Nuclear energy could solve all of our energy needs
You speak as if nuclear energy doesn't have its own issues. It's hardly perfect. And whether or not those issues are lesser or greater than the issues from fossil fuels is largely a matter of personal perception (I think they could be lesser, but not under the current regulations or infrastructure).
And no, nuclear energy cannot solve all of our energy needs. It does not solve the need for a replacement for gasoline. And no, electric cars aren't the answer -- they simply don't have the range yet. There are places in the western United States that have a longer distance between exits than electric cars have range -- and that's ignoring the minor issue that it takes far too long to recharge.
Biodiesel is a potential replacement, although not without its own caveats. If we can increase production of biodiesel by using the waste products of current systems though it's pretty much a win-win scenario. Hopefully this particular system is commercially useful.
And, contrary to your statement, there are not many alternatives for the other uses of oil. Fertilizer for example. That's a much bigger issue than gasoline. Most plastics are made from refinery byproducts as well. There are some replacements for petroleum-based plastics, but none nearly as economical.
No it isn't. The engine and the AI are written in C++. All of the game scripts (map generation for example) and interface is in python, all the game data is in XML, and it's highly modable.
The AI can be reprogrammed in C++ using their API. See Question 6. I'm not positive that it's been released yet though.
So I tried again; evidently I started with the wrong basic model and didn't select the right components. When I attempted to match both the hardware and software, my Gateway NX560XL cost $2023 on top of the base $1299, and it was still lacking in terms of size, video camera
And I have absolutely no idea how you configured that -- my guess is that it has an extended warranty or other add-ons. My config, including the software you claim is necessary to match, is only $1804.96. And that includes a webcam.
Here's a paste from the sidebar: System Gateway® NX560XL Additional Items 512MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-256MB modules) [ +US$20.00] 15.4" WSXGA+ TFT Active Matrix (1400 x 1050 max. resolution) [ +US$100.00] 80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive [ +US$35.00] Creative Labs Creative Web Cam Notebook (6616179) [ +US$49.99] Microsoft FrontPage 2003 (6616198) [ +US$199.99] Pinnacle Studio Plus v.10 (6621587) [ +US$99.99]
Note that the system I spec'd was the S-7510Nb, which is their small business version. The NX560XL is the home version, which as best I can tell is identical except that it's Win XP Media Center instead of XP Pro. Shrug. And I can easily knock off about $85 by not buying FP and Pinnacle Studio from Gateway -- they're $148 and $65 from reputable vendors (I saw FP for $75, but I question the validity; of course, I question the need of FP at all, given that the open source equivalents are generally better).
I would reserve that for Fujitsu and IBM, at least
The T60 appears to pseudo-available online, for $2k -- it has a faster CPU, but that's about it. The monitor, video, software, and optical drive are not as good. The Fujitsu Dual Core notebook isn't available even for pricing yet, but it's likely to be considerably more expensive since it has a 17" screen.
The MacBook is 1" and 5.6lb, your Gateway is 1.3" and 6.3lb
I mentioned the size difference. I didn't bother to look up the weights.
It' also missing a backlit keyboard, magnetic power plug, magnetic screen latch, no dual link DVI
I mentioned the power plug, but not the rest -- all of which is pretty much toy. The dual link DVI in particular, since exceptionally few people will be attaching the laptop to a screen of that size.
lower resolution (1280x800), the integrated video card, the increased build quality, and integrated Intel graphics.
Actually the Gateway I spec'd out has a higher resolution (1400x1050, as opposed to 1440x900), the video card is slightly weaker (ATI X1400 vs X1600), which I mentioned. As for build quality -- you've physically taken both apart and examined them? You can make assumptions, but you cannot state that with finality since there's not a single review on either one available yet.
And I'd guess that I could shave another $100 or so off the price by finding out who Gateway is OEMing from and buy from them directly.
Then there is the software
Which I mentioned. Note that the Gateway system includes some office software, which the Mac doesn't (yeah, it's MS Works, but if you're going to mention iChat then you're stretching anyway).
If I wanted to make it an absurd comparison I could've -- a much lower spec'd Gateway system is available for the base price of $1149. Instead I tried to match the two systems as closely as possible. And I clearly delineated the differences, if you'd actually read my post.
You show me a brand new laptop with the same specs and the same processor for anything less than the new laptop.
Ok.
