Today's small form factor PCs, like the Shuttle XPC series, make really nice HTPC/PVR boxes. Thankfully, you don't need a state of the art P4 to encode TV. You could get a box that supports a 533Mhz FSB Socket 478, for example, for about $150. You could probably get away with a 2.4Ghz Celeron, which would run you about $70. Not a rock bottom priced system, but adding in a nice HD, some RAM, and a TV tuner will probably still bring you under the price of most retail PVRs. The Small Form Factor Comparison Matrix has a nice listing of almost all the SFF barebones units listed by CPU type and price, along with all the features they support.
It amazes me that even with all this wonderful technology we still can't count correctly. Why is this so difficult? I can understand that making them secure would be hard, but simple math!?!?
Will this broadcast flag break today's digital reveivers? If I already own a receiver will it just ignore the flag or will the picture be all messed up, like scrambled cable? If its the former, perhaps it would be wise to save up a little cash and get a receiver sooner rather then later, even if you don't have a digital TV. If its the latter, then obvioulsy wait till someone comes out with one you can unlock.
The Rurouni Kenshin (aka Samurai X) OVAs are also very, very good. Great characters, detailed plot, fantastic art, and dramatic music. However, they are a bit violent and thus are not for kids. But, they are no more violent that most blockbuster Hollywood films. There is also a Kenshin TV series, though, in my opinion, is not nearly as well done as the OVAs.
I don't know, I for one enjoyed the big fight scene with all the agent smiths. Sure, there really wasn't much point to it other then "look, there are a lot of me now" but it was pretty well done on a technical sense. Sure, you could tell it was CGI, you knew it was CGI, but it was good CGI. Compare this to Gollum. Gollum was CGI, you knew he was CGI, and he is good CGI too, but for different reasons. The 200 Agents allowed us to have 200 Agent Smiths, and Gollum brought an otherwise impossible character to life.
The problem with a lot of CGI, and why it looks so fake to us, is that it's used to portray unrealistic things, such as the 200 Agents and the withered husk that is Gollum. The reason Gollum is so much more believable is the CGI artists spent so much time on getting his movements and expressions correct and realistic. In contrast, the 200 Agents were far harder to give hyper realistic expression and movement due to there just being so damn many of them. But, if you watch the scene, they do do realistic things, such as getting up slowly and somewhat painfully after they have been thrown. Of course, they do many other unrealistic things too, but that's what makes it fun to watch.
The best use of CGI and any special effect is when the audience doesn't know they are effects. Anything that comes across as impossible, such as the Terminator, will always appear fake because we know it doesn't exist. But, at least it will be a very good fake.
Still Really Expensive
on
MRAM in 2004?
·
· Score: 1
Even though they calim it will be cheaper to produce and have higher desities, you can be sure that it will cost an amr and a leg for the frist few years. I don't expect this in mainstream systems for quite a while. Still, really sweet looking tech.
I find it rather irritating that many people use broad generalizations to classify evil. From your post, I gather that you feel all corperations are bad, currupt, and of a single mind when it comes to being hell bent on killing the little guy and making money for their CEOs. While it is true that this is the case for many (Enron is a good example), it hardly warrents classifying all corps as evil. What's evil about Red Hat, for example, or AMD, or Blockbuster, or Subway?
Also, not all aspects of the government is bad either. While I am pissed at Bush's "war on terror" being used as an excuse to invade every small country that annoys him, I do find many things that I am thankful the government did. The National Park system would not exist without it, nor would the Interstate Highway system, careful regularion of perscription drugs (raises cost, yes, but keeps your asprin from making your hair fall out), and many others.
So please, PLEASE, target your wrath where it needs to go. Pick the specific thing/idea/policy/problem you want to fight and put your energies there. Push for a more watchful eye on corperation accounting, and better communication within the intelligence community. Simply yelling that all corperations are evil and the entire government is currupt is, in my opinion, a poor way to get things improved. Looking at the problems one by one and coming up with reasonable solutions to them marches us towards progress with a steady beat.
Dumbing down of things can be nice in some cases. If I want to burn a CD I like being able to just select the files I want to burn and clicking "Burn to CD." However, there are times where more control is needed, like making a SVCD, for example. While many *nix programs have gotten easier to use (Firebird is a good example. Blocking popups is a snap!), it seems like getting user friendliness built into programs and the OS is like trying to keep 1000 10 year old kids under control in a candy store that's giving out unlimited samples. With enough screaming you can get it done.
