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Posts by Darren Forster
33 posts • joined 19 Sep 2007
A BBC-by-subscription 'would be richer', MPs told
Of course the BBC would be better off...
Of course the BBC would be better off on a subscription basis.
It doesn't take all this debating to figure that one out. Sky are rolling in it and what the BBC offer is very cheap in comparison with Sky.
On Sky TV you pay a subscription fee which is at least double the amount of the BBC, and not only that Sky are being paid by you for their channels, and also they get money from the adverts, and if that's not enough they then ask some companies to "SPONSOR" their shows - so if most of their shows are "sponsored" by companies what does our subscription fee pay for - even the premium channels like the Movies tend to be sponsored - usually by "Panasonic".
I know what your thinking £40 a month for all those TV shows isn't that much considering how much it costs Sky to secure those TV shows and that is possibly why they need advertising, but that is £40 per person that's subscribing, now as of 30th June 2013 Sky had 10,459,000 subscribers - 4,893,000 are paying the HD premium. Sky packages start at £21.50 (source: http://corporate.sky.com/media/key_facts_and_figures).
So let's figure this out then - to make it simple we'll base it on the fact that all HD subscribers are on the basic package (£21.50+£10 HD) and the rest are all on the basic package then Sky must be being paid £203,719.12 for every 30 minutes of TV just from subscribers (and that's only based on everyone subscribing to the lowest option), and that's before taking into account money from sponsorship or advertising.
Now in the whole UK there is 26,414,000 households (Source: ONS.gov.uk). I couldn't find out the exact number of TV licences because the FOI section of TV licencing doesn't seem to be loading for some reason (possibly more my end than their end). So if we assume every single household in the UK has a TV and a licence (I know they don't but let's just assume that it's easier) and they're all paying the £145.50 per year for a TV licence, then that means the BBC is only getting £238,295.94 for every 30 minutes of TV, and they don't get any money from sponsors or advertisements, and they're serving over 60% more customers than Sky (and they don't show as many repeats as Sky either!)
So in total it would be far better for the BBC to go subscription based and be allowed to show adverts and sponsors.
Microsoft loses grip on Christmas shoppers... despite XBox boost
Re: It's mainly a matter of time.......
You seen Chrome Books then - it's Android for a Netbook!
Windows RT tablet - give me Android any day!!!
I'm an IT technician and was called to sort someones tablet out a few weeks ago.
It was one of those Windows 8 RT things. I thought can't be that hard to help her, all she wanted was to remove some of the icons from the start menu.
So I started dragging the icons expecting to see some kind of dustbin or something I could put them in to get rid of them....
Ok where's the dustbin....
Looked on the net - the solution is to right click on the icon and click remove from start menu (having used Windows 8 on my home PC I already knew this - but there is one problem - there is no right mouse button on a tablet!).
So I started hunting around the tablet trying to find some kind of extra button other than the "Windows Start Menu" button that might work as a right click....
Some other website said swipe downwards on the icon to bring up the right click menu.... tried that and all that happened was the icon whizzed off somewhere else on the start menu.
Eventually after about 30 minutes of playing with the thing (and by this time if it was mine it would have been through the window by now - it's like a very expensive version of one of those metal puzzles everyone gets you at Christmas to see how long it takes you to figure out), I found out how to get the right menu up... well nearly..
I watched Youtube videos on how to do it and all they were doing was swiping downwards and no matter how I tried it, it just moved the icons everywhere, and then at one point I got the swipe down just right. I was like yay!!! I've got it....
So I deleted that icon for her, and proceeded to the next - oh wait I haven't got it... another 30 minutes later (really losing my patience with it now) and many more swipes I finally figure it out. You have to swipe down slightly to the right of the icon at a precise point between that icon and the next icon to bring up the right menu options (easy enough once you know exactly where to swipe - why not just make the interface like a twister board and get people to press the twister pads in a certain order for it to do something - surely even that would be easier!)
After that I'd got the hang of it and the lady said to me I'm glad I've got you here because I'd never have figured it out.... isn't Microsoft supposed to make things easy for the general public to use - if it even takes a technician an hour to figure it out what chance has the general public got? Did they even test this on real people before selling it. I know some will say it was probably somewhere in the manual, but you want a device that's easy and simple to use when you pick it up, not something that you've got to read a 1,000 page manual to get an idea of how everything works, I haven't even read the manual to my car and that's more complex than this, but most of it's switches are self explanatory (except the one for dimming the dashboard - that did take me a while to figure out 'cos it's symbol is the same as cruise control on my previous car!)
Aussie bloke hacks way to top of music charts with MIDI-based tunes
Re: Makes you think....
The KLF got fed up of the recording industry for this rigging years ago, which is why they ended up quitting the music industry in 1992 and vowing never to return under the name of The KLF (they kept that deal for about 5 years - when in 1997 they came back as 2K or the artists forever known as the Justified Ancient of Mu Mu, and did a one off gig, and song called K The Millennium - taking the mick out of the Millennium Dome and offering to build a pyramid with one brick for every person alive in 2000 at Loch Ness whilst 'king the Millennium)
Now of course Bill Drummond has fully realised that all recorded music is rubbish, he has destroyed his entire CD collection and only makes music as part of his "The 17" art work project where groups of 17 people turn up to make a noise
STROKE this mouse to make apps POP, says Microsoft
Is that Microsofts fix for an appalling OS?
Surely that can't be Microsoft's fix for such an appalling OS. Oh people want the start menu back, and the desktop - I know let's make a mouse with the start key on it, that'll fix it, and flog it to any fool who's bought Windows 8.
Since installing Windows 8 on my desktop I've found myself using Linux on my laptop more and more, and I certainly wont be replacing my Microsoft trackball with one of these mice anytime soon. The trackball is just way too good and Microsoft now unfortunately don't do trackballs, that is a device back from when Microsoft used to care about human computer interaction, now they've just gone screw HCI we'll do it our way 'cos we're big enough to do it and there ain't nothing anyone can do about it. But if MS think that they're headed for a major downfall.
'Leccy-starved Reg hack: 'How I survive on 1.5kW'
We have less than that when working at events in the summer...
I get through quite a lot of the summer using less electric than that as I work for an events firm, and just plugging anything other than a light bulb in is likely to blow the fuse as there are normally about 10-15 caravans all running off one box with splitters.
Wouldn't installing some kind of extra generator be allowed, like maybe a temporary diesel generator, or even solar panels in the garden or on the roof - if it's in Spain it's not like they don't have enough sun.
Hyperspeed travel looks wrong: Leicester students
Star Wars is Science FICTION for a reason...
I can't believe a bunch of clever scientists wasted their time figuring this one out.
Star Wars is science FICTION, not fact, meaning that some stuff that happens in the show isn't true, and can't possibly happen.
Next they'll be coming out with a story that the Death Star couldn't possibly be made...
A lot of Sci-fi is utter rubbish according to what we know currently (of course without anyway of testing these theories at present (and highly unlikely in the future) we have no way of checking who got it right).
There have been other things in sci-fi films that aren't true and that most probably couldn't happen - a time travelling delorean (knowing how bad those things were built the car would be obliterated if it tried to go as fast is it did in the movie to jump through time), mass effect relays that can take us to the collectors, an extra train platform that can only be accessed by witches and wizards running head on into a brick wall between platforms 9 and 10, the heart of gold - a ship that can make the impossible happen, or that there is a disc shaped planet riding on the back of a giant tortoise, etc.
All this is just science fiction and isn't meant to be taken as true, if science fiction was meant to be true then it would be very boring. It's just down to imagination and where it takes you and not meant to be taken literally and investigated by science.
Giant super-laser passes 500 TRILLION watts
So what does American spelling of LASER stand for then
if LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation I'm just wondering what does the American spelling stand for as they tend to spell it Lazer rather than LASER, or is it just to fit in with American language as opposed to British (like agonize, apologize, authorize, baptize, centralize, characterize, civilize, colonize, computerize, criticize, crystalize, dramatize, organize, etc).
BT fibre rollout reaches Scotland, Wales
Newport - Isle of White - LOL!!!!
Just noticed on the press release BT have spelt Isle of Wight wrong - shows how incompetent this firm really is, either that or someone is too trigger happy with spell checker!!
Still no Ludlow.... what do we not count here?
Really annoyed that Ludlow is still not considered important enough by BT to be considered for an upgrade.
Ludlow is a real joke when it comes to broadband, it's famous for it's food fair and medieval fayre and home of Boyce from Only Fools and Horses, and yet we're still on only 2mbps ADSL, not even upgraded to ADSL2 yet.
Got a good mind to ditch PlusNet as my provider and switch to TalkTalk instead, because PlusNet are owned by BT and if BT/Plus Net want to treat their customers like this well they don't deserve any.
There isn't much super-fast broadband in the whole of Shropshire I think BT seem to see us as a black hole in the middle nowhere that doesn't matter.
Samsung plots 3G iPhone, iPad bans in the Netherlands
I think you'll find that they didn't licence the 3G technology...
I think you'll find that 3G technology was probably licensed exactly the same way that Sun licenses Java, and numerous other technologies are licensed. In a manner that the technology is released, and normally the company will not implement a licensing structure, and not normally go after other companies who use their technology as long as they behave reasonably with it, but the company still maintains the rights to the item and can come down on companies like a ton of bricks if they do start taking the mick (as Apple is doing!). Sun did the same thing with Java and Microsoft, they released Java and didn't mind who used it or installed it on their systems with the exception of Microsoft, and then when Microsoft assumed it was ok for them to use the technology (without properly reading the terms and conditions) and incorporated into Windows, Sun came down on them like a ton of bricks letting them know that it was their technology and they didn't want Microsoft to include Java in Windows (instead customers have to download it as an add-on.)
