What about the clone manufacturers? Power Computing, and the others, were left out in the cold - it's no wonder why Apple has litle respect outside the art community.
I'm still bitter that the Newton was killed, but not as bitter as the large number of developers, most of them independent, who got the shaft. Worse yet, Apple claimed the project was completely dead, and then refused to sell off the OS to interested (albeit small) parties.
How about one copy of a multitrack recorder? I don't know if these support recording multiple inputs at once, but check out either Audacity or Ecasound for free alternatives.
The problem: you're still not safe if the machine you're using isn't 100% trusted, i.e.: a corporate desktop. There's nothing to say that once plugged in, the key can't be copied from this device to a local drive by a background process. Or, even innocently copied into a non-secure cache.
OTOH, if we could use this in conjunction with some sort of encrypted FS, our designated safe dir (or the whole partition if you'd like) can only be accessed when this "key" is inserted. That'd be kinda nice (though I'm not trying to push this as an alternative to the above key store - it's just as risky on an untrusted machine).
*Already* this site is/.'ed beyond usability. It's too much. Slashdot needs to provide a local cache of pages it links to, for all non-major league sites. To not do so is irresponsible - and makes the point of posting the links at all pretty much moot.
Related, anyone know where I can get inexpensive (or gently used) rack cases, similar to (or exactly) what they use to move around rack-mounted audio gear? Y'know - the felt or carpet padded 19" rack cases on wheels? I've moved so many times over the past few years that I'd be able to make sure my rack mounted gear survives nicely in something like this. Better yet - I can just leave it setup in the case on a permanent basis, and can get rid of the short rack. The online musician's stores have these, but it's more than I'm looking to spend.
IANADP (i am not a dsp programmer...), but if I remember correctly, the process of the Fourier transform doesn't reduce data. The transform brings our data into the frequency domain, which, in terms of audio and video data, is where we do all of the tricks to eliminate what we've learned our "ears" can't hear or "eyes" can't see.
Where can I get info on my CDs based on UPC? I'm not looking to use FreeDB - it's impractical to stick every CD I own into my CD-ROM drive. Instead, I've got a bar-code reader which will read the UPC. It doesn't look like FreeDB uses UPC at all, which is a shame since it's exactly this type of into I'm after.
This is for a personal, non-commercial project to inventory my discs. Therefore, licensing expensive databases with "commercial" pricing is out of the question. I'd consider hacking together a script which would submit it to an online vendor (such as an amazon or cdnow) and parse the results, however I haven't found anyone who accepts UPC searches.
Your congressperson certainly does not read the mail/email/faxes you send, as much as they won't answer the phone call you place. Take a stroll around any DC-area college campus where you'll find the folks who read those messages. Only about 20,000 people writing will cause a bump in the stats compiled and handed to your person.
Compare this to Steve Albini's somewhat infamous "The Problem With Music" article which appeared in print a few years ago. Here are links to it: (note that these are links to the same article -- pick one at random)
Pick up the friday/saturday/sunday newspaper and find a local flea market or yard sale. Find the heaviest receiver you can find (big transformer and big capacitors = good low end). Anything made in the past 25 years will do fine - don't hesitate to buy something from 1979. You'll pay $20 or less for it, and if it's bulky enough, it's likely to be able to drive that set of speakers sitting next to it (another $20) a lot cleaner than that 1-chip, plasticized, made-in-china speaker set that shipped with your machine. Just make sure the speakers aren't blown and the amp is working... ask to plug it in. If you want some better speakers, Yamaha makes a respectable set for under $99.
I'm using a 1975 Harmon-Kardon receiver which was once sitting outside on someone's porch. It's not the loudest thing ever, but it makes my Boston Acoustics bookshelf speakers (made well before they got into the "computer speaker" business) sound sweet.
Check out this article for instructions on how to build a generator.
Essentially, you're taking a lawnmower engine and hooking it up to an alternator extracted from a car. The article suggests using a GM alternator which features a built-in voltage regulator. The output of the alternator is about 14v, and you'll hook this up to one of those cigarette-ligher based 12v->120v voltage inverters. Better yet, charge up some batteries and save the excess power for later.
For more info on running your life on 12 volts, check out Home Power magazine, where you can freely download the entire current issue as a PDF.
What Slashdot NEEDS to do is setup a cache for links to non-major and non-dynamic sites. Every time a link is posted to a smaller site, that site gets thrashed and nobody gets a view.
