Whoa. The Internet handles Distribution, and Market Research is used by publishers to see if they should publish, not by authors to see if they should write (at least not by good authors!). In any event, if the cost of distribution is reduced to an FTP site, most of the publishers' risk (and therefore, value) has been removed.
While there's some justified cynicism about Mr King's real intentions here, the "Worst Nighmare" quote is very real. I work at [Large Unnamed Investment Bank] and publishers aren't laughing. Nobody is surprised that someone is doing an end-around, but the fact that it's King -- a huge draw, whatever the quality -- unnerves people. If properties with enough pull to sell w/o publishers' promotions (Clancy, Grisham, etc.) start to go solo, the publishing cos could wind up like the Motreal Expos of business...producing stars, but never able to ride the gravy train.
Also, I agree completely about editing being vital and underappreciated. Unfortunately, I also agree that SK's editors failed him long ago.
There's a suspicion that SMR is really just DivX resampled down to 20 fps w/ corresponding decrease in file size and quality. Maybe something different w/ audio, too. I'd love to hear from someone who really knows, but of course the group releasing them refers to it as some proprietary trade secret "which will soon take over the world" or whatever. More closed source.
Incidentally, I've found that DivX rips rarely approach DVD quality. Subtle color shadings often come out blotchy, for instance, even in rips with a high bit rate. I understand that decompression is highly cpu intensive and I only have a dual 400mhz celeron, so maybe that's the problem. Also, people say that these problems go away if you watch it using TV-out.
Politics aside, the main reason I buy DVDs is for the sound. None of these codecs can sniff Dolby 5.1, and great sound can make a huge difference in the impact a movie has.
So I've never heard anything bad about NeXT except that it didn't come with a color monitor. This may be an often-answered question, but what ever became of the code? Did SJ keep it in a vault and then dust it off for OS X, or has it been published and used since the company disappeared? I know lots of WMs have duplicated the great interface, but what about the internals?
I agree completely about priorities, but don't underestimate MS here. I've been predicting they would collapse under their own weight since I downgraded from WfW 2.0 to 6.0 and in the end, I do have to respect them. Gaming is one of their lines of business where they face actual competition, and it's growing twice as fast (I think) as the rest of their business. The best of these (AoE) don't rely on insider windows knowledge, but on simple good game making. Everyone knows they can push crap with a monopoly, but they can still put up a fight where they have to.
As far as third-party development I *believe* they'll get it early just because the game co's will want to ride the Microsoft gravy train. If that doesn't happen, they can buy enough companies or properties to prime the pump for launch.
Also, from what I know, having Abrash on the team is a great asset. Not three feet from my monitor sits "The Zen of Graphics Programming", a book I read over and over though the technology is hopelessly outdated. A guy who gets that much joy out of squeezing every cycle from the VGA isn't just going to start writing fatware just because he's got the extra power. Check out the book. The guy's got juice.
I can't believe how negative the comments are to this piece. I've been trying to define this distinction for a long time, and this is close, though using the "open/closed" metaphor may be a reach by a hard core opensourcer. Maybe micro/macro is better? Here are my experiences.
First indication that something was bad wrong with the media: During the tank assault on the Russian parliament some years ago, CNN was able to carry the video live over the air. Excellent. However, this exchange took place between the anchor and the reporter on scene:
Anchor: Amazing that we're able to see this story live as it unfolds.
Reporter: Yes, but it's a little scary that these images are being sent directly into people's homes without us to interpret for them...
Now can anybody tell me what that means?
Much later, I was building my first pc at home. Armed w/ the net, I thought it would be no problem. Search ZDNet, TechWeb... I got prices, but could I really make decisions based on what these sites have to say?
Then I discovered tomshardware, anandtech, even sharkyextreme and the lower tiers of tech sites, and the information was 1000x more useful. Now I go to techweb for press releases, and nothing more.
Now my primary source for entertainment news is aicn. Would anyone seriously refer me to e? Or Entertainment Tonight? I still get hard, international news from nytimes & bbc, but how long before that changes?
