My PC has a flatbed scanner. I called Chase, asking if there were some desktop application for depositing checks using a flatbed scanner, but they said it's available only for iPhone on the App Store and for Android phones on Google Play Store. And yes, it has to be a phone. I own a Nexus 7 tablet with a front-facing camera, but when I tried the Chase Mobile app, the deposit option didn't appear. Should a smartphone plan be considered part of the cost of doing business with a bank in 2013?
Besides, even if you do have a smartphone, a scanner doesn't help you deposit cash.
the last time I needed to pay some money to my Dad, I did it at home without writing a cheque and the money went into his account instantly.
For one thing, good luck explaining electronic person-to-person payments to a pensioner who prefers the familiar ritual of writing a cheque. For another, good luck satisfying someone who wants to be paid now, before services are rendered, not when you get home.
All my paychecks go straight in through digits from my company to my banks.
Some of my employers have been unable to offer payroll direct deposit. Their payroll processors could issue only paper checks. And that still doesn't help with depositing cash or checks received from other individuals, such as birthday money and repayment of short-term loans to family members.
There are many banks now that don't even have physical customer facing locations.
A number of banks have services that scan checks either in the ATM machine
I thought automated teller machines and the change counter in your primary bank were still "physical customer facing locations".
or even with photographic text messaging.
Oh great. Now I have to pay hundreds of dollars per year for smartphone service just to deposit checks.
when he invests, he is putting the fruit of his _previous work_ at risk.
Someone who happens to inherits wealth, happens to be born in the correct country, happens to be discovered by the right publisher, or otherwise happens upon a lucky break doesn't have proportionate "previous work".
If I pay for, for example, 5GB I can use it for whatever I want.
U.S. wireless carriers rely on oversubscription. If a carrier sells a smartphone data plan with a 5 GB capacity, it relies on most subscribers underusing that 5 GB, not pushing the connection to within 2% of their cap every month like PC users are more apt to.
Why can't we make all the tech stuff, like robots, do all the dumb work for all of us
Because owners of established businesses have already made the tech stuff do all the dumb work for them.
There are many banks now that don't even have physical customer facing locations.
How would one deposit money into such a bank?
that is all coming from the community that pegged the ipod, iphone and ipad as crappy products yet parades the superiority of desktop linux. see any disconnection from the general populace's views?
Let's assume for a moment that Slashdot is disconnected from what the majority really want. What source would you say is better connected?
ask yourself why these people prefer pc games.
A larger selection of moddable and indie titles, for one thing. Smaller developers have had a very difficult time getting their works onto consoles. See, for example, the case of Robert Pelloni.
you have just made it exactly what a console is
The key difference here is that consoles run only software approved by the console maker, whereas PCs lack that limit.
even if you have a steambox it still requires you to buy gamepads. people don't carry around xbox, playstation and wii controllers now
But it's still affordable to buy extra controllers in case a party breaks out. It's not affordable to buy extra gaming PCs in case a party breaks out.
because a normal person who wanted to do that would, oh i don't know, plug it into the tv!
My point is that people have a mental set against plugging a PC into a TV.
so what do you do in your above spontaneous scenario?
The same thing I've done since the late 1990s: plan for such scenarios and put some extra controllers in a drawer.
get a job you damn hippy
I have a job. It doesn't pay as much as I'd want. Internet at home already costs me hundreds of dollars per year; why should I pay hundreds more for Internet away from home? I can't just drop Internet at home and use mobile Internet while at home because my usage pattern on one device alone would exceed the typical 5 GB per month cap for Internet away from home.
also do you really need wifi access at the mall?
Occasionally I do while waiting for public transit. And only recently did I discover the hotspot inside the Barnes and Noble store.
and mall!! who buys stuff in person anymore
People who don't want to have to pay return shipping for something that doesn't fit, be it clothes or a computer keyboard.
API calls like PrintWindow() and GetWindowDC() and glReadPixels()
glReadPixels, on a directx buffer? ID3D11DeviceContext::CopySubresourceRegion is a similar DX11 method.
That's what I meant: the DX counterpart to glReadPixels.
If the system is so foolproof how come so very little media uses it 6+ years after it was introduced?
Because the system was introduced in Windows Vista, and presumably, video distributors are waiting until April 2014 for Windows XP to leave extended support.
Does the water marking matter to most people (or you, if you're not distributing)?
Watermarked audio will mute itself on some players, including the PlayStation 3.
Ultimately why not just rent the thing/watch it on tv and rip it?
One can't rent movies older than about a year (or TV series at all) at Redbox, and I'm not aware of any mechanism to request that a particular video be shown on television.
With your bare hands?!?