Posts by Uncle Ron

IBM trades cold comfort for hot air in Microsoft-AWS slugfest

Nonsense is Goodsense, I Guess...

AWS will -always- have the most utilized compute capacity so long as it hosts Netflix -and- Amazon Prime VIDEO streaming. That takes a HUGE amount of compute power, network bandwidth, VM's and more. But it means NOTHING. It's high-volume, low-margin work. Remove that, and study only relevant, real-world, business cloud computing (which is all that really matters in terms of high margin revenue) and all the results from all the "studies" will skew back to IBM, followed by everyone else.

One bit to rule them all? Forget it – old storage types never die

Print Button

Boy I wish you guys hadn't removed the "print" icon on these nice articles. I could press the print icon and print as a .pdf and have the thing as a reference forever. Now, you want readers to click on every page so you can get the ad counts and eyeballs or whatever it is that floats your boats and paychecks.

Sad, I have simply stopped reading these nice articles at all.

Intel has ambitions to turn modems into virtual servers and reinvent broadband

Monopolies

Cable System ISP's in the US are essentially unregulated monopolies in the areas they "service." Read: Cable TV monopolies. Over 70% of Americans have -one- choice for high-speed internet service: Their local cable monopoly. AT&T is almost entirely DSL, Satellites will never have the capacity or speed, Fiber footprint from any player (Google, Verizon, AT&T is tiny--and will be for at least a decade.)

IMHO, the cable monopolies have no business laying any more new, proprietary services on top of their cable monopoly, it's not fair, and it is not good business. Erecting artificial barriers, and barricading new, innovative, faster, more advanced, more competitive offerings by either the monopolies themselves, or by "legislators and regulators" is just stupid. Plus, it tends to concentrate new business start ups, in totally unrelated fields, to re-locate, if at all possible, to get faster, cheaper internet service in one of the few competitive areas. There is evidence this is already happening here.

The cable monopolies were granted their franchise gravy train monopolies in return for digging the trenches and laying the cable to deliver TV channels--not for providing internet service, selling local advertising, owning TV networks, owning movie studios, owning sports networks, providing security or cloud services on top of their monopolies. Again, it's not fair and it's not good business. You can make an excellent case that the total pool of profits and investment returns to the financial community would be substantially higher, consumer and business prices would be lower and the rate an pace of technology advance would be higher, if the systems were broken back up into trenches and cable, and -every- other value-add service, content company, and the rest were separate and competing entities. More competition, better offerings, lower prices, faster improvements in technology. Better, faster, quicker.

We need to wake up in America and get on the ball. We're being screwed by a corrupt, ignorant, incompetent system for decades. What do you think?

SanDisk goes nuclear with its Fusion flash card range

Chris

As usual, and as always, Chris is doing a terrific job covering this sector. It's a lot of hard work. Thank you, sir. Much appreciated.

TV networks peck at sun-bleached skeleton of Aereo, come away with $950,000

Too Far

My understanding is that what the 'broadcasters' won on was the recording aspect. I would have bought the service -without- the DVR capability. Just to be able to get local stations--and the few other goodies, like a weather channel and a real cheap/old movie channel, and Bloomberg Business, would have been worth the ten bucks to me. And they might have been able to get away with that. I think Aereo just went too far...

Default admin password, weak Wi-Fi, open USB ports ... no wonder these electronic voting boxes are now BANNED

Re: The position of the constitutional court of Germany is worthy of note

"explain this to the large number of corrupt, paranoid, and stupid experts who have studied voting systems" Please prove this.

Re: The position of the constitutional court of Germany is worthy of note

The problem is, with millions or tens of millions of people voting, hand jobs are just not practical. If credit card companies, banks, the IRS and SSA can have secure systems, voting should be able to be automated. Only corrupt, paranoid, or stupid people would disagree.

Re: Who's to Blame?

The fault is in ourselves: The requirements for a "public procurement" with bid specifications, low price providers, low bidders and all that crap almost guarantee a complete joke of a system. A horse designed by committee. Some vendor companies exist only because they are "good 'ole boys" with procurement people.

Re: First Line Says:

That's just what the election scammers want you to think. Which is better: A well designed and maintained electronic system, or "parchment and scribes?" So, get the electronic systems thrown out and go back to manual systems even more easily corrupted and untrackable.

