Am I the only one to think as a hardware company the sentence "Apple Launches New" should be followed by the name of a new gadget? Apple got loved for launching iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Lately, the only thing they're launching is frivolous lawsuits.
"I cannot understand why we idle discussing religion. If we are honest—and scientists have to be—we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a product of the human imagination. It is quite understandable why primitive people, who were so much more exposed to the overpowering forces of nature than we are today, should have personified these forces in fear and trembling. But nowadays, when we understand so many natural processes, we have no need for such solutions. I can't for the life of me see how the postulate of an Almighty God helps us in any way. What I do see is that this assumption leads to such unproductive questions as why God allows so much misery and injustice, the exploitation of the poor by the rich and all the other horrors He might have prevented. If religion is still being taught, it is by no means because its ideas still convince us, but simply because some of us want to keep the lower classes quiet. Quiet people are much easier to govern than clamorous and dissatisfied ones. They are also much easier to exploit. Religion is a kind of opium that allows a nation to lull itself into wishful dreams and so forget the injustices that are being perpetrated against the people. Hence the close alliance between those two great political forces, the State and the Church. Both need the illusion that a kindly God rewards—in heaven if not on earth—all those who have not risen up against injustice, who have done their duty quietly and uncomplainingly. That is precisely why the honest assertion that God is a mere product of the human imagination is branded as the worst of all mortal sins." -- Paul Dirac
I second that motion. Corporations break the law and commit things that would be considered felonies, yet they just get a small fine and a slap of the wrist. The fine is always ridiculously small, it is like having a $90 fine for stealing $100 worth of goods from a store. The chances of getting caught by someone you can't bribe are small, and when you do get caught, the fine isn't that bad.
In some states, convicted felons lose the right to vote. Yet, corporations convicted of felonies are allowed to sway elections with unlimited campaign contributions.
They have creative accountants that can make even the most lucrative business seem like a failure. Going bankrupt is sometimes more profitable than actually making a profit.
By his estimate, pricing on cell phones would be a flat $30, for unlimited service in 10 years. That conversation was close to 20 years ago.
Your uncle forgot to take into account greed. There are two ways of increasing your margin:
1. Build better infrastructure so the service costs you less in the future and you can make more profit even if you charge the same.
2. Charge more for the same service without upgrading infrastructure.
Option 1 is costly at first, but it pays for itself over time. Option 2 is very shortsighted, but results in huge profits in the short term. We know there's collusion when it comes to cell service: they all simultaneously increase their prices. The barrier to entry is incredibly high so there is not much outside competition, so they're free to sell you the shitty service for ever increasing fees without worries about getting usurped by a newcomer.
Capitalism is great, but it is ruined by collusion and barrier to entry. The free market doesn't work when the market is rigged.
The problem here is that the media companies want to turn the Internet into television: a read-only medium where you can pick one of thousands channels. Instead of using a remote control to flip channels you type the url on the address bar. Their version of the Internet will be as user generated as television or newspaper. Once in a while they will allow a "comments from readers" section heavily filtered and moderated to show a particular point of view, but essentially this is TV/Newspaper, the traditional forms of one-way communication they are familiar with, the kind of communication form that gives them all the control.
There is huge amount of profit to be made in the media industry. Bit media companies sitting on goldmines, and this is obvious from the fact that they're making huge profits despite being very poorly managed. The idiots in charge of these companies have a turn of the century mentality, they're stuck in the olden times and they can not capitalize on the goldmine they're sitting on because they're refusing to embrace new technology. They try to make new technology conform to the limitations of the old technology, wasting huge potential profit in the mean time. It is hurting the company, it is hurting the consumer and it is hurting the shareholders.
I doubt they will do anything differently anytime soon though. They will still hire backward brained neanderthals to lead them into the future. They deal with new technology by wasting money legislating it away. Each new technology is potential profit venue for them, but they spend all their efforts pushing it away instead.
