I'd heard of this oil being used in SuperComputers many years ago. They have to use a special "non conductive" oil -- I believe it doesn't damage electronics and plastics. So other than a few fans and viscosity issues -- it should be pretty easy to implement. Should be better than "water" cooling, because you can have oil over most everything.
It's just they are taking a supercomputer trick and moving it to a server/blade farm. I don't know about the cost of this oil -- but I would suspect they would quickly save the money in electriciy costs -- and air conditioning bills, because you could pump the oil outside the building and do your heat exchange there.
I was suprised they didn't use this instead of the water cooling when it first emerged -- because there is less of an issue if you spring a leak (should also be easier to keep oil from leaking than water).
I guess you kind of got my point -- because you are telling it back to me. South Park animation is purposely primitive -- it doesn't stink, because if you've ever tried to do cartooning -- it's all about conveying the message and what you take "out" more than what you leave in. Anyone can render a realistic human with a 3d model today -- that's not the ponit of a good cartoon.
The reason I was comparing South Park to the Flinstones -- was that they are basically the same quality of art. South Park just is much more funny and better written. I don't remember laughing out loud at any flintstones as a kid -- just being mildly entertained because it was animated.
but the animation of the 1930s & 1940s is truly special -- if you mean the disney movies I agree. If you mean Tom and Jerry or HB or anything on the TV I'd disagree. Looney Tunes however was very good for TV when you look at animation -- just not at the true level of art that you saw from Disney where people would study how things moved and how light passed through trees.
In general -- I was just having fun with the topic. Cartoons today though, are finally fulfilling the many areas that they had the potential to fill.
And growing up on comic books -- it's nice to see Hollywood bringing these to life.
7Prime; I'd take 720p over 1080i any day, For those reasons alone.
As someone who works day after day with NTSC video (I'm a TV Producer), you don't know how much hate in my heart I have for interlacing.
I'd have to agree. I'm very happy that the industry is moving towards progressive. There is no really good reason any more for Interlace -- you can maintain image persistency with newer equipment without it. The only reason to have it at all now is legacy -- which they should have abolished with the HD standard -- which I think, any broadcaster could agree with me, was a hodge-podge of a roll out, and they screwed that up too.
Too many companies that were keeping it from being a square pixel (read computer Video) standard, and there wasn't enough codification of a standard for bandwidth, resolution and the like.
At least now, we have things like 720p or 1024i which indicated the vertical resolution -- but no standard on the horizontal. Such that many people have HD, but don't have the "goood" HD. If you get what I mean.
On the few occasions when Thundarr would actually hit something with the Sunsword, said something was always impervious to its effects.
I think you just defined Lame. We pummelled eachother with pillows because this cartoon failed to hold our attention -- hence the non-violent message was lost.
What that the one with the triceratops that shot rocks from one of its horns?
Tom & Jerry; should we drop the molten rivets down Tom's shorts, or make him eat his tail in a sandwich.
Yeah, it was only brilliant because it stood out in the gloom. We are in the golden age of cartooning right now. You should appreciate it and watch South Park, or Samurai Jack -- or just get on Cartoon Network or watch one of the thousands of Anime.
About the only good cartooning I can remember was Bugs Bunny -- other than the Disney movies. Nothing else stands out for me.
Watch it there, buddy. I bought my kids "Land of the Lost" on DVD. Campy, to be sure, but it was a decent show. Now, there was no excuse for H.R. Puff-n-Stuff (or Dr. Shrinker, or the Bugaloos, or....). But common! Saturday mornings (remember those?) never got better than dinosaurs, Sleestack, and glowing crystals! If only Grumpy had eaten Holly and/or Dopey....
Uggh, the crap that passed for TV back then... Cartoons at least today, are so much better quality and better written. Of course, Bugs Bunny is worse, and so are all the Disney cartoons that try to make Mickey Mouse hipper (OK, I have a 4 and a 2-year-old).
But I realized I was watching crap with Puff-n-Stuff or that Sea Monster show. And Hanna-Barberra was only good because we had no choice. But at least they had good voice work.
But Sponge-Bob or South Park are funnier than I ever remember the flinstones being, and the cartoons aren't any more "difficult".
And don't get me started about He-man or Thunder Cats (OK, we wasted time in college too).
