But wait until the MPAA realizes they can cut Comcast out of the loop, and pocket the savings.
Steve Jobs has said again and again that Apple wants nothing to with the TV. So I didn't mean iTunes as in "Apple will come save the day", I just meant an iTunes-like service (there are already a few out there).
We're just waiting for enough bandwidth to be able to stream content.
Accept the "academic critics" are just random crackpots on the web.
So I can publish a "scientific" paper about linux causing aids, and have it "peer-reviewed" by the good folks at the GNAA, next thing you know, people will believe it.
On-Demand TV is big right now. Comcast et al are cleaning up offering it. Movies are already available "on-demand" or PPV often BEFORE they're released on DVD.
Delivering it over the 'net is simply the next logical step. And compared to production/distribution costs associated with DVDs, it's pure profit. They only thing missing is the DRM (which isn't as bad as knee-jerkers around here make it out to be).
In the end it wont matter what the current distributors think about it, the consumer drives the marketplace.
It's not like Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come", it's the other way around "If you hear them coming, get out your hammer and nails or they'll walk right past you"
Most people I know don't like going to blockbuster and standing in line, or finding out the movie they wanted is out. Offer them a way to get it with a couple mouse clicks - hell, it'd be like printing your own money.
What you could to with MythTV, is spend the money on a remote that works - like ATI's remote wonder - then get a universal learning remote, and "teach" it the MythTV stuff.
With an external module, can MythTV control an external digital tuner box - the way a TiVo can? Has TiVo ever kicked any of that shit back into the OSS world?
Come to think of it, TiVo's remote is pretty cool, and does a good job of seamlessly controlling my TV, stereo, and TiVo at the same time. (On/off for TV, volume on stereo, channel changing recording controls on the TiVo)
Cool so can I use my ATI HDTV-Wonder card with MythTV? And play back the high-def versions of my favorite movies on the extra DVD in the boxed set (they're in WMV9 format). And legally play DVDS?
Oh, well let me know when I can.
Until then, the closest linux will get being a media center is TiVo.
That's just the way it is. People don't piss away 10,000 on a high def plasma screen, 20,000 on a high end THX certified surround sound system (and that's cheap!) and then feed it with a 640i RCA video out jack from a 5 year old piece of shit video card - all because they're worried about paying 5 bucks to watch a movie.
Or at least was shit, it's been about a year since I played with it.
It was buggy, crashed and froze constantly, had an incredibly bloated interface - I'd end up missing recording the first few minutes of whatever show I wanted because it took that long to render the "recording setup" dialog.
WRT to MythTV:
Can linux play back those special discs in newer DVD sets that have the movie in high def? Answer: No, like it or not, every one I've seen was in WMV9.
We had a story about it a few weeks ago. DRM hassles or no (the article blew it way out of proportion, claiming you need to install a special player - you dont), a true moviephile who's invested tens of thousands of dollars would accept no less than the best picture possible.
Linux NEEDS DRM. Without it, it won't even be a contender.
The one thing holding it back, IMO, was that it was only available to OEMs, and thus you could only get it if you spent $3000 bucks on some crappy Dell system.
Now you can get the OS by itself, and get it running on cheaper stuff you have laying around. Just for the sake of playing around, I got it up and running on my Voodoo 3 3500, like you, with hacked/cobbled drivers.
I'm sufficiently impressed that I plan to put my TiVo up on eBay and use the proceeds to invest in a decent AIW card.
BTW, linux' terrible support for ATI cards in general - or ATI's terrible support for linux (depends on your point of view), is and will continue to really hurt projects like MythTV. I'm not interested in hunting down and spending more on some other card zealots claim is "better" (when in actuality, it's not better - it's just the only thing supported).
In other words, you haven't seen or used it yourself.
Neither has the author of TFA.
You all hate MSFT, and want to see them fail in the home. And this guy is your hero because he predicts that MS sucks. That's all fine and good.
But remember Sun Tsu's first and most important rule of war: Know your enemy.
The most rabid zealots show again and again that they have no fucking idea what MSFT products can do, or how they work.
That said, MCE's actually pretty well put together. It's far beyond MythTV, especially when it comes to hardware support.
And the DRM is on the CONTENT. You only use it if the CONTENT requires you use it. The DivX files you download off KaZaa will play the same in MCE as they do in linux.
But, MCE can play those movies you pay a few bucks to download off the 'net, will MythTV? My point being, OSS projects need to incorporate the same thing. The lack of legit DVD support has already crippled linux as an "entertainment" platform.
