Theoretically we're dealing with 24-bit video on all of today's Macs - 8 bits of red, green, and blue combine to create 16,777,216 colors. However, it seems that all of today's notebook LCDs only support 6 bits per color channel, which means that these 'Books can only display 262,144 colors.
However, there's a catch. An LCD pixel isn't a single spot. It's a square composed of three side-by-side red, blue, and green crystals. By using adjacent crystals on the right and/or left (sort of borrowing them from the pixel next door), we can effectively display 7 bits per channel. That's 21-bit color, which means that using clever programming these "6-bit" LCDs can actually display 2,097,152 colors.
I read something over at AppleInsider that I thought was salient. Rather than claiming it as my own, let me quote Hattig here:
Apple are stating the displays support millions of colours using a 6 bit per channel display in conjunction with dithering. This is how all budget LCD panels and laptop panels work. The dithering works pretty well, most people don't notice it. The graininess appears to be a graphics chip driver issue (someone above mentioned that rebooting into Windows fixed it) rather than a display issue, or it could be a problem with the Intel graphics hardware (there's enough problems there already, this wouldn't surprise me).
Imagine temporally dithering each component (R, G, B) in a 6-bit panel. Flickering between two adjectent values simulates the value midway between, effectively giving you a 7-bit panel. 2^21 = 2 million, which would meet Apple' definition. If you altered the timing you could simulate an 8-bit panel as well, which is probably what TN panels do to get 16m colours.
7-bit color via dithering 6-bit? Sounds like the math is right to claim "millions".
That's exactly what my hosting company does (cheapcheap). Support reps can reset your password, but not tell you what it is. Furthermore, if requesting changes, you have to provide all kinds of account information to verify your identity -- customer #, account pin #, last several digits of the credit card used to pay for the domain, billing street address, etc. Honestly it was a pain in the ass to get my account reset a few months ago, but I'd rather it be difficult than something anyone could do.
when we teach math, we start out with counting, not calculus. Why not do the same with programming?
At least counting is still real mathematics; simple, basic, fundamental, but real. With programming, you also start small. That doesn't preclude them from learning a real language, though. They aren't going to build a word processor or inventory management system right out of the gate -- and who would want to anyway? But if you're going to teach someone simple multimedia, why not try basic DHTML/JavaScript? Or Flash/ActionScript? These can at least be expanded into something much more advanced.
I agree with you in principle; certainly it is difficult to make progress when you don't know what you are doing wrong. Still, this doesn't convince me that Scratch is the way to get kids involved in programming. The best part of your story is that you got advice from someone else. And the better way of knowing which 10% of your code is wrong, is having a better debugger that tells you where you went wrong and what part of it seems to be a problem. A kid-level debugger. (Now if I could debug the rest of my children's problems, we would be on to something...)
I suppose I don't like Scratch because it feels like a distraction from real programming. Heck, I would rather find a simple way of teaching kids Flash and ActionScript: at least he or she could step it up to something more advanced if they wanted.
"The thing that's very difficult for children encountering programming for the first time is that it is very unforgiving," said Professor Shadbolt. "A program doesn't congratulate you for the 90% that you got right. It fails for the 10% you got wrong. So an environment where you are essentially assembling components that can only be configured in set ways takes some of that hardship away."
Umm... what's wrong with some parts of life being unforgiving if you don't get them right? It's called learning and is related to discipline, trial-and-error, problem solving, etc.
FYI, the BBC article about Scratch also mentions Hackity Hack as a more advanced alternative: "And for those that want to get stuck into something that looks more like traditional code there are sites like HacketyHack.... The site teaches children to code in a language called Ruby. There are seven free lessons, including one that allows them to develop a blog with just six lines of code."
Right on. I think Apple believes that custom apps are the floppy drive of the past. Everybody thought they were idiots when the iMac didn't include a floppy drive, but now everybody has followed suit (even the most vocal critics). Now they have a full-featured web browser on a phone but no ability to write custom apps? Well, shouldn't it be all WEB BASED? Java, AJAX, Flash, what have you.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a prototype for a video game called "Spam Rage Rampage" -- a first-person shooter where you roamed a Tron-like world, killing spam zombies and rescuing real people (== legitimate mail) while you searched for clues to the location of the nefarious spam kingpin, Ospama Bin Sendin. Each zombie represented a different class of spam... prostitute zombies for porn, business-suited zombies for stocks, pharmacist zombies for pill ads, etc.
Upon seeing a demo, one of my friends commented that I should hook it up to a real e-mail inbox, so you could kill your own spam messages, perhaps even in real time. Unfortunately I have never had the time to complete it... maybe after the kids are out of the house.
