"Giving up profit"? What is that? Look, if companies pocketed every cent of profit every year, no company would ever grow because there would be no investment capital. While capital can be given to CEOs, more often than not it's reinvested into the company so that it can expand. Anywho, I was talking about a company getting more money from one of their sources (more profit), which it can use for reinvesting, giving bonues.. etc., but cutting prices for its customers is a very normal option for such a company. Have you never seen a company cut prices for customers? Wal-Mart gets it's products at a discount. Wal-Mart could decide to just charge the exact same as everyone else, and let the Waltons pocket that billions of dollars in difference every year, but instead, since they have this extra money already available for expansion/normal expenses, they cut prices. Naturally, this brings in more customers and, hopefully, will ultimately bring in more customers. 100 people paying $29/mo. is better than 50 people paying $39/mo.
I'm not going to say that the ISP CEOs aren't going to take a little off the top and get a little richer with this scheme, but who says customers are going to pay higher prices? If the ISPs are bringing in more capital, they will be able to *cut* prices for consumers. Assuming that you're in a free market economy, it's bound to happen as ISPs cut prices to gain your business.
The whole thing is really a tradeoff - lower prices for targeted, sponsored content. It's like TV - you can pay for commercial-free content, or be cheap about it and be forced to watch commercials.
It's probably the same tech as Dell's "TrueLife" displays. I just got one Dell's laptops with that feature, and everything is glossy (which means background lights show up more clearly), but this is offset by the fact the colors are bright and vibrant. It's it's the same tech, it means they put a coating that is smooth, and keeps the light coming from behind the LCD from becoming diffused, while at the same time has an index of refraction that is in between air and the LCD screen, which means that most of the light bouncing off the screen doesn't get reflected right back at you.
Wonderful diagrams, and a better explanation are here:
I know prices can (and will) can down between now and November, but in my B&H catalog I got yesterday, they offer one standalone Blu-Ray player. The cost? $1,000. Unless prices are cut in *half* in 6 months, anyone who wants Blu-Ray will just buy a PS3 and not worry about the games.
Sony knows full well that *if* you're interested in Blu-Ray, you're going to shell out for the PS3. It's very small segment, but on that front, Blu-Ray helps Sony.
Um, no. Here's how to play a DVD in Windows:
1) Put DVD in the tray
That's it. Windows plays DVD right out of the box, and it will autoplay once it detects the DVD. That's the point the poster was making - Windows had licensing to play DVDs right out of the box - and they have prebundled software (WMP) that will play it, which is included in all 'distros' of Windows.
No, that's the point. Bonjour is able to talk to other computers outside of a LAN. I doubt a 10-year old girl is going around trying to hack my network.
And network neighborhood knows about computers on the network.
You haven't used Bonjour, have you? That shit can find computers not on the network. And let you use those printers and other application data. Automatically.
(and I'm not kidding. When my neighbor's daughter launches iTunes, her library shows up in my iTunes, and I can play them. Note that my network is WEP-enabled and MAC filtered, and I'm not part of her network).
Most 1080p monitors do not accept 1080p as an input - they just upscale the 1080i signal. It does look like this Westinghouse does take in 1080p, but I just wanted to point out that technicality which certainly limits the number of TVs that fit their criteria.
Also, the westinghouse site doesn't mention the rate at which it accepts 1080p, I know the HP will accept 1080p at 60 frames/sec. Some are only 30fps...
Agreed, but maybe part of the equation is that the MPAA realized that storage space and internet access speeds are going up. In the days of Napster (late 1999?), no one thought of tranferring movies. But now we've got 300 GB drives at Best Buy, and ISPs are getting better with bandwidth (I'm getting 16Mbps soon according to Comcast), so it'll be more possible in the future.
But either way, I think it's just Hollywood's mindset - nerds are going to try to copy their shit, so they at least make it a challenge.
I believe that the assumption is that once we can easily find the primes, we will have large lookup tables in which case factoring the product of two large primes becomes much faster (remember, we only have to try primes until we hit sqrt(N)).
While there is certainly going to be processing time devoted to dividing the product by each number on the table, I believe that the bottlenect is finding which numbers are prime in the first place (I could be wrong, that's what I've heard - I can't tell you what prime distribution is like for very large numbers though).
