Slashdot Mirror

Their Budget Box is comparable to the one Tom's built, and actually includes all the necessary parts in the price.

Their Budget Box is comparable to the one Tom's built, and actually includes all the necessary parts in the price.

Though the Information Week article didn't mention this, an article at another site makes it clear that Microsoft blocked the outgoing spam messages during their honeypot experiement.

(Does that make the IBM article a dupe, or have I pushed the Slashdot lame-joke envelope too far to get away with that? :-)

That is, of course, assuming that fetish porn is allowed to remain 'legitimate.'

Here's an Arstechnica article that's fairly accessible, which discusses this lightly, and goes on to predict the maximum possible computational power if all the mass of a laptop were converted to energy (e=mc^2)... and how long it'll take to get there if Moore's law keeps up.

Kinda makes me wonder if Gates's law will also keep up?

But even those no mechanical work is being done, on a macroscopic mechanical engineering perspective, according to quantum theory, logical states are transitioning and there is a minimum theoretical energy associated with their rate of transition, and thus a minimum theoretical power consumption. Of course, to compute this and relate it to a computational task (even just one instuction or even one stage of a pipeline) requires knowing the number of 0 to 1 and 1 to 0 transitions, and possibly considering if those transitions are indeed the minimal approach to implement that particular higher level operation if you don't consider the processor's specific circuit design to be the same as the minimum possible to accompilish the task.

So the efficiency, specifically the ratio of this minimum possible power consumption to the actual power dissipated by today's CPUs, is likely a very, very small number. But according to quantum theory, it is not zero, even though no "mechanical" work appears to be done.

The fact that most of your settings are stored in the registry, makes things a lot harder to do from the command line.

Um, you're completely wrong. Apparently you didn't read the article.

Monad uses providers to make much of the system directly accessible from the command-line, including the registry. What this means is that MSH mounts the registry as a filesystem, allowing sysadmins to query for and set registry entries as .NET objects. I'd say that paradigm is much more powerful for script writers than trying to parse configuration text files, either from the command-line or from scripts.

"Ok. I wasn't talking about eliminating the physical media option, and Bill wasn't either." [...] "He says this is the 'last physical format' but he doesn't give a timetable for its elimination"

Well, I guess that depends on how you read that quote. I take "Everything's going to be streamed directly or on a hard disk. So, in this way, it's even unclear how much this one counts." as meaning HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are irrelavant.

You go on to say "It makes sense to argue for as much flexibility as possible. I think we are in agreement on that.". Have you looked at what the "mandatory managed copy" crap Intel and MS have been screaming about actually is? Arstechnica explains it pretty well: "all content provided on HD DVD must give users the option of making at least one copy. Jordi Ribas, director of technical strategy for the Windows Digital Media Division, told me that while the feature is mandatory, the studios will have the option of charging for it." HD-DVD's managed copy feature is implemented via AACS(the new CSS) which both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are using. The mandatory part doesn't really help if studios can sharge whatever they want for a copy, and Blu-Ray will almost certainly support managed coppies.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000943061481/ http://news.techwhack.com/2182/041013-toshiba-unve ils-a-laptop-with-hd-dvd-drive-to-showcase-technol ogy/

So... a 1x read-only HD DVD drive vs. Pioneer's BDR-101A which reads and writes and is faster than 1x. Oh, and it's only just been shown in the past 2-3 weeks. Bravo!

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2005_06/pr080 1.htm

Fair enough, you got me. They talk about mass production, but they don't put any timetable out for when they'll ramp up production. For a press release directly from Toshiba, it's sorely lacking in details you'd think they'd want to tell the whole world about.

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/ne xt-gen-dvd.ars/2 http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/1451 10.html

An Ars Technica article written by someone who failed economics, and a press release touting HD DVD replication hardware by a Swedish firm. Not exactly what I was hoping for...

How is there aren't sites like blu-ray.com that have pictures of tons of HD DVD hardware and media? Why is this stuff so hard to come across? It's almost like... it doesn't exist.

Public demos of a *laptop* HD DVD drive enough for you?

