I actually went from whitebox to HP this time. It turns out their pricing is much more competitive than it used to be. I was very surprised. Going self-made, I might have saved only 15%... and I wouldn't be able to get one-stop support and warranty.
>"Perhaps at home, but how's that working out for you at work?"
Let me tell you how it works out at work. I just took delivery of brand new HP ML350 G6 servers. 48GB RAM, Dual 6 core Xeons at 3.06Ghz. FAST!
It takes exactly 2.5 *MINUTES* before I get the BIOS beep for it to load GRUB. Linux then takes, oh, 20 seconds to boot (all the way to X), and that is with dozens of services, RAID checks, etc.
I complained bitterly to HP. Sure it won't be booted very often ONCE IT IS CONFIGURED. But it more than DOUBLED the first few man days of setup due to waiting forever every time I made a BIOS change, every time I had to key in a firmware license, upgrade the BIOS, boot into the RAID setup, setup iLO2, after kernel changes, etc.
It is 2011 and the fastest computer I have ever seen is, by far, the slowest booting machine I have ever seen. And I have been doing this for 25 years.
>"prototype device capable of generating x-rays (gzipped PDF)"
A file that is actually a PDF (which is already compressed) that is a SINGLE FILE that is tarred but named with "ppt" in it, and stuffed into a useless subdirectory called "FB01" and then gzipped??? Um.... yeesh.
Well, the speculation is that Netflix isn't trying to get more money through this, just pass on the actual increased licensing costs. Of course, nobody but Netflix really knows.
It might very well end up costing Netflix a lot, with dropped customers, people dropping to lower plans, and slowing new growth.
I don't really care *why* the price is almost doubling for my plan from what I was paying last year, only that it is. And like TONS of customers, I am going to drop half of the plan. The half I am choosing to drop will be the streaming. In my case, I am not worse off than before. My pricing will be about $1 less per month than when they added streaming in the first place.
Anyway, I can understand why many people are very unhappy about it. I can also understand why it makes sense to separate the plans and have customers pay for what they use (I am not a fan of "bundling" in the first place). However, I see that for many customers, this really is a HUGE and unreasonable price jump.
Rate increases always suck. But I so rarely use the streaming option, anyway, that this turns out to be helpful. I am glad that they at least separated the two options.
My 1-at-a-time + streaming costs were $9/mo (I believe) just several months ago. Then they raised it to $10.50/mo. Now they want $16??!!?!! There is no way I am going to pay $7/mo more just to retain the occasional streaming of a small catalog of movies. I will just drop the streaming and go to the $8/mo plan.
Hate to lose any type of functionality, but money is money.
BTW- If I were going to spend $16/mo- that is the exact same price as my cable company charges for 9 channels of HBO plus HBO on demand. And cable is ALWAYS overpriced...
I suspect like most claims of positive "red wine" effects, it has nothing to do with wine and everything to do with grapes.
Drink grape juice, eat red grapes, take grape seed extract (and/or Resveratrol). None of it has anything to do with wine. People that claim "wine" instead of "grapes" just want a valid excuse to sell or drink alcohol:)
There are valid reasons that most businesses use RHEL on their servers. Besides after waiting 3 YEARS for version 5 to version 6, it isn't very ancient anymore:)
Even the Wikipedia page is weak on details. But somehow they have every other row polarized opposite so each eye can only see every other line. This will have the effect that one eye will see an entire image one scan line lower that the other. So each eye sees have the resolution of 1080P (like 540p). In a way, it is like 1080i, but with 1080i, each frame is slightly different in time. That is not the case here, where both images are from the exact same point in time.
I am not sure how it looks, but it sounds extremely promising. Has to be better than the horrible shutter glasses I have experienced.
Unfortunately, I could not wait and had to switch over to Scientific Linux (who *did* have a 6.0 version) so I could perform tests and comparisons for a real RHEL 6.1 rollout.
Sorry, but you are out of your mind if you think it costs $3 to $10 to produce and stuff and address that statement.
We do such mailings all the time for far, far less. And in THAT type of volume, with automation, the actual costs is well below $1.
Even our Xerox printer/copers at a measly 70ppm, ACTUAL COSTS, including the tabloid paper, would be about $0.03 per statement. Envelope and stuff for another $0.05. Address it for another $0.01 or so. I am guessing the actual costs of their statements, ready to mail, are in the $0.10 to $0.15 range.
There is NO WAY they are going to maintain a website design, and database, and hardware, and electricity, and ISP, AND SUPPORT THE MILLIONS OF LOGINS and HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CONFUSED elderly for less than their simple annual mailing. No way.
You mean like the new Evo 3D? The answer is "no", it only works 3D in landscape with this technology.
And when the 3D is "off", it doesn't affect the screen/display quality at all (resolution, brightness, clarity, etc). 3D is only used for media or certain games. It is not part of the UI (thankfully).
I am not that impressed with the technology. It works, but it hurts my eyes and the angle of effect is very low.
