I don't know if this will change with the announcement, but being a java developer that works on macs, I'd like to get whatever jdk I want, and not be forced to use what apple gives me.
I liked your comment but you're making a bad assumption:
"Would they spend $300, or anything close to it, for special edition releases of albums from all the other artists they like?"
Sure, many people listen to dozens if not hundreds of different artists, but when asked, they'd say they only have 1 or 2 or a few favorites. It seems NIN are favorites to 750,000 / 300 fans, but there might be just as many Barry Manilow fans willing to pay just as much and sell just as many copies.
The intersection of this fan base is likely to be very small, though.:)
I remember reading on the various tech sites that blu-ray was bound for no other reason than the name. People know what HD and DVD is, but WTF is a blu-ray? This seemed to be the unanimous opinion of techies, myself (somewhat) included.
It turns out that every non-techie I would talk to would ask about blu-ray but I never heard anything about hd-dvd. It turns out the techies were wrong, people bought onto blu-ray since it was something they hadn't heard and immediately understood it was a new format.
HD-DVD, on the other hand, didn't come across as a new format, but simply watching DVDs on your (new) HD television. I've had so many non-techies tell me how they are excited to get some HD-DVDs to watch on their new HDTV, not having a clue it was a different format requiring a different player.
Anyone want to apologize for getting it totally wrong? Maybe not "ipod... lame" wrong, but still pretty wrong.
I don't get why there aren't any diesel hybrids. In europe they have cars like the citroen that can get 60+ mpg. If the prius is a corolla with 20% improved milage, if we apply that here we're talking nearly 80 mpg in a hybrid version.
No bullshit DRM. I better be able to back the content up, copy it to my ipod, save it on my hard drive. Whatever.
Just a quick comment... as far as I can tell, there is DRM, but amazon says the books can be redownloaded at any time. So they keep your backup, which is how it should be.
Basically, yahoo offered $1B and Zuckerburg (sorry I got his name wrong originally) acccepted it, yahoo backed out, then re-offered later, and he turned it down.
It is infamous because it isn't very often 25 year old kids turn down $1B. Or people of any age, for that matter.
Zuckerman turned down some money to yahoo (only after accepting their first offer), but nowhere close to your claim. I think it was either 2 or 4 billion. It might have been *only* 1 billion, but it wasn't more than 5.
You only hate labels because you have no experience using them. Labels are more flexible than folders, but fall back to the same exact functionality:
1) Create label (create folder) 2) Tag message(s) with label, archive message(s) (move message(s) to folder) 3) Click on label to retrieve message (open folder)
So what's the difference?
Personally, the only thing I see lacking in gmail is the ability to sort columns, but since the search is so strong, I rarely (if ever) need it.
I was going to reply saying the same exact thing... the people that say upscaling looks the same as true 1080p source are either delusional or lying.
It is true there are some bad hd transfers out there, and there is some great sd dvd, but when you get good hd it doesn't compare to anything sd. I haven't watched a ton of hd content (on my PS3) but the best I've seen so far is Apocolypto.
I keep hearing how confusing itunes is and it is hard for me to believe. Maybe the mac version is more straight forward (as I've never used the windows version)? All you have to do is turn off the self-managing feature, turn of the copy song to music library, and then add your music to the library. I think the two options I mention are on by default for the newbies, but it is very easy to turn off.
The only thing I hate about itunes is when ripping a CD if there is more than one artist on a song it will go into compilations instead of the name of the artist. I wish there was a way to force it to not do this, and always go into artist - album.
I too have a PS3 much for the same reasons you do: wanted something different (never had a PS2) and wanted a high-def player (and don't have a 360). I'm also mostly happy with my purchase... some things about the PS3 are annoying, but it is mostly good.
A quick comment... you can get decent quality HDMI cables from monoprice.com for fairly cheap. Not as cheap as "included", but cheap enough to not make it a deal breaker.
You're basically describing my same exact experience... graduated from CS at a major uni in the dot-com decline and begrudgingly took a job at an 'advanced' microsoft call center. What you say is exactly true... I was surrounded by idiots, you're not rewarded for being kind or insightful to the callers but only by how quickly you can get them off the phone. And the idiocy included all my managers, which would consistently take my ideas and present them as their own. I left after an excruciatingly long six months...
I've had an HDTV for at least 5 years yet I've never had cable, period, so I don't have an on-demand service. Also, I have a BD-ROM player (PS3), so that counters your other claim. Not everyone is the same and has the same experiences.
I don't know if there is a "good" reason, but just something sony imposed. I don't know much about it, but if you're interested, I think the key word you'd use to find out more info is "hypervisor".
