Amazingly, it's square design predated the Cobalt Qube by several years.
Apple bought NeXT. They "own" that design.
Beyond that we have the iMac case.
G4 Cubes are not marketed nor targeted at customers who are buying Colbalt Qubes. Nor, aside from the shape (which they didn't "innovate," to use Microsoft-speak), does it even look REMOTELY like the Qube.
Therefore a "regular person" is extremely unlikely to confuse the two.
Therefore Colbalt is simply wasting money, as they have no chance of lost sales, which is what both the iMac and Colbalt lawsuits are about.
Uh, I suggest you read the most recent issue of Car & Driver.
You'll find a report about 3 customized cars running around a race track. Corvette, Mustang, and... gee... an Integra.
Somehow that car with "half it's cylinders missing" manages to come within a few seconds of BEATING your "high performance sports car".
By the way, I grew up in Detroit. I've worked on big old detroit iron. I've also had the joy of owning one. Watching it break down constantly, trying to nickle and dime me to death.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Problem is that objectivity and technical know-how seem to be pretty hard to come by.
In other words you have Mac magazines that tell part of the story (running a very limited set of Photoshop filters as benchmarks) but basically know how to setup the Mac so it performs well (and since there are few tweaks to be done on 9x/NT/2K the PC should be setup like 99% of the systems out there). So a limited but fair comparison is done, though a more complete comparison is justified.
And on the other hand you have PC magazines who know how to tweak the PC for performance, but don't know jack about the Mac (ie simply assigning more memory to Photoshop increases performance by about 200% on many filters). As a result those results can't be trusted, nor is it acceptable to think that the average Mac user doesn't know how to assign more memory to his applications.
As for a mouse? So, uh, what are you using to click on buttons anyway? I assume you didn't get excited about Microsoft's HP-technology-licensed-to-MS-and-proclaimed-by-the m-to-be-an-example-of-their-innovation new mice either, right?
Unless, of course, you're actually on the receiving end of an accident. Then, of course, they're much MORE unsafe than other vehicles.
This is, of course, because they only exist because of a loophole in safety laws that has these daily drivers being ruled as trucks, despite that they rarely, if ever, see use as a commercial vehicle.
Of course, safety comes in all forms. If you total my vehicle with your SUV and DON'T kill me... you'll be the fatality, though the actual cause of your death will be debatable.
Except, of course, that the weight limit simply puts up a light on the dash that you're "overweight".
That insult aside, the car will still drive - but isn't nearly as snappy.
That weight limit is merely a manufacturer RECOMMENDATION. Of course if you load up 1000lbs on the roof or somesuch and snap the car in two, you'll be on your own for repairs.
Personally, I don't really "get" everyone screaming for 4 doors.
Okay, great, this is a vehicle that you can't take your kids along for the ride. But... how many people yelling about this have kids? I know of many single people who bitch about this, and that baffles me.
Of course, I already "live" with a 2-passenger vehicle as my sole means of transportation (though it certainly doesn't get 70mpg), so I guess I'm just one of those statistical anomalies.
Unless, of course, it's not really the statistics of needing more than 2 passengers in the car and more about the american "requirement" for large vehicles. Which, given that 90% of the SUVs on the road have 1 person in them, sounds much more likely to me...
Yeah, all the exploded diagrams of the iMac I've seen show the video card on the motherboard. ROM, RAM, and CPU are on a daughterboard. Thank god they redesigned the new iMacs (350Mhz+) and gave it easily-accessable PC100 slots.
Rev A iMacs had the mezzanine slot, which is what all those cards (there was SCSI, serial, and of course the Voodoo2) used. They removed it either on Rev B or shortly after Rev B was released.
You can actually attach a mezzanine slot yourself to everything up to 333Mhz iMac (Rev D). They didn't redesign the motherboard, just dropped the connector from the assembly. So buy it yourself, solder it on, and voila, you can have a Rage Pro + Voodoo2. Just, uh, make sure you have the necessary skill level.
