Re:Did anyone notice the anti-republican message?
on
Why ADCo?
·
· Score: 1
Yeah, I saw that paragraph and had to reread it to see if I could figure out what tax cuts have to do with ADCo's. I couldn't. It's a rather glaring example of a liberal journalist imposing his views on an otherwise informative article.
Less expensive alternatives?
on
Why ADCo?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
The article stated that the costs are such that a 33 percent market share would have to be obtained to make this financially attractive...
Being able to garner a 33 percent market share sounds nearly impossible, especially if it must be done within a reasonably short period of time to satisfy financial constraints. Although/. users and other technology-minded people may be interested in switching utility providers, I don't think the average household is sufficiently frustrated with the local ILEC to bother with having a fiber optic line installed. Moreover, although fiber optic lines have been discussed as being necessary for video-on-demand and other expensive cable services, the cable companies are likely to provide the necessary lines. In short, I don't think enough people really care about their phone providers to demand such a service.
A much less costly alternative would be to install some type of wireless communications network. The company would only need to install one or two of these per square mile, and with a small receiver located in households' basements, they could get phone service, cable, and internet service. Providing phone service would in fact be easier than current cellular technology, since the houses and receivers are obviously not going to move; encription could be used on the internet links, and I don't really see any reason why providing 100 channels of cable would be all that difficult. All of this from small transmitters located atop telephone polls every thousand yards or so.
Well, I'm using Mozilla 0.95 (less than two months old), and the Flash doesn't load properly for me, either.
The sad part is that so many of these Johnny-come-lately consulting firms like to call themselves "Internet savvy", which usually just means everyone has been trained by Microsoft to use Microsoft products. Ooh Boy.
AT&T had been offering something in the $300-$400 million range to buy all the assets of @Home, and now Comcast et al. are paying $320 million to keep the network running for 3 months?
The numbers don't make sense. Either AT&T threw out an incredibly lowball bid, or the other cable companies are paying out the nose for continued service.
For this type of money, I'm surprised they don't buy the company outright either by themselves or perhaps by partnering with a private equity firm.
Whether this is scientifically feasible is a trivial question compared to the ethics of such an endeavor. If one believes that humans are different from animals in that we contain a spirit and an awareness of God, then should a cross between a human and an animal be considered an animal or a spiritual being? Moreover, as an advanced society, do we really wish to combine our gene pool with that of an animal?
Is this a step forward for mankind, or a step backward?
This is an interesting idea, but I'd bet completely electric cars become more popular within the decade, making these "tack-on" novelties pointless.
Oh yeah, FP
I used to have AT&T BroadBand, but I found out that they sold the service to Comcast in Michigan. My comcast service does not say @Home, however... I suspect that we will be fine.
Right...I'm in Ann Arbor on Comcast, which used to be AT&T. We're still using Mediaone, thank God. I was getting worried yesterday when people were saying all Comcast users would be toast, then I realized we're on Mediaone still.
I disagree. Suppose on my personal web page I make the bold (perhaps true) claim that all Ford automobiles are unsafe at any speed, and I do not back up that comment with any reliable evidence. I then make sure my web page appears on all the large search engines so that anyone looking for information about cars can see my web page.
Although this may be a bit farfetched, suppose that as a direct result of my propaganda, Ford sees a reductions in the sale of cars.
IMHO, Ford has every right in the world to sue me for loss of business. Since I make an unsubstantiated claim about a firm that has a material impact upon its profitability, surely I am liable for damages.
The real problem with SACD's (and DVD-A's) is convincing people to buy them. The switch from vinyl to cassettes was a large step forward in terms of convenience, and the switch from cassettes to CD's brought about a jump in sound quality.
However, there is little motivation for people to discard their CD's to upgrade to (similar looking) SACD's, and most people are not willing to pay the extra money for an SACD when a CD suits them just fine.
From what I have read (I haven't listened to them yet), SACD's do make a large improvement in sound quality over CD's when used with a good stereo system. The problem is (1) whether the average listener will notice and (2) whether he will actually pay more money for them.