Look how well iTunes is working. Bandwidth is going up dramatically, theres a lot of fiber to the home happening. It wont be long before there's an (actually *working*, high-def) iTunes for movies - and OSS better not miss the boat.
That wouldn't be a tidal wave, since it has nothing to do with tides.
I'm not merely being pedantic, I'm fed up with amateurish, downright sloppy "scientific" journalism.
And I've been hearing about this Canary Island thing for about a decade now, I guess given last weeks catastrophe, it's time for the media to dust it off and make a few bucks sowing fear.
due to bad/greedy decisions by corporate management
Sounds like it was more due to his own ineptitude or inability to vigorously defend his claims.
He could have easily found a lawyer to take on the deep pockets of Sony and Philips pro bono - that is if the case was as clear cut as he says so.
The article talks about him reading bits back of an etched piece of glass - which is pretty far away from a modern CD or DVD.
Using a light source and phototransmitter to transmit 1's and 0's dates back to the 30s.
I've seen pictures of big wheels with holes punched in them to represent the bits, basically a flashlight on one side, and a big ass photocell (or whatever they used in those days) on the other side.
I'm not certain what he describes passes the "obvioussness" test, since he basically adapted an existing A-D converter to be fed from a photosensor.
Depends, what does this guy want? Money or credit for the invention?
Business-savvy people tend to make more money in any system, as by definition they're better at it.
If all he want's is credit, well, he can have it. Ben Franklin never patented the lightning rod, which was unheard of. He thought it too important, and was more interested in it's life-saving potential than making a few bucks. In short, he didn't want money - he wanted credit, and he's got just that. Meanwhile, business-savvy people no doubt made a killing installing lightning rods back in the olden days.
Short story - Sony and Philips start the CD consortium, this guy is convinced they're infringing on his patents. His small company IP lawyer disagrees. He does nothing.
Years later, another company buys the little company up, and sues Sony and Philips, who eventually cave and settle with a one-time licensing deal.
The way I read it, he had the gun, he had the ammo, but didn't have the balls to pull the trigger.
He had the patents, but was too chickenshit to sue. The TFA says his companies patent lawyer disagreed. Whatever. It's called a second opinion.
If I think Sony owes me millions, I'm not going to give two shits what my startup companys bean-counter (a lawyer in a corp that small is no more than a glorified accountant) has to say about it.
It mentions 51 patents in the article, but then says that the patents were owned by a company that a venture capitalist started years later, and was bought by another company, and that's who Sony and Philips eventually had to pay royalties to.
So what gives? Did he sell his patents? If so he can't say he got "nothing" for his efforts. Sounds like sellers remorse to me.
I saw on the history channel, the guy who invented the safety pin sold the patent for like 5 bucks to pay off a gambling debt. It made the guy he sold it to richer than Jesus.
Of all the words in that list, open is the simplest and most consise.
Open Software is the right term. Free Software is misleading, as the most common use of the word free in english is to mean "no cost".
P.S. We have libre in english, commonly used as "liberty" (noun) or "liberated" (adjective) or liberal (bleeding heart). We could use libre too, but it's pretentious sounding and ass-headed, and the business world would run screaming from any paradigm that sounded like "Liberal".
Sure, just like staring at the sun, where the fluid in your eyeballs will literally "boil" and become opaque.
People dont realize that there are no nerve endings in the eyeball itself, it can't feel pain. They keep gawking at the sun, or welding without a visor because it isn't hurting them to do so.
Slashdot Mirror
No, on-demand is different.
But wait until the MPAA realizes they can cut Comcast out of the loop, and pocket the savings.
Steve Jobs has said again and again that Apple wants nothing to with the TV. So I didn't mean iTunes as in "Apple will come save the day", I just meant an iTunes-like service (there are already a few out there).
We're just waiting for enough bandwidth to be able to stream content.
Accept the "academic critics" are just random crackpots on the web.
So I can publish a "scientific" paper about linux causing aids, and have it "peer-reviewed" by the good folks at the GNAA, next thing you know, people will believe it.
Will this not make it much easier for crackpots with agendas to spread bogus/bullshit scientific "facts"?
On-Demand TV is big right now. Comcast et al are cleaning up offering it. Movies are already available "on-demand" or PPV often BEFORE they're released on DVD.
