This new network will be based on the IEEE 802.11 (Wi-fi) standard that is currently being used by Apple in its "airport" wireless system.
This sounds like an excellent proposition, especially since the idea of internet kiosks for general web use has not caught on big in the U.S. How many times have you been stuck in a public place wishing you could only read an email with directions/phone number/ etc?
DVD still doesn't compare to VHS for ease of use. Pop in a DVD and you have to navigate a ton of irritating menus to find the movie instead of hitting fast forward to skip the previews. DVDs are also fragile so that scratches can make them unplayable while they are also (for most consumers) un-copyable. When did CD's start to replace tape decks? When consumers could make their own CD's. When will LCD's replace CRT's? When they are just as big, just as clear, and just as cheap. The vast majority of consumers will not jump on the LCD bandwagon until the new technology surpases the old in every way. These guys may not be making millions off the cold CRT technology 50 years from now, but I'd bet that they will make plenty before then.
Everyone expects miracles from Apple every 6 months, and I think this new iMac is one! Basically, it's the same price as the Cube was but has a DVD burner and a monitor. Now if it also has a wireless keyboard, I will be really impressed.
I do wonder about the speakers though. The Cube speakers were just another mass of wires to mess with an elegant design. I love my current iMac with speakers built in as well as headphone jacks on the front if I need to listen to something without disturbing others.
iPhoto sounds like just the application I was waiting for to promt me to buy a digital camera. Apple truly is following through on it's promise to make the Mac the hub of your digital lifestyle.
Pinoygrams is a reference to Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. Scary that something like this would actually come true. I wonder what other of Neal's visions will come to pass...
For those who don't know, Lojac is a homing device placed in your car that the police can use to find it in case it is stolen. This same idea could be used for computers, especially laptops. Just have the computer check a website every time it connects to the net to find out if it has been reported stolen. You could even write the Lojac virus to include the IP number in the e-mail.
The DMCA, which provided the "legal" reason for his arrest, is, in and of itself, a tragic piece of legislation. This first test of it in the courts is extremely important as it will set the tone for future judicial rulings about it. Who owns "content" anyway? If you pay for a book, why can a company tell you what to do with it? Do apples come from the grocery store with warnings about where you can eat them? If you use the seeds to make an apple tree, are you infringing on the rights of the fruit company? At some point, authors and artists and the companies who represent them have to let go.
Aside from the question of WHY people would want to reengineer chickens into dinosaurs (perhaps "because we can" suffices), WHO would pay for it? Let's face facts: basic science gets very little funding in the U.S. today. If you aren't curing a disease or building weapons it's hard to get money.
Maybe the Brits are working on a missile-intercepting pteridactyl?
Slashdot Mirror
This new network will be based on the IEEE 802.11 (Wi-fi) standard that is currently being used by Apple in its "airport" wireless system.
This sounds like an excellent proposition, especially since the idea of internet kiosks for general web use has not caught on big in the U.S. How many times have you been stuck in a public place wishing you could only read an email with directions/phone number/ etc?
DVD still doesn't compare to VHS for ease of use. Pop in a DVD and you have to navigate a ton of irritating menus to find the movie instead of hitting fast forward to skip the previews. DVDs are also fragile so that scratches can make them unplayable while they are also (for most consumers) un-copyable. When did CD's start to replace tape decks? When consumers could make their own CD's. When will LCD's replace CRT's? When they are just as big, just as clear, and just as cheap. The vast majority of consumers will not jump on the LCD bandwagon until the new technology surpases the old in every way. These guys may not be making millions off the cold CRT technology 50 years from now, but I'd bet that they will make plenty before then.
I do wonder about the speakers though. The Cube speakers were just another mass of wires to mess with an elegant design. I love my current iMac with speakers built in as well as headphone jacks on the front if I need to listen to something without disturbing others.
iPhoto sounds like just the application I was waiting for to promt me to buy a digital camera. Apple truly is following through on it's promise to make the Mac the hub of your digital lifestyle.
Pinoygrams is a reference to Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. Scary that something like this would actually come true. I wonder what other of Neal's visions will come to pass...
Too bad it wouldn't be cost effective for beer...
The DMCA, which provided the "legal" reason for his arrest, is, in and of itself, a tragic piece of legislation. This first test of it in the courts is extremely important as it will set the tone for future judicial rulings about it. Who owns "content" anyway? If you pay for a book, why can a company tell you what to do with it? Do apples come from the grocery store with warnings about where you can eat them? If you use the seeds to make an apple tree, are you infringing on the rights of the fruit company? At some point, authors and artists and the companies who represent them have to let go.
Maybe the Brits are working on a missile-intercepting pteridactyl?