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Environmental DVD Wrecks Apple Drives
FST777 writes "The British Mail on Sunday published its latest DVD giveaway on the EcoDisc, a thin and bendable DVD format that is supposed to be more environmentally-friendly than regular DVDs. Despite the clear warning against using them in Apple slot drives, some Mac users decided to give it a go. The result? A brisk trade for repair shops in the UK. 'The EcoDisc's manufacturer, ODS, insists the disc won't break drives. "We've produced over ten million of these discs — we've had less than a dozen phone calls," says managing director, Ray Wheeler. "There are ways to get the discs out." Wheeler says the problem stems from Apple's slot-loading drives. "It uses an ejection system that doesn't get approval from the DVD Forum." He claims the EcoDisc should work in other types of slot-loading drive, although admits that it hasn't been tested in the PlayStation 3.'"
On the plus side, this is a good form of idiot tax. This might not make sense to non-British readers but the Mail has, let's say, a certain reputation in the UK for its readership being most of Britain's jumpy, middle class, alarmist, conservative, "immigration is evil and all non-white immigrants should be castrated" type readers.
But it does state that "ODS has applied for 4 patents up to now" so it must be good(TM).
The warning was:
"no Apple slot in drive"
It only takes one man to change the Wisdom of the Crowd to Tyranny of the Masses.
Does you mom know about that Sony rootkit? How about your sister?
She doesn't know it was a rootkit, but she knows there was something about music cds you buy from the store putting a virus on your computer, because it was in newspapers and on television around the world.
Give it a rest with the attempted justifications. The disc was specifically labeled. It didn't even say "Not suitable for PCs", which might confuse Mac users who think their machines are made of Steve Job's semen imbued with life by God above. It specifically said "Don't put this in your fucking Mac" and it had a picture because Mac users can't understand things that don't have pictures.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
A friend once put such a disk in his MacBook and then called me after he couldn't get it out. I tried several things, including opening the Mac, with no luck. After some searching I found a solution on the net: Reboot the MacBook holding it upside down... the disk properly ejected right on booting. I don't know why and I don't know if it's reproducable, as I didn't want to try to put it in again. (btw, reading the disc while it was in worked fine.)
As a matter of fact, that pretty much is the definition of a Compact Disc(c). Compact Disk does include such things as discs with SecuROM and other DRM. But for the most part the standard is only what the disc is physically, not what's on it. The main reason people stopped with the Compact Disc(c) logo, is they had to shovel off a couple pennies to Sony each time they printed it, and that wasn't worth it.
Compact Discs have to adhere to a standard that allows them to be read with standard equipment, otherwise, I could take this record and trim it with scissors and call it a compact disc. DRM is not a part of the compact disc standard, therefore, if some circular disc of metal and plastic has DRM, it's not a compact disc, and won't work like a compact disc, and isn't permitted to be sold as a compact disc.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
A compact disc is a physical thing.
The logo that was removed was the "Compact Disc Digital Audio" (CD-DA) logo.
Redbook (used for Audio CDs) is a standard.
A CD is a round flat disc with a reflective layer and some pits pressed into it that can be read with a laser with a wavelength of about 780 nanometers. CD defines the physical nature of the disc.
DRM is not part of the CD standard because it is not part of the physical aspect of the CD.
(Weak sectors are a bit of a grey area. The CD is physically a CD, with defects. The DRM is still done logically.)
Until Sony starts shipping CDs with thumb print readers on the top side, they can still call it a CD.
I particularly love the way that you can add files to projects by drag-and-drop! Oh, wait, no you can't, you have to add them with an "Add file" dialog.
- Opens up the 'src' folder in the Finder
- Selects a file
- Drags it to the 'Sources' folder in the XCode project
- Sees import-folder-to-project sheet drop down
- Wonders what the fuss is about
But at least you can add a whole bunch at once! Oh, wait, no you can't, you can only add one at a time
- Does same as above, but selects multiple files
- Wonders what the fuss is all about
- Tries using the dialogue box, in case Apple had gone insane... Nope, multi-select works just fine...
But at least the dialog box remembers where the files were so you don't have to navigate your directory structure again and again for every single file! Oh, wait, no it doesn't, it always goes right back to the project directory
* This one I'll give you, but then I tend to keep my source files for a given project within the project folder anyway, so it works quite well for me...
the only way to change the build settings for your project is to right-click on the build target name and select the intuitively named "Get Info" option
- Wonders why the coward just doesn't double-click the project...
Thinks to himself: "Perhaps reading the manual might be a useful exercise for this coward". Here's a hint: If you're doing something that you think is a monumental waste of time, something the computer could do far better, and make your life far easier, you're probably missing something. Reading the fine manual before blowing off steam in public saves making an ass of yourself.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Way to not even read the summary, which stated that those kind of slot loaders can be built to conform to the standards, but that Apple didn't do it.