bedifferent
Apr 23, 05:58 PM
Instead of pixel based images that are just bigger, why not simply ship vector based icons/wallpapers ?
Good point! I was wondering the same myself.
Good point! I was wondering the same myself.
Huntn
Apr 14, 11:20 AM
This may be veering in a direction the OP does not want to go. If so, please ignore.
Speaking of taxes don't believe any politician who seeks your approval by saying "elect me and I'll lower your taxes". Most likely what they are saying is I'll lower your taxes a smidgen, but I'll give a dump truck of tax breaks to the wealthy who as leaders of industry will do their best to destroy your lively hood by exporting your job overseas.
What you want to hear from politicians on taxes is a discussion framed as "what services do we want from government, what do we want to pay for, how and who will pay for it, and expectation that the government will penalize corporations whose business practices are actively lowering the standard of living in this country."
Speaking of taxes don't believe any politician who seeks your approval by saying "elect me and I'll lower your taxes". Most likely what they are saying is I'll lower your taxes a smidgen, but I'll give a dump truck of tax breaks to the wealthy who as leaders of industry will do their best to destroy your lively hood by exporting your job overseas.
What you want to hear from politicians on taxes is a discussion framed as "what services do we want from government, what do we want to pay for, how and who will pay for it, and expectation that the government will penalize corporations whose business practices are actively lowering the standard of living in this country."
Popeye206
Apr 7, 10:26 AM
^This.
Unfortunately, most posters here think Apple always acts in the best interests of its customers. Kind of cute, actually.
And unfortunately, some posters here have no business sense and always cry foul every time Apple does something smart. Or, they automatically think there's some "evil plan" behind their moves. :rolleyes:
It is silly on both sides.
Unfortunately, most posters here think Apple always acts in the best interests of its customers. Kind of cute, actually.
And unfortunately, some posters here have no business sense and always cry foul every time Apple does something smart. Or, they automatically think there's some "evil plan" behind their moves. :rolleyes:
It is silly on both sides.
CommodityFetish
Apr 5, 08:30 PM
Hmmm... I think I'll go jailbreak my iPod touch now.
Maybe then I can get a toggle switch for wifi on my home screen. :rolleyes:
Maybe then I can get a toggle switch for wifi on my home screen. :rolleyes:
Mr_Ed
Nov 22, 10:23 AM
...
Apple could change the way phones are made as well, but only if they rethink the device from the ground up. Most phones have too many features that it takes too long to figure out how to use, don't have enough battery life, and are too painful to get hooked up to your computer so you can transfer photos and songs back and forth. Apple has the synchronization stuff down. If you can sync it like an iPod - and charge it in the process, its already leaps above most phones out there. But they cannot miss the interface.
If they want a camera on it (optional in my opinion) they have to make it dirt simple to use (scroll wheel to zoom, middle button to snap) and to get the photos taken on it into iPhoto. Otherwise, skip it altogether. And please don't make me fumble around to find the right button to hit to answer a call. Open it to answer the call, close it to hang up. And if you aren't going to put the number buttons in a tranditional layout - don't put them on there at all. I don't have the time or energy to learn some idiotic circular arrangement. I'd rather you put the numbers up on a touch screen and let me smudge up my phone than deal with a non-standard button arrangement. It also has to be hearty - I don't have time for a phone that stops working if I drop it 3 feet onto a carpeted floor.
...
I couldn't agree more. I still think a cell phone should be, first and foremost, a decent telephone! If it stops working after I drop it on carpet, or the person at the other end sounds like they are taking through a "tin can", or if the reception "goes down more frequently than a five dollar hooker" and it drops calls, I don't really give a rat's ass about a built in camera, video, music player, fancy ringers, or any of the other "bells and whistles" that seem to be a marketing priority these days. Then there's the whole battery life issue. I don't want to caught off guard with a dead phone late one night because I happened to be in the mood for music that day and used the phone as a music player all day. Give me a good telephone, and decent features that enhance that function (BT hands free, sync, etc.) first. Then worry about the other gimmicks.
Apple could change the way phones are made as well, but only if they rethink the device from the ground up. Most phones have too many features that it takes too long to figure out how to use, don't have enough battery life, and are too painful to get hooked up to your computer so you can transfer photos and songs back and forth. Apple has the synchronization stuff down. If you can sync it like an iPod - and charge it in the process, its already leaps above most phones out there. But they cannot miss the interface.
