Actually I'd disagree with you in one sense - the US economy seems a lot better than it really is. Yes, the economy crashed in 2008 but the recovery you mention is a mirage, built on more debt, the exact same problem that caused the 2008 crash in the first place. Indeed thanks to QE we now are massively overcommitted and rely on near 0% rates to afford to service the debt. We're obviously not growing out of it despite how hard central banks try to inflate the debt away - in fact it's having the exact opposite effect from that predicted by standard models.
Indeed, the investor class have successfully redirected a portion of the unprecedented expansion in base money into their own accounts, but the majority of citizens have made little to no improvement in their lives over the past seven years. Indeed many have gone backwards. Headline economic statistics like the unemployment rate look good on the surface, but dig deeper and you see a participation rate at 40+ year lows, strong growth in over 55s minimum wage jobs (probably to fund their retirements as the return on 'safe' fixed investments in now nothing), yet no growth and outright contraction in employment for the most important demographics such as 25-54.
Despite the usual Slashdot non-believers it's a dead certainty.
As soon as Google bought Motorola Mobility, it was on the cards that Samsung would look elsewhere. The fact the Google could potentially favor their own hardware development team, rather than a licensee, is strategically enough to change Samsung's strategy.
The other big issue is the App store. I see figures bandied around of anything from 80% to 94.7% of Android ecosystem revenue going to Samsung devices. If it's anything like that, Samsung will have their eyes on the 30% developer fees they can take from their own App store, rather than that going to Google.
Also, with the Tizen's Android compatibility layer built right in, it's effectively telegraphing the market that Samsung will switch to Tizen. Just a matter of time. I think sooner, rather than later.
Why pay $1.99 per episode when you can just take the video you saved using Mythtv and download it to your ipod.
Because for many consumers it is simply too hard to set up the computer to record the show, edit out the commercials, compress it in a suitable format and copy it across to the player. Then there is even a subset of geeks like me that can easily do it but just couldn't be bothered.
It's TV after all; a bit of entertainment after a hard day at work. I just want to watch the show, not muck around with recordings, having to preview it by editing out commercials first etc. For $2 - I'll pay that!
With the same logic, why spend up to $5 at Starbucks to buy a coffee when I could just buy some beans, grind them myself, brew, froth the milk, and serve for next to nothing?
There will always be smart people like yourself willing to go the extra mile to save a buck, but the majority simply don't care.
Interesting timing considering Apple's probably going to release an iTunes style video download store tomorrow.
The problem is not how to get more live streams of video into the lounge room, but how to get a viewer's favorite shows delivered to them automatically and display them on a big screen without rewiring the house. That's why a wireless link between TV and computer with cheap integrated H.264 decoder is a brilliant idea. 1.5+ Megabits/sec of H.264 can be fairly decent HD and it's not going to overtax broadband connections.
We need to move to a non-linear world of video and move away from the '57-channels-and-nothing-on' effect. Video podcasting/TV on demand is better and there are two business models - pay per show, without any commercials or free with some kind of advert at the start.
This is a geniune threat to the current broadcast/satellite operators and as well as video rental stores, but it is a great model for content producers. And think of all those statistics.
IPTV/Network Broadcast/Satellite/Cable is still good for live events, but most television is prerecorded and show based. I think Apple have this one nailed.
Good insight there from the parent and grandparent - that kind of deal does make sense. To counteract, Microsoft might have to go after IBM - the company that incidently will be producing all those triple core PowerPC chips for the XBox360 AND who dumped all their x86 PC business onto Lenovo.
Perhaps we're all heading toward Windows on PowerPC and OS X on Intel. Strange times.
US companies having control of more of the worlds oil != cheap oil products for anyone. Bush is in it for the big companies, to make them more money, and not for the little guy.
This is absolutely correct, in the same way that Microsoft's control of the worlds operating system market != cheap OS for anyone.
Oh and the other benefit of DVB-H that some posters have been questioning is the issue of battery power.
The system is time division, so the device can literally power down the RF front end in the portion of the multiplex that no data is being sent, meaning the drain on batteries is significantly reduced over regular DTV.
Most posters seem completely clueless about DVB-H. Gone are the days when most of the comments on Slashdot were from experts. Anyway, I am a technolgy broadcaster and an engineer so I know this stuff well.
Firstly, DVB-H is the closest thing to a global broadcast standard we've ever had. It's a superset of DVB, the European DTV standard, but it's also going to be introduced in the USA even though they use ATSC.
