Yeah, I was referring to 3. They seem to have dropped the emphasis on the videophone in the last year or so. My point was that it's not new, and not really a killer app. Of course, that could also be because of the low number of people actually using 3 in Austria and it's less than stellar service coverage.
If none of your friends have it, it's sort of hard to use it.
well, in europe we have already had two way video conferencing on cell phones for a couple of years. It hasn't been a killer app yet, but that could be because of limited coverage and small user base. The primary UMTS network in Austria tried desperately to sell people on the use of videophones, but it doesn't really seem to be the reason eople are switching to UMTS networks.
Subscribing to the playboy channel on your cell phone on the other hand...
Actually, Apple has done this twice already. Once with their software division which became Claris (with titles like MacPaint, Hypercard, ClarisWorks and even for a short time the distribution of the OS itself) and with the Newton which became Newton Inc. for a couple of months before it was reabsorbed only to be killed.
"...Mac OS was a lot prettier but then it cost the moon and the stars along with both your arms and legs."
In 1983-84 the list price for an IBM XT was $7,495. The initial price of the first Macintosh was $2,499. The IBM AT which was also released in 1984 retailed at $4,000. The Mac 512 was then released for something over $3000 but with twice the memory of the AT. The Mac Plus was later released back at the $2500 price point.
Even in 1987 the high end macs continued to be a deal compared to other name brand PC's. To quote Dan Knight:
"The Compaq Deskpro 386 had been introduced six months earlier at US$7,900 with 1 MB of RAM, a 40 MB hard drive, and a monitor. The Mac II retailed at US$5,500 with 1 MB of RAM and a 40 MG hard drive. Adding an 8-bit video card, color display, and keyboard (not included with the CPU!) brought the package to around US$7,000."
You can read the rest of his article about the Mac-PC price relation at LowEndMac
As far as I can tell, Microsoft had absolutely NOTHING to do with the eventual affordability of PC clones. The price dumping was due entirely to IBM's failure to patent their architecture, thus allowing anyone and their dog to carve out their own share of IBM's retail profit margin.
Maybe because its one of the first to offer decent computer to POTS calls for countries OTHER than the US.
It's cheaper for me to call my family back in the States using Skype. That's not such a big deal, because it's true with most VOIP providers.
The difference is that I can call the rest of Europe for exactly the same price. That price is lower than the per minute charge to a local landline where I live.
I am sure it's also a good deal for the rest of Europe and many other parts of the world that still don't have unlimited local minutes.
To give you an idea of just how expensive it used to be here, I have had local bills approaching $800 dollars. Things have gotten better but it is still cheaper for me to call my neighbor using skype than it is for me to use my regional telephone provider.
Actually, I think you may be wrong. They are really pretty annoyed with the death penalty thing, and are in the proccess of trying to rename the sports stadium that was named after him. They were proud of him because of the bodybuilding (well, the success anyway. Like most famous Austrians, he had to leave the country to actually get liked back home)And because of the movies. THey were proud that he became Governor, and would have loved to keep callin him their own, until the whole death penalty thing came up.
Of course, all will be forgiven when he runs for President. You can bet the headlines here will be screaing about "Our" Arnie in the Whitehouse.
more importantly, a good portion of his declared market uses Macs. The Cringley article mentions Rockstars who are on the road and want to be able to watch local TV. Well, most of those Rockstars are probably using Macs.
I work in radio and do stage moderation at Rock Festivals. When the bands and roadies figured out that we had a wireless network available, the laptops were everywhere, and Macs outnumbered PC's by roughly 8 to 1. From iBooks to 48 channel Powertools setups. Since most of these bands consisted of teams of at least 10 people, that's a pretty good sized market he is missing out on (in comparison to his wireless mic sales of a thousand pieces at least)
if your 6yo is watching a movie featuring a woman with a penis in her mouth, than you have shirked some parental responsibilities methinks. And that is the nicest interpretation of that scenario.
I do professional audio production on a Powerbook, but it is overkill for a good portion of my work, and if it hadn't been for my video hobby, a $900 ibook would have sufficed. I use a firewire external audio solution, although if you absolutely must have a high end audio card (why are you bitching about $3000 then) you can get a desktop G5 for starting at $1499.
Our production team had been happily working along on roughly 500mhz g4s for ages, so the fact is you can get work done on ANY of the current models.
Hell, I used to do broadcast video production on 9600s and G3's, both of which could be picked up for a song, if you were capable of writing one worth selling.
Re:I don't know about macs...
on
Live CD for PPC?
·
· Score: -1, Redundant
So were you born stupid, or was it something you had to work towards?
You're right of course, except for the fact that I DO live in Europe. That, and the fact that the rest of your post had nothing to do with what I said.
