Telco's actualy measured the ringer load. They owned the phone which you rented at $5 per month per phone. Later you could have COME (Consumer Owned and Maintained Equipment) I got a call when I added an answering machine and 2 computers with modems. The combined ringers looked like a second phone. They didn't charge extra because they were daisy chained off the one jack. The ringer load was about 2 for the total ringer load. The phone company phone had a REN of 1 (Ringer Equivelance Number. 1 = power use of a regular mechanical bell) because it was a real bell (TM) phone and my modems were REN of.2 each and the answering machine was.5, thus my total REN was 1.9. Living alone meant only one phone was off hook at a time. After the breakup of Ma Bell, it became legal to add your own jacks without having a monthly charge for each individual jack I added jacks and eliminated a major trip hazzard. For repair costs and service liabilities, this is where the Telco Interface came into the picture. Anything broken on their side of the interface is their responsibility and anything past it (in the home) is now the consumer's responsibility. Most older homes got the lightning arrestor replaced with a telephone interface box to define the sepration of consumer and telco property. They used to fix or replace broken phones for free because they owned them. Nowdays most phone companies guarantee the ringing power is adaquate for up to a total connected ringer load of REN 3 or less. This us usualy no longer a problem as most new phones have electronic ringers with a REN of 0.2 instead of 1.0 the old phones had. If you have too much ringer load, the voltage may become too low to properly ring your phones. If you call the phone company now with a complaint that your phones do not ring properly, they will usualy ask you to add up all the REN numbers of all the connected devices (modems, cordless phones, answering machines, faxes, etc. and make sure the total ringer load is less than 3 before sending a service technician. My dad when doing some construction (1960's) dropped a 2X6 on a phone and smashed it. It was replaced for free.
Here is some size and speeds of some of the compact flash cards. I'm still hunting for SD card data. Anybody think a MMC or SD card is an upgrade? http://www.dpreview.com/articles/mediaco mpare/
This link shows CF comparisons only at the slower speeds and is the first refrence I found comparing CF to other formats. It does show the SD running about 4X faster than the competion. It does not show the faster CF which is popular with photographers in the comparison.
http://www.asusemag.com.tw/latest/ch13/ch13-1.ht m
I would like to use the 512 Meg CF card for my maps instead of the 64 meg SD for my GPS.
I would like to upload to it via my USB card reader instad of at 9600 baud RS232.
I was under the assumption they simply would not work in the GPS because the GPS would not write to unsecure media. Now the big why--- How can they encrypt a data stream and write it to memory faster than just writing to memory? How can they read and decrypt data with 2 way handshaking the data faster than just reading the data. How can they add a onboard processor to handle the DRM and use less precious battery power than just reading the memory. It is true the SD card has a couple extra pins over the multimedia card, but I think it's for the bidirectional handshaking. I think I am being lied to. I have found no speed and power requirement comparison between this format and any of the various formats and speeds of Compact Flash. Compact Flash cards are avaliable in several speeds for faster photography (less cycle time between shots) Show me the numbers!
After a little google research [google.com] I found that regular multimedia cards work. Another thread [google.com] states that MM cards are not as fast as SD cards and are not recommended
I checked your links. The first link does not state the specific GPS functions properly using a MMC, only that some products may work at slower speeds and left the question unanswered. The second link indicates the magellan does not work properly with a MMC. It randomly crashes. I think the speed issue is a PR ploy. I think it crashes because it does not DRM handshake. MMC is fast enough for digital photography but not fast enough for a vector map. Wanna bet when faster MMC cards come out, they also will have crashing problems? Compact Flash cards are avaliable in several speeds, how about fast MMC cards? Rememer MMC is also encumbered by DRM Features. SD cards have the level 2 of MMC and adds an encryption layer for level 3 SDMI rights management. Anybody have speed and power comparisons between CF and MMC? How about MMC and SD? I have seen the claims that SD is faster than MM cards. My car is faster than my kid on a bicycle. I haven't seen claims that SD is faster than CF or Smart Media cards. I want to compare it to the other fast media. Hmm somthing seems wrong here...... I think it is a ploy to have SD replace MMC as a SDMI memory device.
Just refuse to support the DRM versions of the cards. Simple enough. Umm.. That is what I am doing. Check the specs on the SD card. It's a multimedia card that is slightly thicker with an added layer of SDMI protection. A multimedia card will fit into a SD card slot. The SD card is a Multimedia card with and extra layer of protection built in. It has handshaking encryption as an added layer. Magellan says zero, nada, zip about the ability of using a multimedia card in their GPS. I think it is because it refuses to work with less secure media that will fit the slot. Reading between the lines tells me they are using the card for the extra level of DRM features and that is why I am boycotting this beast. This feature of the device drives up the cost of the memory cards while reducing the speed and flexibility of the card and raising the price. My answer to this consumer unfriendly choice is NO THANKS! Would you buy CDR's at $5 each that formatted into a drive specific (by bios serial number) format? One that will only work on the PC that formatted it and your one camera/music player/GPS, etc.? Why buy a memory card with the same restriction? I wish to knock the wind out of this format and fast. It's consumer unfriendly at a severe performance and cost hit.
