Touch pad is perfect for those turn based games like that.
Said no gamer ever.
Sorry, but if you think touch is good for Turn Based Strategy games you haven't tried to play a touchscreen game for 3 hours and for a good TBS game, 3 hours is a short session.
are thought to be there specifically so others are able to see who you are communicating with. Improving cooperation between people.
This doesn't bode well for those of us who lean autistic.
Communication is a two way street.
In my experience with Autistic people, you can easily overcome the difficulties they have with talking by being a good listener. Having an Autistic person in your team can be a boon, as long as you can communicate with them (especially if you work in IT).
But being a good team is more than just communication (which is talking and listening, people to talk but dont listen are terrible communicators, even worse than an autistic person) but organisational skills. A team needs to organise itself into an effective unit and avoid petty squabbles.
Personality matters a lot, teams benefit from large numbers of assertive personalities (I win, you win) but suffer from aggressive (I win, you lose), Passive (I lose, you win) and passive aggressive (I lose, you lose) personalities. Basically the majority of the team members have to be committed to seeing every team member win. People committed to seeing themselves or another lose sabotage team efforts (whether consciously or unconsciously).
I've been gypped with Beyond Earth.. It's definitely crap at this point. Sorry Sid, the magic is gone.
Its been bad since Civ V.
Civ IV: Beyond the Sword was the high point of the Civ series, it's now in decline thanks to Firaxis chasing the casual dollar. The fact this new game is coming out for Ipads is a clear warning it's going to be seriously gimped. I dont think Sid Maier has much, if any input on the current games that carry his name, a lot like Tom Clancy.
I took a pass on Beyond Earth because Civ V was so horrible. In fact I'm still playing Civ IV BTS over Civ V.
A lot of the Prometheus complaints seem to originate from the concept that the crew should have been a 100% perfectly professional team that knew exactly what to do in all situations. Given what Weyland was trying to accomplish, it's not surprising that some of the crew weren't up to the job.
Beyond that, think about the kind of person who signs up to do a job with a 10 year round trip most of which is spent in suspended animation.
The worlds most competent and intelligent people are hardly going to be first in line. The kind of people who are first in line will have dollar signs in mind and little else.
Prometheus was light years better than Gladiator. I enjoyed it immensely. If there is any movie in the Alien franchise that absolutely sucked, it was Alien 3.
Blame the bean counters for that.
Alien 3 was meant to be a different film altogether with the Xenomorphs making it to earth, but the budget for that got canned so they made Alien 3 (whilst the weakest of the 3 alien movies, is still better than a lot of crap made these days with 10 times the budget).
Other parts that don't (e.g. entertainment system, or that ODBII plug from the insurance company and the traction control system) never do.
Most systems will have some kind of physical security, the entertainment system wont be able to communicate with the AWD system. Engineers are pretty bright and know that if you could issue a command from the bluetooth on the stereo to send 80% of the power to the back right wheel at highway speeds it would be a very bad thing.
However the ransomware doesn't need to be deadly, it just needs to be annoying. So the weaker systems like the infotainment unit are prime targets... I.E. pay us $500 or we'll leave Shake It Off on repeat.
Actually you can. Simple off the shelf units like this one measures all the gasses MOT test for. You dont exactly need a mass spectrometer to get an accurate CO2 reading.
Why do you think OBD monitoring is required,
Its not.
Why do you think it's required or better yet, why do you think it's accurate?
if everything can be checked through simple inspection?
The MOT test is not a simple inspection. Its not the 14 point inspection the tyre shop uses to entice gullible people in so they can up sell you on crap you dont need. It test all the essential components of the vehicle from the lighting to the steering to rust on the body.
I'd think there'd also be money to be made with something similar which produced good readiness values whenever polled by the inspection station (in locations which require that).
This is the reason MOT tests still require the mechanic to look at the car instead of trusting the computer readouts.
Looking from Australia we admire the focus of the US constitution on civil rights etc. None of that is in the Australian constitution, and the UK does not even have one.
Yet the US has these crazy laws. Civil forfeiture, way out of control plea bargaining, no legal representation for the poor, and, until relatively recently, slavery. I do not think that any other country in the western world has abuses to anything like that level.
