Ars Technica indicated that in their article about the release. As well, a prior press interview with a TomTom senior director stated tomtom was "leaning" towards the subscription free model, with lifetime app updates included.
Since the maps are integral to the app, part of the download, by updating the app, you are also updating the maps.
It is Apple's policy as well that "content" updates, through their 3.1 in-app purchase will be accepted, where new features and extended content are offered, but Apple will not permit appendments or fixes to existing content to be charged that way (which a map update is simply a data patch in most ways you can look at it). Adding additional countries would certainly be accepted for in-app purchase charges, but not content "fixes". Also, version changes (1.0 to 2.0) rarely come at anything but free for existing app owners. Even in cases where apps were free but add funded, and they moved to a purchase model, existing free app opwners get to update to the paid app for free unless the devs convince Apple it;s truly a new revolutionary revision justifying it as now a new application. They can;'t just release TomTom 2.0 as a whole new app and charge another $99 for it if it's not radically different from TomTom 1.0, and there's no in-app support for upgrading code at a fee, only content.
There's really only one way TomTom can go with this, and that seems consistent with Ars's article.
Workstation support is standardized. OS (lets sdaw win 2K3 support) is also standardized. Knowing the owner allows us to bill the appropriate party without having to look it up. Knowing the OS ensures a tech trained in 2003 server gets the ticket...
The problem is, we have hardware support, OS support, application support, DBAs, Web admins, SOA support, DR support, we have specialist for nearly everything, and understanding who owns what PIECE of a server (a lot of stuff here is middleware, or shared infrastructure as well) is important, and we don't want to have some massive database all 900 or so of the people with rights to access various servers has to have access to. We have a simple system of who "owns" (as in responsibility) each app, and that person gets a call anytime anyone elses serevr equipped with that app has an issue. By using the name, and without referencing AD or a seperate database to tablle, a tech can quickly reference the ownership.
But its not even techs... We have hundreds of scripts that run in response to certain errors from certain monitored systems, and the servername itself in the error (or the IP cross checkes in nslookup) provides key information to the script without having to JDBC enable it as well... When we get a nonresponse from a servername, the hardware owner and Os owner can be instantly notifed by output from our monitoring software to check it out.
Simply put, the servername structure, being consistant and containing a lot of data, provides simple automation of alert services, not just awareness for the engineers and techs.
Yup, we only use the most obvious descriptor in the name: which busines unit actually owns the machine, it's base OS, and an ID. We need to know who owns it by name so we can bill the appropriate internal business unit for support, and we need to know the OS to route to the right support group. Once we're there, and the ticket is opened, the tech can easily check the asset tracking database to get the complete machine history. The user of the machine, or the user actually placing the call, does not always correlete to a billing code, so we use the department code in the name and that solves the issue. Machines NEVER transfer from one department to another without a messy IS finance paperwork process, and they're allways re-imaged when that happens so they're easily renamed at that time.
For servers, it's a bit more granular; bluiding, business unit, machine type, OS, major app, and security enclave all are in the name. This information informs us instantly of who supports what piece (infrastructure, OS, application, and who to contact). A simple app instantly looks up the 1st and 2nd points of contact, including who's the active one on rotation if that department rotates responsibility or on-call personell), for each support area that machine impacts so when we get a call (or electronic alert) its very easy to get the right person out of our 2000+ person IS staff on the phone. (honestly, only about 900 of the 2000 people ever touch or support a server, workstation, or app, the rest are executive, clerical, project leadership, design engineers, etc).
I like the idea of including the OS image build version... including the machine base model might also be of some value. Then again, some of this is just as well in the machine desacription.
We're a complicated mess over here, multiple major business units, each with several minor units, and each with their own budgeting and asset owership, so on some level we're including who OWNS the machine in the name, and it's base OS and an ID, it might be hard to add build number to the name (but in the description would work).
You preserve the name after uprasding the OS?...erm, wait, you "upgrade" the OS?
1st rule, everything is deployed from an image or application package. Nothing is ever "upgraded" in place. Certain applications may be "redeployed" by uninstalling an old version and then deploying a package containing a newer version, but even that's reserved for simple applications. We'd never for example upgrade from SQL 2000 to 2005 in place. Besides, most "upgrades" require hardware and software, and for workstations and servers alike, major application version changes and/or OS changes are done late in the machine's life, so we just deploy a whole new system, the if the old one has some warranty life left, it gets relegated to a lab system, test system, dev system or some other random role.
Each machine "deployed" gets a unique name. If a machine is repurposed, it's re-imaged, and renamed too. We also never move a new user onto someone else's old workstation without a complete OS re-image. This sounds like a pain, but since it's completely automated, including name assignment, it takes about 1.5 hours to completely redeploy a workstation, and 1-4 hours for a server (depending on configuration), and that includes scanning/remediation.
We move PCs around constantly, so naming then mased on physical location is dumb for us. Same goes for typing them to a person, as we have a lot of contractors as well.
We name PCs based on building and major department ownership, followed by a hex string. Names are never re-used. The current IP of the system gives us a real good idea of where it's located (in terms of room or area), but it's specific physical address (desk location, etc) is stored in an asset tracking dtabase, nice and simple. Knowing where a machine actually sits however is usually not as impoirant as knowking where the USER sits. Rarely is anyone from workstation support ever dispatched to a machine unless the person using it has called, so tracking by person OR by location is redundant. It's only important to know what business unit owns the machine for when it recycled back into the mix for redeployment if it's taken off a desk and re-imaged or requires major hardware sugery so we know what business unit to give it back to later.
Servers are named by building, security enclave, OS type, application, and an ID. By looking at a name we not only know who owns it, and who supports it (from an infrastructure, OS, and application perspective) but we also know what it's role is. We can identify it's deployed location (server room and sometimes even rack row) by it's IP. If we can't get an exact deployment location from it's IP, the asset database has that info. (and it's hardware type, SN, deployed date, waranty status, and complete history of maintenance and software deployments too).
a $99 GPS supporting the full tomtom suite INCLUDING IQ and real time traffic? Show me one.... i dare you.
Not to mention the FREE lifetime application AND map updates. Just 2 years and 3 months and the app pays for itself on a single iPhone by not having to download updates. It;s like buying a TomTom once and getting a free one every year for the rest of your life so long as Apple keeps making iPhones for you to own.
next, play iPod music and use the GPS at the same time through the car stereo. no more straining to hear the prompts over loud music, nor instead having to use the poorly integrated GPS MP3 player controll s(and max 2-4GB SD card storage and expense of those cards, and complexity of syncing music to them).
next, it;s in your pocket all the time... Coworker get lost downtown trying to find a place for lunch, whip it out.
Oh yea, 3 iPhones in my family are compatible with it. That means I pay $99 one time and get 3 TomToms...
how much do you pay every year for you map updates on your real TomTom? Between $8 every 3 months and $44 once anually? iPhone tomtom updates are not only free FOR LIFE, but also changes to the application, improvements, new features, etc are also free. Assuming you'll continue to migrate the app from iPone to iPhone over several years and models, that's like getting a brand new tomtom for free every year!
Also, got more than 1 iPhone in the family? Buy the app once, use it on iPhones synced to up to 5 PCs...
Here's the QUICK list (I could go one) 1) device allways in my pocket 2) realtime traffic data and tomtomIQ (not a GPS i can find under $300 does that unless you also supply a compatible bluetooth phone that supports tethering over bluetooth). 3) play music and get voiceover from GPS at the same time through the same device, no more straining to listen to GPS prompts over loud music, or having to forgo iPod connectivity to have GPS pumped through car speakers... (yes, many GPS can also play MP3s, but not 16GB of them easily or cheaply, and they don't sync to iTunes either). 4) works while walking around town, no ciggarette outlet required, or bulky battery operated GPS unit. 5) can easily import addresses from contacts, e-mails, and more without needing to be synced to a computer and managed with a seperate app to manage the addresses. 6) FREE LIFETIME APP AND MAP UPDATES! THIS ALONE IS WORTH THE PRICE FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!! 7) usable on EVERY iPhone account associated with your iTunes account (up to 5 installs of iTunes, unlimited iPhone devices per iTunes install as far as i can tell (each phone is locked to one of your 5 iTunes installs, but its real easy to copy the apps from PC to PC). 8) doesn't get left in car tempting theives
tomtom accepts voice input for direction and address input. Further, any address in the iPhone, or listed in e-amil (which thanks to search is really easy to find, even across multiple e-mail accounts) can simply be touched to navigate. i can avoid typing addresses on the iPhone easily as well. That's not something you have and I don't... Can you read from an e-mail address and talk to telenav at the exact same time? Does your blackberry do multi-account text body realtime message searching and also search contacts and other data through a single screen?