Have you ever seen standard-definition content on an HDTV that isn't made of glass? It is unwatchable. This is why I really don't get why people are rushing out to buy HDTVs - 95% of the content available to watch on it is standard def and looks awful, and plenty of hi-def stuff looks worse than it could too, because it has to be scaled to fit the resolution of the screen.
Totally agree. My brother bought a $5K HD screen that fills half the wall. Everyone is crushed or chunky fat. All the "quality" seems to over-emphasize every defect in DVDs or broadcast signals.
Unless you have money to blow -- just go with good quality SD for now -- meaning AppleTV-like products. Then, with the money you saved, spend it later when the HD stuff is cheaper.
They are just now starting to get the ability where it is HD throughout. I'm waiting until they give up the ghost on all the DRM nonsense. Hence -- none of those Microsoft Media Centers. Nothing I can't do with a computer now - without all the hassle.
i'm going to go out on a limb and say that "1920x1080" is better than 640x480.
Though I love apple products and am a stock holder -- the Apple TV is not yet a true HD product. Perhaps it has the capability built in -- but it seems to max out (I think) at 720p (vertical) at 24fps -- but that is most of the HD product out there already. The crappy quality people are seeing are highly compressed, low-bandwidth videos with all their artifacts showing up on a brighter screen. Turn the contrast up, the brightness up, and the gamma down, and you will make everything get a "crisp" look on the TV. But most HD broadcasts are that 720p signal.
ElGato has a product that can just capture and store the stream as it comes from the satellite -- no recompression.
I'm guessing that some of the differences in quality people are seeing has to do with whether the display is "crushing the blacks" -- meaning, that some displays put more contrast on the image and make the darkest part of the image black.
You really notice a lot of artifacts if the darker, shadow areas are pushed up to the mid-tone range.
There would also be an apparent "crapiness" if you use the DVI connection rather than the RGB connection in a lot of HD displays. While RGB connectors are "technically" inferior in color range to newer DVIs, they tend to smooth out some of the video "tearing" a crispness that seems to bring out the compression artifacts and interlace stair stepping on video.
A lot of this video, for various reasons, looks better on computer monitors than man of these HD displays. There are probably also a lot of electronic scaling components messing with the video on the HD TV as well. Perhaps even trying to de-interlace a progressive signal or forcing everything to 30fps when it is a 24fps video.
You can perceive much faster than 1/18th of a second. What you are talking about is how your brain can register the data to show persistance of motion.
But your eye responds much quicker -- that's why you need a refresh rate on your computer above 60 hz -- otherwise it can wear out you eyes and make them tired (also, florescents cycle at 60 hz and ruin your eyesight if you use them for reading). Over about 80 hz -- I can't detect a difference.
But I can sure "see" a difference between 24P and 60i (interlaced). We wouldn't have 60i people couldn't notice. 60p is very nice, and you can't SEE the difference, but you do NOTICE it -- mainly in how clean things are, and fluid.
The Interlace gets a little boost from the persistency of phosphors -- the next image comes around just as they are fading. But still, progressive images on computer displays and newer HD are much nicer than interlaced to look at. A detailed display will show "tearing" on some interlaced signals.
To get even more nerdy... h.264 is just the speck or the packaging around the compression. There is some ability to create the optimal compression codec within the codec without a new codec. Meaning "QuickTime" is just a wrapper application. Where a ".mov" file can be from Sorenson, divx, etc. Now to play those "non-standard" third-party compressed files - you need to get their codec. Whereas with h.264, that "codec within the codec" can be in the compressed file.
So the quaility of h.264 really relies on the company creating sofware to compress it. The Apple AAC variant stunk for a while -- which is why it didn't stack up well against some Windows Media and DivX (but they all stole from MPEG 4 originally anyway). And you even have Flash video now, which was using Sorenson, but is now using On2 compression algorithms in their latest version. On2 also makes compressors for h.264 which so far have the best quality. By opening up the h.264 spec -- well, you let others improve it.
So, to agree; it totally matters what "h.264" compressor you are using. H.264 stinks or doesn't based on the bandwidth and the algorithms used.
As the infrastructure grows -- Apple will be starting with better quality video and outputting higher resolution files. The more money in this market -- the more really good companies will jump on board. Most of the best codec providers seem to come from Germany and Israel, traditionally.
