The only major "feature" that the TV in question that I bought three years ago lacks is "flat-panelness". I would have had to spend $1400 for that feature in 2004, but instead I opted for the cheaper CRT-style.
And you are right, I could have been really cheap in 2004 and gotten the Wal-Mart HDTV (which was about $600 at the time) and then upgraded this year because prices are lower and features are better... but a replacement cheapo-low end TV now would run me $400. Even adjusting for inflation and such... I would rather have the over-priced Sony for as long as it runs then worry about having the cheaper, low-end versions of the "latest" thing.
But thank you for nonetheless taring apart my over-simplified, illustrative example.
I saw this on Penny Arcade the other day, and it is good to see that Tycho and Gabe have used the power of running a top ranked webpage for a greater social benefit.
Kudos the them, and to everybody who enjoys successful and a love for charity.
U.S. safety and emissions regulations, regulations, transport it, pay tariffs, market it, pay lawyers and offer warranties.
Or Toyota can spend $10B and swallow the innovative company (which is 5% of Toyota's size) and use their expertise in dealing with the global automobile marketplace to launch a $5,000 US car.
I spend more for things from brands that I trust to last longer. If I get a $400 HDTV and it lasts 3 years before I have to replace it, then I would have been better off spending $800 for a HDTV that will last 6 years.
So, in 2004 I shelled out $800 for a nice Sony brand HDTV and $100 for a Sony DVD player. Both work great and have nearly interchangeable remote controls (which is another bonus for me). I feel like I'll have this TV for many more than 3 years in the future, so the "extra cost" is well worth it for (what I perceive as) better, longer lasting components.
I also spend more when my research determines that I need a certain minimum level of quality for my purposes (maybe this just makes me an educated consumer, who knows).
I spent $100 on a blender for making Frozen Margaritas. It has a strong motor that is needed to properly break ice. In that time, I have seen two friends get burned by cheaper blenders which couldn't handle the ice task. So, they have broken $40 appliances that need to be replaced. Meanwhile, I am still happily drinking margaritas.
So false perception of quality or not, sometimes spending more is cheaper.
While hindsight is 20/20
Gee I wish I hadn't called that policeman dirty names...
I was implying that it doesn't do any good to say that this was a bad idea for them after the failure occurred. I'm not sure if you took my meaning, but I agree that cops get mad when you do anything to question their authority, such as name calling or (my favorite) urinating on their squad car in the donut shop parking lot.
While hindsight is 20/20... this is a classic example of an "Old media" company failing to adapt to the "New Media" because they didn't have any expertise in the current technology.
Wal-Mart's core competency is managing their supply chain. They make money by being the most efficient supplier of products that are in local demand. They operate their integrated technological systems marvelously. They don't know jack-shit about the internet and "download-able content". They should partner with Amazon to run their webpage... though that would probably start to enter into an anti-trust area.
The interesting thing will be to observe what happens when Craigslist and its cohorts sell out to the same corporate interests for the big score and start degrading the content.
Craigslist won't sell out. Wikimedia won't sell out. SourceForge (who run *this* site) won't sell out. Each of these knows that freedom is more important than the pursuit of the holy dollar.
Meanwhile, Facebook and MySpace have sold out.
Thus, your negative attitude towards Craigslist is misguided. Believe me, the site could have sold out years ago but it hasn't. All you need to do it turn your browser to the social networking sites to see what happens when good ideas turn bad.
Meanwhile... to the hoard who complain the we need investigative journalism, please tune in your radios to your local NPR affiliate. And tune in your television to PBS. And when they ask for money every once in a while (like they tend to do), consider picking up the phone.:)
Support those artists that support freedom of music and media before your money is used against people just like you.
And the corollary, don't support artists with contracts with RIAA member companies! Or at least try not, too. With the radio being a main stream of music, it is hard to completely ignore them... but request that free music that you like gets played on the radio and that might change!
You can't know for sure, but you can get a pretty good idea fairly quickly using software testing before any release of the product. Your mileage will vary from application to application, but any self-respecting release team will have a set of regression tests to run through to at least give them confidence that they aren't releasing software that has previously discovered bugs in it.
And using a path-analysis software like GCov you can get a feeling that a large body of your code is actually being exercised and returns appropriate results.
