The result of such studies is much less likely to involve further restrictions on drivers, and much more likely to provide a further push towards autonomous vehicles that allow users to be even more distracted.
I was browsing Google News when I happened to hear the tone from next door. For some (unexplained) reason, I kind of expected to see a notification on there.
Considering I sit in my office all day with no radio and no TV, it would be nice to get that kind of alert webified.
Sure, it's easy to be a hater. But you got to give those guys props that they created something fun enough that both me and my four year old daughter find fun at the same time. Easy to play, a little tougher to master, and you can pick it up for minutes or hours at a time.
Whether you like it or not, Angry Birds is at least or more socially relevant than anything else that's come out in consumer market - app or web-based - in the past year or so. Good to see that crossover hits like this can be done.
Unless you force users to update software before continuing to use it, they will nearly always pick the "remind me later" option. Updates to packages like these need to be automatic and enforced for all but the most managed of users, or this problem will just go on forever.
It this issue affected only the individual users, it would be one thing. But the fact that clicking the "remind me later" has a disastrous effect across society means that you can't just rely on people to do the smart thing. They won't. They'll do the quick, easy thing.
What average consumer wouldn't throw another $49.95 as a first step in troubleshooting a slow computer? And I imagine they sell direct, so they don't have to split the money with the original retailer. Genius.
If someone wants to show me a demonstration of software that can turn that iSight camera on, snap a pic, and then turn off in 10ms - I'd love to see. Hey, maybe it's possible. But it takes Apple's Photo Booth like 4-5 seconds before it displays a picture.
Doesn't say that the school official activated the camera or snapped the pic. If the student snapped their own pic and the school official saw the picture, the school would be totally within their rights (assuming they have the right to browse the contents of the laptop at any time, and this I would assume).
Not if the student took the picture of himself. The "big question" here is: Who activated the camera?
Also, I don't think I've seen anywhere that indicates this security software can snap pictures without turning the green light on next to the camera. Meaning that we're not exactly talking about "covert surveillance".
Very few days go by when I don't have a call dropped on my iPhone, just sitting here in my home office. And forget about when driving. Everyone I know in LA who has an iPhone complains about the very same thing. If you want to listen to a funny conversation, eavesdrop on a conversation between two iPhones. "Yeah, it's me again. The iPhone dropped the call again. Yeah, well.... hello? Hello?"
So far their answer? "Mark The Spot", an iPhone app that they want you to switch to and register a complaint about dropped calls instead of trying to call back the person whose call just dropped off. Why don't they look at their records and see the number of times I redialed a number within 30 seconds that I was just connected to?
I've been an Apple guy since the II, and make my living on the Mac platform. But another couple of months to shake out the Nexus and I'm moving. I like Apple but not willing to continue being punked by this Apple/AT&T alliance.
You can deny access from your account all you want, but when your friends click that "grant access" it's almost the same as if you've done it. Try that ACLU quiz and they will show you what kind of information they can gather about your friends without their permission.
Problem is that you don't need to give them your info. All your "friends" who take dumb-ass surveys like "Which Star Wars character are you?" are giving away your info for you.
http://apps.facebook.com/aclunc_privacy_quiz/
If phones could display detailed and accurate information as to the power usage of each application, we'll be able to evaluate applications not only based on features and stability but also power consumption. Apps could compete to use the least amount of power, or be configurable individually to balance battery & speed.
Yep, including the additional memory "backpacks". And as a former beta tester for Rio, I've got an interesting collection of their other players - the Karma, Forge, and a bunch of others I can't even remember the name of.
I have a Treo 650 and can install all kinds of 3rd party apps. Of course, the more running on my Treo the more unstable it is and the more I hate my Treo when it locks up.
Apple's products have been successful because they have controlled a lot of the "freedom" (hardware choices on the Mac OS X, software choices on the iPod) that open products offer. More consistency has kept their users from having to stare at driver errors and the BSOD.
I will replace my Treo - with all it's 3rd party software offerings - with an iPhone the second one is available.
So who promised you a perfect solution? Or that everyone would have the same choices?
And who defines what constitutes "just works"?
People seem to forget that good, useable DVRs that "just work" have been around for eight years now, many of them using IR blasters. It's not the most technically elegant solution, but it "just works" and is the most widely and easily supported method of control.
I think the cable box market should be open somewhat, at least in the style that the DirecTV receiver market is: licensed manufacturers able to provide at least a smattering of solutions. But a fully open system makes the cable market could make support a nightmare. Who provides support when the picture goes out?
Why is everyone complaining about not having choices?
