I will say flat out that Microsoft's handwriting input is years ahead of Apple's. Microsoft has thoroughly integrated it, with very impressive recognition and overall it *feels* right, like MS really put a lot of love into it.
We'll have to agree to disagree. I'm a Mac user, but I own a Compaq TC1000 with XP/SP2 which has been pulling travel duty with me for the past 3 years. After years of reading accolades from Scoble et al about the Tablet PC's handwriting recognition I've tried time and time again to use it as a primary input method. My assessment: it sucks. It works okay (but still not satisfactorily) if you write standard prose but I'm an engineer that uses a lot of industry-specific terms, and the auto-prediction inevitably screws up what I'm trying to write. The other big downside is password input: I try to use passwords with mixed-case letters and punctuation characters and trying to enter those using the handwriting input just doesn't work.
As a result, I use the TC1000 in keyboard mode 95+% percent of the time. That said, the tablet input does work well for field use when I can use the stylus to tap buttons to start data acquisition programs, but as a notepad it just doesn't work at that well for me. But to each their own.
The biggest problem I've had with MS's Tablet PC is that it's basically Windows XP with some tablet features stuck on (I haven't used the Vista Tablet edition, so hopefully it's changed). I've always maintained that if Apple was going to do a tablet, in order to do it right they read to radically rework the interface rather than stick Ink on Mac OS X. The touch interface on the iPhone and iPod Touch seems to indicate their agreement.
One area that, in my experience, offers the most bang-for-the-buck is a two-part issue: room dimensions and sound-proofing, i.e. room treatment.
You're absolutely correct that the room plays (IMNSHO) the most important role in an audio system, but I have one nit to pick with this statement: room treatment/= sound-proofing (i.e. sound insulation).
Room treatment (bass traps, absorption, diffusion) is all about effect of the acoustics within the room. Room treatment changes room acoustics properties like reverberation time (echoes/reflections), standing wave amplitudes, and speech intelligibility.
Sound-proofing/sound-insulation (double-walls, double-studs, resilient channel, "Quietrock", mass-loaded vinyl, etc) is all about the effect of sound outside the room. If you want to be able to listen to your favorite action/scifi/sports program at full volume without waking up the kids in the next room, you need sound insulation. Doing things like adding egg-crate foam to the walls will change the acoustics within the room, but not outside the room.
As an example: an open window is an ideal sound absorber since is reflects ~0% percent of sound. However it makes a very poor sound-insulator since it allows ~100% of sound to be transmitted through it.
According to your second link, the Transrapid at 250 mph is just as loud as a TGV at 180 mph. That is hardly much louder, is it?
Yep you're correct. I remembered that the TR08 noise vs speed curve sloped up sharply at high freqs, but I thought that the change in slope occurred at a lower speed.
A maglev traveling at high speeds (say 250 mph) is much louder than conventional rail at less than 200 mph. At the same speed (above 100 mph) they're both comparable in loudness since aerodynamic effects are the driving sources, but since maglev has higher top speeds, they louder at the highest end.
See here and
here
for more information. Disclaimer: I wasn't a principal author for either of those documents, but I did contribute, and I did attend the maglev testing documented in the first link.
I've seen many engineers sit down, do a bunch of calculations, and triumphantly draw out this "perfect" part--only to have the machinist tell him flat-out that it is impossible to build.
Heh. During my undergrad days, I needed our lab machinist to hand-drill a hole with very tight tolerances (something like +/- 1/1000in, 30degree angle +/- 0.5 degrees) located within about 1/64 of inch away from the specimen edge. I drew up the part, and I figured there would be no way the machinist could meet those tolerances so I met with him to discuss the various options and compromises that were available.
He took a quick glance at the drawing, said "No problem, I can do this" - he then grabbed a piece of brass, went over to his drill press and drilled the hole exactly the way I drew it! After confirming the accuracy of the piece, I picked my jaw up off the floor, and went back to my research.
But you are right, engineers do need to get out in the field - certainly my hands-on experience in college has proved helpful and I hope that other universities offer the same experience.
