But Netflix works on my PS3 and Wii. Last I checked, I'd need a Windows PC to use Amazon streaming, and I don't need that kind of torture to watch Baby Mama.
But... but... but we're supposed to feel sorry for the people who intentionally decided to use a niche OS when they can't use a popular service that's easily accessible a number of other ways.
The robot was "good" because it was programmed to be good (and not by Skynet).
Right. In other words, technology is not evil and there is nothing inherently 'kill all humans!' about it. Thank you.
but wouldn't it be better not to allow the machines to reach a dominant status in the first place?
No. It would be better if we didn't build weapons to kill each other. That was the point of Terminator 2. The reason we made ourselves vulnerable (i.e. building the machines and connecting them to each other) was because we were trying to make war. The reason Skynet attacked, wasn't because it's evil, but because we tried to kill it. It acted in self defense. "... if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can to."
"The aircraft is larger and heavier than an average hummingbird, but is smaller and lighter than the largest hummingbird currently found in nature." --- I don't really get that sentence, can someone explain?
If the average hummingbird is 1 unit in weight, and the world record heaviest hummingbird is 2 units in weight, the mechanical one weighs 1.5 units.
Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather own my music (DRM-free of course.) so that I don't need a net connection in order to listen to it....Paying for a subscription seems like a waste.
That makes me wonder if you have cable or satellite.;)
But yeah, you're not alone. I think we have different perspectives on this, though. I see it as 'on-demand entertainment' (like my subscription to Netflix) and, apologies if I'm mistaken, you see it as "music I can't keep". I have trouble finding music that suits me. I like rummaging around trying new stuff, and I have to hear it a few times before I really decide if I like it or not. I'd either have a smaller library or I'd have wasted a lot of money purchasing songs I don't like to get to that point. Maybe if I had knowledge of the future, I might have been able to save a few bucks just buying the songs. If you include the time taken to maintain a library of music, I'm not even certain about that. What led me to even look at a music subscription was a hard drive crash that wiped out gigs of music I had to re-assemble from partial backups.
But yeah, there's also the matter that in my daily work life I'm in front of a computer all day. When I get home, and I'm at a computer. And, on top of both, I often work from my laptop. I used to maintain a music collection across all three machines and I *hate* it. I don't like shuffling that many gigs of data around. I don't like not having that one song I really want to listen to. I don't like not having music when I go to a new machine. And I can't rely on an iPod because I have to have listen to audio coming from the computer. I think I have a not-so-common set of circumstances that makes a music subscription ideal for me. Heck, I can even queue up some comedy albums for when I'm working on painfully tedious projects.
I don't think music subscriptions are for everybody but I do think they're not really properly considered, either.
You intimated to a great truth, but you did not share that truth. Is this a zen exercise or are you just being a superior (possibly in a black turtleneck) prick?
A little bit of both. I went for brevity because I didn't see the point in doubling the length of my post to tell you things about a Tablet that you already know about. That's a little elitist of me, guilty as charged.
In case that was too much for you, what is it exactly that tablets have that EVERY other platform doesn't already have? I'm deeply curious. Because, other than a mild case of RSI, I can't see what a tablet offers that my phone + netbook doesn't already do, twice as fast, and using the software and services I chose.
The short version is that it's an appliance. You don't wait for it to boot. You don't restart it because the sleep mode borked everything you had open.. You don't maintain it. You tap a button and get to the point of what you're aiming to do. You don't unfold it and find a surface for it to lay on. If you want to show somebody a photo or a web page, you just hand it over to them and not feel that twinge of 'ACK don't touch anything else Im working on!' You don't hover around power jacks. You don't uncoil a mouse just to perform basic operations. You have fun finding apps specifically designed around the more straight-forward interface. When you're done with it you hit a button and close it. Etc.
A tablet is not as general purpose as a netbook, and the reward for that is it's much faster at doing the things it was geared for. If you're sitting on the couch and you want to read that email you just got a notification for in between commercials, the Tablet's going to kick your netbook's butt. (it's also going to notify you of that even though it's asleep, which is another important bit of functionality most people don't pay attention to.)
Wow I'm having flashbacks to a couple of years ago: "Why would I want a smart phone when I carry my laptop around?"
Rhapsody *might* work via web browser on Linux, but I don't know this as fact. Honestly, knowing that you use Linux, I wouldn't send you Rhapsody's way. (Although it doesn't hurt to check it out.) I *think* they have an Android version, if not I think it's coming soon.