You will still be able to buy your game for $30 after 6-12 months, the only difference will be that it will be new instead of used. You're not the one getting screwed here, what they will screw here is the guy who bought it new for $60 and was thinking that he could play it and sell it used and recoup some of his money.
You on the other hand, you just want to pay $30 and play the game. They know there's a market for people like you, so they will always release the game after some time for $30. Games on Personal Computers do that already, Portal 2's initial price of $50 is down to $30. In a few months it's going to be $10, to market it to people who want to play it but can't afford to pay $30 and doesn't want to get involved in sharing (piracy).
But wait, there's more! The guy who bought the $60 hoping to sell it for $30 (and use that money towards buying another game) will now be too broke to buy another game. He will play less games or pirate the games. If he plays less games, the game industry suffers because who knows if he will come back. If he pirates the games, the game industry suffers because who knows if he will ever pay for a game again after realizing sharing (piracy) is just fine too.
Of course we can all see this is a very short-sighted scheme to make more money without actually making more stuff. It is incredibly short sighted, and in the end it will do more harm to society than good, but they don't see that far into the future. They care about their immediate gratification.
Pretty much anyone with a few hundred bucks to waste on helium and a balloon can send something to 80000~100000 feet. It's fun, but it's not particularly amazing. What would be cool is if they combined this weather balloon with a UAV that could autonomously return to the launch area.
I completely agree. Having used Android, iOS and WebOS I agree that WebOS was a superior platform to both of them. However, WebOS failed on two fronts: WebOS failed where Apple succeeded because WebOS didn't have the cult following, and WebOS failed where Android succeeded because many hardware manufacturers made Android devices.
Everyone has to admit that the flagship WebOS device, Palm Pre, was a beautifully designed device. It even made the iPhone look like an eye sore, but it was clear from day one that without the support of the fanboys and without the blessing of the hardware manufacturers it was just not going to go anywhere.
Please, don't be such a pompous head just because you know about credit card transaction fees. The poor schmuck has a good idea, and he's trying to think outside of the box. Just because you're used to a world that works in a certain fixed way doesn't mean that's the only way the world can work.
I have paid 25 cents with a credit card before. I pay with credit card all the time and I don't like carrying loose change with me. If something costs 25 cents + tax, that means you'll be getting back about two quarters, two dimes and three pennies. I don't want all that loose change around me.
As for getting around the "per transaction fees", one can easily avoid them by making the users purchase "points" where you have to buy in $10 increments minimum. You can encourage less transactions with bigger value by providing a small extra bonus when the user buys in bigger increments: 10 points for $10, 110 points for $100. Suddenly, you can have something that costs only 10 cents and the transaction fees will not hurt you.
Personally, I think backslashdot's idea is great, but the movie rental movie business is filled with incumbents who will pull every string to make sure you have almost no chance at creating a competition for them.
I am sick of "plans". What the hell is a cell phone "plan"? There is no plan, this is all retarded. I want a cell wireless data company to just say: "You give us $20 and we give you 2GB on our network". It's as simple as that, simply cuts off after the 2GB is over because that's what you paid for, no super high fees, no bullshit. Just GB for $$. That's it. Not complicated.
No, instead of simply selling bandwidth they choose to make all kinds of complicated illogical nonsensical absurd "plans" which mean nothing. Enough of this crap already, ENOUGH!
This SOPA/PIPA is only a symptom of a deeper underlying problem we have in the world today. There is a massive disconnect between the people who pass the laws and the people they're supposed to represent. They have been bought many times over by the private interests who changed the laws for their selfish benefit at the expense of the people.
Sure, I am against SOPA as much as you are, but SOPA is only a symptom. SOPA isn't what will kill you: it's the underlying disease that's ravaging your world. The disease is eroding your freedoms and soon you will be too weak to fight back.
Gasoline is extracted from the organic goo that is result of organic matter accumulating underground for the past few billion years, all you need is drill for it and out it comes. Ethanol is made by planting corn, fertilize it, water it, wait for it to grow, harvest the corn, extract sugars, ferment, extract and distill ethanol.