And using static analysis tools you can get a feeling that you have crossed your T's and dotted your I's.
So, while analysis of bugs reported in fielded software is a completely flawed metric... there are certainly methods to use before making a release that will give you more than just a "gut feeling" that you software is secure.
I agree. The MPAA has every right to win the case.
What I think many people fail to see is that infringing on artists/musicians who are selling a creative product is actually hurting artists/musicians who distribute with a more permissive copyleft license.
They are calling their product the "EB Mobile Internet Multimedia Device, MIMD" which is a boring an unexciting name, but it looks like it will be available by next year. I like the larger sized keyboard it includes.
Reminding of an old computer game in High School business class
The Lemonade Stand game? or Drug Wars? both were fun.:)
I like my Wii, though it is fundamentally different from MSFT or Sony so the target audience is different. I don't get blown away by killer graphics, I've never gotten into online gaming, and I don't spend that much time gaming in general. I think a lot of people are like me... and this group doesn't care if they get it now or later.
Furthermore, the killer single player games are out (Metroid, Zelda, Mario Galaxy, Mario Paper, Resident Evil, Fire Emblem) but Nintendo excels at multi-player games that you can play with friends. Next year you'll see Mario Cart and Smash Bros... and they will do well there.
What's more... the only game from above that is available on other systems is Resident Evil. Exclusivity deals are something that is lacking in XBox/PS3. That means it makes much less sense for somebody who has a Xbox to get a PS3, but this type of person would have to get a Wii to play the awesome exclusive titles that are out.
Based on the above discussion, it seems that "reads (and posts on) Slashdot" would be a desirable quality for school districts to use to screen candidates.
Who chose the wording "Copyright Czar"? That's akin to asking members of Congress to vote on killing puppies. No, they won't kill the puppies and they won't support a "Czar" of any kind.
Captain Copyright, on the other hand, wearing a cape, a smile, and a costume that says "Don't steal MY music" would go over much better.
I've never submitted a patch to the kernel. I wouldn't know where to start, frankly.
I have also never submitted a kernel patch, but I want to try to answer your excuse. Start at kernel.org. Read through the Bugzilla Open Issues. I have read this book and it does an excellent job introducing the tools and techniques needed to work with the kernel.
To attack the meat of the article (Open Source Sun CPU), it is valuable because it gives the specialized community a rallying point to get behind. There might be less than 100,000 people qualified to do anything meaningful with this... but I assume you that the majority are not within the Sun umbrella and thus the release serves to benefit the majority of those who are qualified. And I would guess that a handful of the people who would care are old enough to be retired and would take an interest purely as a hobby that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise.
The other value is that as a student of computer science and engineering who graduated in '01... I haven't dealt with ANY of this type of work and that is a damned shame. A single university probably can't afford the $1B price tag, but I would bet a consortium of schools (MIT, CalTech, Stanford, CMU, Northeastern, RPI, UChicago, UPenn, et cetera) would jump on this. Could 20 schools inject $50M each? I think so. Add the value of educating 50 students per year at each of those schools (1,000 per year) would overvalue the $1B initial cost. After five years, the average cost per student would be as low as $50,000 because economies of scale would kick in (and I think you would agree that I have used extremely modest estimates).
Or, I could install those things and *not* tell them. Honestly? Is it really all the entertaining to go out of your way to give them this data? (and you are assuming that they don't already know anyway).
Homer tells the owner that he is looking for a present for his son's
birthday. The owner hands to him a talking Krusty doll.
Owner: Take this object, but beware it carries a terrible curse!
Homer: [worried] Ooooh, that's bad.
Owner: But it comes with a free Frogurt!
Homer: [relieved] That's good.
Owner: The Frogurt is also cursed.
Homer: [worried] That's bad.
Owner: But you get your choice of topping!
Homer: [relieved] That's good.
Owner: The toppings contains Potassium Benzoate.
Homer: [stares]
Owner: That's bad.
Slashdot Mirror
The only major "feature" that the TV in question that I bought three years ago lacks is "flat-panelness". I would have had to spend $1400 for that feature in 2004, but instead I opted for the cheaper CRT-style.
