Since the Zune has WiFi, I'd assume someone would've tried to reverse-engineer the protocol so they can send any music file to any zune (and photos, etc). In other words, a perfect way to fill someone's zune with spam, or basically DoS their Zune by having the screen constantly filled with "xxxx wants to send you a file, accept?".
I guess with so few Zunes sold, well, the effort isn't worth the rewards. Though, captive audiences...
Re:They listed Future Pinball why not Visual Pinba
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101 Free PC Games
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· Score: 1
Potentially OT. These roms are not Free nor even free.
You can get ROMs for most machines off the manufacturer's web site. Williams/Bally is a bit harder since Williams exited the pinball games market, but the Internet Pinball Database has copies of the ROMs as do many other websites.
They get turned off in the US so they move to Canada how is that proving a point instead of moving to Sweden or some other country where it isn't sketchy. Is it that they just got a good offer from Canada or are they trying to jump ship from the states.
Wouldn't a bigger statment be to stay in the states cause that seems ot me what they are trying to do.
It just seems somewhat contradictory to move from the States to Canada and then say we won't move to Sweeden because its too easy?
I believe the basic reason is the creator of IsoHunt is well, Canadian, and lives in Greater Vancouver (BC). I seem to recall many newspaper articles about IsoHunt and how it's irking copyright people. Basically, I was wondering what purpose there was having a newspaper (one of the two pay dailies, but I think it might've been in both) print that, and now *everyone* knows about IsoHunt.
The articles never seemed to imply it was doing something illegal, just that it was a search engine that *could* be used to find pirated movies and stuff on other sites, but not actually hosting any illegal content. (Unless lists of file hashes and URLs are illegal?)
Heck, I was in EB one day and decided to ask about the PS3. I asked to look at the box, and they got one unit out for me. The manager, inside, who was curious what was happeneing saw the PS3 being moved and said "Get those PS3s outta here!". Sorta implies that even EBGames has a ton of them taking up a good chunk of their stockroom. It's almost pointless asking if stores have them in stock as they almost invariably do.
(That say day, the same clerk yelled out "We do NOT have Wiis, if you're lining up to ask. We do NOT know when we're getting some in!").
And I suspect that Wii quantities shipped to stores probably double what PS3 quantities are shipped... they may get 18 PS3s, and 37 Wiis, and the Wiis still sell out instantly.
The HD-DVD spec was finalized a while ago. HD-DVD players can only read two layers, therefore no movie can ever have more than two layers. All this talk about more layers is just PR wanking.
Technically, no.
Think about it for a moment. Look at all the HD-DVDs on the market, and HD-DVD players. They're missing something. Something that has annoyed the world over (not so much North America, but the rest of the world). Blu-Ray has it alright (they've simplified it - somewhat, but it's still present).
The "feature" that's missing in HD-DVD? Region coding. Yes, HD-DVDs are region-free. HD-DVD players have region numbers alright - that's for the DVD playback. HD-DVDs, nope. HD-DVD flippers, yes, for the DVD side. Now how in the world is the content industry going to accept that a major "next-gen" format will allow someone in Europe to get a high-quality movie that's probably just playing in theatres?
The other thing is well, HD-DVD supports managed copy, which I don't think is quite standardized yet (managed copies is a DRM way of letting you take your HD-DVD, copy it to your hard drive to play on your laptop, or move it to an iPod to play, or other thing).
Anyhow, it's not like more layers can't be put into the spec - I believe there is future capability for 4 layer HD-DVDs. 2 layers was put into the spec because it's trivial to produce using existing DVD processes (HD-DVD's main strength is how one can recycle existing DVD plants to make HD-DVDs - basically very little is needed to upgrade it from DVD-only to DVD-and-HD-DVD. Hence all the DVD/HD-DVD flippers out there - it's no biggie to the production line).
It's interesting to see that Apple "gets it". They must have been planning on doing the iPhone for a long time - for there are legions of people who scour the FCC website regularly for new registrations to catch the latest and greatest cellphone to hit the market. And add to that the legions of Apple fans who probably scour the FCC website just incase there's something wireless going to hit the market.
That's why iPhone doesn't have approval (though I bet it already passes certification - they just haven't filed yet) - the instant it's filed, it's public information, and Apple hates that. (Especially since a lot of collateral gets filed - internal photos, external photos, user manuals, lab reports, etc).
Honestly, until now, I really didn't find anything that made me want a new cellphone (the one I have is great, but it's coming up in the years), so I wouldn't know what to get when it died. Guess I do now. It's pricey, but I paid more for my current smartphone...