I hope Samsung kicks Apple's backside...
Well it seems when you mess around with the big boys you get your fingers burnt, and hopefully it seems after Apple taking the mick and banning Samsung's devices just because they happened to look similar to an iPad they are about to get some recompense.
Apple are just like a little kid trying to stop companies making similar items, can you imagine where we'd be if car manufacturers tried this, you'd only have a Ford car because all others look and operate too much like the Model T.
I do notice though Apple for some strange reason don't seem to bothered about going after the companies making things like SciPhone's etc, and yet more about annoying the companies that partly supply them their technology, yeah I'm sure that makes good business sense.
Google dumps TV flop on UK
Let's have decent broadband first...
Yet another piece of useless junk for us to add to our collection of things that all want to take over our broadband connection.
Has Google noticed that in the UK we don't have the same super quality broadband quality that is enjoyed by American's?
Already most places that BT calls "remote" (although I don't know how BT can believe the whole of Shropshire as "remote") are struggling with a 2mbps line, and it's a joke.
My internet connection here with Plus Net is so slow it couldn't even play a full song from Grooveshark this morning without breaking it up every 10 seconds, how's that going to cope if we add a Google TV set to the equation.
Maybe Google might do better if they set up their own cable firm in the UK and used it's money to supply super fast broadband to areas that need it, instead of investing in some crummy TV system that half of the UK can't use.
Cambridge gets a white (space) wash
Also what about weather patterns...
I hold an amateur radio licence and am well aware of various implications these transmissions could cause, not just for local people but even for people on the other side of the globe.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth isn't too bad as the devices that use them barely pump out enough power or have a large enough antenna to make that kind of difference, and also use not very good frequencies, although radio is a very strange medium and even when you think everything is perfect something strange and unexpected can happen.
Radio can easily escape out of it's boundaries depending on atmospheric conditions such as weather and cause problems not just in and around the area the transmission is designed to be in, but also for many miles outside the area, and even on the other side of the world if it happens to bounce on the ionosphere.
Some examples of strange radio anomalies I've encountered which show the problem are -
When I lived in Preston I used to be able to receive Wire FM from Warrington, they're signal was so strong it used to wipe out Tower FM which was nearer to me in Bolton, and Wire FM was only supposed to have an area of Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn. My only thought on that one is that it could have been using one of the Tower FM repeaters to re-broadcast itself.
In Manchester Key 103 and Galaxy 102 (Capital 102) regularly interfere with each other, despite Key 103 being on 103Mhz and Galaxy being 1Mhz lower than Key 103, you actually can't listen to either one in Manchester as you get 5 seconds of one and then 5 seconds of another, and back to 5 seconds of one. This is caused due to the way the bandwidth of FM works, Key 103 probably have a bandwidth of over 500Khz and the same for Capital and so the two are crossing each others bandwidth and causing major interference.
In some parts of North Wales, especially Anglesey, but even on the coast near Rhyl and Towyn you can receive RTE 2FM crystal clear, and in some places on the A55 it even blocks out other local stations.
So you have to be very careful of all these problems radio can cause, even on frequencies where it sounds to your equipment that there is nothing, sometimes there can be something else there that you can't hear that someone else is trying to receive in a different location to you and you could block it out.
In addition to this you also have harmonics to think about, something that might be transmitting on the third harmonic of the frequency you are using could have it's communication interfered with, even though it sounds like the frequency you are using is empty, this includes some things like emergency services. Most people don't seem to realise that if you send something out on say for example 90Mhz you also create major interference on 270Mhz which even though you might think well that's not a problem that is outside my radio's scope as my radio only goes from 88Mhz to 108Mhz, that frequency may be being used by someone else (for example an emergency frequency) and they don't want your broadcast wandering all over it. This used to happen in Warrington a lot when a local bus company used to have their PMR for the buses on a harmonic of 97.4 so anyone listening to Rock FM used to regularly get interrupted by some bus driver reporting back to base, thankfully now they have a digital radio system so it's not as problematic, but to them they were just transmitting on what appeared to be an unused PMR frequency without realising the problems they were causing further on up the dial.
BT earmarks 66 more exchanges for fibre-to-the-cabinet upgrade
Still no Ludlow....
It's unbelievable I was on a ISLAND (Isle of Wight) at the weekend that had CABLE TV and BROADBAND, and full 3G phone coverage. I come back to Ludlow which is in the middle of the mainland (only about 20 miles from the major city of Birmingham) and STILL we have no fibre optic and no plans at present for fibre optic and barely even get 3G. WTF???? Villages on an island actually have better broadband and TV than we do on the mainland, BT really need to get their priorities sorted.
I might resort to sending smoke signals in Ludlow, might get there quicker and save me a fortune on a sub-standard hit and miss broadband service from Plus Net.
Five amazing computers for under £100
What about proper computers?
This list seems a little bit badly titled - "five computers for under a ton"
Half of these devices aren't even proper computers - iPhone, Palm, these aren't "computers" these are handheld pda's/phones, might as well throw games consoles in there whilst your at it with this list.
Where are the proper 8-bit computers like the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, C64, MSX some of these have really good use even today, like playing Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy in it's original form. The MSX had probably the best basic program language ever, I learned to program computers on this, it had such basic power, but was really easy to use.
Also what about things like the Atari ST, are they not available for under £100? Great for creating music on and about £75 on eBay. Also many Amiga 500's lying around on eBay for about £40 - one guy is even selling 5 for £15 - bargain for a proper classic computer.
D-Link very surprised...
I' m very surprised about your comments that D-Link provide frequent updates. I used to own D-Link Vonage router, the only thing that was good about it was that it worked as a vonage box and wireless router all in one. Had it for three years waiting for D-Link to provide an update to it's firmware to stop the frequent crashing, resetting, forgetting all settings when power is switched off (including most importantly wi-fi security settings). Kept asking D-Link and Vonage if they were ever going to provide a firmware update to fix the problems, Vonage said it was D-Link's responsibility D-Link were never forthcoming with the update. Also looking on the net for reviews of that router it seems I wasn't the only one that was stuck with this useless bugged device that D-Link wouldn't do anything about. Since then got myself a new Linksys router and added a seperate Vonage box instead, and certainly wouldn't touch anything made by D-Link ever again.
UK is fifth free-est nation on the internet
Was very surprised at this list...
When I read this and notice Estonia was at the top, and Sweden was no-where in this list this really did surprise me, until I went to view the whole website to find out where Sweden came, considering how it has dealt in the past with sites like The Pirate Bay, compared to how us and the USA have dealt with similar sites.
I then found a big flaw in this list - Sweden, along with all of the other Nordic countries, and half of the European countries were not included in this list.
What is the point in this list, unless all the countries of the world are included you can't say Britain is fifth, it's like saying Pepsi is the number one coke, and excluding Coca-Cola from the list, absolutely useless statistic.
US woman sues again over XP 'downgrade', seeks class action
Buy one with Linux on then...
You can buy a laptop without Windows on, such as one with Linux on, as Linux is a free operating system the company selling the laptop can only charge the cost to install it on the laptop (and/or the costs for the CD's), not for the actual OS (otherwise they're breaking the GPL and selling something which is not rightly theirs to sell).
Then buy a Windows XP licence, that way you don't need to purchase Vista/7 with a laptop.
Apple bars radiation nanny from App Store
Quite agree with the headaches.
I quite agree that some radio transmissions can give quite severe headaches.
I used to do Amateur Radio and remember one night I was talking for a few hours to a friend on my hand-held radio. During this time I had it plugged into a 12v PSU to save the battery from going flat.
Afterwards the radio was really hot due to the amount of transmitting it had been doing, and I had a really bad headache. The headache was in the area where the radio's antenna had been closest to my head. Since then I've never used my amateur radio gear in such a way.
This could be totally different though to mobile phones as the frequency I used then in amateur radio was 1.44-1.45Mhz (2m), where as mobile phones use Ghz so either might not induce headaches but do more serious damage, or might do no damage whatsoever.
Apple seeks antenna engineers after 'Death Grip' debacle
Maybe Apple needs some radio hams on their team.
Maybe Apple need to hire some amateur radio enthusiasts to do a better job on their next phone.
Seems a bit silly to have the antenna or ground plane in a place where you can touch it as this would lengthen or shorten the antenna and plane depending on the way the electric flows through your body, and also how electrically charged you are at the time with static electric.
Jobsian drones shackle gamer with 'lifetime' iPad ban
Apple over-controlling their property again
Apple constantly try and control their stuff. Hopefully this lifetime ban is enough to put everyone off wanting an iPad (although I know it wont be).
I have never owned an iPhone/iPad/iPod and wouldn't want to. I can't see what the point is in them.
There are plenty of other Third party products already available that are better than Apple's stuff, it's just Apple monopolises certain things that run on it (like the music format).
And what a lot of people don't seem to notice is most of what Apple do is a copy off other companies failed products, and just by sticking the Apple logo on it and making it work with iTunes they can sell it.
E.g. The iPhone - years ago I had the Motorola A1000, I could do nearly all the same stuff on the A1000 that the iPhone could do (apart from the accelerometer and use iTunes) and this came out 5 years before the iPhone.
The iPod - there was Mp3 players years before iPods, the only difference was you could put iTunes onto the iPod which you couldn't put on Mp3 players.
Of course this restriction soon changed once Amazon started offering their songs on Mp3, funny enough a few weeks later Apple copied Amazon and started offering iTunes on MP3 (wasn't that convenient?).
