Comment: Only one thing is certain. (Score 0) 419
Many
Comment: Re:VLC Player? (Score 1) 734
I suppose the Videolan client (VLC Player) will run on Windows 8? Then maybe we don't need to buy Media Center.
For the three people still putting an actual DVD disc into an optical drive to watch a movie on their desktop, yes.
Comment: Re:BB is a business phone (Score 1) 185
I don't know. I loved my Nokia E71 before Nokia suicided, and many of my business friends swear by their Crackberries. Most of the business people that jumped on the iPhone train are now sick of it and looking to switch.
My employer is a Fortune 500 technology firm that has a BYOD smartphone policy. Employees pay out of pocket for the device of their choice and are generally eligible to upgrade once a year (18 months for iPhone). Consider the following (in order of growth):
5,234 Android devices with an adoption rate of 9.5% annually
20,581 iPhone devices with an adoption rate of 3.9% annually
12,290 Blackberry devices with an adoption rate of -1.6% annually
2,185 other devices (Palm, Nokia, etc.) with an adoption rate of -3.8% annually
This isn't anecdotal. Those iPhone users? They might be sick of their iPhones but if they are they're switching to Android, not Blackberry.
Much as I love my S2, I miss the proper keyboard and battery life is as bad as the iPhone once you put on several VoIP apps to speak with friends abroad for free.
If Blackberry produced a razor thin phone that lasted for days on end and had keyboard plus slick integration, then I would love to have one for business which I put in my suit pocket and then a Note for personal use.
If Blackberry were to release such a device it would give existing Blackberry users pause when they consider their next smartphone. But would it convince anyone to switch away from a competing flagship smartphone like a iPhone 4S or a Motorola Razr Maxx (which actually does have a battery that lasts for days)? I don't think so.
I had an E71i before going to Android, but I didn't love it all that much. I didn't love the HTC Thunderbolt that replaced it, either. The Razr Maxx, on the other hand, I do love.
Comment: Re:BB is a business phone (Score 1) 185
BB is a business phone, I think any attempt to make it more of a toy can only make matters worse.
Apple and Android are very tough competitors, no point aiming at ousting them.
Business people (if they exist, of course) need a phone which performs the usual basic office tasks, can be used a whole day without the battery dying and easily ties in to the corporate communications suite.
You're dead wrong. RIM must offer devices that can be used for work AND play, because that's what their competition offers and that's why customers aren't choosing Blackberry when they are offered a choice. If they don't change, they're sunk.
Comment: Re:H.264 is a terrible solution (Score 1) 182
The fact that one company owns the license to this technology and makes no guarantees to _not_ increase licensing costs means that once h.264 support is the be-all end-all solution to web video, this one company has a monopoly on the sole video technology that drives the web. Most people running windows/mac have probably indirectly paid for licensing fees for h.264 multiple times. Nice racket they've got there and nobody is complaining, yet.
Here's a pretty good article:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/a-closer-look-at-the-costs-and-fine-print-of-h264-licenses/2884
from the article:
To use and distribute H.264, browser and OS vendors, hardware manufacturers, and publishers who charge for content must pay significant royalties—with no guarantee the fees won’t increase in the future. To companies like Google, the license fees may not be material, but to the next great video startup and those in emerging markets these fees stifle innovation. []
This is why Mozilla will just pass H.264 along to whatever decoder the OS has available and not bundle H.264 into Firefox at all. This position makes the most sense for them and the users. Every device I use already has a H.264 decoder with hardware support. I just need Firefox to get out of the way.
Comment: Re:Allow Me to Rephrase the Problem (Score 1) 489
Why should American students get fucked over to subsidize the same assholes that are taking a lot of American jobs?
Replace "India" with whatever your favorite impoverished nation of the week is. There, feel better now?
Comment: Re:Allow Me to Rephrase the Problem (Score 1) 489
It proves what a bunch scummy dirtbags the publishers are. If they can make a profit selling the book for 10% of what they charge in the US, then they are robbing the citizens of the US...
More like we're subsidizing the cheap prices elsewhere in the world. Would it be better if the cost was $45 in both India and the US? Nope, that wouldn't work either.
Comment: Didn't monetize = Al didn't get paid. (Score 4, Insightful) 288
"The show went on sale at noon on Saturday, December 10th. 12 hours later, we had over 50,000 purchases and had earned $250,000, breaking even on the cost of production and website."
Al is just pissed that a neophyte producer was successful without him.
Comment: Re:And who/what is "Louis CK"? (Score 5, Informative) 288
Would it have killed the submitter to include about three to five words informing us who the frack "Louis CK" is? Yes, it's just a Google away, but it would have been nice to mention it in the submission. (Or the editors could have added it.)
He's a comedian who released his latest produced video directly to the consumer and DRM-free. He made it extremely easy and friendly to access and made a shitload of money in a very short amount of time.
Comment: Re:Don't buy Apple products! (Score 1) 197
Overpriced, fragile, insecure BS!
That describes my HTC Android phone pretty well, too.