And given how difficult it is to do a cellphone (very - carriers are very picky - if the color of the button is wrong... or if it has certain features like call timers or byte counters...), I wouldn't see Apple as being able to get one in since it has no experience. (I expected it to be some super-hyped rumor that someone started and everyone ran with it after being upset at how crappy their current phone was, or some half-assed thing as is typical reaction.). But I suppose GSM carriers are less strict than CDMA ones since you don't strictly need carrier approval to sell a GSM handset (just replace the SIM card).
While it does mean spending money, there's nothing stopping you from buying the books, though the prices on them can be... significant. For Single Variable Calculus (the first math course listed), the book used is Calculus with Analytic Geometry , which seems to go for about $150 new no matter where you look. The book is also used in Multivariable Calculus and Principles of Aeronautic Control, so at least it can be spread out a bit.
I heard there's a place you can walk into that has rows and rows of shelves filled with books. People seem to take the books off the shelf, take them to the front counter, and then go away with said books - for free! Perhaps you may have heard of such a place - I think they're called libraries.
One common trick people do is borrow the text, and photocopy what they need. Or the more adventurous among us photocopy the entire book at 1/3rd the cost... Or you can borrow, and keep renewing it until you're done.
If you can afford the required hardware, and the $12 per month, you're not exactly "low income".
Uh, who said anything about the poor buying a computer? What happens to all the old computers when someone buys a new one from Dell?
The old ones get recycled. Smarter recyclers realize there are some powerful machines being recycled - powerful enough to do basic word processing and surf the 'net. Heck, if you know of underpriviledged people, you might give them your old computer that's too "slow" for you.
Even a Pentium is a fast computer for someone who can't afford one otherwise. And it can do a decent job rendering web pages, if you're patient. And most have slots you can stick in a Wifi card. (Heck, that $12 a month probably helps pay for a "free" card). Put Linux on it, and it'll be fairly decent. Sure it can't play the latest games, nor see flashy websites, but it can do email, surf the web, word processing and the other basics.
Or heck, given that computers are in the low couple of hundred dollars, they might acquire one that way through months of saving. A $300 computer is only 15 months of saving if you put away $20 a month. Low income doesn't necessarily mean living in poverty - they may live quite comfortably on what they have (different definitions of "comfortable"), and still have a few bucks left over...
Uh. there was a time Windows didn't come with a TCP/IP stack. And this extended to the period when Windows DID come with a TCP/IP stack. Heck, even TODAY you can get 3rd party TCP/IP stacks.
If you used Windows 3.x, you've probably used it - Trumpet Winsock. Looks like it's still around and even updated for 9x and NT.
So there's your third party TCP/IP stack. In fact, before Microsoft had a TCP/IP stack (i.e., Win 3.x) in Windows, they released the Winsock specification, thus ensuring that people who wrote winsock.dll would be compatible with applications using winsock.dll. Win9x came with winsock.dll and wsock32.dll, both of which have been upgraded to Win98's Winsock2 spec.
Yes, I've already read about people installing MAME on the PS3. This is one feature I'm interested in as well. MAME doesn't even use hardware accelerated graphics, so the fact that the graphics hardware is locked down shouldn't affect it. I did read that currently, due to how the memory is set up, YDL can only access half of the PS3's RAM, but that problem is being worked on. Other than emulators I'd also like to try and use Linux to install MUGEN and make use of media streaming (from my PC).
Well, the PS3 only has 256MB of system memory. From the official website, it has "256MB XDR Main RAM 256MB GDDR3 VRAM".
Sure, Sony can claim it has 512MB of RAM (it does), but half of that is graphics memory. It's sorta like your PC having 5 GB of RAM because you have 4GB of memory installed, and 2 512MB videocards installed. 4GB + 512MB + %12MB = 5GB. Alas, Windows or Linux is unable to use that 1GB of VRAM as system memory. (They can do it, since it's all memory-mapped anyhow, but the access latency is atrocious). I suspect accessing the extra bit of memory has similar caveats. Heck, there is probably better access times using the SPE memory (however little there is) than accessing the faster, yet further away, VRAM.
In contrast, the Xbox360 has 512MB of system RAM, and 10MB of graphics VRAM - I believe its architecture is shared memory (plus and minus).
I own approximately $300 worth of content I purchased for my Rocket eBook which is locked down to the particular serial number of my physical device. Nuvomedia and Gemstar are long gone, the servers are shut down, there's no customer service available, the battery life on my device is now down to a couple of hours... and when the device fails I'll be the proud possessor of expensive content which is completely inaccessible to me.
