I knew it was a bad idea to release the iPhone in Germany! After updating my phone's software, iTunes asked me to verify some info. I accidentally put in the wrong info, and it showed this.
The Germans are at it again! Trying to take over the world! Or, I guess, my iPhone.
Yeah, it's pretty close. I don't quite agree with your example, though. Dynamic range is the ratio of the loudest sound to the softest sound that a medium is capable of accurately transmitting/reproducing. Note that this does not imply that these sounds occur simultaneously. It is EXTREMELY difficult (if not impossible) to hear and/or record such polar sounds simultaneously because various things occur - especially in human hearing - which inhibit sounds from being heard, such as temporal and frequency masking - loud sounds "cover up" soft sounds. You would never hear someone breathe @ 10dB over a garbage truck @ 100, nor a conversational voice over a jet taking off. Thus, a better example of a 96 dB dynamic range would be a medium that is capable of accurately "hearing" and/or reproducing sounds as soft as breathing up to as loud as a garbage truck.
Again, human hearing has a slightly better range, though as you stated, 16-bit audio almost covers it all - you just can't record/reproduce the softest sounds and the loudest sounds that the human ear is capable of hearing. It is also interesting to note that the dB scale is a logarithmic scale - for every jump of 10dB, the intensity of the sound is 10x that. That in mind, the difference between a dynamic range of 120dB (threshold of hearing to threshold of pain) vs 96dB (16-bit audio) is quite significant. Granted, room noise levels and whatnot render the difference moot - you'll never be anywhere quiet enough to hear something coming out of a loudspeaker @ 10dB anyway.
It's not a perfect reconstruction. It is a close approximation or representation of the original waveform, but it is not a perfect reconstruction. 16bit audio has a dynamic range of about 96dB, which is a little less than the human ear.
Yes, but error correction is a two-edge sword. While it's true that a couple scratches on a CD don't make that much of a difference, the problem comes when the threshold is crossed - one more scratch and you go from what seems to be a perfectly-working CD (because of the error correction) to no sound at all. Error correction allows the sound to be reproduced when there are problems, but only to a certain extent. Failure in digital mediums is instantaneous - there comes the point when error correction just can't salvage the audio, while analog mediums tend to have a gradual rate of failure. You'll know when your vinyl record is going bad, but your CD can die from one moment to the next.
Hey, some of us actually PLAN it that way - no time lost loafing around the terminal, no time lost waiting for luggage, etc. Slipshod actions? No. Meticulous planning? Yes. Show up 2 hours before departure for your flight? Screw that!
I wonder if a laptop hard drive isn't already in there. It's awfully small to be shoving a full-size hard drive in. I guess we'll have to wait for someone to crack one of these babies open to know for sure...
But back on topic... All you would have to do is install a small, fold-out LCD (touch screen?) and you would not only have the ultimate car stereo but also the ultimate carputer. It could play DVDs, surf the internet, play music (you could download software to support any format), etc.
This is exactly the same reason that I bought my copy via Steam, particularly reason #6 (and convinced a few friends to do the same).
On a side-note, while waiting for HL2 to download (man, that 4GB sure took its sweet time) I decided to play some Counter-Strike. I missed the Counter-Strike train, so last night was my first time playing it. Ever. No, seriously. Well, suffice it to say that I got it handed to me; 5-16 in the hour that I played. I took me 3 rounds just to figure out that I could buy other weapons.
Hey! Where are you going with that? Give me back my geek badge! What if I promise, I'll never go to bed again without playing an hour of HL2?
Illegal downloading hurts Jane Phillis, the animal food-tray cleaning team supervisor!
(end sarcasm)
I wonder what would happen if everyone on/. tried to download the 30MB movie they have on that site... (not saying that it should be attempted. or anything. *cough*)
Yeah, I see what you're saying. The evil doesn't just disappear with the destruction of the ring. That section of the book provided a "well, the main source of evil has been defeated but there are still lesser ones to deal with" idea. I think the same applies today (replace "evil" with "enemy"). Not to start a fire here, but look at the situation in Iraq. Yeah, Sadam has been captured. But is the fight over? Absolutely not. There are still other people and groups of people to deal with. The notion that, once you take out the leader of your enemy the war is over, is a fallacy - a fallacy which, I would have to agree with you, is portrayed in this film.
It's a slightly more realistic ending than "Hey ho, the Ring is gone, everything is perfect again."
