What will be interesting to see is when the Power Macs will have PCI-X and Blu-Ray.
I think someone else has already correction your confusion about PCI-X and PCIe, so I'll comment on the Blu-Ray thingy. Sony has been making noises about helping avoid the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, so I think Apple would be making a _huge_ mistake going with Blu-Ray just as Sony's about to cave. Let's hope they're not that dumb, and that they simply use NEC's dual layer DVD+-RW drives.
Okay, while we're on the audio topic - does anyone know of any car stereos that have a CompactFlash slot, or some other type of flash memory slot? I think Sony made some with MemoryStick slots, but I'm not sure they're doing that, anymore. It's hard to tell since they've ceded their car stereo section to Crutchfield's website (no kidding).
If Joe random developer creates some binary file/network protocol should they be "forced" to open it up. Or is this just one of the "But it's Microsoft" arguments?
Yes, I think Joe Random Developer _should_ be forced to open that up if he's selling software that uses it. Letting people make their own rational purchasing devisions would be a great idea if people were rational.
Since the Western world has pretty much settled on MS applications, if you want to do business, you're going to need to be able to exchange documents easily. If you want to get a freakin' JOB, you have to know how to use MS apps. So in many cases, you DO have to buy their technology. Rather like the smoking in bars debate, sure, you can be a waitress somewhere else where there's no smoking allowed, but why should you have to find another job?
Let's put it this way: It's like if I put my money in a bank; I have the not unreasonable expectation that if I want to change banks, all I have to do is remove my money and go to another one. Not so when you put your data into some MS applications. That particular bank doesn't want you removing your money; you can only manipulate it from within that bank. And if you try to use another bank to access your money, it often comes out looking kinda funky, and thus not being entirely useful.
MS shouldn't be forced to open any application source code, but _should_ be forced to have open file formats. They can 'innovate' all they want, but their customers shouldn't be locked into their software. IMO, of course.
The 4400 is more of a miniseries, I suppose, but it's coming back for more episodes. It's about 4400 human alien abductees returned to Earth. They're from several different time periods, but none has aged, so some have to deal with very short spans of being gone, some with much longer. Each starts to find out they've been changed, and each now has a particular ability they didn't have before. Very interesting.
Regenesis - seems to be a Canadian show (I get it online, not sure of it's origin), about a group of biohazard response team scientists. Nifty stuff.
re: LEXX
I guess I'm a sucker for a storyline, I just can't get into LEXX.
re: Farscape criticism
I liked that the characters were very obviously alien (except, of course, for the Peacekeepers), and I liked the early tense camaraderie the show had, but eventually they all seemed to dislike each other too much, and distrust each other too much, and I just didn't find it as fun, though it was still well-made.
Sliders was a good concept, but went downhill fast. The idea that those characters would so often be important people in alternate worlds was a bit too much, and the replacement of the entire cast just became way too much for the show to continue. Once you get rid of Sabrina Lloyd, you are DEAD to me as a show. DEAD.
Ya know, you had me agreeing until you said you thought SG:Atlantis was better than BSG. Yikes.
I'd rank them thusly, for what's currently in production:
1) BSG 2) The 4400 3) Dr Who (only 3 eps to judge by, but it's fine) 4) Stargate SG-1 (this has gone way downhill with the cutback of Anderson's screentime). In it's prime, I would've put this at #2, easily. 5) Regenesis, if you consider this SF, which I do, though many wouldn't.
Stargate: Atlantis is so bad, I can't bring myself to put it on such a list, sadly. But every show has its fans, and I'm glad _someone_ likes it, though I will admit, you're the first I've heard say so.
If Space: Above and Beyond was still on, I'd have it at #1, bumping BSG to #2, (though not by much), and if Babylon 5 was still on, I'd have it at #3. First season of Farscape would be at #4, but boy did it take a quality nosedive once the whole Scorpius/crazy Crichton thing started. Visually, LEXX was stunning, but I could never get into the story.
And let's not forget the new Battlestar Galactica. SF fans are doin' okay; we don't need no Star Trek stinking up the airwaves, even though it seems they finally got it together at the end. Oh well. I'm still in mourning for Space: Above and Beyond, and Firefly. And Angel got really fantastic in its final season, another one killed just as it was returning to greatness. The puppet episode was one of the funniest things ever on TV, IMO.
Once we all have closure after Star Wars: Ep 3, we can all move on, and out of the parents' basements.:)
I must say, though, leaving out the evolution of the opposable thumb is pretty shocking. Without an opposable thumb, how do I press the button on my digital watch?!