Delivering it over the 'net is simply the next logical step. And compared to production/distribution costs associated with DVDs, it's pure profit. They only thing missing is the DRM (which isn't as bad as knee-jerkers around here make it out to be).
In the end it wont matter what the current distributors think about it, the consumer drives the marketplace.
It's not like Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come", it's the other way around "If you hear them coming, get out your hammer and nails or they'll walk right past you"
Most people I know don't like going to blockbuster and standing in line, or finding out the movie they wanted is out. Offer them a way to get it with a couple mouse clicks - hell, it'd be like printing your own money.
What you could to with MythTV, is spend the money on a remote that works - like ATI's remote wonder - then get a universal learning remote, and "teach" it the MythTV stuff.
With an external module, can MythTV control an external digital tuner box - the way a TiVo can? Has TiVo ever kicked any of that shit back into the OSS world?
Come to think of it, TiVo's remote is pretty cool, and does a good job of seamlessly controlling my TV, stereo, and TiVo at the same time. (On/off for TV, volume on stereo, channel changing recording controls on the TiVo)
Cool so can I use my ATI HDTV-Wonder card with MythTV? And play back the high-def versions of my favorite movies on the extra DVD in the boxed set (they're in WMV9 format). And legally play DVDS?
Oh, well let me know when I can.
Until then, the closest linux will get being a media center is TiVo.
That's just the way it is. People don't piss away 10,000 on a high def plasma screen, 20,000 on a high end THX certified surround sound system (and that's cheap!) and then feed it with a 640i RCA video out jack from a 5 year old piece of shit video card - all because they're worried about paying 5 bucks to watch a movie.
SnapStream is shit.
Or at least was shit, it's been about a year since I played with it.
It was buggy, crashed and froze constantly, had an incredibly bloated interface - I'd end up missing recording the first few minutes of whatever show I wanted because it took that long to render the "recording setup" dialog.
WRT to MythTV:
Can linux play back those special discs in newer DVD sets that have the movie in high def? Answer: No, like it or not, every one I've seen was in WMV9.
We had a story about it a few weeks ago. DRM hassles or no (the article blew it way out of proportion, claiming you need to install a special player - you dont), a true moviephile who's invested tens of thousands of dollars would accept no less than the best picture possible.
Linux NEEDS DRM. Without it, it won't even be a contender.
I agree, MCE is pretty cool.
The one thing holding it back, IMO, was that it was only available to OEMs, and thus you could only get it if you spent $3000 bucks on some crappy Dell system.
Now you can get the OS by itself, and get it running on cheaper stuff you have laying around. Just for the sake of playing around, I got it up and running on my Voodoo 3 3500, like you, with hacked/cobbled drivers.
I'm sufficiently impressed that I plan to put my TiVo up on eBay and use the proceeds to invest in a decent AIW card.
BTW, linux' terrible support for ATI cards in general - or ATI's terrible support for linux (depends on your point of view), is and will continue to really hurt projects like MythTV. I'm not interested in hunting down and spending more on some other card zealots claim is "better" (when in actuality, it's not better - it's just the only thing supported).
In other words, you haven't seen or used it yourself.
Neither has the author of TFA.
You all hate MSFT, and want to see them fail in the home. And this guy is your hero because he predicts that MS sucks. That's all fine and good.
But remember Sun Tsu's first and most important rule of war: Know your enemy.
The most rabid zealots show again and again that they have no fucking idea what MSFT products can do, or how they work.
That said, MCE's actually pretty well put together. It's far beyond MythTV, especially when it comes to hardware support.
And the DRM is on the CONTENT. You only use it if the CONTENT requires you use it. The DivX files you download off KaZaa will play the same in MCE as they do in linux.
But, MCE can play those movies you pay a few bucks to download off the 'net, will MythTV? My point being, OSS projects need to incorporate the same thing. The lack of legit DVD support has already crippled linux as an "entertainment" platform.
Look how well iTunes is working. Bandwidth is going up dramatically, theres a lot of fiber to the home happening. It wont be long before there's an (actually *working*, high-def) iTunes for movies - and OSS better not miss the boat.
I didn't elaborate though.
TFA suggests that land was raised, not sunk. So it would be like the earth sticking it's arms out, so it should slow down, right?
A *patented* 1-click donation link, to boot!
Give money straight to the red cross.
That wouldn't be a tidal wave, since it has nothing to do with tides.
I'm not merely being pedantic, I'm fed up with amateurish, downright sloppy "scientific" journalism.
