While the stats may be accurate, the terminology isn't. If you leave out Scotland and Northern Ireland, you can't use the term 'United Kingdom'. Citing 'The United Kingdom (England and Wales)' is akin to saying 'The United States (California and Texas)'.
As one of the many poor typists out there, I don't see why we still have to choose between looking at the keyboard and learning to touch type. A touch keyboard, detecting my finger positions, could coordinate with a translucent virtual kbd on screen that also displayed my finger positions. The virtual kbd would be made to appear and disappear with appropriate gestures. Addional feedback would include haptic, sound, & 'hover' keys. And, as the whole thing is virtual, it would reconfigure on the fly to cope with any language, which simplifies life for the PC manufacturer. The touch keyboard would still need some kind of display but it could be pretty basic. Oh dear - I hope I haven't described this in too much detail. I wouldn't want some poor patent troll to starve...
Pants up butt-crack - Bill Gates Carrying stack of chairs - Ballmer's PA Bristling with fragmented chair splinters - Ballmer's PA Sporting a wedgie - has worn a Zune in public Shoes on wrong feet - Windows Vista Guru Wearing a food-stained straight-jacket - Mojave experiment subject Wearing a suit - Prey. Launch the sales droids!
John McCain has a comprehensive economic flan that will create millions of good American diddly-bobs, baste our nation's inflamed kidney, get the government's wrangling and yodelling practices in order, and bring relief to American teenagers.
Or as C&W lyrics -
John McCain's the Marlborough man, He's got an economic plan. Oh yessirree Bob, He's bringing good old American jobs. His wife is awful purdy, He's ensurin our energy securiddy, Budgetin' like a hoarder and gittin' the guvmint spend in order. There'll be a pet llama for every consumer, But for Obama, it's Last Train to Yuma. That old goat sure gets my vote, and if he don't win, then... this last line won't rhyme.
At the same time as Gates plays philanthropist in Africa, Vista indulges the old myth that each new OS must consume more resources. Meanwhile the Asus Ee gives the lie to the myth. We should be looking for new OS releases to comsume less energy, and run faster on yesterdays hardware. They could still be made to do more - it's called good programming.
I seem to remember this being done in the mid-80s of the last century with a Commodore Amiga and a Live! video digitizer board. If I could be assed to Google it, I suppose I could quickly invalidate any subsequent patent claims
You could achieve much the same ends by dousing the target in kerosene, lighting it, then stoking the resulting blaze with bundles of thousand-dollar bills. Boys and their toys!
DVD? Is that something like a torrent file, only on a disc?
Seriously, this patent has both workable and novel parts. Unfortunately the novel parts aren't workable the workable parts aren't novel. Most DVDs already have unskippable commercials on them - usually selling the idea of DRM in the form of piracy warnings. As for downloadable commercials, will it be a requirement to have an internet connection to play a DVD? Throw away your DVD players now - especially the portables!
But, back to my title question - what's a DVD? With CDs, once you start chucking in crap that's not in the published specification, then the thing you're selling can no longer be described as a CD.
Do DVDs follow the same kind of regime? If so, I suggest these be marketed as Digitally Unplayable Discs.
After digging around, this is the best stat I can find - In March 2004, there were 24.5 million licences in force. So the iPlayer has cost every licence holder over 5 pounds - and that includes the huge majority who will never use iPlayer. Let's be optimistic and imagine a takeup of 100,000. That means the iPlayer has a per seat cost of 1,000 pounds. So, two questions: would you pay 1,000 pounds for a copy of this piece of software? And is it fair that non-users are subsidising you to the tune of 995 pounds?
Yet another Freedom of Information request worth making: ask the BBC to break down the money spent on this.
If we knew the facts, I truly believe arrests would be made
Sorry - seems I didn't make my point strongly enough. People keep saying the BBC couldn't afford to develop an open solution. They've spent 100 million pounds on this. That's 100,000,000 GBP.
Does anyone seriously think that pouring a tenth of that funding into an non-proprietary solution wouldn't have delivered the goods? The Miro project would be a great starting point. The addition of one of the FOSS DRM initiatives would have covered them for those programmes where rights protection was deemed necessary.
The BBC had a chance to develop a de-facto standard and license it around the world. Instead, they have climbed into bed with Microsoft and blown the housekeeping money on a pile of crap.
