The 15" is a bit stiffer overall than the 17" mostly because it ain't as big. It's the finest notebook I've seen... the build quality rivals IBM Thinkpads. The 17" isn't very portable, mostly because it's about an inch or two wider than is comfortable for most cases. The 17's screen doesn't have as many extra pixels as you'd think. Personally I'd recommend the 15".
For what it's worth, data recovery companies don't "swap the platters." Drives are typically only opened nowadays to fix the servo attached to the spindle, or the actual read-write heads. I believe platter-swapping may have been a viable technique >10 years ago, but nowadays, with the high densities of modern drives, it would be pretty much useless. A hard drive (typically) has multiple platters that are bolted to the spindle at the factory. The drive is then formatted, etc. and boot blocks / initialization code is written onto the platters. All the read-write heads are mounted together on a single arm. The second you loosen the spindle to "swap the platters," said platters become misaligned from one another, maybe even just a minute bit. The drive's controller circuitry normally expects the data to be synchronized as per the original factory platter locations... but now it's all wacky, 'cuz you swapped the platters. There used to be tools / techniques for manually realigning the platters several years ago, but I haven't seen them recently. And honestly, why would you need to separate the platters from one another? The closest thing to a "platter swap" would be to remove the spindle in order to replace the servo motor, but even then, the platters are treated as a single unit. The platters themselves are solid-state, so all mechanical work concerns the servo and read-write head.
The iPod's "sleep mode" is the real thing that benefits from the update. I went from needing to recharge every 24 hours to needing a charge every 10 days or so. Anyone complaining about battery life should update their firmware.
Just a general "hear, hear" in response to your comment about the Dvorak layout. A while ago there was a link on/. to a man who had developed a superior keyboard layout using a genetic algorithm and it turned out, after much optimization, exactly like Dvorak, save two keys that were switched with one another. I've been using Dvorak for years; took me about a week to learn, and while it's great for speed, it's far better for comfort IMHO. It's worthwhile for anyone who types more than 50 words a day. Note that it's optimized for English; however, I've found it to be much better than Dvorak in the few European foreign languages I've used so far (Spanish and French).
Back during Mac OS Classic times, Apple usedta put its developers names on the "About" dialog boxes in its programs. "About ClarisWorks" would get you a splash screen with a list of programmers that worked on the app. When Mac OS X came round, Apple instituted a policy of no developers' names on Apple's about boxen. No more developers' names, just an iMovie logo or what have you. They did this because they noticed that many of their programmers and designers, especially the ones appearing on said about boxen, were getting calls from "other" companies (yes, Microsoft was one of the top suitors). They were noting these peoples' names and hiring them away! So, no more names. My favorite vague credit is the "Designed by Apple in California" commonly seen on Apple hardware. They don't even give a town, they're so sneaky.
The trend in game engines is, as it has been in the past, largely towards better image quality. The stippling technique described in the article is a tradeoff for those who'd rather have the medical equivalent of "better framerates."
That said, you CAN have sketchy-looking Quake if you want with NPRQuake. I've tried this and it looks incredible- it's a shame no commercial games have used this technique yet. Reminds me of that 80s music video where the gal walks into the mirror, and everything's all "pencilly-looking" but in real-time... now what was that damn song? (racks brain)
Also check out Waking Life. It's available on P2P as I write this, but you didn't hear that from me, and you're better off renting the DVD for all the extra goodies. It's not as pretentious as many make it out to be, and the visuals alone are worth it.
The iMac design team used a plastic which provided RF and electromagnetic shielding, yet was totally transparent (this is on the later version CRT iMacs with slot-loading drives, not the translucent first generation, which was shielded in the traditional manner with internal aluminum panels).
I remember the iSub development team (harman-kardon subwoofer for iMac and h-k's SoundSticks, resembles a jellyfish IMHO) had some serious issues in properly shielding the sub's totally transparent case (there's a driver magnet in there which weighs a pound or so and some hefty power supply circuitry) and the sub's launch was postponed over and over again, till it finally slipped out quietly to the public IIRC nine months after its announcement.
Moving to Zimbabwe soon, michael?
on
Indecision 2002
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
For shame, michael. Many people in many, many countries (China? Cuba? Large swaths of Africa?) would die (and have done just so) for the right to have an election run in a manner remotely close to what we take for granted in the USA. For all the cries about the "rigged" presidential election in 2000, it was *nothing* compared to the military-style elections in other countries. Look at the way Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe, folks) has stayed in office for decades. Look at how other countries basically had to step in to ensure a fair election within this country a few years back. Call me a young, idealistic fool if you wish, but if you're gonna live here, you've got to believe in the system, man! Else perhaps you're better off moving to warmer climates...