In any event, if we ever get quantum computers to work like we're predicting they will, both of these issues will be moot - factoring large numbers is massivly parallel and will be an easy taks for these computers, as well be verifying the primality of a number.
Yeah, it's true. Completely stupid too, because back when SMS was brand new it was free (at least for my carrier). It seems that now they realize how popular it is, so they charge for it. I remember SMS being free, and then my next carrier let me have 100 free, but I had to pay 5 cents for each one after that, and now my current plan charges 5 cents for each one (although you can pay $5 and get 200).
And yeah, it doesn't matter if you send or receive. So don't assume our relative non-usage of SMS is just because we're 'behind the times' or whatever - corporate greed comes into play since it costs us for every damn message.
It's getting more popular. Still not as popular as Europe/Japan though. And to your comment - we all read SMS messages as soon as we get them:) I use SMS for quick questions (I don't like talking on the phone), or when I'm at a place like a loud bar, where SMS is a nice alternative to screaming into the phone so the other person can hear.
Not giving existing lifetime members service for life is a breach of contract if I'm not mistaken. TiVo could probably render old set-top boxes obsolete, forcing users to upgrade hardware, but they'll have to continue offering the service.
Even for casual web surfing for a few hours a week, 56K is still enough for some people. Since I'm a geek and live with 3 other geeks, I'll pay $60/mo. for broadband. But $60/mo. is a real expense, and if you're a struggling family, you're not going to pay for 'perks' like this. Poorer families don't pay $15/mo for HBO or Showtime, let along paying $50 more a month to get the same thing as dial-up, except for the fact it's faster.
Yeah, you're right. I'm aware of the OSI levels, I was just told that the patent was such-and-such wireless ("wireless" specifically appearing in the patent). I just read a copy of it, and sure enough, no wireless, so never mind my post.
Well, the Red Cross was founded in Switzerland by a Swede and they're proud of the symbol. If anything was "stolen" it was the American Red Cross that took it from the International Red Cross.
There is nothing wrong with insulting Islam as a political ideology
Good point, and I agree with your post. But you should be aware that Muslims are not treating this as political satire. Islamic law (not some state law) prohibits depictions of Muhommand. This isn't one of those "women can't drive" laws, it's very much akin to a commandment handed down to Moses that Christians abide by. Actually, this is really related to the first and paramount commandment: have no false idols before God -- by prohibiting depictions of Muhommand, Muslims can reamain focused on worshipping Allah rather than idolizing his much, much less important vessel.
So in effect, while the West sees this as satire/commentary (the bomb on the turban being the focus of the 'main' cartoon under fire), this is an insult to Islam (who focus more on the fact that Muhommand is pictured, especially unfavorably). Since there is and insult to their religion, and no one seems to show any sympathy, they're reacting strongly.
Christians would be mad if there was gross violations of their 10 commandments that went unnoticed in other parts of the world.
Anywho, I still agree with your post, and find this whole thing completely insane. The West is apathetic, the Muslims are overreacting in the worst of ways, and both cultures remain wholly ignorant of each other, so it's going to happen again.
Yeah, I got the SR-60s after reading so many positive reviews. I must say though that it's uncomfortable after just 5-10 minutes (and only on one ear), so they don't get much use. That same side also seems to have a loose connection, and the wiring seems to be a little twisted...
But they do sound great, so if you're the kind of guy who isn't afraid to return things, go ahead and try these. Chances are you'll like it anyway, I'm sure I'm in the minority here.
Well, no, it doesn't seem to be that genearal. They've patented a method for quickly identifying the user's mood for portable devices. Remember, the title of this submission is just plain wrong. They didn't patent the idea of pressing a key and coming up with ":)". They've patented the idea of pressing a key and coming up with a smiley face (or any other representation of someone's mood).
It's still a dumb patent, and there might be prior art somewhere. I think the fact that it's a) for a quick method (one-button or something very similar) and b) for mobile devices (ruling out all PC software except for WinCE or PalmOS), they might not be any prior art.
First off, you can't get a patent on ":)". A trademark, yes, but not a patent.
The patent referenced is for the process of sending the emoticon. More specifically, there would be a way insert the way someone is feeling via a special button, or some other method other than saying "I'm feeling happy". Typing in ":)" doesn't even fall into this patent since that's just typing in characters. But if T-Mobile came out with phones that had smiley-faced buttons that inserted a smiley face while typing an SMS, then that could violate this patent.
