Ditto... XBMC plays it all... some content is local to the Xbox, but the vast majority arrives from either iTunes shares or Samba elsewhere on the network.
We also have the new dual tuner DVR HDTV box from Comcast in two rooms... 120GB each... it's great for recording shows and pausing live TV (even HDTV)... too bad you can't watch the shows that are stored on one box from another... that would be a sweet feature...
I've had a Comcast HDTV DVR box for over a month now... It's Motorola branded and I believe it has an 80GB drive...
It has USB on the front and rear, as well as DVI, optical and component outputs...
The quality of the picture and the controls are fantastic, the DVR (and live TV pause) quality are also outstanding... blows away Tivo by a huuuuuge margin even on the analog channels.
The amount that you can fit on the 80GB leaves something to be desired... I think it's only 10-20 hours for HDTV recording, but Hitachi has a 400GB drive out, so I'm guessing that soon enough it won't be an issue.
The only complaint is the method to select shows... you can browse your guide and hit the record button to schedule recordings, or you can search out shows @ specific times and record them... but you can't issue a blanket record statement that records a certain program any time it occurs on any (or even a specific) channel... which is something I miss from BeyondTV.
Another minor complaint... it would be nice to have a dual tuner setup (which Comcast says is on it's way) so that I can record something and watch something else (or more accurately, my roommate can record while I watch).
The box is relatively cheap, ~$8.50/mo... I say relatively, because that includes the equipment and "service" which Tivo/Replay/etc all require... and I get new equipment if this breaks and I get upgraded equipment when it becomes available if I want.
In regards to HDTV via cable (which is what this about)--
You do not get the multiple channels like you get over the air... for example, we have 3 available PBS stations in Boston (liberal state...) and each offers up to 4-5 shows at a time, but we only have the main HD channel from the largest station, none of the side channels. We're missing all the other HD channels from the area except for the bigger networks: CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX...
You also need to be extra careful about signal qualities... our HD channels will drop-out / break-apart while the other digital channels and the cable modem don't seem to notice... I don't know if this is an issue w/ the signal quality coming into my home, or an issue at the cable plant itself, but it can be annoying.
All in all, it beats rabbit years and 90% of the time the HD channels locally are just playing some garbage anyway... channels like HBO, SHO, STARZ, etc, are what make HDTV worth it... true 16:9 and 5.1 is kick ass... X-Men 2 looks much better then the DVD...
biased and doomed from the start...
on
The Ultimate MacDate
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
In an attempt to sound unbiased, the guy basically ruins the article...
The line that caught my eye:
$3000 for a top of the line G5 isn't a bargain regardless of what you compare it to.
Umm... it may not be a bargain per say, but it is most certainly on par with pre-built name brand x86 offerings... running quickly through the Dell configurator I was easily able to make a Dimension XPS hit >$3000 with similar RAM, HD, optical drives and software components selected...
Wait a minute... you bought a PC w/ 2 batts and they worked fine... no fires... Dell says/maybe/ they will catch fire... so here's two NEW batteries, plus ANOTHER two NEW battiees for your troubles...
Now same deal w/ the PSU... "oops, might be an issue, we've had x out of x^20 fail, so we're going to replace them all rather then risk a $1b lawsuit when some guys family burns up due to this thing"...
Although I know this isn't your point... A manual tranmission car could not have accelerated to 120 on it's own... so it's moot... push the clutch in, the engine will just rev out of control, probably hitting a rev limiter before redline, and you'll slow down on your own...
My Saturn will physically not let me shift into gears that would result in radical engine overspeed... you have to be going slower then 10mph, or at cycle 3-2-1 to get into 1st if you're moving. And doing 75 I was not able to put the shifter into 2nd gear position either...
I have friends who have quit jobs over games like Everquest... but they always bounce back... when they realize that they're broke, they go get another job.
Unlike other addictions, like hard drugs or cigarettes, there is no physical withdrawl process or health concern (other then getting pasty and fat)
Most of my friends who are heavy into games enjoy it, and are happy to play them... so they don't consider it an addiction, they consider it a hobby or a passion... Like a cyclist or runner who runs every day, and competes in events ever few months, etc, etc...