Actually I did a little survey of laptops last week and was surprised to see that most laptops actually HAVE a fan now. (Hey, it was research for a friend)
The mfg sticks the CPU in an upper corner of the unit, vents on the side, and a dinky fan exhausting air to the rear.
Haven't seen any fans on the thin-and-wide form-factor laptops, but the traditional laptops seem to be making extensive use of them.
And, given the amount of heat radiating from the CPU via the laptop's bottom side, even with a fan, I'm pretty sure I know why they're necessary.
You know, it's a little silly to get all bent out of shape from a story that is based on one thing - a rumor.
There are stories with good journalism (quotes from all sides of the story), and there are stories have bad journalism (rushed out the door to meet an arbitrary deadline).
This is the latter.
Get all bent out of shape IF Apple sues them. By all means, please do - I'll be right there alongside you.
However it's downright stupid to complain about something that hasn't happened, nor is there even a shred of proof that it IS even happening.
All that's happened is some people have noticed that the FishPC has some similarity to the iMac/G3/G4 line. Some competitors start muttering about how "Apple's gonna sue them!" and, poof, a story gets written.
Whoever compared Slashdot to Lord Of The Flies was dead on...
There a difference between being a Luddite and stopping and thinking about technology from a rational perspective.
Show of hands: How many people have been almost killed by people who were so distracted by the conversation they're carrying on that they failed to notice something simple? Red light, checking a blind spot, the list goes on and on - I've seen them all.
Now you're talking about in-dash DVD players as being a luddite issue. Uh huh. So when your eyes are on the screen, what happens when I brake hard in front of you to avoid some idiot who just changed lanes without checking his blind spot?
Allowing yourself to be distracted while driving is one of the most dangerous things you can do. I don't care if you're carrying on a heated conversation with a passenger or watching Pulp Fiction - it's dangerous to yourself and everyone else on the road.
While you can rattle on and on about how stupid it is for folks to be against radios, I've been in situations where I took one hand off the wheel and my eyes off the road to tune in a station at the wrong time. No accident, but close enough to make me more careful.
So you can continue on in your nice cushy Navigator, watching DVDs and talking on your cell phone. Just don't expect to get an easy sentence when you take someone's head off in an accident.
I'm sorry - does lawsuit related to trademarked "trade dress" have anything to do with the DVD CSS?
I didn't think so.
Confusing a complicated case like DeCSS with one of simple trade dress is a travesty. It belittles the nature of the DeCSS, as trade dress is a very simple issue, and DeCSS is a very complicated one - rife with trade secrets, damages, and, of course, all the legal technicalities of the DMCA.
Last card I bought was a (new) OEM Adaptec 2940AUW for $130. Brown box, slim manual, driver disks. If you go with a "lesser" brand you should get that down to $100.
Hell, I can get *Mac* SCSI controllers for $200. "Lesser" Mac cards are available for $125!
Of course, I'm not counting narrow cards. Those can be had all the way down to $50, though you still are slightly under $100 for a decent card.
: Your average consumer will not be buying it to : replace their aging Win9x OS. Are you on crack?!
Microsoft is marketing Windows 2000 as a replacement OS for 98. I work at a software developer, and the support staff get roughly 5 to 10 emails a day from users asking if our game will run under Windows 2000.
Regardless of whether you and I know that Microsoft has backed away from making 2000 work with everything, there are millions upon millions of consumers out there who think that Win2000 is just another upgrade, entirely based on statements coming out of Redmond. I predict that next year is going to be a serious pain in the as* for support reps... and me, since they send stuff my way if they can't figure it out.;)
Regardless, back to the point of the message - the price of Windows 3.x to Windows 98 is a major hike - 3.x was what, around $100 to purchase NEW. Now you can't even upgrade to 98 for less than that.
The point here is that Microsoft is telling half truths, and the sad thing is that, like Win2000, a lot of people are going to fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
Granted, nearly everything except the 3D engine is completely new, but it's still got Quake internals at it's core.