The infrastructure is there and customers are now getting used to that. As soon as the business end works out, all contracts dotted and signed, Apple can roll out a similar feature for TV shows and movies. I bet it's all waiting for the movie studios and TV producers to say yes right now.
Yup. Basically, the surcharge pays for the greater bandwidth -- but you'd be getting the DRM-free version (I hope), just like they are doing with music. When I buy a DVD right now -- it is for all intents and purposes, DRM-free, because it is not much hassle to work around. If the average person cannot do it -- it creates a black market. So successful DRM is WORSE for profits than annoying DRM. If you make things reasonably priced, and convenient -- then people aren't going to bother building a black market.
I think the major hurdle with the Apple TV has been dealing with the DRM. Apple is waiting for the studios to catch up -- rather than wasting technology on work-arounds. The Studios will probably get this approach, rather than the brain-dead Record Labels, who want to get paid increasing revenue for less work.
Meanwhile -- I get 24/7 300 channels with relatively DRM free video and music off the satellite dish. Why do I not rip it all and send it around the net? Because it is a fountain -- there is something new around the corner so why bother storing everything you get? You are paying as much as you are willing to for the service and convenience. Oh well, old story...
Apple still seems to "get it" and they are wisely buidling up the infrastructure to take advantage of it.
Meanwhile, TiVo and Amazon are teaming up to sell people movies to play as well. They seem like more competition for Apple than Microsoft or other initiatives. The advantage Apple has is that they aren't paying for extras or relationships they don't need -- they are essentially Amazon AND TiVo without the dead weight. The AppleTV is a headless computer, and could be set to do almost anything -- it is only limited by its processing power.
Apple is starting simple -- with a bedrock device that does what it is supposed to do. That's what worked with the iPod and by being a "platform" for other solution providers -- it created a new market. So someone else might give you TiVo functionality on the AppleTV -- and Apple doesn't have to take the liability.
There just remains the device to take the Cable/Sattelite onto the computer (or into iTunes). Elgato already makes it -- but this is hardly as "consumer" ready as TiVo. But I'm guessing any month now, that "last mile" of track will be laid by Apple.
It has to happen quick though -- there are a lot of contenders for this space. The HD -- market isn't as signifigant yet. But it will be. But imagine a DRM-less HD file on the Apple TV and compare that to a BlueRay HD Video. And the AppleTV costs less to manufacture and buy than the BlueRay.
That's exactly what I thought when I read the article.
Apparently, when reviewing products, it isn't necessary to test things using the same files.
This should have been an article about; "Apple still sells crappy videos." Not very informative stuff.
There might be an issue with the scaling algorithms -- but hey, since he didn't test the lower resolution video on the other devices, that's sort of left up for grabs as well.
Wow! Where are your kids going to school?!!? I'm in Texas and the teachers are teaching that war is ALWAYS wrong and that the kids should be praying... I mean hoping (can't pray unless you are a Muslim)... hoping that the evil war ends by bringing our troops home, I guess because troops at home=peace.
Doesn't sound too bad a starting point. Most wars I know about have been wrong. There have been only two that made some sense; the Revolutionary War (getting rid of kings) and perhaps WW II. And I'm starting to suspect WW II because we seem to have many of the financial backers of that war's decendents, running things here in the US.
Troops at home does = peace. Apparently, I missed the history lesson where Persia (Iraq) EVER, attacked America.
We have a lot bigger things to worry about. I doubt there is much of an issue with America being too afraid of going into pointless wars. $.40 of every $1 going to the government goes towards our military right now. Think about that when you pay taxes and buy "cheap" gasoline. http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesVie w/sid/22108/
Good post. I'm hoping I have the energy to do exactly the same thing; teach my kids the alternative to the school view, and how to "regurgitate" information without needing to absorb it. That was definitely my coping school but I was two years into college before I figured it out.
Of course, you have the occasional entrepreneur that makes it as well, but even Gates dropped out of Harvard. Not a whole lot of community college drop-outs make it to the billionaire club.
-- "Climate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world." Christine Stewart
>> I think that very few Billionaires are actually college graduates. Lots of shipping magnates and such... most jumped onto opportunities rather than waiting for someone to tell them "how it's done."
>> I agree that Public shools are failing -- but I hardly see many private schools as any better. Seems most of them are getting awfully religious. Also, if you can have entrance standards at a school -- the outcome is already decided; A student in, A student out. On that measure, there is no proof that private schools do a better job at all.
