I will pass that epiphany on to General Motors for you. Buckyball fatalities: 0, auto fatalities: ~40,000 per year.
Oh, wait, now you say 'I meant injuries not deaths'. OK lets play that one:
There are approximately 2.2 million Buckyball magnet sets in circulation, and as each set has 216 magnets, there is a grand total of 475.2 million individual magnet pieces. This equals to approximately 1 injury per 100,000 Buckyball sets and less than 1 injury per 21.5 million individual magnet pieces.
Dogs are statistically over 120 times more dangerous
Tennis injuries are 1,228 times more dangerous
Soccer, Cheerleading, poisoning through common household chemicals are all over 1,000 times more dangerous.
Skateboarding is 890 times more dangerous.
Pools, cars, kitchen knives, firearms, balloons, snowblowers are all statistically more dangerous than Buckyball magnets.
That is a LOT of fails by your criteria. Yet where is the CPSC outrage on dogs, racquets, soccer balls, draino, skateboards, pool life jackets, ginsu knifes, and so on?
In what way are they jerks? They seem a little peeved at the CPSC but I would be too. Also note that the CPSC has targeted Zen Magnets as well: Zen Magnets was the first company to receive an administrative complaint from the Consumer Product Safety Commission without a record of injuries.
Hopefully a reference to "Iron Sky II"? And Im still waiting to see the first one, in a theater, on DVD, Netflix, anything. I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell, er, swastikas.
Yes and no. Samsung hasnt been all that hampered and they've both landed a few blows. Until that $1000000000 check clears I wouldnt say Samsung has been actually hampered, and who can say how much all the press has helped (or maybe hurt). Perhaps Apple was foolish to go after Samsung first, rather than a smaller also-ran player just to build up some case law against a less-capable and less-funded legal team?
My favorite media tag line, from a Forbes reporter: "Among my favorite expenses were the multiple cosmetic surgeries for his girlfriend – which, if you think about, is sort of keeping with the whole concept of swapping out parts for different parts."
Nice one, I second that. If I could add to it though I'd include the university system, which seems to be on the brink of becoming too expensive for the middle class let alone the working class. And, I dont believe that online education or distance learning is a practical alternative for engineering and science degrees.
I agree its not a given, but personally I believe the government would fuck up a national ISP. It's too tantalizing a target for politicization for either party, too rife with income opportunities to be left untaxed, too big to avoid corruption by big business. Perhaps that's largely what we have now, but if it was handed over to the government it would likely become worse. IMHO anyway.
I dont know about $45 but this is one place that has lots of cheap tablets and phones. It gives you a good idea of where the bottom of commodity pricing is. Everything here probably violates someones design patents and has no royalties priced in, so I figure this is what hardware costs with almost no R&D, no carrier markup, no branding costs, no sales/marketing/distributor costs, etc. I did buy a 7" tablet from someone similar a few years ago, for $79... it worked OK (Android 1.5) but nothing to brag about.
'Modern Marvels' has done a show on just about everything (up next, "Cheese Tech Part II" on Modern Marvels) so perhaps you're thinking of the Star Trek Tech episode?
It was precisely 'competition' and thats how it is supposed to work. There is no protection for companies that dont want to compete, and Amazon out-competing the hell out of everybody is not a problem. And if they become a monopoly, that is legal as well. It's only a problem if they abuse their monopoly position. Apple has never competed with anyone on the basis of price, so doing so was a fight they had no stomach for and no possibility of winning. So instead of competing they engaged in some secret back-room deals that were wholly illegal, and they absolutely knew it. If it was legal, Jobs would have trumpeted the deal to every rag that would listen.
Any argument that Amazon was going to somehow illegally abuse their dominance in the future is sheer Apple-fanboi speculation if not pure wishful thinking. Actually, Amazon seems to have been very cognizant of the potential anti-trust issues, by creating Kindle apps for the iPad and iPhone so consumers wouldnt be locked into Amazon hardware.
Im not sure it deserves to get modded to 5, it was admittedly a cheesy cheap shot. But I dont understand what you think Amazon is getting away with? They sold eBooks cheaper than regular books, and they bloody well should be cheaper. It worked out well for Amazon, worked out well for the consumers, worked out for the authors, and even for the publishers. Apple didnt like it because it undercut their business model but not being able to compete isnt a crime. What they did, effectively blackmailing publishers to enter into a price-fixing agreement, is very illegal and does not benefit consumers, not even Apple consumers. What 'bubble' is that living in?
The problem is they are selling it below Apple's cost. According to Apple no one should be allowed to undercut Apple, and they have lawyers to prove it.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, wait, now you say 'I meant injuries not deaths'. OK lets play that one:
There are approximately 2.2 million Buckyball magnet sets in circulation, and as each set has 216 magnets, there is a grand total of 475.2 million individual magnet pieces. This equals to approximately 1 injury per 100,000 Buckyball sets and less than 1 injury per 21.5 million individual magnet pieces.
Dogs are statistically over 120 times more dangerous
Tennis injuries are 1,228 times more dangerous
Soccer, Cheerleading, poisoning through common household chemicals are all over 1,000 times more dangerous.