The movie does point out, though, that everything is NOT perfect. Everyone walks away from it changed. I think one of the best quotes from the movie comes at the end when Frodo is writing everything in the book:
How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend, some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold.
This idea that they are changed as a result of this experience is depicted very well in the scene at the bar. They are all sitting around the table, looking at one another. They are not drinking by the pint as they were at Bree; they are not dancing on the table like they did in Rohan. They are different - they are almost solemn, they have a new outlook on life - a new respect for it and what it means to be alive, and they know just how much that life is really worth. Meanwhile, the life they once knew just goes on around them - barely even taking notice of them. They are now somewhat separated, distant from that life. As Frodo says, you can't go back to it. Things have changed. Some things will never be the same again because of this experience you went through. People who have lost a loved one close to them, for example, know this idea very well. They have a new appreciation for life, a deeper understanding about what really matters. They live each day to a fuller extent than before. Many of the people around them - friends, neighbors, coworkers - still live as they always have. But this person is changed as a result of the experience of losing someone. And consequently they cannot go back to their life before.
OK, I'm off my soapbox...
When I read the Scouring, I hated that part of the book - to me it didn't feel like it fit with the rest of the books. It almost felt as if I put down The Lord of the Rings and picked up "Short Guys with Hairy Feet and Other Assorted Children's Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien." I felt like I was in the frickin forrest with Robin Hood and his merry men - fighting against the 'Shirriffs' and Sharkey and whatnot. No, really. I couldn't get that image out of my head while reading. I kept thinking that any minute now, Robin Hood's gonna jump out and steal some cash...
A friend of mine had this to say about leaving the "Scouring of the Shire" part out of the ending: in the Fellowship when they reach Lothlorien, Frodo looks into the Mirror of Galadriel. If you recall, it cuts to some shots of what he sees. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these are shots of the Shire being burned and whatnot, aren't they? After he sees these images, Frodo is told by Galadriel that this is what will happen if he fails. But he didn't fail. The ring was destroyed, so it should make sense that he comes back to find the Shire alive and well and NOT in ruins (or under the control of Saruman).
Is it just me, or does the AirPort Extreme card look different than the regular one. It looks more like an AirPort card (802.11b) to me, but I know the computer has AP Extreme...
OK, so if the PSU capacitors are designed for high temperatures, doesn't it make sense that Apple would use similar ones that could also withstand high temperatures (albeit to a lesser extent) above the PSU? I have a hard time believing that, after all the engineering work that was put into this new design, they would not think to do this...
Wouldn't the capacitors in the Xserves have similar problems? I know they aren't located directly above the PSU but where the thing is only 1U, sports dual G5 processors, and can't use convection cooling, wouldn't the temp be about the same??
A few months ago, a friend and I went to our local BestBuy to buy a PS2 game and DVDs. We located the PS2 game and then ventured into the DVD section of the store. In the half an hour we spent browsing through the DVDs, we were probably asked "Can I help you?" over 15 times - 3 or 4 of which were from the same people. That almost drove me to the point of leaving. I just wanted to browse the movies! Can't you people understand that?! I'm not looking for a particular one (I know the alphabet - if I was looking for a particular movie, it wouldn't take me 30 min to find it in the alphabetized rows!) I realize the logic behind asking someone if you can help them, but I wasn't scanning the rows, looking for a particular movie. In fact, we were going down the rows, pointing at crappy movies, and saying things like, "Yeah, that one really sucked!" at above-normal volume. You could tell that we were only browsing, not searching.
On a side-note, what's with the store having 11 or 12 employees working in the DVD section??
Our game plan for the next time we step foot in that BestBuy and are asked "Can I help you?" an excessive number of times is to stack our arms full of DVDs, then blow up on the next salesperson who asks us, drop everything we have on the floor, and walk out.
From the Newsweek Article: Coast-to-coasters rejoice: the new iPods are rated for 12 hours of rockin' between charges--a 50 percent boost in battery life. This is accomplished, Apple says, not by a heavier battery but diligent conservation of power.
I just bought a 15GB 3G iPod at WWDC - they were selling them at the Apple campus store for 15% off. Thank you Apple for giving me the satisfaction of being up-to-date for 3 weeks.
I can't believe Apple didn't have the update for older iPods include the improved battery life. That sure would have smoothed over the blow of paying $250 for a 15GB iPod when now I can get a 20GB with 50% more battery life for close to that price.
