Ghost Train

Yea it's also hard for me to grasp what's going on, when the other guy edits posts that are 5 days old >_< ...

Hey Sketch... I'm having a hard time replying to your stuff if you edit them every 30 minutes for the next week... so this is only for the stuff you had posted ~ 15 minutes ago ok? Some of this content seems to have mysteriously vanished: I am indeed an honorable man. Do you understand the referenced post? I stated that I'm interested in seeing a hardware comparison. I admit that the phones sold in my country are not made by American companies, and that we have customer service (complete with video proof) that is crap. So providing assesment (a negative one at that) of the US market is polarizing? The little vignette about my friend is slightly in poor taste - but relatively mild compared to the criticism I leveled at my own domestic market. And I further qualify that as being anecdotal. Oh really, more than one instance? So in that case... what you're saying is that you're cherry-picking from your personal experiences to prove your original point, selectively suppressing stories that don't fit your statements? ... Or are you just completely oblivious to your surroundings when you leave Japan? btw, see my last post for an up to date look at Canada's brick-phones. It doesn't seem to be particularly hard to find an up to date take on the iphone in Japan... with google, the first hit for me was from last year. Or are you cherry picking data here as well and wound up with a slightly dated article? If reading comprehension weren't a problem with you, you'd realize that I already clarified this in post # 165 right? Reiterated for emphasis: I admit that the line break is cause for confusion, but seeing that the sentence about looking to the west is clearly flanked by discussions on mobile hardware and software, it should be pretty clear that's what I meant. If not, I'm sorry, I am a terrible writer, I concede that much. In fact, it's almost an apology... it's hard to get that from me. By the way yet to see evidence showing it's America-centric or incorrect... so is the 2nd wired article you linked America-centric too given that they say the same thing? Why do I have to show anything, when I've already stated that the ITU (of which Japan is a member) defines standards for generation of mobile devices did I not? It's really hard not to misinterpret, when you change the scope of the discussion every time you realize you're wrong , instead of just admitting that your original assertion was garbage. Tell me this, why did at least 4 board members step up and challenge your assertions, while specifically mentioning mobile device handsets is where they disagreed? That to me sounds like what you first wrote is what you meant. Only later did you downplay the issue of hardware parity, perhaps after realizing that using a 10 year old example does not hold much weight? Oh wait, you have other experiences, nvm. BUT WAIT, what's this? I can't find what you said, LMAO: You should consider moving across the pond, where you will like-minded individuals working in government who specialize in censoring and re-writing history.

Given that mike has already adressed the issue of rate/year. Other claims of variety is highly suspect. Take for example T-Mobile here in the states. Currently they offer roughly 30 unique devices (made sure not to count variations of color, etc.), of which 17 are smart. All devices are represented by 10 different brands. If we zero in on just the smart phone segment, we find that out of the 17 devices: 13 run on Android (76%) 2 on Blackberry OS ( 12%) 2 Windows 7 Mobile ( 12%) (Supposedly iPhone was coming last year, but didn't happen) Comparing this to NTTDocomo's smart lineup, we see 10 smart devices: 7 Android (70%) 2 Blackberries (20%) 1 Windows (10%) Note that T-Mobile is considered a 2nd tier carrier here in the US, and you are likely to find much greater selections and variety with AT&T and Verizon. From my limited research, NTTDocomo has a little bit less than 50% of the market share, and from what I could glean is the top dog in Japan. ... and before you jump in, and claim that a break-down by OS is unreasonable, consider the common sense idea that hardware does not execute itself, and the capabilities of a device is delivered through both OS and the hardware, as such both are important. Since I've been such a bad jingoistic nationalist I'm going to play nice and research the Canadian selection - mainly Rogers (which I'm sure we can agree is a pretty big player in Canada's wireless market). Their lineup reveals a fairly balanced variety of smart devices, not dissimilar in frequency and brand availability like T-mobile above, running Droid, Symbian, BB, Windows, etc. The good news is that I can no longer find a phone that looks like "the brick" Nokia that traumatized you so much 10 years ago! Having said that, and taking into account our previous discussion on hardware parity, there is pretty much nothing left in your original argument that is remotely accurate or up to date... except infrastructure and customer service, both of which no one is arguing with you on. /thread

lol that "home-made" stand is awesome. Maybe you can write something on the other 3 tabs that are unused ?

