I'd agree, up until you talk about Plex. The Plex app that runs on smart TVs seems to be built right, in that it is as easy to navigate as NetFlix and is pretty fast too. About the only issue I have with it is that it still relies on DLNA updates, which result in File Not Found messages when new stuff is added to the library and you have to exit and restart the Plex App to avoid these errors.
It's far easier to just plug my laptop in and hit play.
Maybe, though the problem there is that you have to have your laptop running and set up to output to HDMI, and a cable long enough to plug in while you are sitting some distance from the TV. I use the Plex app mainly because I don't have to turn on another device. Luckily I am not using a Samsung TV, and I've been monitoring my Smart TV for the same stupidity and have not seen it (no callback to home, no injecting ads, and no listening devices or monitoring devices.) It does have a stupid non-disableable and non-configurable WiFi Access Point, but that seems to be its only stupidity in this current iteration of the firmware.
Ordering the death penalty for anyone found guilty of a crime would drastically decrease crime rates.
Maybe, but it would also likely increase the severity of crime. While not everyone would resort to violence to escape being caught, I suspect that many, when faced with execution for being caught versus a chance to get away and live to fight another day, would do whatever they could to avoid being caught, including offing witnesses during the act. I certainly wouldn't want to live in that society.
Unless your bag was manufactured in a clean room and never removed from it, it contains organic matter.
Unless your bag is made solely of metal, not likely, it contains organic matter. Plastics, cotton fiber, canvas, etc., all contain carbon, and thus are organic no matter how they are made. The statement, made by the TSA, is not only not scientific based, but it isn't really based in any known use of the word organic either.
I've been asked at the airport if my bag contained any organic material, and I've always said yes. When they checked and didn't find anything, I said my bag was made of plastic fibers and contained clothes, all which had carbon in them. Luckily, I've never flown through Philadelphia and every time the TSA agent has returned my luggage to me after swabbing it and allowed me to move on.
US movie theaters sound horrible. I've never once seen someone using their phone during a movie. I don't think it would be tolerated by everyone else in the theater.
It shouldn't be tolerated. From my observations, it is usually it is a pre-teen or teenage girl on the phone, and I have yet to go to a theater (in the last ten years) where it hasn't happened at least once during the movie (it is almost always the following, almost scripted, "ring ring, hello, I am watching [movie] so I can't talk right now...yeah, its great, you should see it, should have come with us, oh yeah, ... [talk talk talk] ".) And like Art Guerrilla, I've seen quite a few laptops, including a person who sat in the front of the theater and blinded everyone with their laptop screen while typing away on whatever they were doing. With all the distractions, I'd end up leaving half way through the movie after reporting it to the manager. They'd always refund my money, but never even sent an usher into the theater to remove the individual. The only time I've seen a revolt by movie goers was when a drunk guy started being really obnoxious during a movie, and he was removed by other patrons, and the manager refunded *his* money (but didn't stop the movie or offer refunds to the folks that removed him from the theater.)
But I wholeheartedly agree: it's the experience that brings me there. (It sure isn't the overpriced popcorn...) Some movies are worth the theater experience and others aren't, but if they would just put a little extra effort into that experience I think it would pay off a whole lot more than anything else they're trying to do.
As do I. It is the experience that has kept me away. I cannot see paying $15+ for tickets alone to see a movie in a crowded movie theater where more than half of the attendees are inconsiderate and rude, talking or playing on their cell phones, talking to other movie goers, kicking the seat, etc. I have a decent sized video projection device at home, with decent speakers, and if I really want the "movie going experience," I can invite friends and family to watch with me. The theater going experience is what has kept me from going to the theaters for over a year, and has resulted in me seeing three movies in the movie theater in the last five years. And I tend to buy and rent more than my share. Will I watch Intersteller at the movie theater? No. Will I miss the experience while watching it at home. Hell no.
I only wish I could have your experience in the movie theaters, but sadly, I apparently live in a city/country that doesn't have much respect for others when it comes to movie going experience.
either they are lying that customers complained, or they have the stupidest customers who somehow can't distinguish that IPA is a style of beer and not a brand.
