Tom and his wife are still in Ann Arbor - I understand they donated some digital video equipment to the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce last month. There is an elementary school in town called "Summers-Knoll" - apparently Tom had something to do with its genesis - I pass by it every day.
I love how Tom's story has a kind of Wozniak quality to it...
uh, yeah, and how about some Democracy _daemons_ and standalone _front_ends_ for MythTV and XBMC? That'd be killer!
Oh wait - I once tried to start a thread on the Democracy boards about doing just this and was summarily shot down because the powers in charge feared its Bittorrent foundations would set up Democracy as an RIAA/MPAA DMCA takedown target.
It sure seems really silly that I have to run Democracy in a VNC server session on my MythTV box, media folder shared among Democracy and the Myth frontend, so that I have 10-foot access to my favorite Rev3, DLTV, Make and other video feeds. Sheesh.
I REALLY REALLY want to like Democracy Player very badly. But until they let go of their PC-client mentality, they're really holding themselves back.
In a related story, the price of Jiffy Pop stock has gone through the roof as kids eschew bagged microwave popcorn for the older pop-by-natural-gas methods.
One teen asserted, "it's a great comfort to be burned by a tangible flame while roasting the kernels. That's something you don't get when radio waves penetrate a bag full of hidden corn. What's up wit dat?"
Playlist of TV shows have been available in 0.19 - works very nicely for my 5 year old!
(Not that I'm putting him in front of the tube with a playlist and walking away just like that. That would be wrong. But those darned Thomas the Tank Engine episodes are only 4 minutes long apiece!)
...and I/O throughput is the most important indicator to me. Wouldn't the Anandtech Business benchmarks suggest that the AMD FX64 is better for raw I/O throughput?
Or would RAID 5 SCSI or WD Raptor disks ipso facto obliterate that argument?
As a 10-year old, I followed my dad's footsteps and became KA8JRN, then later N8FSR. It was a great way to stay in contact with him thru my parent's divorce back in the early 80s.
Late in high school, the interest faded a bit, but the underlying love of technology persisted. Teens and college students being social creatures, I wanted a pool of friends that were not middle-aged 40-meter ragchewers. So I started a campus broadcast radio station. Problem solved.
I credit the W1YK Amateur Radio club at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts for providing me a renewed interest in Ham Radio and smoothing what would have been a much harder college experience I had briefly at that institution. W1YK showed me that there was still a place for young kids in the hobby.
18 years later, I'm still proud of my hobby, happy to sport my Ham license place on the family minivan. The convenience of the Internet makes setting aside time for Packet or Satellite that much more difficult. And, sorry guys, forget ragchewing, the ultimate timewaster, when I'd rather be playing with my 3-year-old.
But the spirit of experimentation that fuels my interest in the hobby each day carries over to my experiences on the Internet and in my job. Heck, it differentiates me in a sea of lookalike IT consultants and gives me the edge I need in the market. I'm proud to be the one They call to hack and slash to success when the others are stopped cold.
I habitually take my 3-year-old to the local Swap-n-Shops, part flea market, part inspiration. We love 'em.
I'll defend this hobby to the death, but mostly for the things it gives back to me indirectly rather than directly. And, hey, I still reserve the right to ragchew on 40 meters if the mood arises!
Hey, someone's gotta pay for those customer service personnel in the Retention department. Why not the ones that will never have to deal with them (the prepaid customers)?
I've been doing Oracle since V5 and Linux since Red Hat 4.5. My take:
From the perspective of Open Source, Larry's like that "successful" uncle at your family picnic. He brings lots of toys to play with, the kids love him, is largely generous to a fault during his visit. But ask him how he made his riches, and he's liable to try to suck you into his pyramid scheme, and that's the last thing you want to hear at your family gathering.
Most of you would think it would be just fine if he stopped showing up at the family shindigs, but deep down, you'd all miss him, even if only a little bit.
Oracle wouldn't engage Open Source if there wasn't something for Oracle to gain from it. Let me tell you, Oracle App Server would be far more an abomination than it is today had they not built the latest version around Apache, for example. Their "grid" marketspeak is built firmly on the proliferation of free OS on cheap hardware, so they've already tied their future to (and bet it on) the success of Linux, and they're damned if they're wrong.