Gateway S-7510N, 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB 667 MHz memory, 80 GB 5400 RPM drive, ATI Radeon X1400 SE, 15.4" WSXGA+ screen, 8x DVD-RW, Windows XP Pro -- $1544.99
What it doesn't have (comparatively): uses 2 memory slots, not 1. Has a lower end graphics card (not by too much). Doesn't have a built in video camera. Doesn't run OSX. The nifty power cord. Not as thin.
What it does have: 802.11a compatibility, built-in modem, 6-in-1 card reader, 2 more USB slots. $450 in your pocket.
I have an x86 laptop gathering dust because the power connector on the motherboard went kaboom. Too many pulls on it from the power cord I guess, and it was too hideously expensive to fix -- about $300 for a new MB, battery, and shipping. For only a bit more I replaced it with an identically spec'd system with a 3 year warranty.
So yeah, I'd love to have a connector like that on more laptops.
The only issue I see is that you get hosed on alternate ways to power it -- there's no car adapter for instance. Yes, you could still go inverter->power plug->laptop, but there's some unneeded conversions in there. It's a very minor issue though, and one that I expect will be solved by 3rd party companies in short order.
What I don't get is why he did this, or (if you believe his claims) why he was setup?
Ok, clearly there could be some incentive -- the amount of money, adulation, and so forth pouring into his office after the paper was published was stratospheric. But did he (or the conspirators) actually think the fraud wouldn't be found out? Eventually they would've had to make good on their claim of indvidualized stem cell lines, and they couldn't do that. The gig would've been up in another year at most -- hardly long enough to be worthwhile.
This entire debacle has set back stem cell research -- many labs stopped or slowed down on their own research after the announcement. Some tried to replicate the bogus research, or simply found money drying up because who wants to back the 2nd place finisher? And now that it's been shown to be a fraud, how difficult will it be to get donations now?
The only explanation I can think of is a conspiracy by anti stem cell research groups, and I don't buy that. The only people who could've pulled off the fraud were top scientists in the field, who have been doing similar research for years. And now they're all disgraced along with Hwang.
Oracle used to use default scott/tiger userid/passwd. I think it still does in 10g, but I'm not positive.
Nope, scott/tiger is deprecated -- the current sample schemas are separated into multiple users, and they are all disabled by default. These users are installed by default, but it's not hard to tell Oracle to not install them.
Of course, there's a lot of non-10g databases out there. Heck, there's a lot of pre-8i databases out there still even though you have to pay an arm, leg, and torso for support, if you can get it at all. And scott/tiger (as well as some other default users/passwords) certainly did exist in them.
Considering it went back to windows 98, i don't think they anticipated the current computing climate at all.
No, it goes back to Windows 3.0. And while they couldn't have anticipated the current computing climate, it's hardly as if there were no trojans, virii, or other malicious programs back then. That's a completely invalid excuse.
Are you saying the Tivo doesn't work with external USB disks?
It does not, and I do not know of anyone who has hacked a TiVo to use one. I'm not up on the latest hacks, so maybe someone over at dealdatabase has done it.
Put the MPEG2 file in a directory. Point your desktop software (TiVo Desktop, Galleon, or whatever) to the directory. Go to the TiVo and select it just as you would another TiVo and transfer it. In the case of Galleon you don't even need to go to the TiVo -- you can tell Galleon to initiate the transfer to the TiVo.
HMO is a wonderful thing.
This is only applicable to S2 or higher standard TiVos -- HMO is not available on S1 TiVos or DirecTiVos.
TiVo (S2 and above) can do that with home networking. It's not quite as flexible as a MythTV box, but it's very easy to do.
From the description it sounds like the Series 3 TiVo will have an Ethernet jack, but a) it's likely to be 100Mbps--likely to be problematic in real-life conditions when recording two HD programs and watching a third at the same time
No it's not, because TiVo records all the programs to the local drives. You can then transfer them to another TiVo or a PC, and that will work quite nicely over 100 Mbit. Yes, it means there's an extra step involved. I'm not denying that.
If TiVo Series 3 manages to robustly support external filesystems (I have *no* problems with some sort of encryption scheme here)
It will with the above caveats -- you have to transfer the recording. The encryption currently used in HMO transfers is ridiculously simple to remove. Mplayer doesn't even need to remove it -- it will play the file natively. As will all MPEG2 decoders for Windows (the hook is done prior to the decoder getting the data, so the decoder never even sees the encryption).
