One thing you can do is get a new tax program/accountant or buy a new sharp pencil.
I have virtually no deductions (single, no kids, etc) and paid exactly 16.3% of my gross taxable income to both governments (federal/provincial combined) in income tax last year.
I made enough to be well past the lowest tax bracket (there are 3) and live in a province with the 2nd highest provincial tax rate.
"... The "untapped market of over a billion" argument to justify trade with China is just cover for the real purpose of the "free traders": Cheap labor...."
Well, maybe. Consider this though: China is the world's 3rd largest market for new PCs (2000~2001, final quarter results not in). China also has 37million home PCs connected to the internet (USA about 55 million). Seems like a pretty fair market to me.
"... Full-Spectrum Fluorescent Lamps in Context
There are two broad classes of electric light sources available for interior lighting; incandescent light sources and discharge light sources. Incandescent light sources produce light by heating a filament, the spectrum of the light being determined by the temperature of the filament.
Discharge light sources produce light by passing an electric current through an ionized gas; the spectrum of the light being determined by the gas used, the gas pressure, the other elements in the discharge and the presence or absence of a phosphor coating. Full-spectrum fluorescent lamps are low pressure, mercury discharge lamps with a phosphor coating. The discharge in the mercury atmosphere produces mainly ultra-violet radiation. This ultra-violet radiation is largely absorbed by the phosphor coating lining the walls of the discharge tube and reradiated as light. Incandescent lamps have a continuous spectrum in the visible region, dominated by the long wavelengths (see Figure 1).
Discharge lamps typically have a spectrum consisting of strong single wavelengths amongst a continuous background... "
From:
Is Full-Spectrum Lighting Special?
Peter R. Boyce, Ph.D.
Lighting Research Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180-3590 U.S.A.
Okay, I stand corrected. After all, when you look at graphs of FL lighting, there is a "continuous spectrum" of light, typically 100 times less bright than the spikes. So, technically, you're right. In layman's terms, I stand by my assertation that the light emitted is dominated by a few bands of color separated by nearly no light output in other colors.
The type of gas used can and does affect the light specrum. Phosphor coatings are not present on all types of FL tubes; it depends (again) on the desired lighing qualities, including spectrum.
100W Incandescent: less than 10 mw/nm at approx 450nm, rising steadily to 50mw/nm at 800nm.
65W FL: Less than 10mw/nm at: 300-400 nm but with a narrow spike of 35mw/nm at about 370nm; approx 25mw/nm at 400-500 nm but with narrow spikes of 75 and 200 at approx 410 and 430nm; medium width spike at approx 570nm of between 50 and 150 mw/mn.
90 W Low Pressure Sodium (isn't that a different gas?): virtually no output (no measurable output on the graph, could be some at 10mw/nm or less) except for a 3300mw/nm spike at about 590 nm.
400W Metal Halide Mercury: Spikes of 1000 mw/nm at approx 300, 350 and 400nm; spikes of 1500 mw/nm at approx 550 + 580; one spike at about 620nm of about 800mw/nm. Output at all other wavelengths less than 30mw/nm, some not showing on the graph at all (could be zero?).
Now, a graph is a funny thing to base your info on (easily fudged and "prettied up"); these are from a submitted paper. However, feel free to read the whole thing (and more) at:
http://www.nrc.ca/irc/fulltext/ir659/contents.ht ml
The quoted paper is available PDF on that page, as are others.
The article was written in such a way that pretty much everything in it was misleading. Poor journalism at it's best.
Last time I checked the "real" site (may not now be current) the big loser was Motorola and IBM for home desktops (from a chipmaker's perspective). G3's and G4's did math better than the Intel chips (using the math instruction speed criteria used) and were restricted further than P3's and P4's. Again, it may not be current now, but 800Mhz Itaniums were faster at math than Pentium family computers at 2Ghz and were similarly restricted as G4s.
No mention of strong encryption in the article either (some SW and things like wireless cards were affected).
