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Comment Android user, was going to switch (Score 0) 773

I'd really like a better camera on my phone, and thought the iPhone 5s might be the device I'd jump the Android ship for. Then I saw they are still using the same tiny 4-inch screen as the iPhone 4. My guess is that in addition to the increased cost of manufacturing considerations, they feel a larger screen size would cannibalize iPad sales; and I'm sure they have charts and graphs to back that up.

For my personal tastes though, I don't want a tablet and a phone. I guess I'm looking for a Galaxy Note 3 with iPhone camera capabilities and performance, and Droid Razr Maxx battery life. You can't always get what you want, I suppose.

Comment Re:Wrong reasons ... (Score 3, Interesting) 244

I surprised that there is such a disparity between enrollment and attendance that they can't just use the former to determine funding. Are parents enrolling their children but not sending them to school? Are children so disenfranchised and utterly unconcerned about their future that they habitually skip class? What they heck is going on in Texas?

Maybe it was just how I was raised or the ethos of my school environment, but when I was young we all knew: more class time => better college => better income. Even in middle school we knew that! Sure we were still kids. Kids who disliked homework and usually felt bored in class, but damn, we wouldn't skip it more than once or twice a year.

Comment Re:First rule of wealth management: (Score 1) 179

I hadn't seen his use of the quote. It's actually from Dan Jenkins’ novel, Baja Oklahoma (1981); possibly older. No less true now than then. If it flies or floats, it's probably very expensive to purchase and maintain, and you won't use it nearly as much as you think. The same can be said for a love interest.

Comment Re:Feedly looks ok (Score 2) 287

I've been playing with settings in Feedly to make it more Reader-like. There are a few problems though. First, I don't see a way to hide the number of Facebook or Google+ likes. I don't care how many people like it, only whether I do or not. Second, the Android app does not have a simplified list view; it's limiting the number of stories I can see on my phone by including a thumbnail pic that makes entries too high.

News reader makers - If you are reading the /. coverage with interest, I highly encourage you to simplify the views. I can judge whether or not I want to read something by the headline alone. The more headlines I can see at once, the better. A simple list is all I want. Give me the headline and a little icon that allows me to 'favorite' or 'star' it...maybe some small text or icon indicating what feed originated the article. On the web view, you can throw in as much text as the horizontal resolution will allow, but don't increase the vertical space per article. Make picture display and social media tie-ins preferences that can be turned off.

Comment Re:Napster (Score 3, Insightful) 393

What's maybe more interesting is that there are now so many methods to purchase music online now, that people born at or shortly before Napster have never really known a world in which it wasn't easy to get digital music through legal means, free or otherwise. Back in 1999, the RIAA wouldn't let go of the old models of selling music or explore new ones. Although I don't know Fanning's real motivations, I believe one of the reasons for Napster was to address the need for digital music in a marketplace absent of options.

There will always be a segment that wants their music for free, but I think that number is ever-shrinking. In 1999, people were starving for downloadable music. Now it's commonplace so obviously digital sales increase and piracy declines. It's what the users of this site have been saying for more than a decade.

Comment Re:There will always be a physological need (Score 2) 622

I can see a time when the operational need for a carrier is diminished if not made obsolete. The psychological need for a carrier may be harder to replace. Parking a carrier 200 miles off the coast of a nation that is acting in an unwanted manner gives that nation pause. It's a form of deterrence that says, "Hey bud...we're watching you.", and can sometimes prevent an escalation of hostility.

Also, it can sometimes increase the level hostility, so...there you go.

Comment I think that's naive (Score 1, Interesting) 841

We all want to trust news sources, but it's really just naivete to think that corporate interests don't trump journalistic integrity. They absolutely do. Not just in terms of the actual reporting, which I'll grant you is probably less common. It's far more likely the case in terms of what stories to cover; what stories to bookend on those to produce a particular spin or emotional response; and what advertising to juxtapose with all of that. But I don't think a journalist, even a NYT journalist, is above taking a massively overpaid and cushy job at an oil company a few years after an early exit from journalism in exchange for a one-time unfavorable review.

Journalists are humans and prone to the same failings as the rest of us. Even honest journalists are under the mantle of their news bureau, who in-turn is under the mantle of their parent company. Those parent companies drive the agenda, the story arc, the dialogue, and thusly drive the money back into their pockets. I don't want to be too conspiratorial, but money drives it all.

The NYT does not have a parent company that I'm aware of, but I'm sure the executives rub shoulders with the executives of other large companies and conglomerations (like auto industry and oil execs). That becomes a kind of club where everyone looks out for each other. No one wants to be ostracized because that means less power, influence, and access. We're talking about people with enough of those qualities to effectively end the career of anyone who isn't on-board and hide their hand in it.

OK so maybe that is a bit conspiratorial, but I'm willing to bet there's more than a grain of truth to it.

To answer your question, I don't trust a legitimate journalist any more or less than a corporate CEO. Everyone has an agenda. "Telling the truth" is likely an agenda that only exists in J-School, when you're too young to know that the world is a far darker place than you realized.

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