I haven't seen MouseHouse linked to by anyone, so I guess I'll have to do it. MouseHouse has a lot of stuff that the X-10 site seems to ignore (nice thermostats, for example).
There is also the 220/240v 50Hz equipment here. And yes, it's ex-spend-sive!
Another feature is the emphasis on Mac software (yeah, I know it's pretty much the same stuff, just wrapped different...) and hardware. PCI multi-port serial card, anyone?
One final thing -- and this is just opinion on my part -- I like the site design a lot better than X-10.com!!
Maintaining and supporting compatibility, not fragmentation
Returning some fruits of their labors to the community (too bad we can't get the WP source)
Providing a solid and recognized (ie: My boss will recognize "WordPerfect") office suite
Considering StrongARM support (!!!)
I've used WordPerfect for DOS (v 5.1) since it came out. I still use it. I know, I know, it's overkill for a text editor, but you can't beat what you really know! (Remember the 'reveal codes' feature? Very usefull!) Besides, it does everything I can ever think of needing -- take that, Micro$oft!
I briefly thought about working as a projectionist several years back -- it was something my father did when he was in college, and he loved it. Of course, things have changed. Now-a-days, the person running the projector is a "Projectionist/Manager" and there are only two or three of them in the building at a time. (This is coming from Showcase Cinemas in Connecticut)
These people are quite familiar with the operation, splicing, and showing of the films, but are frequently more concerned with the profit margins of their snack bar. They are in the projection booths just long enough to start the movie and walk to the next booth to start the next movie. These people are not necessarily paid very well -- seniority counts, don'tcha know.
Several people have made some very good points before me, such as:
The difficulty of handling the film correctly
The weight of the film
Knowing where to de-splice the film (If this isn't done right, it destroys the value of the print!!)
Getting a very bulky and obvious package out of a movie theater -- past surveillance cameras, yet!
These Projectionist/Managers are expected to make a reasonably automated theater work through a lot of their own sweat. There aren't the infamous "no-alone-zones" of military circles here, so it's very probable that a manager could have walked into the booth after the last showing of the evening, boxed up the film, and walked out with it later (perhaps in a mis-labeled set of film canisters), knowing all the time that he (or she) would run a very low risk of being discovered in the act!
I'd also point out that these would be the same persons who would know exactly where the cameras do and don't cover! They could also easily explain their fingerprints being in the projection booth, and on the film canisters, should they be recovered.
A final thought -- (In line with the earlier thread) this isn't something that can be stored for 20 years and then sold. Remember what happened to the original prints of Star Wars? They were in awful condition just due to age! The effort required to restore them after just 20 years was phenomenal. I suspect that whoever swiped this print either has a "business plan" or a buyer lined up already. Just having a print won't even be good for bragging rights...
"Hey, I have a print of Episode One!"
"Really, That's cool!!" [How much can I get for turning this yutz in...?]
About 5 years ago, I was in the USAF, and a friend described some research that he'd seen about a free-electron laser. It seems that electrons can be made to "surf" the output beam. I never saw anything myself, but this sounds strikingly similar to the effect he described.
Now, I have seen demonstrated microwave EMP devices that are capable of destroying electronics. (Discovery channel, I think) It was a semi-trailer sized device vs. a model helicopter -- fried the RC circuits. Helicopter stopped flying. Demonstrated Range: no more than 10 feet.
There are also "land mine" style EMP devices: Looks like a rubber cow pie with 4 ~18 inch antennae sticking out of it. 50Kv to the undercarriage of an auto, then no more computer. Car stops running, rolls to a stop. Anyone read their owner's manual lately? Most likely, it'll tell you to unplug the computer before doing any arc welding. Same thing! One caveat though: a car without a computer is immune!
Now, as to the range of this thing: "target up to 100 metres away..." If memory serves, 10Kv will initiate a 1 inch jump at STP (standard temperature and pressure). A meter is 39.37 inches, thus to cover 100 meters, that needs almost 40 million volts! Granted, not that difficult to generate, but definitely difficult to direct / control. This laser thingie must be really lowering the conductive resistance of the air if they say it can be built into a suitcase size at this time! What keeps the operator conscious?
