@daily Yep it is for real. The US is waaaaaay back in terms of data any European country, most Asian countries and even half of Africa beat this offer easily. I mean in Uganda an 1 Gig / 30day pass costs USD 90 and mind you that's a country that is connected to the internets only via sattelite (==very expensive traffic).
@Brazell Actually, if I'm not mistaken this is the same kind of legislation that the European Union will adapt as of January 1st. Now technology providers have two options: 1) go the way the US car industry went - don't care about these standards and go your own way. Ignore the EU and CA. (you can see how well that worked) 2) Adjust your products so that they are able to compete with the "best in class" on the world market (you need to follow the market here, it is more tricky since you have to be really competitive.
@Alex I don't think your free market argument holds up in reality. Let's face it, the concept is that markets behave according to incentives (e.g. solar technology becoming cheaper). But in reality there are many hidden costs that regulatory frameworks try to build into the market place to direct the so called "free market". And we all readily accept them (think medication for instance). Fact is: the market is stupid, cruel and does not care about our children (think car safety standards which by no means come from the market itself).
My point? Let's have some carefully crafted incentives for the market to go into the right direction. Since this applies to all people in the market I really don't mind this one.
(And speaking of incentives, I really can't get over the fact that many countries subsidize OLD technology like coal mining which is neither the future nor helping us solving our energy crisis)
@rickjamess04 Guess it is not that simple: Even if we would want to, there is not enough Uranium around for our never ending energy needs. However, there is one source that seems to be (virtually) never ending: the sun shines more energy on this earth every hour than all of us consume in one year. Now if only we had technology to exploit that... Oh wait, that's too green and sustainable, so let's not pursue this energy source.
@Alex I would love to have energy saving stuff. But try to get reliable numbers from the manufacturers - good luck. So I like this kind of law. And since it is the same for all companies I don't see any issues with it.
@rickjamess04 Thanks for all your compliments. You actually forgot one of the categories:
4) You are a guy that got shafted by the content industrie because he dared to work (and live) in different different regions and was "forced" to either rebuy a lot of silver disks, try to break his player, illegally get other regions' disks (gets you a hefty fine in some countries of this world) or just revert to not consuimg any further movies.
I despise blu-ray for its DRM limitations (playback issues that need a firmeware update?!?!?? you gotta be kidding, you bought the disk, why does it not play?) because of the regions (so companies profit from globalization but we should confine to our local markets? right...) and lastly because I'm waaaaay too lazy to get up from the couch and change a physical disk ;-)
If it works for you, very good. In the meantime I rather spend my money elsewhere.
Oh how I love us idiots making fun at Europeans. Coolest thing ever: Ask a one of us why we have crappy networks. The answer is the size of the country. Next step: what about places like NYC, SFO etc? Answer: Too many people in one place!
Let's face it: Europe is many times better than all of what the US can offer in terms of cellphone coverage and speed. The US was really great in cellphone technology some 10 years ago. Europe kicks ass in the meantime.
Worst part? Even the prices beat the crap out of our VZ, ATT and T-Mobile. Point in case? A 3G subscription for the super fast 21MBPS in Sweden (a country with lower population density than the US) is USD 10 per month :(
Seriously, VZ sounds like a little cry baby here... First they didn't want to, now that the phone became a success they want.
I know it is not fashionable to look beyond our beloved US of A but seriously, there are still HUGE markets to be conquered out there and thus I don't think that VZ is the center of the universe right here and now. In particular since most people who really want to have an iPhone probably have one by now.
iPhone on AT&T, the Pre on Sprint, wonder what VZ comes up with next ;-)
"I am trying to configure out a really dumbed down and intuitive PC for my grandmother. She recently had a stroke and while she is under my care I would like to repurpose a laptop for her to surf and email her children. Anyone have any experience with what input devices and UI's are really understandable for the over 80 crowd?"
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