Even if Apple licensed the iPod software as an application for PDAs, it would be crap without that magnificent little input device. It's a shame they couldn't figure out how to put a scroll wheel on the Moto iTunes phone, as that's probably why they had to limit it to 100 songs.
Listening to music is a secondary activity, PDAing is a primary activity. My ideal device might have a scroll wheel and an LCD on one side for music and a completely separate display and keyboard for PDA/phone functions on the other side.
Apple filed for patents on the scroll wheel and other iPod technologies but success is uncertain.
Quite some time ago I was excited to hear about Starium, a company founded by some folks with much crypto-cred (cypherpunk Eric Blossom, father of public-key crypto Whitfield Diffie) to provide voice encryption products. They claim to be working on an add-on unit (pdf flyer) for regular analog phones as well as licensing their encryption for inclusion in digital phones.
We're working on embedding meta-data into digital content files which will allow for easy voluntary payments and will encourage free distribution. We're using crypto in an attempt to assure consumers that the person they're paying is actually the originator of the content, not an imposter with their hand in the artist's tip jar. The discussion is just getting rolling and we could use some input:
I've never used a HUD, so I have been wondering if there is any calibration required. Does it line up correctly no matter if you are 5' tall or 6'8" ?
Coincidentally, I recently drove a Pontiac Grand Prix with a HUD. It had a rocker switch to adjust the display up or down for drivers of different heights; I think I saw the same thing on the Cadillac page.
The Grand Prix' HUD just reflected a simple LED display onto the bottom of the windshield; it constantly displayed your speed (in digits, nothing graphical). When you adjusted the radio, you also got the frequency/preset-number which went away after a few seconds. I was surprised, I didn't know anyone was making production cars with HUDs, but this was a '97 model year.
I suppose there's a risk that too much data on your windsheild could distract you from the road and compromise safety. On the other hand, on my existing car (not the Grand Prix), between the stereo system, temperature control systems and the instrument panel guages, my eyes already have plenty to potentially distract them. Yet I don't feel it's a safety issue. Just because something is there to be looked at doesn't mean I will look at it long enough to miss something happening in front of me. Sometimes I even drive with a small GPS unit on the dashboard, and its just not a problem. I can even push one or two of its tiny buttons and feel safe; as long as I know the buttons by feel and can keep my eyes on the road. (On the other hand, if I need to do something on the GPS which requires me to push a sequence of buttons, then I pull over first.)
Of course, the big advantage of a HUD is that it allows you to keep your eyes, if not on the road then at least pointed at the road. So you aught to be able to put a lot more data in a HUD than you would want on a dash-mounted display.
I'd like to see more features on my HUD. Current speed, direction, GPS coordinates, webserver statistics, fuel supply, days until y2k...
Great idea! I wonder how long 'till someone hacks a way to sent VGA to the HUD-portion of Cadillac's device. I've often thought a small HUD at the bottom of my windsheild would be handy.
Someone should call their local Cadillac dealer's parts department to see what the HUD module costs. Maybe it can be made to work in other cars.;)
Which he is in he perfectly legal right to do so as Mayor of NY. Just because they have the right to say whatever they want doesn't mean we should be forced to fund them!
What if the mayor was trying to de-fund/evict the New York Public Library for stocking a book that contained ideas which he disagreed with? The public have been funding all kinds of unpopular and controversial ideas for a hundred years thanks to our public library system. What's the difference?
Microsoft says "The CryptoAPI architecture is fully compliant with US export law," but I don't see how that's possible, given what we've learned.
The way Microsoft complies with US export law is that the CryptoAPI won't run any module which isn't signed by Microsoft. This way they can make sure than each vendor's module is "crippled" for export before it can be installed on Windows. If you try to replace Microsoft's key with your own, then CryptoAPI won't run, because it can't validate its own code.