There was a dude on FOX's "101 Things Removed From the Human Body" that was about 30 with this condition. Really wish I had a link, but those of you who caught it will know it was pretty incredible. The "twin" was dead, of course, but very well formed.
I tried to get several distributions (Red Hat, Debian, Mandrake, Slackware) to run on my Asus MPX dual Athlon board. I could get it to install, but never to an SMP kernel. I spent hours on IRC pleading for help, but there didn't seem to be anyone around who had any experience with SMP. I would love to be able to drop Windows for Linux, but if I can only use half my system what's the point? WinXP had no problems at all getting the two CPUs up and running.
What sorts of images do you need? I haven't quite gotten around to mastering character animation yet, but I can do other things, like machines and buildings. I have samples on my site, if you want to check em out. Let me know if you think I can give you a hand.
Actually, you wouldn't gain much of anything with X.2. Very low frequencies are harder to assign a direction to then midrange and higher frequencies. Thats why fire engines aren't equipped with bass canons. Though the sound is only coming from your sub, the way they interact with the room, the very nature of the sound itself, and the workings of your ear make it difficult to pinpoint where its coming from. Try moving your sub around the room and see if it really makes a difference.
Take a look at some HT setup guides for 5.1 and higher systems. Most systems will indicate that the subwoofer can be placed pretty much anywhere in the room.
The "I didn't know it was illegal" defence always works.:P While I have no love for the RIAA, when this guy said he and his daughter never do anything illegal, I would have loved to see his driving record for speeding tickets, etc.
I do think that the RIAA is going about this the wrong way. After all, they are pissing off the very people they want to buy their CDs. Music services like iTunes prove that an online distribution network can succeed. I'd love for labels to vanish and just have all the profits go to the bands.
This design is nothing new, really. Remember the first wave of Windows CE devices that looked exactly like this? Sure, its been updated to the latest and greatest, but from a design standpoint its nothing revolutionary.
This almost has a ring simular to the whole Circuit City DivX (not the codec) thing. The nice thing about current game boxes and PCs is that if you cancel your XBox Live! accout or turn off your internet, you are still left with something you can run games on or keep an electronic diary. With this thing, if you stop paying for service you end up with a junk box full of parts that probably aren't usable anywhere else. That's $400, how much ever you spent on games, and how much you've spent on the subscription down the drain. I could understand having a system where you pay for the box, pay to download the games to the box (cheaper then buying it on CD), and then get to play it forever. Add in an online gameplay charge like everyone else and its all fine and dandy.
The Samsung 172 series LCDs already fold to a little over 2" thick. I stick my 172w in a briefcase for easy and safe trips to LANs. And its widescreen to boot!. I even have a review of it here.
I think you're on to something there, but it may be a bit harsh.
First off, I think most OSS programmers start of on a project because they want to make it for themselves. If someone else likes it, great. If not, too bad, they didn't write it for them anyway. I would also assume that most OSS programmers and die hard GNU/Linux or BSD users don't really care if their favorite free OS takes over the world. It would be cool if it did, yes, but they probably, frankly, don't care what other people use. If they did, then there would be a much more unified front to push programs towards the common user, to make very robust, feature filled programs that are stable. Currently, thoughts of "how easy is this for people to use and understand" probably don't cross the minds of most independant OSS programmers because, like I said, they are writing for them, not others, and they have a very in depth knowledge of how everything works. People like to shun programs that are "so easy my mom can use it." To which I ask "If its so easy, why are you doing things the hard way?"
So I guess my point in all this is if you are writing code just for you, how are you helping the community at large? Dumping another app into the pool probably isn't helpful unless it does something that nothing else does, where adding features and fixing bugs and increasing usability on other, more widely used projects will help more people.
Slashdot Mirror
A good idea. I'll work on adding that.
I could some columns for sizes, however not all the units supply dimensions, so there would be a LOT of blanks.