Current taser and stun gun implementations operate at 30 - 50Kv. I think the frequency is rather high, on the order of 1000 Hz. Direct contact is required. The air-taser operates with nearly the same properties, the only exception being air-propelled, wire-trailing barbs that run the risk of attaching to your opponent. The police model is different only by the fact that it's propelled by.45 caliber blanks. Range for both models does not exceed ~30 feet.
The social effects of this device are definitely scary. We put a lot of criminals in jail on increased charges through "creative prosecution." Someone uses a car to intentionally kill someone -- it becomes (in addition to murder) "assault with a deadly weapon." What happens when the weapon is implicitly designed to be only incapacitating and nonlethal?
What about the Second Amendment implications? If organized government agencies can have them, then some citizens are going to want them "to protect themselves against government overzealousness." What then? Or will this be treated like automatic weapons? "The founding fathers didn't intend this, therefore only (pick your agency) will be eligible to receive them."
The criminal element is frequently characterized by cowardly actions. It takes a rare person to walk up to a victim with a stun gun, ZAP!, and the victim wakes up minus a wallet/purse. (Notice that you don't hear about this much?) The risk is that their intended victim will be similarly armed and (possibly) quicker on the draw.
Now, with this technology, a criminal will not have to close the distance to their victim, and thus will not risk being seen. I fear that this will make some criminals very much more bold.
(Tangent mode ON)
At the University of Connecticut in Storrs, there was an incident a few years ago where an individual entered a dorm, walked up to a male resident, and asked "Want a real buzz?" (Or some such nonsense). At that point he pressed a stun-gun into the victim's ribs, triggered it, and took off. The attacker was quickly mobbed by other residents. I expect that his stun-gun did little against an incensed mob, and he was quickly turned over to campus police.
This is the only time I've heard of offensive use of "energy weapons"
(Tangent mode OFF)
You see, there are stupid people out there. They do things like this, they stereotype Goths, nerds and geeks. Imagine the ruckus that would happen if the media started portraying each and every one of us as an armed and dangerous stun-rifle-toting maniac! I can honestly see things like this happening:
(Speaker: HS rent-a-cop, as he picks up a woozy and dazed student) Hey kid, I thought that flashlight was a weapon. You ought to know better!
(Older beat cop, nearing retirement) Sorry I had to stun ya. Here's your jaywalking ticket. (Victim, trying to catch breath)...why...did...you...? (Cop) You were trying to evande me! (Victim)..what...??? (Cop) You were walking away faster than I could!
Okay, perhaps I'm a bit paranoid. I just finished watching a series on when cops go bad... perhaps you caught it? No one is perfect, and it's very dangerous to put easily abused power into the hands of authority without any checks and balances. Sometimes I wish we would put as much energy into real problems as we put into weapons!
I was visiting my folks not too long back, and my father mentioned that he had thrown out the 5.25s that GEM had originally come on. I was disappointed, first because I had forgotten that we had a copy, and second because I have machines at work that have working 5.25 inch drives... I might have been able to rescue (and use!) the software.
I used to run GEM on a 10 MHz 286 with 1 MB of RAM! (Remember the IBM PS/2 Model 50?) I could make a boot floppy (3.5 in / 1.44 MB) with the complete graphical shell on it... Then I could mess with a HD -- move subdirectories, hidden files, etc. It was easier than DOS, and many times it was faster. Try doing that with windows!
Now, what about GEMwrite, GEMdraw, and their relatives? I remember a spreadsheet/graphing program called MicroGrafx (spelling?) It was straight-forward, but it did everything I needed as a high school student...
Back in those days, you expected to get extra credit for handing in an assignment that came out of a computer. Your teachers seemed to understand just how much extra work went into using DisplayWrite 3!
Fortunately, an upgrade to WordPerfect 5 followed after using DW3 for am amazingly short period of time... Know what? I still use it. It just goes to show you that upgrades aren't as important as M$ would have you believe!
I just downloaded QT4 (being the Star Wars nut that I am) and found that the trailer will not run all the way through. I would think that my hardware is sufficient (PIIx2/400, 128 MB PC100 SDRAM, UW SCSI)...but the OS is NT4 SP4.