Of course, "No Child Left Behind" is creating an army of mind-numbed test takers.
I remember school as being a place where people were actually offended if you had some original ideas -- I suppose that would be the most typical characteristic of a SlashDot refugee -- that we experienced social stimatism for thinking. We'll -- at least from my experience that is true.
Meaning Guilded ages brought on by laissez-faire Conservative and Business minded politics, that inevitably leads to an economic crash. Followed by hardship. Followed by true Democracy and enlightened principles (aka, FDR), followed by Peace Movements (liberal anarchy) followed by establishment types who work to get everyone to forget how the whole mess started and who tell everyone things like; "Deficits don't matter." Yet we find the populace bailing out the Banks -- but never the other way around.
But that pattern isn't necessarily a constant.
Germany went from Totalitarian in WW I, to anarchy with the Weimar, to Totalitarian again -- only after a war and total collapse was order restored with the Marshall Plan and Democracy. They have yet to move to anarchy after Democracy, as they slip quietly towards Corporate Conservatism -- though not to the extent that the US and Britain have. And I have a feeling that it might be circumvented as secrets get revealed in the US. So it isn't a matter of society -- but a matter of social conscience that these patterns repeat. We continually forget the lessons learned in the past - -because the wrong issues always get blamed.
>> Really, this is more a history of the elites, who game countries that get a Middle class that becomes too powerful. The rivalries between nations is to keep everyone from getting too empowered. Today, I think much of he power lies in offshore banks, for instance, and governments are getting weaker.
Pakistan vs. India. Iraq vs. Iran. Russia vs. China vs. US. All those threats designed to afford those governments the power to "protect the people."
I think the government might be predicting the response of the people -- to continued bad government.
The only cure for the feisty middle class would be to start having an accountable government that responds to the people's needs, rather than enforcing things they don't want in order to profit some Corporation.
Since they don't envision being a Democracy in Britain's future, they see finding ways to coerce the populace into a situation they don't want, as good planning.
Why do you say Tell me more about failed a Turing test
Why do you say "why do you say Tell me more about a failed Turing test? Perhaps we could play some chess...... I think you missed the irony of the statement, or you caught it and responded just like a simple Turing algorithm would. Of course, this could be a canned response. Hard to tell.
I've been dreaming up a good idea; That we could advertise a bank based on the fact that they don't support Diebold. If you just got 2% of Liberals to switch banks from Wachovia, to another bank based on using Diebold, then it is very likely that Corporations would take notice.
Too bad they are leaving the field... it would be very nice to make that corporation a footnote in history for daring to help rig elections. There is little doubt there machines were not abused for this purpose -- they seemed designed for vote-rigging.
And if you look at every location where they went from electronic back to paper ballots -- Democratic tickets made huge gains.
>> We need a post mortem on a lot of things. There is too much nonsense pretending to be an investigation which are nothing but cover ups. I'm not going to forget what has happened and won't let it rest until we nail these bastards.
Or something out of left field, like "Bee hive collapse." A good portion of the honey bees that are used to fertilize commercial crops have been wiped out -- and nobody knows why. Could it be bio-engineered crops that have their own pathogens built in? Could it be some pesticide?
If you don't have bees moving from flower to flower, that means you have to come up with a way to do it yourself. That sounds pretty labor intensive, and could really effect the price of food. It's a great example of how interdependent life can be.
So looking at raising cattle by making cattle healthy, rather than over-treat them for chronic illnesses is a holistic approach.
But perhaps a better approach would be to move to other forms of meat, like Ostrich or eel -- things that are cheaper to raise and don't put such a dent on the water table. Diversity is what helps things in nature survive, and it seems wise to emulate that. Putting "all our eggs in one baket" namely Chickens and Cows, means we concentrate one host and create a greater opportunity for a plague that could eliminate a good portion of our food supply.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd heard of this oil being used in SuperComputers many years ago.
They have to use a special "non conductive" oil -- I believe it doesn't damage electronics and plastics.
So other than a few fans and viscosity issues -- it should be pretty easy to implement. Should be better than "water" cooling, because you can have oil over most everything.