Ultimately, I think Larry and Oracle have taken on a relatively healthy, pragmatic relationship with Open Source. There's plenty of banter about how Oracle's assisted Red Hat, helped Zend get off the ground, and all that, but it's sometimes difficult to actually quantify what they have infused back into the OSS realm. I wish I'd see more Oracle-backed projects on SourceForge, for example.
In the same breath, I'm just a bit disturbed about their shenanigans with MySQL. WTF? I tend to believe they're trying to leverage the MySQL *technology* into their software offerings, and at the same time make themselves the clear target for migration when companies grow, rather than obliterate the MySQL product itself. Obliterating MySQL would amount to biting the hand that feeds Oracle - the backlash would be fierce and paralysing. Instead, I could easily see a Oracle-branded read-only data warehouse *cache* bolted onto its App Server product that's "Powered By InnoDB". Get it?
Larry should just shut up and find a better way for the Rasums Lerdorfs and Bob Youngs of the world to get heard. We get it, Larry - you're successful. Now shut up and eat a hot dog.
My clarification re: deregulation, monopoly, antitrust, Bush Admin, etc...
I am a proponent of the separation of content creation and content delivery, because I believe the separation of these fosters a healthier content ecosystem: more content is created, said content has a better opportunity for distribution, and distribution itself becomes rightfully commoditized (and subject to typical economic behaviors therein).
Now, if this is indeed "regulation", then I can't wait 'til *your* one and only available Internet provider scales back your access to/. after they read your posts beligerent of their company. Commoditized distribution is the foundation of this here Internet, and you'll be clamoring for your provider to give unencumbered access to the Net under threat of government "regulation".
(Think it won't happen? That "tiered" Internet that's been on the minds of Charter, Comcast and AT&T just might involve packet-DEprioritization of your VoIP connection. Or how about the Baby Bells that have all but extinguished DSL "competition". Got it?)
So, as I subscribe to the separation of content creation and content delivery, I must be critical of *any* administration (Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Gore, whatever, really, honest) that has the FCC not just take a laissez faire approach, but actually encourages the mergers and acquisitions that further restrict entry to the content delivery market.
I have *no problem* with content creators and distributors striking deals with each other. They remain separate companies that engage each other for mutual - but not necessarily *exclusive* - benefit.
My point about Comcast is that TechTV might still be around today had Comcast not been allowed to purchase the network. Likewise, as parent of a preschooler, I'd love to gain access to more kids' programming, but access to it is all but controlled by the content *providers* available in my region. Maybe there's more and better kids' programming out there, but with these companies holding the keys to the broadcast, how could we ever know?
I suspect that the FCC is counting on new distribution *technologies* as the market "enabler" in the face of content creation/delivery fusion (e.g. XM & Sirius forge competition against terrestrial FM radio). In that vein, I suspect IPTV will have a real role in competing with cable and satellite - it's probably why this little ditty about Disney and iTunes-maker Apple surfaced to begin with. TV over IP. Yes?
But I think in the long haul we'll run out of new technologies to exploit before we'd run out of hypothetical market-commoditized content distribution market players.
Seagate drives are among the quietest on the market. They are easily quieter than the quietest fan-laden power supply. Even WD and Samsung drives have improved greatly in the last couple years.
You are correct - USB carries its info digitally; but the video monitor signal coming off the video card is almost always analog, and subject to signal degradation under marginal circumstances. You really don't want to run video signal cables any longer than you have to.
Also, while USB is digital, there are times where poorly made USB cables leak digital garbage into equally-poorly-built audio cables. You do your best to use well-shielded USB and audio cable, but distortion elimination is always a better goal than distortion management.
A someone who has worked in the professional recording industry, I can tell you, there is a need for a FANLESS system.
(save your RIAA jokes - we produced commercials for radio, private corporations and such)
Sometimes it's just more practical to go with a fanless system than it is to route tons of lossy USB and video cable to an acoustically sealed server closet.
Ever try to cut a vocal with even a low-noise fan whizzing in the corner?
Some people.......
Re:Skype and Google Talk are not the issue
on
Vonage IPO
·
· Score: 1
Would you continue to run a separate full-bore 400-watt PC as an in-house router and switch, especially when low-power, wall-wart-driven $29 router appliances from Linksys and D-Link are so pervasive?
Then why would you use Skype when all the various Vonages out there make use of an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) to interface your PSTN phone with an IP-based network, no PC or software required?
Yeah, I'd like to see *my* grandma forced to sit in front of a PC and wear a headset to talk to me.
