It would be nice if AAC* & FLAC were used by everyone. They are open and don't suffer the same quality loss as WMV or ATRAK. The only issue of course is DRM compatibility.
The real question is what would it take to get companies to use compatible technologies, especially when the online stores have an invested interest in a particular player? No one will use someone else's DRM especially if it means paying money to someone else.
*AAC - Advanced Audio Codec, it is to MPEG 4 what MP3 is to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.
They won't make a new Newton for the same reason why they won't make a new Apple// computer, they want to move on to other things.
True, but not quite, IMHO. As far as I can tell Apple will only make something if it has a reasonable chance that it will trump the competition. Its just a waste of money doing something that only has a reasonable chance in hell of working. Outside of the current hardcore gang I wonder how many people would feel its hip enough to buy - nerdish unfortunately only sells to us on/.;)
The iPod is about offering a tool that does its primary job very and everything is are perks that are nice to have but really aren't factors that sell the device. The GameBoy, a Nintendo product, takes the same approach, but for games. What is the primary job of a PDA, and how well do current solutions do the job?
Since a number of people missed this in some other forums: the audio jack supports both a headphone type connector and an optical connector, but not at the same time.
I have a simple solution... make the disks adhere to the Red Book standard, so that can be treated as compact discs. Oops, that makes SunnComm International and Macrovision irrelavent, not that I care. Saves Apple loads of effort, and money, and the listeners a load of grief.
Apple's marketing department is the best. Not many vendors can get their products announced to the target audience before they officially exist, but Apple keep making front page news on slashdot.
I wonder how much it has to do with marketing in certain cases and instead with the shear enthusiasim of the the customers? For example are there AppleInsider.com or macrumors.com equivalents for other stuff such as Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc?
Few companies in the IT world provide a line of products where people are willing to cut off their arm to find out what's coming next. Its like people expect Christmas from Apple.
Dear God... What is wrong with creating a site with valid html? The web is slowly turning into a real cesspool. If a site is in Flash, I don't even bother.
I am really, really, starting to feel like creating a rant site on how NOT to do web sites. One of the pages will have seven flash pug-ins, just to make the user cry, as their computer comes to a halt, just so they realise what's wrong with it.
I am not a big fan of the online music stores because of the format wars and the DRM issues. I don't want to use WMV or ATRAK, since they are closed formats and their quality is poor, though I would hesitate on AAC (relatively open), but with the Apple music store DRM I won't touch it. At the moment I am getting the feeling that if I buy any of these solutions it would be akin to buying a Panasonic CD that can only be played on Panasonic players and only in the conditions they wish, with 8-track quality. No, I like to take my music where I want it, listen to how I want it when I want it and have the best fidelity possible.
So the next legal alternative is the traditional CD. Now I walk into the CD store the other day and see a CD I like. Pick it up, check out the music and then look at the back cover, where it states "this CD is copy protected". Ok, maybe its not as bad as everyone says, I'll give it a chance. I walk over to the counter and ask whether I can bring it back if it does not play on my computer. I was told no, so I just told them they lost a sale. Sure, the store has it policies and I have mine. So what is a guy to do to legally get the music. Kazaa is tempting, I want to support my favourite artist, yet I don't want to sponsor copy protection that won't let me get the music onto my iPod.
At a business level, what is the technical difference between a non-profit organisation and a traditional business. Maybe better: to what extent can it non make a profit? Surely a non-profit organisation still needs to assure it has money in the bank and pay its employees.
"Valve's Cyber Café program also protects members against banned accounts. We understand that it is sometimes difficult to prevent users from misusing your computers. To help combat this problem, cafés in the program can contact Valve to correct problems with "banned" accounts."
It sounds like a step, but maybe not enough. Valve will probably end up changing their solution, as this will probably require too much work.
The Cybercafe's would most likely force gamers to use their own Steam logins, so if an account gets locked it's the gamers and not the cafe's that's locked. To get their own login, they must have their own cd key
If Valve is smart, then they would have a special 'CyberCafe' edition, which wouldn't have these issues. Basically the only requirement would be a license server, to which all the nodes in the café connects to. The license server would be the only one needing the key.
I must admit I have no idea whether Valve has actually done this, so I would be interested what their solution is.
