Re:You Americans are funny sometimes...
on
239 MPG Car
·
· Score: 1
OK I was a little unclear on that point: commercial UK fuel supplies (in line with most of Europe I understand) switched to 'Ultra-low Sulphur' Diesel some time ago - I should probably have mentioned that, although in a sense my omisson proves my point: low sulphur ain't no "alternaive fuel" it's so mainstream I forgot I was using it;)
hopefully as you say, the consumer-tide will turn in the US of its own accord and you'll see some of these engines turning up in your cars, but personally I doubt it'll happen unless your government starts making you pay through-the-nose to drive the way ours are.
bottom line is that driving a private car today is massively expensive in terms of non-renewable resources and imho it's right and propper for that cost to be passed on to us drivers, so long as at least some of what we pay is ploughed back into changing the unsustainable pattern we're currently stuck in.
Re:You Americans are funny sometimes...
on
239 MPG Car
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
easy tiger - I wasn't boasting that I can get 80 out of my car (duh: I mean which continent do you think they developed that pocket-rocket M3 of yours on anyway? america's certainly not the only place people have fast cars) nor was I talking about driving for fun (note; I said I was talking about my daily commute,) and I certainly wasn't being xenophobic, I was just saying that getting smart responsive handling and a decent speed (for rural Scottish roads I mean - I'm talking the A70 over the Pentland hills Lanark to Edinburgh here for anyone interested) out of a regular affordable small hatchback is a big selling point for environmentally friendly fuels like the low-sulpur diesel my car runs on - that said I'd quite probably be driving an american-style gas guzzler if it weren't for prohibitive taxation (which in this case is a *GOOD THING*)
take the time to read bvefore reacting next time? and chill out.
You Americans are funny sometimes...
on
239 MPG Car
·
· Score: 4, Informative
... Diesel an 'alternative fuel' - cracks me up that.
seriously though it's all about *encouraging* uptake - over here in Europe where we practically get taxed in body parts for our fuel, Diesel's been readily available on forecourts for decades and these beauties are overtaking conventional petrol engined cars in terms of sales because you get much more out of them both in terms of economy and (certainly in the case of my JTD Fiat) driving pleasure
commuting 30 miles to and from work each day is *so* much more fun when you get to do the clear stretches at 80mph and still turn in 55-60mpg:)
hmm, fair point about the return rates but I wouldn't trust the assistant to know what they're talking about, especially if they're network affiliated: it's a job I've done (selling people upgraded handsets) and I can tell you from first hand experience that *especially* this time of year many if not most of the people you're dealing with in buying a phone will be seasonal short-term-ers with little or no training - the one thing you can guarantee your assistant will have been trained to do, is to sound confident and knowledgeable, which in most cases translates as Bull S**ting like there's no tomorrow.
if you want to check return-rates or reliability statistics, try the industry journals for some more objective figures but the bottom line is (at the risk of sounding old) that nobody builds things to last these days, and that statistics will never give you an accurate picture of how the individual handset you yourself buy will perform.
The other thing to try (in the UK at least) is to find out which of your local Carphone Warehouse (no, I don't work for/have shares in them) stores is the area service centre, and go talk to them - usually these guys know about as much as anyone and are happy to talk tech for a while
I'm curious: which version of Address Book are you running and what are it's "questionable limitations"? this is a legit query I'm not poking fun, but since the version that shipped with 10.2 (v3.0.1) I've found any issues I had with Address Book have been more than addressed. It's probably the best contact management software out there imho.
iCal on the other hand certainly drags its heels a bit, but then it *is* v.1 and a rushed-to-market v.1 at that. I look forward to it and iSync catching up with the rest of the iApps...
hmm, possibly something to do with that button marked "Download iDVD 2.1" in the top left corner - it caught me out (see earlier post) however this is all beside the point which is that iDVD is an iApp, and as such intended as a bundled free piece of software therefore the original post is FUD
OK maybe I wasn't very clear: the *current* version of iDVD is for download,
I'm not "Totally wrong" however: the crux of my comment was that it's an iApp and therefore a freebe which Apple bundle with (appropriately equipped) new machines... pretty simple point to grasp really, sorry for not making it more clearly for you.
before FUDing first check your facts: iDVD is a *FREE DOWNLOAD* and like all the other iApps it explicitly lists it's system requirements in the download page: (see http://www.apple.com/idvd/download)
as for support for third party DVD burners, your "friend" (assuming they exist) could have bought DVD Studio Pro, Apple's retail product for driving such devices.
