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Comment Re:What do they spend the money on? (Score 1) 161

Stupid features and interface changes no one wants are landing in the code and bugs from real users go unresolved.

Because that's how large corporation lead by non-tech management works. Two developers, one said "I added a new feature X", the other said "I fixed Y number of bugs", guess which one got more bonus? Guess what would developers flock to do after that?

Comment Re:Sounds like movie reviews (Score 1) 474

I don't understand why publishers are so interested in preorders.

Perhaps because of the huge logistics advantage and cost efficiency of fulfilling preorders compared to normal orders?

With preorders, you knew exactly how many boxes you need to make, and where to deliver them to, and exactly how much revenue you are going to get. That's basically pure profit.

Compared to guesstimating the how much you will sell through retail, and guesstimating how many to send to which retailer, and how many each one might sell, and worrying if the game would be a dud and the boxes would go to landfill, while also worrying if the game would be too big a hit and you can't make them fast enough... preorders is a logistics heaven!

So, if you were a game publisher, wouldn't you try to get people to preorder?

Comment Re:Interesting (Score 1) 158

Its always interesting to read articles that challenge the accepted wisdom

Accepted only by the wishful thinkers.

People who get stuff done, instead of just talking about it, knew all along that "positive thinking" is just junk believed by wishful thinkers who come along to take credit for the work.

Comment Re:Yea, best form a comitee to consider all option (Score 1) 193

Seriously, starting to experiment with uncertain approaches in a time of crisis is about the most stupid thing that can be done.

But that is "doing something"! Haven't you heard of the First Rule of Bad Decision Making yet?

1. "We must do something!"
2. "Here is something."
3. "Let's do it!"

During a "crisis", doing nothing or doing things the same way you do normally (for whatever reason), is a mortal sin in the eyes of many PHB types.

Comment Re:scientists gonna science (Score 1) 460

Rather than persuading, scientists may better serve citizens by discussing, teaching and sharing information to convey trustworthy intentions.'"

So, the study calls for presenters rather than scientists? It is difficult to find balance, but I'm inclined to think that scents should just do the science, and they'd better be well left alone. It's up to the (gasp!) media or to their institution's press department to sensibilise the public in general to the science being done and what it means.

Why do scientists need to "serve citizens"? Scientists aren't in the service industry, scientists' primary mission is to DO SCIENCE.

CITIZENS on the other hand, can better serve THEMSELVES if they bothered to understand more science.

Journalist can also "better serve citizens" by learning more science and do better science reporting, but of course, journalists better serve themselves by continuing to report junk science and stir up drama. Guess what journalists are doing?

Comment Like most appliances for the past 40 years? (Score 3, Insightful) 175

These phones come with all kinds of restrictions on their possible physical capabilities. You may not take them apart. Depending on the plan, not all software can be downloaded onto them,

You mean, just like basically every electric appliance ever made for the past, what?, 40 years?

My washing machine, fridge, rice cooker, air conditioner, TV, HiFi, radio, electronic alarm clock, etc, ALL comes with "all kinds of restrictions on their possible physical capabilities" and I can't take them apart without voiding their warranty. Most of them have logic circuits, or even CPU, running inside, which I have no way to download ANY software into them.

I have no way of knowing if I am able to utilize EVERY bit of their physical capabilities. Can I, say, tell my rice cooker to heat up beyond its preset safety limit? I would think its heating element should be capable of reaching temperatures way more than cooker normally allows it to before shutting it off. Hey, that's a "restrictions on its possible physical capabilities"! Can I download software into my of PAL TV so it can accept NTSC signal? Can I change the software of my electronic alarm clock to do more?

Gee, so now instead of every lazy journalist just rerunning old stories by add "... on the Internet!", now they rerun old stories by add "... on the smartphone!"?

Comment Re:It's about hotel taxes (Score 2) 149

well yes, it's about that.

which makes the debate more about if a room for rent -literally- is a hotel - and why it's not a hotel if the guest stays for a month..

How about the simple fact that most tourists staying in a place for just a few days usually won't bother to go to authorities if there is something wrong with their rooms? As such, to protect the reputation of a city, they have to regulate the hotels that primarily target tourists?

If you are going to stay in the same place for a month or more, it is likely you will find out anything wrong in the first week, and you would more likely report it to police as you still have to stay for weeks there. Plus, people usually do more research when spending more, such as where to spend the money to stay a whole month or more, including possibly a prior visit in person for longer stay.

Not so for a hotel you probably going to stay just one night. Any problem you found in the night, you are leaving the next day and not coming back to that city again anyway. That would allow bad hotels to stay in business for quite a while, damaging the reputation of the area and hurting tourism for everyone else.

America being as it is, doing more to drive away tourists than promoting it, it is not surprising that most Americans have no idea how important it is for tourism to maintain a certain minimum standards on the hotels in the area. Next time you go on a trip to another country, talk to the hotel manager how many regulations they have to comply, you would be surprised how regulated they are for your safety and enjoyment.

Comment Re:Guilty (Score 1) 102

Of facilitating voluntary transactions between consenting adults.

So you also think we shouldn't have laws against buying/selling organs by adults, selling yourself into slavery, and prostitution? All of them are voluntary transactions between consenting adults.

Comment Re:Okay... and? (Score 4, Informative) 316

/Personal income is likely to get double taxed, but that's not what we're talking about.

You can deduct taxes paid to foreign governments, even as a private citizen.

Which is the entire point, which, it seems, everyone rebutting GP missed.

If you are an American, working in country X, and paying $Y tax in country X. If $Y is less than the tax $Z you would have paid in America, then you need to pay American Govt $Z-Y (i.e. Z was deduct, which is your point), even though your work, your job and your company have absolutely no relationship with America. You paid $Z-Y just for the privilege of being an American citizen.

If you were from most other country in the world, working abroad in country X, then you pay $Y tax in country X, and then END OF STORY.

Most of countries in the world don't tax their citizens working and living abroad at all, which was GP's point, there is nothing to deduct.

Comment Compared to /.? (Score 1) 114

I find it quite hilarious to see so many posters complained about the ads in Facebook, in the /. forum that have ads a hundred times worse.

OK, maybe not 100x, be definitely worse. On my phone, I get pop-over ads to blocks 1/4 of the already small screen, with the (X) so small that the phone would register as a click on the ads instead (not the intended result, I am sure, LOL).

Then when clicking on articles, half the time the page opens at the bottom to immediately show the ad, so I have to manually go back to the top, the other half of the time I can read normally, but once I reach the end my music would stop because the ad at the bottom is a auto-starting video ad. So I have close the page to stop it from wasting MB in data plan.

(On my PC, I have plug-ins to block all the ads already)

With FB on the phone, at least I can turn off video auto-playing in the settings, and I then only occasionally see an ad when scrolling in the app. No pop-over ad, no auto-playing video ad, no jump to the ad when I open any page. Yes, 100x better then /.

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