Everything costs more when it is first introduced and as costs fall and as uptake increases, prices are lower. This is shown to be true over and over and over in electronics/computers. If you want the latest technology, then yes, you will pay more for it. You can find deals on nearly anything if you look hard enough, as well.
I definitely agree that there is no substitute for raw data (and I'm an advanced amateur hobbyist photographer, so I deal with people asking how many megapixels they need -- and the first thing I ask is what they want to do with the images, so I've dealt with this before). Interpolation works to a point, but the fact that it's interpolated data is still going to be apparent -- how apparent depends on the individual viewer and the equipment being used, though.
I think most of the people who cannot see the difference are using smaller televisions (30" and less, I think, is roughly where you don't see as much of a difference). On a larger set, it's very clear that interpolated data is being used instead of raw source data.
I can't comment on the audio differences, as I'm deaf in one ear and mono sounds just like stereo to me, so I don't even own a surround system (I live alone for the moment; I'll only get one when I live with someone who can take advantage of it), but I definitely do prefer HD for the better resolution and color gamut of the picture.
Conspiracy-happy, are we? Seems like it to me, anyway.
It seems to me like you are saying that we should reject all advances in technology. If that were true we'd be looking at televisions with five-inch (round, even, sometimes) screens with terrible black-and-white picture with lousy sound that required cabinets the size of a dresser and had a long warm-up period before you could see anything. Or that we should still be using horses to get around. Or that we should still be using basic Wright-style propeller-driven airplanes.
Technology moves on. But innovation has a cost. That's the way things are. If you see conspiracy in something as basic as technical innovation, then you must see conspiracy in every facet of life.
I am not insulting you personally, please don't take it as such, but I just can't figure out that attitude.
Oh really? I don't know the guy so I can't vouch for or against him, but what are you basing "this total stranger is an idiot" broad insult on? I know that he writes camera reviews, and that the reviews are designed to be understandable to advanced amateurs, not just professionals. Maybe you aren't his target audience, but if that's the case, that doesn't make him an idiot.
Anything looks better in HD, provided it was shot with HD equipment and then properly processed to take advantage of that on home televisions. I won't go back to SD documentaries, either. The color gamut is significantly better in addition to better resolution.
Have fun watching your movies washed-out and blurry while I'm looking at a far-more true-to-reality picture that has far-better resolution and truer color.
You mean, after he reads the radioactive waste YOU post? If I post total shit, then what's the rest of Slashdot? I've gotten compliments on what I've written before, and you think it's shit? Ha, yeah right. Disagreement does not mean effluent.
The new xB is a little more rounded than its predecessor so that helps somewhat. Modern engines are more efficient than many think. The Honda Element, which is also pretty boxy (a good thing, in both cases, since you get more interior space in a smaller vehicle) is rated 20/25 mpg (automatic, which is better than the five-speed) by the US EPA, revised tests. That's better than you'd think given something that size and shape.
The gauges are not 100% accurate but are pretty close, and much more convenient than calculating by hand as I used to do.
My 2007 VW GTI does this. It's an instantaneous reading based on your current fuel flow. It's normal for it to show a very high number the moment you stop accelerating, because the engine isn't working to accelerate the car and has much less work to do to just maintain your speed. It still fluctuates somewhat even if you are just maintaining 55 -- less if you're climbing a hill (the engine kicks in harder to pull you up that hill and not slow down) and more if you're coasting down a hill (don't need to use much gas to maintain your speed when gravity does most of the work).
I've seen these come back in more vehicles and believe that if more drivers could see the effect their driving habits have on fuel economy, they'd be more likely to drive efficiently. I know my dad has done this after he started driving a car that had such a display.
I can also see a running average of the mileage I'm getting since last reset (I reset at each fillup) so I can see if, for example, varying octane levels do yield better mileage.
