Mod parent up... I totally fall into the same category... I don't spend money on apps (aside from some really useful utility apps that are no more than $2) and try to entertain myself with the Lite games. While I'm sure there is a burgeoning class of iPhone owners that are in the "can't yet legally drive" demographic who go ape-poopy over new iPhone games, for the most part it's a nice living if you can make it but nothing to write home about.
I agree that this is a risky venture... Though, at least they're trying new ideas and bringing everything to the table when they do...
For one thing it could backfire - driving customers away from their service. Is it like America across the pond where many municipalities allow broadband providers a legal monopoly?
And won't this further blur the line between content providers and internet providers?
Will this subscription service be optional? What if I don't want the price of my bill inflated an extra $10 a month for the privilege of downloading music guilt free? What if I'm happy as a pig in shit with the current system (eg: morally bankrupt)?
Now, if you do have problems with piracy, might I suggest this alternative: by the Blu-ray disc, thus paying the content creator for their work, and then download a pirated copy. At least then you can still avail yourself of the rights (such as format shifting) that they're trying to take away from you. Of course, this still rewards the content creators, thus encouraging further attempts to restrict your use of the material you bought with your hard-earned cash...
Would you feel morally justified in buying the DVD and downloading the Blu-Ray?
It might send the message to them that DVD is worth more to consumers than these latest shenanigans.
But in the end you still have many copies of documents, and you're always trying to keep changes synced across them. This approach breaks down when you have multiple sources of change... conflict resolution will always jump up to bite you.
There are already good solutions to this problem: it is called revision control and the Subversion system is a high-quality open source solution to most common version control / sharing scenarios. Visual Source Safe wishes that it could be as good as Subversion, but the open source crowd beat them to it.
And Subversion wishes that it could be as good as Team Foundation System.
I present to you the Federal Telephone Excise Tax. Once a tax or fee is on the books it will be next to impossible to remove it - it will just be repurposed.
What really grinds my gears is the Cost Recovery Fee charged each month to support the number portability act. That was is, what, 2004? Let's do the math: 5 years * 100 million cell phone subscribers * 12 months in a year * $1.25 per month = $7.5 billion in cost recovery monies. You really think it cost the cell phone industry that much money to support number portability? My professional wild assed guess is that it cost the industry 1 billion to implement and maybe 1 million a year to maintain/support. The rest of that is pure profit; pure profit I don't see going away any time soon. Now, if the government mandated they use that money to forcibly upgrade their network.
iTunes currently supports about 20 non-iPod devices:
Nomad II Creative Labs USB
Nomad II MG Creative Labs USB
Nomad II c Creative Labs USB
Nomad Jukebox Creative Labs USB
Nomad Jukebox 20GB Creative Labs USB
Nomad Jukebox C Creative Labs USB
Novad MuVo Creative Labs USB
Rio One SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio 500 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio 600 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio 800 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio 900 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S10 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S11 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S30S SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S35S SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S50 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio Chiba SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio Fuse SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio Cali SONICBlue/S3 USB
psa]play 60 Nike USB
psa]play 120 Nike USB
SoundSpace 2 Nakamichi USB
That's fine and dandy like sour candy, however, I only get EDGE where I live... It can't even run the SpeedTest.net app. It's essentially worse than a 14.4 kbps modem. I'd kill for 1.8 Gb/s!
... please don't forget about the large number of your customers who are paying for 3G access and still have none before you go about upgrading existing 3G networks.
It was announced that 3G was coming to my area by year's end at the beginning of the year... It's now June... You have 6 months left, jerks...
I know I'm late to the party and this probably won't get seen let alone modded up. However, this is a legitimate criticism of the.NET support system. Fortunately there is a search engine (which uses google) to search a subset of.NET-specific sites.
Is this the type of "opt-in" used in a lot of AOL's software (damn you AIM)? Wherein, during the install of the latest and "greatest", you are presented with the "recommended" install package (which essentially hijacks your computer with crap third party software) or the custom install where you have to specifically uncheck all those options (checked by default).
Listen, would you rather they give you no advanced warning? Like chivalry, professional courtesy is all but dead these days. What are they supposed to do? Wait until you get your ass in gear to address the issue? Perhaps letting the weakness be known might actually give you the incentive to make it a top priority bug fix - which is good for everyone.
So yeah, my HDD died and it's gonna cost $100 to replace, is there any way to force a RRoD so they'll fix my xbox under warranty?