The PSP screen is approximately a quarter of the resolution of a DVD.
A DVD is full of multiple language tracks and extra features. You can easily compress the average length DVD movie (the movie only, with one language) into under 800MB to fit on a video CD, so if you take out 3/4 of the movie's video resolution to fit on a PSP, you're going to be able to get them significantly smaller than that. Seriously, this shouldn't be a big problem.
A non-Sony 1GB MemoryStick Duo Pro (remember: must be 'duo', and must be 'pro') can be had for under $130. Since they're reusable (unlike a recordable UMD would be), it's not like you need a lot OF them. Watch what you want on your trip, delete it and put whatever else on there next time. I could see having maybe 2 1GB sticks. One for recorded TV shows & another for a gig of mp3s. Keep the included 32Meg stick for recording game data or whatever. But that's just me.
Plus you gotta defeat the guys with the funny French accents to get anywhere interesting. I think I'll just deal with the peril at Castle Anthrax, and make do with the Grail beacon.
I think it might've been a storage issue, too. UMDs hold (I think) 1.8Gig of storage. For the cost of a tiny optical disk, what's the cost of a comparable cartridge?
I just saw a photo layout someone did where they completely disassembled a PSP; it made me think - what type of connection does the UMD have to the PSP? Is it something _electrically_ standard like ATA or SATA? If so, that could open up some nice hacking possibilities once the machine is cracked to allow running of whatever software you want. Remove the UMD, insert smaller 1.8" HD or CF slot or something. That might be a worthy project for someone with a PSP machine with a bunch of dead pixels and more time and knowledge than I have.
Good thought, but we should be careful to avoid a feedback loop which could overload the inertial dampeners, and possibly cause the subspace bubble to either lose cohesion, or perhaps even become detached from the regular space-time continuum. Don't laugh - I've had it happen, and you wouldn't _believe_ the amount of trouble it is to get the Traveller to help you out. What a primadonna, and his consultation fees are outrageous!
Another bad idea about the PSP design (though good for Sony's bottom line, most likely): the battery. I'm not going to continue the griping about battery life, as it seems to be fine for most people, BUT, it should never have been an issue in the first place. It looks to me, judging by pictures, that the battery pack is about the size of, what, 2 or 3 AA batteries? It seems like the energy density of this proprietary battery pack is about 1/4 or 1/3 of what 2 AA PowerEx or Maha rechargable batteries would have. Designing the PSP to use AA batteries would've paved the way for much better battery technology to be used (AA battery designs are extremely mature), plus made it easier in case of being on a trip and out of reach of an electrical outlet to recharge - just get some regular AAs from the gas station. Too bad Sony chose to go with the low density Sony-designed weird battery format. *shrug* Could be worse, but could've been SO much better.
At least that third-party company is coming out with the double-life replacement battery pack.
That's good, but if we route a phased graviton pulse through the GNDN tubes, and output through the main deflector dish, we can probably get an order of magnitude increase. We'll need to divert warp power to the shields to protect against reflected Bertol Rays, though.
Either that, or we change the gravitational constant of the universe. Take your pick.
Am I the only one who doesn't mind doing favors for friends and family?
Probably. That's good to tell us these things - now we can take advantage of you.
My grandma never charged me for her oatmeal raisin cookies
What's grandma done for you lately?
I have frequently asked my lawyer or doctor friends for advice.
Is this the kind of advice where you go in and take up their office time for a _real_ visit, or is it more like a thing where they can send you a canned email response type of advice? Do you listen to their advice? Do they listen to you and install, run, and update antivirus and antispyware software?
My brother is a physical therapist, and he sent me a list of exercises when I sprained my ankle. No bill, just free advice. And a nifty ankle brace that fit into my regular shoes.
That's nice of him, but it probably didn't take him much time, did it?
When you have stupid family members, like I do, who don't listen to your advice, and want you to fix their machine after they get it into a condition where it often takes many hours to fix (if not just a reinstall), this is a different situation altogether. Especially if they're the type of people who keep doing the same stupid things over and over again, that you've already told them how to (easily) avoid in the future.
Slashdot Mirror
I hope Adobe embraces BitTorrent for the inevitable 50Meg Flash player download to come. *sigh*
See, that's the difference in teaching styles between Obi Wan and Pei Mei. Plus Pei Mei has the cooler beard.
What will be interesting to see is when the Power Macs will have PCI-X and Blu-Ray.
I think someone else has already correction your confusion about PCI-X and PCIe, so I'll comment on the Blu-Ray thingy. Sony has been making noises about helping avoid the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, so I think Apple would be making a _huge_ mistake going with Blu-Ray just as Sony's about to cave. Let's hope they're not that dumb, and that they simply use NEC's dual layer DVD+-RW drives.
