Actually, the man himself told us during the recent Discworld convention that he did this. As for the alzheimer: he seemed remarkably strong and clear, and fortunately in much better (mental) shape than i expected him to be.
I didn't see it mentioned when quickly scanning TFA, but how does this codec handle packet loss?
It is all nice and well to develop a codec to cram as much speech as possible in as few bits as possible, but in this case, one lost packet could mean a gap of several seconds. The success of a low-bandwidth codec, at least when it comes to IP telephony, also depends on how well it can handle lost packets. Low bandwidth codecs are usually used in low bandwidth networks, such as the internet, and there the packetloss is the highest.
Same goes for delay and jitter, by the way. If a stream of packets is delayed, and more voice is crammed in fewer bits, then the delays in the voice stream will get longer too.
Agreed. I was walking on a parking lot to my car. No earbuds or anything, and my ears are fine. Looked left, nothing. Looked right, nothing. Looked left, and there was a Prius that must have come from behind me and turned, 3 feet away from me, waiting for me to cross, and i did not hear or see it coming. Nothing happened, the driver saw me... But i did not hear it coming whatsoever. It kinda scared me to see a big black car 3ft away from me, where there was none a few seconds before.
Bad example, in Starcraft's case: if you register your game serial at Blizzard, you have access to download it from their site. (I didn't even install SC2 from the disc it came on, i just entered the serial and downloaded it, couldn't be arsed to insert the disc.)
It's a study done in the Netherlands. Most people there drive a stick shift. My parents are about the only people i know driving automatic transmissions. It's considered a luxury.
Yes, i've seen that in a rather shocking real life documentary on SyFy, called MegaFault. They could stop an earthquake ripping open half the US (avoiding large cities, thank God) by firing lasers at it. Then some lave came up, then something froze, it got all too high-tech for me... But the same mastermind that designed KITT in the new Knight Rider was behind it, i am grateful we have such geniusses with us in this era.
Yes, to prevent the guy in front of you from buying all the iPads and reselling them on eBay for 200%. If Apple didn't do this, you'd be complaining that they made it impossible to buy an iPad because eBay-traders would buy them all. Apple can never do things right. Oh, and this policy has been lifted, now the initial demand has levelled off and availability is no longer a problem.
Sure Apple products do not suck but wow I thought the EULA for windows was bad?? This is getting insane. At least the pc is not using drm enforcing single tasking and locking me out of things.
Comparing Apples (ah ha ha) and oranges here. OS X =/= iOS. You're comparing a desktop operating system from MS to a mobile phone operating system here. Both MS' and Apple's desktop OS are still completely different from their mobile counterparts. Both Windows and OS X are competely open, and free for anyone to develop for, no restrictions or validation or approval or signing required.
On the other hand... You refer to iOS being so anally closed... You are aware of the fact that MS' next mobile OS is going to have the same restrictions, with any developer requiring Redmond's approval? Before it can be sold through the one and only way to get apps on a Windows phone, ie through MS' marketplace?
Not trying to make Apple seem holy, but both companies suck at this point.
Note that we're talking about ads in third-party applications. Meaning as a third-party application developer, Apple has now said "Oh, and by the way if you want to advertise, your only real choice is us." How is that defensible?
No, they didn't say that. They said "if you want to advertise, it's us or other *independant* providers". They dont' consider AdMob independant, since they are owned by Google, and Google makes products that are direct competitors to Apple's.
They simply don't want to run the risk of seeing AdMob pushing Googlephone ads, based on the knowledge through analytics that you are running on an iPhone.
If i open some Toyota magazine, i don't see ads by Renault either. If i watch tv on one of our networks here, i don't see commercials for programmes on competing networks. I don't run a publishing/advertising company or anything, but if i was, i would protect my own business in the same manner.
Oh silly me, we're talking about Apple, this is Slashdot... Apple baaaaad!
Sure, they have a monopoly on iPhones and Apple's iOS, but the same can be said of almost all cellular companies and their hardware/OS combinations.