I have encountered this problem before -- the solution then was to move the file to the NT boot drive and run it from there. Appears to be a bandwidth / caching issue. Now, this solution won't work. I can't even get it to work by streaming the file off my server (10 Mbit ethernet) -- another previous solution.
This isn't just the 25 MB trailer having problems -- it appears to be a Quicktime player problem. My other quicktime files experience the same problem. Does anyone know of a solution? Perhaps the (Quicktime?) settings need to be tweaked?
On the topic of trailer downloadsstarwars.countingdown has links to mirrors of this file. If someone is good enough to make a MPEG conversion, I have no doubts a link will show up there. Just so countingdown doesn't get/.ed (too badly), the mirrors (as of this writing) are: Mirror 1 Mirror 2 Mirror 3 Mirror 4
Somehow, I can't quite attribute this recent (past couple years) appearance of Microsoft hardware to Microsoft. I have a sneaking suspicion that somewhere out there is a company chained to a workbench cranking out things with a MS logo on them. I suppose that it could actually be a division of MS now, what with the "great satan's" tendency to swallow things whole...
Ever go to Radio Shack and notice the Casio calculators that have the Radio Shack logo on them? Just like the trend in cars for the last 10+ years... Chevy Nova = Toyota Corolla, Isuzu Rodeo = Honda Passport, never mind the Chevy/GMC thing... you get the point.
Microsoft has demonstrated a great appreciation for the talent of selling the intangible. That's what Mr. Gates really wants -- to sell nothing and get all your money for it. Owning manufacturing plants & their related trappings is risky and cuts into profits. "What if..?" this, "what if..?" that. Why bother?
In a classic example, 3Com does the Palm Pilot, and MS responds with... "nothing." MS lets a handful of other companies take the risk of actually competing with 3Com, while they simply re-tooled an existing OS that can be re-tasked (again) if it fails to meet sales expectations. MS has already sold WinCE licenses to the companies making the devices, so are they going to worry quite as much if sales are slow? (Yes, I know they'll get excited sooner or later...)
Back on the real topic, I like the concept of a wheel mouse. I have one, it just happens to be made by Logitech. Geez, it was less than half the price, and I like the shape a lot better. Great concept, though, and it appears to be hardware compatible (I use MS Intellipoint with another Logitech wheelmouse under NT at work. Logitech has no NT wheel drivers for some reason...)
The end point is this:
I expect that this thing will be a USB device. Not knowing what the specifics are for USB mice, I am afraid that MS will keep it proprietary, and therefore it will not work with Linux / Solaris / BeOS / your alternative OS of
choice. Just you try and get the chipset specifics out of Redmond! I am worried that the "optical sensor [that] captures images" will need PC processor horsepower and Microsoft's special-available-for-windows-only drivers (in addition to the DSP) to turn physical movement into virtual...thus increasing our dependence on faster and more expensive processors (and windows!)
In other news... What in the world is with this MS cordless phone, anyway? Right when they're supposed to be pushing USB, they come out with a serial peripheral?!?! What are these people smoking? In order to get full functionality, I have to leave my PC on 24 / 7? What do they think I'm smoking??
You know, now that I think of it, I'm surprised this hasn't come up before! There is a site out there in that great big internet that's dedicated to helping you prevent junk mail and advertising -- and not just the electronic kind!
The Site is called JunkBusters. They offer a proxy server that will enables a person to disallow access to certain sites -- like ad.doubleclick.net, thus the advertising, banners, and cookies don't get in! Nice feature.
This links to the proxy server page. It is distributed as freeware under the GNU GPL. C source and documentation are available.
In fact, their whole website (copyrighted though it is) is stated to be covered under the GNU GPL. I think they understand what they're saying, unlike VP Gore.
They also have a campaign going against the PIII ProcessorID 'feature'. (Radio collars! Step right up and get your ear tag and radio collar!!)
Every TV channel is allocated a certain slice of the spectrum. What we don't think about much is the fact that the current signal does not use the full allocation! HDTV will use the full allocated bandwidth, and is slated to replace(!!!) the current broadcast signals several years past 2000. (I don't know the exact date.)
What does this mean?
HDTV is digital, current broadcasts are analog. There is no compatability.
The FCC has given up on the idea of 'backward compatibility' in this case.