1. You can get a cable box or DVR from your cable company
2. You can get a TiVo Series 3 with HD and CableCard support right now, no cable boxes needed.
3. You can get a standard DVR and have it control your cable box via IR control.
4. You can get DirecTV or Dish and use their PVRs
5. You can get DirecTV or Dish and use your own DVR with IR control.
6. FIOS, U-Verse, whatever else is on the way...
7. This is Slashdot - build your own PVR that automatically gathers content via a Perl script from thousands of sources worldwide.
I hate the cable and satellite companies as much as the next person, but the issue isn't that there aren't choices.
Apple sells a ton of iPods, and then gets press about how many iPods they sell. You can't just do a news story about Apple selling a lot of iPods for the holidays, that's the story we hear every year. You need a situation where they sell so many damn iPods that their service is overwhelmed. That's a story. And you're further reinforcing the idea that "everyone" owns an iPod and nobody owns a Zune.
Yeah, it was a pain for people for a day or so. If I read a story about how many iPods were returned because people had trouble with the iTMS, that's something else. But do you think those iPods went back? Doubt it.
So I decided to try the CrossOver beta, and used their IE6 installer.
Got a message halfway through from VirusBarrier that there was a virus in one of the installer files.
Welcome to Windows.
Ugh. Not surprised. Crap scared out....
Again, as a Mac user I find it not only frightening but certainly intriguing as well. Sure, what Mac user wouldn't want access to all that Windows software. But it's a Pandora's Box at best.
Sure, I love running WinXP on my MacBook Pro using Parallels. The real worry is that once you can easily run Windows on your Mac, there will be less incentive to port apps to the Mac side. Publishers will say "why should I put in all that effort when you can run the PC version?" I wouldn't even be surprised to see a wrapper that installs Windows apps on Macs to run without a full version of Windows installed...
As a Mac professional, this prospect scares the crap out of me.
We've already seen the non-neutrality model... AOL
on
Net Neutrality or Not?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
If net neutrality isn't legislated, then every cable and Bell customer is going to be staring at AOL circa 1999. AOL was a perfect example of: We know that what you really want to see are all these companies who have paid us for front-page access to your eyeballs. Want something else? Well, there is this crappy thing called "the internet" that you can try to browse if you can find it...
Slashdot Mirror
If only I can find all my old TI-99/4A tapes, I can play my old Pac-Mac knockoff.
I'm tired just thinking about it, and bored already.
The result of such studies is much less likely to involve further restrictions on drivers, and much more likely to provide a further push towards autonomous vehicles that allow users to be even more distracted.
I was browsing Google News when I happened to hear the tone from next door. For some (unexplained) reason, I kind of expected to see a notification on there.
Considering I sit in my office all day with no radio and no TV, it would be nice to get that kind of alert webified.
Sure, it's easy to be a hater. But you got to give those guys props that they created something fun enough that both me and my four year old daughter find fun at the same time. Easy to play, a little tougher to master, and you can pick it up for minutes or hours at a time.
Whether you like it or not, Angry Birds is at least or more socially relevant than anything else that's come out in consumer market - app or web-based - in the past year or so. Good to see that crossover hits like this can be done.
Unless you force users to update software before continuing to use it, they will nearly always pick the "remind me later" option. Updates to packages like these need to be automatic and enforced for all but the most managed of users, or this problem will just go on forever.
It this issue affected only the individual users, it would be one thing. But the fact that clicking the "remind me later" has a disastrous effect across society means that you can't just rely on people to do the smart thing. They won't. They'll do the quick, easy thing.
What average consumer wouldn't throw another $49.95 as a first step in troubleshooting a slow computer? And I imagine they sell direct, so they don't have to split the money with the original retailer. Genius.
If someone wants to show me a demonstration of software that can turn that iSight camera on, snap a pic, and then turn off in 10ms - I'd love to see. Hey, maybe it's possible. But it takes Apple's Photo Booth like 4-5 seconds before it displays a picture.
Doesn't say that the school official activated the camera or snapped the pic. If the student snapped their own pic and the school official saw the picture, the school would be totally within their rights (assuming they have the right to browse the contents of the laptop at any time, and this I would assume).
Not if the student took the picture of himself. The "big question" here is: Who activated the camera?
Also, I don't think I've seen anywhere that indicates this security software can snap pictures without turning the green light on next to the camera. Meaning that we're not exactly talking about "covert surveillance".
Very few days go by when I don't have a call dropped on my iPhone, just sitting here in my home office. And forget about when driving. Everyone I know in LA who has an iPhone complains about the very same thing. If you want to listen to a funny conversation, eavesdrop on a conversation between two iPhones. "Yeah, it's me again. The iPhone dropped the call again. Yeah, well.... hello? Hello?"