And you are right, I could have been really cheap in 2004 and gotten the Wal-Mart HDTV (which was about $600 at the time) and then upgraded this year because prices are lower and features are better... but a replacement cheapo-low end TV now would run me $400. Even adjusting for inflation and such... I would rather have the over-priced Sony for as long as it runs then worry about having the cheaper, low-end versions of the "latest" thing.
But thank you for nonetheless taring apart my over-simplified, illustrative example.
I saw this on Penny Arcade the other day, and it is good to see that Tycho and Gabe have used the power of running a top ranked webpage for a greater social benefit.
Kudos the them, and to everybody who enjoys successful and a love for charity.
Or Toyota can spend $10B and swallow the innovative company (which is 5% of Toyota's size) and use their expertise in dealing with the global automobile marketplace to launch a $5,000 US car.
I'd consider buying it.
I spend more for things from brands that I trust to last longer. If I get a $400 HDTV and it lasts 3 years before I have to replace it, then I would have been better off spending $800 for a HDTV that will last 6 years.
So, in 2004 I shelled out $800 for a nice Sony brand HDTV and $100 for a Sony DVD player. Both work great and have nearly interchangeable remote controls (which is another bonus for me). I feel like I'll have this TV for many more than 3 years in the future, so the "extra cost" is well worth it for (what I perceive as) better, longer lasting components.
I also spend more when my research determines that I need a certain minimum level of quality for my purposes (maybe this just makes me an educated consumer, who knows).
I spent $100 on a blender for making Frozen Margaritas. It has a strong motor that is needed to properly break ice. In that time, I have seen two friends get burned by cheaper blenders which couldn't handle the ice task. So, they have broken $40 appliances that need to be replaced. Meanwhile, I am still happily drinking margaritas.
So false perception of quality or not, sometimes spending more is cheaper.
I was implying that it doesn't do any good to say that this was a bad idea for them after the failure occurred. I'm not sure if you took my meaning, but I agree that cops get mad when you do anything to question their authority, such as name calling or (my favorite) urinating on their squad car in the donut shop parking lot.
Put the burden of responsibility on the group who is profiting from the sales of domains... brilliant.
Honestly, a good idea that I haven't seen advocated.
While hindsight is 20/20... this is a classic example of an "Old media" company failing to adapt to the "New Media" because they didn't have any expertise in the current technology.
Wal-Mart's core competency is managing their supply chain. They make money by being the most efficient supplier of products that are in local demand. They operate their integrated technological systems marvelously. They don't know jack-shit about the internet and "download-able content". They should partner with Amazon to run their webpage... though that would probably start to enter into an anti-trust area.
In Soviet Norway, oil-platforms drill you!
Craigslist won't sell out. Wikimedia won't sell out. SourceForge (who run *this* site) won't sell out. Each of these knows that freedom is more important than the pursuit of the holy dollar.
Meanwhile, Facebook and MySpace have sold out.
Thus, your negative attitude towards Craigslist is misguided. Believe me, the site could have sold out years ago but it hasn't. All you need to do it turn your browser to the social networking sites to see what happens when good ideas turn bad.
Meanwhile... to the hoard who complain the we need investigative journalism, please tune in your radios to your local NPR affiliate. And tune in your television to PBS. And when they ask for money every once in a while (like they tend to do), consider picking up the phone. :)
And the corollary, don't support artists with contracts with RIAA member companies! Or at least try not, too. With the radio being a main stream of music, it is hard to completely ignore them... but request that free music that you like gets played on the radio and that might change!
Insightful? That's ridiculous. I was trying to be Funny.
Your post with the "traffic calming" link was a heck of a lot for Interesting/Insightful. :)
You can't know for sure, but you can get a pretty good idea fairly quickly using software testing before any release of the product. Your mileage will vary from application to application, but any self-respecting release team will have a set of regression tests to run through to at least give them confidence that they aren't releasing software that has previously discovered bugs in it.
And using a path-analysis software like GCov you can get a feeling that a large body of your code is actually being exercised and returns appropriate results.
And using static analysis tools you can get a feeling that you have crossed your T's and dotted your I's.
So, while analysis of bugs reported in fielded software is a completely flawed metric... there are certainly methods to use before making a release that will give you more than just a "gut feeling" that you software is secure.
Disgruntled traffic engineers cause traffic jams!
:)
Think about the Slashdot audience. (a) without proof, we are skeptics. (b) few of us actually have IE8 installed to actually get proof for ourselves.