IMHO as an audiophile Linn products tend to be somewhat overpriced relative to similar products from other companies. I wouldn't be surprised if more high-end companies produce similar systems for under $7500 or so.
In the meantime, there is the Sutherland 12dax7 system which works with any type of music on your computer for $1699 IIRC. www.12dax7.com
Nevertheless, it is good to see high-end audio companies paying attention to newer recording technologies.
I've now read a total of 73 comments, the vast majority of which have talked about various hacks that people would like to see done. Sure, I agree, being able to hack this XBox into a $300 Linux box would be nice.
BUT.........
Just a few days ago there was another discussion at this fabulous web site about hacking the XBox, and several people pointed out that M$ uses various encription techniques in this machine which makes hacking incredibly difficult.
Perhaps before people start spanking their monkeys for a second time thinking about hacking an XBox, they should recall the discussion following the first article.
Does anyone outside of academia still use Fortran for anything?
A lot of academics still use it, presumably because of it's simple, almost-like-BASIC structure.
I do the vast majority of my work in Perl nowadays, but occassionally I'll have to go back and do something in Fortran because some of the databases we use at our business school are designed to be accessed through Fortran (templates are provided). In fact, I've got to use it today. Fortunately, I'll be done with school soon, so SO LONG FORTRAN!
Hmmm....interesting, but it seems rather long. I wonder how much time they will spend actually reading letters. If anything, they will probably just plop it into the pro- or anti-settlement pile and count up the pages at the end of the day.
They've probably got a script that simply searches through emails for words like Microsoft, Linux, good, bad; and then either counts it for or against microsoft.
Seriously, having read the interview it seems like Hurd does some interesting stuff removing features that are part of the kernel in other unix systems and moving them into userspace.
The real question, though, is whether we need an entirely new operating system to gain these features or whether they could instead be implemented into the standard Linux kernel. Unless they can really get a large group of people starting to develop and use it, it may go the way of the buffalo. By working on getting their changes into Linux, however, they would have a much larger userbase to start from.
I just upgraded to RH 7.2 this afternoon, and I basically have two problems with RedHat.
1. Their RPM system puts software in what I would argue is the wrong place many times. For example, if I install a new user-level application program, I put it into the/usr/local/ tree. However, many packages installed automatically by RH are scattered across several different directories. To make a long story short, it can be confusing searching for programs.
2. RH no longer ships AnotherLevel as a window manager. I had been using it (in the Lestif mode) as my WM. I installed fvwm2 (off my old 6.2 CD) and borrowed someone's rc files, but I thought AnotherLevel was a decent compromise for people who don't want the full bloat of KDE or GNOME but want more than twm.
You said... "By the way an audiophile listens to the music not the quality. You're saying that you can't enjoy listening to old records while most DJ's still use vinyl."
It's impossible to really listen to music if the quality is poor. Listening to some jazz music through a boombox is nothing like listening to it through a good stereo system with a nice wide, deep soundstage, flat frequency response, etc. And, yes, I do listen to vinyl, and some of my records are quite old.
Unfortunately Heathkit quit producing electronics kits about 10 years ago. However, EBay usually has quite a few older Heathkit amplifiers up for auction at any time. Their audio equipment was very high quality considering the reasonable prices of the kits. There are a lot of companies nowadays producing other audio electronics kits that are also very good, though.
Being able to store 80 GB of music in MP3 format may be useful to some, but how good does it sound?
First, taking music off a CD and reformating into MP3 results in some degradation. Much more importantly, however, just because music is digitally stored does not mean it will be audiophile quality. Storing bits of data is one thing. Converting them to high fidelity audio is arguably much more difficult. Go to Circuit City and listen to your favorite CD, and then go to an audio shop and listen to a good CD player such as the Rega Planet 2000 through a good amplifier and speakers. If you don't notice a huge difference, next go to the Beltone dealer nearest you and have your hearing checked.