If they want a camera on it (optional in my opinion) they have to make it dirt simple to use (scroll wheel to zoom, middle button to snap) and to get the photos taken on it into iPhoto. Otherwise, skip it altogether. And please don't make me fumble around to find the right button to hit to answer a call. Open it to answer the call, close it to hang up. And if you aren't going to put the number buttons in a tranditional layout - don't put them on there at all. I don't have the time or energy to learn some idiotic circular arrangement. I'd rather you put the numbers up on a touch screen and let me smudge up my phone than deal with a non-standard button arrangement. It also has to be hearty - I don't have time for a phone that stops working if I drop it 3 feet onto a carpeted floor.
...
I couldn't agree more. I still think a cell phone should be, first and foremost, a decent telephone! If it stops working after I drop it on carpet, or the person at the other end sounds like they are taking through a "tin can", or if the reception "goes down more frequently than a five dollar hooker" and it drops calls, I don't really give a rat's ass about a built in camera, video, music player, fancy ringers, or any of the other "bells and whistles" that seem to be a marketing priority these days. Then there's the whole battery life issue. I don't want to caught off guard with a dead phone late one night because I happened to be in the mood for music that day and used the phone as a music player all day. Give me a good telephone, and decent features that enhance that function (BT hands free, sync, etc.) first. Then worry about the other gimmicks.
rjohnstone
Apr 18, 03:21 PM
There wasn't a phone that looked or worked like the iPhone until the iPhone. Now how many clones are there?
There wasn't a Tablet that looked or worked like the iPad until the iPad. Now how many clones are there?
Apple is absolutely justified in going after them for copying their UI and design as far as I can see. I'm shocked that it's taken this long.
There was at least one phone that "looked" like an iPhone before anyone new what the iPhone looked like.
Does the Prada ring a bell? Probably not to most of you, but it was first to market with that basic "look".
As for the UI, old WinMo phones had grids of icons on the desktop, so again, not a unique "look".
Next one will be arguing about the spacing or the number of icons per row. Nit picking I say.
The iPad is not "innovative" in it's looks or design either. It's minimalism at it's best. So simplistic that it will be tough to defend in court. It is a logical basic design for a tablet.
As for how it functions, it's technically the iPhone with a larger screen. So the argument of functionality fails as many devices functioned similarly prior to the release of the iPad. Screen size is irrelevant.
Now I do believe with the icons Samsung chose to use combined with the layout, one could logically argue that Samsung was copying the overall UI from iOS. I believe that is where Apple's case is with the phones.
Easy for Samsung to remedy. Ditch the TouchWiz UI... it sucks anyway.
Still failing to see the argument on the Galaxy tabs though... Honeycomb looks nothing like iOS ad Samsung hasn't uglied them up with the old TouchWiz UI overlay.
There wasn't a Tablet that looked or worked like the iPad until the iPad. Now how many clones are there?
Apple is absolutely justified in going after them for copying their UI and design as far as I can see. I'm shocked that it's taken this long.
There was at least one phone that "looked" like an iPhone before anyone new what the iPhone looked like.
Does the Prada ring a bell? Probably not to most of you, but it was first to market with that basic "look".
As for the UI, old WinMo phones had grids of icons on the desktop, so again, not a unique "look".
Next one will be arguing about the spacing or the number of icons per row. Nit picking I say.
The iPad is not "innovative" in it's looks or design either. It's minimalism at it's best. So simplistic that it will be tough to defend in court. It is a logical basic design for a tablet.
As for how it functions, it's technically the iPhone with a larger screen. So the argument of functionality fails as many devices functioned similarly prior to the release of the iPad. Screen size is irrelevant.
Now I do believe with the icons Samsung chose to use combined with the layout, one could logically argue that Samsung was copying the overall UI from iOS. I believe that is where Apple's case is with the phones.
Easy for Samsung to remedy. Ditch the TouchWiz UI... it sucks anyway.