Another system is in France. Quoted from this article, describing the 2002 French presidential election:
"According to French polling rules, the presidential elections, a direct vote for the candidate, takes place in a two-step election process. The top two finalists meet a second time in run-off elections, which is how Le Pen has managed to face off with current President Jacques Chirac for the top job. The process allows for alliances to take shape in the two-week period between polling, just as it guarantees a majority vote."
Then there are also countries where you are obligated to vote by law, such as Australia and Belgium. Many may say this doesn't sound 'fair', but at it least it gets the people who wouldn't bother voting, either out of disinterest or laziness, to act, even if it is just turning up and not filling the check-boxes.
Expedia is no longer owned by Microsoft. It was spun off some time back. It is now fully owned by Interactive Corp. From what I heard non-IE browsers make up for 10% of their client base.
I want to add something regarding porting software to native mac OS X. Last year I ported a program I've been working on which allows for development of behavioral AI for robots in a relatively nice physics simulated environmen
Looks good. Are you planning on making it available to the public? I would be ineterested to check it out on my computer.
Slashdot Mirror
MP3 is MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio. Are you saying AAC is the audio compression defined by MPEG-4? I didn't think so...
Don't believe me, read for yourself:
- Apple's AAC page
- AAC licensing page
- Audiocoding - open source AAC codec
- MPEG-4
Note you may have to search for either AAC or "Advanced Audio Coding".
It would be nice if AAC* & FLAC were used by everyone. They are open and don't suffer the same quality loss as WMV or ATRAK. The only issue of course is DRM compatibility.
The real question is what would it take to get companies to use compatible technologies, especially when the online stores have an invested interest in a particular player? No one will use someone else's DRM especially if it means paying money to someone else.
*AAC - Advanced Audio Codec, it is to MPEG 4 what MP3 is to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.
I'd hate to have to pay to play all those CDs I'm trying to sell on the record company's behalf...
;)
Depend, whether it Britney
They won't make a new Newton for the same reason why they won't make a new Apple // computer, they want to move on to other things.
/. ;)
True, but not quite, IMHO. As far as I can tell Apple will only make something if it has a reasonable chance that it will trump the competition. Its just a waste of money doing something that only has a reasonable chance in hell of working. Outside of the current hardcore gang I wonder how many people would feel its hip enough to buy - nerdish unfortunately only sells to us on
The iPod is about offering a tool that does its primary job very and everything is are perks that are nice to have but really aren't factors that sell the device. The GameBoy, a Nintendo product, takes the same approach, but for games. What is the primary job of a PDA, and how well do current solutions do the job?
people get confused about that?
They get confused by the fact that they only see one connector, especially when they are skimming the article for facts.
Since a number of people missed this in some other forums: the audio jack supports both a headphone type connector and an optical connector, but not at the same time.
Open Firmware is at least non-proprietary, and is used by Sun and Apple on their computers
There is even an open source implementation of Open Firmware in the form of OpenBIOS.
There is also a commercial implementation of Open Firmware from FirmWorks.
I should note that that IBM RS/6000 machines also use Open Firmware.
I have a simple solution ... make the disks adhere to the Red Book standard, so that can be treated as compact discs. Oops, that makes SunnComm International and Macrovision irrelavent, not that I care. Saves Apple loads of effort, and money, and the listeners a load of grief.
Just to add to the list of already existing devices, there is also the Spaceball.
Apple's marketing department is the best. Not many vendors can get their products announced to the target audience before they officially exist, but Apple keep making front page news on slashdot.
I wonder how much it has to do with marketing in certain cases and instead with the shear enthusiasim of the the customers? For example are there AppleInsider.com or macrumors.com equivalents for other stuff such as Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc?
Few companies in the IT world provide a line of products where people are willing to cut off their arm to find out what's coming next. Its like people expect Christmas from Apple.
The only signifcant drawback to the current material used in the regular iPod is its tendency to pick up scratches/fingerprints on its back.
Sure, but then again that applies to most portable devices. On the other hand you get some case for the iPod. Did a search with google:
- Applinks review
- iSkin evo, which even come in a choice of colours
[quick blink, "you must be kidding me"] looks like even Gucci is offering an iPod case. Now that's saying something.