I took AP Calculus my junior year. I had literally run out of classes to take, but I wasn't allowed to take any of those 'other' classes.
I can definitely sympathize with you - in HS I was taking honors Physics, AP Calculus, etc, and my parents & counselors freaked out when I wanted to take the architectural/mechanical drawing "blow-off" classes that the vocational students took. However during my senior year in HS, the drawing instructor hooked our class up with an AutoCAD class at a local community college where (as an engineer) I learned schools that I'm using 20 years later!
But regarding your other mechanical skills: did you not learn tool-skills in college? We had to learn all sorts of tools (bandsaw, lathes, milling machines, torque-wrench, drill press, CNC machining, injection molding) variousdesignprojects and I figured the curricula at other engineering schools would be similar.
We did have the opportunity to learn welding (and I did watch welding being performed up close and personnel on several occasions), but unfortunately I never got around to learning how to do it myself. That was one of my few regrets at graduation.
It's taken me 6+ years and lots of trial and error to learn how to fix my car. I started with oil changes and my biggest job to date was replacing the head on my car.
I'll be swapping out the driver's-side driveaxle in my car later this week. Don't worry about breaking something - just chalk it up to another learning experience!
The reason that FM stations today use compression is because some (idiot) somewhere decided that it was a "bad thing" to "not be as loud" as other stations.
That's true for pop stations, but classical music stations use compression for another valid reason: most of the listeners listen to the music in an environment with a very high noise floor - the automobile. At least a couple of classical music stations in MA that I'm familiar with have received complaints from listeners when they tried increasing the dynamic range.
IIRC, iBiquity's HD format allows for the use of sub-channels that can be used to transmit "compression" data along with the HD radio streams. In theory, this would allow the client radio to apply it's own compression in (almost) realtime. Therefore, the home listener could choose "no compression" while the auto listener can choose "heavy compression" for the same radio stream and everyone is happy.
I'm 5ft 8in tall and 200 lbs. According to this site, that gives me a BMI of 30.4
On the other hand, my chest is 44 inches, my waist is 37 inches (for the pervs that are salivating: I'm a guy. For the remaining pervs still salivating: I'm hetero. For the woman salivating: I'm single). I regularly bike (50 to 100 miles per week @ 15+ mph in preparation for a 60 mile charity ride this fall), run (I can run 2 miles in just over 17 minutes) and weight lift. Last time I got my cholesterol checked, my doctor mentioned that it might be too low (!).
That seems a bit low by comparison with what senior attorneys make around here. (Here being the East Coast.) If you think about it, even a higher hourly rate for a lawyer would be fairly well in line with what's commanded by other skilled and/or professional individuals--including computer consultants.
In my experience (working with lawyers on public and high-profile corporate projects across the U.S.), even mid-level lawyers tend to make more than senior level architects and engineering consultants. For example, (again, IME) an expert engineering consultant (where by expert I mean someone who has 30+ years experience, P.E. registration, advanced degrees, and engineering methods named after them) would bill on the order of $300 per hour. I've seen entry level lawyers bill jobs at $225 per hour.
I would suspect that a typical lawyer would make far above what computer consultans make unless the consultant has a name like "Woz", "Tog", "Spolsky" or "Berners-Lee."
Illegal wiretaps for cameramen? I can recall nothing of that nature. Stories involving cameramen and not releasing certain information about the contents of the film sure, but your reply just just plain ol FUD.
S/he's referring to cases where people are cited under wiretapping laws for videotaping people with the camera microphone on (the mic violates the wiretap law, not the camera itself). For example, see here and here.
But if ioreg shows an entry on my computer for TPM, doesn't that mean it's accessible by me (regardless of whether Apple uses it or not)?
It's visible to IOKit (so yes, it's 'accessible'), but there's no driver to actually *use* it. For example, I just connected a USB mixer to my Mac. It shows up on ioreg, but since I haven't installed the driver, I can't use it yet.
I also believe that OS X ran on intel processors before 10.4.4 (I believe it worked under 10.4.1 or 10.4.2, but I'm having trouble finding documentation on this). So even though 10.4.4 lacks TPM, I think earlier versions might have had it.