There are 4 tiers, also poorly noted in the article. Go to the US Department of Commerce's site at:
http://www.bxa.doc.gov/HPCs/Default.htm
Note: does not seem to reflect changes mentioned in the article; nonetheless a lot of good background that will help put the new rules into perspective.
First of all, I want to go on record as saying I have tested/tried FS lighting and I am supportive. For me, it worked very well.
Fleuroescent lights, by their nature, are mixtures of gases which approximate "real" light. Generally you could think of it as similar to theatre light; add the 3 colors and you get white.
However, FL gases are not a smooth dim-to-bright-to-dim spectrum type of light. There are always areas of the spectrum that are missing, and it is the careful (or haphazard) choice of gas that determines how close it can get to white light.
Incandescents are continuous spectrum, with typically blue missing (hence the yellow cast in photos). But, and this is a big but; they are continuous from the "first" color to the last color they can display. FL lights will have gaps (some of the colors of the rainbow are missing entirely).
Thus, FL "full spectrum" lights have more attention paid to haveing all colors represented, but to do it like sunlight, candlelight or incandescent light is pretty much impossible. There will still be areas of the visible spectrum with little or no output. That's why they cost more than "regular" FL's (some of the gases cost more) but they still may be unsatisfactory to sensitive individuals or for critical color matching.
Incandescent Full Spectrum are available; the drawback is cost and overall life. In other words, you probably won't see them in the IT department of MegaCorp. FL Full Spectrum are then still a compromise; it is possible for some individuals to get headaches from them (as they can from all FL lighting).
Having said all that, Full Spectrum are usually better than regular "el cheapo" FLs if that't the kind of light you're stuck with. Just as with regular FLs, brand and product differences exist, so some experimentation may be necessary.
"Besides the fact than an LP is an analog medium, the above isn't a good analogy."
Analog, digital, tape, pits, whatever. It is a storage medium meant to "represent" information. How this is done is irrelevant. It's NOT the music, it's information about the music.
I used the LP because it takes us out of the "how" and talks about the "what". RedBook Standard (CD) records L + R information in a sequence (R, then L, then R, then L, etc., word by word). Decode it and it is simultaneous.
... " there is no "encoding" in an LP record..."
That's exactly what it is.
"... talking apples and oranges here...."
I'm talking an encode/storage/retrieval system for information which represents music. Looks like Apples to me.
"... [my words] but consider the datarate: up to 640kbps. "
Apparently, Dolby Labs describe a maximum of 384kbps. Burst rates of up to 900kps are possible but not implemented (won't work over TV, not used on DVD).
"...In my case, the TV has a digital optical (Toslink) output..."
Toslink, SPD/IF, whatever. No decoder, no discreet.
"... If you compress an MP3 with a decent bitrate and a faithful encoder, I challenge ANYone to hear the difference between source and original, with very few exceptions...."
My Mom can, I can, and in fact I have never known anyone who couldn't when demonstrated.
Dolby Pro Logic:
A type of Dolby Surround decoder with improved performance over standard Dolby Surround decoding. Specifically, Pro Logic decoding provides greater channel separation and a center-speaker output. A Dolby Pro Logic decoder takes in a two-channel, Dolby Surround-encoded audio signal and splits those signals up into left, center, right, and surround channels. Nearly all A/V receivers and controllers include Dolby Pro Logic decoders.
Dolby Pro Logic (and it's predecessor, Dolby Surround) are always "synthetic/matrix" formats; created from discreet STEREO (2 channels) of information.
You are correct in that Dolby AC-3 can be (and should be) discreet 5.1 (6 channels) of information. This requires both the AC-3 decoder and 6 channels of amplification/loudspeakers. However, see*
5.1 refers to 6 channels, the ".1" is designated so because the "sub" channel is not full range.
If you do not have the AC-3 decoder, you will play back the synthesised version (Dolby Digital) even if you have a "Home Theatre" reciever, the AC-3 is encoded on the disk, and the required 6 channels of amp/speaker are present.