On your balckberry, you don't get free map updates with any available service i can find. on the iPhone application AND map updates are free for life (for up to 5 devices for buying the app only once).
TeleNav btw is a MONTHLY billed system!!! I see NO option to download the app permanantly at any price on their web site... With the iPhone, i could even cancel my monthly plan, and it would still work... In 10 months, my tomtom app becomes cheaper, in less than 2 years, if becomes half the price of yours!
Yes, the 3G models use BOTH sattelite GPS and aGPS signals. GPS takes some time to coordinate your location. in the interum, the aGPS location quickly narrows your location to a few city blocks, allowing the initially collected GPS data from the first few sattelites it colects data from to provide a reasonable accuracy, followed by refinements as you get signals verified from the 6th, 7th, 8th, birds...
You'll notice you get reasonable location awareness in about 3-4 seconds, and after 15 seconds or so, it finally zooms in in your exact location and direction of travel.
once the full GPS signals are acquired, aGPS and the use of the cell transmitter is no longer required (unless you pass out of GPS line of sight, but still have cell coverage in which case aGPS resumes attempting to maintain your location and travel direction).
1) internet is not allways on. In fact, there are loads of places I drive where I have no signal at all, but want access to travel data, or need to get feedback from the GPS (like how to go around a wreck blocking the freeway). If WiFi and Cell signals were down, this would be impossible unless you "prepped" your entire journey in advance and downloaded all "near route" data. Doing that on a case by case basis would also place a MASSIVE burden on TomToms systems, which do NOT do that today. 2) ITS LIFETIME FREE MAP AND SOFTWARE UPDATES!!!, not $39-59 per year on the hardware devices to get new maps, and which can never really have their OS overhauled to add new features either. 3) it includes tomtomIQ and realtime traffic. I know of no standalone GPS units anywhere near the price of this app, let alone 3 times it, that have live feed for that data, without also having to have a cell phone with bluetooth connect and a data plan and a tethering plan... 4) I have a 16GB 3GS, and I'm only using just over half the space... saccrificing 1.x GB is no big deal if it saves me $200 on a good standalone, or $400 on a real-time-enabled standalone. 5) I have it ALLWAYS with me, which I do not find is the case with a standalone GPS... Also real handy walking around city streets where a car based GPS is useless.
i agree the rumored $200 tomtom car dock sounds way overpriced, however, if it includes the app (potentially in the form of a $99 iTunes gift card), then that's reasonable. i was expecting a $129-149 price tag. I'm sure market feedback and lackluster sales will realize a lower price sooner rather than later on that item.
I also expect the app price WILL be reduced to $79, at least periodically on sale if not permanantly later on.
Broadband over sattelite has a 3-4 second latency issue, not exactly good for real time data processing... useless for anything other than basic dowloading and uploading. It;s not a solution for the masses, only for those who need data access in remote places until something else (wimax or BoPL)
BoPL has nothing to do with first response, it has to do with OVERALL communications, being able to provide broadband where we can not do so affordably today, and to eliminate terrestrial copper lines for phones, halving our current infrastructure requirement and complexity. It's about getting cheap broadband to every house without having to deploy expensive wireless or microwave systems, which also have their own frequency issues that effect a LOT more than 1 in 5000 people...
Sat phones are READILY available... You can buy one from numerous retail outlets, and nearly every emergency center already has them, or has access to them. They're cheap, a few hundred bucks, and are worn on your hip like a cell phone or GPS... Getting one to a site is as easy as picking it up off the charger and driving it there.
Yea, you can run a HAM off a car battery, but you do require proximity to a working car, or lugging a big battery... and how long can it run your rig anyway? i could charge a com sat 3 dozen times off one... I also don't need to stake a big frackin anteanna in the ground and have a table set out, and cables strewn around. This is not like the ComSat you see in the movies with the big breifcase, a dish that needs to be pointed, etc, it's about the size of a palmheld GPS and works like a regular cell phone, with no training, and simply requires Line of sight to the sky in nearly any direction. There' no directional anteanna or setup required, you can drive around talking on it iy you add the external anteanna (think sattelite radio on your car).
Cost per calls are dropping fast, as cheap as $0.15 a minute on some plans, max of about $2. Further, many sat (iridium) phones also support pass through internet connectivity now in addition to voice. Not only can you communicate, but you can uplink to the net, or to critical coordination systems. You can also get pre-paid comsat cards like prepaid cell, so the 1st responer service doens' eat monthly bills for a device they rarely use. noone requires training to use it.
HAM "just works?" huh? Stick someone in fron of a new kit in a box and see what they think about that statement... heck, stick someone in front of a fully functional and tuned system and see if they can operate it without instructions...
You really are nothing close to an electrical engineer....
1) no, OIL comes from the ground... the 1/3rd number refered to oil being 1/3 less effecient than EV. 2) We have the TOTAL capacity, IF we run 100% of our plants at 100% peak output and IF we can stagger the load across those 24 hours... That's not possible.
3) 9KWh per charge? OK, sure... The volt's battery pack holds 16KWH. when 8 remains, the generator kicks in... (that happens after about 25 miles under most test conditions) Estimated recharge nightly on a 40 mile drive is 12-15KWh. Roll that out to 2 cars per family and you're adding 900KWh per month per household, which is actually higher than the current household monthly usage for the average home today! This is just the Volt, which has a measly 16KWh battery. The Tesla has a 53KWh battery, the upcoming Chrysler plug-in EV hybrids are expected to have 25-35KWh batteries to acheive the same 40 mile ranges.
a) They make H2, then use it in the catalytic process.... RWGS/RFTS is you have STILL not follwed the link b) tank costs are NOT expensive, they're generic steel drums, built on-site, with insulating coatings to limit leakage, and for the 25 tonnes of H@ per day storage units, will be under $100,000 total cost (one time). C) it;s NOT compressed to more than a couple of atmospheres, mostly by byproducts of the electrolysis itself. this equipment is CHEAP. d) It's not a carbon fiber 25,000PSI container, like you put in a car, those are VERY expensive, this a massive, thin structure designed to hold low pressure H2, and is built from simply materials. You STILL have not cghecked the site obviously... Low pressure (under 200PSI) tanks for H2 are extremely similar to welding tanks, but are even thinner in design. They'll be storing the H2 at 1 MPa, which is actually at a LOWEr pressure than it comes out of the electrolizer. E) Current production electrolizer for Doty is running at 72% efficiency TODAY. This will be increased to near 80% when offset heat is recycled back into later stages in the process. total RWGS/RFTS process is expected to have 50% total efficiency. Yes, this fuel will only be burned at 20% efficiency, resulting in a 10% efficiency cycle, but it's completely carbon nuetral, and will ballpark between $2.75 and $3.25 a gallon at the pump.
Here, have a start with this. This is their "non-scientific" presentation covering the process. This is essentially their "dumbed down" presentation used to explain the basics and economics of the process. http://dotyenergy.com/PDFs/WindFuels_Sci_Engr_ppt.pdf
Per the Argonne National Laboratory, with current reserves, and the speed at which we're expanding Litium mining, combined with 100% successful recycling, we won;t be able to meet LiIon vhchile demand for the USA until near 2035, and we can't meed world demand until 2050. This is based on an average 17 year lifespan for vehicles, and 10 year abttery life, based on 20MWh battery packs, combined with consumer device and other battery needs existing today and predicted (to shrink) going forward.
