I hate DRM as much as the next guy, but a terming a subscription service as DRM is diluting the cause of protest against DRM.
You pay a monthly fee to use the service that Blizzard provides - ie, access to their servers to play the game.
You can access the game from any computer in the world, you can install the game on as many computers as you own, or at a friend's house, or your mum's house, or at work, or from an internet cafe...
There are no restrictions on installing the game CDs that you bought with physical money, or installing the game from the free-to-download installer on Blizzard's website.
The game is useless to you without the monthly subscription, yes, but that's no different to most other subscription based systems.
That was my point. That there's no difference, really, between petrol and diesel cars now other than the fuel efficiency, and the better towing capability of a diesel.
European diesel engines are not only near-silent, at the very least on a par noise-wise with the petrol equivalent, they have virtually eliminated most of the other major stigmas that came with diesel - like the shorter power band, and the turbo lag you tended to have.
Combine that with the fuel efficiency, and it's no wonder that 42% of new vehicles sold in the UK are derv-burners.
A slot load drive ejects the disk by lifting it by the edges (similarly to the way you might lift a CD out of a case by the edges).
If the disk is too flexible for this lifting to free it from the hub lock, the drive will simply time out and put the disc back down again (to prevent damage to the drive).
You can design the drive with an extra pillar in the centre of the drive near the hub, but it has the possibility to scratch the disk, so they are sometimes left out.
Given a standard DVD or CD, the edge lifting is more than enough to free the disk from the hub lock. These thin and flexible disks were not considered when the drive was designed, however, since they did not exist at the time. The designers simply worked on the assumption that CDs and DVDs would all conform to a certain size, rigidity and thickness.
Perhaps new slot drives need some extra felt-covered prongs near the hub to push the disc up to free it from the lock. Hopefully this won't mark the disk though.
If by "non compliant" you mean "doesn't have an emergency eject system because there's no tray to eject" then sure, but don't blame just Apple - any computer with a slot loading drive is at fault here.
Other than being the target of an assassination by request of a major player in the current US administration, what's so bad about Hugo Chavez.
He may not be the most popular person in history (depending on your political point of view) but if you start to disregard arguments from people based solely on the people they are photographed with, then you are sinking to the level of tabloid debate.
This is why that fake photo of Fonda and Kerry allegedly sharing a podium was created - trying to trash someone's credibility by association is remarkably effective, and grossly underhand.
And of those 100,000 cars on the road of the more popular manufacturer, at least 50% of them are bought by first time, inexperienced drivers because the car is cheap.
Of the less popular manufactuer, most, or many of the models are bought by people who are looking at more than price. Sure you'll get some first time drivers, but not as many.
Religious fanaticism has set the progress of mankind back by untild amounts. Just look at the achievements of the Romans - they had underfloor heating, effective plumbing, mass movement of water to urban centres, concrete...
We lost all that in the dark ages, with the rise of the "God did it" crowd, where you were an outcast if you stepped out of line and said "hey, doesn't it look like the earth might actualy go around the sun rather than the other way around?"
Religious fanatiscim like this is all about control and power, keeping the masses in submission while a few rise to power, 'guided' by the divine power.
There's also Flip 4 Mac (http://www.flip4mac.com/), providing a free component for Quicktime that enables seamless playback of most WMV content in Quicktime Player and from within browsers, that's much better than the official MS WMV player (for one thing, you can actually scrub with the playhead, unlike the official player).
It won't handle DRM-ed wmv content, but the official MS client for OS X doesn't either. DRM WMV is strictly windows only. Apart from that, it's excellent.
We've been using the full HD studio version of Flip 4 Mac to create wmv files for client preview right out of Final Cut Pro.
Indeed. But then good things don't always come cheap. Apple did make a mistake there, but using their choice of FW on the original Mac only iPod when "everyone else" was using USB and calling it "not being compatible" doesn't hold water.
Generally Apple does try to ensure interoperability as best it can. Being a relatively small player in the grand scheme makes it in their interests, altruism or not.
Only on the iPod. Apple were one of the first people to ship USB on a computer, and used it for the purpose it was originally designed for - low speed, low bandwidth devices like keyboards, mice and other similar peripherals. The Firewire spec, being developed at a similar time was for high speed, high bandwidth devices like hard drives and video cameras.
It's not Applae's fault the the PC world decided to spite them by twisting USB into a system it was never designed to do. Perhaps because it meant thy could keep the connectors the same, or wouldn't have to put a firewire port and chipset on motherboards, but we're still dealing with the aftermath of USB2 (full speed? hi speed?) not working as well as it should compared to firewire.
I'll take a firewire hard drive any day.
Sure eventually Apple decided to offer USB2 on the iPod, realising that most of its sales went to Windows owners. But remember, the original iPod was Mac only, and all Macs at the time (that could use it effectively, ignoring the old relics) had firewire ports - perfect compatibility. USB2 was fast coming when the iPod went windows compatible.