So the video is a nice touch.
I agree. The MPAA has every right to win the case.
What I think many people fail to see is that infringing on artists/musicians who are selling a creative product is actually hurting artists/musicians who distribute with a more permissive copyleft license.
I started looking into Intel's Menlow Platform, and it appears that a company called Elektrobit is developing the first device which uses it.
http://www.elektrobit.com/index.php?599
They are calling their product the "EB Mobile Internet Multimedia Device, MIMD" which is a boring an unexciting name, but it looks like it will be available by next year. I like the larger sized keyboard it includes.
The Lemonade Stand game? or Drug Wars? both were fun. :)
I like my Wii, though it is fundamentally different from MSFT or Sony so the target audience is different. I don't get blown away by killer graphics, I've never gotten into online gaming, and I don't spend that much time gaming in general. I think a lot of people are like me... and this group doesn't care if they get it now or later.
Furthermore, the killer single player games are out (Metroid, Zelda, Mario Galaxy, Mario Paper, Resident Evil, Fire Emblem) but Nintendo excels at multi-player games that you can play with friends. Next year you'll see Mario Cart and Smash Bros... and they will do well there.
What's more... the only game from above that is available on other systems is Resident Evil. Exclusivity deals are something that is lacking in XBox/PS3. That means it makes much less sense for somebody who has a Xbox to get a PS3, but this type of person would have to get a Wii to play the awesome exclusive titles that are out.
Based on the above discussion, it seems that "reads (and posts on) Slashdot" would be a desirable quality for school districts to use to screen candidates.
"In Soviet Microsoft, gates control the commerce."
It fits... it really fits. How appropriate.
Ref: This post
This is the same asshole who came out last week saying that the Sirius/XM Satellite radio merger was bad for consumers.
Siri/XM has advertised lower prices and more choices if they merge. How can that be bad?
It is clearer now. This "Judiciary Committee Chairman" is in bed with the traditional industry. If not directly, then indirectly.
Who chose the wording "Copyright Czar"? That's akin to asking members of Congress to vote on killing puppies. No, they won't kill the puppies and they won't support a "Czar" of any kind.
Captain Copyright, on the other hand, wearing a cape, a smile, and a costume that says "Don't steal MY music" would go over much better.
I have also never submitted a kernel patch, but I want to try to answer your excuse. Start at kernel.org. Read through the Bugzilla Open Issues. I have read this book and it does an excellent job introducing the tools and techniques needed to work with the kernel.
To attack the meat of the article (Open Source Sun CPU), it is valuable because it gives the specialized community a rallying point to get behind. There might be less than 100,000 people qualified to do anything meaningful with this... but I assume you that the majority are not within the Sun umbrella and thus the release serves to benefit the majority of those who are qualified. And I would guess that a handful of the people who would care are old enough to be retired and would take an interest purely as a hobby that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise.
The other value is that as a student of computer science and engineering who graduated in '01... I haven't dealt with ANY of this type of work and that is a damned shame. A single university probably can't afford the $1B price tag, but I would bet a consortium of schools (MIT, CalTech, Stanford, CMU, Northeastern, RPI, UChicago, UPenn, et cetera) would jump on this. Could 20 schools inject $50M each? I think so. Add the value of educating 50 students per year at each of those schools (1,000 per year) would overvalue the $1B initial cost. After five years, the average cost per student would be as low as $50,000 because economies of scale would kick in (and I think you would agree that I have used extremely modest estimates).
So yeah, this is a VERY GOOD THING (TM).
Or, I could install those things and *not* tell them. Honestly? Is it really all the entertaining to go out of your way to give them this data? (and you are assuming that they don't already know anyway).
Your post reminded me on this:
Homer tells the owner that he is looking for a present for his son's birthday. The owner hands to him a talking Krusty doll.
Owner: Take this object, but beware it carries a terrible curse!
Homer: [worried] Ooooh, that's bad.
Owner: But it comes with a free Frogurt!
Homer: [relieved] That's good.
Owner: The Frogurt is also cursed.
Homer: [worried] That's bad.
Owner: But you get your choice of topping!
Homer: [relieved] That's good.
Owner: The toppings contains Potassium Benzoate.
Homer: [stares]
Owner: That's bad.