Does the US constitution actually remove people's rights? Or would the situation be even worse without it?
Australia does not protect its freedoms with a piece of paper. Freedoms in Australia are protected by people, most notably people in our legal system which have been and still are quite competent and fair. We inherited most of our rights from the UK.
The UK has various documents pertaining to rights and freedoms going back 800 years to the Magna Carta in 1215. They were the first modern democracy starting in 1689 with the Bill of Rights limiting the rights of the monarchy and by the first parliament of the Kingdom of England and Scotland sat in 1707 the Kings role was increasingly becoming a figurehead.
The US is still rather new at this whole freedom thing, it's unsurprising they get it wrong every now and then.
Civil forfeiture shouldn't even exist. All property seizure should be PART of the criminal trial as either proceeds of the crime or restitution or fines for the crime.
This is why I'm glad to live in "evil socialist" (heavy sarcasm implied, for the sarcastically impaired) Australia.
The police cannot seize something you have without cause, I.E. its illegal or used in an illegal fashion, so for most things, this requires a warrant. After it is seized the property remains yours until you go to court (or is automatically released if no charges are issued). At court, if found innocent the property is released, if you're found guilty the property can either be held until fines are paid or depending on the severity of the crime auctioned by the state and the revenue goes into state coffers. The Cops are never allowed to keep anything.
Of course seized illegal goods like drugs or weapons are destroyed rather than auctioned.
Reboot?????? Bwaaaahahahahaaaaa!!! OMG... that's brilliant. "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?"
Seriously... there was a time that Apple fans were so smug when they said that to Windows users. Now suddenly that Mac OS needs it, it's suddenly the first troubleshooting step.
I supported Macs professionally in 2004 and 2005. Rebooting was the first step in fixing a problem... and you prayed it would be the last step because your options for fixing issues got a lot longer and more complex after that.
There's a reason I ask about a companies Mac usage in the interview stage, if they say they have them I walk. Even today when I dont deal with desktops I keep this policy because the same insanity that permits Mac usage usually filters up into the server and appliance level.
I jut have to point out that this happened in Australia. 16 men were picked up for exactly this same reason and then let go without charge. As it turns out the very day before wikileaks data revealed that NSW police were using spyware, an illegal technique as it is the same as domestic spying.
This really did happen, the person who tried to mod this down is a complete idiot.
Of the 16 arrested, 15 were released without charge on the same day. The 16th received a misdemeanour weapons charge (unsecured weapons) and released the following day.
If these people were really dangerous terrorists, why were they released within hours of being arrested?
are the printed words of Hitler and associates really that scary?
Actually, as long as they're factual they're available in Germany.
Germans have never denied anything about Hitler or the Nazi's, it's flat out denying what the Nazi's did that is illegal and fraudulent speech is not even protected in the US.
And this idiotic notion of "hate" speech or "hate" crimes.
Intent matters a lot.
You've got to be certifiably retarded to lump in jilted lover who murdered his cheating partner in with someone who murdered his neighbour because he was the wrong colour or believed in Islam. One's a crime of passion, the other is a premeditated crime with hate as it's primary intent.
It seems the only one pathetically weak of mind is you.
They thought they owned the airwaves inside their hotel and wanted to charge guests for using them
How uneducated do you have to be on the topic to believe this? Me? I'm betting some corporate lawyer said they could probably get away with it.
Not some lawyer, some MBA in a boardroom.
And yes, they full well knew it was borderline illegal. They just didn't give a shit.
Their business is to squeeze people for money until they squeal. They dont care if a few pesky laws get in the way, its not like they can be arrested or anything. At worse they'll have to give out a few free nights to people who complain (which in itself is a good thing as it inevitably leads to people spending money at the hotel).
This cost the hotel chain nothing, and probably pocketed them a fair bit before it was discovered.
There are some issues in AI that need to be addressed in the near future.
Autonomous vehicles are essentially here. The question is liability when one of them gets involved in an accident.
That question has already been answered. However fans of autonomous vehicles (who dont actually know much about autonomous vehicles) always ignore it.