Development of Shake has indeed been discontinued - hence the huge price drop of this latest version.
I am looking forward to what Apple does with this product line, since it is the one app that is deeply, deeply entrenched in the production industry, even more so than FCP which is gaining ground every day.
Nope, I have Shake 4.10, the currently shipping version, and it's a universal binary. I run it on an intel iMac at home and on my DP G5 at work - the iMac (2Ghz core2 duo) gives an excellent account of itself despite having relatively modest RAM for such an app (2GB), and of course it runs very well on the Powermac.
I think it's merely speculation at this point though, unless they introduce something for the corporate world that will really make people stand up. They have already started by essentially making all their machines Windows compatible, while still maintaining the OS X train.
I think they'd need to introduce something huge to really shake the corporate spenders into moving away from Dell+Windows+Office in the cheapest possible configuration. Who knows? I seriously doubt it will be an Office suite, put it that way. heh.
Surely someone has made that site as bad as possible as a joke to show their friends. No one could be that truly awful and still claim to have "the most beautiful pages on the www".
Tell me that's not a joke. It's just impossible to take seriously. The inaccuracies sprinkled with a hint of misunderstood technical info is just impossible to believe!
Because the hardware still has a veto on the fan controls - if the software is unable to manage the temperature inside a certain range for any reason (either through kernel panic or some piece of malicious code that stops the fans but reports to the OS that the fans are running normally) then the hardware will take over when the temperature becomes dangerous, either by forced shutting off, or spooling up the fans to full power.
Why it's no all hardware based all the time is a mystery, presumably it's easier to manage most of it in software.
I think you missed the point of the joke. This was an obvious nod to the (erronously summarised) story earlier this week about MS patenting verb conjugation, adding more fuel to the "patent obvious stuff: profit" model that has been emerging over the past few decades.
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I hate DRM as much as the next guy, but a terming a subscription service as DRM is diluting the cause of protest against DRM.
You pay a monthly fee to use the service that Blizzard provides - ie, access to their servers to play the game.
You can access the game from any computer in the world, you can install the game on as many computers as you own, or at a friend's house, or your mum's house, or at work, or from an internet cafe...
There are no restrictions on installing the game CDs that you bought with physical money, or installing the game from the free-to-download installer on Blizzard's website.
The game is useless to you without the monthly subscription, yes, but that's no different to most other subscription based systems.
Subscription based services are nothing new.
That was my point. That there's no difference, really, between petrol and diesel cars now other than the fuel efficiency, and the better towing capability of a diesel.
The rattly tractor engines of old are long gone.
European diesel engines are not only near-silent, at the very least on a par noise-wise with the petrol equivalent, they have virtually eliminated most of the other major stigmas that came with diesel - like the shorter power band, and the turbo lag you tended to have.
Combine that with the fuel efficiency, and it's no wonder that 42% of new vehicles sold in the UK are derv-burners.
A slot load drive ejects the disk by lifting it by the edges (similarly to the way you might lift a CD out of a case by the edges).
If the disk is too flexible for this lifting to free it from the hub lock, the drive will simply time out and put the disc back down again (to prevent damage to the drive).
You can design the drive with an extra pillar in the centre of the drive near the hub, but it has the possibility to scratch the disk, so they are sometimes left out.
Given a standard DVD or CD, the edge lifting is more than enough to free the disk from the hub lock. These thin and flexible disks were not considered when the drive was designed, however, since they did not exist at the time. The designers simply worked on the assumption that CDs and DVDs would all conform to a certain size, rigidity and thickness.
Perhaps new slot drives need some extra felt-covered prongs near the hub to push the disc up to free it from the lock. Hopefully this won't mark the disk though.
Actually they call it a "Superdrive".
If by "non compliant" you mean "doesn't have an emergency eject system because there's no tray to eject" then sure, but don't blame just Apple - any computer with a slot loading drive is at fault here.
Other than being the target of an assassination by request of a major player in the current US administration, what's so bad about Hugo Chavez.
He may not be the most popular person in history (depending on your political point of view) but if you start to disregard arguments from people based solely on the people they are photographed with, then you are sinking to the level of tabloid debate.
This is why that fake photo of Fonda and Kerry allegedly sharing a podium was created - trying to trash someone's credibility by association is remarkably effective, and grossly underhand.
Which, if you read the OP's post more carefully, is exactly what he said.
"The iPod, if not the best sounding music player, is easily one of the best." says exactly that.
"It might not sound the best, but it is the best player"
Read the sentence again.
"The iPod, if not the best sounding music player, is easily one of the best."
Means that it is NOT the best sounding music player.
You make yourself look less like an idiot if you actually understand what the original poster is saying.
Who modded this insightful?
And of those 100,000 cars on the road of the more popular manufacturer, at least 50% of them are bought by first time, inexperienced drivers because the car is cheap.