"because the bandwidth requirements to do this are enormous"
Would you mind explaining this to me? AFAIK, 1080i is ~60fps, while 1080p is ~30fps, so my simple brain tells me this requires the same amount of bandwidth. Could you tell me why this isn't so?
I'm pretty sure your wrong about that. I read the article a couple days ago but I don't remember that at all. IANAOBGYN, but I don't think it is very common for more than one sperm to penetrate an egg and produce viable results.
I don't comment on/. too much... there are no PMs?
Anyway, I have a Sharp Aquos 37D90U. It is a small version of the high-end 55" and 60" they had, so it has most of the high-end features. There are a few problems:
1) It has been discontinued... probably hard to find at this point
2) It has geometry issues that I've never been able to fix... only noticeable when used as monitor in 1080p
Great set though otherwise... will be sad if it ever dies on me.
I have a 37" 1080p set and I paid less than $1800 for it. This was almost a year ago so I'm sure better prices can be had now. Sure, that isn't cheap, but it isn't the 5-figures you're quoting.
And I can absolutely, positively guarantee you that anyone that is not legally blind can tell the difference between 480 and 720 (of the same compression) even on 37". Of course, 1080p is off the charts of compatibility.
Please have experience with actual devices before making assumptions... your attitude is common and I'm not sure why. If you're happy with SD DVD on your 24" CRT then be happy... don't say everyone else won't be able to tell a difference with modern equipment anyway.
You should qualify your post... when you say "no problem" that is specifically technical, as in, you can install one license on 100 machines and apple wouldn't know. However, you are violating the license agreement, as you are only allowed one license per machine. They have a family pack at a reasonable price if you're interested in multiple licenses.
Wait, so you *despise* linux, wouldn't have a windows box if you didn't have to, and "suffer" with OS X. What's left? Are you using BeOS, Next, or maybe using an Amiga?
"80% of computer users want 3.5" hard drives"
Huh? More than 80% of users don't know the difference even if you told them which they have.
"A good number of computer users will eventually use their expansion slots."
A good number? Is this a joke? I can't think of a single non-technical person that has ever used an expansion slot. I can't think of the last time I needed to.
I think you're a bit out of touch as to what the common computer use is.
Didn't Adam Curry more or less "invent" the term podcast? It was always my understanding that it stood for Personal On Demand Broadcast. Sure, not a great definition and a suspicious use of the term "pod", but justification nontheless.
And how can apple complain now that they've host all sorts of third-party podcasts in iTunes for a while, and they clearly use the term "podcast". Doesn't seem like they are consistent at all.
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I don't know if this will change with the announcement, but being a java developer that works on macs, I'd like to get whatever jdk I want, and not be forced to use what apple gives me.
I liked your comment but you're making a bad assumption:
:)
"Would they spend $300, or anything close to it, for special edition releases of albums from all the other artists they like?"
Sure, many people listen to dozens if not hundreds of different artists, but when asked, they'd say they only have 1 or 2 or a few favorites. It seems NIN are favorites to 750,000 / 300 fans, but there might be just as many Barry Manilow fans willing to pay just as much and sell just as many copies.
The intersection of this fan base is likely to be very small, though.
It turns out that every non-techie I would talk to would ask about blu-ray but I never heard anything about hd-dvd. It turns out the techies were wrong, people bought onto blu-ray since it was something they hadn't heard and immediately understood it was a new format.
HD-DVD, on the other hand, didn't come across as a new format, but simply watching DVDs on your (new) HD television. I've had so many non-techies tell me how they are excited to get some HD-DVDs to watch on their new HDTV, not having a clue it was a different format requiring a different player.
Anyone want to apologize for getting it totally wrong? Maybe not "ipod ... lame" wrong, but still pretty wrong.
I don't get why there aren't any diesel hybrids. In europe they have cars like the citroen that can get 60+ mpg. If the prius is a corolla with 20% improved milage, if we apply that here we're talking nearly 80 mpg in a hybrid version.
Why isn't this happening?
Your links weren't very good, I think this is what I originally read:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/news/2007/09/ff_facebook
Basically, yahoo offered $1B and Zuckerburg (sorry I got his name wrong originally) acccepted it, yahoo backed out, then re-offered later, and he turned it down.
It is infamous because it isn't very often 25 year old kids turn down $1B. Or people of any age, for that matter.
Zuckerman turned down some money to yahoo (only after accepting their first offer), but nowhere close to your claim. I think it was either 2 or 4 billion. It might have been *only* 1 billion, but it wasn't more than 5.
You only hate labels because you have no experience using them. Labels are more flexible than folders, but fall back to the same exact functionality:
1) Create label (create folder)
2) Tag message(s) with label, archive message(s) (move message(s) to folder)
3) Click on label to retrieve message (open folder)
So what's the difference?