Seriously, though, as a (budding) industrial designer, I've always wanted something like this. For example, Philippe Starck's "Prince AHA" stool/stand is pretty easy to draw, but rather hard to describe using words- "it's sort of a half-and-half stepped-pyramid, organic wineglass shape..."
I can also imagine the possibilities for wildlife categorization. Say a naturalist had a PDA with this engine on it, as well as a database of plants and/or birds- no more second-guessing encyclopedias.
Now they just have to have a music search engine where you can hum a few notes from a song, and the possibilities list gets smaller and smaller with each note.
I don't doubt the quoted figures of "1000 rewrites" for CD-RW media, for the reason that the crystalline substrate which stores the data proper should last around that much, chemically. In my experience, it's the physical disc which fails- scratches from handling, pitting on the reflective aluminum layer, etc.
CD-RWs reflect around 25% of the read laser, as opposed to CD-Rs which reflect around 75%, and pressed CDs which reflect close to 100%. When the signal-to-noise ratio is this low, the A/D circuitry has a hard time keeping up even with minor defects- fingerprints and dust are much more deadly on a CD-RW than on a CD-R.
In my experience, the first burn to a virgin CD-RW delivers CD-R-like readability, but once you rewrite it even once, the drive has to work a lot harder. I used to treat my CD-RWs like floppies, carrying them between the lab and my home, playing with them while waiting for an operation to complete, etc. and got maybe 4-5 rewrites on average. I then started keeping them inside jewel cases at all times, exposing them for a few seconds to put into the drive, and immediately got 20+ rewrites out of them.
Also, we were using really bad drives at the lab (some early HP CD-RW burners which often rejected discs) and when we upgraded the machines (to better HP burners, in late 2001) rewritability literally doubled for me to about 40+ rewrites. So the type of drive makes a difference as well IMHO.
Shame Desilu didn't have access to this fine research 50 years ago... I remember Desi Arnaz's denial of Lucy's alleged Communist leanings (McCarthyism even got to Lucy): it went something along the lines of, "She's not red; in fact, the only thing that is red is her hair, and we're not even sure about that." Anyways, yeah. I was thinking of a dentist episode.
Personal VTOL: The Moller Skycar
on
The Coming Air Age
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Of all the "personal flight" ideas out there, the Moller skycar seems to have the most potential. I heard the designer, Paul Moller, being interviewed on Coast to Coast AM recently, and was captivated. Looking at the design, it seems very "car-like," with no exposed rotor edges or wings; it basically looks like a car with small jet engines instead of wheels. During the interview, the designer made a big point of explaining the integral safety systems: each turbojet is actually two turbojets, so if one fails the other takes over; there are three separate computers on board (one primary, two backups), etc. It runs on regular gasoline, gets mileage comparable to a car (over 25mpg), is quiet (85dB @ 50 feet, and they're working to reduce it further), and most importantly, is a VTOL (vertical take off and landing) craft. They've been developing this for the last few decades (check their design history on the site) and are working with the FAA to obtain "powered lift" certification for the Skycar- on the interview I remember one of his points was that getting a license for the Skycar should be easier than getting a driver's license.
The military sim Operation Flashpoint uses an interesting copy-protection technique called FADE, which cripples a pirated copy over time in subtle ways. For example, the player's shots can become wildly inaccurate at times, he/she can have wildly fluctuating health levels, etc. Basically the intent is to take enjoyment away from the game, and from what I've read on the forums, it seems to work better as a paranoia device- people buy legit copies because they've heard of "this FADE thing" and don't want to take the chance of a potentially crippled pirated copy. It's a great deterrent: Sure, that so-called "cracked" ISO *might* have all the FADE protection removed by expert crackers, but... hmm... are you SURE you lost that last mission because of your poor skills? Besides, cracking something "built-in" like FADE protection means the pirates must play the game over, and over, and over... good work Codemasters for developing such an innovative mechanism.
No need to buy one of those "CD-repair kits;" Brasso (yes, the metal polish) works better than any of them. See this comparison for some quantitative data. Plus, a whole can o' Brasso is something like US$2.67 at Sprawl-Mart... compare that to the roughly-1oz. packet that comes with commercial "CD-repair" kits.
