>>Actually their stockholders are by and large, probably wholly ignorant of the whole fiasco, and if they know anything about it, they are clucking their tongues and sighing at silly legal departments trying to squeeze licenses out of end-of-life intellectual property.
Maybe minor shareholders, but it could be a major shareholder clamping down on Unisys for not paying "due diligence" in some way or other. Ah, the crazy life of public companies - to expand value to shareholders, not to serve the public.
>>Hm, maybe it's time to start labeling the packages as "Data Only - not to be used for audio content." Now... you know, and I know, that this would be ridiculous. But based on the logic used in formulating this tax, it just might work. "Oh golly, no, this isn't a recording medium. This is a binary backup medium, just like this tape over here..."
Ah-HA! That explains all the wierdness in CD-R's that I see!
I thought that CD-Rs were CD-Rs, regardless if they were used for music, data, etc. But now, you can buy "MUSIC-QUALITY CD-Rs". Heck, there's signs posted saying "Ad Correction: The xxxx CD-R's were inadvertently advertised for music purposes. They are not."
I don't know about you, but they all look similar to me...
Anyhow, what will they tax CD-RW's? (3 for CDN$12 at a more expensive store). After all, you can erase, rewrite with your favorite artist, when artist is boring, erase, and rewrite with current favorite... (Not for play in regular cd-players, but a useful way to not carry CDs to work)
Heheh. You haven't tried VBA, have out? It sucks. It's horrendous. I don't even see how it can be related to Visual Basic.
I've had more problems with VBA (trying to get databases to work, nonetheless), than I had with a VB program I wrote. I'm still maintaining the databases I wrote because of various VBA bugs (been over a year now), yet the program I wrote is more or less bugfree (it has installation issues, but if someone follows my instructions, it works).
I've even had wizard-generated code for VBA fail! After a little while of using VBA, whatever clean code one writes becomes messy, spaghetti-like, kludges.
IMHO, they make great games - they make *the* Mac games of originality, great graphics & sound, and playability.
Unfortunately, my Mac is extremely dated ("blackbird" or PowerBook 540c [LC040, 20 megs RAM]), but all the software I've gotten from Ambrosia (even recently), is extremely good.
From these people, I'd be surprised if the guy actually eats a bug from this deal.
Basically, the oncall admin for the network was redoing the entire network. Me? I'm basically the "computer guy" when he's not around (most of the time - but I work office hours by rule [other duties than just maintaining the computers]).
So he resetup all the computers, and a number were having a problem with outlook (NT network) starting up slow on some machines, but not others (say, taking 5 minutes to startup on a PII is pretty unreasonable, especially when the POS computer I got starts it up in 1 minute).
He found the problem - NIC drivers installed bad version of TCP/IP. Fix: reinstall TCP/IP.
So I proceeded to do so on the 5 or so computers he missed. 4 done, now wait till guy goes to lunch. He leaves. I go to work. Discover no CD-ROM drive. Fine, I'll use the shared server CD-ROM drive. OK, Network Neighbourhood, Properties, Protocols, TCP/IP, Remove. Reboot. D'OH! Duh, no network (TCP/IP only network, but NetBEUI runs on the server, too), therefore no CD. Tried copying files to a floppy, but naturally I didn't know of the blasted file NT needs to recognize it as an "NT install CD".
In the end, I got it to work - luckily we had a zip drive external floating around. Copied NT i386 dir to zip. install zip driver. done.
D'OH! It's pretty funny on reflection. It's the excuse I use if I goof up.
>>Not only would this be better appeal to hackers in the near term, but the more people that void the warranty, and thus fry their processors/motherboard, the more products they're likely to sell.
Very strange business model, if they actually cooked it up.
Just waiting for the joe-schmoe-wanting-an-easy-million lawsuit: "Joe Schmoe v. Intel Corp" - Processors not living up to reasonable warranty - Intel's defence of "Utilizing Celeron processors in unrecommended configurations (overclocked[n], multiprocessing[n+1]) voids warranty" thrown out due to state laws requiring reasonable product life - Joe Schmoe awarded $largeNumber().