It's just they are taking a supercomputer trick and moving it to a server/blade farm. I don't know about the cost of this oil -- but I would suspect they would quickly save the money in electriciy costs -- and air conditioning bills, because you could pump the oil outside the building and do your heat exchange there.
I was suprised they didn't use this instead of the water cooling when it first emerged -- because there is less of an issue if you spring a leak (should also be easier to keep oil from leaking than water).
I guess you kind of got my point -- because you are telling it back to me. South Park animation is purposely primitive -- it doesn't stink, because if you've ever tried to do cartooning -- it's all about conveying the message and what you take "out" more than what you leave in. Anyone can render a realistic human with a 3d model today -- that's not the ponit of a good cartoon.
The reason I was comparing South Park to the Flinstones -- was that they are basically the same quality of art. South Park just is much more funny and better written. I don't remember laughing out loud at any flintstones as a kid -- just being mildly entertained because it was animated.
but the animation of the 1930s & 1940s is truly special -- if you mean the disney movies I agree. If you mean Tom and Jerry or HB or anything on the TV I'd disagree. Looney Tunes however was very good for TV when you look at animation -- just not at the true level of art that you saw from Disney where people would study how things moved and how light passed through trees.
In general -- I was just having fun with the topic. Cartoons today though, are finally fulfilling the many areas that they had the potential to fill.
And growing up on comic books -- it's nice to see Hollywood bringing these to life.
7Prime;
I'd take 720p over 1080i any day, For those reasons alone.
As someone who works day after day with NTSC video (I'm a TV Producer), you don't know how much hate in my heart I have for interlacing.
I'd have to agree. I'm very happy that the industry is moving towards progressive. There is no really good reason any more for Interlace -- you can maintain image persistency with newer equipment without it. The only reason to have it at all now is legacy -- which they should have abolished with the HD standard -- which I think, any broadcaster could agree with me, was a hodge-podge of a roll out, and they screwed that up too.
Too many companies that were keeping it from being a square pixel (read computer Video) standard, and there wasn't enough codification of a standard for bandwidth, resolution and the like.
At least now, we have things like 720p or 1024i which indicated the vertical resolution -- but no standard on the horizontal. Such that many people have HD, but don't have the "goood" HD. If you get what I mean.
VLC plays back content smoother than QuickTime. I'm guessing there is quite a bit of overhead and no post-processing effects to improve quality.
VLC is designed for crappy quality content, whereas QuickTime just gives it to you how it got it.
On the few occasions when Thundarr would actually hit something with the Sunsword, said something was always impervious to its effects.
I think you just defined Lame. We pummelled eachother with pillows because this cartoon failed to hold our attention -- hence the non-violent message was lost.
What that the one with the triceratops that shot rocks from one of its horns?
Tom & Jerry; should we drop the molten rivets down Tom's shorts, or make him eat his tail in a sandwich.
Yeah, it was only brilliant because it stood out in the gloom. We are in the golden age of cartooning right now. You should appreciate it and watch South Park, or Samurai Jack -- or just get on Cartoon Network or watch one of the thousands of Anime.
About the only good cartooning I can remember was Bugs Bunny -- other than the Disney movies. Nothing else stands out for me.
Watch it there, buddy. I bought my kids "Land of the Lost" on DVD. Campy, to be sure, but it was a decent show. Now, there was no excuse for H.R. Puff-n-Stuff (or Dr. Shrinker, or the Bugaloos, or....).
But common! Saturday mornings (remember those?) never got better than dinosaurs, Sleestack, and glowing crystals! If only Grumpy had eaten Holly and/or Dopey....
Uggh, the crap that passed for TV back then...
Cartoons at least today, are so much better quality and better written. Of course, Bugs Bunny is worse, and so are all the Disney cartoons that try to make Mickey Mouse hipper (OK, I have a 4 and a 2-year-old).
But I realized I was watching crap with Puff-n-Stuff or that Sea Monster show. And Hanna-Barberra was only good because we had no choice. But at least they had good voice work.
But Sponge-Bob or South Park are funnier than I ever remember the flinstones being, and the cartoons aren't any more "difficult".
And don't get me started about He-man or Thunder Cats (OK, we wasted time in college too).
Whoever did the Smurfs should have been shot.