Still failing to see the argument on the Galaxy tabs though... Honeycomb looks nothing like iOS ad Samsung hasn't uglied them up with the old TouchWiz UI overlay.
ciTiger
Mar 26, 11:40 PM
As long as it is solid with things that are actually NEEDED... :D
Ugg
Apr 7, 06:04 PM
> And how would Microsoft go about "leveraging the desktop"? People throw out computers and buy an iPad. People don't say "well, I have a Windows PC, I will buy a Microsoft tablet to go with it". They say "well, I have a Windows PC, I will buy an iPad so I can get rid of that old PC"
Not true. People go with what they know - and Apple/Google are quickly setting the new OS standard for tablets; But do not ignore that's LOTs of people that are familiar with Windows (over 1 billion window users. Are they going to throw that away or find a way to leverage?).
I think for the first time, computing is morphing into pro and consumer lines. There will always be a need for powerful desktop machines for PhotoShop, making movies, engineering, architecture, etc. They need big monitors, monitors that at this point at least are largely terrestrial. Then there is the mobile business market. The coders, the salespeople, etc. They don't need a massive screen or massive computing power. A laptop works just fine for them. Finally, there's the consumer market. Tablets do almost everything they need. The cloud and mobile broadband provide them all the computing power and storage they need.
Where does Microsoft fit into this? Their licensing fees are truly exorbitant and there's been a study flow of customers away from MS. No surprise there. They're always playing catchup in regards to Apple and Google. Where is their relevance in today's computing world? I'm having a hard time seeing it outside of a few specialized applications. MS has become IBM.
I think the thing to note here is that, yes Apple has the power and money to hold down the main supply of the worlds touchscreen panels but we shouldn't go and believe they are doing it JUST to be anti-competative, they are hardly getting enough for themselves. Its not their fault everyone wants an iPad (blame the competition lol) , so at least the panels are getting used :)
It is ironic that Apple created this market and now is being thrashed because the iPad is selling like gangbusters and so there's simply no extra capacity available to anyone else.
When the iPad debuted with such low prices, I was convinced that Apple was determined to corner the tablet market. I'm now more convinced than ever, that is Apple's intention. They'd be stupid not to buy up all the component capacity. The iPad is a major hit.
Not true. People go with what they know - and Apple/Google are quickly setting the new OS standard for tablets; But do not ignore that's LOTs of people that are familiar with Windows (over 1 billion window users. Are they going to throw that away or find a way to leverage?).
I think for the first time, computing is morphing into pro and consumer lines. There will always be a need for powerful desktop machines for PhotoShop, making movies, engineering, architecture, etc. They need big monitors, monitors that at this point at least are largely terrestrial. Then there is the mobile business market. The coders, the salespeople, etc. They don't need a massive screen or massive computing power. A laptop works just fine for them. Finally, there's the consumer market. Tablets do almost everything they need. The cloud and mobile broadband provide them all the computing power and storage they need.
Where does Microsoft fit into this? Their licensing fees are truly exorbitant and there's been a study flow of customers away from MS. No surprise there. They're always playing catchup in regards to Apple and Google. Where is their relevance in today's computing world? I'm having a hard time seeing it outside of a few specialized applications. MS has become IBM.
I think the thing to note here is that, yes Apple has the power and money to hold down the main supply of the worlds touchscreen panels but we shouldn't go and believe they are doing it JUST to be anti-competative, they are hardly getting enough for themselves. Its not their fault everyone wants an iPad (blame the competition lol) , so at least the panels are getting used :)
It is ironic that Apple created this market and now is being thrashed because the iPad is selling like gangbusters and so there's simply no extra capacity available to anyone else.
When the iPad debuted with such low prices, I was convinced that Apple was determined to corner the tablet market. I'm now more convinced than ever, that is Apple's intention. They'd be stupid not to buy up all the component capacity. The iPad is a major hit.
IntelliUser
Nov 12, 10:31 AM
I use Eset NOD32 on my pc and i must say it's the best AV software in my opinion after testing many others. Once they make their AV available on mac i will get it.
It's already available http://www.eset.com/home/cybersecurity-for-mac
It's already available http://www.eset.com/home/cybersecurity-for-mac
motulist
Apr 20, 12:21 AM
Not a summer update? Surprising.
DotCom2
Apr 20, 09:39 AM
Looks like a specs upgrade to me. I�ll most likely skip this and buy the next revision. :)
If this rumor is true and there is only going to be a spec bump, then I think a lot of people will feel this way and Apple knows this! Therefore, I think they will put some "gotta have" feature in iOS5 that will only be compatible with the new iPhone 5. Something like.......(your guess here).
