There's no difference between this and netflix, yet millions of people subscribe to that.
Actually, there is. You see, when people rent from Netflix they know they're renting... When they download music they assume that they get to keep it forever...
The difference is psychological, but it is extremely significant. I guarantee you that six months from now you'll see a huge amount of complaints from AOL users and other joe-sixpack type music downloaders about how they thought they could keep all of that music they downloaded from Napster...
You're 100% correct. I saw some of their new TV spots during the super bowl, and if you watch carefully, there is fine print at the bottom of the screen that says something like "Songs expire if you cancel your monthly membership"...
This will fail completely in the same way that Circuit City's Divx fiasco failed. People have proven time and time again that they don't want their media to expire. When they buy something, they want to OWN it, not just rent it until MegaMediaCorp decides they want it back.
Also, because there is no iPod support they are only able to sell to the less than 10% of the HD marketplace that isn't iPod and supports Microsoft DRM.
So, to break it down for you:
Lame product... check!
No target market... check!
Draconian DRM... check!
Their marketing department must all have MBAs from the Prestigious University of dot.Bomb, class of 2001...
MPlayer is damn fast, and runs native on OS X, even with Altivec support. Since I can playback HDTV material on my 1.66GHz AMD XP system, I believe the 1.42GHz version shouldn't have any problem playing back full-res HDTV in realtime, and perhaps on the slower version with some framedropping.
To be more precise, Apple hasn't opened up their API for hardware based MPEG playback, so third party applications are forced to use CPU power to decode the video. According to El Gato, it requires a PowerMac G5 to decode HDTV without dropping frames. If Apple wants to open up their APIs then playback on a Mac mini would become a non-issue, as the graphics card would be able to handle the heavy lifting.
I've lost count of the number of "mod your Mac Mini like this" stories that have been posted here in the last month. Most of them deal with increasing the power or expandibility. I find this kind of ironic, considering that the Mac Mini's market seems to be mostly people to which power and expandibility are definitely not primary considerations in a computer buying decision.
The simple fact of the matter is that the Mac mini is the first incarnation of hardware that will run OS X at a decent speed with quartz accelerated graphics at this price level, and many geeks like myself have been waiting for something like this to be within our price range. Now that it is affordable, and being the geeks that we are, we won't be satisfied until we are able to buy a $499 Mac mini, overclock it until it's running as fast as a dual PowerMac G5, and turn an entry-level system into the god-box we all would like to have... heheh....
The only thing that prevents the Mac mini from direct HDTV playback is that the processor speed is too slow (requires a G5 for that). If you want to add the final missing piece to your Mac mini enabled HDTV PVR setup, simply add a Roku Photobridge HD digital media player and you are in business.
I should note that the Mac mini can playback SD programming with no problem; it's only the HD programming that requires a little extra oomph... The cool thing about this is that currently, no Windows PC can touch the direct firewire recording capabilities of the Mac. DVHStool was originally written as a proof of concept to show how easy it was to manipulate digital video with the Mac, but it also shows how far behind Windows has become on Firewire. Let's not forget people, Apple invented IEEE1394, or Firewire, as it is more commonly known.
Did anyone watch the Daily Show where Jon Stewart was covering the Huygens probe and every time he said Huygens he said it like Professor Frink from the Simpsons? Huuuyyygens!!! Now whenever I see that word I immediately laugh:
Professor Frink teaching a kindergarten class, pushing one of those popcorn popper thingies with the colored balls inside:
Frink: "N'hey hey! Ahem, n'hey.... So the compression and expansion of the longitudinal waves cause the erratic oscillation -- you can see it there -- of the neighbouring particles."
[Girl raises hand]
Frink: Yes, what is it? What? What is it?"
Little Girl: "Can I play with it?"
Frink: "No, you can't play with it; you won't enjoy it on as many levels as I do.... Mm-hai bw-ha whoa-hoa. The colours, children! Mwa-ha-lee!"
And yet, for some reason, http://local.google.com isn't using the same maps. They are still using the same old tired ones they were using months ago when they launched the local service. I've got to hand it to Google, this new maps service is the best one by far, but what they really need to do is merge the two or else they will dilute each other's brand awareness. [/marketroid]
No shit... That article read like a bad babelfish translation of a chinese manufacturer's website... What kind of english is this? I know a lot about cutting edge P4 chipsets and PCI Express and I can't even decipher this:
TriGem use i915G Grantsdale-G for KLOSS and that affords the system on-board VGA from the GMA900 embedded into the MCH, PCI Express for graphics. Pairing i915G with ICH6 means Intel's new disk controller, PCI Express for peripherals to which TriGem attach a native PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller, HD Audio which feeds a CMI9880 8-channel audio CODEC and twin S/PDIF optical ports.