Okay, while we're on the audio topic - does anyone know of any car stereos that have a CompactFlash slot, or some other type of flash memory slot? I think Sony made some with MemoryStick slots, but I'm not sure they're doing that, anymore. It's hard to tell since they've ceded their car stereo section to Crutchfield's website (no kidding).
If Joe random developer creates some binary file/network protocol should they be "forced" to open it up. Or is this just one of the "But it's Microsoft" arguments?
Yes, I think Joe Random Developer _should_ be forced to open that up if he's selling software that uses it. Letting people make their own rational purchasing devisions would be a great idea if people were rational.
But most are screwed because of the herd mentality (and laziness).
Or because of the need to put food on the table.
You don't generally HAVE the option of not using MS formats when the people you have to do business with, or work for, use MS formats.
Since the Western world has pretty much settled on MS applications, if you want to do business, you're going to need to be able to exchange documents easily. If you want to get a freakin' JOB, you have to know how to use MS apps. So in many cases, you DO have to buy their technology. Rather like the smoking in bars debate, sure, you can be a waitress somewhere else where there's no smoking allowed, but why should you have to find another job?
Let's put it this way: It's like if I put my money in a bank; I have the not unreasonable expectation that if I want to change banks, all I have to do is remove my money and go to another one. Not so when you put your data into some MS applications. That particular bank doesn't want you removing your money; you can only manipulate it from within that bank. And if you try to use another bank to access your money, it often comes out looking kinda funky, and thus not being entirely useful.
True, but it doesn't change my views on the matter of forcing open source code on MS, or forcing open file formats on them.
MS shouldn't be forced to open any application source code, but _should_ be forced to have open file formats. They can 'innovate' all they want, but their customers shouldn't be locked into their software. IMO, of course.
The 4400 is more of a miniseries, I suppose, but it's coming back for more episodes. It's about 4400 human alien abductees returned to Earth. They're from several different time periods, but none has aged, so some have to deal with very short spans of being gone, some with much longer. Each starts to find out they've been changed, and each now has a particular ability they didn't have before. Very interesting.
Regenesis - seems to be a Canadian show (I get it online, not sure of it's origin), about a group of biohazard response team scientists. Nifty stuff.
re: LEXX
I guess I'm a sucker for a storyline, I just can't get into LEXX.
re: Farscape criticism
I liked that the characters were very obviously alien (except, of course, for the Peacekeepers), and I liked the early tense camaraderie the show had, but eventually they all seemed to dislike each other too much, and distrust each other too much, and I just didn't find it as fun, though it was still well-made.
Sliders was a good concept, but went downhill fast. The idea that those characters would so often be important people in alternate worlds was a bit too much, and the replacement of the entire cast just became way too much for the show to continue. Once you get rid of Sabrina Lloyd, you are DEAD to me as a show. DEAD.
DEAD.
Ya know, you had me agreeing until you said you thought SG:Atlantis was better than BSG. Yikes.
I'd rank them thusly, for what's currently in production:
1) BSG
2) The 4400
3) Dr Who (only 3 eps to judge by, but it's fine)
4) Stargate SG-1 (this has gone way downhill with the cutback of Anderson's screentime). In it's prime, I would've put this at #2, easily.
5) Regenesis, if you consider this SF, which I do, though many wouldn't.
Stargate: Atlantis is so bad, I can't bring myself to put it on such a list, sadly. But every show has its fans, and I'm glad _someone_ likes it, though I will admit, you're the first I've heard say so.
If Space: Above and Beyond was still on, I'd have it at #1, bumping BSG to #2, (though not by much), and if Babylon 5 was still on, I'd have it at #3. First season of Farscape would be at #4, but boy did it take a quality nosedive once the whole Scorpius/crazy Crichton thing started. Visually, LEXX was stunning, but I could never get into the story.
And let's not forget the new Battlestar Galactica. SF fans are doin' okay; we don't need no Star Trek stinking up the airwaves, even though it seems they finally got it together at the end. Oh well. I'm still in mourning for Space: Above and Beyond, and Firefly. And Angel got really fantastic in its final season, another one killed just as it was returning to greatness. The puppet episode was one of the funniest things ever on TV, IMO.
:)
Once we all have closure after Star Wars: Ep 3, we can all move on, and out of the parents' basements.
T and A.
I must say, though, leaving out the evolution of the opposable thumb is pretty shocking. Without an opposable thumb, how do I press the button on my digital watch?!