And I've been hearing about this Canary Island thing for about a decade now, I guess given last weeks catastrophe, it's time for the media to dust it off and make a few bucks sowing fear.
TFA is sketchy.
No mass was added or taken away from the planet, so how exactly could its rotational speed have changed?
Is it analogous to a figure skater spinning with arms extended, then pulling them in, making them spin faster?
due to bad/greedy decisions by corporate management
Sounds like it was more due to his own ineptitude or inability to vigorously defend his claims.
He could have easily found a lawyer to take on the deep pockets of Sony and Philips pro bono - that is if the case was as clear cut as he says so.
The article talks about him reading bits back of an etched piece of glass - which is pretty far away from a modern CD or DVD.
Using a light source and phototransmitter to transmit 1's and 0's dates back to the 30s.
I've seen pictures of big wheels with holes punched in them to represent the bits, basically a flashlight on one side, and a big ass photocell (or whatever they used in those days) on the other side.
I'm not certain what he describes passes the "obvioussness" test, since he basically adapted an existing A-D converter to be fed from a photosensor.
Depends, what does this guy want? Money or credit for the invention?
Business-savvy people tend to make more money in any system, as by definition they're better at it.
If all he want's is credit, well, he can have it. Ben Franklin never patented the lightning rod, which was unheard of. He thought it too important, and was more interested in it's life-saving potential than making a few bucks. In short, he didn't want money - he wanted credit, and he's got just that. Meanwhile, business-savvy people no doubt made a killing installing lightning rods back in the olden days.
Short story - Sony and Philips start the CD consortium, this guy is convinced they're infringing on his patents. His small company IP lawyer disagrees. He does nothing.
Years later, another company buys the little company up, and sues Sony and Philips, who eventually cave and settle with a one-time licensing deal.
The way I read it, he had the gun, he had the ammo, but didn't have the balls to pull the trigger.
He had the patents, but was too chickenshit to sue. The TFA says his companies patent lawyer disagreed. Whatever. It's called a second opinion.
If I think Sony owes me millions, I'm not going to give two shits what my startup companys bean-counter (a lawyer in a corp that small is no more than a glorified accountant) has to say about it.
Can both cry in their beers. Boo hoo.
It mentions 51 patents in the article, but then says that the patents were owned by a company that a venture capitalist started years later, and was bought by another company, and that's who Sony and Philips eventually had to pay royalties to.
So what gives? Did he sell his patents? If so he can't say he got "nothing" for his efforts. Sounds like sellers remorse to me.
I saw on the history channel, the guy who invented the safety pin sold the patent for like 5 bucks to pay off a gambling debt. It made the guy he sold it to richer than Jesus.
Get a thesaurus:
Entry: free
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: unrestrained
Synonyms: able, allowed, at large, at liberty, break loose, casual, clear, cut loose, disengaged, easy, escaped, familiar, fancy-free, fly kites, footloose, forward, frank, free-spirited, free-wheeling, get down, independent, informal, lax, liberal, liberated, loose, open, permitted, relaxed, unattached, uncommitted, unconfined, unconstrained, unengaged, unfettered, unhampered, unimpeded, unobstructed, unregulated, unrestricted, untrammeled
Of all the words in that list, open is the simplest and most consise.
Open Software is the right term. Free Software is misleading, as the most common use of the word free in english is to mean "no cost".
P.S. We have libre in english, commonly used as "liberty" (noun) or "liberated" (adjective) or liberal (bleeding heart). We could use libre too, but it's pretentious sounding and ass-headed, and the business world would run screaming from any paradigm that sounded like "Liberal".
Goatse-ware, more open than you ever imagined it could be, or ever wanted it to be.
Nobody cares about zealot infighting and semantics.
This type of crap is why many IT departments laugh at you if you mention linux or OSS as a solution.
Yet, both are parrallelograms, but only the square is a rhombus!
Neither are trapezoids!
What a crazy mixed up world!
Sure, just like staring at the sun, where the fluid in your eyeballs will literally "boil" and become opaque.
People dont realize that there are no nerve endings in the eyeball itself, it can't feel pain. They keep gawking at the sun, or welding without a visor because it isn't hurting them to do so.
# Can be used for skypointing, projection on low clouds, signalling, detecting explosives
How does a green laser detect explosives, does anyone know?
The link was to a $350,000 industrial laser cutter, not a modified pointer or other ebay scam.