Erm, no. The warranty is never valid if YOU break it, only if it breaks because it's faulty. If YOU break it, it's insurance that comes to the rescue, maybe.:)
You're right, and I also think that removing soldered jumpers from the motherboard will definitely void your warranty.
First of all, the mac mini is cooled passively... It is designed to dispate the heat of what stuff Apple put in there.
Actually, the mac mini does have a small fan, which is off most of the time, but kicks on when you're doing CPU intensive work. If you clock the 1.25 up to 1.42, you might find that the fan kicks in more often, which might not be the best if you're using the mini in a setting where you want it to be quiet (like a media center).
Could be, or maybe they just don't want to get mugged. White iPod headphone do a great job of saying "I've got an expensive, easy to steal piece of electronics on me."
Yeah, because you just know there's a mugger around every corner on the Microsoft Campus...
You said: Also, there's the problem of attrition. Google is probably already going to be dealing with this issue soon, as many of their brightest engineers already have millions in stock options, but a company that has a lot of instant millionaires one day may end up with a lot of resignation letters the next.
From TFA:
The stock vests in monthly increments over four years, Brin said.
This is how they're dealing with attrition... The way a lot of companies with bright engineers do: They use the carrot and stick approach. Every year, you give your bright engineers another set of options that don't vest fully for another 4 years. That way, even if they want to quit, they won't do so for at least that long (who would be crazy enough to give up millions?) and hopefully they will mismanage the money the do get (end up in debt based on future vestings) and keep working there forever.
What does it mean that the "solaris install is done with a 32bit kernel"? If I download the released Solaris 10 and install it on AMD64, I get a 32-bit kernel? That makes no sense.
Wow, it seems like no matter what evidence he gives you, you don't want to believe that it really is 64-bit on x86-64. What this means is that the install CD boots with a 32-bit kernel (so install works on both x86-32 and x86-64), but after the install CD is removed and the system reboots, it will come up in full 64-bit mode, provided you have hardware support for it.
Ulrich Drepper posted this to the libc-alpha (Glibc) mailing list today. "Some people might have heard about Sun's release of the Solaris sources under their dubious license. This license is obviously intended to be incompatible with the GPL. Therefore:
Nobody who intends to contribute to glibc must look at anything but the public header files of the Solaris libc and related libraries.
As usual I see the FUD trolls are out in full force this morning. I'll bite...
In case you aren't already aware, there is a difference between OpenSolaris (free as in speech) and Solaris 10 (free as in beer). The first OS, OpenSolaris, is an open-source based OS. While the CDDL prohibits you from directly lifting code and releasing it under a GPL license, I've read the license agreement and I don't see anything that would taint a glibc developer. Obviously you shouldn't have Solaris libc code open in one Window and try to recreate functionality in glibc by reformatting things... that would be wrong, but if someone studied OpenSolaris at University, then went on to contribute to Linux later in life, I don't see any problem with that.
Having said all that, Solaris 10 is Sun's commercial version of Unix. The source code is NOT publically available, but Sun has decided to give it away (free as in beer).
So, if you're an open-source enthusiast, and want to compile everything from source, and possibly tweak your system or modify code, wait for OpenSolaris to be released. If you're more of a practical "I just want a solid commercial Unix that doesn't cost anything" type of guy, then download a free copy of Solaris 10 and be happy that Sun has decided to give it away.
Trust RedHat? More than Sun. All of RedHat's products are published under the GPL. The license is Free, as in speech. I can even download the SRPMS if I wish, without paying them a dime.
This is Free Software? OK, it's thier stuff, they can require me to do this, but I'm even less trusting of them than I was before.
Dude, they're giving you a free license to run it on as many computers as you want. All you have to do is type in a number in the blank when it asks you how many licenses you want for Intel, how many for Sparc, and they email you back a "Right to Use". How is this not free? Last I checked, a lot of free (as in beer) software required a registration. Take off your tinfoil hat and step away from the keyboard. The Sun police are not going to round you up and send you to jail...
