In S0v13T Ru551A

reggaejunkiejew: In S0v13T Ru551A

In Soviet Яussia

sgnilward: RedPad

Does it also set monks on fire?

FTFA RedPad's price was high, Liu said, because of the number of pre-installed apps that cater to bureaucrats and state-owned company managers.

For example, it has apps that allow users to check the validity of a journalist's government accreditation as well as read state-run newspapers and microblogs.

But an online survey on Thursday showed that more than 2,000 netizens believed that the RedPad was meant to be a symbol of privilege, while another 1,500 thought its purpose is to fleece taxpayers.

For those thinking it's some kind of Chinese thing...it's not. The US government does this as well. Fed Agencies buy what are called "regulatory model" computers, which can cost as much as twice as much, if not more, than the normal model. They DO come with certain modifications, but nothing worth anywhere near the price they cost.

And it's three or four times the price of an iPad. I guess even the People's Republic of China is not immune to pricey status symbols.

whatshisname: Does it also set monks on fire?

No, but you can use it to beat a burning monk.

Is it really twice the price of an ipad, when you factor in the monthly costs, apps, and other stuff? Also, this is a government contract we are talking about. Here in the Boston area, the local union wanted 300 million to repair a small bridge, and where high school dropouts make $85 an hour in combined salary, pension, and benefits as starting public school janitors. We as a nation are also going to spend an absurd amount of money developing new military hardware that we are unlikely to be able to actually build in the near future (we already have something like 2-3 generations of military junk developed that we can't deploy because of costs). Also, Apple and others should learn a lesson from Dell. You can make your crap in China, but expect your "Brand" only company to be blown away when they start to sell your product under a different, trendy sounding name to the US public.

As a collector of absurd things from odd places (Saddam money, Scientology E-Meter, etc.), where could one get one of these?

I follow stories tagged "China." Two questions always come to my mind with these threads:

1) Why do stories from ChinaSmack so often go green, and

2) Why do stories about China have such few comments, where
2a) Often they are just derogatory, anti-Chinese blather

/free Tibet! ... from civilization!
//also coke, pee