I think the article's most important point is that old/new media is a false dichotomy. Most "new media" sites (as they are commonly described) are just old media in a new medium. An online magazine is still a magazine. But there really is new media out there, and it's growing.
A similar thing happens with e-commerce sites. Sure, reel.com closed up shop, many front-line e-commerce co's are struggling. But a quick search at pricewatch reveals an enormous number of small, focused, cheap suppliers for anything you want.
When the story of the "internet revolution" is finally written, I don't think anyone will be buying it at Amazon.com
Scalded? Check out Intel's new 1GHz "Hotpants" mobile processor...
Back on topic, I'm not sure that "going native" is the right mindset here. Doesn't the code morph allow for runtime code optimization? I thought there was something in/. a week ago that mentioned HP's immplementation of the same idea gave a 20% speedup over native execution.
The point of Transmeta is to separate the ISA from the chip's physical design. x86 is a good place to start because of all the apps that run on it.
My question is, will it support swappable (better still, hot swappable) ISAs? I want to alt+tab over to the Mac to play a little "Maelstrom" once in a while.
I consider myself an average/. geek and not a mathematician, and I thought it was pretty cool. Most interesting was seeing how recently a mundane trade was priming the pump for new kinds of abstract thinking.
I was disappointed, though, that the author was unable to track down Brocot's more "theoretical work", since this gear-making example seems to have encompassed a full circle of problem solving -- trial and error, thinking by algorithm and thinking about algorithms. I would like the author's perspective on how the latter two relate in this case.
I have not read the Cryptonomicon. Has anyone read The Advent of the Algorithm by David Berlinski? The prose wanders between "brilliant" and "snotty euro", but mostly the former.
In the opening, he brashly claims (from memory) "The first great contribution of the West to science is the Calculus; the second is the Algorithm. There is no third."
Slashdot Mirror
Whoa. The Internet handles Distribution, and Market Research is used by publishers to see if they should publish, not by authors to see if they should write (at least not by good authors!). In any event, if the cost of distribution is reduced to an FTP site, most of the publishers' risk (and therefore, value) has been removed.
While there's some justified cynicism about Mr King's real intentions here, the "Worst Nighmare" quote is very real. I work at [Large Unnamed Investment Bank] and publishers aren't laughing. Nobody is surprised that someone is doing an end-around, but the fact that it's King -- a huge draw, whatever the quality -- unnerves people. If properties with enough pull to sell w/o publishers' promotions (Clancy, Grisham, etc.) start to go solo, the publishing cos could wind up like the Motreal Expos of business...producing stars, but never able to ride the gravy train.
Also, I agree completely about editing being vital and underappreciated. Unfortunately, I also agree that SK's editors failed him long ago.
Anybody know what happened to the other one? hehe.
Yeah, when upgrades them next, she could probably open her own fab with the old ones...no, wait, that's silicon
There's a suspicion that SMR is really just DivX resampled down to 20 fps w/ corresponding decrease in file size and quality. Maybe something different w/ audio, too. I'd love to hear from someone who really knows, but of course the group releasing them refers to it as some proprietary trade secret "which will soon take over the world" or whatever. More closed source.
Incidentally, I've found that DivX rips rarely approach DVD quality. Subtle color shadings often come out blotchy, for instance, even in rips with a high bit rate. I understand that decompression is highly cpu intensive and I only have a dual 400mhz celeron, so maybe that's the problem. Also, people say that these problems go away if you watch it using TV-out.
Politics aside, the main reason I buy DVDs is for the sound. None of these codecs can sniff Dolby 5.1, and great sound can make a huge difference in the impact a movie has.
So I've never heard anything bad about NeXT except that it didn't come with a color monitor. This may be an often-answered question, but what ever became of the code? Did SJ keep it in a vault and then dust it off for OS X, or has it been published and used since the company disappeared? I know lots of WMs have duplicated the great interface, but what about the internals?
