Exorbitant roaming
Why not get a local pay-as-you-go GSM SIM with a data bundle, pop into your phone, and voila?
I have seen the future and I am opposed
71–77 of 77 posts
Re: I have seen the future and I am opposed
#72One of the joys of travel is the disconnect. Frankly, the more connected we become, the less time we have for ourselves. I hate it that now I can go to just about the most remote place on earth and no longer have a good reason not be answering emails or phoning home.
Anyone who NEEDS this level of connectivity must be losing all power of imagination, of self-reliance, of self-sufficiency. One of the joys of being abroad is that sense of discovery, finding stuff out for yourself, and more often than not meeting new people in the process. Where's the fun, the romance, in having your phone recommend you a restaurant?
I don't have a smart phone, and am not sure I ever will. I'm in front of the internet all day long in the office, and often at home. Being out and about is a welcome break. And if I need to find somewhere to eat, I'll go find it myself. I'll take in the city, absorb my surroundings, and discover new things in the process.
I have seen the future, and I am opposed too.
Re: I have seen the future and I am opposed
#73Oh dear. Don Norman has discovered why free software is about freedom and what the cloud business model is really about. "One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control," he said. "It's just as bad as using a proprietary program. Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program. If you use a proprietary program or somebody else's w…
Recently I keep hearing pundits opine that the "open source" movement hasn't gone anywhere and is basically irrelevant. IMO that is a great sign that it's a good time to be getting into Free Software. The Affero GPL is probably the only thing that can realize the potential of cloud computing, and keep the cloud bubble from popping and a major swing back to locally hosted IT systems. PS - Also, I am very glad that "op…
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Re: I have seen the future and I am opposed
#74This piece is short on big-picture thinking. None of its complaints hold up under scrutiny. Mobile internet access while traveling abroad is expensive and unreliable because it's new . Yes, there are commercial forces that try to maintain high prices as long as possible, but short-term profits never hold up forever. Fifty years ago, every phone bill in the US was payable to AT&T, and long distance calls could cost do…
In Portugal he could have gone to any newsagent (there are still 1,000´s) got a SIM card and have access to the internet for a euro a day.
Information asymmetry. Obvious for a local, unknown to him.
Re: I have seen the future and I am opposed
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
False analogy. There is a big, big difference between clothes that keep you from perishing due to exposure, and your shiny new smart phone. The real problem here is that the author is, apparently, incapable of thought without an array of instant-access resources at his disposal.
Clearly he is capable of thought without "instant-access resources", given that he drafted the article without them. Internet access is becoming a fundamental human requirement; this need should not be overly exploited by corporations.
Food, water, shelter, medical care. These are fundamental human requirements. The internet is not. Sorry, but it's just not.
Re: I have seen the future and I am opposed
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The app store doesn't let you make malicious or pornographic apps How could Apple possibly prevent a sufficiently covertly malicious application from entering the app store?
They can't. And they really are quite liberal in their screening for the most part. But they are trying to provide a good experience for their customers.
But if they can't, then what you said was basically wrong. The app store totally lets you make malicious applications. Seems like security theatre to me.
Re: I have seen the future and I am opposed
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd greatly prefer if my freedom coincided with me being alive. Well, a free enterprise system is just that: one in which consumers have choices. The fact that Google dominates search, or that Apple dominates mobile devices, or that Microsoft dominates desktop computing hardly limits my "freedom" in any real sense of that word and, in the meantime, I will gladly use Google over AltaVista, Apple over a Brand X music p…
> The fact that Google dominates search, or that Apple dominates mobile > devices, or that Microsoft dominates desktop computing hardly limits my > "freedom" in any real sense of that word Is that really the case? If Microsoft specifically tries to prevent competitors from coming to market through anti-competitive actions, then they are limiting my 'freedom' in that they are trying to limit the options that I have wh…
What anti-competitive actions do you refer too? Murder, kidnapping and blackmail are illegal. Price fixing high just leads to higher demand for alternatives. Price fixing low serves the consumer. And Microsoft owns their OS, which is a distribution channel and can exclude any applications they want for any reason (that's their freedom). But, Microsoft can't make you buy anything, all they can do is set a price and pay for the eye-level shelf of their choosen distribution channel.
Freedom means you do what you like with things you own. It does not mean every market should (or will) organize itself so as to maximally benefit you.
As for AT&T: of course. Behind every good monopoly is the government (and then they're protected by law -- and the threats of murder, blackmail and kidnapping for violation).