For one company's solution to the problem of computer-based music, go to www.12dax7.com. They produce a preamplifier that uses the USB port, high quality DACs, and 12AX7 vacuum tubes (!) to produce a decent audio output.
I have a slightly different idea from the 12dax7 on the drawing board (and hopefully doable for about 1/3 the price!)
America was founded on the belief that people should be free to do as they choose so long as it does not unduly infringe upon the rights of others.
Possessing a national ID card may not be an impediment to freedom, but requiring me, as an American citizen, to provide proof of my citizenship upon demand is a complete anathema to the American way of life.
The use of driver's licenses, for example, when pulled over by an officer should be more than adequate in proving my legal right to be in the country.
How would this be any different from simply looking at/var/log/messages and/var/log/secure every morning? Everyone should be doing that anyway.
Of course, having a front-end to cut out all the useless messages is nice, but I would imagine most sysadmins have already written (or could write) a simple script in Perl custom tailored to their liking to do the same thing.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, I saw that paragraph and had to reread it to see if I could figure out what tax cuts have to do with ADCo's. I couldn't. It's a rather glaring example of a liberal journalist imposing his views on an otherwise informative article.
Being able to garner a 33 percent market share sounds nearly impossible, especially if it must be done within a reasonably short period of time to satisfy financial constraints. Although /. users and other technology-minded people may be interested in switching utility providers, I don't think the average household is sufficiently frustrated with the local ILEC to bother with having a fiber optic line installed. Moreover, although fiber optic lines have been discussed as being necessary for video-on-demand and other expensive cable services, the cable companies are likely to provide the necessary lines. In short, I don't think enough people really care about their phone providers to demand such a service.
A much less costly alternative would be to install some type of wireless communications network. The company would only need to install one or two of these per square mile, and with a small receiver located in households' basements, they could get phone service, cable, and internet service. Providing phone service would in fact be easier than current cellular technology, since the houses and receivers are obviously not going to move; encription could be used on the internet links, and I don't really see any reason why providing 100 channels of cable would be all that difficult. All of this from small transmitters located atop telephone polls every thousand yards or so.
The sad part is that so many of these Johnny-come-lately consulting firms like to call themselves "Internet savvy", which usually just means everyone has been trained by Microsoft to use Microsoft products. Ooh Boy.
The numbers don't make sense. Either AT&T threw out an incredibly lowball bid, or the other cable companies are paying out the nose for continued service.
For this type of money, I'm surprised they don't buy the company outright either by themselves or perhaps by partnering with a private equity firm.
Is this a step forward for mankind, or a step backward?
This is an interesting idea, but I'd bet completely electric cars become more popular within the decade, making these "tack-on" novelties pointless. Oh yeah, FP
Right...I'm in Ann Arbor on Comcast, which used to be AT&T. We're still using Mediaone, thank God. I was getting worried yesterday when people were saying all Comcast users would be toast, then I realized we're on Mediaone still.
How is a SonicBlue any different from TiVo. Isn't Tivo just a digital video recorder?
Although this may be a bit farfetched, suppose that as a direct result of my propaganda, Ford sees a reductions in the sale of cars.
IMHO, Ford has every right in the world to sue me for loss of business. Since I make an unsubstantiated claim about a firm that has a material impact upon its profitability, surely I am liable for damages.
Use ApplixWare.
However, there is little motivation for people to discard their CD's to upgrade to (similar looking) SACD's, and most people are not willing to pay the extra money for an SACD when a CD suits them just fine.
From what I have read (I haven't listened to them yet), SACD's do make a large improvement in sound quality over CD's when used with a good stereo system. The problem is (1) whether the average listener will notice and (2) whether he will actually pay more money for them.
In the meantime, there is the Sutherland 12dax7 system which works with any type of music on your computer for $1699 IIRC. www.12dax7.com
Nevertheless, it is good to see high-end audio companies paying attention to newer recording technologies.
BUT.........
