For the last several months, one of these machines has been my MythTV frontend, after a bad power supply blew up my Shuttle SK41G machine. Bought it at Fry's for cheap. It's a nice little machine.. but of course I needed to add a few things to make it work as a multimedia system. Specifically, an Nvidia card was slapped in for its drivers and for the svideo capabilities. And my cheap SB Live card provides the digital sound. Using Alsa (ugg..) is always hit or miss, but fortunately it works pretty well with that sound card. I couldn't say the same getting it to work with the built-in sound on the Shuttle. Sure, generic sound worked, but not AC3 passthrough.
The biggest benefit was that this case really is very quiet! It only ever revs up when the CPU is really cranking, and even then it's still not bad. Otherwise, it's far quieter than any Shuttle box I've ever had, even the ones that trumpeted their heat pipe design.
I do miss not having firewire though. I needed to buy a USB2 cable for my iPod..
Also, I guess it has the benefit of making teams fight for every point... maybe we could use that here.
It has its ups and downs.
One of the downs is that you can feel bad for you team even though they "won." The other is that it encourages total domination, running up the score, doing your best to humiliate the other side, even if the coach is a friend or relative.. etc.
Recession started in 2001. Stock market didn't cause the recession, and neither did 9/11, it was because Greenspan raised interest rates.
No, the recession started in early 2000 with the tech bubble implosion. It was well underway by the recession. Strangely, the VCs were sick of losing tons of money on companies that never paid off.
Japanese Anime seems to have much more universal appeal these days. But then, I'm living in Japan, so I'm kinda biased;)
When I first saw Spirited Away, so many reviewers were saying "Ok, this is it! This is going to be the anime movie that finally crosses over into American mainstream. Then I saw the movie, and knew it wouldn't happen. Why? Because the movie was extremely Japanese. Don't get me wrong, it was excellent. But I knew that American audiences wouldn't be able to get into it because it is very foreign in many respects. Beautiful story, but universal appeal?
The game record only depends on who has the most points at the end of the game, but there's another system used that determines what teams go to the prestige bowl games. That score is calculated not only by record, but by schedule strength, whether weaker teams were defeated by a wide or slim margin, and so forth. If Arkansas had a record of 6-1 and Nebraska had a record of 7-0, then Arkansas could be ranked higher if its loss was to a top-ranked school and Nebraska had an easy schedule, even though Nebraska had a better win-loss record.
especially if Bush wins, as it is then clearly a perverted, rigged election.
If Bush wins, it was because the election was rigged? Do you seriously think that Bush doesn't have support from the people of the US? Just where do you live?
Agreed, although even better is to have a NAT/firewall device for your internet connection. I'm not a fan of having a local "personal" firewall on a n00bs PC, as n00bs have a habit of screwing things up, and this includes screwing up their firewall software. If your firewall functionality is sitting in a little NAT box in the the corner then they are not gonna accidently screw it up. Also, personal firewalls such as ZoneAlarm can also suffer from the "yes click reflex" problem.
"Why can't I play FanFooFighters 2004 online with my friends?"
"Sorry, your firewall is blocking all those incoming packets, and the game isn't compatible with NAT."
I can see that firewall going by the wayside quickly. The game industry as a whole needs to get its act together regarding the ability of games to play behind firewalls and NAT. Some games embed IP addresses inside their network protocol, making it nearly impossible to play them from within a NATed environment.
That's why gamers have "real" Internet Addresses. If you don't have one on your PC, it's probably because you stuck a firewall in the way yourself. If you stuck a firewall in the way, then configure the DMZ or port forwarding.
As long as the gaming machine itself has the "real" Internet address, then it should be fine. If it has a 10.* or 192.168.* address though, many games won't work, as their network protocol embeds what the machine thinks its IP address is in the stream sent back to the other machine, and that address gets used instead. (What a truly stupid idea...) For many games you should be just fine, but a number of them simply weren't designed for a NATed setup.
It solved the problem at hand, which was to stop handing out valuable IPs to machines that didn't need it.
The problem is a lot of people who are currently NATed do need "real" Internet addresses. If you play games over the Internet a fair amount you'll see why NAT is not the solution to not having enough addresses. For gamers, it's a terrible solution.
He always was. There's been an Internet2 for a long time. And 'internet' refers to a network of computers, "The Internet" refers to the global internet we love.
