...all the music I buy on CD is from indie labels. On the whole the major labels are totally formulaic and boring anyway. If there's anything I am interested I buy it from iTunes and download.
The problem is older artists and back catalogue. Or it was until I discovered this place. On Tuesday I received four more albums on lovely heavy weight vinyl which sounds wonderful on my audio and which is easy to rip with the right hardware.
One of my biggest gripes (and there are many) with the film is that the inteligent dialog was removed or dumbed down. HHGTTG was inteligent as well as funny. Hollywood doesn't get inteligent. Even their inteligent movies are, to be honest, quite simplistic. HHGTTG was just another case of this. This doesn't mean I'm averse to slapstick where its suitable but a slapstick HHGTTG is not HHGTTG its another movie.
And what's wrong with recording speeding offenses automatically?
Nothing provided they are being assessed sensibly.
60MPH on a motorway, at night, in freezing fog with a 10 metre visibility, is legal but very unsafe. 90MPH on a motorway, on a quiet Sunday morning, on a dry sunny summers day, is not legal but safe with a modern vehicle.
The thing with automatic systems is that they don't take in to account these things. A traffic cop can use his experience to decide whether someone is safe or not. In the end a traffic cop is there to ensure the safety of the roads and not actually whether the laws are being adhered to. (I know two traffic cops).
Cameras are fine for enforcing slow speed suburban streets just no where else.
One thing everyone seems to have missed is that with the move over to Intel they would probably like 'their' top Open Source developers to have appropriate hardware to develop on.
Well I bought an iBook because it was powerful enough to do what I wanted it to do and because the PowerPC processor hardly needed the fan. Because it ran cooler than any of the x86s processors at the time (middle of last year) I could have a neat little A4 sized laptop which was slim and cool and quiet. I compare it with my work Dell laptop which weighs at least twice as much, is at least twice the volume and actually doesn't seem to be any quicker compiling the same (cross platform) code I develop. The styling and rather nice operating system are a bonus.
They've been able to handle stairs for almost twenty years. Remembrance of the Daleks (Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor) had Dalek's levitating up the stairs.
I think that if you're talking about someone like Madonna then $1 a track is expensive. If you're talking about a band like say Edge Of Dawn then its not. I have friends in several bands. They do runs of a few thousand of their latest albums. They charge about $15 for the CD because that covers the cost of making the CD, duplicating, printing, studio time etc. and gives them a small amount of profit to upgrade/repair their equipment. They are technically professional musicians in so much as they get paid for their music but all of them have day jobs (even the ones on the Project Gotham Racing 3 soundtrack) and could never do it full time. In these cases $1 a track is insufficient.
Is that the case in the UK? I thought in the UK, venues where public performances take place, pay a licence to cover the playing of music. The actual CDs played are no different from the ones played at home. I.e. it is the venue that is licenced and not the DJ or the music. This is why the whole thing is a little daft.
X-Type = Mondeo floorpan, new metal work, jaguar suspension, jaguar modified Ford V6. S-Type = Lincoln floorpan, new metal work, jaguar suspension, jaguar designed V8.
All of which are built in the UK.
Are you really telling me that this thing (3.9 litre, 280bhp V8) is the same as this? (4 litre, 400bhp supercharged V8 with a 0-60 of ~6 seconds).
They are not the same cars with just different metal work. US cars are generally asthmatic and drive like you're on jello. Ford may own Jaguar and admittedly some parts are shared (economy of scale) but there is a big difference between the models. You'll be saying an Aston Martin DB9 is the same as a Lincoln Town Car next. They are definitely not Ford Focuses or similar.
Where's the DVB-T Tivo? Using a Tivo by the time I play it back content that has been originally recorded on analogue video will have been encoded by the TV company, transmitted as DVB-T, decoded to analogue, encoded by the Tivo, decoded by the Tivo and finally output to my TV. Surely it's better to just rip the stream on to a harddrive.
Next year, here in the UK, the BBC will be testing HD DVB-T via an Antenna. No subscription, just buy an appropriate terrestrial digital box. Or just hook a terrestrial digital tuner up to your Mac. No analog(ue) path what-so-ever.