Pseudo example: 802.11b Network Scanning In London And Amsterdam Posted by
timothy
on Sat Sep 15, '01 11:21 AM from the brief-window-of-opportunity dept. jbrw writes: "Beware of cat skulls in sombreros! Bicycle + laptop + gps unit + 80I.11 magic = WarPeddlaz, currently scanning London. Replacing the bike with a canal boat, and you have the WarFloataz in Amsterdam. Pics, info and raw scan data available at free2air.orgslashcached." Some amusingly altered photos in here, too. Now that I have an 802.11 card working, this is getting even more interesting.
I've heard that once an ISP starts filtering content, they're open themselves up to liability for the content they ARE letting through. For example, if someone posts underage pornography to a group they're not filtering, they could be held liable because they, essentially, should have and didn't.
On the other hand, as/. doesn't edit or delete posts, they're not held liable for what might get posted here.
Quite obviously, IANAL... but I'd like to hear from a lawyer or someone who has some real knowledge about this. By squelching ANY newsgroup, are they responsible for what gets posted?
You should make sure that you have adequate ventilation though (add a fan or five if necessary) - these are generally meant to be enclosed, and I've seen LCD displays (the small type on audio gear) go bad just from the heat generated by the equipment.
Also - check the depth on the rack before you buy... most audio equipment isn't as long as some of the computer gear you might mount.
While at the Transmeta's booth at PC Expo last week, there were a couple of companies showing off webpads using Transmeta's chips. Though it's not the $500 device you're looking for, they're aiming for around $1500 street - much better than the clunky $4000 devices we've seen in the past. You might want to see if Transmeta could hook you up with some companies - I can't remember who they were right now (Fujitsu? Casio?).
Another problem is that these webpads haven't been marketed for home/desktop computing users. The intended market is industrial/health care/"vertical" markets. The goal is to have 1000 doctors walking around the hospital with a webpad, wirelessly networked an able to pull up all sort of info on patients, etc., etc.
Anyway, it seems to me that we're just about ready for these things to come of age. Aside from significant strides being made with low power technology, the two factors pushing this forward: 802.11b becoming ubiquitous (and is currently being built-in to these webpads) and LCD being cheaper than ever.
You should check out The Arcade Video Game Price Guide which looks like will be released 7/15/01. I've seen the author's collection, and if that's any indication, this book should be a handy tool.
Some tips:
When looking for games, I've found that the highest priced ones were located in smaller stores in upscale suburbs. These are usually better maintained, but you'll end up spending three or four times as much than if you bought one, with maybe some small blemishes, from a warehouse or distributor.
If you're buying from a dealer or warehouse, a non-working game is usually a good sign that it's difficult to fix. If the pros haven't taken the time to fix it, it usually means that the bad part is difficult to find. Don't count it out though - you might be able to find parts on eBay or via the newsgroups.
Try your local bowling alleys, bars, etc. Don't expect these establishments to give up games just because they're older -- people still pump quarters into older games. However, someplace going out of business might give you a good deal just so they don't have to deal with a big beast of a game.
Look for auctions.
Buy a soldering iron.
Learn about CRTs.
Find a strong friend with a van or truck.
Buy a huge handtruck... like the giant UPS ones, maybe bigger.
I'm in agreement that we shouldn't necessarily be reliant upon commercial systems to provide interconnectivity - but in this case, it might provide a nice way to suppliment the Superlink system until other nodes are brought online.
C'mon, guys - isn't there a better option for viewing slashdot on my palm which DOESN'T require me to agree to a restrictive license?
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Dvorak only writes articles like this one when he's looking to pick up some attention to himself. Watch his show "Big Thinkers" on TechTV sometime. He interviews some industry pioneers on his show - but unfortunately, by the time he finishes asking his question, he's usually already answered it himself, and has moved on to another question! I've got to take a stopwatch to it sometime... I've convinced he spends more time talking than the guest does.
As far as I can tell, ReplayTV users only pay for the initial hardware. Downloading of listings, as well as software, is free of charge. This is contrary to the way Tivo operates - they charge (currently) $10/month, or a flat-fee extra cost ($199, soon to be $249) for a "lifetime" subscription.
With ReplayTV, your threats only really amount to 'If you do this, I'm never going to buy a ReplayTV unit again!' Frankly, this isn't really all that much of a threat to a company who already received your money.
On the other hand, the Tivo $10/month fee is key to their profitability. If you and 1,000 of your closest tivo-using friends (see below on the tivo forums) were to threaten to leave them due to a similar complaint, you'd probably be able to raise some eyebrows.
Now, this is a pretty interesting situation. While I've always been the first to criticize subscription software (which, essentially, this is - since you can't use Tivo w/o the listings [as of version 2.0 of their software]), it seems to me that we're actually receiving some leverage here - at least when we use the software as a group.
