I'm a pro audio engineer based in London and got an invite to the unveiling of the Sony MD in 1991 at their newly acquired studio in the West End. Went along, free drinks and all that, and a nervous Japanese guy came out and demoed the amazing new machine. Sound quality wasn't that great (first version of ATRAC I believe) and wasn't well EQ'ed but it was impressive for its size and resistance to jog and shock. The amazing part was when he took the disk out and it still kept playing! I can remember thinking 'we really don't need another format' (cassettes, vinyl, CD were all going strong) and noted that no other music labels seemed to be interested in supporting it. I questioned the engineer at the end who told me the disk was about 100Mb in size and I begged them to release the thing as a super-floppy storage device telling them this is what people really, really needed. Just drew a blank on that suggestion.
The next couple of years saw the release of Iomega Zip drive at 100Mb and was a worldwide smash selling millions of units while the Sony MD limped on like some forgotten part of evolution. They could have taken that market in 1991 but obviously didn't fit in with their music division plans - such a shame.
Of course now, Sony has a unreliable and unattractive reputation in pro-audio and is going nowhere whereas when I started (end of 80s) Sony Broadcast ruled the whole business. Basically a company in decline not helped by different divisions actually competing with each other.
He'd use Apple Pages with the special 30th Anniversary 'suicide note' templates. Could be one of the nicest looking suicide notes ever with excellent text wrapping features and plenty of drop shadow. Most suicide notes are rushed off with little thought about overall design but Apple could give this growing market a little sparkle and flair.
Got no mod points but I agree with you 100%. It's also slightly scary to post this kind of thing round here as you know you're going to battered for it.
I can't comprehend how this has happened so quickly and feel so sad for what's been lost.
Simple physics tells us the melting point of steel is 1100-1600C and a kerosene fire can go up to 600C with good oxygen flow. Why did the ( heat shielded) steel buckle? No warping of the buildings structure was observable before collapse.
Thanks/. it was amazing to see some of the text move left. Don't forget to keep us posted about other exciting changes such as Google's got a new coke machine or whatever. Us hackers get off on that, it's in our blood.
I have an old 600MHz iBook with 640MB and it is slow to launch stuff. A 600MHz iMac is a much faster machine with the same amount of RAM but those are the compromises of a cheap portable machine. The 2.5" drive is slow too - it's not necessarily Mach's fault. You should have seen OSX 10.0 - launching without all the fancy prebinding that came later was really really slow even on 'fast' machines. I still hope for further optimisations on Mach but it's all about design compromises so I don't hold my breath.
Got a client's 2.1GHz Macbook Pro here and it's really quick to launch everything - Aperture just opens in one bounce and Safari is close to instant. The relative 'slowness' of mach will become irrelevant in the future for sure.
"Music of the primes" is a great book for the non- or semi-mathematician that deals extensively with the Riemann function. In this book the author touched on the weird significance of "42" to the function but I'm afraid I can't explain it but sort of understood while I read it. Great book though - check it out . . .
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066210704/102-69 90660-1984935?v=glance&n=283155
The history of Maths is way more interesting that you think . . .
Yes, you're right of course. I read somewhere yesterday (but now can't find the link) that when you factor in the cost of looking after veterans and all the additional costs, the war comes to about $1trillion - $2.2trillion over the long term.
I was batting a few SMSs back and forward to my girlfriend 4 weeks ago and all of a sudden my screen came up in a new chat mode that looked just like an IM client. I was amazed and thought she had done it but, of course, she hadn't. Also this new interface didn't appear on her phone just mine. I realise now that I got a taste of the beta. It seems to be a much better way of having ongoing SMS chats that's for sure. Since then it hasn't reappeared though. My phone is a Sony-Ericsson T630 for the record.
Wow, I'm ranting on like someone that saw a UFO - I'll stop now.
I've wanted this feature for a good long while too but I don't think it's all that easy in terms of processing. The crossfade would need to be computed as 16-bit audio PCM and spliced in. Would take RAM (176k/s) so a 10 second x-fade would start eating into the existing 16Mb buffer fairly significantly. Also would need a decent bit of processor energy which would affect the battery life. It would probably be an easier design to have dual streams and hardware x-fader between the two streams on output.
I had no idea the loss of personal freedoms would be so fast. This thing will not be given to Google to do (as some earlier post asked) as they intend to do illegal and pernicious things with it. I am glad I can remember the world when it was free but sorry for my children who will know nothing but surveillance, total information awareness, and AI face recog as normal.
You're also missing that you probably won't 'give' anything to anyone. The British ID cards will probably include RFID in the spec now, though this has been very under-reported.
I agree with you about how the UK is now. I live in London and have to suffer sniffer dogs at Waterloo when going to work, hundreds of cameras on every journey and I'm beginning to feel intimidated and kind of guilty all the time. I've been stopped in my car about 4 times in the last year for no reason and now think twice about making a trip especially at night. My crime seems to be driving a car that's 14 years old and being young.
