i'm working on a webapp with several others devs, one using amd64 linux and another using xp, while i rock out on my macbook. we are doing a lot with SVG for our UI and about 95% of our problems have been with rendering SVG (across platforms). the biggest problem is that a page with some 5000 elements takes about 2-3 seconds to load on both the linux and windows side, but about 50 seconds for the mac, despite the fact that the mac has a core duo cpu and 4X more memory than either linux or windows.
The total time to download, copy, and install XBMC is about an hour and there sure as hell is a remote for the Xbox, it costs about $15 new from EB/Gamestop. Good luck getting Apple to help you try and play a non-Apple format on the device. Believe it or not, the majority of the world does not use iTunes, but even so XBMC *will* stream Apple's DAAP, but like any other non-Apple device, cannot play back DRM-encumbered media. As for photos, you can browse any variety of network protocols to view images from a remote machine, not much different than the Apple product. Anyone interested in watching HD content sure isn't storing much on the 40GB Apple product either.
So far I'm not convinced that spending 2X money for DRM-compatibility for media I don't own is a good investment. XBMC has plenty of features you ignore like RSS readers, the ability to search/browse/watch video from Google/YouTube, meta-data scraping, DVD support (both DVD video and data discs with files on them -- very useful if you store backups on disc), the ability to rip CDs, DTS audio CD playback, incredible subtitle support, calibration for A/V delay and video output, and most important of all is support for a variety of more popular, open codecs such as XviD, FLAC, APE, Real, etc.
er, XBMC runs on a standard Xbox which is an x86 platform and costs like $100 used these days. It can playback video at 720p/1080i and supports any formats that mplayer does. Also has tons of streaming plug-ins for shit like Google Video and YouTube, as well as remote control/fileserving capability. Modding the Xbox requires a USB memory card reader (about $20) and any one of a number of common games (the one I used, Splinter Cell, cost like $2). Add in the remote (another $15) and for half the cost you get a crazy additional amount of functionality.
i've been seeing lots of people posting about how much their connections cost - i finally have 1.5/384 adsl (after waiting 1.5 mo for the install) @ $60/mo and my actual speeds are more like 1.3/200. I specifically moved to my current apartment because i was told that this location could hit 6/512, but after 3 weeks of waiting for covad, i was told that at&t misrepresented the distance to the CO and it was actually about 5000 feet further...the only local competition to this dsl is TW cable which costs about the same ($55/mo) and while the download is about 5mbps, the upload is 128kbps and the AUP doesn't allow for any hosting (in fact, i had my connection disabled for a week once after ssh-ing into my own box when i had TW last year). i'm being continually tempted to move out of the states to someplace where i can get a decent connection at a decent price.
i've been a user on digg.com from early on and i have a very high "rank" (top 3% of registered users). the problem is, this rank means nothing because i have no idea where it came from...am i a good digg citizen because i digg lots of stories? because i report lots of stories? because i submit very few stories? is it my comments? i mostly troll because i hate the users of digg; they are obsessed with the poser kevin rose and podcasts and everything else that is trendy and horrible. also, you want to talk about duping, slashdot looks like the washington post compared to those guys...i've seen days where the same story will be on the homepage 2-3 times! for all that there is some kind of url checking in place, it appears to only prevent you from linking to digg.com, it doesn't check if that URL has already been submitted. plus you get lots of blog spam (people link to their blog which links to what they are talking about),lame ass internet jokes (omg teh funniest pic ev4r!!!1), and advertisements for conga lines, etc.
the only reason i still go there is that they do seem to be getting stories more quickly than slashdot and for all the shit they have, an occasional gem will slip through. i'd say about 50% of the stuff on/. is neat whereas its about 5% on digg, but since digg's turnover is so high it seems to be ok...so i still use both.
Against IP[PDF] by Stephan Kinsella is a great paper about the theory of IP and why it is flawed...essential reading for those who think there are problems with the current system
dude this is easy...you need to cancel all those goatse.cx-esque downloads you've got going on. seriously, i've been a PC user from day 1 and only bought my first mac about 6 monthes ago, but these ridiculous anecdotal claims you make are absurd and clearly you are trolling.
not true at all. 90% of consumer soundcards resample all output to 48kHz, which means you are not sending a bit-perfect output to your DAC outside the computer. Also, iTunes does not support gapless playback which is a must on any true audiophile requirement list.
