Regarding Atwood - presumably this isn't based on the excerpt given in the article, since I'd class that as pretty bad writing. Maybe it seems better if it's not taken out of the book...
As for King, we'll just have to agree to differ, I think.;-)
For toasters or VCRs, maybe it's not a problem. For companies doing things like cable/satellite boxes, it is a problem - they really really don't want to have to release code, for a whole variety of reasons. Even mention releasing code to places like DirecTV and they'll start to hyper-ventilate.:-)
In particular, one of the companies in this market doesn't even give source code to people developing products with them, just a binary library. Makes it... interesting to debug.
While this is true - from memory, the capital investment is easily over $1B, and could be 2 - there are foundries around which will do runs for you. Obviously you get better prices with larger volume, but some kind of agreement is bound to be possible.
That's because anti-virus software cannot detect a virus if it doesn't have a virus definition, so there is the possibility of being infected by a new virus, even if you are running anti-virus software continuously.
While this is true, it's vastly more likely that you're going to be receiving an existing virus that the software does know about than one which it doesn't, especially given the frequency of AV updates these days. Obviously each to their own, but I find that running one is worthwhile.
You also forgot to mention that the series of protocols designed for firewire also allow guaranteed delivery of time-sensitive data. You can reserve a portion of that 400 Mbsp bandwidth for video so you don't drop frame.
Just to note that you can also do that with USB 2, if you have an isochronous device.
The problem, as I understand it, is finding an isochronous device...
PVR stands for 'Personal Video Recorder'. It's basically just the idea of letting your set-top box or whatever do timeshifting, picking program it thinks you'd like, etc.
However, as the subject says, PVR has now apparently been trademarked by Tivo. I think everyone else is now moving to DVR (Digital VR) instead, to avoid problems...
The DVR boxes don't do recompression. Usually the incoming stream just gets laid down on disk - either as raw transport data or as packetised data - and it's just replayed later.
> You need more than one tuner, if you want to watch > one program while recording another
This isn't necessarily true - it depends whether the program you want to watch is on the same mux as the channel you want to record. If they are, then one is enough.
What annoys me even more are these virus scanners that "remove" the virus (still may have an executable attached), but go ahead and pass on the email to the "lucky" user.
Our work scanner goes one better - not only does it pass on the text of the email (but with the virus removed), it also sends me a second email saying "I removed a virus". Just what I wanted, thanks...
No idea what it sends back to the originator, though.
>But the idea isn't to make money off of selling the >hardware, it's to make money off of selling the >software.
As far as I'm aware, the plan for most console companies is that the *first* set of consoles lose money on the hardware, since it's new to make, yield is low, etc. By the time it gets more popular, they've done a die shrink, they know how to make it so yield is better, they have a better process etc. - and suddenly, while they're not raking it in, they do also make money from the consoles.
Microsoft misjudged this slightly. Their box consists of chips which are already mostly commodity items, so the price isn't dropping particularly quickly, and certainly not fast enough to make the previous strategy easy.
>Although end-users prefer not to purchase ebooks >protected with DRM (Digital Rights Management), >publishers are certainly interested in the DRM >capability of the universal ebook format.
So although people would prefer not to buy books with this stuff, we're going to put it in there anyway. Whatever happened to listening to your customers?
A Belgian prosecuter recently initiated "war crimes" proceedings against U.S. General Tommy Franks, for events that occured in the Iraq war.
I haven't heard anything about that one - have you got a link to a newspaper report or something I can read? (Not that I'm doubting you, I'm just curious)
Ah; didn't realise he was in that position. In that case, the interview seems a bit more reasonable.:-)
Didn't really have any questions in specific, I just expected somewhat more than there was there - like I said, reading it I got the feeling you do when somewhere just republishes a press release.
As for the Slashdot interview, that's a good idea; submit it to... er, whoever queues them up...