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000943061481/
http://news.techwhack.com/2182/041013-toshiba-unve ils-a-laptop-with-hd-dvd-drive-to-showcase-technol ogy/

And for HD DVD-R media:

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2005_06/pr080 1.htm

On replication issues:

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/ne xt-gen-dvd.ars/2
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/1451 10.html

The tests done at ArsTechnica were pretty extreme and the scratching they caused wasn't nearly as bad as some people here are describing their own experiences to be. Sure, a 'soft cloth' damaged your Nano, I don't believe it, sorry.

There have been, as always on /., some extreme claims made by people here. Now the lawyers need to get in on it to make millions in a class action that will maybe get the consumers 1% of the cost of the Nanos back when Apple settles rather than waste more time and money in court? This is insane.

Ars Technica goes Inside Microsoft's decision to back HD DVD http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/mi crosoft-hd-dvd.ars Bluray fires back http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050929/sfth060.html?.v =32 Microsoft Responds http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050929-5366 .html

Ars Technica goes Inside Microsoft's decision to back HD DVD http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/mi crosoft-hd-dvd.ars Bluray fires back http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050929/sfth060.html?.v =32 Microsoft Responds http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050929-5366 .html

"And cost of media
and hardware will very clearly favor HD-DVD - as I said, those
numbers (over $1 billion for BluRay start-up vs about S90
million for HD-DVD, total, are what's out there now)."

http://news.com.com/5208-1041-0.html?forumID=1&thr eadID=10077&messageID=73332&start=-174

They were basing their information from this article:

"Is Blu-ray really superior?
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has long asserted that its Blu-ray (BD) format is superior to the rival HD DVD format, and BD's "revolutionary" buzz has understandably caught the fancy of certain technologists. But CEOs should be wary, because what the BDA does not sufficiently address is what lies behind those assertions. The numbers are stark: manufacturing BD discs will require an estimated US$1.7 million cost per manufacturing line. Per line!

Then, each major manufacturing facility would require the implementation of a minimum of two mastering systems, at a minimum cost of US$2 million per system. DVD, at the height of its success, resulted in an estimated 600 manufacturing lines globally. Even allowing for a decline in systems costs over time as the manufacturing base expanded, the tab for radically overhauling the media manufacturing industry would approach a billion dollars worldwide or more. Already-beleaguered CFOs will be challenged to raise--and risk--this significant amount of capital.

Compare this to the estimated cost of retooling for the HD DVD format compared to BD. HD DVD is able to utilize virtually the entire existing manufacturing infrastructure. The cost of upgrading an existing DVD line is about US$150,000--less than a tenth the cost of a BD line. A DVD mastering system can be upgraded for US$145,000. Basically, HD DVD is a DVD-9--a version of DVD we have enormous manufacturing experience with already--with a denser pit structure."

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/ne xt-gen-dvd.ars

Clearly, Apple should have provided guidelines to help keep everyone's iPod Nanos from getting scratched. I guess it falls to me to provide this valuable public service:

1. Do not keep iPod Nano in the same pocket as your keys.
2. Do not run over iPod Nano with your car: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3 .
3. Do not use iPod Nano to scratch off your lottery tickets. Invest in a quarter, instead.
4. Do not keep iPod Nano in the same pocket as your keys, dumbass: http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/tombstone/839/ show/70's_badluck.wav.
5. Do not gnaw nervously on iPod Nano.

and finally...

6. Maybe think about investing in a $20 ultra-thin case for iPod Nano: http://www.speckproducts.com/nano-skintight.html.

FWIW, in my experience, there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who know how to take care of personal electronics and those who casually throw their new toys in with their spare change. I've had the same iPod for almost 2.5 years now. Still runs fine, still without scratches, and I've taken it jogging, biking, to work, to the bathroom, across state lines, etc. I guess some people just can't have nice things.

Maybe if people didn't spend all their time "stress testing" them with their cars.....
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

Damn your ignorance, making me stop what I was doing to fetch a link to show you that, yes, Warner is supporting Blu-Ray.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051021-5463 .html

Toshiba's only powerful card on the table is that they will have cheaper units on the market faster. Much cheaper units, actually, and they'll be at prices that Blu-Ray won't see for years, since the Blu-Ray Association does not want to allow for Chinese manufacturers to make Blu-Ray players, thus driving down the price and causing their players to be underbid, whereas Toshiba is taking that personal risk to eventually win over the market.
If Chinese HD-DVD units come out for $200-300 and Blu-Ray units come out at "under $1000" (quoting Sony on that one), then expect the ever-important and highly budget conscious American market to either take a pass on Blu-Ray until BD-ROM players and discs drop in price, or to pick up HD-DVD units.

