Why Ubuntu? My guess is because it's the (at the moment) most popular version of Linux (which might help the adoption of using it since many have heard the name) and tends to have great (albet not perfect) hardware driver recognition. People want to use products by names they know and even if they've never used Ubuntu there is a semi-chance they've heard of it. And calling it just plain Linux which most have heard might bring to mind the old stereotype 'Linux = Ungodly complex geek thingy'.
I can understand that a mainstream (non-tech) news website would focus on a cutesy term like "man cave" to describe this new module, but would it have killed the Slashdot editors to include something about what the module is actually going to be used for?
(turns out it'll be used as a storeroom. It doesn't have enough radiation shielding to allow it to be used as crew quarters).
No, it's not a "man cave", and no, the R2 robot will not be used to serve drinks. It'll be used to investigate the potential of robots to perform EVA duties.
The article states that at the moment it doesn't have enough radiation shielding yet, but it will have it and be ready in 4 months. From the article:
"Turning Leonardo into a permanent module will take some work, said NASA Payload Manager Joe Delai. "Once it returns from this flight we will beef up the external shield and change things internally to become a permanent module. It will be about a four month process to get it ready."
Thats why it will be re-launched in September this year. And when it is relaunched and made a permanent module it will become their 'man cave'.
Re:Gosh, I wonder what THAT will be used for....
on
ISS To Get Man Cave
·
· Score: 3, Funny
I christen thee: The Masturbation Station!
Better then calling it the Man Hole I guess
Re:Gosh, I wonder what THAT will be used for....
on
ISS To Get Man Cave
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Just remember to turn the mic to Houston off of VOX.
HOUSTON: "Uhhh, were getting a pretty steady 2-3 Hz slapping sound down here guys. Are all systems ok up there, and any ideas on a cause?"
Best Buy Responds To “3D Glasses Syncing Service”
(March 23, 2010) We asked Best Buy’s media relations department last week why Best Buy’s Geek Squad offers a fictional 3D glasses syncing service? (link to our original story). Below is the corporate response.
“I wanted to address any lingering confusion about the characterization of services support in the Best Buy Samsung 3DTV offer that was advertised in yesterday’s (March 21) insert. We by no means intended to confuse our customers or offer fraudulent services. The offer is new to our stores, and our own employees were trained on it just this past week.;
The problem with a message like this is they want to use this as a 'sorry we goofed and now here's a fix'. Thing is, the message is still out in the public and will not be changed for the public eye. Thats great that the techie's that already knew this wasn't true got Best Buy to admit that its wrong, but Average Joe on the other hand still only see's that the fliers still state this function still happens, Best Buy's employee's will still state that this function is done, and the in store fliers will still state that its a selling point and the in store fliers will not be corrected nor be given a re-print of this 'confusing error'. In the end, Best Buy wins and is using this to look like the good guys.
I don't think this will sell well as most cars and trucks because it's so small. It's like a Prius, small and 'cutesy'. Thing is most people when they buy a vehicle want big, bold/macho, not small and tiny. This is why so many people own trucks, not because they have a need to use it to load things from point a to point b, it's because they want it to be big and send a type of message.
People want their 'must-always-have-with-me' electronics small, but something that isn't meant for your pocket is wanted more as bigger is better.
Yeah, but most companies do it in a timely manner, not decades after the fact. This is akin to a cell phone company 20 years from now releasing their first touchscreen phone.
As shown with the Special 301 list which stated the Canada was needing to update copyright laws (which could label Canada a criminal haven since it doesn't have a DMCA). After it was issued about Canada being in the wrong, many companies publicly stated otherwise.
I was excited about the Ubuntu One Music Store but then I found out it is gimped in Canada: indie artists only. So once again record labels keep my money out of their pockets!;)
It's to make sure mistakes like Celine Dion are avoided again.