So far their answer? "Mark The Spot", an iPhone app that they want you to switch to and register a complaint about dropped calls instead of trying to call back the person whose call just dropped off. Why don't they look at their records and see the number of times I redialed a number within 30 seconds that I was just connected to?
I've been an Apple guy since the II, and make my living on the Mac platform. But another couple of months to shake out the Nexus and I'm moving. I like Apple but not willing to continue being punked by this Apple/AT&T alliance.
And for my part, I'm paranoid enough not to have anything at all sensitive there.
The best strategy of all - Never post anything in a massively public system that you don't want to be public. :-)
You can deny access from your account all you want, but when your friends click that "grant access" it's almost the same as if you've done it. Try that ACLU quiz and they will show you what kind of information they can gather about your friends without their permission.
Problem is that you don't need to give them your info. All your "friends" who take dumb-ass surveys like "Which Star Wars character are you?" are giving away your info for you. http://apps.facebook.com/aclunc_privacy_quiz/
If phones could display detailed and accurate information as to the power usage of each application, we'll be able to evaluate applications not only based on features and stability but also power consumption. Apps could compete to use the least amount of power, or be configurable individually to balance battery & speed.
Yep, including the additional memory "backpacks". And as a former beta tester for Rio, I've got an interesting collection of their other players - the Karma, Forge, and a bunch of others I can't even remember the name of.
I have a Treo 650 and can install all kinds of 3rd party apps. Of course, the more running on my Treo the more unstable it is and the more I hate my Treo when it locks up.
Apple's products have been successful because they have controlled a lot of the "freedom" (hardware choices on the Mac OS X, software choices on the iPod) that open products offer. More consistency has kept their users from having to stare at driver errors and the BSOD.
I will replace my Treo - with all it's 3rd party software offerings - with an iPhone the second one is available.
So who promised you a perfect solution? Or that everyone would have the same choices?
And who defines what constitutes "just works"?
People seem to forget that good, useable DVRs that "just work" have been around for eight years now, many of them using IR blasters. It's not the most technically elegant solution, but it "just works" and is the most widely and easily supported method of control.
I think the cable box market should be open somewhat, at least in the style that the DirecTV receiver market is: licensed manufacturers able to provide at least a smattering of solutions. But a fully open system makes the cable market could make support a nightmare. Who provides support when the picture goes out?
Why is everyone complaining about not having choices?
1. You can get a cable box or DVR from your cable company
2. You can get a TiVo Series 3 with HD and CableCard support right now, no cable boxes needed.
3. You can get a standard DVR and have it control your cable box via IR control.
4. You can get DirecTV or Dish and use their PVRs
5. You can get DirecTV or Dish and use your own DVR with IR control.
6. FIOS, U-Verse, whatever else is on the way...
7. This is Slashdot - build your own PVR that automatically gathers content via a Perl script from thousands of sources worldwide.
I hate the cable and satellite companies as much as the next person, but the issue isn't that there aren't choices.
There are companies like Auditude that already have working solutions. Google is actually trying to re-invent the wheel on this one.
Apple sells a ton of iPods, and then gets press about how many iPods they sell. You can't just do a news story about Apple selling a lot of iPods for the holidays, that's the story we hear every year. You need a situation where they sell so many damn iPods that their service is overwhelmed. That's a story. And you're further reinforcing the idea that "everyone" owns an iPod and nobody owns a Zune. Yeah, it was a pain for people for a day or so. If I read a story about how many iPods were returned because people had trouble with the iTMS, that's something else. But do you think those iPods went back? Doubt it.
So I decided to try the CrossOver beta, and used their IE6 installer. Got a message halfway through from VirusBarrier that there was a virus in one of the installer files. Welcome to Windows.
Ugh. Not surprised. Crap scared out.... Again, as a Mac user I find it not only frightening but certainly intriguing as well. Sure, what Mac user wouldn't want access to all that Windows software. But it's a Pandora's Box at best.
Sure, I love running WinXP on my MacBook Pro using Parallels. The real worry is that once you can easily run Windows on your Mac, there will be less incentive to port apps to the Mac side. Publishers will say "why should I put in all that effort when you can run the PC version?" I wouldn't even be surprised to see a wrapper that installs Windows apps on Macs to run without a full version of Windows installed... As a Mac professional, this prospect scares the crap out of me.
If net neutrality isn't legislated, then every cable and Bell customer is going to be staring at AOL circa 1999. AOL was a perfect example of: We know that what you really want to see are all these companies who have paid us for front-page access to your eyeballs. Want something else? Well, there is this crappy thing called "the internet" that you can try to browse if you can find it...
would that be the "whelp, I'm just too lazy" provision of fair-use?
good for HBO. it's not like they don't run those shows over and over again if you miss the first one.