Somehow, I think this will be a given...
Re:Tech support for my underwear(underware?)
on
Wearable PCs
·
· Score: 1
Blue-ball of death... *shudder* I suppose we'll see men on the ground holding their crotches when that happens. "Ctrl-Alt-Delete! Reset! Who put the (@#*%()^*#)% reset in the corner of the back where I can't get it?!@" ROTLMAO
Great. Clog up the court system. Build more courts. Hire more judges. Repeat.
End result, higher speeding fines (bad), and more taxes (even worse). I highly doubt politicians would remove a source of revenue. A few cases of "Mass murderer goes free, cites right to speedy trial" would just start this.
Listen people. This quiz is clearly not for us people who *WORK* on the 'net or 'net related services for a living. (Most of the marketing is not for us, anyhow.)
The real target of all this internet addiction stuff are those who hold non-internet/computing related jobs, i.e., your mailperson, a teacher, most people in business, etc, as well as those who shouldn't waste their life clicking away (go out and play, read, whatever. However, those people don't read/.).
Would you like your UPS guy carrying your latest linux box to take a break and spend 5 hours surfing the 'net? Or how about your company accountant spending time in chat rooms instead of issuing the payroll? Or how about a child who sees his mom/dad at home, eyes glued to the computer, instead of parenting [or doing housework]? Better yet, what about your lawyer defending you for something you didn't do (say, export cryptography), or trying to get the latest computing law removed, spend time on the 'net rather than making the case?
Most/.'ers here do *not* fit into this category, because we likely work in fields where internet access is required (i.e., sysadmin, tech support for ISPs, and suchforth).
A *lot* of things on the 'net sound silly to us, but are perfectly reasonable to someone else. Re: iMac. Geeks rarely will buy one. But they sell.
You know, most people on the 'net do two things: Email and websurf. But some people websurf for the sole sake of surfing - trying to acquire as much information as possible.
If you're using it for work (researching), or downloading mp3s (questionable), that isn't the problem. It's those that decide to get on the 'net and surf continuously. Maybe the obsession to check email every 10 seconds (like refreshing/. every 10 seconds for a new article) is related.
Some people download information like others smoke/drink/etc. It's always one more link, one more tidbit. I know, I've been one of them. (Of course, these kind of people might blab on about *everything*... from wahtever they've gathered).
Actually, it isn't. It's 150kB/sec (bytes) for *data*. This is accounted for as each CD block for data is composed of 2048 bytes of data, and 300-odd bytes of error-correcting code (it's *very* difficult to read a CD. The head has to compensate for CD wobble (up/down +/- 1mm or so!), while reading a very narrow track).
An audio CD has more audio data per block (only around 100 bytes of CRC error checking). Most audio players do *NOT* correct CD-audio [errors are resolved through filtering and oversampling, plus the ear won't really hear it. If too much data is damaged, though, the player won't play (loss of CD subcodes, etc)].
Anyhow, doing the math: CD audio encoded at 44,100hz, 16 bits, stereo: Every second of data takes up: (44100 bytes/sec)*(2 for stereo)*(2 bytes in 16 bits) = 176400 Bytes.
Rough comparison: MP3 @ 128kbps (~128000 bits, or roughly 16kbytes/sec) takes approximately 1 megabyte/minute. CD takes approximately 10 megabytes/sec.
A *LOT* of data is being "lost." Most encoders actually don't encode at strictly 128kbps, they tend to vary their rates a little bit (keep a pool of 'saved' bits, or 'borrow' bits).
BTW, here's a nice link to an unofficial test of AAC, MP3, and TwinVQ: http://www.firstpr.com.au/audiocomp/aac-mp3-vq.htm l
Well, I'd carry extra batteries in that case, and toy with several "overclocking" utilities for the pilot (they underclock as well, saving batteries).
Personally, I don't mind reading fiction electronically. It's online reference books that get me. I don't know, but I find it slower to swap out of my current task, look at some online reference, then swap back in - I'd rather have the book in my lap while I'm toying with something.