I might suggest you head towards Napster instead. At the very least, if you pay the $60 for a year, you get 60 MP3 downloads. So even if you think the service sucks you can get your Mp3s and be done wtih it.
Well.. yeah, services cost money. I think I'm misunderstanding your point.
Also remember that after 5 'moves' you have to buy the song again.
I'm unfamiliar with Last.fm. With Rhapsody and Napster you pay a monthly fee and listen to all you want. There are more distinctions between those two but I'm not sure anybody's terribly interested in hearing about them.
Isn't the article about magazine subscriptions?
I didn't read the article, but the headline says 'music subscriptions'. I'm personally annoyed with Apple about it, too. I was a Rhapsody subscriber before the iPhone was even in development. I don't see why they should get a cut of my subscription fee without at least showing me that using the service is somehow costing Apple money. (i.e. if Rhapsody was sending the stream through Apple's servers I'd understand a little better.) If I had become a Rhapsody subscriber by finding it in the App Store, that'd be different.
I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for years. Whenever a song pops into mind that I want to hear Rhapsody has it nearly every time. 15 seconds later I'm listening to it.
Writing off a device before even using it is insightful? More like trolling IMO.
Hopefully someday when you inevitably own a tablet you'll realize what you were missing all these years.
Yup.
It reminds me of when Slashdot started reporting about cell phones that had built in cameras. We were treated to the daily +5 comments about how phones should just be phones and that the camera on-board would never rival a DSLR, yadda yadda yadda. We spend an awful lot of time trying to be know-it-alls.
+1 And I'm going to probably do so for the next 3-5 years, until tablets actually become useful instead of an expensive toy that is less usable than a net-book.
People buy products based on their strengths, not their total capabilities. Funny how you've already forgotten the lesson we learned with smartphones and laptops.
You netbook lot keep looking at what tablets don't have instead of understanding what they do have, that's why you don't understand, and why you keep repeating yourself over and over and over again. It's good to know we'll get to hear you keep bleating on about it for the next 3 to 5 years.
I think I meant to mention the screen size as being the only real difference but I neglected to
Well, maybe it's the 'only real difference', but it is a significant one. It's sorta like how the most significant difference between a car and a pick-up truck is the flat bed in a back. Not a big change, but it affects the design enough that you end up finding out that the machine has different strengths.
I wasn't sold on the iPad when it came out, figured my iPhone was essentially an iPad Nano. Then somebody got one for Christmas and, to my surprise, I dig it. It's definitely entertaining. If it went missing I'd probably buy a new one. It's not quite the 'big iPhone' I thought it'd be, mainly because the form factor changes how you interact with it. Like a pick-up, it's not for everybody, but it is one of those things that doesn't really become apparent until you've messed around with it for a bit.
Apparently Slashdotters don't understand the moral presented in popular sci-fi movies, either. I guess having a robot as the 'goodest' character in the whole franchise was too subtle.
And it only cost us 99% of the human population and the destruction of all the civilized world to build it, too!
Ah, very good, you remember that detail. Now, here's the important question: What caused the deaths of all those people? I'll give you a hint: Sarah spoke about it in her last lines of dialogue.
This just in. Studies show that as much as 95% of scientists don't get the moral presented in most sci-fi movies.
As soon as they find slashdot and our anti-Skynet stance, we're all doomed!!!
Apparently Slashdotters don't understand the moral presented in popular sci-fi movies, either. I guess having a robot as the 'goodest' character in the whole franchise was too subtle.
Well, I'm not convinced that it's all that political here, I think most of the debates we see around here are fueled by contrarianism. I think that's why nerds, for example, tend to dislike mainstream movies. Makes them look more sophisticated. I know I'm guilty of this,.
Slashdot Mirror
Will someone please post some Apple Troll comments?
Come one! Pictures of Gay Pride parades with the rainbow - just like Apple's rainbow logo - coincidence? I think not!
Come on! Apple Trolls are the most entertaining!
Sit tight, the Android people will be here soon.
But Netflix works on my PS3 and Wii. Last I checked, I'd need a Windows PC to use Amazon streaming, and I don't need that kind of torture to watch Baby Mama.
But... but... but we're supposed to feel sorry for the people who intentionally decided to use a niche OS when they can't use a popular service that's easily accessible a number of other ways.
Useless? I don't think Slashdotters are this game's target demographic.
The robot was "good" because it was programmed to be good (and not by Skynet).
Right. In other words, technology is not evil and there is nothing inherently 'kill all humans!' about it. Thank you.
but wouldn't it be better not to allow the machines to reach a dominant status in the first place?
