Things like the new iMac have to not only appeal to people but they have to demonstrate by their appearance that they are capable without being complicated.
Exactly why Apple is getting away from fruity colours and bubble shapes.
I personally dislike the idea that computer main units do not have real controls on them aside from power and reset. I think an LCD for status messages would be useful. Some control keys.
But this is where I think you're on crack. What exactly would you do with these keys, other than input data to the computer? What's wrong with your existing input devices? How would this make things more simple?
The only thing I wish PC's still had is external modems with status LEDs. Yeah I know you can buy 'em, but all computers come with ultra-cheap internal modems now, and there's no real way to tell at a glance the health and status of your modem connection.
Apart from that, the only kind of message I could imagine on your PC's case itself would be something to the effect of "Your CD tray is ajar."
My personal fave is those made-in-China computer cases with a 3-digit clock speed on the front of them that isn't wired to anything other than a meaningless 'turbo' button on the front of the tower. Now that's elegance!
Right... and when will Mercedes realize that until they hurry up and lower the price of their entire line of cars, people like me are going to keep buying old jalopies!
It's exactly these ridiculous prices that lead to there being hardly any Benzes on the road, and it will probably drive them right out of business.
"Sucked ass" might be a little harsh. I've been using Macs since System 7.1 on a 68040. I love and welcome OS X (I bought it the day it came out almost a year ago and still haven't crashed it), but it still has a way to go or else hardware has to catch up to it before it's as snappy and usable as OS 9.
The point? Hmm, leave it to an IT guy to think only IT guys have use for processor speed.
Some reasons for those extra 300 MHz: 3D rendering, MP*/QT encoding, video transition rendering, image manipulation (rotate a 20 meg image clockwise 1 degree anyone?), audio DSP, and making Windows not seem sluggish.
2 GHz = 2000 MHz = 2000000 kHz = 2000000000 Hz. Metric.
With bytes, however, 1 K = 1024 bytes, see below. 1 Mbyte = 1024*1024 bytes. 1 Gbyte = 1024*1024*1024 bytes.
In metric we use a lowercase k to indicate 1000, the uppercase "K" was introduced in the seventies when RAM banks, which are addressable in binary, appeared. Thus 2^10=1024, which is close enough to a k that it's called a K.
Just about all large companies will outsource their call centre-based customer service to companies set up to do just this sort of thing. It's unfortunate because it seems that no 1-800 number you call will ever be able to answer an advanced question.
Call centres are just sweatshops full of min-wagers who can usually only dole out information from FAQ lists they are given about their products.
"Thank you for calling Colgate, this is Kevin, how can I help you?"
"I was calling about my Xbox, actually."
"That's odd, you came in on my Colgate line. Hold for just a moment please. (long wait) OK, I spoke to my supervisor, he says this call definitely came in on the Colgate line. What number did you call?"
"Look, I just have a question about my Xbox, can you help me or not?"
"Oh, OK... let's see... here we are. What's the problem?"
"My hard disk is making a chattering noise and I was wondering if that's normal."
"OK, well I see if you try to raise the back of the bed too far past its maximum position it will start to make a chattering noise, is this what's happening?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, wait, sorry... I clicked Xbox on my computer, and it took me to Sleep-O-Matic! Hold for just a moment (long pause) OK, I spoke to my supervisor, and I definitely clicked on Xbox."
"Right, but can you help me with my Xbox?"
"Well, I'm trying... I can't bring the screen up."
"Oh, OK... let's see. What database are you running?"
"One moment... [long pause] OK my supervisor got me into Xbox. How can I help you?"
"Hard disk chattering."
"Oh yeah right. It says here that if you're playing 'Space Zombies' it's normal for Zog's entourage to make a hi-pitched chattering sound. Double check for me and make sure that's not what you're hearing."
"That's not what I'm hearing."
"OK, it also says that if Zog's entourage doesn't make the chattering sound, you probably have an audio connection problem, could you please check to make sure it's properly connected to your TV?"
<Click>
"Hello? Hello? Hmm, that's odd. Oh well... Thank you for calling Colgate, this is Kevin, how can I help you?"
The idea of a university research foundation citing damages of $100M (that's 100 000 000!) is preposterous.
My problems with this: first, how does the university stand to gain from this concept? Isn't the primary purpose of a research foundation to research, rather than own? Just how would they have ever made that kind of money from this invention? Was Cornell planning on getting into the processor business?
Second, intellectual property is one thing, but if a concept is left on snooze for years and years (1989?), and gets invented again (by HP), why should the existence of an obscure, neglected, unapplied patent stand in the way of technology?
This is of course assuming that HP is actually infringing upon any patent.
I also believe the US patent office has in the past been a little quick to hand out technology patents anyway. A classic example of this is amazon.com's patent on one-click shopping.