So if you're someone who thinks autonomous vehicles are already here, now is the time to stick your fingers in your ears and shout "LA LA LA LA LA I CANT HEAR YOU".
If the autonomous car is at fault in an accident the driver will still be considered at fault even though they were not actually driving because in every single autonomous car test, there has been a trained and competent driver (I mean a professional driver, I dont consider most morons on the road to be trained or competent) at the wheel looking out just in case the machine fails. As will it be with the general public, the driver will be expected to remain alert and ready to take control at a moments notice. Those thinking that they'll be sitting back with a mocktail reading their facebooks in a 2017 Googlemobile are deluding themselves, not even Google is willing to let one of their cars go out on their own (as in sans driver).
The introduction of the autonomous car will be gradual and take years, if not decades. It will begin on limited access highways and motorways, then move to A roads after a few years. It will be a long time before they'll be capable of pulling out of your driveway on their own, let alone permitted to.
The autonomous car isn't anywhere near remotely here, let alone essentially here.
Software runs on hardware. There's no programming an AI that runs along on its system and suddenly makes said system's capabilities "advance at an exponential rate". As for your own example; you've watched too many Stargate re-runs. There's no ascending with your current brain design.
However your brain can change its current design of its own accord.
There is no reason that in the future we cant have self correcting and self expanding hardware. Sure it would kill most of the current HW vendors but hey, thats progress. The idea of self replicating machines is not a new one, their classic example of Von Neumann machines but the problem has always been assembly, But when you start looking at things in the nano scale, you can begin to design machines that repair and replicate components in a similar fashion as cells replicate and repair in our bodies.
The technology is years away, but certainly plausible.
Oh, yes and fans of Stargate may recognise the Replicators.
Solution is pretty simple. Just impound the vehicles. It won't be long before there will be no willing drivers, many of them probably rapists looking for another opportunity.
Under Australian law, those without a taxi license are effectively driving without a valid license. The penalty for this is the suspension or cancellation of the drivers licenses. Repeat offenders can face jail time.
Impounding cars are reserved for "hoon" offences (something I dont particularly agree with but its there anyway).
A few suspended licenses and Uber will find itself short of drivers very quickly.
Australia has pretty clear guidelines and regulations for operating for hire service including commercial insurance and commercial drivers license. All Uber really have to do is comply with the laws to operate, which many other services do instead here they rant about the laws being their to prevent competition which might be the case elsewhere but doesn't appear to be the case in Australia.
However if Uber comply with the laws and regulations here in Australia, they wont be cheaper than an established taxi service... In fact they'll probably be a lot more expensive. In my city, Perth, Western Australia, an Uber taxi is only marginally cheaper than the established taxi companies, Swan Taxi's and Black and White Cabs. When surge pricing comes into effect, it's cheaper to get an insured and licensed taxi (because it's illegal to use surge pricing as a licensed taxi in WA). Right now the only thing Uber has going for it is an irrational hate of traditional taxi services... That will turn on them when people realise Uber has the same problems as traditional taxi services.
"If inspectors can only issue one or two fines before they're blocked then the sting operations will cost more than the fines". ahhh NO. the fines are usually around $1700 a hit. The cost of a phone/sim and card are practically nothing, though it will be inconvenient for them.
The problem isn't catching them. The problem is the punishment.
The punishment consists of a $1700 fine and that's it. Worse than that, Uber is using its deep pockets to just pay for it. If the government is serious about this they need to get serious about the punishment, first they need to start suspending the licenses of Uber drivers as they're effectively driving without a valid license. Secondly they need to start fining Uber directly for much larger sums of money.
My quandary is, whether this will happen before an Uber car inevitably causes a serious accident and insurers take Uber through the cleaners.
They undercut the taxi's by being uninsured and unlicensed. They are cheaper right up until the point you are in an accident.
In Australia, we have a functional public health system (much like Canada) so if you're in an accident you're covered for medical. However for loss of income, property damage and what not, you'll have to go after the drivers employer, Uber. The standard Uber defence of "he's a contractor" will last about 2 second before being torn to shreds by the dumbest of Australian judges (who will be quite intelligent in their own right mind you), Uber facilitated the transaction, Uber takes the money from the client and gives the money to the driver. If it looks like an employer, walks like an employer and quacks like an employer then in the eyes of the court, it's an employer.