Me? I'll be taking a pass for a while. I want to get an HD monitor (tunerless Plasma or a projector) soon, but I can wait for HD video content.

Well, not quite. "Managed Copy", which allows streaming, ripping to hard drives, and limited duplication, is a part of both HD-DVD and BluRay specs. However, in HD-DVD, "Managed Copy" is a mandatory feature of every disk, while in BluRay it is (as of right now) merely optional. MS & Intel claim their support for HD-DVD is primarily because of this feature.

Hopefully, BluRay will make Managed Copy mandatory as well -- and there seems to be some movement in that direction.

Other miscellany - Screen lock.

"The first new application is the screen lock, which will be useful to those of you who are reluctant to store your entire schedule and contact database around where anyone could steal a peek."

Or naughty movies.

Speed and security is your goal, for the speed test visit our new optimized site at: http://www.arstechnica.com/

Anyone who doesn't think the iPod video is cool can kiss my ars.

I think that the stress testing in Ars technica's iPod nano review should be done on the video iPod as well. I clicked that link expecting to see an ipod getting run over and all I get is it being pulled to pieces.

This is what I call a proper review.

"Second, the iPod still has Firewire support through the special cradle, IIRC."

Apple specs page - I don't see "firewire" or "1394" anywhere on that page.
Arstechnica review - "Upon connecting the new iPod via Firewire, you'll see the same screen you get when you try to connect the nano via Firewire"
said screen

It would appear you recall incorrectly.

"Also, most Macs since 1999 have shipped with USB, and I'm fairly certain that the two-year-old Macs have USB 2.0"

G4 iMacs and G3 iBooks did not. PowerMacs and PowerBooks have it... but artificially constraining the cheaper machines is one of my criticisms, and leaving USB 2.0 out of the cheaper machines is an example of that.

"If you want a tower, you're likely going after either a cheap box (covered by the Mini) or a powerhouse (covered by the G5 towers)."

My goal, along with the majority of tower owners, is a machine that isn't necessarily outrageously powerful but one that can be updated, and has better capabilities. Wanting dual displays or PCI slots does not imply wanting a second CPU or having a few thousand extra dollars lying around.

Also, an entry-level tower from Apple, if they decided to make one, would "just work" just fine. PowerMacs can do it, you only worry about the slots when you need to use them.

"Fourth, the CPU isn't that much slower than most modern chips"

Depends on how you define "slow". If you think 2-4 times slower (integer code) isn't that much slower... Well, then you have pretty low standards. I've used the faster G4s on integer-heavy stuff like web pages (particularly things like javascript) and it's pretty sad.

"I honestly love the display on my 12" PB (same as the one on the iB), having come from a world of much higher-res PC laptops"

If 1024x768 on 12" iBooks is okay, then 1280x1024 should be okay on a 14".

"Second, the iPod still has Firewire support through the special cradle, IIRC."

Apple specs page - I don't see "firewire" or "1394" anywhere on that page.
Arstechnica review - "Upon connecting the new iPod via Firewire, you'll see the same screen you get when you try to connect the nano via Firewire"
said screen

It would appear you recall incorrectly.

"Also, most Macs since 1999 have shipped with USB, and I'm fairly certain that the two-year-old Macs have USB 2.0"

G4 iMacs and G3 iBooks did not. PowerMacs and PowerBooks have it... but artificially constraining the cheaper machines is one of my criticisms, and leaving USB 2.0 out of the cheaper machines is an example of that.

"If you want a tower, you're likely going after either a cheap box (covered by the Mini) or a powerhouse (covered by the G5 towers)."

My goal, along with the majority of tower owners, is a machine that isn't necessarily outrageously powerful but one that can be updated, and has better capabilities. Wanting dual displays or PCI slots does not imply wanting a second CPU or having a few thousand extra dollars lying around.

Also, an entry-level tower from Apple, if they decided to make one, would "just work" just fine. PowerMacs can do it, you only worry about the slots when you need to use them.

