I second the recommendation of the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones. Even without music they significantly reduce noise. I use them to reduce server noises. I've also used them while mowing the lawn with a gas-powered mower and was able to set the iPod to a fairly low level before starting the mower and still listen to it at that level while running the mower. With normal headphones I have to turn the volume up significantly while mowing. They also have excellent music reproduction.
I do find them a bit heavy to wear all day, every day. But I've tried two noise reduction headphones and they were less comfortable for me.
Personally I really like the idea of Parakey. I've been thinking about how to do similar things for myself and my family for a while now. Being able to give myself, my friends and family and the public different levels of access to my data is something I want to do. I already do so via my own web pages, but in many ways it's clunky and inconvenient and I don't have a solid way of making sure the copies of my data in various locations are kept up to date which Parakey may be able to help with. Also, I can see my parents using it for photos that they want to share with the family.
However, I'm not interested in storing my data on external servers (Parakey's site). Some of my data is personal and sensitive and should remain only on servers I run myself, though I would still like to be able to access it at any time. I hope that Parakey offers the capability of running your own personal server which can be accessed from the outside.
When I talked to Verizon a couple months ago about getting FIOS in the Pittsburgh, PA area they told me that if I got FIOS they WOULD take out my copper line connection (to the telephone pole) and I had NO choice in the matter unless I had a second line that was copper that I wanted to keep. I said "No thanks." I prefer not having to rely on the 4 hour battery back in case of a power failure plus I don't like the idea of having no way to go back if I don't like the service.
I use the Theater Master mx-500. It was around $110 and controls my Tivo, DVD player, 2 VCRs, stereo system, cable box, TV and CD player. It took some time to set up since I had to learn the functions of my older components from the original remotes, but I love it. It has "real" buttons which are easy to press, are in logical places and are easy to use without looking at the remote. And virtually all buttons are programmable.
I'd suggest trying "A Deepness in the Sky" by Vinge. It's set in the same universe as "Fire..." but has less of the "fun adventure" feeling of that book while still being very hard to put down. It does an amazing job of world-building with three separate, fleshed-out societies and fantastic characters. It's easily one of my favorite science fiction novels.
Steve
You also need reliability. My cable modem usually goes out for a couple hours every couple months. This past week it was out 3 times while they did "service upgrades." On the other hand my phone line has been out exactly 1 time in 4 years and only because a telephone pole was knocked down right near my house. My power has gone out a number of times but that never knocked out the phone service. I can't even remember having the phone service going out at my previous location. Having my landline phone go down is so rare that it's like a surreal event. Until my internet service comes close to that kind of reliability I'll be sure to keep a landline around.
Why do you think that TV and Movies are ideal when shot at 30 fps (actually it's 24 fps for movies)?? Next time you watch a movie when a bus is moving by you'll notice that the words on the side of the bus are blurred or else the camera moves along with the bus to avoid that blurring so you can read it. Action scenes would often be much better if they were instead shot at higher fps -- the motion would be clearer and you could make out more details.
Check out MaxiVision48 which provides a way to improve movie filming/projection to 48 fps. It's a very cool technology that I wish Hollywood would embrace rather than digital projection (or at least bring digital projection up to the MaxiVision48 quality).
I second the recommendation -- saw this movie on HBO a long time ago and was riveted the whole time. I saw it again more recently and the plot isn't as tight as I remember, but I was still cool -- the kind of movie where you wonder what you would do in the protagonist's place. Apparently the DVD for it is coming out in June 2003.
Actually, according to the UN's population growth report the world's population should stop growing by around 2050. This is due to the replacement rate trends going down throughout the world. Of course, there is no guarantee that the report will be accurate and certainly the large population at that point could be a problem, but it's not the doom and gloom scenario you propose.
I have read Ishmael and it was quite interesting. I agree with some of Quinn's points about having to think about the consequences of our actions and how we're all immersed in a "story." I don't believe that we have to reject all of our current "story" however. And some of his points about population growth are not born out by the UN report. Read it.
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I second the recommendation of the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones. Even without music they significantly reduce noise. I use them to reduce server noises. I've also used them while mowing the lawn with a gas-powered mower and was able to set the iPod to a fairly low level before starting the mower and still listen to it at that level while running the mower. With normal headphones I have to turn the volume up significantly while mowing. They also have excellent music reproduction.
I do find them a bit heavy to wear all day, every day. But I've tried two noise reduction headphones and they were less comfortable for me.
Personally I really like the idea of Parakey. I've been thinking about how to do similar things for myself and my family for a while now. Being able to give myself, my friends and family and the public different levels of access to my data is something I want to do. I already do so via my own web pages, but in many ways it's clunky and inconvenient and I don't have a solid way of making sure the copies of my data in various locations are kept up to date which Parakey may be able to help with. Also, I can see my parents using it for photos that they want to share with the family.
However, I'm not interested in storing my data on external servers (Parakey's site). Some of my data is personal and sensitive and should remain only on servers I run myself, though I would still like to be able to access it at any time. I hope that Parakey offers the capability of running your own personal server which can be accessed from the outside.
Steve
When I talked to Verizon a couple months ago about getting FIOS in the Pittsburgh, PA area they told me that if I got FIOS they WOULD take out my copper line connection (to the telephone pole) and I had NO choice in the matter unless I had a second line that was copper that I wanted to keep. I said "No thanks." I prefer not having to rely on the 4 hour battery back in case of a power failure plus I don't like the idea of having no way to go back if I don't like the service.
Steve
Steve
I'd suggest trying "A Deepness in the Sky" by Vinge. It's set in the same universe as "Fire..." but has less of the "fun adventure" feeling of that book while still being very hard to put down. It does an amazing job of world-building with three separate, fleshed-out societies and fantastic characters. It's easily one of my favorite science fiction novels. Steve
- Steve
Ebert's review of Maxivision48.
Article with details on MaxiVision48 with some pictures of the difference it makes on page 11.
- Steve
I second the recommendation -- saw this movie on HBO a long time ago and was riveted the whole time. I saw it again more recently and the plot isn't as tight as I remember, but I was still cool -- the kind of movie where you wonder what you would do in the protagonist's place. Apparently the DVD for it is coming out in June 2003.
Actually, according to the UN's population growth report the world's population should stop growing by around 2050. This is due to the replacement rate trends going down throughout the world. Of course, there is no guarantee that the report will be accurate and certainly the large population at that point could be a problem, but it's not the doom and gloom scenario you propose.
I have read Ishmael and it was quite interesting. I agree with some of Quinn's points about having to think about the consequences of our actions and how we're all immersed in a "story." I don't believe that we have to reject all of our current "story" however. And some of his points about population growth are not born out by the UN report. Read it.
Steve