After reading it, I get the feeling this wasn't really so much an interview, more a commercial plug masquerading as an interview. We found out very little except that NetBSD can apparently be ported very easily, and Wasabi apparently has a variety of clients and products.
Maybe for the next interview they'll pick someone who can talk about some actual details. Might be more interesting.
>Lets look to the average user. How often is John Q >Public going to need the eBook they are reading on >their home PC, their PDA, their travelling laptop >and their work PC all at once?
Simultaneously, you shouldn't. However, if you don't let people keep copies on all of them, then you have to make sure to move anything you *might* want to read onto (say) your laptop, if you're going on a business trip. You've just removed one of the big gains of an electronic version.
You've said yourself, just now, that you don't do what you want DRM to enforce. Shouldn't that tell you something?
True, that was something useful. However, I don't really regard one crumb of information like that as being full justification for saying "it reeks" and so on. I expect more reasons for my money, dammit.:-)
Privately owned in the sense of not belonging to the government, yes.
However (from memory) the Guardian is owned by a trust specifically set up for running the paper. I don't remember about the Independent, but I think a similar arrangement exists there too.
WRT other ones like the Times, Telegraph, Mail etc. though, those are pretty much owned by individuals. Often with an axe to grind.
That's beside the point. "Spam" refers to delivery-style, *not* content. I treat the porn spam, the "legit" spam (if you were that legit why send the mails?), and bulk-mail that people thought was just a good idea at the time all the same way, because it was all *delivered* the same way.
The sooner we can get it through peoples heads that just because they're excited about an opportunity, we might not (and probably don't) want to hear about it the better.
Slashdot Mirror
You mean it's deliberately clunky and awkward? Explain to me again why I should read this book? :-)
Regarding Atwood - presumably this isn't based on the excerpt given in the article, since I'd class that as pretty bad writing. Maybe it seems better if it's not taken out of the book...
;-)
As for King, we'll just have to agree to differ, I think.
>Do you think she put those applications into the
>menu HERSELF? If not, how did they get there? She
>said she just installed the Fedora RPMs.
Er... wouldn't that make Fedora responsible for the excess stuff, rather than KDE?
For toasters or VCRs, maybe it's not a problem. For companies doing things like cable/satellite boxes, it is a problem - they really really don't want to have to release code, for a whole variety of reasons. Even mention releasing code to places like DirecTV and they'll start to hyper-ventilate. :-)
... interesting to debug.
In particular, one of the companies in this market doesn't even give source code to people developing products with them, just a binary library. Makes it
While this is true - from memory, the capital investment is easily over $1B, and could be 2 - there are foundries around which will do runs for you. Obviously you get better prices with larger volume, but some kind of agreement is bound to be possible.
A backpack for the device and powerpack?
That's because anti-virus software cannot detect a virus if it doesn't have a virus definition, so there is the possibility of being infected by a new virus, even if you are running anti-virus software continuously.
While this is true, it's vastly more likely that you're going to be receiving an existing virus that the software does know about than one which it doesn't, especially given the frequency of AV updates these days. Obviously each to their own, but I find that running one is worthwhile.
I'd find it easier to read the project description if I didn't keep thinking of Rimmer in Red Dwarf announcing he'd found a Quagaar warrior. Gah.
Just to note that you can also do that with USB 2, if you have an isochronous device.
The problem, as I understand it, is finding an isochronous device...
I'm not srue taht tihs trhoey hdlos ctlmpoleey ture aawyny. The oaiirgnl seetnecns ddnit rllaey itnapcorore vrey sbstatanuil ratmoondisain. See waht I maen?
PVR stands for 'Personal Video Recorder'. It's basically just the idea of letting your set-top box or whatever do timeshifting, picking program it thinks you'd like, etc.
However, as the subject says, PVR has now apparently been trademarked by Tivo. I think everyone else is now moving to DVR (Digital VR) instead, to avoid problems...