Hmm. Odd, last I checked, you can get the ultrasleek Palm V for ~US$400 or so (egghead.com). Go a little less, and it's possible to pick up PalmIII's cheaply (I'd say $200 new). Or go used, many older palms are $100.
Must be confusing with M$'s wince (I prefer 'wince' to CE, since wincing is what you do with those machines) machines calling themselves "Palm Sized PCs".
heh. I doubt however life is made up of 80 mill 1 pixel triangles (that's usually the "benchmark" - how many 1 pixel trangle polygons can the chip do/sec)
>>* Buy a package, or two, of 0.01 uF bypass capactors, and connect them across the speaker treminals. The bypass capactors act as a short circuit to RF, but won't do anything to power and audio.
That might not be a good idea:
In the ARRL Handbook (for the Radio Amateur) 1999, page 28.12, it says:
"Warning: Bypassing Speaking Leads:
Older amateur literature might tell you to put a 0.01-uF capacitor across the speaker terminals to cure speaker-lead interference. *Don't do this!* {emphasis in book} Some modern solid-state amplifiers can break into a destructive, full-power, sometimes ultrasonic oscillation if they are connected to a highly capacitive load. If you do this to your neighbor's amplifier you will have a whole new kind of personal diplomacy problem! -- Ed Hare, KA1CV, ARRL Laboratory Supervisor"
I dunno, but the person that copyrighted/trademarked "01-01-00" was an idiot, IMHO. If we take the real millienium (jan 1, 2001), it turns into the nicer string "01-01-01". We should trademark/copyright/patent/etc that >G
Odd fact: 010100b = 20d, and 010101b = 21d. Which reflects the ages of certain people I know. kewl.
>>Ooooh! What a great idea! A PowerPC version on an Intel box. Hmmmmm....
Right after that I'm going to run out and try to install W2K on an iMac. =D
AFAIK, the latter's supposed to be already possible, given that w2k is released, and you're running Virtual PC... So you might be able to do the latter first.
>>That's because instead of having the indicator lights sprawled across the keyboard, they're in one little area TOGETHER so you can see what's on, and what's off. (To think that it's so hard to figure that out is amazing.)
True, but putting lights in their current one spot position is very slow if you need to determine which light is on. (Left? Middle? Right?, or in some case, Top? Bottom? Middle?) Makes it a bit slower to determine which is lit, and which isn't. Why don't they use multiple colors, instead? Green for NumLock (most common "lock" enabled probably), Yellow for Scroll Lock, and Red for capslock? [Ugh. bad for colorblind. Choose other colors then, there's plenty of LEDs]. Thus, if you see red in the peripheral vision, you know quickly caps lock is on (and you should probably turn it off).
Better yet: why no "HUD" keyboard lights? A little box you stick onto the monitor to see keyboard status quickly (I'm lazy. The less head movements, the better).
The computers I've seen with power keys (i.e., Macs) require that you hold down the power key for a second or two, before it'll even get the gist of shutting down (it'll pop up that familiar: "Quit Program", "Shutdown Computer", "Restart Computer" dialog, I believe).
One of my colleagues at work has a nifty keycap that he took when I inherited his computer (yes, hand-me-downs at work). It said: PANIC, in nice red plastic, to boot.
Suggested Uses: Windoze: Brings up a screen showing gates laughing at you (works even at a BSOD!)
Linux: Causes all running non-work apps to save their state, and display a "boss screen" (eg, a telnet window with emacs/vi/vim/pico loaded and a file open)
MacOS: Attempts the complicated "debugger-recovery" (which may or may not work. I haven't used it recently).
Slashdot Mirror
>>Actually their stockholders are by and large, probably wholly ignorant of the whole fiasco, and if they know anything about it, they are clucking their tongues and sighing at silly legal departments trying to squeeze licenses out of end-of-life intellectual property.
Maybe minor shareholders, but it could be a major shareholder clamping down on Unisys for not paying "due diligence" in some way or other. Ah, the crazy life of public companies - to expand value to shareholders, not to serve the public.