3D maybe?
If this rumor is true and there is only going to be a spec bump, then I think a lot of people will feel this way and Apple knows this! Therefore, I think they will put some "gotta have" feature in iOS5 that will only be compatible with the new iPhone 5. Something like.......(your guess here).
3D maybe?
Coolerking
Sep 11, 09:05 AM
I think its fair to assume at this stage no macbook/pro updates will be shown tomorrow. All they do is distract from the media/ipod announcements. best you can hope for is a quiet refresh towards the end of this week.
M.
Or later today. Although with 9/11 being at the forefront of the news I doubt it.
Early tomorrow would be best.
M.
Or later today. Although with 9/11 being at the forefront of the news I doubt it.
Early tomorrow would be best.
snberk103
May 3, 10:52 PM
Lord, lol! :D
Feel sorry for you, bud. XD
One more Canadianism.... The Globe and Mail today was reporting on the Bin Laden raid. Apparently his balcony had a wall 2.2 metres high, just enough to conceal a man 6 ft 4 inch. You can't make this stuff up. Most Canadians just make the conversion and move on.:D
Feel sorry for you, bud. XD
One more Canadianism.... The Globe and Mail today was reporting on the Bin Laden raid. Apparently his balcony had a wall 2.2 metres high, just enough to conceal a man 6 ft 4 inch. You can't make this stuff up. Most Canadians just make the conversion and move on.:D
rjohnstone
Apr 26, 02:24 PM
Apple is for people who like quality high-end stuff and Android is for Kmart shoppers ;)
I feel sorry for you if you actually believe that.
I feel sorry for you if you actually believe that.
Howdr
Apr 5, 05:17 PM
Honestly this whole thing PO's me to no end,
How Dare Apple!
Apple is now showcasing their stupid annoying IADS,
did you know Apple has plans to make their next OS for Mac make you have these Ads too, you will pay less ( but still buy the updated OS) but to "Subsidize" it you will suffer ADs............ Yeah Apple is Greaaaaaaaat :eek:
How Dare Apple!
Apple is now showcasing their stupid annoying IADS,
did you know Apple has plans to make their next OS for Mac make you have these Ads too, you will pay less ( but still buy the updated OS) but to "Subsidize" it you will suffer ADs............ Yeah Apple is Greaaaaaaaat :eek:
costmo
Apr 7, 10:51 AM
Deep pockets alone are not enough ... you also need some strategic planing to know ahead what you need and make sure that you get it.
All hail Tim Cook!
Seriously though, I think people are going to be surprised at how well RIM rebounds. Not that they are going to stop or even slow the iPad or iPhone train, but I will surprised if they don't carve themselves out a pretty good niche.
They're a much more resilient company than that for which they are given credit. Do some serious research into the company as though you were looking to invest, and you'll find out that they got a little too complacent for a time, but they have some vision that will surprise people in the coming years.
All hail Tim Cook!
Seriously though, I think people are going to be surprised at how well RIM rebounds. Not that they are going to stop or even slow the iPad or iPhone train, but I will surprised if they don't carve themselves out a pretty good niche.
They're a much more resilient company than that for which they are given credit. Do some serious research into the company as though you were looking to invest, and you'll find out that they got a little too complacent for a time, but they have some vision that will surprise people in the coming years.
ChrisA
Nov 22, 01:49 PM
Here is my prediction:
The number one characteristic of the first generation of Apple phones will be that they a "#$+@ expensive".
What does this mean? A concept they teach in business school is how to set a price to maximize profit. It's easy to see that if you price it to low you sell a zillion units but loose money and if priced to high you don't sell any so there is a sweet spot where the number of units sold times the per unit margin is maximized. In theory you can write an equation to model this then do some math to find it's maximum point. (remember: set the derivative to zero then solve for X from Calculus 101?) So much for theory. I doubt they will do that. I think Apple will price these higher then the theoretical "best" price. This way they sell far fewer units then they otherwise would. This let's them grow their service side of the iPhone business at a manageable rate. If Apple's business plan is sane they can't be going for a large share of the cell phone market
OK so in short they use a high price to throttle sales to a rate their service can support. I'm thinking this will be a $500 phone with a $99/month minimum contract. Basically you ain't going to get a free Apple iPhone with your $29.00/month 2 year contract.