While it's no longer a private, unusable API function, the previous ban on using 'CGImageRef UIGetScreenImage();' in any App Store approved program makes me think that there are quite a few other private API's and API functions that while people have found, cannot use. Also seems that Apps cannot access information stored in the calendar, amongst other things. These might effect security/privacy in theory, but these function's and private API's usage is not limited to just those uses and options.
I'm not sure why Slashdot is so afraid of this. You don't have a right to be anonymous to your employer. You don't have a right to avoid taxes. You just got the right to healthcare, but do you really want that going to illegal immigrants? We already drive around with standardized (yet customizable non-materially) license plates on our cars. You already need proof of government permission and proof somebody's going to pay if you hit something to drive a car. You aren't supposed to be able to get on a plane anonymously...
Let's not think of the things we'd be able to get away with with a fake id... and start thinking how we can make sure somebody else can't fake their ID for our mutual protection.
You were also not supposed to be protesting at many of the Vietnam war protests since it could get you blacklisted and/or fired from your job (thats why it was a common suggestion to write a swear word on your face, mandatory censored on tv) so people did it anonymously. Watergate wasn't supposed to be made public (thats why he used to name 'Deep throat') and made it public anonymously. America was not to have a Revolutionary War for its independence, so everyone started and set it up anonymously.
Look, I'm an avid dumpster diver and the only reason I do it, is because I get gear for free and it's fun. However, if you calculate in my time? No, not economic. That 2400+ Athlon XP with 1GB RAM I gave to a coworkers daughter? Cleaning it, assembling good parts from different cadavers, installing Ubuntu and "ready" it for normal usage[1]... This took hours... At my "work" rate, this computer is more expensive than a mid-range new machine which includes real warranty. Now, I *like* doing this and I don't ask a dime if I give away "recovered" machines, but this is in no way economical in the real sense of the word.
Also, if they just talk about "replacing" parts... That's good for RAM or a power supply. Still, you need some time to diagnose the problem which easily exceeds the cost of the parts. Heck if the hard disk fails, you're in a whole crapload of trouble. You lost your OS, your data and most likely the recovery partitions. You ain't getting a working system quickly that way. A dead harddisk is economically the same as a "total loss" for a computer, if you consider the working hours needed to repair it. With cheap netbook and nettop machines, which are most likely better than your older system (even though the Atom is really a weak chip as I can tell from my own experience), comparatively repairs are expensive.
[1] Make sure all media plays, make sure Flash works, make sure Java works, make sure that OpenOffice saves to.doc,.xls etc by default so she doesn't get into confusing problems when she starts to share school works, etc, etc, etc...
The cost in building the machine isn't economical as you've pointed out, but what about the learning you get from it? Doing this gives you in some respects the ultimate 'test lab' of parts that didn't cost out of pocket money that you can use to build computers, and you can pull apart and rebuild computers from scratch and have a LOT of experience doing it and no doubt feel very comfortable doing it. This is where you stand over many computer users/geeks. This would also make you quite resourceful and capable on a software level since you can also handle software drivers and compatibility issues, making sure things work and don't just do the job by the book. Many don't mind tampering with software because worst case you have to format the HD, but hardware doesn't have such a 'restart' switch. And if you are aiming for a job that involves computer (sales, repairs, ect...) you have quite a nice skill set that would help you. Cost isn't just money.
Precisely. The article summary about tax-free repairs making people more likely to fix their machines still ignores the basics of the computer industry - technology moves fast.
The computer industry moves fast, but that doesn't mean everyone wants to hit the gas pedal. This has been shown with netbooks since netbooks aren't the fastest machines. More and more people are finding out they don't need the fastest computers on the block when their current one is more then capable of surfing the web, playing a few movie clips, checking Facebook and playing some Facebook game. And I've noticed that most people that state their computer is either not fast enough or must have a 'virus' really just have 50 small programs running at start up and thats all that is slowing the system down (granted you point that out and it's either they just don't want to bother removing those programs they don't use or like all the little things they do.) This is the biggest issue of why most people I know swear they needed that newer computer, because in reality it was the easier way to do 'spring cleaning' then it would have been to clean out the old computer.