Especially if TiVo kindly offers us longtime lifetime-subscription owners free upgrades
I'm crossing my fingers here -- a little while after the S2 boxes were first released TiVo did this. You could transfer your subscription (monthly or lifetime; obviously it only made sense for lifetime) to a S2 box at no cost. You had to buy the hardware from TiVo and jump through a simple hoop, but that was it. You could then resell/gift/whatever your old system (of course, the new owner would need to buy a monthly or lifetime sub). I don't recall if it was necessary for your old TiVo to be functional -- although in your case all you would need is a new HD with the proper image on it. The TiVo subscriber number is not on the HD (it's in the firmware), and you can find the appropriate image if you look in the right places.
Is there a way to turn off "pausable tv" and just push the video straight through?
No, and it wouldn't do you any good anyway. What you're complaining about is having to use the IR blasters to change channels on a cable box. If you only have analog cable (or OTA) then there's no need for a cable box and TiVo will tune using it's internal tuners -- just as fast as your TV or cable box.
This version will also be just as fast, because it won't have to wait for the external tuner either.
You can also fiddle with the settings (in the UI) to change how quickly it sends IR commands out through the blasters. There are 3 settings -- slow, medium, and fast. The faster settings tend to run into problems if the IR blasters aren't well aligned, or there is a lot of noise in the environment -- many people have had success in constructing blackout boxes around the IR receiver to fix both issues. Fast is pretty fast.
The other fix is to get a cable box that can accept serial commands -- some of the Motorola boxes will work, but it also depends on if your cable company has it enabled or not. Of course, this software was only available in more recent versions of the software and not to S1 TiVos at all. My guess is you don't have that software. The S1 TiVos can control some DirecTV receivers (such as the RCA models I use).
External adapters are silly - who wants a set-top box with things hanging off it?
They are silly, but it's not all that bad -- it's just yet another cable really. But it's an added expense (Fitting the card is hardly difficult.
I remember it being a major pain on my two Philips units -- it wasn't a case of the card being too large or anything, but rather the amount of space available to work in being exceptionally small. And yeah, getting the case off wasn't all that smooth, and making the hole for the ethernet cable (especially if it already had an RJ45 connector on it) was annoying.
The case screws were standard 1/4" hex-head/#2 Philips; maybe Sony used Torx.
I can't say I miss any of the features of newer Tivo software revisions.
Folders are nice. The networking features are a god-send -- we constantly transfer shows between TiVos. The video extraction on the S1 was incredibly painful back when I was trying to use it. But I took advantage of TiVo's offer to transfer lifetime memberships to S2 boxes at one point (wonder if they'll offer that again on the S3s... that would be nice) and sold my S1's on eBay. Came out pretty close to even.
t's nice that it has Ethernet, but can you do anything useful with it or will it be heavily DRM'ed?
With current S2 TiVos you can do quite a bit with the ethernet -- play MP3s, slideshows, get weather/traffic/movie times and tickets/etc (the interface is open and extensible), transfer recordings to a PC and back (PC includes Windows, Mac, and Linux; although for the latter two you probably need to run Galleon), transfer MPEG2 video to the TiVo (and maybe MPEG4/H.264 w/ the Series3? It's not clear yet), and various other stuff.
As far as the video that's exported goes -- it's in a ".tivo" format which is a loosely containered MPEG2 video. It's completely trivial to strip off the outer layer and get to the real data beneath it. And it looks like the new TiVo Desktop software will even offer transcoding to a number of alternate (DRM'd) formats as well. But really, it's a joke to take off the TiVo DRM, or to just play it from a standard MPEG2 capable video player (it's designed to allow you to do that). Yes, you can play it in mplayer.
What about the data on the USB disk--is it encrypted or is it readable and usable MPEG files?
It's SATA, not USB, but that's a minor nit. The data is not in straight MPEG files -- it's on TiVo's proprietary FS. That was figured out long ago. But if you can simply download the stream to your PC, there's little reason to futz around with the drive -- especially since you cannot be assured that the entire video is stored on the external drive (it may be, but it may also cross drives; the article states this).
I have a series 1 Tivo (Sony unit from the year 2000). It has 100BaseT ethernet. I bought the ethernet card and plugged it in.
I had a couple of Series 1 boxes too, and bought the ethernet cards as well.
