A device not much bigger than an iPod. With a screen covering the whole front face.And a slide or pop-out keyboard that's JUST big enough to type on. With a touch-screen that can be activated/deactivated and tactile depressable areas where 'normal' buttons would usually be. An always-on internet connection that's quick enough for you to 'google' something in the middle of a conversation without the other party punching you in frustration or walking away. a-la i-mode, but FASTER than current CDMA. At least Wifi speeds. And Bluetooth, And Wifi, and USB2.0 And a scroll-wheel. With a multi-megapixel camera that can take video or still With a microphone to record voice, With a headphone jack. And a fingerprint scanner. With a responsive OS designed by Apple, or at least something good enough you'd think it was. -- that has an open API so that 4rd party developers find it a joy to program for. With 100gB storage space. Battery that lasts at least 2 days with moderate use. The rest is all software. Features? I want them *all*. I'm sick of this trend towards having to PAY for 3rd party software for simple features that were once standard on all phones. voice recorder, calculator, decent image browser etc etc. FINE I don't mind paying for specialist software but a decent PDA shouldn't NEED extra software for things which everyone is expected to do on a daily basis.
It's not "bloat" if it obviates the need for a 2nd or 3rd device. In my case that means a camera and a PDA. I currently use a Motorola M1000 (japanese version of the A1000) and it's *almost* there. It's just clunky (bad software), proprietary(transflash, no headphone socket or USB) and SLOW. It has WiFi, but hotspots are so few and far between, and the software makes it painful to connect to them, it's as good as useless.
Most of the things I said above are available on today's phones (or PDAs or iPods). Many phones today have multi-megapixel cameras, Here in Japan you can get one with a fingerprint scanner (not perfect security, but good enough). I have yet to find a device that has them all.
Come on technology. Come on Apple. I have $500+ in my pocket just waiting for this thing and I want it NOW.
Oh and I'm no 'teenage punk', just a 34 year old geek who hates carrying too much stuff, and hates being off the 'net when outside.
The summary is correct. The comparison to beta/vhs is a stupid one. I can buy a plasma or LCD screen right now safe in the knowledge that whichever format "wins" my screen will continue to provide me with great service.
The only thing to be worried about right now is how long your TV will last before there is noticeable picture degradation.
I can't speak for LCDs, but I've had a plasma TV for 5 years now, and I am aware of the *potential* drawbacks.
Plasma TVs suffer from degradation in brightness over time... which also causes "burn in", which can be a problem if you always watch the same channel with a logo, or if you watch 3:4 TV with black bars down the side. my solution to that was to make sure all the 3:4 TV I watched was stretched to the sides. Not necessarily ideal, but after 5 years I have no burn-in
The other 'problem', namely the half-life of the brightness.. i've heard people say plasma TVs 'only last 3 years', which is bunk. Maybe they do if you keep the brightness control up at 100% which is where it is on display in the store, and watch TV 24h per day. I'm no TV junkie but I get a lot of use out of my plasma, and the FIRST thing I did upon settingit up was TURN THE BRIGHTNESS DOWN to an acceptable level. Even now I have it at 50% and it looks great in daylight after 5 years.
I had a friend who visited Israel, for the sole purpose of tourism, alone, from Japan.
As the only tall white blonde with a german name on the plane, it was not entirely unexpected, but apparently they kept him for two whole hours before they let him into the country.
You should not simply be adjusting the net salary by cost of living. If you did that then somewhere like India wins hands down, for sure.
To get an idea of what the 'best paid' jobs are, you should subtract the cost of an equivalent lifestyle from the net salary, and then compare what's left because that's how much you'll be able to *save* for your kids college funds, mid-life-crisis porsche, or that carribean cruise.
I can't imagine someone working in Mumbai for $5,000 per year is going to have much in the way of savings in 10 years time. Neither are they going to be able to afford vacations in Hawaii twice a year, no matter how good a lifestyle they're able to live on that salary.
If you can convince the right people you're smart enough, exotic financial derivatives can be extremely lucrative and quite fun.
A bachelors won't get you in though, you're going to need at least a Master's, and maybe an MBA or PhD.
Otherwise there are plenty of jobs in finance related to forex, debt, credit or equity derivatives trading / structuring, financial analysis, economics etc. which require a thorough understanding of statistics, and mathematical concepts. And all of which pay very well.
This might sound a bit materialistic, but the jobs can be a lot of fun, and you might as well pay off those student loans sooner rather than later.
Not only that, but hugely inefficient abstraction of the 'idea' from the level of the individual neuron.
We're good at pattern recognition and conditioned response, but when it comes to doing calculations we're incredibly slow.
Not to metnion inacurate.
Would you like your computer to regularly 'make mistakes' ?
So fucking what, at least my comment was relevant to the question.
The very fact that you replied in such a way indicates that you 'got' the reference even if your tiny mind couldn't comprehend the link between the reason for a desire for walking robots and the abundance of stairs in our world.
Slashdot Mirror
A device not much bigger than an iPod.
With a screen covering the whole front face.And a slide or pop-out keyboard that's JUST big enough to type on.
