Comment Re:Pretentious twits (Score 1) 178
That's what happens when you become a god.
Comment Customers have been paying for bandwidth for years (Score 1) 548
His point is that local bandwidth is cheap but long-haul bandwidth is expensive and the equipment necessary to stream the kind of bandwidth Netflix needs to a significant portion of their customers simply can not be purchased and maintained for the current price of a residential broadband connection.
And I call that bullshit. For how many years have Comcast and other ISPs been overcharging their customers for the services they provide? If they sell unlimited bandwidth then they should expect heavy usage and they should be investing heavily in upgrading their network to support the bandwidth requirements of the future. Comcast's customers have been paying a premium for years to use the bandwidth. If Comcast was shortsighted enough to not see that bandwidth usage would be increasing dramatically then it's their own damn fault for not upgrading their infrastructure to keep pace.
The subscribers have been and are currently paying for the bandwidth. Level 3 shouldn't have to pay for something that Comcast's customers have already paid for.
Comment I paid for the fucking bandwidth... (Score 1) 548
Not to be a dick but I paid for the fucking bandwidth. And so did all of Comcast's other subscribers. Comcast is trying to double-dip here - chargin me, the subscriber, for the bandwidth as well as charging Level 3 for the bandwidth. And that's just bullshit.
Comment Re:If they had any sense... (Score 3, Insightful) 309
Set up multi-tiered data plans and charge the bandwidth hogs accordingly.
Kind of like what AT&T just did for the iPhone and iPad?
Comment Completely Irrelevant (Score 1) 273
No one that matters cares about this. By which I mean almost all consumers could care less if a product is endorsed by the FSF - the vast majority will have never heard of them.
Comment Re:The iPhone is 2008 news. Droid's the future. (Score 1) 109
Nobody cares anymore.
Oh you'll start caring if Skype pulls this same bullshit for their Android client and starts charging for Skype-to-Skype calls over 3G. I think you might care about that.
Comment Re:I don't get it.. (Score 1) 109
Why do you think that it took 2 years to get Skype on the iPhone?
Because Skype's been too busy with their thumb up their ass trying to figure out how to "monetize" Skype-to-Skype calls over 3G for the iPhone. And, as others have pointed out, Skype has been available for some time on the iPhone, they've just restricted it to only working over WiFi up until now.
AT&T lifted the 3G VOIP restriction months ago and Skype should have been able to release an update the day that AT&T did that. After all, it requires MORE code to check if you're on a 3G connection and display an error message. When there are no restrictions you don't need any code to check what type of connection you're using you just use the data connection without regard to where it's coming from. But no, Skype sat on their asses trying to figure out - Hey, how can we get iPhone users to pay us more money? Then some conceded dumb fuck said - I know, let's start charging for Skype-to-Skype calls over 3G, that will get us making some money.
Yeah, the service that's always been free for any other computer, phone or any other device. Skype's going to start charging us for the 3G data plan that we're already paying for. Well, I'm sorry Skype but you can go fuck yourselves if you think I'm going to pay you for that.
Wii 2 Delay Is Hurting Nintendo 310
BanjoTed writes "Michael Pachter's ongoing spat with Nintendo regarding the Wii 2 is well documented. Pachter is sure it's coming, Nintendo says it's not. Now the analyst has gone one further by claiming that the declining sales of the Wii documented in the platform holder's recent financial statements will only get worse unless it speeds up attempts to get its successor to market. He said, 'The reason for this is clear: the software being created is just not interesting enough or compelling enough to drive Wii owners to buy more than two [games] per year, and most of those purchases are first party software. We can blame the third party publishers for making shovelware, or for misjudging the Wii market, but the simple fact is that the publishers have to develop completely separate games for the Wii because its CPU is not powerful.'"
Comment Re:[sigh] (Score 1) 457
They made the change when they unveiled iPhone OS 4. That the release of CS 5 was coming soon is a coincidence and nothing more.
Meet the Men Who Deploy Airstrikes 311
Lanxon writes "Wired followed US Army Staff Sergeant Kevin Rosner into Afghanistan to see first-hand the tools, tactics, and pressures involved in coordinating military airstrikes. This lengthy piece explores the people and technology involved in high-risk airborne warfare, from their perspective. From the article: 'Strapped to his chest, Rosner carries a handheld video player called a "Rover," built by L3 Communications, a New York-based defense contractor. The device, the size and shape of a PSP game console and costing tens of thousands of dollars, reads signals transmitted by the camera pods strapped to the underside of all NATO fighter aircraft. With his Rover, Rosner can see everything a pilot sees, from the pilot's perspective. On his back he carries a radio programmed with secure frequencies that tie him directly to the pilots overhead and to his unit's headquarters, several miles away. At the headquarters, another JTAC monitors a bigger, more sophisticated video terminal that displays the same video Rosner sees, plus other data.'"
Police Seize Computers From Gizmodo Editor 1204
secretcurse writes "California police have served a search warrant and seized computers from Jason Chen, the Gizmodo editor who unveiled the 4th-generation iPhone to the world. Gawker Media's COO has replied claiming that the warrant was served illegally due to Mr. Chen's status as a journalist. The plot thickens..."
Comment Re:You don't say (Score 1) 1224
The problem is that the fundamentalist/extremist Muslims don't fear the repercussions of their actions. The reason why they don't fear retaliation is because we don't have the resolve or guts to break their will. In ancient warfare you decimated your enemy until he had no desire or will to continue fighting. There was no care or hesitation for collateral damage. That type of warfare will never happen in this day and age (at least not from us) which is why we'll never be able to fully suppress zealots such as these.
Comment Pathetic (Score 4, Insightful) 1224
What Comedy Central did was absolutely pathetic. Parker & Stone had already self-censored the episode by not actually showing any pictures of Muhammad and the way they did it was absolutely hilarious. But apparently you can't even speak the work "Muhammad" on Comedy Central. That Comedy Central allows them to ridicule anything and everything - any and all other religions are open game - but when it comes to anything Islam-related suddenly there's a whole new set of rules. Hypocrisy and cowardice at its finest.
I hope that the uncensored version makes its way out soon.
Herschel Spectroscopy of Future Supernova 21
davecl writes "ESA's Herschel Space Telescope has released its first spectroscopic results. These include observations of VYCMa, a star 50 times as massive as the sun and soon to become a supernova, as well as a nearby galaxy, more distant colliding starburst galaxies and a comet in our own solar system. The spectra show more lines than have ever been seen in these objects in the far-infrared and will allow astronomers to work out the detailed chemistry and physics behind star and planet formation as well as the last stages of stellar evolution before VYCMa's eventual collapse into a supernova. More coverage is available at the Herschel Mission Blog, which I run."
Canada Rejects Business Method Patents 68
"Canadian Patent Appeal Board Rules Against Business Method Patents," says a new post from Michael Geist; Lorien_the_first_one writes "Looks like the US courts could face some peer pressure," and supplies this excerpt: "[T]he panel delivered very strong language rejecting the mere possibility of business method patents under Canadian law. The panel noted that 'since patenting business methods would involve a radical departure from the traditional patent regime, and since the patentability of such methods is a highly contentious matter, clear and unequivocal legislation is required for business methods to be patentable.' ... In applying that analysis to the Amazon.com one-click patent, the panel concluded that 'concepts or rules for the more efficient conduct of online ordering, are methods of doing business. Even if these concepts or rules are novel, ingenious and useful, they are still unpatentable because they are business methods.'"
