In my neighborhood, we have a bulk agreement with the local cable TV agreement to get their VOIP service. Naturally it's total crap. Vonage over their cable modem is less crap. I'm trying to get a damn phone, a regular copper POTS phone but the phone company won't wire us up due to the bulk agreement. I have a bunch of "high tech" options available to me (cell, VOIP, cable VOIP, VOIP over fixed wireless), but not a single damn one of them work for me as well as a straight up two wire copper phone right out of the late 70s.
Power goes out, possibly for a week at a time? Copper phones work. Need to fax something? Copper phones work. Every try fighting a DirecTV Tivo to dial out over VOIP? Copper phones work. Can you wire your home's alarm system to your cell phone (without that extra $150 device and an extra $10 a month)? Copper phones work. Someone calls in while your cable modem is glitching again? Copper phones work. Need to dial 911? Copper phones work.
I'm not some kind of luddite here (/. id in the low 4 digits), but when you need rock solid 99.99999% reliability, you can't beat the old tech that's been around for decades upon decades.
Commercial Electric (sold at Home Depot) used to be bad pretty bad. Now they've apparently updated the design a bit and they've been rebranded as N-Vision. Get these, seriously. They hit about 90% brightness by the time your finger leaves the lightswitch after thwapping it on. They also come in 3 different color temperatures.
I keep my home around 78 degrees during the summer and 70 during the winter.
I've only been randomly selected once. It just happened to be the time that I was sick and was on a pissload of cold medicine. Basically I looked pretty bombed, and big shock I was "randomly" selected for a search.
I still don't get the idea for having battery storage on the platforms. Wouldn't centralized storage be more efficient? Ever percent of line loss to the mainland means less storage infrastructure is necessary for the given amount of storage capability. Toss in that whole economy of scale and less to maintain on the platforms and I think storing electricity on the platform isn't the greatest if ideas, unless there is some unknown factor lurking in those patents.
This is probably some junk where in order to display an all white screen it maxes out the brightness, in order to display an all black screen, it simply turns the backlight off, and they then take that difference in brightness and call that their contrast ratio. Tell me how well it does on an ANSI checkerboard pattern and then we'll start talking.
I had one of those. The documentation that came with the USB drivers stated that you weren't supposed to do anything on the computer while it was transferring files. Even then, the thing would BSOD half the time anyway. Opening notepad while moving songs to the phone was a guaranteed blue screen.
And no, there was no updated version of the software that you could get.
On one hand that does sound more impressive, but if you make it sound too impressive you'll have people wanting to know which how many of those bits are going to give them cancer.
Yes, 99% of it all is junk that you wouldn't want to watch, ever. However even compensating for the increased junk factor, 99.7% of 1700 is still lot more than 99% of 200 (or whatever). Toss in a Tivo and you'll never peel your ass off the couch.
The new 4 or 5 LNB dish is going to have about 70% more surface area. That should go some way towards dealing with the rain fade.
Speaking of rain fade, I barely ever see it. When the eye wall of Hurricane Frances went over my house, that wasn't enough to do it. It has to be a really thick drenching rain, and even then we're only talking about a few minutes of fade per year. Cable craps out more often than that, and costs more.
I got my HD Tivo for $200 off at Sound Advice (Tweeter), and then got back a $150 service credit from D* just because I asked for it from customer retention. $650 more affordable?
How about a (some large number)-bit DSA key on one of those USB thumbdisk thingamabobbers? Sun has those smart cards that get used for authentication, I'm sure one of those might come in handy too.
As for passwords your average Joe six-pack/soccer mom is going to remember... they're easily cracked anyway, I fail to see what difference the future will bring.
Toyota tries to make Lexus engines. The ones that make the mark and fall within stringent specs bet put into Lexuses, the lesser engines get dropped into Toyotas.
It is similar to making processors. The ones that can run at 2.8 GHz get sold as 2.8 GHz processors. The ones that are only good for up to 2.4 get sold as 2.4 GHz processors.
No, there is a large difference between running a car on 92 octane versus 87 octane, if and only if the car requires 91+ octane. If it has a higher compression ratio, advanced timing, or a turbo or something, then the higher octane may be necessary lest you kill the car.