Unless you can actually see the 'girl', who says that it is not a guy with a girl avatar? Nothing in the article says they check to make sure that the girls are real girls. Sort of reminds me of the video for sweet emotion. In the end the girl was a real girl, but she looked nothing like what the guy thought.
While you might not be able to see the 'girl', I'm assuming the girls are required to use the mic as much as possible during the game. Like phone sex except they are to sound cute when playing and make flirty type comments about your playing skills.
Otherwise, downloads are fine for that one song or two to see if you like it, but mostly they still fail on decent audio equipment for regular listening.
Bullshit. Most DJ's I know have gone to using MP3's for their business needs. Any time you hear music at a club, bar, or formal function these days, chances are you're listening to an MP3. You may be one of those audio-snobs who insist that they can detect a difference but, even if we accept that silly claim, there's no way you can go from "a few people say they can detect a sight difference" to "lossy codecs fail for regular listening".
I do notice the difference in MP3 quality, so do most GOOD DJ's. Though many DJ's know that even though their speakers show the difference, the clubs they play at have crappy speakers meant to play music loud, not good, to drunken listeners who don't really care. Lower grade MP3's tend to sound 'further away', like it sounds like I'm not listening to my headphones and more like listening to a speaker a few feet away. But it does depend on a couple of factors.
1) The audio device needs to be able to give a good quality audio signal. My old MP3 player, the most popular one on the market, was pretty good for sound. Did the job and it wasn't more of I could hear the sound quality but more that I got used to its lack of audio quality. But when it died I decided to get an audio player that was the best (at the time) audio playback. And it was the difference of night and day. Sounds you could barely hear or never hear suddenly came forth. It was the same MP3's, but the quality was much nicer and better when I played.FLAC files.
2) The music style. Oldies, acoustic and soft music tends to not lose much if anything in a decent encoding (128 is not decent, my dj friends showed me that years ago with their sound equipment). I listen to a lot of industrial music that uses bass and sound effects that, quite frankly, are chewed to hell and back by even 192kbs mp3's (songs like Girl Poison by Angelspit (some language warning) which is chewed already by this youtube video). Sounds like that need high quality encodings which are rarely sold through online stores.
3) Speakers are the final need. Again, you can hear a 'distance' when listening to a cheap pair of $20 dollar headphones, and notice the difference of quality in $60+ headphones. At first you might think the cheaper pair sound better, but its just difference. Once you get used to it, you'll notice the difference and its hard to go back. Just like HD. And if you think it matters take a XBox360/PS3 and play a game on HD for a while and then plug it into an old SD tv, you will see the difference.
As for this article, will it make a difference? Depends on what cd's. The internet has given power to the indie scene and now there is more music then ever to buy and in many styles. All the music I listen to, none of my friends listen to and I'm not alone in thats sense. Big companies have put all their money in pushing sales of Pop, Hip-Hop and Rap which I've seen a severe lack of listeners of unless you count the 18 or younger crowd. Its rarer to see 19+ people to listen to that style music. Not impossible but harder. If all the cd's on sale are just the same few tired bands that only kiddies want to listen to like Lady Gaga, Nickleback and D12 then I don't think it will matter much in sales. Music has many styles and tastes now, much larger selection all aiming for the same amount of money.
I'm sure there's an iPhone analogy somewhere here...
Really? Is there some fact/rumour/speculation of a kill switch in the iPhone?
I think he means the back door put into the iPhone. While Apple claims it's only to remove 'rogue' applications, all I see is a back door is a back door. Kinda like how an engine kill switch in a car is only to be used to kill the engine of the car of unpaid accounts.
Would Linux be more safe if it had greater than or equal to the market share of Windows? Is any home O.S. really safe as long as the user keeps clicking "yes" or "ok"? That's a whole other debate. The fact is that Linux, now, is much less of a hassle than Windows.
