble. They gambled the crisis wouldn't last for a long time... but their bet is already starting to fall apart.
Finally, as a foreigner, you'd be a prime targe for robberies, purse snatchers, etc.
You know, somehow, I have a feeling the parent comment should be remembered for posterity. :)
iPod launch jokes, anyone?
I'm Brazilian and keeping your stuff with yourself all the time in South America is called "common sense" around here.
People will even tell you it's your fault you've been stolen if you don't do so.
I'm also from Brazil and I share the feeling... sadly, I think it's the same thing everywhere in the world.
I guess we're entering the next Dark Ages of knowledge...
FTFY. Incidentally, Google-owned/originated patents have been used by handset manufacturers to sue... well, Apple, mainly.
[citation needed]
Here ya go
Sorry, but in the first page of results there isn't a single case where Google is suing anyone.
Have you bothered actually reading the links instead of relying on bad journalists writing story titles?
Because as I read through the list of comments you've made, I noticed a fair amount (not a lot, but certainly not zero) of posts in which you make misinformed statements and promote FUD (albeit unknowingly for the most part, I'm certain).
Always good to make sure your own house is clean before pointing out the mud on your neighbor's floor, you know?
Well, you might want to point exactly to where I did that and, if I wasn't corrected right at the spot by another reader, then, please do so. ;)
I'm always glad when people correct me and show I'm wrong. I read through my first page of comments and couldn't find anything that seemed wrong to me - feel free to help me out.
Nevertheless, it's a flawed argument. Just because I can't shoot a movie, it doesn't mean I can't say a movie sucks and be right about it.
So... publicly, they are against software patents, yet they still hold many?
Isn't that kind of like the owner of a slaughterhouse speaking our publicly against eating meat? Doesn't matter what they say in public, they're still contributing to the problem they claim to be against.
Since software patents are, unfortunately, allowed in the US I'd say it's better to secure as many as you can, even if you're against them. Otherwise, your competitors (which are clearly pro-patent litigation) will grab them eventually and you'll have a much harder time in court when they sue you. This is basic common sense.
What you're saying is equivalent to saying that only murderers should own guns. You can clearly be against murderers and still own a gun. Cops needs guns in order to effectively fight murderers. In fact, this is a much better analogy.
FTFY. Incidentally, Google-owned/originated patents have been used by handset manufacturers to sue... well, Apple, mainly.
[citation needed]
You first.
On the positive side, at least I'm just another ill-informed consumer, as opposed to a paid shill.
I honestly don't understand what you were implying by linking to my profile. If you go and read my posts you'll basically see a lot of stuff about Brazil, because that's where I'm from. I occasionally comment on other technology and random subjects as well.
Am I a paid shill from the Brazilian Govt. trying to spread information about the country on a "News for Nerds" board? I better go collect my payment then, before a corrupt politician robs it first...
Google has never sued anyone for patent infringement. They only use their own patents defensively and have spoken in public they're against software patents.
Please stop spreading misinformation and FUD.
Maybe you need to be brain-damaged in the first place in order to actually like American football and become a professional player?
Just sayin'...
Actually, as a Brazilian, I can say that Brazilian workers have more rights than the ones in the US and a lot of other places in the world.
Yet, strikes here are commonplace because people always like to bitch about everything...
I actually saved this quote for posteriority - sums up my personal beliefs pretty well.
Thanks for writing the idea in a such concise manner.
Use this tool and have fun: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
You can't actually buy the tickets, but once you've found what you want, you can just go to any other travel site, airline site or real-world travel agent and issue the tickets.
Because Apple is the company which promised to replace his laptop up to 4 years after the date of purchase if it failed but then refused to replace it 3 years later?
Sure, the problem is with the GPU, but since Apple itself *promised* to do something for a customer, they should respect their own words.
The "fasten seatbelt" lights are on for good reason: if the airpline suddenly loses altitude, you won't crack your skull on the roof.
You should avoid spending any time at all without your seatbelts in an airplane because, in some rare occurrences, these drops will happen without any warning at all.
I've tried really hard to like OpenStreetMaps, even contributed several street names and fixed some bad street geometry issues in my neighborhood... but overall it's next to useless here in Brazil. And I live in one of the largest cities here (metro area with 6 million people).
So, yeah, maybe it's useful in the US and Europe, but not everywhere...
Is it just me or this year's April's Fool is sucking hard here on Slashdot?
Come on, don't fail me this time Slashdot!
1) Here in Brazil, mostly everyone trusts the e-voting systems.
