I bought a logitech wireless mouse/keyboard and the mouse (optical wheel mouse) works just fine with OS/X. It works exactly as you would expect. (Ok, except maybe clicking the scroll wheel.. but then, I find that hard to do anyway!)
In Manitoba we call those divots potholes and we aren't sure why they exist...
Seriously they can't figure out how to build a road that doesn't go all to hell in 2 years here. I'll take the roads in B.C. over Manitoba any day of the week. Even if it used to be known as 'killer highway' and various other names...
I've installed the Google toolbar on a couple of machines. Functionally it is similar to some spyware, but all the information is disclosed upfront, it is possible to remove it, and there is nothing untoward going on.
Other, similar programs misstate, or mislead, even if they offer similar functionality.
I would not consider Google toolbar to be spy-ware, and would hate to see an ignorant user install it, then claim 6 months later they didn't know what it was doing and sue them for installing spyware.
If Tivo went out of Business a certain collection of software, currently accessable to those outside the United States would become available. The software works quite well today and most, if not all Tivo owners would be satisfied with it. You simply install it on your PC and have your Tivo contact your pc instead of calling home.
Re:Waiting for this Slashdot headline...
on
HDTV TiVo Now Shipping
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· Score: 4, Informative
Whatever the over-all reason, the ones you've described aren't them.
A tivo in Canada can generally call a local number to contact Tivo. No hacking of any required for it. There are local numbers in all major cities. I believe they contracted with UUNet, but whatever.
The IR Software works just fine with my Digital cable box. Canada uses pretty much the same electronics as the United States. There may be the odd difference, but it is the exception, not the rule.
I believe Tivo gets their guide data from Tribune, which, in my case is the source for Zap2It.com which is my source for tv listings.
The only technical issue with a Tivo in Canada that I can see is that we do not have zip-codes, instead we have Postal Codes, and this does complicate things a little on configuraing a Tivo, but the changes were made to support Tivo in the UK, so even those software changes are not a big deal.
The only real issue that could be holding Tivo out of the Canadian market is French language issues. Anything else has to be political issues.
Re:Waiting for this Slashdot headline...
on
HDTV TiVo Now Shipping
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· Score: 2, Informative
Just buy a regular Tivo and check out tivocanada.com.
I have a Series 2 working quite well (98%). HMO option is the only issue outstanding.
I did pay for the lifetime subscription, I had no intentions of ripping Tivo off, I just wanted a working PVR. They get their money, and I get my PVR. I looks like I may, down the road, have to pay Zap2It for tv listings, but right now atleast they are free. (And they now support a direct data option, no more webpage scraping).
[note fatal issues: HMO option (which I bought) is nice, but has a timeout if the unit doesn't call home, so far the methods to get the guide, etc, don't deal with that, so I have to have the unit actually call home, or that function stops working.). Currently there are no 'movies'. The category doesn't work, known bug and will get fixed.]
I suspect the largest cause of stress in the IT industry is the self-analysis done by people having little respect for what they do.
We think it is easy. Deadlines are set by people who think it is easy and can be done quickly. We think End-Users are dumb because, "it's easy".
It isn't easy. It takes time. And satisfying the end-user is far more pleasant than satisfying a deadline.
Some of my friends, and family think my job shouldn't be causing me stress. Heck, I don't even work overtime. (I work as a Programmer/Analyst.) My biggest cause of stress? Me. I want the project to work right the first time around. I want it to be within the deadline. I want it to satisfy the users actual requirements, not their stated requirements and I'm never given enough information to do all the above the first time around. Long before the project, whatever it is, is used by end users enough to give feedback on issues and problems I get a new project with a high priority and won't see the prior project (for fixes, screen changes, process issues, etc turned up by the user in the first day) for 3 weeks[or more], which is long after I've changed mental gears.
I'm using my Tivo in Canada, with Guide data, and it isn't scraped off a website. It's queried via SOAP, and XML technologies.
Re:The color is fine. Brightness is the problem
on
The Blues for LEDs
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· Score: 1
My Girlfriend bought a DVD player about a year and a half ago, it's one of the 'cheap' ones. Plays anything and works well.
The only complaint? The Blue LED light on either side of the disc tray. They always glow. Does not matter what mode the player is in, it glows forever. They are bright and annoying. We've considered opening the unit up and replacing the LEDs.
If you actually read the website you point too the author mentioned that, for a miniDV cam a pole, with a mount, and weight on it is "superior" to the commercial offerings.