LiIon batteries that are 100% non-toxic are beginning to become available, but at the moment, GM and Thoyotas batteries being manufactured for their vehicles still do contain toxic metals, including some murcury, and are banned from disposal. Though they can be nearly 100% recycled, the process is currenty extremely expensive, and the recycling growth is far behind manufacturing, and would require billions in investment to catch up in even 10 years.
LiPo and LiTi cells improve recycling, and have little fire danger, but they're not expected to appear in vehicles for 5-10 years due to manufacturing costs and reduced battery charge life issues they're still struggling with. (we're getting there_.
As I said, we'll all be driving EV one day, but we need a stop gap, and Doty has a VIABLE one that also happens to solve out off-peak energy needs, and it can be used in ALL our cars today, not to mention jet fuels, deisels, and other systems for which electric is not an acceptible option.
comsats are as portable as cell phones, require little more than raising a 9" anteanna to use (many no longer have the anteanna at all), and are caried by lots of first responders today, including crews in the coastal area near me. I guarantee I can get someone with a sat phone to nearly any location and make a call loads faster than you can prop an anteanna, power up a generator, and start transmitting. HAM is only useful if you can both have someone on site who can relay information. Sat phones provide both, and can be charged by solar if necessary.
I DO agree with signal segregation, but I'd argue instead of limiting BPL, we slice out a subset of HAM and leave the few reamining operators who use it for more than a hobby what's left.
If Sat phones become the new standard, and the emergency radio leagues become no longer necessary, much of your existing spectrum will be unused, so we can easily sequester you into part of it and allow BoPL to take the rest.
I understand loosing access to a favored hobby, especially on you have have held dear for many years, is not somthing we want to do, but we can't allow a hobby held by approx 1 in 5,000 people (far less than 1 million worldwide have active licences, fewer still have functioning equipment to use that licence with), to slow the progression of advanced communications and first response technology.
No, its ignorant users not checking the specs before they click "order" is all. They find the cheapest machine on Dell.com and buy it without care, and when that machine arrives and doesn't run Windows, they send it back, and pay a restocking fee.
Many of these people also return their cheap windows boxes when they find out it can't run the games even their old computer could, but unfortunately most of them find out too late, as they'll have had the machine more than 14 days before they get too far into using it.
Simple answer: Most medium and small firms can afford to hire 1-2 admins. Those 1-2 admins will typically be windows engineers, 1 of them may have some Linux/Unix skills, and between them they'll have some basic firewall/switch skills. Will they be experts in all the apps deplyed? No. Will they be familiar with the DR systems, security systems, and more deployed? Maybe, maybe not. Will they be experts with the SAN hardware? probably not. Will they now the VoiP or PBX infrastructure? Probably not.
In a small, windows only, network, with only common off-the-shelf apps deployed you might be able to get by with just a single IT guy, and he might be able to even manage a simple system like an Avaya or ShoreTel phone systems after some basic training, and should know his way around Symantec backup and McAfee EPO. He might even have some basic Cisco skills. When you get to having a few dozen systems, especially if your network is subject to DISA or DOD security standards, or HIPAA, you're likely going to need to hire external experts to handle the more advanced systems and services.
Here's a hort list of the systems we used DAILY at my previous firm, and had experts on staff to handle, typically each of which requires at least 1 admin to attend at least a week of training and hold a certification to properly operate: Arcsight, Nessus, Unicenter, TSM, Retina, Exchange, SharePoint, Citrix, SCOM, SCDM, WUS, SUS, WebSphere, Active Directory, Group policy, VMWare, Etalk, Cisco switches, Cisco ASA firewall, ISA server, IIS Server, Apache Server, SQL, Oracle, and that didn't include our custom code servers... We had about 75 servers, a fair mid sized IT infrastructure. Do you really thing 3 IT guys (typically 1 admin per 25 servers is a good target for support, not including desktop support people), could possibly be experts in all these systems, and in Windows 2003, linux, HP/UX, and AIX?
My current firm, we add to this list about another 3,000 servers, some OS390 hosts, and about 1400 other applications and 10 other OS. We have over 2,000 people in IS with over 300 of them as actual system administrators, and STILL we outsource specific expters on specific systems. Eventually some of them are converted to internal employees, but most consultants are under contract conditions preventing us from soliciting them to leave their parernt company and join us.
You can have a say. 1) require any consultant admin with an account on your system to use a uniqulely identifyable account, not a general account shared by myltiple people in their organization, so you can tell them apart. Have a clause in your agreement permitting you to bauil on your contract at will, and assess penalties upon the provider should they share their personal logon accounts with coworkers or any other people. Your own sysadmin should grant accounts as necessary to new consultants. It's a pain, but worth it. This process should be documented so that it can be done by other key personell when your local sysadmin is not available. 2) require any admin consultant logging in to your system to be fully documented with your firm, and optionannly require them to hold Public Trust (C2) or higher clearance. 3) FULLY DOCUEMENT your IP!!!! If they DO steal it, it will kikely be the BEST thing that ever happened to your business... 4) delploy centralized syslog collection systems, and secure those in non-domain member servers (or appliances) with alternate credentials. Set them to flag alarms if they fail to regularly collect system logs, and have them notify you automatically anytime a consultant admin account is logged in. 5) If you're really worried, especially simply about them making changes you are not aware of, or doing seedy things to cause you to incure additional billable service calls, simply leave consusltant accouns in disabled states so they can not log in unless you explicity enable them. 6) Seperate the remote access method used by them from the remote access used by your internal admin. Block theirs by default. Your admin can remote in and give them access on demand when necessary. 7) only work with reputable firms who are also rated by the BBB or your local chanmber of commerce. NEVER trust a corporate infrastructure so fly-by-night consultants and tiny firms... let the little guys handle the mom-n-pop shops. 8) when hiring a new firm, ensure they not only provide basic services, but that they regularly participate in bids on large projects including govenerment work. Ask for references from firms who they have been awarded contracts, they should have at least a few customers who permit you to contact them directly. Also, get a list of the certifications their current contractors hold, and ensure they have more than one certified engineer for each system you will have them manage (having a contracor with only 1 Cisco engineer is a problem if that guy goes on vacation...)
a Logitech mouse doesn't "access" Word at all! The OS responds to the input from the device, the HID driver moves the cursor, and WORD takes input from the OS API for positional input, clicks, and the keyboard stack... These are fundamental aspects of the OS, not of the device, the device simply communicates with the DRIVER.
In this case, Palm is asking Apple's software to communicate through APPLE'S Driver (not Microsoft's API the driver interfaces with through permission from microsoft on a published API), to their device. This is not an input system, this is not the device sending and receiveing data, but APPLE'S APP being required to do all the work, the device is simply connected, and beyond that, has little interaction with the machine beyond supporting protocols for data xfer.
Lets look at this scenario, which is basically identical: HP's drivers for their printers don't let just any app interface with their devices (for 3rd party apps to use the printer, they use OS features, like TWAIN, or a spooler, or a print queue), they don't talk directly to the device, they talk to OS level services that talk to the API their driver supports. HP offers software that DOES communicate directly to the device, and can control the printers settings, cause it to scan using native tools (instead of Twain), and can access it's media card readers and such. Now, Cannon comes along, and sells a printer, but does NOT include their own software, and argues that HP, the market leader, and someone who already has software that does this natively with their own devices, bypassing the need for Cannon to write their own API to interface with OS services, should automatically recodnize THEIR device, and their software shold be able to print to it and scan from it, and advertises WITHOUT GETTING HP'S PERMISSION, that HP's licences and proprietary software is compatible with their device...
What do you think NOW?
You think telling iTunes it's a Pre by Apple does not cause Apple to have to have code to respond to that invalid response? It's called data validation. Something that responds as an Apple device should be in Apple's own list of supported devices, and iTunes would know what to do with it based on the device ID as well as the VID. If the VID say's "apple", they proceed to thrown more commands at the device, if not, they ignore it. When it replies "apple", and they throw more commands, it expects responses, and failing to get a proper response, iTunes needs to handle it. Why should Apple write this code for free? Honestly, we're lucky it didn't HANG the app!
