Now things are even better, Sony Ericsson phones having "Walkman" thing can auto update their own firmware including Java subsystem. Automatically. Make that pretty much *ALL* Sony Ericsson phones, since the K700i/S700i, which pretty much blew away a lot of people expectations with 3D games written in JAVA! IT didn't just start not just the Walkman:) I think SonyEricsson has been very good with Java support since those days, and my current K800 even has the ability to make Java Midlets that can run in the background!
And the P series with p-java, gave a almost native Symbian look to Java applications.
and the W880i (and even the slightly older W850i with its hardware 3D) that My sister has really looks likes is going to give the iPhone a serious run for its money when it comes out, the cheif advantages over the iPhone being: - smaller - available NOW - Decent Headphones No matter how iconic the white headsets, it bears no touch to the Sony sourced in the ear sets that come with the Walkman phones (and are available on non walkman branded SE phones). - 3g UMTS (iphone will not be 3G, Very important to markets outside the USA) - "Drag and Drop" Universal Mass Storage access to songs. All sonyericssons support drag and drop, universal mass storage based for non-DRM protected tracks. No need for an itunes type software to put songs in. - PushIMAP support. Blackberry like email access.. without the blackberry. - Google Blogspot support. - Decent Java support. - Based on the Ericsson Mobile Phone platform (EMP), a company that has been making phones especially GSM for donkeys years. - And Sonyericsson is really working hard with the operators here in UK
Same, I am project manager of a huge Java/Tomcat/Hibernate project where we have built a real time MP3 stitcher (stitches MP3 files at real time, for podcasts) all code is 100% Java, no native code (other than the ones within the core java libs).
Run once/run everywhere just works.. we code on Win XP pcs, and Macs using Eclipse. Deployed on an 8 way Opteron based Sun Iron, running Solaris, and a smaller Windows Nt2000 box.
Just works, and performs fast (stitches files of 20 MB with on average 2 adverts, in less than a second)
Very well written, and I personally agree with a lot of what you said.
I also want to add a few more things which you have missed.
Java is also part of the Blue-Ray Specification, with Java being used to create some of the more interactive Elements.
Also here in Europe, Java is used in the MHEG DVB specifications, as well as new iterations of DAB.
Recently, there has also been some work in creating emulators for other platforms using Java. However, they are not emulators, in the strict sense, as the native code is converted to Java bytecode, and then run directly on the JVM using a "container" to abstract other parts of the platform being emulated. This allows the JVM to then further JIT the bytecode, and has the possibility of running emulated software at almost native speeds. A proof of concept has been done to have DOS/8086 emulated in such a way.
Well said, and its why I got the 3.2 MP SonyEricsson K800 for my point and shoot instead of waiting for the 5MP Nokia N95. (i also have a EOS 350D DSLR....)
I found that with the small sensor, 3.2 is the largest you can have before noise effects quality. and also the K800 has a real xenon flash, which helps in low light.
No, the GP was correct. He isn't taking about processing to JPG, but the parameters used during. These are called "processing profiles", where a camera may increase sharpness/contrast/saturation before writing out the JPEG image.
Most consumer (and even some DSLR with "newbie" modes) tend to take the photo, then +1 or more to Saturation, Contrast and sharpness, to give a more punchy, ready to print image.
However, if you actually READ the manuals of any DSLR with "newbie" modes, such as my 350d it says:
"The camera has various picture profiles. By default, Set 1 is chosen, which provides a sharper/saturated/contrasty image, which is great for direct printing. However, if you intend to post process the image, please select set 2, which offers a more neutral set, and then post process in your image editor"
For starters, Sharpness is almost always better to do in post-processing, than on the camera, and if you do it on the camera, it is bad to "unsharpen" on the picture editor.
Those who talk about getting a EOS 1d, etc. Its no point buying such fancy equipment if its going to be sitting on the shelf. Especially when you consider the size of that beast!
Capturing the moment is far more important than the technical qualities (which I mentioned in a post earlier). Which is why I carry a SonyEriccson K800i Phone. That phone is ready and available always, and has been used to take some very memorable shots.
AS for the dSLR, I chose a Canon 350d over a year ago. I know the "snobs" here will say that its not a "professional" camera, compared to something like the 20d or the 5d, or if even heaven forbid I was rich, the 1d.
But the fact is, it is a very competent camera, with useful features. It's small and light to carry around, without feeling intrusive (very important, if you are actually going to USE the camera, rather than just boast about it), and the money I saved, I bought some good lenses, and a 550EX flash, and some filters (polarising, and ND).