If your car is designed for 87 octane and it doesn't ping on 87 octane, then using 91+ octane may still be an idea every now and then. The government mandates that 89 and above octane have more cleaners in it. Texaco also puts the mandated cleaners in their 87 octane gas, but that's unusual.
You won't find the same mattress in a different store, but similar names means identical products. All the Sealy mattresses that begin with the same letter are identical. For instance, if Ted's Mattresses is selling Sealy Butt-slinger, then it is the same mattress and the Sealy Boob-smacker that Fred's mattresses is hawking.
The 1.8T is identical between the Audis and the VWs. Now, why the oil change interval between the Audi and VW models with the 1.8T is different is another story, but just go with it man.
There are a few other engines in there, but Audi/VW is so stinking prolific with engines nobody feels cheated. There's something like 8 or 9 different engines (plus several transmissions) you can pick from for the Audi A3 (European model). Heck, even on the Jetta/Golf/GTI line there are 5 different engines, and 4 different transmissions.
GM/Toyotas also include the Prism = Corolla. Also, the Pontiac Vibe = Toyota Matrix, but then again the Vibe/Matrix is a modified Corolla anyway. Pretty sure they co-own the factory where Corollas are made.
Also, they were rumored to be thinking about making a Porsche version of the Audi TT, which is a modified VW Beetle 2.0. Try the one with Quattro and you won't believe it is a Beetle, but it is.
VW also owns Bugatti. The Bugatti W16 sounds suspiciously similar in nature to other VW W engines.
At Sears, they sell TVs under the brand of Sylvania. Nobody else sells a Sylvania. They do look suspiciously similar to the Durabrand TVs at Wal-Mart, Emerson TVs at Best Buy, and the Symphonic TVs at Circuit City. They're all Funai TVs. The Sylvanias even come with Sears product numbers on the box.
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In my neighborhood, we have a bulk agreement with the local cable TV agreement to get their VOIP service. Naturally it's total crap. Vonage over their cable modem is less crap. I'm trying to get a damn phone, a regular copper POTS phone but the phone company won't wire us up due to the bulk agreement. I have a bunch of "high tech" options available to me (cell, VOIP, cable VOIP, VOIP over fixed wireless), but not a single damn one of them work for me as well as a straight up two wire copper phone right out of the late 70s.
Power goes out, possibly for a week at a time? Copper phones work. Need to fax something? Copper phones work. Every try fighting a DirecTV Tivo to dial out over VOIP? Copper phones work. Can you wire your home's alarm system to your cell phone (without that extra $150 device and an extra $10 a month)? Copper phones work. Someone calls in while your cable modem is glitching again? Copper phones work. Need to dial 911? Copper phones work.
I'm not some kind of luddite here (/. id in the low 4 digits), but when you need rock solid 99.99999% reliability, you can't beat the old tech that's been around for decades upon decades.
You haven't seen the value of the US dollar lately, have you.
Commercial Electric (sold at Home Depot) used to be bad pretty bad. Now they've apparently updated the design a bit and they've been rebranded as N-Vision. Get these, seriously. They hit about 90% brightness by the time your finger leaves the lightswitch after thwapping it on. They also come in 3 different color temperatures.
I keep my home around 78 degrees during the summer and 70 during the winter.
I've only been randomly selected once. It just happened to be the time that I was sick and was on a pissload of cold medicine. Basically I looked pretty bombed, and big shock I was "randomly" selected for a search.
I still don't get the idea for having battery storage on the platforms. Wouldn't centralized storage be more efficient? Ever percent of line loss to the mainland means less storage infrastructure is necessary for the given amount of storage capability. Toss in that whole economy of scale and less to maintain on the platforms and I think storing electricity on the platform isn't the greatest if ideas, unless there is some unknown factor lurking in those patents.
This is probably some junk where in order to display an all white screen it maxes out the brightness, in order to display an all black screen, it simply turns the backlight off, and they then take that difference in brightness and call that their contrast ratio. Tell me how well it does on an ANSI checkerboard pattern and then we'll start talking.
You fat bloated eeeeediot, you pushed the History Eraser Button!!!!