The main reason for the larger, more complicated contraptions is the mass of the camera.
The further amusing detail is, contrary to a few U.S. senators opinions, you do not pass through Canadian security before enter the United States. Each country handles it's own security for people entering.
(Yes, I realize they had to enter Canada somehow as well, but I am sure the U.S. doesn't share much of it's data with us in regards to terrorists...)
Check out a Cirque Du Soleil DVD sometime, my GF has one of them (Alegria?) and the multiangle option is used well, you can view the different performances which are occuring at the same time from significantly different angles.
Basically they are providing a device which can fit in your pocket and can be used to clone a number of cards per day.
THen you image a temporary card and use it to create a new card using more traditional device. But you get to do that in the privacy of your own home.
I really wish we would switch to Smart Cards in North America. A single smartcard standard would solve most of the problems. (even if 2 standards were used, one for loyalty cards, 1 for monetary cards.). (heck, a double headed card would solve that issue too.)
Oh, I'm sure you feel thats why you still have a job.
But it is simple justification after the fact.
It's like the guy standing amongst a crowd of people, half die from some bizzar accident. The ones that live either: spend the next 20 years asking themselves how they survived when others didn't and feeling guilty, or spend the next 20 years telling everyone they deserved to live and they have a destiny.
typically the correct answer is neither. Random chance, luck of the draw, fluke.
But hey, maybe your the exception and the company you work for actually is trying to retain the people it needs... but I doubt it.
Unfortunately useless with lossy audio codecs. The moment a frequency, or range is dropped the wave form is significantly different than when it started, even if that frequency (say 22Khz) can't be heard in the music.
You could do a fourier analysis and get the frequencies / phase, but how do you visually compare these when they could be significantly different but sound virtually identical. (and which one is more pleasing and less distracting)
I'm waiting for audiophiles to start comparing and critiquing loss-less audio codecs based on sound quality.
PointCast was a horrible implementation of the idea, but functionally 'identical'. ('push' never was 'push', and PointCast happened to be the agregator. The basic feed and premise was RSS based.
Lets see, Microsoft add 3D acceleration to VPC.. hmm, how hard could it be? Get the current drivers from the video card manufacturers for the Mac and re-write them for the specific card they care about. (which in this case is a single card from ATI (as a base for the next generation anyway), or even from scratch... and add an interface between VPC and the binary/native drivers for 3D... My guess, less than 6 months worth of work. Hardly a significant part of the challenge of designing and developing a game console platform.
They have all the necessary source code to do it already with DirectX; they would just have to deal with endian issues (how much of directX was ever cross-platform with NT?)
It made little sense for MS to buy VPC, except to kill the product and they (so far) haven't done that. I think it makes far more sense to judge the purchase as an advanced move for the x-box 2 platform, and if thats the case I expect they will atleast try to reach a goal of backwards compatibility.
The really scary thought, for Intel anyway, is they might actually intend VPC to be for NEW games. (not likely, but...) The biggest problem for game companies is getting people up to speed on the new and typically unique processors they use. They could sidestep the issue significantly be using VPC for x86 code for the basic game and having a native code layer for those things requiring higher speed. I think it is a bit insulting to Intel though...
Under windows the first thing I do is disable all the visual effects. On all but the fastest systems they cause performance issues, and if there are any bugs in the video drivers the visual effects tend to trip them.
I haven't disabled any of the visual effects on my Mac. The majority of them enhance the experience and None of them show signs of the issues I have seen under windows.
My, non-detailed, understanding of the interface on the Mac for the GUI is the CPU composes the 2D image and then puts it out to the video card as a texture. Once it is a texture it can do anything to the image and it is quite quick, scale it, move the window around, etc.
The worst case scenario for the Mac is video, or scrolling a large window; and neither of them show significant issues anyway.
I have a 1.6Ghz G5 , and a 2.4Ghz Pentium 4 system. Both with Nvidia graphics cards, the only thing that seems faster (interface wise) on the Windows XP box is scrolling.
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I bought a logitech wireless mouse/keyboard and the mouse (optical wheel mouse) works just fine with OS/X. It works exactly as you would expect. (Ok, except maybe clicking the scroll wheel.. but then, I find that hard to do anyway!)
In Manitoba we call those divots potholes and we aren't sure why they exist...
Seriously they can't figure out how to build a road that doesn't go all to hell in 2 years here. I'll take the roads in B.C. over Manitoba any day of the week. Even if it used to be known as 'killer highway' and various other names...