Sorry Charlie, they make you send back JUST the Xbox itself - no cables, power supplies, or hard drives. So the only possible benefit would be the free month of Xbox Live that comes with the repair and the outside chance you received updated hardware for your troubles of forcing a RRoD.
Except that to harness/convert the energy would be taking energy away from the super current. It's been a few years since I took an Earth and Atmospheric Science course, but it's a widely believed theory that these currents really do have a significant impact on global climate. The last ice age is believed to be linked to a near standstill of this global current. To take energy away from the current would slow it down, thus sending us into a new ice age.
America: What are the chances of a nation like you and a nation like me... ending up together, in peace? Iraq: Well, that's pretty difficult to say. America: Hit me with it! I've come a long way to free you, Iraq. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances? Iraq: Not good. America: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred? Iraq: I'd say more like one out of a million. [pause] America: So you're telling me there's a chance.
While I can see your point/frustrations, my Dad turned me on to TurboTax this year. His strategy is to keep his eyes peeled on the weekend adverts for TurboTax Basic version (usually gets it around $15 at CostCo). He's been using it for 8 years now so all the tedious boilerplate information gets imported from last year's.tax file (assuming you back those up from year to year). So then it's as simple as inputing the information from this year's W2, preparing any financial investment numbers for capital gains taxes (I use Fidelity Investments as my broker and I was able to suck that information off the Intertubes - no typing or calculation necessary), and itemizing deductions (since I'm not a major property owner, I took the standard deduction right off the bat). All told, it took 15 minutes to do my Federal tax return. Oh, and we send it via the mail so no rapage on the eFile fee.
The state taxes are easy enough to do on your own that I don't feel it's worth getting the Deluxe version of TurboTax.
Did anyone else notice at the end of the time lapse video the helicopter draft blowing away what looked like a tarp, and not tiles, making the design? Or am I just crazy?
Slashdot Mirror
Mod parent up... I totally fall into the same category... I don't spend money on apps (aside from some really useful utility apps that are no more than $2) and try to entertain myself with the Lite games. While I'm sure there is a burgeoning class of iPhone owners that are in the "can't yet legally drive" demographic who go ape-poopy over new iPhone games, for the most part it's a nice living if you can make it but nothing to write home about.
I agree that this is a risky venture... Though, at least they're trying new ideas and bringing everything to the table when they do... For one thing it could backfire - driving customers away from their service. Is it like America across the pond where many municipalities allow broadband providers a legal monopoly? And won't this further blur the line between content providers and internet providers? Will this subscription service be optional? What if I don't want the price of my bill inflated an extra $10 a month for the privilege of downloading music guilt free? What if I'm happy as a pig in shit with the current system (eg: morally bankrupt)?
Is the space pope reptilian and does he shit in the woods?
Now, if you do have problems with piracy, might I suggest this alternative: by the Blu-ray disc, thus paying the content creator for their work, and then download a pirated copy. At least then you can still avail yourself of the rights (such as format shifting) that they're trying to take away from you. Of course, this still rewards the content creators, thus encouraging further attempts to restrict your use of the material you bought with your hard-earned cash...
Would you feel morally justified in buying the DVD and downloading the Blu-Ray? It might send the message to them that DVD is worth more to consumers than these latest shenanigans.
But in the end you still have many copies of documents, and you're always trying to keep changes synced across them. This approach breaks down when you have multiple sources of change... conflict resolution will always jump up to bite you.
There are already good solutions to this problem: it is called revision control and the Subversion system is a high-quality open source solution to most common version control / sharing scenarios. Visual Source Safe wishes that it could be as good as Subversion, but the open source crowd beat them to it.
And Subversion wishes that it could be as good as Team Foundation System.
The first hit's always free...
After a few years, phase out the fee (hum...).
I present to you the Federal Telephone Excise Tax. Once a tax or fee is on the books it will be next to impossible to remove it - it will just be repurposed. What really grinds my gears is the Cost Recovery Fee charged each month to support the number portability act. That was is, what, 2004? Let's do the math: 5 years * 100 million cell phone subscribers * 12 months in a year * $1.25 per month = $7.5 billion in cost recovery monies. You really think it cost the cell phone industry that much money to support number portability? My professional wild assed guess is that it cost the industry 1 billion to implement and maybe 1 million a year to maintain/support. The rest of that is pure profit; pure profit I don't see going away any time soon. Now, if the government mandated they use that money to forcibly upgrade their network.