"Fourth, the CPU isn't that much slower than most modern chips"

Depends on how you define "slow". If you think 2-4 times slower (integer code) isn't that much slower... Well, then you have pretty low standards. I've used the faster G4s on integer-heavy stuff like web pages (particularly things like javascript) and it's pretty sad.

"I honestly love the display on my 12" PB (same as the one on the iB), having come from a world of much higher-res PC laptops"

If 1024x768 on 12" iBooks is okay, then 1280x1024 should be okay on a 14".

People interested in seeing how this resolution independent UI business works in Tiger, may want to take a look at John Siracusa's Tiger review.

The scalable user interface still has some rough edges in Tiger, and that's why Apple still doesn't talk about it openly. Nevertheless, it shows that it is plainly reasonable to expect a very usable version for Leopard.

It would be sheer idiocy to give goverments unaccountable to their people ANY control when we can avoid it. Unless you think it'd be okay for China's dictators to vote .tw addresses dropped from DNS, etc.

How can you say this with a straight face?

The Bush administration is unaccountable to over 50% of the US population, who did not vote for them. Yeah, there are other governmental institutions than the Whitehouse (not that they're any more representative of their respective areas), but the Whitehouse seems to be the focus of power. Isn't it the Bush administration that just put a block on the .xxx TLD, and fully support the FBI's new focus on deviant porn? They seem to like sticking their grubby fingers into the net too.

China want to censor anti-government feeling, Whitehouse wants to censor what it doesn't like. It'd censor anti-government feeling if it could get away with it, too.

Google did hire a lead developer for firefox, ya know. Maybe Firefox should implement a degrees with google plugin (in this case...it equals 1 degree)

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050124-4549 .html

Read it and weep, apple fanboi!

From the linked article: "...content in 75 categories from 150 "providers." Some of the major networks using the service are CNN, TLC, Animal Planet, iFilm, TCM, MLB.com, History Channel, A&E..."

Who's your daddy now!

IBM announced that they existed after Apple announced the Intel switch. Why would IBM go public with such a huge lie?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050708-5073 .html

Maybe not indestructible, but they're already pretty damn tough http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

A few nitpicks:

I don't think a new version called "Media Center Edition 2006" was ever planned or announced. The article's introduction referred to the "massive Rollup 2 patch," which is a free update to MCE 2005. This update was supposed to include Cable Card support, but this feature was cut (according to Microsoft's Matt Davis). Here's the blog entry where I read about this: "More details on Rollup 2."

Also, the next "new" version of MCE (Longhorn version) will not be called "Media Center Edition" anymore. It will be called "Vista Home Premium Edition" (details here). This will probably be the first Windows version with Cable Card support. Ugh.

RTFA? I can't believe they modded the parent as "insightful". It's as insightful as not reading the f-ing article can get.

Using your analogy, people are currently paying for the x cuts already. But not all x cuts are needed simultaneously, and they are only charging for the maximum # of cuts that you need simultaneously at any given time.

from http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051010-5413 .html

Microsoft announced today that they are changing their licensing policy for running Windows server operating systems inside a virtual machine (VM). The old licensing system required that every copy of a Windows server product stored on a server was required to be licensed, either individually or through a bulk licensing program. With the new system, only running instances of operating systems must be licensed. The server operator can legally store as many different copies and installations of the OS as desired, including copies for backup and recovery, without these copies adding to the license total. Licenses need only be purchased for the maximum number of operating systems that will be running at any one time. In addition, restrictions on moving instances between servers have been lessened, and some products that are currently licensed per physical processor can now be licensed for the number of virtual processors being used.

Correct. this picture shows the flash chips in a 2GB nano. Linked directly from arstechnica's nano autopsy

Correct. this picture shows the flash chips in a 2GB nano. Linked directly from arstechnica's nano autopsy

RIP, MAJC .. oh, if only.

"How is it being used for icons? Is there a window manager that uses it or is it being used as a file type in graphics editing?"

Gnome 2.4 ->

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/gnome2.4.ars/3

ZetaOS 1.0->

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=11251&page =1

Not so fast, you didn't have to completely correct yourself. Last month the USPTO actually upheld the patent last month.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050929-5367 .html

Any other questions?