The profitability of a company is not absolute, it's relative to the investment in that company. Sales volume is also not the holy grail. What's the good of selling millions of something at a 1% margin when you can sell thousands and a 25% margin. One of the most profitable companies I know makes very high end audio equipment. They have about eight employees and turn out one or two items a month. Do Apple want to compete with Dell or Gateway? BMW sell a lot of cars, but they sell far less than say Ford and yet BMW have far less troubles than Ford. I for one would not want to see Apple products getting cheaper and nastier just to get their sales volumes up.
Actually that's a real problem I have with the commercial world at the moment. Everything is moving to a common denominator. Nothing is really good, it's just good enough and cheap enough for the masses. Well I'm not the masses and it would not be great if Apple started selling cheap hardware that would run Windows. I bought an Apple because I liked the style, liked the functionality and liked OS-X. Linux is a pain because nothing quite completely works. Windows is just damn right horrible. I've used it since 1990 and it's never been intuitive.
My next car will be either a BMW or Jaguar Sports/Station Wagon/Estate car because I want a well built car which performs, is nice to drive, and can carry my german shepherd dog. Yes I can find cheaper cars but it wont be special.
The actual ipod itself isn't that great. No radio, no recording capability, built-in DRM. People who care and know what they're buying can do better for themselves elsewhere.
Typical anti-Apple tirade!
I develop consumer media devices for a living. I just bought myself a black 5G 60Gb iPod. Why? I needed a small portable harddrive to cart data around (which may include video files and so USB memory sticks are not sufficient). I wanted a media player which would work with all my machines (Apple, Linux, Windows). I wanted something that sounded pretty good. I wanted something that was reasonably well made. I wanted something that looked quite nice.
I bought an iPod because the DRM is only an issue which music purchased online. I still purchase most of my music in CD form and because of the type of music I like most is independent European labels. I can purchase a CD online and have it arrive a couple of days later. The contacts and calendar functionality is quite useful. The video is a bit of a gimmick but I can see myself using it when I use the train. I 'initialised' the iPod on my PC to get it in to Windows format. I use iTunes on my Mac to manage my music library but use open source software on my Linux development box at work to transfer music off of the iPod.
In fact there's nothing I can't do with it that I want to do, and there's nothing restrictive in its operation that affects me.
The export ban always made me laugh because it arrogantly assumed that no one outside of the US/Canada was capable of developing their own encryption technologies.
This is something that British Secret Services have used to their advantage. Public key encryption technologies were developed at GCHQ in the early 70s but unlike the US, they didn't tell anyone until recently so they could use it without anyone knowing.
Something similar was done with Enigma. The fact that Enigma had been cracked was kept very quiet so that Enigma machines could be sold by the Brits to foreign governments after the war and we could listen in! News that we invented the World's first electronic computer was also kept secret for the same reason.
An interesting fact known to many bikers is that the current fine for not displaying a licence plate on a vehicle is only £20. Also, since it's a 'Construction and Use' offence and not a driving offence it doesn't add any penalty points to your driving licence. So if you're a biker going out for a blast take off the licence plate, stick it in your back pack, and "it fell off" should you get stopped by the police.
As I was driving to my parents' place today I listened to the radio. They were talking about a new art book for children. Apparently for the American market they removed the nudes. For the British market they removed any hunt images. Basically the UK parents don't want anything blood thirsty and the US parents don't want nakedness!
Because British police are generally not armed and because they will not generally come up against fire arms in their usual duties the bobby on the street will wear a vest which is better against knives. The firearms squads will wear ones that are better against bullets.
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...all the music I buy on CD is from indie labels. On the whole the major labels are totally formulaic and boring anyway. If there's anything I am interested I buy it from iTunes and download.
The problem is older artists and back catalogue. Or it was until I discovered this place. On Tuesday I received four more albums on lovely heavy weight vinyl which sounds wonderful on my audio and which is easy to rip with the right hardware.
