I just started using Vonage. It has it's advantages, especially if you want a land-line with an external phone number, something that Skype and the like cannot do. With Vonage I'm able to disband with my local and long distance phone companies, and pay a single $30 bill for unlimited calling. You can also get phone numbers from different area codes which is nice if you want your families to be able to call you without paying long distance bills.
They're not going to do that. They'd have to write/buy software to track every users's port 25 usage, then have people switch those users into a lock-down pool. It's just not going to happen, not with 5 million customers or whatever. It's a whole lot easier to block all port 25 traffic. Set static IP's and open ports for those that specifically request it. Then they have a nice short list of people that are hopefully using it for good instead of evil.
I can't really blame them for going this route - the problem I do have is charging people extra for this. My Cable ISP (Starpower) charges $20 a month extra for a static IP. Great business plan to sell people the right to use a service that used to be included.
1. First distribute camcorder recorded version of movie 2. Follow-up with high quality 3 part camcorded version 3. After 2 months release divx screener copy 4. Release full DVD rip of screener copy 5. Release divx of retail DVD 6. Release full DVD rip of retail DVD
You can generally pick when and which version you want, it all depends on how eager you want to see the movie. At least this is what I've heard.
A modded Xbox running XBMC is a whole lot more user-friendly than anything I've seen for Linux. The software is easy to configure and use, looks great on an HDTV. As I understand XBMC is a port of mplayer - but the customizations they've done for it to work with the remote control and adding a multi-media browser (for file selection) take it to the next level.
What would be really great is to port XBMC back to Linux, and meld it with MythTV for PVR functions. Supply the distro with preconfigured Emulators (just drop roms in a particular folder). I'm sure a distro like this would be something that many people would be interested it.
The XBMC native Xbox application is a lot more functional than anything I've seen for linux, and a whole lot faster on the Xbox. It is a customized version of mplayer built specifically to run on the Xbox - no underlying-RAM-hogging operating system needed. I'm fairly certain XBMC can play VOBs off a network drive, and using the Advanced A/V pack from Microsoft the progessive scan modes look very nice on an HDTV set.
Yup, don't go the homebrew route if you want to save money and have a robust, simple, solution. I'm in the process of building a freevo/mythtv box. It's a lot of work to get the drivers working, I'm getting poor performance with an AMD 1.4GHz machine, and the software is not ready for prime time. The remote control that comes with the Leadtek Winfast TV2000 is a little flakey - it works, but not all the buttons are functional under Linux. Overall it's just one big expensive pain in the butt.
There are only a few reasons that you might really want to go this route:
1) you already have the spare parts you need 2) you live outside the US where Tivo is unavailable 3) you like spending lots of time getting stuff to work in Linux 4) you absolutely need the extra functionality that Tivo does not give (DVD burning, network capability etc.)
Otherwise, Tivo with the unlimited subscription is cheaper and less hassle.
I don't think anyone really has to go freak out quite yet. On an average day I don't visit a whole lot of unknown and untrustworthy websites. The chances of the odd one actually putting the malicious code to use is small. If you see a link the one above - DONT GO TO IT!
It's only been, what, 60 years since everyone has been waiting for it. We finally get something, and all it can do is graffiti? Sigh, the pace of evolution is slowing to a crawl...
From everything I've read, you only hear a difference in the more expensive players (ones that cost more than $1000). Sony has a lot of cheap SACD/DVD players now, but they don't show off what the format is capable of. Makes me kind of wonder if the whole SACD format is worthwhile because if it was significantly better, then any cheap player should be better than the msot expensive CD player.
That's rare. I've never seen that many cables come in clear in any semi-large city. It just doesn't happen. You're lucky if you get "watchable" reception on 4 channels. And at that you get your choice of NBC, CBS, PBS, and a spanish channel.
The only reason that I haven't bought Tivo is because of the service fee, and the absurd cost of Tivo if you get an unlimited service that is tied to the box, and not to the customer.
I've got WAY too many bills to pay per month already - phone, cell phone, TV, electricity, water, gas, isp, insurance, gym. I simply will not add another $15/mo just to add extra features to my TV watching abilities.
On top of that Tivo lost me as a potential customer because they have decided not take the leap into the 21st century.
1) If they had added a network interface to the boxes, and used the internet to do the scheduling updates rather than using an expensive phoneline service. That drops the cost of the service to near zero. Also the network capabilities could add a web interface, and backing up of recorded shows.
2) Build a DVD/CD burner into the box, and allow you to burn shows to disc and play them back on a computer etc. DVD burners and media are getting cheaper, so this is feasible.
Until ANY box can do these things for an affordable cost I'm staying away. I dislike being bound and gagged while watching a closed circuit box.