Today's small form factor PCs, like the Shuttle XPC series, make really nice HTPC/PVR boxes. Thankfully, you don't need a state of the art P4 to encode TV. You could get a box that supports a 533Mhz FSB Socket 478, for example, for about $150. You could probably get away with a 2.4Ghz Celeron, which would run you about $70. Not a rock bottom priced system, but adding in a nice HD, some RAM, and a TV tuner will probably still bring you under the price of most retail PVRs. The Small Form Factor Comparison Matrix has a nice listing of almost all the SFF barebones units listed by CPU type and price, along with all the features they support.
It amazes me that even with all this wonderful technology we still can't count correctly. Why is this so difficult? I can understand that making them secure would be hard, but simple math!?!?
Will this broadcast flag break today's digital reveivers? If I already own a receiver will it just ignore the flag or will the picture be all messed up, like scrambled cable? If its the former, perhaps it would be wise to save up a little cash and get a receiver sooner rather then later, even if you don't have a digital TV. If its the latter, then obvioulsy wait till someone comes out with one you can unlock.
The Rurouni Kenshin (aka Samurai X) OVAs are also very, very good. Great characters, detailed plot, fantastic art, and dramatic music. However, they are a bit violent and thus are not for kids. But, they are no more violent that most blockbuster Hollywood films. There is also a Kenshin TV series, though, in my opinion, is not nearly as well done as the OVAs.
AHAHA! I did that too. I had the thought of "We 4 will cleanse the world with our goodness!" but, the orges didn't listen. Stupid ogres.
I don't know, I for one enjoyed the big fight scene with all the agent smiths. Sure, there really wasn't much point to it other then "look, there are a lot of me now" but it was pretty well done on a technical sense. Sure, you could tell it was CGI, you knew it was CGI, but it was good CGI. Compare this to Gollum. Gollum was CGI, you knew he was CGI, and he is good CGI too, but for different reasons. The 200 Agents allowed us to have 200 Agent Smiths, and Gollum brought an otherwise impossible character to life.
The problem with a lot of CGI, and why it looks so fake to us, is that it's used to portray unrealistic things, such as the 200 Agents and the withered husk that is Gollum. The reason Gollum is so much more believable is the CGI artists spent so much time on getting his movements and expressions correct and realistic. In contrast, the 200 Agents were far harder to give hyper realistic expression and movement due to there just being so damn many of them. But, if you watch the scene, they do do realistic things, such as getting up slowly and somewhat painfully after they have been thrown. Of course, they do many other unrealistic things too, but that's what makes it fun to watch.
The best use of CGI and any special effect is when the audience doesn't know they are effects. Anything that comes across as impossible, such as the Terminator, will always appear fake because we know it doesn't exist. But, at least it will be a very good fake.
Even though they calim it will be cheaper to produce and have higher desities, you can be sure that it will cost an amr and a leg for the frist few years. I don't expect this in mainstream systems for quite a while. Still, really sweet looking tech.
I find it rather irritating that many people use broad generalizations to classify evil. From your post, I gather that you feel all corperations are bad, currupt, and of a single mind when it comes to being hell bent on killing the little guy and making money for their CEOs. While it is true that this is the case for many (Enron is a good example), it hardly warrents classifying all corps as evil. What's evil about Red Hat, for example, or AMD, or Blockbuster, or Subway?
Also, not all aspects of the government is bad either. While I am pissed at Bush's "war on terror" being used as an excuse to invade every small country that annoys him, I do find many things that I am thankful the government did. The National Park system would not exist without it, nor would the Interstate Highway system, careful regularion of perscription drugs (raises cost, yes, but keeps your asprin from making your hair fall out), and many others.
So please, PLEASE, target your wrath where it needs to go. Pick the specific thing/idea/policy/problem you want to fight and put your energies there. Push for a more watchful eye on corperation accounting, and better communication within the intelligence community. Simply yelling that all corperations are evil and the entire government is currupt is, in my opinion, a poor way to get things improved. Looking at the problems one by one and coming up with reasonable solutions to them marches us towards progress with a steady beat.
Dumbing down of things can be nice in some cases. If I want to burn a CD I like being able to just select the files I want to burn and clicking "Burn to CD." However, there are times where more control is needed, like making a SVCD, for example. While many *nix programs have gotten easier to use (Firebird is a good example. Blocking popups is a snap!), it seems like getting user friendliness built into programs and the OS is like trying to keep 1000 10 year old kids under control in a candy store that's giving out unlimited samples. With enough screaming you can get it done.