Maybe you should only support computer hardware that is built with common multi-sourced parts, like the 7400 series of TTL You missed the point. The new stuff is a downgrade, not an upgrade. It's memory. For more than the price of a 128 MEG compact flash card, I can get a slower more expensive 64 MEG SD card. In a pinch I can't use the card in my camera because it's a diffrent format. Use the faster cheaper more flexible and compatible format in your product and you have a much better chance of selling me your product. The SD format is not making faster higher capacity memory cards. They are making slower cards at a higher price that do not support all common file formats and will not work in my USB card reader/writer. (which supports 3 of the six formats) In short it cost more, does less, works slower, and is not interchangable. Show me an upgrade in that. If you think that is an upgrade, I will love to sell you my external floppy drive from my old tandy M100. It's single sided, with 2 sectors per track. It will not work with 1.4 meg floppies. If interested in this secure storage solution, drop me a line. Buying a card that will not store an MP3 or JPEG but encodes it into something else is not useful for me. Check out the reviews of the 20 Gig Nomad MP3 Jukebox. Check out it's number one complaint. It takes way too long to upload MP3's into it because it supports DRM and changes the file format. Now if it would just be a USB data drive to the PC without the DRM junk, they could sell a bunch of them because they would be more useful and would be much faster. By not supporting odball formats at higher prices is to encourage manufactures to drop the pricey hard to sell stuff for faster more featured stuff at better prices. Think about it, would you like to upload your data using a common USB card reader/writer, or would you like to have to upload the stuff at 19.2K baud. Think about it next time you download your digital camera. (You have tried to download a RS 232 serial megapixel camera haven't you? I upgraded and gave my old camera away for free. No more 20 minute downloads per 8 MEG for me. Don't even consider a 64 Meg transfer in a slow serial format!) Don't consider using anything with less capacity and slower speeds at higher prices. That is why I am not considering those models of GPS. It uses a format I refuse to support for the reasons listed. May the format die a quick death. The sooner it dies, the sooner we can get faster higher capacity compact flash at cheaper prices. There is economy in scale. Fracturing the memory market into 6+ formats makes all the specialty items expensive. I want far away from the market fragmentation.
Have you checked the latest specs for DVI. Here is a link to a site where a DVI output does not even work with a DVI monitor. The signal is encrypted all the way to the monitor and even sometimes the handshaking doesn't work. http://www.riva3d.com/dvi.html
I fuund this gem regarding DVI With capabilities for copy protection, bidirectional communication, and selective refresh, DVI is projected to have a minimum life of 10 years.
at http://www.intel.com/update/archive/issue22/storie s/top6.htm
Somehow I see new content being released only to "trusted" hardware that are quite hack and copy resistant. Even the link to the monitor and speakers will be encrypted. A copy played back will lack the proper response to a random challange and the playback device will not unencrypt and play a recorded copy on untrusted hardware because it will not handshake.
Let's see, so far the efforts that content providers have created to secure content include:
Don't forget to include the SDMI compliant music devices using secure memory products. These include devices using the DataPlay mini CD format, the sony MD player, and the SD Card. Read the specs on this toy. The memory card supports SDMI. Garmin and Magellan are both using it in some of their models of GPS'es. Too bad I'll be avoiding these models. I was hoping for a format I could upload to a card using a fast USB card reader instead of having to upload maps by serial port speeds, but it's not the case. Borrowing a card from the Handheld PC or GPS or MP3 player for a wedding shoot in a pinch is not an option with closed non-interchangable formats. I am standardising on Compact flash just for these reasons. I'm letting the manufacture know my decision of the supported format and the reason for it. Sigh. Press release regarding SD cards is here; http://www.sdcard.org/press3.htm Note this latecommer format has smaller memory sizes avaliable at higher prices than the established memory formats. SD cards are just now breaking the 128 Meg size. They are way behind the Compact Flash Cards in bang for the buck, avaliable sizes, and widespread use. Dataplay appears to simply be an optical version of this.
I vote with my pocketbook. I was shopping for a new GPS. I found the Magellan Meridian line use the SD card instead of one of the cheaper more popular cards for map storage. I would like a GPS with removable media for easy changing between topographic and street maps, but I refuse to support that memory format. I refuse to buy products using secure media. This includes SD cards, MMC cards, and the Sony Memory stick. I don't need or want to support 6 diffrent styles of memory card. Products must meet my specifications or it's no sale. So far I only support Compact flash and Smart Media. I have no intention on increasing the spread of non-interchangable parts. When I upgrade my camera, I will drop the Smart Media format. CD Recordable became popular because it was almost universaly interchangable. Sony MD is much less useful as they have a Data format and a Audio format that is not interchangable. I also voted against this format. I went CDRW in a CD/MP3 player instead. It was worth the wait. CD'r has left Sony MD's in the dust. Compact Flash can do the same thing to the SD card. Be sure to vote!