It would be interesting to submit a Freedom of Information request to the BBC and find out how rigorous the procurement process was.
Mark Taylor of the UK Open Source Consortium makes the point that the BBC has spent 100 million pounds on the iPlayer project. They're also going broke and will have to sell their flagship London headquarters building for - guess how much?
So, this project has already beggared the BBC. Am I too paranoid in seeing this as the first step in yet another Microsoft 'embrace and extend' play? They've had ambitions to own broadcast TV for ages. If they can prove their DRM works for a major broadcaster over the net, next step will be to DRM the broadcast TV. After that, if your TV doesn't have Windows Inside, you'll be shit out of luck.
How about a survey of platforms? I'd like to see a comparison that includes not just the various OSes, but the web. I suspect the web browser/server is the real growth application platform.
Yes, I was joking, but I'm also proud to be a MacMonkey (tm) - also a PC Chimp and sometime Linux Lemur.
Actually, a multi-touch Mac Mini would be cool but I just couldn't figure out how it could be made usable. So, I guess a wireless multi-touch trackpad will have to do instead.
How about a Mac Mini revision where it's whole top side is a multi-touch tablet? That would be very cool. Ergonomically, it would have to be no more than 1.5cm thick so there'd be no room for an optical drive, hard disk, CPU, etc - yet another opportunity for Apple to display their typical elegant minimalism!
Apparently developers are griping that web apps are the only way onto the iPhone for 3rd parties. No native SDK. Some people though will be thinking about how they can create a service for iPhone users simply by building a website, and are probably already approaching VCs for funding.
The iPhone costs $550 and has virtually no feature set. Compare that to our new ZuneMobileVistaWinceCommunicatorAudioThing. We give you not just a touchscreen interface but a pull-out keyboard, a flip-up trackball, a slide-over rotary dial and, for the Asian markets, a fold-out abacus. There's voice control, touch control, morse-code control and thought control (that last is the phone controlling you). We play all the popular audio and movie formats - WMV, MP3, 8-track cartridges and ViewMaster discs. You can open and edit Word and Excel documents and our large colour screen can display as many as four spreadsheet cells at a time. And usability? You an answer an incoming call in only eleven key-clicks!
As is pointed out in other posts, this won't benefit users of Xbox 360s, PS3s etc in the near future (reasonable timeframe?) or perhaps ever. That's just a symptom though of the underlying wrongtitude.
The root cause is the Memorandum of Understanding that the BBC signed with Microsoft under which they agree to siphon a portion of the license fee straight into Bil Gates's pocket in exchange for access to 'advanced technology'. The BBC can no longer develop its own tech as it sold off its technology arm to Siemens.
Had they not done so, they could have developed their own DRM scheme and licensed it to TV, set-top box, etc manufacturers. The resulting revenue stream would have positioned them very well to play in the online space. Open APIs would also have spurred innovation in the UK software industry.
I'm not in the know as to whether the BBC was required to follow government procurement rules when setting up that Memorandum but the whole thing stinks of wrongness & short-sighted contingency.
You know, the ones that are always 'months' away from the marketplace, and you could make roll-up phones, mp3 players, etc. Also, useful for trackpads, music synthesizer controllers, gamepads, electronic bongos, self-adjusting chairs, scales, variable geometry hang-gliders, and digital hammocks.
You're probably right about the niche programmes if you can get the digital channels - I can't. It's exactly those niche programmes that I would watch - science, arts, music, etc. I can't wait till the Interactive Media Player trial starts up - I'm in on the pilot - as I'll finally get access to the programmes I want to see, when I want to see them. Broadcast is still the most efficient distribution channel but culture snobs like me will be better served by online.
Wonderful for: giving away free music; testing peer-to-peer video downloads; internet radio; downloadable radio programmes; podcasts; an open-source website; Dirac; the best news website; its radio programmes; and even a couple of decent TV programmes. Terrible for selling off its technology arm; its infrastructure; its industrial relations; fat-cat management; most of its tv programmes. Sadly, the things it does terribly would seem to be a direct threat to the things it does wonderfully.
Slashdot Mirror
I suggest you sue and claim the full value of your soul. Current consensus is that's about £5
While the stats may be accurate, the terminology isn't. If you leave out Scotland and Northern Ireland, you can't use the term 'United Kingdom'. Citing 'The United Kingdom (England and Wales)' is akin to saying 'The United States (California and Texas)'.