But then, in "Return of the Jedi," Lucas takes this basic wisdom and perverts it, saying -- "If you get angry -- even at injustice and murder -- it will automatically and immediately transform you into an unalloyedly evil person! All of your opinions and political beliefs will suddenly and magically reverse. Every loyalty will be forsaken and your friends won't be able to draw you back. You will instantly join your sworn enemy as his close pal or apprentice. All because you let yourself get angry at his crimes."
I disagree with David's interpretation here fairly strongly. It's been some time since I've last seen the movies, but my recollection was not that anger and hatred simply switched you over to the dark side, but that acting through it hurt you as well as the ones that you strike down. The emperor was pleased that he could feel hatred inside Luke, but did that instantly make Luke evil? No.. the emperor was constantly urging him to follow that hatred, to be spurned to violence because of it. Essentially to let that fear and hatred become dominant in him. That might not instantly turn him into the next Vader, as Anakin's off-screen killing spree didn't suddenly switch all his allegiances either.. but the idea is that such actions from those motivations damage the spirit, making it the next time even easier. A slippery slope arguement.
There are a number of ideas that David scoffs at that are fundamentally Christian too.. the idea that a good action for the wrong reasons is still damaging, the idea that even the worst of people can find complete redemption if he truly wishes to change, to come to the light. These are hardly "evil" ideas, and David goes a little overboard in his desire to paint Lucas as a villain for the ideas of Star Wars.
This is something I see all the time. You are confused. Separation of church and state, does not mean that state can not make reference to, or imply that others worship in a church.
That's fine, yet the pledge of allegiance is a national oath, which now includes a belief in God as part of that oath. That's not acknowledging most Americans believe in God, it's an insistance, crossing into the territory of national establishment of religion, which was the intention of its introduction. The Under God clause was intended specifically to establish the US as a Christian state to fight those athiest communists. In God We Trust on currency is something that even Christians should fight. Putting God on money is very sacraligious.
Great. So we elect a democrat instead and we'll get the situations where no individual or small groups win cases which would reduce the control, power, or profitability of entertainment companies.
Ok, so the taiwanesian engeneers do not fiddle around with all that, just to crack some keys... they just build a legacy computer right from the scratch, without hardware support for TC.
It might be illeagl to buy such a computer in the US, but who cares... hey, it's just the US and not the entire world.
Except the US has the habit of exporting its copyright/tech laws to other countries. The EU in particular shows a disgusting eagerness to make their own versions of US laws to "harmonize."
Now, black and hispanic people are much more likely to be poor than white people. (How oriental people factor in I don't know. They just seem to value education more, so they'll make sure the kid does well even at a crappy school, and they'll go without food to pay for college.)
Hmm. So does that mean if black and hispanic communities valued education more that they would have a greater representation in college? And wouldn't that then imply that it's not white man racism that keeps them from getting ahead, but rather their own community attitudes?
It is very clear in our Constitution that the author retains exclusive rights which means he can charge however much he wants to for others to use it.
Yes, that's right, this is infringement, not stealing. An infringement of the artists' rights. That's why it's called copyright infringement.
Money is not the issue. Don't try to justify your criminal actions by saying that someone else has too much money.
You're putting words in my mouth. I never said I was a trader any in my original post said that it was wrong. I believe infringement and stealing are different though, and treating them as if they were the same crime is wrong.
If shoplifting a CD from a music store is a crime, then why wasn't stealing a copy of that CD off the internet not a crime?
Because when you steal something, you're taking something away from another person. What is stolen when you download a song off the Internet? The song itself? No, the original sharer and the music companies still have their copies. Money? The artists and recording industry have the same amount either way. What is lost is "potential revenue." This is why copyright infringement and stealing are seen as different and treated differently in US law. That's a distinction that the recording and movie industries have tried very very hard to erase, in both law and the minds of the average person. After all "copyright infringement" isn't something the average Joe really thinks about or cares about. But stealing? Hey, no one likes a thief.
It's not stealing. It may still be wrong, but it's not stealing.
Don't be ashamed of taking the easy route. After having experienced each of these solutions, a simple PVR like a $70 DSR704 by Phillips is superior to any PC based solution.
