Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
  Yeah, $400 is DOA. Lotsa new laptops barely cost that nowadays.

wrong comparison/competitor.  laptops are heavier, more cumbursome, the screen represents less of the surface, shorter battery life, etc.  people who buy this ebook thingy aren't looking for a laptop replacement.  they're looking for a book replacement.

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
   

Originally posted by Celeste:
  Why do you suppose we don't go the route Friedman proposes? Do the politicians not understand the economics...or is it the back-room dealing with wealthy Arab oil-producing countries that stands in the way?

Glenn Greenwald shows how Friedman is really a giant asshole. [/b]

that guy is one angry person. . .if i had the desire to read anymore of his spew i'd look to see what he has to say about hitchens; but since i've moved past reading the ramblings of 19 year olds, i won't.

[vansmack]

Let me write the dissenting opinion for you:
 
 

There's only one purpose for a handgun - to kill another human being.

That's all I would say.
 
 --------------------------
 
 November 21, 2007
 Justices Will Decide if Handgun Kept at Home Is Individual Right
 By LINDA GREENHOUSE
 
 WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 �?? The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it would decide whether the Constitution grants individuals the right to keep guns in their homes for private use, plunging the justices headlong into a divisive and long-running debate over how to interpret the Second Amendment�??s guarantee of the �??right of the people to keep and bear arms.�?�
 
 The court accepted a case on the District of Columbia�??s 31-year-old prohibition on the ownership of handguns. In adding the case to its calendar, for argument in March with a decision most likely in June, the court not only raised the temperature of its current term but also inevitably injected the issue of gun control into the presidential campaign.
 
 More from the New York Times....

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
   

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
  Yeah, $400 is DOA. Lotsa new laptops barely cost that nowadays.

wrong comparison/competitor.  laptops are heavier, more cumbursome, the screen represents less of the surface, shorter battery life, etc.  people who buy this ebook thingy aren't looking for a laptop replacement.  they're looking for a book replacement. [/b]

No one's questioning the technology or the audience, we're questioning the price.
 
 At that price point, which are folks more likely to spend their money on?  That's the make or break argument for  this device.  And on that I agree with beetsnotbeats on - I'm much more likely to spend my money on a more fully functional device until the price point comes way down.  Even if I added the savings of my books and magazine subscriptions (well, at least the ones I read and not just peruse the pictures), it still doesn't make economic sense at $400.
 
 I have a Dell Latitude X1, which is roughly the same size at that device (half an inch longer, 3/4 inch wider, roughly 1 pound heavier).  I've always wished they made a tablet version of my laptop - I'd buy one in a second, even with the battery limitations.  I would pay $200-$300 more for that laptop with full functionality much quicker than I would pay $400 for just a reader.

[vansmack]

Google-DoubleClick: Tough sell in EU
 
 By Dawn Kawamoto
 http://www.news.com/Google-DoubleClick-Tough-sell-in-EU/2100-1030_3-6219589.html
 
 Story last modified Wed Nov 21 06:40:29 PST 2007
 
 Google's megamerger proposal with DoubleClick could face greater scrutiny in Europe than the United States if antitrust regulators decide the deal takes the companies into new markets.
 The European Commission, which announced last week that it has pushed Google's merger proposal into its more rigorous "second phase" review, tends to follow two lines of investigation--current and future markets--when it looks at the antitrust implications of mergers. American trustbusters, on the other hand, take a narrower view.
 
 For Google, that means its $3.1 billion planned merger is likely to pass antitrust muster in the United States, but faces a much tougher sell in Europe.
 
 ----------------------
 
 Google is likely to be the second tech company this year (or maybe next) to win in the States and lose in Europe, Microsoft being the first.
 
 This reminded me of a great article I read on How the European Union is becoming the world's chief regulator, for all its good and bad.

[vansmack]

For those that missed the 5 HD-DVD players they had at Walmart....
 
 Amazon is having a similar sale.