At this point, I care much less about which of the two code bases survives than I do the name. PLEASE lose the damn "Libre" name! We spent many years getting people to use, understand, trust, and remember the name "OpenOffice". Throwing it away, if there is ANY possibility of using it, is incredibly stupid. Believe it or not, the [horrible] name "LibreOffice" is already causing more damage to the credibility of the software in the eyes of non-technical users than any bug or fork has ever done.
Oh, and if possible, see if you can lose the ".org" in "OpenOffice.org" too...
I stopped watching the news many years ago and never did get a paper. It wasn't because of the Internet. It was because I got tired of hearing nothing but trivial, shallow, or sensationalistic crap. I don't care who slept with whom and soundbites don't do anything any good. Plus, since I live in an area with many connected cities, invariably the remaining content usually didn't apply to my locality, anyway.
Quite frankly, the national news isn't much better in many ways. To me, the fact that there was some conflict in the Middle East is simply not news, it is life. Yes, gas prices are high. Republicans did X and Democrats did Y. Some other bill just passed that either raises taxes, takes away state's rights, stomps on the Constitution, or takes away citizens' personal liberty.
I hope that doesn't make me irresponsible. I do try to stay informed. And usually the things that do matter somehow reach me. I am just burned out from negativity, information overload, and feeling completely apathetic about government in general.
The REAL issue with Linux/FOSS video right now is the total lack of support for Cable Card and Tuning Adapters. Without them, there is no way to make an effective Linux DVR other than just over-the-air recordings. Gone are the days of "cable ready", analog, and in-the-clear digital.
Of course, that is not the fault of Linux, but of the media giants and cable companies who are just terrified of someone sharing/ripping their content.
Slashdot Mirror
>"Is the BIOS up to date?"
Yes, that took several 2.5 minute boots to do and it changed nothing.
>"Try booting with certain devices disconnected as well."
Nothing in this server to disconnect, except the RAID.... and I can't do that!
I actually went from whitebox to HP this time. It turns out their pricing is much more competitive than it used to be. I was very surprised. Going self-made, I might have saved only 15%... and I wouldn't be able to get one-stop support and warranty.
>"You've only worked with x86 based servers I take it?"
Yes, only X86. 45 min??!!! I would go insane! Even 10 min would make me go running away.
>"And why are you running X on a server?"
This is an application server (and Email, and Print, and File, and most everything).
>"Perhaps at home, but how's that working out for you at work?"
Let me tell you how it works out at work. I just took delivery of brand new HP ML350 G6 servers. 48GB RAM, Dual 6 core Xeons at 3.06Ghz. FAST!
It takes exactly 2.5 *MINUTES* before I get the BIOS beep for it to load GRUB. Linux then takes, oh, 20 seconds to boot (all the way to X), and that is with dozens of services, RAID checks, etc.
I complained bitterly to HP. Sure it won't be booted very often ONCE IT IS CONFIGURED. But it more than DOUBLED the first few man days of setup due to waiting forever every time I made a BIOS change, every time I had to key in a firmware license, upgrade the BIOS, boot into the RAID setup, setup iLO2, after kernel changes, etc.
It is 2011 and the fastest computer I have ever seen is, by far, the slowest booting machine I have ever seen. And I have been doing this for 25 years.
>"You can now use the PS3 Sixaxis Controller on Android phones and devices."!
Except not unless you are rooted. Throw away 90% of devices out there.
Or if it is an HTC. So throw out another 50% of devices out there.
Or a newer Samsung. So throw out another 15% of devices out there.
And there is no point if it is not a higher-end device capable of playing good games. So throw out about 70% of devices out there.
Not much left!
>"prototype device capable of generating x-rays (gzipped PDF)"
A file that is actually a PDF (which is already compressed) that is a SINGLE FILE that is tarred but named with "ppt" in it, and stuffed into a useless subdirectory called "FB01" and then gzipped??? Um.... yeesh.
Well, the speculation is that Netflix isn't trying to get more money through this, just pass on the actual increased licensing costs. Of course, nobody but Netflix really knows.
It might very well end up costing Netflix a lot, with dropped customers, people dropping to lower plans, and slowing new growth.
I have/had the 1-DVD-at-a-time plan.
I don't really care *why* the price is almost doubling for my plan from what I was paying last year, only that it is. And like TONS of customers, I am going to drop half of the plan. The half I am choosing to drop will be the streaming. In my case, I am not worse off than before. My pricing will be about $1 less per month than when they added streaming in the first place.
Anyway, I can understand why many people are very unhappy about it. I can also understand why it makes sense to separate the plans and have customers pay for what they use (I am not a fan of "bundling" in the first place). However, I see that for many customers, this really is a HUGE and unreasonable price jump.
>"'By working with EA, we'll scale our games and services to deliver more social,"
EEeeew, that will ruin Pop Cap. What made its games nice were that they were NOT scaled up and NOT "social". :(
"Libre"? Barf! OMG, will people just make this word go away? What an embarrassment . :(
Rate increases always suck. But I so rarely use the streaming option, anyway, that this turns out to be helpful. I am glad that they at least separated the two options.