From the email I just received after downloading a copy:
ENTITLEMENT for SOLARIS 10 3/05 OPERATING SYSTEM
THIS ENTITLEMENT EVIDENCES YOUR AUTHORIZED SCOPE OF USE UNDER THE TERMS OF THE SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THE SUN SOFTWARE INDICATED BELOW (THE SLA) UNLESS OTHERWISE AGREED IN WRITING BETWEEN YOU AND SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. (SUN). Capitalized terms not defined in this document have the meanings ascribed to them in the SLA. These terms will supersede any inconsistent or conflicting terms in the SLA.
Licensee/Company: Entity in receipt of Software from an authorized source Beginning Date of License Term: the date of receipt of this Entitlement Software: Solaris 10 3/05 Permitted Use: Commercial Use License Term: Perpetual (subject to termination under the SLA) Licensed Unit: Registered Computer System Licensed unit Count: Unlimited
Looking at the 17" model, it specifies the screen as having 1440x900. My Dell i8600 with WSXGA has a 15.4" screen (same display aspect ratio too) with 1680x1050. The 15" model has a 15.2" screen with 1280x854, if you want to compare as closely as possible. Is it just me or does Apple not seem to have the best deal here? Apple has been known as the machine to do graphics on but it doesn't lead the class as far as display resolution in a given area?
One thing that a lot of PC laptop users might understand is that smaller pixels is not always better. Apple sells to a lot of graphics and design professionals that are used to 100 dpi resolution, and that is the nice thing about Apple displays. They always maintain 100 dpi resolution across the board, no matter what size you buy. It's very important to note that a lot of applications (especially in Windows) don't scale fonts properly so viewing some things on a 14" screen that is 1600x1200 can be painful sometimes. I've marvelled at some of the Dell laptops that have very high resolution LCDs, but I don't think I'd want to work on one for an extended period of time. I think it would hurt my eyes after a while.
Now there's a nifty little way to do one's scrolling with the trackpad--use one finger, it's a pointing device; two, and it behaves like a scroll wheel. If it works as advertised, it'll be a far cry better than the "scroll zone" trackpad hacks out there today...
But the damn trackpad still only has one button!!!:-) [/sarcasm]
I was under the impression that theses films' 1.33:1 presentation used the full frame of the film, not pan and scan of the matted, and that the 1.85:1 presentation was correctly matted and framed. I thought that the lawsuit had to deal with MGM's suppliment explaining that the widescreen version had more visual information than the full frame (regardless of the correct information). I doubt that the avid online film community would have stood by as 300+ films were incorrectly framed; I mean a couple of shots in Back to the Future got messed up, and this was known before the dvd hit the street.
So I'm just curious, as a potential buyer of some of these films (I like Princess Bride, who doesn't?), should I buy the Full-screen version rather than the widescreen if I have a 4:3 television?
I think that's what you're implying, is that the full-screen version has more information than the widescreen version, because the films were filmed in 1.33 ratio and the widescreen versions are actually matted.
I'm just confused by all of this: I have a 4:3 television that can display 480P widescreen, so I usually buy the widescreen version, but in this case, it might actually be better to have the full-screen, unless I'm totally misunderstanding you.
Yeah, so you're PowerBook is still close to being one of the fastest ones today, over a year later? No wonder you are indifferent to the rumors. Here are the facts: Apple hasn't updated the powerbooks in over 8 months. 283 Days to be exact. The prices have also remained the same. They are LONG overdue for an update, hence all the rumors. Do you really think it's wise to buy a PB that's likely to be updated/price-reduced in a matter of weeks?
Well, that's the beauty of Apple products. Check eBay if you want confirmation, but even 3 year old TiBooks demand a great resale price. If you have to sell it tomorrow you can probably sell it for less than a hundred dollars from the price you bought it for.
Pray tell: how do you use an external mouse (wireless or wired) when sitting in a bus with the computer on your lap? Or while relaxing in the couch while using the computer? In situations like those (situations where you need a computer that is mobile ie. a laptop), external mouse is a humungous pain in the ass!
You don't, but most people can find a small table or some other flat surface to work on. It's pretty rare that you're actually trying to get serious work done on the commuter, although I have seen some attempt it on Metro North.
[Cue the sound of a million geeks with too much disposable income whipping out their credit cards all at once. Kaching!]