The battery is easily fixed. Buy a new REB from eBookwise to scavenge the battery, or go to one of the many battery shops that refurbish them (open your REB to get at it - it's easy). eBookwise bought the last of the stock from Gemstar.
I believe the company that originally made the REB is still around (it wasn't Gemstar - they just bought them on an OEM design).
Ratio sites would probably not ban the client - people will use it just to get the file faster and seed longer (face it - the only way to keep a good ratio is to get in early). Non-ratio'd site will probably ban it because they'd just leech and run.
Wish that ratio'd sites would take thafact into account - the older the torrent, the less likely it'll be downloaded by new people and the harder it is for seed to keep their ratio. Not everyone can bittorrent at work and refresh every 5 minutes...
The 18-to-25s that aren't showing any interest, well, there's a good reason.
For most of their active life, as far as they were concerned, space flight is an everyday occurance.
They grew up with the Space Shuttle. They grew up with space stations. Exploration is practically common (face it, with the Mars rovers since the mid-90's...). So is it any surprise that manned exploration would get a yawn?
This happened in the 70's. I believe by Apollo 13, no one watched space launches on TV anymore (if the networks would even carry it) nor did the public actually care (until the tank exploded).
For those who grew up in the 70's, well, spaceflight was a mystical thing. These feelings probably stayed. It's basically assumed that spaceflight is a boring reality these days.
Go back a few years, say around the time I was born, and yes, you'd probably find more excitement about spaceflight (hell, I'd love to go).
Take aviation - nobody thinks much about hopping on a plane (other than the PITA that is security nowadays and long lineups) to go somewhere. Go back to the 1950s when travelling by commercial jet was fairly novel. Now, well, it's just another form of travel. The same thing is happening to spaceflight. The novelty has worn off on this "generation" - they grew up with it, and probably assume it's always been the case.
Megascenery (www.megascenery.com ) has got Google Earth beat, and although expensive, does a very good job of providing photorealistic scenary for Flight Simulator. They have most of the interesting locations in the US.
Or just leave the Flight Sim game at home and just use X-Plane. With the massive global scenery (see the screenshots on the front page), they tie in at a massive 4 DVD9s(!) of world scenery data. It installs into a mindblowingly large 60+GB of world data. Mars scenery is just so small compared to it (aboug 2GB).
(And it always helps that you catch the upgrades when it happens - they are so much cheaper).
Think about how tedious a computer scene would be if the user had to navigate Windows, KDE, or even Mac OS X. While the herione was trying to find her husband's company's secret documents she'd log in... click on My Computer... then My Network Places... then log in again... then private -> secret -> projects -> 2006 -> world domination... and then wait for Office to load.
Uh, in the movies, as in real life, there would probably be a nice icon on the desktop. Now, only in the movies would there be an animated background that points to it, though. Also, movie desktops seem devoid of any other icons, other than that one...
Or, in the case of OS X, there would probably be an icon in the dock... and given OS X's ability to have icon overlays and bouncing, would probably highlight itself that way too right after login.
I just read TFA. Let me get this straight. The exploit is in MessageBox()? Awesome.
All I can say is... OUCH.
MessageBox() is a fairly commonly used API (it's used to display a message box, with optional icon (none, alert, caution, etc.), and buttons (yes/no, yes/no/cancel, ok/cancel, ok, etc). It's the most trivial way to do a quick debug, or pop up an error message. It's probably one of the most commonly used functions, as well.
Wonder what Microsoft did to break MessageBox(). Considering how often it's used...
And that, is by law. Consumer electronics, including mobile phones, have a 5 year warranty on fixing 'production errors'. Any equipment that fails before that time - without the consumer having done something stupid like dropped it into the water - is considered a production error.
Apple is having quite a bit of trouble with the government for trying to ignore that law.:)
And you guys wonder why you pay so much more for your stuff? (1 year is quite reasonable for a warranty for high-tech products given how fast they go obsolete, but 5?)
I suspect the grey market must be very big there, honestly, since I doubt imported goods suffer from that restriction, or if they do, why most manufacturers now insist on a receipt from an authorized retailer from the original country of purchase before even attempting to look at it for service (Nikon, for example). Either that, or the warranty claim process is so unnecessarily complex just to make it cheaper and faster to buy a new one.
Heck, I have a 7 port USB hub that has two uplink ports ("PC A" and "PC B"). Each downstream port has a little switch on it to select which PC that port is routed through. Press it and it lights up to show PC A. Press it again and it goes to PC B. It's nothing fancier than two 7 port hubs with a mechanical switch controlling which hub it routes through.
All this spinning off, reabsorbing, licensing shit has done the company no good. Meantime we're stuck with an OS that has all the drawbacks of old Palm OS 3.5 (no multitasking) and less flexibility (e.g. no more hacks to add system-level functionality). Syncing sucks, etc.