It'l be obsolete in the US in 2007 unless it comes with a digital tuner. Analog broadcasts are to end. I don't want to pack a VCR or DVD along just to use the watch. I want one that will work at the ball park to watch the replay.
Most Electrolytic caps are not high on the toxic scale. The tin foil is thin and light. I have never known any to get outside a power supply case or monitor case let alone with enough force to impale anybody with any type of material. The antiques in antique radios and TV's were another story. If you are still using a 1950's black and white TV, you might want to upgrade. The capacitors were in a heavy metal can and were fastened to the chassis with a big nut. These preceded the Twist Lock capacitors where three or four tabs went into a metal chassis and were twisted or bent to retain the capacitor. These use a soft aluminum case and have a blow out plug on the bottom near the terminals. The antiques prior to these often built up a good head of steam before launching the steel can through the top of the wood TV cabinet. Modern stuff has pressure release plugs in the rubber seal, or have a rupture scribe on the top of the capacitor so they blow out at much safer pressures. The modern electrolyte is also much safer and does not contain PCB's. The most toxic capacitors now in use are the Tantilum's. These are toxic, but they are often limited to small capacitors so the amount of toxic material realeased in a failure is small. Get fresh air and wash your hands is about all that is needed for cap failures now.
Check your local mass merchant. On the West Coast we have Fred Meyer. They carry a line in the $50 range. The casio brand is high enough volume to provide economy of volume while providing a quality product. They have the usual utility watch features including water resistant. A list of the watches can be seen here in the $50 price range. It includes LaCross and Casio brands. http://www.gadgets4sure.com/cgi-bin/ePage s.filerea der?3d24dd6b001506400000c0a8013a0569+EN/catalogs/1 23581
However if you are looking for pure geek appeal, check out the solar powered ceramic case model for over a grand here.. http://www.shoplifestyle.com/store/product .asp?dep t%5Fid=26%5Fid=4158=0VK0N50BE5XM8GVTV55B2GRBB1W2DP RC
Having dealt with several failed fans in the history of being a service technician, I must say I have never seen a fire related to a fan failure. Most of the time people bring them in because of a smell and before anything shorts out. I replaced the fan and the warranty is void sticker with our shops and send it home. (now supplies are cheap so we just replace the supply except for the hard to get proprotiory junk)
Most smoke issues seen have been: Ruptured filter capacitors. They have a steam rupture due to the electrolytic. (the end blowes out some times ejecting the roll of tin foil) Boiling water is not hot enough for any flames and the spacer is still wet and won't catch fire. Shorted power transistors. These may smoke the case of the transistor or take out some flameproof resistors before taking out the main fuse, but again no flames. Shorted disk ceramic or tantilium capitors. These are not made of flamable materials. Last is Metal Oxide Varistors (surge protectors). These tend to smoke the covering, but the part itself is made of non-flamable materials. In monitors, shorted high voltage supply transformer and the degausing thermistor The transformers really stink with a burning plastic and tar oder, but they are built with self extinguishing materials. The thermistors smoke the plastic covering, but the part itself is not flamable. Again, never had seen a flame continue burning after the fuse or regulated power supply removed the power. In summary, unless you get enough combustible lint near a severely overheated part, the risk of fire is very low. The only fire issues I have ever heard about were caused by some defective battery packs for a laptop. There was a massive recall for the batteries. I certanly wouldn't a flaming laptop in my lap. I may want children someday.
1, The entertainment commerce X-box/Cable/Sat TV box/Subscription Web Browsing appliance box which needs a subscription to use. Even the video link to the monitor and Audio link to the speakers will be bidirectional handshaking encrypted data links. A sniffed copy of the data stream will not play back on another device, or the same device at a later time. It's a pay to play format protected every inch of the way by encryption.
2 General Use computers for word processing, spread sheets, hacking, photography, piracy, CD ripping (you know the obsolete format), low resolution TV recording (Not HDTV digital after 2007) and non-subscription web browsing. This second box will be locked out of the new media formats and trusted commerce standards. New media material will not be released in open formats. Windows, Mac, and Linux fall into this latter catagory. Non protected media content will be barred from the internet at strategic choke points. Media trading in this format will be prosicuted to the fullest extent of the law.
not going to go to their individual web boards and write a message. I'm going to email them once using cc's or bcc's That is perfect! I'll only receive personal letters. It clears all the junk that everybody forwards. If everyone forwarded everying they got that is a trivia item to the address book, think how much stuff you would get if everyone on your list did the same thing. This stuff does not filter top down. It goes all directions. How many copies did you get of the tugboat going under the bridge? I got 4. Most stuff forwarded doesn't even have the courtesy of a personal note written to me. I will no longer get 15 copies of the latest virus, 30 copies of the latest virus warning, etc. Best of all I'll no longer get this weeks breast enlargement offer.