To be honest, I depsise what Britain is turning in to, hate the fact that the sheep are just standing around thinking it's ok, and have vowed to move abroad to try and find a happier place to be.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a pro audio engineer based in London and got an invite to the unveiling of the Sony MD in 1991 at their newly acquired studio in the West End. Went along, free drinks and all that, and a nervous Japanese guy came out and demoed the amazing new machine. Sound quality wasn't that great (first version of ATRAC I believe) and wasn't well EQ'ed but it was impressive for its size and resistance to jog and shock. The amazing part was when he took the disk out and it still kept playing! I can remember thinking 'we really don't need another format' (cassettes, vinyl, CD were all going strong) and noted that no other music labels seemed to be interested in supporting it. I questioned the engineer at the end who told me the disk was about 100Mb in size and I begged them to release the thing as a super-floppy storage device telling them this is what people really, really needed. Just drew a blank on that suggestion.
The next couple of years saw the release of Iomega Zip drive at 100Mb and was a worldwide smash selling millions of units while the Sony MD limped on like some forgotten part of evolution. They could have taken that market in 1991 but obviously didn't fit in with their music division plans - such a shame.
Of course now, Sony has a unreliable and unattractive reputation in pro-audio and is going nowhere whereas when I started (end of 80s) Sony Broadcast ruled the whole business. Basically a company in decline not helped by different divisions actually competing with each other.
I love the 'lame' tag! Sums the whole story up really.
He'd use Apple Pages with the special 30th Anniversary 'suicide note' templates. Could be one of the nicest looking suicide notes ever with excellent text wrapping features and plenty of drop shadow. Most suicide notes are rushed off with little thought about overall design but Apple could give this growing market a little sparkle and flair.
Got no mod points but I agree with you 100%. It's also slightly scary to post this kind of thing round here as you know you're going to battered for it.
I can't comprehend how this has happened so quickly and feel so sad for what's been lost.
No steel framed buildings have EVER collapsed due to fire before 9/11 even though much fiercer and hotter fires have occurred within them.
Here's a link to respected scientist Dr Steven Jones paper on his doubts. http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.ht ml
Simple physics tells us the melting point of steel is 1100-1600C and a kerosene fire can go up to 600C with good oxygen flow. Why did the ( heat shielded) steel buckle? No warping of the buildings structure was observable before collapse.
But do the cards have RFID? I believe they will but can't find anything to confirm it.
Give him a break. 10 year old binaries are obviously only 2 years old in base ten.
Thanks /. it was amazing to see some of the text move left. Don't forget to keep us posted about other exciting changes such as Google's got a new coke machine or whatever. Us hackers get off on that, it's in our blood.
I have an old 600MHz iBook with 640MB and it is slow to launch stuff. A 600MHz iMac is a much faster machine with the same amount of RAM but those are the compromises of a cheap portable machine. The 2.5" drive is slow too - it's not necessarily Mach's fault. You should have seen OSX 10.0 - launching without all the fancy prebinding that came later was really really slow even on 'fast' machines. I still hope for further optimisations on Mach but it's all about design compromises so I don't hold my breath.
Got a client's 2.1GHz Macbook Pro here and it's really quick to launch everything - Aperture just opens in one bounce and Safari is close to instant. The relative 'slowness' of mach will become irrelevant in the future for sure.
"Music of the primes" is a great book for the non- or semi-mathematician that deals extensively with the Riemann function. In this book the author touched on the weird significance of "42" to the function but I'm afraid I can't explain it but sort of understood while I read it. Great book though - check it out . . . http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066210704/102-69 90660-1984935?v=glance&n=283155
The history of Maths is way more interesting that you think . . .
Just wait until the Zapruda film comes out, then we'll know for sure . . . . (!)
Yes, you're right of course. I read somewhere yesterday (but now can't find the link) that when you factor in the cost of looking after veterans and all the additional costs, the war comes to about $1trillion - $2.2trillion over the long term.
Hey that's cool - Mike Leigh is probably my favourite director - Life Is Sweet is my favourite film. (As you can tell from the spelling I'm British).
Peace.
"Guy Ritchie!" - I was buying what you were saying until I saw that. (Now to wipe the coffee from the keyboard . . . .)
but is building your music library in a format that could be obsolete in the future really the best strategy?
Never stopped me before.
46min docu called "First Person Shooter" about some kids hooked on Counterstrike.
Wow, I'm ranting on like someone that saw a UFO - I'll stop now.
Tesco has a growing virtual monopoly in the UK - read about it on the link.
Watch as TFA server 'transforms' itself into a bubbling pile of metal and plastic. Amazing!
I've wanted this feature for a good long while too but I don't think it's all that easy in terms of processing. The crossfade would need to be computed as 16-bit audio PCM and spliced in. Would take RAM (176k/s) so a 10 second x-fade would start eating into the existing 16Mb buffer fairly significantly. Also would need a decent bit of processor energy which would affect the battery life. It would probably be an easier design to have dual streams and hardware x-fader between the two streams on output.
What a way to deal with resource depletion!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/25/id_card_g
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/n
http://management.silicon.com/government/0,390246
I suspect this will apply to the US version too we'll have to see. Politicians are very cagey about this one for obvious reasons.
I guess you'll be using the Windows XP version then.
To be honest, I depsise what Britain is turning in to, hate the fact that the sheep are just standing around thinking it's ok, and have vowed to move abroad to try and find a happier place to be.
Maybe M$ will release a patch? (or not)