Energy used for drilling is much smaller than energy that comes from burning the resulting oil. On the other hand, planting, fertilizing, watering, harvesting, extracting, fermenting, extracting consumes more energy than what you get as a result of all that work. Simple as that.
I've been using Windows for a long time. I do not like Windows. Other's agree with me, people who use Windows do not like Windows. People who use Windows like the software they run on Windows.
Microsoft thinks that people LOVE Windows. That's why they created Windows CE, and that was a massive failure. People want to run their x86 software on the computer, and last time I checked Windows 8 ARM can not run x86 software, so your software collection is junk all of a sudden.
If you give most people a choice between Linux vs Windows, they will choose Windows. If you give them a choice between Windows that wont run their apps, and Linux that wont run their apps but at least already has a large library of software, then they will Choose Linux.
The problem with Swiss army knife+usb is that you can have the Swiss army knife for a lot longer than the life of the USB stick. Fifteen years ago I bought a 1.2GB 3.5" hard drive for $150. It was a good deal. Today, 16GB comes on a micro SD sells for a measly $20. But my Swiss army knife from is still just as precious and useful as it was when I got it.
I'm still confused about how SOPA is supposed to prevent (or at least hinder) piracy and file sharing. All it does is break the domain name system, it's equivalent to defacing highway signs, the IP still work just fine. People can easily edit their hosts file to be whatever they want. How is this at all hindering the p2p file sharing? What are they going to do, make it illegal to share 32-bit numbers? I present to you http://3259460367/... This entire law seems seriously ill conceived and idiotic at best.
Slashdot Mirror
Am I the only one to think as a hardware company the sentence "Apple Launches New" should be followed by the name of a new gadget? Apple got loved for launching iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Lately, the only thing they're launching is frivolous lawsuits.
"I cannot understand why we idle discussing religion. If we are honest—and scientists have to be—we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a product of the human imagination. It is quite understandable why primitive people, who were so much more exposed to the overpowering forces of nature than we are today, should have personified these forces in fear and trembling. But nowadays, when we understand so many natural processes, we have no need for such solutions. I can't for the life of me see how the postulate of an Almighty God helps us in any way. What I do see is that this assumption leads to such unproductive questions as why God allows so much misery and injustice, the exploitation of the poor by the rich and all the other horrors He might have prevented. If religion is still being taught, it is by no means because its ideas still convince us, but simply because some of us want to keep the lower classes quiet. Quiet people are much easier to govern than clamorous and dissatisfied ones. They are also much easier to exploit. Religion is a kind of opium that allows a nation to lull itself into wishful dreams and so forget the injustices that are being perpetrated against the people. Hence the close alliance between those two great political forces, the State and the Church. Both need the illusion that a kindly God rewards—in heaven if not on earth—all those who have not risen up against injustice, who have done their duty quietly and uncomplainingly. That is precisely why the honest assertion that God is a mere product of the human imagination is branded as the worst of all mortal sins." -- Paul Dirac
Paul said it best. Let's move on, please.
I second that motion. Corporations break the law and commit things that would be considered felonies, yet they just get a small fine and a slap of the wrist. The fine is always ridiculously small, it is like having a $90 fine for stealing $100 worth of goods from a store. The chances of getting caught by someone you can't bribe are small, and when you do get caught, the fine isn't that bad.
In some states, convicted felons lose the right to vote. Yet, corporations convicted of felonies are allowed to sway elections with unlimited campaign contributions.
They have creative accountants that can make even the most lucrative business seem like a failure. Going bankrupt is sometimes more profitable than actually making a profit.
By his estimate, pricing on cell phones would be a flat $30, for unlimited service in 10 years. That conversation was close to 20 years ago.
Your uncle forgot to take into account greed. There are two ways of increasing your margin:
1. Build better infrastructure so the service costs you less in the future and you can make more profit even if you charge the same.