On another point, Apple does not PREVENT other devices from working with iTunesd, iTunes is NOT a media player, it;s a DEVICE MANGER, for APPLE DEVICES, that support a LOT more than simply syncing and managing music. There are OTHER media players available, some use the iTunes databse to keep it in sync. Apple DOES have code in iTunes to support plug-ins, and has code to REACT to live modifacations from 3rd party software accessing that data file. Why would Apple write that complex code if they did not expect other peopole to be able to interface in that way? If they wanted people out, the file would either be proprietary, or simply be locked by the driver for exclusive use...
Excluding 3rd party devices is not because Apple wants them to not use iTunes data, it;s becaus ethey don't want to deal with how to diaply them in iTunes... Remeber, connecting an ipod doesn't just add it as a mapped device in the tree on the left panel, and let you sync, it adds a whole interface that displays when you click on it, has native integration to APIs inside the device's OS, and has lots of settings to control what does and doesn't sync, handing WHAT TO DISPLAY when a non-suppoorted device is connected requires changes to their code, and if that if permitted openly, without partnering with apple, the concequences are outside Apple's support policies, and could cause instability in the app that Apple has to deal with. Blocking unsupported devices protects their code. After all, it's a FREE application...
...and when a disaster strikes, there won't be any BoPL in use at the disaster site, as there's no power, and the other disaster sites scattered around the country to handle the radio traffic can EASILY be used at locations where interference from BoPL is either minimal or non-existant, since they can have power anywhere they want to and choose their location accordingly in advance. Honestly, this is not a real sxcenario for concern preventing BoPL deployment.
Further, HAM is not longer the only emergency long distance band... We've had ComSat for a couple of decades now, and most first reposoners, especially those doing so for planned disaster relief, have access to handheld comsat systems. They're not that expensive, and in a first response scenario, I'm sure the government can afford a few $3/minute calls... or, just give them access to the military's own communication system on seperate first response reserved chanels and call the system a gift, provided they only use it when other methods of communication are also down.
If we're keeping HAM around for a few thousand (at most?) true hobbyists, using the excuse that it's a disaster tool, then that's a false need to support an old and dying hobby, and it's preventing rolling out commercial BoPL services to support millions of americans with a cheaper and more stable communications system, and holding back an economy worth billions of dollars for some 50+ year old tech. How stupid is that?
So few people use HAM anymore, we could also just as easily slash the available HAM freequency swath down to a fraction of what it is assigned for, and put BoPL at the other end of the original range, accounting for harmonic frequency crossover, and simply by simplt FCC legislation completely end this debate once and for all...
If 10 million americans can be told to buy new home anteannas and add set top boxes because we think their TV signals are better used to support cell phones and emergency chanels, why can't we tell 3,000 americans their EASILY considered obsolete kit should be replaced with some sat phones (and even given the expense of calls, it's likely still cheaper than owning an ariel, base radio, and generator...)
Well, here's your problems. 1) access to 3rd party software though a driver or otherwise has to be licenced or approved. Access to the OS is one thing, that's part of the standard. How an application further uses the data provided by a standards based driver is not the concern of Palm. 2) the device CAN work without this driver, it simply can;t work NATIVELY with iTunes without this hack. MANY devices sync music from iTunes libraries, they simply access the XML database directly, which Apple fully permits, using their OWN software, or they connect through a licensed plug-in. Palm chose to cheat and avoid writing their own code. 3) Apple check this USB code for more than "validating the device ID", they not only sync with an app on the device as Palm is attempting to do, but it also MANAGES the device, including firmware updates, software patches, and more; IMPORTS licensed data from the device that were not imported from iTunes directly (introducing the possibility of you loading songs on your Pre from another PC and using iTunes to sync them in to yours); they manage the disk space on iPods that support being used as portable disk devices, including formatting that space; and MUCH more.
By Palm bypassing Apple's cross check of the device, Apple is subject to the burden of code maintenance to account for how to handle the Pre should iTunes identify it as an iPod, and how to handle errors when the Pre either reports an invalid, non-existant Apple firmware ID, or fails to report one at all.
All Palm had to do was either 1) pay the licensing fees and work with Apple to build compatabiltiy, or 2) use any number of freely available apps they could have partnered with cheaper that already took full advantage of the iTunes XML database natively. This is simply bad business, and it's going to end badly for Palm. As it is, they've only moved 200,000 devices since launch day, and their market share, even with a HIGHLY advertised shiny new device shrunk this quarter again.
When it also includes not just a crash log, but use pattern information, GPS location, and when that data is being catalogged or tracked in any way, it could be an issue. This becomes a bigger issue when the user is 1) non informed,2) it can't be opted out of, and 3) it containes personally identifiable information in violation of federal law.
Sorry, you seem to be the moron. I in no way states sex was wrong. However, Sex CAN be wrong between 2 people with whome sex is typically forbidden. A teacher and student, a preacher and child, 2 family members, or in any case someone who is not EMOTIONALLY READY for sex. Also, many people do find homosexual sex to be wrong, or have strict religous or moral beliefs tied to sex, and though YOU may think it's completely OK, to them it can be a life changing event.
Clearly you sir are not emotionally ready to be posting on/.
You took that out of context. Please read my other posts. i never indivated it could not ruin your life, I only clarified it had a different SEVERITY of punishment, and should be treated DIFFERENTLY on the register, and be subject to different parole terms. The terms of punishment for statutory rape also vary by age of the 2 persons, and the age difference between the 2 persons, and who raised the flag (one of the 2, or a 3rd party like a parent).
1/3rd as much power huh? in terms of joules or BTUs, yes, but where one power source is coming from the ground, the other is coming from power plants, and we don't have those power plants!
Also, the local grids (last mile) can't handle that extra load...
Also off-peak is NOT considered "night time" but varies by region and time of year. in the summer, off-peak is typically midnight to 5AM. but BEVs take 8-10 hours to charge, oops. In the winter, off-peak is 9AM to 4PM! the car's not home, oops...
Also, once we move to fast charge, it will NOT be stady, stable off-peak loads. People will be charging anytime they get to 20% remaining, wherever they are.
Also, if you read the link's data, they are NOT storing H2, they're making it as part of a catalytic process. It's only kept in short term, low pressure tanks for 12-36 hours. These types of tanks are CHEAP, efficient, and have extremely little leakage (unlike tanks needed beneath gas stations or worse in cars, on which I completely agree). I will NEVER support driving H2 vehicles, EVER. I also can't support driving EVs in mass
EV batteries contain toxins, rare chemicals, and though the most recent technologies are highly recyclable, its a messy expensive process, not to mentoin LiIon pack failure and fires...
I also read the DOE result when it came out recently, and there are a few things you should note: 1) the study completely ignored local grid distribution, and was a statement of average available energy across the USA (total poewr production, including total off-peak capacity, compared to the energy required to power cars based on estimates of energy needs for drivers charging once per day). Well, we don;lt have that power in that way. if we did, California would not brown out... 2) the study did not take into account geographic density of automobiles, or transmission density of existing high power lines. Sure, we've got enough power off-peak in SC to charge 2 million cars at night, too bad we only have 1.4 million of them here... 3) we don'lt have the infrastructure and logistics in place to FUEL the plants that COULD produce that power, keeping in mind what percent of our current production is from FOSSIL FUEL ITSELF??? If we had to run the plants 24x7 at 100%, energy cots will rise, and we'll be out of coal in 20-30 years instead of 50. Oh wait, according to this we may only have 20 years of coal TODAY! http://www.grist.org/article/Are-we-approaching-peak-coal-Part-1/
Really, seriously, LOOK AT doty's data... read the reports. I'll concede (and so do they) that EV is the future, in 40-50 years, but we NEED a stop gap, and WindFuels can be just that, and get us off oil dependence without us having to trade out all out cars in 10 years when oil is $8 a gallon or more (that's a CONSERVATIVE prediction btw). Check out their site, read the real data, www.dotyenergy.com.
