Comment Re:Missing option (Score 1) 171
At which point it's a physical (and psychological) game; at least if you are doing it right.
Comment "D" Tony, all of the above. (Score 1) 171
If there was ever a time for an "all of the above" this was the time. I pretty much play most of those varieties (Card, Board, Video, Pen & Paper and Physical games).
Comment Re:Why isn't this auto-update? (Score 1) 174
I don't understand, can you please express this as a car analogy.
Comment Re:No one's speaking up (Score 1) 209
All you really need is a sybian or a hitachi.
Comment Re:Whips and manicles (Score 1) 209
We bought a lockable steel cabinet for the garage for storing those.
Comment Define Toy. (Score 1) 209
There's the consoles and all the video games., The couple of shelves of board games and then the pen and paper RPG bookcases. Then there's the collection of soft toys that started as monitor decorations and grew from there.
Obama Presses China On Global Warming 261
HughPickens.com writes: The NY Times reports that President Obama spoke at the United Nations Climate Change Summit and challenged China to make the same effort to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions and join a worldwide campaign to curb global warming. Obama's words were directly focused on putting the onus on China, an essential partner of the U.S. if a global climate treaty is to be negotiated by 2015. The U.S. and China bear a "special responsibility to lead," said Obama. "That's what big nations have to do." The U.S., Obama said, would meet a pledge to reduce its carbon emissions by 17 percent, from 2005 levels, by 2020 — a goal that is in large part expected to be met through proposed EPA regulation.
There were indications that China might be ready with its own plan, although many experts say they will be skeptical until Chinese officials reveal the details. A senior Chinese official said his country would try to reach a peak level of carbon emissions "as early as possible." This suggests the Chinese government, struggling with air pollution so extreme that it has threatened economic growth, regularly kept millions of children indoors and ignited street protests, was determined to show faster progress in curbing emissions. In recent years, the Chinese government has sent other signals about addressing carbon pollution, some of them encouraging to environmental experts. "Five years ago, it was almost unimaginable to discuss China putting a cap on carbon, but now that is happening," said Lo Sze Ping, chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund's office in Beijing. "Chinese leaders have seen that it is imperative to move toward a low-carbon economy."
There were indications that China might be ready with its own plan, although many experts say they will be skeptical until Chinese officials reveal the details. A senior Chinese official said his country would try to reach a peak level of carbon emissions "as early as possible." This suggests the Chinese government, struggling with air pollution so extreme that it has threatened economic growth, regularly kept millions of children indoors and ignited street protests, was determined to show faster progress in curbing emissions. In recent years, the Chinese government has sent other signals about addressing carbon pollution, some of them encouraging to environmental experts. "Five years ago, it was almost unimaginable to discuss China putting a cap on carbon, but now that is happening," said Lo Sze Ping, chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund's office in Beijing. "Chinese leaders have seen that it is imperative to move toward a low-carbon economy."
Comment Re:there is one smaller but high-end android phone (Score 1) 277
That sony sports a 4.6 inch screen! I don't want anything bigger than 3.5 - 4 inches... and reading a lot of other comments here I suspect I'm not alone. Adding "compact" to the name doesn't make it so.
Comment Re:Bigger is better for some, bigger... (Score 1) 277
I'd agree, but besides one guy I know who wants to watch TV shows on the bus, EVERYONE else I know is complaining right now that there are no reasonably-sized phones available. Tablets are successful because they're tablets, not because they're big - and I would venture that MOST people don't want or need giant phones.
"Phones come in booths now? Great! Now I don't have to carry around this stupid cell phone!" --Hermes Conrad
"Phones come in booths now? Great! Now I don't have to carry around this stupid cell phone!" --Hermes Conrad
Comment Specs aren't as important... (Score 1) 253
...as they used to be. I just want a smaller screen than 4.3 inches! If I have to live with lesser specs, too bad but FINE, I WILL.... JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T SUCK TO CARRY AROUND. 3.5" - 4" for a phone screen is plenty. I already have a tablet.
Comment Re:Oh no! hipster outrage (Score 1) 610
It's not like that at all. In your example people are able to simply not take the tape - this was forced into your library and the only way to hide it (not even delete it) is to hide ALL your previous purchases. Sucks if you delete content to make space sometimes and want to add it again later - this album will always be there in that list of stuff you bought (now a combined list of stuff you bought and stuff apple forced on you).
A lot of what I read above seems to be "so what" but what happens when it's more targeted, and more rampant? You'll start changing your minds and start to value having a little control over your media, your device, your life. You'll miss your short list of 5 albums you bought when you have to wade through 40 albums of crap Apple decided should show up in the list. At very least just make it a new/different list!! We used to get TV free but had to sit through commercials - that was fair. Now you pay $40/month for cable and still have to watch commercials? Greed and desire for control are changing things more rapidly than before, and it seems silly to me that they're taking control away from consumers; if we can't even vote with our dollar any longer I suspect piracy will skyrocket on a scale so far unseen. If I owed stock in Apple I'd be outraged that company money went toward this rather than R&D for how to not suck.