At one point I used to like the Apple Mac's as they were good machines, but now Apple is going more and more like Microsoft and Sony every day. Not caring about their customers, just concentrating on gaining control on everything and bullying people into submission.
Adobe heats up iPad Flash bash
Typical Apple dictatorship...
Typical Apple dictatorship trying to prevent end users doing what they want to do with the device that THEY have bought from Apple.
It's their device they should be allowed to install what they want on it not have some dictatorship company acting like they still own the device when it's been sold.
So the web on iPad is without Flash, that has certainly put me off ever wanting to buy one then.
Have Apple ever taken a look at the internet if you turn Flash off? The majority of sites are just big blank blocks, mainly because web developers don't see any point in incorporating a non-flash version of their site.
I was recently working on one company's website and was told to not bother putting the non-flash images in, and after developing a problem with Flash on my laptop and having to disable it I quickly found out that this wasn't the only company that doesn't bother to make websites accessible to those without Flash player.
I really frown on companies who don't bother with supporting users with older machines that either can't run Flash, or not thinking about people with disabilities who use screen readers that can't cope with Flash, but I think Apple are being really silly locking out Flash from the iPad.
I seem to remember the PSP when it first came out with a lack of Flash and it wasn't long before Flash was put on the PSP as the web browser on the PSP was useless without Flash, same thing could happen with the iPad if Apple aren't careful.
McKinnon: The longest ever game of pass the parcel
More protection for Iraqi than UK citizen.
Just saw a really bad news story this morning that puts all this Gary McKinnon thing into full perspective.
A judge has ruled that a Schizophrenic should not be deported to Iraq after murdering two NHS hospital workers after saying he got a calling from Allah, because it would break his human rights and he might not get the proper treatment.
YET we seem determined to deport somebody who has not killed anyone, just hacking into a system that had major security holes in it, who is at risk of killing himself if he is deported. And he didn't even commit the crime in the US so he should be tried in the UK anyway where he committed the crime.
The US seem to think they can constantly dictate their rules to the entire world, you only need to look at some of the "dumb" legal letters that companies in the US used to send to The Pirate Bay in Sweden to see how stupidly the Americans think they can enforce their law worldwide.
Why the protection of human rights laws for the Iraqi and not for the British person. If the British government do decide to deport Gary McKinnon then they are being racist towards the British people, yet we are expected to put up with them being racist because apparently racism only counts if it's against the ethnic minority. Sorry but to treat someone totally different regardless of whether or not they are the ethnic minority is still racism.
The only thing is he might actually be better in America than the UK as their support for people with Aspergers is far better than the NHS's. I have Aspergers and ADHD and the support I receive from the NHS is appalling. Throughout School, College and University they missed Aspergers and just put it down to ADHD and "oh he'll grow out of it", something that the NHS regularly falsely claimed about ADHD (without bothering to look at all other countries stating that Adult ADHD does exist, and now they're trying to cover up all the mess ups they made).
It finally took a Scout leader to notice my Autistic tendencies, and even after that I got sent all over the country trying to get a diagnosis (eventually ending up with Prof. Digby Tantum in Sheffield for AS, and The Priory re-assessing my ADHD - just in time for me turning 25 which is the age when most support for special needs ends in this country, quite convenient timing wasn't it?).
After the assessment I was told they'd supply cognitive behaviour therapy to help my ADHD/Aspergers. The best CBT they offered was to go and join a support centre for various mentally ill people so you can get involved with loads of activities (with ADHD I don't need any more activities). At present I am being supported by WAspS which was a group set up originally by parents with AS due to the lack of support from the NHS for Aspergers.
Lawyers pursue banned Xbox Live gamers
You messed with your console and were warned - it's tough!
To all the people who modified their console, whether or not you modified it to play illegal games or backups it's tough. You read and agreed to the terms and conditions of the X-Box console. If you keep your original discs safe they should easily outlast the playability of the game anyway so you should have no need to back them up. As for the ones who have been using illegal discs in your console, you put your hand inside the cookie jar and got caught. It was so obvious that at some point Microsoft, and no doubt many other games consoles will put a stop to illegal gaming through online lock down, it is the best and most easiest way to stop piracy. Even if someone comes out with a fix for it Microsoft will just introduce a new patch to stop you going onto XBox Live again. Do the decent thing, stop breaking the law and only buy legitimate games for your console and give the developers their money.
Consumer Panel recommends try before buy mobiles
Three ripped me off in August by selling me a contract that doesn't exist.
I bought a PAYG sim card in August from Carphone Warehouse on the 3 Stretch plan. I was really annoyed with 3 as I got told that this plan no longer exists and Carphone Warehouse shouldn't be selling it. After I kept telling them that it is illegal to sell something as advertised and then to totally change the package all I kept getting back was that they couldn't do anything and I'd need to return it to CPW for a refund. As I was too busy at the time, I was helping on a scout camp and used the only time I had to go and get the sim card I didn't have time to return to CPW to get a refund.
I was really annoyed with 3 over this as I'd been a contract customer with them since the service started, I only bought the PAYG sim card because I'd run out of minutes on my phone and it worked out cheaper to buy a Stretch sim as advertised instead of keep using my phone, instead it cost me more because the new PAYG contract didn't have the option to stretch.
I was very disappointed with 3 for just keep coming up with the same old bull that they hadn't false advertised, despite the sim card had come in a box that was all printed advertising the stretch tariff. If they had discontinued the stretch tariff in June as they claimed, firstly why did they not de-activate all the sim cards that were in these boxes to stop anyone from being mis-sold them? and also why did it take them until August, after my complaint to them to update their website to tell people the stretch tariff is no longer available.
The only thing they told me they would do is change their website, and recall all those sim cards from CPW to ensure no-one else gets mislead, no sorry, or free credit. Three just don't give a damn about their customers, very bad company, stay away from them. Also it gets even worse when you try and cancel one of their contracts, every 5 minutes you get a pestering sales call from someone in India offering you the same contract your on for the same price if you stay with them for another month, and sometimes they don't even bother to disconnect the phone when you cancel your contract.
O2 could impose out-of-contract iPhone lock-in
Doesn't really matter
Doesn't really matter, if they do offer to unlock the handset or not. If they don't unlock the handset, I'm quite sure there will be plenty of people in markets and computer fairs offering to unlock them anyway, the only people that would lose out if they do ban people from taking their iPhones is O2 as they'd lose out to market traders.
Google cloud told to encrypt itself
Never send sensitive information through e-mail anyway!
I can't believe Google is getting slated over this. Even if you send your data through gmail securely there is no guarantee that your details aren't going to be hacked into somewhere along the line.
You should never send any type of personal information through an e-mail system, especially not things like bank details.
I get so annoyed with MBNA who send me a letter through e-mail every so often saying "We have added your postcode to this e-mail so you know it's from us".
So how does the fact that MBNA know what my postcode is prove to me that the e-mail they've sent me is genuinely from them? Apart from the fact that anywhere along the lines, between MBNA's mail server and my mail server, anyone could have taken a look at that e-mail and seen my postcode, wrote it down and sent me an e-mail that looks like it's from MBNA, although I'm not really bothered if people find out my postcode, they could find it just as easily by looking in the phone book.
E-mail is not secure and should never be used to send anything sensitive. Certainly never bank details of any sort. If you really must send bank details through e-mail possibly the most safest way is to put them in to a file and compress the file with something like WinRAR adding a secure password to it (ideally at least 8 characters long with numbers, capital letters and some non-alphanumeric characters in it for good measure). Then call the person and tell them the password to open the file at their end, then you know that it is fully encrypted before being sent.
Exam board to hear appeal over format cockup
Maybe they should use OpenOffice next year...
Maybe next year instead of giving over thousands of pounds of school money to Microsoft for Office and have the work produced in the wrong format they should use OpenOffice and submit it all in PDF. At least in PDF there is no way any of the work could be intentionally altered.
It is laughable though that firstly Edexel aren't able to read the most common document format in the world, and even more funny is the fact that they are not allowed to contact the school in the case of such a major mess up. Surely if they were allowed to contact the school after realising the blunder this could have easily been rectified without all the red tape of going through the appeals process, all the students getting told they've failed, and then all having to have their work re-assessed, all of which is wasting time for these students. It's not too bad at the moment as they're probably not going off to college, but if this had happened in the summer exams some of these students might have missed out on college places due to Edexel's incompetence.
Grand Theft Auto IV PC debut gets SecuROM sideshow
Online authenitication...
Online authenticiation with this stupid Securom 7 is preventing people who don't have internet access from playing games.
My sister recently bought Spore and got it home. She was so annoyed when she installed it as she lives in a flat and doesn't want to pay an ISP £25 a month 'cos she'd rather go the library to use the internet than subscribe.
The only problem is you can't just take your PC down to the library and plug it in to their network just to activate Spore, so for her to play the game EA were trying to force her to sign a 12-month contract to a broadband service which she'd very rarely use, except to just activate one stupid game!
I told her to see if there was a way to activate offline (like Microsoft do with Vista and XP - and these are worth between £80-£200, unlike this stupid little game that's only worth £40). And the idiots at EA have made no way to allow you to activate the game offline.
So they have just alienated loads of people who do not have and do not want or can't afford the internet and ripped them off by £40. She did notice on the bottom of the Spore box in very small writing it does state "Internet connection required for activation". Well EA and Rockstar if you're going to do that with future games you might want to make that sign a little LARGER like maybe on the front of the box in big letters (like you get when you buy an expansion pack for something where it says on the top "Requires original game to run"), not hide it on the back of the box, in 5pt writing so no-one can see it.
