In practice anything that involves waving your arms around, a la Minority report will be the fastest way to get tired arms ever invented. So that's the Reactable, Multi-touch and Microsoft surface out of the running. But then it all depends on the use case, doesn't it? Take the reactable. Modular synthesizers (the big old analog moog ones) are still the most elegant and enjoyable interfaces for synthetic sound design around, if you disregard their lack digital niceties (like say, memory). The benefit hands-on control over a host of parameters is why musicians and engineers like me shell out for the over-priced video game controllers passed off as "control interfaces" to control our audio software because having a big set of real knobs in front of you saves a million headaches over the mouse-and-keyboard approach. The Microsoft surface is an answer in search of a question because it doesn't offer a huge advantage over a traditional desktop. However for artists and musicians research in this area is great because it removes barriers to creativity. Don't get me wrong, the Reactable is certainly a toy, but I'd like to see where this kind of UI development goes in the future, say as a open control surface for 3rd party software.
AT&T doesn't have to do anything though - they just have to appear to be looking out for the media companies. Engaging in this kind of arms race against all p2p users in America? That's some pretty expensive PR IMO.
Gehry's a self absorbed wanker from LA. Water, ice, snow, and all the other issues one finds in the real world outside of the desert are probably the last thing on his mind. From a practicality standpoint, LA is a city that never should have been. He probably still wonders how his stolen tap water keeps magically reappearing every time he flushes the john.
All this discussion about the sound quality of vinyl versus CD is irrelevant. The real reason that vinyl has survived and will continue to survive is because you can _TOUCH_ IT! Do you really think that all those DJs are still spinning vinyl because of the "analog" richness of the sound quality? It's because vinyl has yet to be surpassed as the best performance medium of pre-recorded music. As long as new releases keep making it big in the clubs before the radio (which, thanks to the intricate relationship between DJs and record producers, there's no reason to think this will stop), every rap and dance tune will be pressed on vinyl. And if you're going to tell me that the overpriced jog wheels and buffers passed off as CD/MP3 "turntables" are any replacement, you obviously haven't played one. CDs are only used by two types of self-respecting DJs: small timers that can't afford the vinyl and have to download their tracks, and international DJs who don't want to cart around 50+ pounds of plastic on a trans-atlantic flight. And in a few years, even this crowd will be spinning off of thumb drives.
The DJ movement is the only reason for the continued existence of vinyl period. Tweed-wearing audiophiles make up such a small portion of the market for vinyl as to be irrelevant, and the focus on these geeks in this discussion is sadly telling of the Slashdot readership. And to the guy who said that vinyl is inferior because it sounds lousy at high volumes, call the infoline, make the trip, take two pills and call me in the morning!
FTA: "Kozicki says the process is like condensing a crystal from a solution, except that the process is almost infinitely reversible."
Remember that gargoyles episode where like half of australia gets covered in nano crystals? That's what your room looks like after a drive failure.
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IANAIL
Techno legend Ritchie Hawtin's custom Ableton controller: http://www.doepfer.de/Controller_Hawtin.htm
This is the kind of knee-jerk undisciplined quasi-religious thinking that makes me wonder why anyone takes Ayn Rand seriously anymore.
Gehry's a self absorbed wanker from LA. Water, ice, snow, and all the other issues one finds in the real world outside of the desert are probably the last thing on his mind. From a practicality standpoint, LA is a city that never should have been. He probably still wonders how his stolen tap water keeps magically reappearing every time he flushes the john.
All this discussion about the sound quality of vinyl versus CD is irrelevant. The real reason that vinyl has survived and will continue to survive is because you can _TOUCH_ IT! Do you really think that all those DJs are still spinning vinyl because of the "analog" richness of the sound quality? It's because vinyl has yet to be surpassed as the best performance medium of pre-recorded music. As long as new releases keep making it big in the clubs before the radio (which, thanks to the intricate relationship between DJs and record producers, there's no reason to think this will stop), every rap and dance tune will be pressed on vinyl. And if you're going to tell me that the overpriced jog wheels and buffers passed off as CD/MP3 "turntables" are any replacement, you obviously haven't played one. CDs are only used by two types of self-respecting DJs: small timers that can't afford the vinyl and have to download their tracks, and international DJs who don't want to cart around 50+ pounds of plastic on a trans-atlantic flight. And in a few years, even this crowd will be spinning off of thumb drives. The DJ movement is the only reason for the continued existence of vinyl period. Tweed-wearing audiophiles make up such a small portion of the market for vinyl as to be irrelevant, and the focus on these geeks in this discussion is sadly telling of the Slashdot readership. And to the guy who said that vinyl is inferior because it sounds lousy at high volumes, call the infoline, make the trip, take two pills and call me in the morning!
FTA: "Kozicki says the process is like condensing a crystal from a solution, except that the process is almost infinitely reversible." Remember that gargoyles episode where like half of australia gets covered in nano crystals? That's what your room looks like after a drive failure.