I'm not against Skype - I'm just saying that the SIP-based, ATA-driven Vonage-like VoIP experience - one that most closely resembles a traditional PSTN circuit - holds the most traction in this burgeoning market. Moving your "10 digits" from a simple household appliance that has withstood a centry of use to a complex power-hungry pandoras box does not constitute progress IMO. *Augmenting* your traditional telephonic device with computer-based doodads and thingys is good - replacing your telephone with them is cause for concern.
When my family and I moved to our new house a year ago, I cut the CLEC cord once and for all and went totally ATA/SIP/VoIP. I've got a UPS on the router and ATA for good measure. And guess what...the wife can't tell a difference from the old house. Until we see ATA-friendly SIP protocol chatter from Skype, I'll continue to have my reservations.
Re:Skype and Google Talk are not the issue
on
Vonage IPO
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
What if? That's a loaded question. I think the value inherent in VoIP also includes (and I failed to mention this before) its basis on an open standard: SIP. SIP runs most VoIP, like HTTP runs the Web (for the most part). SIP gives "presence management" wings to fly, and helps foster competition in a growing field. There are SIP gateways out there that bind PSTN 10-digit numbers to SIP points of presence (your 10 digits). Other SIP gateways manage the inbound PSTN call thru virtual PBXs to whereever you may be. The flexibility is endless. Ultimately, though, what matters is the 10-digit number - it ain't going anywhere. Any viable VoIP solution *must* account for incoming and outgoing calls to/from a 10-digit number.
Now, Skype is really good at what it does, but open it ain't. And while Joe Phoneuser probably doesn't care about open standards, the industry does, because it fosters a lower cost of entry to the market, and feeds more Davids to take on the telco Goliaths.
What if...part 2: Like other Vonagefolk, I pay a low flat rate for VoIP service. I'm really put off by the nickel and diming Skypeout insists upon.
I realize these points are above and beyond - after all, Vonage runs a SIP-based walled garden that is effectively no better for a hobbyist like me than Skype. In the end, be it for Vonage, Skype or whoever, I still enthusiastically support VoIP or any other industry that stands as a viable alternative to the incumbent monopolies. I refuse to let the eMan put me down!
Re:Skype and Google Talk are not the issue
on
Vonage IPO
·
· Score: 1
Bravo - couldn't have said it better myself.
I had Vonage and dumped it after they ignored my pleas for bandwidth-related tech support. I've since gone to a local VoIP provider like yours that provides serious support, and haven't looked back.
All the Skype-sayers do indeed miss the point. VoIP in the home is all about "the number" - the 10 digits that ring the house as well as provide a "point of entry" into my personal communications space from the standard PSTN. With Asterisk and its ilk, VoIP provides not only the alternative delivery mechanism, but the flexibility, extensibility and overall value proposition that makes the incumbents cringe.
So I say, lets let the Slashheads scream "Skype" all they want. That's what SBC and Verizon will hear. Look! A diversion!
If you think the xbox is a gaming platform, then you clearly have your head on a collision course with your nearest rectal cavity.
The xbox is the manifest destiny of Microsoft - the acknowledgement that long term viability of their software - if only in the consumer market - is largely dependent on corresponding hardware...an appliance. In a world where Open Source has commoditized the OS to long-term irrelevancy, the Xbox 360 becomes M$'s iPod, destined to become the centerpiece of the digital home. And nary a game will need to be played for the 360 to fulfill that role.
It's Windows Media Center that is the maligned stepchild of this vision - a PC that poorly emulates a Tivo? The PC can never fill the role of Appliance in the minds of the market - it's just to generic of a unit to take on an appliance mentality or motif. No, if M$ executes correctly, the xbox becomes a head-end to IP-delivered media network content - Windows Media Center and your TV capture card together act as a headless Tivo "stop-gap" until IP media shows at the door.
I believe all this to be true after I (a) built a MythTV box and interfaced it to my local Comcast coaxial feed, (b) installed MythXBMC on my xbox, and (c) subscribed to countless RSS video feeds on XBMC. I now have IP-delivered cable TV and internet video coming to every xbox "set top box" and computer in the house. It's truly amazing.
To that end, I believe Myth, Slingbox, Sage, BeyondTV and the like are pioneers of the modern age - a bit ahead of their time due to an insufficient support network, ironically, a bit like MSNBC.
