I still keep a dial phone around, even if only to check for a dial tone to test the land lines. It might have been nearly two decades since I've used it as a main phone though.
It might be a nifty improvement, most cell phone buttons that I've are really stiff, I don't know if it is some sort of weatherproofing or not.
My phone lasts about a week with normal use. It doesn't have camera functions but it does have a color screen. I don't recharge my iPod every day, but then, I don't use it for twelve hours a day, more like a couple.
It doesn't really seem to solve rural broadband roll-out problems either. Repeaters every few miles only goes so far, so this may still be constrained by the same population density issues as DSL and cable. I'd think that rolling out WiMax would be easier and cheaper, assuming that it lives up to claims and can be mass produced affordably.
While it isn't pocket sized, but I bought a used 14" SXGA+ laptop for less than that, with over a year left on the warranty. Heck, there are a few new laptops that are cheaper than that if you look.
Not that I'm trying to rain in Archos' parade, a very compact hard drive media player, I personally wouldn't put up with video from a screen small enough to fit in any of my pockets.
I have a couple pretty quiet 15k RPM drives, they are quite a bit quieter than the 10k RPM drives I had and IMO not objectionably louder than 7200 RPM IDE drives. In fact, if you looked up Seagate's Savvio drives on Storage review, they have the quietest drives in the database while still running at 10k RPM.
Heat doesn't seem to be an issue although with my case, the hard drive is across the power supply intake that happens to have a slow 12cm fan.
The idea that 5400 RPM may last longer is based on assumptions and heresay. The high rotation speed helps on sequential data transfer speeds too, not just random access.
The iTunes suit is a farce, IMO. Apple permits burning to CD, and you can even use that CD in iTunes to "import" the tracks as MP3. There you have it, two ways to play a track on nearly any portable audio player.
I still question the idea of purchasing music as a pre-comressed data file, DRM'ed files at that. I'd much rather patronize my local used CD store, that way I don't get rights that might disappear if the computer or iPod crashes and I can't revoke its authorization. The files I can back up, sure, but if I hit my authorization limit then I'm screwed.
The man was 38 years old and knew the laser in question could potentially blind people. That shows a strong amount of culpability to me. How pointing it at a piloted jet somehow makes it a prank is beyond me, because even pilots have eyes.
Actually you simplified the issue past the point of being true.;)
Somewhat ditto for your explaination.
If you want to display 50% gray on a DLP, your pixel has to be white half the time and black half the time.
Actually, it is worse than this for home and low-cost DLPs. With an RGB color wheel, the red would be on 1/6th of the time, green for 1/6th and blue for 1/6th. The 1/6th is best-case as there are usually delays when the color is changing. I'm not sure of exact color order though.
Your explaination is only true with a three panel DLP (which all the colors merge at the same time), which is priced for theatrical use ($30k and up), not home use.
I'm not sympathetic to the Bells. They got their monopoly for a good reason, and if they don't like the terms of it, maybe they should exchange the terms for some competition?
In my state, SBC was getting a lot of complaints regarding poor service and slow repairs. Many retired phone repairmen were offering to work part time, but SBC insisted on full-timers despite not being able to get qualified applicants. Holding out in a bizarre all-or-nothing fashion is part of what got them wailed on by the state attorney general.
One thing your rant missed out on is that most of the areas considering municipal broadband aren't being served broadband by the Bells in their particular area, so how is that competing? It just sounds like sour grapes on their part to me, getting jealous of someone else moving in on their "territory" all the while not even serving that territory in the first place!
No mention of security (the articles don't), I also hope that it has a mini web server to more easily enter a WEP or WPA key, and allow multiple profiles so it can operate from home, work, etc.
A wireless VoIP phone does sound intruiging, set up a WAP with an outdoor antenna and you can get a phone with a lot more range than typical home cordless phones can get. But it would still be more expensive and you might have more spectrum issues.
Another problem is that WAPs have inflated range ratings. The 30mW ones claim as much as 300 meters when the connection is unreliable at half that distance.
Slashdot Mirror
"Cheap with questionable performance"
What are you referring to? I really haven't had problems with Sandisk.
I think calling it copyright infringement is still a weaseling out by many people because somehow that suddenly makes it all OK.
I still keep a dial phone around, even if only to check for a dial tone to test the land lines. It might have been nearly two decades since I've used it as a main phone though.
It might be a nifty improvement, most cell phone buttons that I've are really stiff, I don't know if it is some sort of weatherproofing or not.
My phone lasts about a week with normal use. It doesn't have camera functions but it does have a color screen. I don't recharge my iPod every day, but then, I don't use it for twelve hours a day, more like a couple.
Original schedule? That schedule wasn't given.