She did end up activating the game by bringing the PC to my house, but what if she hadn't known somebody with an internet connection, or didn't have someone who would be willing for her to come down and lend it to activate the game (or even had the technologic knowledge to do this. She'd have wasted £40 on a game she couldn't play. Securirom should think more carefully about people who don't have the internet and allow them to phone a number up to activate it.
Beeb to cut the f**king swearing
Sack Jonathan Ross
Firstly there will be a lot less swearing coming out Jonathan Ross's gob next year as he wont be working with the Beeb for the next 6 months. Although I think the BBC should stop messing around with the licence payers money and sack this loser (does anyone actually watch his show anyway?? Ant and Dec are far more popular any day than Ross, and the Auntie handed them over to ITV along with Paul O'Grady - all top quality comedians that ITV probably pay a lot less for than the BBC pay for Ross).
The BBC does have some really good and funny comedians out there such as Chris Moyles, but Jonathan Ross is just a waste of space and a waste of the TV licence payers money. I am really annoyed that I am being forced to subscribe to this losers pay packet just because I own a TV and live in the UK.
BBC Micro creators meet to TRACE machine's legacy
Nice list of other computers that people had who couldn't afford the BBC B, I settled for one not on the list - the Japanese MSX, this was for those who couldn't even afford the C-64's/Spectrums, later on I went up to a C64 which electrocuted me with a dodgy plug, and then went over to the ZX Spectrum +2 and finally came back to Commodore with the Amiga (after seeing an ST emulator I'm really glad I evaded that one!). I also ended up with the BBC smaller brother - The Acorn Electron!
Artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince attacks internet
Artist formerly known as...
What is the obsession with this old has-bean, he's finished, he had a few ok songs in the 80's mainly pulling on the 1999 worlds going to end scenario, but now he's so desperate for record sales that he has to give his music away for free in a newspaper (and a conservative one at that, hey! they are both the same the conservatives and prince - old and finished!)
The only one thing I can see is good is the fact he's attacking that scum sucking website eBay who are suppossed to protect people's rights yet don't do very good when it comes to slander in the feedback system. eBay seem to have their own rules - we stop you listing anything that might be copyright infringing even if you have a right to sell it 'cos it might be illegal, yet we're ok at people publishing slander in the feedback comments, even though it is blatantly false without a court order against the person who made the comments there is nothing you can do (and fat chance your going to do that - solicitors wont take you on for a libel case against someone on eBay!). I've got that fed up of using eBay now I've started using eBid, at least they don't charge for everything you do like eBay.


text:
Release Date: 1996 | Tracklist
Why the hell is my review censored?
bro, gotta use brackets for your coding
Album Rating: 4.0Nu metal for hardcore kids, but this shit is awesome.Digging: The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
Digging: The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
Dude's heard one metallic hardcore album and believes he an authority on the genre. And what's with the first paragraph? Is that meant to be a joke?
Whoops double post
Album Rating: 4.0That's how it works, no?
I like how he tried to introduce some creativity, but yea that paragraph was kinda goofy
Sputnik mentions track no.9 as "Zone Hero" instead of "Zone Zero". Also, why do they censor the reviews? The swearing was in direct quote.
my guess is they feel is takes away from any professionalism a review may have had; but I agree with you, who cares.
They don't have to worry about professionalism with this review.
"Hell, the Nineties (maybe apart from the last quarter or so) were one pissed time." ...so everyone was drunk?
Album Rating: 4.0It was all about that hardcore man
m/Digging: Phantogram - Voices
Digging: Phantogram - Voices
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

subset: commoncrawl


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Health and medical news while I was away
If my email inbox is any indication, a lot happened during my week off. While I sort through the tips and press releases, I thought I would point out a few stories as a way to begin catching up:
- The Virginia Department of Health confirmed, as of Tuesday, five cases of West Nile Virus in the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, the state public health officials have joined the national plea for people to avoid mosquito bites as a way to prevent the disease. Among the health department's hints are to use insect repellent, wear long sleeves and pants at dusk and dawn, and eliminate standing water to deter mosquito breeding areas from forming in your yard.
- The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine announced plans to open a second branch campus. The latest addition to the private Blacksburg-based school will be in Alabama and is expected to open by 2015. The college's first branch campus welcomed its second class in South Carolina earlier this summer.
- A community health survey released last week by Carilion Clinic revealed some local residents need better access to medical care, more nutritious food, increased health education and opportunities to build their physical fitness. The findings didn't surprise those who conducted the survey, my colleague Neil Harvey reported. Read the entire executive summary.
- Finally, if you missed it, I posted an entry earlier today on Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia's plans to open four four medical offices as a way to begin providing health care directly to Medicare recipients.


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Crazy_Fool - 12:01 pm on Apr 22, 2002 (gmt 0)
i'd also say make sure other pages on the site link to the site map - that way, the site map becomes part of the site rather than some sort of doorway page which could be classed as spam. i'd also go along with the suggestion of text on the page - maybe a very brief description of each page?
if you're worried about a particular page being classed as spam, then why not simply use the meta robots tags to prevent it being indexed? that way, people can use the site map and you shouldn't get penalised for spamming.


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GREENVILLE—Darke County Special Olympics is sponsoring a 'cash for gold' fundraiser on Dec. 6, 3-7 p.m., at the Darke County Law Library, 124 W. Fifth St., Greenville. This is a 'golden opportunity' to get Christmas cash for yourself and raise funds for Darke County Special Olympics, as the organization will receive 10% from the buyer.
Any gold or platinum jewelry – broken, kinked necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, pendants, watches, dental gold – can be taken for pricing. Connie Voss, an independent buyer and owner of Voss Gold Buying, LLC, will offer everyone the best prices for the gold. She does not buy stones, but will remove and return whatever is possible.
For more information, contact Cindy Rose, 584-4915, ext 225; or Voss Gold, 567-644-5654.
Nov 29, 2012
Cash for Gold to benefit Special Olympics
Blue Bag Media
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This twisted and awesome animated PSA was created by the Melbourne Metro as a reminder that getting hit by a train is the dumbest way to die. November 22 2012 at 10:10am
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text: Firm profile submitted by Penningtons Manches LLP Chief Executive David Raine Number of partners 67 Assistant solicitors 87 Other fee-earners 42 THE FIRM Penningtons Solicitors LLP is a top 100 UK law firm which provides a broad range of legal services tailored to the needs of businesses and individuals. It addresses the specific objectives of each client, offering a partner-led service with an emphasis on team work. The firm aims always to match client expectations in the areas of quality, efficiency and cost of service as well as adding value.Penningtons' head office is in the City of London. There are further offices in Cambridge, Hampshire and Surrey. As a member of Multilaw and the European Law Group, Penningtons has close links with law firms throughout the world. Clients range from private individuals and owner managed businesses to multinational corporations, public companies, professional partnerships, banks and financial institutions. PRINCIPAL AREAS OF WORK The main areas of legal services provided are real estate, dispute resolution, corporate and commercial, private client and family. The firm also has a variety of multi-disciplinary teams offering focused services to specific industry sectors – including social housing, healthcare, education, banking, charities, media and advertising, agriculture, technology, retail, travel, hotels and leisure, transport and family businesses. To ensure a seamless service is provided to clients, all Penningtons' activities and people are divided into three divisions: Business Services: This division offers expertise in corporate services and corporate finance, MBOs, MBIs, M&A and joint ventures. It also handles all types of dispute resolution, mediation and arbitration. Areas of work include corporate tax, IP, employment, insurance, banking, international arbitrations, immigration, travel law, professional regulation, partnership disputes, secured lending recoveries, share sale and purchase disputes, insolvency work and all types of real estate litigation. Real Estate: The real estate division represents companies, institutions and individuals, both in the UK and overseas, seeking property advice. Solicitors are experienced in dealing with registered social landlords, investment sales and purchases, funding agreements, development schemes, portfolio management, landlord and tenant matters and agricultural investments, as well as smaller commercial property work. Specialist town and country planning, environmental, taxation and construction law advice is also provided. The residential property team advises on high value residential property sales and purchases, including French property transactions. Private Individuals: Private client services include international tax structuring, personal tax planning,wills, trusts, charities, the administration of estates and capacity and Court of Protection matters. The family unit deals with all aspects of family financial work and specialises in children law. This division also has a substantial clinical negligence and personal injury practice which is regarded as one of the leading teams in the South East. INTERNATIONAL Penningtons has solicitors who have either practised in or have a strong working knowledge of commercial activity and legal issues in France, Italy,North America and Asia. In addition, a full international service is provided in association with the member firms of Multilaw and the European Law Group. RECRUITMENT For training placements and recruitment enquiries contact David Raine at the firm's London office or visit Penningtons' website. Penningtons is always interested to hear from first class individuals who wish to advance their careers within a progressive and entrepreneurial firm. ContactsHead of Business Services Division Franco Bosi Head of Private Individuals Division Tim Palmer Head of Real Estate Division Peter McElligott Agriculture Tim Rafter Banking & Finance Malcolm Pearson, Russell Jarvis Charities Charles Brooks Clinical Negligence Tim Palmer, Philippa Luscombe Commercial Anna Frankum Commercial Construction Peter Jansen, Peter Massey Contentious Trusts Michael Cash Corporate Simon Bickerdike Corporate Recovery & Insolvency Noel McMichael Court of Protection Julie Burton Education Hilary Aldred Employment Jon Heuvel, Paul Mander Family Gillian Rivers Healthcare John Hargreaves Immigration Pat Saini Intellectual Property Anna Frankum Offshore Tax Planning Chris Lintott Pensions Maria Riccio Personal Injury Tim Palmer, Philippa Luscombe Private Client Lesley Lintott Professional Regulation Katrina Wingfield, Geoffrey Hudson Real Real Residential Property Tim Rafter, Michael White Social Housing Linda Storey Tax Sarah Cardew Technology Joanne Vengadesan, James Klein Transport (regulatory) David Niven Travel, Hotels & Leisure Mark Lee, Sarah Cardew Branches Abacus House, 33 Gutter Lane, London, Greater London UK EC2V 8AR Tel (020) 7457 3000 Fax (020) 7457 3240 DX 42605 Cheapside Email : firstname.lastname@example.com Website : www.penningtons.co.uk da Vinci House, Basing View, Basingstoke, Hampshire UK RG21 4EQ Tel (01256) 407100 Fax (01256) 479425 DX 148600 Basingstoke 21 Email : firstname.lastname@example.com Ground Floor, Clarendon House, Clarendon Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire UK CB2 8FH Tel (01223) 465465 Fax (01223) 465400 DX 131971 Cambridge 6 Email : email@example.com Highfield, Brighton Road, Godalming, Surrey UK GU7 1NS Tel (01483) 791800 Fax (01483) 424177 DX 58300 Godalming 1 Email : email@example.com Bishops Wharf, Walnut Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey UK GU1 4UP Tel (01483) 791800 Fax (01483) 424177 DX 2405 Guildford Email : email@example.com ^ Return to Top Contact Penningtons Manches LLP >


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BikeMaster Digital Tire Gauge
- Ranges from 0-100 psi
- One button operation
- Easy to read
- Digital accuracy
- Automatic shut off after 15 seconds
- Includes battery
Our Two Cents
Easy One button operation. Reads accurately to 100 psi. Small and compact tire gauges are an essential tool for keeping your motorcycle operating properly.