Yeah, I was also not a fan of the metallic Finder windows. FYI, you can make them look more like the old ones if you hide the toolbar (click the button in the upper right-hand corner of the window). Granted, the sidebar (which I find very useful) also disappears, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
Slashdot Mirror
You've obviously never had to take your iPhone in for repair...
The Germans are at it again! Trying to take over the world! Or, I guess, my iPhone.
Again, human hearing has a slightly better range, though as you stated, 16-bit audio almost covers it all - you just can't record/reproduce the softest sounds and the loudest sounds that the human ear is capable of hearing. It is also interesting to note that the dB scale is a logarithmic scale - for every jump of 10dB, the intensity of the sound is 10x that. That in mind, the difference between a dynamic range of 120dB (threshold of hearing to threshold of pain) vs 96dB (16-bit audio) is quite significant. Granted, room noise levels and whatnot render the difference moot - you'll never be anywhere quiet enough to hear something coming out of a loudspeaker @ 10dB anyway.
It's not a perfect reconstruction. It is a close approximation or representation of the original waveform, but it is not a perfect reconstruction. 16bit audio has a dynamic range of about 96dB, which is a little less than the human ear.
Yes, but error correction is a two-edge sword. While it's true that a couple scratches on a CD don't make that much of a difference, the problem comes when the threshold is crossed - one more scratch and you go from what seems to be a perfectly-working CD (because of the error correction) to no sound at all. Error correction allows the sound to be reproduced when there are problems, but only to a certain extent. Failure in digital mediums is instantaneous - there comes the point when error correction just can't salvage the audio, while analog mediums tend to have a gradual rate of failure. You'll know when your vinyl record is going bad, but your CD can die from one moment to the next.
Hey, some of us actually PLAN it that way - no time lost loafing around the terminal, no time lost waiting for luggage, etc. Slipshod actions? No. Meticulous planning? Yes. Show up 2 hours before departure for your flight? Screw that!
Oh, thank you Apple for the new Slashdot meme.
I wonder if a laptop hard drive isn't already in there. It's awfully small to be shoving a full-size hard drive in. I guess we'll have to wait for someone to crack one of these babies open to know for sure...
But back on topic... All you would have to do is install a small, fold-out LCD (touch screen?) and you would not only have the ultimate car stereo but also the ultimate carputer. It could play DVDs, surf the internet, play music (you could download software to support any format), etc.
Bill Gates is coming to your living room, whether you like it or not.
You spelled that wrong. It should read, "Bill Gates is coming to the living room..." It'll be a cold day in hell before he gets into mine.
This is exactly the same reason that I bought my copy via Steam, particularly reason #6 (and convinced a few friends to do the same).
On a side-note, while waiting for HL2 to download (man, that 4GB sure took its sweet time) I decided to play some Counter-Strike. I missed the Counter-Strike train, so last night was my first time playing it. Ever. No, seriously. Well, suffice it to say that I got it handed to me; 5-16 in the hour that I played. I took me 3 rounds just to figure out that I could buy other weapons.
Hey! Where are you going with that? Give me back my geek badge! What if I promise, I'll never go to bed again without playing an hour of HL2?
(begin sarcasm)
/. tried to download the 30MB movie they have on that site... (not saying that it should be attempted. or anything. *cough*)
"Illegal downloading is rated I: Inappropriate for all ages"
Illegal downloading hurts Jane Phillis, the animal food-tray cleaning team supervisor!
(end sarcasm)
I wonder what would happen if everyone on
You missed the last half of the quote: Gates is phenomenally good at pleasing consumers--that is, at creating wealth for others.
Think about it: how much money is spent by corporations annually to hire consultants to fix their Windoze boxes after they have been exploited? This man's a genius! Look at all that wealth he has created! As the saying goes, If you're not part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem.
It's a slightly more realistic ending than "Hey ho, the Ring is gone, everything is perfect again."
The movie does point out, though, that everything is NOT perfect. Everyone walks away from it changed. I think one of the best quotes from the movie comes at the end when Frodo is writing everything in the book: This idea that they are changed as a result of this experience is depicted very well in the scene at the bar. They are all sitting around the table, looking at one another. They are not drinking by the pint as they were at Bree; they are not dancing on the table like they did in Rohan. They are different - they are almost solemn, they have a new outlook on life - a new respect for it and what it means to be alive, and they know just how much that life is really worth. Meanwhile, the life they once knew just goes on around them - barely even taking notice of them. They are now somewhat separated, distant from that life. As Frodo says, you can't go back to it. Things have changed. Some things will never be the same again because of this experience you went through. People who have lost a loved one close to them, for example, know this idea very well. They have a new appreciation for life, a deeper understanding about what really matters. They live each day to a fuller extent than before. Many of the people around them - friends, neighbors, coworkers - still live as they always have. But this person is changed as a result of the experience of losing someone. And consequently they cannot go back to their life before.