You can have a monopoly in a certain market, but not in a certain brand or product name. Saying that Apple has a monopoly on Apple products is the same as saying that Toyota has a monopoly on the Toyota Prius, or Coca Cola Company having a monopoly on the Coca Cola drink.
So, the only way to get them to change is to cost them a zillion dollars in customer service time by calling them up EVERY TIME you download an ad. Otherwise, you're paying twice.
I doubt they would increase the 2GB for the same price. I rather expect them to increase the price of the 2GB plan, to compensate for that extra customer service time.
They want to control everything, require you to buy Mac OSX to develop for iPad and iPhone
Yeah, the bastards. Imagine i'd have to buy Windows to develop for the Windows Phone 7 platform. Or that i'd have to buy a PlayStation3 to play God Of War. No, Apple is clearly the bad guy here, how dare they impose such system requirements on us.
charge a lot more for hardware than needed and do shit things like this.
Yes, their profits are far higher than software companies. No wonder Microsoft still operates from Ballmer's basement, they practically *give* Windows and Office away.
The last company I migrated over to linux was a rush job. They needed it done in a short window before the inspection of there licences.
Hold on. Perhaps i misunderstood you, but if i understand this correctly, they didn't migrate from Windows to Linux because of technological reasons, but merely because they were using illegal copies of Microsoft software, appearantly their first choice (or else they'd be running Linux in the first place), but not willing (or able to) to pay for it, and were about to get busted?
I'm not sure this is the right case study for a move to Linux. If they could, they would still run Windows.
Agreed, but that doesn't work from a commercial point of view. MS spends quite a few bucks on interface redesigns with every new incarnation of Windows. Why? Because if they only change things under the hood (invisible to end users), and leave the gui the same, people will say it's just the same OS because they don't notice any difference and everything looks and feels the same. With a new gui, with transparent windows, shadows, 3d effects and whatnot, people will think "oooh, it's new!", spread the word, and generate more revenue.
The kind of people who buy Apple are not what could be considered "Individualistic" in any sense.
These are the kind of people who allow their self-worth to be determined by others; their cool-factor by how many Facebook friends they have, and what parties they are/not invited to.
Yeah, as opposed to most Windows users, who have no clue that other OS'es even exist.
They have convinced themselves of a form of technical superiority, when in reality, their platform is too small to be noticed by virus\malware providers, or most productivity app venders save a few like Adobe.
That's just a business choice from the malware writers' perspective. You have a platform that somehow managed to get 90% of the desktop market and is (until recently) poorly protected, and you got a platform with 3% market penetration that is a little bit better protected. You actually blame Apple for there not being enough malware for it? Doh.
They consider themselves "Counter-culture" when in reality, they are the worst kind of lemmings.
Again, most Windows users don't even know that there are other os'es around, and think that internet is equal to the big blue 'e' on their desktops.
Just watch next year, as hundreds of thousands of them toss their iPad for another one, because it will have a camera, and once again in a few years, for another feature that should have been in v1.0.
Wow, big commercial company makes successor to a succesful product. Newsflash. Personally, i'd be more surprised if they didn't.
Does Apple have good technology? Sure. Is it beyond what anyone else could do? Never has been.
True. But the next question is: Is it beyond what anyone *actually does*? There have been tablets with XP, tablets with Vista, yet i have only seen 1 person using one in my past 10 years working in IT (and that person was a Microsoft employee). The only Win7 tablet that people ever talked about, got cancelled and is now reborn with WebOS. I mean, if you think you can build a better tablet, by all means go ahead. I'm sure you can, you don't have to convince me. You only have to convince enough people to buy one to make a living.
Wanna see an Apple user's head explode? Ask them if their device supports IPv6, and watch them strain to answer without giving away that they dont know what the fuck you are talking about.
And Windows users do? You should get out more often, my friend.
Back in the nineties, people bought Windows 95 without even owning a computer. Seriously. So, your point is? There are always people who have more cash than they know what to do with, but i doubt there are so many of them that they offset the statistics.