You will have to replace your TV, or purchase a receiver that'll feed an analog interpretation of the digital signal to your old TV
Manufacturers can no longer use the unused portion of the TV channel spectrum for medical telemetry.
This caused a problem in (Houston?) Texas when a HDTV broadcast test was performed. The local hospital's wireless medical telemetry equipment (heart monitors and the like) suddenly stopped functioning due to the obvious overwhelming interference!
Standards do get replaced. We don't use spark-gap transmitters for obvious reasons. Television is about to evolve, hopefully for the better. I just hope that we won't be getting up-close-and-personal with Dan Rather's pores.
Now, let's look at this from the cable company's point of view. Their carrying capacity is based on the currently used bandwidth, not the allocated bandwidth. When HDTV comes along, they're not going to be very enthusiastic about carrying these new, fatter signals. Remember, on one HDTV channel allocation, a station can transmit 3 'standard' (525 line) broadcasts or 1 'high-definition' broadcast. In Connecticut, TCI has their 'digital cable' offering. The channel numbers go all the way up to 800. Not by any stretch of the imagination are all of them used, but with HDTV clogging their pipes, the number of channels that they can offer will drop drastically. I don't think that TCI will be exactly happy to drop pay-per-view channels in order to transmit the 'new and improved' Public Broadcasting.
Slashdot Mirror
There is also the 220/240v 50Hz equipment here. And yes, it's ex-spend-sive!
Another feature is the emphasis on Mac software (yeah, I know it's pretty much the same stuff, just wrapped different...) and hardware. PCI multi-port serial card, anyone?
One final thing -- and this is just opinion on my part -- I like the site design a lot better than X-10.com!!
Maintaining and supporting compatibility, not fragmentation
Returning some fruits of their labors to the community (too bad we can't get the WP source)
Providing a solid and recognized (ie: My boss will recognize "WordPerfect") office suite
Considering StrongARM support (!!!)
I've used WordPerfect for DOS (v 5.1) since it came out. I still use it. I know, I know, it's overkill for a text editor, but you can't beat what you really know! (Remember the 'reveal codes' feature? Very usefull!) Besides, it does everything I can ever think of needing -- take that, Micro$oft!
These people are quite familiar with the operation, splicing, and showing of the films, but are frequently more concerned with the profit margins of their snack bar. They are in the projection booths just long enough to start the movie and walk to the next booth to start the next movie. These people are not necessarily paid very well -- seniority counts, don'tcha know.
Several people have made some very good points before me, such as:
The difficulty of handling the film correctly
The weight of the film
Knowing where to de-splice the film (If this isn't done right, it destroys the value of the print!!)
Getting a very bulky and obvious package out of a movie theater -- past surveillance cameras, yet!
These Projectionist/Managers are expected to make a reasonably automated theater work through a lot of their own sweat. There aren't the infamous "no-alone-zones" of military circles here, so it's very probable that a manager could have walked into the booth after the last showing of the evening, boxed up the film, and walked out with it later (perhaps in a mis-labeled set of film canisters), knowing all the time that he (or she) would run a very low risk of being discovered in the act!
I'd also point out that these would be the same persons who would know exactly where the cameras do and don't cover! They could also easily explain their fingerprints being in the projection booth, and on the film canisters, should they be recovered.
A final thought -- (In line with the earlier thread) this isn't something that can be stored for 20 years and then sold. Remember what happened to the original prints of Star Wars? They were in awful condition just due to age! The effort required to restore them after just 20 years was phenomenal. I suspect that whoever swiped this print either has a "business plan" or a buyer lined up already. Just having a print won't even be good for bragging rights...
"Hey, I have a print of Episode One!"
"Really, That's cool!!" [How much can I get for turning this yutz in...?]
Now, I have seen demonstrated microwave EMP devices that are capable of destroying electronics. (Discovery channel, I think) It was a semi-trailer sized device vs. a model helicopter -- fried the RC circuits. Helicopter stopped flying. Demonstrated Range: no more than 10 feet.
There are also "land mine" style EMP devices: Looks like a rubber cow pie with 4 ~18 inch antennae sticking out of it. 50Kv to the undercarriage of an auto, then no more computer. Car stops running, rolls to a stop. Anyone read their owner's manual lately? Most likely, it'll tell you to unplug the computer before doing any arc welding. Same thing! One caveat though: a car without a computer is immune!