Please explain how job description also assures ignorance. There are ignorant people and clueful people in any job. What proof do you have that a given career equates to being able to automatically assume someone's cluefulness level about a give subject? If I told you what I do for a living, that would tell you absolutely nothing else about me, so how could you draw a conclusion that had any basis in reality?
If you don't understand what you are talking about, then you shut up until you do understand, you ask questions of people who do understand and let them explain things to you, or you let someone else do the talking. If you look like a fool, then you deserve what you get -- you had plenty of opportunity to make sure you didn't look like a fool.
You don't seem to comprehend what you have written. Think about what you write before you blame others for having reading comprehension.
You said that "He should of course take the blame for his actions". But you also said "If Stevens is convicted it will be a sad day."
Does not compute. If you are guilty of doing something wrong (I know he hasn't been actually convicted yet, but that's up for the juries/evidence to show), then YOU SHOULD BE CONVICTED.
Seems to me you're saying that if it's shown that he's guilty, he should get off.
My father is 75 years old. He can still transcribe FORTRAN from punch cards to a compiler (he's a scientist, so he's used FORTRAN for years). He recently asked me about installing Fedora Linux on his iMac via Parallels Desktop.
Age is not an automatic criteria for cluelessness.
They just raised it to $10 in my area, finally. I quit going to theaters when they did that and also cut the matinee hours beyond the times I was willing to go. They also cut the discounts out for those associated with universities. Combined with Gestapo-like surveillance tactics in which customers are treated like potential criminals, they've succeeeded in driving me to waiting for the blu-ray, which I can watch as I like without big brother watching me to make sure I'm not doing something they don't like.
I'm not a pirate, nor do I use camcorders in theaters, but I DO get offended at the assumption that I am.
Or wait til it hits DVD/blu-ray. Cheaper over the long run since you can watch it many times, more cost-effective these days if you want to bring someone with you or have them come to your house, your snacks made your way, your bathroom/phone/whatever breaks with pause button, perfect quality without added crap (I notice those dots too). Who needs theaters anymore? Many people have better sound systems than the theater does, these days, anyway. (I don't, but I'm deaf-since-birth in one ear so I just have a pair of stereo speakers with a built-in woofer/amp, as surround is lost on me).
They are not going to go after small groups of people who set up servers for their own use, like game groups using voice chat to coordinate actions (e.g. the Battlefield 2 group I'm in that has its own server for weekend games).
They are not going to go after people who just write software. They're not providing a thing.
And they have better things to do than chase hobbyists.
Switch your domain to Google Apps for email. It's the same gmail interface, but it's your domain. My email address is set up on Google Apps, because I like the gmail setup (and they backup my email, etc.), archiving, spam protection, etc. etc.
Seems to me like that's best of both worlds and would solve your problem. Plus, the basic version is free.
It's called a dead man's switch and is implemented in rail locomotives, for example. A horn sounds a tone at (probably) random intervals and you must press a button within a certain amount of time or the engine is throttled to idle. Previously, you had to keep your foot on a pedal at all times but it was defeated by just putting a brick on it.
The idea is that if you're dead, you can't hit the switch, so the train you're supposed to be controlling will stop rather than plow through a stop signal at some later time and hit something or go off the track.
There's times I do wish it wouldn't ring, though. Like at movie theaters. They should put a movie-theater mode that you could just leave on when you don't want to be bothered by it.
It's called the off switch or the vibrate mode. If it buzzes in your pocket, do have a care for the rest of the people in the theater and ignore it.
And yet, the people are demanding that it be removed or at least calmed down. If your rationalization for this happening is that "people demanded this", it falls flat because the people are demanding something that they are not getting. So "the people demand something" is not the reason for why things happen.
A great many Americans are crying out for the bullshit to stop and for respect for the customer, public, whatever you want to call them, to be restored.
Slashdot Mirror
Everything costs more when it is first introduced and as costs fall and as uptake increases, prices are lower. This is shown to be true over and over and over in electronics/computers. If you want the latest technology, then yes, you will pay more for it. You can find deals on nearly anything if you look hard enough, as well.
