Apple isn't going to put together a search engine.
Why not? RTFS--this isn't about Apple trying to make a general-purpose search engine that's better than Google, this is about them making a search engine that delivers the kinds of results people want when they're on their iPhone. Searches done from mobile devices are VERY different from searches done from a regular computer. Much more specific, and therefore a simpler problem to solve. (And people will still be free to use google or yahoo or bing from the browser if they want anyway.) But it's one more thing Apple can invest in, deploy, and reap the rewards (ad revenue, among other things) of.
Ah, OK. Fair enough. I'll grant that you're correct, but on the other hand, I think TOSLINK with AC3 audio will be enough for literally 99.99% of the people out there. Neither DVDA nor SACD has really taken off, and even if there were other common sources of multichannel uncompressed audio (does bluray have it? I don't even care enough to check; plus anyone who has read this far in a thread about the non-bluray-having Mac mini probably doesn't care either) it is pretty much a fact that most people can't hear (nor do they care about) the difference between uncompressed audio and compressed (like AC3) audio. I've read of many, many tests where people can't discern between 192k MP3 or AAC and uncompressed audio, so being limited to "only" 5.1 channels on an AC3 movie soundtrack really isn't a limitation for anyone.
Plus, I've got a projector at home, and all my gear on shelves next to it--behind me--so I really don't care how the cabling looks.:-)
Maybe it's just me, but I don't get why people get so hung up on the number of cables. One? Two? What's the big deal? Besides, for many setups, the signal isn't going to the same place anyway--video goes to the TV (up on the wall), sound goes to the amp (under the Mac.) And I'm not aware of anything audio-related that HDMI can do that optical digital audio (which the Mac mini has) can't. If you have references or specifics, please reply.
Mac mini, Apple remote, and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. A bit pricey but it pretty much does everything, out of the box, with very little fiddling needed. Just need a few things, like Perian, HandBrake and/or RipIt, Hulu Desktop, Plex if you want, etc.
Really? I'd think it's just the opposite. Even a lowly-rated comment here will be read by hundreds, if not thousands, whereas if you're just some loser on Twitter with no followers, anything you post will probably be read by no one at all.
You know what though? Remember years ago, when Slashdot used to have some dupes? And then it got pretty bad for a while and was like a total joke? I remember once seeing the same story twice on the homepage, about 4 stories apart. And it would've been so trivial to implement a dupe-checking system--search for stories by keyword and URL and a couple other things would catch 99% of them. Anyway, this is, I think, the third dupe I've seen in... six months? I don't know but it's been a LONG while since the bad old days. Kudos to Slashdot for finally getting dupe-checking (mostly) figured out!
But Sony (electronics) has Sony (content) as a partner, which is why all their computer-related electronics have largely sucked in weird ways for the past decade or two--because the content arm doesn't want to make it easy for people with electronic devices to copy Sony-produced content.
Anyone know off the top of their head which half of the company makes more money?
> 3D isn't inherently bad, but it's still in the gimmick phase.
It was in a gimmick phase in its original heyday in the 50s, it was a gimmick again during its brief revival in the early 80s (Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Friday the 13th Part 3, Jaws 3D), and its a gimmick now.
Techie: Talking doll, take eight. Lisa: "When I get married, I'm keeping my own name." Oh, no, that should probably be "If I choose to get married." Techie: Uh, look, little girl, we got other talking dollies to record today. Krusty: [barging in with cue cards] All right, you poindexters, let's get this right!
One: "Hey, hey, kids, I'm Talking Krusty."
Two: "Hey, hey, here comes Slideshow Mel" -- again -- "Here comes Sideshow Mel". "Sideshow Mel".
Three: [does a Krusty laugh]
Budda-bing, budda-boom, I'm done. Learn from a professional, kid.
>... computer security is a matter of economics. How much > does it cost to implement? How much do you stand to lose > if your security is broken and your "stuff" stolen?
Old saying: "You don't put a $500 diamond in a $5,000 safe."
"Anyone who knows anything about browsers is already using Firefox or Chrome or Opera, and anyone who knows nothing about browsers is using whatever came pre-installed on their computers..."
