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Pricing the tablet: How high can they go? {TUAW.com}
Jan 22nd 2010 3:33PM I think everyone's missing a basic point. A mobile phone is a phone, for when you're mobile. You expect to use it in the car (even if you need that geeky bluetooth decoration), at the football game, in the bar, while walking down the street. That is what you pay for - so you don't miss that important call or email no matter where you are.
A tablet PC? You'll use that at the home or office 95% of the time. Why the would you pay an extra $100/month for the privilege of being able to stop at a park bench and do your two-fisted computing? How much of that extra 5% of your time will you use that tablet outside of Starbucks or some other free-wifi location? I'm more thinking of the lawsuits flying against AT&T and Apple when people start causing accidents from Driving While Tabletting. Logic along the lines of "In what universe did you imagine this would be a mobile device?"
I'm more concerned about computer-related details. If I'm going to spend $1000 on a computer in this day and age, I better have the option to plug a keyboard and mouse in when I feel like it; I would want a stylus so I can do things like sketching with something a bit more precise than my index finger. Can I dump my camera into it? Can I expand the included memory (at least for data and MP3, video, etc.) by plugging a memord card into it? Can I plug a USB DVD reader into it and rip a movie for future viewing?
It should sit in a stand and pretend to be my monitor for a mouse and keyboard when I need it to, then become a tablet when I want it stand-alone to take notes.
I love my iPhone but I am well aware of its limitations. The main thing that sold it was that the local price (under $75) is actually not bad when compared with the absolute cheapest plan for our other cell phone - $9.95/month - which in reality ALWAYS costs $35/month without even caller ID.
Should we drop the gas tax altogether in favor of a mileage tax? {Autoblog Green}
May 3rd 2007 9:22AM Anything other than a flat per-gallon gas tax is just too complicated. You're adding Rube-Goldberg procedures to do what a flat gas tax does far more efficiently.
Here's a thought - what about out-of-state vehicles? You already have this sort of problem with California registrations... I'm from Canada. What would I have to do - stop at the Oregon border, say, or the US Customs, and pick up a transponder? Are you going to put a toll booth at every state border road?
The engineering principle is "KISS" -"Keep It Simple, Stupid!"
Airplane Mishap Photos: Unbelievable, But True! {Gadling}
Apr 26th 2007 4:40PM Aren't you missing the other Hong Kong picture? Quite a few years ago, Hong Kong had only the old airport with the runway jutting into the water. A similar event occured where a plane crashed on landing.
Since they couldn't just close down Hong Kong airport long term, the passengers for the next few weeks were treated to the sight of burned wreckage in the water off the side of the runway - I assume this was a different incident from the one shown above?
Also missing is the picture of the jet in LAX that rolled halfway out onto the road beside the airport - someone forgot to set the parking brake.
Canon's compact PowerShot TX1 captures 7.1 megapixel stills and HD video {Engadget}
Feb 22nd 2007 11:48AM I guess the obvious question, considering the data rate - can it be used tethered, and dump directly to a PC or hard disk? (Does it have aa tripod mount? It must!)
If so, then it would make a nice home studio or on-location shooting setup.
Hitachi's RFID powder freaks us the heck out {Engadget}
Feb 15th 2007 2:28PM Um, you mean 66666666666666666666666666666666666666 don't you? It said 38 digits (decimal) in a 128-bit ROM.
If you really want to see a cool application, something similar was mentioned in Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep". Each speck was a wireless router, camera, microphone, and RAM. Blow them through the space station and they establish a wireless network mesh that allows you to stealthily track and observe anyone in the system. Powered, of course, by a low-power microwave pulse every second that permeated the installation...
RIAA Asks for Blanket Gag Order {The Digital Music Weblog}
Aug 11th 2006 8:18PM Deposition.
This is where you get to ask them questions (under oath) to figure out your case ahead of time, so you don't waste the judge's time in trial. They have to answer completely and truthfully (ha ha!).
Being evasive and uncooperative (as Bill Gates did in the monopoly practices trial) would help the judge become annoyed and help lose their case. Lying would pretty much seal their loss. Refusing to answer would be dicey.
So they're afraid that discovery will stray into areas they don't want publicized. Maybe things like who designed their strategy, how effective their investigation, whether investigators are paid a bounty (incentive to fabricate evidence?) and what they say to each other in their emails in ungauarded moments. Maybe they don't want someone to find comments like "don't care if she's blind granny, sue her *** off!". Maybe they don't want to explain the logic behind their $-per-song calculations.
Also, maybe they don't want the best bits of a defence shared with other lawyers who are also defending some clients.
I really want to see what the judge says about this one...