Re: Bottom line

It's not the vendor's fault so much as the totally careless, incompetent IT people--and the tightwad public officials who refused to modernize the systems. Pathetic. When the systems were still within their normal useful life, they were probably acceptable. But not maintained and updated. What a joke.

Need speed? Then PCIe it is – server power without the politics

The "Printer" Icon

Boy I sure miss the little printer icon that used to be on the top of Reg stories. Especially one like this with 5 pages. I know they all want page clicks and looks or whatever they call it, but this is a great article and I'd like to print it for future reference. I don't look at El Reg at all, as much as I used to, because of this... Sad.

Yelp can protect critics in rough reviews row: Virginia yanks rug from under furious carpet biz

Just a Stupid Idea

Yelp is just a stupid idea. So is Angie's List. Professional reviewers, whether SW or Movies or Restaurants or Carpet Cleaners, are the only ones I ever pay any attention to. Otherwise, it's my friends and relatives I listen to. I don't trust Yelp or Angie's List or Amazon reviews any farther than I can throw them. Especially when you consider that review numbers are almost always skewed toward complainers.

PHYSICS APPLECART UPSET as dark energy disappears, Universe slams on brakes

Re: Up and Down

Thanks. The thing is, we don't understand time. Not entirely. We know it operates at different rates in different places, and there is no privileged position, but--I'm out of my depth here. We probably -are- sitting on a giant's back or some big turtle or something. Maybe the Universe is a big Mobius strip, huh?

Up and Down

It is entirely possible that the 'new calculations' will reveal that the Universe is like a roller coaster would be in the absence of friction: Outward to a certain stage, then back in to a singularity, followed by another big bang, and the process starts again, ad infinitum. Huh? I like this scenario much better than entropy.

US Senate to probe the Obama-Google love-in

You Just Had to Know it.

You just had to know it would be no time at all before the new Republican-controlled US Senate would launch dozens of nonsense hearings to tie up the President and his staff's time in useless appearances and probes and investigations that will lead to nothing, go nowhere, and prove, for the thousandth time, that the that the current amateur, incompetent, blowhard Republican party in the US is incapable of providing any kind of leadership, and capable only of taking money from the rich, and from big corporations. There is an especially hot and fiery place in Hell being reserved for the whole lot of them.

Silicon Valley gets its first 1Gbps home bro– oh, there's a big catch

Re: VPN

Monopoly ISP's like AT&T and nearly -every- cable TV system in America have a license to print money. Their monopoly franchise allows them to bilk consumers like almost no other enterprises in the history of history. Now, AT&T wants to further monetize (a word I hate) their monopoly by charging $29 per month MORE to keep your privacy! Unbelievable. Internet service is already THE most profitable product these monopolies sell--by far. Just look at their (obtuse, obscure) annual reports and you can see how profitable the mostly add-on IP service is.

This has to stop. Nobody needs "Gigabit" service to the home--nobody. This is a pure marketing scam. Only small and medium businesses with 10's or hundreds of employees--terminals or cash registers or data dumping--need gigabit speed. Do the math: High definition video streaming requires from 4 to 6 MEGABITS per second, and gigabit speed would allow you to stream 150 to 250 HD movies simultaneously. Nobody needs that.

I wish to god the press would stop hyping this stuff like something miraculous has come to Cupertino. Plus, at $110 per month, it represents a real consumer rip-off. STOP IT.

Oh Big Blue, can't you think of anything new for your product line?

Re: Headline - Lenovo assumes the "position" and takes another huge load from IBM..

I hate to say it, but John Akers had the right idea 25 years ago: Break IBM into 5 companies. (Servers, Storage, SW, Services, Research.) Let them compete with each other and with all the others. I believe stockholders would be at least twice as rich as they are now. Look at the Bell companies. Stockholders fairly quickly got rich when it "broke up."

Philae's either screening Rosetta's calls or isn't home

Not Good Writing:

You said, "That plan also worked, mostly, save for Philae landing in a spot where its solar cells can't gather enough energy for it to do any work."

And then you said, "Philae did manage to operate on battery power for 54 hours, which was enough time for it to put all ten of its onboard instruments to work and beam back lots of data."

Aren't those two sentences absolutely CONTRADICTORY? It couldn't gather enough power to do any work, yet it worked for 54 hours, used ALL TEN of it's instruments and sent back LOTS of data.