I definitely agree that there is no substitute for raw data (and I'm an advanced amateur hobbyist photographer, so I deal with people asking how many megapixels they need -- and the first thing I ask is what they want to do with the images, so I've dealt with this before). Interpolation works to a point, but the fact that it's interpolated data is still going to be apparent -- how apparent depends on the individual viewer and the equipment being used, though.
I think most of the people who cannot see the difference are using smaller televisions (30" and less, I think, is roughly where you don't see as much of a difference). On a larger set, it's very clear that interpolated data is being used instead of raw source data.
I can't comment on the audio differences, as I'm deaf in one ear and mono sounds just like stereo to me, so I don't even own a surround system (I live alone for the moment; I'll only get one when I live with someone who can take advantage of it), but I definitely do prefer HD for the better resolution and color gamut of the picture.
Conspiracy-happy, are we? Seems like it to me, anyway.
It seems to me like you are saying that we should reject all advances in technology. If that were true we'd be looking at televisions with five-inch (round, even, sometimes) screens with terrible black-and-white picture with lousy sound that required cabinets the size of a dresser and had a long warm-up period before you could see anything. Or that we should still be using horses to get around. Or that we should still be using basic Wright-style propeller-driven airplanes.
Technology moves on. But innovation has a cost. That's the way things are. If you see conspiracy in something as basic as technical innovation, then you must see conspiracy in every facet of life.
I am not insulting you personally, please don't take it as such, but I just can't figure out that attitude.
Oh really? I don't know the guy so I can't vouch for or against him, but what are you basing "this total stranger is an idiot" broad insult on? I know that he writes camera reviews, and that the reviews are designed to be understandable to advanced amateurs, not just professionals. Maybe you aren't his target audience, but if that's the case, that doesn't make him an idiot.
Anything looks better in HD, provided it was shot with HD equipment and then properly processed to take advantage of that on home televisions. I won't go back to SD documentaries, either. The color gamut is significantly better in addition to better resolution.
Have fun watching your movies washed-out and blurry while I'm looking at a far-more true-to-reality picture that has far-better resolution and truer color.
Then ... don't click! No one makes you do it.
Ah, a troll. I'm not going to waste my time on you and your bullshit assumptions and need to be smugly superior.
You mean, after he reads the radioactive waste YOU post? If I post total shit, then what's the rest of Slashdot? I've gotten compliments on what I've written before, and you think it's shit? Ha, yeah right. Disagreement does not mean effluent.
The new xB is a little more rounded than its predecessor so that helps somewhat. Modern engines are more efficient than many think. The Honda Element, which is also pretty boxy (a good thing, in both cases, since you get more interior space in a smaller vehicle) is rated 20/25 mpg (automatic, which is better than the five-speed) by the US EPA, revised tests. That's better than you'd think given something that size and shape.
The gauges are not 100% accurate but are pretty close, and much more convenient than calculating by hand as I used to do.
My 2007 VW GTI does this. It's an instantaneous reading based on your current fuel flow. It's normal for it to show a very high number the moment you stop accelerating, because the engine isn't working to accelerate the car and has much less work to do to just maintain your speed. It still fluctuates somewhat even if you are just maintaining 55 -- less if you're climbing a hill (the engine kicks in harder to pull you up that hill and not slow down) and more if you're coasting down a hill (don't need to use much gas to maintain your speed when gravity does most of the work).
I've seen these come back in more vehicles and believe that if more drivers could see the effect their driving habits have on fuel economy, they'd be more likely to drive efficiently. I know my dad has done this after he started driving a car that had such a display.
I can also see a running average of the mileage I'm getting since last reset (I reset at each fillup) so I can see if, for example, varying octane levels do yield better mileage.
