There are certain programs I watch, but if I were forced to watch the ads, I would not watch them at all. I probably skip 95% of the ads during a program, but I do go back to watch a few of them. Also note that while fast forwarding (with TiVo), I am actually watching all of the ads, but at high speed.
Advertisers and hardware companies should be aware of the potential unintended consequences of forcing people to watch advertising. My observation is that they would lose the marginal viewer who is sort of interested in some programming, but not enough to tolerate the heavy ad load, and the apparently as yet unmeasured benefits of ads viewed at high speed. I suspect ad message retention is higher for fast forwarded ads then is commonly believed. It would be interesting to see some data.
'It's pretty clear that Bill is running the company again,'
Then what is Ballmer doing in the CEO slot?
While the guy has produced some of the best videos on the net;-) , I don't see what he has done for Microsoft. I still suspect institutional investors are going to be pushing for changes given the lackluster stock performance, let alone after the recent hit to the stock price.
How long until the "Ballmer announces retirement" headline appears?
The last time something like that happened, a global depression occurred, followed by WWII.
What's more interesting about your comment, though, is that it was moderated +5 insightful.
BTW, the EU proceedings are a shakedown against Microsoft, pure and simple. Given how European governments are busy ruining their own economies, they have to get money from somewhere, and pretend to be doing something while they are at it, unfortunately.
After all, the Intel Macs come chock full of very nice software (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, etc) which still has no equal in the Windows world
Absolutely right, that's why I bought an iMac.
And as we all know, once you go Mac, you DON'T GO BACK.
Here we disagree. The Mac GUI sucks, IMHO. Always has. I greatly dislike the menu being disconnected from the app. *nix windows managers don't do this, neither does Windows. When it comes to peripherals, why is everything for the Mac so expensive? Look at the machine itself. Can I replace the hard drive? The people at the store say no, let alone have one I can switch out to boot OS of choice. The Safari interface is inferior to Firefox, and Apple has yet to make a decent mouse - it was the first thing I got rid of.
The iMac provided a solution for a very unique set of requirements for me, mainly fulfilled by the iLife suite. The physical form factor of the machine was also very important, since I use it in a space constrained location. I can tolerate the GUI, but I think you might be surprised how many people don't like it. Allowing people to run Windows on the Intel Macs will help Apple sell more hardware. I doubt the compare and contrast will really encourage Windows users to switch.
Hmmm... I recently bought an Intel iMac for working with video. I can tell you it is just as loopy as any Windows box I have ever had. I'm not trying to criticize the iMac, since it does what I want it to do very well, especially once I learned what not to do to keep iMovie from crashing. My experience with the iMac suggests than in terms of predictability and software stability, it is not much better, if at all, than XP.
I also think the UI sucks in comparison with Windows / *nix window managers, but I have never liked the idea of segregating the app from the menu bar. Maybe others prefer it. I use Windows and *nix in one form or another every day. I use the iMac frequently. Each platform has its stengths and flaws. I use whichever platform is best suited for the task. It seems to me that Windows, OSX, and *nix are all mature enough now that proclaiming one to be better than the other is to focus on the wrong criteria.
i think a big problem is a lack of people who could answer any questions on these machines
That and a lack of hardware quality. I non-technical friend of mine, a certified, card carrying Microsoft hater, bought a Linspire box from Fry's. The first thing he did was try to get a printer to work. He spent hours doing that, then finally took it back to the store. Turns out there was a hardware problem. So if time is worth anything, the Linspire became quite a bit more expensive than the $180 he spent for it.
I would guess many of the Linspire boxes sold at Fry's are bottom of the barrel in terms of hardware quality, given how that store operates.
never hire someone just because they are your friend
Yes, you are taking big chances if you do. There's an implied assumption that you all want the same thing. This is the root of a lot of bad surprises. There's nothing wrong with hiring a friend, but if we are talking startup, you better be certain the friend (as well as any other new hire) understands the business plan and knows what their role in the company is, what their responsibilities are, and how they will be compensated.
In other words, forget about the fact that someone is your friend. You have to have a hiring practice that is as objective as possible. Otherwise you will have one less friend. This is my experience.
European help was rejected with phony arguments, despite being urgently, and obviously so, needed.
