Article

2008-08-13 Science

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Posted by lotp 2008-08-13 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 "We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... ~~The Outer Limits~~ ~~Big Brother~~ The Apple Zone."

BTW, Steve, with power you've become the very parody of your own parody.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-08-13 09:03|| 2008-08-13 09:03|| Front Page Top

#2 Well that certainly limits the use of 2nd party software doesn't it? There should be a programming update that allows the user to turn that setting off. Or at least a hack if they wont do it.

Posted by bigjim-ky 2008-08-13 11:44|| 2008-08-13 11:44|| Front Page Top

#3 I'm sure the iPhone has a kill switch that makes the phone totally dead if pirated software or something else that Apple disapproves of is loaded up.

I'm not sure I see the attraction of this gizmo, but then I'm not a palm pilot/blackberry type either.

Posted by rjschwarz 2008-08-13 12:17|| 2008-08-13 12:17|| Front Page Top

#4 Mr. Wife insisted on getting trailing daughter #1 an iPhone as her going-to-college gift. Despite having to get her a separate phone plan (we have a basic family plan not with AT&T), he figures it's worth her not having to keep track of a separate iPod, cell phone, day planner and calculator (and possibly camera), each of which is likely to wander off in a college dormitory. Also because the poor man wants one badly, but his company is not on the AT&T plan.

There is already a hack to use the iPhone with other carriers, so no doubt there will be one for this soon enough. But, I'll mention the kill switch risk to td#1, so she isn't tempted. Thanks, lotp!

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-08-13 13:22|| 2008-08-13 13:22|| Front Page Top

#5 Despite having to get her a separate phone plan (we have a basic family plan not with AT&T), he figures it's worth her not having to keep track of a separate iPod, cell phone, day planner and calculator (and possibly camera), each of which is likely to wander off in a college dormitory.

You sent your daughter off to college with all that crap!? Dangit, when I went college all I got was a slide-rule and lousy vinyl pocket protector.

Posted by GDLotA9226 2008-08-13 13:33|| 2008-08-13 13:33|| Front Page Top

#6 She will go in mid-September, GDLotA9226, so no we haven't. ;-) My point was that all those things are included in the iPhone, which will stay in her purse, so she won't actually take those other things. It has a laser sword, too.

I went with school supplies left over from high school, including Daddy's old HP-something calculator and my clock-radio. I never did figure out how to use a slide rule properly, I'm afraid, but then I married an engineer instead of becoming one. :-D However, I had roommates who came to school with a stereo, television, SLR camera (I knew some art students), and so forth. Lots of their things wandered off over time.

But td #1 won a full scholarship plus a bribe from the university, and I had to pay for everything myself. What would you have taken beyond the pocket protector had you been paid to learn?

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-08-13 13:56|| 2008-08-13 13:56|| Front Page Top

#7 What would you have taken beyond the pocket protector had you been paid to learn?

I'll have to ponder that. Back in the Dark Ages, we did not have all the neat gadgets that exist today. Had it been purchasable though, I'd have taken some coolness. ;-)

Posted by GDLotA9226 2008-08-13 15:09|| 2008-08-13 15:09|| Front Page Top

#8 Trailing Wife, now she can lose all that equipment in one shot.

When I was in college I had a walkman and a typewriter. I left my Apple IIe at home for some reason the first couple of years.

Posted by rjschwarz 2008-08-13 16:44|| 2008-08-13 16:44|| Front Page Top

#9 But all the information, which is really the important thing, will be backed up on the laptop she bought with the bribe. And she'd have to buy the replacement iPhone with her own money, not her Daddy's, which will certainly teach her something useful.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-08-13 17:03|| 2008-08-13 17:03|| Front Page Top

#10 The going away to school iphone plan is rock solid TW. Ignore the naysayers. Your daughter will love it and will use it to send photos and other comms to stay connected with you. Rantburg even renders fairly well on mobile Safari (the iphone browser) so she can stay in touch with the world of affairs beyond the ivory tower.

Posted by Classical_Liberal 2008-08-13 22:56|| 2008-08-13 22:56|| Front Page Top

#11 coolness was painfully earned but a lot of fun...
Whoo!

Posted by 3dc 2008-08-13 23:12|| 2008-08-13 23:12|| Front Page Top

23:43 FOTSGreg
23:35 Correction
23:33 JosephMendiola
23:29 Correction
23:28 rjschwarz
23:23 Halliburton - Blogosphere Welcome Division
23:23 Jiggs Chiter5628
23:20 JosephMendiola
23:17 Correction
23:12 3dc
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23:02 Steve White
22:56 Classical_Liberal
22:55 Correction
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