I say the rule goes: We don't see convergence until our parents see convergence. Even as they meander past the in-store kiosks, our parents are just now witnessing the enormous potential of the xbox 360 - and I don't mean the game-playing.
If MSNBC was a failure for M$, it is because broadcast TV itself is anachronistic to the next-generation media networks in which M$ hopes to thrive. If M$ gets out now, it saves millions per year until the "new" IP-delivered non-linear content (delivered to your local xbox 360) becomes ubiquitous. Maybe then Ballmer will knock on NBC's door whispering "hey, remember me?"
Any wonder why Cisco - yes, Cisco - purchased set-top-box manufacturer General Instruments this year? Cisco providing a game console? I don't think so. I see a future where xboxen win the appliance war against Cisco.
Oh yes you do....the real world says so. Sad, but true.
I have worked with large, multi-column data loads from third-party sources, loading these into a single "staging" table that matches the third-party source,/then/ break the data into a set of smaller 1:1 tables in the local app, where we have the most control.
In those instances, there really is no easier way than to create a massive multi-columnar table that matches the source. You then use the native data load utility (like Oracle's SQL*Loader) to get the file into a table. A "staging" table.
I agree with you in principle, but not in practice. Where I am, we've got GM, Ford and Chrysler shoving data-load specs at us that would make a grown man weep - that whole "spec-for-the-least-common-denominator" thing. Solutions for shtuff like this ain't pretty, but ugly problems sometimes call for ugly solutions.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, the next gen portable console will be the small... or "wee" Wi! Nintendo will call it the WeeWi!
"Mom! Danny's playing with his WeeWi! I wanna watch!"
Tom and his wife are still in Ann Arbor - I understand they donated some digital video equipment to the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce last month. There is an elementary school in town called "Summers-Knoll" - apparently Tom had something to do with its genesis - I pass by it every day.
I love how Tom's story has a kind of Wozniak quality to it...
uh, yeah, and how about some Democracy _daemons_ and standalone _front_ends_ for MythTV and XBMC? That'd be killer!
Oh wait - I once tried to start a thread on the Democracy boards about doing just this and was summarily shot down because the powers in charge feared its Bittorrent foundations would set up Democracy as an RIAA/MPAA DMCA takedown target.
It sure seems really silly that I have to run Democracy in a VNC server session on my MythTV box, media folder shared among Democracy and the Myth frontend, so that I have 10-foot access to my favorite Rev3, DLTV, Make and other video feeds. Sheesh.
I REALLY REALLY want to like Democracy Player very badly. But until they let go of their PC-client mentality, they're really holding themselves back.
Your piss deserves better.
Scalix rocks, except for one "teeny little thing". I want to use Sunbird (and Lightning) as my calendar client of choice.
Sunbird and its ilk will *read* Scalix calendars, but WILL NOT PUBLISH OR POST TO THEM!
I wanted sooooo badly to run Scalix, but this was a deal breaker for me.
No, a prison governor has access to the roots below him, and manages his processes and resources securely.
This is fun!
"You have full control over your jail."
Now, tell me honestly, in what other profession can you say something like this with a straight face?
I love IT.
...though you had to purchase the album to get the DVD that contains the discrete tracks.
See http://www.limoremix.com/ to listen to what others have remixed and posted.
FWIW, White Limousine is IMO his best work since "Barely Breathing" and his second album as well.
Duncan and Peter have it right...forget record sales...when you've got fan mindshare, the money will inevitably come.
In a related story, the price of Jiffy Pop stock has gone through the roof as kids eschew bagged microwave popcorn for the older pop-by-natural-gas methods.
One teen asserted, "it's a great comfort to be burned by a tangible flame while roasting the kernels. That's something you don't get when radio waves penetrate a bag full of hidden corn. What's up wit dat?"
Playlist of TV shows have been available in 0.19 - works very nicely for my 5 year old!
(Not that I'm putting him in front of the tube with a playlist and walking away just like that. That would be wrong. But those darned Thomas the Tank Engine episodes are only 4 minutes long apiece!)
...and I/O throughput is the most important indicator to me. Wouldn't the Anandtech Business benchmarks suggest that the AMD FX64 is better for raw I/O throughput?
Or would RAID 5 SCSI or WD Raptor disks ipso facto obliterate that argument?
I'm confused!
As a 10-year old, I followed my dad's footsteps and became KA8JRN, then later N8FSR. It was a great way to stay in contact with him thru my parent's divorce back in the early 80s.