There is also software out that makes it trivial to "spam" a web form
Fortunately my current public form is members only. Membership is free. You apply and receive your password by e-mail. That eliminates false headers & bulk mail. That is why I use it. As a member for over a year, I have yet to receive my first Unsolicited Commercial E-mail through the system. It works for me. The noise floor is low enough a filter is not needed. Unfortunately I must also keep a regular box for attachments. It's highly filtered and kept hidden and off lists as much as possible. Most spammers don't take the time to get membership into small private mail systems. Verification of identity is a requirement that most spammers do not get.
Somehow I see this being the new Microsoft.net killer app of the future. Spoofed mail will be impossible, confirmed ID required for membership, user must be logged in to send mail to other members, stiff EULA with heavy penalties etc. That is probably the mail system of the future.
Due to the massive abuse, e-mail may simply become a thing of the past. I am gradulaly moving to a web form and dropping e-mail. To write me, visit my page and fill in the online form. I'll soon no longer have an inbox. As inconvienient as that is, it fixes most of the problems of the e-mail system. Mostly it will not accept any bulk mail from anybody.
Re:X-Box more costly cuz of Windows (RETCH)
on
Microsoft Freon
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· Score: 2
That would really be a funny one, but I doubt it works like that...
Ummm Maybe the cost is related to the fact that running Windows requires more memory and a hard drive which runs the costs up more than the competition.
Unless you have somekind of leak the water should stay in the tubes, kind of like your car
Unfortunately most flexible plastic tubing will pass water through the plastic. Some water will seep into the plastic. When it reaches the outside, it evaporates. Soda Pop is put into a special poly bottle (PET plastic) because high pressure gasses migrate faster through most conventional plastics causing flat sodas in a short time. To see this first hand, fill a plastic (HDPE) milk jug with water. Glue the cap on. Make sure it's sealed. Mark the water line with a marker or put it on a scale and record the weight. Stick it in a dark corner for a couple years and check it again. Your joints may not leak, but that doesn't mean it will not loose water. It will.
One of the main obstacles toward using Linux is installing software. Whenever I try to get my friends to switch over to Linux, and I'm talking about experienced computer users with Unix experience, the inevitable huge stumbling block is "well how do I install anything?"
What Desktop Linux needs is a semi-protected mode (no login) similar to the priveledges of the default Windows
Umm, check out the Lindows machines WalMart is selling. Check out the DL/autoinstall website with the one click install of programs.
It's here, however, I don't want any machine that my kid can one click install a root kit on my machine. Some of us run a more secure distro for a reason.
Ask around.. Who do you know that runs linux and managed to click on something that infected their machine? Windows macro viruses don't run on Linux. It's incompatible and I like it that way.
The black helicoptors can use it to pinpoint you from above, but on the ground it ain't going to help you get from A to B any better than the sun. Um, have you tried one of the map units? Are you thinking of the antiques that only gave a latatude and longitude? Check out the useful features they now have! Ever got lost in a suburban developement? A map unit will mark the maze with a "you are here going this direction" indication. It's a simple matter to locate a route to an exit to a main street. I'm no longer afraid to jump off a plugged street and cut through a housing developement to the next unclogged street. It's saved me many hours sitting stuck in traffic. It's much easer (and safer) to navagate with a GPS map unit than try to read a street sign and find your location on a paper map while driving. Not all streets have the luxury of a place to pull off out of traffic to read a map. Preplaned routes in the GPS let you know your next turn is a quarter mile away, instead of trying to keep track of street signs and house numbers. Hmm, a quarter mile away, that is probably the second light ahead... It's that simple. They could take down all residentual street signs and take off all the house numbers, and I could still pull up in front of the right house on a service call. I pre-load my destination and route before leaving home. I no longer have that "Dude, I got lost in Rhode Island yesterday" feeling.
wallet escaping pocket... must resist!!!! Sometimes spending money saves more money. Choose your toys wisely. I've saved aprox 5 hours of stuck in traffic time with mine in the last 6 months. What's that worth? On dash nav is the only way to cut the plugged throughfares and make it through that housing complex to the next open street. Most housing complexes are lost traveler unfriendly. A map GPS fixes the gardem maze of unfamiliar winding residentual streets. It's as simple as You are Here X, the way out is up two streets to the left and around the bend. It beats being lost in the maze.