Mac OS X ran on Intel processors since 10.0. In terms of the version shipping on production units, 10.4.4 was the first.
1. You said: "Production MacIntels never shipped with TPM support. "
I replied to that with:
"I assure you I am typing right now on a Mactel computer (Macbook Pro) which does indeed have TPM (ioreg confirms this)".. this has nothing to do with the quotes you sent.
They didn't ship with TPM support - the OS didn't use it, and Apple didn't provide any drivers for users or apps to use it. The TPM itself shipped with the computer, but there was no direct way for anyone to use it.
2. It's a long chapter you sent, and most of it is off topic. The summary at the end does claim Apple never uses TPM. However, as I said before Singh *could* be correct, but it is in contradiction to what other people have said. Specifically the osx86 group. If they're wrong, I'd like to understand why.
I don't think they're wrong, I think the information is outdated. The development kits used the TPM, but not the shipping Macs.
The fact that the newer Macs don't ship with TPM is the most convincing argument, but then I'd like to understand why (a) my Mac *does* have TPM, and (b) why other people had to write code around the fact that their installer looked for TPM.
My guess as to (a) is that Apple was using reference Intel designs for their motherboards (which included TPM) and since they were trying to introduce the models ASAP, they just left the module there even though it doesn't do anything. As for (b), is there any evidence that directly links Mac OS X 10.4.4 (the first shipping version with Intel support) with TPM?
This is on a September 2006 Gen1 Macbook. My roommates each have Gen2 models with the Core 2 Duo processors and neither show a TPM in ioreg. That makes me agree with abes on the idea that Apple cut out the TPM when it was proven ineffective.
More specifically, Apple simply does not use the TPM hardware. In Apple computer models that do contain a TPM, the hardware is available for use by the machine's owner. Of course, to use it you need a device driver, which Apple indeed doesn't provide.
1. I assure you I am typing right now on a Mactel computer (Macbook Pro) which does indeed have TPM (ioreg confirms this)
I'll quote the relevant statement again: "Nevertheless, it is important to note that Apple does not use the TPM." Yes, it's there in shipping hardware (hence the BoingBoing article about Apple not using them on recent shipping Macs, and the Singh article about using the TPM) but Apple doesn't use it.
The people who got it running on non-apple PCs claim they had to work around TPM:
TPM statement was added on Feb 2007, a couple of months after Apple started shipping TPM-less Macs. It's wrong.
3. Yes, but we're not talking about the applications that Apple uses in general, and thus has nothing to do with encrypted binaries. Again, according to their FAQ this is primarily done for installation of OS X and for using Rosetta.
Are you reading any of the links I'm posting? Singh isn't talking about "applications that Apple uses in general" he's talking about system binaries like Dock, Finder, loginwindow, SystemUIServer, in addition to Rosetta. And yes, the developer kit used TPM to lock down Rosetta, but not in shipping Macs.
Articles such as: [DaringFireball] state that Apple specifically used TPM as a means to keep OS X running only on signed Apple HW. This is based off of what the OSx86 grouped claimed (who wrote the hack to get it working on the PCs). So if it's not true, then either they're lying, the hack doesn't really work, or there's misinformation about what happened.
That was based on the developer hardware that Apple shipped prior to the Intel transition (look at the date of the DF article - the first Intel Mac shipped on Jan 2006). Production MacIntels never shipped with TPM support. Apple uses encrypted binaries to prevent Mac OS X from running on non-Apple Intel hardware.
I know it doesn't matter in the context of the iPhone, but I'm just trying to correct the misperception that Apple uses/used TPM on their shipping Macs - they don't
The media has been discussing "Apple's use of TPM" for a long time now. There have been numerous reports of system attackers bypassing "Apple's TPM protection" and finding "Apple's TPM keys." Nevertheless, it is important to note that Apple does not use the TPM. If you have a TPM-equipped Macintosh computer, you can use the TPM for its intended purpose, with no side effect on the normal working of Mac OS X.
To my mind you sacrifice your own rights when you choose to do something like that, and deserve a good beating.