They're 3rd party accessories that were hacked onto the proprietary expansion slot inside S1 TiVos. There is no such expansion slot on the S2s, and I doubt there is on the S3s. They cost $70 vs ~$10 for a USB adapter and aren't trivial to install (not horribly difficult, but if you're not comfy opening your computer and replacing parts then stay far, far away from opening up TiVos). The last software release on a S1 TiVo was a couple years ago, so you cannot get any of the latest features -- there are hacks available to replace some of those features (and add others), but those hacks are available on the S2s now as well -- plus you get a vastly faster unit and the updated software.
That's what the point is.
I very much agree with the OP -- it's about time they added an ethernet jack. Having to use a USB dongle was silly. It's good that they kept the USB ports though, since a lot of people will want wireless.
Agreed. It's certainly in need of an update, although I suspect they're holding off for the Intel CPU line (as with many of their other badly needed updates).
Thing is, if you cram all of that in one box you'll completely blow the price ceiling -- you'd be looking at closer to $1000 instead of $500, and that will appeal to a much smaller community of users. It would definitely be a serious competitor to MS based HTPCs though.
It's a lot to cram into that small of a space, but I think they could do it.
The biggest problem will be cooling. Put in a large enough HD to be useful (particularly for recording HD content) and you'll completely blow the cooling budget for the box -- 250G+ HDs are warm. And they don't have enough real estate to put in a large, slow moving (and thus quiet) fan on the current form factor.
I think the smarter bet here would be going for a chassis that's larger than the current Mini, but smaller than your normal box. That would probably solve all of the heat and space issues.
The "any" key brings up the on-screen menu if you are not already in it.
And you've entered UI nightmare.
How do you change channels/volume? Left/right for one, up/down for the other? What about fast-forward/rewind/play(which could double as pause)/record? The same?
So, uh, how are you supposed to change volume and be able to do trick play? Oops. Or do the same while being able to change channels in live tv?
And note that you're still missing quick rewind/skip capability. And any page up/page down ability in menus. Nor do you have the ability to bring up an info screen on the current show without going all the way to the menu.
Your attempt at simplicity has turned into a UI nightmare.
The Mac Mini lacks far too much to seriously compete for the home theater space. The video is inadequate (not enough power), the CPU is inadequate (ditto), the sound is utterly inadequate, there's no capability for recording TV in standard def (which the video and CPU would be passable for), much less high def (which they aren't), and the drive is too slow and far too small.
The Xbox360 has some of the same faults (particularly the hard drive and the inability to record), so it too would need a hefty server elsewhere on the network -- and that's well beyond any reasonable expectation for the average user.
If Apple wants to compete against Microsoft, then they'll need to put forth a real challenge to the Media Center PC.
I suspect the Apple remote control would still have six buttons even with TV and DVR
It would be a piss poor remote then.
Power. Play/Pause. Fast forward. Rewind. Control/Menu. Channel up.
There, that's six buttons. What are you missing?
Channel down, volume up/down, quick replay, skip 30/skip-to-end, menu navigation (that's 5 right there -- up, down, left, right, select). That's pretty much a minimum for a useful remote with DVR capabilities.
Other buttons you may want easily accessible include number buttons (0-9, enter), a clear button, mute, aspect control, picture-in-picture, info/guide, slow play.
Sure, you can overload functions, but there's a limit -- beyond which you stop making things simple and start making them more complicated. And there's no way you can do everything you need with only 6 buttons.
There was a gaping security hole in their OS and they still needed 12 days to come up with a fix!
Because, you know, if you impregnate 9 women you get a baby in 1 month!
Come on folks. While I think MS dragged their feet on this one, and the "feature" was insanely stupid in the first place, we're still talking about software development here. Throwing resources at a problem does not necessarily help.
How bad is your reading comprehension? Nowhere in the articledoes it say that they "have moved 100,000 personnel" to Firefox and Thunderbird. That's a mistake on the Slashdot frontpage.
The article states that they have over 100,000 personnel and that they have moved 70k to Firefox and 45k to Thunderbird. I'd be willing to bet that there's nearly 100% overlap in those two numbers.
Even so, this is one of the largest deployments I've read about, so good for them. It's good to see more organizations moving away from the MS hegemony.
Slashdot Mirror
Nuclear energy could solve all of our energy needs
You speak as if nuclear energy doesn't have its own issues. It's hardly perfect. And whether or not those issues are lesser or greater than the issues from fossil fuels is largely a matter of personal perception (I think they could be lesser, but not under the current regulations or infrastructure).