Now, as to the range of this thing: "target up to 100 metres away..." If memory serves, 10Kv will initiate a 1 inch jump at STP (standard temperature and pressure). A meter is 39.37 inches, thus to cover 100 meters, that needs almost 40 million volts! Granted, not that difficult to generate, but definitely difficult to direct / control. This laser thingie must be really lowering the conductive resistance of the air if they say it can be built into a suitcase size at this time! What keeps the operator conscious?
Current taser and stun gun implementations operate at 30 - 50Kv. I think the frequency is rather high, on the order of 1000 Hz. Direct contact is required. The air-taser operates with nearly the same properties, the only exception being air-propelled, wire-trailing barbs that run the risk of attaching to your opponent. The police model is different only by the fact that it's propelled by .45 caliber blanks. Range for both models does not exceed ~30 feet.
The social effects of this device are definitely scary. We put a lot of criminals in jail on increased charges through "creative prosecution." Someone uses a car to intentionally kill someone -- it becomes (in addition to murder) "assault with a deadly weapon." What happens when the weapon is implicitly designed to be only incapacitating and nonlethal?
What about the Second Amendment implications? If organized government agencies can have them, then some citizens are going to want them "to protect themselves against government overzealousness." What then? Or will this be treated like automatic weapons? "The founding fathers didn't intend this, therefore only (pick your agency) will be eligible to receive them."
The criminal element is frequently characterized by cowardly actions. It takes a rare person to walk up to a victim with a stun gun, ZAP!, and the victim wakes up minus a wallet/purse. (Notice that you don't hear about this much?) The risk is that their intended victim will be similarly armed and (possibly) quicker on the draw.
Now, with this technology, a criminal will not have to close the distance to their victim, and thus will not risk being seen. I fear that this will make some criminals very much more bold.
(Tangent mode ON)
At the University of Connecticut in Storrs, there was an incident a few years ago where an individual entered a dorm, walked up to a male resident, and asked "Want a real buzz?" (Or some such nonsense). At that point he pressed a stun-gun into the victim's ribs, triggered it, and took off. The attacker was quickly mobbed by other residents. I expect that his stun-gun did little against an incensed mob, and he was quickly turned over to campus police.
This is the only time I've heard of offensive use of "energy weapons"
(Tangent mode OFF)
You see, there are stupid people out there. They do things like this, they stereotype Goths, nerds and geeks. Imagine the ruckus that would happen if the media started portraying each and every one of us as an armed and dangerous stun-rifle-toting maniac! I can honestly see things like this happening:
(Older beat cop, nearing retirement) Sorry I had to stun ya. Here's your jaywalking ticket.
(Victim, trying to catch breath)...why...did...you...?
(Cop) You were trying to evande me!
(Victim)..what...???
(Cop) You were walking away faster than I could!
Okay, perhaps I'm a bit paranoid. I just finished watching a series on when cops go bad... perhaps you caught it? No one is perfect, and it's very dangerous to put easily abused power into the hands of authority without any checks and balances. Sometimes I wish we would put as much energy into real problems as we put into weapons!
I used to run GEM on a 10 MHz 286 with 1 MB of RAM! (Remember the IBM PS/2 Model 50?) I could make a boot floppy (3.5 in / 1.44 MB) with the complete graphical shell on it... Then I could mess with a HD -- move subdirectories, hidden files, etc. It was easier than DOS, and many times it was faster. Try doing that with windows!
Now, what about GEMwrite, GEMdraw, and their relatives? I remember a spreadsheet/graphing program called MicroGrafx (spelling?) It was straight-forward, but it did everything I needed as a high school student...
Back in those days, you expected to get extra credit for handing in an assignment that came out of a computer. Your teachers seemed to understand just how much extra work went into using DisplayWrite 3!
Fortunately, an upgrade to WordPerfect 5 followed after using DW3 for am amazingly short period of time... Know what? I still use it. It just goes to show you that upgrades aren't as important as M$ would have you believe!
I have encountered this problem before -- the solution then was to move the file to the NT boot drive and run it from there. Appears to be a bandwidth / caching issue. Now, this solution won't work. I can't even get it to work by streaming the file off my server (10 Mbit ethernet) -- another previous solution.