First of all the european version of the DMCA that I was referring to is actually called the European Union Copyright Directive and an article from the Register from April 30th 2002 actually refers to it as being more severe than the US one. I quote:
The directive, which was approved last year, extends European copyright legislation so that it is even more restrictive than America's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), critics argue. National governments have until December 22 to incorporate the directive in national legislation.
If it goes through unmodified, the EUCD would make it a criminal offense to break or attempt to break the copy protection or Digital Rights Management systems on digital content such as music, software or eBooks. As it stands, the EUCD may lead to a rerun of Dmitri Sklyarov's prosecution, prevent teachers copying materials for their students or other legitimate uses of copyright material, opponents believe.
Now I know the British would like to consider themselves somehow above and beyond the rest of the EU but the fact is that your local version of the EUCD can only be more restrictive.
As a matter of fact ANOTHER article (once again by the Register) points out that the british implementation may be worse.
Other than having pointed out that you suspect I may never have set foot outside of the States, you also were kind enough to have explained to me that the EU and open borders is nothing new. How right you are. I never mentioned any thing to the contrary. I DID suggest that the reason for the EUCD may have been a trade agreement. Oddly enough that seems to be something that Eurorights.org would agree with. They say:
The source of the law protection of 'technical protection measures', are the two WIPO treaties from December 1996. Note that the WIPO treaties require law protection for technical measures only when they deny copyright infringement The EU copyright directive is thus overbroad.
As far as the rest of your reply, the US is already aware of the threat renegade IP nations may pose, and already have a watchlist with 14 other economies (including the EU). An Asia Pacific Media Network story about it says:
Although Taiwan amended its copyright law in June 2003, several provisions remain deficient," the trade representative's report said, without giving examples.
The report noted that a promise by the government in February to seek improvements in the copyright law has not yet been fulfilled.
Taiwan has been on and off the piracy list since the early 1990s. In 2001, after a three year gap, the country was placed back on the list, where it has been ever since.
The dispute between Washington and Taipei over piracy is the biggest irritant in bilateral economic relations, and has quashed hopes that Washington would sign a free trade agreement with Taiwan.
The two countries also have disputes over telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and rice imports, but heavy pressure on the US government from the entertainment industry, which claims it loses several billions of dollars a year due to piracy in Taiwan, has kept the issue in the forefront.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday expressed regret and discontent over the US government's decision.
"The US government ignored our efforts in passing the new Copyright Law, a
I actually wish you were completely right. Unfortunately, I fear you may be too optimistic. The States (well the massive corporations financing your favorite politician) have been doing everything in their power to prevent just such a scenario. Why do you think Europe and everyone else have been suddenly changing their copyright laws? What do you think is the motivation for the European DMCA and the adoption of software patents? It's because the corporations are international, and they know that these things can only work if implemented on a global scale. So how do they do it? Is it the evil UN that forces everyone else to toe the line?
It is the US's big stick of trade agreements. It works like this, the US passes a corporate friendly law, then renegotiates their international trade agreements which basically force trade partners into rewriting their legislation to fall in line with the US legislation. If the companies can hem and haw long enough, there won't be any countries left that could flip the bird to US corporate interests.
It doesn't matter who you vote for, or where you live in the western world, they are getting their ducks all in a row. You do know what follows right?
they don't restrict your use, will sell to people outside of the U.S. and have a decent selection of non-U.S. artists.
Of course, if you are looking for Bravo Charts or something from the Dome you are most likely SOL.
If you are more into the types of music on the soundtrack to Herr Lehmann, you should feel right at home.
Actually Software negligence HAS killed people....
Insignificant Figures
From Science News page 7 (July 6, 1991)
Science News illustrates vividly just how important it can be to program a piece of software correctly and document its proper usage to the customer.
At a recent government conference on computer assurance, it was revealed that the February 25 failure of a Patriot Missile battery in Dharan to track and intercept an incoming Scud missile was traced to a 0.36 second error in the timing of a software-driven clock. That missile subsequently struck a warehouse being used as an Army barracks and resulted in American deaths.
It turns out the software was working as designed. The original specs for the system were based on the assumption that the system would never be in continuous operation for more than 14 hours. Periodic maintenance was assumed to bring the system down at least that often. Accordingly, the programmers coded the clock with an algorithm that produced an error of 1 part in 1,000,000. The resulting accumulated error was judged to be insignificant over periods of 14 hours or less.
However, the crew operating the Dharan missile battery wasn't aware of this limitation. By the time the fatal Scud arrived, their system had been running continuously for 100 hours with no apparent problems. Although the problem had been identified a week earlier and a fix cassette had been sent to the field, it didn't arrive at the Dharan battery until the day after the Scud attack.
In other words: questionable software design, illinformed users and and an existing patch that wasnt applied in time. Sounds like just another day at the office to me.
I think youre on to something here...