As one of the many poor typists out there, I don't see why we still have to choose between looking at the keyboard and learning to touch type. A touch keyboard, detecting my finger positions, could coordinate with a translucent virtual kbd on screen that also displayed my finger positions. The virtual kbd would be made to appear and disappear with appropriate gestures. Addional feedback would include haptic, sound, & 'hover' keys. And, as the whole thing is virtual, it would reconfigure on the fly to cope with any language, which simplifies life for the PC manufacturer. The touch keyboard would still need some kind of display but it could be pretty basic. Oh dear - I hope I haven't described this in too much detail. I wouldn't want some poor patent troll to starve...
Pants up butt-crack - Bill Gates
Carrying stack of chairs - Ballmer's PA
Bristling with fragmented chair splinters - Ballmer's PA
Sporting a wedgie - has worn a Zune in public
Shoes on wrong feet - Windows Vista Guru
Wearing a food-stained straight-jacket - Mojave experiment subject
Wearing a suit - Prey. Launch the sales droids!
With random words -
John McCain has a comprehensive economic flan that will create millions of good American diddly-bobs, baste our nation's inflamed kidney, get the government's wrangling and yodelling practices in order, and bring relief to American teenagers.
Or as C&W lyrics -
John McCain's the Marlborough man, ... this last line won't rhyme.
He's got an economic plan.
Oh yessirree Bob,
He's bringing good old American jobs.
His wife is awful purdy,
He's ensurin our energy securiddy,
Budgetin' like a hoarder and gittin' the guvmint spend in order.
There'll be a pet llama for every consumer,
But for Obama, it's Last Train to Yuma.
That old goat sure gets my vote,
and if he don't win, then
Now where did you say I can post these comments?
At the same time as Gates plays philanthropist in Africa, Vista indulges the old myth that each new OS must consume more resources. Meanwhile the Asus Ee gives the lie to the myth. We should be looking for new OS releases to comsume less energy, and run faster on yesterdays hardware. They could still be made to do more - it's called good programming.
I seem to remember this being done in the mid-80s of the last century with a Commodore Amiga and a Live! video digitizer board. If I could be assed to Google it, I suppose I could quickly invalidate any subsequent patent claims
You could achieve much the same ends by dousing the target in kerosene, lighting it, then stoking the resulting blaze with bundles of thousand-dollar bills. Boys and their toys!
DVD? Is that something like a torrent file, only on a disc?
Seriously, this patent has both workable and novel parts. Unfortunately the novel parts aren't workable the workable parts aren't novel. Most DVDs already have unskippable commercials on them - usually selling the idea of DRM in the form of piracy warnings. As for downloadable commercials, will it be a requirement to have an internet connection to play a DVD? Throw away your DVD players now - especially the portables!
But, back to my title question - what's a DVD? With CDs, once you start chucking in crap that's not in the published specification, then the thing you're selling can no longer be described as a CD.
Do DVDs follow the same kind of regime? If so, I suggest these be marketed as Digitally Unplayable Discs.
Words become established through use: there is no ISO committee to ratify the English language. Performant is a word because people are using it.
After digging around, this is the best stat I can find - In March 2004, there were 24.5 million licences in force. So the iPlayer has cost every licence holder over 5 pounds - and that includes the huge majority who will never use iPlayer. Let's be optimistic and imagine a takeup of 100,000. That means the iPlayer has a per seat cost of 1,000 pounds. So, two questions: would you pay 1,000 pounds for a copy of this piece of software? And is it fair that non-users are subsidising you to the tune of 995 pounds?
Yet another Freedom of Information request worth making: ask the BBC to break down the money spent on this.
If we knew the facts, I truly believe arrests would be made
100 MILLION POUNDS!!!
Sorry - seems I didn't make my point strongly enough. People keep saying the BBC couldn't afford to develop an open solution. They've spent 100 million pounds on this. That's 100,000,000 GBP.
Does anyone seriously think that pouring a tenth of that funding into an non-proprietary solution wouldn't have delivered the goods? The Miro project would be a great starting point. The addition of one of the FOSS DRM initiatives would have covered them for those programmes where rights protection was deemed necessary.
The BBC had a chance to develop a de-facto standard and license it around the world. Instead, they have climbed into bed with Microsoft and blown the housekeeping money on a pile of crap.