That's all well and good. But do you deserve a beating if you didn't do anything wrong? (I'd post a less inflammatory link, but the mainstream press articles are behind a pay wall - however the article does give the basic facts, and I'll note that one of the officers involved in the incident later resigned over allegations of drug use).
and yet the penalty for stealing tens of thousands through identity theft, and running the victims through months of hell - is probation?
We as a society really have our priorities out of whack. DUI? Home confinement in your mansion (no, I'm not linking to the stories about you-know-who). One teenager has consensual sex with another teenager? Throw him in jail for 10 years.
Steal someones identity, multiple times, costing the victims thousands of dollars in cash and lost time? Probation. Hell, I got people in my city getting probation for serious gun crimes. WTF?
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We'll have to agree to disagree. I'm a Mac user, but I own a Compaq TC1000 with XP/SP2 which has been pulling travel duty with me for the past 3 years. After years of reading accolades from Scoble et al about the Tablet PC's handwriting recognition I've tried time and time again to use it as a primary input method. My assessment: it sucks. It works okay (but still not satisfactorily) if you write standard prose but I'm an engineer that uses a lot of industry-specific terms, and the auto-prediction inevitably screws up what I'm trying to write. The other big downside is password input: I try to use passwords with mixed-case letters and punctuation characters and trying to enter those using the handwriting input just doesn't work.
As a result, I use the TC1000 in keyboard mode 95+% percent of the time. That said, the tablet input does work well for field use when I can use the stylus to tap buttons to start data acquisition programs, but as a notepad it just doesn't work at that well for me. But to each their own.
The biggest problem I've had with MS's Tablet PC is that it's basically Windows XP with some tablet features stuck on (I haven't used the Vista Tablet edition, so hopefully it's changed). I've always maintained that if Apple was going to do a tablet, in order to do it right they read to radically rework the interface rather than stick Ink on Mac OS X. The touch interface on the iPhone and iPod Touch seems to indicate their agreement.
You're absolutely correct that the room plays (IMNSHO) the most important role in an audio system, but I have one nit to pick with this statement: room treatment /= sound-proofing (i.e. sound insulation).
Room treatment (bass traps, absorption, diffusion) is all about effect of the acoustics within the room. Room treatment changes room acoustics properties like reverberation time (echoes/reflections), standing wave amplitudes, and speech intelligibility.
Sound-proofing/sound-insulation (double-walls, double-studs, resilient channel, "Quietrock", mass-loaded vinyl, etc) is all about the effect of sound outside the room. If you want to be able to listen to your favorite action/scifi/sports program at full volume without waking up the kids in the next room, you need sound insulation. Doing things like adding egg-crate foam to the walls will change the acoustics within the room, but not outside the room.
As an example: an open window is an ideal sound absorber since is reflects ~0% percent of sound. However it makes a very poor sound-insulator since it allows ~100% of sound to be transmitted through it.
Let the browsers wars start again.
True for Safari proper, but don't forget that Webkit has been ported to Symbian
WRT to the linked Infoworld article in the post: it's out of date, Apple has since released the source to the Intel Mac OS X kernel.
Not that this will change anyone's opinion one way or the other.
Yep you're correct. I remembered that the TR08 noise vs speed curve sloped up sharply at high freqs, but I thought that the change in slope occurred at a lower speed.
A maglev traveling at high speeds (say 250 mph) is much louder than conventional rail at less than 200 mph. At the same speed (above 100 mph) they're both comparable in loudness since aerodynamic effects are the driving sources, but since maglev has higher top speeds, they louder at the highest end.
See here and here for more information. Disclaimer: I wasn't a principal author for either of those documents, but I did contribute, and I did attend the maglev testing documented in the first link.
Maglev's are quieter than conventional rail systems below 100 mph, but above that they get really loud really fast
IMO, the biggest news is the price drop of the 8GB iPhone to $399. At $599, it wasn't even an option for me. At $399, I'm starting to think about it.
I'm happy (okay, satisfied) with my current AT&T wireless service, so "switching" isn't a big problem for me.