Have you ever seen standard-definition content on an HDTV that isn't made of glass? It is unwatchable. This is why I really don't get why people are rushing out to buy HDTVs - 95% of the content available to watch on it is standard def and looks awful, and plenty of hi-def stuff looks worse than it could too, because it has to be scaled to fit the resolution of the screen.
Totally agree. My brother bought a $5K HD screen that fills half the wall. Everyone is crushed or chunky fat. All the "quality" seems to over-emphasize every defect in DVDs or broadcast signals.
Unless you have money to blow -- just go with good quality SD for now -- meaning AppleTV-like products. Then, with the money you saved, spend it later when the HD stuff is cheaper.
They are just now starting to get the ability where it is HD throughout. I'm waiting until they give up the ghost on all the DRM nonsense. Hence -- none of those Microsoft Media Centers. Nothing I can't do with a computer now - without all the hassle.
And for a thousand $ less, you can forgoe all that pain and get an AppleTV.
i'm going to go out on a limb and say that "1920x1080" is better than 640x480.
Though I love apple products and am a stock holder -- the Apple TV is not yet a true HD product. Perhaps it has the capability built in -- but it seems to max out (I think) at 720p (vertical) at 24fps -- but that is most of the HD product out there already. The crappy quality people are seeing are highly compressed, low-bandwidth videos with all their artifacts showing up on a brighter screen. Turn the contrast up, the brightness up, and the gamma down, and you will make everything get a "crisp" look on the TV. But most HD broadcasts are that 720p signal.
ElGato has a product that can just capture and store the stream as it comes from the satellite -- no recompression.
I'm guessing that some of the differences in quality people are seeing has to do with whether the display is "crushing the blacks" -- meaning, that some displays put more contrast on the image and make the darkest part of the image black.
You really notice a lot of artifacts if the darker, shadow areas are pushed up to the mid-tone range.
There would also be an apparent "crapiness" if you use the DVI connection rather than the RGB connection in a lot of HD displays. While RGB connectors are "technically" inferior in color range to newer DVIs, they tend to smooth out some of the video "tearing" a crispness that seems to bring out the compression artifacts and interlace stair stepping on video.
A lot of this video, for various reasons, looks better on computer monitors than man of these HD displays. There are probably also a lot of electronic scaling components messing with the video on the HD TV as well. Perhaps even trying to de-interlace a progressive signal or forcing everything to 30fps when it is a 24fps video.
You can perceive much faster than 1/18th of a second. What you are talking about is how your brain can register the data to show persistance of motion.
But your eye responds much quicker -- that's why you need a refresh rate on your computer above 60 hz -- otherwise it can wear out you eyes and make them tired (also, florescents cycle at 60 hz and ruin your eyesight if you use them for reading). Over about 80 hz -- I can't detect a difference.
But I can sure "see" a difference between 24P and 60i (interlaced). We wouldn't have 60i people couldn't notice. 60p is very nice, and you can't SEE the difference, but you do NOTICE it -- mainly in how clean things are, and fluid.
The Interlace gets a little boost from the persistency of phosphors -- the next image comes around just as they are fading. But still, progressive images on computer displays and newer HD are much nicer than interlaced to look at. A detailed display will show "tearing" on some interlaced signals.
To get even more nerdy...
h.264 is just the speck or the packaging around the compression. There is some ability to create the optimal compression codec within the codec without a new codec. Meaning "QuickTime" is just a wrapper application. Where a ".mov" file can be from Sorenson, divx, etc. Now to play those "non-standard" third-party compressed files - you need to get their codec. Whereas with h.264, that "codec within the codec" can be in the compressed file.
So the quaility of h.264 really relies on the company creating sofware to compress it. The Apple AAC variant stunk for a while -- which is why it didn't stack up well against some Windows Media and DivX (but they all stole from MPEG 4 originally anyway). And you even have Flash video now, which was using Sorenson, but is now using On2 compression algorithms in their latest version. On2 also makes compressors for h.264 which so far have the best quality. By opening up the h.264 spec -- well, you let others improve it.
So, to agree; it totally matters what "h.264" compressor you are using. H.264 stinks or doesn't based on the bandwidth and the algorithms used.
As the infrastructure grows -- Apple will be starting with better quality video and outputting higher resolution files. The more money in this market -- the more really good companies will jump on board. Most of the best codec providers seem to come from Germany and Israel, traditionally.