The PSP screen is approximately a quarter of the resolution of a DVD.
A DVD is full of multiple language tracks and extra features. You can easily compress the average length DVD movie (the movie only, with one language) into under 800MB to fit on a video CD, so if you take out 3/4 of the movie's video resolution to fit on a PSP, you're going to be able to get them significantly smaller than that. Seriously, this shouldn't be a big problem.
A non-Sony 1GB MemoryStick Duo Pro (remember: must be 'duo', and must be 'pro') can be had for under $130. Since they're reusable (unlike a recordable UMD would be), it's not like you need a lot OF them. Watch what you want on your trip, delete it and put whatever else on there next time. I could see having maybe 2 1GB sticks. One for recorded TV shows & another for a gig of mp3s. Keep the included 32Meg stick for recording game data or whatever. But that's just me.
They killed the project when it was determined the only winning move was not to play.
If you decide to continue this work, make sure the spark plug is out in the open so you can piss on it if necessary.
Plus you gotta defeat the guys with the funny French accents to get anywhere interesting. I think I'll just deal with the peril at Castle Anthrax, and make do with the Grail beacon.
I think it might've been a storage issue, too. UMDs hold (I think) 1.8Gig of storage. For the cost of a tiny optical disk, what's the cost of a comparable cartridge?
I just saw a photo layout someone did where they completely disassembled a PSP; it made me think - what type of connection does the UMD have to the PSP? Is it something _electrically_ standard like ATA or SATA? If so, that could open up some nice hacking possibilities once the machine is cracked to allow running of whatever software you want. Remove the UMD, insert smaller 1.8" HD or CF slot or something. That might be a worthy project for someone with a PSP machine with a bunch of dead pixels and more time and knowledge than I have.
Good thought, but we should be careful to avoid a feedback loop which could overload the inertial dampeners, and possibly cause the subspace bubble to either lose cohesion, or perhaps even become detached from the regular space-time continuum. Don't laugh - I've had it happen, and you wouldn't _believe_ the amount of trouble it is to get the Traveller to help you out. What a primadonna, and his consultation fees are outrageous!
Another bad idea about the PSP design (though good for Sony's bottom line, most likely): the battery. I'm not going to continue the griping about battery life, as it seems to be fine for most people, BUT, it should never have been an issue in the first place. It looks to me, judging by pictures, that the battery pack is about the size of, what, 2 or 3 AA batteries? It seems like the energy density of this proprietary battery pack is about 1/4 or 1/3 of what 2 AA PowerEx or Maha rechargable batteries would have. Designing the PSP to use AA batteries would've paved the way for much better battery technology to be used (AA battery designs are extremely mature), plus made it easier in case of being on a trip and out of reach of an electrical outlet to recharge - just get some regular AAs from the gas station. Too bad Sony chose to go with the low density Sony-designed weird battery format. *shrug* Could be worse, but could've been SO much better.
At least that third-party company is coming out with the double-life replacement battery pack.
That's good, but if we route a phased graviton pulse through the GNDN tubes, and output through the main deflector dish, we can probably get an order of magnitude increase. We'll need to divert warp power to the shields to protect against reflected Bertol Rays, though.
Either that, or we change the gravitational constant of the universe. Take your pick.
You think that's bad - wait till W hears about this - we'll be invading every country that has air!
Am I the only one who doesn't mind doing favors for friends and family?
Probably. That's good to tell us these things - now we can take advantage of you.
My grandma never charged me for her oatmeal raisin cookies
What's grandma done for you lately?
I have frequently asked my lawyer or doctor friends for advice.
Is this the kind of advice where you go in and take up their office time for a _real_ visit, or is it more like a thing where they can send you a canned email response type of advice? Do you listen to their advice? Do they listen to you and install, run, and update antivirus and antispyware software?
My brother is a physical therapist, and he sent me a list of exercises when I sprained my ankle. No bill, just free advice. And a nifty ankle brace that fit into my regular shoes.
That's nice of him, but it probably didn't take him much time, did it?
When you have stupid family members, like I do, who don't listen to your advice, and want you to fix their machine after they get it into a condition where it often takes many hours to fix (if not just a reinstall), this is a different situation altogether. Especially if they're the type of people who keep doing the same stupid things over and over again, that you've already told them how to (easily) avoid in the future.
"Let them hate, so long as they fear"
:)
-- Lucius Accius
Ah, so you've heard of me. Good, that'll save some time.
Charge for that IT service, and you'll see their respect level go up, I bet. Or, at the very least, the requests will diminish. You win either way.