Heh. During my undergrad days, I needed our lab machinist to hand-drill a hole with very tight tolerances (something like +/- 1/1000in, 30degree angle +/- 0.5 degrees) located within about 1/64 of inch away from the specimen edge. I drew up the part, and I figured there would be no way the machinist could meet those tolerances so I met with him to discuss the various options and compromises that were available.
He took a quick glance at the drawing, said "No problem, I can do this" - he then grabbed a piece of brass, went over to his drill press and drilled the hole exactly the way I drew it! After confirming the accuracy of the piece, I picked my jaw up off the floor, and went back to my research.
But you are right, engineers do need to get out in the field - certainly my hands-on experience in college has proved helpful and I hope that other universities offer the same experience.
I can definitely sympathize with you - in HS I was taking honors Physics, AP Calculus, etc, and my parents & counselors freaked out when I wanted to take the architectural/mechanical drawing "blow-off" classes that the vocational students took. However during my senior year in HS, the drawing instructor hooked our class up with an AutoCAD class at a local community college where (as an engineer) I learned schools that I'm using 20 years later!
But regarding your other mechanical skills: did you not learn tool-skills in college? We had to learn all sorts of tools (bandsaw, lathes, milling machines, torque-wrench, drill press, CNC machining, injection molding) various design projects and I figured the curricula at other engineering schools would be similar.
We did have the opportunity to learn welding (and I did watch welding being performed up close and personnel on several occasions), but unfortunately I never got around to learning how to do it myself. That was one of my few regrets at graduation.
It's taken me 6+ years and lots of trial and error to learn how to fix my car. I started with oil changes and my biggest job to date was replacing the head on my car.I'll be swapping out the driver's-side driveaxle in my car later this week. Don't worry about breaking something - just chalk it up to another learning experience!
96 kbs total bitrate that can be split up in arbitrary chunks. Typical values are 64 kbs for HD1 and 32 kbs for HD2.
How does this compare with the bandwidth of non-HD radio?Better than FM (50-15000 Hz) but that's not saying much...
That's true for pop stations, but classical music stations use compression for another valid reason: most of the listeners listen to the music in an environment with a very high noise floor - the automobile. At least a couple of classical music stations in MA that I'm familiar with have received complaints from listeners when they tried increasing the dynamic range.
IIRC, iBiquity's HD format allows for the use of sub-channels that can be used to transmit "compression" data along with the HD radio streams. In theory, this would allow the client radio to apply it's own compression in (almost) realtime. Therefore, the home listener could choose "no compression" while the auto listener can choose "heavy compression" for the same radio stream and everyone is happy.
Probably never happen tho' ;(
I'm 5ft 8in tall and 200 lbs. According to this site, that gives me a BMI of 30.4
On the other hand, my chest is 44 inches, my waist is 37 inches (for the pervs that are salivating: I'm a guy. For the remaining pervs still salivating: I'm hetero. For the woman salivating: I'm single). I regularly bike (50 to 100 miles per week @ 15+ mph in preparation for a 60 mile charity ride this fall), run (I can run 2 miles in just over 17 minutes) and weight lift. Last time I got my cholesterol checked, my doctor mentioned that it might be too low (!).
Am I "grossly obese"?
In my experience (working with lawyers on public and high-profile corporate projects across the U.S.), even mid-level lawyers tend to make more than senior level architects and engineering consultants. For example, (again, IME) an expert engineering consultant (where by expert I mean someone who has 30+ years experience, P.E. registration, advanced degrees, and engineering methods named after them) would bill on the order of $300 per hour. I've seen entry level lawyers bill jobs at $225 per hour.
I would suspect that a typical lawyer would make far above what computer consultans make unless the consultant has a name like "Woz", "Tog", "Spolsky" or "Berners-Lee."
S/he's referring to cases where people are cited under wiretapping laws for videotaping people with the camera microphone on (the mic violates the wiretap law, not the camera itself). For example, see here and here.
Ahem.
Although to be fair, this only applies to iTunes running on Mac OS X
Let's not forget iSync and SyncServic.