Just a few days ago there was another discussion at this fabulous web site about hacking the XBox, and several people pointed out that M$ uses various encription techniques in this machine which makes hacking incredibly difficult.
Perhaps before people start spanking their monkeys for a second time thinking about hacking an XBox, they should recall the discussion following the first article.
A lot of academics still use it, presumably because of it's simple, almost-like-BASIC structure.
I do the vast majority of my work in Perl nowadays, but occassionally I'll have to go back and do something in Fortran because some of the databases we use at our business school are designed to be accessed through Fortran (templates are provided). In fact, I've got to use it today. Fortunately, I'll be done with school soon, so SO LONG FORTRAN!
Hmmm....interesting, but it seems rather long. I wonder how much time they will spend actually reading letters. If anything, they will probably just plop it into the pro- or anti-settlement pile and count up the pages at the end of the day.
if (/microsoft/ && /bad/ && /consumers/) {
--$bad_microsoft;
}
elsif (/microsoft/ && /good/) {
++$good_microsoft;
}
elsif (/linux/ && /awesome) {
++$slashdot_geek;
}
Seriously, having read the interview it seems like Hurd does some interesting stuff removing features that are part of the kernel in other unix systems and moving them into userspace.
The real question, though, is whether we need an entirely new operating system to gain these features or whether they could instead be implemented into the standard Linux kernel. Unless they can really get a large group of people starting to develop and use it, it may go the way of the buffalo. By working on getting their changes into Linux, however, they would have a much larger userbase to start from.
1. Their RPM system puts software in what I would argue is the wrong place many times. For example, if I install a new user-level application program, I put it into the /usr/local/ tree. However, many packages installed automatically by RH are scattered across several different directories. To make a long story short, it can be confusing searching for programs.
2. RH no longer ships AnotherLevel as a window manager. I had been using it (in the Lestif mode) as my WM. I installed fvwm2 (off my old 6.2 CD) and borrowed someone's rc files, but I thought AnotherLevel was a decent compromise for people who don't want the full bloat of KDE or GNOME but want more than twm.
It's impossible to really listen to music if the quality is poor. Listening to some jazz music through a boombox is nothing like listening to it through a good stereo system with a nice wide, deep soundstage, flat frequency response, etc. And, yes, I do listen to vinyl, and some of my records are quite old.
Um, no. 4166.667 minutes / 3.5 minutes/song = 1190 songs. Moving up to archival quality recording and suddenly 80 GB isn't so huge.
Unfortunately Heathkit quit producing electronics kits about 10 years ago. However, EBay usually has quite a few older Heathkit amplifiers up for auction at any time. Their audio equipment was very high quality considering the reasonable prices of the kits. There are a lot of companies nowadays producing other audio electronics kits that are also very good, though.
First, taking music off a CD and reformating into MP3 results in some degradation. Much more importantly, however, just because music is digitally stored does not mean it will be audiophile quality. Storing bits of data is one thing. Converting them to high fidelity audio is arguably much more difficult. Go to Circuit City and listen to your favorite CD, and then go to an audio shop and listen to a good CD player such as the Rega Planet 2000 through a good amplifier and speakers. If you don't notice a huge difference, next go to the Beltone dealer nearest you and have your hearing checked.
For one company's solution to the problem of computer-based music, go to www.12dax7.com. They produce a preamplifier that uses the USB port, high quality DACs, and 12AX7 vacuum tubes (!) to produce a decent audio output.
I have a slightly different idea from the 12dax7 on the drawing board (and hopefully doable for about 1/3 the price!)
Possessing a national ID card may not be an impediment to freedom, but requiring me, as an American citizen, to provide proof of my citizenship upon demand is a complete anathema to the American way of life.
The use of driver's licenses, for example, when pulled over by an officer should be more than adequate in proving my legal right to be in the country.
Just tried downloading the binaries. The FTP server has too many users.
Of course, having a front-end to cut out all the useless messages is nice, but I would imagine most sysadmins have already written (or could write) a simple script in Perl custom tailored to their liking to do the same thing.