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The Patent Law Practice Center is a destination point for patent practitioners to get the latest news, analysis and resources to assist them in their daily work. The Practice Center blog features frequently updated content covering the latest developments in the patent field. Our Practice Center Contributors, who provide ideas, analysis and content to the Practice Center are experts in their field and come from some of the nation's top law firms. Partnering with Knowledge Mosaic, the Practice Center features up-to-the-minute world news, law firm memos, case law and blog posts.
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Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Amanda Solliday reports at Symmetry that six months ago, organizers of a biweekly forum on Large Hadron Collider physics at Fermilab banned PowerPoint presentations in favor of old-fashioned, chalkboard-style talks. 'Without slides, the participants go further off-script, with more interaction and curiosity,' says Andrew Askew. 'We wanted to draw out the importance of the audience.' In one recent meeting, physics professor John Paul Chou of Rutgers University presented to a full room holding a single page of handwritten notes and a marker. The talk became more dialogue than monologue as members of the audience, freed from their usual need to follow a series of information-stuffed slides flying by at top speed, managed to interrupt with questions and comments. Elliot Hughes, a Rutgers University doctoral student and a participant in the forum, says the ban on slides has encouraged the physicists to connect with their audience. 'Frequently, in physics, presenters design slides for people who didn't even listen to the talk in the first place,' says Hughes. 'In my experience, the best talks could not possibly be fully understood without the speaker.'"
Taco Cowboy writes "Istanbul (dpa) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is considering banning YouTube and Facebook after local elections at the end of this month, according to remarks carried by local media Friday. It may, or may not be related to the criticisms arising from (not-yet verified) leaked recordings of Mr. Erdogan's involvement with corruption. 'We will not let YouTube and Facebook destroy our nation. We will take measures, including closure,' said Erdogan, who has previously made comments against social media sites. YouTube had been banned in the country for two years and was recently unblocked."
astroengine writes "Out of the thousands of craters scarring the face of Mars, one has emerged as the likely source of most of the Martian meteorites that have been recovered on Earth, a new study shows. Researchers pinpoint Mojave Crater, a 34 mile (55 kilometer) wide basin on the planet's equator, as the origin of the so-called 'shergottites' meteorites, a family that includes about 75 percent of the roughly 150 known Martian meteorites. The crater is located slightly north and east of Meridian Planum, where NASA's Mars rover Opportunity landed in January 2004."
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Bloomberg reports that the oil industry is pressuring President Barack Obama to end the 41-year-old ban on most crude exports but British Petroleum (BP) isn't waiting for a decision. The British oil giant has signed on to take at least 80 percent of the capacity of a new $360 million mini-refinery in Houston that will process crude just enough to escape restrictions on sales outside the country. 'It's a relatively inexpensive way around the export prohibition,' says Judith Dwarkin 'You can lightly ruffle the hydrocarbons and they are considered processed and then they aren't subject to the ban.' Amid a flood of new US oil, the demand for simple, one-step plants capable of transforming raw crude into exportable products such as propane is feeding a construction boom along the Gulf Coast. The first such mini-refinery, built for 1/10 the cost of a complex, full-scale refinery, is scheduled to open the first phase of its 100,000 barrel-a-day crude processing plant in July, The mini-refineries take advantage of the law that allows products refined from oil to be sold overseas, though not the raw crude itself. 'The international buyers of these products will likely need to refine them further, so this is basically a veiled form of condensate exports,' says Leo Mariani."
schwit1 writes "In a David vs. Goliath battle that pitted the Federal Aviation Administration against the operator of a small model airplane, a federal administrative judge has sided with the aircraft's pilot. The judge has dismissed a proposed $10,000 fine against businessman Raphael Pirker, who used a remotely operated 56-inch foam glider to take aerial video for an advertisement for the University of Virginia Medical Center"
Jim_Austin writes "Academic science labs are generally far less safe than labs in industry; one estimate says that people working in academic labs are 11x more likely to be hurt than their industrial counterparts. A group of grad students and postdocs in Minnesota decided to address the issue had-on. With encouragement and funding from DOW, and some leadership from their department chairs, they're in the process of totally remaking their departments' safety cultures."
Nerval's Lobster writes "Newsweek's Leah McGrath Goodman spent months tracking down the mysterious founder of Bitcoin, "Satoshi Nakamoto," a name that everybody seemed to believe was a pseudonym for either a single individual or a shadowy collective of programmers. If Satoshi Nakamoto, former government contractor and model-train enthusiast, is actually "Satoshi Nakamoto," Bitcoin founder, then he's sitting atop hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto-currency. Does the article's exhaustive listing of Nakamoto's personal details place his security at risk? Many in the Bitcoin community think so, and poured onto the Web to express that opinion. The Newsweek article has raised some interesting questions about the need for thorough journalism versus peoples' right to privacy. For example, should Goodman have posted an image of Nakamoto's house and car, even though information about both would probably be relatively simple to find online, anyway?"
alphadogg writes "Having lots of Wi-Fi networks packed into a condominium or apartment building can hurt everyone's wireless performance, but Stanford University researchers say they've found a way to turn crowding into an advantage. In a dorm on the Stanford campus, they're building a single, dense Wi-Fi infrastructure that each resident can use and manage like their own private network. That means the shared system, called BeHop, can be centrally managed for maximum performance and efficiency while users still assign their own SSIDs, passwords and other settings. The Stanford project is making this happen with inexpensive, consumer-grade access points and SDN (software-defined networking)."
sciencehabit writes "Scientists have developed an algorithm that converts simple grayscale images into musical soundscapes. Even people blind from birth can use the technology to 'see' their surroundings and navigate around a room. Equally intriguing, the part of the subject's brain responsible for vision was active during these tasks, suggesting our thinking about how the brain works may be wrong. Instead of a 'vision center' of the brain, for example, we may actually have a region that helps us 'see', whether that input comes from sight or sound."
itwbennett writes "A new commercial tool designed to allow cybercriminals to easily transform legitimate Android applications into malicious software has hit the underground market, paving the way for cheap and easy development of sophisticated Android malware. Security researchers from Symantec said Wednesday in a blog post that the tool, called Dendroid, is marketed by its creators as an Android remote administration tool (RAT) and is being sold for $300."
astroengine writes "Hubble has observed some weird things since it was launched in 1990, but this is probably one of the strangest. In September 2013, the Catalina and Pan-STARRS sky surveys spotted a mysterious object in the asteroid belt, a region of rocky debris that occupy the space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Follow-up observations by the Keck Observatory in Hawaii resolved three separate objects within the fuzzy cloud. It was so strange that Hubble mission managers decided to use the space telescope to get a closer look. And what they saw has baffled and thrilled astronomers in equal measure. 'This is a really bizarre thing to observe — we've never seen anything like it before,' said co-author Jessica Agarwal of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany. 'The break-up could have many different causes, but the Hubble observations are detailed enough that we can actually pinpoint the process responsible.'"
rjmarvin writes "Samsung looks to have found a way around voice commands for smart glasses by projecting an augmented reality keyboard onto users' hands. Galaxy Glass wearers' thumbs are used as input devices, tapping different areas of their fingers where various keys are virtually mapped. According to the August 2013 patent filing with the WIPO and South Korea's Intellectual Property Office, Samsung states that voice controls are too imprecise a technology, which are too heavily impacted by the noise levels of the surrounding environment."
Bomarc writes "An article on KOMO website highlights the proposed use of a 'rocket cat' as weaponry. The — sometimes colorful illustrations that are coming to light illustrations (Digitized by the University of Pennsylvania) that are coming to light from a circa-1530 manual on artillery and siege warfare seem to show jet packs strapped to the backs of cats.