It's visible to IOKit (so yes, it's 'accessible'), but there's no driver to actually *use* it. For example, I just connected a USB mixer to my Mac. It shows up on ioreg, but since I haven't installed the driver, I can't use it yet.
I also believe that OS X ran on intel processors before 10.4.4 (I believe it worked under 10.4.1 or 10.4.2, but I'm having trouble finding documentation on this). So even though 10.4.4 lacks TPM, I think earlier versions might have had it.Mac OS X ran on Intel processors since 10.0. In terms of the version shipping on production units, 10.4.4 was the first.
I replied to that with:
"I assure you I am typing right now on a Mactel computer (Macbook Pro) which does indeed have TPM (ioreg confirms this)"
They didn't ship with TPM support - the OS didn't use it, and Apple didn't provide any drivers for users or apps to use it. The TPM itself shipped with the computer, but there was no direct way for anyone to use it.
2. It's a long chapter you sent, and most of it is off topic. The summary at the end does claim Apple never uses TPM. However, as I said before Singh *could* be correct, but it is in contradiction to what other people have said. Specifically the osx86 group. If they're wrong, I'd like to understand why.I don't think they're wrong, I think the information is outdated. The development kits used the TPM, but not the shipping Macs.
The fact that the newer Macs don't ship with TPM is the most convincing argument, but then I'd like to understand why (a) my Mac *does* have TPM, and (b) why other people had to write code around the fact that their installer looked for TPM.My guess as to (a) is that Apple was using reference Intel designs for their motherboards (which included TPM) and since they were trying to introduce the models ASAP, they just left the module there even though it doesn't do anything. As for (b), is there any evidence that directly links Mac OS X 10.4.4 (the first shipping version with Intel support) with TPM?
Sure. What are the stakes?
This is on a September 2006 Gen1 Macbook. My roommates each have Gen2 models with the Core 2 Duo processors and neither show a TPM in ioreg. That makes me agree with abes on the idea that Apple cut out the TPM when it was proven ineffective.From Singh:
I'll quote the relevant statement again: "Nevertheless, it is important to note that Apple does not use the TPM." Yes, it's there in shipping hardware (hence the BoingBoing article about Apple not using them on recent shipping Macs, and the Singh article about using the TPM) but Apple doesn't use it.
The people who got it running on non-apple PCs claim they had to work around TPM:TPM statement was added on Feb 2007, a couple of months after Apple started shipping TPM-less Macs. It's wrong.
3. Yes, but we're not talking about the applications that Apple uses in general, and thus has nothing to do with encrypted binaries. Again, according to their FAQ this is primarily done for installation of OS X and for using Rosetta.Are you reading any of the links I'm posting? Singh isn't talking about "applications that Apple uses in general" he's talking about system binaries like Dock, Finder, loginwindow, SystemUIServer, in addition to Rosetta. And yes, the developer kit used TPM to lock down Rosetta, but not in shipping Macs.
That was based on the developer hardware that Apple shipped prior to the Intel transition (look at the date of the DF article - the first Intel Mac shipped on Jan 2006). Production MacIntels never shipped with TPM support. Apple uses encrypted binaries to prevent Mac OS X from running on non-Apple Intel hardware.
I know it doesn't matter in the context of the iPhone, but I'm just trying to correct the misperception that Apple uses/used TPM on their shipping Macs - they don't
From the Singh linked in the Boing Boing segment:
Apple doesn't use Trusted Computing.
That's all well and good. But do you deserve a beating if you didn't do anything wrong? (I'd post a less inflammatory link, but the mainstream press articles are behind a pay wall - however the article does give the basic facts, and I'll note that one of the officers involved in the incident later resigned over allegations of drug use).
We as a society really have our priorities out of whack. DUI? Home confinement in your mansion (no, I'm not linking to the stories about you-know-who). One teenager has consensual sex with another teenager? Throw him in jail for 10 years.
Steal someones identity, multiple times, costing the victims thousands of dollars in cash and lost time? Probation. Hell, I got people in my city getting probation for serious gun crimes. WTF?