I don't trust drivers on two dimensions. 40k people in America die in auto accidents per year already.
It doesn't really seem to solve rural broadband roll-out problems either. Repeaters every few miles only goes so far, so this may still be constrained by the same population density issues as DSL and cable. I'd think that rolling out WiMax would be easier and cheaper, assuming that it lives up to claims and can be mass produced affordably.
Xeon and Itanium will share chipsets and sockets in a few years, I think 2006 or 2007.
I would expect a VGA screen.
While it isn't pocket sized, but I bought a used 14" SXGA+ laptop for less than that, with over a year left on the warranty. Heck, there are a few new laptops that are cheaper than that if you look.
Not that I'm trying to rain in Archos' parade, a very compact hard drive media player, I personally wouldn't put up with video from a screen small enough to fit in any of my pockets.
And the noise and heat that goes with it :)
I have a couple pretty quiet 15k RPM drives, they are quite a bit quieter than the 10k RPM drives I had and IMO not objectionably louder than 7200 RPM IDE drives. In fact, if you looked up Seagate's Savvio drives on Storage review, they have the quietest drives in the database while still running at 10k RPM.
Heat doesn't seem to be an issue although with my case, the hard drive is across the power supply intake that happens to have a slow 12cm fan.
Is the on drive cache really that useful? Most OSs cache drives in system memory anyway.
$5000 for a video server plus storage for 265 movies runs to $19 per movie. Is the convenience really worth it? A 300 DVD megachanger only costs $500.
The idea that 5400 RPM may last longer is based on assumptions and heresay. The high rotation speed helps on sequential data transfer speeds too, not just random access.
I really don't think standard DVD-Video will be affected. The article only discusses recordings of broadcasts, be it over the air, satellite or cable.
"protect" should have been "prevent".
Keep in mind there is a danger in letting people assume that non-Windows systems are totally secure and 100% bug-free.
The iTunes suit is a farce, IMO. Apple permits burning to CD, and you can even use that CD in iTunes to "import" the tracks as MP3. There you have it, two ways to play a track on nearly any portable audio player.
I still question the idea of purchasing music as a pre-comressed data file, DRM'ed files at that. I'd much rather patronize my local used CD store, that way I don't get rights that might disappear if the computer or iPod crashes and I can't revoke its authorization. The files I can back up, sure, but if I hit my authorization limit then I'm screwed.
256mb
Wow, 256 millibits. That is like, a fourth of a bit. A person that can squeeze 1,500 real images in that has my respect.
The man was 38 years old and knew the laser in question could potentially blind people. That shows a strong amount of culpability to me. How pointing it at a piloted jet somehow makes it a prank is beyond me, because even pilots have eyes.
Given that many passenger jets routinely carry 250 people, yeah.
Actually you simplified the issue past the point of being true. ;)
Somewhat ditto for your explaination.
If you want to display 50% gray on a DLP, your pixel has to be white half the time and black half the time.
Actually, it is worse than this for home and low-cost DLPs. With an RGB color wheel, the red would be on 1/6th of the time, green for 1/6th and blue for 1/6th. The 1/6th is best-case as there are usually delays when the color is changing. I'm not sure of exact color order though.
Your explaination is only true with a three panel DLP (which all the colors merge at the same time), which is priced for theatrical use ($30k and up), not home use.
I think wobulation relies on moving some optical element within the projection system. I doubt it would be good for a 21" flat panel.
I'm not sympathetic to the Bells. They got their monopoly for a good reason, and if they don't like the terms of it, maybe they should exchange the terms for some competition?
In my state, SBC was getting a lot of complaints regarding poor service and slow repairs. Many retired phone repairmen were offering to work part time, but SBC insisted on full-timers despite not being able to get qualified applicants. Holding out in a bizarre all-or-nothing fashion is part of what got them wailed on by the state attorney general.
One thing your rant missed out on is that most of the areas considering municipal broadband aren't being served broadband by the Bells in their particular area, so how is that competing? It just sounds like sour grapes on their part to me, getting jealous of someone else moving in on their "territory" all the while not even serving that territory in the first place!
No mention of security (the articles don't), I also hope that it has a mini web server to more easily enter a WEP or WPA key, and allow multiple profiles so it can operate from home, work, etc.
A wireless VoIP phone does sound intruiging, set up a WAP with an outdoor antenna and you can get a phone with a lot more range than typical home cordless phones can get. But it would still be more expensive and you might have more spectrum issues.
Another problem is that WAPs have inflated range ratings. The 30mW ones claim as much as 300 meters when the connection is unreliable at half that distance.
The posting is basically a slashdot ad. It's not even useful as a shipping container for laptops.