Now this isn't Uber's major problem. Their major problem comes when an insurer gets involved. And you can guarantee in Australia someone they hit will have either motor, property or liability insurance. The insurer will pay out but then will go straight after Uber for the money. The government wont do a thing, unlike with license and insured drivers who receive the protection of government regulations limiting liability, the insurers will be able to go after Uber for everything they're worth. It doesn't matter how deep their pockets are, Uber will not be able to withstand this for long.
However Uber's biggest crime is against the German language by not including the umlaut. For this there is no fine high enough.
My father and grandfather lived in an era where most people knew how a car worked and how to fix it, but in my generation that's a mystery.
I assure you that at no time in history did "most people" know how cars worked or how to fix them. Perhaps a higher percentage of the population than now but it never was "most". Not ever.
This.
The main reason that more people knew how to fix a car in 19-dickety-2 was the fact there were fewer car owners. Even then, for the most part people still paid mechanics.
What has disappeared was the mechanic who rocked up with a box of tools and could fix most problems on the spot, as cars have become more and more complex the diagnostic tools have increased in complexity as well.
1) Gods help me if have to type anything of substance on a phone or tablet (without a full keyboard).
This alone has meant that a lot of people who went tablet only have gone back to PC. Even with a USB keyboard on my Nexus 7 typing out anything longer than a few sentences is difficult. Bluetooth keyboards constantly run out of batteries (or disconnect when they aren't running out of batteries) and both IOS and Android cant keep up with how fast I type (which is compounded by the terribleness of BT keyboards).
Don't get me wrong, I like my Nexus 7. It's good for movies and web browsing but its really become another whitegood like my TV. Not something I have an impetus to upgrade seeing as it works fine and has LTE. I haven't upgraded my TV in 6 years because it's still doing the job I need it to.
I'm going to say it, we're now in the post-tablet world.
Slashdot Mirror
Said no gamer ever.
Sorry, but if you think touch is good for Turn Based Strategy games you haven't tried to play a touchscreen game for 3 hours and for a good TBS game, 3 hours is a short session.
are thought to be there specifically so others are able to see who you are communicating with. Improving cooperation between people.
This doesn't bode well for those of us who lean autistic.
Communication is a two way street.
In my experience with Autistic people, you can easily overcome the difficulties they have with talking by being a good listener. Having an Autistic person in your team can be a boon, as long as you can communicate with them (especially if you work in IT).
But being a good team is more than just communication (which is talking and listening, people to talk but dont listen are terrible communicators, even worse than an autistic person) but organisational skills. A team needs to organise itself into an effective unit and avoid petty squabbles.
Personality matters a lot, teams benefit from large numbers of assertive personalities (I win, you win) but suffer from aggressive (I win, you lose), Passive (I lose, you win) and passive aggressive (I lose, you lose) personalities. Basically the majority of the team members have to be committed to seeing every team member win. People committed to seeing themselves or another lose sabotage team efforts (whether consciously or unconsciously).
I've been gypped with Beyond Earth.. It's definitely crap at this point. Sorry Sid, the magic is gone.
Its been bad since Civ V.
Civ IV: Beyond the Sword was the high point of the Civ series, it's now in decline thanks to Firaxis chasing the casual dollar. The fact this new game is coming out for Ipads is a clear warning it's going to be seriously gimped. I dont think Sid Maier has much, if any input on the current games that carry his name, a lot like Tom Clancy.
I took a pass on Beyond Earth because Civ V was so horrible. In fact I'm still playing Civ IV BTS over Civ V.
A lot of the Prometheus complaints seem to originate from the concept that the crew should have been a 100% perfectly professional team that knew exactly what to do in all situations. Given what Weyland was trying to accomplish, it's not surprising that some of the crew weren't up to the job.
Beyond that, think about the kind of person who signs up to do a job with a 10 year round trip most of which is spent in suspended animation.
The worlds most competent and intelligent people are hardly going to be first in line. The kind of people who are first in line will have dollar signs in mind and little else.
Australia belongs to...