Both systems use "lossy" compression schemes. The Meridian system uses lossless compression for 5.1 or 7.1 discreet channels.
"I CAN agree with you if you're trying to say that Dolby Digital in this context (as used in HDTV) COULD be a watered-down version in SOME cases, because the bitrate and number of channels *can* be tailored to the application. It can be anything from mono to full-scale 6 channel sound (aka 5.1)."
Of course, you are correct; I should have been clearer. You shouldn't expect to get discreet 5.1 from broadcast HDTV.
"In fact, the digital signal (which is NOT "stereo", as you put it, it's a single low-rate bitstream from 32 to 640kbps)... "
The digital signal is a storage medium, and in this context is a single datastream. So, too is an LP record; it contains only 1 continuous groove. However, they both describe encoded stereo signals, consisting of 2 discreet channels of information designed to be played back in a L-R loudspeaker array. It is as correct to describe it as stereo as it is to describe it as 5.1; the storage medium is irrelevant provided it can do the job (store and allow retrieval of single or multichannel audio information).
*Dolby and others describe AC-3 as discreet 5.1 channel sound. Certainly that is the conventional wisdom; but consider the datarate: up to 640kbps. A significant amount of information must be compressed/processed to create 6 channels of information in such a "small" bitstream. It is my contention that the CODEC used seriously compromises the "discreet" information and actually provides a simulation of 6 channels, rather than discreet, full range information.
"On carriers such as HDTV and DVD, there is room to store only about 10 percent of the original data; the remaining 90 percent must be thrown away, and cannot be recovered in playback... "(1)
Surround Sound
Thanapoom Lertpanyavit
EE498
University of Washington
The monitor idea is neat, but it doesn't go far enough. I do this all the time with borrowed-from-work-for-the-weekend gear.
I hook up the G4 (any PC with DVD decoder should be fine, but see below re: noise) to a quality computer presentation box, shine it on a white wall in the living room. Result- DVD movies and NFL Sunday super sharp, super bright, and 15 feet wide.
To really pull this off correctly, you need a quiet computer (a used Cube is perfect) and a fanless projection device (you can get 'em); run the audio as you would any good home theatre.
The price isn't much different from what a bigscreen (say, 60") rear-projection system costs, and you can see it at any angle.
OK, in the UK it is now a generic term. I stand corrected (although it would be interesting to know when this changed). Thanks for the info.
It's more noticeable in Canada than elsewhere because of our close proximity to the US, but in general many drugs in the US have different names than in the Commonwealth or other nations.
Aspirin is ASA; the natural form is found in Birch trees, and the effects were long known anywhere the tree is found (Eurasia, N American Indians, etc.).
Microsoft failed to notify the FBI in the 5 weeks they knew about it, so the FBI didn't have the time to code a secret d/l of Magic Lantern on everybody's box, and now MS releases a fix and goes and tells everybody about it.
Agent 1 "Now, we'll never get it on the 10 million boxes that were just SITTING THERE, with their mouths open... "
Agent 2 "That's it! Call the DofJ. Tell them fix is off. And don't cash Bill's last check! "
Okay I d/l and installed the patch. The first box was a Mac running XP inside VirtualPC; I was installing v5 and it was running so off I went (auto update is disabled on all my XP boxes). Took about 4 minutes to d/l the 583KB file. Wow, VPC5 is slow, I think.
Second box, AMD 1GHz and the patch took... what's this? 3 minutes for a 600K file via hispeed?
Anyway, the patch caused some kind of "serious system error" on the AMD box, and XP asked me to send a report (I did, anonymously) to help them find whatever mysterious crash it caused.
But, I digress...
MS won't tell the FBI how many users d/l the patch yesterday because at 150K a minute only about 87 users were able to get it installed before they had to go to bed.
Yeah, I want a cellphone in my camera.... umm
No, I meant a lawnmower in my watch...
Wait a minute, I really meant a Russian Corvette in my laptop. Yeah, that's it...
