Western companies have a hard time starting up over in Asia.
I agree - however part of the problem is that Western Companies generally don't understand the demographic of their customers, instead they pretend Asia is just like the West eg:
Vodafone not on a 3g network or offering a flip phone
Original Xbox not offering as many Japanese RPG's as PS2
It will be interesting to see how XBOX360 fares in Japan when the promised new RPG's come out. At the moment, Gamecube outsells it.
Western companies need to learn that the entire attitude of "Customers will buy what we tell them to" just wont cut it in Asia. Consumers are generally more savvy and wont tolerate crap. As a former unsatisfied vodafone customer - I must say that I delight in seeing this failure of theirs.
From my understanding, you need access to a 80211.* based network (i.e home/office hotspot) and a phone which has a wi-fi card.
What I was hoping for is that microsoft may be interested in providing free hotspots in various metro areas much like google has been doing and some city councils have been in the US.
In Australia there are some wi-fi networks in existance (at least in Sydney) but they are owned by Tel$tra and Optu$ so cost a fortune to use - it would be great if we would see free wi-fi in metro areas in Australia but I doubt it will happen.
The best we can hope for is some company to buy the existing metro 2.5g infrastructure and operate it at a discounted price compared to the expensive 3g networks which will replace it.
Long story short, don't toss your sim card out yet.
Seriously, if this is the case, who is going to waste their money and buy one of these players?.
Consumers will be outraged (even the stupid ones). After all lets see what there is to consider:
Choose a format you want and buy the player but to get all available titles you will really need to fork out cash for both players - who is going to do this?
Discover that after you buy your two shiny new players that they will not work with your existing HDTV so fork out more cash for a new HDTV.
I think many retailers will end up experiencing a large increase in returned AV equipment in the coming years so much so that perhaps some retailers may decide to stop stocking such products or at least pick stock that is known to work together.
As for me, I probably wont worry about upgrading because my existing DVD collection is sufficiently entertaining and the quality of movies being released now days is simply appalling. In the end it's just not worth it.
As much as I hate microsoft, I think they are on a real winner with this one. If it ever makes it to the Australian market I'd sign up for it. I for one am sick to death of paying a $0.20 call connection fee + $0.60 per minute to use my mobile, perhaps this will force the telecommunications industry to adopt reasonable rates.
They are better off spending their time studying and perhaps one of them will come up with an algorithm that surpasses google, then they can form their own company, compete with google in all markets except the Chinese one.
We can stop using and recomending DRM capable hardware
Try telling that to those out there who will want to play the latest and greatest WOW game (or any other game for that matter since the big developers wont stop). Instead I hope we'll eventually see PC mod chips for mainboards, hard drives and video cards but doubt it.
I can just see it now - RIAA suing someone because their computer dialed 'back to base' providing their owners name and fingerprints (technology replacing law enforcement)... there goes the excuse that it was my children and I didnt know.
I know what you mean - but from my trip I think that is because traffic lights there are not reliable (at least in Guangzhou in December) they were always dead. Also many people in what appears to be police uniforms are actually "loss prevention officers" who work in some of the larger, more expensive shops.
I honestly believe that this entire topic has been blown out of proportion - congress is not interested in promoting free speech, they just want to spread democracy to the rest of the world.
Just remember how communists in the US were treated during the cold war - there goes the free speech argument. It can be said that the United States is the greatest example of democracy, however, it is also the greatest example of it's failure. In the US corporations run the country at least in China they are forced to tow the line.
Having recently visited China, I can sincerely say it is not the police state that most people envision (actually the heightened security in the US is far more restrictive in my experience i.e bags being searched and going though metal detectors in some buildings most notably SF City Hall)
Although many people do comment on China's education system which puts Mao on a pedistol, it is no different to what the US does with Kennedy - secondly in China's education system, the incident at Tienanmen Square is not taboo - my current girlfriend completed high school in China and was taught that the military was wrong but so too were the protesters (allegedly they set fires)
I'm not trying to make excuses for the Chinese Government, I just think we should give them a fair go and accept their sovereignty like they do ours (has anyone heard Chinese criticising the US for their human rights record?).
I think that we are all being misled by the media on Tienanmen - my girlfriend is from China (Guandong province), finished high school there 3 years ago, and she told me that the incident in Tienanmen square is talked about in high school and the following points are mentioned:
What the army did was wrong
What the protesters did was wrong - apparently they lit fires
That the protesters were campaigning for democracy
Secondly, Chinese media are allowed to mention Tienanmen, however not editorialise. Which is reasonable given the same restricitions on editorialising in many Western Countries.
I personally have lost all trust in our media since I went to China and was able to use wikipedia and secondly since they said Memoirs of a Geisha was banned (which it is not).