The DVR boxes don't do recompression. Usually the incoming stream just gets laid down on disk - either as raw transport data or as packetised data - and it's just replayed later.
(That's skipping a whole mess of detail, but...)
> You need more than one tuner, if you want to watch
> one program while recording another
This isn't necessarily true - it depends whether the program you want to watch is on the same mux as the channel you want to record. If they are, then one is enough.
(If not, then yes, you do need two.)
Our work scanner goes one better - not only does it pass on the text of the email (but with the virus removed), it also sends me a second email saying "I removed a virus". Just what I wanted, thanks...
No idea what it sends back to the originator, though.
It doesn't strike you as contradictory that your government is championing free speech by jailing people for exercising it?
>But the idea isn't to make money off of selling the
>hardware, it's to make money off of selling the
>software.
As far as I'm aware, the plan for most console companies is that the *first* set of consoles lose money on the hardware, since it's new to make, yield is low, etc. By the time it gets more popular, they've done a die shrink, they know how to make it so yield is better, they have a better process etc. - and suddenly, while they're not raking it in, they do also make money from the consoles.
Microsoft misjudged this slightly. Their box consists of chips which are already mostly commodity items, so the price isn't dropping particularly quickly, and certainly not fast enough to make the previous strategy easy.
>Although end-users prefer not to purchase ebooks
>protected with DRM (Digital Rights Management),
>publishers are certainly interested in the DRM
>capability of the universal ebook format.
So although people would prefer not to buy books with this stuff, we're going to put it in there anyway. Whatever happened to listening to your customers?
A Belgian prosecuter recently initiated "war crimes" proceedings against U.S. General Tommy Franks, for events that occured in the Iraq war.
I haven't heard anything about that one - have you got a link to a newspaper report or something I can read? (Not that I'm doubting you, I'm just curious)
Cheers!
Ah; didn't realise he was in that position. In that case, the interview seems a bit more reasonable. :-)
... er, whoever queues them up...
Didn't really have any questions in specific, I just expected somewhat more than there was there - like I said, reading it I got the feeling you do when somewhere just republishes a press release.
As for the Slashdot interview, that's a good idea; submit it to
After reading it, I get the feeling this wasn't really so much an interview, more a commercial plug masquerading as an interview. We found out very little except that NetBSD can apparently be ported very easily, and Wasabi apparently has a variety of clients and products.
Maybe for the next interview they'll pick someone who can talk about some actual details. Might be more interesting.
>Lets look to the average user. How often is John Q
>Public going to need the eBook they are reading on
>their home PC, their PDA, their travelling laptop
>and their work PC all at once?
Simultaneously, you shouldn't. However, if you don't let people keep copies on all of them, then you have to make sure to move anything you *might* want to read onto (say) your laptop, if you're going on a business trip. You've just removed one of the big gains of an electronic version.
You've said yourself, just now, that you don't do what you want DRM to enforce. Shouldn't that tell you something?
True, that was something useful. However, I don't really regard one crumb of information like that as being full justification for saying "it reeks" and so on. I expect more reasons for my money, dammit. :-)
> GNUcash is foul. It reeks. It would be a bad piece
> of software even in the windows world.
Thanks for the informative comments. Would you like to post something more useful than "it stinks"?
Privately owned in the sense of not belonging to the government, yes.
However (from memory) the Guardian is owned by a trust specifically set up for running the paper. I don't remember about the Independent, but I think a similar arrangement exists there too.
WRT other ones like the Times, Telegraph, Mail etc. though, those are pretty much owned by individuals. Often with an axe to grind.
That's beside the point. "Spam" refers to delivery-style, *not* content. I treat the porn spam, the "legit" spam (if you were that legit why send the mails?), and bulk-mail that people thought was just a good idea at the time all the same way, because it was all *delivered* the same way.
The sooner we can get it through peoples heads that just because they're excited about an opportunity, we might not (and probably don't) want to hear about it the better.