Processors evolve and advance constantly. In this case the patent seems to pertain to the processor being able to aribtrarily choose which instructions to process next. But is this not just a necessary step in the evolution of processors? Isn't this akin to a programmer trying to patent loops, or conditional statements?
Au contraire! Because of the sheer volume of servers currently running linux, it would appear to be one of the most attractive platforms to write virii for.
A programmer could certainly wreak a lot more havoc by planting their seeds in big web servers, domain name servers, mail servers, etc., rather than just messing up a bunch of average peoples' desktops.
My problem is with "turnaround.mov"
on
Apple PDA?
·
· Score: 1
I have trouble with turnaround.mov - in around the last three seconds of the movie, the desktop surface near the bottom right of the image shifts to the right, while the apple power adaptor sitting on the desk stays completely still.
Weird... but as I drag the frame over that, it suddenly looks VERY fake.
This unforeseen NEW technology you speak of will hopefully connect to your computer via USB/FireWire - in which case the problem is solved.
Yup, you're right, if it doesn't, you're out of luck.
But -- did you buy your computer thinking that you'd be doing something else with it in two years? Or did you buy it because you had specific tasks in mind?
I can't imagine what I might ever want to do with my iBook that I can't right now. If some new device appears and I can't plug it in to my computer, I will still believe that my iBook was a good purchase, because it is the most elegant solution for the jobs I want to do.
But this comes down to bandwagon-jumping. Windows users seem to want to buy hardware for the sake of the hardware itself, whereas Mac users tend to buy computers based on specific needs. The Windows guy may well be able to install the latest-and-greatest (usually also the most unstable) technology, while the slow-and-steady Mac user will win the race.
Seems to me that your opinion is arbitrary. The curvy Coke bottle is not a functional design, it is theirs because Coke wanted that shape of bottle to be identified with their product. Now if I want to go and bottle something, I should use a more conventional bottle shape or else design my own shape!
If I made a soup can that was red on the top and white on the bottom with a little crest in the middle, it would be for no other reason than to trick consumers. (but I digress)
Brand identification devices are intellectual property. Why should you be allowed to use mine without my permission?
Trademark protection should be limited to the words and symbols used to identify a product. Things which are part of the product itself, like an interface, ought not to be covered by trademark.
Consider, as one of many examples, the yellow-and-blackcover of a "for dummies" book.
Are you suggesting that nobody should be able to call their book "for dummies" or use the little geeky guy, but people can go ahead and use an identical yellow/black scheme, call their book "...for morons" and use a different picture?
Or create a soup can which is red on the top and white on the bottom with a little round crest in the middle?
Look and feel is not something you can trademark, but it is something to which the creator holds a copyright.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly why Apple is getting away from fruity colours and bubble shapes.
But this is where I think you're on crack. What exactly would you do with these keys, other than input data to the computer? What's wrong with your existing input devices? How would this make things more simple?
The only thing I wish PC's still had is external modems with status LEDs. Yeah I know you can buy 'em, but all computers come with ultra-cheap internal modems now, and there's no real way to tell at a glance the health and status of your modem connection.
Apart from that, the only kind of message I could imagine on your PC's case itself would be something to the effect of "Your CD tray is ajar."
My personal fave is those made-in-China computer cases with a 3-digit clock speed on the front of them that isn't wired to anything other than a meaningless 'turbo' button on the front of the tower. Now that's elegance!
Right... and when will Mercedes realize that until they hurry up and lower the price of their entire line of cars, people like me are going to keep buying old jalopies!
It's exactly these ridiculous prices that lead to there being hardly any Benzes on the road, and it will probably drive them right out of business.
It's been 4 minutes (by my watch) since your post, and the link doesn't work. :(
Yeah, so it's OK! Canada's what, 12 and a half hours ahead of the U.S.??
We Canadians love watching that beautiful sunrise in the south.
"Sucked ass" might be a little harsh. I've been using Macs since System 7.1 on a 68040. I love and welcome OS X (I bought it the day it came out almost a year ago and still haven't crashed it), but it still has a way to go or else hardware has to catch up to it before it's as snappy and usable as OS 9.
The point? Hmm, leave it to an IT guy to think only IT guys have use for processor speed.
Some reasons for those extra 300 MHz: 3D rendering, MP*/QT encoding, video transition rendering, image manipulation (rotate a 20 meg image clockwise 1 degree anyone?), audio DSP, and making Windows not seem sluggish.
2 GHz = 2000 MHz = 2000000 kHz = 2000000000 Hz. Metric. With bytes, however, 1 K = 1024 bytes, see below. 1 Mbyte = 1024*1024 bytes. 1 Gbyte = 1024*1024*1024 bytes. In metric we use a lowercase k to indicate 1000, the uppercase "K" was introduced in the seventies when RAM banks, which are addressable in binary, appeared. Thus 2^10=1024, which is close enough to a k that it's called a K.