To see an excellent example of a group of software users coming together in a community, check out the AVS Tivo Forum, where a very good number of Tivo users congregate to speak with each other, and extraordinarily, Tivo representatives. This forum is a model of how a company should interact with their customers. They even rolled out a beta version of their latest software update to a significant number of forum users - giving them the opportunity to test their code on a large scale, and giving these users a chance to be the guinea pigs they desire to be:)
Hey folks - why not aggregate some bandwith from Iridium for applications like this one? Surely you could get some bandwidth from them for cheap with a little cross-promotion marketing deal.
Slashdot Mirror
What about the clone manufacturers? Power Computing, and the others, were left out in the cold - it's no wonder why Apple has litle respect outside the art community.
I'm still bitter that the Newton was killed, but not as bitter as the large number of developers, most of them independent, who got the shaft. Worse yet, Apple claimed the project was completely dead, and then refused to sell off the OS to interested (albeit small) parties.
Apple, RELEASE OSX SHELL FOR LINUX!
How about one copy of a multitrack recorder? I don't know if these support recording multiple inputs at once, but check out either Audacity or Ecasound for free alternatives.
The problem: you're still not safe if the machine you're using isn't 100% trusted, i.e.: a corporate desktop. There's nothing to say that once plugged in, the key can't be copied from this device to a local drive by a background process. Or, even innocently copied into a non-secure cache.
OTOH, if we could use this in conjunction with some sort of encrypted FS, our designated safe dir (or the whole partition if you'd like) can only be accessed when this "key" is inserted. That'd be kinda nice (though I'm not trying to push this as an alternative to the above key store - it's just as risky on an untrusted machine).
*Already* this site is /.'ed beyond usability. It's too much. Slashdot needs to provide a local cache of pages it links to, for all non-major league sites. To not do so is irresponsible - and makes the point of posting the links at all pretty much moot.
Related, anyone know where I can get inexpensive (or gently used) rack cases, similar to (or exactly) what they use to move around rack-mounted audio gear? Y'know - the felt or carpet padded 19" rack cases on wheels? I've moved so many times over the past few years that I'd be able to make sure my rack mounted gear survives nicely in something like this. Better yet - I can just leave it setup in the case on a permanent basis, and can get rid of the short rack. The online musician's stores have these, but it's more than I'm looking to spend.
Thanks.
IANADP (i am not a dsp programmer...), but if I remember correctly, the process of the Fourier transform doesn't reduce data. The transform brings our data into the frequency domain, which, in terms of audio and video data, is where we do all of the tricks to eliminate what we've learned our "ears" can't hear or "eyes" can't see.
Where can I get info on my CDs based on UPC? I'm not looking to use FreeDB - it's impractical to stick every CD I own into my CD-ROM drive. Instead, I've got a bar-code reader which will read the UPC. It doesn't look like FreeDB uses UPC at all, which is a shame since it's exactly this type of into I'm after.
This is for a personal, non-commercial project to inventory my discs. Therefore, licensing expensive databases with "commercial" pricing is out of the question. I'd consider hacking together a script which would submit it to an online vendor (such as an amazon or cdnow) and parse the results, however I haven't found anyone who accepts UPC searches.
Any ideas?
Your congressperson certainly does not read the mail/email/faxes you send, as much as they won't answer the phone call you place. Take a stroll around any DC-area college campus where you'll find the folks who read those messages. Only about 20,000 people writing will cause a bump in the stats compiled and handed to your person.
http://www.mp3.com/news/222.htmli .html / a-1098-1.htm
http://www.musicalevolution.8k.com/albini.htm
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/fmp/albin
http://www.musicianassist.com/archive/article/ART
I'm using a 1975 Harmon-Kardon receiver which was once sitting outside on someone's porch. It's not the loudest thing ever, but it makes my Boston Acoustics bookshelf speakers (made well before they got into the "computer speaker" business) sound sweet.
Essentially, you're taking a lawnmower engine and hooking it up to an alternator extracted from a car. The article suggests using a GM alternator which features a built-in voltage regulator. The output of the alternator is about 14v, and you'll hook this up to one of those cigarette-ligher based 12v->120v voltage inverters. Better yet, charge up some batteries and save the excess power for later.
For more info on running your life on 12 volts, check out Home Power magazine, where you can freely download the entire current issue as a PDF.
Pseudo example:
802.11b Network Scanning In London And Amsterdam
Posted by timothy on Sat Sep 15, '01 11:21 AM
from the brief-window-of-opportunity dept.
jbrw writes: "Beware of cat skulls in sombreros! Bicycle + laptop + gps unit + 80I.11 magic = WarPeddlaz, currently scanning London. Replacing the bike with a canal boat, and you have the WarFloataz in Amsterdam. Pics, info and raw scan data available at free2air.org slashcached." Some amusingly altered photos in here, too. Now that I have an 802.11 card working, this is getting even more interesting.