I don't like cynical writers who don't know what they're trying to say.

Philae was an UNBELIEVABLE success. It didn't do EVERYTHING that was hoped for. It may yet. That's what I would say.

Net neutrality victory: FCC approves 'open internet' rules in 3-2 vote

Nobody Knows Yet

There have been no leaks, and revisions were made only a few hours before the vote. The fight is far from over, there are very likely loopholes and exceptions and other very sour stuff in the new rules, and Congress and Lobbyists will continue to make the system uncertain for years. There is just TOO MUCH MONEY at stake for these slugs to go home. We cannot declare victory just yet. The Congress, the FCC, and almost all of the US Federal Government doesn't "have it's head up it's butt" as one commenter put it, it has it's head up the butt of Big Business and The Rich. Congress, the FCC, the DOJ, the SEC, and ALL the alphabet agencies abandoned the citizens of the US long ago. America is a Corporatist State now. Go look up the definition of Fascism and read what the US has become. Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, along with Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, The Koch Brothers, and multiple other corporations and other campaign donors now rule. Consumers, the Poor, the Middle Class--all dead in America. I plan on laughing out loud at these new "Net Neutrality" rules after the multiple months before they're actually published.

Re: We Internet pioneers breathe a sigh of relief

Man, I don't know who you are or what kind of 'engineer' you are, but you are just totally and completely wrong. Please adjust your foil helmet.

Net neutrality secrecy: No one knows what the FCC approved (BUT Google has a good idea)

The Fight is Far From Over...

When you read headlines tomorrow saying, "Republicans Vow to Fight Intrusive Internet Rules," or "Comcast and Verizon Plan to Sue Over Net Neutrality Rules," or some Senator or Congressman calling the new rules "government overreach" or some such, just remember that the new rules are STILL A SECRET! They haven't been published yet. The 350+ page document that the FCC voted on today is totally unknown to anyone but the commissioners themselves. There have been no leaks, and revisions were made only a few hours before the vote. The fight is far from over, there are very likely loopholes and exceptions and other very sour stuff in the new rules, and Congress and Lobbyists will continue to make the system uncertain for years. There is just TOO MUCH MONEY at stake for these slugs to go home. We cannot declare victory just yet.

To Lag Behind and to Erode--Just like the middle class...

The corporate shills said, "...the dissenting voices – including those arguing that the FCC needs to bring itself into the modern internet era – have so far received much less of a hearing." What a load of crap. Theirs is the -only- voice that is -ever- heard. I'm not trusting this new set of rules any farther than I could throw the 350+ pages. Everything Wheeler touches is for his old masters--not for the people. He worked to get Obama elected so he could become FCC Chairman and rule the future of telephone, cable and internet profits for decades to come. We'll see how much of a joke these new lobbyist-written rules are when they're published. Watch for internet rates and fees and profits to sky-rocket in the US in the coming years. Watch for technology in the US to lag and erode. Watch for it. If you are a competitor of the US, you're in good shape.

'Net neutrality will turn the internet communist – and make Iran's day'

Re: The Internet turning Communist?

Congress can't do anything that the President disapproves of. He can veto any onerous bill the Repubs pass. They don't have enough votes to override a veto. If a Democrat gets elected in 2016 (better than 50/50 chance) what the FCC rules next week will stick. Only the courts can slap it down, and that too, is unlikely.

I feel the Net Neutrality issue is a Red Herring anyway. What the monopoly ISP's really, really want is Metered Billing, or Usage Based Billing. Look for them to use the Net Neutrality "loss" as an excuse to begin charging by the byte. Unbelievable profits, and unbelievable price-gouging. Metered Billing is a license to print money. For monopolies.

The US is becoming a corporatist state. More than any EU nation is, or ever has been.

Boffin the boffin and his boffinry pals in double dwarf super-prang alert

Gutteral throat sound...

(Butthead noise...) He said, "...the man behind your anus."

Net neutrality: Someone WILL sue. So will the FCC's rules hold up?

"US cable companies are fiercely opposed to being regulated."