And no, nuclear energy cannot solve all of our energy needs. It does not solve the need for a replacement for gasoline. And no, electric cars aren't the answer -- they simply don't have the range yet. There are places in the western United States that have a longer distance between exits than electric cars have range -- and that's ignoring the minor issue that it takes far too long to recharge.
Biodiesel is a potential replacement, although not without its own caveats. If we can increase production of biodiesel by using the waste products of current systems though it's pretty much a win-win scenario. Hopefully this particular system is commercially useful.
And, contrary to your statement, there are not many alternatives for the other uses of oil. Fertilizer for example. That's a much bigger issue than gasoline. Most plastics are made from refinery byproducts as well. There are some replacements for petroleum-based plastics, but none nearly as economical.
No it isn't. The engine and the AI are written in C++. All of the game scripts (map generation for example) and interface is in python, all the game data is in XML, and it's highly modable.
The AI can be reprogrammed in C++ using their API. See Question 6. I'm not positive that it's been released yet though.
So I tried again; evidently I started with the wrong basic model and didn't select the right components. When I attempted to match both the hardware and software, my Gateway NX560XL cost $2023 on top of the base $1299, and it was still lacking in terms of size, video camera
And I have absolutely no idea how you configured that -- my guess is that it has an extended warranty or other add-ons. My config, including the software you claim is necessary to match, is only $1804.96. And that includes a webcam.
Here's a paste from the sidebar:
System Gateway® NX560XL
Additional Items
512MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-256MB modules) [ +US$20.00]
15.4" WSXGA+ TFT Active Matrix (1400 x 1050 max. resolution) [ +US$100.00]
80GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive [ +US$35.00]
Creative Labs Creative Web Cam Notebook (6616179) [ +US$49.99]
Microsoft FrontPage 2003 (6616198) [ +US$199.99]
Pinnacle Studio Plus v.10 (6621587) [ +US$99.99]
Note that the system I spec'd was the S-7510Nb, which is their small business version. The NX560XL is the home version, which as best I can tell is identical except that it's Win XP Media Center instead of XP Pro. Shrug. And I can easily knock off about $85 by not buying FP and Pinnacle Studio from Gateway -- they're $148 and $65 from reputable vendors (I saw FP for $75, but I question the validity; of course, I question the need of FP at all, given that the open source equivalents are generally better).
I would reserve that for Fujitsu and IBM, at least
The T60 appears to pseudo-available online, for $2k -- it has a faster CPU, but that's about it. The monitor, video, software, and optical drive are not as good. The Fujitsu Dual Core notebook isn't available even for pricing yet, but it's likely to be considerably more expensive since it has a 17" screen.
The MacBook is 1" and 5.6lb, your Gateway is 1.3" and 6.3lb
I mentioned the size difference. I didn't bother to look up the weights.
It' also missing a backlit keyboard, magnetic power plug, magnetic screen latch, no dual link DVI
I mentioned the power plug, but not the rest -- all of which is pretty much toy. The dual link DVI in particular, since exceptionally few people will be attaching the laptop to a screen of that size.
lower resolution (1280x800), the integrated video card, the increased build quality, and integrated Intel graphics.
Actually the Gateway I spec'd out has a higher resolution (1400x1050, as opposed to 1440x900), the video card is slightly weaker (ATI X1400 vs X1600), which I mentioned. As for build quality -- you've physically taken both apart and examined them? You can make assumptions, but you cannot state that with finality since there's not a single review on either one available yet.
And I'd guess that I could shave another $100 or so off the price by finding out who Gateway is OEMing from and buy from them directly.
Then there is the software
Which I mentioned. Note that the Gateway system includes some office software, which the Mac doesn't (yeah, it's MS Works, but if you're going to mention iChat then you're stretching anyway).
If I wanted to make it an absurd comparison I could've -- a much lower spec'd Gateway system is available for the base price of $1149. Instead I tried to match the two systems as closely as possible. And I clearly delineated the differences, if you'd actually read my post.
You show me a brand new laptop with the same specs and the same processor for anything less than the new laptop.
Ok.
Gateway S-7510N, 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB 667 MHz memory, 80 GB 5400 RPM drive, ATI Radeon X1400 SE, 15.4" WSXGA+ screen, 8x DVD-RW, Windows XP Pro -- $1544.99
What it doesn't have (comparatively): uses 2 memory slots, not 1. Has a lower end graphics card (not by too much). Doesn't have a built in video camera. Doesn't run OSX. The nifty power cord. Not as thin.