One of my biggest gripes (and there are many) with the film is that the inteligent dialog was removed or dumbed down. HHGTTG was inteligent as well as funny. Hollywood doesn't get inteligent. Even their inteligent movies are, to be honest, quite simplistic. HHGTTG was just another case of this. This doesn't mean I'm averse to slapstick where its suitable but a slapstick HHGTTG is not HHGTTG its another movie.
Mos Def is *so* like someone from Guilford, Surrey!
And what's wrong with recording speeding offenses automatically?
Nothing provided they are being assessed sensibly.
60MPH on a motorway, at night, in freezing fog with a 10 metre visibility, is legal but very unsafe.
90MPH on a motorway, on a quiet Sunday morning, on a dry sunny summers day, is not legal but safe with a modern vehicle.
The thing with automatic systems is that they don't take in to account these things. A traffic cop can use his experience to decide whether someone is safe or not. In the end a traffic cop is there to ensure the safety of the roads and not actually whether the laws are being adhered to. (I know two traffic cops).
Cameras are fine for enforcing slow speed suburban streets just no where else.
One thing everyone seems to have missed is that with the move over to Intel they would probably like 'their' top Open Source developers to have appropriate hardware to develop on.
If you have minions/a slave you don't need a remote either. Just a long pointy stick.
On everything I've own over the last twenty years the button actually turns the device off. The remote puts it in to standby.
Completely off topic. Why have an eject button on a DVD remote? You still have to physically remove the disk!
Well I bought an iBook because it was powerful enough to do what I wanted it to do and because the PowerPC processor hardly needed the fan. Because it ran cooler than any of the x86s processors at the time (middle of last year) I could have a neat little A4 sized laptop which was slim and cool and quiet. I compare it with my work Dell laptop which weighs at least twice as much, is at least twice the volume and actually doesn't seem to be any quicker compiling the same (cross platform) code I develop. The styling and rather nice operating system are a bonus.
The Sylvester McCoy Doctor Who episode Remembrance of the Daleks had them levitating up the stairs almost twenty years ago.
They've been able to handle stairs for almost twenty years. Remembrance of the Daleks (Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor) had Dalek's levitating up the stairs.
I think that if you're talking about someone like Madonna then $1 a track is expensive. If you're talking about a band like say Edge Of Dawn then its not. I have friends in several bands. They do runs of a few thousand of their latest albums. They charge about $15 for the CD because that covers the cost of making the CD, duplicating, printing, studio time etc. and gives them a small amount of profit to upgrade/repair their equipment. They are technically professional musicians in so much as they get paid for their music but all of them have day jobs (even the ones on the Project Gotham Racing 3 soundtrack) and could never do it full time. In these cases $1 a track is insufficient.
No we don't. I buy blank media at a few cents each. $15 will buy a stack of fifty named brand printable CDs.
Is that the case in the UK? I thought in the UK, venues where public performances take place, pay a licence to cover the playing of music. The actual CDs played are no different from the ones played at home. I.e. it is the venue that is licenced and not the DJ or the music. This is why the whole thing is a little daft.
Linux is becoming as bloaty as Windows...
Jaguar? Weren't you just ripping on Ford?
X-type = Contour
S-Type = Lincoln LS
Actually...
X-Type = Mondeo floorpan, new metal work, jaguar suspension, jaguar modified Ford V6.
S-Type = Lincoln floorpan, new metal work, jaguar suspension, jaguar designed V8.
All of which are built in the UK.
Are you really telling me that this thing (3.9 litre, 280bhp V8) is the same as this? (4 litre, 400bhp supercharged V8 with a 0-60 of ~6 seconds).
They are not the same cars with just different metal work. US cars are generally asthmatic and drive like you're on jello. Ford may own Jaguar and admittedly some parts are shared (economy of scale) but there is a big difference between the models. You'll be saying an Aston Martin DB9 is the same as a Lincoln Town Car next. They are definitely not Ford Focuses or similar.
But Tivos have analog(ue) inputs!
Where's the DVB-T Tivo? Using a Tivo by the time I play it back content that has been originally recorded on analogue video will have been encoded by the TV company, transmitted as DVB-T, decoded to analogue, encoded by the Tivo, decoded by the Tivo and finally output to my TV. Surely it's better to just rip the stream on to a harddrive.