Actually, PalmOS supports multitasking. Of course, multitasking ia very generic name. The multitasking I believe you mean is actually called multiprocessing where you can run multiple processes simultaneously. The flip side of the coin is multithreading where the OS can run multiple threads at once. (And I'm not going to mention all the wierd "callback" ways you can use to fake the appearance of multitasking, like how mp3 players on PalmOS work by playing in the background. It's a nasty OS hack.)
PalmOS is a single-process, multi-threaded OS. Applications run in an application thread, and other threads perform other OS services. In OS 3.x, for eample, you had 3 threads - application, find, and serial. The find thread runs when you do a system find operation, and the serial thread handles the serial port. Modern PalmOS runs more threads (to service other things like Bluetooth, WiFi, etc), but again, applications are limited to a single thread.
Find runs in a separate thread because it's really just a special way of launching an application - the main application runs in the background, while the find thread launches new applications to perform the search. If you were a crafty PalmOS programmer, you could do more than just "find"...
And the reason for this was historical - when the AMX kernel was licensed from Kadak, it was licensed per-thread, and applications could not have access to the thread APIs.
Not that Windows Mobile is any better - the lack of a task manager by default in the OS (other than the Memory dialog) makes things very interesting if you have multiple applications running simultaneously. Since most apps don't have a "Quit" option (the X only "minimizes" it, the OS is supposed to be the only one sending WM_QUIT messages), badly written apps can end up with multiple instantiations that look all alike (the shell calls CreateProcess() on the app, and it's up to the app to try to signal its previous invokation. If you have the SDK, try the kernel tracker sometime).
Do you know of any video player that will be capable of taking advantage of two processors?
As far as I know mplayer doesn't, xine doesn't and vlc doesn't.
If VLC doesn't, then something VERY strange is going on.
In Windows, I use VLC to test out video playback (because it's the only way I can be sure that stuff like FairUse4WM and QTFairUse actually work!). I've decoded 1080p (1440x1080 - strangely, it displays properly on a 1920x1080 panel...) video that consumes about 18-30% CPU (via Windows Task Manager). I have quad proc (2x Core2Duo Xeons), and could swear there were three threads running simultaneously. (VLC actually spawns 18 threads!). I would think one was the OS taking data from VLC via DirectX and shoving it to the display driver to the screen (and managing everything else), while two were decoding video (~50-70% on one processor) and audio (~20% on another processor). The OS stuff seems to consume barely 5-10% of the third processor, and the fourth just remains idle. (At least someone had a clue in the XP scheduler...).
Using Windows Media Player and videocard accellerations, total CPU utilization barely tops 15% (usually less than 10%).
Ditto with QuickTime HD video - the QuickTime Player seems to use videocard accellerations to keep CPU utilization down. (Modern videocards often have H.264 and VC-1 (WMV9) accelleration blocks on them...)
Satellite radio is subscription based, but increasingly also carries advertisements. Kind of like cable TV.
Not really. Satellite radio gets its programming from two sources - in house, and 3rd party. In house stuff is supposed to remain commercial free. It's the 3rd party stuff that carries ads, because the 3rd party supplies them. Clear Channel, for example, supplies content for several XM channels. They were initially commercial free, but then CC decided to put ads on. XM scrambled to setup new channels to replace them with in-house programming similar in style. So the CC-produced stuff has ads, while the inhouse stuff doesn't.
Also, since most of the talk radio is syndicated from 3rd parties, you'll have ads there, while the inhouse produced talk radio isn't (like why you don't have ads on Stern (Sirius) or Ron & Fez and the like, but on channels like CNN, BBC, etc. you have ads).
The easiest way to find out what is produced in house vs. 3rd party on satellite radio is checking out the online offerings - XM and Sirius don't have online redistribution rights to most 3rd-party produced channels, just on-air rights. So you won't find CNN/BBC/ESPN/etc. on their online offerings (but of course, Stern/Ron&Fez).
Another interface quandry - the TiVo UI vs. a cablebox UI.
Oh the Motorola box I have, to navigate requires using the Menu button, the 4 direction arrows, the select key, and the exit button. Nevermind that to get to the menu often requires decoding little icons that show up on the "mini menu" that are a blur on anything but an HDTV.
On my TiVo, I hit TiVo, and get dumped to a single column list, where I use up/down to choose, and left-right to backwards and forwards (with the triangles at the end implying that forward/back work, or I cah use select to pick the item, too.