No. It would be better if we didn't build weapons to kill each other. That was the point of Terminator 2. The reason we made ourselves vulnerable (i.e. building the machines and connecting them to each other) was because we were trying to make war. The reason Skynet attacked, wasn't because it's evil, but because we tried to kill it. It acted in self defense. "... if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can to."
Until we develop fibre holes capable of pushing packets across the galaxy in 100ms.
That's a lot of R&D just to silence an AOL zealot.
"The aircraft is larger and heavier than an average hummingbird, but is smaller and lighter than the largest hummingbird currently found in nature." --- I don't really get that sentence, can someone explain?
If the average hummingbird is 1 unit in weight, and the world record heaviest hummingbird is 2 units in weight, the mechanical one weighs 1.5 units.
...but the million-year ping times would be a bit annoying anyway.
Pfft. You know, as an AOL subscriber, it's not very often I get to call somebody else a weenie.
but that is just it - what apple want is 30% if and only if you subscribe from inside the application on the idevice..
Ugh, I think you're right and I misunderstood that. That's what I get for listening to what people say in the comments.
Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather own my music (DRM-free of course.) so that I don't need a net connection in order to listen to it....Paying for a subscription seems like a waste.
That makes me wonder if you have cable or satellite. ;)
But yeah, you're not alone. I think we have different perspectives on this, though. I see it as 'on-demand entertainment' (like my subscription to Netflix) and, apologies if I'm mistaken, you see it as "music I can't keep". I have trouble finding music that suits me. I like rummaging around trying new stuff, and I have to hear it a few times before I really decide if I like it or not. I'd either have a smaller library or I'd have wasted a lot of money purchasing songs I don't like to get to that point. Maybe if I had knowledge of the future, I might have been able to save a few bucks just buying the songs. If you include the time taken to maintain a library of music, I'm not even certain about that. What led me to even look at a music subscription was a hard drive crash that wiped out gigs of music I had to re-assemble from partial backups.
But yeah, there's also the matter that in my daily work life I'm in front of a computer all day. When I get home, and I'm at a computer. And, on top of both, I often work from my laptop. I used to maintain a music collection across all three machines and I *hate* it. I don't like shuffling that many gigs of data around. I don't like not having that one song I really want to listen to. I don't like not having music when I go to a new machine. And I can't rely on an iPod because I have to have listen to audio coming from the computer. I think I have a not-so-common set of circumstances that makes a music subscription ideal for me. Heck, I can even queue up some comedy albums for when I'm working on painfully tedious projects.
I don't think music subscriptions are for everybody but I do think they're not really properly considered, either.
You intimated to a great truth, but you did not share that truth. Is this a zen exercise or are you just being a superior (possibly in a black turtleneck) prick?
A little bit of both. I went for brevity because I didn't see the point in doubling the length of my post to tell you things about a Tablet that you already know about. That's a little elitist of me, guilty as charged.
In case that was too much for you, what is it exactly that tablets have that EVERY other platform doesn't already have? I'm deeply curious. Because, other than a mild case of RSI, I can't see what a tablet offers that my phone + netbook doesn't already do, twice as fast, and using the software and services I chose.
The short version is that it's an appliance. You don't wait for it to boot. You don't restart it because the sleep mode borked everything you had open.. You don't maintain it. You tap a button and get to the point of what you're aiming to do. You don't unfold it and find a surface for it to lay on. If you want to show somebody a photo or a web page, you just hand it over to them and not feel that twinge of 'ACK don't touch anything else Im working on!' You don't hover around power jacks. You don't uncoil a mouse just to perform basic operations. You have fun finding apps specifically designed around the more straight-forward interface. When you're done with it you hit a button and close it. Etc.
A tablet is not as general purpose as a netbook, and the reward for that is it's much faster at doing the things it was geared for. If you're sitting on the couch and you want to read that email you just got a notification for in between commercials, the Tablet's going to kick your netbook's butt. (it's also going to notify you of that even though it's asleep, which is another important bit of functionality most people don't pay attention to.)
Wow I'm having flashbacks to a couple of years ago: "Why would I want a smart phone when I carry my laptop around?"
Rhapsody *might* work via web browser on Linux, but I don't know this as fact. Honestly, knowing that you use Linux, I wouldn't send you Rhapsody's way. (Although it doesn't hurt to check it out.) I *think* they have an Android version, if not I think it's coming soon.
I might suggest you head towards Napster instead. At the very least, if you pay the $60 for a year, you get 60 MP3 downloads. So even if you think the service sucks you can get your Mp3s and be done wtih it.