[vansmack]

Torii Hunter Reaches A Deal With Angels
 
 Former Twins star Hunter agrees to 5-year contract with Angels
 
 ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Outfielder Torii Hunter and the Los Angeles Angels reached a preliminary agreement Wednesday night on a five-year contract thought to be worth $90 million.
 
 "They play the game the right way," Hunter said. "They play hard-nosed baseball."
 
 The agreement is subject to a physical.
 
  http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3123200
 
 -----------------------------
 
 I'm still shaking my head.  Who's going to play shortstop?  I'll espouse a crazy theory on you like the one where one GM knew Bonds would be indicted.  Anaheim knows that Matthews is in trouble in the Mitchell report and will face a long suspension - that's why they signed Hunter.  Either that or shipping Matthews to St. Louis as payback for the Bottenfield deal.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Let me write the dissenting opinion for you:
 
   

There's only one purpose for a handgun - to kill another human being.

That's all I would say.[/b]

here's my take on this stuff from almost 7 years ago (god, i'm old):
 
  http://www.thehoya.com/viewpoint/022701/view2.htm
 
 i spent a lot of time on this issue in college and it was really demoralizing to see how much ground we lost post-9/11 ... the movement really had the wind knocked out of its sails
 
 i was really hoping this wasn't going to be granted cert, and it doesn't look good right now at all
 
 do you read scotusblog?

[vansmack]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  I don't remember who it was that posted that brilliant Maher interview with Kasparov, but this is what he was referring to.  
 
 Press release
 ODIHR unable to observe Russian Duma elections

Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007
 Russian Police Detain Kasparov
 By AP/MANSUR MIROVALEV
 
 (Moscow) �?? Riot police beat and detained opposition leader Garry Kasparov Saturday as they took dozens of protesters into custody at a rally against President Vladimir Putin, his assistant said.
 
 The former chess champion was forced to the ground and beaten, his assistant Marina Litvinovich said in a telephone interview from outside the police station where Kasparov was held.
 
 He was later taken to a city court, where he was charged with organizing an unsanctioned protest and resisting arrest. The court proceedings were continuing Saturday evening and it was unclear whether Kasparov would be released.
 
 "What we see today is the implementation of Putin's plan," Kasparov told journalists in the courtroom. "Putin's plan" is what the dominant pro-Kremlin party is calling its platform in the current parliamentary campaign.
 
 http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1687284,00.html

[vansmack]

November 26, 2007
 Lott to Resign Senate Seat Before End of Year
 By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and JOHN HOLUSHA
 
 WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 �?? Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the former Republican leader who was forced to step down in 2002 after making a remark that seemed to support segregation, announced today that he will resign by the end of the year.
 
 Speaking to a crowd of supporters at a televised news conference in Pascagoula, Miss., Mr. Lott said he and his wife, Trish, had decided that they still had enough �??time left to do something else�?� after his 35 years in the House and Senate.
 
 He said he had �??nothing definite at this time,�?� but suggested he might want to teach. He said he had called President Bush and Vice President Cheney last night to notify them of his decision.
 
 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/us/politics/26cnd-lott.html
 
 -------------------
 But what you need to know is in the 5th paragraph.  It's called cashing in:
 
   

By resigning before the end of the year, Mr. Lott would beat the effective date for new ethics rules that double to two years the amount of time a former public official must wait before he can join a firm to lobby his former colleagues. The new rule applies to those who leave office �??on or after�?� Dec. 31.

[vansmack]

Even I can learn something from Fox News, though I still hate the song:
 
 Neil Diamond: Caroline Kennedy Inspired 'Sweet Caroline'
 Tuesday , November 20, 2007
 
 LOS ANGELES  �??
 
 Neil Diamond held onto the secret for decades, but he has finally revealed that President Kennedy's daughter was the inspiration for his smash hit "Sweet Caroline."
 
 "I've never discussed it with anybody before �?? intentionally," the 66-year-old singer-songwriter told The Associated Press on Monday during a break from recording. "I thought maybe I would tell it to Caroline when I met her someday."
 
 He got his chance last week when he performed the song via satellite at Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg's 50th birthday party.
 
 Diamond was a "young, broke songwriter" when a photo of the president's daughter in a news magazine caught his eye.
 