As a musician/artist/"content producer" (ack!)
I really suspect most of this is about trying to reestablish an artificial economy of scarcity. Record companies and publishing houses maintain their strangelhold on musicians and writers based on the difficulties involved in distributing content. Since the net has basically opened the publishing process, these industries no longer have complete control over the means of distribution. Copyright (at least in publishing) has never really protected or supported the individual artist, but HAS done wonders for the companies that package/distribute that content. THe music industry is even worse, using their control over distribution channels to force bands to swallow most of the production and marketing costs while reaping HUGE percentages of the final market price.
Up until a couple of years ago, digital production only really empowered musicians and writers, allowing almost anyone to produce and distribute their works much easier than ever before. THis is also why these two areas have seen much more active attempts by the corporations to reestablish their powerbase.
Now that digital video and film production/distribution is becoming more realistic for hobby/lowbudget producers, the distributors of visual media are trying to make a preemptive strike against these people (and their viewers).
By enforceing copyprotection systems, (licenseing fees for the technology, lack of hobby level support for the encryption, or whatever other evilness the suits may think up) the media companies are securing their power over what you can see AND what you can easily produce or distribute.
One other problem I see is that NOT being able to archive my own videos/music/whatever means that I am completely dependant on market demands to guarantee continued access to the pieces I enjoy.
When the number of people interested in a particular piece drops too low, how many on demand services are going to continue offering access to it? I dont think a sigle record company released their entire backcatalog on CD after the transition from vinyl. I know that several of my favorite albums are impossible to find on CD, and I have had no luck finding them on any of the filesharing services simply because the audience was way to small.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, I was referring to 3. They seem to have dropped the emphasis on the videophone in the last year or so. My point was that it's not new, and not really a killer app. Of course, that could also be because of the low number of people actually using 3 in Austria and it's less than stellar service coverage.
If none of your friends have it, it's sort of hard to use it.
well, in europe we have already had two way video conferencing on cell phones for a couple of years. It hasn't been a killer app yet, but that could be because of limited coverage and small user base. The primary UMTS network in Austria tried desperately to sell people on the use of videophones, but it doesn't really seem to be the reason eople are switching to UMTS networks.
Subscribing to the playboy channel on your cell phone on the other hand...
Actually, Apple has done this twice already. Once with their software division which became Claris (with titles like MacPaint, Hypercard, ClarisWorks and even for a short time the distribution of the OS itself) and with the Newton which became Newton Inc. for a couple of months before it was reabsorbed only to be killed.
In 1983-84 the list price for an IBM XT was $7,495. The initial price of the first Macintosh was $2,499.
The IBM AT which was also released in 1984 retailed at $4,000.
The Mac 512 was then released for something over $3000 but with twice the memory of the AT. The Mac Plus was later released back at the $2500 price point.
Even in 1987 the high end macs continued to be a deal compared to other name brand PC's. To quote Dan Knight:
You can read the rest of his article about the Mac-PC price relation at LowEndMac As far as I can tell, Microsoft had absolutely NOTHING to do with the eventual affordability of PC clones. The price dumping was due entirely to IBM's failure to patent their architecture, thus allowing anyone and their dog to carve out their own share of IBM's retail profit margin.
Should have bought an H.
We WERE referring to those Photon Torpedoes the federation was so fond of, right?
Maybe because its one of the first to offer decent computer to POTS calls for countries OTHER than the US. It's cheaper for me to call my family back in the States using Skype. That's not such a big deal, because it's true with most VOIP providers.
The difference is that I can call the rest of Europe for exactly the same price. That price is lower than the per minute charge to a local landline where I live.
I am sure it's also a good deal for the rest of Europe and many other parts of the world that still don't have unlimited local minutes.
To give you an idea of just how expensive it used to be here, I have had local bills approaching $800 dollars. Things have gotten better but it is still cheaper for me to call my neighbor using skype than it is for me to use my regional telephone provider.
No one else is offering such a deal.
Because Heidi was Swiss?
Actually, I think you may be wrong. They are really pretty annoyed with the death penalty thing, and are in the proccess of trying to rename the sports stadium that was named after him. They were proud of him because of the bodybuilding (well, the success anyway. Like most famous Austrians, he had to leave the country to actually get liked back home)And because of the movies. THey were proud that he became Governor, and would have loved to keep callin him their own, until the whole death penalty thing came up. Of course, all will be forgiven when he runs for President. You can bet the headlines here will be screaing about "Our" Arnie in the Whitehouse.
