I slapped the big Apple sticker on top of the Dell logo on the cover of my Dell M70 laptop:)
I've had a number of people ask what kind of Mac I have. When they realise it's a fake, both the Windows and Mac zealots think I'm crazy for putting the sticker there.
Good point. A lot of studios record in 24|32bit/96Khz or even 32|64bit/192khz nowadays, and downsample it to fit the 16bit/41Khz CD format. There's a bunch of commercially available audiocarriers out there that support high bitrate audio (like SA-CD, but it's not commonly available.
When you're just listening to CDs though, getting a good CD-player, a good amplifier, a good set cables and a VERY good set of speakers will squeeze the most out of your 'regular' CD experience... it won't really make a difference on your average BestBuy home stereo. Do note that "good" usually means very, very expensive.
"Creative says that the X-Fi's upsampling and upmixing capabilities can make MP3s sound better than the original CD"
That's like saying you can make JPEG look better than the uncompressed image. Yes, you can improve the quality of MP3 by careful interpretation of data and perhaps extrapolating information for higher frequencies (which most often suffer from MP3 compression -- MP3Pro does something similar), but it will NEVER be as crisp and clear as the original material, let alone better.
Not that you'll be able to hear the difference on your $20 desktop speakers you got at the 'Shack anyway.
One of my friends here says MS's XML format (with built-in stylesheets and what have you) is viewable in any sturdy browser (e.g. FireFox), so it's even viewable on Mac, Linux,.... However, I wonder if non-MS platforms support "pictures, audio, video, charts, maps, voice, voice-over-IP, and other kinds of data our customers are increasingly putting in documents and archiving" (MS quote from original article).
Try Corel Painter. Unsurpassed natural media painting program... lots of great Photoshop & Painter graphics here.
Painter supports brush plugins, I wonder if MoXi will be released as one...
Some people already have solar panels on their roofs, why not a small Wind Turbine?
In Holland, some farmers up north have big turbines which power their house. Excess power is sold to the powercompanies, and distributed to the main grid.
erm, most of the South Park episodes are made in $$$$ 3D application Maya, also widely used by nearly every big SFX house in the world. Emulating paper cut-outs, how far we've come!
"When I log into citibankcards.com (using mozilla of course) there is a message in bright red that comes up warning users that they should not use IE."
Funny thing: there's a.NET login button at the top right on citibankcards.com.
This did not happen to me, but to a friend of mine. Still worth sharing, IMHO:
My friend worked as a 3D animator on a game that recently came out (I'll keep from sharing further details;)) His main responsibility was character animation of all the characters in the FPS game.
The night before April 1, as his April Fool's joke, he replaced all the 'idle' animations of the figures in the game with an animation of them unzipping their pants and starting to "wax the purple helmet". This way, whenever the player or an enemy was doing nothing, they'd start getting busy with themselves on the spot. A hilarious sight, as you can imagine.
Anyway, April 1st came, and my friend went to his job, waiting for the reactions of his colleagues.
A few hours later, he spent a long while explaining and apologizing to the programmers, the boss and the other animators. They wanted to know why he changed the animations right before the day the game was sent out to the client for beta testing. Luckily, *someone* decided to view if the burned discs were working correctly before shipping them off.
Unfortunately, they did not leave the animations in as an easter egg afterwards:(
I have the "privilige" of owning my own domainname with unlimited email-addresses and, more importantly, a Catch-All address (e.g. mail to non existent mailboxes end up in the Catch-All address, which is, by choice, own email address).
When I register on a page (New York Times, for instance), I simply enter a non-existent email address with the name of the service: newyorktimes@[mydomain.com]. Any email (passwords) sent to that address will end up in my personal inbox, and I can easily check to which address it was delivered originally (by checking the "To" field or scanning the headers of the message).
The key part is that you can't use that address for ANY other purpose. Don't post it on forums, don't use it to subscribe to other services. If there's a spinoff-service from a site you're already registered to, and it requires you to register again, use a new address. It'll all end up in the same inbox anyway.