Finally... No One Left Behind !!! . I've done so many runs through the game but for 1 reason or another, something always got in the way of me taking the effort to make sure everyone is alive. My combo: - Everyone loyal (this is must) - Pick a good tech person to run through the tunnel, in practice I've found this to be only Tali or Legion - Pick someone with good leadership skills to lead the second team, Miranda always was a safe bet for me. In 1 play through I picked Samara, but given that she's a loner for hundreds of years, this obviously didn't work out good. - Pick a true A++++ biotic to put up a field for you. Miranda and/or Jacob did not come through for me, but Samara did, I'm guessing Jack could do it too. I haven't downloaded the new character packs, so I'm sure the dynamics change when it happens. ... this time Terminator fight went by really quick. 1 shot with Cain, 3 rounds of Incendiary (not fully upgraded) from the Widow, and it's over.

I'll let him respond but pretty confident he meant that I'm right - that the Wired article you linked states the same thing as the NYT I mentioned earlier . I mean jeez I even included a quote straight from your article to emphasize this fact... but at this point I withdraw the selective memory assesment, as reading comprehension seems to be a bigger issue here. From the get go the discussion has been whether or not your take on the difference between mobiles here and in North America is correct. You're the only one turning this into some sort of who is the most wired society debate - and even I myself have stepped up and praised Japan's telecom infrastructure. I've only brought specific country-level statistics to prove you're wrong, not that country A posses a better tech infrastructure than country B. If we want to discuss who is turning this into a nation vs nation debate, here are some points to consider: You lament the oh-so poor choices we have in North America without showing evidence that is this actually the case. You attack an unbiased article that speaks to certain software deficiencies as being nationalist (and proceed to link another article to support your facts that basically states the same thing). You base your comparison primarily on a 10 year old experience with a Canadian telecom, and use this to catapult point # 1. You attribute elements of Japanese economy & society to cover up the obvious holes in your arguments. I don't consider this flip-flopping and hypocricy to be a particularly responsible adult behavior that you alluded to earlier. Stop trying to add layers of complexity and re-interpreting your original words. There is very little room for interpretation when at least 4 other members of the board have come forth, and shared recent experiences with comparisons to their own native countries, bringing into question the accuracy of your assesment. I give you credit for having perhaps lived in Japan the longest - but we're talking about a telecommunication device, something that should not take years to master. LOL this is a ridiculous opinion (and it's just a rehash of the other 2 wired articles you mentioned earlier, good job rofl). I'm not sure what the definition of generation this guy is using - perhaps some marketing hype is my guess. The definition of mobile networks standards (you know the ones businesses, scientists, engineers, and consumers use) come from the ITU, which places the mobile network of almost all developed countries in the high 3G and 4G end, with only South Korea close to the 5G standard - which is still being defined at the moment, with a tentative start date for implementation of 2012. link Please show me what magical generation standard this is you're referring to, and what factors it takes into account?

LOL, this is quite hilarious. Note that Sketch has repeatedly ignored the fact that his original statement criticizes both the choice of plans - and the actual handset equally. Quoted yet again for clarity ... though I feel it's kind of hopeless as we're dealing with a strong case of selective memory here: Instead of admitting that perhaps a 10 year old impression of the choices available in Canada does not hold much weight today - he launches the discussion into fantastic tangents such as: nationalism, and institutional intricacies of the Japanese market economy, which by the way he has yet to enlighten us on its effects of mobile devices. I am being accused of supposedly using one industry to extrapolate macro-trends (which I've proven to be false already), yet he does the same thing by using macro level explanations to explain a piece of consumer electronic and his own lack of common sense. This approach is of course perfectly reasonable, but no evidence has been presented showing the link or demonstrating why mobile phones are so special that they would be affected, when Playstations, Toyotas, and Panasonic Plasma TV's have not. Furthermore, he has not demonstrated how these mysterious institutional factors affect the individual software developer's ability to write code and engineer good software and thus address the NYT article that suggests that software is partly to blame for the export issue (you know that really nationalistic pro-American article). Yes, this is a bit dated (will go into this point a bit later). This hardly provides any insightful views into the minds of the Japanese consumer. Trust me, it doesn't, I drive past tons of trucks with, "Buy Foreign and Raise Unemployment!" bumber stickers every day. Some points to emphasize: The article mentions that at least the consumer's perception of the technology is that it's ~ 1 year behind - far less than your own claim. Furthermore, the author goes out of his way to state that the Panasonic phone being compared to the apple is far from perfect. A more recent analysis ( source) shows that in fact the iphone, and droid devices have picked up steam. This one I'm glad you posted, as it provides some meat and further reinforcement to the "ultra-nationalistic" NYT article I linked earlier. It reinforces and makes fact my original assertion that some hi-tech features are gimicky, as the article states that most features go unused and even not well understood by the consumer - this leads me to believe that a bigger factor is at play, which software and IT people are incredibly familar with: scope creep. This further shows the critical way in which software and its design fits into the equation. Perhaps some consumers are realizing that they want a telecommunications device and not a fracking rubick's cube, and are steering more towards utilitarian designs? It also emphasizes the Galapagos Effect mentioend earlier(as it pertains to cell phones) quite clearly: They're also at the mercy of the all-powerful carriers, like NTT DoCoMo -- the company that created the localized 3G network that makes Japanese handsets virtually obsolete in the rest of the world -- who get to decide what applications and functions are compatible with their networks. "The flashy little functions are cool, but they're carrier-specific," Hayashi says. "Once you take this out of Japan, it's just a piece of metal." Japanese companies only make 5 percent of global mobile phone sales, and all of those sales are domestic. Given these similarities in opinion, perhaps Wired magazine writers are also a bunch of gun-toting American Nationalists (though probably more tech-savvy ones )?

