There's a touchscreen. The interface can be whatever it's programmed to be. Want buttons? Good, me too. Wired or wireless remote, either on the headphones or clipped to my lapel.
Don't worry...Apple will address this issue, and then everybody else will attempt to figure out how to emulate them (with varying degrees of not-completely-awfulness).
Obviously, your mileage varies. But if you add up the bulk of a PDA plus a phone, that's a bigger load in your pocket than a "smartphone" (boy, is that ever a dumb word) and an optional Bluetooth headset.
I'm much more concerned about a high-resolution screen than a large one. For me, 320x320 (or 320x480) would be just fine.
The anti-integration grognards always crack me up. You are aware that you're sitting in front of the most multi-function device ever conceived of by Man, right?
Convergence is not the problem. Poorly designed convergence is a problem. There is no technical reason why a phone shouldn't be a perfectly good music player. There's no reason for a PDA not to include phone capabilities. It's free pie. The hardware is basically the same stuff.
I actually agree with you. Once your collection is large enough not to fit on any available player, you HAVE to manage your collection, and therefore it's not difficult to set up some smart playlists so you can have your "Deserted Island Mix" on your iPod at all times, and a good leavening of random good stuff.
My collection is just barely small enough that I can keep everything that's not total crap on my portable device. My wife has to be more selective, and likes her blue iPod mini just fine.
(Why don't I delete the total crap? Dunno. I suppose that someday, I might actually want to listen to Yngwie Malmsteen. I don't understand why that might be, but it's not impossible.)
Nevertheless: Flash has advantages, but cost per gigabyte ain't one. There is, therefore, a market niche for large-capacity portable devices. Hence, hard drives.
Are they for everybody? Of course not. Are they valuable for some people? Obviously. Isn't it cool that we've got a free market so everybody can get what they want?
My purchasing decisions are not subject to your value judgements. Fortunately, there are companies that want my money, and sell devices that suit my needs.
By happy coincidence, there are also companies that want your money, and sell devices that suit your needs. Your purchasing decisions are not subject to my value judgements.
What DRM lock-in? I'm not the original poster, but my requirements are the same. I've got a few DRM tracks (most I got for free), but not enough to worry about. And I can easily un-DRM them.
But those are my requirements, and there's only one device that fits them all.
Models of aircraft behavior are pretty well-validated. Using well-validated models to refine concepts is good science. However, you still have to build a prototype and test it to make sure that your airplane keeps the pointy end into the wind. The models increase your confidence in the design, but they certainly don't guarantee accuracy. Anybody who thinks differently has a poor understanding of the situation.
On the other hand, climate models are even more radically simplified than aerodynamic models. The timescales are also radically different. I don't know how you would validate a model of the entire atmosphere well enough to take the sort of precipitous action that some GW endorsers are advocating.
There is a middle path. There are reasonable measures that can be undertaken to mitigate most potential climate impacts. The problem is, a lot of them start with the letter "N" and end with "uclear", and that's an even dirtier word than CO2.
Here's a hint: Buying a Prius doesn't matter. Buying a Hummer doesn't matter.
One of my favorite toys is a long garden sprayer (the three-foot extendable rod kind). If you hold the hose part, and turn on the water, you can fly the head of the sprayer around and play Lunar Lander (if you have the spigot close to hand).
I'd need to play with one to see for sure, but I think the key feature here is the anti-torque stator vanes on the shell. Otherwise, my intuition tells me that a direct-lift system would be more "efficient" (in terms of pounds of lift per watt of electrical power).
Or I could be mistaken. Low-speed aerodynamics is a very tricky business.
When you're talking about physics, and you're not very persnickety about your definitions (Energy and force are NOT at ALL interchangeable concepts), your large hadron collider explodes.
So, yeah. When discussing science, it's a good idea to be as careful with your terms as possible. Saves confusion.
Is it really hypocritical to say: "Look, this is what I did, this is what it cost me, I think you'd do well to learn from the mistakes of others, because you don't have time to make them all for yourself."?
Oh, my bad, that's what we call a "flip flop", and those are apparently a no-no nowadays. Much better to just bull through and hope tenacity can substitute for wisdom.
It WOULD be hypocritical for a two-pack-a-day smoker to say "Don't smoke!"
My wife loves that game, too. I thought they were both brilliant, and I'm looking forward to the Lego Batman game coming out of the same studio. VERY impressive work.
