We're all playing supercomputers

[Inazuma]

Porn must have sucked back then. I have to wonder how great porn will be in the future.

Back then it was all about finding your old mans stash.

Oh man, that takes me back. That was how I started too. And also around that time I remember spending a very long time downloading a short 20 second clip on AOL dial up. Then I would set that short clip to loop. Today's kids have it so good with their full DVD downloads via bit torrent.

[Octopod]

And chicks had real tits.

[emwearz]

And chicks had real tits.

And real muffs.

[Niode]

And chicks had real tits.

There's quite a few current pornstars that pride themselves on their natural tits. Gianna Michaels comes to mind.

[t0yrobo]

That is easily solved: Apple tax

Well it's not just Apple, that's just an easy example. Unsubsidized cell phones are crazy expensive as well. While the size thing is a factor, it's still ridiculous how little you get. I've yet to see any phone that made me think it even might be worth $300+.
These are all difficult examples to use though. Cell phones are all screwed up by the deals they've made with carriers. And for some stupid reason MS and Sony decided that it's a good idea to sell their hardware at a loss for years and make up the profit somewhere else.

[Limewater]

Well it's not just Apple, that's just an easy example. Unsubsidized cell phones are crazy expensive as well. While the size thing is a factor, it's still ridiculous how little you get. I've yet to see any phone that made me think it even might be worth $300+.

I could totally be wrong on this, because I haven't heard this from any credible source, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of phones are artificially inflated in price due to deals with the carriers to encourage contracts. It's usually cheaper to get a Go phone or other prepaid phone just for the phone part itself than to just buy a phone without a contract.

But I guess you kind of alluded to that.

And for some stupid reason MS and Sony decided that it's a good idea to sell their hardware at a loss for years and make up the profit somewhere else.

I don't really see where it's stupid. It's how Sony won the last two generations of game consoles. It's also what allowed the Sega Genesis to actually get enough market penetration to challenge Nintendo twenty years ago.

[t0yrobo]

And for some stupid reason MS and Sony decided that it's a good idea to sell their hardware at a loss for years and make up the profit somewhere else.

I don't really see where it's stupid. It's how Sony won the last two generations of game consoles. It's also what allowed the Sega Genesis to actually get enough market penetration to challenge Nintendo twenty years ago.[/quote]

It's absolutely true that selling at a loss is a huge help in getting a console maker off the ground. It does create unrealistic expectations from consumers when it's done multiple times in a row (and by multiple companies). Everyone wants the new console to be better, faster, stronger, and by selling at a loss companies push consoles that are more better, more faster etc. So when situations come up, quite like now where there's more significant diminishing gains on graphics, and many improvements are all in software. Anyway, the math stops adding up, and companies (Sony) spend years and years selling at a loss. MS ans Sony couldn't get by if they weren't massive corporations with many different divisions. Now contrast them with Nintendo whose been raking in money non stop for what, 15+ years. but I'm not a business person, in fact I have a severe dislike for many business professionals, so maybe there's just some intricacy that I don't grasp.