However, a switch will inevitably result in reduced viewership. I don't think anybody knows whether it will drop 5% or 30%, but it will drop. The cost savings of cutting one transmission needs to be balanced against that unknown quantity.
Lots of people get television over the air. Asking friends is very biased way to get samples.
If you're concerned about the environment, think about how many perfectly fine televisions are going to end up in landfills because of this. Many people are buying a new television and chucking their old. Also, it's not uncommon to have small televisions in bedrooms, garages, kitchens, etc... these won't be replaced with a new $500 model. Probably, they'll just get thrown away.
I bet the transition is going to be directly responsible for at least tens of millions of dumped televisions this year. Perfectly good televisions, that have been obsoleted by solely legal dictate.
This may be a nearly perfect retort. Dripping with sarcasm, yet more psychologically illuminating than a year of therapy. With your permission, I will use variants of it in many conversations in the future.
If someone is so poor that $40 is a budget strain, then their 12 year old 19" tv might be their primary and least expensive source of entertainment and news.
The town of Ashland, OR was way ahead of the curve getting internet out to all its residents. It was owned and managed by the city itself (they fancy themselves progressive).
Of course, the artificially low price keeps out competitors, but because of that it's been losing quite a bit of money. Rather than raise the price of the broadband connection, the beneficent city leaders recently decided to add a surcharge to all resident's power bills. All residents, whether they utilize the connection or not. Power bills.
Anyway, our leaders here in the US are no more competent than your leaders over in the UK.
Some researchers published an article with an inflamatory title: "Charlatanry in forensic speech science: A problem to be taken seriously", and got sued for libel.
There's nothing wrong with the title if they do indeed demonstrate that there is charlatanry in forensics speech science. It sounds like they did just that. There are times when an inflamatory-seeming word is still the correct word.
In fairness, a state agency would gladly come out with a three page document explaining the proper way to clean up a dropped peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and it would probably warn away pregnant women and children.
As one adds more information about you to your wife's model, her probability assignments must be revised to account for that information.
Exactly! And the same applies to scientific papers. Since some papers have a good chance of being wrong, some papers have a very small chance of being wrong, trying to Universally generalize the odds of a paper being mistaken is only valid if we have _no_ other information about the paper. That's never the case, because we have far more information about _all_ papers... the actual contents.
Hmmm. Assuming both are equal cost to actually manufacture, that's probably a smart change on Apple's part. Nobody _needs_ a glossy screen, but lots of people _need_ a matte screen. Makes more sense to make matte the expensive upgrade.
Exactly. I think it's a consequence of myopic researchers, who may have good working knowledge of math and statistics, but don't have the philosophical education to look at the actual validity of the reasoning behind and consequences of their conclusions.
Say one in fifty men beat their wives. Is it too risky for my wife to stay with me, then? Male assurances of non-violence are lies, 2% of the time, when put under statistical analysis.
That's the theory, but anecdotally, people are reporting results all over the board. Some people are losing a lot of channels with the transition.
I don't think your point about DTV being on a higher frequency range is correct. In many cases it'll sit at the exact same frequency as the analog signal did.
If only 30% of the stories relate to Microsoft, Slashdot is probably under-reporting... Windows is on a far higher percentage of PCs than 30%. You should be happy the amount of Linux stories doesn't accurately reflect the installed base.
In reality, Slashdot focuses more on Linux and less on Windows than any simple news aggregator would. They do have a bias, but it's exactly the opposite of your conspiratorial theory. So, no, nobody sensible thinks Microsoft shilling is going on here. In fact, it would require a worrisome disconnect from reality to hold that idea.
Not as bad as it will hurt China, who can no longer sell them. The important point is, it would severely hurt both countries, so nothing will come of this. It's sabre-rattling to try to get the best deal.
Nah, it wouldn't even be mutual destruction. We'd be severely hurt, and China would be destroyed. But they key point is that China can't afford to lose us, and we can't afford to lose China. We're trading partners... all this is just haggling over details.
And, from the perspective of hindsight, every major hit they've taken in the last year (and they've taken a lot) is because they used a standard version number scheme in a non-standard way. I can understand them thinking, a year ago, that their caveats and warnings about it not being a release for users would be sufficient... but arguing that now, after seeing the outcome, is bullheadedness.
It was a mistake. It happens, it wasn't ill-intentioned. It seems to be fixed now, so all that can be done is to learn a lesson about how expectations can and can't be managed in the future.
Why ask silly questions? A global lack of food means that the total food on the globe is less than the total food requirement on the globe. You know that. It's an important point, because since it isn't true, it means that production is not the primary problem. Distribution and politicization are. Knowing the actual problem is important, if you really want to fix it.
I suspect that if (impossibly) FLAC was brought down in size to be competitive with MP3, audiophiles would abandon it and find some other format that was large, unwieldy, and expensive to store all their music.