The infrastructure is there and customers are now getting used to that. As soon as the business end works out, all contracts dotted and signed, Apple can roll out a similar feature for TV shows and movies. I bet it's all waiting for the movie studios and TV producers to say yes right now.
Yup. Basically, the surcharge pays for the greater bandwidth -- but you'd be getting the DRM-free version (I hope), just like they are doing with music. When I buy a DVD right now -- it is for all intents and purposes, DRM-free, because it is not much hassle to work around. If the average person cannot do it -- it creates a black market. So successful DRM is WORSE for profits than annoying DRM. If you make things reasonably priced, and convenient -- then people aren't going to bother building a black market.
I think the major hurdle with the Apple TV has been dealing with the DRM. Apple is waiting for the studios to catch up -- rather than wasting technology on work-arounds. The Studios will probably get this approach, rather than the brain-dead Record Labels, who want to get paid increasing revenue for less work.
Meanwhile -- I get 24/7 300 channels with relatively DRM free video and music off the satellite dish. Why do I not rip it all and send it around the net? Because it is a fountain -- there is something new around the corner so why bother storing everything you get? You are paying as much as you are willing to for the service and convenience. Oh well, old story...
Apple still seems to "get it" and they are wisely buidling up the infrastructure to take advantage of it.
Meanwhile, TiVo and Amazon are teaming up to sell people movies to play as well. They seem like more competition for Apple than Microsoft or other initiatives. The advantage Apple has is that they aren't paying for extras or relationships they don't need -- they are essentially Amazon AND TiVo without the dead weight. The AppleTV is a headless computer, and could be set to do almost anything -- it is only limited by its processing power.
Apple is starting simple -- with a bedrock device that does what it is supposed to do. That's what worked with the iPod and by being a "platform" for other solution providers -- it created a new market. So someone else might give you TiVo functionality on the AppleTV -- and Apple doesn't have to take the liability.
There just remains the device to take the Cable/Sattelite onto the computer (or into iTunes). Elgato already makes it -- but this is hardly as "consumer" ready as TiVo. But I'm guessing any month now, that "last mile" of track will be laid by Apple.
It has to happen quick though -- there are a lot of contenders for this space. The HD -- market isn't as signifigant yet. But it will be. But imagine a DRM-less HD file on the Apple TV and compare that to a BlueRay HD Video. And the AppleTV costs less to manufacture and buy than the BlueRay.
Successfully, I might add. We stripped
I would like to be a successful stripper as well. We don't need too much quality if Apple dedicated itself to finding such talent.
What was that about compression with no loss in qual
That's exactly what I thought when I read the article.
Apparently, when reviewing products, it isn't necessary to test things using the same files.
This should have been an article about; "Apple still sells crappy videos." Not very informative stuff.
There might be an issue with the scaling algorithms -- but hey, since he didn't test the lower resolution video on the other devices, that's sort of left up for grabs as well.
Wow! Where are your kids going to school?!!? I'm in Texas and the teachers are teaching that war is ALWAYS wrong and that the kids should be praying... I mean hoping (can't pray unless you are a Muslim)... hoping that the evil war ends by bringing our troops home, I guess because troops at home=peace.
e w/sid/22108/
Doesn't sound too bad a starting point. Most wars I know about have been wrong. There have been only two that made some sense; the Revolutionary War (getting rid of kings) and perhaps WW II. And I'm starting to suspect WW II because we seem to have many of the financial backers of that war's decendents, running things here in the US.
Troops at home does = peace. Apparently, I missed the history lesson where Persia (Iraq) EVER, attacked America.
We have a lot bigger things to worry about. I doubt there is much of an issue with America being too afraid of going into pointless wars. $.40 of every $1 going to the government goes towards our military right now. Think about that when you pay taxes and buy "cheap" gasoline. http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesVi
by Brad Eleven (165911
Good post. I'm hoping I have the energy to do exactly the same thing; teach my kids the alternative to the school view, and how to "regurgitate" information without needing to absorb it. That was definitely my coping school but I was two years into college before I figured it out.
Of course, you have the occasional entrepreneur that makes it as well, but even Gates dropped out of Harvard. Not a whole lot of community college drop-outs make it to the billionaire club.
--
"Climate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world." Christine Stewart
>> I think that very few Billionaires are actually college graduates. Lots of shipping magnates and such... most jumped onto opportunities rather than waiting for someone to tell them "how it's done."