Unless you can prove that all the people who downloaded the work would never have paid for it, arguing that downloaders would not have bought the music does not stand.

In addition, I've read a number of articles that suggest that a non-negligible percentage of the stuff that people download would not have resulted in a lost sale. Furthermore, many people who commit copyright infringement via illegal downloads in fact *do* spend a lot of money -- according to this, 350% above average -- on legitimate purchases. So it is exceedingly unlikely that many of those downloads were lost sales.

Burden of proof's on you, pal.

-HJ

more like you can get the same machine $70 CHEAPER with windows loaded on it.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051004-5389 .html

There have been several products that allow you to recharge things like cell phones and iPods wirelessly. Here is one I just saw yesterday:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2005/10 /2/1401

I guess the big deal with this "announcement" is the projected battery life. The wireless charging aspect is existing technology, and makes sense when you consider their target market - implantables.

A clarification is needed.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051004-5385 .html

As you can see from my coverage here, Intel isn't hinging support for Blu-ray on Managed Copy support. They're going to have to support it either way. Rather, Intel is trying to get the two parties together again to talk about unification, but they're stressing the importance of managed copy to the whole discussion.

Yes. It's an offset of podcasting, commonly referred to as 'videocasting' or 'video podcast'.

iTunes already supports it. (well, it's just using RSS to link to video files, not audio files, which was all podcasting really was)

There are rumors that here may be updates to the iPod to allow it to play video, although I'd suspect at a major hit to battery life.
(and well, more cycles on the batteries -> faster battery failure, which wouldn't be a good thing)

Another great flash drive if you're looking for something sturdy, is the "Corsair Flash Voyager". It was rated 8/10 on the Ars Technica flash drive roundup, and it is actually encased in rubber.

While this may not have the rock hard connotations of words like "Titanium", it is an excellent choice if the sturdiness of the drive is important. You can throw it against walls, bounce it on floors, and even submerge it in a glass of water and it will still work! While I don't actually have first-hand experience of this, it seems very possible if it is completely encased in rubber.

Of course, actually doing this probably isn't recommended, but if this does happen to the drive, it will still work. While it doesn't get any points for its looks, it is probably one of the best drives out there if you're concerned about how much abuse it can take!

A number of other similar changes which are too dangerous for normal software or cause too much of a slowdown are available as malloc options as described in the manual page.

And yet HP Labs built an HP/UX emulator/VM, and ran it on HP/UX, and programs generally ran faster than just running them normally.

I haven't used Java in a while, but if it has poor performance, that's because of poor design or implementation, not because safety and performance are at odds.

For anyone interested in reading about Avalon versus Quartz and developer reaction to it, here are a few thought-provoking links:

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/t pc/f/48409524/m/182000835731
http://blogs.msdn.com/dancre/archive/2004/03/25/96 131.aspx
http://www.mezzoblue.com/archives/2005/04/14/avalo nxaml_f/

Well you can drive over a nano and it won't break, so I'm guessing the nano is a bit stronger than your average non-clamshell model cellphone.

The thing is, the nano is thin like a cell phone.

About that. I've been thinking that the nano would make a perfect cellphone. Why not kill two birds with one stone: cover the nano and make it a cellphone? I mean there are several ways to do it. I personally like the slider version best, given the size of the nano. Sure, it wouldn't be as "nano" after you put the cover on it (maybe the size of the mini), but it would still be small enough.

Anyone want to comment of the feasability of this? Would it be possible to add cellphone functionality to the nano? Would it be possible to add a menu system to apple's existing one or does apple not allow that? What additional functionalities could be added besides a cellphone in the same case? Cameraphone? Audio recording? Anyway I was just curious because if this is possible it could be a huge hit.

The tests done at ArsTechnica were pretty extreme and the scratching they caused wasn't nearly as bad as some people here are describing their own experiences to be.

There have been, as always on /., some extreme claims made by people here.

Did you not see this

I will refer to this article for the facts on retooling differences between HD DVD and Blu-ray http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/ne xt-gen-dvd.ars

Check out this opinion piece about the manufacturing costs of Blu-ray vs HD-DVD. It definitely makes more sense to create HD-DVDs than Blu-ray discs. http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/ne xt-gen-dvd.ars