I was all fired up to use ogg, until I started confronting the realities. I have a portable mp3 player that works with mp3 but not with ogg. That simple fact was enough to make me decide on using mp3. It doesn't matter that my linux box supports ogg, and my network appliance I use as a music server also supports ogg. All it takes is one place where support is lacking, and I bite the bullet and go with the non-free format.
Drifting somewhat off topic, perhaps, but I think that is a significant reason for the slow uptake of Blu-Ray. Until I have a Blu-Ray player for every TV/PC in the house, I'm sticking with DVD...
So even though it's ALWAYS WORKED BEFORE it would be INSANE TO THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN?
Perhaps you mean we shouldn't just sit on our haunches and hope new technology comes along. I'd agree with that. But if you mean that new technology shouldn't be sought out as the solution to our problem... well, I'd like for you to get off the internet and go find a cave.
"Premature" is a kind way to put it. Moronic is more accurate. And I'm not a global warming denier; I think it's likely happening. But I'm MORE of a believer in mathematics, statistics, and logic, and those fields tell me that making any statement with that much confidence based on a low resolution, incompletely understood highly iterative model with many missing variables is not far removed from casting bones.
I don't use a Mac, I use Windows primarily. So my exposure to Apple software is iTunes and Quicktime.
I can therefore say that every bit of Apple software I've used is atrocious, as bad as anything from Microsoft. I'll mitigate that some by saying that the ipod UI is fine; I don't find it particularly better than most other mp3 players, but no worse.
I guess that you really need to switch completely over to Apple, to really get the benefits; maybe the Windows versions are partially crippled. Still, while I wouldn't go so far as to say Apple products suck, my experience with them sure isn't selling me on them.
When you're looking at a pool composed of them plus CBS, ABC, a religious channel, and a few CW/WB/MyTV or some such network I can't even remember the name of... yeah, they're small fish, but in an especially tiny pond.
They did. Those people are lying on their coupon applications.
I don't really blame them, though. Because not everybody has 100% infallible cable/satellite in every room of their house, under a service plan that they will never want to stop, and can assume they will never move anywhere without cable.
Hmm... I currently use Clearwire as my ISP. (I'm happy enough with them, not fast, but completely reliable.) Does anybody know if the service/speed is going to change after the digital transition? Might I look forward to more bandwidth?
Slashdot Mirror
However, a switch will inevitably result in reduced viewership. I don't think anybody knows whether it will drop 5% or 30%, but it will drop. The cost savings of cutting one transmission needs to be balanced against that unknown quantity.
Lots of people get television over the air. Asking friends is very biased way to get samples.
If you're concerned about the environment, think about how many perfectly fine televisions are going to end up in landfills because of this. Many people are buying a new television and chucking their old. Also, it's not uncommon to have small televisions in bedrooms, garages, kitchens, etc... these won't be replaced with a new $500 model. Probably, they'll just get thrown away.
I bet the transition is going to be directly responsible for at least tens of millions of dumped televisions this year. Perfectly good televisions, that have been obsoleted by solely legal dictate.
This may be a nearly perfect retort. Dripping with sarcasm, yet more psychologically illuminating than a year of therapy. With your permission, I will use variants of it in many conversations in the future.
If someone is so poor that $40 is a budget strain, then their 12 year old 19" tv might be their primary and least expensive source of entertainment and news.
The town of Ashland, OR was way ahead of the curve getting internet out to all its residents. It was owned and managed by the city itself (they fancy themselves progressive).
Of course, the artificially low price keeps out competitors, but because of that it's been losing quite a bit of money. Rather than raise the price of the broadband connection, the beneficent city leaders recently decided to add a surcharge to all resident's power bills. All residents, whether they utilize the connection or not. Power bills.
Anyway, our leaders here in the US are no more competent than your leaders over in the UK.
Some researchers published an article with an inflamatory title: "Charlatanry in forensic speech science: A problem to be taken seriously", and got sued for libel.
There's nothing wrong with the title if they do indeed demonstrate that there is charlatanry in forensics speech science. It sounds like they did just that. There are times when an inflamatory-seeming word is still the correct word.
In fairness, a state agency would gladly come out with a three page document explaining the proper way to clean up a dropped peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and it would probably warn away pregnant women and children.
As one adds more information about you to your wife's model, her probability assignments must be revised to account for that information.
Exactly! And the same applies to scientific papers. Since some papers have a good chance of being wrong, some papers have a very small chance of being wrong, trying to Universally generalize the odds of a paper being mistaken is only valid if we have _no_ other information about the paper. That's never the case, because we have far more information about _all_ papers... the actual contents.
Hmmm. Assuming both are equal cost to actually manufacture, that's probably a smart change on Apple's part. Nobody _needs_ a glossy screen, but lots of people _need_ a matte screen. Makes more sense to make matte the expensive upgrade.
