Actually, the biggest complaint I hear about blackberries is that they work. People get blackberries and feel like they are somehow more reachable - even to the point where it now impinges on their downtime.
Thing is... the blackberry's primary function is to serve as a business tool and it is designed that way. the iPhone is something that anyone who uses an iPod (there's a lot of em) will understand. You're comparing apples(pun intended) with oranges.
"Gee, it's closed and I can't install apps on it like my other phone... Oh well, it's an iPhone!
Um... there are about 1000 apps in the appstore that can be installed and how they are the delivered via iTunes or directly to the iPhone is the most user friendly yet.
I downloaded an update and now it's bricked... Oh well, it's an iPhone!" etc. ad absurdum.
Updates can only potentially brick iPhones if they have been jailbroken. If you're going to frick around with the firmware of a device using code from someone other than the manufacturer... well.. you're asking for trouble aren't you.
In order to make interesting music with this one would have to screw with the algorithm. Make it do crazy stuff and if it produces 1 second of brilliance then it would be worth more than all the predictable crap that it would normally produce.
The imperfections in sound processing equipment and musical instruments is what makes them unique and interesting. In fact, music producers pay thousands for these imperfections. A singer's voice is memorable if there's an imperfection that makes it immediately noticeable from others. etc. etc.
I guess this will help people write "songs" but I don't think they will be good at all. Because good songs are more than just about the melody and the lyrics. Its also (if not more) about the music that backs it right down to the production values that recorded it.
E-voting isn't any more or less tamper proof than ballot and paper. Making the code open source is a fine way to deal with the issue of transparency and if people don't understand the code it is not unreasonable to expect them to learn to understand. Encouraging the voting population to learn more is a good thing in my book... maybe they may even be inspired to look deeper into election issues rather than swallow whatever the politicians tell them.
What e-voting can do is make the process more efficient, waste less human effort and use less materials such as pencils, papers and cardboard ballot boxes. Yes there are implications to e-voting that we don't fully understand but that doesn't mean it should be forgotten about altogether.
Of course the political commentators and the media won't like this as it makes it harder for them to create suspenseful election shows that go on for as long as they do. But I'm not too concerned for them. The ability to expend hot air is strong with all humans.
I don't buy a CD unless I really want it but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a vinyl record that I think I might like. Why? A vinyl record offers more than just the great music that is captured on it. Because of its size, the artwork on the cover makes more of an impact. And also because handling vinyl requires more care I find myself listening to it because I really want to listen to it. If I just wanted background music it would be much easier to reach for the remote that controls my media streaming device.
"Sounds better" doesn't necessarily mean something is more accurate either. Sometimes it is the imperfections or inaccuracies that make something sound better. It is completely subjective of course and depends on the type of music you listen to.
Having said all this... I don't think CD's will ever go away but it is certainly becoming less popular like vinyl has because of the convenience of digital music. Also the "track" buying mentality that comes with digital music distribution means that people are less likely to buy albums/records as a complete work by an artist anymore.
Agree with most comments so far.
One basic requirement for me in a media center is that it has to play all formats and encoding schemes. The 360 is way too picky about the video it can stream.
If the 360 and PS3 intend to be a contenders in this space then they have to at least match the functionality in XBMC. The original Xbox with XBMC trumps both these so-called "next-gen" consoles at the moment in media centre functionality.
Yup... Telstra. That most un-benevolent of companies that has Australians by the balls when it comes to internet access. They basically have total control of the telecommunicaions infrastructure here in Australia and does their best to stop everyone having access unless they can make huge profit from it.
And their aggressive profiteering is not even the worst thing... Telstra have that added bureaucracy which makes them an ineffective telecommunications provider as well.
Paying more money for less service? We understand your pain mate.
We're charging our battery
And now we're full of energy
We are the robots
We are the robots....
We're functioning automatic
And we are dancing mechanic
We are the robots
We are the robots....
As an A/P in Melbourne, I agree with the comments that most companies only care about the bottom line and not about the quality of the work that they are doing. But the idea that immigrants are taking jobs from aussies or lowering wages I think is preposterous. And even if it is true, should we be really blaming the immigrants? Why is there never a story about companies employing inexperienced immigrants or foreign workers producing substandard products where the focus is on the company doing the wrong thing? Sure.... socially irresponsible companies aren't our problem its the immigrants.
Point 2...
We are IT people aren't we? Isn't it part of our job to keep up with new technologies, continually learn new technical skills(and this doesn't necessarily mean getting a new degree) so we can move into different areas of the IT industry when we want to? Like it or not (And I don't but there's reality to consider) we will have to compete with people from around the world for jobs and the competition is only going to get fiercer.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, the biggest complaint I hear about blackberries is that they work. People get blackberries and feel like they are somehow more reachable - even to the point where it now impinges on their downtime.