Seriously doubt it. Any and every OS can be hacked into, it just takes a true desire to. Most people when they want to crack an OS, they want the biggest bang for their effort. Think, the most hacked home PC is Windows, the most hacked web server is Linux, the most hacked smartphone is iPhone. What do all 3 of these have in common? They are all the leaders of their field. You'll hear the rare story of a smaller OS being hacked into, but it won't be published in most major story outlets because it doesn't interest most people. Like imagine the headline "OS xyz hacked with malicious virus that is sweeping the globe, effecting less then 1 in every 10 users.". That really doesn't grip, it sounds more dramatic by saying "OS zyx hacked with malicious virus that is sweeping the globe, effecting more then 9 in every 10 users." now your talking interesting news because it effects most people.
As for Fairplay, its been known for quite a while that Apple didn't want it but it was required in order to get the music industry's blessing to sell their music.
I have noticed that I've only been able to find out Steve Job's not wanting to have put Fairplay on music files was an open letter dated Feb 2007, 5 years later when DRM was being spoken against by the general public. And its a typical PR stunt "Oh we didn't want to... it's the other guys fault. They strong armed us into doing it". This argument has been used by quite a few software vendors. And the big issue I have with it is that Apple as a business shows the opposite. DRM by definition is "a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices.".Look at the DRM on OSX, most notably Snow Leopard. I could buy a copy of Snow Leopard but due to the DRM in it, I can't install it on any other hardware but Apples. While the old versions of OSX needed the special CPU's, Snow Leopard only works on Intel sytle x64 chips. There isn't much DRM on the software side for checking if it's legitimate, but all the DRM is focusing on the hardware. This is a massive limitation of my usability of the software, limiting it to only using Apple hardware. The only problem here is that with Apple doing it, it isn't a limitation, it's a 'value adding function'. I've been told by many Mac users that it's not truly DRM though it severely limits my usage, its a function to 'make sure to have the optimal usage since it was designed for that hardware'. No it isn't, its a DRM to limit my usage to be device locked in. Look at a Hackentosh. It takes a lot of cracks to get it working on non-Apple hardware, and shows it is possible once the digital locks are removed. And Hackentosh's work pretty stable showing it doesn't truly need Apple only hardware. They have some of the most aggressive DRM in usage, beyond the 'calling home' of Ubisoft. The iPhone has the same style of DRM, to limit what you can do with the iPhone. It isn't because it will be unstable if it ran multiple programs or used unauthorized programs, jailbreaking proves that wrong and because jailbreaking breaks the DRM of the iPhone Steve Jobs calls declares that it's pretty much that the sky is falling. It's easy for Apple to claim they hate DRM, but their actions show they not only approve of it, they love it.
h.264 is a licensed technology owned by MPEG LA [...] that can be used to lock.
...but not by Apple.
AAC audio is not an open technology, it's a licensed one [...]
...again, not by Apple. Allow me to direct you at the point in dispute: "Apple has had absolute control of their standards."
And allow me to direct you to the point in dispute "Apple has always been very aggressive about vendor lockin, and only uses "open" standards when it serves their purpose to break into a market". Like Apple did with MP3's on the iPod and making it mandatory to use iTunes with the iPod. They made sure to support the more or less 'open' standard of MP3 on all their iPods then turn around and do a vendor lock in with their music sold on iTunes with Fairplay while not mentioning to the customer that the music will not play on anyone else's product. If people had been informed of this they might have continued to buy music cds or look towards other companies like Amazon's MP3's that aren't vendor locked in. They made sure to do this vender lock in when it no longer needed to break into the 'market' since you already had their player and no longer support the more 'open' standard of common MP3's. While the average iPod user might not notice this, it still locked them into iTunes and prevented them from transferring their digital music collection later in life to a competing product, like a Creative Labs Zen or Sansa Clip. Same goes with the later models with the video function.
I have no real interest in the rest of the arguments, please carry on.
I will, let me know when your interested in something else.