This is pretty common; an informal "friendly" agreement benifits both sides and of course Nortel had a poor case to begin with. MS would be making a payment to compensate Nortel for accumulated goodwill. You don't mention the amount but my guess is it wasn't very substantial.
The Canadian navy has just deployed the last of a dozen new frigates similar to the Aegis.
They are described as the most advanced in the world (of course, this is a moving target).
The US navy seems to agree, 3 are now deployed in the Gulf as part of carrier task forces. You don't leave the protection of carriers to just anybody.
However, as for the computer system:
27 mainframes.
3 unique and discreet, inhouse developed OS's, running on 9 mainframes each. (My educated guess: *NIX, but it's classified).
The 27 computers are distributed throughtout the ship so that as long as the ship floats a certain number will be operational regardless of damage area.
Any one computer is all that is necessary to run the ship unimpaired.
The ship can track 300+ simultaneous surface, air, or subsurface threats within a 260km radius; and can defend automatically if crew or control is damaged.
It can move from 0 -50km/h -0 in it's own length. Actual cruise speed is classified.
Actually you can turn off the "life support" systems too (and they do). They use oxygen generating canisters (they call them "candles" in the navy I know) and C02 eating canisters. They are perfectly silent, chemical pods about 2 feet tall and less than a foot around. Each one is good for 2 hours.
MS probably has concluded they need to protect their tradename. A lot of posters have pointed out situations where a company has failed to enforce it's rights to names; if you "let it slide" then you lose some of your right to the exclusive use of the name.
Coke is still coke, because they sue anybody who tries to copy the name. Same with Xerox, they vigorously protect the name. Others who let it slide a little lost the right to keep the name exclusive.
I'm no friend of MS, but these kinds of annoying legal actions are pretty common now that most companies have seen what happens if you don't vigorously enforce your trade property.
Minor point:
Lineoleum refers to a flooring made from flaxseed (linseed oil). It is, as far as I know, still a tradname. The vinyl flooring, generically referred to as "Lino", is a different product, but has inhereted the generic term which is now commonly applied to rolled floorcovering.
The Beyer Asprin thing is interesting. In Canada and I believe every nation except the US it was always known as Beyer Asprin. Today, you still cannot sell "Asprin" in Canada, the UK, etc. unless you are Beyer (I believe that is the correct spelling). Everybody else has to call it ASA.
Wasn't there a time when they didn't use the Beyer name in the US? I seem to recall something about it but the details are fuzzy.
This is a very general post about trademark/name law; I'll leave the details to the/. lawyers out there.
Having the exact same name is not always automatically a trademark infringement; it depends on the nature of your business, the uniqueness of the name, and whether your product could reasonably be confused with the product of the other guy.
I assume MS's lawers are going after the fact that Lindows is offering a product that is likely to be confused with an Operating System. If Lindows was a hamburger chain the suit wouldn't fly.
Examples:
Apple (Records of Beatles fame) and Apple (Computer); Royal this and Royal that; and as someone pointed out NT (Microsoft) and NT (Northern Telecom, which we know know as NorTel); you could probably add "XP" everything lately.
Apple Computer actually had an out-of-court settlement with Apple Records agreeing not to enter the "music" business. At the time Apple was a small company and a little gun-shy about being threatened with a lawsuit by the Beatles, of all people, so they came to an agreement instead. When the time came for multimedia on the desktop, they just went ahead; Apple Records declined to pursue it.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm pretty sure he's from BC, from what little info he gave.
One thing you can do is get a new tax program/accountant or buy a new sharp pencil.
I have virtually no deductions (single, no kids, etc) and paid exactly 16.3% of my gross taxable income to both governments (federal/provincial combined) in income tax last year.
I made enough to be well past the lowest tax bracket (there are 3) and live in a province with the 2nd highest provincial tax rate.
"... The "untapped market of over a billion" argument to justify trade with China is just cover for the real purpose of the "free traders": Cheap labor. ..."