Late in high school, the interest faded a bit, but the underlying love of technology persisted. Teens and college students being social creatures, I wanted a pool of friends that were not middle-aged 40-meter ragchewers. So I started a campus broadcast radio station. Problem solved.
I credit the W1YK Amateur Radio club at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts for providing me a renewed interest in Ham Radio and smoothing what would have been a much harder college experience I had briefly at that institution. W1YK showed me that there was still a place for young kids in the hobby.
18 years later, I'm still proud of my hobby, happy to sport my Ham license place on the family minivan. The convenience of the Internet makes setting aside time for Packet or Satellite that much more difficult. And, sorry guys, forget ragchewing, the ultimate timewaster, when I'd rather be playing with my 3-year-old.
But the spirit of experimentation that fuels my interest in the hobby each day carries over to my experiences on the Internet and in my job. Heck, it differentiates me in a sea of lookalike IT consultants and gives me the edge I need in the market. I'm proud to be the one They call to hack and slash to success when the others are stopped cold.
I habitually take my 3-year-old to the local Swap-n-Shops, part flea market, part inspiration. We love 'em.
I'll defend this hobby to the death, but mostly for the things it gives back to me indirectly rather than directly. And, hey, I still reserve the right to ragchew on 40 meters if the mood arises!
73s/TTFN...
Hey, someone's gotta pay for those customer service personnel in the Retention department. Why not the ones that will never have to deal with them (the prepaid customers)?
Ask youself "where's the barcode", and it becomes easy to see why the USPS might charge a premium for a square envelope.
Use of a rectangular envelope, landscape oriented, reduces the effort to locate the stamp, barcode and all by 50%.
I've been doing Oracle since V5 and Linux since Red Hat 4.5. My take:
From the perspective of Open Source, Larry's like that "successful" uncle at your family picnic. He brings lots of toys to play with, the kids love him, is largely generous to a fault during his visit. But ask him how he made his riches, and he's liable to try to suck you into his pyramid scheme, and that's the last thing you want to hear at your family gathering.
Most of you would think it would be just fine if he stopped showing up at the family shindigs, but deep down, you'd all miss him, even if only a little bit.
Oracle wouldn't engage Open Source if there wasn't something for Oracle to gain from it. Let me tell you, Oracle App Server would be far more an abomination than it is today had they not built the latest version around Apache, for example. Their "grid" marketspeak is built firmly on the proliferation of free OS on cheap hardware, so they've already tied their future to (and bet it on) the success of Linux, and they're damned if they're wrong.
Ultimately, I think Larry and Oracle have taken on a relatively healthy, pragmatic relationship with Open Source. There's plenty of banter about how Oracle's assisted Red Hat, helped Zend get off the ground, and all that, but it's sometimes difficult to actually quantify what they have infused back into the OSS realm. I wish I'd see more Oracle-backed projects on SourceForge, for example.
In the same breath, I'm just a bit disturbed about their shenanigans with MySQL. WTF? I tend to believe they're trying to leverage the MySQL *technology* into their software offerings, and at the same time make themselves the clear target for migration when companies grow, rather than obliterate the MySQL product itself. Obliterating MySQL would amount to biting the hand that feeds Oracle - the backlash would be fierce and paralysing. Instead, I could easily see a Oracle-branded read-only data warehouse *cache* bolted onto its App Server product that's "Powered By InnoDB". Get it?
Larry should just shut up and find a better way for the Rasums Lerdorfs and Bob Youngs of the world to get heard. We get it, Larry - you're successful. Now shut up and eat a hot dog.
Mod parent up! With a name like that, the current administration could easily get constituent support for the program!
My clarification re: deregulation, monopoly, antitrust, Bush Admin, etc...
/. after they read your posts beligerent of their company. Commoditized distribution is the foundation of this here Internet, and you'll be clamoring for your provider to give unencumbered access to the Net under threat of government "regulation".
I am a proponent of the separation of content creation and content delivery, because I believe the separation of these fosters a healthier content ecosystem: more content is created, said content has a better opportunity for distribution, and distribution itself becomes rightfully commoditized (and subject to typical economic behaviors therein).
Now, if this is indeed "regulation", then I can't wait 'til *your* one and only available Internet provider scales back your access to
(Think it won't happen? That "tiered" Internet that's been on the minds of Charter, Comcast and AT&T just might involve packet-DEprioritization of your VoIP connection. Or how about the Baby Bells that have all but extinguished DSL "competition". Got it?)
