There's a reason you rarely see them in stores except novelty shops and amazon. They're the classic example of a solution begging for an actual problem.
Could be but I like to think they are purchased by gadget lovers who probably gave birth to current Slashdot readers........
Are you surprised they are using satellites, or surprised they are admitting to it?
The latter. We know that there are satellites with some damned good (tax-payer funded) cameras above us. But, admitting that they take pictures while over our own country, that's new.
Yeah, next big corporations will be spying on us with satellites.
How long do you think it would take people to adopt this new standard once they find out they can no longer receive email from Yahoo or Hotmail addreses? About five seconds.
Apparently you don't have a mother-in-law, grandmother or other senior citizen in your family.
If my mother-in-law stopped getting email, she wouldn't mention it. She'd assume no one was sending her anything. Then a month later she'd call me for support.
Of course, I'd stop getting her insipid joke emails, with 200+ other forwards in it, so that might be a good thing.
Compare the US Postal Service to UPS or FedEx and you'll see the same thing. Yep, the government does everything else so well, let's hand over this to them too!
Otherwise, I agree with you that any form of socialized medicine is undesirable. A solution to the high cost of providing medical care must be found though.
One change I'd like to see is for drug companies to stop shipping to countries that artificially keep drug prices low. Canada is a good example of that. US citizens pay, in many cases, double the price for name medications, while our friends in Canada get great discounts. Example: Diovan, a widely used medication for hypertension, is available from Canadian online pharmacies at, in some cases, less than half the price in the US. Are US citizens being gouged? Or are we subsidizing the socialist Canadian medical system, which many Canadians don't like.
I have no problem with making good medications available to those who need them. I'm just tired of foreign governments imposing their decisions on the US consumer and taxpayer.
I heard that when you switch to FIOS they remove your POTS lines.
Your phone service travels over fiber instead of copper. Isn't that better? The FIOS line can carry multiple phone lines so say good-bye to the old copper lines.
Also, from what I'm guessing, it you don't like your ISP providing the FIOS connection, you cannot get another ISP that can use that FIOS connection.
IOW: you are just locking yourself into another monopoly.
And, that's they way all ISPs want it. Verizon is trying to have Massachusetts remove the need to get permission from each city and town and instead, go through one state agency for authorization to carry television signals. What do ya think - will the citizens of MA have any leverage once that goes through?
But shipping things to people is what these guys do.
In fact, they are just carriers. Their customers are shippers. There is a difference and that's where OLPC
has hit a speed bump.
Getting me a laptop is not what OLPC does, this is just a one-off stunt, and the demand has overwhelmed them.
Certainly seems so. In my former life, I was a logistics manager (then we called it warehouse manager) and this is a familiar scenario to me. Marketing people come up with a hot idea and, for some reason, assume things just magically arrive at the customer's doorstep. Leaving the operations and logistics people out of the loop was SOP for many businesses large and small. But, with internet ordering, some have changed their ways.
I'm not bothered by this much. So I have to wait a few weeks for my toy... so long as they keep doing what they do (large-scale high-tech charity), and doing it well, I will not fault them for sucking at what they don't normally do.
Well sir, you are the exception. In my experience, products that didn't ship in a timely fashion usually resulted in hundreds of angry phone calls, and later, truckloads of angry e-mails. All of which could have been avoided if there had just been more detailed logistics planning.
He is absolutely correct; a half-million units shipped to just 12 to 15 destinations *IS* simple by comparison. Just look at the complexities of UPS' operations in moving 80000 packages within the boundaries of the US, and that becomes apparent.
Tue, but UPS manages to do it effectively. So does Fedex.
By the way, UPS moves approximately 10,000,000 parcels per day, not 80,000. Fedex does around 7,000,000 per day. What's needed is professional logistics management, and that may end up costing more than this product will support.
It is a drop in the bucket, but $20,000 is nothing to sneeze at, particularly in a school district's budget. That money could be directed to other programs, or maybe just put in a rainy day fund.
The school district nearby where I live would think they'd hit the lottery if someone came up with a $20K savings.