But, perhaps more important than the presence of the "NSA" key itself, Cryptonym showed that it's possible for the user to replace the "NSAKEY" with their own, and still have the rest of CryptoAPI function just fine. This means that the user can install any crypto module they want, without having it signed by Microsoft (aka approved by the government) first.
This would seem to be a major flaw in the mechanism which is supposed to enforce export law. It will be interesting to see if the flaw remains in future versions of Windows, or whether the US government will force them to fix it.
Talking way jaggeed edges similar to the cheap hard cover editions I used to get from the SciFi book club when I had time to read several books a week.
Yeah, the copy Amazon sent me is ragged-edged too. I stopped into a Barnes & Noble during a recent visit to Seattle and the copies on their shelves were the same way. (BTW, I was also a member of the SciFi book club a couple decades ago and I made the same connection!)
The character Avi was portrayed as being obsessed with the Holocaust and other evils. Part of his motivation for creating a data haven and digital currency was supposedly to prevent those things from ever happening again -- in fact, he appears to convince Goto Dengo to help them on the basis of this argument.
So what is it about unrestricted data and digital cash which protects humanity against inhumanity?
This is supposed to be the first of a series; maybe he'll explain this more in a future book.
I did enjoy Crytonomicon; best I've read in a long while. Made me go out and buy his others; I'm reading Snow Crash now.
BTW, Anyone know why Stephenson chooses to call Japan "Nipon" and Japanese "Nipponese"? Even in the historical (1940s) plotline -- it's like he's using it as an alias -- ala Finux == Linux.
When I bought my DSS dish (2 years ago), the 2nd generation Sony units beat the crap out of RCA when it came to User Interface; quicker, prettier and better featured.
This is definitely a situation where you should try before you buy. Each vendor of DSS equipment has their own interface and some are much better than others.
The language makes it very unclear whether the quote came from the Linux supporters or from the Microsoft SA release.
Of course, it's unlikely that the quote came from the Microsoft SA press release (It is referring to the original brag release: "Independent research shows NT 4.0 outperforms Linux"). I think that cjr was quoting Linux users and therefore Eric was wrong to attribute it to Microsoft, much less to Ian Hatton directy.
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Even if Apple licensed the iPod software as an application for PDAs, it would be crap without that magnificent little input device. It's a shame they couldn't figure out how to put a scroll wheel on the Moto iTunes phone, as that's probably why they had to limit it to 100 songs.
Listening to music is a secondary activity, PDAing is a primary activity. My ideal device might have a scroll wheel and an LCD on one side for music and a completely separate display and keyboard for PDA/phone functions on the other side.
Apple filed for patents on the scroll wheel and other iPod technologies but success is uncertain.
This almost two-year-old Wired article says they were planning to release "sub-US$100 telephone scrambling devices" by "early-2000."
Anyone know what's taking so long?
-Jeff, www.scrollbar.com
We're working on embedding meta-data into digital content files which will allow for easy voluntary payments and will encourage free distribution. We're using crypto in an attempt to assure consumers that the person they're paying is actually the originator of the content, not an imposter with their hand in the artist's tip jar. The discussion is just getting rolling and we could use some input:
http://tipster.weblogs.com
Coincidentally, I recently drove a Pontiac Grand Prix with a HUD. It had a rocker switch to adjust the display up or down for drivers of different heights; I think I saw the same thing on the Cadillac page.
The Grand Prix' HUD just reflected a simple LED display onto the bottom of the windshield; it constantly displayed your speed (in digits, nothing graphical). When you adjusted the radio, you also got the frequency/preset-number which went away after a few seconds. I was surprised, I didn't know anyone was making production cars with HUDs, but this was a '97 model year.