And Quake, Quake 2, and obviously Quake 3 have been ported to the Mac. The engine isn't the problem. Mac -> PC networking is a reality with them, so networking them isn't an insurmountable problem.
What is the problem? Valve? Didn't they just have responsibility to "sign off" on releases, not to foot the bill? Sierra, being the publisher, is the one signing the checks, since they're the ones getting the money from distributors and dispersing it to appropriate parties.
Microsoft makes a totally proprietary APIs that in some instances has been designed to make it difficult to port to any other API.
Now they should open these APIs into shared libaries that can be used across multiple platforms. Without breaking existing apps of course.
Does this sound like Microsoft? It just isn't going to happen... for all that Microsoft cries "open standards", any time they're in control of a closed standard they refuse to open it.
Manual? Pah! My Courier has almost all the useful AT commands silkscreened on the bottom.
When you make the modem larger than an external hard drive there's plenty of space for text.;)
Re:No, YOU'RE the one that's going to have floppie
on
Is firewire dying?
·
· Score: 1
>Why would I burn a CD just to move one or two files over to another computer?
You're missing the point. The point is that if two systems are close to one another they should be networked to each other, eliminating the need for a floppy. The advantages of networking systems together outweigh you shelling out $40 (two floppy drives) instead of $80 (two NICs).
And if the systems aren't close to one another, email it. Really, it isn't that big of a deal. Unless you're so cheap you bought 2400bps modems?!
The only time I *ever* use floppies is as a LAN boot disk. That's it. And I only use that for initial setup, once the install files are on the HD it goes away. Nothing else that I could use a removeable media for would *fit* inside 1.44M. Hell, that boot disk only has.5K available!
Remember, just because you're stuck in a "floppy" mode of operation doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do. Occasionally you do need to examine the "why" of how things are being done.
Firebirds, Camaros, and Mustangs are fine until you, well, want to take a turn... or stop.
Ah, who needs to stop, best to just mash that pedal to the floor and have an automatic shift for you in mindless splendor. And how often do you turn anyway?
If you want to experience REAL horsepower, get a 60s muscle car. The few surviving members of that era are pathetic oxymorons of performance, not as good as they once were at straight line, just as lousy on a road course.
Of course if you want to experience extreme G's, you should go race open-wheel cars on a closed road course. Nothing like pulling over a G... sideways...
From what I hear the problem that the QC Pro's draw too much voltage. That or they're on the absolute borderline of the USB spec. Depends on who you talk to, obviously.
Either way the result is that some USB root hubs may not provide enough power for the QC Pro. But through the miracle of electronics still manages to operate for a short time (similar to how some US appliances have trouble operating in Japan, which is 110v).
Those already providing power to other devices will obviously be harder hit, which definately includes the new Mac line - evidently the built-in hub in the keyboard draws enough voltage to cause trouble in this instance.
Basically I caution you to be careful when buying a hub. Most of the cheap hubs out there are low-power (aka they don't provide power to USB devices), which obviously will not solve your problem.
FWIW, I paid $40 for an Interex USBView 4-port hub from Buy.com last week (minus $10 thanks to an online coupon), it has realtime indicators for both bandwidth and power. And besides, it's got a cool blue LED!;)
Slashdot Mirror
Uh, yeah. Ever see a NeXT cube?
Amazingly, it's square design predated the Cobalt Qube by several years.
Apple bought NeXT. They "own" that design.
Beyond that we have the iMac case.
G4 Cubes are not marketed nor targeted at customers who are buying Colbalt Qubes. Nor, aside from the shape (which they didn't "innovate," to use Microsoft-speak), does it even look REMOTELY like the Qube.
Therefore a "regular person" is extremely unlikely to confuse the two.
Therefore Colbalt is simply wasting money, as they have no chance of lost sales, which is what both the iMac and Colbalt lawsuits are about.
Uh, I suggest you read the most recent issue of Car & Driver.
You'll find a report about 3 customized cars running around a race track. Corvette, Mustang, and... gee... an Integra.