Ahhh, true, but you must think like a politician. If you wanted to impress the district superintendent, you show him / her the savings so they could tout that to the budget committee, take full credit for it and insure their own employment longevity.
Isn't that the way it works? </cynasism_off>
<idealism_on> As the original poster mentioned, the savings was around $20,000. A drop in the bucket maybe, but it might have funded a part-time teaching position or helped with the music or art programs.</idealism_off>
Every little bit helps. With more people like him, we'd could save more energy and reduce costs and maybe be less dependent on buying energy from people who hate the US.
I'm proud for the kid in the sense that he put his mind to work, but at the same time, no points for lacking discretion, and a good sense of responsibility. And I don't think he should get a free pass just because he is a kid. If he is smart enough to do what he did, I think its entirely reasonable to assume that he had the capacity to know what the effects may be.
Proud of him? I wonder if you'd say that, even in the context you did, if you or your family had been one of the injured.
Kevin Mitnick did hard time for his snooping around a computer system, and no one was injured. Without debating the appropriateness of his sentence, it seems he received a much harsher sentence than you'd give this brat. Given the UK's approach to terrorist problems, he'd be lucky to get off with twenty-five years.
Who cares? Those of us that hope that Firefox gains enough market share that people will stop being morons and developing websites that only work in IE. Then maybe we'll get back to standards instead of browser specific webpages and extensions.
From my perspective, any site that doesn't work in FF I won't visit. On e-commerce sites, unless there's an overriding reason for me to buy from them, I don't.
There will continue to be those amateur developers who use the MS proprietary environment (FrontPage) but in reality, they're probably not putting anything out there most people want to see anyway.
look, I'm not trying to flame, but what you do expect? You are selling these things to walmart shoppers, some of the dumbest people on the planet in general.
Not trying to flame? Just because people shop at a store that discounts heavily, that makes them dumb?
By the way, does Best Buy or Circuit City offer a Linux PC? After all,we all know all the beautiful smart people from./ shop there, right?
To an extent, I agree that many punishments are excessive, but I believe that is a result of judicial indiscretion - the failure of judges to impose proper sentencing for crimes. The reaction is to create laws with excessive punishments - to take away the judge's ability to sentence based on facts. For example, I know there are legit uses for the green laser. Many astronomers use them to point out celestial objects. If the laser inadvertantly shines into a cockpit should that astronomer go to jail for twenty years? Of course not, but the law may be written to mandate such punishment and make it impossible for a judge to alter the punishment.
Just this morning I hear the California Governator (Schwarzeneggar) is proposing to release up to 20,000 "non-violent" offenders and reduce the corrections department staffing by as many as 4,000. It's unlikely it will happen to that extent, but it seems this is a good example of how the judicial system is being abused and mismanaged by the politicians in the US.
Libertarians and I share a lot in common but too little government is almost as bad as too much.
"You don't tug on superman's cape, You don't spit into the wind You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger....."
And you don't [shine a green laser at the cops]. It doesn't rhyme but was that too hard to understand?
Twenty years may seem over the top, but if the green laser does indeed disorient a pilot, and an aircraft crashes because of it, resulting in death, then the punishment seems to be appropriate, in my opinion.
Gotta love the euphemisms employers come up with. Just say laid off.
Just my observation - In an industry where turnover is expected, anyone connected with any form of mass media that stays in one job for more than five years must be something of an anomaly.
Whoever said that has their facts wrong. I was a logistics manager for 22 years in a major company, and I know how the USPS handles large mailers. We used to mail over 60,000 pieces of mail each week and the USPS doesn't pick it up unless a mailer contracts them to do so. Then, the USPS uses private firms to pick up.
Netflix also said they pay for pickup service even tho they deliver their shipments to the post office, at an estimated $100M savings to the post office. They could either demand the post office pick up as they are paid to do, or charge less for what they don't do.
Well, they already do that.
Large mailers that arrange for their own delivery also do all of the "presorting" saving the postal service the time and saving money for themselves. The US Postal Service doesn't pick up trailers full of mail from anyone because that's not what they do. The USPS trailers you may see on the roads are only moving mail between USPS facilities.