I don't get how companies that have been given competition-free monopolies, franchises and exclusivity in local territories, covering vast numbers of consumers, with very little-to-no price control, could possibly get any sympathy from anyone for being opposed to being regulated. In return for this juicy, profitable, government concession, and immunity from anti-trust monopoly laws, they should have to raise their skirts and be inspected and be regulated every 60 seconds. They get a free, open territory, and they have the nerve to be fiercely opposed to regulation to assure they don't abuse this gift from the people. I say, "Off With Their Heads!"

Tom Wheeler flings off dressing gown, dons gloves for net neutrality RUMBLE

Re: No Nothing...

The cable and telecom monopolies are not stupid. They won't ratchet up the rates in one swoop. They'll do it over several years. Slow enough to keep the noise level down. But as I said, the National Cable Industry Association has publicly predicted $200 to $300 per month bills for internet service--no content, just the bits--within three to five years. America is rapidly becoming (or, should I say, already is) a corporatist oligarchy. No justice for all.

Re: Presidential vetoes are usually empty threats

"Obama's only had TWO vetoes his entire term in office." Not a low count at all, when you consider that the Congress, during his term, has passed -very- few bills. And, don't forget, that when his opponents actually -want- something passed, they usually shape it into what they think he'll sign. Usually.

You can expect much more vetoing in the next two years. The morons are posturing for 2016.

Re: "...no last-mile unbundling."

Sorry, much of Kansas and Wyoming are already wired up. And new runs would be paid for, as they are now, by developers, apartment block owners, and others. If anything, unbundling would mean -more- revenue for whoever lays the cable. It only gets laid once. By someone who either uses it themselves, or rents it out. It does -not- mean duplicate lays.

No Nothing...

Wheeler said, "there will be no rate regulation, no tariffs, no last-mile unbundling."

Those things are exactly what are needed. The Cable Industry's water boy came through for them. American consumers are going to get walloped in the wallet very soon. The lobbyists have publicly predicted $200 to $300 monthly internet bills for Americans, and here it comes.

70% of American consumers have ONE choice for internet service: Their local cable TV monopoly. If the Comcast merger is somehow corruptly approved, more than 50% of Americans will have only Comcast to choose from. "There will be no rate regulation, no tariffs, no last-mile unbundling." The oligarchs have won.

I believe this "Net Neutrality" decision is a total ruse. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler doesn’t intend to govern the online world the way authorities oversee rate hikes at utilities like Pacific Gas and Electric Co., and the agency won’t be monitoring your monthly Comcast or AT&T bill. I'm convinced that neither the FCC or the Cable Lobby cares so much about Net Neutrality. What they really want is to impose METERED BILLING, and the proposed ruling does nothing to prevent this rip-off. Metered Billing is the true Pot of Gold for the monopolists. It is not only unjustified price-gouging, but is actually a DIS-incentive to the monopolies to -ever- improve the technology.

They will claim that this "loss" on Net Neutrality justifies them to begin charging a LOT more for internet service. They will begin coming for American's wallets very soon. Expect $200 to $300 per month internet bills from Comcast and all of them. They have already PUBLICLY stated they intend to do this. These multi-hundred dollar monthly internet bills is their forecast. Wheeler is their "guy" at the FCC.

Watt the CHIP!? ARM pops out THE most powerful 64-bit Cortex for mobes'n'slabs

Re: Change of venue

I agree and upvoted your post. However, the customers and clients and the most influential press (sorry elReg) for this thing are in Silicon Valley (and further 'west,') so I guess we're never going to see a product announcement staged in Enfield.

Let's be clear, everyone: DON'T BLOCK Wi-Fi, DUH – FCC official ruling

Re: Huh?

Charles, Nope, not even selling off -everything- else will make the pig not stink. 54% control of America's high-speed internet service, in their utopian Metered Billing, Hugely Profitable dreams, will surpass every other line of business Comcast is in. The merger is -all- about internet service. It is currently the most profitable product the monopoly cable systems sell, by far. For example, the profitability of internet service is the major reason Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, and the rest, are reporting double digit profit increases in the face of declining cable TV subscriptions, declining ad revenues, increasing carriage fees, etc.

In addition, historically, the track record of "conditions," "concessions," and "promises" imposed on telecommunication companies (AT&T, Verizon, and much more) is unbelievably weak. Here's a perfect example: Net Neutrality. Not only has Comcast and Verizon broken Net Neutrality rules, but I believe they will all cave on the issue and use the "concession" as justification to implement higher, wallet walloping, fees for Metered Internet Billing. They will selectively impose Metered Billing on the content of their enemies, and bypass Metered Billing for their own services and their "Friends."

