+1000

I have been on /. since it launched (yeah, back then we nerds were quite resistant to ever creating logins for sites, hence my non-low account ID). And it seems in the last 6 months or so it's been going this way - I have gone to reading it in Google Reader and also have Gizmodo and Engadget in there as well. It seems like at least a third of the posts lately are just regurgitated from Giz and Engadget, a day or so later.

My thought is that the internet has grown so huge, that /. can't compete with sites that have pageviews hundreds of times higher, and this is their way of sucking in some extra pageviews.

The content on here has definitely changed. I still find some engaging comment threads, but it just seems like the truly geeky content has gotten watered down with posts about new products, jokes, etc.

Part of it may just be that the tech world as a whole has transformed from what it was in the mid-nineties. Back then, everything was awe-inspiring and amazing in the tech world, and now it's all pretty pedestrian, we've become quite jaded.

And, our attention spans have gotten so short, that spending a half hour reading an article about a distributed network cracking the latest encryption algorithm gets pushed under the three posts about new cell phones. And a simple yet brilliant idea is no longer brilliant, it's just expected from middle management in the outsourced development sweatshops.

Given that this is Verizon (and every other US provider that is sure to follow suit), who says there will be a real live human on the support line? It takes about 10 levels deep of automated menus just to get to a human, then you still get transferred all over PBX hell until you get to someone who may be able to help, and usually end up getting disconnected in the process. Not to mention that VZW doesn't even staff the phones during non-business hours except for tech support. And if you finally do manage to get someone, they are usually rude AND incompetent.

This sounds like utter hell, my own worst nightmare. I mean, something like this might actually force me to go outside!

That is simply, purely not true.

I know many people who work for Perot Systems that are full-time, non-contract employees. Maybe the ads you saw were for contract positions, but your statement that they ONLY hire contract employees is simply false.

8. Increased consumption of Kleenex and lotion

Brown Noise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_noise

(not to be confused with the infamous "Brown Note": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_note )

Pink Noise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_noise

From what I've read so far, they have gone out of their way to implement ChromeOS without using X Windows and instead going with something proprietary and in-house.

It just seems odd that they are also releasing a server that dishes out X Windows sessions remotely. This must not be meant to integrate with Chrome OS. I guess they could still have a client for it in Chrome OS, but it still just seems odd to me.

need... mod... points...

is that some type of ASSHAT?

Not sure where the bad attitude is coming from, I never suggested that these things *do* happen, just asking about the potential for them to happen. And my first question was just that, a question, if it absolutely relies on google's service to route your call through.

Additionally, it introduces ANOTHER variable of service into the mix. Now I rely on my telco to work, with this, I rely on my telco AND Google to work.

And Google's track record with gmail being up and down in my own personal experience is not great. Nothing major, but every so often its down for a minutes.

But my main concern is what would happen if they just decide to stop developing this service? Is it easy to go back to straight telco? I relied on Google Notebook quite heavily and a few months ago they just stopped developing it.

I want to use this service, I'm just asking questions about concerns that I have before deciding to use it or not.

You kind of came off as a bit dickish, and i'm not sure how it was warranted.

Can you please elaborate?

Just curious, if you are using a Google Voice number as your "one number to rule them all", and the service is down, what happens? Even if it goes down temporarily (as Gmail does constantly, ahem) does that mean incoming calls cant get to you?

Also, since Google is obviously able to hijack the voice audio, what's to say they aren't listening to / recording calls? I realize they "aren't evil" but, still.

I like the concept of this service, but don't want to have my incoming calls relying on Google's service to make it through.

So maybe everyone in rural Michigan drives a truck, and therefore it's a non-issue. But if more and more places start doing this, it really has an effect on people who have given up cars and taken to more environmentally-friendly motorcycles.

I agree that this guy probably wants to be homeless at this point in time.

But he's hardly off the grid if he's using Twitter, Facebook, et al!

Same here. I actually don't use it daily, but will bust it out and use it for a few weeks at a time when I get the urge. Back in the late nineties I came across a PS/2 one, so I promptly swapped it out for my old AT one. With PS/2 to USB adapters, I'm set :)