Exactly how might European nations been of assistance? What were the phony arguments? Note the Mexican Army did provide assistance after Rita.
I personally believe Nagin, Blanco and Chertoff should be out of office. (Brown was already fired.) I would guess Nagin and Blanco won't be re-elected.
this is like every other service offered on cell phones. cell phone companies are trying to build a proprietary internet for cell phones only and nickel and dime us to death with fees
Which is what makes me nervous about the ATT/Bellsouth deal. My experience with Internet access on my phone reflects your statement. A few sites allow free access, but the mobile provider has set up toll gates everywhere in an attempt to get more $$$ from the customers. What really drives me nuts is my the inability of the handset to upload ringers via USB. Have to have network access to do that. I can up and download music/data files via USB with no problem, but not a ringer. I have zero interest in buying theirs, since I make my own.
One can only imagine what a POS a PC would be if the phone/cable companies could actually control it. Of course the Internet probably wouldn't exist either at that point.
Apple announces a decent mouse at a reasonable price.
First thing I got rid of when after I bought an iMac was the mouse. Tried a mightymouse, but that sucked, too. The computer is nice with lots of nifty features, but Apple is in Rolex territory when it comes to peripherals.
I thought about getting a Mini, but it's not really cost effective when compared to the iMac once you up the drive and add the cost of a monitor.
Seems to me the Mini is an underpowered iMac, and not cost competitive with a Mediacenter PC. Might be a good deal once they starting hitting eBay, though.
The boom box looks like Apple jumped the shark. Why not get a multi-function box and plug the iPod into an AUX port? At least you get FM, and probably XM or Sirius if you want it. I don't really get the non-video iPod, though. My cell phone has an MP3 player, so another music player that doesn't record and lacks a radio at a price higher than my phone is questionable. Wonder what they will come up with next that will actually be interesting.
Maybe you can provide some insight regarding the following:
What are the estimated startup costs of Blu-Ray production facilities?
What are the sales projections? (How long will Blu-Ray have to be around to pay for the new plants?)
How much longer are people expected to be interested in content delivery via physical media?
I have a hard time believing either technology will exist for as long as DVDs, given that broadband is slowly replacing physical delivery.
At this point I think Blu-Ray is the equivalent of SACD/MiniDisc/DVD Audio - A non-starter. At least HD-DVD might have a chance to profitable for a while, since the tooling cost are lower, as I understand it.
The next few years will be interesting for Apple, that's for sure
Especially if/when Microsoft releases a version of Vista that runs on any Intel Mac.
Seems to me Gates never cared about the platform Windows was on, just as long as it was there. In fact, all of the hardware constraints Apple mandates work to Microsoft's advantage as well.
Wonder if they will have as many problems with Thunderbird as I did. We shall see if they switch back to Outlook or whatever. I use FF as my primary browser, though.
you were the one who mistakenly thought an entry-level machine would suit the needs of a movie production studio.
Come on, are you seriously bitching about a machine preferring over 512MB RAM when editing video? How fast do you expect the Mac mini's HD to be doing all that swapping? It's like you're blaming Apple because you have absolutely no concept of the amount of data you want to push around.
I had a Reveal board in a PC with 256M RAM about 10 years ago that was fine for what I was doing (Non-linear editing of Hi8 video). That was my benchmark. It doesn't seem unreasonable to believe a new Mini could manage a task a 10 year old PC could handle.
Start up Safari and browse here. Count how many times the word "movie" appears.
I go to the store and the clerk tells me I need a G5? Not a Mini, not an iMac. A Powermac.
That's not what I would call a good retail experience.
You're fucking kidding yourself if you're thinking about buying a budget machine
Except that I already have a PC that is faster than the iMac. Even if I didn't, it would be a lot cheaper to upgrade it (new MB, CPU and RAM), than buy an Apple product. The question has to do with the software - the iMac comes with sw that has good reviews. I'm willing to pay extra for a turn key experience, but not $1000+ for conventional video editing.
BTW, I didn't say anything about HD editing to the Apple sales clerks. With the exception of one person, they evidently figured I was a subhuman PC user from the start, so why waste time not getting the expected ritualistic acknowledgement of the self-annointed...
You should have listened to them, they probably know what they're talking about.
They didn't say anything about an iMac. They were recommending the Powermac G5. I thought if I posted on/. I would get a better answer.