Mmmm, them's fightin' words!:) But I will say the price is right. Comments on specific items:
- auto recording using your "thumbs up/down" buttons based on genre, actors, category, etc.
That is a cute feature, though I have no interest in it myself.. I don't watch that much TV and there is a lot that's on that I already like to see. It would be better for folks who are bored watching what they have and want something spontanious and new.
- the ability to record two different shows at once while watching one of them, or to watch one channel while recording on another
So I can slap in another tuner in my box, MythTV supports multiple tuners. I don't particularly care again, but the option is there.
- no loss in quality since the raw digital signal is recorded
At 1G/hour? That's pretty crappy quality right there. Are you talking about super-compressed-digital or analog cable? And if you're talking digital, which provider?
The people who say MythTV or Media Edition are "better" solutions likely do not use their setups in a living room with a wife and kids around; or they are not taking into account the household's ability to manage the system. With a Tivo, all you need is a remote and if there is a problem you press one button to nuke and pave the system to start over from scratch.
On my myth frontend, all I do is turn on the TV and use my remote. Pretty easy.
On the issue of DRM, I can only say that DRM is there to protect the people who make the shows you so want to record. If you want every episode of The Family Guy without commercials and in perfect quality, I would suggest purchasing it on DVD and not cry about DRM on a recording device. If you are going to steal things, then go ahead, but again, circumvent the DRM using information obtained on Google and don't come crying to/. about it.:)
The problem with DRM is there is that you can't prohibit piracy without obliterating fair use at the same time.
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The biggest benefit was that this case really is very quiet! It only ever revs up when the CPU is really cranking, and even then it's still not bad. Otherwise, it's far quieter than any Shuttle box I've ever had, even the ones that trumpeted their heat pipe design.
I do miss not having firewire though. I needed to buy a USB2 cable for my iPod..
It has its ups and downs.
One of the downs is that you can feel bad for you team even though they "won." The other is that it encourages total domination, running up the score, doing your best to humiliate the other side, even if the coach is a friend or relative.. etc.
A post just saying "vote my candidate" shouldn't be modded down, it just doesn't deserve to be modded up.
No, the recession started in early 2000 with the tech bubble implosion. It was well underway by the recession. Strangely, the VCs were sick of losing tons of money on companies that never paid off.
Don't forget Casshern too!
"Polar Express" is using basically the same technique used to animate Gollum in LotR, only they're using it for the entire movie.
Almost, but not quite. They're using half of the procedure used to create Gollum.
MoCap + animation = Gollum
MoCap + uh.. just mocap = Polar Express.
No, it's made for families, not just kids. Important distinction. Family entertainment anyone can enjoy.
When I first saw Spirited Away, so many reviewers were saying "Ok, this is it! This is going to be the anime movie that finally crosses over into American mainstream. Then I saw the movie, and knew it wouldn't happen. Why? Because the movie was extremely Japanese. Don't get me wrong, it was excellent. But I knew that American audiences wouldn't be able to get into it because it is very foreign in many respects. Beautiful story, but universal appeal?
Unless you're playing college football!
If Bush wins, it was because the election was rigged? Do you seriously think that Bush doesn't have support from the people of the US? Just where do you live?
"Why can't I play FanFooFighters 2004 online with my friends?"
"Sorry, your firewall is blocking all those incoming packets, and the game isn't compatible with NAT."
I can see that firewall going by the wayside quickly. The game industry as a whole needs to get its act together regarding the ability of games to play behind firewalls and NAT. Some games embed IP addresses inside their network protocol, making it nearly impossible to play them from within a NATed environment.
That's why gamers have "real" Internet Addresses. If you don't have one on your PC, it's probably because you stuck a firewall in the way yourself. If you stuck a firewall in the way, then configure the DMZ or port forwarding.
As long as the gaming machine itself has the "real" Internet address, then it should be fine. If it has a 10.* or 192.168.* address though, many games won't work, as their network protocol embeds what the machine thinks its IP address is in the stream sent back to the other machine, and that address gets used instead. (What a truly stupid idea...) For many games you should be just fine, but a number of them simply weren't designed for a NATed setup.
The problem is a lot of people who are currently NATed do need "real" Internet addresses. If you play games over the Internet a fair amount you'll see why NAT is not the solution to not having enough addresses. For gamers, it's a terrible solution.