Well, maybe. Consider this though: China is the world's 3rd largest market for new PCs (2000~2001, final quarter results not in). China also has 37million home PCs connected to the internet (USA about 55 million). Seems like a pretty fair market to me.
Figures: IDG
"... Full-Spectrum Fluorescent Lamps in Context ... "
t ml
There are two broad classes of electric light sources available for interior lighting; incandescent light sources and discharge light sources. Incandescent light sources produce light by heating a filament, the spectrum of the light being determined by the temperature of the filament.
Discharge light sources produce light by passing an electric current through an ionized gas; the spectrum of the light being determined by the gas used, the gas pressure, the other elements in the discharge and the presence or absence of a phosphor coating. Full-spectrum fluorescent lamps are low pressure, mercury discharge lamps with a phosphor coating. The discharge in the mercury atmosphere produces mainly ultra-violet radiation. This ultra-violet radiation is largely absorbed by the phosphor coating lining the walls of the discharge tube and reradiated as light. Incandescent lamps have a continuous spectrum in the visible region, dominated by the long wavelengths (see Figure 1).
Discharge lamps typically have a spectrum consisting of strong single wavelengths amongst a continuous background
From:
Is Full-Spectrum Lighting Special?
Peter R. Boyce, Ph.D.
Lighting Research Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180-3590 U.S.A.
Okay, I stand corrected. After all, when you look at graphs of FL lighting, there is a "continuous spectrum" of light, typically 100 times less bright than the spikes. So, technically, you're right. In layman's terms, I stand by my assertation that the light emitted is dominated by a few bands of color separated by nearly no light output in other colors.
The type of gas used can and does affect the light specrum. Phosphor coatings are not present on all types of FL tubes; it depends (again) on the desired lighing qualities, including spectrum.
100W Incandescent: less than 10 mw/nm at approx 450nm, rising steadily to 50mw/nm at 800nm.
65W FL: Less than 10mw/nm at: 300-400 nm but with a narrow spike of 35mw/nm at about 370nm; approx 25mw/nm at 400-500 nm but with narrow spikes of 75 and 200 at approx 410 and 430nm; medium width spike at approx 570nm of between 50 and 150 mw/mn.
90 W Low Pressure Sodium (isn't that a different gas?): virtually no output (no measurable output on the graph, could be some at 10mw/nm or less) except for a 3300mw/nm spike at about 590 nm.
400W Metal Halide Mercury: Spikes of 1000 mw/nm at approx 300, 350 and 400nm; spikes of 1500 mw/nm at approx 550 + 580; one spike at about 620nm of about 800mw/nm. Output at all other wavelengths less than 30mw/nm, some not showing on the graph at all (could be zero?).
Now, a graph is a funny thing to base your info on (easily fudged and "prettied up"); these are from a submitted paper. However, feel free to read the whole thing (and more) at:
http://www.nrc.ca/irc/fulltext/ir659/contents.h
The quoted paper is available PDF on that page, as are others.
Somebody already posted Intel's site, here is Apple's:
http://www.info.apple.com/support/export.html
The article was written in such a way that pretty much everything in it was misleading. Poor journalism at it's best.
Last time I checked the "real" site (may not now be current) the big loser was Motorola and IBM for home desktops (from a chipmaker's perspective). G3's and G4's did math better than the Intel chips (using the math instruction speed criteria used) and were restricted further than P3's and P4's. Again, it may not be current now, but 800Mhz Itaniums were faster at math than Pentium family computers at 2Ghz and were similarly restricted as G4s.
No mention of strong encryption in the article either (some SW and things like wireless cards were affected).
There are 4 tiers, also poorly noted in the article. Go to the US Department of Commerce's site at:
http://www.bxa.doc.gov/HPCs/Default.htm
Note: does not seem to reflect changes mentioned in the article; nonetheless a lot of good background that will help put the new rules into perspective.
First of all, I want to go on record as saying I have tested/tried FS lighting and I am supportive. For me, it worked very well.