OK, I'm off my soapbox...
When I read the Scouring, I hated that part of the book - to me it didn't feel like it fit with the rest of the books. It almost felt as if I put down The Lord of the Rings and picked up "Short Guys with Hairy Feet and Other Assorted Children's Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien." I felt like I was in the frickin forrest with Robin Hood and his merry men - fighting against the 'Shirriffs' and Sharkey and whatnot. No, really. I couldn't get that image out of my head while reading. I kept thinking that any minute now, Robin Hood's gonna jump out and steal some cash...
A friend of mine had this to say about leaving the "Scouring of the Shire" part out of the ending: in the Fellowship when they reach Lothlorien, Frodo looks into the Mirror of Galadriel. If you recall, it cuts to some shots of what he sees. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these are shots of the Shire being burned and whatnot, aren't they? After he sees these images, Frodo is told by Galadriel that this is what will happen if he fails. But he didn't fail. The ring was destroyed, so it should make sense that he comes back to find the Shire alive and well and NOT in ruins (or under the control of Saruman).
Is it just me, or does the AirPort Extreme card look different than the regular one. It looks more like an AirPort card (802.11b) to me, but I know the computer has AP Extreme...
OK, so if the PSU capacitors are designed for high temperatures, doesn't it make sense that Apple would use similar ones that could also withstand high temperatures (albeit to a lesser extent) above the PSU? I have a hard time believing that, after all the engineering work that was put into this new design, they would not think to do this...
Wouldn't the capacitors in the Xserves have similar problems? I know they aren't located directly above the PSU but where the thing is only 1U, sports dual G5 processors, and can't use convection cooling, wouldn't the temp be about the same??
A few months ago, a friend and I went to our local BestBuy to buy a PS2 game and DVDs. We located the PS2 game and then ventured into the DVD section of the store. In the half an hour we spent browsing through the DVDs, we were probably asked "Can I help you?" over 15 times - 3 or 4 of which were from the same people. That almost drove me to the point of leaving. I just wanted to browse the movies! Can't you people understand that?! I'm not looking for a particular one (I know the alphabet - if I was looking for a particular movie, it wouldn't take me 30 min to find it in the alphabetized rows!) I realize the logic behind asking someone if you can help them, but I wasn't scanning the rows, looking for a particular movie. In fact, we were going down the rows, pointing at crappy movies, and saying things like, "Yeah, that one really sucked!" at above-normal volume. You could tell that we were only browsing, not searching.
On a side-note, what's with the store having 11 or 12 employees working in the DVD section??
Our game plan for the next time we step foot in that BestBuy and are asked "Can I help you?" an excessive number of times is to stack our arms full of DVDs, then blow up on the next salesperson who asks us, drop everything we have on the floor, and walk out.
No, it's not a hardware change.
From the Newsweek Article: Coast-to-coasters rejoice: the new iPods are rated for 12 hours of rockin' between charges--a 50 percent boost in battery life. This is accomplished, Apple says, not by a heavier battery but diligent conservation of power.
I just bought a 15GB 3G iPod at WWDC - they were selling them at the Apple campus store for 15% off. Thank you Apple for giving me the satisfaction of being up-to-date for 3 weeks.
I can't believe Apple didn't have the update for older iPods include the improved battery life. That sure would have smoothed over the blow of paying $250 for a 15GB iPod when now I can get a 20GB with 50% more battery life for close to that price.
Yeah, I was also not a fan of the metallic Finder windows. FYI, you can make them look more like the old ones if you hide the toolbar (click the button in the upper right-hand corner of the window). Granted, the sidebar (which I find very useful) also disappears, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
Anytime during Calculus.
[Obligatory Simpsons Reference]
Comic Book Guy: Worst. Movie. Ever. I will only see it three more times. Today.
Now I can finally fall asleep in church from the comfort of my own bed instead of upright on a pew!
Where'd you get that internal memo? That was for execs' eyes only!
Imagining that is painful. I type too slow, so I would just become canon fodder.
I prefer network lag, not the typing kind.