At least one guy was helpful. The rest were arrogant zealots who didn't know enough to make the better informed recommendation you just did. So thanks for that.
Apple Geniuses behind the table had wireless gizmos for scanning credit cards
Evidently few/. readers have rented a car.
Speaking of Apple, I was in the store the other day asking about using a Mac Mini for editing home movies and making general use of iLife. Next thing I know they are telling me I have to upgrade the RAM to 1G (from 512) for $150 and I should really buy a G5 or Powerbook for that purpose. I think I would rather buy an HD video camera and use a PC instead of giving that much money to Apple at this point.
I've seen many seniors spend hours trying to figure out how something works, rather than spend two minutes asking for help.
is a good thing?
What if the two minute explanation includes the fundamental answer to the question? I think a good developer (regardless of years of experience) knows when to ask a question and knows when to improve knowledge in an area. If would be quite unhappy as a manager to pay a developer for hours of research if the answer could have been had in 2 minutes.
This is news, but it isn't big news, and it isn't very interesting news.
Maybe, maybe not. Microsoft is facing considerable competition in many areas. Gates is at his best when under threat, and Microsoft has a pretty good track record with hardware. No doubt the success of the elegance of the i* designs has not been lost on Gates, Ballmer, Ozzie, either. Building interesting hardware to enhance the software offerings should help Microsoft maintain its customer base.
Did you make sure your bandwidth settings were set to the highest value?
Yes, tried all of that, plus had the support people change the packet size. I haven't quite given up yet, but if I am not able to get the voice quality to improve, that will be it.
Slashdot Mirror
There are certain programs I watch, but if I were forced to watch the ads, I would not watch them at all. I probably skip 95% of the ads during a program, but I do go back to watch a few of them. Also note that while fast forwarding (with TiVo), I am actually watching all of the ads, but at high speed.
Advertisers and hardware companies should be aware of the potential unintended consequences of forcing people to watch advertising. My observation is that they would lose the marginal viewer who is sort of interested in some programming, but not enough to tolerate the heavy ad load, and the apparently as yet unmeasured benefits of ads viewed at high speed. I suspect ad message retention is higher for fast forwarded ads then is commonly believed. It would be interesting to see some data.
'It's pretty clear that Bill is running the company again,'
Then what is Ballmer doing in the CEO slot?
While the guy has produced some of the best videos on the net ;-) , I don't see what he has done for Microsoft. I still suspect institutional investors are going to be pushing for changes given the lackluster stock performance, let alone after the recent hit to the stock price.
How long until the "Ballmer announces retirement" headline appears?
The last time something like that happened, a global depression occurred, followed by WWII.
What's more interesting about your comment, though, is that it was moderated +5 insightful.
BTW, the EU proceedings are a shakedown against Microsoft, pure and simple. Given how European governments are busy ruining their own economies, they have to get money from somewhere, and pretend to be doing something while they are at it, unfortunately.
Absolutely right, that's why I bought an iMac.
And as we all know, once you go Mac, you DON'T GO BACK.
Here we disagree. The Mac GUI sucks, IMHO. Always has. I greatly dislike the menu being disconnected from the app. *nix windows managers don't do this, neither does Windows. When it comes to peripherals, why is everything for the Mac so expensive? Look at the machine itself. Can I replace the hard drive? The people at the store say no, let alone have one I can switch out to boot OS of choice. The Safari interface is inferior to Firefox, and Apple has yet to make a decent mouse - it was the first thing I got rid of.
The iMac provided a solution for a very unique set of requirements for me, mainly fulfilled by the iLife suite. The physical form factor of the machine was also very important, since I use it in a space constrained location. I can tolerate the GUI, but I think you might be surprised how many people don't like it. Allowing people to run Windows on the Intel Macs will help Apple sell more hardware. I doubt the compare and contrast will really encourage Windows users to switch.
I hate to bring up Apple, but look at their OS
Hmmm... I recently bought an Intel iMac for working with video. I can tell you it is just as loopy as any Windows box I have ever had. I'm not trying to criticize the iMac, since it does what I want it to do very well, especially once I learned what not to do to keep iMovie from crashing. My experience with the iMac suggests than in terms of predictability and software stability, it is not much better, if at all, than XP.
