Well, yes, except that too many companies think about the effort and legal crap that goes into making sure some engineer doesn't change a few lines of GPL code that they just avoid it..
I'm not saying it is good, but it is reality. They can't see the forest for the trees, don't think shit about the greater good.
IANAP (pilot), but the passion in your posts piqued my interest..
Wouldn't it seem, that the shortcomings would be fairly easy worked around -- probably still keeping the package cheaper than about any other flying transportation option, saftey being considered.
A computer that keeps pilots' control motions within safe ranges, few gyros for input, and a small battery but high torque electric motor to give the roters a boost for emergency recovery / landing when a stall is detected? (not to mention the uranium-tipped blads you mentioned elsewhere)
The question comes down to: Does this monopoly create more business and spawn innovation making it's existence worthwhile overall? Would competition in *this* market just end up slowing overall progress?
You have to be kinda big to be a target for someone else to want to compete and (hopefully) improve on.. Eventually the biggest will be overtaken, when a critical mass is shooting..
The mere existence of a monopoly doesn't, by nature, place "unfair stress" on a market. Sure, some do, but it is commonly a catalyst for many other businesses.
Our favorite target around here, Microsoft, is a perfect example. Many billions in (non-MS) software sales are made off Windows 'infrastructure.'
The bad/evil/wrong/asshole/(or just opportunistic?) thing is this: Leveraging that monoply by screwing the companies who are doing too well with software for their platform. When they decide to create something (that company X,Y,Z's software does), they have distribution advantages and internal knowledge that are very difficult to compete with.
Not a complete monopoly, but think of Wal-Mart as another example. If they started copying and selling 30% of their mfg.'s products, they'd be that kind of bad..
How many of these things will they really sell? As is, probably not many -- but IMHO they could sell a fair number by better targeting the niche of darkened-room usage: living room / HTPC, presentations & demos (ala GyroPoint), etc.
For those purposes, it should be wireless, and the light should turn on & off automatically with a touch sensor.
Nice troll, or misguided? It is excellent, a good (if somewhat niche) idea, but the OS they deploy has little to do with it. IBM understands the greatness and is already a strong supporter of Linux, but they are ultimately in the game of making money -- "You want Windows on there? No problem."
I can't see this changing, at least for a while (and this certainly wouldn't be a catalyst for it).
If you really read it, this seems like a typical low-level, "slow news time" press release.
I hardly think that a significant percentage of the 100k+ iPMinis were purchased for that reason.
The Mini isn't a bad deal in any way for people who want one that is mini -- and the size DOES make a difference to plenty of people. 4G is still a hell of a lot of music, for "typical" people and/or those willing to prune what they put on the iPod to songs they'll ever actually listen to.
I highly doubt Hitachi is selling them at a loss -- Apple is buying with at least 100k unit volume commitments. I bet they haven't even sold 100k total to retail channels! I am sure, however, they wish they'd protected against this, to keep the margins on standalone retail sales high.
We had 5 TVs and I don't think it WOAH! TITTIES! Wait, uhh, what was I sayi DAMNIT, STOP BARKING! Anyway, the attention spa YES, HONEY, I'LL TAKE THE DAMN GARBAGE OUT NOW --- There are plenty of things that can mess with the attention span. I tend to think attention span is more related to the ability to filter out, or process an interrupt and resume -- from that perspective, TV probably isn't the worst thing..
Interesting to think about: how does TiVo impact developing reasoning skills since you can pause to deal with PIZZA GUY and don't have to spend the cycles to figure out what happened while you were servicing the interrupt.
I know one thing for sure -- being stoned does one hell of a number on my attention span:)
Actually, come to think about it, the alarm isn't set off when the key is turned, rather when the door is opened. Still makes sense to me, since the window can be left open with the alarm enabled...
The door's lock is essentially physical; detecting a pick would certainly add complexity. Picking is rare anyway, they use a slim-jim or a curved tool that hits the power lock button.
The ignition's tumblers are higher precision and, in some cars, have sensors that read a code embedded in the chip to verify the key.
Sure, old news, but the truly amazing, out of this world, "oh my god" thing about this -- The government actually WANTS to be thrifty with OUR tax money??!
Oh, wait, no, they just want to spend that money on more beaurocrats and $1000 screwdrivers.
Better yet, avoid using your bandwidth for often marginal quality sound, potential incompatibilities, and extra CPU usage.
Communicating with a group of people doesn't give you the same choice, but for one-on-one communication while gaming (or other things she might like better, like surfing and looking at funny stuff together, etc.), forget VOIP -- get the headset for your cell phone and use those unlimited, free long distance night and weekend minutes..
This sounds like it could be more smoke and mirrors, though there really isn't enough information to be sure.