Another spurt of speculation about Nintendo's next-gen console splashes onto the net. Full details and stunningly predictable Nintendo response inside
10:47 A fat bundle of Nintendo Revolution speculation has belly-flopped onto the internet, causing fansites across the world to spontaneously combust with excitement.
According to hazy and totally unofficial reports, Nintendo's next-gen console will come broadband-enabled with an online service in the works, feature a hard drive, use controllers fitted with tilt-sensing gyroscopes, allow connectivity with the next-gen GameBoy, and play host to new Mario, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. games. The 'revolutionary' aspect of Revolution is also hinted at - "if you think too hard you'll never guess what it is."
The sketchy information - which we were sent direct last week and have been investigating - originally surfaced on a gaming forum, with the poster quoting an inside source. To be fair to the bloke who broke these rumours, he did preface his speculation with the assertion that his source had been wrong as well as correct in the past, and estimated there was a "65% chance" of the accuracy of these claims.
Here's the rundown of the alleged Revolution information:
Motion and tilt-sensing gyroscopes will be used in the controllers. They will not come wireless as standard but the Revolution will have four pad ports like GameCube.
The console will be powered by twin processors and will feature an internal hard drive. Games will come on HD-DVD format discs rather than Sony's Blu-Ray format.
Broadband online gaming will be available out of the box via Nintendo's own service, which is currently "in development" and will be rolled out first on DS.
The Revolution will not feature connectivity with the DS but will link up to Nintendo's next-gen GameBoy.
Work has already begun on new Mario, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. titles, all of which are to be available at launch.
And what's revolutionary about Revolution? The inside source claims that talking about that "would get him into too much trouble" (whereas the rest of this stuff will presumably get him a pat on the back). He is quoted as saying: "if you think too hard you'll never guess what it is. It's nothing 'new', technically speaking. It's just something that hasn't really been applied to videogames yet."
He then signed off in deliciously enigmatic fashion with, "Touching is good but feeling is better."
Force feedback gloves? Electrodes attached to dangly parts of your anatomy? A force feedback full body glove made out of lycra? It's a proper riddle - answers on a postcard, or even better, in the forums below.
And it's a riddle Nintendo itself unsurprisingly doesn't have much to say about. When we contacted our spokesperson we were told: "Nintendo does not comment on rumour and speculation."
So what are we to make of this? The information itself does seem fairly informed and - in stark contrast to a lot of rumours that spark on the 'net - relatively sane. It doesn't instantly smack of the deranged ramblings of a semi-illiterate monkey.
But it also has that air of calculated vagueness and educated guesswork that at once lends it credibility and damages that same credibility. Are any of the alleged 'facts' offered about Revolution really anything that anyone with a little bit of knowledge about Nintendo itself and the games industry in general couldn't have come up with?
Not to worry - it looks increasingly likely that Nintendo is gearing up to unleash the Revolution at E3 in May. We'll know the answers for sure then, and as soon as we know, you'll know.
according to my CC statements, i bought my player Oct 4 and receieved refund on Oct 31. i was using the 256MB flash/40GB backpack version with firmware 2.25
you must have low standards for audio quality. my karma was silent when i pumped the volume all the way, but there was a consistent background hum/static on the neuros.
the FM broadcaster for $20 at best buy puts out a much stronger signal than the neuros did
the menu system is only quick to respond when you are not playing a track, once a track is loaded, it is >2-3 seconds before button presses are acknowledged
of all your disputes, the gapless is the weakest...the karma implemented PERFECT gapless playback, similar to software players winamp and xmms. all other hardware and software players i have used cannot do this and are thus imperfect replacements for CD players for me.
i never said it didn't work, i just implied the UI sucked
i shouldn't need to replace the battery for about 2-5 years if i take care of it, so using cheap batteries is not a good design decision IMHO.
i was able to get at best 3 hours with 256MB flash/40GB backpack. it was also annoying (although very common) that it would not take advantage of the USB power to recharge.
