Slashback: Dataplay, XviD, PPC

Slashback's updates tonight (read on below) have more on Dataplay, background on the PowerPC that Apple and IBM have been brewing, the return (triumphant?) of XviD, Neal Stephenson's next opus, and more.

Pins and needles, pawns and bishops. s20451 writes "It looked grim earlier in the week, but following a fifth game meltdown by Kramnik and a brilliant game 6 by Fritz, the computer has tied the match 3-3. Betting on the computer in game 6 would have brought you a 7-1 return! I'll be on the phone to Vegas."

The new, new, new economy has room for camels. SwiftOne writes "According to their website, The Perl Journal has gotten enough subscriptions to begin online release (the planning of which was previously covered, along with the concerns about not reaching their goal. The first (next) issue is expected in early November."

Maybe it was the 15th-mover disadvantage. melt writes "Dataplay, the Boulder-based manufacturer of quarter-sized recordable discs and drives, finally called it quits on Friday, October 11, 2002. The remaining 120 employees (who have been on furlough for the past few weeks) have been let go and the company has closed shop. They are looking for a buyer for the remaining pieces. Full story at the Rocky Mtn News web site."

Zoom in until you see little canyons ... Twirlip of the Mists writes "IBM's chief scientist for their iSeries family of servers (a.k.a. the AS/400 family) has an article on iseriesnetwork.com describing the somewhat confusing history of the POWER4 microprocessor. In light of recent speculation about a possible relationship between IBM and Apple, this article is of particular interest. It clears up-- at least partially-- some of the complex, incestuous relationships between the PowerPC architecture, the PowerPC processor family, and the POWER4 processor. As an added bonus, there's some talk about the upcoming POWER5 and POWER6 processors near the end. The key phrase (and disclaimer): 'expected to appear in 2004.'"

Shame on Sigma. Gruturo writes "After almost 3 months the XviD project and website have reopened, though Sigma Designs has not complied yet with all their requests (they still carry their copyright on many modified sources). In these last 2 1/2 months the project still went underway, although unofficially:
B-frames are practically ready, motion estimation algorithms have been improved, work started for Qpel implementation."

Please stop teasing us. If you liked Cryptonomicon, you've probably been impatiently watching the announcements of when the next Stephenson book would appear. wka writes "Previous false starts notwithstanding, Amazon says Neal Stephenson's new novel Quicksilver will be published in January."

And next week, building box-girder bridges. scubacuda writes "Lawmeme has released Part III to their Law School in a Nutshell series (Part I and Part II were previously featured on /.)"

Comments

I don't know why,

[Bobulusman]

but I find these two quotes very funny in reference to a computer:

The computer's 30th move guaranteed it a lasting advantage. After the game, Kramnik called the move "not very human."

"Fritz with the queens on is a different animal. It's a monster," Hodgson exclaimed.

Re:Xvid is depricated.

[I Am The Owl]

Yes, yes, all those are important, certainly. But you are missing the primary distinguishing feature of mplayer: the author swears like a sailor in the documentation for no apparent reason.

He also visits #xine, where he gets some hints.. Maybe configure; make; make install and Xine documentation wasn't enough? I never saw him on #MPlayer or on our mailing lists... Yet, according to him, our documentation is the biggest pile of shit :) Yare-yare, I must be crafting conspiration theories :)

So, these are my (Gabucino) comments on Mr. Barr's article.. My intention was to let the community see the other side of Barr's fuckings. My intention was NOT to disrespect Xine (I think it has nice GUI widgets) or Guenter Barsch, if he feels I did so, I apologize.

And that is why I use mplayer.

return (triumphant?) of XviD?

[Anonymous Coward]

Return triumphant of XviD?

Talk like Yoda, Timothy is beginning. =P

Knuth!

[T-Kir]

How about the 3 volume 'Art Of Computer Programming' by Knuth.

Not quite a novel, but meaty enough to give you loads of info, or technical enough to send you to sleep (depending on your mood at the time)... or if you still need sleep, you could try hitting your head with the books, I know how the engine noise and people can just keep you completely wired during a flight.

Enjoy your flight.

Re:Knuth!

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Not a good idea. If it's taking our friend 26+ hours to get to London, I'm guessing that he's coming from Australia. You should know that Qantas only lets you carry 15 kg of carry-on baggage. I'm pretty sure my TAOCP comes in over that weight limit. ;-)

Re:Quarter size might be too small

[Anonymous Coward]

When I think of the ideal medium, I think of something that can fit into my shirt pocket, but not so small that it get lost in my hair.

If you routinely get quarter-sized objects lost in your hair, maybe it's time to pay a visit to the barbershop. Or at least invest in a comb...

Re:Quarter size might be too small

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG! It's Richard Stallman!!

Re:Quarter sized disks

[Anonymous Coward]

For the sake of us outside the US, just how big is a quarter, anyway?

Bigger than a nickle, smaller than a half dollar. Glad to help.

PPCs? Ooh! Where?!

[Guppy06]

Aw, man, just another story about Power PC chips... When will we start seeing stories about particle projection cannons?!?

Dataplay disks dead?

[Eric_Cartman_South_P]

But I really wanted to rebuy all my music and have added DRM.

Don't you wish someone would dream up and create a music player, maybe with a little tiny hard drive in it, something like 20 gigs say, and have a nice big screen and make it light and small? Oh, and add a great user interface and a simple wheel to make it work very easy. And sync it with a desktop. And let me put whatever songs I want on it without having to help pay for Valenti's new pool lining.

If only...

Re:Xvid is depricated.

[Otter]

I like their FAQ, too:

Q #131: why does mplayer sucks?
A: why not? :)

Q #132: I can't see any picture, only hear the sound
A: you are blind

Q: #133: I have configured and compiled mplayer, how do I use it?
A: try sticking it up your ass.

Q: mplayer crashing with every files. i've attached output of ls -la
A: we need also output of cat /etc/shadow

Obligatory Python Quote

[FrankDrebin]

For those of you wondering where the 'box girder bridge' reference originates...

"How To Do It"

The cast:
ALAN
John Cleese
NOEL
Graham Chapman
JACKIE
Eric Idle

The sketch:
(Cut to a sign saying 'How to do it'. Music. Pull out to reveal a 'Blue Peter' type set. Sitting casually on the edge of a dais an three presenters in sweaters - Noel, Jackie and Alan - plus a large bloodhound.)

Alan: Hello.
Noel: Hello.
Alan: Well, last week we showed you how to become a gynaecologist. And this week on 'How to do it' we're going to show you how to play the flute, how to split an atom, how to construct a box girder bridge, how to irrigate the Sahara Desert and make vast new areas of land cultivatable, but first, here's Jackie to tell you all how to rid the world of all known diseases.
Jackie: Hello, Alan.
Alan: Hello, Jackie.
Jackie: Well, first of all become a doctor and discover a marvellous cure for something, and then, when the medical profession really starts to take notice of you, you can jolly well tell them what to do and make sure they get everything right so there'll never be any diseases ever again.
Alan: Thanks, Jackie. Great idea. How to play the flute. (picking up a flute) Well here we are. You blow there and you move your fingers up and down here.
Noel: Great, great, Alan. Well, next week we'Ll be showing you how black and white people can live together in peace and harmony, and Alan will be over in Moscow showing us how to reconcile the Russians and the Chinese. So, until next week, cheerio.
Alan: Bye.
Jackie: Bye.
(Children's music.)