This isn't just the 25 MB trailer having problems -- it appears to be a Quicktime player problem. My other quicktime files experience the same problem. Does anyone know of a solution? Perhaps the (Quicktime?) settings need to be tweaked?
On the topic of trailer downloads starwars.countingdown has links to mirrors of this file. If someone is good enough to make a MPEG conversion, I have no doubts a link will show up there. Just so countingdown doesn't get /.ed (too badly), the mirrors (as of this writing) are: Mirror 1 Mirror 2 Mirror 3 Mirror 4
Ever go to Radio Shack and notice the Casio calculators that have the Radio Shack logo on them? Just like the trend in cars for the last 10+ years... Chevy Nova = Toyota Corolla, Isuzu Rodeo = Honda Passport, never mind the Chevy/GMC thing... you get the point.
Microsoft has demonstrated a great appreciation for the talent of selling the intangible. That's what Mr. Gates really wants -- to sell nothing and get all your money for it. Owning manufacturing plants & their related trappings is risky and cuts into profits. "What if..?" this, "what if..?" that. Why bother?
In a classic example, 3Com does the Palm Pilot, and MS responds with... "nothing." MS lets a handful of other companies take the risk of actually competing with 3Com, while they simply re-tooled an existing OS that can be re-tasked (again) if it fails to meet sales expectations. MS has already sold WinCE licenses to the companies making the devices, so are they going to worry quite as much if sales are slow? (Yes, I know they'll get excited sooner or later...)
Back on the real topic, I like the concept of a wheel mouse. I have one, it just happens to be made by Logitech. Geez, it was less than half the price, and I like the shape a lot better. Great concept, though, and it appears to be hardware compatible (I use MS Intellipoint with another Logitech wheelmouse under NT at work. Logitech has no NT wheel drivers for some reason...)
The end point is this:
In other news... What in the world is with this MS cordless phone, anyway? Right when they're supposed to be pushing USB, they come out with a serial peripheral?!?! What are these people smoking? In order to get full functionality, I have to leave my PC on 24 / 7? What do they think I'm smoking??
Ah, that's enough ranting for one night.
The Site is called JunkBusters. They offer a proxy server that will enables a person to disallow access to certain sites -- like ad.doubleclick.net, thus the advertising, banners, and cookies don't get in! Nice feature.
This links to the proxy server page. It is distributed as freeware under the GNU GPL. C source and documentation are available.
In fact, their whole website (copyrighted though it is) is stated to be covered under the GNU GPL. I think they understand what they're saying, unlike VP Gore.
They also have a campaign going against the PIII ProcessorID 'feature'. (Radio collars! Step right up and get your ear tag and radio collar!!)
What does this mean?
- HDTV is digital, current broadcasts are analog. There is no compatability.
- The FCC has given up on the idea of 'backward compatibility' in this case.
- You will have to replace your TV, or purchase a receiver that'll feed an analog interpretation of the digital signal to your old TV
- Manufacturers can no longer use the unused portion of the TV channel spectrum for medical telemetry.
Standards do get replaced. We don't use spark-gap transmitters for obvious reasons. Television is about to evolve, hopefully for the better. I just hope that we won't be getting up-close-and-personal with Dan Rather's pores.This caused a problem in (Houston?) Texas when a HDTV broadcast test was performed. The local hospital's wireless medical telemetry equipment (heart monitors and the like) suddenly stopped functioning due to the obvious overwhelming interference!
Now, let's look at this from the cable company's point of view. Their carrying capacity is based on the currently used bandwidth, not the allocated bandwidth. When HDTV comes along, they're not going to be very enthusiastic about carrying these new, fatter signals. Remember, on one HDTV channel allocation, a station can transmit 3 'standard' (525 line) broadcasts or 1 'high-definition' broadcast. In Connecticut, TCI has their 'digital cable' offering. The channel numbers go all the way up to 800. Not by any stretch of the imagination are all of them used, but with HDTV clogging their pipes, the number of channels that they can offer will drop drastically. I don't think that TCI will be exactly happy to drop pay-per-view channels in order to transmit the 'new and improved' Public Broadcasting.