i can assure you that the current state of the machine is horrible. yes, it has great potential, but at the moment it is unrealized, and the hardware, although cool, is not flawless. specifically:
the headphone output is rather noisy
the FM broadcasting is weak
there isn't any form of spdif (input or output)
the menu system is slow to respond
no gapless playback
navigation and synching are tedious on either the pc or player side
synch software is quirky to use (win32)
the flash memory player seperated from the hd backpack is cool, but the backpack is flipping huge and heavy
the battery does not last very long
the most important feature to me, ogg vorbis playback, does not work without glitches unless your bitrate is less than 4
the hardware issues are not going to go away, and i have seen no progress made on any of the software issues. yes its great that the design is open and the software runs in linux and the firmware is open, but it currently does not operate as advertised, so i returned mine very sad. until rio releases a karma with a bigger hard drive that does not explode, shows up as a USB mass storage device, allows sorting by folders, and adds an SD card, i will be using my laptop.
i don't understand the popularity of iTunes and iPod. i listen to a LOT of mixed CDs, and the HUGE gaps between tracks in both iPod and iTunes are extremely noticeable and unacceptable. is there some secret way around this, or are these people just ignorant/not care?
the article text says "Federal Electoral Commission" but fec.gov is the website for the "Federal Election Commission." i can't believe i'm the first to notice this inconsistency, and this is not a spelling nazi check, but a reality check on the fact that people will believe anything that sounds credible even though it is an actual Orwellian manipulation of language to control thoughts.
i recently got a 27" Samsung EDTV and let me say it like this...480p is glorious. dvd's and gamecube look stunning and that annoying refresh rate noise is all gone too. until 1080p LCoS is out, its not worth upgrading to anything beyond 480p. I find that 480p looks better to me than 1080i because of the progressive. 12.5% additional vertical res is not as good as 2x framerate for me.
my mother has the SA fake-tivo from TW and it is an abomination. i routinely watch televsion at her house and a friends house. my friend has directivo and it is like comparing apples to oranges...the SA unit performs horribly and horrible search/record options and interface. the directivo is so simple and logical a child could use it. TW sucks.
Slashdot Mirror
i'm working on a webapp with several others devs, one using amd64 linux and another using xp, while i rock out on my macbook. we are doing a lot with SVG for our UI and about 95% of our problems have been with rendering SVG (across platforms). the biggest problem is that a page with some 5000 elements takes about 2-3 seconds to load on both the linux and windows side, but about 50 seconds for the mac, despite the fact that the mac has a core duo cpu and 4X more memory than either linux or windows.
The first pressing of Chronos on Blu-ray had a similar problem with the PS3, but no one found that newsworthy at the time...
The total time to download, copy, and install XBMC is about an hour and there sure as hell is a remote for the Xbox, it costs about $15 new from EB/Gamestop. Good luck getting Apple to help you try and play a non-Apple format on the device. Believe it or not, the majority of the world does not use iTunes, but even so XBMC *will* stream Apple's DAAP, but like any other non-Apple device, cannot play back DRM-encumbered media. As for photos, you can browse any variety of network protocols to view images from a remote machine, not much different than the Apple product. Anyone interested in watching HD content sure isn't storing much on the 40GB Apple product either.
So far I'm not convinced that spending 2X money for DRM-compatibility for media I don't own is a good investment. XBMC has plenty of features you ignore like RSS readers, the ability to search/browse/watch video from Google/YouTube, meta-data scraping, DVD support (both DVD video and data discs with files on them -- very useful if you store backups on disc), the ability to rip CDs, DTS audio CD playback, incredible subtitle support, calibration for A/V delay and video output, and most important of all is support for a variety of more popular, open codecs such as XviD, FLAC, APE, Real, etc.
er, XBMC runs on a standard Xbox which is an x86 platform and costs like $100 used these days. It can playback video at 720p/1080i and supports any formats that mplayer does. Also has tons of streaming plug-ins for shit like Google Video and YouTube, as well as remote control/fileserving capability. Modding the Xbox requires a USB memory card reader (about $20) and any one of a number of common games (the one I used, Splinter Cell, cost like $2). Add in the remote (another $15) and for half the cost you get a crazy additional amount of functionality.