Just being picky here, but I know about browsers AND use (by choice) the browser (Safari) that came with my computer. They all (Chrome, FF, Safari, Opera) have their pluses and minuses, and as a web developer I use them all, but I vastly prefer Safari over the others for regular use.
I remember using that when it first came out. Quick history: Netscape 2 and 3 we good browsers with a decent news & mail reader. Then they were all like "Hey, let's make a suite!" and that was Netscape 4. Then Netscape went open-source and eventually released a suite that was SLOW AS HELL. (New, unoptimized code, and that suite had everything but the kitchen sink.) People started saying "Hey, you should strip all the crap off and make a lean little browser." They did, and that was Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox. But before that was out, there was K-Meleon, a standalone browser with Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine. Good stuff, for a very short while. I used it for a bit but when Phoenix came out (I started using it at 0.2) it was pretty great right away and the rest is history.
> That said, I've never heard of anybody going after currency defacement operations(even the > overt ones. Those "souveneir penny" machines that crush a graphic associated with whatever > attraction the machine is located in have been around for decades, and the Secret Service > has shown no signs of caring)
In some countries such as the United States it is the official opinion of the department in authority that the pressing of pennies and other coinage is not prohibited unless there is fraudulent intention either in the pressing of the coinage or its use thereafter. [emphasis mine]
So unless you're squishing pennies to make them look like dimes, you're fine.
To see cool artifacts such as described in this story (since this is evidently a slashvertisement thread) you can go to the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. It's a private museum so it's not free (around $15-18 per person) but I hear it's pretty cool and they've got lots of neat little spy gadgets. (I didn't make it in on my last trip to DC since I was short of time and money. Had lots of fun in the Smithsonians, though.)
My dad used to tell me not to stand in his light when he was reading or working on something. Someday my kid will be yelling at his kid to stop blocking his Internet.
Is that "epic fail" on the part of the parent for not researching before he commented and being wrong, or "epic fail" on the part of the site owner for using WP instead of eating his own dogfood?
Pink Floyd's music is meant to be listened to as a whole, albums are (the good ones) carefully prepared and are one piece of music story.
Yeah, but see, the thing is, I don't give a shit what Pink Floyd thinks. I understand the artistic process, etc., but at what point does an artist just become an asshole and go from "this is what I intended" to "you are only allowed to experience my art in ways I dictate?" I thought the whole POINT of art is yes, the artist made something, but on the other hand, it is up to the viewer to take whatever he/she will from the experience? AFAIK, lots of art COMES FROM seeing one thing and doing something else with it. How many great things have we seen happen in the computer world, for example, when someone uses some hardware or software in totally unexpected ways? In fact, isn't that where MOST great things come from?
I don't care what PF wants. If I want to listen to "Comfortably Numb" for a few minutes and something else before and after, isn't that my right?
That said, as far as the contract goes, I go with PF and the judge on this one. Doesn't mean PF aren't pretentious assholes in the first place.
>> and there are no number or punctuation keys AT ALL [wordpress.com] which makes typing just about anything quite a pain.
> Sure there are, in fact they are screen-printed on the actual keys.
Right. I meant, they're there, but the Nokias have them as distinct keys--A-Z, 0-9 and eight punctuation keys. 50 buttons on the Nokias versus only 35 on the BB. So things like comma and period and hyphen (which I use all the time) are one press, not two. (And other handy things, like = and % are REALLY hidden on the BB. BTW, one of the keys on the Nokia brings up a character map.) The iPhone makes it 2 taps but since they're bigger they're easier for me to find.
And I meant to mention: I think it's crappy that the iPad has the SAME keyboard as the iPhone--the iPad has enough room they should have put a number row at the top at the very least--even if only in portrait mode.
Slashdot Mirror
Apple isn't going to put together a search engine.