Slashdot Mirror
Telco's actualy measured the ringer load. They owned the phone which you rented at $5 per month per phone. Later you could have COME (Consumer Owned and Maintained Equipment) I got a call when I added an answering machine and 2 computers with modems. The combined ringers looked like a second phone. They didn't charge extra because they were daisy chained off the one jack. The ringer load was about 2 for the total ringer load. The phone company phone had a REN of 1 (Ringer Equivelance Number. 1 = power use of a regular mechanical bell) because it was a real bell (TM) phone and my modems were REN of .2 each and the answering machine was .5, thus my total REN was 1.9. Living alone meant only one phone was off hook at a time.
After the breakup of Ma Bell, it became legal to add your own jacks without having a monthly charge for each individual jack I added jacks and eliminated a major trip hazzard. For repair costs and service liabilities, this is where the Telco Interface came into the picture. Anything broken on their side of the interface is their responsibility and anything past it (in the home) is now the consumer's responsibility. Most older homes got the lightning arrestor replaced with a telephone interface box to define the sepration of consumer and telco property. They used to fix or replace broken phones for free because they owned them. Nowdays most phone companies guarantee the ringing power is adaquate for up to a total connected ringer load of REN 3 or less. This us usualy no longer a problem as most new phones have electronic ringers with a REN of 0.2 instead of 1.0 the old phones had. If you have too much ringer load, the voltage may become too low to properly ring your phones. If you call the phone company now with a complaint that your phones do not ring properly, they will usualy ask you to add up all the REN numbers of all the connected devices (modems, cordless phones, answering machines, faxes, etc. and make sure the total ringer load is less than 3 before sending a service technician. My dad when doing some construction (1960's) dropped a 2X6 on a phone and smashed it. It was replaced for free.
I liked this gem in their July 8 meeting notes...the group meets next on 8 July
MS buys AOL and Yahoo.
Yes I saw it. It got in the way of my web search. It didn't take long to get rid of however.
Here is some size and speeds of some of the compact flash cards. I'm still hunting for SD card data. Anybody think a MMC or SD card is an upgrade?o mpare/
t m
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/mediac
This link shows CF comparisons only at the slower speeds and is the first refrence I found comparing CF to other formats. It does show the SD running about 4X faster than the competion. It does not show the faster CF which is popular with photographers in the comparison.
http://www.asusemag.com.tw/latest/ch13/ch13-1.h
I would like to use the 512 Meg CF card for my maps instead of the 64 meg SD for my GPS.
I would like to upload to it via my USB card reader instad of at 9600 baud RS232.
I was under the assumption they simply would not work in the GPS because the GPS would not write to unsecure media. Now the big why--- How can they encrypt a data stream and write it to memory faster than just writing to memory? How can they read and decrypt data with 2 way handshaking the data faster than just reading the data. How can they add a onboard processor to handle the DRM and use less precious battery power than just reading the memory. It is true the SD card has a couple extra pins over the multimedia card, but I think it's for the bidirectional handshaking. I think I am being lied to. I have found no speed and power requirement comparison between this format and any of the various formats and speeds of Compact Flash. Compact Flash cards are avaliable in several speeds for faster photography (less cycle time between shots) Show me the numbers!
After a little google research [google.com] I found that regular multimedia cards work. Another thread [google.com] states that MM cards are not as fast as SD cards and are not recommended
I checked your links. The first link does not state the specific GPS functions properly using a MMC, only that some products may work at slower speeds and left the question unanswered. The second link indicates the magellan does not work properly with a MMC. It randomly crashes. I think the speed issue is a PR ploy. I think it crashes because it does not DRM handshake. MMC is fast enough for digital photography but not fast enough for a vector map. Wanna bet when faster MMC cards come out, they also will have crashing problems? Compact Flash cards are avaliable in several speeds, how about fast MMC cards? Rememer MMC is also encumbered by DRM Features. SD cards have the level 2 of MMC and adds an encryption layer for level 3 SDMI rights management. Anybody have speed and power comparisons between CF and MMC? How about MMC and SD? I have seen the claims that SD is faster than MM cards. My car is faster than my kid on a bicycle. I haven't seen claims that SD is faster than CF or Smart Media cards. I want to compare it to the other fast media. Hmm somthing seems wrong here...... I think it is a ploy to have SD replace MMC as a SDMI memory device.
Just refuse to support the DRM versions of the cards. Simple enough.
Umm.. That is what I am doing. Check the specs on the SD card. It's a multimedia card that is slightly thicker with an added layer of SDMI protection. A multimedia card will fit into a SD card slot. The SD card is a Multimedia card with and extra layer of protection built in. It has handshaking encryption as an added layer. Magellan says zero, nada, zip about the ability of using a multimedia card in their GPS. I think it is because it refuses to work with less secure media that will fit the slot. Reading between the lines tells me they are using the card for the extra level of DRM features and that is why I am boycotting this beast. This feature of the device drives up the cost of the memory cards while reducing the speed and flexibility of the card and raising the price. My answer to this consumer unfriendly choice is NO THANKS! Would you buy CDR's at $5 each that formatted into a drive specific (by bios serial number) format? One that will only work on the PC that formatted it and your one camera/music player/GPS, etc.? Why buy a memory card with the same restriction? I wish to knock the wind out of this format and fast. It's consumer unfriendly at a severe performance and cost hit.