Of the less popular manufactuer, most, or many of the models are bought by people who are looking at more than price. Sure you'll get some first time drivers, but not as many.
Now, which car is safer again?
Definitely dangerous.
Religious fanaticism has set the progress of mankind back by untild amounts. Just look at the achievements of the Romans - they had underfloor heating, effective plumbing, mass movement of water to urban centres, concrete...
We lost all that in the dark ages, with the rise of the "God did it" crowd, where you were an outcast if you stepped out of line and said "hey, doesn't it look like the earth might actualy go around the sun rather than the other way around?"
Religious fanatiscim like this is all about control and power, keeping the masses in submission while a few rise to power, 'guided' by the divine power.
There's also Flip 4 Mac (http://www.flip4mac.com/), providing a free component for Quicktime that enables seamless playback of most WMV content in Quicktime Player and from within browsers, that's much better than the official MS WMV player (for one thing, you can actually scrub with the playhead, unlike the official player).
It won't handle DRM-ed wmv content, but the official MS client for OS X doesn't either. DRM WMV is strictly windows only. Apart from that, it's excellent.
We've been using the full HD studio version of Flip 4 Mac to create wmv files for client preview right out of Final Cut Pro.
It was at the same time as OS X was being shipped. It's been a while since I checked though.
Indeed. But then good things don't always come cheap. Apple did make a mistake there, but using their choice of FW on the original Mac only iPod when "everyone else" was using USB and calling it "not being compatible" doesn't hold water.
Generally Apple does try to ensure interoperability as best it can. Being a relatively small player in the grand scheme makes it in their interests, altruism or not.
Only on the iPod. Apple were one of the first people to ship USB on a computer, and used it for the purpose it was originally designed for - low speed, low bandwidth devices like keyboards, mice and other similar peripherals. The Firewire spec, being developed at a similar time was for high speed, high bandwidth devices like hard drives and video cameras.
It's not Applae's fault the the PC world decided to spite them by twisting USB into a system it was never designed to do. Perhaps because it meant thy could keep the connectors the same, or wouldn't have to put a firewire port and chipset on motherboards, but we're still dealing with the aftermath of USB2 (full speed? hi speed?) not working as well as it should compared to firewire.
I'll take a firewire hard drive any day.
Sure eventually Apple decided to offer USB2 on the iPod, realising that most of its sales went to Windows owners. But remember, the original iPod was Mac only, and all Macs at the time (that could use it effectively, ignoring the old relics) had firewire ports - perfect compatibility. USB2 was fast coming when the iPod went windows compatible.
Ah, I figured this is what you meant.
Development of Shake has indeed been discontinued - hence the huge price drop of this latest version.
I am looking forward to what Apple does with this product line, since it is the one app that is deeply, deeply entrenched in the production industry, even more so than FCP which is gaining ground every day.
Isn't the new rewrite of Shake Intel only?
Nope, I have Shake 4.10, the currently shipping version, and it's a universal binary. I run it on an intel iMac at home and on my DP G5 at work - the iMac (2Ghz core2 duo) gives an excellent account of itself despite having relatively modest RAM for such an app (2GB), and of course it runs very well on the Powermac.
...welcome our new Corporate Apple overlords.
I think it's merely speculation at this point though, unless they introduce something for the corporate world that will really make people stand up. They have already started by essentially making all their machines Windows compatible, while still maintaining the OS X train.
I think they'd need to introduce something huge to really shake the corporate spenders into moving away from Dell+Windows+Office in the cheapest possible configuration. Who knows? I seriously doubt it will be an Office suite, put it that way. heh.
I'll admit that gripe gets me too. I work on a system that has anywhere up to 9 firewire drives attached to it, not to mention network drives.
Opening a save window can be an exercise in patience.
*rimshot, err gunshot*
Aisle seat please.
That site just has to be a joke.
Surely someone has made that site as bad as possible as a joke to show their friends. No one could be that truly awful and still claim to have "the most beautiful pages on the www".
Check out the "Why we suggest you use IE" page: http://www.hosanna1.com/AAAWWW/why/index.html
Tell me that's not a joke. It's just impossible to take seriously. The inaccuracies sprinkled with a hint of misunderstood technical info is just impossible to believe!
Because the hardware still has a veto on the fan controls - if the software is unable to manage the temperature inside a certain range for any reason (either through kernel panic or some piece of malicious code that stops the fans but reports to the OS that the fans are running normally) then the hardware will take over when the temperature becomes dangerous, either by forced shutting off, or spooling up the fans to full power.
Why it's no all hardware based all the time is a mystery, presumably it's easier to manage most of it in software.
I think you missed the point of the joke. This was an obvious nod to the (erronously summarised) story earlier this week about MS patenting verb conjugation, adding more fuel to the "patent obvious stuff: profit" model that has been emerging over the past few decades.
-1 Missed the point.
I think the sarcasm in the GP post just caught a plane way over your head. Maybe even one with snakes on.