Charlie, we should be talking about breaking up Comcast and Time Warner Cable, not allowing them to merge. We should be writing rules that allow competitors to use existing, paid-for cable runs, and eliminating monopoly restrictions to allow new competitive infrastructure. That's what the FCC and the rest should be doing. Not protecting and bolstering the business models of corporate monopolies.

If you are a consumer, and not a shill for the cable and telephone industry, why would you disagree with free enterprise? There is no longer a reason to allow these monsters to continue to pry open our wallets and hobble technology for the benefit of monopoly executives and stockholders.

Huh?

Does anyone else think this is more of a win for Verizon, AT&T, and the rest, and not so much for the consumer? Cell phone companies were absolutely opposed to anybody, from hotels to convention centers to, well, anybody, keeping them from selling their hugely overpriced bits. The FCC is the lap dog of these big corporations, not the consumer. We're out of control here in the US. We're becoming a corporatist state.

I just don't see -anything- coming from this FCC that is remotely consumer oriented. I'm just waiting for the Comcast shoe to drop. No "conditions," "concessions," or "promises" will make that pig not really, really stink for America. Keep watching...

Tough at the top: IBM CEO Ginni Rometty troughs $10 MEELLION+

Tired

I have run out of energy trying to figure out, and at the same time criticizing, whatever it is that's going on at IBM. Rometty is getting bad advice, and isn't up to the challenge, either technologically or inspirationally.

I feel the principal CEO mission at IBM is to swat Finance around and keep them in their place, while moving forward in lock-step with everything the 70 or so IBM Fellows bring forward. Rometty is doing just the opposite. The Fellows are retiring and leaving in droves, and Finance is running the place. Awesome.

How's this for customer service: Comcast calls bloke an A**HOLE – and even puts it in print

Breathtaking

It is breathtaking to me that the US FCC (and the US Congress, the US Justice Department, the US Federal Trade Commission, the business press--just ANYBODY--is still considering allowing Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable, still taking it seriously--it's just unbelievable corruption. The authorities should be breaking up these cable monopolies not allowing them to strangle technology here.

If the merger is allowed, the "new" Comcast will control more than FIFTY PERCENT of the high-speed internet service in the US, and they have publicly stated they will start Metered Billing for internet service "across our footprint" very soon. They will own NBC, Universal Studios, E! Network, Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Telemundo, and soon, "ComcastFlix." They will essentially set the tone and the rules and the price for how the internet is run in America. This is all just too breathtaking. Just too much for me. This is -not- hyperbole: Comcast could become -the- most profitable company in America.

FCC boss Wheeler clears way for internet TV and cable unbundling

What Was it Before?

I'm not aware of any restriction before this "announcement" against anybody offering anything on the internet. What's going on here? As a general principle, I don't trust any pronouncement coming out of any orifice of Tom Wheeler's body. He's a shill for corporate interests like Comcast (NBC) and Verizon and the rest of "the industry," and definitely -not- on the side of the consumer. Assuming no contractual (perfectly legal) restriction, anybody can transmit anything they own on the internet.

IBM jobs axe: 'The cuts have STARTED and are spreading' sigh staff

Calculation

The article states: "Analysts have calculated that this likely means "several thousand" pink slips." Not if the severance packages are 1/2 or 1/3--or less--of what they used to be. Then the numbers are higher. Maybe much higher.

2015 and IBM: But it wasn't supposed to be like this...

Not a Lost Year for Everyone...

2015 will not be a "lost year" for the foot-soldier employees of IBM. They will be flogged, inspected, tailed, pressured and bullied by management more than ever. Their quotas will be increased (and, being on "relative" performance plans, their incomes will be cut) and many, many of them will be kicked to their curb or voluntarily race to the exit for their efforts.

Senior management at IBM has carved resources to the bone (and beyond) to make EPS targets for decades, "Cost containment" has been the only identifiable IBM strategy over that time frame. No one who knows anything should wonder why the company has fallen behind -everyone- else in the industry in innovation, new products, price-performance, and service.

IBM has lost it's way. And with mostly a-hole kissing people left in the house, it is questionable that it will ever find it's way back.