Why not? RTFS--this isn't about Apple trying to make a general-purpose search engine that's better than Google, this is about them making a search engine that delivers the kinds of results people want when they're on their iPhone. Searches done from mobile devices are VERY different from searches done from a regular computer. Much more specific, and therefore a simpler problem to solve. (And people will still be free to use google or yahoo or bing from the browser if they want anyway.) But it's one more thing Apple can invest in, deploy, and reap the rewards (ad revenue, among other things) of.
They managed to turn last year's Tauntaun sleeping bag into reality, right?
So it IS just a large ipod!
Yes. And a swimming pool is just a large bathtub.
Ah, OK. Fair enough. I'll grant that you're correct, but on the other hand, I think TOSLINK with AC3 audio will be enough for literally 99.99% of the people out there. Neither DVDA nor SACD has really taken off, and even if there were other common sources of multichannel uncompressed audio (does bluray have it? I don't even care enough to check; plus anyone who has read this far in a thread about the non-bluray-having Mac mini probably doesn't care either) it is pretty much a fact that most people can't hear (nor do they care about) the difference between uncompressed audio and compressed (like AC3) audio. I've read of many, many tests where people can't discern between 192k MP3 or AAC and uncompressed audio, so being limited to "only" 5.1 channels on an AC3 movie soundtrack really isn't a limitation for anyone.
Plus, I've got a projector at home, and all my gear on shelves next to it--behind me--so I really don't care how the cabling looks. :-)
Maybe it's just me, but I don't get why people get so hung up on the number of cables. One? Two? What's the big deal? Besides, for many setups, the signal isn't going to the same place anyway--video goes to the TV (up on the wall), sound goes to the amp (under the Mac.) And I'm not aware of anything audio-related that HDMI can do that optical digital audio (which the Mac mini has) can't. If you have references or specifics, please reply.
Mac mini, Apple remote, and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. A bit pricey but it pretty much does everything, out of the box, with very little fiddling needed. Just need a few things, like Perian, HandBrake and/or RipIt, Hulu Desktop, Plex if you want, etc.
Really? I'd think it's just the opposite. Even a lowly-rated comment here will be read by hundreds, if not thousands, whereas if you're just some loser on Twitter with no followers, anything you post will probably be read by no one at all.
Crunh? You know, there's not actually a bone in there--that's just a figure of speech.
You know what though? Remember years ago, when Slashdot used to have some dupes? And then it got pretty bad for a while and was like a total joke? I remember once seeing the same story twice on the homepage, about 4 stories apart. And it would've been so trivial to implement a dupe-checking system--search for stories by keyword and URL and a couple other things would catch 99% of them. Anyway, this is, I think, the third dupe I've seen in... six months? I don't know but it's been a LONG while since the bad old days. Kudos to Slashdot for finally getting dupe-checking (mostly) figured out!
But Sony (electronics) has Sony (content) as a partner, which is why all their computer-related electronics have largely sucked in weird ways for the past decade or two--because the content arm doesn't want to make it easy for people with electronic devices to copy Sony-produced content.
Anyone know off the top of their head which half of the company makes more money?
> 3D isn't inherently bad, but it's still in the gimmick phase.
It was in a gimmick phase in its original heyday in the 50s, it was a gimmick again during its brief revival in the early 80s (Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Friday the 13th Part 3, Jaws 3D), and its a gimmick now.
Techie: Talking doll, take eight.
Lisa: "When I get married, I'm keeping my own name." Oh, no, that should probably be "If I choose to get married."
Techie: Uh, look, little girl, we got other talking dollies to record today.
Krusty: [barging in with cue cards] All right, you poindexters, let's get this right!
One: "Hey, hey, kids, I'm Talking Krusty."
Two: "Hey, hey, here comes Slideshow Mel" -- again -- "Here comes Sideshow Mel". "Sideshow Mel".
Three: [does a Krusty laugh]
Budda-bing, budda-boom, I'm done. Learn from a professional, kid.
Well, run wget's output through htmltidy, that'll help some... ;-)
Hey, be nice, it's (evidently) the first slow news day in over 10 years! :-)
> ... computer security is a matter of economics. How much
> does it cost to implement? How much do you stand to lose
> if your security is broken and your "stuff" stolen?
Old saying: "You don't put a $500 diamond in a $5,000 safe."