So, as I subscribe to the separation of content creation and content delivery, I must be critical of *any* administration (Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Gore, whatever, really, honest) that has the FCC not just take a laissez faire approach, but actually encourages the mergers and acquisitions that further restrict entry to the content delivery market.
I have *no problem* with content creators and distributors striking deals with each other. They remain separate companies that engage each other for mutual - but not necessarily *exclusive* - benefit.
My point about Comcast is that TechTV might still be around today had Comcast not been allowed to purchase the network. Likewise, as parent of a preschooler, I'd love to gain access to more kids' programming, but access to it is all but controlled by the content *providers* available in my region. Maybe there's more and better kids' programming out there, but with these companies holding the keys to the broadcast, how could we ever know?
I suspect that the FCC is counting on new distribution *technologies* as the market "enabler" in the face of content creation/delivery fusion (e.g. XM & Sirius forge competition against terrestrial FM radio). In that vein, I suspect IPTV will have a real role in competing with cable and satellite - it's probably why this little ditty about Disney and iTunes-maker Apple surfaced to begin with. TV over IP. Yes?
But I think in the long haul we'll run out of new technologies to exploit before we'd run out of hypothetical market-commoditized content distribution market players.
But that's just me.
Oh, c'mon. Comcast buys and decimates TechTV into G4? They own OLN. They own E! Entertainment Television. Style. The Golf Channel. Comcast SportsNet.
Anyone have a problem with Sirius and XM providing "exclusive" content and channels? Didn't think so.
The Bush Admin allows this to happen. The FCC is happy to take long martini lunches while the content deliverers become content providers.
Let's face it. Deregulation amounts to a blank check for media delivery and media creators to fsck 'til the cows come home.
Flame on, dudes...
Seagate drives are among the quietest on the market. They are easily quieter than the quietest fan-laden power supply. Even WD and Samsung drives have improved greatly in the last couple years.
You are correct - USB carries its info digitally; but the video monitor signal coming off the video card is almost always analog, and subject to signal degradation under marginal circumstances. You really don't want to run video signal cables any longer than you have to.
Also, while USB is digital, there are times where poorly made USB cables leak digital garbage into equally-poorly-built audio cables. You do your best to use well-shielded USB and audio cable, but distortion elimination is always a better goal than distortion management.
A someone who has worked in the professional recording industry, I can tell you, there is a need for a FANLESS system.
(save your RIAA jokes - we produced commercials for radio, private corporations and such)
Sometimes it's just more practical to go with a fanless system than it is to route tons of lossy USB and video cable to an acoustically sealed server closet.
Ever try to cut a vocal with even a low-noise fan whizzing in the corner?
Some people.......
Would you continue to run a separate full-bore 400-watt PC as an in-house router and switch, especially when low-power, wall-wart-driven $29 router appliances from Linksys and D-Link are so pervasive?
Then why would you use Skype when all the various Vonages out there make use of an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) to interface your PSTN phone with an IP-based network, no PC or software required?
Figure 1: My ATA: http://www.sipura.com/
Yeah, I'd like to see *my* grandma forced to sit in front of a PC and wear a headset to talk to me.
I'm not against Skype - I'm just saying that the SIP-based, ATA-driven Vonage-like VoIP experience - one that most closely resembles a traditional PSTN circuit - holds the most traction in this burgeoning market. Moving your "10 digits" from a simple household appliance that has withstood a centry of use to a complex power-hungry pandoras box does not constitute progress IMO. *Augmenting* your traditional telephonic device with computer-based doodads and thingys is good - replacing your telephone with them is cause for concern.
When my family and I moved to our new house a year ago, I cut the CLEC cord once and for all and went totally ATA/SIP/VoIP. I've got a UPS on the router and ATA for good measure. And guess what...the wife can't tell a difference from the old house. Until we see ATA-friendly SIP protocol chatter from Skype, I'll continue to have my reservations.
What if? That's a loaded question. I think the value inherent in VoIP also includes (and I failed to mention this before) its basis on an open standard: SIP. SIP runs most VoIP, like HTTP runs the Web (for the most part). SIP gives "presence management" wings to fly, and helps foster competition in a growing field. There are SIP gateways out there that bind PSTN 10-digit numbers to SIP points of presence (your 10 digits). Other SIP gateways manage the inbound PSTN call thru virtual PBXs to whereever you may be. The flexibility is endless. Ultimately, though, what matters is the 10-digit number - it ain't going anywhere. Any viable VoIP solution *must* account for incoming and outgoing calls to/from a 10-digit number.