FCC hits pause on Comcast-TWC gobble AGAIN

Re: let them join up

These are all terrific suggestions. Transparently obvious and smart. The internet is a vital technology in our society: Personal and corporate finance, freedom of speech, information availability, entertainment, and more. By many competent estimates, if this merger is approved, Comcast with control 54% of it in America. Outrageous. Comcast and Time Warner Cable should be broken up--not allowed to merge.

Why aren't your suggestions on the table right now at the FCC? Some version of them have been suggested for years. Why? Because of political campaign finance. The US National Cable Industry Association is one of the biggest (maybe the 2nd biggest) "lobbyist" in Washington. The potential profitability (read: consumer rip-off) of Metered Billing for internet service from a merged Comcast is unbelievable. Really, astronomical. For a monopoly! That's what this merger is all about, internet service. Cable companies are all monopolies in the areas they "serve." 70% of Americans have one choice for high-speed internet service: Their local cable monopoly. The merger must be denied, and your suggestions adopted, or America is truly sunk. Not hyperbole.

Unbelievable Corruption

It is shocking to me that this merger is -still- being considered. The merger is no good for anyone except the executives and stockholders of Comcast. That's not good enough for something this vital. There are no "conditions," "concessions," or "promises" that Comcast can make that would make this pig not stink. Too much power, too much monopoly control, too much ability to absolutely halt technology progress in America, too much content control, too much ability to raise prices and create artificial scarcity.

Comcast has shown lousy public service habits, lousy quality of service, lousy concern for customers, lousy, lousy, lousy. I urge you to write, phone, telegram, complain to high heaven to every official you can think of. This thing cannot be allowed to happen. Comcast and Time Warner Cable should be broken up, not allowed to merge. Unbelievable corruption happening here. They'll very quickly begin Metered Billing for internet service and start a Netflix competitor and drive them out of business.

And by the way, if you didn't know: Comcast already owns: NBC, Bravo, Universal Studios, Universal Television, MSNBC, CNBC, USA Networks, Comcast Sports Network, Telemundo, E! Television, and more. Why and How can we possibly consider letting them get control of broadband for 50+% of America? Which essentially means they'll control broadband in America. Who owns this country anyway?

Searching to destroy ... Bing? Facebook JILTS Microsoft

Thank You

I would drop -everything- Microsoft, if I could. If I only could.

Deprivation Britain: 1930s all over again? Codswallop!

Thank You

This is a nice piece of work. Thanks. On this side of the pond, I'm saddened to know that 14 percent of American households (17.5 million households) are food insecure. If you don't know the definition of what that means, look it up. The income gap may be wider and growing faster here than in Britain.

I hope to the lord god that many in the UK, and in America, believe what I feel is a truly important idea in the article: "I'm very much a believer in the idea that rather the point of this whole having an economy thing is to make poor people better off." I firmly agree that you can be a capitalist and a greater democrat at the same time. It's been a few thousand years, but one "enlightened" philosopher knew this a long time ago, "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." ...Plutarch

Pub time for NASA bods? Orion spacecraft test launch called off

Scripts

"Overcautious Automated Scripts" should also be in your headline. "Hold, Hold, Hold," was called out twice this morning during two separate 4 minute windows because of winds a bit above maximum. The LD actually called for turning off that part of the script system and manually making the wind decision, before they called the third "Hold, Hold, Hold" for the "faulty" valves. Who knows if the valves would have been sensed to be "faulty" if the wind decisions hadn't caused everything to have to be spooled down and spooled back up. Just sayin'...

FCC bigwig grills Netflix: If internet fast lanes are so bad, why did YOU build them?

Totally Responsible...

The FCC and the DOJ are so totally unpredictable, and the Comcast lobbying army and political machine is so huge, that it would be irresponsible for Netflix to simply sit still in the face of the coming "ComcastFlix" that will surely be launched 1 minute after the Comcast merger is approved. There will be Metered Billing for Netflix streaming--making each Netflix movie cost at least a US dollar to watch, and no Metered Billing for "ComcastFlix." You be the judge: If you're Netflix, what do you do?

Wikipedia won't stop BEGGING for cash - despite sitting on $60m

One Truly Shining Star

WIkipedia is one truly bright star on the webs. I'm a fan, a supporter, a defender. It is stunning to me that envious, know-it-all critics sit out there on their terminals and poke barbs at how they raise and spend money. Nobody's perfect. But they have done so well, creating a brand new thing, that works well, not perfectly, but so well, that I say, "Shut up and sit down."