Apple didn't hammer the guy over the iDVD hack because he was on the side of the little guy, but because his software was killing their sales by enabling users of a freebe iApp to get the same functionality they're expected to pay for from the retail apps.
very well said: I clung on a little longer myself finally bailing on the remains of the platform/community in 2001, tbh I think that had more to do with the fact that up until then I couldn't afford anything I wanted to move to (which as it turned out was a Powerbook G4 running OS X)
One thing you neglected to mention however is that the climate which created that once vibrant scene known as Amiga is also gone: home computers aren't just the playthings of the technically inclined few anymore as they were in the late 80s and early 90s.
imho it's this modern-day status of home computers as appliances rather than toys as much as the short comings of the AmigaOne and OS4 that mean we're unlikely to see the old girl really rising from her ashes any time soon.
"Atari Amiga models"? those would be from a parallel universe where the Dentists went with Atari's teensy VC funding before the folks at Commodore swooped in...
isn't it funny how quickly 'ancient' history devolves into mythology...
fair comment, although one that's largely refuted by the five year old machine I have sitting downstairs which happily runs the latest version of the OS (that's a biege G3 running Jaguar)
True, if you buy the bottom of the line it's bound to have a shorter shelf life, but that doesn't mean it's "no longer compatible" - unless your definition of compatibility is running the very latest software, and even then I think your under estimating the longevity of these beasties.
The argument that Macs are too expensive is a bit short sighted: In the same way the speed isn't *just* about Mhz, price isn't *just* about initial outlay.
factor in things like the value of the bundled iApps (compared to the outlay for equivalent software) the slower depreciation (Apples' second hand values are notoriously robust), and slower rate of built-in obsolescence (meaning less need for expensive regular upgrades, and a longer shelf life) together with the improved reliability (meaning fewer repairs and less downtime - productivity being a cost factor for anyone who makes their living using their Computer)...
some wouyld say that looking at the 'big picture' owning a Mac is actually cheaper once you bite the initial bullet of the purchase price.
The warranty on ours is up in the Spring and similarly I plan on extending the hard-drive cap. Hadn't picked up that you can't get the video to export over a local network though - rats... need to rethink the video side.
Audio's easier - for the time being it's likely to be a shared centralised.mp3 bank on the fileserver that we just point each copy of iTunes (or whatever) at and play from...
hmm, fine looking gizmos Ian, personally I'm still looking for a way to integrate the hardware I already have - namely an OSX/Linux home network (currently all PPC machines) and a TiVo...
probably impossible but I can't shake the idea that it should be workable.
interesting: I'm thinking along the same lines (once I get a free weekend to fiddle about with the various odds and ends) what kind of setup are you thinking about?
much like the various TiVo mods and hacks out there this seems like another step toward tape/disc-less video archiving - hurrah say I!
Music's already gone this way, and since digital media came to video (DVD) later than to music (Audio CD) it makes sense that video is lagging somewhat in this next evoloutionary step.
Of course the really neat thing will be when these puppies start being able to be plugged into a home network enabling centralised mhome media archives...
incidentally I think those posters asserting that these devices can only be intended for pirates are forgetting the phenomenal amount of physical space that a decent movie collection currently occupies, not to mention the headache of keeping track of them! - my housemate's a movie buff and her room is piled to the rafters with (legit) cassettes and discs - the selection is great but it takes almost as long to find the film you want to see as it does to watch! digitising the collection when it's possible will solve both the storage and retreval headaches in one!
judging by the posts so far most of you are missing the point here: this isn't aimed at those of us who could cope with the (ahem) complexities of copying files onto a CDR, it's aimed at Mr. and Mrs. Joe User - people who just want their computer to work, but bought a Windozer first time 'round.