I am looking forward to this too, though it doesn't appear it will work with my SMP system, unless I get some more pipes. :)
There was a dude on FOX's "101 Things Removed From the Human Body" that was about 30 with this condition. Really wish I had a link, but those of you who caught it will know it was pretty incredible. The "twin" was dead, of course, but very well formed.
I tried to get several distributions (Red Hat, Debian, Mandrake, Slackware) to run on my Asus MPX dual Athlon board. I could get it to install, but never to an SMP kernel. I spent hours on IRC pleading for help, but there didn't seem to be anyone around who had any experience with SMP. I would love to be able to drop Windows for Linux, but if I can only use half my system what's the point? WinXP had no problems at all getting the two CPUs up and running.
What sorts of images do you need? I haven't quite gotten around to mastering character animation yet, but I can do other things, like machines and buildings. I have samples on my site, if you want to check em out. Let me know if you think I can give you a hand.
Actually, you wouldn't gain much of anything with X.2. Very low frequencies are harder to assign a direction to then midrange and higher frequencies. Thats why fire engines aren't equipped with bass canons. Though the sound is only coming from your sub, the way they interact with the room, the very nature of the sound itself, and the workings of your ear make it difficult to pinpoint where its coming from. Try moving your sub around the room and see if it really makes a difference.
Take a look at some HT setup guides for 5.1 and higher systems. Most systems will indicate that the subwoofer can be placed pretty much anywhere in the room.
The "I didn't know it was illegal" defence always works. :P While I have no love for the RIAA, when this guy said he and his daughter never do anything illegal, I would have loved to see his driving record for speeding tickets, etc.
I do think that the RIAA is going about this the wrong way. After all, they are pissing off the very people they want to buy their CDs. Music services like iTunes prove that an online distribution network can succeed. I'd love for labels to vanish and just have all the profits go to the bands.
This design is nothing new, really. Remember the first wave of Windows CE devices that looked exactly like this? Sure, its been updated to the latest and greatest, but from a design standpoint its nothing revolutionary.
This almost has a ring simular to the whole Circuit City DivX (not the codec) thing. The nice thing about current game boxes and PCs is that if you cancel your XBox Live! accout or turn off your internet, you are still left with something you can run games on or keep an electronic diary. With this thing, if you stop paying for service you end up with a junk box full of parts that probably aren't usable anywhere else. That's $400, how much ever you spent on games, and how much you've spent on the subscription down the drain. I could understand having a system where you pay for the box, pay to download the games to the box (cheaper then buying it on CD), and then get to play it forever. Add in an online gameplay charge like everyone else and its all fine and dandy.
The Samsung 172 series LCDs already fold to a little over 2" thick. I stick my 172w in a briefcase for easy and safe trips to LANs. And its widescreen to boot!. I even have a review of it here.
Man, I wish I could get paid to download games at work.
This suit makes about as much sense to me as trying to sue LiteON because their burners can copy audio CDs.
I think you're on to something there, but it may be a bit harsh.
First off, I think most OSS programmers start of on a project because they want to make it for themselves. If someone else likes it, great. If not, too bad, they didn't write it for them anyway. I would also assume that most OSS programmers and die hard GNU/Linux or BSD users don't really care if their favorite free OS takes over the world. It would be cool if it did, yes, but they probably, frankly, don't care what other people use. If they did, then there would be a much more unified front to push programs towards the common user, to make very robust, feature filled programs that are stable. Currently, thoughts of "how easy is this for people to use and understand" probably don't cross the minds of most independant OSS programmers because, like I said, they are writing for them, not others, and they have a very in depth knowledge of how everything works. People like to shun programs that are "so easy my mom can use it." To which I ask "If its so easy, why are you doing things the hard way?"
So I guess my point in all this is if you are writing code just for you, how are you helping the community at large? Dumping another app into the pool probably isn't helpful unless it does something that nothing else does, where adding features and fixing bugs and increasing usability on other, more widely used projects will help more people.
I don't own A Duron, let alone many Durons that would necessitate an entire rack.
Wow, a led based fernel. We've been using this sort of stepped lens/mirror technology for decades in theater. Just didn't put a LED in it I guess.