If it was just listings then I'd be with you on this. But it is an indexed list of (pretty much) every show that is TV in your local area. Not only can you have it record all your favorite "Friends" episodes, but it can also find every Jennifer Anniston movie that is on and record it for you. Or maybe you prefer shows about monkeys, there you go. And on and on.
And no one has ever been forced to watch any ad that was downloaded to a Tivo. The "Showcases" are stored in an area of the disk that we users can't access anyway. And you won't be forced to watch any of these new ads either. And another thing. If you have TivoWeb installed, then just go into the ToDo list and delete the Teleworld (etc) recordings every day. That is where most of the Showcase ads come from.
I know this is Slashdot and Advertising == The Devil, but let's get real folks.
Everytime Tivo comes up we have to go over this again. Tivo is not there for skipping ads. It is a byproduct of the device's capabilities. Tivos are no more about skipping ads than VCRs ever were. You can just do it faster.
You mean that it is actually possible to connect a computer keyboard and mouse to this specialized x86 computer via it's oddly shaped USB ports? No way!
Where I live...
Verizon for DSL or FIOS
Brighthouse for cable internet
DirecWay (sucky satellite)
Not quite the "one or the other" from the first paragraph.
Brighthouse Networks did similar (replacing CATV copper with fiber) work here in the Tampa Bay region a year or so ago without the multitude of issues that Verizon is having.
So, bullshit on that. It is possible to lay fiber and dig up lawns without breaking pipes and letting water mains leak thousands of gallons of water for 7 hours.
How exactly does this represent a major narrowing of the online music industry? Yahoo didn't have any sort of pay music service that I can think of. Their "Launch" thing is basically just a radio station kind of deal. And MusicMatch doesn't say "online music" to me. They're a late comer in the game. Yahoo probably figures they can enter the game buy snapping up the newest (cheapest) player.
If my math is correct and using the numbers from the link in the previous comment that means that the majority of Canada's people live in a area of about 77,000 square miles.
(The link mentions that most Canadians live in just 2.2% of the land area of the country)
Unless they have resolved the biggest issue I had with DRM'd WM files then there's not a chance in hades that I will ever use the service. And I will recommend against the service on that basis. The basic issue is that DRM'd WM files only work with one installation of Windows. If you lose your box, you lose your music. If you have to reinstall (a rare occurrence with Windows, I know) you lose your music. The worst that can happen with iTMS files is that if you forget to deauthorize your computer before reloading you lose the ability to play that song on one computer. But you can still play the songs.
With Vonage, the calls have a range of 30 kbps to 90 kbps. So to store the calls at 8k you would have to process those calls first. So then you're talking about having a ton of processing capacity before you store those "tiny" calls.
So if there is no processing then the storage increases (at least) by about a factor of 4 to nearly $5 million a day or $1.8 billion a year. That's a ton of cash to spend on something that may only have about 0.01% of "usable" information to the evil government.
And we're still not talking about the option to "down sample" the calls and what that would cost.
The original two-part pilot for Firefly was about the length of a full feature film, and yet it only introduced the characters, the universe and some of the backstory.
A "2 hour" TV show is only about 82 minutes long. If the studio will give Whedon the full 2 hours (or more) then he'll have around 40 more minutes to use to tell stories.
Why not add a little GPRS receiver into the box. Much like many cell phones, this would basically give the same E911 functionality. Or even a regular GPS receiver that could consult a list of known 911 centers based on location.
That oil crash article just got worse and worse.
The author seems to think that once the oil dries up we'll all just give up.
I was able to get through to the part where he "debunks" alternate energy sources. As if oil is the end all energy source.
No oil != no energy
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For 40 cents a gallon, you bet we'd all drive that far. 1-2km (a mile or two-ish) to save 8 bucks, you bet your bippy.
"...plus redundant UPSes with diesel generators for when the UPS runs out."
More likely, the UPS is the bridge that runs the place between when utility power drops and until the generators can take the load.
The ginormous UPS at my datacenter can run the whole 23,000 sq feet for about 15 minutes. It takes about 2.5 minutes for the gens to get going.
If it was just listings then I'd be with you on this. But it is an indexed list of (pretty much) every show that is TV in your local area. Not only can you have it record all your favorite "Friends" episodes, but it can also find every Jennifer Anniston movie that is on and record it for you. Or maybe you prefer shows about monkeys, there you go. And on and on.