I disagree with David's interpretation here fairly strongly. It's been some time since I've last seen the movies, but my recollection was not that anger and hatred simply switched you over to the dark side, but that acting through it hurt you as well as the ones that you strike down. The emperor was pleased that he could feel hatred inside Luke, but did that instantly make Luke evil? No.. the emperor was constantly urging him to follow that hatred, to be spurned to violence because of it. Essentially to let that fear and hatred become dominant in him. That might not instantly turn him into the next Vader, as Anakin's off-screen killing spree didn't suddenly switch all his allegiances either.. but the idea is that such actions from those motivations damage the spirit, making it the next time even easier. A slippery slope arguement.
There are a number of ideas that David scoffs at that are fundamentally Christian too.. the idea that a good action for the wrong reasons is still damaging, the idea that even the worst of people can find complete redemption if he truly wishes to change, to come to the light. These are hardly "evil" ideas, and David goes a little overboard in his desire to paint Lucas as a villain for the ideas of Star Wars.
That's fine, yet the pledge of allegiance is a national oath, which now includes a belief in God as part of that oath. That's not acknowledging most Americans believe in God, it's an insistance, crossing into the territory of national establishment of religion, which was the intention of its introduction. The Under God clause was intended specifically to establish the US as a Christian state to fight those athiest communists. In God We Trust on currency is something that even Christians should fight. Putting God on money is very sacraligious.
Geez. What if it gets in their eyes?
Nothing is ever truly -destroyed-.
It might be illeagl to buy such a computer in the US, but who cares ... hey, it's just the US and not the entire world.
Except the US has the habit of exporting its copyright/tech laws to other countries. The EU in particular shows a disgusting eagerness to make their own versions of US laws to "harmonize."
Hmm. So does that mean if black and hispanic communities valued education more that they would have a greater representation in college? And wouldn't that then imply that it's not white man racism that keeps them from getting ahead, but rather their own community attitudes?
Yes, that's right, this is infringement, not stealing. An infringement of the artists' rights. That's why it's called copyright infringement.
Money is not the issue. Don't try to justify your criminal actions by saying that someone else has too much money.
You're putting words in my mouth. I never said I was a trader any in my original post said that it was wrong. I believe infringement and stealing are different though, and treating them as if they were the same crime is wrong.
Because when you steal something, you're taking something away from another person. What is stolen when you download a song off the Internet? The song itself? No, the original sharer and the music companies still have their copies. Money? The artists and recording industry have the same amount either way. What is lost is "potential revenue." This is why copyright infringement and stealing are seen as different and treated differently in US law. That's a distinction that the recording and movie industries have tried very very hard to erase, in both law and the minds of the average person. After all "copyright infringement" isn't something the average Joe really thinks about or cares about. But stealing? Hey, no one likes a thief.
It's not stealing. It may still be wrong, but it's not stealing.
Mmmm, them's fightin' words! :) But I will say the price is right. Comments on specific items:
- auto recording using your "thumbs up/down" buttons based on genre, actors, category, etc.
That is a cute feature, though I have no interest in it myself.. I don't watch that much TV and there is a lot that's on that I already like to see. It would be better for folks who are bored watching what they have and want something spontanious and new.
- the ability to record two different shows at once while watching one of them, or to watch one channel while recording on another
So I can slap in another tuner in my box, MythTV supports multiple tuners. I don't particularly care again, but the option is there.
- no loss in quality since the raw digital signal is recorded
At 1G/hour? That's pretty crappy quality right there. Are you talking about super-compressed-digital or analog cable? And if you're talking digital, which provider?
The people who say MythTV or Media Edition are "better" solutions likely do not use their setups in a living room with a wife and kids around; or they are not taking into account the household's ability to manage the system. With a Tivo, all you need is a remote and if there is a problem you press one button to nuke and pave the system to start over from scratch.
On my myth frontend, all I do is turn on the TV and use my remote. Pretty easy.
On the issue of DRM, I can only say that DRM is there to protect the people who make the shows you so want to record. If you want every episode of The Family Guy without commercials and in perfect quality, I would suggest purchasing it on DVD and not cry about DRM on a recording device. If you are going to steal things, then go ahead, but again, circumvent the DRM using information obtained on Google and don't come crying to /. about it. :)
The problem with DRM is there is that you can't prohibit piracy without obliterating fair use at the same time.