I did something crazy, and picked up a Widow instead of the assault rifle for my Shep soldier . Adrenaline Rush + Sniping is actually quite a fun combo as it makes headshots so much easier... much more so than Cloaking and Sniping imo. Though I'm doing this playthrough in normal, not sure if this holds up well on higher difficulties.

I aim to please... many people died so that I could have the right to say whatever the f*ck I want whenever and wherever - so I intend to troll, flame, and argue as much as possible . But seriously, it's all just in good fun, I mean this is a board about transforming airplanes ffs, how serious can you get? I certainly don't take it seriously enough to ninja-edit my posts 12+ hours after I post... and thanks for sharing the video ... though I think when he says software, he means it in a more general sense rather than computer software.

The difference between my statement, and your insinuation that we're still somehow half a decade behind Japan is that mine is based on facts. Would you consider the following statements clear signs of chest beating Nationalism? Barbancourt is a rum made by a Haitian company. Tata Consulting, which provides software servies, is an Indian firm. Research in Motion, the makers of Blackberry, is Canadian. Sure, we can spend all day and night reading into tone, of what I meant or did not mean, but I prefer to stay focused on facts - which is what I have done. lol nice comback with the "they are multinationals anyways" line - which is obviously true, who isn't nowadays. I should point out though that the core leadership, R&D, and presumably the people who write the code are squarely on this side of the world. But if you insist: Apple Inc. is incorporated in California: Source Trades in NASDAQ, an American stock exchange. Google is incorporated in Delaware: Source Also with shares trading in NASDAQ. Now, let's all take a moment to review my complete non-reference of US players: Note: RIM, makers of BB, is based in Canada Oh Yes... DAMMING INDEED! also, regarding my earlier statement, it's pretty evident I am zero'd in on mobiles and not trying to discuss larger macroeconomic trends or infusing nationalism into this discussion. I admit that the line break is cause for confusion, but seeing that the sentence about looking to the west is clearly flanked by discussions on mobile hardware and software, it should be pretty clear that's what I meant. If not, I'm sorry, I am a terrible writer, I concede that much. ...Oh and by the way Galaxy runs on Android. lol dude... just stop changing the subject here - I've stated at least in my last 3 replies that my beef is just with your assesment of mobile technologies, and more specifically the handset itself. Congrats on being so knowledgable on Japanese political institutions. At least, please show some evidence disproving what's on the article. What the article states is neither a unique piece of reporting or a phenomena no one in the world has heard about before. Do institutions, regulations, and government have a discernible impact on writing code and designing good software? I highly doubt it. Ok... let's have this discussion again in a few years then. It's nice to be able to continously push the analytical finish line further and further eh? Let's never stop and think about how competitive we are because things can drastically turn in our favor! My mention of the 2 people on this thread is just icing on the cake. The evidence you presented, pretty much defeats your own claim that NA is far behind the curve - as the product offering clearly shows that Japanese consumers in the smart phone segments have comparable choices with those of American consumers - and are running, with the same OS, and comparable hardware specs. Please show me evidence that there is some incredible breakthrough that will dethrone Android and Apple in the near future. It could happen, but the probability is low. I strongly disagree, I've kept my discussion squarely focused on the technology itself as much as possible ... I certainly wasn't the one who brought up this nationalism crap in the first place. I have never offered an opinion on anything remotely close to a "macro style" shift on the economy you describe. Saying that perhaps Japanese mobile phone software is lagging, is not implying the end of Japanese economic prowess. How about just admit you're wrong or that your perception of the choices NA consumers have is out of date - and perhaps consider the possibility that we don't have horse drawn carriages and don't light kerosene lamps every night?

