Slashdot didn't even cover phones before Apple decided to make one.
This is not true. Long before the iPhone came out Slashdot already had a "I want a phone that's just a phone!" meme that was really obnoxious. Every other day there was some news about a cell phone that did something whacky and a +5 comment like: "Am I the only one that just wants to have a phone and use it as a phone? I don't even want a display! I want unlimited battery life because I can't be arsed to charge it and I want any feature that might make it more useful to be left off it because that little worm game will drop the battery usage to just minutes! I also demand that it works even if I'm in a room that's surrounded by 3' thick steel walls! Phones suck in general because radios work like radios and not like they do in Star Trek!" There people constantly falling over each other in various threads to point out why nobody would want a camera in their phone because it couldn't do 10 megapixel video at 120 fps.
Slashdot covered cell phones long before the iPhone. Now, you've got a point that it has generated more noise than Slashdot was having before. The iPhone brought us was the daily "The iPhone sucks! I never used one but other people who don't like it out in cyberspace says that it has this down-side that, if blown really out of proportion, would make the phone 100% unusable! I'm going to spend the next year talking about how I'm going to get an Android phone instead! Anybody who disagrees with me even though they are happy with their iPhone is a fanboy affected by the reality distortion field!" and"Your favorite phone isn't immune to the problem you're criticizing the iPhone for..." and "why did you guys bring up the iPhone in an Android thread?! That's wrong even though we bring up Android in every single iPhone thread!!" And, this all ends with the new meme that has become fashionable lately. "I don't get why nobody mentions the Nokia n900. It's the best phone ever made even though I don't know anybody who owns one and it's expensive."
It's a bit like that Bill Cosby skit: "The same thing happens every night." And the neat thing is, we're keeping Slashdot alive by doing our daily iPhone debate. Loooots of ads getting served! Even when we bitch about it! That's great! As long as Apple is around, Slashdot will never require a subscription fee.
Products that perform at a number of thingamabobs per second do more thingamabobs a second the next year. The thingamabob-rate always increases but it's not like you can spend a ridiculous sum of money and get the end-all-be-all number of thingamabobs a second. The solution of how to reach the limit of thingamabobs per second isn't obvious. If it were, there'd be no such thing as Moore's law.
Although, I have to admit, if the first tweet from space was "We now welcome our $TOPICAL overlords..." I'd actually find that funny for the first time in 6 years.
I don't remember where I saw this, it was a show sorta like "Beyond 2000" only a modern incarnation of it. They had a demo of a Police car chasing a 'suspect'. Beneath the car was some device bolted to something that looked an awful lot like a skateboard. The Police driver hit a button and the device was released. When it hit the ground these rockets went off and Shoooooooooom! the thing fired head, rolled under the 'suspect' car, and emitted a short-range burst that fried the electronics in the engine.
There are lots of obvious things wrong with this approach, but dang that demo was neat. Assuming the delivery system was reasonably reliable, I wonder if that would reduce the number of potential bystander injuries.
That's strictly a software issue. Your cell phone is better equipped to get traffic data than a GPS ever will be.
Your camera has a horribly small lens and is good only for taking 4x6 photos.
BFD. How many candid 8x10's do you have in your photo album?
Your document scanner is horrible quality.
It's a document, it just has to be readable. My shitty iPhone camera takes readable photos of 8x11 docs.
Your portable game console is limited by having touchscreen only and no physical controls.
All a game has to do is be is entertaining. (Although I will admit I hesitant to say you're flat out wrong. 8-bit games have failed to die.)
Using your mp3 player/video player (and any of the above) will deplete your phone battery so you can't receive calls.
Plug it into a USB port when you're back home or at the office or whatever. Worst case scenario, stop playing games when you reach a certain battery level.
I skipped the watch argument, I agree with you. In fact I think in a few years we'll be using watches to see where our incoming calls are coming from.
I get that it may work for you, but there's a good market for standalone devices for a reason.
There'll always be standalone devices because there's always some group of people that wants an extra megapixel or a device that can be submersed in a toilet. It's not a question of if specialty equipment exists, it's a question of whether or not the market will be millions or merely hundreds of thousands. Alarm Clock Manufacturers, for example, should be nervous.
Personally, I'd much rather use Windows than Linux... Presumably there are like-minded people posting on Slashdot -- so there is an upside to the Microsoft tax.
Again, I'm being up-front and telling you I'm ignorant here: Is Microsoft even spending in the neighborhood of the same amount of money, or are they spending less on licenses because they're not actually making phones? Not to make a pun here, I'm just trying to make sure it's an apples-to-apples sort of thing.
The fact that it'll get ripped off is irrelevant; either you do it, or someone else does it and your product won't get sold as it's always a step behind....
Other companies didn't seem to have issues with Nokia's terms, though ?
Ignorant question: Are the companies that agreed bigger than Nokia and have a sizable marketshare to protect? I mean, I wouldn't want to get into a legal spat with Nokia but if I had Apple's resources....
Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot didn't even cover phones before Apple decided to make one.
This is not true. Long before the iPhone came out Slashdot already had a "I want a phone that's just a phone!" meme that was really obnoxious. Every other day there was some news about a cell phone that did something whacky and a +5 comment like: "Am I the only one that just wants to have a phone and use it as a phone? I don't even want a display! I want unlimited battery life because I can't be arsed to charge it and I want any feature that might make it more useful to be left off it because that little worm game will drop the battery usage to just minutes! I also demand that it works even if I'm in a room that's surrounded by 3' thick steel walls! Phones suck in general because radios work like radios and not like they do in Star Trek!" There people constantly falling over each other in various threads to point out why nobody would want a camera in their phone because it couldn't do 10 megapixel video at 120 fps.