So we should expect new PowerBook G5s to be released when, next Tuesday?
[Fast forward to next Tuesday and cue the sound of a million geeks dissapointed as yet another Tuesday rolls by and no PowerBook G5s]
I learned not to believe the PowerBook G5 rumors in May of 2002 when everyone was convinced that Apple would simultaneously release PowerMac G5s and PowerBook G5s at WWDC. I realized then that more than half of the time the mac rumors sites are simply blowing smoke up your ass to drive up traffic to their websites.
Every time they resurrect that infamous "G5 PowerBooks next Tuesday" rumor hundreds of geeks start having wet dreams, just to get their hopes dashed when it never comes true.
I bought a 1.25 ghz. G4 PowerBook over a year ago and haven't looked back since... It's still fast enough for me today, so I don't think I would buy a G5 PowerBook if it were released today.
Moral of the story: Buy a G4 PowerBook now and forget about all the rumors.
The one button mouse, or rather glidepoint, drives her nuts. Not the glidepoint itself (she loves that), but the single button that forces her to memorize somekey+mouseclick to do basic things the rest of us do with the right mouse button and, in the case of us Linux/*BSD folks, the middle mouse button.
Tell her to buy one of these. It's a Bluetooth mouse, so as long as her PowerBook has built-in Bluetooth (mine does), she's set. It's got two buttons plus a scroll-wheel, and it's so tiny it can fit in the same pocket with my power adapter (I have one of those really tiny InCase laptop sleeves for my 15" PowerBook. The thing takes two AAA batteries, and has an on/off switch so that the batteries don't drain while it's not being used. It's kinda cheaply made (plasticy), but it's really useful, and I love not having to carry dongles around with me.
Slashdot Mirror
There's no difference between this and netflix, yet millions of people subscribe to that.
Actually, there is. You see, when people rent from Netflix they know they're renting... When they download music they assume that they get to keep it forever...
The difference is psychological, but it is extremely significant. I guarantee you that six months from now you'll see a huge amount of complaints from AOL users and other joe-sixpack type music downloaders about how they thought they could keep all of that music they downloaded from Napster...
Napster you have zero songs
You're 100% correct. I saw some of their new TV spots during the super bowl, and if you watch carefully, there is fine print at the bottom of the screen that says something like "Songs expire if you cancel your monthly membership"...
This will fail completely in the same way that Circuit City's Divx fiasco failed. People have proven time and time again that they don't want their media to expire. When they buy something, they want to OWN it, not just rent it until MegaMediaCorp decides they want it back.
Also, because there is no iPod support they are only able to sell to the less than 10% of the HD marketplace that isn't iPod and supports Microsoft DRM.
So, to break it down for you:
Lame product... check!
No target market... check!
Draconian DRM... check!
Their marketing department must all have MBAs from the Prestigious University of dot.Bomb, class of 2001...
I would just like to say... BAH!
MPlayer is damn fast, and runs native on OS X, even with Altivec support. Since I can playback HDTV material on my 1.66GHz AMD XP system, I believe the 1.42GHz version shouldn't have any problem playing back full-res HDTV in realtime, and perhaps on the slower version with some framedropping.
To be more precise, Apple hasn't opened up their API for hardware based MPEG playback, so third party applications are forced to use CPU power to decode the video. According to El Gato, it requires a PowerMac G5 to decode HDTV without dropping frames. If Apple wants to open up their APIs then playback on a Mac mini would become a non-issue, as the graphics card would be able to handle the heavy lifting.
I've lost count of the number of "mod your Mac Mini like this" stories that have been posted here in the last month. Most of them deal with increasing the power or expandibility. I find this kind of ironic, considering that the Mac Mini's market seems to be mostly people to which power and expandibility are definitely not primary considerations in a computer buying decision.
The simple fact of the matter is that the Mac mini is the first incarnation of hardware that will run OS X at a decent speed with quartz accelerated graphics at this price level, and many geeks like myself have been waiting for something like this to be within our price range. Now that it is affordable, and being the geeks that we are, we won't be satisfied until we are able to buy a $499 Mac mini, overclock it until it's running as fast as a dual PowerMac G5, and turn an entry-level system into the god-box we all would like to have... heheh....
Does that explain it for ya?
Perhaps some vendor like El Gato will even make a FireWire PVR/tuner solution WITH an integrated 3.5" drive bay, in the same type of case as Mac mini.