I also think the UI sucks in comparison with Windows / *nix window managers, but I have never liked the idea of segregating the app from the menu bar. Maybe others prefer it. I use Windows and *nix in one form or another every day. I use the iMac frequently. Each platform has its stengths and flaws. I use whichever platform is best suited for the task. It seems to me that Windows, OSX, and *nix are all mature enough now that proclaiming one to be better than the other is to focus on the wrong criteria.
i think a big problem is a lack of people who could answer any questions on these machines
That and a lack of hardware quality. I non-technical friend of mine, a certified, card carrying Microsoft hater, bought a Linspire box from Fry's. The first thing he did was try to get a printer to work. He spent hours doing that, then finally took it back to the store. Turns out there was a hardware problem. So if time is worth anything, the Linspire became quite a bit more expensive than the $180 he spent for it.
I would guess many of the Linspire boxes sold at Fry's are bottom of the barrel in terms of hardware quality, given how that store operates.
is raising VC money because it has "ajax" in the name
Maybe, but can anyone point to a single product / company Robertson has had that was profitable?
Yes, you are taking big chances if you do. There's an implied assumption that you all want the same thing. This is the root of a lot of bad surprises. There's nothing wrong with hiring a friend, but if we are talking startup, you better be certain the friend (as well as any other new hire) understands the business plan and knows what their role in the company is, what their responsibilities are, and how they will be compensated.
In other words, forget about the fact that someone is your friend. You have to have a hiring practice that is as objective as possible. Otherwise you will have one less friend. This is my experience.
The response to Katrina was a fiasco, no doubt. But Europeans should be very careful about criticizing the USA when events such as this occur.
The countries affected by the last big Tsunami looked better organised and they realized they needed help urgently.
Which was provided in no small part by the USA
European help was rejected with phony arguments, despite being urgently, and obviously so, needed.
Exactly how might European nations been of assistance? What were the phony arguments? Note the Mexican Army did provide assistance after Rita.
I personally believe Nagin, Blanco and Chertoff should be out of office. (Brown was already fired.) I would guess Nagin and Blanco won't be re-elected.
this is like every other service offered on cell phones. cell phone companies are trying to build a proprietary internet for cell phones only and nickel and dime us to death with fees
Which is what makes me nervous about the ATT/Bellsouth deal. My experience with Internet access on my phone reflects your statement. A few sites allow free access, but the mobile provider has set up toll gates everywhere in an attempt to get more $$$ from the customers. What really drives me nuts is my the inability of the handset to upload ringers via USB. Have to have network access to do that. I can up and download music/data files via USB with no problem, but not a ringer. I have zero interest in buying theirs, since I make my own.
One can only imagine what a POS a PC would be if the phone/cable companies could actually control it. Of course the Internet probably wouldn't exist either at that point.
it would work with your digital radio receiver, CD player, 8-track, etc.
But $350???
For that much, one could buy the iHome described above and a Wally World boombox and still have money to spend on iTunes.
An interesting announcement would be:
Apple announces a decent mouse at a reasonable price.
First thing I got rid of when after I bought an iMac was the mouse. Tried a mightymouse, but that sucked, too. The computer is nice with lots of nifty features, but Apple is in Rolex territory when it comes to peripherals.
I thought about getting a Mini, but it's not really cost effective when compared to the iMac once you up the drive and add the cost of a monitor.
Seems to me the Mini is an underpowered iMac, and not cost competitive with a Mediacenter PC. Might be a good deal once they starting hitting eBay, though.
The boom box looks like Apple jumped the shark. Why not get a multi-function box and plug the iPod into an AUX port? At least you get FM, and probably XM or Sirius if you want it. I don't really get the non-video iPod, though. My cell phone has an MP3 player, so another music player that doesn't record and lacks a radio at a price higher than my phone is questionable. Wonder what they will come up with next that will actually be interesting.
Maybe you can provide some insight regarding the following:
I have a hard time believing either technology will exist for as long as DVDs, given that broadband is slowly replacing physical delivery.
At this point I think Blu-Ray is the equivalent of SACD/MiniDisc/DVD Audio - A non-starter. At least HD-DVD might have a chance to profitable for a while, since the tooling cost are lower, as I understand it.
Anything you can add?
Driver, chipset differences, as well as possible BIOS differences.