Once we get to the settings page, to back out requires oddball combinations of "Back", "Select" (!), or "Menu", at seemingly random times and screens. It's not obvious that if you hit "Select", that your setting changes will NOT be saved. And if you hit the wrong button, too bad, find the menu again and navigate there
On TiVo, the same forward/back/up/down analogy applies as the rest of the interface - want to back out? Hit left. Want to go forward? Select/Right. Want to choose from the list? Up/Down on all visible choices (or triangles to show there are more options). What do you know, Page Up/Page Down work too, when scrolling lists! (Not necessarily a given on the cablebox).
Honestly, the cablebox DVR functionality seems very secondary to the whole cablebox business, while TiVo makes it the primary focus - everything is centered around it. Just another tacked on feature. (The cablebox was a mess in UI before, now it's even worse). Honestly, VCRs are easier to program than the cablebox (and they often do that with cheap microprocessors and character generators, unlike the powerful CPUs and graphics present on a cablebox).
If only my cable provider (Shaw) supported CableCARD - I would be so all over a TiVo series 3. I have 3 TVs, two with the HDTV PVRs, but I've personally refused to get one - TV shouldn't be so complicated as those boxes make it. No big deal, I stick with the old extended cable programming anyhow (though Discovery HD would be nice to watch from time to time). My HD programming can come from next-gen DVDs, regular DVDs, and BitTorrent.
I used to work at an EBGames, and most of the time (this was when the PS2 was launched) we really didn't know when more were coming in. They'd show up a day before they arrived sometimes in our shipping logs, but that was about it. And many times they just showed up. I think the disdain is because you get asked that question every 5 minutes. I know it's not a valid excuse, but it can be a bit frustrating:)
Ever consider, perhaps, the concept of putting a little 8.5"x11" piece of paper on the front window? I believe they're called signs. On it, you can put something like "Sorry, we do not have any PS3s", "Sorry, we do not have any Wiis", and "Sorry, we do not know when we expect to get any"? Thus saving the staff from having to be asked that question a million times a day, and customers time having to line up to ask said question. On the rare occaison you get said stock, you can at the close of business the day before you want to sell them, "We have stock of PS3s/Wiis - ## units. Please line up this way, and we open at 10AM tomorrow."
A simple question, a simple answer, if you don't want to answer it a million times a day, post a sign. Heck, if you didn't want it on the window, just hang it on the appropriate area on the store. Hell, I wish stores did it so I didn't have to ask.
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Since the Zune has WiFi, I'd assume someone would've tried to reverse-engineer the protocol so they can send any music file to any zune (and photos, etc). In other words, a perfect way to fill someone's zune with spam, or basically DoS their Zune by having the screen constantly filled with "xxxx wants to send you a file, accept?".
I guess with so few Zunes sold, well, the effort isn't worth the rewards. Though, captive audiences...
You can get ROMs for most machines off the manufacturer's web site. Williams/Bally is a bit harder since Williams exited the pinball games market, but the Internet Pinball Database has copies of the ROMs as do many other websites.
So they're free, just not Free.
You missed a step:
2.5) Charge for each and every song and features beyond the basic.
It's EA we're talking about here. And you know the Lumines thing...
I believe the basic reason is the creator of IsoHunt is well, Canadian, and lives in Greater Vancouver (BC). I seem to recall many newspaper articles about IsoHunt and how it's irking copyright people. Basically, I was wondering what purpose there was having a newspaper (one of the two pay dailies, but I think it might've been in both) print that, and now *everyone* knows about IsoHunt.
The articles never seemed to imply it was doing something illegal, just that it was a search engine that *could* be used to find pirated movies and stuff on other sites, but not actually hosting any illegal content. (Unless lists of file hashes and URLs are illegal?)
Heck, I was in EB one day and decided to ask about the PS3. I asked to look at the box, and they got one unit out for me. The manager, inside, who was curious what was happeneing saw the PS3 being moved and said "Get those PS3s outta here!". Sorta implies that even EBGames has a ton of them taking up a good chunk of their stockroom. It's almost pointless asking if stores have them in stock as they almost invariably do.
(That say day, the same clerk yelled out "We do NOT have Wiis, if you're lining up to ask. We do NOT know when we're getting some in!").
And I suspect that Wii quantities shipped to stores probably double what PS3 quantities are shipped... they may get 18 PS3s, and 37 Wiis, and the Wiis still sell out instantly.
Technically, no.
Think about it for a moment. Look at all the HD-DVDs on the market, and HD-DVD players. They're missing something. Something that has annoyed the world over (not so much North America, but the rest of the world). Blu-Ray has it alright (they've simplified it - somewhat, but it's still present).
