well... I'll take my chances on government, I guess, since the cable company maintains its content-control by refusing to wire the neighborhood. Besides which, at the rate media companies are growing, it's going to be hard to dif governmnet and cable
Using duration as the metric for the skip isn't going to be very precise, because break-lengths are only somewhat predictable.
Typical length for TV (and radio) commercials in the US used to be:60 seconds. That dropped to:30 during the '70s and '80s and then to:20.
So a fair rule of thumb for today -- but probably not tomorrow -- is that one commercial lasts (:05 X n) where favored-values for n include 3, 4, 6 and 12.
But most breaks include multiple commercials (number = i) in a mix of lengths so commercial break lengths (which are set for network programs by the net and during local origination by the station) vary from a single:30 (rare) up to 3:00+.
and -- whoops, another catch -- when the hour hits, US stations must do a "legal ID" -- which means call letters + location (in some mix of audio and video). I'm not sure there's an FCC standard for mimimum length of ID, but as a practical matter it's hard to do one in a manner intelligible to the viewer in less than 2 seconds or for the listener in fewer than 3 seconds (ya gotta' allow for announcer- or engineer-reaction-time + time to actually voice the ID -- for example, "W Z Y X, Des Moines"). So break length on the hour can be thought of as the sum of (((:05 X n) X i) + id_length)].
The AC above probably has the right idea in suggesting that the "shop owner look at it as an advertising expense."
The "(T)ip jar model" usually isn't a business plan; rather, it tends to be merely wishful thinking.
...and, consider:
Does coffee shop already have highspeed access with excess bandwidth?
If so, do the prospective customers have easy local alternatives?
If the answer to the first is "yes," no sweat; otherwise better get a good handle on what bandwidth is going to cost the shop.
And if "yes" to the second, are the folk who don't already avail themselves of that access also prospective coffee-shop customers?
(all the above said, writer would be a customer, since he comes from a backwater where broadband of any flavor (satelite links excepted, cuz' can't find one with any kind of uplink bandwidth) is just a pipedream.)
"2/3 of the problems addressed with computers today (even so-called personal computers) are data processing problems"
Accepting (at least for argument sake) that sphealey is dead on, that is NOTNOT the same as saying 2/3rds of users (or "useage") is for dp.
Just a WAG, but doesn't it seem likely - given the widespread availability and use of 'puter's - that 2/3rds of users are writing a memo/report/letter to their bosses or kin, or browsing the web, or trying to balance their checkbook?
If so, we may want to give weight to two Sposky observations:
Users do just-in-time manual reading, on a strictly need-to-know basis.
... indeed the hallmark of a good Windows help file is that any single topic can be read by itself by an average reader without assuming knowledge of any other help topic.
Seems to me, those are tantamount to guidelines for converting M$ victims!
As a newbie, how many times were you advised "RTFM?"
And how many times did that advice send you scrambling from reference to reference to <span style="extend-dots: infinity-1>...</span>
It's a daunting task, but if Linux is going on the desktop --OUTSIDE organizations with top-drawer IT support-- the documentation is going to have to provide answers at the first or second refence; not after the "family IT support staff" has to spend endless hours helping the father-in-law (or whomever) add a feature, switch anti-virus s/w or whatever...
Le'see: I pay for radio reception by (often unwillingly) buying from advertisers... and law '...would make it illegal to possess, use, etc. "any communication device to receive... any communication service without the express consent or express authorization of the communication service provider"....' Sounds as tho I better start writing the radio station owners around the country for permission to continue to use my $3.95
transistor radio!
Slashdot Mirror
...and the screen is a tad bigger, and my eyes are older, that's probably a great deal).
well... I'll take my chances on government, I guess, since the cable company maintains its content-control by refusing to wire the neighborhood.
Besides which, at the rate media companies are growing, it's going to be hard to dif governmnet and cable
10. Because rule-making = job-security?
9. Because they can?
8. To make the great unwashed think there's something going on?
6. Because they're the FCC and they don't know it's dead?
5. ...
full report (source of the referenced voltaic page) is at the cdc site, http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face9939.html
Using duration as the metric for the skip isn't going to be very precise, because break-lengths are only somewhat predictable.
Typical length for TV (and radio) commercials in the US used to beSo a fair rule of thumb for today -- but probably not tomorrow -- is that one commercial lasts (:05 X n) where favored-values for n include 3, 4, 6 and 12.
But most breaks include multiple commercials (number = i) in a mix of lengths so commercial break lengths (which are set for network programs by the net and during local origination by the station) vary from a singleand -- whoops, another catch -- when the hour hits, US stations must do a "legal ID" -- which means call letters + location (in some mix of audio and video). I'm not sure there's an FCC standard for mimimum length of ID, but as a practical matter it's hard to do one in a manner intelligible to the viewer in less than 2 seconds or for the listener in fewer than 3 seconds (ya gotta' allow for announcer- or engineer-reaction-time + time to actually voice the ID -- for example, "W Z Y X, Des Moines"). So break length on the hour can be thought of as the sum of (((:05 X n) X i) + id_length)].
The "(T)ip jar model" usually isn't a business plan; rather, it tends to be merely wishful thinking.
...and, consider:
- Does coffee shop already have highspeed access with excess bandwidth?
- If so, do the prospective customers have easy local alternatives?
If the answer to the first is "yes," no sweat; otherwise better get a good handle on what bandwidth is going to cost the shop.And if "yes" to the second, are the folk who don't already avail themselves of that access also prospective coffee-shop customers?
(all the above said, writer would be a customer, since he comes from a backwater where broadband of any flavor (satelite links excepted, cuz' can't find one with any kind of uplink bandwidth) is just a pipedream.)Accepting (at least for argument sake) that sphealey is dead on, that is NOTNOT the same as saying 2/3rds of users (or "useage") is for dp.
Just a WAG, but doesn't it seem likely - given the widespread availability and use of 'puter's - that 2/3rds of users are writing a memo/report/letter to their bosses or kin, or browsing the web, or trying to balance their checkbook? If so, we may want to give weight to two Sposky observations:- Users do just-in-time manual reading, on a strictly need-to-know basis.
... indeed the hallmark of a good Windows help file is that any single topic can be read by itself by an average reader without assuming knowledge of any other help topic.
Seems to me, those are tantamount to guidelines for converting M$ victims!In a word, DOCUMENTATION.
As a newbie, how many times were you advised " RTFM ?"
And how many times did that advice send you scrambling from reference to reference to <span style="extend-dots: infinity-1>...</span>
It's a daunting task, but if Linux is going on the desktop --OUTSIDE organizations with top-drawer IT support-- the documentation is going to have to provide answers at the first or second refence; not after the "family IT support staff" has to spend endless hours helping the father-in-law (or whomever) add a feature, switch anti-virus s/w or whatever...
FWIW
Le'see: I pay for radio reception by (often unwillingly) buying from advertisers... and law '...would make it illegal to possess, use, etc. "any communication device to receive ... any communication service without the express consent or express authorization of the communication service provider" ....' Sounds as tho I better start writing the radio station owners around the country for permission to continue to use my $3.95
transistor radio!