Maybe you should only support computer hardware that is built with common multi-sourced parts, like the 7400 series of TTL
You missed the point. The new stuff is a downgrade, not an upgrade. It's memory. For more than the price of a 128 MEG compact flash card, I can get a slower more expensive 64 MEG SD card. In a pinch I can't use the card in my camera because it's a diffrent format. Use the faster cheaper more flexible and compatible format in your product and you have a much better chance of selling me your product. The SD format is not making faster higher capacity memory cards. They are making slower cards at a higher price that do not support all common file formats and will not work in my USB card reader/writer. (which supports 3 of the six formats) In short it cost more, does less, works slower, and is not interchangable. Show me an upgrade in that. If you think that is an upgrade, I will love to sell you my external floppy drive from my old tandy M100. It's single sided, with 2 sectors per track. It will not work with 1.4 meg floppies. If interested in this secure storage solution, drop me a line. Buying a card that will not store an MP3 or JPEG but encodes it into something else is not useful for me. Check out the reviews of the 20 Gig Nomad MP3 Jukebox. Check out it's number one complaint. It takes way too long to upload MP3's into it because it supports DRM and changes the file format. Now if it would just be a USB data drive to the PC without the DRM junk, they could sell a bunch of them because they would be more useful and would be much faster. By not supporting odball formats at higher prices is to encourage manufactures to drop the pricey hard to sell stuff for faster more featured stuff at better prices. Think about it, would you like to upload your data using a common USB card reader/writer, or would you like to have to upload the stuff at 19.2K baud. Think about it next time you download your digital camera. (You have tried to download a RS 232 serial megapixel camera haven't you? I upgraded and gave my old camera away for free. No more 20 minute downloads per 8 MEG for me. Don't even consider a 64 Meg transfer in a slow serial format!)
Don't consider using anything with less capacity and slower speeds at higher prices.
That is why I am not considering those models of GPS. It uses a format I refuse to support for the reasons listed. May the format die a quick death. The sooner it dies, the sooner we can get faster higher capacity compact flash at cheaper prices. There is economy in scale. Fracturing the memory market into 6+ formats makes all the specialty items expensive. I want far away from the market fragmentation.
Have you checked the latest specs for DVI. Here is a link to a site where a DVI output does not even work with a DVI monitor. The signal is encrypted all the way to the monitor and even sometimes the handshaking doesn't work.
e s/top6.htm
http://www.riva3d.com/dvi.html
I fuund this gem regarding DVI
With capabilities for copy protection, bidirectional communication, and selective refresh, DVI is projected to have a minimum life of 10 years.
at http://www.intel.com/update/archive/issue22/stori
Somehow I see new content being released only to "trusted" hardware that are quite hack and copy resistant. Even the link to the monitor and speakers will be encrypted. A copy played back will lack the proper response to a random challange and the playback device will not unencrypt and play a recorded copy on untrusted hardware because it will not handshake.
Let's see, so far the efforts that content providers have created to secure content include:
Don't forget to include the SDMI compliant music devices using secure memory products. These include devices using the DataPlay mini CD format, the sony MD player, and the SD Card. Read the specs on this toy. The memory card supports SDMI. Garmin and Magellan are both using it in some of their models of GPS'es.
Too bad I'll be avoiding these models. I was hoping for a format I could upload to a card using a fast USB card reader instead of having to upload maps by serial port speeds, but it's not the case. Borrowing a card from the Handheld PC or GPS or MP3 player for a wedding shoot in a pinch is not an option with closed non-interchangable formats. I am standardising on Compact flash just for these reasons. I'm letting the manufacture know my decision of the supported format and the reason for it. Sigh.
Press release regarding SD cards is here;
http://www.sdcard.org/press3.htm
Note this latecommer format has smaller memory sizes avaliable at higher prices than the established memory formats. SD cards are just now breaking the 128 Meg size. They are way behind the Compact Flash Cards in bang for the buck, avaliable sizes, and widespread use. Dataplay appears to simply be an optical version of this.
I vote with my pocketbook. I was shopping for a new GPS. I found the Magellan Meridian line use the SD card instead of one of the cheaper more popular cards for map storage. I would like a GPS with removable media for easy changing between topographic and street maps, but I refuse to support that memory format. I refuse to buy products using secure media. This includes SD cards, MMC cards, and the Sony Memory stick. I don't need or want to support 6 diffrent styles of memory card. Products must meet my specifications or it's no sale. So far I only support Compact flash and Smart Media. I have no intention on increasing the spread of non-interchangable parts. When I upgrade my camera, I will drop the Smart Media format.