Exactly. I think it's a consequence of myopic researchers, who may have good working knowledge of math and statistics, but don't have the philosophical education to look at the actual validity of the reasoning behind and consequences of their conclusions.
Say one in fifty men beat their wives. Is it too risky for my wife to stay with me, then? Male assurances of non-violence are lies, 2% of the time, when put under statistical analysis.
That's the theory, but anecdotally, people are reporting results all over the board. Some people are losing a lot of channels with the transition.
I don't think your point about DTV being on a higher frequency range is correct. In many cases it'll sit at the exact same frequency as the analog signal did.
If only 30% of the stories relate to Microsoft, Slashdot is probably under-reporting... Windows is on a far higher percentage of PCs than 30%. You should be happy the amount of Linux stories doesn't accurately reflect the installed base.
In reality, Slashdot focuses more on Linux and less on Windows than any simple news aggregator would. They do have a bias, but it's exactly the opposite of your conspiratorial theory. So, no, nobody sensible thinks Microsoft shilling is going on here. In fact, it would require a worrisome disconnect from reality to hold that idea.
Not as bad as it will hurt China, who can no longer sell them. The important point is, it would severely hurt both countries, so nothing will come of this. It's sabre-rattling to try to get the best deal.
Nah, it wouldn't even be mutual destruction. We'd be severely hurt, and China would be destroyed. But they key point is that China can't afford to lose us, and we can't afford to lose China. We're trading partners... all this is just haggling over details.
And, from the perspective of hindsight, every major hit they've taken in the last year (and they've taken a lot) is because they used a standard version number scheme in a non-standard way. I can understand them thinking, a year ago, that their caveats and warnings about it not being a release for users would be sufficient... but arguing that now, after seeing the outcome, is bullheadedness.
It was a mistake. It happens, it wasn't ill-intentioned. It seems to be fixed now, so all that can be done is to learn a lesson about how expectations can and can't be managed in the future.
Why ask silly questions? A global lack of food means that the total food on the globe is less than the total food requirement on the globe. You know that. It's an important point, because since it isn't true, it means that production is not the primary problem. Distribution and politicization are. Knowing the actual problem is important, if you really want to fix it.
I suspect that if (impossibly) FLAC was brought down in size to be competitive with MP3, audiophiles would abandon it and find some other format that was large, unwieldy, and expensive to store all their music.
I was all fired up to use ogg, until I started confronting the realities. I have a portable mp3 player that works with mp3 but not with ogg. That simple fact was enough to make me decide on using mp3. It doesn't matter that my linux box supports ogg, and my network appliance I use as a music server also supports ogg. All it takes is one place where support is lacking, and I bite the bullet and go with the non-free format.
Drifting somewhat off topic, perhaps, but I think that is a significant reason for the slow uptake of Blu-Ray. Until I have a Blu-Ray player for every TV/PC in the house, I'm sticking with DVD...
And not due to any global lack of food. That's an important point.
So even though it's ALWAYS WORKED BEFORE it would be INSANE TO THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN?
Perhaps you mean we shouldn't just sit on our haunches and hope new technology comes along. I'd agree with that. But if you mean that new technology shouldn't be sought out as the solution to our problem... well, I'd like for you to get off the internet and go find a cave.
"Premature" is a kind way to put it. Moronic is more accurate. And I'm not a global warming denier; I think it's likely happening. But I'm MORE of a believer in mathematics, statistics, and logic, and those fields tell me that making any statement with that much confidence based on a low resolution, incompletely understood highly iterative model with many missing variables is not far removed from casting bones.
I don't use a Mac, I use Windows primarily. So my exposure to Apple software is iTunes and Quicktime.
I can therefore say that every bit of Apple software I've used is atrocious, as bad as anything from Microsoft. I'll mitigate that some by saying that the ipod UI is fine; I don't find it particularly better than most other mp3 players, but no worse.
I guess that you really need to switch completely over to Apple, to really get the benefits; maybe the Windows versions are partially crippled. Still, while I wouldn't go so far as to say Apple products suck, my experience with them sure isn't selling me on them.
When you're looking at a pool composed of them plus CBS, ABC, a religious channel, and a few CW/WB/MyTV or some such network I can't even remember the name of... yeah, they're small fish, but in an especially tiny pond.
They did. Those people are lying on their coupon applications.
I don't really blame them, though. Because not everybody has 100% infallible cable/satellite in every room of their house, under a service plan that they will never want to stop, and can assume they will never move anywhere without cable.
Hmm... I currently use Clearwire as my ISP. (I'm happy enough with them, not fast, but completely reliable.) Does anybody know if the service/speed is going to change after the digital transition? Might I look forward to more bandwidth?