Fleuroescent lights, by their nature, are mixtures of gases which approximate "real" light. Generally you could think of it as similar to theatre light; add the 3 colors and you get white.
However, FL gases are not a smooth dim-to-bright-to-dim spectrum type of light. There are always areas of the spectrum that are missing, and it is the careful (or haphazard) choice of gas that determines how close it can get to white light.
Incandescents are continuous spectrum, with typically blue missing (hence the yellow cast in photos). But, and this is a big but; they are continuous from the "first" color to the last color they can display. FL lights will have gaps (some of the colors of the rainbow are missing entirely).
Thus, FL "full spectrum" lights have more attention paid to haveing all colors represented, but to do it like sunlight, candlelight or incandescent light is pretty much impossible. There will still be areas of the visible spectrum with little or no output. That's why they cost more than "regular" FL's (some of the gases cost more) but they still may be unsatisfactory to sensitive individuals or for critical color matching.
Incandescent Full Spectrum are available; the drawback is cost and overall life. In other words, you probably won't see them in the IT department of MegaCorp. FL Full Spectrum are then still a compromise; it is possible for some individuals to get headaches from them (as they can from all FL lighting).
Having said all that, Full Spectrum are usually better than regular "el cheapo" FLs if that't the kind of light you're stuck with. Just as with regular FLs, brand and product differences exist, so some experimentation may be necessary.
"Besides the fact than an LP is an analog medium, the above isn't a good analogy."
..."
... talking apples and oranges here. ..."
..."
..."
Analog, digital, tape, pits, whatever. It is a storage medium meant to "represent" information. How this is done is irrelevant. It's NOT the music, it's information about the music.
I used the LP because it takes us out of the "how" and talks about the "what". RedBook Standard (CD) records L + R information in a sequence (R, then L, then R, then L, etc., word by word). Decode it and it is simultaneous.
... " there is no "encoding" in an LP record
That's exactly what it is.
"
I'm talking an encode/storage/retrieval system for information which represents music. Looks like Apples to me.
"... [my words] but consider the datarate: up to 640kbps. "
Apparently, Dolby Labs describe a maximum of 384kbps. Burst rates of up to 900kps are possible but not implemented (won't work over TV, not used on DVD).
"...In my case, the TV has a digital optical (Toslink) output
Toslink, SPD/IF, whatever. No decoder, no discreet.
"... If you compress an MP3 with a decent bitrate and a faithful encoder, I challenge ANYone to hear the difference between source and original, with very few exceptions.
My Mom can, I can, and in fact I have never known anyone who couldn't when demonstrated.
Please Note:
The quote which begins " In fact, the digital signal... " and ends "... recovered in playback... " (1)
is a quote from the paper by:
(1) Surround Sound
Thanapoom Lertpanyavit
I am not him; when I looked at the post it did appear to me it could be confused that way.
Dolby Pro Logic:
A type of Dolby Surround decoder with improved performance over standard Dolby Surround decoding. Specifically, Pro Logic decoding provides greater channel separation and a center-speaker output. A Dolby Pro Logic decoder takes in a two-channel, Dolby Surround-encoded audio signal and splits those signals up into left, center, right, and surround channels. Nearly all A/V receivers and controllers include Dolby Pro Logic decoders.
Dolby Pro Logic (and it's predecessor, Dolby Surround) are always "synthetic/matrix" formats; created from discreet STEREO (2 channels) of information.
You are correct in that Dolby AC-3 can be (and should be) discreet 5.1 (6 channels) of information. This requires both the AC-3 decoder and 6 channels of amplification/loudspeakers. However, see*
5.1 refers to 6 channels, the ".1" is designated so because the "sub" channel is not full range.
If you do not have the AC-3 decoder, you will play back the synthesised version (Dolby Digital) even if you have a "Home Theatre" reciever, the AC-3 is encoded on the disk, and the required 6 channels of amp/speaker are present.