JP Aerospace is now requiring all manned launches to carry at least one ten-gallon cowboy hat per launch. In the rare event of a guidance system malfunction, the crewmember is required to straddle the rocket (see diagram 14) and wave said hat above his/her head while letting out a steady stream of whooping as the rocket falls back to earth.
First, for those who bothered to read the full article, it specifically talks about the GUI, not the underlying system (so Snitch et al. aren't affected). Looks like Apple's doing it in the name of consistency again. While this is a valid argument (look at the Aqua "Switch" document to see how religiously they take it) I'm still pissed for two reasons: 1. They're being hypocritical. The i-Apps (iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, etc.) use "brushed metal" neo-Aqua themes which really have no place among the rest of the OS. 2. Most of the type of people who will be tweaking their systems are hardcore enough to understand what they're doing. Hell, if I were Apple, I'd take those Dock-modification programs as a bigger offense (and Apple has incorporated quite a few of these Dock mods into the Dock since OS X 10.0). Remember MultiFinder? Or WindowShade? This article, I think, is maybe trying to incite the X-Windows community towards violence with a "Look, Apple's trying to break X-Windows compatibility with OS X!" statement. I think it'll be perceived by too many as this when in fact it only goes after skin programs. Finally, Apple shouldn't shoot itself in the foot like this... perceived as being unfriendly to any developer is sometimes perceived as being unfriendly to all developers.
I too hope it's "just a script;" however if the going gets tough, you can always go to Tampa with a few strong buddies, and lie in wait for the nearest postman to zip by...
The odor is likely coming from the power supply, which tends to be hotter, as a unit, than the rest of the case (CPU heatsink notwithstanding). The phenolic resin in the power supply's circuit board may be outgassing, or equally likely, the motors in your system's fan(s) may be outgassing, as the bearings are brand new.
Ideally, you should place activated carbon / activated charcoal around and inside the machine for as long as possible (a week or so is best) and, if possible, store it in a well-ventilated room with outside air circulating freely; the carbon will absorb 95% of the odor. You can pick up activated carbon at a number of places, including pet stores (it also comes in the form of "odor absorber" sponges, which I dislike because they are perfumed themselves!) I've also seen people purchase big bags of charcoal briquettes (for grilling) and place them in paper bags. They don't work quite as well as activated carbon / activated charcoal, but they are good for large spaces (if you've just painted a room, for example).
Your girlfriend seems to have a provocation specific to the type(s) of epoxy or resins used in this machine. Might want to see an allergy specialist. My English instructor back in grade school had a serious provocation to most any smell; especially prefumes. One student forgot my teacher's warnings and wore perfume to class one day; the teacher went into something similar to an epileptic seizure. Not good!
Passives are "dumb" components- resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc. This is in contrast to ICs, or chips. Less passive components are better... easier to design for, faster assembly, smaller board size, more energy efficiency, and less suppliers / stock to worry about.
I really like the way the pins in DVI connectors are set up. The pins aren't really "pins'' so to speak; they're actually blades (trade name LFH - Low Force Helix), which are, yes, twisted helically in both port and jack, so when you plug 'em together, they act like springs, pressing against each other without requiring anything else (they just float in space, no plastic shrouds as in DB25 connectors). There's no easy analogy for this that I can readily think of, but it's so well-engineered it's beautiful.
Also, I think Apple's ADC connector- a variant on the DVI design, with a few more pins for power and USB- is a big improvement over VGA- no thumbscrews to twist, just a squeeze-lock mechanism. The cable coming out of the connector can be rotated 90 degrees so you can fit the machine right up against the wall, unlike the stiff VGA connector. Plus, power is built in, which initially I thought would be a bad thing (running a 17" CRT off the Mac's power supply = bad stuff) but now that Apple's gone all flat-panel, it's much more rational. I appreciate this connector each time I have to move my rig. Takes two seconds to plug and unplug.
About 1997-1998, one of the many AOL CDs I came across had their logo "recorded" into the disc, all around the perimeter. About 1/4 the disc (inner ring) was used by the bundled software, but the remainder was taken up by 5 or 6 AOL logos, all neatly arranged around the central hole. These were "recorded," not stamped or printed, as upon closer inspection, the edges of the logos had a very fine "blockiness" to them which matched the CD groove pitch. I always wondered if software could be made to do this with a CD burner. What a great hack!