The customers who seek out to drink their beer most definitely know that IPA is a style, not a brand. I'd see this as being a problem with the majors, where the drinker most likely thinks the piss they are drinking tastes better than the piss that one of the others makes, but those who seek out IPAs know what it is they are drinking (most Buttwiper fans would take a swig of an IPA and immediately spit it out and complain that it has way too much flavor for their tastes, since they prefer drinking sandpaper flavored water.)
To get T-Mobile WiFi Calling, you must have a T-Mobile purchased phone. The WiFi Calling feature is built into the phone's ROM, it isn't just an app that can be installed onto any phone.
I have a rooted phone running a non-stock ROM, and had no problem installing and using the T-Mobile WiFi calling .apk file. It doesn't work on every ROM, but it does not need to be an official ROM to work.
I'd love to see a technical reason why data caps are necessary, but so far it doesn't make sense.
It doesn't make sense to you or me, but it makes sense to a greedy company. They can charge you again for something they already charged you for. Double/Triple/Quadruple-dipping is the name of the game. Them solid gold Humvees and diamond swimming pools don't come cheap.
So why am I the only one asking what these other sources are?
This is purely a half-assed guess, since I have no insider information, but from what I gather they are likely talking about insiders within the production companies themselves leaking the videos. It has happened before.
Yeah, I always find that 'We must shelter the children from X' idea ridiculous.
It is ridiculous, and a serious disservice to the kids. The last things parents should do is put their kids into a bubble. When that bubble breaks (usually when they are 18 years old and on their own) they have no reality and no real understanding of how the world works, and no compass (I am not talking morals here,) in how to work with others who have different upbringings than their own. It may be easier on the parents to shield the kids from the world they live in, but it isn't easier on the kids or the society who eventually has to pick up the pieces when the bubble explodes.
I second this. They are awesome. Now if only they could get a network other than Sprint to reside on, they would be even more awesome. They have the best customer support team ever (they sit on the phone and work with you until the problem is fixed instead of tossing you back and forth like a volleyball in a volleyball game.
I use them for both Ting and Hover, and have had no problems with either (though I'd love to see them implement DNSSEC, but there always has to be something to hope for.) If they implemented 100mbps in my area at the same rate that my cable company is charging, I'd switch in a heartbeat (100mbps is twice what my current provider is providing for $80+/mo.) Sweeten the pot with 1 gbps at the same rate and I'd offer to help run the cable and have tea and cookies ready to go for the workers.
It's generally not a crime to make false statements in someone else's court.
It actually is. The problem is that the US court system has generally ignored all but the most egregious cases of perjury.
The problem right now is that they run fast enough that nobody gets near the money during investigation.
The problem right now is that the courts tend to treat the trolls, especially ones making a lot of money for the courts, as more important and more incorruptible than those of citizens even when those trolls turn out to be more crooked than a horizontal pole.
Have you tried to get a LLC or any other article of incorporation? Let alone a standard business license? You are required to provide a valid street address and phone number, else you will not get said article. There are businesses that don't yet have a business location for these, and some property owners won't lease to anybody that doesn't have a business license of any kind. So some folks give out their residence info thinking that they can change that once they get both their licenses and business location. And guess what they forget to do?
P.O. Box?
It costs some money, and the post office isn't really all that helpful, but it works for most cases. You can also use a third party "Mail-Boxes Etc." like approach in renting space there. The added advantage of this is that you can have them collect packages for you so you don't need to have them arrive on your doorstep.
Anyone who uses a real home address for their website (who doesn't want that to be made available,) is just lazy.
Except that AT&T was absolutely abusing their monopoly power pre-breakup. That's why they got broken up.
To add to this, there was a time, in recent history, where AT&T (Ma-Bell) controlled the system with such an iron fist where it was illegal to attach anything to a phone-line that didn't come from AT&T/Bell Labs. And AT&T prevented novel inventions (including some created by their own people) from being used for many years due to their monopoly abuse. Things like telephone answering machines, speaker phones, fax machines, and modems were outlawed and as a result, the world had to wait 60 years after their invention for Government to finally outlaw AT&T outlawing the future.