Both systems use "lossy" compression schemes. The Meridian system uses lossless compression for 5.1 or 7.1 discreet channels.
"I CAN agree with you if you're trying to say that Dolby Digital in this context (as used in HDTV) COULD be a watered-down version in SOME cases, because the bitrate and number of channels *can* be tailored to the application. It can be anything from mono to full-scale 6 channel sound (aka 5.1)."
Of course, you are correct; I should have been clearer. You shouldn't expect to get discreet 5.1 from broadcast HDTV.
"In fact, the digital signal (which is NOT "stereo", as you put it, it's a single low-rate bitstream from 32 to 640kbps)... "
The digital signal is a storage medium, and in this context is a single datastream. So, too is an LP record; it contains only 1 continuous groove. However, they both describe encoded stereo signals, consisting of 2 discreet channels of information designed to be played back in a L-R loudspeaker array. It is as correct to describe it as stereo as it is to describe it as 5.1; the storage medium is irrelevant provided it can do the job (store and allow retrieval of single or multichannel audio information).
*Dolby and others describe AC-3 as discreet 5.1 channel sound. Certainly that is the conventional wisdom; but consider the datarate: up to 640kbps. A significant amount of information must be compressed/processed to create 6 channels of information in such a "small" bitstream. It is my contention that the CODEC used seriously compromises the "discreet" information and actually provides a simulation of 6 channels, rather than discreet, full range information.
"On carriers such as HDTV and DVD, there is room to store only about 10 percent of the original data; the remaining 90 percent must be thrown away, and cannot be recovered in playback... "(1)
Surround Sound
Thanapoom Lertpanyavit
EE498
University of Washington
... and have come to the only obvious conclusion. Linus, you can have this one for free:
Get Linux-47 times simpler than HDTV!
"2) Dolby Digital showed up, which I assume means a discreet 5.1 channels of sound. Beats dbx/MTS any day! "
"Dolby digital" is the lowest quality version of sythesised 5.1. This includes AC-3, Dolby Pro-Logic, etc. The "make up" the 5.1 from a stereo signal.
The monitor idea is neat, but it doesn't go far enough. I do this all the time with borrowed-from-work-for-the-weekend gear.
I hook up the G4 (any PC with DVD decoder should be fine, but see below re: noise) to a quality computer presentation box, shine it on a white wall in the living room. Result- DVD movies and NFL Sunday super sharp, super bright, and 15 feet wide.
To really pull this off correctly, you need a quiet computer (a used Cube is perfect) and a fanless projection device (you can get 'em); run the audio as you would any good home theatre.
The price isn't much different from what a bigscreen (say, 60") rear-projection system costs, and you can see it at any angle.
OK, in the UK it is now a generic term. I stand corrected (although it would be interesting to know when this changed). Thanks for the info.
It's more noticeable in Canada than elsewhere because of our close proximity to the US, but in general many drugs in the US have different names than in the Commonwealth or other nations.
Aspirin is ASA; the natural form is found in Birch trees, and the effects were long known anywhere the tree is found (Eurasia, N American Indians, etc.).
Confused with an operating system as in:
MS will argue it can be confused with OUR operating system, in the marketplace.
Microsoft failed to notify the FBI in the 5 weeks they knew about it, so the FBI didn't have the time to code a secret d/l of Magic Lantern on everybody's box, and now MS releases a fix and goes and tells everybody about it.
Agent 1 "Now, we'll never get it on the 10 million boxes that were just SITTING THERE, with their mouths open... "
Agent 2 "That's it! Call the DofJ. Tell them fix is off. And don't cash Bill's last check! "
Okay I d/l and installed the patch. The first box was a Mac running XP inside VirtualPC; I was installing v5 and it was running so off I went (auto update is disabled on all my XP boxes). Took about 4 minutes to d/l the 583KB file. Wow, VPC5 is slow, I think.
Second box, AMD 1GHz and the patch took... what's this? 3 minutes for a 600K file via hispeed?