The "feature" that's missing in HD-DVD? Region coding. Yes, HD-DVDs are region-free. HD-DVD players have region numbers alright - that's for the DVD playback. HD-DVDs, nope. HD-DVD flippers, yes, for the DVD side. Now how in the world is the content industry going to accept that a major "next-gen" format will allow someone in Europe to get a high-quality movie that's probably just playing in theatres?
The other thing is well, HD-DVD supports managed copy, which I don't think is quite standardized yet (managed copies is a DRM way of letting you take your HD-DVD, copy it to your hard drive to play on your laptop, or move it to an iPod to play, or other thing).
Anyhow, it's not like more layers can't be put into the spec - I believe there is future capability for 4 layer HD-DVDs. 2 layers was put into the spec because it's trivial to produce using existing DVD processes (HD-DVD's main strength is how one can recycle existing DVD plants to make HD-DVDs - basically very little is needed to upgrade it from DVD-only to DVD-and-HD-DVD. Hence all the DVD/HD-DVD flippers out there - it's no biggie to the production line).
It's interesting to see that Apple "gets it". They must have been planning on doing the iPhone for a long time - for there are legions of people who scour the FCC website regularly for new registrations to catch the latest and greatest cellphone to hit the market. And add to that the legions of Apple fans who probably scour the FCC website just incase there's something wireless going to hit the market.
That's why iPhone doesn't have approval (though I bet it already passes certification - they just haven't filed yet) - the instant it's filed, it's public information, and Apple hates that. (Especially since a lot of collateral gets filed - internal photos, external photos, user manuals, lab reports, etc).
Honestly, until now, I really didn't find anything that made me want a new cellphone (the one I have is great, but it's coming up in the years), so I wouldn't know what to get when it died. Guess I do now. It's pricey, but I paid more for my current smartphone...
And given how difficult it is to do a cellphone (very - carriers are very picky - if the color of the button is wrong... or if it has certain features like call timers or byte counters...), I wouldn't see Apple as being able to get one in since it has no experience. (I expected it to be some super-hyped rumor that someone started and everyone ran with it after being upset at how crappy their current phone was, or some half-assed thing as is typical reaction.). But I suppose GSM carriers are less strict than CDMA ones since you don't strictly need carrier approval to sell a GSM handset (just replace the SIM card).
I heard there's a place you can walk into that has rows and rows of shelves filled with books. People seem to take the books off the shelf, take them to the front counter, and then go away with said books - for free! Perhaps you may have heard of such a place - I think they're called libraries.
One common trick people do is borrow the text, and photocopy what they need. Or the more adventurous among us photocopy the entire book at 1/3rd the cost... Or you can borrow, and keep renewing it until you're done.
Uh, who said anything about the poor buying a computer? What happens to all the old computers when someone buys a new one from Dell?
The old ones get recycled. Smarter recyclers realize there are some powerful machines being recycled - powerful enough to do basic word processing and surf the 'net. Heck, if you know of underpriviledged people, you might give them your old computer that's too "slow" for you.
Even a Pentium is a fast computer for someone who can't afford one otherwise. And it can do a decent job rendering web pages, if you're patient. And most have slots you can stick in a Wifi card. (Heck, that $12 a month probably helps pay for a "free" card). Put Linux on it, and it'll be fairly decent. Sure it can't play the latest games, nor see flashy websites, but it can do email, surf the web, word processing and the other basics.
Or heck, given that computers are in the low couple of hundred dollars, they might acquire one that way through months of saving. A $300 computer is only 15 months of saving if you put away $20 a month. Low income doesn't necessarily mean living in poverty - they may live quite comfortably on what they have (different definitions of "comfortable"), and still have a few bucks left over...
Uh. there was a time Windows didn't come with a TCP/IP stack. And this extended to the period when Windows DID come with a TCP/IP stack. Heck, even TODAY you can get 3rd party TCP/IP stacks.
If you used Windows 3.x, you've probably used it - Trumpet Winsock. Looks like it's still around and even updated for 9x and NT.
So there's your third party TCP/IP stack. In fact, before Microsoft had a TCP/IP stack (i.e., Win 3.x) in Windows, they released the Winsock specification, thus ensuring that people who wrote winsock.dll would be compatible with applications using winsock.dll. Win9x came with winsock.dll and wsock32.dll, both of which have been upgraded to Win98's Winsock2 spec.
So yes, there are 3rd party TCP/IP stacks around.
Well, the PS3 only has 256MB of system memory. From the official website, it has "256MB XDR Main RAM 256MB GDDR3 VRAM".