It is not about if or if not you have done anything wrong, my biggest objection to such measures is the probability of my personal information being misused. What if a particular company be it defence contractor or government sponsor were to use or personal data for marketing or some other sinister purpose? What if government employees began selling your phone conversations much the same way phone company employee sell your phone records?
Think about the conversations you have and the things you do in private, are you really sure you don't care who is watching, when they are watching and what they are recording? What will happen to such recordings?
The Nazi's used old census papers to track down Jews, imagine what a similar regime could do with all this pre-gathered "intelligence" if they were to ever come to power. Your trust and naivety will be your downfall.
Sounds like Intel's marketing department handed this to the BBC on a plate - Unfortunately, I think most average people will read this looking forward to viiv and the associated "enhanced" digital media experience. Only after everyone buys one of these new computers will we really know the inconvenience DRM will cause. With any luck PC mod chips may start to surface in a few years otherwise I think I'll just start to listen to radio more and only buy compact discs (if they are still around and don't feature root kits).
Although I don't really agree with censorship, I honestly believe some of the comments about the Chinese government are not fair.
If the interent was around during the cold war do you think the FBI would have censored information about local communist groups?
Secondly as for human rights I can honestly believe that every country out there has at one point been guilty of such things look at Guantanamo Bay or Australia's treatment of the aboriginal people in the 1960's under the "White Australia Policy".
Finally I would just like to say that even democratic, 'free-speech' nations have tried to pass laws to censor the internet. Attached is an outline of such efforts by Electronic Frontiers Australia
now for the hard part:
- designing and building a launch/return vehicle
- designing and building any robotic systems to be used for actual mining (assuming non-manned mission)
- generating funds to do the above
somehow I don't think this will be happening for some time. After all shouldn't we have been living on the moon in moon-bases already?
in the future, sony's aibo will spy on it's owners for playing copied DVD's and CD's... it will then use it's wifi to connect to your access point and let it's evil master sony know what you are doing...
but really, who has $2k to blow on some pice of crap, robosapien kicks ass anyday!
come on - it's just a bloody game! everyone is taking this far too seriously... also kind of funny how everyone's solution is keep the chinese on their own servers... isnt that the grand, master plan of the supposed 'great firewall' which most of you are against (i.e china having it's own version of the internet cut off from the outside world full of party propaganda)? segregation is a form of racism everybody!
Slashdot Mirror
I agree - however part of the problem is that Western Companies generally don't understand the demographic of their customers, instead they pretend Asia is just like the West eg:
It will be interesting to see how XBOX360 fares in Japan when the promised new RPG's come out. At the moment, Gamecube outsells it.
Western companies need to learn that the entire attitude of "Customers will buy what we tell them to" just wont cut it in Asia. Consumers are generally more savvy and wont tolerate crap. As a former unsatisfied vodafone customer - I must say that I delight in seeing this failure of theirs.
I think that anyone who is half serious about their security wouldnt be using encryption software developed by micro$soft
A better choice is pgp and gnupg. Gnupg is open source, so you can verify there are no backdoors. I'd like to see m$ top that!
Stem cells immoral? Not when the military finds a use for them.
Great first it was killer dolphins which were released when Katrina hit... next hurricane we will have to contend with killer sharks...
I really wish the US DoD would stop fucking up the world.
I'd rather them not cave into another Government that fits that description.
From my understanding, you need access to a 80211.* based network (i.e home/office hotspot) and a phone which has a wi-fi card.
What I was hoping for is that microsoft may be interested in providing free hotspots in various metro areas much like google has been doing and some city councils have been in the US.
In Australia there are some wi-fi networks in existance (at least in Sydney) but they are owned by Tel$tra and Optu$ so cost a fortune to use - it would be great if we would see free wi-fi in metro areas in Australia but I doubt it will happen.
The best we can hope for is some company to buy the existing metro 2.5g infrastructure and operate it at a discounted price compared to the expensive 3g networks which will replace it.
Long story short, don't toss your sim card out yet.
Seriously, if this is the case, who is going to waste their money and buy one of these players?.
Consumers will be outraged (even the stupid ones). After all lets see what there is to consider:
I think many retailers will end up experiencing a large increase in returned AV equipment in the coming years so much so that perhaps some retailers may decide to stop stocking such products or at least pick stock that is known to work together.
As for me, I probably wont worry about upgrading because my existing DVD collection is sufficiently entertaining and the quality of movies being released now days is simply appalling. In the end it's just not worth it.
As much as I hate microsoft, I think they are on a real winner with this one. If it ever makes it to the Australian market I'd sign up for it. I for one am sick to death of paying a $0.20 call connection fee + $0.60 per minute to use my mobile, perhaps this will force the telecommunications industry to adopt reasonable rates.