Cold? Not really, I mean, not now.. but the recent snowfall (as in occurring as we speak!) is a bit of a downer.
Oh well, at-least it isn't -40 any more.
I've installed the Google toolbar on a couple of machines. Functionally it is similar to some spyware, but all the information is disclosed upfront, it is possible to remove it, and there is nothing untoward going on.
Other, similar programs misstate, or mislead, even if they offer similar functionality.
I would not consider Google toolbar to be spy-ware, and would hate to see an ignorant user install it, then claim 6 months later they didn't know what it was doing and sue them for installing spyware.
If Tivo went out of Business a certain collection of software, currently accessable to those outside the United States would become available. The software works quite well today and most, if not all Tivo owners would be satisfied with it. You simply install it on your PC and have your Tivo contact your pc instead of calling home.
Whatever the over-all reason, the ones you've described aren't them.
A tivo in Canada can generally call a local number to contact Tivo. No hacking of any required for it. There are local numbers in all major cities. I believe they contracted with UUNet, but whatever.
The IR Software works just fine with my Digital cable box. Canada uses pretty much the same electronics as the United States. There may be the odd difference, but it is the exception, not the rule.
I believe Tivo gets their guide data from Tribune, which, in my case is the source for Zap2It.com which is my source for tv listings.
The only technical issue with a Tivo in Canada that I can see is that we do not have zip-codes, instead we have Postal Codes, and this does complicate things a little on configuraing a Tivo, but the changes were made to support Tivo in the UK, so even those software changes are not a big deal.
The only real issue that could be holding Tivo out of the Canadian market is French language issues. Anything else has to be political issues.
Just buy a regular Tivo and check out tivocanada.com.
I have a Series 2 working quite well (98%). HMO option is the only issue outstanding.
I did pay for the lifetime subscription, I had no intentions of ripping Tivo off, I just wanted a working PVR. They get their money, and I get my PVR. I looks like I may, down the road, have to pay Zap2It for tv listings, but right now atleast they are free.
(And they now support a direct data option, no more webpage scraping).
[note fatal issues: HMO option (which I bought) is nice, but has a timeout if the unit doesn't call home, so far the methods to get the guide, etc, don't deal with that, so I have to have the unit actually call home, or that function stops working.).
Currently there are no 'movies'. The category doesn't work, known bug and will get fixed.]
I suspect the largest cause of stress in the IT industry is the self-analysis done by people having little respect for what they do.
We think it is easy. Deadlines are set by people who think it is easy and can be done quickly. We think End-Users are dumb because, "it's easy".
It isn't easy. It takes time. And satisfying the end-user is far more pleasant than satisfying a deadline.
Some of my friends, and family think my job shouldn't be causing me stress. Heck, I don't even work overtime. (I work as a Programmer/Analyst.) My biggest cause of stress? Me. I want the project to work right the first time around. I want it to be within the deadline. I want it to satisfy the users actual requirements, not their stated requirements and I'm never given enough information to do all the above the first time around.
Long before the project, whatever it is, is used by end users enough to give feedback on issues and problems I get a new project with a high priority and won't see the prior project (for fixes, screen changes, process issues, etc turned up by the user in the first day) for 3 weeks[or more], which is long after I've changed mental gears.
Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.
I'm using my Tivo in Canada, with Guide data, and it isn't scraped off a website. It's queried via SOAP, and XML technologies.
My Girlfriend bought a DVD player about a year and a half ago, it's one of the 'cheap' ones. Plays anything and works well.
The only complaint? The Blue LED light on either side of the disc tray. They always glow. Does not matter what mode the player is in, it glows forever. They are bright and annoying. We've considered opening the unit up and replacing the LEDs.
I still trying to figure out what constitutes pollution in an environment that is so hostile to life.
If you actually read the website you point too the author mentioned that, for a miniDV cam a pole, with a mount, and weight on it is "superior" to the commercial offerings.
The main reason for the larger, more complicated contraptions is the mass of the camera.
The further amusing detail is, contrary to a few U.S. senators opinions, you do not pass through Canadian security before enter the United States. Each country handles it's own security for people entering.
(Yes, I realize they had to enter Canada somehow as well, but I am sure the U.S. doesn't share much of it's data with us in regards to terrorists...)
People who realize vi isn't the answer to the worlds ills.
X windows sucks.
Windows sucks.
GUIs are kind-of nice. But after you eliminate those two, what are you left with? QNX? get real. OS/X it is.