I had one of those. The documentation that came with the USB drivers stated that you weren't supposed to do anything on the computer while it was transferring files. Even then, the thing would BSOD half the time anyway. Opening notepad while moving songs to the phone was a guaranteed blue screen.
And no, there was no updated version of the software that you could get.
HDMI is digital DVI + HDCP and digital audio. Nothing analog about it.
Apple publicly saying it won't happen might also be just to get people to not wait on making their next PowerBook purchase.
Partially blocked signal path? That's why they make rocket launchers!
Almost correct, the HD Tivo has 2 tuners for OTA. It also has 2 tuners for satellite as well, but of the 4 only can be active at the same time.
Actually, the cable card Tivos are a-comin' and they'll be able to hook straight into your local digital cable system.
On one hand that does sound more impressive, but if you make it sound too impressive you'll have people wanting to know which how many of those bits are going to give them cancer.
Yes, 99% of it all is junk that you wouldn't want to watch, ever. However even compensating for the increased junk factor, 99.7% of 1700 is still lot more than 99% of 200 (or whatever). Toss in a Tivo and you'll never peel your ass off the couch.
The new 4 or 5 LNB dish is going to have about 70% more surface area. That should go some way towards dealing with the rain fade.
Speaking of rain fade, I barely ever see it. When the eye wall of Hurricane Frances went over my house, that wasn't enough to do it. It has to be a really thick drenching rain, and even then we're only talking about a few minutes of fade per year. Cable craps out more often than that, and costs more.
I got my HD Tivo for $200 off at Sound Advice (Tweeter), and then got back a $150 service credit from D* just because I asked for it from customer retention. $650 more affordable?
How about a (some large number)-bit DSA key on one of those USB thumbdisk thingamabobbers? Sun has those smart cards that get used for authentication, I'm sure one of those might come in handy too.
As for passwords your average Joe six-pack/soccer mom is going to remember... they're easily cracked anyway, I fail to see what difference the future will bring.
Toyota tries to make Lexus engines. The ones that make the mark and fall within stringent specs bet put into Lexuses, the lesser engines get dropped into Toyotas.
It is similar to making processors. The ones that can run at 2.8 GHz get sold as 2.8 GHz processors. The ones that are only good for up to 2.4 get sold as 2.4 GHz processors.
No, there is a large difference between running a car on 92 octane versus 87 octane, if and only if the car requires 91+ octane. If it has a higher compression ratio, advanced timing, or a turbo or something, then the higher octane may be necessary lest you kill the car.
If your car is designed for 87 octane and it doesn't ping on 87 octane, then using 91+ octane may still be an idea every now and then. The government mandates that 89 and above octane have more cleaners in it. Texaco also puts the mandated cleaners in their 87 octane gas, but that's unusual.
You won't find the same mattress in a different store, but similar names means identical products. All the Sealy mattresses that begin with the same letter are identical. For instance, if Ted's Mattresses is selling Sealy Butt-slinger, then it is the same mattress and the Sealy Boob-smacker that Fred's mattresses is hawking.
The 1.8T is identical between the Audis and the VWs. Now, why the oil change interval between the Audi and VW models with the 1.8T is different is another story, but just go with it man.
There are a few other engines in there, but Audi/VW is so stinking prolific with engines nobody feels cheated. There's something like 8 or 9 different engines (plus several transmissions) you can pick from for the Audi A3 (European model). Heck, even on the Jetta/Golf/GTI line there are 5 different engines, and 4 different transmissions.
GM/Toyotas also include the Prism = Corolla. Also, the Pontiac Vibe = Toyota Matrix, but then again the Vibe/Matrix is a modified Corolla anyway. Pretty sure they co-own the factory where Corollas are made.
Also, they were rumored to be thinking about making a Porsche version of the Audi TT, which is a modified VW Beetle 2.0. Try the one with Quattro and you won't believe it is a Beetle, but it is.
VW also owns Bugatti. The Bugatti W16 sounds suspiciously similar in nature to other VW W engines.
At Sears, they sell TVs under the brand of Sylvania. Nobody else sells a Sylvania. They do look suspiciously similar to the Durabrand TVs at Wal-Mart, Emerson TVs at Best Buy, and the Symphonic TVs at Circuit City. They're all Funai TVs. The Sylvanias even come with Sears product numbers on the box.