Slashdot Mirror
Why Ubuntu? My guess is because it's the (at the moment) most popular version of Linux (which might help the adoption of using it since many have heard the name) and tends to have great (albet not perfect) hardware driver recognition. People want to use products by names they know and even if they've never used Ubuntu there is a semi-chance they've heard of it. And calling it just plain Linux which most have heard might bring to mind the old stereotype 'Linux = Ungodly complex geek thingy'.
I can understand that a mainstream (non-tech) news website would focus on a cutesy term like "man cave" to describe this new module, but would it have killed the Slashdot editors to include something about what the module is actually going to be used for?
(turns out it'll be used as a storeroom. It doesn't have enough radiation shielding to allow it to be used as crew quarters).
No, it's not a "man cave", and no, the R2 robot will not be used to serve drinks. It'll be used to investigate the potential of robots to perform EVA duties.
The article states that at the moment it doesn't have enough radiation shielding yet, but it will have it and be ready in 4 months. From the article:
"Turning Leonardo into a permanent module will take some work, said NASA Payload Manager Joe Delai. "Once it returns from this flight we will beef up the external shield and change things internally to become a permanent module. It will be about a four month process to get it ready."
Thats why it will be re-launched in September this year. And when it is relaunched and made a permanent module it will become their 'man cave'.
I christen thee: The Masturbation Station!
Better then calling it the Man Hole I guess
Just remember to turn the mic to Houston off of VOX.
HOUSTON: "Uhhh, were getting a pretty steady 2-3 Hz slapping sound down here guys. Are all systems ok up there, and any ideas on a cause?"
Houston, we have lift off
Best Buy Responds To “3D Glasses Syncing Service” (March 23, 2010) We asked Best Buy’s media relations department last week why Best Buy’s Geek Squad offers a fictional 3D glasses syncing service? (link to our original story). Below is the corporate response. “I wanted to address any lingering confusion about the characterization of services support in the Best Buy Samsung 3DTV offer that was advertised in yesterday’s (March 21) insert. We by no means intended to confuse our customers or offer fraudulent services. The offer is new to our stores, and our own employees were trained on it just this past week.;
The problem with a message like this is they want to use this as a 'sorry we goofed and now here's a fix'. Thing is, the message is still out in the public and will not be changed for the public eye. Thats great that the techie's that already knew this wasn't true got Best Buy to admit that its wrong, but Average Joe on the other hand still only see's that the fliers still state this function still happens, Best Buy's employee's will still state that this function is done, and the in store fliers will still state that its a selling point and the in store fliers will not be corrected nor be given a re-print of this 'confusing error'. In the end, Best Buy wins and is using this to look like the good guys.
I don't think this will sell well as most cars and trucks because it's so small. It's like a Prius, small and 'cutesy'. Thing is most people when they buy a vehicle want big, bold/macho, not small and tiny. This is why so many people own trucks, not because they have a need to use it to load things from point a to point b, it's because they want it to be big and send a type of message.
People want their 'must-always-have-with-me' electronics small, but something that isn't meant for your pocket is wanted more as bigger is better.
Yeah, but most companies do it in a timely manner, not decades after the fact. This is akin to a cell phone company 20 years from now releasing their first touchscreen phone.
You mean kinda like how the iPhone was released 15 years after the first touch screen mobile phone?
As shown with the Special 301 list which stated the Canada was needing to update copyright laws (which could label Canada a criminal haven since it doesn't have a DMCA). After it was issued about Canada being in the wrong, many companies publicly stated otherwise.
I was excited about the Ubuntu One Music Store but then I found out it is gimped in Canada: indie artists only. So once again record labels keep my money out of their pockets! ;)
It's to make sure mistakes like Celine Dion are avoided again.
Several gigs seems a bit bloated for a text based browser, but I'll give it a try.
So was a text based OS and GUI based OS back in the day, the times are a changing.
That's funny, after upgrading I still have Human as an option. It's just not the default for new installs.
This must be some new definition of "does away with" which actually means something completely different.
Humans are now obsolete and will be done away with, is what it means.