CD Recordable became popular because it was almost universaly interchangable. Sony MD is much less useful as they have a Data format and a Audio format that is not interchangable. I also voted against this format. I went CDRW in a CD/MP3 player instead. It was worth the wait. CD'r has left Sony MD's in the dust. Compact Flash can do the same thing to the SD card. Be sure to vote!
It'l be obsolete in the US in 2007 unless it comes with a digital tuner. Analog broadcasts are to end. I don't want to pack a VCR or DVD along just to use the watch. I want one that will work at the ball park to watch the replay.
Most Electrolytic caps are not high on the toxic scale. The tin foil is thin and light. I have never known any to get outside a power supply case or monitor case let alone with enough force to impale anybody with any type of material. The antiques in antique radios and TV's were another story. If you are still using a 1950's black and white TV, you might want to upgrade. The capacitors were in a heavy metal can and were fastened to the chassis with a big nut. These preceded the Twist Lock capacitors where three or four tabs went into a metal chassis and were twisted or bent to retain the capacitor. These use a soft aluminum case and have a blow out plug on the bottom near the terminals. The antiques prior to these often built up a good head of steam before launching the steel can through the top of the wood TV cabinet. Modern stuff has pressure release plugs in the rubber seal, or have a rupture scribe on the top of the capacitor so they blow out at much safer pressures. The modern electrolyte is also much safer and does not contain PCB's. The most toxic capacitors now in use are the Tantilum's. These are toxic, but they are often limited to small capacitors so the amount of toxic material realeased in a failure is small. Get fresh air and wash your hands is about all that is needed for cap failures now.
Check your local mass merchant. On the West Coast we have Fred Meyer. They carry a line in the $50 range. The casio brand is high enough volume to provide economy of volume while providing a quality product. They have the usual utility watch features including water resistant.e s.filerea der?3d24dd6b001506400000c0a8013a0569+EN/catalogs/1 23581
t .asp?dep t%5Fid=26%5Fid=4158=0VK0N50BE5XM8GVTV55B2GRBB1W2DP RC
A list of the watches can be seen here in the $50 price range. It includes LaCross and Casio brands.
http://www.gadgets4sure.com/cgi-bin/ePag
However if you are looking for pure geek appeal, check out the solar powered ceramic case model for over a grand here..
http://www.shoplifestyle.com/store/produc
Having dealt with several failed fans in the history of being a service technician, I must say I have never seen a fire related to a fan failure. Most of the time people bring them in because of a smell and before anything shorts out. I replaced the fan and the warranty is void sticker with our shops and send it home. (now supplies are cheap so we just replace the supply except for the hard to get proprotiory junk)
Most smoke issues seen have been:
Ruptured filter capacitors. They have a steam rupture due to the electrolytic. (the end blowes out some times ejecting the roll of tin foil) Boiling water is not hot enough for any flames and the spacer is still wet and won't catch fire.
Shorted power transistors. These may smoke the case of the transistor or take out some flameproof resistors before taking out the main fuse, but again no flames. Shorted disk ceramic or tantilium capitors. These are not made of flamable materials. Last is Metal Oxide Varistors (surge protectors). These tend to smoke the covering, but the part itself is made of non-flamable materials.
In monitors, shorted high voltage supply transformer and the degausing thermistor The transformers really stink with a burning plastic and tar oder, but they are built with self extinguishing materials. The thermistors smoke the plastic covering, but the part itself is not flamable. Again, never had seen a flame continue burning after the fuse or regulated power supply removed the power.
In summary, unless you get enough combustible lint near a severely overheated part, the risk of fire is very low.
The only fire issues I have ever heard about were caused by some defective battery packs for a laptop. There was a massive recall for the batteries. I certanly wouldn't a flaming laptop in my lap. I may want children someday.
1, The entertainment commerce X-box/Cable/Sat TV box/Subscription Web Browsing appliance box which needs a subscription to use. Even the video link to the monitor and Audio link to the speakers will be bidirectional handshaking encrypted data links. A sniffed copy of the data stream will not play back on another device, or the same device at a later time. It's a pay to play format protected every inch of the way by encryption.
2 General Use computers for word processing, spread sheets, hacking, photography, piracy, CD ripping (you know the obsolete format), low resolution TV recording (Not HDTV digital after 2007) and non-subscription web browsing. This second box will be locked out of the new media formats and trusted commerce standards. New media material will not be released in open formats. Windows, Mac, and Linux fall into this latter catagory. Non protected media content will be barred from the internet at strategic choke points. Media trading in this format will be prosicuted to the fullest extent of the law.
not going to go to their individual web boards and write a message. I'm going to email them once using cc's or bcc's
That is perfect! I'll only receive personal letters. It clears all the junk that everybody forwards. If everyone forwarded everying they got that is a trivia item to the address book, think how much stuff you would get if everyone on your list did the same thing. This stuff does not filter top down. It goes all directions. How many copies did you get of the tugboat going under the bridge? I got 4. Most stuff forwarded doesn't even have the courtesy of a personal note written to me. I will no longer get 15 copies of the latest virus, 30 copies of the latest virus warning, etc. Best of all I'll no longer get this weeks breast enlargement offer.