But it'll cost you for that access.
Well.. yeah, services cost money. I think I'm misunderstanding your point.
Also remember that after 5 'moves' you have to buy the song again.
I'm unfamiliar with Last.fm. With Rhapsody and Napster you pay a monthly fee and listen to all you want. There are more distinctions between those two but I'm not sure anybody's terribly interested in hearing about them.
Isn't the article about magazine subscriptions?
I didn't read the article, but the headline says 'music subscriptions'. I'm personally annoyed with Apple about it, too. I was a Rhapsody subscriber before the iPhone was even in development. I don't see why they should get a cut of my subscription fee without at least showing me that using the service is somehow costing Apple money. (i.e. if Rhapsody was sending the stream through Apple's servers I'd understand a little better.) If I had become a Rhapsody subscriber by finding it in the App Store, that'd be different.
Err now I'm rambling, sorry.
I said 'virtually'.
I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for years. Whenever a song pops into mind that I want to hear Rhapsody has it nearly every time. 15 seconds later I'm listening to it.
No one cares Jones. Subscriptions are a waste of money!
You ever tried it? Personally I enjoy having access to virtually every song ever made and not having to maintain a collection of MP3s.
Writing off a device before even using it is insightful? More like trolling IMO.
Hopefully someday when you inevitably own a tablet you'll realize what you were missing all these years.
Yup.
It reminds me of when Slashdot started reporting about cell phones that had built in cameras. We were treated to the daily +5 comments about how phones should just be phones and that the camera on-board would never rival a DSLR, yadda yadda yadda. We spend an awful lot of time trying to be know-it-alls.
+1 And I'm going to probably do so for the next 3-5 years, until tablets actually become useful instead of an expensive toy that is less usable than a net-book.
People buy products based on their strengths, not their total capabilities. Funny how you've already forgotten the lesson we learned with smartphones and laptops.
You netbook lot keep looking at what tablets don't have instead of understanding what they do have, that's why you don't understand, and why you keep repeating yourself over and over and over again. It's good to know we'll get to hear you keep bleating on about it for the next 3 to 5 years.
I think I meant to mention the screen size as being the only real difference but I neglected to
Well, maybe it's the 'only real difference', but it is a significant one. It's sorta like how the most significant difference between a car and a pick-up truck is the flat bed in a back. Not a big change, but it affects the design enough that you end up finding out that the machine has different strengths.
I wasn't sold on the iPad when it came out, figured my iPhone was essentially an iPad Nano. Then somebody got one for Christmas and, to my surprise, I dig it. It's definitely entertaining. If it went missing I'd probably buy a new one. It's not quite the 'big iPhone' I thought it'd be, mainly because the form factor changes how you interact with it. Like a pick-up, it's not for everybody, but it is one of those things that doesn't really become apparent until you've messed around with it for a bit.
Apparently Slashdotters don't understand the moral presented in popular sci-fi movies, either. I guess having a robot as the 'goodest' character in the whole franchise was too subtle.
And it only cost us 99% of the human population and the destruction of all the civilized world to build it, too!
Ah, very good, you remember that detail. Now, here's the important question: What caused the deaths of all those people? I'll give you a hint: Sarah spoke about it in her last lines of dialogue.
This just in. Studies show that as much as 95% of scientists don't get the moral presented in most sci-fi movies.
As soon as they find slashdot and our anti-Skynet stance, we're all doomed!!!
Apparently Slashdotters don't understand the moral presented in popular sci-fi movies, either. I guess having a robot as the 'goodest' character in the whole franchise was too subtle.
Are you serious?
Hehe.
Well, I'm not convinced that it's all that political here, I think most of the debates we see around here are fueled by contrarianism. I think that's why nerds, for example, tend to dislike mainstream movies. Makes them look more sophisticated. I know I'm guilty of this,.
The reason /. has a left leaning bias is because most honest and intelligent people are left leaning.
Right, but where do the Slashdotters come in to this?
The sad thing is that most of the viewers are going to believe this stuff. Is so much easier to just take something verbatim rather than question it.
This is true for smartphone debates, too.
Are you saying that battery life on WP7 is shitty and that the UI will become unresponsive if you don't reboot it once a week?
I'm not saying that in the tone of "you're wrong", rather I really am asking. I haven't used one of those phones.
It says for use in medical testing equipment where I'm pretty sure one would want precision, no?
Not every test, especially when aiming for low-cost, needs to reach Starfleet standards.