I've heard that once an ISP starts filtering content, they're open themselves up to liability for the content they ARE letting through. For example, if someone posts underage pornography to a group they're not filtering, they could be held liable because they, essentially, should have and didn't.
/. doesn't edit or delete posts, they're not held liable for what might get posted here.
On the other hand, as
Quite obviously, IANAL... but I'd like to hear from a lawyer or someone who has some real knowledge about this. By squelching ANY newsgroup, are they responsible for what gets posted?
Anyway, if we could "figure out" more about it, adding linux support and breaking it's need for a phone provider would be sweet.
Oh yeah -- calling Hong Kong is cheaper than calling in the US! (.04/min vs .05/min)
You should make sure that you have adequate ventilation though (add a fan or five if necessary) - these are generally meant to be enclosed, and I've seen LCD displays (the small type on audio gear) go bad just from the heat generated by the equipment.
Also - check the depth on the rack before you buy... most audio equipment isn't as long as some of the computer gear you might mount.
Or, make your own. Watch the weight though!
Another problem is that these webpads haven't been marketed for home/desktop computing users. The intended market is industrial/health care/"vertical" markets. The goal is to have 1000 doctors walking around the hospital with a webpad, wirelessly networked an able to pull up all sort of info on patients, etc., etc.
Anyway, it seems to me that we're just about ready for these things to come of age. Aside from significant strides being made with low power technology, the two factors pushing this forward: 802.11b becoming ubiquitous (and is currently being built-in to these webpads) and LCD being cheaper than ever.
Some tips:
When looking for games, I've found that the highest priced ones were located in smaller stores in upscale suburbs. These are usually better maintained, but you'll end up spending three or four times as much than if you bought one, with maybe some small blemishes, from a warehouse or distributor.
If you're buying from a dealer or warehouse, a non-working game is usually a good sign that it's difficult to fix. If the pros haven't taken the time to fix it, it usually means that the bad part is difficult to find. Don't count it out though - you might be able to find parts on eBay or via the newsgroups.
Try your local bowling alleys, bars, etc. Don't expect these establishments to give up games just because they're older -- people still pump quarters into older games. However, someplace going out of business might give you a good deal just so they don't have to deal with a big beast of a game.
Look for auctions.
Buy a soldering iron.
Learn about CRTs.
Find a strong friend with a van or truck.
Buy a huge handtruck... like the giant UPS ones, maybe bigger.
Most imporantly: read rec.games.video.arcade.* and associated FAQs. These are priceless
Good luck!
Asterisk Open Source Private Branch Exchange (PBX) and general telephony toolkit
linuxtelephony.org
Freshmeat search
Good luck, and please report your findings to Slashdot!
Jeff
Laptops have 'em.
Dvorak only writes articles like this one when he's looking to pick up some attention to himself. Watch his show "Big Thinkers" on TechTV sometime. He interviews some industry pioneers on his show - but unfortunately, by the time he finishes asking his question, he's usually already answered it himself, and has moved on to another question! I've got to take a stopwatch to it sometime... I've convinced he spends more time talking than the guest does.
With ReplayTV, your threats only really amount to 'If you do this, I'm never going to buy a ReplayTV unit again!' Frankly, this isn't really all that much of a threat to a company who already received your money.
On the other hand, the Tivo $10/month fee is key to their profitability. If you and 1,000 of your closest tivo-using friends (see below on the tivo forums) were to threaten to leave them due to a similar complaint, you'd probably be able to raise some eyebrows.
Now, this is a pretty interesting situation. While I've always been the first to criticize subscription software (which, essentially, this is - since you can't use Tivo w/o the listings [as of version 2.0 of their software]), it seems to me that we're actually receiving some leverage here - at least when we use the software as a group.
To see an excellent example of a group of software users coming together in a community, check out the AVS Tivo Forum, where a very good number of Tivo users congregate to speak with each other, and extraordinarily, Tivo representatives. This forum is a model of how a company should interact with their customers. They even rolled out a beta version of their latest software update to a significant number of forum users - giving them the opportunity to test their code on a large scale, and giving these users a chance to be the guinea pigs they desire to be :)
Hey folks - why not aggregate some bandwith from Iridium for applications like this one? Surely you could get some bandwidth from them for cheap with a little cross-promotion marketing deal.
From CNN article on non-lethal "pain beam":
I've gotta wonder ... will future camcorders w/ wireless 1394 include "built-in handwarmer" as a product feature??