Hallie Siegel writes "Frank Tobe, returning from the recent Skolkovo Robotics Conference in Russia, writes about the irony of this Moscow Times headline, delves into the vision behind Russia's growing Skolkovo IT cluster, and gives some surprising facts about Russian robotics"
Link to Original Source
cold fjord writes with this CNN report: "Massachusetts' highest court ruled Wednesday that it is not illegal to secretly photograph underneath a person's clothing — a practice known as "upskirting" — prompting one prosecutor to call for a revision of state law. The high court ruled that the practice did not violate the law because the women who were photographed while riding Boston public transportation were not nude or partially nude."
MojoKid writes "Buzz has been building for the last week that Microsoft would soon unveil the next version of DirectX at the upcoming Games Developer Conference (GDC). Microsoft has now confirmed that its discussion forums at the show won't just be to discuss updates to DX11, but that the company is putting a full court press behind DirectX 12. The company responded sharply over a year ago, when an AMD executive claimed that future versions of the API were essentially dead, but it has been over four years since DX11 debuted. To date, Microsoft has only revealed a few details of the next-generation API. Like AMD's Mantle, it will focus on giving developers "close-to-metal" GPU resource access and reducing CPU overhead. Like Mantle, the goal of DirectX 12 is to give programmers more control over performance tuning, with an eye towards better multi-threading and multi-GPU scaling. Unlike Mantle, DirectX 12 will undoubtedly support a full range of GPUs from AMD, Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm. Qualcomm's presence is interesting. With Windows RT all but moribund, Qualcomm's interest in that market may have seemed incidental. However, the fact that the company is involved with the DX12 standard could mean that the handset and tablet developer is serious about the Windows market in the long term."
cartechboy writes "Math watch time: For many traffic analysts, INRIX is considered the gold-standard. This week the company says traffic congestion surged in 2013 and grew over three times as fast as the American economy. The bad news: If true, this reverses two consecutive years of traffic declines with a six percent increase in 2013. (GDP, by comparison, grew 1.9 percent last year.) The analysts then theorize links between economic growth and traffic congestion, which makes sense on the surface. (As the economy improves, more jobs are created, so more commuters on the roads) But INRIX's theory creates as many questions as it answers. For example, the U.S. GDP has been steadily growing since 2009. So why did congestion decline in 2011 and 2012?"
sciencehabit writes "Researchers have found that between 1 and 3% of people don't like music of any kind. These people aren't tone deaf or incapable of grasping the emotional meaning of a song—their brains simply didn't find listening to music rewarding. While some psychiatric disorders are associated with the loss of the ability to feel pleasure, called anhedonia, the music-haters represent the first evidence for not feeling pleasure from only one specific pleasing stimulant, a condition that has been dubbed music-specific anhedonia. Curious where you fall on the music reward spectrum? The researchers have an online quiz." I know I actively prefer silence to most music, but what I like, I like intensely. Update: 03/06 21:48 GMT by T : Sorry for the garbled submission; now fixed.
The intro to our first video interview with Pwnie Express 'Founder and CEO and everything else' Dave Porcello back in 2012 started with this sentence: 'Pwnie Express is a cute name for this tiny (and easily hidden) group of Pen Test devices.' They have more tools now, including some they've released since we mentioned them and their (then) new Pwn Pad back in March, 2013. Now they're working with Kali Linux, a distro built especially for penetration testing (and formerly known as BackTrack). In this video we have Tim Lord chatting with Dave Porcello about recent Pwnie Express happenings at RSA 2014. (If you don't see the video below, please use this link.)
X!0mbarg writes "We've all heard about the inevitability of it, but M$ has started sending out Downloaded Notifications of its End Of Support for Windows XP as part of Automatic Updates. Has anyone else seen these pop up on their XP systems? I certainly did.
(Apologies in advance for my poor code-fu here.)
Many links abound for reference here:
Anyone else see this as an attempt to scare users into upgrades directly from the desktop?
Yes, we all knew this day would be upon us, but surely we didn't see M$ being so downright aggressive, did we?
Ultimately, what is everyone's opinion on this effort and its' ultimate affect to their usage of the admittedly antiquated OS?
I for one, will still be chugging along on a few systems until the system finally just Dies on me.
Any theories on actual support and afterlife cycle predictions? Anyone still patching together their Win98 systems? Win3.11? What duties have they been relegated to and why? What plans does everyone have in the Upgrade department? Are you waiting for anything specific from M$ before taking the Win8.1 plunge, or planning on holding onto your Win7 systems 'till they pry the code from its cold, dead drive?"
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Magician Harry Houdini patented a "Diver's Suit" enabling the wearer to "quickly divest himself of the suit while being submerged and to safely escape and reach the surface of the water."
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Number | Title | Issue Date |
8668618 | Rotary units, rotary mechanisms, and related applications The invention relates to rotary units and rotary mechanisms that are suitable for use in numerous applications. Rotary units typically include rotational components that are configured to rotate. In some embodiments, for example, multiple rotary units are assembled ... | 03/11/2014 |
8668619 | Rotary units, rotary mechanisms, and related applications Rotary units and rotary mechanisms that are suitable for use in numerous applications are provided. Rotary units typically include rotational components that are configured to rotate. In some embodiments, for example, multiple rotary units are assembled in rotary me... | 03/11/2014 |
8663058 | Brake assembly having piloted park brake housing A brake assembly for a mobile machine is disclosed. The brake assembly may have a stationary spindle, and a main brake housing annularly connected at a first axial end to the stationary spindle and at least partially forming a first control chamber. The brake assemb... | 03/04/2014 |
8663059 | Automotive vehicle transmission device comprising a supporting pin A transmission device for an automotive vehicle, which device includes a first spur gear transmission section, a second spur gear transmission section and a plurality of double planet pins. The double planet pins extend from a first side section to a second side sec... | 03/04/2014 |
8651997 | Planetary gear reducer In a planetary gear device, a first side plate as carrier is formed to a disc plate shape and secures thereto pins to protrude the pins from one end surface in an axial direction. The outside diameter of the first side plate is formed to be a small diameter on one s... | 02/18/2014 |
8617024 | Axle final drive assembly The invention relates to a final drive assembly. An axle final drive assembly includes an axle housing, and axially inner and outer axle bearings supported by the axle housing. An axle shaft has a flange and is supported for rotation by the outer axle bearing. A pla... | 12/31/2013 |
8617025 | Planetary gearbox The invention relates to a planetary gearbox comprising a drive shaft (1) and a driven shaft (2), which are mounted in a gearbox housing, and at least one first (4) and second (5) planetary stage. Furthermore, a single-piece gearbox housi... | 12/31/2013 |
8613687 | Planetary gearbox having nested planetary gear stages A planetary gearbox, for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle, comprising two stages, each provided with a sun gear, a ring gear and interposed planetary gears. The ring gear of the first planetary stage also forms the sun gear of the second stage, and the p... | 12/24/2013 |
8597155 | Planetary gearing Planetary gearing, in particular multistage planetary gearing, is disclosed. The planetary gearing includes at least one drive shaft, an output shaft, a sun wheel, a ring gear, planet wheels assigned to the planetary gear train, a gear casing, in particular a multip... | 12/03/2013 |
8597156 | One-way clutch A one-way clutch of an inscribed gear type has a cylindrical outer member having an inner gear at an inner circumference thereof; an inner member rotatably disposed in an inside space of the inner gear, and having gear receivers and a lock edge on one side in a circ... | 12/03/2013 |
8597154 | Gearing Epicyclical gearing comprising a first and a second gear wheel turning around respective mutually parallel axes, each one comprising a respective first and a respective second crown wheel that are adjacent to each other; the gearing also comprising at least one thir... | 12/03/2013 |
8585536 | Gear carrier frame A planetary gear assembly includes a sun gear, planetary gears engaging the sun gear, a ring gear arranged about the planetary gears, the ring gear engaging the planetary gears, and a carrier frame including one or more pairs of bearing containment bands, a pluralit... | 11/19/2013 |
8574119 | Pinion carrier assembly A pinion carrier includes a shell including a face plate, a lip spaced axially from the face plate, a hub including a plate spaced from face plate and a collar spaced axially from the lip, posts, each post spaced angularly about an axis, secured to the plate and fac... | 11/05/2013 |
8574118 | Journal pin for gear system A turbomachine epicyclic gear system includes a sun gear rotatable around an axis, a ring gear radially outward of the sun gear, and a plurality of intermediate gears meshed with the sun gear and the ring gear. A plurality of journal pins are each configured to supp... | 11/05/2013 |
8550956 | Planetary gear unit A planetary gear unit inside a case includes coaxial sun and ring gears, a planetary pinion gear that meshes with the sun and ring gears, and a carrier that holds the planetary pinion gear, the ring gear being fixed with respect to the case, and a flange disposed in... | 10/08/2013 |
8550955 | Pin for planetary gear system A pin for coupling a planet gear to a carrier in a planetary gear system is disclosed. The pin includes a first end, a second end, and an outer surface extending between the first end and the second end. In some embodiments, the pin further includes means for modify... | 10/08/2013 |
8545364 | Gear set arrangement of a planetary transmission A gear set arrangement for a planetary transmission comprising at least first and second simple planetary gear sets, each having sun and ring gears and a carrier supporting planetary gears. The gear sets are coaxially nested with the first gear set being radially wi... | 10/01/2013 |
8535197 | Speed changer assembly A speed changer assembly for changing the rotational speed of an engine's (or other prime mover's) output to that required by the input of a process machine. In operation, a first gear is in meshing engagement with an idler gear, which in turn, is in meshing engagem... | 09/17/2013 |