>>Hm, maybe it's time to start labeling the packages as "Data Only - not to be used for audio content." Now... you know, and I know, that this would be ridiculous. But based on the logic used in formulating this tax, it just might work. "Oh golly, no, this isn't a recording medium. This is a binary backup medium, just like this tape over here..."
Ah-HA! That explains all the wierdness in CD-R's that I see!
I thought that CD-Rs were CD-Rs, regardless if they were used for music, data, etc. But now, you can buy "MUSIC-QUALITY CD-Rs". Heck, there's signs posted saying "Ad Correction: The xxxx CD-R's were inadvertently advertised for music purposes. They are not."
I don't know about you, but they all look similar to me...
Anyhow, what will they tax CD-RW's? (3 for CDN$12 at a more expensive store). After all, you can erase, rewrite with your favorite artist, when artist is boring, erase, and rewrite with current favorite... (Not for play in regular cd-players, but a useful way to not carry CDs to work)
Heheh. You haven't tried VBA, have out? It sucks. It's horrendous. I don't even see how it can be related to Visual Basic.
I've had more problems with VBA (trying to get databases to work, nonetheless), than I had with a VB program I wrote. I'm still maintaining the databases I wrote because of various VBA bugs (been over a year now), yet the program I wrote is more or less bugfree (it has installation issues, but if someone follows my instructions, it works).
I've even had wizard-generated code for VBA fail! After a little while of using VBA, whatever clean code one writes becomes messy, spaghetti-like, kludges.
And people wonder why m$ writes buggy software...
>>The two settled when Apple Computer agreed not to get into the music business.
That was true until Apple decided to bundle mics with their computers (they had sound... now a way to get sound into it...).
End result? On the mac's I've seen, there's a sound called "sosumi".
IMHO, they make great games - they make *the* Mac games of originality, great graphics & sound, and playability.
Unfortunately, my Mac is extremely dated ("blackbird" or PowerBook 540c [LC040, 20 megs RAM]), but all the software I've gotten from Ambrosia (even recently), is extremely good.
From these people, I'd be surprised if the guy actually eats a bug from this deal.
Basically, the oncall admin for the network was redoing the entire network. Me? I'm basically the "computer guy" when he's not around (most of the time - but I work office hours by rule [other duties than just maintaining the computers]).
So he resetup all the computers, and a number were having a problem with outlook (NT network) starting up slow on some machines, but not others (say, taking 5 minutes to startup on a PII is pretty unreasonable, especially when the POS computer I got starts it up in 1 minute).
He found the problem - NIC drivers installed bad version of TCP/IP. Fix: reinstall TCP/IP.
So I proceeded to do so on the 5 or so computers he missed. 4 done, now wait till guy goes to lunch. He leaves. I go to work. Discover no CD-ROM drive. Fine, I'll use the shared server CD-ROM drive. OK, Network Neighbourhood, Properties, Protocols, TCP/IP, Remove. Reboot. D'OH! Duh, no network (TCP/IP only network, but NetBEUI runs on the server, too), therefore no CD. Tried copying files to a floppy, but naturally I didn't know of the blasted file NT needs to recognize it as an "NT install CD".
In the end, I got it to work - luckily we had a zip drive external floating around. Copied NT i386 dir to zip. install zip driver. done.
D'OH! It's pretty funny on reflection. It's the excuse I use if I goof up.
>>Not only would this be better appeal to hackers in the near term, but the more people that void the warranty, and thus fry their processors/motherboard, the more products they're likely to sell.
Very strange business model, if they actually cooked it up.
Just waiting for the joe-schmoe-wanting-an-easy-million lawsuit:
"Joe Schmoe v. Intel Corp" - Processors not living up to reasonable warranty - Intel's defence of "Utilizing Celeron processors in unrecommended configurations (overclocked[n], multiprocessing[n+1]) voids warranty" thrown out due to state laws requiring reasonable product life - Joe Schmoe awarded $largeNumber().
Somehow, I think this will be a given...