A system like that's gotta be able to reconfigure itself instantly, at "packet speed;" say I'm carrying some guy's packets and I drive into a tunnel... sorta like Gnutella on crack. Good stuff.
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The 15" is a bit stiffer overall than the 17" mostly because it ain't as big. It's the finest notebook I've seen... the build quality rivals IBM Thinkpads. The 17" isn't very portable, mostly because it's about an inch or two wider than is comfortable for most cases. The 17's screen doesn't have as many extra pixels as you'd think. Personally I'd recommend the 15".
For what it's worth, data recovery companies don't "swap the platters." Drives are typically only opened nowadays to fix the servo attached to the spindle, or the actual read-write heads. I believe platter-swapping may have been a viable technique >10 years ago, but nowadays, with the high densities of modern drives, it would be pretty much useless. A hard drive (typically) has multiple platters that are bolted to the spindle at the factory. The drive is then formatted, etc. and boot blocks / initialization code is written onto the platters. All the read-write heads are mounted together on a single arm. The second you loosen the spindle to "swap the platters," said platters become misaligned from one another, maybe even just a minute bit. The drive's controller circuitry normally expects the data to be synchronized as per the original factory platter locations... but now it's all wacky, 'cuz you swapped the platters. There used to be tools / techniques for manually realigning the platters several years ago, but I haven't seen them recently. And honestly, why would you need to separate the platters from one another? The closest thing to a "platter swap" would be to remove the spindle in order to replace the servo motor, but even then, the platters are treated as a single unit. The platters themselves are solid-state, so all mechanical work concerns the servo and read-write head.
I guess I wouldn't be as pissed if it was a genuinely interesting article, rather than a collection of specs and benchmarks.
The iPod's "sleep mode" is the real thing that benefits from the update. I went from needing to recharge every 24 hours to needing a charge every 10 days or so. Anyone complaining about battery life should update their firmware.
Just a general "hear, hear" in response to your comment about the Dvorak layout. A while ago there was a link on /. to a man who had developed a superior keyboard layout using a genetic algorithm and it turned out, after much optimization, exactly like Dvorak, save two keys that were switched with one another. I've been using Dvorak for years; took me about a week to learn, and while it's great for speed, it's far better for comfort IMHO. It's worthwhile for anyone who types more than 50 words a day. Note that it's optimized for English; however, I've found it to be much better than Dvorak in the few European foreign languages I've used so far (Spanish and French).
Back during Mac OS Classic times, Apple usedta put its developers names on the "About" dialog boxes in its programs. "About ClarisWorks" would get you a splash screen with a list of programmers that worked on the app. When Mac OS X came round, Apple instituted a policy of no developers' names on Apple's about boxen. No more developers' names, just an iMovie logo or what have you. They did this because they noticed that many of their programmers and designers, especially the ones appearing on said about boxen, were getting calls from "other" companies (yes, Microsoft was one of the top suitors). They were noting these peoples' names and hiring them away! So, no more names. My favorite vague credit is the "Designed by Apple in California" commonly seen on Apple hardware. They don't even give a town, they're so sneaky.
That said, you CAN have sketchy-looking Quake if you want with NPRQuake. I've tried this and it looks incredible- it's a shame no commercial games have used this technique yet. Reminds me of that 80s music video where the gal walks into the mirror, and everything's all "pencilly-looking" but in real-time... now what was that damn song? (racks brain)
Also check out Waking Life. It's available on P2P as I write this, but you didn't hear that from me, and you're better off renting the DVD for all the extra goodies. It's not as pretentious as many make it out to be, and the visuals alone are worth it.
Funny that you bring this up, karlm...
The iMac design team used a plastic which provided RF and electromagnetic shielding, yet was totally transparent (this is on the later version CRT iMacs with slot-loading drives, not the translucent first generation, which was shielded in the traditional manner with internal aluminum panels).
I remember the iSub development team (harman-kardon subwoofer for iMac and h-k's SoundSticks, resembles a jellyfish IMHO) had some serious issues in properly shielding the sub's totally transparent case (there's a driver magnet in there which weighs a pound or so and some hefty power supply circuitry) and the sub's launch was postponed over and over again, till it finally slipped out quietly to the public IIRC nine months after its announcement.
