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Maybe Tim Cook wasn’t happy with the results…..

2 days ago on Apple pulls Bang With Friends hookup app from the App Store 1 reply 21 recommends

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If they are bringing the cash stateside for capital improvements I would almost be OK with it not being double taxed. If it encourages local development of new facilities then it probably is cheaper than some of the tax breaks and other incentives the give for some developments. Sure it would require some paperwork and oversight, but if a company is going to build out new retail or manufacturing in the US wouldn’t you rather have them use their own cash from overseas operations than giving up real estate or other tax concessions?

3 days ago on Tim Cook scheduled to testify to Senate about Apple's offshore tax practices

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I am going to assume that something is deterring you from having promiscuous sex now?

8 days ago on Forget sex: how the idea behind Bang with Friends could revolutionize social interaction 1 recommend

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Fun fact, people have houses and apartments. If you meet up in a private dwelling there is a substantially lower risk that other people unrelated to the activities would ever see you and or have any clue what you are doing. If you insist on joining a Cat Girl LARP in the park, well I can’t help you there.

8 days ago on Forget sex: how the idea behind Bang with Friends could revolutionize social interaction

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There are ways around this and it falls back to the Amazon, Netflix, and even Facebook suggestion system however depending on the social system it would need to have something like Circles and control over what things you would want to show up in Suggestions.

For example a, b, c, and d share interest 1. However, a, b, and d share interest 2; a, b, c share interest 3; and a, c, d share interest 4. Based on this suggestions could be made that you might also like 2, 3, and/or 4 based on persons you already share common interests with. However you would not be told who shares the interest or how many/percentage of “friends” share the interest.

Now here is where the magic happens. You have 2 options, the first being to say that you also have an interest in one of the suggested items or you may have interest and if for example this is a forum style social system where discussions are silo’d by interest you could have a peek at an anonymously presented series of discussions to see if this really what you think it is.

Now back to the social circles and allowing things to be shown as suggestions since all of this would be suggested anonymously. Say for example you have groups like Facebook or Google plus allows. You may never ever, ever want to know what shared interests you have or may have with certain circles like your immediate family, coworkers, etc. You may also want to limit suggestions, but allow matches. Hey if you are both already saying you are into the same weird shit then really whats the harm in letting somebody else know. These options would need to set by interest and/or circle to be effective/safe.

By doing something like this you could allow for expanding your personal interests while also not laying everything out there for your friends on the internet to pick through.

Now if you don’t mind I will go look into iOS development, Android development, and copyright law…..

8 days ago on Forget sex: how the idea behind Bang with Friends could revolutionize social interaction 1 reply 2 recommends

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A lot of sports in all of those categories are offered through broadcast channels that provide service free OTA.I don’t see how pay per channel is going to hurt that. So sure ESPN and a few other bundled sports channels will get destroyed, but others like the NHL, NBA, and NFL channels already use this model. If you want NHL Center Ice or whatever the NFL or NBA equivalent is you pay explicitly for them.

8 days ago on John McCain proposes 'a la carte' cable bill, encourages death of sports blackout rule

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I have the next to highest package on Dish because it had 2 channels I wanted. Going to that package basically doubles our monthly bill to around $90 with DVR, one Joey, taxes, and fees. On average we watch maybe 5 channels that are not OTA out of the “250” offered in a package by Dish. So count even at $10 a channel which seems rather high and $20 in equipment, taxes, and fees I’m still ahead $20 a month or over 20%. Now consider the following if the 5 channels I actually care about are getting even 60% of that $10 a month as revenue it would have to be significantly more then they would be getting under the current scheme. So I save money, the content providers I actually care about should make more money, and the crap programming that mostly only survives through bundling while probably die out. What’s not to like about that?

8 days ago on John McCain proposes 'a la carte' cable bill, encourages death of sports blackout rule

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Well maybe more people would attend sporting events if it were not a hundred dollar plus affair just to get there. Why fight crowds, ridiculous prices for tickets and to park, ridiculous prices for anything to eat or drink. So sports have wised up that if your treat people like walking ATMs eventually they will stop paying out. Blackouts on serve to try to continue these fleecing of the consumer by removing the much cheaper to free options.

8 days ago on John McCain proposes 'a la carte' cable bill, encourages death of sports blackout rule

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So where do I send my request for all opened email older than 180 days sent to any government email account? Hey if you think it’s OK to get my email with out a warrant, you should have no issues with me getting all of yours right?

11 days ago on FBI maintains it can access emails without a warrant, internal document reveals

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True, but how exactly do you access the stuff you don’t have with you because it wouldn’t fit on a fixed storage size device? At least with memory cards you can swap them out if you happen to need something on another card.

15 days ago on Samsung says microSD slot makes up for Galaxy S4's storage shortcomings

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Yes, because the few carriers that repeat offenders of locked loaders are trying to sell it as they are doing something for you for your benefit. They are doing something to ensure that YOU have a good customer experience. If the majority of customers are happy with said experience why would they bother even inquiring into changing the device? If that were really true, why would it matter if it was locked or not as most people would never even try messing with it. While the only thing I can say against the article is that it’s pretty much the same story rehashed over again of the American wireless duopoly doing everything they can to protect their interests while pretty much giving the finger to their customers and trying to spin anti-consumer practices off as something that is a benefit to them.