Thing is... the blackberry's primary function is to serve as a business tool and it is designed that way. the iPhone is something that anyone who uses an iPod (there's a lot of em) will understand. You're comparing apples(pun intended) with oranges.
"Gee, it's closed and I can't install apps on it like my other phone... Oh well, it's an iPhone!
Um... there are about 1000 apps in the appstore that can be installed and how they are the delivered via iTunes or directly to the iPhone is the most user friendly yet.
I downloaded an update and now it's bricked... Oh well, it's an iPhone!" etc. ad absurdum.
Updates can only potentially brick iPhones if they have been jailbroken. If you're going to frick around with the firmware of a device using code from someone other than the manufacturer... well.. you're asking for trouble aren't you.
In order to make interesting music with this one would have to screw with the algorithm. Make it do crazy stuff and if it produces 1 second of brilliance then it would be worth more than all the predictable crap that it would normally produce.
The imperfections in sound processing equipment and musical instruments is what makes them unique and interesting. In fact, music producers pay thousands for these imperfections. A singer's voice is memorable if there's an imperfection that makes it immediately noticeable from others. etc. etc.
I guess this will help people write "songs" but I don't think they will be good at all. Because good songs are more than just about the melody and the lyrics. Its also (if not more) about the music that backs it right down to the production values that recorded it.
E-voting isn't any more or less tamper proof than ballot and paper. Making the code open source is a fine way to deal with the issue of transparency and if people don't understand the code it is not unreasonable to expect them to learn to understand. Encouraging the voting population to learn more is a good thing in my book... maybe they may even be inspired to look deeper into election issues rather than swallow whatever the politicians tell them.
What e-voting can do is make the process more efficient, waste less human effort and use less materials such as pencils, papers and cardboard ballot boxes. Yes there are implications to e-voting that we don't fully understand but that doesn't mean it should be forgotten about altogether.
Of course the political commentators and the media won't like this as it makes it harder for them to create suspenseful election shows that go on for as long as they do. But I'm not too concerned for them. The ability to expend hot air is strong with all humans.
Agree...
I don't buy a CD unless I really want it but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a vinyl record that I think I might like. Why? A vinyl record offers more than just the great music that is captured on it. Because of its size, the artwork on the cover makes more of an impact. And also because handling vinyl requires more care I find myself listening to it because I really want to listen to it. If I just wanted background music it would be much easier to reach for the remote that controls my media streaming device.
"Sounds better" doesn't necessarily mean something is more accurate either. Sometimes it is the imperfections or inaccuracies that make something sound better. It is completely subjective of course and depends on the type of music you listen to.
Having said all this... I don't think CD's will ever go away but it is certainly becoming less popular like vinyl has because of the convenience of digital music. Also the "track" buying mentality that comes with digital music distribution means that people are less likely to buy albums/records as a complete work by an artist anymore.
Agree with most comments so far. One basic requirement for me in a media center is that it has to play all formats and encoding schemes. The 360 is way too picky about the video it can stream. If the 360 and PS3 intend to be a contenders in this space then they have to at least match the functionality in XBMC. The original Xbox with XBMC trumps both these so-called "next-gen" consoles at the moment in media centre functionality.
Yup... Telstra. That most un-benevolent of companies that has Australians by the balls when it comes to internet access. They basically have total control of the telecommunicaions infrastructure here in Australia and does their best to stop everyone having access unless they can make huge profit from it. And their aggressive profiteering is not even the worst thing... Telstra have that added bureaucracy which makes them an ineffective telecommunications provider as well. Paying more money for less service? We understand your pain mate.
We're charging our battery And now we're full of energy We are the robots We are the robots ....
We're functioning automatic
And we are dancing mechanic
We are the robots
We are the robots ....
As an A/P in Melbourne, I agree with the comments that most companies only care about the bottom line and not about the quality of the work that they are doing. But the idea that immigrants are taking jobs from aussies or lowering wages I think is preposterous. And even if it is true, should we be really blaming the immigrants? Why is there never a story about companies employing inexperienced immigrants or foreign workers producing substandard products where the focus is on the company doing the wrong thing? Sure.... socially irresponsible companies aren't our problem its the immigrants.
Point 2...
We are IT people aren't we? Isn't it part of our job to keep up with new technologies, continually learn new technical skills(and this doesn't necessarily mean getting a new degree) so we can move into different areas of the IT industry when we want to? Like it or not (And I don't but there's reality to consider) we will have to compete with people from around the world for jobs and the competition is only going to get fiercer.