Yeah, it was done in 1997, when I demonstrated HDTV content inside (64-bit-sized) Quicktime files, being streamed over IP-on-HIPPI. We (SGI) showed this at IBC that year, as well as at the next NAB.
We also showed RICE-encoded video (no-loss compression) on 100Mb ethernet.
We were serving it all from an O2000 with a big RAID array for the content. Not only did it play in streaming mode, but you could do frame-by-frame navigation and scrub.
A couple of video editing companies were using it in their products, and there was at least one competing network technology for the same result, as well.
It was all for sale. No one really wanted it then, either, and I doubt that many people want it now.
(BTW, the hard part about VOD isn't the network bandwidth, it's the disks.)
Once you've got something set up, check out www.unimobile.com for a fairly cool way of redirecting many of the messages. They have a WAP-enabled (HDML, too) site that lets you "log in" and handle your messages, or you can just receive SMS messages on most any phone in the world...
Let's see. The pager went off at 6am yesterday morning, and I was on another crisis (ha) call until 2230... 16.5 hours yesterday. Not a typical day, but not atypical, either. I'm usually up at 0700 checking for overnight crises and watching for them until 0000...
The worst part is that there's no break - not even weekends. I'm a developer, but our IT staff is so clueless that we end up running the system, too, so we're always "on call", even if not actually sitting at a machine hacking.
Last I checked, EInk's writing speed is *slow*. Not really suitable for frame rates. Dense LCDs have been around for at least 6 years; Xerox PARC had a set of gorgeous 200dpi units, b/w and color, around 1993. They tried to figure out how to manufacture them at a profit and failed (even with governmnet subsidy). (I also recall that they were seriously power hungry!)
A buddy of mine spent 3 months in Fiji about six years ago - he took his laptop and solar panels. Didn't have good comms, but that's not really what this article is about.
It's nice that someone is finally packaging the technology - certainly packaging and marketing are more than half the battle - but hyping it as something revolutionary is a bit over the top, no?
Some of us are old enough to remember when Unix (remember Unix?) V7 was an academic plaything... and then the first commercial license was negotiated. And then the first commercial product came out.
And then Uniforum, a trade show/trade organization for suits was born, and tried to steal the stage from Usenix, the (traditional) user's group.
A lot of lessons were learned in that era; perhaps we can avoid learning them again, the hard way.
It seems rather bogus that they're claiming CD quality audio - MP3 is nothing of the sort. It's compressed - and audibly so. It might well be that in a car environment you don't miss it, but what happened to truth in advertising?
The Sony MD's audio was "just as good" as a CD... then why didn't it succeed? For exactly the same reason - compressed audio isn't CD quality.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, it was done in 1997, when I demonstrated HDTV content inside (64-bit-sized) Quicktime files, being streamed over IP-on-HIPPI. We (SGI) showed this at IBC that year, as well as at the next NAB. We also showed RICE-encoded video (no-loss compression) on 100Mb ethernet. We were serving it all from an O2000 with a big RAID array for the content. Not only did it play in streaming mode, but you could do frame-by-frame navigation and scrub. A couple of video editing companies were using it in their products, and there was at least one competing network technology for the same result, as well. It was all for sale. No one really wanted it then, either, and I doubt that many people want it now. (BTW, the hard part about VOD isn't the network bandwidth, it's the disks.)
Once you've got something set up, check out www.unimobile.com for a fairly cool way of redirecting many of the messages. They have a WAP-enabled (HDML, too) site that lets you "log in" and handle your messages, or you can just receive SMS messages on most any phone in the world...
Let's see. The pager went off at 6am yesterday morning, and I was on another crisis (ha) call until 2230 ... 16.5 hours yesterday. Not a typical day, but not atypical, either. I'm usually up at 0700 checking for overnight crises and watching for them until 0000...
The worst part is that there's no break - not even weekends. I'm a developer, but our IT staff is so clueless that we end up running the system, too, so we're always "on call", even if not actually sitting at a machine hacking.
Last I checked, EInk's writing speed is *slow*. Not really suitable for frame rates. Dense LCDs have been around for at least 6 years; Xerox PARC had a set of gorgeous 200dpi units, b/w and color, around 1993. They tried to figure out how to manufacture them at a profit and failed (even with governmnet subsidy). (I also recall that they were seriously power hungry!)
Yup, the patent issued a while back and the first lawsuit was reported last week...
As I recall, that 1920x1120 (or some such weird number) for "native" HDTV broadcasts.
A *lot* of pixels.
A buddy of mine spent 3 months in Fiji about six years ago - he took his laptop and solar panels. Didn't have good comms, but that's not really what this article is about.
It's nice that someone is finally packaging the technology - certainly packaging and marketing are more than half the battle - but hyping it as something revolutionary is a bit over the top, no?
Some of us are old enough to remember when Unix ...
(remember Unix?) V7 was an academic plaything
and then the first commercial license was
negotiated. And then the first commercial product
came out.
And then Uniforum, a trade show/trade organization
for suits was born, and tried to steal the stage
from Usenix, the (traditional) user's group.
A lot of lessons were learned in that era; perhaps
we can avoid learning them again, the hard way.
It seems rather bogus that they're claiming CD quality audio - MP3 is nothing of the sort. It's compressed - and audibly so. It might well be that in a car environment you don't miss it, but what happened to truth in advertising?
... then why didn't it succeed? For exactly the same reason - compressed audio isn't CD quality.
The Sony MD's audio was "just as good" as a CD