Category: music

markets in everything

According to early estimates, 25% would be unaffected by the bill, while 35% would be charged a fee and 40% would receive rebates (paid for by the fees).

…My long-standing proposal is to tax vehicles based on weight, to recover the costs of road damage caused by larger vehicles.

[There is ] a California proposal to hit up hummers with a $2,500 registration fee and give rebates to purchasers of super-efficient cars. According to early estimates, 25% would be unaffected by the bill, while 35% would be charged a fee and 40% would receive rebates (paid for by the fees).

[From Survey: Should You Pay More to Drive a Gas Guzzler? : TreeHugger]

My long-standing proposal is to tax vehicles based on weight, to recover the costs of road damage caused by larger vehicles. I don’t know if passing the fees on to Prius owners makes sense, given how many deferred maintenance projects are on the books.

results

In attaining its highest revenue and earnings in company history, Apple shipped 2,319,000 Macs, a 44% unit growth and 47% revenue growth over the year ago quarter; sold 22,121,000 iPods, representing five percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter; and sold 2,315,000 iPhones in the quarter.

…Annualized, that would be almost 100,000,000 iPods and more that 10,000,000 Macs and iPhones, each.

Interesting.

In attaining its highest revenue and earnings in company history, Apple shipped 2,319,000 Macs, a 44% unit growth and 47% revenue growth over the year ago quarter; sold 22,121,000 iPods, representing five percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter; and sold 2,315,000 iPhones in the quarter. [From Apple reports best quarterly revenue and earnings in its history]

Almost as many iPhones as Macs in the quarter . . . AT&T must be pleased. I wonder how many new subscribers they gained as a result. Annualized, that would be almost 100,000,000 iPods and more that 10,000,000 Macs and iPhones, each. Time to go look at the stock . . . .

quality time with my assistant

After incurring $450 on a plumbing bill that may lead to a more serious job down the road, I’m far from being able to pony up for a more useable device…. There’s a quote somewhere from Bill Atkinson ( who invented HyperCard, among other things ) about how HyperCard and the web were similar, but HyperCard was limited to a single document (stack) on a computer where the web was not[1][2].

This is where those smartphones or the like would be handy. I am trying to make use of the I Want Sandy service to keep track of things but it still requires email, ie sitting at my laptop. Well, maybe not 100%: I haven’t tried Jott yet. Apparently you can speak your instructions via phone and have Sandy keep track of them. But it would be useful to send notes from somewhere else, like a portable device. I find myself racking what’s left of my brain to put stuff into the calendar/to do list. After incurring $450 on a plumbing bill that may lead to a more serious job down the road, I’m far from being able to pony up for a more useable device.

But so far, I can recommend the Sandy service. I think it fits an interesting niche, even as it reminds me of what the Newton Messagepad tried to be — an intelligent assistant, pre-ubiquitous internet. Maybe that’s one more example of Apple’s box-centered thinking. There’s a quote somewhere from Bill Atkinson (who invented HyperCard, among other things) about how HyperCard and the web were similar, but HyperCard was limited to a single document (stack) on a computer where the web was not[1][2].

Is Sandy a more compelling product as something that runs on your device (smartphone, etc) or as it is now? Maybe they’ll do both.

1. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/18/road_to_mac_os_x_leopard_safari_3_0.html

2. http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/the-early-days-of-the-Web.html

the silly season begins

Republicans: Huckabee 34% Romney 25% Thompson 14% [From 9:39 ] Hmm, so Huckabee beat Romney like a rented mule…. Is 14% enough to keep him in it, or will exit the field and throw his support to McCain?

Dems:
Senator Barack Obama : 36.68%
Senator John Edwards : 30.24%
Senator Hillary Clinton : 29.99%

Republicans:
Huckabee 34%
Romney 25%
Thompson 14%
[From 9:39]

Hmm, so Huckabee beat Romney like a rented mule. And Obama and Edwards both beat Hillary. Interesting. And what’s Thompson doing in 3rd place? Is 14% enough to keep him in it, or will exit the field and throw his support to McCain?

links for 2008-01-01

It doesn’t look like it’s in the right place (yeah, I know there is no right place for a tail on humans). But wouldn’t it be at/nearer the end of the spinal cord?

eBay sellers to avoid, a continuing series

This guy is not someone you want to deal with. He changed the shipping terms on an item I won from the usual “shipping to arranged after close of auction” to “buyer must arrange shipment, here’s a list of local companies.” And the terms were changed after the close of the auction, so there was no way to avoid getting stuck.

What a loser. And then after being unresponsive to email, he lies on the phone that a. he never changed the listing because b. it’s impossible to change a published listing.

I’m looking into eBay wiping the transaction out. I doubt the shipping from New Jersey to Seattle will be worth pursuing, though I have requested a quote.

I always thought I could never make it in business, but evidently, it’s not as hard as I feared if you don’t mind lying to people.