"Anyone who knows anything about browsers is already using Firefox or Chrome or Opera, and anyone who knows nothing about browsers is using whatever came pre-installed on their computers..."
Just being picky here, but I know about browsers AND use (by choice) the browser (Safari) that came with my computer. They all (Chrome, FF, Safari, Opera) have their pluses and minuses, and as a web developer I use them all, but I vastly prefer Safari over the others for regular use.
I remember using that when it first came out. Quick history: Netscape 2 and 3 we good browsers with a decent news & mail reader. Then they were all like "Hey, let's make a suite!" and that was Netscape 4. Then Netscape went open-source and eventually released a suite that was SLOW AS HELL. (New, unoptimized code, and that suite had everything but the kitchen sink.) People started saying "Hey, you should strip all the crap off and make a lean little browser." They did, and that was Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox. But before that was out, there was K-Meleon, a standalone browser with Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine. Good stuff, for a very short while. I used it for a bit but when Phoenix came out (I started using it at 0.2) it was pretty great right away and the rest is history.
See also the iPod amnesty bin.
Just celebrate on Quadectober 3, duh.
> That said, I've never heard of anybody going after currency defacement operations(even the
> overt ones. Those "souveneir penny" machines that crush a graphic associated with whatever
> attraction the machine is located in have been around for decades, and the Secret Service
> has shown no signs of caring)
Right. Because it's not illegal. From http://www.pressapenny.com/legal.htm :
In some countries such as the United States it is the official opinion of the department in authority that the pressing of pennies and other coinage is not prohibited unless there is fraudulent intention either in the pressing of the coinage or its use thereafter. [emphasis mine]
So unless you're squishing pennies to make them look like dimes, you're fine.
To see cool artifacts such as described in this story (since this is evidently a slashvertisement thread) you can go to the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. It's a private museum so it's not free (around $15-18 per person) but I hear it's pretty cool and they've got lots of neat little spy gadgets. (I didn't make it in on my last trip to DC since I was short of time and money. Had lots of fun in the Smithsonians, though.)
My dad used to tell me not to stand in his light when he was reading or working on something. Someday my kid will be yelling at his kid to stop blocking his Internet.
Is that "epic fail" on the part of the parent for not researching before he commented and being wrong, or "epic fail" on the part of the site owner for using WP instead of eating his own dogfood?
Pink Floyd's music is meant to be listened to as a whole, albums are (the good ones) carefully prepared and are one piece of music story.
Yeah, but see, the thing is, I don't give a shit what Pink Floyd thinks. I understand the artistic process, etc., but at what point does an artist just become an asshole and go from "this is what I intended" to "you are only allowed to experience my art in ways I dictate?" I thought the whole POINT of art is yes, the artist made something, but on the other hand, it is up to the viewer to take whatever he/she will from the experience? AFAIK, lots of art COMES FROM seeing one thing and doing something else with it. How many great things have we seen happen in the computer world, for example, when someone uses some hardware or software in totally unexpected ways? In fact, isn't that where MOST great things come from?
I don't care what PF wants. If I want to listen to "Comfortably Numb" for a few minutes and something else before and after, isn't that my right?
That said, as far as the contract goes, I go with PF and the judge on this one. Doesn't mean PF aren't pretentious assholes in the first place.
>> and there are no number or punctuation keys AT ALL [wordpress.com] which makes typing just about anything quite a pain.
> Sure there are, in fact they are screen-printed on the actual keys.
Right. I meant, they're there, but the Nokias have them as distinct keys--A-Z, 0-9 and eight punctuation keys. 50 buttons on the Nokias versus only 35 on the BB. So things like comma and period and hyphen (which I use all the time) are one press, not two. (And other handy things, like = and % are REALLY hidden on the BB. BTW, one of the keys on the Nokia brings up a character map.) The iPhone makes it 2 taps but since they're bigger they're easier for me to find.
And I meant to mention: I think it's crappy that the iPad has the SAME keyboard as the iPhone--the iPad has enough room they should have put a number row at the top at the very least--even if only in portrait mode.