My 1-at-a-time + streaming costs were $9/mo (I believe) just several months ago. Then they raised it to $10.50/mo. Now they want $16??!!?!! There is no way I am going to pay $7/mo more just to retain the occasional streaming of a small catalog of movies. I will just drop the streaming and go to the $8/mo plan.
Hate to lose any type of functionality, but money is money.
BTW- If I were going to spend $16/mo- that is the exact same price as my cable company charges for 9 channels of HBO plus HBO on demand. And cable is ALWAYS overpriced...
I suspect like most claims of positive "red wine" effects, it has nothing to do with wine and everything to do with grapes.
Drink grape juice, eat red grapes, take grape seed extract (and/or Resveratrol). None of it has anything to do with wine. People that claim "wine" instead of "grapes" just want a valid excuse to sell or drink alcohol :)
There are valid reasons that most businesses use RHEL on their servers. Besides after waiting 3 YEARS for version 5 to version 6, it isn't very ancient anymore :)
My other machines use Mandriva/Mageia/Ubuntu
Even the Wikipedia page is weak on details. But somehow they have every other row polarized opposite so each eye can only see every other line. This will have the effect that one eye will see an entire image one scan line lower that the other. So each eye sees have the resolution of 1080P (like 540p). In a way, it is like 1080i, but with 1080i, each frame is slightly different in time. That is not the case here, where both images are from the exact same point in time.
I am not sure how it looks, but it sounds extremely promising. Has to be better than the horrible shutter glasses I have experienced.
Agreed.
Unfortunately, I could not wait and had to switch over to Scientific Linux (who *did* have a 6.0 version) so I could perform tests and comparisons for a real RHEL 6.1 rollout.
>"You seem to be forgetting that the government is the one doing it."
Of course, that is a good point.
Sorry, but you are out of your mind if you think it costs $3 to $10 to produce and stuff and address that statement.
We do such mailings all the time for far, far less. And in THAT type of volume, with automation, the actual costs is well below $1.
Even our Xerox printer/copers at a measly 70ppm, ACTUAL COSTS, including the tabloid paper, would be about $0.03 per statement. Envelope and stuff for another $0.05. Address it for another $0.01 or so. I am guessing the actual costs of their statements, ready to mail, are in the $0.10 to $0.15 range.
There is NO WAY they are going to maintain a website design, and database, and hardware, and electricity, and ISP, AND SUPPORT THE MILLIONS OF LOGINS and HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CONFUSED elderly for less than their simple annual mailing. No way.
Apple? Where have you been? The Sprint HTC Evo 3D came out last Friday.
You mean like the new Evo 3D? The answer is "no", it only works 3D in landscape with this technology.
And when the 3D is "off", it doesn't affect the screen/display quality at all (resolution, brightness, clarity, etc). 3D is only used for media or certain games. It is not part of the UI (thankfully).
I am not that impressed with the technology. It works, but it hurts my eyes and the angle of effect is very low.
At this point, I care much less about which of the two code bases survives than I do the name. PLEASE lose the damn "Libre" name! We spent many years getting people to use, understand, trust, and remember the name "OpenOffice". Throwing it away, if there is ANY possibility of using it, is incredibly stupid. Believe it or not, the [horrible] name "LibreOffice" is already causing more damage to the credibility of the software in the eyes of non-technical users than any bug or fork has ever done.
Oh, and if possible, see if you can lose the ".org" in "OpenOffice.org" too...
I stopped watching the news many years ago and never did get a paper. It wasn't because of the Internet. It was because I got tired of hearing nothing but trivial, shallow, or sensationalistic crap. I don't care who slept with whom and soundbites don't do anything any good. Plus, since I live in an area with many connected cities, invariably the remaining content usually didn't apply to my locality, anyway.
Quite frankly, the national news isn't much better in many ways. To me, the fact that there was some conflict in the Middle East is simply not news, it is life. Yes, gas prices are high. Republicans did X and Democrats did Y. Some other bill just passed that either raises taxes, takes away state's rights, stomps on the Constitution, or takes away citizens' personal liberty.
I hope that doesn't make me irresponsible. I do try to stay informed. And usually the things that do matter somehow reach me. I am just burned out from negativity, information overload, and feeling completely apathetic about government in general.
So exactly how is that capturing HD digital video when the cable box only outputs HDMI?
And how does that work around HDMI security?
And how does that give the computer the ability to tune to a channel?
>"This means that when playing with a friend, you need not sacrifice 50% of screen real estate to accommodate the other player"
Right, it means you sacrifice 50% of the refresh rate instead. And with all the 3D TV's I have seen so far, that means FLICKER!!
The REAL issue with Linux/FOSS video right now is the total lack of support for Cable Card and Tuning Adapters. Without them, there is no way to make an effective Linux DVR other than just over-the-air recordings. Gone are the days of "cable ready", analog, and in-the-clear digital.
Of course, that is not the fault of Linux, but of the media giants and cable companies who are just terrified of someone sharing/ripping their content.