I can use my old Unix utilities, or I can use a nice GUI tool when it's applicable.
get a Firewire (or USB 2.0) based drive. Not perfect since you'd have to run a cable, but it would be workable.
Check out a Cirque Du Soleil DVD sometime, my GF has one of them (Alegria?) and the multiangle option is used well, you can view the different performances which are occuring at the same time from significantly different angles.
Thats was exactly my first thought.
This device makes the problem worse, not better.
Basically they are providing a device which can fit in your pocket and can be used to clone a number of cards per day.
THen you image a temporary card and use it to create a new card using more traditional device. But you get to do that in the privacy of your own home.
I really wish we would switch to Smart Cards in North America. A single smartcard standard would solve most of the problems. (even if 2 standards were used, one for loyalty cards, 1 for monetary cards.). (heck, a double headed card would solve that issue too.)
Bull shit.
Oh, I'm sure you feel thats why you still have a job.
But it is simple justification after the fact.
It's like the guy standing amongst a crowd of people, half die from some bizzar accident. The ones that live either: spend the next 20 years asking themselves how they survived when others didn't and feeling guilty, or spend the next 20 years telling everyone they deserved to live and they have a destiny.
typically the correct answer is neither. Random chance, luck of the draw, fluke.
But hey, maybe your the exception and the company you work for actually is trying to retain the people it needs... but I doubt it.
Your spending your time creating quality work at a company that is downsizing.
Don't know about the company you work for, but when I worked for a company like that quality work wouldn't save anybody. Politics does.
sad but true.
Unfortunately useless with lossy audio codecs. The moment a frequency, or range is dropped the wave form is significantly different than when it started, even if that frequency (say 22Khz) can't be heard in the music.
You could do a fourier analysis and get the frequencies / phase, but how do you visually compare these when they could be significantly different but sound virtually identical. (and which one is more pleasing and less distracting)
I'm waiting for audiophiles to start comparing and critiquing loss-less audio codecs based on sound quality.
I have never used a machine quieter than my G5. (non-Dual admitedly). A single powersupply fan in your average PC makes more noise.
This guy either has a defective G5 or a bad setup for recording sound.
Firewire isn't auto-detect? huh?
I plug in my Camera and it is automatically detected, I plug in either of my Firewire HDs and they are automounted...
Actually it is exactly like PointCast.
But shhhh, don't tell anyone.
PointCast was a horrible implementation of the idea, but functionally 'identical'. ('push' never was 'push', and PointCast happened to be the agregator. The basic feed and premise was RSS based.
Lets see, Microsoft add 3D acceleration to VPC.. hmm, how hard could it be? Get the current drivers from the video card manufacturers for the Mac and re-write them for the specific card they care about. (which in this case is a single card from ATI (as a base for the next generation anyway), or even from scratch... and add an interface between VPC and the binary/native drivers for 3D... My guess, less than 6 months worth of work. Hardly a significant part of the challenge of designing and developing a game console platform.
They have all the necessary source code to do it already with DirectX; they would just have to deal with endian issues (how much of directX was ever cross-platform with NT?)
It made little sense for MS to buy VPC, except to kill the product and they (so far) haven't done that. I think it makes far more sense to judge the purchase as an advanced move for the x-box 2 platform, and if thats the case I expect they will atleast try to reach a goal of backwards compatibility.
The really scary thought, for Intel anyway, is they might actually intend VPC to be for NEW games. (not likely, but...) The biggest problem for game companies is getting people up to speed on the new and typically unique processors they use. They could sidestep the issue significantly be using VPC for x86 code for the basic game and having a native code layer for those things requiring higher speed. I think it is a bit insulting to Intel though...
Under windows the first thing I do is disable all the visual effects. On all but the fastest systems they cause performance issues, and if there are any bugs in the video drivers the visual effects tend to trip them.
I haven't disabled any of the visual effects on my Mac. The majority of them enhance the experience and None of them show signs of the issues I have seen under windows.
My, non-detailed, understanding of the interface on the Mac for the GUI is the CPU composes the 2D image and then puts it out to the video card as a texture. Once it is a texture it can do anything to the image and it is quite quick, scale it, move the window around, etc.
The worst case scenario for the Mac is video, or scrolling a large window; and neither of them show significant issues anyway.
I have a 1.6Ghz G5 , and a 2.4Ghz Pentium 4 system. Both with Nvidia graphics cards, the only thing that seems faster (interface wise) on the Windows XP box is scrolling.