Only if you use water. If you don't use water, it is zero-scape. I don't use any water (though, at some point I might put in cactus and may need some water to get them established.)
A concrete slab (or crushed rock, which is what I use,) with no plants and thus no water requirements.
This astonishes me. I've never before heard of an HOA that will pay for your house to be painted, decked, or roofed! All I've ever heard of in connected to these activities is that the HOA will dictate what color you will paint your house and what style your deck and roofing will be.
All the ones I know are the same as what you've seen. The ones in my city even dictate that you have to have clean, well-kept lawns (we live in a desert,) using the particular type of lawn they require (tall-fescue) and all of this is your responsibility to pay for including the tons of water required to keep tall-fescue alive during mandatory water restrictions. They outlawed zero-scape, and have threatened to take houses away from folks who have zero-scaped. I know of no HOA in my area that paints your house or even maintains the roads (the city is responsible for that.)
I live in a non-HOA community, and am very happy that I can put in a yard that looks nice and doesn't require water, but as a result, there are houses on the street which don't look the same as other houses and we do have houses that look like parking lots and trash-heaps (though the city does enforce vehicle and trash abatement codes.)
Which should be a Felony crime. Y'know, cause it's fraud.
Sadly, it is only a crime when we do it. If you have enough money to pay for lobbyists and lawyers, you needn't worry yourself about petty issues.
I suspect if I tried to tell them I was going to pay them up-to $80/mo and remove a bunch of money off in hidden refunds, I'd be looking at some jail time (though likely they'd just drop me as a customer and deal with collections for the owed amount.)
On the post: Samsung Ad Injections Perfectly Illustrate Why I Want My 'Smart' TV To Be As Dumb As Possible
Re:
I'd agree, up until you talk about Plex. The Plex app that runs on smart TVs seems to be built right, in that it is as easy to navigate as NetFlix and is pretty fast too. About the only issue I have with it is that it still relies on DLNA updates, which result in File Not Found messages when new stuff is added to the library and you have to exit and restart the Plex App to avoid these errors.
It's far easier to just plug my laptop in and hit play.
Maybe, though the problem there is that you have to have your laptop running and set up to output to HDMI, and a cable long enough to plug in while you are sitting some distance from the TV. I use the Plex app mainly because I don't have to turn on another device. Luckily I am not using a Samsung TV, and I've been monitoring my Smart TV for the same stupidity and have not seen it (no callback to home, no injecting ads, and no listening devices or monitoring devices.) It does have a stupid non-disableable and non-configurable WiFi Access Point, but that seems to be its only stupidity in this current iteration of the firmware.
On the post: Waterboarding Whistleblower Released From Prison, Two Months After Torture Report's Release Vindicated His Actions
Re: Re:
Maybe, but it would also likely increase the severity of crime. While not everyone would resort to violence to escape being caught, I suspect that many, when faced with execution for being caught versus a chance to get away and live to fight another day, would do whatever they could to avoid being caught, including offing witnesses during the act. I certainly wouldn't want to live in that society.
On the post: Lawsuit: TSA Supervisor Got Traveler Arrested For Bogus 'Terroristic Threat' Charge, Lied About Incident In Court
Re: Re:
Unless your bag is made solely of metal, not likely, it contains organic matter. Plastics, cotton fiber, canvas, etc., all contain carbon, and thus are organic no matter how they are made. The statement, made by the TSA, is not only not scientific based, but it isn't really based in any known use of the word organic either.
I've been asked at the airport if my bag contained any organic material, and I've always said yes. When they checked and didn't find anything, I said my bag was made of plastic fibers and contained clothes, all which had carbon in them. Luckily, I've never flown through Philadelphia and every time the TSA agent has returned my luggage to me after swabbing it and allowed me to move on.