While the USPS will pick up some mail volume from businesses and individuals, Netflix is probably generating tens of thousands of envelopes per day per fulfillment center, and the USPS gives a discount to the them for the presort and the transportation to the nearest major mail sorting facility.
Slashdot Mirror
Could be but I like to think they are purchased by gadget lovers who probably gave birth to current Slashdot readers........
Yeah, next big corporations will be spying on us with satellites.
Oh, wait a minute...
Apparently you don't have a mother-in-law, grandmother or other senior citizen in your family.
If my mother-in-law stopped getting email, she wouldn't mention it. She'd assume no one was sending her anything. Then a month later she'd call me for support.
Of course, I'd stop getting her insipid joke emails, with 200+ other forwards in it, so that might be a good thing.
Your analogy is in error. The US Postal Service does not receive any taxpayer money to operate. This link explains how the USPS operates.>
Otherwise, I agree with you that any form of socialized medicine is undesirable. A solution to the high cost of providing medical care must be found though.
One change I'd like to see is for drug companies to stop shipping to countries that artificially keep drug prices low. Canada is a good example of that. US citizens pay, in many cases, double the price for name medications, while our friends in Canada get great discounts. Example: Diovan, a widely used medication for hypertension, is available from Canadian online pharmacies at, in some cases, less than half the price in the US. Are US citizens being gouged? Or are we subsidizing the socialist Canadian medical system, which many Canadians don't like.
I have no problem with making good medications available to those who need them. I'm just tired of foreign governments imposing their decisions on the US consumer and taxpayer.
Well, then hook up your car battery......
Actually, that might not be a bad thing. I'd get a FioS line installed in my mother-in-law's house and pray for a major power outage.
Your phone service travels over fiber instead of copper. Isn't that better? The FIOS line can carry multiple phone lines so say good-bye to the old copper lines.
Also, from what I'm guessing, it you don't like your ISP providing the FIOS connection, you cannot get another ISP that can use that FIOS connection.IOW: you are just locking yourself into another monopoly.
And, that's they way all ISPs want it. Verizon is trying to have Massachusetts remove the need to get permission from each city and town and instead, go through one state agency for authorization to carry television signals. What do ya think - will the citizens of MA have any leverage once that goes through?
In fact, they are just carriers. Their customers are shippers. There is a difference and that's where OLPC has hit a speed bump. Getting me a laptop is not what OLPC does, this is just a one-off stunt, and the demand has overwhelmed them.
Certainly seems so. In my former life, I was a logistics manager (then we called it warehouse manager) and this is a familiar scenario to me. Marketing people come up with a hot idea and, for some reason, assume things just magically arrive at the customer's doorstep. Leaving the operations and logistics people out of the loop was SOP for many businesses large and small. But, with internet ordering, some have changed their ways.
I'm not bothered by this much. So I have to wait a few weeks for my toy... so long as they keep doing what they do (large-scale high-tech charity), and doing it well, I will not fault them for sucking at what they don't normally do.Well sir, you are the exception. In my experience, products that didn't ship in a timely fashion usually resulted in hundreds of angry phone calls, and later, truckloads of angry e-mails. All of which could have been avoided if there had just been more detailed logistics planning.
Tue, but UPS manages to do it effectively. So does Fedex.
By the way, UPS moves approximately 10,000,000 parcels per day, not 80,000. Fedex does around 7,000,000 per day. What's needed is professional logistics management, and that may end up costing more than this product will support.
The hell with a camera in my cell phone, I'll take a rad detector. How cool is that?
One question - will it stop my calls from being dropped? No? Maybe you guys should fix that FIRST!
It is a drop in the bucket, but $20,000 is nothing to sneeze at, particularly in a school district's budget. That money could be directed to other programs, or maybe just put in a rainy day fund.
The school district nearby where I live would think they'd hit the lottery if someone came up with a $20K savings.
Ahhh, true, but you must think like a politician. If you wanted to impress the district superintendent, you show him / her the savings so they could tout that to the budget committee, take full credit for it and insure their own employment longevity.
