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Comment: H2G2-42 (Score 4, Insightful) 28

by mspohr (#43769117) Attached to: Google's Nexus Q Successor Hits the FCC

The summary left out the most important part! The model number is H2G2-42!
This, of course, to everyone (except the submitter) is a not so veiled reference to Hitchhikers Guide.
This article explains it better: http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/18/will-googles-new-nexus-q-the-h2g2-42-be-the-answer-to-life-the-universe-and-everything/

Comment: Re:I hear Bangladesh has cheap labor, cheap buildi (Score 2) 289

Apple seems to be able to charge a lot for their computers and phones. They use cheap Chinese labor so they make a lot of profit. They could pay workers better if they weren't so greedy.
If Walmart took its entire $22 billion of annual pre-tax income and used all of it to give each one of its 2.1 million employees a raise, this would amount to about $10,000 a year apiece.
In 2004, a year in which Wal-Mart reported $9.1 billion in profits, the retailer's California employees collected $86 million in public assistance, according to researchers at the University of California-Berkeley. Other studies have revealed widespread use of publicly funded health care by Wal-Mart employees in numerous states. In 2004, Democratic staffers of the House education and workforce committee calculated that each 200-employee Wal-Mart store costs taxpayers an average of more than $400,000 a year, based on entitlements ranging from energy-assistance grants to Medicaid to food stamps to WIC—the federal program that provides food to low-income women with children.

Capitalism puts the greediest bastards in charge of the economy and the society adopts those values.
More enlightened countries have laws to protect workers, pay them more, etc.

What are your values?

Comment: I hear Bangladesh has cheap labor, cheap buildings (Score 2) 289

Capitalists want the cheapest labor possible. They don't want to pay for frivolous things like health insurance, unemployment insurance, vacations, sick leave, etc. Europe has better protections for workers than the US but both are pretty onerous when you just want people to work hard for no money. That's why China and Bangladesh are so attractive. You can exploit people there much better than in more developed countries.
Yeah! Capitalism!

 

Comment: Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?" (Score 1) 622

by mspohr (#43709779) Attached to: UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?

What is considered "gross" to eat is very much influenced by culture. In many cultures, shrimp, crawdads, and the like are considered delicious delicacies but the are in actuality just large bugs which some other cultures would never consider eating. Also, things like cheese are considered gross in areas where there is no "cow culture" but many of these societies enjoy various fermented vegetables which are "gross" to those who have not grown up with them. Lots of cultures eat various insects as a normal part of the diet (and some of these consider shrimp to be "gross").
So... it's all about your culture and what you have grown up being fed.

Comment: Re: an interesting perspective... (Score 1) 329

by mspohr (#43697217) Attached to: The Days of Cheap, Subsidized Phones May Be Numbered

Sorry to hear that you are so disappointed in the Nexus 4.
I really don't make much of all of the fine points of LTE, HSPA+, etc. since I have always found that plain old 3G is plenty fast for everything I do (including tethering for my laptop). True, also that it is a GSM phone which means it doesn't deal with the US carriers which are still using CDMA but the US GSM carriers are just fine for me and most of my use is outside the US where most everyone is GSM.
I, too, bought two Nexus One phones and thought they were great. It's true that newer versions of Android have changed the UI but I haven't had any difficulty adapting. I bought the Nexus 4 for my wife who wanted a bigger screen. I also appreciate it having more memory for applications... as you know, the Nexus One has a very small memory allocation for applications and I keep running up against it.

Comment: Re:"needs chat support (like most large companies) (Score 1) 435

by mspohr (#43654383) Attached to: It's 2013, and Windows Activation Is Still Frustrating

Google does not require mandatory activation.
Apple does not require mandatory activation.
Chat support is mandatory when a company has you over a barrel... such as when the stuff you bought from them won't work without their special permission, jumping through hoops, pressing the right keys and sending money.

Comment: Re:Not to mention... (Score 3, Interesting) 455

by mspohr (#43644749) Attached to: Why Your New Car's Technology Is Four Years Old

Everything is becoming integrated... no modularity.
My Fiat 500 has a problem with the clock... it runs slow (a few minutes a month). This is a known problem and they are going to fix it.
However, in order to fix the clock, they have to replace the entire dashboard electronic unit (speedo, tach, all the computers, etc.). The real problem is the odometer. The dash unit has the odometer so they are replacing the odometer with one that has the same number of miles as the old odometer so it has to be specially ordered and programmed and then it has to be replaced at the exact right time.
Major hassle and expense for a lousy clock timer unit... they really shot themselves in the foot on this one.

Comment: Re:Bigotry is bigotry (Score 1) 202

by mspohr (#43610347) Attached to: Oslo Needs Your Garbage

Gentle reader...
I would advise you to try to determine the difference between sarcasm and hate speech. I know this is difficult "on the Internet" but perhaps a nice walk in the woods before posting your rant would help your perspective.
While you are at it, you could also investigate irony which is greatly misunderstood.

Beam me up, Scotty!

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