Slashdot covered cell phones long before the iPhone. Now, you've got a point that it has generated more noise than Slashdot was having before. The iPhone brought us was the daily "The iPhone sucks! I never used one but other people who don't like it out in cyberspace says that it has this down-side that, if blown really out of proportion, would make the phone 100% unusable! I'm going to spend the next year talking about how I'm going to get an Android phone instead! Anybody who disagrees with me even though they are happy with their iPhone is a fanboy affected by the reality distortion field!" and"Your favorite phone isn't immune to the problem you're criticizing the iPhone for..." and "why did you guys bring up the iPhone in an Android thread?! That's wrong even though we bring up Android in every single iPhone thread!!" And, this all ends with the new meme that has become fashionable lately. "I don't get why nobody mentions the Nokia n900. It's the best phone ever made even though I don't know anybody who owns one and it's expensive."
It's a bit like that Bill Cosby skit: "The same thing happens every night." And the neat thing is, we're keeping Slashdot alive by doing our daily iPhone debate. Loooots of ads getting served! Even when we bitch about it! That's great! As long as Apple is around, Slashdot will never require a subscription fee.
Zing?
I wasn't defending RAMBUS, I was answering your question. Which... you seem to agree with in a way that is intended to sound like you don't. Heh.
Products that perform at a number of thingamabobs per second do more thingamabobs a second the next year. The thingamabob-rate always increases but it's not like you can spend a ridiculous sum of money and get the end-all-be-all number of thingamabobs a second. The solution of how to reach the limit of thingamabobs per second isn't obvious. If it were, there'd be no such thing as Moore's law.
Laaaaaaaame.
Although, I have to admit, if the first tweet from space was "We now welcome our $TOPICAL overlords..." I'd actually find that funny for the first time in 6 years.
Each additional megabyte (1,000 bytes) will cost $1,000,000 cents*.
...now they are gonna be so busy lolcatting and 4channing it up that nothing is gonna get done
Heh. That was posted during normal work hours.
In what universe is it true that there being only one known way to solve a particular problem means that one solution is not obvious?
In any case where the success of the product is directly affected by its speed.
I don't remember where I saw this, it was a show sorta like "Beyond 2000" only a modern incarnation of it. They had a demo of a Police car chasing a 'suspect'. Beneath the car was some device bolted to something that looked an awful lot like a skateboard. The Police driver hit a button and the device was released. When it hit the ground these rockets went off and Shoooooooooom! the thing fired head, rolled under the 'suspect' car, and emitted a short-range burst that fried the electronics in the engine.
There are lots of obvious things wrong with this approach, but dang that demo was neat. Assuming the delivery system was reasonably reliable, I wonder if that would reduce the number of potential bystander injuries.
I think you missed the "distributing" part.
She handed out 3000 x 24 songs?
Your GPS doesn't get traffic data.
That's strictly a software issue. Your cell phone is better equipped to get traffic data than a GPS ever will be.
Your camera has a horribly small lens and is good only for taking 4x6 photos.
BFD. How many candid 8x10's do you have in your photo album?
Your document scanner is horrible quality.
It's a document, it just has to be readable. My shitty iPhone camera takes readable photos of 8x11 docs.
Your portable game console is limited by having touchscreen only and no physical controls.
All a game has to do is be is entertaining. (Although I will admit I hesitant to say you're flat out wrong. 8-bit games have failed to die.)
Using your mp3 player/video player (and any of the above) will deplete your phone battery so you can't receive calls.
Plug it into a USB port when you're back home or at the office or whatever. Worst case scenario, stop playing games when you reach a certain battery level.
I skipped the watch argument, I agree with you. In fact I think in a few years we'll be using watches to see where our incoming calls are coming from.
I get that it may work for you, but there's a good market for standalone devices for a reason.
There'll always be standalone devices because there's always some group of people that wants an extra megapixel or a device that can be submersed in a toilet. It's not a question of if specialty equipment exists, it's a question of whether or not the market will be millions or merely hundreds of thousands. Alarm Clock Manufacturers, for example, should be nervous.
Yeah, and chairs have been flying every day for the last 5 years.
I don't mind living next to nuclear power plants. As a matter of fact I did. In fact it was the primary employer for my town.
Really? Did you work in Sector 7G, too?
Flying chair jokes, though, are still fair game.
Personally, I'd much rather use Windows than Linux... Presumably there are like-minded people posting on Slashdot -- so there is an upside to the Microsoft tax.
Perhaps, but that's another level of silliness. If other people decide to break the law, you shouldn't be responsible for what they do.
It'll be the best prom ever!
Wow. I bet the hypocrisy of that statement was totally lost on you, too.
Again, I'm being up-front and telling you I'm ignorant here: Is Microsoft even spending in the neighborhood of the same amount of money, or are they spending less on licenses because they're not actually making phones? Not to make a pun here, I'm just trying to make sure it's an apples-to-apples sort of thing.
In practice however, the competitor can rip your innovation easily by building it a bit different...
Yeah... they innovate. Heh.
The fact that it'll get ripped off is irrelevant; either you do it, or someone else does it and your product won't get sold as it's always a step behind....
You'd have a point of R&D were free.
Other companies didn't seem to have issues with Nokia's terms, though ?
Ignorant question: Are the companies that agreed bigger than Nokia and have a sizable marketshare to protect? I mean, I wouldn't want to get into a legal spat with Nokia but if I had Apple's resources....
Oh FFS, I just got RickRolled on Slashdot. >_
Right, just turning sound off in space doesn't automatically make it more dramatic. We agree.
Contrary to the thoughts of George Lucas, no sound in space is much more dramatic.
Watch the trench run in A New Hope muted.