Secondly, it's not just cell phones that are the target. Instead all handheld devices are targeted including PDAs, consoles and mobile terminals in cars and trains. The number of carriers and coding system have been designed to give excellent quality where ever you are, and more importantly even whilst moving at speed. Nothing like that terrible GPRS or 3G video on cellphones. This is 200k - 500kbps H.264 quality video and audio, with HiDef and codec upgrades possible in the future. The cellphone, however, does offer the all important back channel via a GPRS or WCDMA.
Third, DVB-H will more than likely end up as a digital radio standard as well, although the future of radio is predominantly video anyway - think audio, but pictures there if you really want to watch them. The people behind DAB in Europe are frightened DVB-H will make DAB redundant, and have attempted to counter with DMB - multimedia broadcasting, although it seems DVB-H is the one standard we need.
Fourth DVB-H will be useful on multiple frequency bands, allowing telecom networks to become pay broadcasters. It's another business model for the telcos who are rapidly seeing their core business vanish into thin air with call prices heading towards zero.
Aggressive target dates have been set to roll out DVB-H, and with Nokia's target of built-in receivers in 2005-06 phones, it's going to happen.
I dont think most posters understand the issue - most websites are now run out of content management systems, and search engines just trawl the web storing current pages. This is fine in a static internet, but with pages changing on a minute by minute basis; for example a new site that pulls out the latest headlines - all you're going to have indexed in Google is what's on the page today.
Now say I was looking for info from a few weeks ago - Google is not necessarily the best way of finding this info. It's all still sitting there in the database, but it's not on the site's front page. archive.org may have a copy of it, but it would be much better to have google.com talk XML in a standard method to the news site's content management system, and have ALL the data there for a search.
Well the front pages might be, with a few top stories, but the real problem lies in getting at all the information that is stored in SQL databases...
There is reams of stuff in there that a search engine can't see. XML could be used to deep search these entire databases, rather than just the stuff that's pulled into the UI by the PHP code.
You definitely can see a BBC Micro - probably a model B. White computer with black keyboard and red function keys.
A very popular computer in the UK and also Australia at the time. Designed by Acorn, the people who later made RISC chips and the team behind ARM/Acorn Risc Machines - as in StrongARM. Oh and BBC as in THE British Broadcasting Corporation. Designed to accompany a great TV show on the BBC called simply, The Computer Programme.
OK lots of posts questioning applications for that much flash. Video is definitely the big one. Standard DV is 25Mbps, but this amount of flash comes into its own for Pro formats - higher quality DVCPRO50 at 50Mbps is still OK at that sort of read/write speed.
Panasonic's DVCPRO P2 Flash based camcorder and playback decks are set to be launched at NAB in Vegas in April. (pro broadcasting show) It's based on four SDCards working in parallel.
The advantage of flash? You dont need to dump footage off DV tape before editing it. You can even edit in the camera. In a news environment those extra minutes can mean the difference between getting the story on the air or not.
There is a big difference between standard flash and radiation hardened flash. In fact we are designing a project with one of these VME buss units as a storage array.
Why does a nation like France get the same vote on the security council that we do? They have lower population, lower GDP, less land, and less military power.
By your argument maybe Russia should have twice the number of votes as the USA due to its greater landmass? Or perhaps China five times as many votes because of their population? Don't be ridiculous. The US deserves the same one vote as everyone else. Remember democracy?
Yes of course it's annoying if you listen for a long period of time... but here's the theory.
The average time spent listening for a commercial hit radio station is generally only around 20 or so minutes a day.
Therefore to get the 'hits' that people want to hear, you are going to have to cycle them very quickly... it's a probability thing.
Even in a whole week - with that kind of time spent listening the chances of hearing the same song twice is pretty low. Sad I know, but that's just the way it is. Stations don't program for long-block listeners like you... maximise ratings often meaning minimising the playlist.
I'm both a software developer and radio jock so I see both sides. AndyG Nova969 Sydney
This is not nearly *enough* storage for the next major application of Flash - Video. Panasonic is currently working on a Pro Video Camera with an array of similar speed Flash working in parallel to replace DVCPRO 25Mbps video tape. (Final product should be at NAB in April)
There are high quality audio recorders (Marantz and others) already using Compact Flash cards for radio stations and they work great.
The things will make a huge difference to people like me in the professional media industry. No capturing video before editing - just copy it across.
Zdnet is reporting you will be able to upgrade Axim ROMs for $29 including postage and handling. This is very disappointing. I was expecting a free to download ROM image on their website.
I've lived all round the world and by far the best bills are Australian notes.
They are different coloured and slightly
different sized so you can look in your wallet
and know exactly what you have without taking them out to check the numbers on them.
They are made of plastic so if you accidently
throw them in the wash with your clothes they
are fine.