It's much much better than the paper ballots which used to end up in rampant fraud in smaller cities, since corruption is widespread. With the e-voting system, the only possible fraud is if the federal government wants to rig the elections (and does a *very* good job at it) neither the government or the opposing parties consider this an issue so, unless they're all colluding with each other (which would make the elections pointless anyway), I think it's reasonably safe. I actually worked for a year and a half in the IT dept. of the Elections Branch in my state and, with that knowledge, I trust the e-voting system.
2) No one here really cares about providing personal data to third-parties. It's common to have to provide your RG (ID card number) and CPF number (something similar to SSN) at a store, when you're making a regular purchase such as shoes or a t-shirt. When designing any sort of IT system to store clients, etc, the CPF number is usually the natural primary key.
Most people here think it's reasonable to collect fingerprints and no one cares when, for instance, the US consulate collects our fingerprints when we're getting our US Visa. Almost all our government documents (we have several: ID Card, CPF, "Voter's Card", Driver's License, Passport) have tons of personal data and fingerprints. This is a non-issue here.
3) People here care about privacy only inside their homes. For instance, everyone (including me) thinks it's a good idea to install more CCTV cameras in some areas to stop crime. In some places, crime is a much more pressing issue than expectation of privacy in a public place. "Big Brother" reality shows are the top 1 programs on public TV, so I would say the next generation might even not care about privacy in their own homes.
The rest of the world is very different from the US - just keep this in mind.
I'm Brazilian and a few weeks ago I was contacted by my bank regarding some very odd charges which seemed fraudulent - these transactions were made on New York parking garages (something like, NYC DOT Parking). The cancelled the credit card, cancelled the charges and sent me a new one.
I visited New York in July 2011 so I was thinking that maybe they stole my credit card details back then and kept the info until they finally decided to use it for fraudulent purchases. It seemed like a long shot, but it was the best explanation I could think of. When I read the story it ringed a bell: I was probably affected by this issue.
Not sure if it was due to online purchases I did in the last few or if it was related to my visit to NYC last year (and this credit card processor could have stored my CC info somewhere for all these months - who knows).
So, yeah, this is actually a global issue - not sure if it's because of tourism or the internet. Personally I think it's nice that they made these news public since this explains a lot for me.
If you wany an apples to apples comparison, you should, at the very least, compare mobile web traffic from iOS to mobile web traffic from high-end 4G Android device - which is what the CEO was talking. And no one seems to ever announce this sort of data.
Stop with the fanboism. Seriously.
For instance, it's nearly useless here in Brazil.
I've contributed several street names and actual physical correction for my neighborhood but I just wouldn't have time to fix everything so I just gave up.
I imagine there's several countries where it's also like that.
Since I don't particularly like Apple and despise their walled garden policies, I see this as a good thing: they'll definitely lose some users because of this, since their apps will become much less useful.
This is ridiculous. Someone in the computer monitor business should get his ass kicked.
My 24" monitor has a resolution of 1920x1200 and even that was difficult to find - most were only 1920x1080 (a.k.a Full HD).
How come a puny tablet has more pixels than a 24" monitor and no one is doing anything about it?!
Well, I'm not sure about the other countries you mentioned... but Brazil would actually be something like $10/hour + a lot of benefits according to the local labor law:
- 8 hours/day max (or paid overtime at 2x the regular rate, up to 10 hours/day)
- 30-day vacations each year
- unlimited sick leave
- reasonable job security (there's a fine when you fire employees)
- can't fire people for going on strike
All workers are unionized in Brazil (by law). Factory workers union agreements usually also state that:
- company pays for employee transportation
- company pays for employee lunch
- health insurance
They only considered moving here to Brazil because Brazil has a ridiculously high import tax. If they produced iPads here, they would avoid that aqnd, even though the local labor cost is much higher than China's, the final product would still be cheaper to consumers. And Brazil is consuming a lot right now.
Brazil has very employee-protective labor laws which make in impractical for a company such as Foxconn to work here, so they requested labor laws reforms from the government. Conceding in the labor laws area would be a very bad scar in the image of the current (theoretically center-left) Labour Party, so the deal didn't go through.
Brazil has no shortage of skilled labor. We do lack decent transportation infrastructure (only options are usually air or road, no train or water transportation). Also, our customs are very outdated, with absurd tariffs (which are also supported by the current government).
As a Brazilian, it was possible the deal was bound to never go through from day one.
But I can only remember of female CEO who have screwed over tech companies.
Any success stories to prove me wrong?