This has two upsides: it's easy to create sorting-rules in my email client and, in relation to this/. article, once you start receiving spam on the 'fake' address (e.g. they sold your address to 3rd parties), that address is easily blocked by creating an auto-reply on my server whenever a message to newyorktimes@[mydomain.com] arrives.
In fact, its even hard proof for them selling your message, so you can back-track the user agreement and see if they're allowed to do that.
The big downside to this is that when you use a fake address for a public mailinglist, they can require you to send mail from that fake address. Then, you'll need a client that allows you to change the From-field in one way or another.
My $0.02.
P.S. I know you can get my domain from looking at my profile, but I figured I keep the example simple by using [mydomain.com].
I've used an application (Jeskola Buzz) that had an extention that determined the translucency of windows based on their history.
Jeskola Buzz is a program that allows you to create music, so usually you have 5+ sub-windows open with all the controls for your synths, samplers and effects. The most recent window was fully opaque, whereas the window that had been open for the longest grew more translucent every time a new subwindow was opened. Time was not taken into account, and when clicking any subwindow (even the almost fully translucent ones) put them on top of the stack, making them fully opaque again.
Slashdot Mirror
Called a few Walmarts & Targets in the Orlando, FL area, but no go. Except for the one in http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/map.jsp?link= mqDetailMapPage&screen=mqDetailMapPage&POI1name=We st+Colonial+SuperTarget&POI1streetaddress=7501+W+C olonial+Dr+&POI1city=Orlando&POI1state=FL&POI1zip= 32818-6665&orig_iconid=556&POI1country=US+&POI1var 2=%3Cb%3EPhone%3A+%3C%2Fb%3E(407)+290-6728%3Cbr%3E %3Cb%3EHours%3A+%3C%2Fb%3EMon-Sat+8am+to+10pm+Sun+ 8am+to+9pm%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3EPharmacy+Phone%3A+%3C%2Fb %3E(407)+822-5215%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3EPharmacy+Hours%3A+ %3C%2Fb%3EMon-Fri+9am+to+9pm+Sat+9am+to+6pm+Sun+9a m+to+6pm%3Cbr%3E&POI1var3=%3Cb%3EOptical+Store+Pho ne%3A+%3C%2Fb%3E(407)+290-5124+%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3EOpti cal+Store+Hours%3A+%3C%2Fb%3EMon-Fri+10am+to+8pm+S at+9am+to+6pm+Sun+Noon+to+4pm%3Cbr%3E&level=9&widt h=450&height=337&POI1iconid=92271&POI1lat=285539&P OI1lng=-814857&SUBMIT1=Detailed+Map!Ocoee, where the pesky operator told me:
"We have them in stock but we're not allowed to sell them until June 11."
"Is there any way I can talk you out of that?"
"No."
"Is there any way Hamiltion can talk you out of that?"
"No."
(Allright, so that last part didn't really happen. But still. No DS Lite for me yet x_x )
Thanks for making me spit coffee all across myy desk.
I slapped the big Apple sticker on top of the Dell logo on the cover of my Dell M70 laptop :)
I've had a number of people ask what kind of Mac I have. When they realise it's a fake, both the Windows and Mac zealots think I'm crazy for putting the sticker there.
When you're just listening to CDs though, getting a good CD-player, a good amplifier, a good set cables and a VERY good set of speakers will squeeze the most out of your 'regular' CD experience... it won't really make a difference on your average BestBuy home stereo. Do note that "good" usually means very, very expensive.
That's like saying you can make JPEG look better than the uncompressed image. Yes, you can improve the quality of MP3 by careful interpretation of data and perhaps extrapolating information for higher frequencies (which most often suffer from MP3 compression -- MP3Pro does something similar), but it will NEVER be as crisp and clear as the original material, let alone better.
Not that you'll be able to hear the difference on your $20 desktop speakers you got at the 'Shack anyway.
One of my friends here says MS's XML format (with built-in stylesheets and what have you) is viewable in any sturdy browser (e.g. FireFox), so it's even viewable on Mac, Linux, .... However, I wonder if non-MS platforms support "pictures, audio, video, charts, maps, voice, voice-over-IP, and other kinds of data our customers are increasingly putting in documents and archiving" (MS quote from original article).