I assume we can also use other magnets to rotate the magnets in the cow's stomachs, and use them for data storage! Ok, right now 1 bit per cow might seem a bit low, but we're working on that. We might consider describing the capacity as 1Mb (one moo-bit), for marketing reasons.
Yeah, but if you got an Xbox 360, you can't play God of War or Mario. If you got a Playstation, you can't play Alan wake or Zelda. If you have a Wii, you can't play Little Big Planet or Halo. It's true that most interesting titles are for consoles these days, but to play *all* of the interesting titles, you need 3 consoles. If you only have 1 console (and many people do), even then there is no guarantee you can play all console-exclusive titels, since one console != another console.
Just imagine the outcry if Microsoft banned all other development environments than Visual Studio and.NET from Windows. It would be hit with lawsuits and there would be tons of stories and tens of thousands of comments dissing MS on slashdot.
Well, good thing this isn't about desktop OS's, then, isn't it? In fact, coding for OS X is free and unrestricted, just as with Windows. On the other hand... You know that for Windows Mobile 7, apps need Microsoft's approval, don't you?
People also always cry about how consoles are locked down. Slashdotters cry about DRM, restrictions and not giving them control of the devices they buy.
But suddenly when it's Apple it's all ok. Why the hell?
Actually, i find it's the other way around. Nobody blinks an eye when Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo brings out a new line of consoles, vendor locked-in to the max, only running apps that require their approval and signature, a process which costs tens of thousands $$. But if Apple does it for their iPhone, bring out the tar and feathers!
Actually, i know that EA's games carry such a warning on the back (altough in very small print). Especially on their sports games. It reads something along the lines of "EA may retire online features after 30 days notice posted on www.ea.com or 30 days after the last day of the 2008-2009 NFL season."
Slashdot Mirror
So it's Lucas' fault now that you are too weak to resist? For f***'s sake, if you don't like it, let your money talk and don't buy it.
but who do you hate more...the crackhead or the asshole dealer that will do anything to enable and string out the addict until there's nothing left?
I think the correct SW line would be: who's more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?
Actually, the man himself told us during the recent Discworld convention that he did this. As for the alzheimer: he seemed remarkably strong and clear, and fortunately in much better (mental) shape than i expected him to be.
I didn't see it mentioned when quickly scanning TFA, but how does this codec handle packet loss?
It is all nice and well to develop a codec to cram as much speech as possible in as few bits as possible, but in this case, one lost packet could mean a gap of several seconds. The success of a low-bandwidth codec, at least when it comes to IP telephony, also depends on how well it can handle lost packets. Low bandwidth codecs are usually used in low bandwidth networks, such as the internet, and there the packetloss is the highest.
Same goes for delay and jitter, by the way. If a stream of packets is delayed, and more voice is crammed in fewer bits, then the delays in the voice stream will get longer too.
Agreed. I was walking on a parking lot to my car. No earbuds or anything, and my ears are fine. Looked left, nothing. Looked right, nothing. Looked left, and there was a Prius that must have come from behind me and turned, 3 feet away from me, waiting for me to cross, and i did not hear or see it coming. Nothing happened, the driver saw me... But i did not hear it coming whatsoever. It kinda scared me to see a big black car 3ft away from me, where there was none a few seconds before.
Bad example, in Starcraft's case: if you register your game serial at Blizzard, you have access to download it from their site. (I didn't even install SC2 from the disc it came on, i just entered the serial and downloaded it, couldn't be arsed to insert the disc.)
It's a study done in the Netherlands. Most people there drive a stick shift. My parents are about the only people i know driving automatic transmissions. It's considered a luxury.
Massive earthquakes? LAZARS!
Yes, i've seen that in a rather shocking real life documentary on SyFy, called MegaFault. They could stop an earthquake ripping open half the US (avoiding large cities, thank God) by firing lasers at it. Then some lave came up, then something froze, it got all too high-tech for me... But the same mastermind that designed KITT in the new Knight Rider was behind it, i am grateful we have such geniusses with us in this era.
...of a re-release of all 5 Oddworld-games for Windows through steam, including Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath? Wikipedia links to http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/10/12/oddworld-games-being-ported-to-pc/1 and appearantly it was confirmed by Oddworld Inhabitants for early 2010.