What it does have: 802.11a compatibility, built-in modem, 6-in-1 card reader, 2 more USB slots. $450 in your pocket.
I have an x86 laptop gathering dust because the power connector on the motherboard went kaboom. Too many pulls on it from the power cord I guess, and it was too hideously expensive to fix -- about $300 for a new MB, battery, and shipping. For only a bit more I replaced it with an identically spec'd system with a 3 year warranty.
So yeah, I'd love to have a connector like that on more laptops.
The only issue I see is that you get hosed on alternate ways to power it -- there's no car adapter for instance. Yes, you could still go inverter->power plug->laptop, but there's some unneeded conversions in there. It's a very minor issue though, and one that I expect will be solved by 3rd party companies in short order.
And that while it may not have FW800, it does have Firewire 400.
Probably the biggest statement was that Apple would transition its entire line to Intel-based systems this calendar year.
That's much faster than most of the pundits expected.
What I don't get is why he did this, or (if you believe his claims) why he was setup?
Ok, clearly there could be some incentive -- the amount of money, adulation, and so forth pouring into his office after the paper was published was stratospheric. But did he (or the conspirators) actually think the fraud wouldn't be found out? Eventually they would've had to make good on their claim of indvidualized stem cell lines, and they couldn't do that. The gig would've been up in another year at most -- hardly long enough to be worthwhile.
This entire debacle has set back stem cell research -- many labs stopped or slowed down on their own research after the announcement. Some tried to replicate the bogus research, or simply found money drying up because who wants to back the 2nd place finisher? And now that it's been shown to be a fraud, how difficult will it be to get donations now?
The only explanation I can think of is a conspiracy by anti stem cell research groups, and I don't buy that. The only people who could've pulled off the fraud were top scientists in the field, who have been doing similar research for years. And now they're all disgraced along with Hwang.
It just doesn't make sense to me.
Oracle used to use default scott/tiger userid/passwd. I think it still does in 10g, but I'm not positive.
Nope, scott/tiger is deprecated -- the current sample schemas are separated into multiple users, and they are all disabled by default. These users are installed by default, but it's not hard to tell Oracle to not install them.
Of course, there's a lot of non-10g databases out there. Heck, there's a lot of pre-8i databases out there still even though you have to pay an arm, leg, and torso for support, if you can get it at all. And scott/tiger (as well as some other default users/passwords) certainly did exist in them.
Considering it went back to windows 98, i don't think they anticipated the current computing climate at all.
No, it goes back to Windows 3.0. And while they couldn't have anticipated the current computing climate, it's hardly as if there were no trojans, virii, or other malicious programs back then. That's a completely invalid excuse.
Are you saying the Tivo doesn't work with external USB disks?
It does not, and I do not know of anyone who has hacked a TiVo to use one. I'm not up on the latest hacks, so maybe someone over at dealdatabase has done it.
Though, I'm very interested. How is it done?
Put the MPEG2 file in a directory. Point your desktop software (TiVo Desktop, Galleon, or whatever) to the directory. Go to the TiVo and select it just as you would another TiVo and transfer it. In the case of Galleon you don't even need to go to the TiVo -- you can tell Galleon to initiate the transfer to the TiVo.
HMO is a wonderful thing.
This is only applicable to S2 or higher standard TiVos -- HMO is not available on S1 TiVos or DirecTiVos.
Bring programs *into* the box, not out of it
TiVo (S2 and above) can do that with home networking. It's not quite as flexible as a MythTV box, but it's very easy to do.
From the description it sounds like the Series 3 TiVo will have an Ethernet jack, but a) it's likely to be 100Mbps--likely to be problematic in real-life conditions when recording two HD programs and watching a third at the same time
No it's not, because TiVo records all the programs to the local drives. You can then transfer them to another TiVo or a PC, and that will work quite nicely over 100 Mbit. Yes, it means there's an extra step involved. I'm not denying that.
If TiVo Series 3 manages to robustly support external filesystems (I have *no* problems with some sort of encryption scheme here)
It will with the above caveats -- you have to transfer the recording. The encryption currently used in HMO transfers is ridiculously simple to remove. Mplayer doesn't even need to remove it -- it will play the file natively. As will all MPEG2 decoders for Windows (the hook is done prior to the decoder getting the data, so the decoder never even sees the encryption).