ProLogic IIx will "synthesize" multiple channels from a stereo or 5.1 source. I sincerely hope Intel isn't thinking "we can do the same old thing (stereo) and marketing folks can call it 7.1 multichannel because we put this Dolby fake surround processing in the chip!"
Despite how much ProLogic has advanced, it still doesn't hold a candle to true, *discrete* 6+ channel sound (like DD/AC3 or DTS).
The sad truth, though, is that IE *is* the standard. When 95% of browsing is with IE, site developers code to IE -- and many resource constrained companies don't have (or take) the time to even look with other browsers.
That said, Firebird does a pretty damn good job, and I don't advocate just giving up on standards or anything -- but it wouldn't hurt to enhance the IE compatibility.
Perhaps a button that you click if a page isn't working right or looks funny that not only switches on "IE Mode" but sends the URL to a database at Mozilla for an automated "hall of shame"
Hey, I agree with him.. if friends / family want tech support help from 'the geek' of their group, it's reasonable that said geek has some input on what they buy in the first place.
Only?! I don't care if it's Java or C/C++ (Even GCC!), there are *always* little differences that take a lot of time to professionally port and especially TEST well.
For commercial vendors and consumers, hardware level SPARC compatibility would be huge, in terms of both effort and marketability.
God, this takes me back.. I remember the parrot and the clown pics like it was yesterday.. the other two engraved in my head are the eagle and the red rose.
I swear I spent hours looking at those pictures and grinning from ear to ear at the magic of it all.. not to mention dragging every family and friend possible in to show them off.
Of course, then 9600 baud BBSes, "free" PCPursuit accounts, VGA pr0n became commonplace, and it all went downhill from there:)
LOL, yup, it sure is.. have strangely fond memories of being a kid and regularly taking the long-ass bike ride down there to dig through a specific dumpster where they seemed to toss out NES roms all the time.
Pop open an old cart, stick the chip(s) in and find out what you got.. at that age, finding a good game we didn't have was like winning the lottery:)
Fair enough, good point. I didn't think about the impact it would have on caches and other software that relies on proper HTTP responses (or lack thereof).
So, I amend that to -- If they can send a response header that is RFC compliant, but happen to display a page through some loophole (likely in the favorite *ahem* IE), then they can go for it.
Actually, I don't really care that much either way. I can probably hit stop and search it on google or click a bookmark before their page comes up anyway. It's my non-geek friends and parents I am considering.
Even worse user data than an AC, and I'm not a troll feeder... but he's on the spot, language or no.
Verisign has the rights.. that decision has been made, and can be addressed in other venues if there is a desire. So, they are getting some ad bucks off making less-savvy and too-fast-typing people -- *BUT* ultimately directing them in the right place.
GOOD FOR THEM. You (and I) know we wish we'd thought of it and had the position to use it.
Don't like it, don't agree with it, but acknowledge their right to use the service they faught for and won. If you can't take it, fight the fight to give them (better) competition, instead of filing some frivolous lawsuit.
Socketing the NB/SB likely wouldn't be worth it, you couldn't do more than minor changes. With new features like Serial ATA, 32-64-128 bit interfaces, DDR, and the like, pinouts change and layout of the traces can be critical.
Sure, people could try to plan ahead but it would add cost now, and historically doesn't work out because things move too fast to anticipate everything.
I had the same problem, and it turned out to be a corrupt ID3 tag that caused Musicmatch to use a gig of swap whenever it tried to do anything with the song (add to playlist, copy to iPod, etc).
I narrowed down which track was causing the problem, used the mp3-info extension (mp3ext) to fix it, and now it works great. I recently added about 300 songs, and it took ~5 minutes to sync.
Sure, explosive growth isn't going to continue in any industry that has reached relative maturity. It's far from doom and gloom, however, and the article doesn't discuss one of the most important effects of IT buildups.
While there's no question much of the economy's boom was based on hype, there are still real, bottom line reasons for strength -- and numero uno, IMHO, is the strong growth in productivity. IT-related expenditures get a lot of credit for this growth.
Railroads and automobiles aren't fair comparisons, because they are essentially 'fixed-function.' Once you can ship things anywhere inexpensively, what else will drive railroad growth? "A little faster" isn't a fundamental change. Unlike these examples, IT infrastructure is constantly evolving, adding new ways to increase productivity.
For example, "B2B" exchanges are no longer flashy, but still growing like crazy and boosting efficiency. There are many other applications with strong potential but currently limited real-world usage, such as e-learning, knowledge management, and video conferencing -- and plenty more great ideas still being dreamed up.
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Well, yes, except that too many companies think about the effort and legal crap that goes into making sure some engineer doesn't change a few lines of GPL code that they just avoid it..