2. Charge more for the same service without upgrading infrastructure.
Option 1 is costly at first, but it pays for itself over time. Option 2 is very shortsighted, but results in huge profits in the short term. We know there's collusion when it comes to cell service: they all simultaneously increase their prices. The barrier to entry is incredibly high so there is not much outside competition, so they're free to sell you the shitty service for ever increasing fees without worries about getting usurped by a newcomer.
Capitalism is great, but it is ruined by collusion and barrier to entry. The free market doesn't work when the market is rigged.
Actually, no, there was a tablet computer in the movie "2001" that looked just like an iPad. That's prior art.
by that definition, creationists shouldn't be allowed guns either.
The problem here is that the media companies want to turn the Internet into television: a read-only medium where you can pick one of thousands channels. Instead of using a remote control to flip channels you type the url on the address bar. Their version of the Internet will be as user generated as television or newspaper. Once in a while they will allow a "comments from readers" section heavily filtered and moderated to show a particular point of view, but essentially this is TV/Newspaper, the traditional forms of one-way communication they are familiar with, the kind of communication form that gives them all the control.
There is huge amount of profit to be made in the media industry. Bit media companies sitting on goldmines, and this is obvious from the fact that they're making huge profits despite being very poorly managed. The idiots in charge of these companies have a turn of the century mentality, they're stuck in the olden times and they can not capitalize on the goldmine they're sitting on because they're refusing to embrace new technology. They try to make new technology conform to the limitations of the old technology, wasting huge potential profit in the mean time. It is hurting the company, it is hurting the consumer and it is hurting the shareholders.
I doubt they will do anything differently anytime soon though. They will still hire backward brained neanderthals to lead them into the future. They deal with new technology by wasting money legislating it away. Each new technology is potential profit venue for them, but they spend all their efforts pushing it away instead.
You will still be able to buy your game for $30 after 6-12 months, the only difference will be that it will be new instead of used. You're not the one getting screwed here, what they will screw here is the guy who bought it new for $60 and was thinking that he could play it and sell it used and recoup some of his money.
You on the other hand, you just want to pay $30 and play the game. They know there's a market for people like you, so they will always release the game after some time for $30. Games on Personal Computers do that already, Portal 2's initial price of $50 is down to $30. In a few months it's going to be $10, to market it to people who want to play it but can't afford to pay $30 and doesn't want to get involved in sharing (piracy).
But wait, there's more! The guy who bought the $60 hoping to sell it for $30 (and use that money towards buying another game) will now be too broke to buy another game. He will play less games or pirate the games. If he plays less games, the game industry suffers because who knows if he will come back. If he pirates the games, the game industry suffers because who knows if he will ever pay for a game again after realizing sharing (piracy) is just fine too.
Of course we can all see this is a very short-sighted scheme to make more money without actually making more stuff. It is incredibly short sighted, and in the end it will do more harm to society than good, but they don't see that far into the future. They care about their immediate gratification.
Pretty much anyone with a few hundred bucks to waste on helium and a balloon can send something to 80000~100000 feet. It's fun, but it's not particularly amazing. What would be cool is if they combined this weather balloon with a UAV that could autonomously return to the launch area.
The problem has a simple fix: http://signon.org/sign/fixing-copyright
I completely agree. Having used Android, iOS and WebOS I agree that WebOS was a superior platform to both of them. However, WebOS failed on two fronts:
WebOS failed where Apple succeeded because WebOS didn't have the cult following, and WebOS failed where Android succeeded because many hardware manufacturers made Android devices.
Everyone has to admit that the flagship WebOS device, Palm Pre, was a beautifully designed device. It even made the iPhone look like an eye sore, but it was clear from day one that without the support of the fanboys and without the blessing of the hardware manufacturers it was just not going to go anywhere.
Please, don't be such a pompous head just because you know about credit card transaction fees. The poor schmuck has a good idea, and he's trying to think outside of the box. Just because you're used to a world that works in a certain fixed way doesn't mean that's the only way the world can work.
I have paid 25 cents with a credit card before. I pay with credit card all the time and I don't like carrying loose change with me. If something costs 25 cents + tax, that means you'll be getting back about two quarters, two dimes and three pennies. I don't want all that loose change around me.