All that technical stuff is great for composed photographs.
However, my two best photos were of sunsets. One was taken with a Nikon point and shoot (2MegaPixel) as was of the sun setting behind the silhouetted Isle of white, and along the narrow Solent, was a few sailing boats (as opposed to modern boats) resulting a a "flat" but pleasing "timeless shot"...
The second was taken in Sri Lanka, with my EOS 350D DSLR, of a bird "kissing" the setting sun. Again a great shot, but the only "help" the DSLR gave for that was its response time to time it just right. However in retrospect, I wish I had a similarly responsive Point and shoot with a smaller lens/sensor, and larger depth of field, because despite the smaller aperture used, the depth of field was not wide enough to prevent the bird from being a little too out of focus.
AS said.. tis the picture that you think of first, then you choose the camera and lens to match.
I am a DSLR user, thoguh i am probably in the more "amature/for fun" bracket, I have a EOS 350D, and a variety of lenses, including a 90-300 zoon, a 22 to 85 zoom, and a 55mm prime.
well, recently, I bought (or rather got free on my contract) a SonyEricsson k800i as a phone, and a point and shoot camera. IT works fine for snap shots, and even "real" shots of those rare moments, which the "technical quality" of the shot is less important than capturing the moment.
Microsoft should have kept quiet on this. I don't know what its like in USA, but here in Europe, and probably the rest of the GSM world, the main competitor to the iPhone is the SonyEricsson Walkman line of phones, which are getting VERY good.
Even the non-smartphone type models, are giving the smartphoen a huge run for the money (with very good PIM sync), now feature very good Java support with "run in background", nVidia mobile 3d chipsets, MP3, Mp4, Real, wav, 3gp, amr (audio and video support, and will play non-drm AAC stuff pretty well), supports simple USB mass storage mode for songs (no need for special software, just drag and drop) and are selling like hotcakes. The recent W880i has all that, and is extremely thin and small. And it has UTMS 3G support, something the iphone is NOT going to support in its first version
All I can say is, SonyEricsson and Nokia are the biggest competitor to the iPhone here, and iPhone is going to have a tougher time competing against these behemouths, not MS. The MS phones tend to be operator branded offerings such as the XDA, etc, and have a completely different market.
If Microsoft kept its mouth shut, they would not have had to get into that particular deathmatch, as noone is tryign to compare the two.
Now MS has thrown its weight, people are goign to notice it, and those two companies may fight too much, giving SonyEricsson (the current leader in MP3 Phones) easy pickings.
And what exactly is wrong with the BNP? The BNP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Par ty), will never consider the fact that deep down, and everything, that I consider myself as BRITISH, and that I am patriotic for this country I live in.
According to their "manifesto", I am a "second class citizen" of the UK, despite the fact that me and my family are all tax payers, NEVER been on Benefits, or whatever, and considered "model citizens" by many.
They may say: "we are not forcing Ethnic minorities to leave, instead we are providing incentives for them to relocate back to their country". However, by restricting the freedom, or ability of minorities they are indeed going to force minorities out against their will, despite there being no specific law forcing them. And remember, many of these minorities are sworn to allegiance to the UK.
Whether or not the British people support the BNP or not should be looked at in no different a light to whether or not Indians supported Ghandi and the Quit India Movement. Incorrect, and very typical of the sort of illogical statements provided by the BNP.
Ghandi and co supported freedom for India to rule itself independently of Britain, as an independent self ruling sovereign nation, as it had been before being "conquered/invaded/taken over" by Britain.
They didn't want white men out of India, instead, they wanted British RULE ended in India, a very big distinction. Even now, India welcomes all races into India. and in terms of government, is pretty agnostic in principle.
The last time I remember, the UK is ruled by the UK, by its people (with the possible muddying of the EU).. telling BRITISH Citizens, who may be of a different colour to white is racism, pure and simple.
And sir, that's where you come to the tragedy of the situation.
Sri Lankan's in general are very well educated and resourceful. Our education still models around the British system, and uses O-Levels and A-Levels, with pass rates still extremely High, and very competitive to England (yes a lot of the exams papers are still sent to be moderated and marked in British Exam Board)
As such, Sri Lankans generally do well in professional posts in British Companies.
In the past, they have been responsible for great advances in Medicine, engineering and Sciences.
Even now, the majority of Sri Lankan's are still in the same position.