I suppose in some cases it might hurt familes, if a father or mother is so addicted to a game that they neglect their kids, but in that case there is obviously something more serious going on in that person's mind...
...and they can proudly state that they made out with approx. one-half the male component of the MSEE '96 and BSEE '97 class, all 400 of them... and that you should see a doctor about that burning sensation when you pee.
I'm just amazed that my original which should have been -1 Flamebait is (currently) a +5 Insightful...
Your dad votes... does he go to rallies at state houses protesting things? Does he start/join elaborate sit-ins for whatever cause is most popular this month? Does he get in people's faces when they take the opposite view?
Rather then just vote for something, these people get vocal and active, and start bitching in my face when I'm walking down the street.
I took a class in the evening a few summers ago when we first started this shit with Iraq (which I don't agree with)... and I had to listen to those hippie freaks chanting "No Blood for Oil"... Every day I had to get off the subway and walk past these retards, and everyday they'd scream in my ear about it as I passed them.
My point is NOT that these people don't have a right to an opinion or a vote, because they absolutely do. My point is that most of those people are out there chanting because they feel like it's fun and exciting... they're just following a leader... They have no real idea why we are there, or what the people in Iraq have to go through on a daily basis. The worst they know is when the homeless man actually talks back to them when they walk by him while trying to avert his gaze.
Ever watch that Penn & Teller show Bullshit on Showtime? He did a show that was DEAD ON for the mindset of these people. It was about environmentalism, but the idea was the same... the people were just willing to sign any petition or be against anything... it's a form of mob mentality, like when moron fans start tipping over cars and breaking everything in their path when their team loses (or worse if their team wins!)...
As for the fact that you work for MTV or whatever you said... sorry dude, didn't mean to shit on your company specifically. I know I'd be pissed if you started telling me how to flip the burgers at my job.
what the purpose of allowing snowmobiles in national parks is
I think it's acceptable in some parks not in all. You can't ride in all areas... ask a better question. A park isn't museum, it's also a recreational area.
what the point is behind conflict of interest stanzas in employment contracts
what do you think the point is?
ask him why we have a national oil reserve
We have a national oil reserve so that if the production of oil stops and there is a dire need for oil, we will have some. dire need does not include assholes w/ SUVs who are sick of paying $2/gal at the pump. It's dry friendly wells and a world war where real American's need to put their lives on the line in tanks, planes and boats to save your sorry ass while you sip a mochachino and debate which broadway play you liked better you noodle armed nancy pants.
Bush wasn't elected, he was appointed technically
According to the laws of this country Bush was elected. Get over it.
Meanwhile MTV has their bullshit voting campaigns where they brainwash millions of already-mindless american youths to vote a certain way...
I'd love to know (not with some bullshit poll, but with some cosmic brain that knows all or by asking god or something) what percentage of voting americans (or anyone) actually knows anything about the candidate they are voting for, except for what they've seen on TV commercials or other biased media?
How many go out and actually look at the record of this person's voting in the senate? Or the bills that this person vetoed/approved while in his last term? Or this persons personal actions in life? Bush has made some fuck-ups and so has Kerry... almost every politician has, because they're generally power hungry and assholes to boot.
You, sir, are lying. My D-Link DI-604 router works perfectly with Linux. In fact, I don't think I've ever even touched the configuration interface under Windows.
I think when he says "guaranteed to work only with Windows", he means that the manf. will only give a rats ass if your problems are under the Windows operating environment... i.e. it probably will work find w/ Linux... but if you encouter a problem, the manf. will tell you to go screw.
I had that problem w/ AT&T a while back... I had a linux machine and my cable modem went dead... they would NOT help me because I was running Linux despite the fact that the problem was lack of block sync between the modem and head-end, not my PC... so I hang up... called back, pretended that I was doing what the tech was asking me in Windows (i.e. clicking things and what not) and finally he said "Yes, I can see that we can not talk to your modem, so it's a problem on our end"
Moral of the story... it's too hard (and not cost effective) to script tech support shit for anything but Windows, so they only guarantee functionality w/ Windows.
But the parent read part of an article that said that they have a big middle class so he must be right!
China sucks... we have bombs... I say we use 'em.
Except then it'd be a pain to get all those cheap electronics... Taiwan will still be our bitch... we just them smart bomb thingamajigs to keep them safe while microwaving the others into submission.
