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Demon-Haunted World

locusmag.com

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121–130 of 289 posts

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#121

Post by owlninja »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #10

This is what I think about at the pump. More and more I see gas pumps ask if you want a receipt BEFORE the gas is dispensed. This seems risky. If you decline the receipt and then dispense gas, the pump could cheat on the amount of gas dispensed with less risk, as a papered record of the purchase amount and price is not produced. If on the other hand, the pump waits to ask if you desire a receipt until after the gasol…

Maybe related, we had an event in my small town where a customer pressed diesel, but got filled with regular unleaded. His receipt helped him when fighting for some damages.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#122

Post by eridius »

middleorigin wrote: post #119
eridius wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember that one, although IIRC they did it because Linux-on-PS3 was being used as a way to get around the copyright restrictions on the PS3 and pirate games. Basically, the pirates ruined it for everyone.

I feel comfortable in blaming Sony for this. At one point I would have paid for an open ps3, say without the gpu, but these are lost sales now.

Sony didn't really have a choice. They have to protect the integrity of their system as best they can, which means closing any holes that are used to circumvent the copyright restrictions. Besides just being important to protect sales on their platform, it wouldn't surprise me if there aren't contractual obligations here as well.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#123

Post by selimthegrim »

function_seven wrote: post #113
zackmorris wrote: post #52

Startup idea: Form a company that explores new markets in legal liabilities. It could bring lawsuits with little risk where the payoff could be billions of dollars. Off the top of my head: * Research whether channels were engineered into smartphones to allow water to leak in (since they have no moving parts and should self-evidently be watertight). * Find the planned-obsolescence parts in things like car doors that w…

> Find the planned-obsolescence parts in things like car doors that were engineered too thin or out of plastic so that door and window handles fail after a certain number of uses. There’s no way in hell car companies are purposely under-engineering things to cause them to break. That damages the brand reputation, and will drive the next sale to a competitor. Yes, they make engineering tradeoffs. No, they don’t design…

I present to you - Mercedes-Benz - http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/for-the-love-of-god-dont-ever-...

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#124

Post by LeoPanthera »

middleorigin wrote: post #117
sliken wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention headphone ports, usb ports, and charging ports. Also most phones have a vibrate function which uses an electric motor.

Wait, ports are considered moving parts?

Many ports, and notably headphone jacks, have springy pieces of metal inside to clamp onto the plug. This is what causes scratchy audio when you wiggle the plug in old devices, the clamping force has weakened.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#125

Post by spydum »

Invictus0 wrote: post #103
layble wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of a large printer company who approached a large media company with a deal that would have had the large media company change the color of the text on their printer friendly pages to something near black but requiring the color cartridge instead of true black. As I recall they were willing to pay seven figures annually. The media company did not take them up on their offer. The underhandedness/cleverness of t…

Wow, that's incredible. Even more surprising is that the media company didn't write a story about this.

Very likely wanted to keep that potential revenue stream in their back pocket for when things got tight

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#126

Post by LeoPanthera »

eridius wrote: post #108

> like the iTunes and Kindle ‘‘updates’’ that have removed features the products were sold with Anyone know what iTunes update he's talking about? I don't remember anything that fits this description.

Certainly some iTunes features have been removed over the years, but I don't know if it's anything that anyone would care about. The "Ping" music social network is gone, for example.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#127

Post by psyc »

layble wrote: post #93
captaincrowbar wrote: post #14

Doctorow mentions the cases where a printer company has made their software lie about how much ink was left in a cartridge to make consumers replace them more often. I always wondered why a manufacturer would want to do that. I mean, I understand the motive of making consumers buy ink more often, but from the manufacturer's point of view, why would they want to throw perfectly good ink away? Colour ink isn't as expen…

I know of a large printer company who approached a large media company with a deal that would have had the large media company change the color of the text on their printer friendly pages to something near black but requiring the color cartridge instead of true black. As I recall they were willing to pay seven figures annually. The media company did not take them up on their offer. The underhandedness/cleverness of t…

There's a subreddit for ideas like this, called Unethical Life Protips.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#129

Post by mirimir »

> There must be anti-trust enforcement with the death penalty – corporate dissolution – for companies that are caught cheating.

This was the norm in the US until the late 1800s. Indeed, corporations had to act in the public interest. And if they didn't, they were dissolved.

But then, the railroad corporations got wealthy enough that they were able to buy favorable Supreme Court rulings. Basically, they got human rights. After former male slaves, but before women.

Re: Demon-Haunted World

#130

Post by marcosdumay »

middleorigin wrote: post #117
sliken wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention headphone ports, usb ports, and charging ports. Also most phones have a vibrate function which uses an electric motor.

Wait, ports are considered moving parts?

Don't things move inside them? They are pretty hard to make water tight.
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