While it's no longer a private, unusable API function, the previous ban on using 'CGImageRef UIGetScreenImage();' in any App Store approved program makes me think that there are quite a few other private API's and API functions that while people have found, cannot use. Also seems that Apps cannot access information stored in the calendar, amongst other things. These might effect security/privacy in theory, but these function's and private API's usage is not limited to just those uses and options.
I'm not sure why Slashdot is so afraid of this. You don't have a right to be anonymous to your employer. You don't have a right to avoid taxes. You just got the right to healthcare, but do you really want that going to illegal immigrants? We already drive around with standardized (yet customizable non-materially) license plates on our cars. You already need proof of government permission and proof somebody's going to pay if you hit something to drive a car. You aren't supposed to be able to get on a plane anonymously...
Let's not think of the things we'd be able to get away with with a fake id... and start thinking how we can make sure somebody else can't fake their ID for our mutual protection.
You were also not supposed to be protesting at many of the Vietnam war protests since it could get you blacklisted and/or fired from your job (thats why it was a common suggestion to write a swear word on your face, mandatory censored on tv) so people did it anonymously. Watergate wasn't supposed to be made public (thats why he used to name 'Deep throat') and made it public anonymously. America was not to have a Revolutionary War for its independence, so everyone started and set it up anonymously.
Amazing how much good comes from being anonymous.
Windows XP doesn't use anything beyond 4G (4096MB)
Windows XP x64 Edition does.
Look, I'm an avid dumpster diver and the only reason I do it, is because I get gear for free and it's fun. However, if you calculate in my time? No, not economic. That 2400+ Athlon XP with 1GB RAM I gave to a coworkers daughter? Cleaning it, assembling good parts from different cadavers, installing Ubuntu and "ready" it for normal usage[1]... This took hours... At my "work" rate, this computer is more expensive than a mid-range new machine which includes real warranty. Now, I *like* doing this and I don't ask a dime if I give away "recovered" machines, but this is in no way economical in the real sense of the word.
Also, if they just talk about "replacing" parts... That's good for RAM or a power supply. Still, you need some time to diagnose the problem which easily exceeds the cost of the parts. Heck if the hard disk fails, you're in a whole crapload of trouble. You lost your OS, your data and most likely the recovery partitions. You ain't getting a working system quickly that way. A dead harddisk is economically the same as a "total loss" for a computer, if you consider the working hours needed to repair it. With cheap netbook and nettop machines, which are most likely better than your older system (even though the Atom is really a weak chip as I can tell from my own experience), comparatively repairs are expensive.
[1] Make sure all media plays, make sure Flash works, make sure Java works, make sure that OpenOffice saves to .doc, .xls etc by default so she doesn't get into confusing problems when she starts to share school works, etc, etc, etc...
The cost in building the machine isn't economical as you've pointed out, but what about the learning you get from it? Doing this gives you in some respects the ultimate 'test lab' of parts that didn't cost out of pocket money that you can use to build computers, and you can pull apart and rebuild computers from scratch and have a LOT of experience doing it and no doubt feel very comfortable doing it. This is where you stand over many computer users/geeks. This would also make you quite resourceful and capable on a software level since you can also handle software drivers and compatibility issues, making sure things work and don't just do the job by the book. Many don't mind tampering with software because worst case you have to format the HD, but hardware doesn't have such a 'restart' switch. And if you are aiming for a job that involves computer (sales, repairs, ect...) you have quite a nice skill set that would help you. Cost isn't just money.
Precisely. The article summary about tax-free repairs making people more likely to fix their machines still ignores the basics of the computer industry - technology moves fast.
The computer industry moves fast, but that doesn't mean everyone wants to hit the gas pedal. This has been shown with netbooks since netbooks aren't the fastest machines. More and more people are finding out they don't need the fastest computers on the block when their current one is more then capable of surfing the web, playing a few movie clips, checking Facebook and playing some Facebook game. And I've noticed that most people that state their computer is either not fast enough or must have a 'virus' really just have 50 small programs running at start up and thats all that is slowing the system down (granted you point that out and it's either they just don't want to bother removing those programs they don't use or like all the little things they do.) This is the biggest issue of why most people I know swear they needed that newer computer, because in reality it was the easier way to do 'spring cleaning' then it would have been to clean out the old computer.