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Ars Technica indicated that in their article about the release. As well, a prior press interview with a TomTom senior director stated tomtom was "leaning" towards the subscription free model, with lifetime app updates included.
Since the maps are integral to the app, part of the download, by updating the app, you are also updating the maps.
It is Apple's policy as well that "content" updates, through their 3.1 in-app purchase will be accepted, where new features and extended content are offered, but Apple will not permit appendments or fixes to existing content to be charged that way (which a map update is simply a data patch in most ways you can look at it). Adding additional countries would certainly be accepted for in-app purchase charges, but not content "fixes". Also, version changes (1.0 to 2.0) rarely come at anything but free for existing app owners. Even in cases where apps were free but add funded, and they moved to a purchase model, existing free app opwners get to update to the paid app for free unless the devs convince Apple it;s truly a new revolutionary revision justifying it as now a new application. They can;'t just release TomTom 2.0 as a whole new app and charge another $99 for it if it's not radically different from TomTom 1.0, and there's no in-app support for upgrading code at a fee, only content.
There's really only one way TomTom can go with this, and that seems consistent with Ars's article.
Workstation support is standardized. OS (lets sdaw win 2K3 support) is also standardized. Knowing the owner allows us to bill the appropriate party without having to look it up. Knowing the OS ensures a tech trained in 2003 server gets the ticket...
The problem is, we have hardware support, OS support, application support, DBAs, Web admins, SOA support, DR support, we have specialist for nearly everything, and understanding who owns what PIECE of a server (a lot of stuff here is middleware, or shared infrastructure as well) is important, and we don't want to have some massive database all 900 or so of the people with rights to access various servers has to have access to. We have a simple system of who "owns" (as in responsibility) each app, and that person gets a call anytime anyone elses serevr equipped with that app has an issue. By using the name, and without referencing AD or a seperate database to tablle, a tech can quickly reference the ownership.
But its not even techs... We have hundreds of scripts that run in response to certain errors from certain monitored systems, and the servername itself in the error (or the IP cross checkes in nslookup) provides key information to the script without having to JDBC enable it as well... When we get a nonresponse from a servername, the hardware owner and Os owner can be instantly notifed by output from our monitoring software to check it out.
Simply put, the servername structure, being consistant and containing a lot of data, provides simple automation of alert services, not just awareness for the engineers and techs.
Yup, we only use the most obvious descriptor in the name: which busines unit actually owns the machine, it's base OS, and an ID. We need to know who owns it by name so we can bill the appropriate internal business unit for support, and we need to know the OS to route to the right support group. Once we're there, and the ticket is opened, the tech can easily check the asset tracking database to get the complete machine history. The user of the machine, or the user actually placing the call, does not always correlete to a billing code, so we use the department code in the name and that solves the issue. Machines NEVER transfer from one department to another without a messy IS finance paperwork process, and they're allways re-imaged when that happens so they're easily renamed at that time.
For servers, it's a bit more granular; bluiding, business unit, machine type, OS, major app, and security enclave all are in the name. This information informs us instantly of who supports what piece (infrastructure, OS, application, and who to contact). A simple app instantly looks up the 1st and 2nd points of contact, including who's the active one on rotation if that department rotates responsibility or on-call personell), for each support area that machine impacts so when we get a call (or electronic alert) its very easy to get the right person out of our 2000+ person IS staff on the phone. (honestly, only about 900 of the 2000 people ever touch or support a server, workstation, or app, the rest are executive, clerical, project leadership, design engineers, etc).
I like the idea of including the OS image build version... including the machine base model might also be of some value. Then again, some of this is just as well in the machine desacription.
We're a complicated mess over here, multiple major business units, each with several minor units, and each with their own budgeting and asset owership, so on some level we're including who OWNS the machine in the name, and it's base OS and an ID, it might be hard to add build number to the name (but in the description would work).
You preserve the name after uprasding the OS? ...erm, wait, you "upgrade" the OS?
1st rule, everything is deployed from an image or application package. Nothing is ever "upgraded" in place. Certain applications may be "redeployed" by uninstalling an old version and then deploying a package containing a newer version, but even that's reserved for simple applications. We'd never for example upgrade from SQL 2000 to 2005 in place. Besides, most "upgrades" require hardware and software, and for workstations and servers alike, major application version changes and/or OS changes are done late in the machine's life, so we just deploy a whole new system, the if the old one has some warranty life left, it gets relegated to a lab system, test system, dev system or some other random role.
Each machine "deployed" gets a unique name. If a machine is repurposed, it's re-imaged, and renamed too. We also never move a new user onto someone else's old workstation without a complete OS re-image. This sounds like a pain, but since it's completely automated, including name assignment, it takes about 1.5 hours to completely redeploy a workstation, and 1-4 hours for a server (depending on configuration), and that includes scanning/remediation.
We move PCs around constantly, so naming then mased on physical location is dumb for us. Same goes for typing them to a person, as we have a lot of contractors as well.
We name PCs based on building and major department ownership, followed by a hex string. Names are never re-used. The current IP of the system gives us a real good idea of where it's located (in terms of room or area), but it's specific physical address (desk location, etc) is stored in an asset tracking dtabase, nice and simple. Knowing where a machine actually sits however is usually not as impoirant as knowking where the USER sits. Rarely is anyone from workstation support ever dispatched to a machine unless the person using it has called, so tracking by person OR by location is redundant. It's only important to know what business unit owns the machine for when it recycled back into the mix for redeployment if it's taken off a desk and re-imaged or requires major hardware sugery so we know what business unit to give it back to later.
Servers are named by building, security enclave, OS type, application, and an ID. By looking at a name we not only know who owns it, and who supports it (from an infrastructure, OS, and application perspective) but we also know what it's role is. We can identify it's deployed location (server room and sometimes even rack row) by it's IP. If we can't get an exact deployment location from it's IP, the asset database has that info. (and it's hardware type, SN, deployed date, waranty status, and complete history of maintenance and software deployments too).
a $99 GPS supporting the full tomtom suite INCLUDING IQ and real time traffic? Show me one.... i dare you.
Not to mention the FREE lifetime application AND map updates. Just 2 years and 3 months and the app pays for itself on a single iPhone by not having to download updates. It;s like buying a TomTom once and getting a free one every year for the rest of your life so long as Apple keeps making iPhones for you to own.
next, play iPod music and use the GPS at the same time through the car stereo. no more straining to hear the prompts over loud music, nor instead having to use the poorly integrated GPS MP3 player controll s(and max 2-4GB SD card storage and expense of those cards, and complexity of syncing music to them).
next, it;s in your pocket all the time... Coworker get lost downtown trying to find a place for lunch, whip it out.
Oh yea, 3 iPhones in my family are compatible with it. That means I pay $99 one time and get 3 TomToms...
how much do you pay every year for you map updates on your real TomTom? Between $8 every 3 months and $44 once anually? iPhone tomtom updates are not only free FOR LIFE, but also changes to the application, improvements, new features, etc are also free. Assuming you'll continue to migrate the app from iPone to iPhone over several years and models, that's like getting a brand new tomtom for free every year!
Also, got more than 1 iPhone in the family? Buy the app once, use it on iPhones synced to up to 5 PCs...
Here's the QUICK list (I could go one)
1) device allways in my pocket
2) realtime traffic data and tomtomIQ (not a GPS i can find under $300 does that unless you also supply a compatible bluetooth phone that supports tethering over bluetooth).
3) play music and get voiceover from GPS at the same time through the same device, no more straining to listen to GPS prompts over loud music, or having to forgo iPod connectivity to have GPS pumped through car speakers... (yes, many GPS can also play MP3s, but not 16GB of them easily or cheaply, and they don't sync to iTunes either).
4) works while walking around town, no ciggarette outlet required, or bulky battery operated GPS unit.
5) can easily import addresses from contacts, e-mails, and more without needing to be synced to a computer and managed with a seperate app to manage the addresses.
6) FREE LIFETIME APP AND MAP UPDATES! THIS ALONE IS WORTH THE PRICE FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!!