Please explain how job description also assures ignorance. There are ignorant people and clueful people in any job. What proof do you have that a given career equates to being able to automatically assume someone's cluefulness level about a give subject? If I told you what I do for a living, that would tell you absolutely nothing else about me, so how could you draw a conclusion that had any basis in reality?
If you don't understand what you are talking about, then you shut up until you do understand, you ask questions of people who do understand and let them explain things to you, or you let someone else do the talking. If you look like a fool, then you deserve what you get -- you had plenty of opportunity to make sure you didn't look like a fool.
You don't seem to comprehend what you have written. Think about what you write before you blame others for having reading comprehension.
You said that "He should of course take the blame for his actions". But you also said "If Stevens is convicted it will be a sad day."
Does not compute. If you are guilty of doing something wrong (I know he hasn't been actually convicted yet, but that's up for the juries/evidence to show), then YOU SHOULD BE CONVICTED.
Seems to me you're saying that if it's shown that he's guilty, he should get off.
Seems to me you didn't comprehend your own post.
My father is 75 years old. He can still transcribe FORTRAN from punch cards to a compiler (he's a scientist, so he's used FORTRAN for years). He recently asked me about installing Fedora Linux on his iMac via Parallels Desktop.
Age is not an automatic criteria for cluelessness.
Excuse me, but why the hell is this comment a troll, fucknut?
They just raised it to $10 in my area, finally. I quit going to theaters when they did that and also cut the matinee hours beyond the times I was willing to go. They also cut the discounts out for those associated with universities. Combined with Gestapo-like surveillance tactics in which customers are treated like potential criminals, they've succeeeded in driving me to waiting for the blu-ray, which I can watch as I like without big brother watching me to make sure I'm not doing something they don't like.
I'm not a pirate, nor do I use camcorders in theaters, but I DO get offended at the assumption that I am.
Or wait til it hits DVD/blu-ray. Cheaper over the long run since you can watch it many times, more cost-effective these days if you want to bring someone with you or have them come to your house, your snacks made your way, your bathroom/phone/whatever breaks with pause button, perfect quality without added crap (I notice those dots too). Who needs theaters anymore? Many people have better sound systems than the theater does, these days, anyway. (I don't, but I'm deaf-since-birth in one ear so I just have a pair of stereo speakers with a built-in woofer/amp, as surround is lost on me).
They are not going to go after small groups of people who set up servers for their own use, like game groups using voice chat to coordinate actions (e.g. the Battlefield 2 group I'm in that has its own server for weekend games).
They are not going to go after people who just write software. They're not providing a thing.
And they have better things to do than chase hobbyists.
Switch your domain to Google Apps for email. It's the same gmail interface, but it's your domain. My email address is set up on Google Apps, because I like the gmail setup (and they backup my email, etc.), archiving, spam protection, etc. etc.
Seems to me like that's best of both worlds and would solve your problem. Plus, the basic version is free.
It's called a dead man's switch and is implemented in rail locomotives, for example. A horn sounds a tone at (probably) random intervals and you must press a button within a certain amount of time or the engine is throttled to idle. Previously, you had to keep your foot on a pedal at all times but it was defeated by just putting a brick on it.
The idea is that if you're dead, you can't hit the switch, so the train you're supposed to be controlling will stop rather than plow through a stop signal at some later time and hit something or go off the track.
Sadly, jokes like that don't work well due to all the morons out there. Oh well.
There's times I do wish it wouldn't ring, though. Like at movie theaters. They should put a movie-theater mode that you could just leave on when you don't want to be bothered by it.
It's called the off switch or the vibrate mode. If it buzzes in your pocket, do have a care for the rest of the people in the theater and ignore it.
And yet, the people are demanding that it be removed or at least calmed down. If your rationalization for this happening is that "people demanded this", it falls flat because the people are demanding something that they are not getting. So "the people demand something" is not the reason for why things happen.
A great many Americans are crying out for the bullshit to stop and for respect for the customer, public, whatever you want to call them, to be restored.
Where is the response to that?