On the post: MPAA's Lies About Films Being Available Online Easily Debunked In Seconds
Re: Re: Re:
It shouldn't be tolerated. From my observations, it is usually it is a pre-teen or teenage girl on the phone, and I have yet to go to a theater (in the last ten years) where it hasn't happened at least once during the movie (it is almost always the following, almost scripted, "ring ring, hello, I am watching [movie] so I can't talk right now...yeah, its great, you should see it, should have come with us, oh yeah, ... [talk talk talk] ".) And like Art Guerrilla, I've seen quite a few laptops, including a person who sat in the front of the theater and blinded everyone with their laptop screen while typing away on whatever they were doing. With all the distractions, I'd end up leaving half way through the movie after reporting it to the manager. They'd always refund my money, but never even sent an usher into the theater to remove the individual. The only time I've seen a revolt by movie goers was when a drunk guy started being really obnoxious during a movie, and he was removed by other patrons, and the manager refunded *his* money (but didn't stop the movie or offer refunds to the folks that removed him from the theater.)
On the post: MPAA's Lies About Films Being Available Online Easily Debunked In Seconds
Re:
As do I. It is the experience that has kept me away. I cannot see paying $15+ for tickets alone to see a movie in a crowded movie theater where more than half of the attendees are inconsiderate and rude, talking or playing on their cell phones, talking to other movie goers, kicking the seat, etc. I have a decent sized video projection device at home, with decent speakers, and if I really want the "movie going experience," I can invite friends and family to watch with me. The theater going experience is what has kept me from going to the theaters for over a year, and has resulted in me seeing three movies in the movie theater in the last five years. And I tend to buy and rent more than my share. Will I watch Intersteller at the movie theater? No. Will I miss the experience while watching it at home. Hell no.
I only wish I could have your experience in the movie theaters, but sadly, I apparently live in a city/country that doesn't have much respect for others when it comes to movie going experience.
On the post: Lagunitas Drops Trademark Suit Against Sierra Nevada After Public Backlash
Re: Liars or extremely stupid Customers
The customers who seek out to drink their beer most definitely know that IPA is a style, not a brand. I'd see this as being a problem with the majors, where the drinker most likely thinks the piss they are drinking tastes better than the piss that one of the others makes, but those who seek out IPAs know what it is they are drinking (most Buttwiper fans would take a swig of an IPA and immediately spit it out and complain that it has way too much flavor for their tastes, since they prefer drinking sandpaper flavored water.)
I vote for the former.
On the post: Verizon Shows Just How Competitive The Wireless Industry Really Is By Simply Refusing To Compete On Price
Re: Re: Re:
I have a rooted phone running a non-stock ROM, and had no problem installing and using the T-Mobile WiFi calling .apk file. It doesn't work on every ROM, but it does not need to be an official ROM to work.
On the post: Verizon Shows Just How Competitive The Wireless Industry Really Is By Simply Refusing To Compete On Price
Re: Re: Re:
It doesn't make sense to you or me, but it makes sense to a greedy company. They can charge you again for something they already charged you for. Double/Triple/Quadruple-dipping is the name of the game. Them solid gold Humvees and diamond swimming pools don't come cheap.
On the post: Analysis Of Pirated Oscar Movies Shows They're Almost All Available... In HD (And Not From Screeners)
Re: So where are the copies coming from?
This is purely a half-assed guess, since I have no insider information, but from what I gather they are likely talking about insiders within the production companies themselves leaking the videos. It has happened before.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re:
It is ridiculous, and a serious disservice to the kids. The last things parents should do is put their kids into a bubble. When that bubble breaks (usually when they are 18 years old and on their own) they have no reality and no real understanding of how the world works, and no compass (I am not talking morals here,) in how to work with others who have different upbringings than their own. It may be easier on the parents to shield the kids from the world they live in, but it isn't easier on the kids or the society who eventually has to pick up the pieces when the bubble explodes.
On the post: Tucows Hopes To Kickstart U.S. Broadband Competition One Town At A Time
Re: Re: Love
I second this. They are awesome. Now if only they could get a network other than Sprint to reside on, they would be even more awesome. They have the best customer support team ever (they sit on the phone and work with you until the problem is fixed instead of tossing you back and forth like a volleyball in a volleyball game.
I use them for both Ting and Hover, and have had no problems with either (though I'd love to see them implement DNSSEC, but there always has to be something to hope for.) If they implemented 100mbps in my area at the same rate that my cable company is charging, I'd switch in a heartbeat (100mbps is twice what my current provider is providing for $80+/mo.) Sweeten the pot with 1 gbps at the same rate and I'd offer to help run the cable and have tea and cookies ready to go for the workers.