Actually, there are already some very good articles up on how to make your Mac mini into an HDTV PVR. Basically, you need an HDTV tuner with a firewire output. This can be had for about $5 a month from your cable company, or you can buy one for OTA (over the air) HDTV broadcasts here.
The only thing that prevents the Mac mini from direct HDTV playback is that the processor speed is too slow (requires a G5 for that). If you want to add the final missing piece to your Mac mini enabled HDTV PVR setup, simply add a Roku Photobridge HD digital media player and you are in business.
I should note that the Mac mini can playback SD programming with no problem; it's only the HD programming that requires a little extra oomph... The cool thing about this is that currently, no Windows PC can touch the direct firewire recording capabilities of the Mac. DVHStool was originally written as a proof of concept to show how easy it was to manipulate digital video with the Mac, but it also shows how far behind Windows has become on Firewire. Let's not forget people, Apple invented IEEE1394, or Firewire, as it is more commonly known.
Did anyone watch the Daily Show where Jon Stewart was covering the Huygens probe and every time he said Huygens he said it like Professor Frink from the Simpsons? Huuuyyygens!!! Now whenever I see that word I immediately laugh:
Professor Frink teaching a kindergarten class, pushing one of those popcorn popper thingies with the colored balls inside:
Frink: "N'hey hey! Ahem, n'hey.... So the compression and expansion of the longitudinal waves cause the erratic oscillation -- you can see it there -- of the neighbouring particles."
[Girl raises hand]
Frink: Yes, what is it? What? What is it?"
Little Girl: "Can I play with it?"
Frink: "No, you can't play with it; you won't enjoy it on as many levels as I do.... Mm-hai bw-ha whoa-hoa. The colours, children! Mwa-ha-lee!"
It already makes Local Search a lot more handy.
And yet, for some reason, http://local.google.com isn't using the same maps. They are still using the same old tired ones they were using months ago when they launched the local service. I've got to hand it to Google, this new maps service is the best one by far, but what they really need to do is merge the two or else they will dilute each other's brand awareness.
[/marketroid]
No shit... That article read like a bad babelfish translation of a chinese manufacturer's website... What kind of english is this? I know a lot about cutting edge P4 chipsets and PCI Express and I can't even decipher this:
TriGem use i915G Grantsdale-G for KLOSS and that affords the system on-board VGA from the GMA900 embedded into the MCH, PCI Express for graphics. Pairing i915G with ICH6 means Intel's new disk controller, PCI Express for peripherals to which TriGem attach a native PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller, HD Audio which feeds a CMI9880 8-channel audio CODEC and twin S/PDIF optical ports.
Or, you could get yours now for only $20 more...
PSP Playstation Portable.
Erm, no. The warranty is never valid if YOU break it, only if it breaks because it's faulty. If YOU break it, it's insurance that comes to the rescue, maybe. :)
You're right, and I also think that removing soldered jumpers from the motherboard will definitely void your warranty.
Did you see the size of the jumpers?!?!?! Crazy small...
First of all, the mac mini is cooled passively... It is designed to dispate the heat of what stuff Apple put in there.
Actually, the mac mini does have a small fan, which is off most of the time, but kicks on when you're doing CPU intensive work. If you clock the 1.25 up to 1.42, you might find that the fan kicks in more often, which might not be the best if you're using the mini in a setting where you want it to be quiet (like a media center).
Could be, or maybe they just don't want to get mugged. White iPod headphone do a great job of saying "I've got an expensive, easy to steal piece of electronics on me."
Yeah, because you just know there's a mugger around every corner on the Microsoft Campus...
You said: Also, there's the problem of attrition. Google is probably already going to be dealing with this issue soon, as many of their brightest engineers already have millions in stock options, but a company that has a lot of instant millionaires one day may end up with a lot of resignation letters the next.
From TFA:
The stock vests in monthly increments over four years, Brin said.
This is how they're dealing with attrition... The way a lot of companies with bright engineers do: They use the carrot and stick approach. Every year, you give your bright engineers another set of options that don't vest fully for another 4 years. That way, even if they want to quit, they won't do so for at least that long (who would be crazy enough to give up millions?) and hopefully they will mismanage the money the do get (end up in debt based on future vestings) and keep working there forever.
Still, that's a problem that I'd love to have.