7) usable on EVERY iPhone account associated with your iTunes account (up to 5 installs of iTunes, unlimited iPhone devices per iTunes install as far as i can tell (each phone is locked to one of your 5 iTunes installs, but its real easy to copy the apps from PC to PC).
8) doesn't get left in car tempting theives
iPhone 3G did have GPS...
tomtom accepts voice input for direction and address input. Further, any address in the iPhone, or listed in e-amil (which thanks to search is really easy to find, even across multiple e-mail accounts) can simply be touched to navigate. i can avoid typing addresses on the iPhone easily as well. That's not something you have and I don't... Can you read from an e-mail address and talk to telenav at the exact same time? Does your blackberry do multi-account text body realtime message searching and also search contacts and other data through a single screen?
On your balckberry, you don't get free map updates with any available service i can find. on the iPhone application AND map updates are free for life (for up to 5 devices for buying the app only once).
TeleNav btw is a MONTHLY billed system!!! I see NO option to download the app permanantly at any price on their web site... With the iPhone, i could even cancel my monthly plan, and it would still work... In 10 months, my tomtom app becomes cheaper, in less than 2 years, if becomes half the price of yours!
Yes, the 3G models use BOTH sattelite GPS and aGPS signals. GPS takes some time to coordinate your location. in the interum, the aGPS location quickly narrows your location to a few city blocks, allowing the initially collected GPS data from the first few sattelites it colects data from to provide a reasonable accuracy, followed by refinements as you get signals verified from the 6th, 7th, 8th, birds...
You'll notice you get reasonable location awareness in about 3-4 seconds, and after 15 seconds or so, it finally zooms in in your exact location and direction of travel.
once the full GPS signals are acquired, aGPS and the use of the cell transmitter is no longer required (unless you pass out of GPS line of sight, but still have cell coverage in which case aGPS resumes attempting to maintain your location and travel direction).
1) internet is not allways on. In fact, there are loads of places I drive where I have no signal at all, but want access to travel data, or need to get feedback from the GPS (like how to go around a wreck blocking the freeway). If WiFi and Cell signals were down, this would be impossible unless you "prepped" your entire journey in advance and downloaded all "near route" data. Doing that on a case by case basis would also place a MASSIVE burden on TomToms systems, which do NOT do that today.
2) ITS LIFETIME FREE MAP AND SOFTWARE UPDATES!!!, not $39-59 per year on the hardware devices to get new maps, and which can never really have their OS overhauled to add new features either.
3) it includes tomtomIQ and realtime traffic. I know of no standalone GPS units anywhere near the price of this app, let alone 3 times it, that have live feed for that data, without also having to have a cell phone with bluetooth connect and a data plan and a tethering plan...
4) I have a 16GB 3GS, and I'm only using just over half the space... saccrificing 1.x GB is no big deal if it saves me $200 on a good standalone, or $400 on a real-time-enabled standalone.
5) I have it ALLWAYS with me, which I do not find is the case with a standalone GPS... Also real handy walking around city streets where a car based GPS is useless.
i agree the rumored $200 tomtom car dock sounds way overpriced, however, if it includes the app (potentially in the form of a $99 iTunes gift card), then that's reasonable. i was expecting a $129-149 price tag. I'm sure market feedback and lackluster sales will realize a lower price sooner rather than later on that item.
I also expect the app price WILL be reduced to $79, at least periodically on sale if not permanantly later on.
Broadband over sattelite has a 3-4 second latency issue, not exactly good for real time data processing... useless for anything other than basic dowloading and uploading. It;s not a solution for the masses, only for those who need data access in remote places until something else (wimax or BoPL)
BoPL has nothing to do with first response, it has to do with OVERALL communications, being able to provide broadband where we can not do so affordably today, and to eliminate terrestrial copper lines for phones, halving our current infrastructure requirement and complexity. It's about getting cheap broadband to every house without having to deploy expensive wireless or microwave systems, which also have their own frequency issues that effect a LOT more than 1 in 5000 people...
Sat phones are READILY available... You can buy one from numerous retail outlets, and nearly every emergency center already has them, or has access to them. They're cheap, a few hundred bucks, and are worn on your hip like a cell phone or GPS... Getting one to a site is as easy as picking it up off the charger and driving it there.
Yea, you can run a HAM off a car battery, but you do require proximity to a working car, or lugging a big battery... and how long can it run your rig anyway? i could charge a com sat 3 dozen times off one... I also don't need to stake a big frackin anteanna in the ground and have a table set out, and cables strewn around. This is not like the ComSat you see in the movies with the big breifcase, a dish that needs to be pointed, etc, it's about the size of a palmheld GPS and works like a regular cell phone, with no training, and simply requires Line of sight to the sky in nearly any direction. There' no directional anteanna or setup required, you can drive around talking on it iy you add the external anteanna (think sattelite radio on your car).
Cost per calls are dropping fast, as cheap as $0.15 a minute on some plans, max of about $2. Further, many sat (iridium) phones also support pass through internet connectivity now in addition to voice. Not only can you communicate, but you can uplink to the net, or to critical coordination systems. You can also get pre-paid comsat cards like prepaid cell, so the 1st responer service doens' eat monthly bills for a device they rarely use. noone requires training to use it.
HAM "just works?" huh? Stick someone in fron of a new kit in a box and see what they think about that statement... heck, stick someone in front of a fully functional and tuned system and see if they can operate it without instructions...
You really are nothing close to an electrical engineer....
1) no, OIL comes from the ground... the 1/3rd number refered to oil being 1/3 less effecient than EV.
2) We have the TOTAL capacity, IF we run 100% of our plants at 100% peak output and IF we can stagger the load across those 24 hours... That's not possible.
3) 9KWh per charge? OK, sure... The volt's battery pack holds 16KWH. when 8 remains, the generator kicks in... (that happens after about 25 miles under most test conditions) Estimated recharge nightly on a 40 mile drive is 12-15KWh. Roll that out to 2 cars per family and you're adding 900KWh per month per household, which is actually higher than the current household monthly usage for the average home today!
This is just the Volt, which has a measly 16KWh battery. The Tesla has a 53KWh battery, the upcoming Chrysler plug-in EV hybrids are expected to have 25-35KWh batteries to acheive the same 40 mile ranges.
a) They make H2, then use it in the catalytic process.... RWGS/RFTS is you have STILL not follwed the link
b) tank costs are NOT expensive, they're generic steel drums, built on-site, with insulating coatings to limit leakage, and for the 25 tonnes of H@ per day storage units, will be under $100,000 total cost (one time).
C) it;s NOT compressed to more than a couple of atmospheres, mostly by byproducts of the electrolysis itself. this equipment is CHEAP.
d) It's not a carbon fiber 25,000PSI container, like you put in a car, those are VERY expensive, this a massive, thin structure designed to hold low pressure H2, and is built from simply materials. You STILL have not cghecked the site obviously... Low pressure (under 200PSI) tanks for H2 are extremely similar to welding tanks, but are even thinner in design. They'll be storing the H2 at 1 MPa, which is actually at a LOWEr pressure than it comes out of the electrolizer.
E) Current production electrolizer for Doty is running at 72% efficiency TODAY. This will be increased to near 80% when offset heat is recycled back into later stages in the process. total RWGS/RFTS process is expected to have 50% total efficiency. Yes, this fuel will only be burned at 20% efficiency, resulting in a 10% efficiency cycle, but it's completely carbon nuetral, and will ballpark between $2.75 and $3.25 a gallon at the pump.
Here, have a start with this. This is their "non-scientific" presentation covering the process. This is essentially their "dumbed down" presentation used to explain the basics and economics of the process.
http://dotyenergy.com/PDFs/WindFuels_Sci_Engr_ppt.pdf
Per the Argonne National Laboratory, with current reserves, and the speed at which we're expanding Litium mining, combined with 100% successful recycling, we won;t be able to meet LiIon vhchile demand for the USA until near 2035, and we can't meed world demand until 2050. This is based on an average 17 year lifespan for vehicles, and 10 year abttery life, based on 20MWh battery packs, combined with consumer device and other battery needs existing today and predicted (to shrink) going forward.