As for getting around the "per transaction fees", one can easily avoid them by making the users purchase "points" where you have to buy in $10 increments minimum. You can encourage less transactions with bigger value by providing a small extra bonus when the user buys in bigger increments: 10 points for $10, 110 points for $100. Suddenly, you can have something that costs only 10 cents and the transaction fees will not hurt you.
Personally, I think backslashdot's idea is great, but the movie rental movie business is filled with incumbents who will pull every string to make sure you have almost no chance at creating a competition for them.
There's no such thing as unlimited. Sprint's "unlimited" plan: friend's iphone 4s on sprint has bandwidth of about 200kbps.
I am sick of "plans". What the hell is a cell phone "plan"? There is no plan, this is all retarded. I want a cell wireless data company to just say: "You give us $20 and we give you 2GB on our network". It's as simple as that, simply cuts off after the 2GB is over because that's what you paid for, no super high fees, no bullshit. Just GB for $$. That's it. Not complicated.
No, instead of simply selling bandwidth they choose to make all kinds of complicated illogical nonsensical absurd "plans" which mean nothing. Enough of this crap already, ENOUGH!
http://signon.org/sign/fixing-copyright
This SOPA/PIPA is only a symptom of a deeper underlying problem we have in the world today. There is a massive disconnect between the people who pass the laws and the people they're supposed to represent. They have been bought many times over by the private interests who changed the laws for their selfish benefit at the expense of the people.
Sure, I am against SOPA as much as you are, but SOPA is only a symptom. SOPA isn't what will kill you: it's the underlying disease that's ravaging your world. The disease is eroding your freedoms and soon you will be too weak to fight back.
Stop Online Piracy Act will stop online piracy exactly as much as Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 did: NOT AT ALL.
But it will be even more disruptive to innovation and legitimate business than DMCA.
ethanol is produced, gasoline is extracted.
Gasoline is extracted from the organic goo that is result of organic matter accumulating underground for the past few billion years, all you need is drill for it and out it comes. Ethanol is made by planting corn, fertilize it, water it, wait for it to grow, harvest the corn, extract sugars, ferment, extract and distill ethanol.
Energy used for drilling is much smaller than energy that comes from burning the resulting oil. On the other hand, planting, fertilizing, watering, harvesting, extracting, fermenting, extracting consumes more energy than what you get as a result of all that work. Simple as that.
Uranium isn't unlimited either.
I've been using Windows for a long time. I do not like Windows. Other's agree with me, people who use Windows do not like Windows. People who use Windows like the software they run on Windows.
Microsoft thinks that people LOVE Windows. That's why they created Windows CE, and that was a massive failure. People want to run their x86 software on the computer, and last time I checked Windows 8 ARM can not run x86 software, so your software collection is junk all of a sudden.
If you give most people a choice between Linux vs Windows, they will choose Windows. If you give them a choice between Windows that wont run their apps, and Linux that wont run their apps but at least already has a large library of software, then they will Choose Linux.
The problem with Swiss army knife+usb is that you can have the Swiss army knife for a lot longer than the life of the USB stick. Fifteen years ago I bought a 1.2GB 3.5" hard drive for $150. It was a good deal. Today, 16GB comes on a micro SD sells for a measly $20. But my Swiss army knife from is still just as precious and useful as it was when I got it.
SOPA is also planned to block ip addresses so good luck with that.
"What the bill can't do is block numeric IP addresses" http://lifehacker.com/5860205/all-about-sopa-the-bill-thats-going-to-cripple-your-internet
I'm still confused about how SOPA is supposed to prevent (or at least hinder) piracy and file sharing. All it does is break the domain name system, it's equivalent to defacing highway signs, the IP still work just fine. People can easily edit their hosts file to be whatever they want. How is this at all hindering the p2p file sharing? What are they going to do, make it illegal to share 32-bit numbers? I present to you http://3259460367/ ... This entire law seems seriously ill conceived and idiotic at best.