Oh yes. Guess what. It does matter. And it will bring down the Microsoft empire.
I think it would be very interesting to know if Microsoft is working on a Vista port to the Intel/iMac.
We do live in interesting times. I enjoy every moment.
Right, never a dull moment in this business.
The next few years will be interesting for Apple, that's for sure
Especially if/when Microsoft releases a version of Vista that runs on any Intel Mac.
Seems to me Gates never cared about the platform Windows was on, just as long as it was there. In fact, all of the hardware constraints Apple mandates work to Microsoft's advantage as well.
Interesting indeed.
Wonder if they will have as many problems with Thunderbird as I did. We shall see if they switch back to Outlook or whatever. I use FF as my primary browser, though.
Now count how many times 'movie' appears in relation to 'editing'.
FYI: Click here
Notice the "It just works" column on the right. Scroll down, you will find this text and a nice link:
DV Camcorders
Mac mini supports every DV camcorder with FireWire. Just connect via FireWire and Mac mini automatically launches iMovie HD.
Be sure to click the "iMovie" link.
This topic has gone off the rails now, but one result of this discussion is that Apple fans are really encouraging me to stick with Windows and *nix.
you were the one who mistakenly thought an entry-level machine would suit the needs of a movie production studio.
Come on, are you seriously bitching about a machine preferring over 512MB RAM when editing video? How fast do you expect the Mac mini's HD to be doing all that swapping? It's like you're blaming Apple because you have absolutely no concept of the amount of data you want to push around.
I had a Reveal board in a PC with 256M RAM about 10 years ago that was fine for what I was doing (Non-linear editing of Hi8 video). That was my benchmark. It doesn't seem unreasonable to believe a new Mini could manage a task a 10 year old PC could handle.
Start up Safari and browse here. Count how many times the word "movie" appears.
I go to the store and the clerk tells me I need a G5? Not a Mini, not an iMac. A Powermac.
That's not what I would call a good retail experience.
You're fucking kidding yourself if you're thinking about buying a budget machine
Except that I already have a PC that is faster than the iMac. Even if I didn't, it would be a lot cheaper to upgrade it (new MB, CPU and RAM), than buy an Apple product. The question has to do with the software - the iMac comes with sw that has good reviews. I'm willing to pay extra for a turn key experience, but not $1000+ for conventional video editing.
BTW, I didn't say anything about HD editing to the Apple sales clerks. With the exception of one person, they evidently figured I was a subhuman PC user from the start, so why waste time not getting the expected ritualistic acknowledgement of the self-annointed...
You should have listened to them, they probably know what they're talking about.
They didn't say anything about an iMac. They were recommending the Powermac G5. I thought if I posted on /. I would get a better answer.
At least one guy was helpful. The rest were arrogant zealots who didn't know enough to make the better informed recommendation you just did. So thanks for that.
Apple Geniuses behind the table had wireless gizmos for scanning credit cards
Evidently few /. readers have rented a car.
Speaking of Apple, I was in the store the other day asking about using a Mac Mini for editing home movies and making general use of iLife. Next thing I know they are telling me I have to upgrade the RAM to 1G (from 512) for $150 and I should really buy a G5 or Powerbook for that purpose. I think I would rather buy an HD video camera and use a PC instead of giving that much money to Apple at this point.
Sorta off topic, but can you explain how this
I've seen many seniors spend hours trying to figure out how something works, rather than spend two minutes asking for help.
is a good thing?
What if the two minute explanation includes the fundamental answer to the question? I think a good developer (regardless of years of experience) knows when to ask a question and knows when to improve knowledge in an area. If would be quite unhappy as a manager to pay a developer for hours of research if the answer could have been had in 2 minutes.
This is news, but it isn't big news, and it isn't very interesting news.
Maybe, maybe not. Microsoft is facing considerable competition in many areas. Gates is at his best when under threat, and Microsoft has a pretty good track record with hardware. No doubt the success of the elegance of the i* designs has not been lost on Gates, Ballmer, Ozzie, either. Building interesting hardware to enhance the software offerings should help Microsoft maintain its customer base.
Did you make sure your bandwidth settings were set to the highest value?
Yes, tried all of that, plus had the support people change the packet size. I haven't quite given up yet, but if I am not able to get the voice quality to improve, that will be it.