Especially if TiVo kindly offers us longtime lifetime-subscription owners free upgrades
I'm crossing my fingers here -- a little while after the S2 boxes were first released TiVo did this. You could transfer your subscription (monthly or lifetime; obviously it only made sense for lifetime) to a S2 box at no cost. You had to buy the hardware from TiVo and jump through a simple hoop, but that was it. You could then resell/gift/whatever your old system (of course, the new owner would need to buy a monthly or lifetime sub). I don't recall if it was necessary for your old TiVo to be functional -- although in your case all you would need is a new HD with the proper image on it. The TiVo subscriber number is not on the HD (it's in the firmware), and you can find the appropriate image if you look in the right places.
Is there a way to turn off "pausable tv" and just push the video straight through?
No, and it wouldn't do you any good anyway. What you're complaining about is having to use the IR blasters to change channels on a cable box. If you only have analog cable (or OTA) then there's no need for a cable box and TiVo will tune using it's internal tuners -- just as fast as your TV or cable box.
This version will also be just as fast, because it won't have to wait for the external tuner either.
You can also fiddle with the settings (in the UI) to change how quickly it sends IR commands out through the blasters. There are 3 settings -- slow, medium, and fast. The faster settings tend to run into problems if the IR blasters aren't well aligned, or there is a lot of noise in the environment -- many people have had success in constructing blackout boxes around the IR receiver to fix both issues. Fast is pretty fast.
The other fix is to get a cable box that can accept serial commands -- some of the Motorola boxes will work, but it also depends on if your cable company has it enabled or not. Of course, this software was only available in more recent versions of the software and not to S1 TiVos at all. My guess is you don't have that software. The S1 TiVos can control some DirecTV receivers (such as the RCA models I use).
External adapters are silly - who wants a set-top box with things hanging off it?
They are silly, but it's not all that bad -- it's just yet another cable really. But it's an added expense (Fitting the card is hardly difficult.
I remember it being a major pain on my two Philips units -- it wasn't a case of the card being too large or anything, but rather the amount of space available to work in being exceptionally small. And yeah, getting the case off wasn't all that smooth, and making the hole for the ethernet cable (especially if it already had an RJ45 connector on it) was annoying.
The case screws were standard 1/4" hex-head/#2 Philips; maybe Sony used Torx.
I can't say I miss any of the features of newer Tivo software revisions.
Folders are nice. The networking features are a god-send -- we constantly transfer shows between TiVos. The video extraction on the S1 was incredibly painful back when I was trying to use it. But I took advantage of TiVo's offer to transfer lifetime memberships to S2 boxes at one point (wonder if they'll offer that again on the S3s... that would be nice) and sold my S1's on eBay. Came out pretty close to even.
t's nice that it has Ethernet, but can you do anything useful with it or will it be heavily DRM'ed?
With current S2 TiVos you can do quite a bit with the ethernet -- play MP3s, slideshows, get weather/traffic/movie times and tickets/etc (the interface is open and extensible), transfer recordings to a PC and back (PC includes Windows, Mac, and Linux; although for the latter two you probably need to run Galleon), transfer MPEG2 video to the TiVo (and maybe MPEG4/H.264 w/ the Series3? It's not clear yet), and various other stuff.
As far as the video that's exported goes -- it's in a ".tivo" format which is a loosely containered MPEG2 video. It's completely trivial to strip off the outer layer and get to the real data beneath it. And it looks like the new TiVo Desktop software will even offer transcoding to a number of alternate (DRM'd) formats as well. But really, it's a joke to take off the TiVo DRM, or to just play it from a standard MPEG2 capable video player (it's designed to allow you to do that). Yes, you can play it in mplayer.
What about the data on the USB disk--is it encrypted or is it readable and usable MPEG files?
It's SATA, not USB, but that's a minor nit. The data is not in straight MPEG files -- it's on TiVo's proprietary FS. That was figured out long ago. But if you can simply download the stream to your PC, there's little reason to futz around with the drive -- especially since you cannot be assured that the entire video is stored on the external drive (it may be, but it may also cross drives; the article states this).
I have a series 1 Tivo (Sony unit from the year 2000). It has 100BaseT ethernet. I bought the ethernet card and plugged it in.