Blue-ball of death... *shudder* I suppose we'll see men on the ground holding their crotches when that happens. "Ctrl-Alt-Delete! Reset! Who put the (@#*%()^*#)% reset in the corner of the back where I can't get it?!@" ROTLMAO
Moderators: moderate this thread *UP*!
Great. Clog up the court system. Build more courts. Hire more judges. Repeat.
End result, higher speeding fines (bad), and more taxes (even worse). I highly doubt politicians would remove a source of revenue. A few cases of "Mass murderer goes free, cites right to speedy trial" would just start this.
Listen people. This quiz is clearly not for us people who *WORK* on the 'net or 'net related services for a living. (Most of the marketing is not for us, anyhow.)
/.).
/.'ers here do *not* fit into this category, because we likely work in fields where internet access is required (i.e., sysadmin, tech support for ISPs, and suchforth).
The real target of all this internet addiction stuff are those who hold non-internet/computing related jobs, i.e., your mailperson, a teacher, most people in business, etc, as well as those who shouldn't waste their life clicking away (go out and play, read, whatever. However, those people don't read
Would you like your UPS guy carrying your latest linux box to take a break and spend 5 hours surfing the 'net? Or how about your company accountant spending time in chat rooms instead of issuing the payroll? Or how about a child who sees his mom/dad at home, eyes glued to the computer, instead of parenting [or doing housework]? Better yet, what about your lawyer defending you for something you didn't do (say, export cryptography), or trying to get the latest computing law removed, spend time on the 'net rather than making the case?
Most
A *lot* of things on the 'net sound silly to us, but are perfectly reasonable to someone else. Re: iMac. Geeks rarely will buy one. But they sell.
You know, most people on the 'net do two things: Email and websurf. But some people websurf for the sole sake of surfing - trying to acquire as much information as possible.
/. every 10 seconds for a new article) is related.
If you're using it for work (researching), or downloading mp3s (questionable), that isn't the problem. It's those that decide to get on the 'net and surf continuously. Maybe the obsession to check email every 10 seconds (like refreshing
Some people download information like others smoke/drink/etc. It's always one more link, one more tidbit. I know, I've been one of them. (Of course, these kind of people might blab on about *everything*... from wahtever they've gathered).
Actually, it isn't. It's 150kB/sec (bytes) for *data*. This is accounted for as each CD block for data is composed of 2048 bytes of data, and 300-odd bytes of error-correcting code (it's *very* difficult to read a CD. The head has to compensate for CD wobble (up/down +/- 1mm or so!), while reading a very narrow track).
m l
An audio CD has more audio data per block (only around 100 bytes of CRC error checking). Most audio players do *NOT* correct CD-audio [errors are resolved through filtering and oversampling, plus the ear won't really hear it. If too much data is damaged, though, the player won't play (loss of CD subcodes, etc)].
Anyhow, doing the math:
CD audio encoded at 44,100hz, 16 bits, stereo:
Every second of data takes up:
(44100 bytes/sec)*(2 for stereo)*(2 bytes in 16 bits) = 176400 Bytes.
Rough comparison: MP3 @ 128kbps (~128000 bits, or roughly 16kbytes/sec) takes approximately 1 megabyte/minute. CD takes approximately 10 megabytes/sec.
A *LOT* of data is being "lost." Most encoders actually don't encode at strictly 128kbps, they tend to vary their rates a little bit (keep a pool of 'saved' bits, or 'borrow' bits).
BTW, here's a nice link to an unofficial test of AAC, MP3, and TwinVQ: http://www.firstpr.com.au/audiocomp/aac-mp3-vq.ht
Well, I'd carry extra batteries in that case, and toy with several "overclocking" utilities for the pilot (they underclock as well, saving batteries).
Personally, I don't mind reading fiction electronically. It's online reference books that get me. I don't know, but I find it slower to swap out of my current task, look at some online reference, then swap back in - I'd rather have the book in my lap while I'm toying with something.
Hmm. Odd, last I checked, you can get the ultrasleek Palm V for ~US$400 or so (egghead.com). Go a little less, and it's possible to pick up PalmIII's cheaply (I'd say $200 new). Or go used, many older palms are $100.