LiIon batteries that are 100% non-toxic are beginning to become available, but at the moment, GM and Thoyotas batteries being manufactured for their vehicles still do contain toxic metals, including some murcury, and are banned from disposal. Though they can be nearly 100% recycled, the process is currenty extremely expensive, and the recycling growth is far behind manufacturing, and would require billions in investment to catch up in even 10 years.
LiPo and LiTi cells improve recycling, and have little fire danger, but they're not expected to appear in vehicles for 5-10 years due to manufacturing costs and reduced battery charge life issues they're still struggling with. (we're getting there_.
As I said, we'll all be driving EV one day, but we need a stop gap, and Doty has a VIABLE one that also happens to solve out off-peak energy needs, and it can be used in ALL our cars today, not to mention jet fuels, deisels, and other systems for which electric is not an acceptible option.
comsats are as portable as cell phones, require little more than raising a 9" anteanna to use (many no longer have the anteanna at all), and are caried by lots of first responders today, including crews in the coastal area near me. I guarantee I can get someone with a sat phone to nearly any location and make a call loads faster than you can prop an anteanna, power up a generator, and start transmitting. HAM is only useful if you can both have someone on site who can relay information. Sat phones provide both, and can be charged by solar if necessary.
I DO agree with signal segregation, but I'd argue instead of limiting BPL, we slice out a subset of HAM and leave the few reamining operators who use it for more than a hobby what's left.
If Sat phones become the new standard, and the emergency radio leagues become no longer necessary, much of your existing spectrum will be unused, so we can easily sequester you into part of it and allow BoPL to take the rest.
I understand loosing access to a favored hobby, especially on you have have held dear for many years, is not somthing we want to do, but we can't allow a hobby held by approx 1 in 5,000 people (far less than 1 million worldwide have active licences, fewer still have functioning equipment to use that licence with), to slow the progression of advanced communications and first response technology.
No, its ignorant users not checking the specs before they click "order" is all. They find the cheapest machine on Dell.com and buy it without care, and when that machine arrives and doesn't run Windows, they send it back, and pay a restocking fee.
Many of these people also return their cheap windows boxes when they find out it can't run the games even their old computer could, but unfortunately most of them find out too late, as they'll have had the machine more than 14 days before they get too far into using it.
Simple answer: Most medium and small firms can afford to hire 1-2 admins. Those 1-2 admins will typically be windows engineers, 1 of them may have some Linux/Unix skills, and between them they'll have some basic firewall/switch skills. Will they be experts in all the apps deplyed? No. Will they be familiar with the DR systems, security systems, and more deployed? Maybe, maybe not. Will they be experts with the SAN hardware? probably not. Will they now the VoiP or PBX infrastructure? Probably not.
In a small, windows only, network, with only common off-the-shelf apps deployed you might be able to get by with just a single IT guy, and he might be able to even manage a simple system like an Avaya or ShoreTel phone systems after some basic training, and should know his way around Symantec backup and McAfee EPO. He might even have some basic Cisco skills. When you get to having a few dozen systems, especially if your network is subject to DISA or DOD security standards, or HIPAA, you're likely going to need to hire external experts to handle the more advanced systems and services.
Here's a hort list of the systems we used DAILY at my previous firm, and had experts on staff to handle, typically each of which requires at least 1 admin to attend at least a week of training and hold a certification to properly operate: Arcsight, Nessus, Unicenter, TSM, Retina, Exchange, SharePoint, Citrix, SCOM, SCDM, WUS, SUS, WebSphere, Active Directory, Group policy, VMWare, Etalk, Cisco switches, Cisco ASA firewall, ISA server, IIS Server, Apache Server, SQL, Oracle, and that didn't include our custom code servers... We had about 75 servers, a fair mid sized IT infrastructure. Do you really thing 3 IT guys (typically 1 admin per 25 servers is a good target for support, not including desktop support people), could possibly be experts in all these systems, and in Windows 2003, linux, HP/UX, and AIX?
My current firm, we add to this list about another 3,000 servers, some OS390 hosts, and about 1400 other applications and 10 other OS. We have over 2,000 people in IS with over 300 of them as actual system administrators, and STILL we outsource specific expters on specific systems. Eventually some of them are converted to internal employees, but most consultants are under contract conditions preventing us from soliciting them to leave their parernt company and join us.
You can have a say.
1) require any consultant admin with an account on your system to use a uniqulely identifyable account, not a general account shared by myltiple people in their organization, so you can tell them apart. Have a clause in your agreement permitting you to bauil on your contract at will, and assess penalties upon the provider should they share their personal logon accounts with coworkers or any other people. Your own sysadmin should grant accounts as necessary to new consultants. It's a pain, but worth it. This process should be documented so that it can be done by other key personell when your local sysadmin is not available.
2) require any admin consultant logging in to your system to be fully documented with your firm, and optionannly require them to hold Public Trust (C2) or higher clearance.
3) FULLY DOCUEMENT your IP!!!! If they DO steal it, it will kikely be the BEST thing that ever happened to your business...
4) delploy centralized syslog collection systems, and secure those in non-domain member servers (or appliances) with alternate credentials. Set them to flag alarms if they fail to regularly collect system logs, and have them notify you automatically anytime a consultant admin account is logged in.
5) If you're really worried, especially simply about them making changes you are not aware of, or doing seedy things to cause you to incure additional billable service calls, simply leave consusltant accouns in disabled states so they can not log in unless you explicity enable them.
6) Seperate the remote access method used by them from the remote access used by your internal admin. Block theirs by default. Your admin can remote in and give them access on demand when necessary.
7) only work with reputable firms who are also rated by the BBB or your local chanmber of commerce. NEVER trust a corporate infrastructure so fly-by-night consultants and tiny firms... let the little guys handle the mom-n-pop shops.
8) when hiring a new firm, ensure they not only provide basic services, but that they regularly participate in bids on large projects including govenerment work. Ask for references from firms who they have been awarded contracts, they should have at least a few customers who permit you to contact them directly. Also, get a list of the certifications their current contractors hold, and ensure they have more than one certified engineer for each system you will have them manage (having a contracor with only 1 Cisco engineer is a problem if that guy goes on vacation...)
a Logitech mouse doesn't "access" Word at all! The OS responds to the input from the device, the HID driver moves the cursor, and WORD takes input from the OS API for positional input, clicks, and the keyboard stack... These are fundamental aspects of the OS, not of the device, the device simply communicates with the DRIVER.
In this case, Palm is asking Apple's software to communicate through APPLE'S Driver (not Microsoft's API the driver interfaces with through permission from microsoft on a published API), to their device. This is not an input system, this is not the device sending and receiveing data, but APPLE'S APP being required to do all the work, the device is simply connected, and beyond that, has little interaction with the machine beyond supporting protocols for data xfer.
Lets look at this scenario, which is basically identical: HP's drivers for their printers don't let just any app interface with their devices (for 3rd party apps to use the printer, they use OS features, like TWAIN, or a spooler, or a print queue), they don't talk directly to the device, they talk to OS level services that talk to the API their driver supports. HP offers software that DOES communicate directly to the device, and can control the printers settings, cause it to scan using native tools (instead of Twain), and can access it's media card readers and such. Now, Cannon comes along, and sells a printer, but does NOT include their own software, and argues that HP, the market leader, and someone who already has software that does this natively with their own devices, bypassing the need for Cannon to write their own API to interface with OS services, should automatically recodnize THEIR device, and their software shold be able to print to it and scan from it, and advertises WITHOUT GETTING HP'S PERMISSION, that HP's licences and proprietary software is compatible with their device...
What do you think NOW?
You think telling iTunes it's a Pre by Apple does not cause Apple to have to have code to respond to that invalid response? It's called data validation. Something that responds as an Apple device should be in Apple's own list of supported devices, and iTunes would know what to do with it based on the device ID as well as the VID. If the VID say's "apple", they proceed to thrown more commands at the device, if not, they ignore it. When it replies "apple", and they throw more commands, it expects responses, and failing to get a proper response, iTunes needs to handle it. Why should Apple write this code for free? Honestly, we're lucky it didn't HANG the app!