I think having hotmail keeping a database of all sent addresses (mentioned already) is the best solution. Another way would be to put in a string of random alphanumerics at the end of the email (along with a message explaining it), which would be unique to that user. Then, assuming the reply has the original copy with it, it would have that string, and it would pass through. That's what I do with my important emails - I put in "ab093js" or something, and that string is on my whitelist. Kind of dumb, but it works.
The review found that someone in General Services sidestepped state purchasing rules to buy more than $88,000 worth of computers and related equipment over the last three years, including the items discovered in the basement office. Not all the purchased computers and gear can be located, Ferguson said.
Is it possible that most of that $88K went to legit computer purchases? 40 movies, 3,500 MP3s, and oh-so-common DeCSS software is all easily fit into one normal PC. And hundreds of blank DVDs/CDs isn't all that much - it's $100 worth of merchandise found on newegg. Sure, this guy was copying movies, but wouldn't bet that this is one of those "zero patient" cases.
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"Giving up profit"? What is that? Look, if companies pocketed every cent of profit every year, no company would ever grow because there would be no investment capital. While capital can be given to CEOs, more often than not it's reinvested into the company so that it can expand. Anywho, I was talking about a company getting more money from one of their sources (more profit), which it can use for reinvesting, giving bonues.. etc., but cutting prices for its customers is a very normal option for such a company. Have you never seen a company cut prices for customers? Wal-Mart gets it's products at a discount. Wal-Mart could decide to just charge the exact same as everyone else, and let the Waltons pocket that billions of dollars in difference every year, but instead, since they have this extra money already available for expansion/normal expenses, they cut prices. Naturally, this brings in more customers and, hopefully, will ultimately bring in more customers. 100 people paying $29/mo. is better than 50 people paying $39/mo.
The whole thing is really a tradeoff - lower prices for targeted, sponsored content. It's like TV - you can pay for commercial-free content, or be cheap about it and be forced to watch commercials.
Wonderful diagrams, and a better explanation are here:
http://www.screentekinc.com/pixelbright-lcds.shtml
Sony knows full well that *if* you're interested in Blu-Ray, you're going to shell out for the PS3. It's very small segment, but on that front, Blu-Ray helps Sony.
That's it. Windows plays DVD right out of the box, and it will autoplay once it detects the DVD. That's the point the poster was making - Windows had licensing to play DVDs right out of the box - and they have prebundled software (WMP) that will play it, which is included in all 'distros' of Windows.
No, that's the point. Bonjour is able to talk to other computers outside of a LAN. I doubt a 10-year old girl is going around trying to hack my network.
You haven't used Bonjour, have you? That shit can find computers not on the network. And let you use those printers and other application data. Automatically.
(and I'm not kidding. When my neighbor's daughter launches iTunes, her library shows up in my iTunes, and I can play them. Note that my network is WEP-enabled and MAC filtered, and I'm not part of her network).
Most 1080p monitors do not accept 1080p as an input - they just upscale the 1080i signal. It does look like this Westinghouse does take in 1080p, but I just wanted to point out that technicality which certainly limits the number of TVs that fit their criteria. Also, the westinghouse site doesn't mention the rate at which it accepts 1080p, I know the HP will accept 1080p at 60 frames/sec. Some are only 30fps...
Agreed, but maybe part of the equation is that the MPAA realized that storage space and internet access speeds are going up. In the days of Napster (late 1999?), no one thought of tranferring movies. But now we've got 300 GB drives at Best Buy, and ISPs are getting better with bandwidth (I'm getting 16Mbps soon according to Comcast), so it'll be more possible in the future.
But either way, I think it's just Hollywood's mindset - nerds are going to try to copy their shit, so they at least make it a challenge.
While there is certainly going to be processing time devoted to dividing the product by each number on the table, I believe that the bottlenect is finding which numbers are prime in the first place (I could be wrong, that's what I've heard - I can't tell you what prime distribution is like for very large numbers though).
In any event, if we ever get quantum computers to work like we're predicting they will, both of these issues will be moot - factoring large numbers is massivly parallel and will be an easy taks for these computers, as well be verifying the primality of a number.
