So all is well in offline google maps again.
]]>However what you need to do today on an android 4.4.3 nexus 4 phone (so as google a device as you can get) to cache a map region is: 1) zoom the map window to cover the area you want 2) type "okay maps" into the search field and hit search. 3) see the phone say "the on screen are has been cached" (or goto 1 if it says "too large, zoom in") 4) I guess not do that again with a different map view?
It is definitely not on the 'pin selected pane', basically it is now an easter egg feature on that platform.
The years ago version on ipad allowed you to set more than one rectangle of cached maps, I think up to a certain size. Which was actually getting fairly close to a full feature.
Anyhow, certainly not a reliable feature even though the underlying software does support it completely.
]]>I had an ipad with no data connection I used to use as an offline map + gps with google maps, but you can't do that anymore.
]]>Sounds like they really ought to put a focus on getting their own houses in order.
]]>More generally, however, down that path lies the app stores and perhaps full commoditization. And, while Amazon's suggestion system seems significantly better than the app store ones, its still pretty terrible (for example it fails to suggest book n+1 of a series when you finish book n of a series, instead suggesting a seemingly random selection of editions of books from the author - probably it actually chooses based on sales, or star ratings or something).
I think Apple is a very problematic white knight. Apple want's to sell its hardware, and uses content to lock people into that, so it will only ever compete for part of the market. Plus: app store.
On books, specifically, I don't think there is huge lock in based on customer inventory. Most people don't re-read books, and as Amazon books are on all major platforms the inventory is likely to remain accessible. Further books are 'long session' materials. It's not much effort to switch apps if you do want to read something you bought long ago.
Catalog size is the main barrier. Building that catalog so you actually have whatever a person tries to buy is expensive and slow. And it actually still can't be done entirely electronically. Amazon has the same advantage as Netflix over purely digital competitors in that respect. If it doesn't have the e-book it can offer to sell you the printed one.
]]>US Iranian history did not end in 1979. The US has had sanctions on Iran during their entire lives. The US backed Iraq's invasion of Iran and war from 1980-1988. Then there is Israel.
The US has been profoundly hostile to the majority of the Iranian people for a solid 65 years, basically nobody in Iran other than those favored by the Shah's regime has experienced anything different, not even indifference.
The United States has well earned any ill feelings from the Iranian people.
]]>But, you know, the plan is during that 100 years the robots nibble the thing away for better storage.
Only worry is whether that happens. Might get interrupted by a war or something.
]]>Very high power consuming industries already live in that world. The flip side of their low rates is that the power company can often shut them down during high demand our low supply.
We might find ourselves a somewhat less 24hr society.
Power might be a lot more expensive at night,for example, and people might start using drier timers or whatever.
]]>You know how it works, right?
Those birds went through ten or twenty generations of infertility, monsters, illness, and death to select up some radiation resistance.
]]>Rail only wins when the sea route is a lot longer, or for inland destinations. That is common, but a cross ocean tunnel is in direct competition with the best case for ships.
]]>Assumption 1: We can't just tax away the self-reinforcing fortunes of the ultra rich because they have too much political power.
Assumption 2: We can offer them "tax breaks" to do ego stroking long term projects.
The problem, I think, is that the ultra rich already pay very little in taxes and if 1 is true will likely continue to pay less and less. In order to offer them 'tax breaks' as an inducement the default state would have to be one of significant taxation. If we can implement that we can surely just tax wealth so as to prevent extreme concentration.
I also wonder how one would construct "...tax breaks for investing in some really long-term project that doesn't necessarily offer them a return on investment any faster than the overall GDP growth rate, but which protects the nominal long-term value of their assets...". Protecting the nominal value means... like a government guarantee that the project can't fail to repay the principal? someday? Sound similar to 'municipal bonds' in the US. Tax favored loans for specific projects, sometimes backed by the government which spawned them (other times backed only by future revenue from the project).
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