Unless you can actually see the 'girl', who says that it is not a guy with a girl avatar? Nothing in the article says they check to make sure that the girls are real girls. Sort of reminds me of the video for sweet emotion. In the end the girl was a real girl, but she looked nothing like what the guy thought.
While you might not be able to see the 'girl', I'm assuming the girls are required to use the mic as much as possible during the game. Like phone sex except they are to sound cute when playing and make flirty type comments about your playing skills.
Otherwise, downloads are fine for that one song or two to see if you like it, but mostly they still fail on decent audio equipment for regular listening.
Bullshit. Most DJ's I know have gone to using MP3's for their business needs. Any time you hear music at a club, bar, or formal function these days, chances are you're listening to an MP3. You may be one of those audio-snobs who insist that they can detect a difference but, even if we accept that silly claim, there's no way you can go from "a few people say they can detect a sight difference" to "lossy codecs fail for regular listening".
I do notice the difference in MP3 quality, so do most GOOD DJ's. Though many DJ's know that even though their speakers show the difference, the clubs they play at have crappy speakers meant to play music loud, not good, to drunken listeners who don't really care. Lower grade MP3's tend to sound 'further away', like it sounds like I'm not listening to my headphones and more like listening to a speaker a few feet away. But it does depend on a couple of factors.
1) The audio device needs to be able to give a good quality audio signal. My old MP3 player, the most popular one on the market, was pretty good for sound. Did the job and it wasn't more of I could hear the sound quality but more that I got used to its lack of audio quality. But when it died I decided to get an audio player that was the best (at the time) audio playback. And it was the difference of night and day. Sounds you could barely hear or never hear suddenly came forth. It was the same MP3's, but the quality was much nicer and better when I played .FLAC files.
2) The music style. Oldies, acoustic and soft music tends to not lose much if anything in a decent encoding (128 is not decent, my dj friends showed me that years ago with their sound equipment). I listen to a lot of industrial music that uses bass and sound effects that, quite frankly, are chewed to hell and back by even 192kbs mp3's (songs like Girl Poison by Angelspit (some language warning) which is chewed already by this youtube video). Sounds like that need high quality encodings which are rarely sold through online stores.
3) Speakers are the final need. Again, you can hear a 'distance' when listening to a cheap pair of $20 dollar headphones, and notice the difference of quality in $60+ headphones. At first you might think the cheaper pair sound better, but its just difference. Once you get used to it, you'll notice the difference and its hard to go back. Just like HD. And if you think it matters take a XBox360/PS3 and play a game on HD for a while and then plug it into an old SD tv, you will see the difference.
As for this article, will it make a difference? Depends on what cd's. The internet has given power to the indie scene and now there is more music then ever to buy and in many styles. All the music I listen to, none of my friends listen to and I'm not alone in thats sense. Big companies have put all their money in pushing sales of Pop, Hip-Hop and Rap which I've seen a severe lack of listeners of unless you count the 18 or younger crowd. Its rarer to see 19+ people to listen to that style music. Not impossible but harder. If all the cd's on sale are just the same few tired bands that only kiddies want to listen to like Lady Gaga, Nickleback and D12 then I don't think it will matter much in sales. Music has many styles and tastes now, much larger selection all aiming for the same amount of money.
Really? Is there some fact/rumour/speculation of a kill switch in the iPhone?
I think he means the back door put into the iPhone. While Apple claims it's only to remove 'rogue' applications, all I see is a back door is a back door. Kinda like how an engine kill switch in a car is only to be used to kill the engine of the car of unpaid accounts.
Would Linux be more safe if it had greater than or equal to the market share of Windows? Is any home O.S. really safe as long as the user keeps clicking "yes" or "ok"? That's a whole other debate. The fact is that Linux, now, is much less of a hassle than Windows.