. . . the largest concentration of deadly, poisonous critters and creepy-crawlies on the planet.
Hey, I know Bruce and Barry may not be the most well adjusted individuals, but fair suck of the sav mate, they aren't that bad.
Prometheus was light years better than Gladiator. I enjoyed it immensely. If there is any movie in the Alien franchise that absolutely sucked, it was Alien 3.
Blame the bean counters for that.
Alien 3 was meant to be a different film altogether with the Xenomorphs making it to earth, but the budget for that got canned so they made Alien 3 (whilst the weakest of the 3 alien movies, is still better than a lot of crap made these days with 10 times the budget).
Most systems will have some kind of physical security, the entertainment system wont be able to communicate with the AWD system. Engineers are pretty bright and know that if you could issue a command from the bluetooth on the stereo to send 80% of the power to the back right wheel at highway speeds it would be a very bad thing.
However the ransomware doesn't need to be deadly, it just needs to be annoying. So the weaker systems like the infotainment unit are prime targets... I.E. pay us $500 or we'll leave Shake It Off on repeat.
Actually you can. Simple off the shelf units like this one measures all the gasses MOT test for. You dont exactly need a mass spectrometer to get an accurate CO2 reading.
Its not. Why do you think it's required or better yet, why do you think it's accurate?
The MOT test is not a simple inspection. Its not the 14 point inspection the tyre shop uses to entice gullible people in so they can up sell you on crap you dont need. It test all the essential components of the vehicle from the lighting to the steering to rust on the body.
So, how can you tell by simply looking whether the catalytic converter is working properly?
I expected you to be able to figure out that "look" meant running actual manual diagnostics rather than simply trusting the computer.
My only mistake here was underestimating how stupid you were.
start wearing clothes, only to keep out the weather.
Actually we did start wearing clothes only to keep out the weather.
I'd think there'd also be money to be made with something similar which produced good readiness values whenever polled by the inspection station (in locations which require that).
This is the reason MOT tests still require the mechanic to look at the car instead of trusting the computer readouts.
Looking from Australia we admire the focus of the US constitution on civil rights etc. None of that is in the Australian constitution, and the UK does not even have one.
Yet the US has these crazy laws. Civil forfeiture, way out of control plea bargaining, no legal representation for the poor, and, until relatively recently, slavery. I do not think that any other country in the western world has abuses to anything like that level.
Does the US constitution actually remove people's rights? Or would the situation be even worse without it?
Australia does not protect its freedoms with a piece of paper. Freedoms in Australia are protected by people, most notably people in our legal system which have been and still are quite competent and fair. We inherited most of our rights from the UK.
The UK has various documents pertaining to rights and freedoms going back 800 years to the Magna Carta in 1215. They were the first modern democracy starting in 1689 with the Bill of Rights limiting the rights of the monarchy and by the first parliament of the Kingdom of England and Scotland sat in 1707 the Kings role was increasingly becoming a figurehead.
The US is still rather new at this whole freedom thing, it's unsurprising they get it wrong every now and then.
Civil forfeiture shouldn't even exist. All property seizure should be PART of the criminal trial as either proceeds of the crime or restitution or fines for the crime.
This is why I'm glad to live in "evil socialist" (heavy sarcasm implied, for the sarcastically impaired) Australia.
The police cannot seize something you have without cause, I.E. its illegal or used in an illegal fashion, so for most things, this requires a warrant. After it is seized the property remains yours until you go to court (or is automatically released if no charges are issued). At court, if found innocent the property is released, if you're found guilty the property can either be held until fines are paid or depending on the severity of the crime auctioned by the state and the revenue goes into state coffers. The Cops are never allowed to keep anything.
Of course seized illegal goods like drugs or weapons are destroyed rather than auctioned.
Reboot?????? Bwaaaahahahahaaaaa!!! OMG... that's brilliant. "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?"
Seriously... there was a time that Apple fans were so smug when they said that to Windows users. Now suddenly that Mac OS needs it, it's suddenly the first troubleshooting step.
I supported Macs professionally in 2004 and 2005. Rebooting was the first step in fixing a problem... and you prayed it would be the last step because your options for fixing issues got a lot longer and more complex after that.