8535198 | Zero backlash planetary gear train A zero backlash planetary gear train, comprising: a shell, a planetary gear set, and at least a sun gear set. Planetary gear set is disposed in said shell, and includes a planetary arm rack having output axis, such that planetary arm rack in said shell is provided w... | 09/17/2013 |
8529397 | Gear system for a wind turbine A gear system (1) comprising a main bearing (3), a main gear (5) and two or more pinion shafts (6). The main bearing (3) directly supports a torque inputting means (2) and defines a rotational axis (4). The pinion sha... | 09/10/2013 |
8529398 | Force limiting device for a motor vehicle A load limiting mechanism for a motor vehicle, comprising at least two parts (1, 2, 10, 12, 16, 20, 21, 46, 22, 40) controlled relative to one another with a frequency controlled oscillating movement. The parts (1, 2, 10, 12, 16, 20, 21, 46, 22, 40) mo... | 09/10/2013 |
8523730 | Planetary gear unit and image forming apparatus including same A planetary gear unit including a sun gear rotatable by torque from a drive source, an outer gear disposed coaxially with the sun gear, multiple planetary gears disposed within the outer gear at equal intervals along an inner circumference of the outer gear to engag... | 09/03/2013 |
8523731 | Welded component, in particular planet wheel carrier, method for producing the component and apparatus for carrying out the method A welded component comprising two sheet metal components (51, 53) joined by at least one weld seam (55). A first sheet metal component (51) is disk-shaped and a second sheet metal component (53) is pot-shaped, and at least one of the two ... | 09/03/2013 |
8512199 | Minimizing backlash utilizing series elastic elements Certain embodiments of a system for reducing backlash include a mechanical input, a mechanical output, and first and second mechanical couplers each connected to the mechanical input and the mechanical output. An exemplary system includes an elastic element connecte... | 08/20/2013 |
8485936 | Planet shaft retention in planetary gear system A planet shaft for supporting a planet gear has a supporting portion extending along a central axis and having a first outer diameter. A flange is formed at one end of the supporting portion, which has a smaller section formed about a portion of a circumference arou... | 07/16/2013 |
8475326 | Outer plate carrier An outer plate carrier, including a cup-shaped embodied carrier plate (110) comprising a cylinder-shell shaped cylindrical section (130) and a circular-disk shaped bottom section (120). The bottom section (120) of the carrier plate (11... | 07/02/2013 |
8475325 | Gearset carrier and servo cylinder assembly A carrier assembly includes a first plate, a second plate spaced from the first plate and formed with a cylinder, pinions supported on the first and second plates; and a piston located in the cylinder for displacement along an axis of the cylinder. ... | 07/02/2013 |
8465391 | Device for fastening of a magnetic ring An arrangement for fastening a magnetic ring onto a transmission component (1) by way of a supporting ring (6) such that the supporting ring (6) is connected, in a rotationally fixed manner, to the transmission component (1) by a bayonet ... | 06/18/2013 |
8435156 | Kit for a series of planetary gears, planet carrier and drive In a series of planetary transmissions, the series including a least one size, each size including at least two variants, the planetary transmission including at least one planetary-transmission stage, which contains at least one planetary-gear carrier having a web ... | 05/07/2013 |
8419588 | Locking ring for a planetary gear set incorporated into a transmission member A planetary gear set includes a carrier assembly. The carrier assembly includes a carrier member having a carrier member body that defines an inner carrier portion. The carrier member body includes a planet gear support surface and a carrier plate support member tha... | 04/16/2013 |
8409050 | Gear retention assembly A gear retention assembly for retaining a gear that has a plurality of gear outer splines includes a gear housing and a retaining ring. The gear housing has a first end, a second end, and a plurality of inner splines each including a ramp portion. The second end of ... | 04/02/2013 |
8409049 | Gearbox for a wind energy plant A gearbox for a wind energy plant, with a satellite carrier, which is connected to a rotor shaft or a rotor hub at its input side and which is mounted via a bearing arranged in a gearbox housing, wherein the bearing is arranged in the gearbox housing at the output s... | 04/02/2013 |
8409051 | Planetary gear set for transmission A planetary gear set for a transmission may include a sun gear, a carrier, and a ring gear, wherein an inner circumference of the ring gear is formed in an ellipse shape. ... | 04/02/2013 |
8398525 | Planetary gear reduction system A planetary gear reduction system has a sun gear, a plurality of planet gears, a ring gear, and a planet carrier. The planet carrier has a first plate supporting one ends of planet shafts supporting the planet gears, a second plate supporting the other ends of the p... | 03/19/2013 |
8393993 | Wind turbine comprising at least one gearbox and an epicyclic gearbox The invention relates to a wind turbine comprising at least one gearbox. The gearbox comprises one or more sensors for measuring condition values of the wind turbine, and is characterized in that the one or more sensors are mounted on one or more rotating parts of t... | 03/12/2013 |
8388491 | System and assembly for power transmission and generation in a wind turbine Various power transmission and generation systems and assemblies are provided for a wind turbine. In one embodiment, a power generation system is provided including a transmission having an input axially aligned with an output, the input configured to receive rotary... | 03/05/2013 |
8382635 | Epicyclic reduction gear device with balanced planet wheels An epicyclic reduction gear device includes a cylindrical housing (1), having an internal circumference equipped with at least a crown wheel (2), at least a first train-carrier (7) rotatable inside the housing (1) and supporting a first o... | 02/26/2013 |
8376901 | Gear mechanism, particularly planet gear with a flange and a ring gear A gear mechanism with at least a flange for the adaptation of the gear mechanism to a drive component and with at least one ring gear, which is firmly connected on the gear side to the flange. The flange presents at least a radial flange bore, the ring gear presents... | 02/19/2013 |
8357070 | Method of compensating gear carrier bearing misalignment under load A method of compensating for load-induced twisting of a gear assembly under load that includes a gear on a gear shaft, bearings on each side of the gear that support the gear shaft and a carrier fastened to a stationary support surface that mounts a proximal one of ... | 01/22/2013 |
8348802 | Transmission clutch assembly The present disclosure relates to a piston-actuated clutch assembly for a transmission. Interconnecting members are integrated into a pressure plate of the clutch assembly. The interlocking members are configured to selectively interlock the piston and the pressure ... | 01/08/2013 |


text:
November 19, 2013
IndyGo is introducing 17 newly refurbished 60-foot articulated buses on Route 39 – East 38th Street and Route 8 – Washington, offering more capacity on the popular routes.
"The introduction of these 'bendy' buses into our fleet is very exciting as it will improve our customer experience," said IndyGo President/CEO Mike Terry. "They will increase the passenger capacity on our busiest routes and enhance the overall performance of our transit system."
These high capacity buses are 20 feet longer than the traditional buses in IndyGo's fleet and can accommodate 40% more passengers. The necessity of buses has been proven by Routes 39 and 8 alone, which together delivered nearly 250,000 trips in September of this year, more than a quarter of the entire system's ridership.
Passengers will begin seeing articulated buses on Route 39 this week and Route 8 after the first of the year.
Indianapolis was first introduced to the articulated buses in the mid 1980s, but they were retired in the 1990s when they reached their usable life. In February of this year, IndyGo improved the frequency of Routes 8 and 39 to every 15 minutes on weekdays and as a result, ridership has seen a double-digit percentage increase over 2012. To keep up with the increasing number of passengers, IndyGo decided to bring back articulated buses with the purchase of 17 newly refurbished ones.
Frequent service and increased capacity are two keys to improving transit in Indianapolis. The introduction of these buses on Route 39 which travels on Meridian Street from downtown to 38th Street and east to Mitthoefer Road, and Route 8 that traverses Washington Street from the Airport on the west side to Meijer on the east side, is expected to help ridership continue to grow.
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text:
WASHINGTON, DC — Last week, President Bush announced that his Administration will send the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) implementing legislation to the Congress just after the congressional Easter Recess. There are commercially and politically meaningful reasons to pass this legislation, I'm almost breathless thinking about it (I'm also six months pregnant so maybe that has something to do with it, too):- Goods from Colombia already enter the United States duty-free, so implementation of this agreement will provide open market access for U.S. goods and services being exported to Colombia. High-tech equipment currently encounters a 10% import duty upon entry to Colombia, but as soon as the bilateral agreement goes into effect, Colombia will eliminate import duties on ICT products via adoption of the WTO Information Technology Agreement.- The Uribe government is pro-democracy and anti-crime, having reduced overall homicides by 40% between 2002-2007 and those among union members 87% in the same period. Some members of the U.S. Congress have used violence against unions as justification to oppose passage of the FTA. My question is: How will rejection of the FTA help further decrease union violence in Colombia? I would argue that walking away from further economic engagement with Colombia would actually deepen the economic and social woes of a nation struggling to reform and open up.- It's also important for United States policymakers and lawmakers to continue their support for an open trade policy, especially as the economy slows. Exports from the U.S. are a bright spot in an otherwise bleak economic picture. Net exports added 1.4 percentage points to economic growth in the latter-half of 2007, more than making up for the 0.7 percentage point subtracted by the decline in residential construction. Lawmakers should embrace a policy mechanism that would help the U.S. economy grow further and help American companies compete internationally.Approval of the U.S.-Colombia FTA presents an opportunity for American lawmakers to enhance the competitiveness of American IT companies internationally, embrace an important ally against violence and extremism in the region, and promote U.S. economic growth.