I had a couple of Series 1 boxes too, and bought the ethernet cards as well.
They're 3rd party accessories that were hacked onto the proprietary expansion slot inside S1 TiVos. There is no such expansion slot on the S2s, and I doubt there is on the S3s. They cost $70 vs ~$10 for a USB adapter and aren't trivial to install (not horribly difficult, but if you're not comfy opening your computer and replacing parts then stay far, far away from opening up TiVos). The last software release on a S1 TiVo was a couple years ago, so you cannot get any of the latest features -- there are hacks available to replace some of those features (and add others), but those hacks are available on the S2s now as well -- plus you get a vastly faster unit and the updated software.
That's what the point is.
I very much agree with the OP -- it's about time they added an ethernet jack. Having to use a USB dongle was silly. It's good that they kept the USB ports though, since a lot of people will want wireless.
That's why an update to the mini is in order
Agreed. It's certainly in need of an update, although I suspect they're holding off for the Intel CPU line (as with many of their other badly needed updates).
Thing is, if you cram all of that in one box you'll completely blow the price ceiling -- you'd be looking at closer to $1000 instead of $500, and that will appeal to a much smaller community of users. It would definitely be a serious competitor to MS based HTPCs though.
It's a lot to cram into that small of a space, but I think they could do it.
The biggest problem will be cooling. Put in a large enough HD to be useful (particularly for recording HD content) and you'll completely blow the cooling budget for the box -- 250G+ HDs are warm. And they don't have enough real estate to put in a large, slow moving (and thus quiet) fan on the current form factor.
I think the smarter bet here would be going for a chassis that's larger than the current Mini, but smaller than your normal box. That would probably solve all of the heat and space issues.
The "any" key brings up the on-screen menu if you are not already in it.
And you've entered UI nightmare.
How do you change channels/volume? Left/right for one, up/down for the other? What about fast-forward/rewind/play(which could double as pause)/record? The same?
So, uh, how are you supposed to change volume and be able to do trick play? Oops. Or do the same while being able to change channels in live tv?
And note that you're still missing quick rewind/skip capability. And any page up/page down ability in menus. Nor do you have the ability to bring up an info screen on the current show without going all the way to the menu.
Your attempt at simplicity has turned into a UI nightmare.
The Mac Mini lacks far too much to seriously compete for the home theater space. The video is inadequate (not enough power), the CPU is inadequate (ditto), the sound is utterly inadequate, there's no capability for recording TV in standard def (which the video and CPU would be passable for), much less high def (which they aren't), and the drive is too slow and far too small.
The Xbox360 has some of the same faults (particularly the hard drive and the inability to record), so it too would need a hefty server elsewhere on the network -- and that's well beyond any reasonable expectation for the average user.
If Apple wants to compete against Microsoft, then they'll need to put forth a real challenge to the Media Center PC.
I suspect the Apple remote control would still have six buttons even with TV and DVR
It would be a piss poor remote then.
Power. Play/Pause. Fast forward. Rewind. Control/Menu. Channel up.
There, that's six buttons. What are you missing?
Channel down, volume up/down, quick replay, skip 30/skip-to-end, menu navigation (that's 5 right there -- up, down, left, right, select). That's pretty much a minimum for a useful remote with DVR capabilities.
Other buttons you may want easily accessible include number buttons (0-9, enter), a clear button, mute, aspect control, picture-in-picture, info/guide, slow play.
Sure, you can overload functions, but there's a limit -- beyond which you stop making things simple and start making them more complicated. And there's no way you can do everything you need with only 6 buttons.
There was a gaping security hole in their OS and they still needed 12 days to come up with a fix!
Because, you know, if you impregnate 9 women you get a baby in 1 month!
Come on folks. While I think MS dragged their feet on this one, and the "feature" was insanely stupid in the first place, we're still talking about software development here. Throwing resources at a problem does not necessarily help.
You didn't state that it was a bad blurb in your original post.
I didn't write that post.
How bad is your reading comprehension? Nowhere in the articledoes it say that they "have moved 100,000 personnel" to Firefox and Thunderbird. That's a mistake on the Slashdot frontpage.
The article states that they have over 100,000 personnel and that they have moved 70k to Firefox and 45k to Thunderbird. I'd be willing to bet that there's nearly 100% overlap in those two numbers.
Even so, this is one of the largest deployments I've read about, so good for them. It's good to see more organizations moving away from the MS hegemony.