There's a reason I ask about a companies Mac usage in the interview stage, if they say they have them I walk. Even today when I dont deal with desktops I keep this policy because the same insanity that permits Mac usage usually filters up into the server and appliance level.
This really did happen, the person who tried to mod this down is a complete idiot.
Of the 16 arrested, 15 were released without charge on the same day. The 16th received a misdemeanour weapons charge (unsecured weapons) and released the following day.
If these people were really dangerous terrorists, why were they released within hours of being arrested?
are the printed words of Hitler and associates really that scary?
Actually, as long as they're factual they're available in Germany.
Germans have never denied anything about Hitler or the Nazi's, it's flat out denying what the Nazi's did that is illegal and fraudulent speech is not even protected in the US.
And this idiotic notion of "hate" speech or "hate" crimes.
Intent matters a lot.
You've got to be certifiably retarded to lump in jilted lover who murdered his cheating partner in with someone who murdered his neighbour because he was the wrong colour or believed in Islam. One's a crime of passion, the other is a premeditated crime with hate as it's primary intent.
It seems the only one pathetically weak of mind is you.
How uneducated do you have to be on the topic to believe this? Me? I'm betting some corporate lawyer said they could probably get away with it.
Not some lawyer, some MBA in a boardroom.
And yes, they full well knew it was borderline illegal. They just didn't give a shit.
Their business is to squeeze people for money until they squeal. They dont care if a few pesky laws get in the way, its not like they can be arrested or anything. At worse they'll have to give out a few free nights to people who complain (which in itself is a good thing as it inevitably leads to people spending money at the hotel).
This cost the hotel chain nothing, and probably pocketed them a fair bit before it was discovered.
There are some issues in AI that need to be addressed in the near future.
Autonomous vehicles are essentially here. The question is liability when one of them gets involved in an accident.
That question has already been answered. However fans of autonomous vehicles (who dont actually know much about autonomous vehicles) always ignore it.
So if you're someone who thinks autonomous vehicles are already here, now is the time to stick your fingers in your ears and shout "LA LA LA LA LA I CANT HEAR YOU".
If the autonomous car is at fault in an accident the driver will still be considered at fault even though they were not actually driving because in every single autonomous car test, there has been a trained and competent driver (I mean a professional driver, I dont consider most morons on the road to be trained or competent) at the wheel looking out just in case the machine fails. As will it be with the general public, the driver will be expected to remain alert and ready to take control at a moments notice. Those thinking that they'll be sitting back with a mocktail reading their facebooks in a 2017 Googlemobile are deluding themselves, not even Google is willing to let one of their cars go out on their own (as in sans driver).
The introduction of the autonomous car will be gradual and take years, if not decades. It will begin on limited access highways and motorways, then move to A roads after a few years. It will be a long time before they'll be capable of pulling out of your driveway on their own, let alone permitted to.
The autonomous car isn't anywhere near remotely here, let alone essentially here.
Software runs on hardware. There's no programming an AI that runs along on its system and suddenly makes said system's capabilities "advance at an exponential rate". As for your own example; you've watched too many Stargate re-runs. There's no ascending with your current brain design.
However your brain can change its current design of its own accord.
There is no reason that in the future we cant have self correcting and self expanding hardware. Sure it would kill most of the current HW vendors but hey, thats progress. The idea of self replicating machines is not a new one, their classic example of Von Neumann machines but the problem has always been assembly, But when you start looking at things in the nano scale, you can begin to design machines that repair and replicate components in a similar fashion as cells replicate and repair in our bodies.
The technology is years away, but certainly plausible.
Oh, yes and fans of Stargate may recognise the Replicators.
Solution is pretty simple. Just impound the vehicles. It won't be long before there will be no willing drivers, many of them probably rapists looking for another opportunity.
Under Australian law, those without a taxi license are effectively driving without a valid license. The penalty for this is the suspension or cancellation of the drivers licenses. Repeat offenders can face jail time.
Impounding cars are reserved for "hoon" offences (something I dont particularly agree with but its there anyway).
A few suspended licenses and Uber will find itself short of drivers very quickly.