Did the state of Mass. not consider the free Office Viewers?
Then I know a few other folks who should be executed aswell...
Almost forgot Artrage, a free natural media painting program for Windows and Mac OS X. Definately worth a look.
Try Corel Painter. Unsurpassed natural media painting program... lots of great Photoshop & Painter graphics here. Painter supports brush plugins, I wonder if MoXi will be released as one...
I'd say it's the best story ever.
In Holland, some farmers up north have big turbines which power their house. Excess power is sold to the powercompanies, and distributed to the main grid.
If your backyard isn't big enough, just build a small one yourself!
erm, most of the South Park episodes are made in $$$$ 3D application Maya, also widely used by nearly every big SFX house in the world. Emulating paper cut-outs, how far we've come!
I use a catch-all address *against* spam; it's been proven to be quite useful. More details in this /. thread here.
mine too!
Do you think we can /. this site? I'd be impressed.
<redundant>
Sitefinder turn on!
</redundant>
works for me :)
Funny thing: there's a .NET login button at the top right on citibankcards.com.
My friend worked as a 3D animator on a game that recently came out (I'll keep from sharing further details ;)) His main responsibility was character animation of all the characters in the FPS game.
The night before April 1, as his April Fool's joke, he replaced all the 'idle' animations of the figures in the game with an animation of them unzipping their pants and starting to "wax the purple helmet". This way, whenever the player or an enemy was doing nothing, they'd start getting busy with themselves on the spot. A hilarious sight, as you can imagine.
Anyway, April 1st came, and my friend went to his job, waiting for the reactions of his colleagues.
A few hours later, he spent a long while explaining and apologizing to the programmers, the boss and the other animators. They wanted to know why he changed the animations right before the day the game was sent out to the client for beta testing. Luckily, *someone* decided to view if the burned discs were working correctly before shipping them off.
Unfortunately, they did not leave the animations in as an easter egg afterwards :(
In case of doubt, CTRL + C
Good one, where'd you hear that, AC?
I'm hoping the red and green laser pointers will work on the screen, too. Otherwise it's back to the old fashioned cane!
I have the "privilige" of owning my own domainname with unlimited email-addresses and, more importantly, a Catch-All address (e.g. mail to non existent mailboxes end up in the Catch-All address, which is, by choice, own email address).
/. article, once you start receiving spam on the 'fake' address (e.g. they sold your address to 3rd parties), that address is easily blocked by creating an auto-reply on my server whenever a message to newyorktimes@[mydomain.com] arrives.
When I register on a page (New York Times, for instance), I simply enter a non-existent email address with the name of the service: newyorktimes@[mydomain.com]. Any email (passwords) sent to that address will end up in my personal inbox, and I can easily check to which address it was delivered originally (by checking the "To" field or scanning the headers of the message).
The key part is that you can't use that address for ANY other purpose. Don't post it on forums, don't use it to subscribe to other services. If there's a spinoff-service from a site you're already registered to, and it requires you to register again, use a new address. It'll all end up in the same inbox anyway.
This has two upsides: it's easy to create sorting-rules in my email client and, in relation to this
In fact, its even hard proof for them selling your message, so you can back-track the user agreement and see if they're allowed to do that.
The big downside to this is that when you use a fake address for a public mailinglist, they can require you to send mail from that fake address. Then, you'll need a client that allows you to change the From-field in one way or another.
My $0.02.
P.S. I know you can get my domain from looking at my profile, but I figured I keep the example simple by using [mydomain.com].
Jeskola Buzz is a program that allows you to create music, so usually you have 5+ sub-windows open with all the controls for your synths, samplers and effects. The most recent window was fully opaque, whereas the window that had been open for the longest grew more translucent every time a new subwindow was opened. Time was not taken into account, and when clicking any subwindow (even the almost fully translucent ones) put them on top of the stack, making them fully opaque again.
Closest thing I've seen to this.