Sure, Sony can claim it has 512MB of RAM (it does), but half of that is graphics memory. It's sorta like your PC having 5 GB of RAM because you have 4GB of memory installed, and 2 512MB videocards installed. 4GB + 512MB + %12MB = 5GB. Alas, Windows or Linux is unable to use that 1GB of VRAM as system memory. (They can do it, since it's all memory-mapped anyhow, but the access latency is atrocious). I suspect accessing the extra bit of memory has similar caveats. Heck, there is probably better access times using the SPE memory (however little there is) than accessing the faster, yet further away, VRAM.
In contrast, the Xbox360 has 512MB of system RAM, and 10MB of graphics VRAM - I believe its architecture is shared memory (plus and minus).
The battery is easily fixed. Buy a new REB from eBookwise to scavenge the battery, or go to one of the many battery shops that refurbish them (open your REB to get at it - it's easy). eBookwise bought the last of the stock from Gemstar.
I believe the company that originally made the REB is still around (it wasn't Gemstar - they just bought them on an OEM design).
Ratio sites would probably not ban the client - people will use it just to get the file faster and seed longer (face it - the only way to keep a good ratio is to get in early). Non-ratio'd site will probably ban it because they'd just leech and run.
Wish that ratio'd sites would take thafact into account - the older the torrent, the less likely it'll be downloaded by new people and the harder it is for seed to keep their ratio. Not everyone can bittorrent at work and refresh every 5 minutes...
The 18-to-25s that aren't showing any interest, well, there's a good reason.
For most of their active life, as far as they were concerned, space flight is an everyday occurance.
They grew up with the Space Shuttle. They grew up with space stations. Exploration is practically common (face it, with the Mars rovers since the mid-90's...). So is it any surprise that manned exploration would get a yawn?
This happened in the 70's. I believe by Apollo 13, no one watched space launches on TV anymore (if the networks would even carry it) nor did the public actually care (until the tank exploded).
For those who grew up in the 70's, well, spaceflight was a mystical thing. These feelings probably stayed. It's basically assumed that spaceflight is a boring reality these days.
Go back a few years, say around the time I was born, and yes, you'd probably find more excitement about spaceflight (hell, I'd love to go).
Take aviation - nobody thinks much about hopping on a plane (other than the PITA that is security nowadays and long lineups) to go somewhere. Go back to the 1950s when travelling by commercial jet was fairly novel. Now, well, it's just another form of travel. The same thing is happening to spaceflight. The novelty has worn off on this "generation" - they grew up with it, and probably assume it's always been the case.
Or just leave the Flight Sim game at home and just use X-Plane. With the massive global scenery (see the screenshots on the front page), they tie in at a massive 4 DVD9s(!) of world scenery data. It installs into a mindblowingly large 60+GB of world data. Mars scenery is just so small compared to it (aboug 2GB).
(And it always helps that you catch the upgrades when it happens - they are so much cheaper).
Uh, in the movies, as in real life, there would probably be a nice icon on the desktop. Now, only in the movies would there be an animated background that points to it, though. Also, movie desktops seem devoid of any other icons, other than that one...
Or, in the case of OS X, there would probably be an icon in the dock... and given OS X's ability to have icon overlays and bouncing, would probably highlight itself that way too right after login.
All I can say is... OUCH.
MessageBox() is a fairly commonly used API (it's used to display a message box, with optional icon (none, alert, caution, etc.), and buttons (yes/no, yes/no/cancel, ok/cancel, ok, etc). It's the most trivial way to do a quick debug, or pop up an error message. It's probably one of the most commonly used functions, as well.
Wonder what Microsoft did to break MessageBox(). Considering how often it's used...
And you guys wonder why you pay so much more for your stuff? (1 year is quite reasonable for a warranty for high-tech products given how fast they go obsolete, but 5?)
I suspect the grey market must be very big there, honestly, since I doubt imported goods suffer from that restriction, or if they do, why most manufacturers now insist on a receipt from an authorized retailer from the original country of purchase before even attempting to look at it for service (Nikon, for example). Either that, or the warranty claim process is so unnecessarily complex just to make it cheaper and faster to buy a new one.
Heck, I have a 7 port USB hub that has two uplink ports ("PC A" and "PC B"). Each downstream port has a little switch on it to select which PC that port is routed through. Press it and it lights up to show PC A. Press it again and it goes to PC B. It's nothing fancier than two 7 port hubs with a mechanical switch controlling which hub it routes through.
If VLC doesn't, then something VERY strange is going on.