These people are Apple's target audience with the whole Switch campaign (of which this gizmo is a devlopment). Chances are that if you're the kind of user who can do this for yourself (and lets face it copying files ain't rocket science) you'll already have made the switch (assuming you're not a: happy with what you've got and/or b: convinced that the hardware is too expensive... but I'm not going *there*)
As someone's already mentioned, you're confusing socialism and fascism in your definitaions, but all the same, if you think people like Jaques Chirac and Tony Blair are socialists , then you're dumber than you sound
remember that this is the Version 3 Catweasel - this puppy's been about for a long time - it was originally developed as a soloution for Amigans to the scarcity of Amiga compatible HD Floppy drives... back when there was something approaching a viable Amiga hardware market...
I guess the dual interface thing on this new version is a twofold attempt to maintain some kind of a market: firstly it opens the device up to a new market of people with x86 based hardware set-ups and secondly it ensures compatibility with new Amiga hardware (should it ever surface, you can bet it won't use Zorro)
shame there's no Mac drivers otherwise I might have bought one...
Speaking as an old Amiga user who's now a Mac user, I'd have to say you're way off base here.
The comment about 'typical' Mac users not being very technical doesn't hold (after all what percentage of Windows users do you know qualify as remotely tech-savy?) and whifs somewhat of intellectual/technical snobbery when you stop and think about it.
My theory is that the reason users on both platforms tend/tended to be enthuisasts is that we derive a lot of pleasure from using well designed machines/OSes (OK so there's a flaw in my argument there with pre-OS X Mac-users;)
Slashdot Mirror
OK I was a little unclear on that point: commercial UK fuel supplies (in line with most of Europe I understand) switched to 'Ultra-low Sulphur' Diesel some time ago - I should probably have mentioned that, although in a sense my omisson proves my point: low sulphur ain't no "alternaive fuel" it's so mainstream I forgot I was using it ;)
hopefully as you say, the consumer-tide will turn in the US of its own accord and you'll see some of these engines turning up in your cars, but personally I doubt it'll happen unless your government starts making you pay through-the-nose to drive the way ours are.
bottom line is that driving a private car today is massively expensive in terms of non-renewable resources and imho it's right and propper for that cost to be passed on to us drivers, so long as at least some of what we pay is ploughed back into changing the unsustainable pattern we're currently stuck in.
easy tiger - I wasn't boasting that I can get 80 out of my car (duh: I mean which continent do you think they developed that pocket-rocket M3 of yours on anyway? america's certainly not the only place people have fast cars) nor was I talking about driving for fun (note; I said I was talking about my daily commute,) and I certainly wasn't being xenophobic, I was just saying that getting smart responsive handling and a decent speed (for rural Scottish roads I mean - I'm talking the A70 over the Pentland hills Lanark to Edinburgh here for anyone interested) out of a regular affordable small hatchback is a big selling point for environmentally friendly fuels like the low-sulpur diesel my car runs on - that said I'd quite probably be driving an american-style gas guzzler if it weren't for prohibitive taxation (which in this case is a *GOOD THING*)
take the time to read bvefore reacting next time? and chill out.
... Diesel an 'alternative fuel' - cracks me up that.
:)
seriously though it's all about *encouraging* uptake - over here in Europe where we practically get taxed in body parts for our fuel, Diesel's been readily available on forecourts for decades and these beauties are overtaking conventional petrol engined cars in terms of sales because you get much more out of them both in terms of economy and (certainly in the case of my JTD Fiat) driving pleasure
commuting 30 miles to and from work each day is *so* much more fun when you get to do the clear stretches at 80mph and still turn in 55-60mpg
hmm, fair point about the return rates but I wouldn't trust the assistant to know what they're talking about, especially if they're network affiliated: it's a job I've done (selling people upgraded handsets) and I can tell you from first hand experience that *especially* this time of year many if not most of the people you're dealing with in buying a phone will be seasonal short-term-ers with little or no training - the one thing you can guarantee your assistant will have been trained to do, is to sound confident and knowledgeable, which in most cases translates as Bull S**ting like there's no tomorrow.
if you want to check return-rates or reliability statistics, try the industry journals for some more objective figures but the bottom line is (at the risk of sounding old) that nobody builds things to last these days, and that statistics will never give you an accurate picture of how the individual handset you yourself buy will perform.