Somehow that car with "half it's cylinders missing" manages to come within a few seconds of BEATING your "high performance sports car".
By the way, I grew up in Detroit. I've worked on big old detroit iron. I've also had the joy of owning one. Watching it break down constantly, trying to nickle and dime me to death.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Uh, yeah. Ooookay.
Going 70 in the snow in a SUV is stupid. Want to know how many SUVs I see doing that on an average day in the winter?
Problem is that objectivity and technical know-how seem to be pretty hard to come by.
e m-to-be-an-example-of-their-innovation new mice either, right?
In other words you have Mac magazines that tell part of the story (running a very limited set of Photoshop filters as benchmarks) but basically know how to setup the Mac so it performs well (and since there are few tweaks to be done on 9x/NT/2K the PC should be setup like 99% of the systems out there). So a limited but fair comparison is done, though a more complete comparison is justified.
And on the other hand you have PC magazines who know how to tweak the PC for performance, but don't know jack about the Mac (ie simply assigning more memory to Photoshop increases performance by about 200% on many filters). As a result those results can't be trusted, nor is it acceptable to think that the average Mac user doesn't know how to assign more memory to his applications.
As for a mouse? So, uh, what are you using to click on buttons anyway? I assume you didn't get excited about Microsoft's HP-technology-licensed-to-MS-and-proclaimed-by-th
Uh, I think he was commenting on the average SUV drivers false sense of security, which causes them to do all kinds of unsafe things.
Technically those aren't Hummers though, they were building those before HUMVEEs (or is that HMMV? I forget) were introduced.
I don't know if they modified some Humvees recently, but 10+ years ago they were building LM's and they were entirely a Lamboghini creation.
Though you would have to be a sheik to buy one. Yikes!
Uh. Okay, I'll bite.
How are those "stupid little sports cars" (as opposed to stupid big sports cars, like the corvette) as "bad" as SUVs?
They are more fuel efficient.
They don't decapitate others when they get into an accident.
They don't roll over when the drunk rear-seat occupants take the "rock the car" joke too far.
Unless, of course, you're actually on the receiving end of an accident. Then, of course, they're much MORE unsafe than other vehicles.
This is, of course, because they only exist because of a loophole in safety laws that has these daily drivers being ruled as trucks, despite that they rarely, if ever, see use as a commercial vehicle.
Of course, safety comes in all forms. If you total my vehicle with your SUV and DON'T kill me... you'll be the fatality, though the actual cause of your death will be debatable.
Except, of course, that the weight limit simply puts up a light on the dash that you're "overweight".
That insult aside, the car will still drive - but isn't nearly as snappy.
That weight limit is merely a manufacturer RECOMMENDATION. Of course if you load up 1000lbs on the roof or somesuch and snap the car in two, you'll be on your own for repairs.
Personally, I don't really "get" everyone screaming for 4 doors.
Okay, great, this is a vehicle that you can't take your kids along for the ride. But... how many people yelling about this have kids? I know of many single people who bitch about this, and that baffles me.
Of course, I already "live" with a 2-passenger vehicle as my sole means of transportation (though it certainly doesn't get 70mpg), so I guess I'm just one of those statistical anomalies.
Unless, of course, it's not really the statistics of needing more than 2 passengers in the car and more about the american "requirement" for large vehicles. Which, given that 90% of the SUVs on the road have 1 person in them, sounds much more likely to me...
Er? Actually the first dual-head card I remember shipping was a Mac card. Produced by the now-defunct ixMicro.
Though when it shipped various other companies (at least Matrox) were touting their PC cards, though they hadn't shipped yet.
Actually there may have been a Radius card back in NuBus days too... they were always doing wacky crap...
Yeah, all the exploded diagrams of the iMac I've seen show the video card on the motherboard. ROM, RAM, and CPU are on a daughterboard. Thank god they redesigned the new iMacs (350Mhz+) and gave it easily-accessable PC100 slots.