On another point, Apple does not PREVENT other devices from working with iTunesd, iTunes is NOT a media player, it;s a DEVICE MANGER, for APPLE DEVICES, that support a LOT more than simply syncing and managing music. There are OTHER media players available, some use the iTunes databse to keep it in sync. Apple DOES have code in iTunes to support plug-ins, and has code to REACT to live modifacations from 3rd party software accessing that data file. Why would Apple write that complex code if they did not expect other peopole to be able to interface in that way? If they wanted people out, the file would either be proprietary, or simply be locked by the driver for exclusive use...
Excluding 3rd party devices is not because Apple wants them to not use iTunes data, it;s becaus ethey don't want to deal with how to diaply them in iTunes... Remeber, connecting an ipod doesn't just add it as a mapped device in the tree on the left panel, and let you sync, it adds a whole interface that displays when you click on it, has native integration to APIs inside the device's OS, and has lots of settings to control what does and doesn't sync, handing WHAT TO DISPLAY when a non-suppoorted device is connected requires changes to their code, and if that if permitted openly, without partnering with apple, the concequences are outside Apple's support policies, and could cause instability in the app that Apple has to deal with. Blocking unsupported devices protects their code. After all, it's a FREE application...
...and when a disaster strikes, there won't be any BoPL in use at the disaster site, as there's no power, and the other disaster sites scattered around the country to handle the radio traffic can EASILY be used at locations where interference from BoPL is either minimal or non-existant, since they can have power anywhere they want to and choose their location accordingly in advance. Honestly, this is not a real sxcenario for concern preventing BoPL deployment.
Further, HAM is not longer the only emergency long distance band... We've had ComSat for a couple of decades now, and most first reposoners, especially those doing so for planned disaster relief, have access to handheld comsat systems. They're not that expensive, and in a first response scenario, I'm sure the government can afford a few $3/minute calls... or, just give them access to the military's own communication system on seperate first response reserved chanels and call the system a gift, provided they only use it when other methods of communication are also down.
If we're keeping HAM around for a few thousand (at most?) true hobbyists, using the excuse that it's a disaster tool, then that's a false need to support an old and dying hobby, and it's preventing rolling out commercial BoPL services to support millions of americans with a cheaper and more stable communications system, and holding back an economy worth billions of dollars for some 50+ year old tech. How stupid is that?
So few people use HAM anymore, we could also just as easily slash the available HAM freequency swath down to a fraction of what it is assigned for, and put BoPL at the other end of the original range, accounting for harmonic frequency crossover, and simply by simplt FCC legislation completely end this debate once and for all...
If 10 million americans can be told to buy new home anteannas and add set top boxes because we think their TV signals are better used to support cell phones and emergency chanels, why can't we tell 3,000 americans their EASILY considered obsolete kit should be replaced with some sat phones (and even given the expense of calls, it's likely still cheaper than owning an ariel, base radio, and generator...)
Well, here's your problems.
1) access to 3rd party software though a driver or otherwise has to be licenced or approved. Access to the OS is one thing, that's part of the standard. How an application further uses the data provided by a standards based driver is not the concern of Palm.
2) the device CAN work without this driver, it simply can;t work NATIVELY with iTunes without this hack. MANY devices sync music from iTunes libraries, they simply access the XML database directly, which Apple fully permits, using their OWN software, or they connect through a licensed plug-in. Palm chose to cheat and avoid writing their own code.
3) Apple check this USB code for more than "validating the device ID", they not only sync with an app on the device as Palm is attempting to do, but it also MANAGES the device, including firmware updates, software patches, and more; IMPORTS licensed data from the device that were not imported from iTunes directly (introducing the possibility of you loading songs on your Pre from another PC and using iTunes to sync them in to yours); they manage the disk space on iPods that support being used as portable disk devices, including formatting that space; and MUCH more.
By Palm bypassing Apple's cross check of the device, Apple is subject to the burden of code maintenance to account for how to handle the Pre should iTunes identify it as an iPod, and how to handle errors when the Pre either reports an invalid, non-existant Apple firmware ID, or fails to report one at all.
All Palm had to do was either 1) pay the licensing fees and work with Apple to build compatabiltiy, or 2) use any number of freely available apps they could have partnered with cheaper that already took full advantage of the iTunes XML database natively. This is simply bad business, and it's going to end badly for Palm. As it is, they've only moved 200,000 devices since launch day, and their market share, even with a HIGHLY advertised shiny new device shrunk this quarter again.
This may finally break them completely.
When it also includes not just a crash log, but use pattern information, GPS location, and when that data is being catalogged or tracked in any way, it could be an issue. This becomes a bigger issue when the user is 1) non informed,2) it can't be opted out of, and 3) it containes personally identifiable information in violation of federal law.
Sorry, you seem to be the moron. I in no way states sex was wrong. However, Sex CAN be wrong between 2 people with whome sex is typically forbidden. A teacher and student, a preacher and child, 2 family members, or in any case someone who is not EMOTIONALLY READY for sex. Also, many people do find homosexual sex to be wrong, or have strict religous or moral beliefs tied to sex, and though YOU may think it's completely OK, to them it can be a life changing event.
Clearly you sir are not emotionally ready to be posting on /.
You took that out of context. Please read my other posts. i never indivated it could not ruin your life, I only clarified it had a different SEVERITY of punishment, and should be treated DIFFERENTLY on the register, and be subject to different parole terms. The terms of punishment for statutory rape also vary by age of the 2 persons, and the age difference between the 2 persons, and who raised the flag (one of the 2, or a 3rd party like a parent).
1/3rd as much power huh? in terms of joules or BTUs, yes, but where one power source is coming from the ground, the other is coming from power plants, and we don't have those power plants!
Also, the local grids (last mile) can't handle that extra load...
Also off-peak is NOT considered "night time" but varies by region and time of year. in the summer, off-peak is typically midnight to 5AM. but BEVs take 8-10 hours to charge, oops.
In the winter, off-peak is 9AM to 4PM! the car's not home, oops...
Also, once we move to fast charge, it will NOT be stady, stable off-peak loads. People will be charging anytime they get to 20% remaining, wherever they are.
Also, if you read the link's data, they are NOT storing H2, they're making it as part of a catalytic process. It's only kept in short term, low pressure tanks for 12-36 hours. These types of tanks are CHEAP, efficient, and have extremely little leakage (unlike tanks needed beneath gas stations or worse in cars, on which I completely agree). I will NEVER support driving H2 vehicles, EVER. I also can't support driving EVs in mass
EV batteries contain toxins, rare chemicals, and though the most recent technologies are highly recyclable, its a messy expensive process, not to mentoin LiIon pack failure and fires...
I also read the DOE result when it came out recently, and there are a few things you should note: 1) the study completely ignored local grid distribution, and was a statement of average available energy across the USA (total poewr production, including total off-peak capacity, compared to the energy required to power cars based on estimates of energy needs for drivers charging once per day). Well, we don;lt have that power in that way. if we did, California would not brown out... 2) the study did not take into account geographic density of automobiles, or transmission density of existing high power lines. Sure, we've got enough power off-peak in SC to charge 2 million cars at night, too bad we only have 1.4 million of them here... 3) we don'lt have the infrastructure and logistics in place to FUEL the plants that COULD produce that power, keeping in mind what percent of our current production is from FOSSIL FUEL ITSELF??? If we had to run the plants 24x7 at 100%, energy cots will rise, and we'll be out of coal in 20-30 years instead of 50. Oh wait, according to this we may only have 20 years of coal TODAY! http://www.grist.org/article/Are-we-approaching-peak-coal-Part-1/
Really, seriously, LOOK AT doty's data... read the reports. I'll concede (and so do they) that EV is the future, in 40-50 years, but we NEED a stop gap, and WindFuels can be just that, and get us off oil dependence without us having to trade out all out cars in 10 years when oil is $8 a gallon or more (that's a CONSERVATIVE prediction btw). Check out their site, read the real data, www.dotyenergy.com.