Then we fat, evil Western Europeans and American's can sit on our piles of stuff and throw it up into the air while giggling.
If you eat nothing but cheeseburgers you will die because you are what you eat. Similarly a nation "is" what it's made of, which is it's citizens... if we're all cheeseburgers then our nation will die. It's ok for some of us to be cheeseburgers, but we need more oatmeals, carrots and other fiber... where the hell was I going with this? Oh right... lunch...
I say forget it... things will last long enough for us to die, at least wish we were dead... just don't have any kids.
A few weeks ago I looked at HP's website where they we offering a single XP box that had 4 keyboards/mice and monitors attached... it's purpose was to bring lower-cost IT to developing areas, etc, etc...
But it sounds like it might work well in your situation... it's running multiple machines from a single box, which means that you had fewer total machines to worry about.
and since the vast majority of users at a library will be looking up books via WWW gateway, browsing the web, or typing a report in Word, you don't have to worry about the speed.
I think you were asking a question that you expected a Windows answer to, but unfortunately you're asking slashdot, so you're going to get a bunch of cobbled together linux based solutions from most of these people.
How the fsck is a fertilized egg going to survive out in space? Or on some planet that it happens to land on?
More to the point, how can you say that it has a better chance of survival then a grown human being? Who presumably will be trained to deal with anticipated conditions and situations as well as be surrounded by technology developed specifically to ensure survival?
I think the parent is correct, we have a duty to ourselves and our collective knowledge base to get the hell outta this solar system just in case something goes wrong.
If we don't, and something does go wrong, then everything we've ever done or accomplished becomes dust.
Not that I want to drag politics into this... but it's a similar argument used against people who feel like any given nation should not have an army.
To be very simplistic: If you don't have an army, then if/when you need an army, you won't have an army, and quite possibily you will die / be taken over.
To that same token... if we don't constantly work on a means of getting out of this solar system, then if/when we have an immediate need to do it, we won't be able to.
"Let us not obfuscate the issue with false analogies to Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Lewis and Clark, or with visions of establishing a pleasant tourist resort on the planet Mars," van Allen suggests.
I think that space exploration is EXACTLY akin to Columbus, Magellan, etc...
Back when they left their ports most of them had no idea where they were going... had no "life support" in terms of food, supplies, etc... Just like space, if they were left without their ship and supplies they would die within a few hours, despite being surrounded by breathable air, etc, etc...
The only major difference between then and now is the issue that our current propulsion systems are unable to carry us the distances required in a short enough span of time to make meaningful use for the vast, vast, vast number of known star systems... where their journies ended in months, our journies would take hundreds of years at the current available rates of speed.
But what if they had had robot probes back in 1400's? Would Columbus have flown a probe over a small sliver of america, seen plants and maybe a few animals, but no cities/towns and concluded that it was populated with life, but no intelligent life?
I think that until our computers become as sophisticated, intelligent and creative as our own minds are, we still need the human brain involved in real time exploration out there... granted, it's down to just sight and some limited touch, when you're in a space suit but I think it's still worthwhile...
PS, when our computers DO become as sophisticated, intelligent and creative as our own minds we will have become obsolete and people like Van Allen will be ground up for use as lubricating slurry for the giant robot brains and bodies that will rule this planet.
Slashdot Mirror
Ditto... XBMC plays it all... some content is local to the Xbox, but the vast majority arrives from either iTunes shares or Samba elsewhere on the network.
We also have the new dual tuner DVR HDTV box from Comcast in two rooms... 120GB each... it's great for recording shows and pausing live TV (even HDTV)... too bad you can't watch the shows that are stored on one box from another... that would be a sweet feature...
I dunno... I'm still waiting for my internet enabled USB penis and vagina...
We can do text... voice... video... why not sex? It's just a matter of time...
Obviously, you'd like to do stuff with it like buy jet planes for your managers and little stickers and baseball caps for your engineers
It is frightening how accurate that is...
I've had a Comcast HDTV DVR box for over a month now... It's Motorola branded and I believe it has an 80GB drive...
It has USB on the front and rear, as well as DVI, optical and component outputs...
The quality of the picture and the controls are fantastic, the DVR (and live TV pause) quality are also outstanding... blows away Tivo by a huuuuuge margin even on the analog channels.