And no one has ever been forced to watch any ad that was downloaded to a Tivo. The "Showcases" are stored in an area of the disk that we users can't access anyway. And you won't be forced to watch any of these new ads either. And another thing. If you have TivoWeb installed, then just go into the ToDo list and delete the Teleworld (etc) recordings every day. That is where most of the Showcase ads come from.
I know this is Slashdot and Advertising == The Devil, but let's get real folks.
Everytime Tivo comes up we have to go over this again.
Tivo is not there for skipping ads. It is a byproduct of the device's capabilities. Tivos are no more about skipping ads than VCRs ever were. You can just do it faster.
This is such a good idea. Which means it will never happen.
PC Mag actually did that in their review of the ROKR. Check out the pictures here.
"No force in the 'verse can stop me."
(Or something like that...)
You mean that it is actually possible to connect a computer keyboard and mouse to this specialized x86 computer via it's oddly shaped USB ports? No way!
SPY ACT act?
Please let me use my PIN number at the ATM machine.
Where I live... Verizon for DSL or FIOS Brighthouse for cable internet DirecWay (sucky satellite) Not quite the "one or the other" from the first paragraph.
Ob Simpsons...
"My car gets fifty furlongs to the hogshead and that's the way I like it!" -
Abe "Grandpa" Simpson
... that audio player embedded in the headphones supported Ogg, /. would be going ga-ga over it.
Brighthouse Networks did similar (replacing CATV copper with fiber) work here in the Tampa Bay region a year or so ago without the multitude of issues that Verizon is having.
So, bullshit on that. It is possible to lay fiber and dig up lawns without breaking pipes and letting water mains leak thousands of gallons of water for 7 hours.
How exactly does this represent a major narrowing of the online music industry?
Yahoo didn't have any sort of pay music service that I can think of. Their "Launch" thing is basically just a radio station kind of deal. And MusicMatch doesn't say "online music" to me. They're a late comer in the game. Yahoo probably figures they can enter the game buy snapping up the newest (cheapest) player.
If my math is correct and using the numbers from the link in the previous comment that means that the majority of Canada's people live in a area of about 77,000 square miles. (The link mentions that most Canadians live in just 2.2% of the land area of the country)
Unless they have resolved the biggest issue I had with DRM'd WM files then there's not a chance in hades that I will ever use the service. And I will recommend against the service on that basis.
The basic issue is that DRM'd WM files only work with one installation of Windows. If you lose your box, you lose your music. If you have to reinstall (a rare occurrence with Windows, I know) you lose your music.
The worst that can happen with iTMS files is that if you forget to deauthorize your computer before reloading you lose the ability to play that song on one computer. But you can still play the songs.
I thought Phish broke up....
With Vonage, the calls have a range of 30 kbps to 90 kbps. So to store the calls at 8k you would have to process those calls first. So then you're talking about having a ton of processing capacity before you store those "tiny" calls.
So if there is no processing then the storage increases (at least) by about a factor of 4 to nearly $5 million a day or $1.8 billion a year. That's a ton of cash to spend on something that may only have about 0.01% of "usable" information to the evil government.
And we're still not talking about the option to "down sample" the calls and what that would cost.
Yeah. Because it's feasible for Vonage (or any other VoIP provider) to store complete telephone calls for the long term.
Tin foil hats anyone....
The original two-part pilot for Firefly was about the length of a full feature film, and yet it only introduced the characters, the universe and some of the backstory.
A "2 hour" TV show is only about 82 minutes long. If the studio will give Whedon the full 2 hours (or more) then he'll have around 40 more minutes to use to tell stories.
It's not like Family Guy is ever coming back either based on the strength of what happened *after* the show was cancelled. Oh wait...
Why not add a little GPRS receiver into the box. Much like many cell phones, this would basically give the same E911 functionality. Or even a regular GPS receiver that could consult a list of known 911 centers based on location.
I thought there was a limit on the "anyone you do business with" part. Something like they can call you up to 18 months after your transaction.
Stop now. We get it. It's April Fool's Day.
Move on, nothing to see here.
That oil crash article just got worse and worse. The author seems to think that once the oil dries up we'll all just give up. I was able to get through to the part where he "debunks" alternate energy sources. As if oil is the end all energy source. No oil != no energy