What does it mean that the "solaris install is done with a 32bit kernel"? If I download the released Solaris 10 and install it on AMD64, I get a 32-bit kernel? That makes no sense.
Wow, it seems like no matter what evidence he gives you, you don't want to believe that it really is 64-bit on x86-64. What this means is that the install CD boots with a 32-bit kernel (so install works on both x86-32 and x86-64), but after the install CD is removed and the system reboots, it will come up in full 64-bit mode, provided you have hardware support for it.
Ulrich Drepper posted this to the libc-alpha (Glibc) mailing list today. "Some people might have heard about Sun's release of the Solaris sources under their dubious license. This license is obviously intended to be incompatible with the GPL. Therefore:
Nobody who intends to contribute to glibc must look at anything but the public header files of the Solaris libc and related libraries.
As usual I see the FUD trolls are out in full force this morning. I'll bite...
In case you aren't already aware, there is a difference between OpenSolaris (free as in speech) and Solaris 10 (free as in beer). The first OS, OpenSolaris, is an open-source based OS. While the CDDL prohibits you from directly lifting code and releasing it under a GPL license, I've read the license agreement and I don't see anything that would taint a glibc developer. Obviously you shouldn't have Solaris libc code open in one Window and try to recreate functionality in glibc by reformatting things... that would be wrong, but if someone studied OpenSolaris at University, then went on to contribute to Linux later in life, I don't see any problem with that.
Having said all that, Solaris 10 is Sun's commercial version of Unix. The source code is NOT publically available, but Sun has decided to give it away (free as in beer).
So, if you're an open-source enthusiast, and want to compile everything from source, and possibly tweak your system or modify code, wait for OpenSolaris to be released. If you're more of a practical "I just want a solid commercial Unix that doesn't cost anything" type of guy, then download a free copy of Solaris 10 and be happy that Sun has decided to give it away.
Trust RedHat? More than Sun. All of RedHat's products are published under the GPL. The license is Free, as in speech. I can even download the SRPMS if I wish, without paying them a dime.
My distro is so uber-leet... I can even download every package and compile it from source! Watching shit scroll by for hours makes me a Linux expert overnight!
This is Free Software? OK, it's thier stuff, they can require me to do this, but I'm even less trusting of them than I was before.
Dude, they're giving you a free license to run it on as many computers as you want. All you have to do is type in a number in the blank when it asks you how many licenses you want for Intel, how many for Sparc, and they email you back a "Right to Use". How is this not free? Last I checked, a lot of free (as in beer) software required a registration. Take off your tinfoil hat and step away from the keyboard. The Sun police are not going to round you up and send you to jail...
From the email I just received after downloading a copy:
ENTITLEMENT for
SOLARIS 10 3/05 OPERATING SYSTEM
THIS ENTITLEMENT EVIDENCES YOUR AUTHORIZED SCOPE OF USE UNDER THE TERMS OF THE SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THE SUN SOFTWARE INDICATED BELOW (THE SLA) UNLESS OTHERWISE AGREED IN WRITING BETWEEN YOU AND SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. (SUN). Capitalized terms not defined in this document have the meanings ascribed to them in the SLA. These terms will
supersede any inconsistent or conflicting terms in the SLA.
Licensee/Company: Entity in receipt of Software from an authorized source
Beginning Date of License Term: the date of receipt of this Entitlement
Software: Solaris 10 3/05
Permitted Use: Commercial Use
License Term: Perpetual (subject to termination under the SLA)
Licensed Unit: Registered Computer System
Licensed unit Count: Unlimited
Looking at the 17" model, it specifies the screen as having 1440x900. My Dell i8600 with WSXGA has a 15.4" screen (same display aspect ratio too) with 1680x1050. The 15" model has a 15.2" screen with 1280x854, if you want to compare as closely as possible. Is it just me or does Apple not seem to have the best deal here? Apple has been known as the machine to do graphics on but it doesn't lead the class as far as display resolution in a given area?
One thing that a lot of PC laptop users might understand is that smaller pixels is not always better. Apple sells to a lot of graphics and design professionals that are used to 100 dpi resolution, and that is the nice thing about Apple displays. They always maintain 100 dpi resolution across the board, no matter what size you buy. It's very important to note that a lot of applications (especially in Windows) don't scale fonts properly so viewing some things on a 14" screen that is 1600x1200 can be painful sometimes. I've marvelled at some of the Dell laptops that have very high resolution LCDs, but I don't think I'd want to work on one for an extended period of time. I think it would hurt my eyes after a while.