Interesting point about the modem. Of course, I would use the modem in case my cable modem was down for some reason (== Vonage being down) so it's a moot point for me.
You also said "but at least with a landline, if you have a problem, Bellsouth (or whoever) can't point fingers at somebody else." That's not true where I lived. Verizon may own the lines but they frequently pointed to everybody and their mothers for problems. For example, the Verizon customer support line would even tell me that the lack of caller ID support must be due to my in-house wiring, even though the linemen admitted it was the equipment on the street.
I think of it this way... when ranked against tech companies, Vonage really isn't so good. When ranked against phone companies, it's a bit above average. Your choice.
Update: After the story ran, Ars was contacted by a Vonage spokesperson that claimed that the agreement with VoIP, Inc. has "nothing to do with the patent situation." She described the deal as another termination deal similar to those Vonage has signed with other carriers, reiterating that the agreement was unrelated to the Verizon agreement. However, an unnamed source at VoIP, Inc. suggested to TelecomWeb that Vonage would indeed be using its network to carry its calls, while refusing to speculate about the patent dustup.
So supposedly it's just biz as usual.
I am a Vonage customer. I'm actually satisfied with it, despite all the negative reviews that other Slashdotters give it. It is still more reliable and higher-quality than my land line ever was. Verizon owns the physical lines in my part of New York. As Verizon's own linemen have told me, the switching equipment in my neighborhood is so old that it can't support caller ID, for example, and dial-up phone connections (in case of cable modem downtime) max out at 14.4k because of the fuzziness and static on the line. And Verizon has no plans to upgrade. Thanks. (Of course I can't use dial-up over Vonage, but I have an alternative backup -- wireless EVDO service, at near broadband speeds... sadly THAT is through Verizon because they have the best wireless service in my area.)
I meant to put "known criminals" in quotes. Sorry about that.
But the concept is like renting you a self-storage unit right next to the unit full of live surplus munitions. Maybe it's legal for the guy next door to store his explosives there, but if they explode and wipe out your stuff, you'll be wondering why they didn't tell you. IANAL but this kind of "in harm's way" or "undisclosed risk" stuff seems to come up now and then in the U.S.
FTA: "...a total of 186 servers were confiscated from PRQ's server rooms. This led to that a big number of companies and a lot of small and large websites lost their servers and in many cases their primary livelihood....It took them over a week before they decided to give back some of the servers that was not related to Pirate Bay."
If this were in the U.S., all the affected businesses would probably sue the government over lost revenue. Alternatively (or additionally) they would sue PRQ for co-hosting them with known criminals that made them vulnerable to such police action. Then they would sue the vendor who made PRQ's servers (e.g. Dell or whoever).
So the EU has been pressuring Apple to open up its DRM -- but now iTunes offers non-DRM music. EMI is headquartered in England, I believe, so this seems to be a big "spppbbbt!" from Jobs in the EU's general direction.
The weapons-for-tech exchange program (which guarantees anonymity) launched this Tuesday... More than 100 computer systems were made available for the exchange program when it launched on Tuesday in Tepito, with each worth around $769 USD (8,500 pesos) and preinstalled with donated software from Microsoft.
Which is it -- guaranteed anonymity, or software from Microsoft? C'mon now!!!
I won't be responsible for something that is visually unappealing and difficult to use.
Good to hear. I've been the UI designer on several programming projects. It is usually a tough battle to convince programmers that data output needs to be more than correct -- it needs to be useful as well. As with any kind of engineering, the amount of effort required of the user is inversely proportional to the amount of design required of the developers. If you want the user to spend a lot of time figuring out what the interface or data means, then don't worry about the interface. If you want the user to spend only a little time getting what they need, then you need to do a lot more work to make sure the data is clear, the interface is simple, and the user's time is optimized.
In the end, a bad interface will make people believe your data is wrong, even if it's not.
It's hardly just CS. My major in college was studio art -- printmaking, illustration, photography, and graphic design -- and I've been a professional graphic designer for 20 years+. People just don't need the same kind of designers anymore. Advancements in technology have made most graphic design tasks really easy, really automated. I bet most people reading this post think they can "do" visual design, when in fact they simply happen to own Photoshop/GIMP and some other graphics apps and some snazzy clip art off of iStockPhoto.com. I bet you can even create fliers or web pages that don't look awful; with a good template, they might even look good. But you still don't have a true understanding of color theory, typography, layout, negative space, photo manipulation, and all the other skills that make a good, creative, original designer. But these advancements in technology have led directly to the decline of art departments around the country (and the rise of smaller, higher-quality art schools such as Parsons, School of Visual Arts, RISD, etc.