The other thing to try (in the UK at least) is to find out which of your local Carphone Warehouse (no, I don't work for/have shares in them) stores is the area service centre, and go talk to them - usually these guys know about as much as anyone and are happy to talk tech for a while
I'm curious: which version of Address Book are you running and what are it's "questionable limitations"? this is a legit query I'm not poking fun, but since the version that shipped with 10.2 (v3.0.1) I've found any issues I had with Address Book have been more than addressed. It's probably the best contact management software out there imho.
iCal on the other hand certainly drags its heels a bit, but then it *is* v.1 and a rushed-to-market v.1 at that. I look forward to it and iSync catching up with the rest of the iApps...
you're very welcome. :)
"why do people keep thinking it is"
hmm, possibly something to do with that button marked "Download iDVD 2.1" in the top left corner - it caught me out (see earlier post) however this is all beside the point which is that iDVD is an iApp, and as such intended as a bundled free piece of software therefore the original post is FUD
OK maybe I wasn't very clear: the *current* version of iDVD is for download,
I'm not "Totally wrong" however: the crux of my comment was that it's an iApp and therefore a freebe which Apple bundle with (appropriately equipped) new machines... pretty simple point to grasp really, sorry for not making it more clearly for you.
before FUDing first check your facts: iDVD is a *FREE DOWNLOAD* and like all the other iApps it explicitly lists it's system requirements in the download page: (see http://www.apple.com/idvd/download)
as for support for third party DVD burners, your "friend" (assuming they exist) could have bought DVD Studio Pro, Apple's retail product for driving such devices.
Apple didn't hammer the guy over the iDVD hack because he was on the side of the little guy, but because his software was killing their sales by enabling users of a freebe iApp to get the same functionality they're expected to pay for from the retail apps.
running AV cables over those kinds of distances is liklely to leave you with signal degredation issues I think...
:)
as for wiring the house, you've probably already considered and dismissed this but I'd heartily recommend 802.11 - a lot less messy!
very well said: I clung on a little longer myself finally bailing on the remains of the platform/community in 2001, tbh I think that had more to do with the fact that up until then I couldn't afford anything I wanted to move to (which as it turned out was a Powerbook G4 running OS X)
One thing you neglected to mention however is that the climate which created that once vibrant scene known as Amiga is also gone: home computers aren't just the playthings of the technically inclined few anymore as they were in the late 80s and early 90s.
imho it's this modern-day status of home computers as appliances rather than toys as much as the short comings of the AmigaOne and OS4 that mean we're unlikely to see the old girl really rising from her ashes any time soon.
a shame really.
"Atari Amiga models"? those would be from a parallel universe where the Dentists went with Atari's teensy VC funding before the folks at Commodore swooped in...
isn't it funny how quickly 'ancient' history devolves into mythology...
... these puppies are for running OS4 ;)
fair comment, although one that's largely refuted by the five year old machine I have sitting downstairs which happily runs the latest version of the OS (that's a biege G3 running Jaguar)
True, if you buy the bottom of the line it's bound to have a shorter shelf life, but that doesn't mean it's "no longer compatible" - unless your definition of compatibility is running the very latest software, and even then I think your under estimating the longevity of these beasties.
four little words: total cost of ownership.