Now there's a nifty little way to do one's scrolling with the trackpad--use one finger, it's a pointing device; two, and it behaves like a scroll wheel. If it works as advertised, it'll be a far cry better than the "scroll zone" trackpad hacks out there today...
:-) [/sarcasm]
But the damn trackpad still only has one button!!!
I was under the impression that theses films' 1.33:1 presentation used the full frame of the film, not pan and scan of the matted, and that the 1.85:1 presentation was correctly matted and framed. I thought that the lawsuit had to deal with MGM's suppliment explaining that the widescreen version had more visual information than the full frame (regardless of the correct information). I doubt that the avid online film community would have stood by as 300+ films were incorrectly framed; I mean a couple of shots in Back to the Future got messed up, and this was known before the dvd hit the street.
So I'm just curious, as a potential buyer of some of these films (I like Princess Bride, who doesn't?), should I buy the Full-screen version rather than the widescreen if I have a 4:3 television?
I think that's what you're implying, is that the full-screen version has more information than the widescreen version, because the films were filmed in 1.33 ratio and the widescreen versions are actually matted.
I'm just confused by all of this: I have a 4:3 television that can display 480P widescreen, so I usually buy the widescreen version, but in this case, it might actually be better to have the full-screen, unless I'm totally misunderstanding you.
Thanks,
Yeah, so you're PowerBook is still close to being one of the fastest ones today, over a year later? No wonder you are indifferent to the rumors. Here are the facts: Apple hasn't updated the powerbooks in over 8 months. 283 Days to be exact. The prices have also remained the same. They are LONG overdue for an update, hence all the rumors. Do you really think it's wise to buy a PB that's likely to be updated/price-reduced in a matter of weeks?
Well, that's the beauty of Apple products. Check eBay if you want confirmation, but even 3 year old TiBooks demand a great resale price. If you have to sell it tomorrow you can probably sell it for less than a hundred dollars from the price you bought it for.
Pray tell: how do you use an external mouse (wireless or wired) when sitting in a bus with the computer on your lap? Or while relaxing in the couch while using the computer? In situations like those (situations where you need a computer that is mobile ie. a laptop), external mouse is a humungous pain in the ass!
You don't, but most people can find a small table or some other flat surface to work on. It's pretty rare that you're actually trying to get serious work done on the commuter, although I have seen some attempt it on Metro North.
[Cue the sound of a million geeks with too much disposable income whipping out their credit cards all at once. Kaching!]
So we should expect new PowerBook G5s to be released when, next Tuesday?
[Fast forward to next Tuesday and cue the sound of a million geeks dissapointed as yet another Tuesday rolls by and no PowerBook G5s]
I learned not to believe the PowerBook G5 rumors in May of 2002 when everyone was convinced that Apple would simultaneously release PowerMac G5s and PowerBook G5s at WWDC. I realized then that more than half of the time the mac rumors sites are simply blowing smoke up your ass to drive up traffic to their websites.
Every time they resurrect that infamous "G5 PowerBooks next Tuesday" rumor hundreds of geeks start having wet dreams, just to get their hopes dashed when it never comes true.
I bought a 1.25 ghz. G4 PowerBook over a year ago and haven't looked back since... It's still fast enough for me today, so I don't think I would buy a G5 PowerBook if it were released today.
Moral of the story: Buy a G4 PowerBook now and forget about all the rumors.
The one button mouse, or rather glidepoint, drives her nuts. Not the glidepoint itself (she loves that), but the single button that forces her to memorize somekey+mouseclick to do basic things the rest of us do with the right mouse button and, in the case of us Linux/*BSD folks, the middle mouse button.
Tell her to buy one of these. It's a Bluetooth mouse, so as long as her PowerBook has built-in Bluetooth (mine does), she's set. It's got two buttons plus a scroll-wheel, and it's so tiny it can fit in the same pocket with my power adapter (I have one of those really tiny InCase laptop sleeves for my 15" PowerBook. The thing takes two AAA batteries, and has an on/off switch so that the batteries don't drain while it's not being used. It's kinda cheaply made (plasticy), but it's really useful, and I love not having to carry dongles around with me.
I think you mean 59th floor apartment of the beast in your SIG.