Next year, here in the UK, the BBC will be testing HD DVB-T via an Antenna. No subscription, just buy an appropriate terrestrial digital box. Or just hook a terrestrial digital tuner up to your Mac. No analog(ue) path what-so-ever.
The profitability of a company is not absolute, it's relative to the investment in that company. Sales volume is also not the holy grail. What's the good of selling millions of something at a 1% margin when you can sell thousands and a 25% margin. One of the most profitable companies I know makes very high end audio equipment. They have about eight employees and turn out one or two items a month. Do Apple want to compete with Dell or Gateway? BMW sell a lot of cars, but they sell far less than say Ford and yet BMW have far less troubles than Ford. I for one would not want to see Apple products getting cheaper and nastier just to get their sales volumes up.
Actually that's a real problem I have with the commercial world at the moment. Everything is moving to a common denominator. Nothing is really good, it's just good enough and cheap enough for the masses. Well I'm not the masses and it would not be great if Apple started selling cheap hardware that would run Windows. I bought an Apple because I liked the style, liked the functionality and liked OS-X. Linux is a pain because nothing quite completely works. Windows is just damn right horrible. I've used it since 1990 and it's never been intuitive.
My next car will be either a BMW or Jaguar Sports/Station Wagon/Estate car because I want a well built car which performs, is nice to drive, and can carry my german shepherd dog. Yes I can find cheaper cars but it wont be special.
The actual ipod itself isn't that great. No radio, no recording capability, built-in DRM. People who care and know what they're buying can do better for themselves elsewhere.
Typical anti-Apple tirade!
I develop consumer media devices for a living. I just bought myself a black 5G 60Gb iPod. Why? I needed a small portable harddrive to cart data around (which may include video files and so USB memory sticks are not sufficient). I wanted a media player which would work with all my machines (Apple, Linux, Windows). I wanted something that sounded pretty good. I wanted something that was reasonably well made. I wanted something that looked quite nice.
I bought an iPod because the DRM is only an issue which music purchased online. I still purchase most of my music in CD form and because of the type of music I like most is independent European labels. I can purchase a CD online and have it arrive a couple of days later. The contacts and calendar functionality is quite useful. The video is a bit of a gimmick but I can see myself using it when I use the train. I 'initialised' the iPod on my PC to get it in to Windows format. I use iTunes on my Mac to manage my music library but use open source software on my Linux development box at work to transfer music off of the iPod.
In fact there's nothing I can't do with it that I want to do, and there's nothing restrictive in its operation that affects me.
The export ban always made me laugh because it arrogantly assumed that no one outside of the US/Canada was capable of developing their own encryption technologies.
This is something that British Secret Services have used to their advantage. Public key encryption technologies were developed at GCHQ in the early 70s but unlike the US, they didn't tell anyone until recently so they could use it without anyone knowing.
Something similar was done with Enigma. The fact that Enigma had been cracked was kept very quiet so that Enigma machines could be sold by the Brits to foreign governments after the war and we could listen in! News that we invented the World's first electronic computer was also kept secret for the same reason.
Bugger!
An interesting fact known to many bikers is that the current fine for not displaying a licence plate on a vehicle is only £20. Also, since it's a 'Construction and Use' offence and not a driving offence it doesn't add any penalty points to your driving licence. So if you're a biker going out for a blast take off the licence plate, stick it in your back pack, and "it fell off" should you get stopped by the police.
As I was driving to my parents' place today I listened to the radio. They were talking about a new art book for children. Apparently for the American market they removed the nudes. For the British market they removed any hunt images. Basically the UK parents don't want anything blood thirsty and the US parents don't want nakedness!
Most people spend that time backing up code to personal computers or otherwise stealing IP belonging to the employer.
Doesn't everyone do that *before* they give notice?
Because British police are generally not armed and because they will not generally come up against fire arms in their usual duties the bobby on the street will wear a vest which is better against knives. The firearms squads will wear ones that are better against bullets.
Mod that funny! That is so right!