Must be confusing with M$'s wince (I prefer 'wince' to CE, since wincing is what you do with those machines) machines calling themselves "Palm Sized PCs".
heh. I doubt however life is made up of 80 mill 1 pixel triangles (that's usually the "benchmark" - how many 1 pixel trangle polygons can the chip do/sec)
Offtopic: The armored vehicles I've seen here tend to have gas tanks on the outside (in full view)...
>> rust, my friend. It decays into rust. now when was the last time rust killed anyone =)G
>>* Buy a package, or two, of 0.01 uF bypass capactors, and connect them across the speaker treminals. The bypass capactors act as a short circuit to RF, but won't do anything to power and audio.
That might not be a good idea:
In the ARRL Handbook (for the Radio Amateur) 1999, page 28.12, it says:
"Warning: Bypassing Speaking Leads:
Older amateur literature might tell you to put a 0.01-uF capacitor across the speaker terminals to cure speaker-lead interference. *Don't do this!* {emphasis in book} Some modern solid-state amplifiers can break into a destructive, full-power, sometimes ultrasonic oscillation if they are connected to a highly capacitive load. If you do this to your neighbor's amplifier you will have a whole new kind of personal diplomacy problem! -- Ed Hare, KA1CV, ARRL Laboratory Supervisor"
I dunno, but the person that copyrighted/trademarked "01-01-00" was an idiot, IMHO. If we take the real millienium (jan 1, 2001), it turns into the nicer string "01-01-01". We should trademark/copyright/patent/etc that >G
Odd fact: 010100b = 20d, and 010101b = 21d. Which reflects the ages of certain people I know. kewl.
I either:
rest my left hand on the arrow keys;
or use my thumb to move down.
Of course, for long data entries, it helps to realize Enter usually moves one cell down, and Tab moves one cell across.
I wonder how many of those DoS packets were from GetAdmin et al... (a WinNT cracker, for those who don't know).
SOunded like the last time someone setup a "crack the Mac" contest - people used GetAdmin (!) on it.
>>Ooooh! What a great idea! A PowerPC version on an Intel box. Hmmmmm....
Right after that I'm going to run out and try to install W2K on an iMac. =D
AFAIK, the latter's supposed to be already possible, given that w2k is released, and you're running Virtual PC... So you might be able to do the latter first.
>>That's because instead of having the indicator lights sprawled across the keyboard, they're in one little area TOGETHER so you can see what's on, and what's off. (To think that it's so hard to figure that out is amazing.)
True, but putting lights in their current one spot position is very slow if you need to determine which light is on. (Left? Middle? Right?, or in some case, Top? Bottom? Middle?) Makes it a bit slower to determine which is lit, and which isn't. Why don't they use multiple colors, instead? Green for NumLock (most common "lock" enabled probably), Yellow for Scroll Lock, and Red for capslock? [Ugh. bad for colorblind. Choose other colors then, there's plenty of LEDs]. Thus, if you see red in the peripheral vision, you know quickly caps lock is on (and you should probably turn it off).
Better yet: why no "HUD" keyboard lights? A little box you stick onto the monitor to see keyboard status quickly (I'm lazy. The less head movements, the better).
The computers I've seen with power keys (i.e., Macs) require that you hold down the power key for a second or two, before it'll even get the gist of shutting down (it'll pop up that familiar: "Quit Program", "Shutdown Computer", "Restart Computer" dialog, I believe).
One of my colleagues at work has a nifty keycap that he took when I inherited his computer (yes, hand-me-downs at work). It said: PANIC, in nice red plastic, to boot.
Suggested Uses:
Windoze: Brings up a screen showing gates laughing at you (works even at a BSOD!)
Linux: Causes all running non-work apps to save their state, and display a "boss screen" (eg, a telnet window with emacs/vi/vim/pico loaded and a file open)
MacOS: Attempts the complicated "debugger-recovery" (which may or may not work. I haven't used it recently).
BeOS, SunOS, IRIX: ??? (Add to this!)