The amount that you can fit on the 80GB leaves something to be desired... I think it's only 10-20 hours for HDTV recording, but Hitachi has a 400GB drive out, so I'm guessing that soon enough it won't be an issue.
The only complaint is the method to select shows... you can browse your guide and hit the record button to schedule recordings, or you can search out shows @ specific times and record them... but you can't issue a blanket record statement that records a certain program any time it occurs on any (or even a specific) channel... which is something I miss from BeyondTV.
Another minor complaint... it would be nice to have a dual tuner setup (which Comcast says is on it's way) so that I can record something and watch something else (or more accurately, my roommate can record while I watch).
The box is relatively cheap, ~$8.50/mo... I say relatively, because that includes the equipment and "service" which Tivo/Replay/etc all require... and I get new equipment if this breaks and I get upgraded equipment when it becomes available if I want.
In regards to HDTV via cable (which is what this about)--
You do not get the multiple channels like you get over the air... for example, we have 3 available PBS stations in Boston (liberal state...) and each offers up to 4-5 shows at a time, but we only have the main HD channel from the largest station, none of the side channels. We're missing all the other HD channels from the area except for the bigger networks: CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX...
You also need to be extra careful about signal qualities... our HD channels will drop-out / break-apart while the other digital channels and the cable modem don't seem to notice... I don't know if this is an issue w/ the signal quality coming into my home, or an issue at the cable plant itself, but it can be annoying.
All in all, it beats rabbit years and 90% of the time the HD channels locally are just playing some garbage anyway... channels like HBO, SHO, STARZ, etc, are what make HDTV worth it... true 16:9 and 5.1 is kick ass... X-Men 2 looks much better then the DVD...
In an attempt to sound unbiased, the guy basically ruins the article...
The line that caught my eye:
$3000 for a top of the line G5 isn't a bargain regardless of what you compare it to.
Umm... it may not be a bargain per say, but it is most certainly on par with pre-built name brand x86 offerings... running quickly through the Dell configurator I was easily able to make a Dimension XPS hit >$3000 with similar RAM, HD, optical drives and software components selected...
Wait a minute... you bought a PC w/ 2 batts and they worked fine... no fires... Dell says /maybe/ they will catch fire... so here's two NEW batteries, plus ANOTHER two NEW battiees for your troubles...
Now same deal w/ the PSU... "oops, might be an issue, we've had x out of x^20 fail, so we're going to replace them all rather then risk a $1b lawsuit when some guys family burns up due to this thing"...
I'd say buy another Dell...
My Latitude CPx is like frankenstein at this point... very few parts are original...
But w/ the 3 year on-site Dell has always showed up within a day or two to fix it...
So on the one hand it breaks alot... on the other, they fix it as long as you pay for the contract...
Crossing my fingers... the 3 years expired 6 months ago and I haven't a problem... but that CPU fan is getting noisy...
My non-recalled 9364U was made in Thailand...
I have 2 more at home which are probably bursting into flames as we speak...
Although I know this isn't your point... A manual tranmission car could not have accelerated to 120 on it's own... so it's moot... push the clutch in, the engine will just rev out of control, probably hitting a rev limiter before redline, and you'll slow down on your own...
My Saturn will physically not let me shift into gears that would result in radical engine overspeed... you have to be going slower then 10mph, or at cycle 3-2-1 to get into 1st if you're moving. And doing 75 I was not able to put the shifter into 2nd gear position either...
I have friends who have quit jobs over games like Everquest... but they always bounce back... when they realize that they're broke, they go get another job.
Unlike other addictions, like hard drugs or cigarettes, there is no physical withdrawl process or health concern (other then getting pasty and fat)
Most of my friends who are heavy into games enjoy it, and are happy to play them... so they don't consider it an addiction, they consider it a hobby or a passion... Like a cyclist or runner who runs every day, and competes in events ever few months, etc, etc...
I suppose in some cases it might hurt familes, if a father or mother is so addicted to a game that they neglect their kids, but in that case there is obviously something more serious going on in that person's mind...
I'm deaf you insensitive clod!
the US will lose HANDS DOWN
One or two larger bombs and they are gone... we may lose a battle, but not the war.
