Playing with Pixelmator as well.
Well, the actual conjunction will be tomorrow night, but they predict clouds. I thought I'd try tonight already.
Handheld with the Nikon D700 and 24-120mm VR lens at 120mm and 70mm. F5.6/F5.3 and 1/5s exposure time. Processed in Bibble of course.
(best appreciated when viewed full size)
The NY Times has an interesting article about the biggest cashcow for the mobile carriers: SMS messaging, or as it is called in the US: Text messaging.
I'm surprised the US government hasn't called a stop to the price increase for texting. 20 cents? Rip-off.
In the netherlands, we're "lucky" to have the "OPTA" watchdog. And EU wide there's the Information Society. They act to prevent rip-offs regarding roaming costs.
The big excuse for roaming cost always was that carriers were cross-charging net use to the originating carrier. And the customer has to pay for that of course. The really fun part is that even if the company is the same (e.g. Vodafone), the regional carrier (e.g. VF germany) will charge the other carrier (e.g. VF Netherlands) for net use. Of course this is complete bullshit in the view of "one company".
So the EU commission came up with the following rules, which have to be implemented by July 1st, 2009:
- an SMS message across networks will cost the customer no more than 11 cents. Receiving is free as always.
- More transparency - by July 2010 operators must provide customers with the opportunity to determine in advance how much they want to spend.
- wholesale caps for data roaming. This is your regular web browsing and email traffic over the mobile networks. Thet should not be more as 1 euro per megabyte. Look out: this is the wholesale price, not the end-user price.
Regular (local) SMS message costs vary per carrier and subscription package. The more you pay for your subscription the "cheaper" the SMS will be. Of course, that's all in the big scheme of rip-offs. There is hardly any cost (and bandwith) involved sending an SMS message, so any cent that is charged for a message is profit. And of course your "unlimited" subscription plan.
According to the WSJ, it is!
The sales have gone down, and most experts blame it on the price of the console. Which may indeed be the case. Dave Rosenberg at CNet has some more viewpoints to share. Not just price, but also lack of exclusive games (I agree), not enough community stuff (yup!) and just being out-marketed.
I add a personal one: it is an absolutely horrendous design that no-one wants to have sit on their A/V rack. Big fat ugly bastard console.
For our dutch friends, I started a new posterous on
http://wiskunde.posterous.com/ about (not just) math education and
developments within education in The Netherlands. Dutch only, but worth a mention anyway :-)
http://wiskunde.posterous.com/ about (not just) math education and
developments within education in The Netherlands. Dutch only, but worth a mention anyway :-)
HEHE, The bounce rate (= people getting to the site and leaving from the first
page, not looking further) of my posterous is 81% at the first day of
measuring. Quite high, but since it's a blog, I was actually expecting
it to be much closer to 100% (since who reads the old pages anyway,
except if you're looking for something specific). But I guess my posts
should start to make more sense in the future, to "capture" viewers :-) Or I should just put the analytics on the main (www.marcof.net) page,
which -for now- redirects users to this posterous.
page, not looking further) of my posterous is 81% at the first day of
measuring. Quite high, but since it's a blog, I was actually expecting
it to be much closer to 100% (since who reads the old pages anyway,
except if you're looking for something specific). But I guess my posts
should start to make more sense in the future, to "capture" viewers :-) Or I should just put the analytics on the main (www.marcof.net) page,
which -for now- redirects users to this posterous.
I'm starting to really dislike the standard earbuds. Somehow they don't
fit well enough in my ears, so they keep dropping out on a regular
basis. I liked the old iPod buds, somehow they remained in my ear
without any problems. But they don't have the mic and controls that the
new one offers. I've looked around, but couldn't find any alternatives. I cannot use
in-ear buds since I use my iPhone on my Piaggio moped, and need to hear
at least a bit of surrounding sounds. So in-ears are out. Of course
on-ears too, since they won't fit under my helmet... And I want to keep
the same functionality as the original buds (mic and controls). So, anyone who knows of a viable alternative to the iPhone original
earbuds?
fit well enough in my ears, so they keep dropping out on a regular
basis. I liked the old iPod buds, somehow they remained in my ear
without any problems. But they don't have the mic and controls that the
new one offers. I've looked around, but couldn't find any alternatives. I cannot use
in-ear buds since I use my iPhone on my Piaggio moped, and need to hear
at least a bit of surrounding sounds. So in-ears are out. Of course
on-ears too, since they won't fit under my helmet... And I want to keep
the same functionality as the original buds (mic and controls). So, anyone who knows of a viable alternative to the iPhone original
earbuds?