This thread raises one of my ongoing pet peeves with the IPod and similar devices: the random number generators used for shuffle play tend to be very low quality. They tend to exhibit a substantial amount of serial correlation.
This is evident when you shuffle a group of approximately 2^n songs. There is a distinct tendency for the shuffle list to revisit specific parts of the song list at regular intervals. Thus, if you hear a song by a certain group or artist, there is a high probability that you will hear another song by the same artist/group shortly thereafter.
There are simple ways to reduce serial "non-random" behavior of pseudo-random generators in code (take a look at Numerical Recipes for a few good algorithms), but nobody seems to be aware of the problem: all pseudo-random generators are not created equal!
I had this box in Austin for 4 months or so, and it was such a piece of junk it singlehandedly convinced me to switch to satellite (DirecTiVo - a HUGE improvement).
Problems I encountered (in rough order of annoyance):
Loud chattering hard drive was constantly annoying - especially when NOT watching TV!
Unbelieveably obtuse interface modeled on existing crappy Scientific Atlanta program guide
Poor picture quality for analog channels
SLOW!
Nearly useless, duplicative, "record all episodes" feature (TiVo season pass is orders of magnitude superior)
Bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs! The fact that SA was too proud to put a reset button on the front panel is unforgivable.
Frankly, I expect technology to work (and as a software developer myself, I have little patience for products released with OBVIOUS software/firmware bugs). My life with this box was a teeth-grinding experience, and now that I have switched to satellite I will never look back.
I don't really blame Time Warner, per=se, for these problems, but rather their insistence on using Scientific Atlanta equipment. SA's attempts at manufacturing high-tech equipment have been laughable - they should have stopped with good-old analog cable boxes, which they actually knew how to make.
Remember, the equipment you get from the cable company was designed and manufactured to please the cable company (i.e. it's cheap), not you!
Of course, you can turn this argument around. If people don't mind paying taxes when they're convenient, then maybe "tax reform" should be focused on making taxes more convenient and fair, rather than tax cuts.
I boggles my mind that so many so-called "tax-reform" advocates seem bound and determined to repeat the fiscal mistakes of the early 1980s. It was only 20 years ago, for cripes sake - have we forgotten already.
The Texas Engineering Practice Act is and has always been a rediculous and excessive turf-grabbing boondogle benefiting the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.
I have a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas, but because I refused to be extorted to pay a fee and cram for the exam (which covers an archaic undergraduate curriculum which had little or nothing to do with my specialization), I can't legally call myself an engineer in this state.
If you want to license professional engineers, fine, then tell them to put "licensed professional engineer" on their business cards, but don't tell me I can't call myself an engineer. This is nothing but politics.
Such is the nature of innovation. True advances in human knowlege are virtually never made as a matter of consensus, and the more significant the advance, the more difficult it is to predict the consequences. Uncertainty is the price of progress.
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This thread raises one of my ongoing pet peeves with the IPod and similar devices: the random number generators used for shuffle play tend to be very low quality. They tend to exhibit a substantial amount of serial correlation.
This is evident when you shuffle a group of approximately 2^n songs. There is a distinct tendency for the shuffle list to revisit specific parts of the song list at regular intervals. Thus, if you hear a song by a certain group or artist, there is a high probability that you will hear another song by the same artist/group shortly thereafter.
There are simple ways to reduce serial "non-random" behavior of pseudo-random generators in code (take a look at Numerical Recipes for a few good algorithms), but nobody seems to be aware of the problem: all pseudo-random generators are not created equal!
Problems I encountered (in rough order of annoyance):
Frankly, I expect technology to work (and as a software developer myself, I have little patience for products released with OBVIOUS software/firmware bugs). My life with this box was a teeth-grinding experience, and now that I have switched to satellite I will never look back.
I don't really blame Time Warner, per=se, for these problems, but rather their insistence on using Scientific Atlanta equipment. SA's attempts at manufacturing high-tech equipment have been laughable - they should have stopped with good-old analog cable boxes, which they actually knew how to make.
Remember, the equipment you get from the cable company was designed and manufactured to please the cable company (i.e. it's cheap), not you!
Of course, you can turn this argument around. If people don't mind paying taxes when they're convenient, then maybe "tax reform" should be focused on making taxes more convenient and fair, rather than tax cuts.
I boggles my mind that so many so-called "tax-reform" advocates seem bound and determined to repeat the fiscal mistakes of the early 1980s. It was only 20 years ago, for cripes sake - have we forgotten already.
The Texas Engineering Practice Act is and has always been a rediculous and excessive turf-grabbing boondogle benefiting the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.
I have a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas, but because I refused to be extorted to pay a fee and cram for the exam (which covers an archaic undergraduate curriculum which had little or nothing to do with my specialization), I can't legally call myself an engineer in this state.
If you want to license professional engineers, fine, then tell them to put "licensed professional engineer" on their business cards, but don't tell me I can't call myself an engineer. This is nothing but politics.
Such is the nature of innovation. True advances in human knowlege are virtually never made as a matter of consensus, and the more significant the advance, the more difficult it is to predict the consequences. Uncertainty is the price of progress.