(BTW- This story is a quasi-dup from December 2000)
How will people get the hard adapters that are necessary to use the discs? This might be a legitimate good use for AOL CD distribution: If FlexStorm could convince AOL to distribute the latest AOL software on FlexStorm CDs, including the adapters, a large chunk of the population would instantly be FlexStorm aware, and, more importantly, able to use FlexStorm discs. AOL CDs are available virtually everywhere for free, so even the more technically-inclined would have a ready source of FlexStorm adapters.
What goes around comes around. At least this time the implementation is a bit better. What am I talking about? Well...
In the late 1980's, there was a device called the Cauzin Softstrip Reader. As told in MacWorld Macintosh Secrets:
A softstrip was a one-inch-wide strip of printed computer dots, looking like the tire tracks from a [toy truck]. You'd buy a $250 Soft-Strip reader - something that looked like a footlong flourescent light bulb in a plastic hot dog bun - and place it carefully over the page where the strip was printed. Slowly, the Reader would turn the strip into about a 3k file on the Mac's disk.... The SoftStrip was heralded as the distribution method of the future!... MacUser began printing the Softstrips right in the magazine. Everyone waited. Publishers waited for people to begin buying the SoftStrip readers before publishing the Strips, and users waited for the Strips to be published before buying a Reader.
Needless to say, the device was slow and doomed, and perished not long after. Of course, we're not trying to distribute files this time around...
Want a way to go even farther, legally? Check out getting an Amateur Radio License. With it, you can legally transmit 1500 watts in the 2.4GHz frequency band, using whatever gain antenna you want. In addition, no FCC regulations are violated by modifying the WaveLAN card, provided you don't sell the card to anybody else. Just get an amp for the 2.4GHz band, or a dish antenna, and you're set.
Of course, you'd still have to deal with the curvature of the earth, but if you got the antenna high enough, you could have some serious distance.
Haha, good joke! I really liked it. However, you all should be aware that the message-interleaved-with-movie thing was done in turn of the century movies. Why? Profits. Imagine someone sitting in a movie theater, watching a movie. Every so often, a frame would display a picture of popcorn and other treats. Before long, the viewer would experience a subconscious craving for popcorn, to which he would respond by buying some. Now *that's* marketing! Cheers!
Slashdot Mirror
They managed to squeze one more in before the day was out. Check the domain name in the link: news.com.com ? That second .com is highly suspect...
Ah well. Reminds me of that SNL skit where the old folks get insurance against robot attacks.
(BTW- This story is a quasi-dup from December 2000)
How will people get the hard adapters that are necessary to use the discs? This might be a legitimate good use for AOL CD distribution: If FlexStorm could convince AOL to distribute the latest AOL software on FlexStorm CDs, including the adapters, a large chunk of the population would instantly be FlexStorm aware, and, more importantly, able to use FlexStorm discs. AOL CDs are available virtually everywhere for free, so even the more technically-inclined would have a ready source of FlexStorm adapters.
What goes around comes around. At least this time the implementation is a bit better. What am I talking about? Well...
... The SoftStrip was heralded as the distribution method of the future! ... MacUser began printing the Softstrips right in the magazine. Everyone waited. Publishers waited for people to begin buying the SoftStrip readers before publishing the Strips, and users waited for the Strips to be published before buying a Reader.
In the late 1980's, there was a device called the Cauzin Softstrip Reader. As told in MacWorld Macintosh Secrets:
A softstrip was a one-inch-wide strip of printed computer dots, looking like the tire tracks from a [toy truck]. You'd buy a $250 Soft-Strip reader - something that looked like a footlong flourescent light bulb in a plastic hot dog bun - and place it carefully over the page where the strip was printed. Slowly, the Reader would turn the strip into about a 3k file on the Mac's disk.
Needless to say, the device was slow and doomed, and perished not long after. Of course, we're not trying to distribute files this time around...
Want a way to go even farther, legally? Check out getting an Amateur Radio License. With it, you can legally transmit 1500 watts in the 2.4GHz frequency band, using whatever gain antenna you want. In addition, no FCC regulations are violated by modifying the WaveLAN card, provided you don't sell the card to anybody else. Just get an amp for the 2.4GHz band, or a dish antenna, and you're set.
Of course, you'd still have to deal with the curvature of the earth, but if you got the antenna high enough, you could have some serious distance.
Haha, good joke! I really liked it. However, you all should be aware that the message-interleaved-with-movie thing was done in turn of the century movies. Why? Profits. Imagine someone sitting in a movie theater, watching a movie. Every so often, a frame would display a picture of popcorn and other treats. Before long, the viewer would experience a subconscious craving for popcorn, to which he would respond by buying some. Now *that's* marketing! Cheers!