On the post: And Of Course, The Attempts To Trademark 'Je Suis Charlie' Have Begun
Re: Might have matched his other application
That translated fine according to my four years of French in High-school, and confirmed with google French -> English translation.
French -> English translation: "I am an idiot"
On the post: Judge Awards $100k In Attorney's Fees Over Copyright Trolling, But Downplays Fraud Aspects
Re: Re:
It actually is. The problem is that the US court system has generally ignored all but the most egregious cases of perjury.
The problem right now is that they run fast enough that nobody gets near the money during investigation.
The problem right now is that the courts tend to treat the trolls, especially ones making a lot of money for the courts, as more important and more incorruptible than those of citizens even when those trolls turn out to be more crooked than a horizontal pole.
On the post: Linux Developer Who Issued Bogus YouTube Takedowns Threatens Techdirt With Legal Action For Publishing His 'Private Information'
Re: Re: Re:
P.O. Box?
It costs some money, and the post office isn't really all that helpful, but it works for most cases. You can also use a third party "Mail-Boxes Etc." like approach in renting space there. The added advantage of this is that you can have them collect packages for you so you don't need to have them arrive on your doorstep.
Anyone who uses a real home address for their website (who doesn't want that to be made available,) is just lazy.
On the post: Schrodinger's Carrier: AT&T Is/Is Not A Common Carrier Depending On Who's Looking For What Reason
Re: Re:
To add to this, there was a time, in recent history, where AT&T (Ma-Bell) controlled the system with such an iron fist where it was illegal to attach anything to a phone-line that didn't come from AT&T/Bell Labs. And AT&T prevented novel inventions (including some created by their own people) from being used for many years due to their monopoly abuse. Things like telephone answering machines, speaker phones, fax machines, and modems were outlawed and as a result, the world had to wait 60 years after their invention for Government to finally outlaw AT&T outlawing the future.
On the post: NYPD Pouts And Refuses To Do Their Duty; Residents Split Between Applauding And Failing To Notice
Re: Re: Re: Re: Other Law Enforcement Truth
One of us has a dodgy sarcasm meter. I detect some pretty serious sarcasm in tqk's comment, but my meter may be broken.
On the post: DRM, Or How To Turn Your Cat's Litter Box Into An Inkjet Printer
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
That last part was tongue in cheek, but yes you are correct.
On the post: DRM, Or How To Turn Your Cat's Litter Box Into An Inkjet Printer
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Only if you use water. If you don't use water, it is zero-scape. I don't use any water (though, at some point I might put in cactus and may need some water to get them established.)
A concrete slab (or crushed rock, which is what I use,) with no plants and thus no water requirements.
On the post: DRM, Or How To Turn Your Cat's Litter Box Into An Inkjet Printer
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
All the ones I know are the same as what you've seen. The ones in my city even dictate that you have to have clean, well-kept lawns (we live in a desert,) using the particular type of lawn they require (tall-fescue) and all of this is your responsibility to pay for including the tons of water required to keep tall-fescue alive during mandatory water restrictions. They outlawed zero-scape, and have threatened to take houses away from folks who have zero-scaped. I know of no HOA in my area that paints your house or even maintains the roads (the city is responsible for that.)
I live in a non-HOA community, and am very happy that I can put in a yard that looks nice and doesn't require water, but as a result, there are houses on the street which don't look the same as other houses and we do have houses that look like parking lots and trash-heaps (though the city does enforce vehicle and trash abatement codes.)
On the post: Commerce Department Study Reveals There's Almost No Competition If You Want Real Broadband
Re: Re: Getting prices
Sadly, it is only a crime when we do it. If you have enough money to pay for lobbyists and lawyers, you needn't worry yourself about petty issues.
I suspect if I tried to tell them I was going to pay them up-to $80/mo and remove a bunch of money off in hidden refunds, I'd be looking at some jail time (though likely they'd just drop me as a customer and deal with collections for the owed amount.)
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