Personally, the only thing I see lacking in gmail is the ability to sort columns, but since the search is so strong, I rarely (if ever) need it.
It is true there are some bad hd transfers out there, and there is some great sd dvd, but when you get good hd it doesn't compare to anything sd. I haven't watched a ton of hd content (on my PS3) but the best I've seen so far is Apocolypto.
I keep hearing how confusing itunes is and it is hard for me to believe. Maybe the mac version is more straight forward (as I've never used the windows version)? All you have to do is turn off the self-managing feature, turn of the copy song to music library, and then add your music to the library. I think the two options I mention are on by default for the newbies, but it is very easy to turn off.
The only thing I hate about itunes is when ripping a CD if there is more than one artist on a song it will go into compilations instead of the name of the artist. I wish there was a way to force it to not do this, and always go into artist - album.
I too have a PS3 much for the same reasons you do: wanted something different (never had a PS2) and wanted a high-def player (and don't have a 360). I'm also mostly happy with my purchase ... some things about the PS3 are annoying, but it is mostly good.
... you can get decent quality HDMI cables from monoprice.com for fairly cheap. Not as cheap as "included", but cheap enough to not make it a deal breaker.
A quick comment
Wow ... your post made me feel *really* old. Pretty much the first cell phone in existence was more powerful than the first computer I used.
You're basically describing my same exact experience ... graduated from CS at a major uni in the dot-com decline and begrudgingly took a job at an 'advanced' microsoft call center. What you say is exactly true ... I was surrounded by idiots, you're not rewarded for being kind or insightful to the callers but only by how quickly you can get them off the phone. And the idiocy included all my managers, which would consistently take my ideas and present them as their own. I left after an excruciatingly long six months ...
I've had an HDTV for at least 5 years yet I've never had cable, period, so I don't have an on-demand service. Also, I have a BD-ROM player (PS3), so that counters your other claim. Not everyone is the same and has the same experiences.
I don't know if there is a "good" reason, but just something sony imposed. I don't know much about it, but if you're interested, I think the key word you'd use to find out more info is "hypervisor".
"because the bandwidth requirements to do this are enormous"
Would you mind explaining this to me? AFAIK, 1080i is ~60fps, while 1080p is ~30fps, so my simple brain tells me this requires the same amount of bandwidth. Could you tell me why this isn't so?
I'm pretty sure your wrong about that. I read the article a couple days ago but I don't remember that at all. IANAOBGYN, but I don't think it is very common for more than one sperm to penetrate an egg and produce viable results.
I don't comment on /. too much ... there are no PMs?
... probably hard to find at this point ... only noticeable when used as monitor in 1080p
... will be sad if it ever dies on me.
Anyway, I have a Sharp Aquos 37D90U. It is a small version of the high-end 55" and 60" they had, so it has most of the high-end features. There are a few problems:
1) It has been discontinued
2) It has geometry issues that I've never been able to fix
Great set though otherwise
I have a 37" 1080p set and I paid less than $1800 for it. This was almost a year ago so I'm sure better prices can be had now. Sure, that isn't cheap, but it isn't the 5-figures you're quoting.
... your attitude is common and I'm not sure why. If you're happy with SD DVD on your 24" CRT then be happy ... don't say everyone else won't be able to tell a difference with modern equipment anyway.
And I can absolutely, positively guarantee you that anyone that is not legally blind can tell the difference between 480 and 720 (of the same compression) even on 37". Of course, 1080p is off the charts of compatibility.
Please have experience with actual devices before making assumptions
You do know that office is a PowerPC app, right?
You should qualify your post ... when you say "no problem" that is specifically technical, as in, you can install one license on 100 machines and apple wouldn't know. However, you are violating the license agreement, as you are only allowed one license per machine. They have a family pack at a reasonable price if you're interested in multiple licenses.
Wait, so you *despise* linux, wouldn't have a windows box if you didn't have to, and "suffer" with OS X. What's left? Are you using BeOS, Next, or maybe using an Amiga?
"80% of computer users want 3.5" hard drives" Huh? More than 80% of users don't know the difference even if you told them which they have. "A good number of computer users will eventually use their expansion slots." A good number? Is this a joke? I can't think of a single non-technical person that has ever used an expansion slot. I can't think of the last time I needed to. I think you're a bit out of touch as to what the common computer use is.
Didn't Adam Curry more or less "invent" the term podcast? It was always my understanding that it stood for Personal On Demand Broadcast. Sure, not a great definition and a suspicious use of the term "pod", but justification nontheless. And how can apple complain now that they've host all sorts of third-party podcasts in iTunes for a while, and they clearly use the term "podcast". Doesn't seem like they are consistent at all.