Once this Jong guy dies we have a chance to turn them into a "normal" country like S. Korea...
...and they can proudly state that they made out with approx. one-half the male component of the MSEE '96 and BSEE '97 class, all 400 of them... and that you should see a doctor about that burning sensation when you pee.
I'm sure many women in say a yoga class view the token male as some guy trollin' for flexible chicks.
shit! they're on to me???
I'm the one in the back row eating a donut...
2^0 = 1
2^1 = 2
2^2 = 4
2^3 = 8
2^4 = 16
2^5 = 32
What's your point? Most CD drives don't actually read must faster then 24-32x anyway...
I'm just amazed that my original which should have been -1 Flamebait is (currently) a +5 Insightful...
Your dad votes... does he go to rallies at state houses protesting things? Does he start/join elaborate sit-ins for whatever cause is most popular this month? Does he get in people's faces when they take the opposite view?
Rather then just vote for something, these people get vocal and active, and start bitching in my face when I'm walking down the street.
I took a class in the evening a few summers ago when we first started this shit with Iraq (which I don't agree with)... and I had to listen to those hippie freaks chanting "No Blood for Oil"... Every day I had to get off the subway and walk past these retards, and everyday they'd scream in my ear about it as I passed them.
My point is NOT that these people don't have a right to an opinion or a vote, because they absolutely do. My point is that most of those people are out there chanting because they feel like it's fun and exciting... they're just following a leader... They have no real idea why we are there, or what the people in Iraq have to go through on a daily basis. The worst they know is when the homeless man actually talks back to them when they walk by him while trying to avert his gaze.
Ever watch that Penn & Teller show Bullshit on Showtime? He did a show that was DEAD ON for the mindset of these people. It was about environmentalism, but the idea was the same... the people were just willing to sign any petition or be against anything... it's a form of mob mentality, like when moron fans start tipping over cars and breaking everything in their path when their team loses (or worse if their team wins!)...
As for the fact that you work for MTV or whatever you said... sorry dude, didn't mean to shit on your company specifically. I know I'd be pissed if you started telling me how to flip the burgers at my job.
I use a laptop... when not in use, I shut the cover and it automatically suspends. I personally have no other PCs in my home that I use.
:)
I have a commerical dlink router... uses a small power brick...
I drive a piece of shit saturn w/ manual transmission that I curse on a semi-hourly basis.
I have those ghay 13w curly fluorescent bulbs all over the place...
I'm a hippocrate for many things, but not about this particular thing
what the purpose of allowing snowmobiles in national parks is
I think it's acceptable in some parks not in all. You can't ride in all areas... ask a better question. A park isn't museum, it's also a recreational area.
what the point is behind conflict of interest stanzas in employment contracts
what do you think the point is?
ask him why we have a national oil reserve
We have a national oil reserve so that if the production of oil stops and there is a dire need for oil, we will have some. dire need does not include assholes w/ SUVs who are sick of paying $2/gal at the pump. It's dry friendly wells and a world war where real American's need to put their lives on the line in tanks, planes and boats to save your sorry ass while you sip a mochachino and debate which broadway play you liked better you noodle armed nancy pants.
Bush wasn't elected, he was appointed technically
According to the laws of this country Bush was elected. Get over it.
Meanwhile MTV has their bullshit voting campaigns where they brainwash millions of already-mindless american youths to vote a certain way...
I'd love to know (not with some bullshit poll, but with some cosmic brain that knows all or by asking god or something) what percentage of voting americans (or anyone) actually knows anything about the candidate they are voting for, except for what they've seen on TV commercials or other biased media?
How many go out and actually look at the record of this person's voting in the senate? Or the bills that this person vetoed/approved while in his last term? Or this persons personal actions in life? Bush has made some fuck-ups and so has Kerry... almost every politician has, because they're generally power hungry and assholes to boot.
guaranteed to work only with Windows
You, sir, are lying. My D-Link DI-604 router works perfectly with Linux. In fact, I don't think I've ever even touched the configuration interface under Windows.
I think when he says "guaranteed to work only with Windows", he means that the manf. will only give a rats ass if your problems are under the Windows operating environment... i.e. it probably will work find w/ Linux... but if you encouter a problem, the manf. will tell you to go screw.