You better tell my iPod, because it's got about 7000 MP3 tracks, and they all work just fine.
What flavor of MP3 are they? Don't know, don't really care. They work. There is no problem. I use iTunes to rip to 192kbit VBR. Some people might be able to tell the difference between that and CD, but that's OK, because I don't let them listen to my music.
"Appealing to the law to enforce equality is the opposite of arrogance, IMO."
Sounds like tyranny to me. Appealing to the law to do anything other than the barest minimum to keep people from harming or stealing from one another is tyrannical.
So, we disagree. Unfortunately (for me), most people agree with you. Hence, the tyranny of the majority. Would that I had a bill of the rights I could expect to be protected by the government, in a sort of social contract that they uphold in exchange for my tolerance of their authority.
I think that we should absolutely be considerate of others. I think politeness is a very important component of a civil society. I think enforcing politeness with legislation is a very, very bad idea.
"There are so many cheap pc parts available people practically give them away."
Well, that might be true, but it's not necessarily indicative of the way computers actually get used by regular people. If Bubba's current $350 PC is full o' crapware, is he going to pay ThinkGeek $300 to fail to fix it, or is he going to go buy another $350 PC?
Seems to me like all of those factors should be evaluated with respect to the state of the art. It may be possible to create circuit boards from recycled edamame husks and smug, but nobody's figured out how to do that yet.
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Doesn't that run Windows Mobile? How's that workin' for ya?
"Yes there is: it has the wrong interface."
There's a touchscreen. The interface can be whatever it's programmed to be. Want buttons? Good, me too. Wired or wireless remote, either on the headphones or clipped to my lapel.
Don't worry...Apple will address this issue, and then everybody else will attempt to figure out how to emulate them (with varying degrees of not-completely-awfulness).
Which PDAs have a 4" screen?
Obviously, your mileage varies. But if you add up the bulk of a PDA plus a phone, that's a bigger load in your pocket than a "smartphone" (boy, is that ever a dumb word) and an optional Bluetooth headset.
I'm much more concerned about a high-resolution screen than a large one. For me, 320x320 (or 320x480) would be just fine.
The anti-integration grognards always crack me up. You are aware that you're sitting in front of the most multi-function device ever conceived of by Man, right?
Convergence is not the problem. Poorly designed convergence is a problem. There is no technical reason why a phone shouldn't be a perfectly good music player. There's no reason for a PDA not to include phone capabilities. It's free pie. The hardware is basically the same stuff.
So, by going from Windows mobile to a "smartphone" to a Blackberry, you conclude that Palm is doing it wrong?
That's an interesting perspective, I suppose. In Crazy Land.
Palm has lots of problems. Not being Blackberry or Microsoft are two wins, not two losses.
Did you know that Palm makes a couple of smartphones? They're pretty popular.
I actually agree with you. Once your collection is large enough not to fit on any available player, you HAVE to manage your collection, and therefore it's not difficult to set up some smart playlists so you can have your "Deserted Island Mix" on your iPod at all times, and a good leavening of random good stuff.
My collection is just barely small enough that I can keep everything that's not total crap on my portable device. My wife has to be more selective, and likes her blue iPod mini just fine.
(Why don't I delete the total crap? Dunno. I suppose that someday, I might actually want to listen to Yngwie Malmsteen. I don't understand why that might be, but it's not impossible.)
Nevertheless: Flash has advantages, but cost per gigabyte ain't one. There is, therefore, a market niche for large-capacity portable devices. Hence, hard drives.
Are they for everybody? Of course not. Are they valuable for some people? Obviously. Isn't it cool that we've got a free market so everybody can get what they want?
My purchasing decisions are not subject to your value judgements. Fortunately, there are companies that want my money, and sell devices that suit my needs.
By happy coincidence, there are also companies that want your money, and sell devices that suit your needs. Your purchasing decisions are not subject to my value judgements.
See how this works?
What DRM lock-in? I'm not the original poster, but my requirements are the same. I've got a few DRM tracks (most I got for free), but not enough to worry about. And I can easily un-DRM them.
But those are my requirements, and there's only one device that fits them all.
My music library is 60gb. My wife's music library is upwards of 200gb.
There is still a place for high-capacity portable players. We may not be typical, but we definitely exist.