Seriously doubt it. Any and every OS can be hacked into, it just takes a true desire to. Most people when they want to crack an OS, they want the biggest bang for their effort. Think, the most hacked home PC is Windows, the most hacked web server is Linux, the most hacked smartphone is iPhone. What do all 3 of these have in common? They are all the leaders of their field. You'll hear the rare story of a smaller OS being hacked into, but it won't be published in most major story outlets because it doesn't interest most people. Like imagine the headline "OS xyz hacked with malicious virus that is sweeping the globe, effecting less then 1 in every 10 users.". That really doesn't grip, it sounds more dramatic by saying "OS zyx hacked with malicious virus that is sweeping the globe, effecting more then 9 in every 10 users." now your talking interesting news because it effects most people.
As for Fairplay, its been known for quite a while that Apple didn't want it but it was required in order to get the music industry's blessing to sell their music.
I have noticed that I've only been able to find out Steve Job's not wanting to have put Fairplay on music files was an open letter dated Feb 2007, 5 years later when DRM was being spoken against by the general public. And its a typical PR stunt "Oh we didn't want to... it's the other guys fault. They strong armed us into doing it". This argument has been used by quite a few software vendors. And the big issue I have with it is that Apple as a business shows the opposite. DRM by definition is "a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices.".Look at the DRM on OSX, most notably Snow Leopard. I could buy a copy of Snow Leopard but due to the DRM in it, I can't install it on any other hardware but Apples. While the old versions of OSX needed the special CPU's, Snow Leopard only works on Intel sytle x64 chips. There isn't much DRM on the software side for checking if it's legitimate, but all the DRM is focusing on the hardware. This is a massive limitation of my usability of the software, limiting it to only using Apple hardware. The only problem here is that with Apple doing it, it isn't a limitation, it's a 'value adding function'. I've been told by many Mac users that it's not truly DRM though it severely limits my usage, its a function to 'make sure to have the optimal usage since it was designed for that hardware'. No it isn't, its a DRM to limit my usage to be device locked in. Look at a Hackentosh. It takes a lot of cracks to get it working on non-Apple hardware, and shows it is possible once the digital locks are removed. And Hackentosh's work pretty stable showing it doesn't truly need Apple only hardware. They have some of the most aggressive DRM in usage, beyond the 'calling home' of Ubisoft. The iPhone has the same style of DRM, to limit what you can do with the iPhone. It isn't because it will be unstable if it ran multiple programs or used unauthorized programs, jailbreaking proves that wrong and because jailbreaking breaks the DRM of the iPhone Steve Jobs calls declares that it's pretty much that the sky is falling. It's easy for Apple to claim they hate DRM, but their actions show they not only approve of it, they love it.
...but not by Apple.
...again, not by Apple. Allow me to direct you at the point in dispute: "Apple has had absolute control of their standards."
And allow me to direct you to the point in dispute "Apple has always been very aggressive about vendor lockin, and only uses "open" standards when it serves their purpose to break into a market". Like Apple did with MP3's on the iPod and making it mandatory to use iTunes with the iPod. They made sure to support the more or less 'open' standard of MP3 on all their iPods then turn around and do a vendor lock in with their music sold on iTunes with Fairplay while not mentioning to the customer that the music will not play on anyone else's product. If people had been informed of this they might have continued to buy music cds or look towards other companies like Amazon's MP3's that aren't vendor locked in. They made sure to do this vender lock in when it no longer needed to break into the 'market' since you already had their player and no longer support the more 'open' standard of common MP3's. While the average iPod user might not notice this, it still locked them into iTunes and prevented them from transferring their digital music collection later in life to a competing product, like a Creative Labs Zen or Sansa Clip. Same goes with the later models with the video function.
I have no real interest in the rest of the arguments, please carry on.
I will, let me know when your interested in something else.
... is it?
Maybe if it'll help with the judges rulings it might
The makings of a night you'll never forget right there.
The government isn't requiring us all to get iProducts ... yet ;-)
Oh? It is military issue now.