For shame, michael. Many people in many, many countries (China? Cuba? Large swaths of Africa?) would die (and have done just so) for the right to have an election run in a manner remotely close to what we take for granted in the USA. For all the cries about the "rigged" presidential election in 2000, it was *nothing* compared to the military-style elections in other countries. Look at the way Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe, folks) has stayed in office for decades. Look at how other countries basically had to step in to ensure a fair election within this country a few years back. Call me a young, idealistic fool if you wish, but if you're gonna live here, you've got to believe in the system, man! Else perhaps you're better off moving to warmer climates...
I can also imagine the possibilities for wildlife categorization. Say a naturalist had a PDA with this engine on it, as well as a database of plants and/or birds- no more second-guessing encyclopedias.
Now they just have to have a music search engine where you can hum a few notes from a song, and the possibilities list gets smaller and smaller with each note.
I don't doubt the quoted figures of "1000 rewrites" for CD-RW media, for the reason that the crystalline substrate which stores the data proper should last around that much, chemically. In my experience, it's the physical disc which fails- scratches from handling, pitting on the reflective aluminum layer, etc.
CD-RWs reflect around 25% of the read laser, as opposed to CD-Rs which reflect around 75%, and pressed CDs which reflect close to 100%. When the signal-to-noise ratio is this low, the A/D circuitry has a hard time keeping up even with minor defects- fingerprints and dust are much more deadly on a CD-RW than on a CD-R.
In my experience, the first burn to a virgin CD-RW delivers CD-R-like readability, but once you rewrite it even once, the drive has to work a lot harder. I used to treat my CD-RWs like floppies, carrying them between the lab and my home, playing with them while waiting for an operation to complete, etc. and got maybe 4-5 rewrites on average. I then started keeping them inside jewel cases at all times, exposing them for a few seconds to put into the drive, and immediately got 20+ rewrites out of them.
Also, we were using really bad drives at the lab (some early HP CD-RW burners which often rejected discs) and when we upgraded the machines (to better HP burners, in late 2001) rewritability literally doubled for me to about 40+ rewrites. So the type of drive makes a difference as well IMHO.
Shame Desilu didn't have access to this fine research 50 years ago... I remember Desi Arnaz's denial of Lucy's alleged Communist leanings (McCarthyism even got to Lucy): it went something along the lines of, "She's not red; in fact, the only thing that is red is her hair, and we're not even sure about that." Anyways, yeah. I was thinking of a dentist episode.
Of all the "personal flight" ideas out there, the Moller skycar seems to have the most potential. I heard the designer, Paul Moller, being interviewed on Coast to Coast AM recently, and was captivated. Looking at the design, it seems very "car-like," with no exposed rotor edges or wings; it basically looks like a car with small jet engines instead of wheels. During the interview, the designer made a big point of explaining the integral safety systems: each turbojet is actually two turbojets, so if one fails the other takes over; there are three separate computers on board (one primary, two backups), etc. It runs on regular gasoline, gets mileage comparable to a car (over 25mpg), is quiet (85dB @ 50 feet, and they're working to reduce it further), and most importantly, is a VTOL (vertical take off and landing) craft. They've been developing this for the last few decades (check their design history on the site) and are working with the FAA to obtain "powered lift" certification for the Skycar- on the interview I remember one of his points was that getting a license for the Skycar should be easier than getting a driver's license.
The military sim Operation Flashpoint uses an interesting copy-protection technique called FADE, which cripples a pirated copy over time in subtle ways. For example, the player's shots can become wildly inaccurate at times, he/she can have wildly fluctuating health levels, etc. Basically the intent is to take enjoyment away from the game, and from what I've read on the forums, it seems to work better as a paranoia device- people buy legit copies because they've heard of "this FADE thing" and don't want to take the chance of a potentially crippled pirated copy. It's a great deterrent: Sure, that so-called "cracked" ISO *might* have all the FADE protection removed by expert crackers, but... hmm... are you SURE you lost that last mission because of your poor skills? Besides, cracking something "built-in" like FADE protection means the pirates must play the game over, and over, and over... good work Codemasters for developing such an innovative mechanism.
No need to buy one of those "CD-repair kits;" Brasso (yes, the metal polish) works better than any of them. See this comparison for some quantitative data. Plus, a whole can o' Brasso is something like US$2.67 at Sprawl-Mart... compare that to the roughly-1oz. packet that comes with commercial "CD-repair" kits.