A lot of what I read above seems to be "so what" but what happens when it's more targeted, and more rampant? You'll start changing your minds and start to value having a little control over your media, your device, your life. You'll miss your short list of 5 albums you bought when you have to wade through 40 albums of crap Apple decided should show up in the list. At very least just make it a new/different list!! We used to get TV free but had to sit through commercials - that was fair. Now you pay $40/month for cable and still have to watch commercials? Greed and desire for control are changing things more rapidly than before, and it seems silly to me that they're taking control away from consumers; if we can't even vote with our dollar any longer I suspect piracy will skyrocket on a scale so far unseen. If I owed stock in Apple I'd be outraged that company money went toward this rather than R&D for how to not suck.
Comment Re:It's not your phone (Score 1) 610
I disagree. The option is to auto-download purchased content, not "everything", but in any case those of us who Don't want it and didn't purchase it have it marked as purchased now! Previously we were allowed to choose what we bought, (and price or lack-thereof doesn't change what I'm talking about here). For the record I never enabled that stupid option, but I'm still pissed. See my post above about Control. The issue isn't U2 or iTunes or bandwidth, it's about control.
Comment Re:sort of like Amazon Prime Music (Score 1) 610
There's nothing stopping you from browsing, and there are now tons of sites and databases and forums etc to help you find similar or related music, including one built into iTunes (ping I think? did my best to disable & hide it because "F-OFF and stop watching my usage preferences for your marketing").
The issue here boils down to one simple thing: Control. People want control of their (very expensive) mobile - or any - device, and Apple wants control of how you use it and what you have access to when you use it. That's obvious with just about every aspect of iOS (yes I have an iPhone). Apps, settings, etc it's all their way or no way. I can't uninstall the Stocks app. Why? You can't tell me there's code in it needed by iOS, and if there was, why not move it to a required shared object / DLL type file and let.me.delete.Stocks. Now there are Facebook settings in the iOS general settings - WHY?! I deleted my facebook account and don't even have the app installed!
Control. I don't even hate U2, but this whole debacle pisses me off to no end. It may not have auto-downloaded, but I can't get it off my list unless I also remove all the other content that I (should not have!) bought on iTunes and CHOSE not to have on the iPhone this month. I went back to buying CD's and ripping them - you know why? Control. I can control the quality, whether I see them in the list, which cover artwork to embed, everything.
There's simply no intuitive, nice way of taking control away from a user without someone getting upset, and I don't see how anyone is surprised by that.
The issue here boils down to one simple thing: Control. People want control of their (very expensive) mobile - or any - device, and Apple wants control of how you use it and what you have access to when you use it. That's obvious with just about every aspect of iOS (yes I have an iPhone). Apps, settings, etc it's all their way or no way. I can't uninstall the Stocks app. Why? You can't tell me there's code in it needed by iOS, and if there was, why not move it to a required shared object / DLL type file and let.me.delete.Stocks. Now there are Facebook settings in the iOS general settings - WHY?! I deleted my facebook account and don't even have the app installed!
Control. I don't even hate U2, but this whole debacle pisses me off to no end. It may not have auto-downloaded, but I can't get it off my list unless I also remove all the other content that I (should not have!) bought on iTunes and CHOSE not to have on the iPhone this month. I went back to buying CD's and ripping them - you know why? Control. I can control the quality, whether I see them in the list, which cover artwork to embed, everything.
There's simply no intuitive, nice way of taking control away from a user without someone getting upset, and I don't see how anyone is surprised by that.
Comment Re:geek or not (Score 1) 238
I love my Asus RT-AC66U with Merlin's custom firmware. I use openVPN with it (and Tunnelblick etc on my clients). That being said, if you want the best, pfSense is where it's at. You just need any cheap motherboard and a total of 2 network connections (usually that's one on-board and one add-in card, and they're cheap). I'd use a mobo that had on-board video so you have less generating heat in the case (and also less to buy and supply power to).
Cuba Calculates Cost of 54yr US Embargo At $1.1 Trillion 540
First time accepted submitter ltorvalds11 writes Cuba says its economy is suffering a "systematic worsening" due to a US embargo, the consequences of which Havana places at $1.1 trillion since Washington imposed the sanctions in 1960, taking into account the depreciation of the dollar against gold. "There is not, and there has not been in the world, such a terrorizing and vile violation of human rights of an entire people than the blockade that the US government has been leading against Cuba for 55 years," Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno told reporters. He also blamed the embargo for the difficulties in accessing internet on the island, saying that the United States creates an obstacle for companies providing broadband services in Cuba. Additionally, he said that the area is one of the "most sensitive" to the embargo, with economic losses estimated at $34.2 million. It is also the sector that has fallen "victim of all kinds of attacks" by the US, as violations of the Cuban radio or electronic space "promote destabilization" of Cuban society, the report notes. The damage to Cuban foreign trade between April 2013 and June 2014 amounted to $3.9 billion, the report said. Without the embargo, Cuba could have earned $205.8 million selling products such as rum and cigars to US consumers. Barack Obama last week signed the one-year extension of the embargo on Cuba, based on the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, created to restrict trade with countries hostile to the U.S..