Models of aircraft behavior are pretty well-validated. Using well-validated models to refine concepts is good science. However, you still have to build a prototype and test it to make sure that your airplane keeps the pointy end into the wind. The models increase your confidence in the design, but they certainly don't guarantee accuracy. Anybody who thinks differently has a poor understanding of the situation.
On the other hand, climate models are even more radically simplified than aerodynamic models. The timescales are also radically different. I don't know how you would validate a model of the entire atmosphere well enough to take the sort of precipitous action that some GW endorsers are advocating.
There is a middle path. There are reasonable measures that can be undertaken to mitigate most potential climate impacts. The problem is, a lot of them start with the letter "N" and end with "uclear", and that's an even dirtier word than CO2.
Here's a hint: Buying a Prius doesn't matter. Buying a Hummer doesn't matter.
Wow. Does the oversensitive self-righteousness come with the car, or is that an option package?
One of my favorite toys is a long garden sprayer (the three-foot extendable rod kind). If you hold the hose part, and turn on the water, you can fly the head of the sprayer around and play Lunar Lander (if you have the spigot close to hand).
Anyhow. That's the kind of dork I am.
"but how will this thing operate in the event of a power failure?"
Very much like a rock.
"so if you're going to use it for manned craft"
Probably not. I'll bet you a shiny nickel that this idea won't scale well, and it's certainly not going to work well at speed.
"bringing it down safely in the event of engine failure."
Airframe parachute.
TANSTAAFL, especially in aerodynamics.
I'd need to play with one to see for sure, but I think the key feature here is the anti-torque stator vanes on the shell. Otherwise, my intuition tells me that a direct-lift system would be more "efficient" (in terms of pounds of lift per watt of electrical power).
Or I could be mistaken. Low-speed aerodynamics is a very tricky business.
You bump your CH-46 into a wall, and then tell me how durable it is.
Obviously, we're comparing apples and oranges here, but I wouldn't call ANY helicopter a "rugged" design. Reliable? Sure. Rugged? Maybe not.
With the possible exception of the MI-24 Hind.
When you're talking about physics, and you're not very persnickety about your definitions (Energy and force are NOT at ALL interchangeable concepts), your large hadron collider explodes.
So, yeah. When discussing science, it's a good idea to be as careful with your terms as possible. Saves confusion.
Is it really hypocritical to say: "Look, this is what I did, this is what it cost me, I think you'd do well to learn from the mistakes of others, because you don't have time to make them all for yourself."?
Oh, my bad, that's what we call a "flip flop", and those are apparently a no-no nowadays. Much better to just bull through and hope tenacity can substitute for wisdom.
It WOULD be hypocritical for a two-pack-a-day smoker to say "Don't smoke!"
My wife loves that game, too. I thought they were both brilliant, and I'm looking forward to the Lego Batman game coming out of the same studio. VERY impressive work.
I'd rather take my chances with other citizens than with the government. Government is better funded.
You better tell my iPod, because it's got about 7000 MP3 tracks, and they all work just fine.
What flavor of MP3 are they? Don't know, don't really care. They work. There is no problem. I use iTunes to rip to 192kbit VBR. Some people might be able to tell the difference between that and CD, but that's OK, because I don't let them listen to my music.
"Appealing to the law to enforce equality is the opposite of arrogance, IMO."
Sounds like tyranny to me. Appealing to the law to do anything other than the barest minimum to keep people from harming or stealing from one another is tyrannical.
So, we disagree. Unfortunately (for me), most people agree with you. Hence, the tyranny of the majority. Would that I had a bill of the rights I could expect to be protected by the government, in a sort of social contract that they uphold in exchange for my tolerance of their authority.
What a quaint notion, huh?
I think that we should absolutely be considerate of others. I think politeness is a very important component of a civil society. I think enforcing politeness with legislation is a very, very bad idea.
Why is this difficult to understand?
"There are so many cheap pc parts available people practically give them away."
Well, that might be true, but it's not necessarily indicative of the way computers actually get used by regular people. If Bubba's current $350 PC is full o' crapware, is he going to pay ThinkGeek $300 to fail to fix it, or is he going to go buy another $350 PC?
Seems to me like all of those factors should be evaluated with respect to the state of the art. It may be possible to create circuit boards from recycled edamame husks and smug, but nobody's figured out how to do that yet.