yea yea , customer service and plans. On customer service, I've already stated that it's difficult for any system to get worse than what we have here - which amounts to barely literate script monkeys. Plans suck as well, mostly because of additional fees carriers tack on to your monthly fee. Personally, I don't feel that my own wireless bill is unreasonable. I pay 60.00 USD for 500 minutes and a certain SMS quota but with unlimited data usage. As I use Skype for my calls, the minutes cap, and treat gmail as messaging, the cap does not affect me at all. I find it doubtful that things are as flexible as you state, given that WCDMA pretty much guarantees that you're locked in with a phone company - but as this is too difficult to judge from where I'm sitting, I'll give you this one. It's funny you hint that I'm infusing a dose of Nationalism along with the oh so patriotic New York Times into this discussion . Let's all take a second to remember how this discussion got started in the first place: Given your incredible perspective on the issue, explained later: Bringing this argument back to its root, I think I've pretty much torn down the above myth - that Japanese netizens are laughing at our inferior mobile devices: The models you have linked have equivalents both in features and in hardware power to what is available off the shelf in the west. That there is no gap, as Japanese phones are gravitating towards global standards like Android, thus essentially running the same hardware and software as in the US. An article from a fairly reputable source I would say (plus numerous others on the isolated development of Japanese technology if you google the subject) attributing inferior and incompatible software to Japan's inability to export its mobile technology. Two board members, through actual visits and time spent in Japan, dispelling the myth of mobile superiority. The cutting edge of mobile research falls squarely on US companies like Apple and Google at least for now, and in this area, others, who were once leaders, are now followers desperately trying to catch up. I've never argued any of the above to be false - my beef as I've stated is that our handsets are stuck in the stone age (which I've definitely proven to be false). In fact, I hold the following to be irrefutably true statements: that the telecom infrastructure in Japan is superb, and that on low scale phones you will see better choices and performance. The last point is pretty meaningless in a comparison battle in my opinion, as pretty much everyone I know has a smart device. I'm sure there is some nebulous political & economic theory you can throw at me that my farm boy midwest brain can't handle, but I'm also a software engineer, and I'm interested in facts, actual observations and results, and an up to date assessment of what I'm looking at - all of which I've provided. Hardware and Software is not everything, but if it's good (or perceived to be so) it will sell. Every country loves Coca-Cola... Chinese are getting stuffed on KFC... Toyota pretty much ran circles around the Detroit Big-3 until fairly recently... It's not rocket science and a dissertation is not needed to explain this. Also, last I heard the iPhone is doing pretty well in Japan. Also, I'd hardly rate China as a technological powerhouse. Rather it has been successful at whoring out its 1+ billion consumers to become fat with bigMacs and using this influence to demand joint ventures and "borrow" technology.

I'm really considering what people can buy off the shelf: what can Japanese consumers get vs what can NA consumers get? Hardware-wise we have anything from Motorola (a US company), to HTC (Taiwan). But the two most influential forces behind smart phones and mobile devices in recent times have really been Apple and Android - both of which are American. Hardware is cheap, it's the stuff it runs that's meaningful and makes the device useful, and in that category "others" like Nokia have fallen behind significantly. ... Please enlighten me on some of these other suppliers and players you mentioned ? Of course, the Principality of Liechtenstein might pump out a mobile technology breakthrough anytime now! ... but it's doubtful and in the foreseeable future, Droid, Apple, and to a lesser extent RIM, Symbian, etc. will be the key players. I would actually be careful applying this logic to Japan. At least from my perspective, Japan loves to in-source, much more so than Americans. To name a few: Using WCDMA vs using GSM, Using their own wireless internet protocol (name eludes me now) vs WAP. More specifically in regards to cell phones, using domestic OS and software, until recently. In fact a quick google of this subject reveals that all of my suspicions are actually quite true, and there is even a name for it: Galapagos Effect. Ever wonder why an economy that has so successfuly exported Walkmans, Playstations, and automobiles, never been able to push its mobile phones abroad? It could be infrastructure, but the serious software deficiencies the article mentions sounds like a more plausible reason to me. (Why would you not want to make more money?)