Exactly, especially considering in Sri Lanka, since Independance, Tamils have been racially and xenophobically put down, by a a majority ruling party, who just happen to speak a different language.
I have seen the problem at face, as I have recently (November 2006) been to Sri Lanka myself: as a tourist, and stayed in a hotel, in Colombo, for only 3 nights, to see my girlfriend who lives in Colombo (she is half Singhalese, half Tamil, by the way) Whenever my hotel car was stopped at numerous checkpoints, and they saw on my BRITISH passport, that I was born in Jaffna, I was given "special treatment". I usually responded with a query of the officers Badge Number, as well as reasons for the delay in letting me through, which usually for me, made them back off.
But others are not so lucky.
A friend of mine, was recently spotted as a Tamil at the immigration in Colombo airport, and was kidnapped en route to the capital, and was help, until he paid a ransom of £2000. The kidnapping was done by gangs, supporting the current administration, with the help of the police, and authorities.
Unfortunately the current administration in Sri Lanka, has a unwritten, but oft repeated view that all Tamils are LTTE. Amnesty International has been recently doing a large campaign highlighting the general lack of human rights in Sri Lanka http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA3701020 07.
No Tamil Sri Lankan wants to separate from the rest of the country, they just desire to live together in harmony. But when the government does not protect, and then attacks members of their own people, of cause people will support the LTTE in desperation.
It's a really sad tragic situation, and destroying a very beautiful country.
I am a Tamil, born in Sri Lanka, have lived nearly all my life in the UK, and work in a professional job here, as an IT consultant and am PROUD of it. I have been proud to work for my now native country, the UK, and have worked in BAe, and other companies.
Yet, because of the fact I am Tamil, you do gooders are supposed to now be looking at everything I do? It doesn't matter the fact that I have lived in the UK for so long, I cannot even speak Tamil properly.
Its bad enough, going to Sri Lanka, and being sometimes treated like dirt by immigration, customs, and checkpoints, simply because I was born in Jaffna, fearing I would be kidnapped or killed by extra-legal gangs, operating with apparent clandestine approval from authorities.
Should I expect the same treatment from my "friends"?
Should I likewise assume that every "white man" is a potential KKK, or BNP member?
I have many friends who are Singhalese (the 'other side'), who treat me as a brother.
I have a "work" iPod Nano, which i use for testing at work. But I do not find the sound quality of that very impressive, plus, I have very little scope for a standalone player.
We have a similar problem here in England on the West Coast mainline. It's very twisty, due to the fact it was built years ago. yet thanks to new tilting trains, we regularly get speeds of up to 125mph. And those trains are built like a brick too.
Also the Eurostar, which is actually a TGV in all respects, just VERY long... until 2003, ran on some VERY ordinary third rail type track in the south of England until it reached the Channel tunnel, before accelerating.
Now that part one of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) has been created, part of the England route is on high speed track, and the Second stage will be ready sometime this year.
But yes, existing track can run these behemoths, just not at full speed, and the platforms may be a teeny weeny short!
Ok, I am not a Windows or a Linux zealot, I use both OSes and also Mac OSX. EAch OS has their strength and weaknesses.. but I cant stand the typical "Linux Zealot" mentality.
7 Mins to start an OS? That is an exaggeration?
Neither my Windows or Linux boxes take that long to start, even with Vista. In fact, currently, my Linux Boxen take on average longer than the Windows ones, that is including starting X.
and the typical "besides, my tools don't work on Vista"
Tell me, what is wrong with Re-Compiling the tools using Cygwin, or whatever? It shouldn't be difficult right? Especially if you are already a Linux so called "power user"...
I have all my platforms containing all the tools I need, recompiling where necessary, and i have a growing collection of Java based tools which don't need recompiling.
I don't know what country you live in, but here in the UK, SonyEricsson have made a MASSIVE push, maybe to try and saturate the market before the iPhone comes out.
The w880i is being sold for free on contract, and the advertising is extremely heavy, and its a great phone to boot too, ultra thin, 1GB memory card included, expandable, 3g UMTS, Push email, Java, and a lot of other goodies. Oh and a replacable battery. On the daily commute I am seeing more people with a SE Walkman phone.
OF course, there would be more players that can play MP3s than any other format. But to say only a few can play AAC is pure humbug.