In Windows, I use VLC to test out video playback (because it's the only way I can be sure that stuff like FairUse4WM and QTFairUse actually work!). I've decoded 1080p (1440x1080 - strangely, it displays properly on a 1920x1080 panel...) video that consumes about 18-30% CPU (via Windows Task Manager). I have quad proc (2x Core2Duo Xeons), and could swear there were three threads running simultaneously. (VLC actually spawns 18 threads!). I would think one was the OS taking data from VLC via DirectX and shoving it to the display driver to the screen (and managing everything else), while two were decoding video (~50-70% on one processor) and audio (~20% on another processor). The OS stuff seems to consume barely 5-10% of the third processor, and the fourth just remains idle. (At least someone had a clue in the XP scheduler...).
Using Windows Media Player and videocard accellerations, total CPU utilization barely tops 15% (usually less than 10%).
Ditto with QuickTime HD video - the QuickTime Player seems to use videocard accellerations to keep CPU utilization down. (Modern videocards often have H.264 and VC-1 (WMV9) accelleration blocks on them...)
Not really. Satellite radio gets its programming from two sources - in house, and 3rd party. In house stuff is supposed to remain commercial free. It's the 3rd party stuff that carries ads, because the 3rd party supplies them. Clear Channel, for example, supplies content for several XM channels. They were initially commercial free, but then CC decided to put ads on. XM scrambled to setup new channels to replace them with in-house programming similar in style. So the CC-produced stuff has ads, while the inhouse stuff doesn't.
Also, since most of the talk radio is syndicated from 3rd parties, you'll have ads there, while the inhouse produced talk radio isn't (like why you don't have ads on Stern (Sirius) or Ron & Fez and the like, but on channels like CNN, BBC, etc. you have ads).
The easiest way to find out what is produced in house vs. 3rd party on satellite radio is checking out the online offerings - XM and Sirius don't have online redistribution rights to most 3rd-party produced channels, just on-air rights. So you won't find CNN/BBC/ESPN/etc. on their online offerings (but of course, Stern/Ron&Fez).
Another interface quandry - the TiVo UI vs. a cablebox UI.
Oh the Motorola box I have, to navigate requires using the Menu button, the 4 direction arrows, the select key, and the exit button. Nevermind that to get to the menu often requires decoding little icons that show up on the "mini menu" that are a blur on anything but an HDTV.
On my TiVo, I hit TiVo, and get dumped to a single column list, where I use up/down to choose, and left-right to backwards and forwards (with the triangles at the end implying that forward/back work, or I cah use select to pick the item, too.
Once we get to the settings page, to back out requires oddball combinations of "Back", "Select" (!), or "Menu", at seemingly random times and screens. It's not obvious that if you hit "Select", that your setting changes will NOT be saved. And if you hit the wrong button, too bad, find the menu again and navigate there
On TiVo, the same forward/back/up/down analogy applies as the rest of the interface - want to back out? Hit left. Want to go forward? Select/Right. Want to choose from the list? Up/Down on all visible choices (or triangles to show there are more options). What do you know, Page Up/Page Down work too, when scrolling lists! (Not necessarily a given on the cablebox).
Honestly, the cablebox DVR functionality seems very secondary to the whole cablebox business, while TiVo makes it the primary focus - everything is centered around it. Just another tacked on feature. (The cablebox was a mess in UI before, now it's even worse). Honestly, VCRs are easier to program than the cablebox (and they often do that with cheap microprocessors and character generators, unlike the powerful CPUs and graphics present on a cablebox).
If only my cable provider (Shaw) supported CableCARD - I would be so all over a TiVo series 3. I have 3 TVs, two with the HDTV PVRs, but I've personally refused to get one - TV shouldn't be so complicated as those boxes make it. No big deal, I stick with the old extended cable programming anyhow (though Discovery HD would be nice to watch from time to time). My HD programming can come from next-gen DVDs, regular DVDs, and BitTorrent.
Ever consider, perhaps, the concept of putting a little 8.5"x11" piece of paper on the front window? I believe they're called signs. On it, you can put something like "Sorry, we do not have any PS3s", "Sorry, we do not have any Wiis", and "Sorry, we do not know when we expect to get any"? Thus saving the staff from having to be asked that question a million times a day, and customers time having to line up to ask said question. On the rare occaison you get said stock, you can at the close of business the day before you want to sell them, "We have stock of PS3s/Wiis - ## units. Please line up this way, and we open at 10AM tomorrow."
A simple question, a simple answer, if you don't want to answer it a million times a day, post a sign. Heck, if you didn't want it on the window, just hang it on the appropriate area on the store. Hell, I wish stores did it so I didn't have to ask.
Question is, which version of the office formats?
If you don't know, Office 2007 changed file formats after nearly a decade of staying the same...