This is completely analogous to supposed "CS" majors who don't understand efficient coding, memory allocation, reusable code, storage optimization, security models, etc. And heaven forbid they try to do interface design (which is the best marriage between visual design and software development). They may be smart enough to piece together some Java or C# clips off the Internet into a program that, technically, produces the proper data output, but that's it.
You don't understand. Halliburton is the Microsoft of the military-industrial complex! Wait, that's not it. No, Halliburton is the McDonalds of the military-industrial complex! No, wait... it's the Wal-Mart of the military-industrial complex! Ummm no... it's the Phillip Morris? RIAA? Clear Channel? Diebold? SCO? HASBRO?!?
All those evil corporations get mixed up on Slashdot, you know. If you mention one, you've really started a party.
Slashdot Mirror
And this explanation was helpful too.
Slightly more detailed.I read something over at AppleInsider that I thought was salient. Rather than claiming it as my own, let me quote Hattig here:
7-bit color via dithering 6-bit? Sounds like the math is right to claim "millions".That's exactly what my hosting company does (cheapcheap). Support reps can reset your password, but not tell you what it is. Furthermore, if requesting changes, you have to provide all kinds of account information to verify your identity -- customer #, account pin #, last several digits of the credit card used to pay for the domain, billing street address, etc. Honestly it was a pain in the ass to get my account reset a few months ago, but I'd rather it be difficult than something anyone could do.
At least counting is still real mathematics; simple, basic, fundamental, but real. With programming, you also start small. That doesn't preclude them from learning a real language, though. They aren't going to build a word processor or inventory management system right out of the gate -- and who would want to anyway? But if you're going to teach someone simple multimedia, why not try basic DHTML/JavaScript? Or Flash/ActionScript? These can at least be expanded into something much more advanced.
I agree with you in principle; certainly it is difficult to make progress when you don't know what you are doing wrong. Still, this doesn't convince me that Scratch is the way to get kids involved in programming. The best part of your story is that you got advice from someone else. And the better way of knowing which 10% of your code is wrong, is having a better debugger that tells you where you went wrong and what part of it seems to be a problem. A kid-level debugger. (Now if I could debug the rest of my children's problems, we would be on to something...)
I suppose I don't like Scratch because it feels like a distraction from real programming. Heck, I would rather find a simple way of teaching kids Flash and ActionScript: at least he or she could step it up to something more advanced if they wanted.
According to the BBC article on Scratch:
Umm... what's wrong with some parts of life being unforgiving if you don't get them right? It's called learning and is related to discipline, trial-and-error, problem solving, etc.
FYI, the BBC article about Scratch also mentions Hackity Hack as a more advanced alternative: "And for those that want to get stuck into something that looks more like traditional code there are sites like HacketyHack.... The site teaches children to code in a language called Ruby. There are seven free lessons, including one that allows them to develop a blog with just six lines of code."
According to this article, "a version of the tool is also currently being developed for the XO laptop, designed by the One Laptop Per Child Project."
http://www.bs-amusement-park.com/
Right on. I think Apple believes that custom apps are the floppy drive of the past. Everybody thought they were idiots when the iMac didn't include a floppy drive, but now everybody has followed suit (even the most vocal critics). Now they have a full-featured web browser on a phone but no ability to write custom apps? Well, shouldn't it be all WEB BASED? Java, AJAX, Flash, what have you.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a prototype for a video game called "Spam Rage Rampage" -- a first-person shooter where you roamed a Tron-like world, killing spam zombies and rescuing real people (== legitimate mail) while you searched for clues to the location of the nefarious spam kingpin, Ospama Bin Sendin. Each zombie represented a different class of spam... prostitute zombies for porn, business-suited zombies for stocks, pharmacist zombies for pill ads, etc.
Upon seeing a demo, one of my friends commented that I should hook it up to a real e-mail inbox, so you could kill your own spam messages, perhaps even in real time. Unfortunately I have never had the time to complete it... maybe after the kids are out of the house.
Interesting point about the modem. Of course, I would use the modem in case my cable modem was down for some reason (== Vonage being down) so it's a moot point for me.
You also said "but at least with a landline, if you have a problem, Bellsouth (or whoever) can't point fingers at somebody else." That's not true where I lived. Verizon may own the lines but they frequently pointed to everybody and their mothers for problems. For example, the Verizon customer support line would even tell me that the lack of caller ID support must be due to my in-house wiring, even though the linemen admitted it was the equipment on the street.