Apple is partnering with an air-time provider so they will not get to keep much of the per-month fee, they will have to make money up front with hardware sales unless they can offer some non airtime monthly service like .mac
The number one characteristic of the first generation of Apple phones will be that they a "#$+@ expensive".
What does this mean? A concept they teach in business school is how to set a price to maximize profit. It's easy to see that if you price it to low you sell a zillion units but loose money and if priced to high you don't sell any so there is a sweet spot where the number of units sold times the per unit margin is maximized. In theory you can write an equation to model this then do some math to find it's maximum point. (remember: set the derivative to zero then solve for X from Calculus 101?) So much for theory. I doubt they will do that. I think Apple will price these higher then the theoretical "best" price. This way they sell far fewer units then they otherwise would. This let's them grow their service side of the iPhone business at a manageable rate. If Apple's business plan is sane they can't be going for a large share of the cell phone market
OK so in short they use a high price to throttle sales to a rate their service can support. I'm thinking this will be a $500 phone with a $99/month minimum contract. Basically you ain't going to get a free Apple iPhone with your $29.00/month 2 year contract.
Apple is partnering with an air-time provider so they will not get to keep much of the per-month fee, they will have to make money up front with hardware sales unless they can offer some non airtime monthly service like .mac
Eldiablojoe
May 3, 10:46 PM
I'm going to vote YES for Don't Panic, but NO for splitting up.
Beatrice, Should we reveal that we are telepathic, or should we save that tidbit for when it is most needed?
Beatrice, Should we reveal that we are telepathic, or should we save that tidbit for when it is most needed?
iRobby
Mar 27, 03:00 PM
Heh. No LTE, no NFC, no bigger screen, no antenna fix, and now no iOS upgrade? What's the point in releasing an iPhone at all this year?
These are just RUMORS! They will do at least some. Most likely, NFC, antenna fix, and IOS upgrade.
These are just RUMORS! They will do at least some. Most likely, NFC, antenna fix, and IOS upgrade.
nastebu
Mar 29, 03:54 PM
Here is a good overviewnfor the extremely inefficient Japanese agricultural industry:
http://www.japan-101.com/government/rice_trade_policy.htm
There are strong parallels between this and other Japanese markets.
Unlike Americans, the Japanese would rather build everything in Japan and pay a higher cost for it (= inefficiency). (I live in Japan and am fluent in Japanese)
Well, the US spends 20 billion a year on agriculture subsidies as well, so we're in about the same boat. At least Japan uses agriculture subsidies to support small farmers. We use them to support DelMonte.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy
And as for the reason why Japanese spend more on Japanese products--that they are higher quality--if Japanese companies can convince Japanese consumers to spend more on domestically made products, why can't American companies do the same?
In general, Japanese made products *are* better. That's not inefficiency, that's good marketing and an educated consumer.
http://www.japan-101.com/government/rice_trade_policy.htm
There are strong parallels between this and other Japanese markets.
Unlike Americans, the Japanese would rather build everything in Japan and pay a higher cost for it (= inefficiency). (I live in Japan and am fluent in Japanese)
Well, the US spends 20 billion a year on agriculture subsidies as well, so we're in about the same boat. At least Japan uses agriculture subsidies to support small farmers. We use them to support DelMonte.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy
And as for the reason why Japanese spend more on Japanese products--that they are higher quality--if Japanese companies can convince Japanese consumers to spend more on domestically made products, why can't American companies do the same?
In general, Japanese made products *are* better. That's not inefficiency, that's good marketing and an educated consumer.
gnasher729
Apr 25, 09:50 AM
+1. My IP is being logged right now most likely. No matter where you go, using any communication device, you can be tracked. If you're that paranoid, get off the grid. Every phone company tracks your location. This for iPhone users is just a log of it on your phone.
I do agree, however, that the consolidated.db file should at least be encrypted if it is to remain on the device. Now any good crook knows all they need is your iphone to find out when best to rob you.
What is actually tracked is not _your_ location, it is the location of WiFi basestations around the country. Which Google, Apple, and Skyhook use for their "poor man's GPS" that allows a device with WiFi but without working GPS to find its location. Skyhook started this by having cars drive round the country, recording the position of WiFi devices. Google and Apple, having the infrastructure, use a more efficient method to do this - instead of driving cars throught the country, they use people's iPhones or Android phones to collect the same data. Note they are not collecting _your_ data, they are collecting the data of WiFi base stations that you happen to pass with your iPhone.