Yeah, it's true. Completely stupid too, because back when SMS was brand new it was free (at least for my carrier). It seems that now they realize how popular it is, so they charge for it. I remember SMS being free, and then my next carrier let me have 100 free, but I had to pay 5 cents for each one after that, and now my current plan charges 5 cents for each one (although you can pay $5 and get 200). And yeah, it doesn't matter if you send or receive. So don't assume our relative non-usage of SMS is just because we're 'behind the times' or whatever - corporate greed comes into play since it costs us for every damn message.
It's getting more popular. Still not as popular as Europe/Japan though. And to your comment - we all read SMS messages as soon as we get them :) I use SMS for quick questions (I don't like talking on the phone), or when I'm at a place like a loud bar, where SMS is a nice alternative to screaming into the phone so the other person can hear.
Not giving existing lifetime members service for life is a breach of contract if I'm not mistaken. TiVo could probably render old set-top boxes obsolete, forcing users to upgrade hardware, but they'll have to continue offering the service.
Meh. My cable + internet costs $115/mo. And I don't get the premium channels or HD. Comcast blows.
Even for casual web surfing for a few hours a week, 56K is still enough for some people. Since I'm a geek and live with 3 other geeks, I'll pay $60/mo. for broadband. But $60/mo. is a real expense, and if you're a struggling family, you're not going to pay for 'perks' like this. Poorer families don't pay $15/mo for HBO or Showtime, let along paying $50 more a month to get the same thing as dial-up, except for the fact it's faster.
Yeah, you're right. I'm aware of the OSI levels, I was just told that the patent was such-and-such wireless ("wireless" specifically appearing in the patent). I just read a copy of it, and sure enough, no wireless, so never mind my post.
POP3 and IMAP are not wireless communcation systems, which is what the patent describes.
Well, the Red Cross was founded in Switzerland by a Swede and they're proud of the symbol. If anything was "stolen" it was the American Red Cross that took it from the International Red Cross.
Good point, and I agree with your post. But you should be aware that Muslims are not treating this as political satire. Islamic law (not some state law) prohibits depictions of Muhommand. This isn't one of those "women can't drive" laws, it's very much akin to a commandment handed down to Moses that Christians abide by. Actually, this is really related to the first and paramount commandment: have no false idols before God -- by prohibiting depictions of Muhommand, Muslims can reamain focused on worshipping Allah rather than idolizing his much, much less important vessel.
So in effect, while the West sees this as satire/commentary (the bomb on the turban being the focus of the 'main' cartoon under fire), this is an insult to Islam (who focus more on the fact that Muhommand is pictured, especially unfavorably). Since there is and insult to their religion, and no one seems to show any sympathy, they're reacting strongly.
Christians would be mad if there was gross violations of their 10 commandments that went unnoticed in other parts of the world.
Anywho, I still agree with your post, and find this whole thing completely insane. The West is apathetic, the Muslims are overreacting in the worst of ways, and both cultures remain wholly ignorant of each other, so it's going to happen again.
But they do sound great, so if you're the kind of guy who isn't afraid to return things, go ahead and try these. Chances are you'll like it anyway, I'm sure I'm in the minority here.
It's still a dumb patent, and there might be prior art somewhere. I think the fact that it's a) for a quick method (one-button or something very similar) and b) for mobile devices (ruling out all PC software except for WinCE or PalmOS), they might not be any prior art.
The patent referenced is for the process of sending the emoticon. More specifically, there would be a way insert the way someone is feeling via a special button, or some other method other than saying "I'm feeling happy". Typing in ":)" doesn't even fall into this patent since that's just typing in characters. But if T-Mobile came out with phones that had smiley-faced buttons that inserted a smiley face while typing an SMS, then that could violate this patent.
I think having hotmail keeping a database of all sent addresses (mentioned already) is the best solution. Another way would be to put in a string of random alphanumerics at the end of the email (along with a message explaining it), which would be unique to that user. Then, assuming the reply has the original copy with it, it would have that string, and it would pass through. That's what I do with my important emails - I put in "ab093js" or something, and that string is on my whitelist. Kind of dumb, but it works.
Is it possible that most of that $88K went to legit computer purchases? 40 movies, 3,500 MP3s, and oh-so-common DeCSS software is all easily fit into one normal PC. And hundreds of blank DVDs/CDs isn't all that much - it's $100 worth of merchandise found on newegg. Sure, this guy was copying movies, but wouldn't bet that this is one of those "zero patient" cases.