They are better off spending their time studying and perhaps one of them will come up with an algorithm that surpasses google, then they can form their own company, compete with google in all markets except the Chinese one.
I think it's more of a case that people just don't think before they open their mouths.
Try telling that to those out there who will want to play the latest and greatest WOW game (or any other game for that matter since the big developers wont stop). Instead I hope we'll eventually see PC mod chips for mainboards, hard drives and video cards but doubt it.
I can just see it now - RIAA suing someone because their computer dialed 'back to base' providing their owners name and fingerprints (technology replacing law enforcement)... there goes the excuse that it was my children and I didnt know.
I know what you mean - but from my trip I think that is because traffic lights there are not reliable (at least in Guangzhou in December) they were always dead. Also many people in what appears to be police uniforms are actually "loss prevention officers" who work in some of the larger, more expensive shops.
I honestly believe that this entire topic has been blown out of proportion - congress is not interested in promoting free speech, they just want to spread democracy to the rest of the world.
Just remember how communists in the US were treated during the cold war - there goes the free speech argument. It can be said that the United States is the greatest example of democracy, however, it is also the greatest example of it's failure. In the US corporations run the country at least in China they are forced to tow the line.
Having recently visited China, I can sincerely say it is not the police state that most people envision (actually the heightened security in the US is far more restrictive in my experience i.e bags being searched and going though metal detectors in some buildings most notably SF City Hall)
Although many people do comment on China's education system which puts Mao on a pedistol, it is no different to what the US does with Kennedy - secondly in China's education system, the incident at Tienanmen Square is not taboo - my current girlfriend completed high school in China and was taught that the military was wrong but so too were the protesters (allegedly they set fires)
I'm not trying to make excuses for the Chinese Government, I just think we should give them a fair go and accept their sovereignty like they do ours (has anyone heard Chinese criticising the US for their human rights record?).
Secondly, Chinese media are allowed to mention Tienanmen, however not editorialise. Which is reasonable given the same restricitions on editorialising in many Western Countries.
I personally have lost all trust in our media since I went to China and was able to use wikipedia and secondly since they said Memoirs of a Geisha was banned (which it is not).
It is not about if or if not you have done anything wrong, my biggest objection to such measures is the probability of my personal information being misused. What if a particular company be it defence contractor or government sponsor were to use or personal data for marketing or some other sinister purpose? What if government employees began selling your phone conversations much the same way phone company employee sell your phone records?
Think about the conversations you have and the things you do in private, are you really sure you don't care who is watching, when they are watching and what they are recording? What will happen to such recordings?
The Nazi's used old census papers to track down Jews, imagine what a similar regime could do with all this pre-gathered "intelligence" if they were to ever come to power. Your trust and naivety will be your downfall.
Democracy has been dead in Australia ever since the day Gough Whitlam was sacked (1975).
Doesnt come as a surprise given the following plans.
NSW plans new security camera regime.I think it is safe to say that we are all potential criminals.
Sounds like Intel's marketing department handed this to the BBC on a plate - Unfortunately, I think most average people will read this looking forward to viiv and the associated "enhanced" digital media experience. Only after everyone buys one of these new computers will we really know the inconvenience DRM will cause. With any luck PC mod chips may start to surface in a few years otherwise I think I'll just start to listen to radio more and only buy compact discs (if they are still around and don't feature root kits).
lol your right about cctv, actually in the state of NSW, police want a camera registry! NSW plans new security camera regime
If the interent was around during the cold war do you think the FBI would have censored information about local communist groups?
Secondly as for human rights I can honestly believe that every country out there has at one point been guilty of such things look at Guantanamo Bay or Australia's treatment of the aboriginal people in the 1960's under the "White Australia Policy".
Finally I would just like to say that even democratic, 'free-speech' nations have tried to pass laws to censor the internet. Attached is an outline of such efforts by Electronic Frontiers Australia
EFA Summarynow for the hard part: - designing and building a launch/return vehicle - designing and building any robotic systems to be used for actual mining (assuming non-manned mission) - generating funds to do the above somehow I don't think this will be happening for some time. After all shouldn't we have been living on the moon in moon-bases already?
in the future, sony's aibo will spy on it's owners for playing copied DVD's and CD's... it will then use it's wifi to connect to your access point and let it's evil master sony know what you are doing... but really, who has $2k to blow on some pice of crap, robosapien kicks ass anyday!
come on - it's just a bloody game! everyone is taking this far too seriously... also kind of funny how everyone's solution is keep the chinese on their own servers... isnt that the grand, master plan of the supposed 'great firewall' which most of you are against (i.e china having it's own version of the internet cut off from the outside world full of party propaganda)? segregation is a form of racism everybody!