I agree completely about priorities, but don't underestimate MS here. I've been predicting they would collapse under their own weight since I downgraded from WfW 2.0 to 6.0 and in the end, I do have to respect them. Gaming is one of their lines of business where they face actual competition, and it's growing twice as fast (I think) as the rest of their business. The best of these (AoE) don't rely on insider windows knowledge, but on simple good game making. Everyone knows they can push crap with a monopoly, but they can still put up a fight where they have to.
As far as third-party development I *believe* they'll get it early just because the game co's will want to ride the Microsoft gravy train. If that doesn't happen, they can buy enough companies or properties to prime the pump for launch.
Also, from what I know, having Abrash on the team is a great asset. Not three feet from my monitor sits "The Zen of Graphics Programming", a book I read over and over though the technology is hopelessly outdated. A guy who gets that much joy out of squeezing every cycle from the VGA isn't just going to start writing fatware just because he's got the extra power. Check out the book. The guy's got juice.
I can't believe how negative the comments are to this piece. I've been trying to define this distinction for a long time, and this is close, though using the "open/closed" metaphor may be a reach by a hard core opensourcer. Maybe micro/macro is better? Here are my experiences.
First indication that something was bad wrong with the media: During the tank assault on the Russian parliament some years ago, CNN was able to carry the video live over the air. Excellent. However, this exchange took place between the anchor and the reporter on scene:
Anchor: Amazing that we're able to see this story live as it unfolds.
Reporter: Yes, but it's a little scary that these images are being sent directly into people's homes without us to interpret for them...
Now can anybody tell me what that means?
Much later, I was building my first pc at home. Armed w/ the net, I thought it would be no problem. Search ZDNet, TechWeb... I got prices, but could I really make decisions based on what these sites have to say?
Then I discovered tomshardware, anandtech, even sharkyextreme and the lower tiers of tech sites, and the information was 1000x more useful. Now I go to techweb for press releases, and nothing more.
Now my primary source for entertainment news is aicn. Would anyone seriously refer me to e? Or Entertainment Tonight? I still get hard, international news from nytimes & bbc, but how long before that changes?
I think the article's most important point is that old/new media is a false dichotomy. Most "new media" sites (as they are commonly described) are just old media in a new medium. An online magazine is still a magazine. But there really is new media out there, and it's growing.
A similar thing happens with e-commerce sites. Sure, reel.com closed up shop, many front-line e-commerce co's are struggling. But a quick search at pricewatch reveals an enormous number of small, focused, cheap suppliers for anything you want.
When the story of the "internet revolution" is finally written, I don't think anyone will be buying it at Amazon.com
Scalded? Check out Intel's new 1GHz "Hotpants" mobile processor...
Back on topic, I'm not sure that "going native" is the right mindset here. Doesn't the code morph allow for runtime code optimization? I thought there was something in /. a week ago that mentioned HP's immplementation of the same idea gave a 20% speedup over native execution.
Why *shouldn't* they?
The point of Transmeta is to separate the ISA from the chip's physical design. x86 is a good place to start because of all the apps that run on it.
My question is, will it support swappable (better still, hot swappable) ISAs? I want to alt+tab over to the Mac to play a little "Maelstrom" once in a while.
I consider myself an average /. geek and not a mathematician, and I thought it was pretty cool. Most interesting was seeing how recently a mundane trade was priming the pump for new kinds of abstract thinking.
I was disappointed, though, that the author was unable to track down Brocot's more "theoretical work", since this gear-making example seems to have encompassed a full circle of problem solving -- trial and error, thinking by algorithm and thinking about algorithms. I would like the author's perspective on how the latter two relate in this case.
I have not read the Cryptonomicon. Has anyone read The Advent of the Algorithm by David Berlinski? The prose wanders between "brilliant" and "snotty euro", but mostly the former.
In the opening, he brashly claims (from memory) "The first great contribution of the West to science is the Calculus; the second is the Algorithm. There is no third."
Is this refutable?