Skateboarding is 890 times more dangerous.
Pools, cars, kitchen knives, firearms, balloons, snowblowers are all statistically more dangerous than Buckyball magnets.
That is a LOT of fails by your criteria. Yet where is the CPSC outrage on dogs, racquets, soccer balls, draino, skateboards, pool life jackets, ginsu knifes, and so on?
they're not jerks like the buckyballs guys are.
In what way are they jerks? They seem a little peeved at the CPSC but I would be too. Also note that the CPSC has targeted Zen Magnets as well: Zen Magnets was the first company to receive an administrative complaint from the Consumer Product Safety Commission without a record of injuries.
he is just a rich 1%'er with mental issues and some anger.
Then, pretty much what everyone on /. aspires to become?
Hopefully a reference to "Iron Sky II"? And Im still waiting to see the first one, in a theater, on DVD, Netflix, anything. I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell, er, swastikas.
There are probably plenty of fake dogs as well!
Yes and no. Samsung hasnt been all that hampered and they've both landed a few blows. Until that $1000000000 check clears I wouldnt say Samsung has been actually hampered, and who can say how much all the press has helped (or maybe hurt). Perhaps Apple was foolish to go after Samsung first, rather than a smaller also-ran player just to build up some case law against a less-capable and less-funded legal team?
Signs of life from the USPTO
Clearly it was a minor typo, and he meant:
Depth to America!
Depth to America!
Depth to America!
Ha ha ha just like this guy did
My favorite media tag line, from a Forbes reporter: "Among my favorite expenses were the multiple cosmetic surgeries for his girlfriend – which, if you think about, is sort of keeping with the whole concept of swapping out parts for different parts."
Nice one, I second that. If I could add to it though I'd include the university system, which seems to be on the brink of becoming too expensive for the middle class let alone the working class. And, I dont believe that online education or distance learning is a practical alternative for engineering and science degrees.
I agree its not a given, but personally I believe the government would fuck up a national ISP. It's too tantalizing a target for politicization for either party, too rife with income opportunities to be left untaxed, too big to avoid corruption by big business. Perhaps that's largely what we have now, but if it was handed over to the government it would likely become worse. IMHO anyway.
Hardly a fair comparison. No one in sales/marketing/management could pass a Turing test to begin with.
After a momentary lapse of reason.
(And a nice pair of animals obscured by clouds hitting the wall like the delicate sound of thunder)
Why would you give someone a Pink Floyd album for that?
"17 people LIKED your checking account balance"
Mr. Liggett: Alright, Lightman. Maybe you could tell us who first suggested the idea of reproduction without sex.
David Lightman: Umm... Your wife?
Try this version
Someone has already published a complete zoomable image. Its a bit of a spoiler, but saves a lot of time!
It allows components to be reused, which is good design and good practice
It's only good design practice if the shared components dont royally suck.
I dont know about $45 but this is one place that has lots of cheap tablets and phones. It gives you a good idea of where the bottom of commodity pricing is. Everything here probably violates someones design patents and has no royalties priced in, so I figure this is what hardware costs with almost no R&D, no carrier markup, no branding costs, no sales/marketing/distributor costs, etc. I did buy a 7" tablet from someone similar a few years ago, for $79... it worked OK (Android 1.5) but nothing to brag about.
'Modern Marvels' has done a show on just about everything (up next, "Cheese Tech Part II" on Modern Marvels) so perhaps you're thinking of the Star Trek Tech episode?
It was precisely 'competition' and thats how it is supposed to work. There is no protection for companies that dont want to compete, and Amazon out-competing the hell out of everybody is not a problem. And if they become a monopoly, that is legal as well. It's only a problem if they abuse their monopoly position. Apple has never competed with anyone on the basis of price, so doing so was a fight they had no stomach for and no possibility of winning. So instead of competing they engaged in some secret back-room deals that were wholly illegal, and they absolutely knew it. If it was legal, Jobs would have trumpeted the deal to every rag that would listen.
Any argument that Amazon was going to somehow illegally abuse their dominance in the future is sheer Apple-fanboi speculation if not pure wishful thinking. Actually, Amazon seems to have been very cognizant of the potential anti-trust issues, by creating Kindle apps for the iPad and iPhone so consumers wouldnt be locked into Amazon hardware.
Im not sure it deserves to get modded to 5, it was admittedly a cheesy cheap shot. But I dont understand what you think Amazon is getting away with? They sold eBooks cheaper than regular books, and they bloody well should be cheaper. It worked out well for Amazon, worked out well for the consumers, worked out for the authors, and even for the publishers. Apple didnt like it because it undercut their business model but not being able to compete isnt a crime. What they did, effectively blackmailing publishers to enter into a price-fixing agreement, is very illegal and does not benefit consumers, not even Apple consumers. What 'bubble' is that living in?
how do you sell an ebook copy at "below cost"
The problem is they are selling it below Apple's cost. According to Apple no one should be allowed to undercut Apple, and they have lawyers to prove it.