Now, Skype is really good at what it does, but open it ain't. And while Joe Phoneuser probably doesn't care about open standards, the industry does, because it fosters a lower cost of entry to the market, and feeds more Davids to take on the telco Goliaths.
What if...part 2: Like other Vonagefolk, I pay a low flat rate for VoIP service. I'm really put off by the nickel and diming Skypeout insists upon.
I realize these points are above and beyond - after all, Vonage runs a SIP-based walled garden that is effectively no better for a hobbyist like me than Skype. In the end, be it for Vonage, Skype or whoever, I still enthusiastically support VoIP or any other industry that stands as a viable alternative to the incumbent monopolies. I refuse to let the eMan put me down!
Bravo - couldn't have said it better myself.
I had Vonage and dumped it after they ignored my pleas for bandwidth-related tech support. I've since gone to a local VoIP provider like yours that provides serious support, and haven't looked back.
All the Skype-sayers do indeed miss the point. VoIP in the home is all about "the number" - the 10 digits that ring the house as well as provide a "point of entry" into my personal communications space from the standard PSTN. With Asterisk and its ilk, VoIP provides not only the alternative delivery mechanism, but the flexibility, extensibility and overall value proposition that makes the incumbents cringe.
So I say, lets let the Slashheads scream "Skype" all they want. That's what SBC and Verizon will hear. Look! A diversion!
If you think the xbox is a gaming platform, then you clearly have your head on a collision course with your nearest rectal cavity.
The xbox is the manifest destiny of Microsoft - the acknowledgement that long term viability of their software - if only in the consumer market - is largely dependent on corresponding hardware...an appliance. In a world where Open Source has commoditized the OS to long-term irrelevancy, the Xbox 360 becomes M$'s iPod, destined to become the centerpiece of the digital home. And nary a game will need to be played for the 360 to fulfill that role.
It's Windows Media Center that is the maligned stepchild of this vision - a PC that poorly emulates a Tivo? The PC can never fill the role of Appliance in the minds of the market - it's just to generic of a unit to take on an appliance mentality or motif. No, if M$ executes correctly, the xbox becomes a head-end to IP-delivered media network content - Windows Media Center and your TV capture card together act as a headless Tivo "stop-gap" until IP media shows at the door.
I believe all this to be true after I (a) built a MythTV box and interfaced it to my local Comcast coaxial feed, (b) installed MythXBMC on my xbox, and (c) subscribed to countless RSS video feeds on XBMC. I now have IP-delivered cable TV and internet video coming to every xbox "set top box" and computer in the house. It's truly amazing.
To that end, I believe Myth, Slingbox, Sage, BeyondTV and the like are pioneers of the modern age - a bit ahead of their time due to an insufficient support network, ironically, a bit like MSNBC.
I say the rule goes: We don't see convergence until our parents see convergence. Even as they meander past the in-store kiosks, our parents are just now witnessing the enormous potential of the xbox 360 - and I don't mean the game-playing.
If MSNBC was a failure for M$, it is because broadcast TV itself is anachronistic to the next-generation media networks in which M$ hopes to thrive. If M$ gets out now, it saves millions per year until the "new" IP-delivered non-linear content (delivered to your local xbox 360) becomes ubiquitous. Maybe then Ballmer will knock on NBC's door whispering "hey, remember me?"
Any wonder why Cisco - yes, Cisco - purchased set-top-box manufacturer General Instruments this year? Cisco providing a game console? I don't think so. I see a future where xboxen win the appliance war against Cisco.
Oh yes you do....the real world says so. Sad, but true.
/then/ break the data into a set of smaller 1:1 tables in the local app, where we have the most control.
I have worked with large, multi-column data loads from third-party sources, loading these into a single "staging" table that matches the third-party source,
In those instances, there really is no easier way than to create a massive multi-columnar table that matches the source. You then use the native data load utility (like Oracle's SQL*Loader) to get the file into a table. A "staging" table.
I agree with you in principle, but not in practice. Where I am, we've got GM, Ford and Chrysler shoving data-load specs at us that would make a grown man weep - that whole "spec-for-the-least-common-denominator" thing. Solutions for shtuff like this ain't pretty, but ugly problems sometimes call for ugly solutions.