Rev A iMacs had the mezzanine slot, which is what all those cards (there was SCSI, serial, and of course the Voodoo2) used. They removed it either on Rev B or shortly after Rev B was released.
You can actually attach a mezzanine slot yourself to everything up to 333Mhz iMac (Rev D). They didn't redesign the motherboard, just dropped the connector from the assembly. So buy it yourself, solder it on, and voila, you can have a Rage Pro + Voodoo2. Just, uh, make sure you have the necessary skill level.
Personally, I think the "Booth Babe" has one purpose:
To get you in their booth.
That's it. Once there, of course, the weasels can run out and try and sell you on their products.
Without, usually, understanding anything at all about the product except what they've been told to say. But enough about them...
Actually I did a little survey of laptops last week and was surprised to see that most laptops actually HAVE a fan now. (Hey, it was research for a friend)
The mfg sticks the CPU in an upper corner of the unit, vents on the side, and a dinky fan exhausting air to the rear.
Haven't seen any fans on the thin-and-wide form-factor laptops, but the traditional laptops seem to be making extensive use of them.
And, given the amount of heat radiating from the CPU via the laptop's bottom side, even with a fan, I'm pretty sure I know why they're necessary.
Yawn.
You know, it's a little silly to get all bent out of shape from a story that is based on one thing - a rumor.
There are stories with good journalism (quotes from all sides of the story), and there are stories have bad journalism (rushed out the door to meet an arbitrary deadline).
This is the latter.
Get all bent out of shape IF Apple sues them. By all means, please do - I'll be right there alongside you.
However it's downright stupid to complain about something that hasn't happened, nor is there even a shred of proof that it IS even happening.
All that's happened is some people have noticed that the FishPC has some similarity to the iMac/G3/G4 line. Some competitors start muttering about how "Apple's gonna sue them!" and, poof, a story gets written.
Whoever compared Slashdot to Lord Of The Flies was dead on...
There a difference between being a Luddite and stopping and thinking about technology from a rational perspective.
Show of hands: How many people have been almost killed by people who were so distracted by the conversation they're carrying on that they failed to notice something simple? Red light, checking a blind spot, the list goes on and on - I've seen them all.
Now you're talking about in-dash DVD players as being a luddite issue. Uh huh. So when your eyes are on the screen, what happens when I brake hard in front of you to avoid some idiot who just changed lanes without checking his blind spot?
Allowing yourself to be distracted while driving is one of the most dangerous things you can do. I don't care if you're carrying on a heated conversation with a passenger or watching Pulp Fiction - it's dangerous to yourself and everyone else on the road.
While you can rattle on and on about how stupid it is for folks to be against radios, I've been in situations where I took one hand off the wheel and my eyes off the road to tune in a station at the wrong time. No accident, but close enough to make me more careful.
So you can continue on in your nice cushy Navigator, watching DVDs and talking on your cell phone. Just don't expect to get an easy sentence when you take someone's head off in an accident.
I'm sorry - does lawsuit related to trademarked "trade dress" have anything to do with the DVD CSS?
I didn't think so.
Confusing a complicated case like DeCSS with one of simple trade dress is a travesty. It belittles the nature of the DeCSS, as trade dress is a very simple issue, and DeCSS is a very complicated one - rife with trade secrets, damages, and, of course, all the legal technicalities of the DMCA.
$200?!? Where are you shopping, Best Buy?
Last card I bought was a (new) OEM Adaptec 2940AUW for $130. Brown box, slim manual, driver disks. If you go with a "lesser" brand you should get that down to $100.
Hell, I can get *Mac* SCSI controllers for $200. "Lesser" Mac cards are available for $125!
Of course, I'm not counting narrow cards. Those can be had all the way down to $50, though you still are slightly under $100 for a decent card.
: Your average consumer will not be buying it to
;)
: replace their aging Win9x OS.
Are you on crack?!
Microsoft is marketing Windows 2000 as a replacement OS for 98. I work at a software developer, and the support staff get roughly 5 to 10 emails a day from users asking if our game will run under Windows 2000.