Just about all large companies will outsource their call centre-based customer service to companies set up to do just this sort of thing. It's unfortunate because it seems that no 1-800 number you call will ever be able to answer an advanced question.
Call centres are just sweatshops full of min-wagers who can usually only dole out information from FAQ lists they are given about their products.
"Thank you for calling Colgate, this is Kevin, how can I help you?"
"I was calling about my Xbox, actually."
"That's odd, you came in on my Colgate line. Hold for just a moment please. (long wait) OK, I spoke to my supervisor, he says this call definitely came in on the Colgate line. What number did you call?"
"Look, I just have a question about my Xbox, can you help me or not?"
"Oh, OK... let's see... here we are. What's the problem?"
"My hard disk is making a chattering noise and I was wondering if that's normal."
"OK, well I see if you try to raise the back of the bed too far past its maximum position it will start to make a chattering noise, is this what's happening?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, wait, sorry... I clicked Xbox on my computer, and it took me to Sleep-O-Matic! Hold for just a moment (long pause) OK, I spoke to my supervisor, and I definitely clicked on Xbox."
"Right, but can you help me with my Xbox?"
"Well, I'm trying... I can't bring the screen up."
"Oh, OK... let's see. What database are you running?"
"One moment... [long pause] OK my supervisor got me into Xbox. How can I help you?"
"Hard disk chattering."
"Oh yeah right. It says here that if you're playing 'Space Zombies' it's normal for Zog's entourage to make a hi-pitched chattering sound. Double check for me and make sure that's not what you're hearing."
"That's not what I'm hearing."
"OK, it also says that if Zog's entourage doesn't make the chattering sound, you probably have an audio connection problem, could you please check to make sure it's properly connected to your TV?"
<Click>
"Hello? Hello? Hmm, that's odd. Oh well... Thank you for calling Colgate, this is Kevin, how can I help you?"
My problems with this: first, how does the university stand to gain from this concept? Isn't the primary purpose of a research foundation to research, rather than own? Just how would they have ever made that kind of money from this invention? Was Cornell planning on getting into the processor business?
Second, intellectual property is one thing, but if a concept is left on snooze for years and years (1989?), and gets invented again (by HP), why should the existence of an obscure, neglected, unapplied patent stand in the way of technology?
This is of course assuming that HP is actually infringing upon any patent.
I also believe the US patent office has in the past been a little quick to hand out technology patents anyway. A classic example of this is amazon.com's patent on one-click shopping.
Processors evolve and advance constantly. In this case the patent seems to pertain to the processor being able to aribtrarily choose which instructions to process next. But is this not just a necessary step in the evolution of processors? Isn't this akin to a programmer trying to patent loops, or conditional statements?
Doesn't anybody watch Fox?
In order to put install a radio telescope on the moon, we have to put a man there first!
Au contraire! Because of the sheer volume of servers currently running linux, it would appear to be one of the most attractive platforms to write virii for.
A programmer could certainly wreak a lot more havoc by planting their seeds in big web servers, domain name servers, mail servers, etc., rather than just messing up a bunch of average peoples' desktops.
I have trouble with turnaround.mov - in around the last three seconds of the movie, the desktop surface near the bottom right of the image shifts to the right, while the apple power adaptor sitting on the desk stays completely still.
Weird... but as I drag the frame over that, it suddenly looks VERY fake.
This unforeseen NEW technology you speak of will hopefully connect to your computer via USB/FireWire - in which case the problem is solved.
Yup, you're right, if it doesn't, you're out of luck.
But -- did you buy your computer thinking that you'd be doing something else with it in two years? Or did you buy it because you had specific tasks in mind?
I can't imagine what I might ever want to do with my iBook that I can't right now. If some new device appears and I can't plug it in to my computer, I will still believe that my iBook was a good purchase, because it is the most elegant solution for the jobs I want to do.
But this comes down to bandwagon-jumping. Windows users seem to want to buy hardware for the sake of the hardware itself, whereas Mac users tend to buy computers based on specific needs. The Windows guy may well be able to install the latest-and-greatest (usually also the most unstable) technology, while the slow-and-steady Mac user will win the race.
Seems to me that your opinion is arbitrary. The curvy Coke bottle is not a functional design, it is theirs because Coke wanted that shape of bottle to be identified with their product. Now if I want to go and bottle something, I should use a more conventional bottle shape or else design my own shape!
If I made a soup can that was red on the top and white on the bottom with a little crest in the middle, it would be for no other reason than to trick consumers. (but I digress)
Brand identification devices are intellectual property. Why should you be allowed to use mine without my permission?
Are you suggesting that nobody should be able to call their book "for dummies" or use the little geeky guy, but people can go ahead and use an identical yellow/black scheme, call their book "...for morons" and use a different picture?
Or create a soup can which is red on the top and white on the bottom with a little round crest in the middle?
Look and feel is not something you can trademark, but it is something to which the creator holds a copyright.