Honestly this doesn't sound like the kind of advertarticle that appeals to the Slashdot crowd. It's fairly simple to change background images, email settings and so on - I don't know anyone who's too lazy to do that. And I imagine many people around here do as I and use a fileserver to store their important information (who trusts their desktop computer?).
Really you expect anyone who's vagely interested in Doom3 isn't going to try it out? Yes, it's not an official demo like the Quake3 demo that I played for almost a year before the retail hit the stores. But it's pretty darned impressive (graphics, detail, and sounds), and well worth the download. From playing this alpha version, I've realized that my system is woefully inadequate to play this game smoothly (is anyone's?). Looks like I need to budget a complete new system within 1 year.
[sarcasm] I mean, it's not even an incremental improvement. It's a decrease in speed by an order of 1000. How is this supposed to improve upon current processors? I don't know. But I do know that I will not be lining up for a processor that is outdated by about 12 years. [/sarcasm]
Okay, full stop. Slashdot is the main spokesite against patents, digital rights, monopolies, and generally all the bad side effects of big business and capitalism. So now this news about 2 major players in a developing industry sector is heralded as a positive thing? I don't get it. Sure it's a free country and you can pick your philosophies, but it's just not right to change them at will depending on whether it's Monday or not.
You've brought up another question. Sure, every one refers to them as coasters - but really who actually uses them to sit drinks on? For me, AOL CD's go from my mailbox to my hand and then directly into the trash. I don't even use failed CDR's for putting drinks on. Who does this? Are there really people in the world that are either 1) too cheap to buy real coasters, 2) have no shame at all and prefer to use CD's than no coasters at all? I'd really like to know.
I definitely noticed things were slower here than usual. I had SSH failures, and very long page loads, and intermittant downtime. But we are up and running.
Darwin, the BSD fork that OSX is built upon, is AFAIK developed openly and independently from the Aqua GUI. I have not tried it but you can download XFree86 for Darwin at osxgnu.org
Slashdot Mirror
I just started using Vonage. It has it's advantages, especially if you want a land-line with an external phone number, something that Skype and the like cannot do. With Vonage I'm able to disband with my local and long distance phone companies, and pay a single $30 bill for unlimited calling. You can also get phone numbers from different area codes which is nice if you want your families to be able to call you without paying long distance bills.
Calm down, once the first modchips are released I'm sure it'll be a matter of weeks until Xbox1 games work on Xbox2 through an emulator.
Yup that was really great. Thanks for the laugh.
They're not going to do that. They'd have to write/buy software to track every users's port 25 usage, then have people switch those users into a lock-down pool. It's just not going to happen, not with 5 million customers or whatever. It's a whole lot easier to block all port 25 traffic. Set static IP's and open ports for those that specifically request it. Then they have a nice short list of people that are hopefully using it for good instead of evil.
I can't really blame them for going this route - the problem I do have is charging people extra for this. My Cable ISP (Starpower) charges $20 a month extra for a static IP. Great business plan to sell people the right to use a service that used to be included.
The usual movie piracy procedure is like this:
1. First distribute camcorder recorded version of movie
2. Follow-up with high quality 3 part camcorded version
3. After 2 months release divx screener copy
4. Release full DVD rip of screener copy
5. Release divx of retail DVD
6. Release full DVD rip of retail DVD
You can generally pick when and which version you want, it all depends on how eager you want to see the movie. At least this is what I've heard.
A modded Xbox running XBMC is a whole lot more user-friendly than anything I've seen for Linux. The software is easy to configure and use, looks great on an HDTV. As I understand XBMC is a port of mplayer - but the customizations they've done for it to work with the remote control and adding a multi-media browser (for file selection) take it to the next level.
What would be really great is to port XBMC back to Linux, and meld it with MythTV for PVR functions. Supply the distro with preconfigured Emulators (just drop roms in a particular folder). I'm sure a distro like this would be something that many people would be interested it.
The XBMC native Xbox application is a lot more functional than anything I've seen for linux, and a whole lot faster on the Xbox. It is a customized version of mplayer built specifically to run on the Xbox - no underlying-RAM-hogging operating system needed. I'm fairly certain XBMC can play VOBs off a network drive, and using the Advanced A/V pack from Microsoft the progessive scan modes look very nice on an HDTV set.
The main improvement is programs crash much faster now. I never have to wait for XP to hang for 20 seconds before killing an application anymore.
Yup, don't go the homebrew route if you want to save money and have a robust, simple, solution. I'm in the process of building a freevo/mythtv box. It's a lot of work to get the drivers working, I'm getting poor performance with an AMD 1.4GHz machine, and the software is not ready for prime time. The remote control that comes with the Leadtek Winfast TV2000 is a little flakey - it works, but not all the buttons are functional under Linux. Overall it's just one big expensive pain in the butt.