"I got more chins than a Chinese phonebook!" -- Fat Bastard
Yes, to prevent the guy in front of you from buying all the iPads and reselling them on eBay for 200%. If Apple didn't do this, you'd be complaining that they made it impossible to buy an iPad because eBay-traders would buy them all. Apple can never do things right. Oh, and this policy has been lifted, now the initial demand has levelled off and availability is no longer a problem.
Sure Apple products do not suck but wow I thought the EULA for windows was bad?? This is getting insane. At least the pc is not using drm enforcing single tasking and locking me out of things.
Comparing Apples (ah ha ha) and oranges here. OS X =/= iOS. You're comparing a desktop operating system from MS to a mobile phone operating system here. Both MS' and Apple's desktop OS are still completely different from their mobile counterparts. Both Windows and OS X are competely open, and free for anyone to develop for, no restrictions or validation or approval or signing required.
On the other hand... You refer to iOS being so anally closed... You are aware of the fact that MS' next mobile OS is going to have the same restrictions, with any developer requiring Redmond's approval? Before it can be sold through the one and only way to get apps on a Windows phone, ie through MS' marketplace?
Not trying to make Apple seem holy, but both companies suck at this point.
Note that we're talking about ads in third-party applications. Meaning as a third-party application developer, Apple has now said "Oh, and by the way if you want to advertise, your only real choice is us." How is that defensible?
No, they didn't say that. They said "if you want to advertise, it's us or other *independant* providers". They dont' consider AdMob independant, since they are owned by Google, and Google makes products that are direct competitors to Apple's.
They simply don't want to run the risk of seeing AdMob pushing Googlephone ads, based on the knowledge through analytics that you are running on an iPhone.
If i open some Toyota magazine, i don't see ads by Renault either. If i watch tv on one of our networks here, i don't see commercials for programmes on competing networks. I don't run a publishing/advertising company or anything, but if i was, i would protect my own business in the same manner.
Oh silly me, we're talking about Apple, this is Slashdot... Apple baaaaad!
Sure, they have a monopoly on iPhones and Apple's iOS, but the same can be said of almost all cellular companies and their hardware/OS combinations.
You can have a monopoly in a certain market, but not in a certain brand or product name. Saying that Apple has a monopoly on Apple products is the same as saying that Toyota has a monopoly on the Toyota Prius, or Coca Cola Company having a monopoly on the Coca Cola drink.
So, the only way to get them to change is to cost them a zillion dollars in customer service time by calling them up EVERY TIME you download an ad. Otherwise, you're paying twice.
I doubt they would increase the 2GB for the same price. I rather expect them to increase the price of the 2GB plan, to compensate for that extra customer service time.
They want to control everything, require you to buy Mac OSX to develop for iPad and iPhone
Yeah, the bastards. Imagine i'd have to buy Windows to develop for the Windows Phone 7 platform. Or that i'd have to buy a PlayStation3 to play God Of War. No, Apple is clearly the bad guy here, how dare they impose such system requirements on us.
charge a lot more for hardware than needed and do shit things like this.
Yes, their profits are far higher than software companies. No wonder Microsoft still operates from Ballmer's basement, they practically *give* Windows and Office away.
The last company I migrated over to linux was a rush job. They needed it done in a short window before the inspection of there licences.
Hold on. Perhaps i misunderstood you, but if i understand this correctly, they didn't migrate from Windows to Linux because of technological reasons, but merely because they were using illegal copies of Microsoft software, appearantly their first choice (or else they'd be running Linux in the first place), but not willing (or able to) to pay for it, and were about to get busted?
I'm not sure this is the right case study for a move to Linux. If they could, they would still run Windows.
Agreed, but that doesn't work from a commercial point of view. MS spends quite a few bucks on interface redesigns with every new incarnation of Windows. Why? Because if they only change things under the hood (invisible to end users), and leave the gui the same, people will say it's just the same OS because they don't notice any difference and everything looks and feels the same. With a new gui, with transparent windows, shadows, 3d effects and whatnot, people will think "oooh, it's new!", spread the word, and generate more revenue.