Yeah, what you said.
I think of it this way... when ranked against tech companies, Vonage really isn't so good. When ranked against phone companies, it's a bit above average. Your choice.
Note the end on the Ars article:
So supposedly it's just biz as usual.
I am a Vonage customer. I'm actually satisfied with it, despite all the negative reviews that other Slashdotters give it. It is still more reliable and higher-quality than my land line ever was. Verizon owns the physical lines in my part of New York. As Verizon's own linemen have told me, the switching equipment in my neighborhood is so old that it can't support caller ID, for example, and dial-up phone connections (in case of cable modem downtime) max out at 14.4k because of the fuzziness and static on the line. And Verizon has no plans to upgrade. Thanks. (Of course I can't use dial-up over Vonage, but I have an alternative backup -- wireless EVDO service, at near broadband speeds... sadly THAT is through Verizon because they have the best wireless service in my area.)
I meant to put "known criminals" in quotes. Sorry about that.
But the concept is like renting you a self-storage unit right next to the unit full of live surplus munitions. Maybe it's legal for the guy next door to store his explosives there, but if they explode and wipe out your stuff, you'll be wondering why they didn't tell you. IANAL but this kind of "in harm's way" or "undisclosed risk" stuff seems to come up now and then in the U.S.
FTA: "...a total of 186 servers were confiscated from PRQ's server rooms. This led to that a big number of companies and a lot of small and large websites lost their servers and in many cases their primary livelihood. ...It took them over a week before they decided to give back some of the servers that was not related to Pirate Bay."
If this were in the U.S., all the affected businesses would probably sue the government over lost revenue. Alternatively (or additionally) they would sue PRQ for co-hosting them with known criminals that made them vulnerable to such police action. Then they would sue the vendor who made PRQ's servers (e.g. Dell or whoever).
So the EU has been pressuring Apple to open up its DRM -- but now iTunes offers non-DRM music. EMI is headquartered in England, I believe, so this seems to be a big "spppbbbt!" from Jobs in the EU's general direction.
FTA:
Which is it -- guaranteed anonymity, or software from Microsoft? C'mon now!!!
...and the answer is: six minutes! :-)
Microsoft tells ya how to do it.
How long before we see this as a Slashdot user name? "Hi, I'm Skip -- Skip Rearm."
"Hi, yes, do you have one of these in size Super-V?"
When Wired's first issue came out, it was described as "Playboy for geeks." Goes right in line with what you said.
Good to hear. I've been the UI designer on several programming projects. It is usually a tough battle to convince programmers that data output needs to be more than correct -- it needs to be useful as well. As with any kind of engineering, the amount of effort required of the user is inversely proportional to the amount of design required of the developers. If you want the user to spend a lot of time figuring out what the interface or data means, then don't worry about the interface. If you want the user to spend only a little time getting what they need, then you need to do a lot more work to make sure the data is clear, the interface is simple, and the user's time is optimized.
In the end, a bad interface will make people believe your data is wrong, even if it's not.
It's hardly just CS. My major in college was studio art -- printmaking, illustration, photography, and graphic design -- and I've been a professional graphic designer for 20 years+. People just don't need the same kind of designers anymore. Advancements in technology have made most graphic design tasks really easy, really automated. I bet most people reading this post think they can "do" visual design, when in fact they simply happen to own Photoshop/GIMP and some other graphics apps and some snazzy clip art off of iStockPhoto.com. I bet you can even create fliers or web pages that don't look awful; with a good template, they might even look good. But you still don't have a true understanding of color theory, typography, layout, negative space, photo manipulation, and all the other skills that make a good, creative, original designer. But these advancements in technology have led directly to the decline of art departments around the country (and the rise of smaller, higher-quality art schools such as Parsons, School of Visual Arts, RISD, etc.
This is completely analogous to supposed "CS" majors who don't understand efficient coding, memory allocation, reusable code, storage optimization, security models, etc. And heaven forbid they try to do interface design (which is the best marriage between visual design and software development). They may be smart enough to piece together some Java or C# clips off the Internet into a program that, technically, produces the proper data output, but that's it.
You don't understand. Halliburton is the Microsoft of the military-industrial complex! Wait, that's not it. No, Halliburton is the McDonalds of the military-industrial complex! No, wait... it's the Wal-Mart of the military-industrial complex! Ummm no... it's the Phillip Morris? RIAA? Clear Channel? Diebold? SCO? HASBRO?!?
All those evil corporations get mixed up on Slashdot, you know. If you mention one, you've really started a party.