I'm not saying it is good, but it is reality. They can't see the forest for the trees, don't think shit about the greater good.
IANAP (pilot), but the passion in your posts piqued my interest..
Wouldn't it seem, that the shortcomings would be fairly easy worked around -- probably still keeping the package cheaper than about any other flying transportation option, saftey being considered.
A computer that keeps pilots' control motions within safe ranges, few gyros for input, and a small battery but high torque electric motor to give the roters a boost for emergency recovery / landing when a stall is detected?
(not to mention the uranium-tipped blads you mentioned elsewhere)
D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M.
Devise Options Using Open Source Vigorously And Vanquish Vile Microsoft
Absolutely true, just not always a net loss.
The question comes down to: Does this monopoly create more business and spawn innovation making it's existence worthwhile overall? Would competition in *this* market just end up slowing overall progress?
You have to be kinda big to be a target for someone else to want to compete and (hopefully) improve on.. Eventually the biggest will be overtaken, when a critical mass is shooting..
The mere existence of a monopoly doesn't, by nature, place "unfair stress" on a market. Sure, some do, but it is commonly a catalyst for many other businesses.
Our favorite target around here, Microsoft, is a perfect example. Many billions in (non-MS) software sales are made off Windows 'infrastructure.'
The bad/evil/wrong/asshole/(or just opportunistic?) thing is this: Leveraging that monoply by screwing the companies who are doing too well with software for their platform. When they decide to create something (that company X,Y,Z's software does), they have distribution advantages and internal knowledge that are very difficult to compete with.
Not a complete monopoly, but think of Wal-Mart as another example. If they started copying and selling 30% of their mfg.'s products, they'd be that kind of bad..
How many of these things will they really sell? As is, probably not many -- but IMHO they could sell a fair number by better targeting the niche of darkened-room usage: living room / HTPC, presentations & demos (ala GyroPoint), etc.
For those purposes, it should be wireless, and the light should turn on & off automatically with a touch sensor.
Nice troll, or misguided?
It is excellent, a good (if somewhat niche) idea, but the OS they deploy has little to do with it. IBM understands the greatness and is already a strong supporter of Linux, but they are ultimately in the game of making money -- "You want Windows on there? No problem."
I can't see this changing, at least for a while (and this certainly wouldn't be a catalyst for it).
If you really read it, this seems like a typical low-level, "slow news time" press release.
I hardly think that a significant percentage of the 100k+ iPMinis were purchased for that reason.
The Mini isn't a bad deal in any way for people who want one that is mini -- and the size DOES make a difference to plenty of people. 4G is still a hell of a lot of music, for "typical" people and/or those willing to prune what they put on the iPod to songs they'll ever actually listen to.
I highly doubt Hitachi is selling them at a loss -- Apple is buying with at least 100k unit volume commitments. I bet they haven't even sold 100k total to retail channels! I am sure, however, they wish they'd protected against this, to keep the margins on standalone retail sales high.
We had 5 TVs and I don't think it WOAH! TITTIES! Wait, uhh, what was I sayi DAMNIT, STOP BARKING! Anyway, the attention spa YES, HONEY, I'LL TAKE THE DAMN GARBAGE OUT NOW
:)
---
There are plenty of things that can mess with the attention span. I tend to think attention span is more related to the ability to filter out, or process an interrupt and resume -- from that perspective, TV probably isn't the worst thing..
Interesting to think about: how does TiVo impact developing reasoning skills since you can pause to deal with PIZZA GUY and don't have to spend the cycles to figure out what happened while you were servicing the interrupt.
I know one thing for sure -- being stoned does one hell of a number on my attention span
Actually, come to think about it, the alarm isn't set off when the key is turned, rather when the door is opened. Still makes sense to me, since the window can be left open with the alarm enabled...
The door's lock is essentially physical; detecting a pick would certainly add complexity. Picking is rare anyway, they use a slim-jim or a curved tool that hits the power lock button.
The ignition's tumblers are higher precision and, in some cars, have sensors that read a code embedded in the chip to verify the key.
My car alarm will also go off if I use the key in the door -- but turning the key in the ignition will stop it.
That doesn't seem like unreasonable behavior.
Sure, old news, but the truly amazing, out of this world, "oh my god" thing about this -- The government actually WANTS to be thrifty with OUR tax money??!
Oh, wait, no, they just want to spend that money on more beaurocrats and $1000 screwdrivers.
Ah, well.
Better yet, avoid using your bandwidth for often marginal quality sound, potential incompatibilities, and extra CPU usage.
Communicating with a group of people doesn't give you the same choice, but for one-on-one communication while gaming (or other things she might like better, like surfing and looking at funny stuff together, etc.), forget VOIP -- get the headset for your cell phone and use those unlimited, free long distance night and weekend minutes..