They're incredibly tough and next to impossible
to damage without atacking them with scissors.
They've got a built in hologram like device with
a tiny clear plastic window to make them
extremely hard to copy.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually I'd disagree with you in one sense - the US economy seems a lot better than it really is. Yes, the economy crashed in 2008 but the recovery you mention is a mirage, built on more debt, the exact same problem that caused the 2008 crash in the first place. Indeed thanks to QE we now are massively overcommitted and rely on near 0% rates to afford to service the debt. We're obviously not growing out of it despite how hard central banks try to inflate the debt away - in fact it's having the exact opposite effect from that predicted by standard models.
Indeed, the investor class have successfully redirected a portion of the unprecedented expansion in base money into their own accounts, but the majority of citizens have made little to no improvement in their lives over the past seven years. Indeed many have gone backwards. Headline economic statistics like the unemployment rate look good on the surface, but dig deeper and you see a participation rate at 40+ year lows, strong growth in over 55s minimum wage jobs (probably to fund their retirements as the return on 'safe' fixed investments in now nothing), yet no growth and outright contraction in employment for the most important demographics such as 25-54.
Despite the usual Slashdot non-believers it's a dead certainty. As soon as Google bought Motorola Mobility, it was on the cards that Samsung would look elsewhere. The fact the Google could potentially favor their own hardware development team, rather than a licensee, is strategically enough to change Samsung's strategy. The other big issue is the App store. I see figures bandied around of anything from 80% to 94.7% of Android ecosystem revenue going to Samsung devices. If it's anything like that, Samsung will have their eyes on the 30% developer fees they can take from their own App store, rather than that going to Google. Also, with the Tizen's Android compatibility layer built right in, it's effectively telegraphing the market that Samsung will switch to Tizen. Just a matter of time. I think sooner, rather than later.
Time to get our own back. Bring on Rex Hunt.
Here is a link to the display used. The grandparent poster I believe indicated it was a Samsung panel; in actual fact an LG-Philips panel is used.
Because for many consumers it is simply too hard to set up the computer to record the show, edit out the commercials, compress it in a suitable format and copy it across to the player. Then there is even a subset of geeks like me that can easily do it but just couldn't be bothered.
It's TV after all; a bit of entertainment after a hard day at work. I just want to watch the show, not muck around with recordings, having to preview it by editing out commercials first etc. For $2 - I'll pay that!
With the same logic, why spend up to $5 at Starbucks to buy a coffee when I could just buy some beans, grind them myself, brew, froth the milk, and serve for next to nothing?
There will always be smart people like yourself willing to go the extra mile to save a buck, but the majority simply don't care.
The problem is not how to get more live streams of video into the lounge room, but how to get a viewer's favorite shows delivered to them automatically and display them on a big screen without rewiring the house. That's why a wireless link between TV and computer with cheap integrated H.264 decoder is a brilliant idea. 1.5+ Megabits/sec of H.264 can be fairly decent HD and it's not going to overtax broadband connections.
We need to move to a non-linear world of video and move away from the '57-channels-and-nothing-on' effect. Video podcasting/TV on demand is better and there are two business models - pay per show, without any commercials or free with some kind of advert at the start.
This is a geniune threat to the current broadcast/satellite operators and as well as video rental stores, but it is a great model for content producers. And think of all those statistics.
IPTV/Network Broadcast/Satellite/Cable is still good for live events, but most television is prerecorded and show based. I think Apple have this one nailed.
Perhaps we're all heading toward Windows on PowerPC and OS X on Intel. Strange times.
This is absolutely correct, in the same way that Microsoft's control of the worlds operating system market != cheap OS for anyone.
Open source energy perhaps???
Oh and the other benefit of DVB-H that some posters have been questioning is the issue of battery power.
The system is time division, so the device can literally power down the RF front end in the portion of the multiplex that no data is being sent, meaning the drain on batteries is significantly reduced over regular DTV.
Most posters seem completely clueless about DVB-H. Gone are the days when most of the comments on Slashdot were from experts. Anyway, I am a technolgy broadcaster and an engineer so I know this stuff well.
Firstly, DVB-H is the closest thing to a global broadcast standard we've ever had. It's a superset of DVB, the European DTV standard, but it's also going to be introduced in the USA even though they use ATSC.
Secondly, it's not just cell phones that are the target. Instead all handheld devices are targeted including PDAs, consoles and mobile terminals in cars and trains. The number of carriers and coding system have been designed to give excellent quality where ever you are, and more importantly even whilst moving at speed. Nothing like that terrible GPRS or 3G video on cellphones. This is 200k - 500kbps H.264 quality video and audio, with HiDef and codec upgrades possible in the future. The cellphone, however, does offer the all important back channel via a GPRS or WCDMA.