I want WIkipedia to have a nice, fat cushion of funding. I don't want Wikipedia to ever be threatened. I don't want Wikipedia to be ad supported. Ever.

Nexus 7 fandroids tell of salty taste after sucking on Google's Lollipop

SOP

Standard Operating Procedure. Of course MS has done this for the last 30 years. Google is just carrying on a glorious and time-honored tradition: A 'free' update nearly bricks your old, perfectly good machine, so you decide, after a week or two of horrible frustration, to just go out and buy a new machine with a sparkling new OS license.

Am I the only one who thinks that Google felt those pesky, out-of-touch, 2012 Nexus 7 users should go out and buy a sparkling "new" Nexus 9? (Almost nothing new, but it's not bricked by Lollipop.)

The Nokia ENIGMA THING and its SECRET, TERRIBLE purpose

It's the Nokia Not-Roku

The "Not-Roku" will attempt to compete with the Roku streaming box. It's a "Not-Roku" so it will Not have the following: HDMI, Fast Processor, Wi-Fi Direct Remote, Headphone Jack in Remote, Light Weight, Many Channels, Smart, Intuitive Interface, Not Ranked #1 (of 18 streaming boxes including AppleTV) by Time Magazine. I'm excited.

FCC: You, AT&T. Get over here and explain this 'no more gigabit fiber' threat

The Credo of the Monopolist

"Create Artificial Scarcity." That's the credo of the monopolist. The monopolist AT&T is well versed in that religion. Inbred in their corporate culture is the act playing games of hide-and-seek with understaffed regulators and uneducated public utility commissions, from Maine to California. They are masters of it. 'We hide as much as we possibly can, invest as little as humanly possible, and you get to seek where we buried everything we could think of in the "rate case."' Sure, the FCC "wants to check it's math." Good luck with that.

You might be interested to know that AT&T actually -arranged- over time for the "breakup" of the old Bell System in return for being allowed to enter businesses they were previously restricted from entering, namely the cell phone business and the TV business. They were broken up into 6 or 7 smaller monopolies, which had no positive impact on consumer choice, and were subsequently partially merged back together by SW Bell--who promptly changed their name back to AT&T. Hollywood couldn't make this stuff up.

Now, they are threatening to stop investing in fiber optics systems unless they get their way on Net Neutrality. You should read this short article, which has been cited and validated by numerous other commentators on the web:

http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/12/what-france-has-taught-me-americans-are-suckers-who-have-themselves-to-blame-for-crappy-broadband/

Why solid-state disks are winning the argument

Re: Reasons for traditional HD

Anything on a traditional I/O bus is bottlenecked. The traditional, legacy I/O subsystem, dating back 40 years, is such a kludge of wiring and instructions as to be, IMHO, the most backward, outdated thing we can see in current information processing.

No, the sooner we can implement Storage Class Memory, and Storage Class Memory Controllers directly into the fabric of the processor silicone, and thence into the OS's and even into the apps themselves, will any of the article's points really matter. The minor distinctions between HDD's and SDD's are only marginally interesting.

Net neutrality Thursday PROTESTS: Time to learn your chant

Balance

Don't the constant efforts of the FCC (and others in US gov't) to protect and extend and preserve the rights and revenue streams of the monopoly telecom and cable systems in the US strike anyone as totally inappropriate? The plans and programs, and rules and regulations of various state agencies should be to protect the public interest, not to expand the profits of monopolies.

Granted, protecting the public interest should include seeing to it that the companies survive, and the services continue. But it seems consumer concerns--especially their wallets--should be paramount. In the US, the priorities are completely reversed. This current "wholesale/retail" proposal is totally stupid--and unnecessary. There isn't one major monopoly cable or telecom company in the US that isn't making nice profits under the -current- systems. They don't need to get bigger, merge into bigger monopolies, get more profitable, or more powerful, in order to further the public/consumer interest. Just the opposite. This new proposal would actually be a DIS-incentive to the monopolies to ever get better. They'd just extract more money, eventually passed on to the consumer. And actually slow the advance of the technology.

This approach by the lobbyist-controlled regulators and legislators, is in nobody's interest but the stockholders of the monopolies. It stinks.