mod parent up!!!
i've been seeing lots of people posting about how much their connections cost - i finally have 1.5/384 adsl (after waiting 1.5 mo for the install) @ $60/mo and my actual speeds are more like 1.3/200. I specifically moved to my current apartment because i was told that this location could hit 6/512, but after 3 weeks of waiting for covad, i was told that at&t misrepresented the distance to the CO and it was actually about 5000 feet further...the only local competition to this dsl is TW cable which costs about the same ($55/mo) and while the download is about 5mbps, the upload is 128kbps and the AUP doesn't allow for any hosting (in fact, i had my connection disabled for a week once after ssh-ing into my own box when i had TW last year). i'm being continually tempted to move out of the states to someplace where i can get a decent connection at a decent price.
i submitted the digg also FYI
Communications Decency Act - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Decenc y_Act
[getting on soapbox]
/. is neat whereas its about 5% on digg, but since digg's turnover is so high it seems to be ok...so i still use both.
i've been a user on digg.com from early on and i have a very high "rank" (top 3% of registered users). the problem is, this rank means nothing because i have no idea where it came from...am i a good digg citizen because i digg lots of stories? because i report lots of stories? because i submit very few stories? is it my comments? i mostly troll because i hate the users of digg; they are obsessed with the poser kevin rose and podcasts and everything else that is trendy and horrible. also, you want to talk about duping, slashdot looks like the washington post compared to those guys...i've seen days where the same story will be on the homepage 2-3 times! for all that there is some kind of url checking in place, it appears to only prevent you from linking to digg.com, it doesn't check if that URL has already been submitted. plus you get lots of blog spam (people link to their blog which links to what they are talking about),lame ass internet jokes (omg teh funniest pic ev4r!!!1), and advertisements for conga lines, etc.
the only reason i still go there is that they do seem to be getting stories more quickly than slashdot and for all the shit they have, an occasional gem will slip through. i'd say about 50% of the stuff on
Against IP[PDF] by Stephan Kinsella is a great paper about the theory of IP and why it is flawed...essential reading for those who think there are problems with the current system
dude this is easy...you need to cancel all those goatse.cx-esque downloads you've got going on. seriously, i've been a PC user from day 1 and only bought my first mac about 6 monthes ago, but these ridiculous anecdotal claims you make are absurd and clearly you are trolling.
and i am working on upgrading the blog software and installing a captcha plug-in
not true at all. 90% of consumer soundcards resample all output to 48kHz, which means you are not sending a bit-perfect output to your DAC outside the computer. Also, iTunes does not support gapless playback which is a must on any true audiophile requirement list.
Another spurt of speculation about Nintendo's next-gen console splashes onto the net. Full details and stunningly predictable Nintendo response inside
10:47 A fat bundle of Nintendo Revolution speculation has belly-flopped onto the internet, causing fansites across the world to spontaneously combust with excitement.
According to hazy and totally unofficial reports, Nintendo's next-gen console will come broadband-enabled with an online service in the works, feature a hard drive, use controllers fitted with tilt-sensing gyroscopes, allow connectivity with the next-gen GameBoy, and play host to new Mario, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. games. The 'revolutionary' aspect of Revolution is also hinted at - "if you think too hard you'll never guess what it is."
The sketchy information - which we were sent direct last week and have been investigating - originally surfaced on a gaming forum, with the poster quoting an inside source. To be fair to the bloke who broke these rumours, he did preface his speculation with the assertion that his source had been wrong as well as correct in the past, and estimated there was a "65% chance" of the accuracy of these claims.
Here's the rundown of the alleged Revolution information:
- Motion and tilt-sensing gyroscopes will be used in the controllers. They will not come wireless as standard but the Revolution will have four pad ports like GameCube.
- The console will be powered by twin processors and will feature an internal hard drive. Games will come on HD-DVD format discs rather than Sony's Blu-Ray format.
- Broadband online gaming will be available out of the box via Nintendo's own service, which is currently "in development" and will be rolled out first on DS.
- The Revolution will not feature connectivity with the DS but will link up to Nintendo's next-gen GameBoy.
- Work has already begun on new Mario, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. titles, all of which are to be available at launch.