There are only a few reasons that you might really want to go this route:
1) you already have the spare parts you need
2) you live outside the US where Tivo is unavailable
3) you like spending lots of time getting stuff to work in Linux
4) you absolutely need the extra functionality that Tivo does not give (DVD burning, network capability etc.)
Otherwise, Tivo with the unlimited subscription is cheaper and less hassle.
I think this new type of DVD should be called DXXXD, cause you fit a lot of porn on one of those.
Uh, I think for the majority of Slashdot readers Sci/Tech gifts are as close to girlfriends as they have.
A warp drive that goes to 11.
Check This Out!
I don't think anyone really has to go freak out quite yet. On an average day I don't visit a whole lot of unknown and untrustworthy websites. The chances of the odd one actually putting the malicious code to use is small. If you see a link the one above - DONT GO TO IT!
When can I have my Dick Tracy phone-watch?
It's only been, what, 60 years since everyone has been waiting for it. We finally get something, and all it can do is graffiti? Sigh, the pace of evolution is slowing to a crawl...
From everything I've read, you only hear a difference in the more expensive players (ones that cost more than $1000). Sony has a lot of cheap SACD/DVD players now, but they don't show off what the format is capable of. Makes me kind of wonder if the whole SACD format is worthwhile because if it was significantly better, then any cheap player should be better than the msot expensive CD player.
That's rare. I've never seen that many cables come in clear in any semi-large city. It just doesn't happen. You're lucky if you get "watchable" reception on 4 channels. And at that you get your choice of NBC, CBS, PBS, and a spanish channel.
The only reason that I haven't bought Tivo is because of the service fee, and the absurd cost of Tivo if you get an unlimited service that is tied to the box, and not to the customer.
I've got WAY too many bills to pay per month already - phone, cell phone, TV, electricity, water, gas, isp, insurance, gym. I simply will not add another $15/mo just to add extra features to my TV watching abilities.
On top of that Tivo lost me as a potential customer because they have decided not take the leap into the 21st century.
1) If they had added a network interface to the boxes, and used the internet to do the scheduling updates rather than using an expensive phoneline service. That drops the cost of the service to near zero. Also the network capabilities could add a web interface, and backing up of recorded shows.
2) Build a DVD/CD burner into the box, and allow you to burn shows to disc and play them back on a computer etc. DVD burners and media are getting cheaper, so this is feasible.
Until ANY box can do these things for an affordable cost I'm staying away. I dislike being bound and gagged while watching a closed circuit box.
Honestly this doesn't sound like the kind of advertarticle that appeals to the Slashdot crowd. It's fairly simple to change background images, email settings and so on - I don't know anyone who's too lazy to do that. And I imagine many people around here do as I and use a fileserver to store their important information (who trusts their desktop computer?).
Really you expect anyone who's vagely interested in Doom3 isn't going to try it out? Yes, it's not an official demo like the Quake3 demo that I played for almost a year before the retail hit the stores. But it's pretty darned impressive (graphics, detail, and sounds), and well worth the download. From playing this alpha version, I've realized that my system is woefully inadequate to play this game smoothly (is anyone's?). Looks like I need to budget a complete new system within 1 year.
[sarcasm] I mean, it's not even an incremental improvement. It's a decrease in speed by an order of 1000. How is this supposed to improve upon current processors? I don't know. But I do know that I will not be lining up for a processor that is outdated by about 12 years. [/sarcasm]
Okay, full stop. Slashdot is the main spokesite against patents, digital rights, monopolies, and generally all the bad side effects of big business and capitalism. So now this news about 2 major players in a developing industry sector is heralded as a positive thing? I don't get it. Sure it's a free country and you can pick your philosophies, but it's just not right to change them at will depending on whether it's Monday or not.
You've brought up another question. Sure, every one refers to them as coasters - but really who actually uses them to sit drinks on? For me, AOL CD's go from my mailbox to my hand and then directly into the trash. I don't even use failed CDR's for putting drinks on. Who does this? Are there really people in the world that are either 1) too cheap to buy real coasters, 2) have no shame at all and prefer to use CD's than no coasters at all? I'd really like to know.
I definitely noticed things were slower here than usual. I had SSH failures, and very long page loads, and intermittant downtime. But we are up and running.
Better yet, could they:
Play an XBox game...
in an XBox emulator...
running in Win2000...
running within Linux.
Darwin, the BSD fork that OSX is built upon, is AFAIK developed openly and independently from the Aqua GUI. I have not tried it but you can download XFree86 for Darwin at osxgnu.org