If these are representative of what's currently in the market, then there is no doubt in my mind now that the gap has pretty much disappeared. The Sharp you linked is comparable to the Droid X, which also offers FWVGA and HDMI support. The Softbank & nttdocomo offerings above are pretty similar to what a US carrier would have in terms of run of the mill HTC or Samsung droid devices ... and did I see the supposedly technologically inferior Blackberries in the lineup too ?. Since at least in the smart phone segment it seems they are using similar hardware powered by the same OS as here in the US, then it's accurate in fact to say there is no gap, at least when it comes to the technology the consumer can choose from. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that Japan is abandoning its in-house technologies and looking to the west. We see it clearly from the heart & soul of the above phone: OS: Android 2.2 (Froyo) - Owned by Google, an American company CPU: Qualcomm QSD8650 1GHz - Made by Qualcomm, again a US manufacturer.

It's a nice device (at least from what I could glean from google translator ), but not noticeably superior to say something like a Droid 2, which has a 1GHz CPU, as well as most of the features from the device you linked. Droid gets the battery edge with almost twice the talk time. Furthermore, the device is a true global phone (well except Japan I guess lol), supporting all four GSM bands, and the Droid OS of course is a "global" platform. I will concede that I'm comparing apples and oranges, as the devices I'm touting as technically equal or superior are smart phones, whereas you're probably thinking of normal mobiles. In the latter category, I think the run of the mill Japanese phone would probably annihilate the plain vanilla US phone. ... NOW I DON'T WANT U GUYS TO THINK I'M PRAISING SMART PHONES OR ANYTHING LOL ...

I would be interested in seeing actual hardware comparisons proving this claim. I don't think from the actual handset perspective the US is far behind if we factor in smart phones... infrastructure is definitely a work in progress. Actually, even smart phones we import from Korea / Taiwan. NVM lol! I've heard from friends who've spent time in Japan in the past five years describe the high tech features of Japanese phones as "gimicky", cute, and offering no real advantage over a Droid or BB for business users. It was best put as, "highly suitable for teenage girls." Again, anecdotal, not personal experience . We do have crap customer service though. No need to compare to other countries when you're sure you've hit rock bottom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2isSJKntbg

Before my BB, I had a Nokia 6200 one for almost 5 years. As bare-bones as a mobile can get, but super-durable, incredibly high quality reception, and looked pretty sharp (it screams I'm a utilitarian minimalist who likes tools that work vs tools that look good but are sh!t) for a candy-bar design: ...Fast forward 5 years, and the initial batch of shiny iPhone4's has problems making phone calls . We must all practice grabbing the phone the correct way to get optimal reception. Practice makes perfect! Let's keep at it!

Rick Hunter is the most awesomest American cartoon 80's hero. With his transformable veritech fighter, She-Ra, He-Man, The Care Bears, and Rainbow Brite all cower in fear !

This is a lie perpetuated by the biased western media.... obviously Top Gun plagiarized the J-10 fighter footage !

This brings me back to my playground days (pre-internet) where the prefered flame war topic was: NO HE-MAN IS BETTUR THAN RAINBOW BRITE, CAREBEARS, GIJOE, etc.

Following the successful deployment of the J-78-2, the PLAAF unveils its mass production mobile suit unit: The J-6-IIF

You know that China does not really have a communist economy right?

(Further thread derailment) LOL I love how the "video software" in CSI can magnify and enhance almost anything ! GIGO principal need not apply!

This year in typical Asian style, I'm going to get a huge f'ing LV tatoo on my back - to go with my LV sandals, my LV keychain, and my LV toilet paper.

I hope Bandai doesn't get any ideas from this, otherwise they will need to buy some huge facilities to house all intellectual property criminals, enemies of the state, and other undesireables.

The J-20 is now moe: This one is epic, like something out of AC: Images from Sankaku (nsfw site)