 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312306,00.html

[vansmack]

If you watched any football at all between Thanksgiving and today, you surely saw the new Ford Ads touting the new Microsoft powered Sync system.  If, like me, you ignored them until you heard the Band of Horses song and then ran immediately to your computer to learn more, here's what you would have learned:
 
 (1) The system is fairly well represented in the commercials - it has two main functions - to allow the driver to control a cell phone wirelessly via bluetooth and to connect and control your music player via a USB cable.  It syncs with the top 50 selling cell phones and mp3 players, except the shuffle.  For the mp3 players not listed, there is an aux plug for simple music playback.
 
 (2) It's currently standard on the Ford Focus SES, and available on most other higher end Fords for $395.  It will be spread to Lincoln and Mercury by the end of the year.  It is exclusive to the Ford series through November 2008, then it will be available to other companies that adopt it.
 
 (3) Expect commercials in the future to describe another feature - it's ability to read text messages aloud to the driver and send automated responses.  But I would hold off on that commercial until Microsoft updates the voice - apparently it's really bad.
 
 (4) You can sync up to 12 different phones, but can only sync with one phone at a time.  There is a priority list for when more than one of the synced phones is in the car, and you can edit this priority at any time.
 
 (5) If you don't want to use the voice activation stuff, you can use on screen menus.
 
 (6) With MP3 players, it will recognize voice commands that are essentially the same as those on an iPod display, including play genre, artist, album, song or a playlist. Sync can play audio files stored on a music phone via Bluetooth, will play songs stored on a flash drive that is plugged in the USB port and it will charge any device connected to its USB port.
 
 (7) It takes a while to index larger players on its first use, but is supposed to be fairly efficient after that.
   
 I'm hoping to try one later in the week and will report back on how well it works and how easy it is to set up.
 
 Sync Home (syncmyride.com)
 AutoWeek
 News.com
 Cnet

[vansmack]

Emma Clarke, that lovely voice of the London Tube system that tells you to mind the gap, among other things, was fired allegedly for making mock announcements available on her web site.  I was too late in getting there as her site was overwhelmed, but here are the transcripts of some:
 
   

We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly.

Would the passenger in the red shirt pretending to read the paper but who is actually staring at that woman�??s chest please stop. You are not fooling anyone, you filthy pervert.

Would passengers filling in answers on their Sudokus please accept that they are just crosswords for the unimaginative and are not in any way more impressive just because they contain numbers.

Here we are crammed again into a sweaty Tube carriage �?� If you�??re female, smile at the bloke next to you and make his day. He�??s probably not had sex for months.

[vansmack]

I'm sure Apple will take credit, and they should.  Their profit mongering and closed business tactics have forced the rest of the industry to either compete by closing more of their business down, or take the exact opposite approach - open it all up and see what happens.
 
 First Google, now Verizon, and I expect Sprint to follow.  This is huge for the industry:
 
 Verizon Shocks Wireless World By Promising To Open Its Network
 
 Verizon Wireless plans to publish technical standards next year that software developers can use to design products that will interface with the carrier's network.
 
 By Elena Malykhina
 InformationWeek
 November 27, 2007 11:10 AM
 
 Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless shocked the U.S. wireless industry on Tuesday, announcing that starting next year it will open up its nationwide network to mobile devices, software, and applications not offered by the carrier.
 Verizon Wireless plans to publish technical standards next year that software developers can use to design products that will interface with the carrier's network. Mobile devices that meet the minimum technical standard will be activated on the network. Details of the standards will be disclosed at a later date, the company said.
 
 The carrier has set up a $20-million testing lab where mobile devices will be tested and approved. It also hopes to get input from developers about running outside devices on its network and the impact they might have on network performance.
 
 More from Information Week:

[vansmack]

For the baseball guys....
 
 Rob Neyer does a comparison of the last 10 Boras contracts signed and whether the team got a good deal or not.  It's free on insider today too.
 
 One thing he doesn't point out that I will point out for you - not a single one of those guys in those ten big contracts won a world series with/for that team.