Approving the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Healthcare IT: Saving Lives, Saving Money
The US health care industry has been one of the last to benefit from the increased efficiencies brought by the adoption of information technology tools. Despite abundant evidence that technology could help lower costs and improve health care outcomes, providers have been slow to adopt. For most US providers the biggest obstacle has been poor return on investment. A small physician practice could face costs of over $30,000, yet that practice may see very little of the financial benefits. Instead, patients and insurers -either private or government-run Medicare and Medicaid -- will benefit from fewer duplicative or unnecessary medical tests, reduced medical errors, and better care of chronic illnesses. Read More »
Amazing Bangalore
I've just returned from a fascinating visit to Bangalore, India. It's hard to put into words what is happening there. Sacred cows (literally) still roam the streets of the city, while an explosion in domestic and foreign information technology companies have fueled exponential population growth at a level unequaled in the US or Europe. The streets are overfilled with buses and motorcycles taking commuters on their way to work in buildings and corporate campuses that rival anything in the west. But perhaps most fascinating is the level of energy and commitment to building an economic foundation that will last for generations -- people are not thinking about making their children better off, but their grandchildren, too. To accomplish that, they are turning Bangalore into a center of innovation in IT technology and business process. Thinking of India only as a place where outsourced call center jobs exist? If so, you seriously misunderstand and underestimate the economic transformation underway. Read More »
Green Is Good
From Saturday, February 23rd to Monday, February 26th, the National Governors Association held its Annual Winter Meeting in Washington DC which focused on clean energy and what Governors can do to help make"green" in the U.S. a reality.Current NGA Chair, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced his initiative, Securing a Clean Energy Future , at the 2007 Summer meeting in Traverse City. According to Gov. Pawlenty, "Governors and states are stepping forward to lead an energy revolution that will 'Americanize' our energy production in order to improve our national security, our economic well-being and our quality of life."Although the topic is different, his comment made me think of last year's winter meeting which focused on AZ Governor Napolitano's platform of innovation and competitiveness and where Cisco's CEO, John Chambers, shared his views on how states can compete more effectively in the global economy by promoting innovation. Read More »
Family & Technology
Yesterday a large percentage of us who work in the Province of Ontario celebrated a day off with the first ever statutory holiday in honour of families. The third Monday in February was recently designated as Family Day. So what does this have to do with high tech? Lots. A break from routine allows for a little more contemplation on life. At risk of sounding melodramatic, it's truly amazing how technology has eased the ability to remain connected with family who are out of state or even country. It wasn't long ago that academics and psychologists fretted over email and how it was going to kill interpersonal communications. Admittedly, I initially fell into that school of thought. But compared to sitting down, writing a letter, finding a stamp, and then posting a letter -- email is lot less painful. It's that simplicity that leads to its pervasiveness and frequency. We've moved a long way since those early days of simple messages to the point where seniors in their 70s & 80s, who are still challenged by TV and cable remotes, can attach photos and forward documents. If my own tech challenged parents can do this, then it's truly a pervasive technology!!!Now the next wave has become entrenched -- video. While email is a great way to stay in contact with family, it just doesn't convey the nuance, humour, or sarcasm that real-time sight and sound convey. It's that live video interaction that will increase the frequency and ease at which families communicate. Not many predicted pervasiveness of video in the mid 1990s, but I haven't seen any recent articles from those who predicted the demise of human interaction via email. Maybe they'd be up for a Telepresence session to discuss?


text:
Nick Kent's article on Brian Wilson is one of the most memorable pieces of music journalism I've ever read. It's in his anthology book (I don't know if he has more than one, but it shouldn't be to difficult to find regardless), but I'll try to see if I can track it down on the internets so anybody who hasn't read it can.
There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
My top 10 all time favorite songs are: Gasolina, Temperature, We Like To Party, Waka Waka, Never Say Never, Smooth Criminal, Waiting For Tonight, Umbrella, It's My Life, What Is Love and As Long As You.


text:
Microsoft prices Zune at $249.99; Due out in November
By LC Angell
Contributing Editor
Published: Thursday, September 28, 2006
News Categories: Digital Media
Microsoft has finally announced pricing and a release date for its much-hyped Zune media player. The company said it will charge $249.99 for the device—essentially the same as Apple's 30GB iPod, which retails for $249. Microsoft will launch both the Zune and its companion digital music service on November 14th. The Zune music service will charge 99 cents for individual songs and $14.99 per month for a subscription service. Scott Erickson, senior director of product management for Zune, admitted that the Zune player will not make money for Microsoft immediately. "In total we won't be making a profit this year, but we will of course work toward becoming a profitable business in the future," he said.
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<enters school playground>
"Attention a n a l y s t s, while there is a certain market leading company is making a lot of money off their product, M$ *again* tries to buy marketshare at the expense of their shareholders. Thinking about it, is M$ still loosing money from the X-Box? I mean the first one?"
Why should any of us on here give a crap as to how Microsoft goes about its business? Are you all major shareholders? No? Then buy the product that most suits you. iPod / Zune/ Zen / whatever. It's quite simple really.
Posted by logan on September 29, 2006 at 1:06 AM (PST)
If i wanted a brown mp3 player… i could just rub poo on my white ipod and its a zune
Posted by Eric Lewis on September 29, 2006 at 3:04 AM (PST)
Am I the only one finding the brown Zune a bit charming? I mean I LIKE the 70's design and stuff and instead of everything looking high tech white and polished, which is getting rather boring after a while, this is actually pretty cool, and different.
Posted by RightField on September 29, 2006 at 6:01 AM (PST)
I actually kind of like the brown… but I know it will fail. everyone knows it…. apple already has too much marked share, and I don't know what you guys are talking about with iTunes not working. maybe if your using it on a piece o' crap windows running pc. and iPod and iTunes work so seemlessy. how could you not like it?? i really don't understand. but the brown is cool, I like that. but I know alot of people won't. ahh well. it will fail anyways
Posted by andrew988 on September 29, 2006 at 9:02 AM (PST)
Who wants a brown MP3 player. Apple beats them by miles in design for sure.
Judging by how smoothly Windows runs, this thing should be super…*note sarcasm*
I'll wait for the 6G iPod.
Posted by M_Vallee on September 29, 2006 at 10:45 AM (PST)
Well, somebody(s) is buying the Zune.
It is already the 21st best selling item in the electronics section of Amazon.
Posted by The Guy on September 29, 2006 at 1:58 PM (PST)
Just a quick note to all those people who can't stop talking about how ugly the brown is, remember that it comes in 2 other colors . . . I think the brown is a unique color for a consumer electronics device and I enjoy it when a company offers me more choices.
I am truely looking forward to the Zune, I have had 3 iPods and I will most likely be getting one of these to replace my current iPod.
Posted by Alex on September 30, 2006 at 10:46 PM (PST)
I have three iPods but for me the Zune has a couple of great features:
1. A much better screen for video.
2. A subscription service (the dollar a song program is lame).
Other features may interest others but for me those are the two main advantage, and they are advantages. (I suspect the software will be at least as good as Apple's.)
For me the qustion mark for the Zune is the battery. Time will tell on this.
Posted by DSC on October 1, 2006 at 7:24 PM (PST)
A. MS will catch Apple if they play their cards right. They've done it with everything else, they will do it here. This is Apple's to lose.
B. Everyone loses money on game consoles, so enough of that ridiculouness.
C. Brown is the second-favored color under black. Do your market research.
I love my iPod, but ignorance should be addressed for the benefit of all.
Posted by DSM on October 2, 2006 at 8:44 AM (PST)
"B. Everyone loses money on game consoles, so enough of that ridiculouness."
Um, no. Console manufacturers typically take a loss on new hardware upon release to get more systems out there and recoup the losses with software licensing fees. As the manufacturing process is tweaked and updated and tweaked, systems are eventually produced for less than their retail price. Sony makes money on every PS2 (which is still outselling the Xbox AND Xbox360 regularly) it sells today. Microsoft has failed to turn a profit on their Xbox venture, now in its second generation. Sony, Nintendo, and even Sega all turned profits their first time out. Actually, I'm not sure about Sega but they cleaned up with their second attempt.
Just sayin'.
Posted by Bart Lee on October 2, 2006 at 10:21 AM (PST)
Toshiba is actually making those zune under microsoft name. So Microsoft doesnt loose much. Its not like they had to do everything, half of the work has been done already.
So even if MS loose to sell zune, It wont affect them much.
Posted by Varun on October 3, 2006 at 12:56 AM (PST)
First - yes I own an Ipod with no immediate plans on buying a Zune. But before you poo-poo Miscrosoft, look at the facts. Miscrosoft does it's homework; They have done a lot of research on this product before launching it.
The way something looks is one thing and functionality is another. Only looking at pictures - the brown player is not the sexiest thing out there. But beyond looks - they did focus groups (my guess is 3 different group types - Current Ipod Owners, Other device owners, and probable buyers). In these groups they probably asked current owners what they would want from a future Ipod. When you look at the available research, sharing and social networking is huge, Microsoft addressed this in the peer-to-peer sharing. Also one of the reasons that people said they would not switch is the itunes investment. I had heard the MS was going to "give" you the songs that you purchased on Itunes. If this still is the case, Microsoft has removed a huge roadblock to switching as well as some of features beyond sharing (bigger screen). The Subsription model is also smart for those with multiple users in a single household (If the model works that way) and heavy end users. The next step in these devices is the big thing - true wireless networking to computers, true device to device wireless connection with messaging capabilities and shared gaming experience. A lot of the consumer research that I've seen points to a limited market on DAP/Phone devices. Cost looks to be prohibitive. Size is also an issue (people want small phones and devices with larger memory sizes) also, they are still seen with to have two disctinctive different functions (at least for those out of high school) one being entertainment and the other have a work/communication function.
all that being said, if the Zune player doesn't work or the gateway/marketplace is clunky - word will spread quickly and Microsoft will either have to fix it or move on.
Posted by alfiala on October 3, 2006 at 5:17 AM (PST)
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