iTunes currently supports about 20 non-iPod devices:
Nomad II Creative Labs USB
Nomad II MG Creative Labs USB
Nomad II c Creative Labs USB
Nomad Jukebox Creative Labs USB
Nomad Jukebox 20GB Creative Labs USB
Nomad Jukebox C Creative Labs USB
Novad MuVo Creative Labs USB
Rio One SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio 500 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio 600 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio 800 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio 900 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S10 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S11 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S30S SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S35S SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio S50 SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio Chiba SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio Fuse SONICBlue/S3 USB
Rio Cali SONICBlue/S3 USB
psa]play 60 Nike USB
psa]play 120 Nike USB
SoundSpace 2 Nakamichi USB
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2172
That's fine and dandy like sour candy, however, I only get EDGE where I live... It can't even run the SpeedTest.net app. It's essentially worse than a 14.4 kbps modem. I'd kill for 1.8 Gb/s!
... please don't forget about the large number of your customers who are paying for 3G access and still have none before you go about upgrading existing 3G networks. It was announced that 3G was coming to my area by year's end at the beginning of the year... It's now June... You have 6 months left, jerks...
It will surely put Chandler, Casa Grande, Red Rock, and Marana on the map
I know I'm late to the party and this probably won't get seen let alone modded up. However, this is a legitimate criticism of the .NET support system. Fortunately there is a search engine (which uses google) to search a subset of .NET-specific sites.
.NET
Search
I use it alot and helps separate the wheat from the chaff with regards to Google results.
Looks like the crack R&D team at Comcast has branched out and found a way to manage congestion at FCC filings too.
Is this the type of "opt-in" used in a lot of AOL's software (damn you AIM)? Wherein, during the install of the latest and "greatest", you are presented with the "recommended" install package (which essentially hijacks your computer with crap third party software) or the custom install where you have to specifically uncheck all those options (checked by default).
Listen, would you rather they give you no advanced warning? Like chivalry, professional courtesy is all but dead these days. What are they supposed to do? Wait until you get your ass in gear to address the issue? Perhaps letting the weakness be known might actually give you the incentive to make it a top priority bug fix - which is good for everyone.
Rumor has it that's the launch title of the Phantom
So yeah, my HDD died and it's gonna cost $100 to replace, is there any way to force a RRoD so they'll fix my xbox under warranty?
Sorry Charlie, they make you send back JUST the Xbox itself - no cables, power supplies, or hard drives. So the only possible benefit would be the free month of Xbox Live that comes with the repair and the outside chance you received updated hardware for your troubles of forcing a RRoD.
Except that to harness/convert the energy would be taking energy away from the super current. It's been a few years since I took an Earth and Atmospheric Science course, but it's a widely believed theory that these currents really do have a significant impact on global climate. The last ice age is believed to be linked to a near standstill of this global current. To take energy away from the current would slow it down, thus sending us into a new ice age.
NOT GOOD!
But will it blend?
America: What are the chances of a nation like you and a nation like me... ending up together, in peace?
Iraq: Well, that's pretty difficult to say.
America: Hit me with it! I've come a long way to free you, Iraq. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Iraq: Not good.
America: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Iraq: I'd say more like one out of a million.
[pause]
America: So you're telling me there's a chance.
... the King of the Jaws?
While I can see your point/frustrations, my Dad turned me on to TurboTax this year. His strategy is to keep his eyes peeled on the weekend adverts for TurboTax Basic version (usually gets it around $15 at CostCo). He's been using it for 8 years now so all the tedious boilerplate information gets imported from last year's .tax file (assuming you back those up from year to year). So then it's as simple as inputing the information from this year's W2, preparing any financial investment numbers for capital gains taxes (I use Fidelity Investments as my broker and I was able to suck that information off the Intertubes - no typing or calculation necessary), and itemizing deductions (since I'm not a major property owner, I took the standard deduction right off the bat). All told, it took 15 minutes to do my Federal tax return. Oh, and we send it via the mail so no rapage on the eFile fee.
The state taxes are easy enough to do on your own that I don't feel it's worth getting the Deluxe version of TurboTax.
A good use of $15 if you ask me.
Or how about the most obvious:
muslix + 64
Perhaps he's a fan of the Kellogg cereal and has a penchant for 64 bits?
That's a good suggestion, save for the fact he's too cheap to replace a CPU fan.
Did anyone else notice at the end of the time lapse video the helicopter draft blowing away what looked like a tarp, and not tiles, making the design? Or am I just crazy?