The argument that Macs are too expensive is a bit short sighted: In the same way the speed isn't *just* about Mhz, price isn't *just* about initial outlay.
factor in things like the value of the bundled iApps (compared to the outlay for equivalent software) the slower depreciation (Apples' second hand values are notoriously robust), and slower rate of built-in obsolescence (meaning less need for expensive regular upgrades, and a longer shelf life) together with the improved reliability (meaning fewer repairs and less downtime - productivity being a cost factor for anyone who makes their living using their Computer)...
some wouyld say that looking at the 'big picture' owning a Mac is actually cheaper once you bite the initial bullet of the purchase price.
The warranty on ours is up in the Spring and similarly I plan on extending the hard-drive cap. Hadn't picked up that you can't get the video to export over a local network though - rats... need to rethink the video side.
.mp3 bank on the fileserver that we just point each copy of iTunes (or whatever) at and play from...
;)
Audio's easier - for the time being it's likely to be a shared centralised
how far offtopic are we?
Patrick
hmm, fine looking gizmos Ian, personally I'm still looking for a way to integrate the hardware I already have - namely an OSX/Linux home network (currently all PPC machines) and a TiVo...
probably impossible but I can't shake the idea that it should be workable.
*shrugs*
Patrick
interesting: I'm thinking along the same lines (once I get a free weekend to fiddle about with the various odds and ends) what kind of setup are you thinking about?
true, though we're in the UK so the MPAA don't have too much say over it ;)
much like the various TiVo mods and hacks out there this seems like another step toward tape/disc-less video archiving - hurrah say I!
Music's already gone this way, and since digital media came to video (DVD) later than to music (Audio CD) it makes sense that video is lagging somewhat in this next evoloutionary step.
Of course the really neat thing will be when these puppies start being able to be plugged into a home network enabling centralised mhome media archives...
incidentally I think those posters asserting that these devices can only be intended for pirates are forgetting the phenomenal amount of physical space that a decent movie collection currently occupies, not to mention the headache of keeping track of them! - my housemate's a movie buff and her room is piled to the rafters with (legit) cassettes and discs - the selection is great but it takes almost as long to find the film you want to see as it does to watch! digitising the collection when it's possible will solve both the storage and retreval headaches in one!
personally I can't wait.
judging by the posts so far most of you are missing the point here: this isn't aimed at those of us who could cope with the (ahem) complexities of copying files onto a CDR, it's aimed at Mr. and Mrs. Joe User - people who just want their computer to work, but bought a Windozer first time 'round.
These people are Apple's target audience with the whole Switch campaign (of which this gizmo is a devlopment). Chances are that if you're the kind of user who can do this for yourself (and lets face it copying files ain't rocket science) you'll already have made the switch (assuming you're not a: happy with what you've got and/or b: convinced that the hardware is too expensive... but I'm not going *there*)
"...socialst western Europe"
As someone's already mentioned, you're confusing socialism and fascism in your definitaions, but all the same, if you think people like Jaques Chirac and Tony Blair are socialists , then you're dumber than you sound
remember that this is the Version 3 Catweasel - this puppy's been about for a long time - it was originally developed as a soloution for Amigans to the scarcity of Amiga compatible HD Floppy drives... back when there was something approaching a viable Amiga hardware market...
I guess the dual interface thing on this new version is a twofold attempt to maintain some kind of a market: firstly it opens the device up to a new market of people with x86 based hardware set-ups and secondly it ensures compatibility with new Amiga hardware (should it ever surface, you can bet it won't use Zorro)
shame there's no Mac drivers otherwise I might have bought one...
Interesting indeed.
;)
Speaking as an old Amiga user who's now a Mac user, I'd have to say you're way off base here.
The comment about 'typical' Mac users not being very technical doesn't hold (after all what percentage of Windows users do you know qualify as remotely tech-savy?) and whifs somewhat of intellectual/technical snobbery when you stop and think about it.
My theory is that the reason users on both platforms tend/tended to be enthuisasts is that we derive a lot of pleasure from using well designed machines/OSes (OK so there's a flaw in my argument there with pre-OS X Mac-users
... I'd make it a desk that wasn't, (um, how can I put this?) hideous.
As it is you've got a bug ugly desk that you can't even cover with shiney bits of hardware, because they're all built in.
shame really 'cus the idea's kinda cool