Checking out the Picasa site looks like it only supports MS-Windows. No Linux or MacOS X support. Oh well.
Dear God... What is wrong with creating a site with valid html? The web is slowly turning into a real cesspool. If a site is in Flash, I don't even bother.
I am really, really, starting to feel like creating a rant site on how NOT to do web sites. One of the pages will have seven flash pug-ins, just to make the user cry, as their computer comes to a halt, just so they realise what's wrong with it.
The goal was to avoid stops and deny snipers a shot.
Surely the simplest solution would be to ensure that the entrance 'gate' is simply obstructed from any distant line of fire?
And what does it do that Cygwin doesn't? Cygwin seems a lot more complete in some respects.
I am not a big fan of the online music stores because of the format wars and the DRM issues. I don't want to use WMV or ATRAK, since they are closed formats and their quality is poor, though I would hesitate on AAC (relatively open), but with the Apple music store DRM I won't touch it. At the moment I am getting the feeling that if I buy any of these solutions it would be akin to buying a Panasonic CD that can only be played on Panasonic players and only in the conditions they wish, with 8-track quality. No, I like to take my music where I want it, listen to how I want it when I want it and have the best fidelity possible.
So the next legal alternative is the traditional CD. Now I walk into the CD store the other day and see a CD I like. Pick it up, check out the music and then look at the back cover, where it states "this CD is copy protected". Ok, maybe its not as bad as everyone says, I'll give it a chance. I walk over to the counter and ask whether I can bring it back if it does not play on my computer. I was told no, so I just told them they lost a sale. Sure, the store has it policies and I have mine. So what is a guy to do to legally get the music. Kazaa is tempting, I want to support my favourite artist, yet I don't want to sponsor copy protection that won't let me get the music onto my iPod.
At a business level, what is the technical difference between a non-profit organisation and a traditional business. Maybe better: to what extent can it non make a profit? Surely a non-profit organisation still needs to assure it has money in the bank and pay its employees.
From the Valve site, about Cyber Cafés:
"Valve's Cyber Café program also protects members against banned accounts. We understand that it is sometimes difficult to prevent users from misusing your computers. To help combat this problem, cafés in the program can contact Valve to correct problems with "banned" accounts."
It sounds like a step, but maybe not enough. Valve will probably end up changing their solution, as this will probably require too much work.
The Cybercafe's would most likely force gamers to use their own Steam logins, so if an account gets locked it's the gamers and not the cafe's that's locked. To get their own login, they must have their own cd key
If Valve is smart, then they would have a special 'CyberCafe' edition, which wouldn't have these issues. Basically the only requirement would be a license server, to which all the nodes in the café connects to. The license server would be the only one needing the key.
I must admit I have no idea whether Valve has actually done this, so I would be interested what their solution is.
'Counter Strike the Source Code - the official release' would certainly be cool.
Another system is in France. Quoted from this article, describing the 2002 French presidential election:
"According to French polling rules, the presidential elections, a direct vote for the candidate, takes place in a two-step election process. The top two finalists meet a second time in run-off elections, which is how Le Pen has managed to face off with current President Jacques Chirac for the top job. The process allows for alliances to take shape in the two-week period between polling, just as it guarantees a majority vote."
Then there are also countries where you are obligated to vote by law, such as Australia and Belgium. Many may say this doesn't sound 'fair', but at it least it gets the people who wouldn't bother voting, either out of disinterest or laziness, to act, even if it is just turning up and not filling the check-boxes.
Actually, a lot of the hardware on the G5 is pretty half-assed. Onboard sound
Is this an argument that the sound is bad because it is onboard, or you perceive it to be bad from listening to the sound out of it?
Since Quicktime is already included you already have access to its fairly extensive list of supported formats, as can be seen from the specifications.
BTW If you need a graphics program that supports a very extensive range of graphics formats, the GraphicConverter is your friend.
Expedia is no longer owned by Microsoft. It was spun off some time back. It is now fully owned by Interactive Corp. From what I heard non-IE browsers make up for 10% of their client base.
I want to add something regarding porting software to native mac OS X. Last year I ported a program I've been working on which allows for development of behavioral AI for robots in a relatively nice physics simulated environmen
Looks good. Are you planning on making it available to the public? I would be ineterested to check it out on my computer.