Google

[Sir_ReeL]

Noticed this while Googling for answers to Jonny's little problem today.(as many of you have also done, I'll bet)

Has anyone noticed that Google is starting to really suck anymore? Getting bloated, and always trying to sell you something every search. You don't get the best results, you get the results that make Google the most money.

I have no problem with a buisness making money untill the search for more billions impact the use of that product. Take Microsoft, for example: I recently heard a rumor(I know...) that 12% of Vistas' code base is various DRM infections. Mostly for the new and untested HD flavors. Can't you just see Bill G. kneeling in front of the movie industry? Why in the name of "insert the diety of your choice here" would an operating system corp. waste time and much money vainly trying to prevent the un-preventable! The mind boggles..._ReeL

[ianm2]

Yes it wouldn't surprise me, technology is geared not towards giving people more control over it, but letting it decide what it wants to do, one of my irks is dvd players or dig. cameras/mobile phones deciding for themselves if you have switched them on or not.

Car makers, too, are making cars so complex now, that the only servicing option is to return it to a main dealer who will rob you soft, as the little independant guys haven't the special tools/ ability to fix it.

Similar with computers, in the attempt to simplify and give more control, they have become cumbersome and inaccessible, almost to the point of being unusable at times, if you aren't in the know, you have no idea what is going on inside your machine, what is being installed where, who its talking to, and you can't remove it.

Good job you don't live in the UK, they actually mod dvd players, so we can only use region 2's to stop us from buying dvd's from the states cheap, ie enforce us to pay more.

We here, are now worse than russia and china in terms of being state harrassed, spied on, persecuted for the slightest little wrong, whilst the big crooks still prosper. There are more speed cameras, CCTV cameras, data keeping companies, logging, here than anywhere, and the whole system is just geared to catch you out and fine you to line peoples pockets. Our country is now not run by workers, or even managers, but by gurus, advisors, and consultants, and we pay them millions to find ways to save millions, daft eh?

Its a case of, those who can't do, consult, as there are no proper manufacturing jobs left, they have to be found other things to do like simply talk a lot about nothing for a living.

And we must be the most taxed, most expensive country, just across the channel, in france, a bottle of wine that costs $2 costs us $10 at least, same with cigarettes, motor oil, too.

Petrol here? $2 a litre

house prices, average is 6x the average wage.

Sometimes I actually wonder why I own a computer, it gives so much hassle and trouble for what in return?

And I am uneasy about buying on line, they know exactly what you are buying, how much you are spending, when purchased.

[Sir_ReeL]

Well, at least you folks get really good beer!

$2.00/ltr.? That would be like $7.00+/gal.! And I bitched when I had to pay north of $3.30/gal... Filled up at $2.57/gal. for mid-grade(89 octane) today.

We, also have region codes,I guess so we don't buy inexpensive Chineese copies, but they're a breeze to break. On some hardware. Seems the cheaper, the better. _ReeL

[Nuxius]

Cheap-O HK bootlegs are pretty much always region free. You can play them in any DVD player.

Anywho, gas here is only $2.19 a gallon. Was as low as $1.81 a month or so ago. Of course, it was about $3 in the summer.

[Sir_ReeL]

Where is "here"?

[Spectre]

Where is "here"?

Those gas prices are inline with what we have in the south ATM.