This sounds like it could be more smoke and mirrors, though there really isn't enough information to be sure.
ProLogic IIx will "synthesize" multiple channels from a stereo or 5.1 source. I sincerely hope Intel isn't thinking "we can do the same old thing (stereo) and marketing folks can call it 7.1 multichannel because we put this Dolby fake surround processing in the chip!"
Despite how much ProLogic has advanced, it still doesn't hold a candle to true, *discrete* 6+ channel sound (like DD/AC3 or DTS).
The sad truth, though, is that IE *is* the standard. When 95% of browsing is with IE, site developers code to IE -- and many resource constrained companies don't have (or take) the time to even look with other browsers.
That said, Firebird does a pretty damn good job, and I don't advocate just giving up on standards or anything -- but it wouldn't hurt to enhance the IE compatibility.
Perhaps a button that you click if a page isn't working right or looks funny that not only switches on "IE Mode" but sends the URL to a database at Mozilla for an automated "hall of shame"
Hey, I agree with him.. if friends / family want tech support help from 'the geek' of their group, it's reasonable that said geek has some input on what they buy in the first place.
Only?! I don't care if it's Java or C/C++ (Even GCC!), there are *always* little differences that take a lot of time to professionally port and especially TEST well.
For commercial vendors and consumers, hardware level SPARC compatibility would be huge, in terms of both effort and marketability.
God, this takes me back.. I remember the parrot and the clown pics like it was yesterday.. the other two engraved in my head are the eagle and the red rose.
:)
I swear I spent hours looking at those pictures and grinning from ear to ear at the magic of it all.. not to mention dragging every family and friend possible in to show them off.
Of course, then 9600 baud BBSes, "free" PCPursuit accounts, VGA pr0n became commonplace, and it all went downhill from there
LOL, yup, it sure is.. have strangely fond memories of being a kid and regularly taking the long-ass bike ride down there to dig through a specific dumpster where they seemed to toss out NES roms all the time.
:)
Pop open an old cart, stick the chip(s) in and find out what you got.. at that age, finding a good game we didn't have was like winning the lottery
Yeah, yeah, so it's OT.
Fair enough, good point. I didn't think about the impact it would have on caches and other software that relies on proper HTTP responses (or lack thereof).
So, I amend that to -- If they can send a response header that is RFC compliant, but happen to display a page through some loophole (likely in the favorite *ahem* IE), then they can go for it.
Actually, I don't really care that much either way. I can probably hit stop and search it on google or click a bookmark before their page comes up anyway. It's my non-geek friends and parents I am considering.
Even worse user data than an AC, and I'm not a troll feeder... but he's on the spot, language or no.
Verisign has the rights.. that decision has been made, and can be addressed in other venues if there is a desire. So, they are getting some ad bucks off making less-savvy and too-fast-typing people -- *BUT* ultimately directing them in the right place.
GOOD FOR THEM. You (and I) know we wish we'd thought of it and had the position to use it.
Don't like it, don't agree with it, but acknowledge their right to use the service they faught for and won. If you can't take it, fight the fight to give them (better) competition, instead of filing some frivolous lawsuit.
MOD IT UP.
Socketing the NB/SB likely wouldn't be worth it, you couldn't do more than minor changes. With new features like Serial ATA, 32-64-128 bit interfaces, DDR, and the like, pinouts change and layout of the traces can be critical.
Sure, people could try to plan ahead but it would add cost now, and historically doesn't work out because things move too fast to anticipate everything.
I always thought it was:
People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms
I think I like your version even better!
I narrowed down which track was causing the problem, used the mp3-info extension (mp3ext) to fix it, and now it works great. I recently added about 300 songs, and it took ~5 minutes to sync.
Sure, explosive growth isn't going to continue in any industry that has reached relative maturity. It's far from doom and gloom, however, and the article doesn't discuss one of the most important effects of IT buildups.
While there's no question much of the economy's boom was based on hype, there are still real, bottom line reasons for strength -- and numero uno, IMHO, is the strong growth in productivity. IT-related expenditures get a lot of credit for this growth.
Railroads and automobiles aren't fair comparisons, because they are essentially 'fixed-function.' Once you can ship things anywhere inexpensively, what else will drive railroad growth? "A little faster" isn't a fundamental change. Unlike these examples, IT infrastructure is constantly evolving, adding new ways to increase productivity.
For example, "B2B" exchanges are no longer flashy, but still growing like crazy and boosting efficiency. There are many other applications with strong potential but currently limited real-world usage, such as e-learning, knowledge management, and video conferencing -- and plenty more great ideas still being dreamed up.