And what's revolutionary about Revolution? The inside source claims that talking about that "would get him into too much trouble" (whereas the rest of this stuff will presumably get him a pat on the back). He is quoted as saying: "if you think too hard you'll never guess what it is. It's nothing 'new', technically speaking. It's just something that hasn't really been applied to videogames yet."He then signed off in deliciously enigmatic fashion with, "Touching is good but feeling is better."
Force feedback gloves? Electrodes attached to dangly parts of your anatomy? A force feedback full body glove made out of lycra? It's a proper riddle - answers on a postcard, or even better, in the forums below.
And it's a riddle Nintendo itself unsurprisingly doesn't have much to say about. When we contacted our spokesperson we were told: "Nintendo does not comment on rumour and speculation."
So what are we to make of this? The information itself does seem fairly informed and - in stark contrast to a lot of rumours that spark on the 'net - relatively sane. It doesn't instantly smack of the deranged ramblings of a semi-illiterate monkey.
But it also has that air of calculated vagueness and educated guesswork that at once lends it credibility and damages that same credibility. Are any of the alleged 'facts' offered about Revolution really anything that anyone with a little bit of knowledge about Nintendo itself and the games industry in general couldn't have come up with?
Not to worry - it looks increasingly likely that Nintendo is gearing up to unleash the Revolution at E3 in May. We'll know the answers for sure then, and as soon as we know, you'll know.
according to my CC statements, i bought my player Oct 4 and receieved refund on Oct 31. i was using the 256MB flash/40GB backpack version with firmware 2.25
you must have low standards for audio quality. my karma was silent when i pumped the volume all the way, but there was a consistent background hum/static on the neuros.
the FM broadcaster for $20 at best buy puts out a much stronger signal than the neuros did
the menu system is only quick to respond when you are not playing a track, once a track is loaded, it is >2-3 seconds before button presses are acknowledged
of all your disputes, the gapless is the weakest...the karma implemented PERFECT gapless playback, similar to software players winamp and xmms. all other hardware and software players i have used cannot do this and are thus imperfect replacements for CD players for me.
i never said it didn't work, i just implied the UI sucked
i shouldn't need to replace the battery for about 2-5 years if i take care of it, so using cheap batteries is not a good design decision IMHO.
i was able to get at best 3 hours with 256MB flash/40GB backpack. it was also annoying (although very common) that it would not take advantage of the USB power to recharge.
the hardware issues are not going to go away, and i have seen no progress made on any of the software issues. yes its great that the design is open and the software runs in linux and the firmware is open, but it currently does not operate as advertised, so i returned mine very sad. until rio releases a karma with a bigger hard drive that does not explode, shows up as a USB mass storage device, allows sorting by folders, and adds an SD card, i will be using my laptop.
i don't understand the popularity of iTunes and iPod. i listen to a LOT of mixed CDs, and the HUGE gaps between tracks in both iPod and iTunes are extremely noticeable and unacceptable. is there some secret way around this, or are these people just ignorant/not care?
what you are looking for is an open-source DICOM Viewer. OpenRad is a great source for open source radiology projects and information.
the article text says "Federal Electoral Commission" but fec.gov is the website for the "Federal Election Commission." i can't believe i'm the first to notice this inconsistency, and this is not a spelling nazi check, but a reality check on the fact that people will believe anything that sounds credible even though it is an actual Orwellian manipulation of language to control thoughts.
privateer was *my* favorite non-linear series...
seriously...off the hook?
i recently got a 27" Samsung EDTV and let me say it like this...480p is glorious. dvd's and gamecube look stunning and that annoying refresh rate noise is all gone too. until 1080p LCoS is out, its not worth upgrading to anything beyond 480p. I find that 480p looks better to me than 1080i because of the progressive. 12.5% additional vertical res is not as good as 2x framerate for me.
my mother has the SA fake-tivo from TW and it is an abomination. i routinely watch televsion at her house and a friends house. my friend has directivo and it is like comparing apples to oranges...the SA unit performs horribly and horrible search/record options and interface. the directivo is so simple and logical a child could use it. TW sucks.
PAL has slightly more resolution to make up for slightly less refresh rate, IMHO.