Regardless of whether you and I know that Microsoft has backed away from making 2000 work with everything, there are millions upon millions of consumers out there who think that Win2000 is just another upgrade, entirely based on statements coming out of Redmond. I predict that next year is going to be a serious pain in the as* for support reps... and me, since they send stuff my way if they can't figure it out.
Regardless, back to the point of the message - the price of Windows 3.x to Windows 98 is a major hike - 3.x was what, around $100 to purchase NEW. Now you can't even upgrade to 98 for less than that.
The point here is that Microsoft is telling half truths, and the sad thing is that, like Win2000, a lot of people are going to fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
This might have been funny except for one thing:
Half Life is built on the Quake engine.
Granted, nearly everything except the 3D engine is completely new, but it's still got Quake internals at it's core.
And Quake, Quake 2, and obviously Quake 3 have been ported to the Mac. The engine isn't the problem. Mac -> PC networking is a reality with them, so networking them isn't an insurmountable problem.
What is the problem? Valve? Didn't they just have responsibility to "sign off" on releases, not to foot the bill? Sierra, being the publisher, is the one signing the checks, since they're the ones getting the money from distributors and dispersing it to appropriate parties.
In other words - this smells.
Uhhh. Let's see.
Microsoft makes a totally proprietary APIs that in some instances has been designed to make it difficult to port to any other API.
Now they should open these APIs into shared libaries that can be used across multiple platforms. Without breaking existing apps of course.
Does this sound like Microsoft? It just isn't going to happen... for all that Microsoft cries "open standards", any time they're in control of a closed standard they refuse to open it.
Manual? Pah! My Courier has almost all the useful AT commands silkscreened on the bottom.
;)
When you make the modem larger than an external hard drive there's plenty of space for text.
>Why would I burn a CD just to move one or two files over to another computer?
.5K available!
You're missing the point. The point is that if two systems are close to one another they should be networked to each other, eliminating the need for a floppy. The advantages of networking systems together outweigh you shelling out $40 (two floppy drives) instead of $80 (two NICs).
And if the systems aren't close to one another, email it. Really, it isn't that big of a deal. Unless you're so cheap you bought 2400bps modems?!
The only time I *ever* use floppies is as a LAN boot disk. That's it. And I only use that for initial setup, once the install files are on the HD it goes away. Nothing else that I could use a removeable media for would *fit* inside 1.44M. Hell, that boot disk only has
Remember, just because you're stuck in a "floppy" mode of operation doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do. Occasionally you do need to examine the "why" of how things are being done.
Firebirds, Camaros, and Mustangs are fine until you, well, want to take a turn... or stop.
Ah, who needs to stop, best to just mash that pedal to the floor and have an automatic shift for you in mindless splendor. And how often do you turn anyway?
If you want to experience REAL horsepower, get a 60s muscle car. The few surviving members of that era are pathetic oxymorons of performance, not as good as they once were at straight line, just as lousy on a road course.
Of course if you want to experience extreme G's, you should go race open-wheel cars on a closed road course. Nothing like pulling over a G... sideways...
From what I hear the problem that the QC Pro's draw too much voltage. That or they're on the absolute borderline of the USB spec. Depends on who you talk to, obviously.
;)
Either way the result is that some USB root hubs may not provide enough power for the QC Pro. But through the miracle of electronics still manages to operate for a short time (similar to how some US appliances have trouble operating in Japan, which is 110v).
Those already providing power to other devices will obviously be harder hit, which definately includes the new Mac line - evidently the built-in hub in the keyboard draws enough voltage to cause trouble in this instance.
Basically I caution you to be careful when buying a hub. Most of the cheap hubs out there are low-power (aka they don't provide power to USB devices), which obviously will not solve your problem.
FWIW, I paid $40 for an Interex USBView 4-port hub from Buy.com last week (minus $10 thanks to an online coupon), it has realtime indicators for both bandwidth and power. And besides, it's got a cool blue LED!