There is also software out that makes it trivial to "spam" a web form
.net killer app of the future. Spoofed mail will be impossible, confirmed ID required for membership, user must be logged in to send mail to other members, stiff EULA with heavy penalties etc. That is probably the mail system of the future.
Fortunately my current public form is members only. Membership is free. You apply and receive your password by e-mail. That eliminates false headers & bulk mail. That is why I use it. As a member for over a year, I have yet to receive my first Unsolicited Commercial E-mail through the system. It works for me. The noise floor is low enough a filter is not needed. Unfortunately I must also keep a regular box for attachments. It's highly filtered and kept hidden and off lists as much as possible. Most spammers don't take the time to get membership into small private mail systems. Verification of identity is a requirement that most spammers do not get.
Somehow I see this being the new Microsoft
Due to the massive abuse, e-mail may simply become a thing of the past. I am gradulaly moving to a web form and dropping e-mail. To write me, visit my page and fill in the online form. I'll soon no longer have an inbox.
As inconvienient as that is, it fixes most of the problems of the e-mail system. Mostly it will not accept any bulk mail from anybody.
That would really be a funny one, but I doubt it works like that...
Ummm Maybe the cost is related to the fact that running Windows requires more memory and a hard drive which runs the costs up more than the competition.
Unless you have somekind of leak the water should stay in the tubes, kind of like your car
Unfortunately most flexible plastic tubing will pass water through the plastic. Some water will seep into the plastic. When it reaches the outside, it evaporates. Soda Pop is put into a special poly bottle (PET plastic) because high pressure gasses migrate faster through most conventional plastics causing flat sodas in a short time. To see this first hand, fill a plastic (HDPE) milk jug with water. Glue the cap on. Make sure it's sealed. Mark the water line with a marker or put it on a scale and record the weight. Stick it in a dark corner for a couple years and check it again.
Your joints may not leak, but that doesn't mean it will not loose water. It will.
That the article on stopping pop-up ads has a pop-under ad? ;-)
Isn't that what Gator does? Have you checked if you have Gator?
One of the main obstacles toward using Linux is installing software. Whenever I try to get my friends to switch over to Linux, and I'm talking about experienced computer users with Unix experience, the inevitable huge stumbling block is "well how do I install anything?"
What Desktop Linux needs is a semi-protected mode (no login) similar to the priveledges of the default Windows
Umm, check out the Lindows machines WalMart is selling. Check out the DL/autoinstall website with the one click install of programs.
It's here, however, I don't want any machine that my kid can one click install a root kit on my machine. Some of us run a more secure distro for a reason.
Ask around.. Who do you know that runs linux and managed to click on something that infected their machine? Windows macro viruses don't run on Linux. It's incompatible and I like it that way.
The black helicoptors can use it to pinpoint you from above, but on the ground it ain't going to help you get from A to B any better than the sun.
Um, have you tried one of the map units? Are you thinking of the antiques that only gave a latatude and longitude? Check out the useful features they now have! Ever got lost in a suburban developement? A map unit will mark the maze with a "you are here going this direction" indication. It's a simple matter to locate a route to an exit to a main street.
I'm no longer afraid to jump off a plugged street and cut through a housing developement to the next unclogged street. It's saved me many hours sitting stuck in traffic. It's much easer (and safer) to navagate with a GPS map unit than try to read a street sign and find your location on a paper map while driving. Not all streets have the luxury of a place to pull off out of traffic to read a map. Preplaned routes in the GPS let you know your next turn is a quarter mile away, instead of trying to keep track of street signs and house numbers. Hmm, a quarter mile away, that is probably the second light ahead... It's that simple. They could take down all residentual street signs and take off all the house numbers, and I could still pull up in front of the right house on a service call. I pre-load my destination and route before leaving home.
I no longer have that "Dude, I got lost in Rhode Island yesterday" feeling.
wallet escaping pocket... must resist!!!!
Sometimes spending money saves more money. Choose your toys wisely. I've saved aprox 5 hours of stuck in traffic time with mine in the last 6 months. What's that worth?
On dash nav is the only way to cut the plugged throughfares and make it through that housing complex to the next open street. Most housing complexes are lost traveler unfriendly. A map GPS fixes the gardem maze of unfamiliar winding residentual streets. It's as simple as You are Here X, the way out is up two streets to the left and around the bend. It beats being lost in the maze.