Anyway, the patch caused some kind of "serious system error" on the AMD box, and XP asked me to send a report (I did, anonymously) to help them find whatever mysterious crash it caused.
But, I digress...
MS won't tell the FBI how many users d/l the patch yesterday because at 150K a minute only about 87 users were able to get it installed before they had to go to bed.
Yeah, I want a cellphone in my camera.... umm
No, I meant a lawnmower in my watch...
Wait a minute, I really meant a Russian Corvette in my laptop. Yeah, that's it...
MS paid Nortel...
This is pretty common; an informal "friendly" agreement benifits both sides and of course Nortel had a poor case to begin with. MS would be making a payment to compensate Nortel for accumulated goodwill. You don't mention the amount but my guess is it wasn't very substantial.
Very interesting. Imagine, Windows....
The Canadian navy has just deployed the last of a dozen new frigates similar to the Aegis.
They are described as the most advanced in the world (of course, this is a moving target).
The US navy seems to agree, 3 are now deployed in the Gulf as part of carrier task forces. You don't leave the protection of carriers to just anybody.
However, as for the computer system:
27 mainframes.
3 unique and discreet, inhouse developed OS's, running on 9 mainframes each. (My educated guess: *NIX, but it's classified).
The 27 computers are distributed throughtout the ship so that as long as the ship floats a certain number will be operational regardless of damage area.
Any one computer is all that is necessary to run the ship unimpaired.
The ship can track 300+ simultaneous surface, air, or subsurface threats within a 260km radius; and can defend automatically if crew or control is damaged.
It can move from 0 -50km/h -0 in it's own length. Actual cruise speed is classified.
Actually you can turn off the "life support" systems too (and they do). They use oxygen generating canisters (they call them "candles" in the navy I know) and C02 eating canisters. They are perfectly silent, chemical pods about 2 feet tall and less than a foot around. Each one is good for 2 hours.
MS probably has concluded they need to protect their tradename. A lot of posters have pointed out situations where a company has failed to enforce it's rights to names; if you "let it slide" then you lose some of your right to the exclusive use of the name.
Coke is still coke, because they sue anybody who tries to copy the name. Same with Xerox, they vigorously protect the name. Others who let it slide a little lost the right to keep the name exclusive.
I'm no friend of MS, but these kinds of annoying legal actions are pretty common now that most companies have seen what happens if you don't vigorously enforce your trade property.
Minor point:
Lineoleum refers to a flooring made from flaxseed (linseed oil). It is, as far as I know, still a tradname. The vinyl flooring, generically referred to as "Lino", is a different product, but has inhereted the generic term which is now commonly applied to rolled floorcovering.
The Beyer Asprin thing is interesting. In Canada and I believe every nation except the US it was always known as Beyer Asprin. Today, you still cannot sell "Asprin" in Canada, the UK, etc. unless you are Beyer (I believe that is the correct spelling). Everybody else has to call it ASA.
Wasn't there a time when they didn't use the Beyer name in the US? I seem to recall something about it but the details are fuzzy.
This is a very general post about trademark/name law; I'll leave the details to the /. lawyers out there.
Having the exact same name is not always automatically a trademark infringement; it depends on the nature of your business, the uniqueness of the name, and whether your product could reasonably be confused with the product of the other guy.
I assume MS's lawers are going after the fact that Lindows is offering a product that is likely to be confused with an Operating System. If Lindows was a hamburger chain the suit wouldn't fly.
Examples:
Apple (Records of Beatles fame) and Apple (Computer); Royal this and Royal that; and as someone pointed out NT (Microsoft) and NT (Northern Telecom, which we know know as NorTel); you could probably add "XP" everything lately.
Apple Computer actually had an out-of-court settlement with Apple Records agreeing not to enter the "music" business. At the time Apple was a small company and a little gun-shy about being threatened with a lawsuit by the Beatles, of all people, so they came to an agreement instead. When the time came for multimedia on the desktop, they just went ahead; Apple Records declined to pursue it.