I had that problem w/ AT&T a while back... I had a linux machine and my cable modem went dead... they would NOT help me because I was running Linux despite the fact that the problem was lack of block sync between the modem and head-end, not my PC... so I hang up... called back, pretended that I was doing what the tech was asking me in Windows (i.e. clicking things and what not) and finally he said "Yes, I can see that we can not talk to your modem, so it's a problem on our end"
Moral of the story... it's too hard (and not cost effective) to script tech support shit for anything but Windows, so they only guarantee functionality w/ Windows.
150 K's? No dice. I won't settle for anything less then 150 G's.
But the parent read part of an article that said that they have a big middle class so he must be right!
China sucks... we have bombs... I say we use 'em.
Except then it'd be a pain to get all those cheap electronics... Taiwan will still be our bitch... we just them smart bomb thingamajigs to keep them safe while microwaving the others into submission.
Then we fat, evil Western Europeans and American's can sit on our piles of stuff and throw it up into the air while giggling.
If you eat nothing but cheeseburgers you will die because you are what you eat. Similarly a nation "is" what it's made of, which is it's citizens... if we're all cheeseburgers then our nation will die. It's ok for some of us to be cheeseburgers, but we need more oatmeals, carrots and other fiber... where the hell was I going with this? Oh right... lunch...
I say forget it... things will last long enough for us to die, at least wish we were dead... just don't have any kids.
"Aim a little lower"?
I'm already staring at their chest... maybe you should say aim a little higher?
<eddie murphy>It's just jokes baby!</e>
A few weeks ago I looked at HP's website where they we offering a single XP box that had 4 keyboards/mice and monitors attached... it's purpose was to bring lower-cost IT to developing areas, etc, etc...
But it sounds like it might work well in your situation... it's running multiple machines from a single box, which means that you had fewer total machines to worry about.
and since the vast majority of users at a library will be looking up books via WWW gateway, browsing the web, or typing a report in Word, you don't have to worry about the speed.
I think you were asking a question that you expected a Windows answer to, but unfortunately you're asking slashdot, so you're going to get a bunch of cobbled together linux based solutions from most of these people.
How the fsck is a fertilized egg going to survive out in space? Or on some planet that it happens to land on?
More to the point, how can you say that it has a better chance of survival then a grown human being? Who presumably will be trained to deal with anticipated conditions and situations as well as be surrounded by technology developed specifically to ensure survival?
I think the parent is correct, we have a duty to ourselves and our collective knowledge base to get the hell outta this solar system just in case something goes wrong.
If we don't, and something does go wrong, then everything we've ever done or accomplished becomes dust.
Not that I want to drag politics into this... but it's a similar argument used against people who feel like any given nation should not have an army.
To be very simplistic: If you don't have an army, then if/when you need an army, you won't have an army, and quite possibily you will die / be taken over.
To that same token... if we don't constantly work on a means of getting out of this solar system, then if/when we have an immediate need to do it, we won't be able to.
"Let us not obfuscate the issue with false analogies to Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Lewis and Clark, or with visions of establishing a pleasant tourist resort on the planet Mars," van Allen suggests.
I think that space exploration is EXACTLY akin to Columbus, Magellan, etc...
Back when they left their ports most of them had no idea where they were going... had no "life support" in terms of food, supplies, etc... Just like space, if they were left without their ship and supplies they would die within a few hours, despite being surrounded by breathable air, etc, etc...
The only major difference between then and now is the issue that our current propulsion systems are unable to carry us the distances required in a short enough span of time to make meaningful use for the vast, vast, vast number of known star systems... where their journies ended in months, our journies would take hundreds of years at the current available rates of speed.
But what if they had had robot probes back in 1400's? Would Columbus have flown a probe over a small sliver of america, seen plants and maybe a few animals, but no cities/towns and concluded that it was populated with life, but no intelligent life?
I think that until our computers become as sophisticated, intelligent and creative as our own minds are, we still need the human brain involved in real time exploration out there... granted, it's down to just sight and some limited touch, when you're in a space suit but I think it's still worthwhile...
PS, when our computers DO become as sophisticated, intelligent and creative as our own minds we will have become obsolete and people like Van Allen will be ground up for use as lubricating slurry for the giant robot brains and bodies that will rule this planet.