Dude, be happy. She's probably just trying to tell you it's okay, she LIKES things in small packages. Take the hint and get rid of that vacuum pump.
more importantly, a good portion of his declared market uses Macs. The Cringley article mentions Rockstars who are on the road and want to be able to watch local TV. Well, most of those Rockstars are probably using Macs. I work in radio and do stage moderation at Rock Festivals. When the bands and roadies figured out that we had a wireless network available, the laptops were everywhere, and Macs outnumbered PC's by roughly 8 to 1. From iBooks to 48 channel Powertools setups. Since most of these bands consisted of teams of at least 10 people, that's a pretty good sized market he is missing out on (in comparison to his wireless mic sales of a thousand pieces at least)
if your 6yo is watching a movie featuring a woman with a penis in her mouth, than you have shirked some parental responsibilities methinks. And that is the nicest interpretation of that scenario.
I do professional audio production on a Powerbook, but it is overkill for a good portion of my work, and if it hadn't been for my video hobby, a $900 ibook would have sufficed. I use a firewire external audio solution, although if you absolutely must have a high end audio card (why are you bitching about $3000 then) you can get a desktop G5 for starting at $1499.
Our production team had been happily working along on roughly 500mhz g4s for ages, so the fact is you can get work done on ANY of the current models. Hell, I used to do broadcast video production on 9600s and G3's, both of which could be picked up for a song, if you were capable of writing one worth selling.
So were you born stupid, or was it something you had to work towards?
Now I know the British would like to consider themselves somehow above and beyond the rest of the EU but the fact is that your local version of the EUCD can only be more restrictive. As a matter of fact ANOTHER article (once again by the Register) points out that the british implementation may be worse.
Other than having pointed out that you suspect I may never have set foot outside of the States, you also were kind enough to have explained to me that the EU and open borders is nothing new. How right you are. I never mentioned any thing to the contrary. I DID suggest that the reason for the EUCD may have been a trade agreement. Oddly enough that seems to be something that Eurorights.org would agree with. They say:
As far as the rest of your reply, the US is already aware of the threat renegade IP nations may pose, and already have a watchlist with 14 other economies (including the EU). An Asia Pacific Media Network story about it says:
I actually wish you were completely right. Unfortunately, I fear you may be too optimistic. The States (well the massive corporations financing your favorite politician) have been doing everything in their power to prevent just such a scenario. Why do you think Europe and everyone else have been suddenly changing their copyright laws? What do you think is the motivation for the European DMCA and the adoption of software patents? It's because the corporations are international, and they know that these things can only work if implemented on a global scale. So how do they do it? Is it the evil UN that forces everyone else to toe the line? It is the US's big stick of trade agreements. It works like this, the US passes a corporate friendly law, then renegotiates their international trade agreements which basically force trade partners into rewriting their legislation to fall in line with the US legislation. If the companies can hem and haw long enough, there won't be any countries left that could flip the bird to US corporate interests. It doesn't matter who you vote for, or where you live in the western world, they are getting their ducks all in a row. You do know what follows right?
they don't restrict your use, will sell to people outside of the U.S. and have a decent selection of non-U.S. artists. Of course, if you are looking for Bravo Charts or something from the Dome you are most likely SOL. If you are more into the types of music on the soundtrack to Herr Lehmann, you should feel right at home.
Austria as well.
dammit man, patent that as a business process and license it to the patent office!!
In other words: questionable software design, illinformed users and and an existing patch that wasnt applied in time. Sounds like just another day at the office to me.
I think youre on to something here... As a musician/artist/"content producer" (ack!) I really suspect most of this is about trying to reestablish an artificial economy of scarcity. Record companies and publishing houses maintain their strangelhold on musicians and writers based on the difficulties involved in distributing content. Since the net has basically opened the publishing process, these industries no longer have complete control over the means of distribution. Copyright (at least in publishing) has never really protected or supported the individual artist, but HAS done wonders for the companies that package/distribute that content. THe music industry is even worse, using their control over distribution channels to force bands to swallow most of the production and marketing costs while reaping HUGE percentages of the final market price. Up until a couple of years ago, digital production only really empowered musicians and writers, allowing almost anyone to produce and distribute their works much easier than ever before. THis is also why these two areas have seen much more active attempts by the corporations to reestablish their powerbase. Now that digital video and film production/distribution is becoming more realistic for hobby/lowbudget producers, the distributors of visual media are trying to make a preemptive strike against these people (and their viewers). By enforceing copyprotection systems, (licenseing fees for the technology, lack of hobby level support for the encryption, or whatever other evilness the suits may think up) the media companies are securing their power over what you can see AND what you can easily produce or distribute. One other problem I see is that NOT being able to archive my own videos/music/whatever means that I am completely dependant on market demands to guarantee continued access to the pieces I enjoy. When the number of people interested in a particular piece drops too low, how many on demand services are going to continue offering access to it? I dont think a sigle record company released their entire backcatalog on CD after the transition from vinyl. I know that several of my favorite albums are impossible to find on CD, and I have had no luck finding them on any of the filesharing services simply because the audience was way to small.