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You know – people say that in the US we’re more spread out over a larger area, and that makes cell service more expensive, yet doesn’t anybody wonder how it is that carriers in other countries can support so many more people per tower then? If our towers are used so much less they shouldn’t need data caps here.

If you go the opposite way and claim our population density is just as high, our towers are used just as much (therefore justifying the existence of data caps), then it wouldn’t matter how many states the carrier covers since while they’re covering 50x the area, they’re also covering 50x the potential customers.

Either way – something clearly doesn’t make sense. Either data caps are unnecessary (if you assume a lower population density when the technology is capable of supporting much more people as proven elsewhere), or the prices are way too high (if you assume a high population density meaning a lot more customers).

about 9 hours ago on Verizon extends $60 and $70 prepaid plans to 2GB and 4GB of data

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Unfortunately it’s not just backhaul you need. Tmobile doesn’t even own enough spectrum in my state to offer 42Mbps so as much as I may not like Verizon if I want high speed data I don’t have much (eg any) real choice.

about 9 hours ago on Verizon extends $60 and $70 prepaid plans to 2GB and 4GB of data 1 reply

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And the head of the FCC that opposed that? He’s leaving. The new FCC chairman frontrunner? Tom Wheeler – a lobbyist for…..the cellular industry, and before that? Lobbyist for the cable industry. I wouldn’t be putting any money down on any more mergers being stopped.

about 10 hours ago on Verizon extends $60 and $70 prepaid plans to 2GB and 4GB of data

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If you could just take any phone to any carrier then people might be more likely to go to a cheaper carrier. That’s the kind of competition they don’t want. The kind of competition they want is things like AT&T caps data, then Verizon caps data. AT&T increases their early termination fee, then Verizon increases their early termination fee. AT&T raises upgrade fees, then Verizon raises upgrade fees. See – that’s the kind of competition they want.

about 10 hours ago on Verizon extends $60 and $70 prepaid plans to 2GB and 4GB of data 4 recommends

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These point based systems did have some delayed tax benefits though. If you buy a pure cash equivalent like they are going to change over to then they tax you at the point of consumption (when you buy DLC Microsoft will be adding sales tax.) The prior system taxed you when you bought a point card, so if you bought a card from out of state you weren’t charged sales tax and didn’t have to pay use tax until the end of the year.

4 days ago on Microsoft killing off Xbox Points in favor of currency and gift cards system 1 reply 1 recommend

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3D headsets already exist for movie watching if that’s what you want to do. The Oculus Rift adds head tracking and other features that make it more compatible with gaming (being able to do things like look around corners by moving your head in the natural way for example). If all you want to do is watch 3D movies you could get the Sony HMD right now at a much higher resolution.

9 days ago on Valve gives 'Half-Life 2' official Oculus Rift support

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If it’s unsafe for somebody to stay there 1 night, then how in the heck can it be considered ‘safe enough’ for somebody else to live there the entire rest of the year? You can require building codes for it to be a legal place to rent out, but if it doesn’t pass those safety requirements then it doesn’t make sense that it’s property that somebody can live in at all.

No, the safety issue is a false one, this is all about protecting hotel special interests. If everybody starts offering apartments for $100 like this guy then the hotel industry would never be able to get double, triple, or more for smaller rooms.

9 days ago on Landlords beware: Airbnb is booming in big cities, but many users run legal risks 3 replies 4 recommends

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States do need taxes to pay for police, firemen, roads, and schools. The problem is if you mention income taxes, you are told that, if you mention property taxes, you are told that, if you mention gas taxes you are told that, if you mention license renewal, tags for your vehicle, or any myriad of other taxes and fees you get told the whole police/firemen/roads/schools thing. Then what ends up happening? You get phone calls asking for donations because police are underfunded, teachers will tell you how they have to buy supplies for their own classroom because they are underfunded, roads are falling apart and they say ‘we don’t have the money to fix them’.

13 days ago on Senate passes nationwide online sales tax bill 3 replies 7 recommends

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Isn’t it exactly the same for the Fuel number? Nike considers multiple variables, and spits out a number. Although I think it would make more sense to simply look at steps counted if you wanted to focus on only one number on the Fitbit. No variable there – just a simple number that tells you if you were more or less active than the day before.

13 days ago on Fitbit Flex review 9 recommends

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No…this is a rumor that they might have a SMALLER one to announce ‘sometime in June, maybe.’

17 days ago on Microsoft said to be planning next-gen Surface announcement for June 1 recommend

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You know how Sony just reported a profit for the first time in quite awhile? It was because they sold their NY HQ. Likewise Best Buy Europe owns a lot of real estate and tangible assets that still have value even if the company isn’t open anymore.

19 days ago on Best Buy sells off final remnants of failed UK business

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Exercise is great for a lot of other things, but losing weight – not so much. A single pound is 3,500 calories. You lose (obviously varies person to person) on average 100 calories per 1 mile on a treadmill. That means if you did 35 miles walking on a treadmill you’ve lost 1 pound. Now – good luck turning that into actual weight loss. If you run for an hour (I mean all out full on run that typically has you sweating like crazy in minutes) you burn about 600 calories on the treadmill every 1 hour. That means a full out run for 6 hours straight on the treadmill would help you lose 1 pound.

Me and several others got Fitbits and here’s the interesting part. The skinnest one is the most sedentary and eats the most calories, but doesn’t gain weight. The heaviest (me unfortunately) eats far less, exercises far more (an hour a day at least), and yet I don’t lose weight. Now, for me, I take medicine that the doctor expressly said ‘will make you gain weight like crazy’ so you could say it’s medical for me, but yet the one that does the MOST exercise, biking every day, hits the 10,000 steps everyday, hits the 10 floors climbed everyday, also hasn’t been losing weight since starting all that (and they eat A LOT less than the skinnest one).

23 days ago on Obesity could be treated with a pacemaker implanted into the brain, according to new study 2 replies

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If they can claim one infringement costs them millions under copyright law, then logically them issuing a false takedown notice of something that isn’t their copyright means they cost this guy millions. (Now, you can question the validity of the numbers, but that’s the numbers they insist to the courts is true, right?) They should simply have to pay out for the damages they cause for every wrong DMCA notice they send. See how quickly they fix their process of content identification then.

27 days ago on Fox's lawyers want 'Homeland' novel off Google despite no relation to TV show 2 replies 12 recommends