Third, DVB-H will more than likely end up as a digital radio standard as well, although the future of radio is predominantly video anyway - think audio, but pictures there if you really want to watch them. The people behind DAB in Europe are frightened DVB-H will make DAB redundant, and have attempted to counter with DMB - multimedia broadcasting, although it seems DVB-H is the one standard we need.
Fourth DVB-H will be useful on multiple frequency bands, allowing telecom networks to become pay broadcasters. It's another business model for the telcos who are rapidly seeing their core business vanish into thin air with call prices heading towards zero.
Aggressive target dates have been set to roll out DVB-H, and with Nokia's target of built-in receivers in 2005-06 phones, it's going to happen.
I dont think most posters understand the issue - most websites are now run out of content management systems, and search engines just trawl the web storing current pages. This is fine in a static internet, but with pages changing on a minute by minute basis; for example a new site that pulls out the latest headlines - all you're going to have indexed in Google is what's on the page today.
Now say I was looking for info from a few weeks ago - Google is not necessarily the best way of finding this info. It's all still sitting there in the database, but it's not on the site's front page. archive.org may have a copy of it, but it would be much better to have google.com talk XML in a standard method to the news site's content management system, and have ALL the data there for a search.
There is reams of stuff in there that a search engine can't see. XML could be used to deep search these entire databases, rather than just the stuff that's pulled into the UI by the PHP code.
You definitely can see a BBC Micro - probably a model B. White computer with black keyboard and red function keys.
A very popular computer in the UK and also Australia at the time. Designed by Acorn, the people who later made RISC chips and the team behind ARM/Acorn Risc Machines - as in StrongARM. Oh and BBC as in THE British Broadcasting Corporation. Designed to accompany a great TV show on the BBC called simply, The Computer Programme.
That's no model - it's a singer: Kylie Minogue
OK lots of posts questioning applications for that much flash. Video is definitely the big one. Standard DV is 25Mbps, but this amount of flash comes into its own for Pro formats - higher quality DVCPRO50 at 50Mbps is still OK at that sort of read/write speed.
Panasonic's DVCPRO P2 Flash based camcorder and playback decks are set to be launched at NAB in Vegas in April. (pro broadcasting show) It's based on four SDCards working in parallel.
The advantage of flash? You dont need to dump footage off DV tape before editing it. You can even edit in the camera. In a news environment those extra minutes can mean the difference between getting the story on the air or not.
There is a big difference between standard flash and radiation hardened flash. In fact we are designing a project with one of these VME buss units as a storage array.
Remember them this time last year - they were called Media2Go - and were expected in stores "before the end of 2003"
Why does a nation like France get the same vote on the security council that we do? They have lower population, lower GDP, less land, and less military power.
By your argument maybe Russia should have twice the number of votes as the USA due to its greater landmass? Or perhaps China five times as many votes because of their population? Don't be ridiculous. The US deserves the same one vote as everyone else. Remember democracy?
Yes of course it's annoying if you listen for a long period of time... but here's the theory.
... maximise ratings often meaning minimising the playlist.
The average time spent listening for a commercial hit radio station is generally only around 20 or so minutes a day.
Therefore to get the 'hits' that people want to hear, you are going to have to cycle them very quickly... it's a probability thing.
Even in a whole week - with that kind of time spent listening the chances of hearing the same song twice is pretty low. Sad I know, but that's just the way it is. Stations don't program for long-block listeners like you
I'm both a software developer and radio jock so I see both sides. AndyG Nova969 Sydney
This is not nearly *enough* storage for the next major application of Flash - Video. Panasonic is currently working on a Pro Video Camera with an array of similar speed Flash working in parallel to replace DVCPRO 25Mbps video tape. (Final product should be at NAB in April) There are high quality audio recorders (Marantz and others) already using Compact Flash cards for radio stations and they work great. The things will make a huge difference to people like me in the professional media industry. No capturing video before editing - just copy it across.
Zdnet is reporting you will be able to upgrade Axim ROMs for $29 including postage and handling. This is very disappointing. I was expecting a free to download ROM image on their website.
These things are designed to be used for backup. Sort of halfway between online storage (ie databases) and offline (tapes and optical drives).
They are different coloured and slightly different sized so you can look in your wallet and know exactly what you have without taking them out to check the numbers on them.
They are made of plastic so if you accidently throw them in the wash with your clothes they are fine.
They're incredibly tough and next to impossible to damage without atacking them with scissors.
They've got a built in hologram like device with a tiny clear plastic window to make them extremely hard to copy.
AG