To our loyal clients:
JP Aerospace is now requiring all manned launches to carry at least one ten-gallon cowboy hat per launch. In the rare event of a guidance system malfunction, the crewmember is required to straddle the rocket (see diagram 14) and wave said hat above his/her head while letting out a steady stream of whooping as the rocket falls back to earth.
First, for those who bothered to read the full article, it specifically talks about the GUI, not the underlying system (so Snitch et al. aren't affected).
Looks like Apple's doing it in the name of consistency again. While this is a valid argument (look at the Aqua "Switch" document to see how religiously they take it) I'm still pissed for two reasons:
1. They're being hypocritical. The i-Apps (iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, etc.) use "brushed metal" neo-Aqua themes which really have no place among the rest of the OS.
2. Most of the type of people who will be tweaking their systems are hardcore enough to understand what they're doing. Hell, if I were Apple, I'd take those Dock-modification programs as a bigger offense (and Apple has incorporated quite a few of these Dock mods into the Dock since OS X 10.0). Remember MultiFinder? Or WindowShade?
This article, I think, is maybe trying to incite the X-Windows community towards violence with a "Look, Apple's trying to break X-Windows compatibility with OS X!" statement. I think it'll be perceived by too many as this when in fact it only goes after skin programs.
Finally, Apple shouldn't shoot itself in the foot like this... perceived as being unfriendly to any developer is sometimes perceived as being unfriendly to all developers.
I too hope it's "just a script;" however if the going gets tough, you can always go to Tampa with a few strong buddies, and lie in wait for the nearest postman to zip by...
Ideally, you should place activated carbon / activated charcoal around and inside the machine for as long as possible (a week or so is best) and, if possible, store it in a well-ventilated room with outside air circulating freely; the carbon will absorb 95% of the odor. You can pick up activated carbon at a number of places, including pet stores (it also comes in the form of "odor absorber" sponges, which I dislike because they are perfumed themselves!) I've also seen people purchase big bags of charcoal briquettes (for grilling) and place them in paper bags. They don't work quite as well as activated carbon / activated charcoal, but they are good for large spaces (if you've just painted a room, for example).
Your girlfriend seems to have a provocation specific to the type(s) of epoxy or resins used in this machine. Might want to see an allergy specialist. My English instructor back in grade school had a serious provocation to most any smell; especially prefumes. One student forgot my teacher's warnings and wore perfume to class one day; the teacher went into something similar to an epileptic seizure. Not good!
Passives are "dumb" components- resistors, capacitors, diodes, etc. This is in contrast to ICs, or chips. Less passive components are better... easier to design for, faster assembly, smaller board size, more energy efficiency, and less suppliers / stock to worry about.
I really like the way the pins in DVI connectors are set up. The pins aren't really "pins'' so to speak; they're actually blades (trade name LFH - Low Force Helix), which are, yes, twisted helically in both port and jack, so when you plug 'em together, they act like springs, pressing against each other without requiring anything else (they just float in space, no plastic shrouds as in DB25 connectors). There's no easy analogy for this that I can readily think of, but it's so well-engineered it's beautiful.
Also, I think Apple's ADC connector- a variant on the DVI design, with a few more pins for power and USB- is a big improvement over VGA- no thumbscrews to twist, just a squeeze-lock mechanism. The cable coming out of the connector can be rotated 90 degrees so you can fit the machine right up against the wall, unlike the stiff VGA connector. Plus, power is built in, which initially I thought would be a bad thing (running a 17" CRT off the Mac's power supply = bad stuff) but now that Apple's gone all flat-panel, it's much more rational. I appreciate this connector each time I have to move my rig. Takes two seconds to plug and unplug.
About 1997-1998, one of the many AOL CDs I came across had their logo "recorded" into the disc, all around the perimeter. About 1/4 the disc (inner ring) was used by the bundled software, but the remainder was taken up by 5 or 6 AOL logos, all neatly arranged around the central hole. These were "recorded," not stamped or printed, as upon closer inspection, the edges of the logos had a very fine "blockiness" to them which matched the CD groove pitch. I always wondered if software could be made to do this with a CD burner. What a great hack!
A system like that's gotta be able to reconfigure itself instantly, at "packet speed;" say I'm carrying some guy's packets and I drive into a tunnel... sorta like Gnutella on crack. Good stuff.
Not bloody useful when I'm walking down Broadway, is it then? (rimshot)
From the folks who brought you "that LED story," comes "that CRT story." Check the PDF.