Isn't that the way it works?
</cynasism_off>
<idealism_on>
As the original poster mentioned, the savings was around $20,000. A drop in the bucket maybe, but it might have funded a part-time teaching position or helped with the music or art programs.</idealism_off>
Every little bit helps. With more people like him, we'd could save more energy and reduce costs and maybe be less dependent on buying energy from people who hate the US.
If I were a taxpayer in your district, I would appreciate the savings on the school's electric bill.
Now I know I occasionally nod off during the day, but when exactly did THAT happen?
OK so it wasn't in the UK. It was Poland. Need to clean my glasses.
Proud of him? I wonder if you'd say that, even in the context you did, if you or your family had been one of the injured.
Kevin Mitnick did hard time for his snooping around a computer system, and no one was injured. Without debating the appropriateness of his sentence, it seems he received a much harsher sentence than you'd give this brat. Given the UK's approach to terrorist problems, he'd be lucky to get off with twenty-five years.
From my perspective, any site that doesn't work in FF I won't visit. On e-commerce sites, unless there's an overriding reason for me to buy from them, I don't.
There will continue to be those amateur developers who use the MS proprietary environment (FrontPage) but in reality, they're probably not putting anything out there most people want to see anyway.
I have no idea. Maybe those who just want to try it and either can't roll their own or can't be bothered. Instant gratification and all that, ya know?
Not trying to flame? Just because people shop at a store that discounts heavily, that makes them dumb?
By the way, does Best Buy or Circuit City offer a Linux PC? After all ,we all know all the beautiful smart people from ./ shop there, right?
To an extent, I agree that many punishments are excessive, but I believe that is a result of judicial indiscretion - the failure of judges to impose proper sentencing for crimes. The reaction is to create laws with excessive punishments - to take away the judge's ability to sentence based on facts. For example, I know there are legit uses for the green laser. Many astronomers use them to point out celestial objects. If the laser inadvertantly shines into a cockpit should that astronomer go to jail for twenty years? Of course not, but the law may be written to mandate such punishment and make it impossible for a judge to alter the punishment.
Just this morning I hear the California Governator (Schwarzeneggar) is proposing to release up to 20,000 "non-violent" offenders and reduce the corrections department staffing by as many as 4,000. It's unlikely it will happen to that extent, but it seems this is a good example of how the judicial system is being abused and mismanaged by the politicians in the US.
Libertarians and I share a lot in common but too little government is almost as bad as too much.
"You don't tug on superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger....."
And you don't [shine a green laser at the cops]. It doesn't rhyme but was that too hard to understand?
Twenty years may seem over the top, but if the green laser does indeed disorient a pilot, and an aircraft crashes because of it, resulting in death, then the punishment seems to be appropriate, in my opinion.
Yes... a temporal anomaly!
Thank you. I knew there was a good one liner in there somewhere, just couldn't think of it.
Just my observation - In an industry where turnover is expected, anyone connected with any form of mass media that stays in one job for more than five years must be something of an anomaly.
Damn - you know me? I didn't think I knew any cowards. Especially ones with four digit /. accounts.
I can't say anymore 'cause feeding cowards and trolls is bad for the environment.
By the way - gotten laid lately? And not with my dead mother.
Whoever said that has their facts wrong. I was a logistics manager for 22 years in a major company, and I know how the USPS handles large mailers. We used to mail over 60,000 pieces of mail each week and the USPS doesn't pick it up unless a mailer contracts them to do so. Then, the USPS uses private firms to pick up.
Well, they already do that.
Large mailers that arrange for their own delivery also do all of the "presorting" saving the postal service the time and saving money for themselves. The US Postal Service doesn't pick up trailers full of mail from anyone because that's not what they do. The USPS trailers you may see on the roads are only moving mail between USPS facilities.
While the USPS will pick up some mail volume from businesses and individuals, Netflix is probably generating tens of thousands of envelopes per day per fulfillment center, and the USPS gives a discount to the them for the presort and the transportation to the nearest major mail sorting facility.