The kind of people who buy Apple are not what could be considered "Individualistic" in any sense. These are the kind of people who allow their self-worth to be determined by others; their cool-factor by how many Facebook friends they have, and what parties they are/not invited to.
Yeah, as opposed to most Windows users, who have no clue that other OS'es even exist.
They have convinced themselves of a form of technical superiority, when in reality, their platform is too small to be noticed by virus\malware providers, or most productivity app venders save a few like Adobe.
That's just a business choice from the malware writers' perspective. You have a platform that somehow managed to get 90% of the desktop market and is (until recently) poorly protected, and you got a platform with 3% market penetration that is a little bit better protected. You actually blame Apple for there not being enough malware for it? Doh.
They consider themselves "Counter-culture" when in reality, they are the worst kind of lemmings.
Again, most Windows users don't even know that there are other os'es around, and think that internet is equal to the big blue 'e' on their desktops.
Just watch next year, as hundreds of thousands of them toss their iPad for another one, because it will have a camera, and once again in a few years, for another feature that should have been in v1.0.
Wow, big commercial company makes successor to a succesful product. Newsflash. Personally, i'd be more surprised if they didn't.
Does Apple have good technology? Sure. Is it beyond what anyone else could do? Never has been.
True. But the next question is: Is it beyond what anyone *actually does*? There have been tablets with XP, tablets with Vista, yet i have only seen 1 person using one in my past 10 years working in IT (and that person was a Microsoft employee). The only Win7 tablet that people ever talked about, got cancelled and is now reborn with WebOS. I mean, if you think you can build a better tablet, by all means go ahead. I'm sure you can, you don't have to convince me. You only have to convince enough people to buy one to make a living.
Wanna see an Apple user's head explode? Ask them if their device supports IPv6, and watch them strain to answer without giving away that they dont know what the fuck you are talking about.
And Windows users do? You should get out more often, my friend.
That joke is getting a bit old, with Apple selling 4-button mice with every iMac for 5 years now.
Back in the nineties, people bought Windows 95 without even owning a computer. Seriously. So, your point is? There are always people who have more cash than they know what to do with, but i doubt there are so many of them that they offset the statistics.
I assume we can also use other magnets to rotate the magnets in the cow's stomachs, and use them for data storage! Ok, right now 1 bit per cow might seem a bit low, but we're working on that. We might consider describing the capacity as 1Mb (one moo-bit), for marketing reasons.
Yeah, but if you got an Xbox 360, you can't play God of War or Mario. If you got a Playstation, you can't play Alan wake or Zelda. If you have a Wii, you can't play Little Big Planet or Halo. It's true that most interesting titles are for consoles these days, but to play *all* of the interesting titles, you need 3 consoles. If you only have 1 console (and many people do), even then there is no guarantee you can play all console-exclusive titels, since one console != another console.
Just imagine the outcry if Microsoft banned all other development environments than Visual Studio and .NET from Windows. It would be hit with lawsuits and there would be tons of stories and tens of thousands of comments dissing MS on slashdot.
Well, good thing this isn't about desktop OS's, then, isn't it? In fact, coding for OS X is free and unrestricted, just as with Windows. On the other hand... You know that for Windows Mobile 7, apps need Microsoft's approval, don't you?
People also always cry about how consoles are locked down. Slashdotters cry about DRM, restrictions and not giving them control of the devices they buy.
But suddenly when it's Apple it's all ok. Why the hell?
Actually, i find it's the other way around. Nobody blinks an eye when Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo brings out a new line of consoles, vendor locked-in to the max, only running apps that require their approval and signature, a process which costs tens of thousands $$. But if Apple does it for their iPhone, bring out the tar and feathers!
Actually, i know that EA's games carry such a warning on the back (altough in very small print). Especially on their sports games. It reads something along the lines of "EA may retire online features after 30 days notice posted on www.ea.com or 30 days after the last day of the 2008-2009 NFL season."