15 days ago on In 2013, the keys to Android are still held by the carriers

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That is why I went with a Nexus. The only good thing I can say about Facebook Home is that it shows manufacturers that you can provide an alternate user experience, but not completely f’up the core OS in the process. Also if your customer’s decide that they don’t like your ‘user experience’ they can change back to stock. Sure it won’t allow the level of integration that Sense and TouchWiz currently have, but I don’t really see that as a bad thing. Also it allow’s handset makers to provide that sense of differentiation in software that they seem dead set on thinking people want. Evidently competing on specs, build quality, and support just don’t seem to cut for them.

15 days ago on In 2013, the keys to Android are still held by the carriers

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Win 8 touchscreen ultrabooks are getting into the high 500 range in 13.3" form factor on sale and in the $600’s normally. I am still baffled as to how anybody other than Apple thinks that 10" tablets of any build quality or OS are going to stay around $499. Call it a race to the bottom or whatever, but if full featured touch screen enabled computers are hitting tablet pricing territory, limited functionality ARM tablets of all OS’s will most likely have to slide down in price to stay competitive.

15 days ago on Acer still planning Windows RT tablets, but sees 'no value' in current version

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The Verizon Galaxy Nexus would historically validate the majority of those thoughts. Oh and the LTE Motorola Xoom. Given it was a GED and not a Nexus, but it still doesn’t have 4.1 Jelly Bean officially like the WIFI model. I don’t recall any ATT stock Android devices actually sold by AT&T being any different. Sure a GSM Nexus device on ATT would get updates, be bloat free, and unlocked, but I don’t believe ATT actually ever sold them directly.

15 days ago on In 2013, the keys to Android are still held by the carriers

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No it show’s where the lobbyist dollars are going. Big businesses pay big money to influence laws in their favor plan and simple. Even when consumer protection groups get involved in cases like this, usually the business can come up with some BS reason why they NEED things to go their way and how it will have little to no adverse effect on consumers.

15 days ago on In 2013, the keys to Android are still held by the carriers 1 reply 2 recommends

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What you mean like Isis? NFC payments have been around for a while, but they have never really caught on in the many incarnations that have been tried before. What needs to happen is PCI needs to make a NFC payment standard that everyone must conform too so that all hardware on the payer and payee side all play nice together. That way a lot of the current roll out issues between what devices, carriers, cards, etc that support what methods are taken care of. No need for the phone manufacturer, carrier, SIM card, etc need to be involved in the process to make things happen. Currently phone based NFC payments seem more hamstrung by every hand in the process trying to make a buck or enforce some constraint on the process.

15 days ago on Use Google Wallet - Get kicked out of a 7-11

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Yeah doesn’t this create a slippery slope. Soon you won’t be able to buy a women dinner and drinks on a date. Because if she ends up sleeping with you, you could both be charged with crimes relating to prostitution.

17 days ago on Want to turn your car into a taxi? New York City says that's a crime

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Wait, ATT is bringing gigabit to KC too? I might actually get that before Google gets around to wiring the rest of KC. Strange how prior to Google Fiber ATT couldn’t be bothered to do anything with fiber to the home. They instead figured they could get away with fiber to the node and VDsl 24/3Mbps max to the home over their old ass copper.

18 days ago on Omaha the latest city to get gigabit internet, courtesy of CenturyLink 1 reply 1 recommend

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Evidently sudo dick pics cause more link traffic than high quality porn.

20 days ago on Instagram reverses ban on @thatlookslikeadick after reviewing photos for penises 1 reply

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How is it deceptive? You aren’t required to buy a device financed through T-Mobile to get wireless service. The fact that people are financing things without looking at all of the terms and conditions is the problem.

Comparatively to the other carriers this is infinitely more transparent. You know what you owe for a device you purchased and how much per month that device will cost you which while paid to the same company is a separate line item from wireless services. That is apposed to an ETF fee for the other carriers that basically covers the same expense, however at the end of your wireless contract with Verizon, ATT, or Sprint you monthly expense for wireless service does not go down.

23 days ago on T-Mobile agrees to change 'deceptive' no-contract ads in deal with Attorney General 1 reply 1 recommend

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It’s a stipulation of a financial agreement. It’s no different then almost any of promotional financing offer or account. You agree that if you do x we do y. Would you also say that companies are intentionally deceptive with no interest for N month offers? The fine print is that if you don’t pay off the balance in time, make a late payment, or have a payment bounce you pay accrued interest. People’s inability to read a contract they are signing is the problem here.

23 days ago on T-Mobile agrees to change 'deceptive' no-contract ads in deal with Attorney General

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Well it also be that participants were a little less safe thinking they may have been vaccinated against it. Though regardless of being vaccinated I couldn’t really see myself going out and trying to get HIV just to see if it worked.

23 days ago on Another setback in the search for an HIV vaccine as major clinical trial is shut down 2 replies