>> I agree that Public shools are failing -- but I hardly see many private schools as any better. Seems most of them are getting awfully religious. Also, if you can have entrance standards at a school -- the outcome is already decided; A student in, A student out. On that measure, there is no proof that private schools do a better job at all.
Of course, "No Child Left Behind" is creating an army of mind-numbed test takers.
I remember school as being a place where people were actually offended if you had some original ideas -- I suppose that would be the most typical characteristic of a SlashDot refugee -- that we experienced social stimatism for thinking. We'll -- at least from my experience that is true.
Meaning Guilded ages brought on by laissez-faire Conservative and Business minded politics, that inevitably leads to an economic crash. Followed by hardship. Followed by true Democracy and enlightened principles (aka, FDR), followed by Peace Movements (liberal anarchy) followed by establishment types who work to get everyone to forget how the whole mess started and who tell everyone things like; "Deficits don't matter." Yet we find the populace bailing out the Banks -- but never the other way around.
But that pattern isn't necessarily a constant.
Germany went from Totalitarian in WW I, to anarchy with the Weimar, to Totalitarian again -- only after a war and total collapse was order restored with the Marshall Plan and Democracy. They have yet to move to anarchy after Democracy, as they slip quietly towards Corporate Conservatism -- though not to the extent that the US and Britain have. And I have a feeling that it might be circumvented as secrets get revealed in the US. So it isn't a matter of society -- but a matter of social conscience that these patterns repeat. We continually forget the lessons learned in the past - -because the wrong issues always get blamed.
>> Really, this is more a history of the elites, who game countries that get a Middle class that becomes too powerful. The rivalries between nations is to keep everyone from getting too empowered. Today, I think much of he power lies in offshore banks, for instance, and governments are getting weaker.
Pakistan vs. India. Iraq vs. Iran. Russia vs. China vs. US. All those threats designed to afford those governments the power to "protect the people."
I think the government might be predicting the response of the people -- to continued bad government.
The only cure for the feisty middle class would be to start having an accountable government that responds to the people's needs, rather than enforcing things they don't want in order to profit some Corporation.
Since they don't envision being a Democracy in Britain's future, they see finding ways to coerce the populace into a situation they don't want, as good planning.
... the new Flashy Yellow graphics on Fox News.
Though I'm sure an hour of the "Half our News Hour" will do the trick... they just want to make sure they have the latest brain-numbing technology.
Why do you say Tell me more about failed a Turing test
... I think you missed the irony of the statement, or you caught it and responded just like a simple Turing algorithm would. Of course, this could be a canned response. Hard to tell.
Why do you say "why do you say Tell me more about a failed Turing test?
Perhaps we could play some chess...
I've been dreaming up a good idea;
That we could advertise a bank based on the fact that they don't support Diebold. If you just got 2% of Liberals to switch banks from Wachovia, to another bank based on using Diebold, then it is very likely that Corporations would take notice.
Too bad they are leaving the field... it would be very nice to make that corporation a footnote in history for daring to help rig elections. There is little doubt there machines were not abused for this purpose -- they seemed designed for vote-rigging.
And if you look at every location where they went from electronic back to paper ballots -- Democratic tickets made huge gains.
>> We need a post mortem on a lot of things. There is too much nonsense pretending to be an investigation which are nothing but cover ups. I'm not going to forget what has happened and won't let it rest until we nail these bastards.
Or something out of left field, like "Bee hive collapse." A good portion of the honey bees that are used to fertilize commercial crops have been wiped out -- and nobody knows why. Could it be bio-engineered crops that have their own pathogens built in? Could it be some pesticide?
If you don't have bees moving from flower to flower, that means you have to come up with a way to do it yourself. That sounds pretty labor intensive, and could really effect the price of food. It's a great example of how interdependent life can be.
So looking at raising cattle by making cattle healthy, rather than over-treat them for chronic illnesses is a holistic approach.
But perhaps a better approach would be to move to other forms of meat, like Ostrich or eel -- things that are cheaper to raise and don't put such a dent on the water table. Diversity is what helps things in nature survive, and it seems wise to emulate that. Putting "all our eggs in one baket" namely Chickens and Cows, means we concentrate one host and create a greater opportunity for a plague that could eliminate a good portion of our food supply.