It would be interesting to submit a Freedom of Information request to the BBC and find out how rigorous the procurement process was.
Read this if you think iPlayer is a good idea - http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071021231933899
Mark Taylor of the UK Open Source Consortium makes the point that the BBC has spent 100 million pounds on the iPlayer project. They're also going broke and will have to sell their flagship London headquarters building for - guess how much?
So, this project has already beggared the BBC. Am I too paranoid in seeing this as the first step in yet another Microsoft 'embrace and extend' play? They've had ambitions to own broadcast TV for ages. If they can prove their DRM works for a major broadcaster over the net, next step will be to DRM the broadcast TV. After that, if your TV doesn't have Windows Inside, you'll be shit out of luck.
How about a survey of platforms? I'd like to see a comparison that includes not just the various OSes, but the web. I suspect the web browser/server is the real growth application platform.
Yes, I was joking, but I'm also proud to be a MacMonkey (tm) - also a PC Chimp and sometime Linux Lemur. Actually, a multi-touch Mac Mini would be cool but I just couldn't figure out how it could be made usable. So, I guess a wireless multi-touch trackpad will have to do instead.
How about a Mac Mini revision where it's whole top side is a multi-touch tablet? That would be very cool. Ergonomically, it would have to be no more than 1.5cm thick so there'd be no room for an optical drive, hard disk, CPU, etc - yet another opportunity for Apple to display their typical elegant minimalism!
Apparently developers are griping that web apps are the only way onto the iPhone for 3rd parties. No native SDK. Some people though will be thinking about how they can create a service for iPhone users simply by building a website, and are probably already approaching VCs for funding.
The iPhone costs $550 and has virtually no feature set. Compare that to our new ZuneMobileVistaWinceCommunicatorAudioThing. We give you not just a touchscreen interface but a pull-out keyboard, a flip-up trackball, a slide-over rotary dial and, for the Asian markets, a fold-out abacus. There's voice control, touch control, morse-code control and thought control (that last is the phone controlling you). We play all the popular audio and movie formats - WMV, MP3, 8-track cartridges and ViewMaster discs. You can open and edit Word and Excel documents and our large colour screen can display as many as four spreadsheet cells at a time. And usability? You an answer an incoming call in only eleven key-clicks!
As is pointed out in other posts, this won't benefit users of Xbox 360s, PS3s etc in the near future (reasonable timeframe?) or perhaps ever. That's just a symptom though of the underlying wrongtitude.
The root cause is the Memorandum of Understanding that the BBC signed with Microsoft under which they agree to siphon a portion of the license fee straight into Bil Gates's pocket in exchange for access to 'advanced technology'. The BBC can no longer develop its own tech as it sold off its technology arm to Siemens.
Had they not done so, they could have developed their own DRM scheme and licensed it to TV, set-top box, etc manufacturers. The resulting revenue stream would have positioned them very well to play in the online space. Open APIs would also have spurred innovation in the UK software industry.
I'm not in the know as to whether the BBC was required to follow government procurement rules when setting up that Memorandum but the whole thing stinks of wrongness & short-sighted contingency.
Just a small point - marketing driverless car software as a 'killer app' - probably a bad idea.
Why not just get biofuel from salt-tolerant plants? Or is that too easy?
Yes, this stuff is, but the rollable displays aren't. Seriously tough, I can think of so many uses for this for new types of control interface.
You know, the ones that are always 'months' away from the marketplace, and you could make roll-up phones, mp3 players, etc. Also, useful for trackpads, music synthesizer controllers, gamepads, electronic bongos, self-adjusting chairs, scales, variable geometry hang-gliders, and digital hammocks.
You're probably right about the niche programmes if you can get the digital channels - I can't. It's exactly those niche programmes that I would watch - science, arts, music, etc. I can't wait till the Interactive Media Player trial starts up - I'm in on the pilot - as I'll finally get access to the programmes I want to see, when I want to see them. Broadcast is still the most efficient distribution channel but culture snobs like me will be better served by online.
Wonderful for: giving away free music; testing peer-to-peer video downloads; internet radio; downloadable radio programmes; podcasts; an open-source website; Dirac; the best news website; its radio programmes; and even a couple of decent TV programmes. Terrible for selling off its technology arm; its infrastructure; its industrial relations; fat-cat management; most of its tv programmes. Sadly, the things it does terribly would seem to be a direct threat to the things it does wonderfully.