The database file is most likely there so your phone knows which information it has already sent, so it doesn't send info about the same basestation twice. That should be easily checkable - is the database full with hundreds of copies of your home location or not? Does it have dozens of copies of locations along your way to work? I think each location is recorded only once, so a crook stealing the phone would know places where I have been, but not how often I go where. So they would have very little clue where to find me.
And the whole scenario seems very unlikely. It would be very, very rare that a specific person is robbed intentionally. That robber will most likely come to your home without having any idea who lives there, or wait in a dark alleyway and rob the next person to come along, not stealing your phone in order to find other information about you and rob you again. It is just a hypothetical danger that is not actually going to happen.
But what actually does happen and worries me (well, I'm not worried, but some people should be), is that apparently it is possible to access Google's database. There is a website where you can enter the MAC address of your router, and it will find its location. It found mine within about 100 meters. That might make it possible to find people who don't want to be found. So anyone who moves to escape a stalker, or goes into witness protection, they better not take their router with them to the new home.
I do agree, however, that the consolidated.db file should at least be encrypted if it is to remain on the device. Now any good crook knows all they need is your iphone to find out when best to rob you.
What is actually tracked is not _your_ location, it is the location of WiFi basestations around the country. Which Google, Apple, and Skyhook use for their "poor man's GPS" that allows a device with WiFi but without working GPS to find its location. Skyhook started this by having cars drive round the country, recording the position of WiFi devices. Google and Apple, having the infrastructure, use a more efficient method to do this - instead of driving cars throught the country, they use people's iPhones or Android phones to collect the same data. Note they are not collecting _your_ data, they are collecting the data of WiFi base stations that you happen to pass with your iPhone.
The database file is most likely there so your phone knows which information it has already sent, so it doesn't send info about the same basestation twice. That should be easily checkable - is the database full with hundreds of copies of your home location or not? Does it have dozens of copies of locations along your way to work? I think each location is recorded only once, so a crook stealing the phone would know places where I have been, but not how often I go where. So they would have very little clue where to find me.
And the whole scenario seems very unlikely. It would be very, very rare that a specific person is robbed intentionally. That robber will most likely come to your home without having any idea who lives there, or wait in a dark alleyway and rob the next person to come along, not stealing your phone in order to find other information about you and rob you again. It is just a hypothetical danger that is not actually going to happen.
But what actually does happen and worries me (well, I'm not worried, but some people should be), is that apparently it is possible to access Google's database. There is a website where you can enter the MAC address of your router, and it will find its location. It found mine within about 100 meters. That might make it possible to find people who don't want to be found. So anyone who moves to escape a stalker, or goes into witness protection, they better not take their router with them to the new home.
Saladinos
Apr 26, 02:45 PM
Apple needs to respond. I would prefer them to do it with an iOS overhaul and some diversification of their product line. Apple won't sacrifice margins significantly, so to expand market share they should appeal to more people and step up advertising on the cheaper previous-gen models.
Apple will still rule the tablet space though.
Apple will still rule the tablet space though.
McGiord
Apr 10, 05:17 PM
Agreed. Anyhow, writing math with ascii characters sucks, however you put. Most people who aren't used to see math in ascii see / as a ______ and not as a direct translation of � or (...)^-1. Other than the people who blindly follow PEMDAS and think multiplication has a precedence over division, like our lovely math teacher did a couple posts above, I think the poll would tend a lot more towards 288 if the question was posted with TeX (or another proper form).
I think this poll has more to do with how bad math can be written in plain characters than it has to do with the average person's understanding of math. Hey, I got it right, but I spend a lot of time using math and do see it a lot in plain characters, but I know most people aren't engineering students.
Well Paolo, what is your answer?
I think this poll has more to do with how bad math can be written in plain characters than it has to do with the average person's understanding of math. Hey, I got it right, but I spend a lot of time using math and do see it a lot in plain characters, but I know most people aren't engineering students.
Well Paolo, what is your answer?
ravenvii
May 4, 05:13 PM
OP updated with re-written rules by Don't panic (with minor modifications).