I suppose there's a risk that too much data on your windsheild could distract you from the road and compromise safety. On the other hand, on my existing car (not the Grand Prix), between the stereo system, temperature control systems and the instrument panel guages, my eyes already have plenty to potentially distract them. Yet I don't feel it's a safety issue. Just because something is there to be looked at doesn't mean I will look at it long enough to miss something happening in front of me. Sometimes I even drive with a small GPS unit on the dashboard, and its just not a problem. I can even push one or two of its tiny buttons and feel safe; as long as I know the buttons by feel and can keep my eyes on the road. (On the other hand, if I need to do something on the GPS which requires me to push a sequence of buttons, then I pull over first.)
Of course, the big advantage of a HUD is that it allows you to keep your eyes, if not on the road then at least pointed at the road. So you aught to be able to put a lot more data in a HUD than you would want on a dash-mounted display.
Great idea! I wonder how long 'till someone hacks a way to sent VGA to the HUD-portion of Cadillac's device. I've often thought a small HUD at the bottom of my windsheild would be handy.
Someone should call their local Cadillac dealer's parts department to see what the HUD module costs. Maybe it can be made to work in other cars.
What if the mayor was trying to de-fund/evict the New York Public Library for stocking a book that contained ideas which he disagreed with? The public have been funding all kinds of unpopular and controversial ideas for a hundred years thanks to our public library system. What's the difference?
Microsoft says "The CryptoAPI architecture is fully compliant with US export law," but I don't see how that's possible, given what we've learned.
The way Microsoft complies with US export law is that the CryptoAPI won't run any module which isn't signed by Microsoft. This way they can make sure than each vendor's module is "crippled" for export before it can be installed on Windows. If you try to replace Microsoft's key with your own, then CryptoAPI won't run, because it can't validate its own code.
But, perhaps more important than the presence of the "NSA" key itself, Cryptonym showed that it's possible for the user to replace the "NSAKEY" with their own, and still have the rest of CryptoAPI function just fine. This means that the user can install any crypto module they want, without having it signed by Microsoft (aka approved by the government) first.
This would seem to be a major flaw in the mechanism which is supposed to enforce export law. It will be interesting to see if the flaw remains in future versions of Windows, or whether the US government will force them to fix it.
Talking way jaggeed edges similar to the cheap hard cover editions I used to get from the SciFi book club when I had time to read several books a week.
Yeah, the copy Amazon sent me is ragged-edged too. I stopped into a Barnes & Noble during a recent visit to Seattle and the copies on their shelves were the same way. (BTW, I was also a member of the SciFi book club a couple decades ago and I made the same connection!)
Neal should find himself a quality publisher.
Sort of an ultimate guerilla warfare manual.
I can see how the offshore data haven could facilitate that. Not sure how a digital currency fits in, though...
The character Avi was portrayed as being obsessed with the Holocaust and other evils. Part of his motivation for creating a data haven and digital currency was supposedly to prevent those things from ever happening again -- in fact, he appears to convince Goto Dengo to help them on the basis of this argument.
So what is it about unrestricted data and digital cash which protects humanity against inhumanity?
This is supposed to be the first of a series; maybe he'll explain this more in a future book.
I did enjoy Crytonomicon; best I've read in a long while. Made me go out and buy his others; I'm reading Snow Crash now.
BTW, Anyone know why Stephenson chooses to call Japan "Nipon" and Japanese "Nipponese"? Even in the historical (1940s) plotline -- it's like he's using it as an alias -- ala Finux == Linux.
When I bought my DSS dish (2 years ago), the 2nd generation Sony units beat the crap out of RCA when it came to User Interface; quicker, prettier and better featured.
This is definitely a situation where you should try before you buy. Each vendor of DSS equipment has their own interface and some are much better than others.
The language makes it very unclear whether the quote came from the Linux supporters or from the Microsoft SA release.
Of course, it's unlikely that the quote came from the Microsoft SA press release (It is referring to the original brag release: "Independent research shows NT 4.0 outperforms Linux"). I think that cjr was quoting Linux users and therefore Eric was wrong to attribute it to Microsoft, much less to Ian Hatton directy.