With a touch-screen that can be activated/deactivated and tactile depressable areas where 'normal' buttons would usually be.
An always-on internet connection that's quick enough for you to 'google' something in the middle of a conversation without the other party punching you in frustration or walking away. a-la i-mode, but FASTER than current CDMA. At least Wifi speeds.
And Bluetooth, And Wifi, and USB2.0
And a scroll-wheel.
With a multi-megapixel camera that can take video or still
With a microphone to record voice,
With a headphone jack.
And a fingerprint scanner.
With a responsive OS designed by Apple, or at least something good enough you'd think it was.
-- that has an open API so that 4rd party developers find it a joy to program for.
With 100gB storage space.
Battery that lasts at least 2 days with moderate use.
The rest is all software.
Features? I want them *all*. I'm sick of this trend towards having to PAY for 3rd party software for simple features that were once standard on all phones. voice recorder, calculator, decent image browser etc etc. FINE I don't mind paying for specialist software but a decent PDA shouldn't NEED extra software for things which everyone is expected to do on a daily basis.
It's not "bloat" if it obviates the need for a 2nd or 3rd device. In my case that means a camera and a PDA. I currently use a Motorola M1000 (japanese version of the A1000) and it's *almost* there. It's just clunky (bad software), proprietary(transflash, no headphone socket or USB) and SLOW. It has WiFi, but hotspots are so few and far between, and the software makes it painful to connect to them, it's as good as useless.
Most of the things I said above are available on today's phones (or PDAs or iPods). Many phones today have multi-megapixel cameras, Here in Japan you can get one with a fingerprint scanner (not perfect security, but good enough). I have yet to find a device that has them all.
Come on technology. Come on Apple. I have $500+ in my pocket just waiting for this thing and I want it NOW.
Oh and I'm no 'teenage punk', just a 34 year old geek who hates carrying too much stuff, and hates being off the 'net when outside.
The summary is correct. The comparison to beta/vhs is a stupid one. I can buy a plasma or LCD screen right now safe in the knowledge that whichever format "wins" my screen will continue to provide me with great service.
The only thing to be worried about right now is how long your TV will last before there is noticeable picture degradation.
I can't speak for LCDs, but I've had a plasma TV for 5 years now, and I am aware of the *potential* drawbacks.
Plasma TVs suffer from degradation in brightness over time... which also causes "burn in", which can be a problem if you always watch the same channel with a logo, or if you watch 3:4 TV with black bars down the side. my solution to that was to make sure all the 3:4 TV I watched was stretched to the sides. Not necessarily ideal, but after 5 years I have no burn-in
The other 'problem', namely the half-life of the brightness.. i've heard people say plasma TVs 'only last 3 years', which is bunk. Maybe they do if you keep the brightness control up at 100% which is where it is on display in the store, and watch TV 24h per day. I'm no TV junkie but I get a lot of use out of my plasma, and the FIRST thing I did upon settingit up was TURN THE BRIGHTNESS DOWN to an acceptable level. Even now I have it at 50% and it looks great in daylight after 5 years.
Just an anecdote...
I had a friend who visited Israel, for the sole purpose of tourism, alone, from Japan.
As the only tall white blonde with a german name on the plane, it was not entirely unexpected, but apparently they kept him for two whole hours before they let him into the country.
You should not simply be adjusting the net salary by cost of living. If you did that then somewhere like India wins hands down, for sure. To get an idea of what the 'best paid' jobs are, you should subtract the cost of an equivalent lifestyle from the net salary, and then compare what's left because that's how much you'll be able to *save* for your kids college funds, mid-life-crisis porsche, or that carribean cruise. I can't imagine someone working in Mumbai for $5,000 per year is going to have much in the way of savings in 10 years time. Neither are they going to be able to afford vacations in Hawaii twice a year, no matter how good a lifestyle they're able to live on that salary.
If you can convince the right people you're smart enough, exotic financial derivatives can be extremely lucrative and quite fun. A bachelors won't get you in though, you're going to need at least a Master's, and maybe an MBA or PhD. Otherwise there are plenty of jobs in finance related to forex, debt, credit or equity derivatives trading / structuring, financial analysis, economics etc. which require a thorough understanding of statistics, and mathematical concepts. And all of which pay very well. This might sound a bit materialistic, but the jobs can be a lot of fun, and you might as well pay off those student loans sooner rather than later.
Lawyers only salivate when there's money involved.
Even if they win (unlikely) who's going to pay?
Even if they pay... how much?
Surely not enough to get all but the most desparate "lawyer" 'salivating'
Not only that, but hugely inefficient abstraction of the 'idea' from the level of the individual neuron. We're good at pattern recognition and conditioned response, but when it comes to doing calculations we're incredibly slow. Not to metnion inacurate. Would you like your computer to regularly 'make mistakes' ?
So fucking what, at least my comment was relevant to the question. The very fact that you replied in such a way indicates that you 'got' the reference even if your tiny mind couldn't comprehend the link between the reason for a desire for walking robots and the abundance of stairs in our world.
Do you have stairs in your house?