Australia has pretty clear guidelines and regulations for operating for hire service including commercial insurance and commercial drivers license. All Uber really have to do is comply with the laws to operate, which many other services do instead here they rant about the laws being their to prevent competition which might be the case elsewhere but doesn't appear to be the case in Australia.
However if Uber comply with the laws and regulations here in Australia, they wont be cheaper than an established taxi service... In fact they'll probably be a lot more expensive. In my city, Perth, Western Australia, an Uber taxi is only marginally cheaper than the established taxi companies, Swan Taxi's and Black and White Cabs. When surge pricing comes into effect, it's cheaper to get an insured and licensed taxi (because it's illegal to use surge pricing as a licensed taxi in WA). Right now the only thing Uber has going for it is an irrational hate of traditional taxi services... That will turn on them when people realise Uber has the same problems as traditional taxi services.
"If inspectors can only issue one or two fines before they're blocked then the sting operations will cost more than the fines". ahhh NO. the fines are usually around $1700 a hit. The cost of a phone/sim and card are practically nothing, though it will be inconvenient for them.
The problem isn't catching them. The problem is the punishment.
The punishment consists of a $1700 fine and that's it. Worse than that, Uber is using its deep pockets to just pay for it. If the government is serious about this they need to get serious about the punishment, first they need to start suspending the licenses of Uber drivers as they're effectively driving without a valid license. Secondly they need to start fining Uber directly for much larger sums of money. My quandary is, whether this will happen before an Uber car inevitably causes a serious accident and insurers take Uber through the cleaners.
They undercut the taxi's by being uninsured and unlicensed. They are cheaper right up until the point you are in an accident.
In Australia, we have a functional public health system (much like Canada) so if you're in an accident you're covered for medical. However for loss of income, property damage and what not, you'll have to go after the drivers employer, Uber. The standard Uber defence of "he's a contractor" will last about 2 second before being torn to shreds by the dumbest of Australian judges (who will be quite intelligent in their own right mind you), Uber facilitated the transaction, Uber takes the money from the client and gives the money to the driver. If it looks like an employer, walks like an employer and quacks like an employer then in the eyes of the court, it's an employer.
Now this isn't Uber's major problem. Their major problem comes when an insurer gets involved. And you can guarantee in Australia someone they hit will have either motor, property or liability insurance. The insurer will pay out but then will go straight after Uber for the money. The government wont do a thing, unlike with license and insured drivers who receive the protection of government regulations limiting liability, the insurers will be able to go after Uber for everything they're worth. It doesn't matter how deep their pockets are, Uber will not be able to withstand this for long.
However Uber's biggest crime is against the German language by not including the umlaut. For this there is no fine high enough.
My father and grandfather lived in an era where most people knew how a car worked and how to fix it, but in my generation that's a mystery.
I assure you that at no time in history did "most people" know how cars worked or how to fix them. Perhaps a higher percentage of the population than now but it never was "most". Not ever.
This.
The main reason that more people knew how to fix a car in 19-dickety-2 was the fact there were fewer car owners. Even then, for the most part people still paid mechanics.
What has disappeared was the mechanic who rocked up with a box of tools and could fix most problems on the spot, as cars have become more and more complex the diagnostic tools have increased in complexity as well.
Windows 8.1 is ok.....
It's just the UI and stupid metro (modern wtv) stupid start menu crap that annoys me.
That's like saying Ebola is OK but it's the debilitating pain and high chance of death that annoys me.
1) Gods help me if have to type anything of substance on a phone or tablet (without a full keyboard).
This alone has meant that a lot of people who went tablet only have gone back to PC. Even with a USB keyboard on my Nexus 7 typing out anything longer than a few sentences is difficult. Bluetooth keyboards constantly run out of batteries (or disconnect when they aren't running out of batteries) and both IOS and Android cant keep up with how fast I type (which is compounded by the terribleness of BT keyboards).
Don't get me wrong, I like my Nexus 7. It's good for movies and web browsing but its really become another whitegood like my TV. Not something I have an impetus to upgrade seeing as it works fine and has LTE. I haven't upgraded my TV in 6 years because it's still doing the job I need it to.
I'm going to say it, we're now in the post-tablet world.