Of the players in my house: SonyEricsson K800i: MP3, AAC, Real SonyEricsson W880i: MP3, AAC, Real Panasonic DVD player: MP3, WMA Jaguar Audio Connectivity Module: MP3, AAC iPaq (with TCP): MP3, Vorbis, WMA, AAC (and many more) PSP portable: MP3, AAC (maybe ATRAC, but not sure) CD Player: MP3, AAC (m4a), WMA
in this list.. AAC is well represented in all but the Panasonic DVD player.
But more so, the current future is Phones with Music Players, Nokia, Sony Ericssons (both walkman and non walkman) Motorola and SAmsung seem committed to providing AAC, as opposed to WMA.
I have to disagree. Have a look at the W880i Walkman Phone,
It's only 1mm thicker than an iPod Nano (I have measured it) (and remember its got REAL buttons for the phone, as opposed to touch sensitive crap) ITs got a DECENT backlit 320x240 TFT.
AND a replaceable battery....
And Decent battery life...
As for the ability to change battery whilst on a call, well there is a reason (though fairly strange reason) for why you cannot do that.
AS part of the GSM spec, a user should NOT be able to take a SIM card out of a phone while it is switched on (don't ask why). As such, you may notice on all phones, the battery has to be removed before the SIM can be removed, to ensure the phone is turned off. This also applies when plugged in, when the Battery is taken off, the phone switches off, even when plugged in as a safety precaution.
Slashdot Mirror
And the P series with p-java, gave a almost native Symbian look to Java applications.
and the W880i (and even the slightly older W850i with its hardware 3D) that My sister has really looks likes is going to give the iPhone a serious run for its money when it comes out, the cheif advantages over the iPhone being:
- smaller
- available NOW
- Decent Headphones No matter how iconic the white headsets, it bears no touch to the Sony sourced in the ear sets that come with the Walkman phones (and are available on non walkman branded SE phones).
- 3g UMTS (iphone will not be 3G, Very important to markets outside the USA)
- "Drag and Drop" Universal Mass Storage access to songs. All sonyericssons support drag and drop, universal mass storage based for non-DRM protected tracks. No need for an itunes type software to put songs in.
- PushIMAP support. Blackberry like email access.. without the blackberry.
- Google Blogspot support.
- Decent Java support.
- Based on the Ericsson Mobile Phone platform (EMP), a company that has been making phones especially GSM for donkeys years.
- And Sonyericsson is really working hard with the operators here in UK
the "correct" url is now:
http://openjdk.java.net/
(the old one still has old content)
Same, I am project manager of a huge Java/Tomcat/Hibernate project where we have built a real time MP3 stitcher (stitches MP3 files at real time, for podcasts) all code is 100% Java, no native code (other than the ones within the core java libs).
Run once/run everywhere just works.. we code on Win XP pcs, and Macs using Eclipse. Deployed on an 8 way Opteron based Sun Iron, running Solaris, and a smaller Windows Nt2000 box.
Just works, and performs fast (stitches files of 20 MB with on average 2 adverts, in less than a second)
Very well written, and I personally agree with a lot of what you said.
I also want to add a few more things which you have missed.
Java is also part of the Blue-Ray Specification, with Java being used to create some of the more interactive Elements.
Also here in Europe, Java is used in the MHEG DVB specifications, as well as new iterations of DAB.
Recently, there has also been some work in creating emulators for other platforms using Java. However, they are not emulators, in the strict sense, as the native code is converted to Java bytecode, and then run directly on the JVM using a "container" to abstract other parts of the platform being emulated. This allows the JVM to then further JIT the bytecode, and has the possibility of running emulated software at almost native speeds. A proof of concept has been done to have DOS/8086 emulated in such a way.
So yes, Java has a lot going for it.
Well said, and its why I got the 3.2 MP SonyEricsson K800 for my point and shoot instead of waiting for the 5MP Nokia N95. (i also have a EOS 350D DSLR....)
I found that with the small sensor, 3.2 is the largest you can have before noise effects quality. and also the K800 has a real xenon flash, which helps in low light.
I suspect foul play, my canon 350d usually gets it right nearly all times. I find that its VERY rare I have to adjust for white balance.
No, the GP was correct. He isn't taking about processing to JPG, but the parameters used during. These are called "processing profiles", where a camera may increase sharpness/contrast/saturation before writing out the JPEG image.
Most consumer (and even some DSLR with "newbie" modes) tend to take the photo, then +1 or more to Saturation, Contrast and sharpness, to give a more punchy, ready to print image.
However, if you actually READ the manuals of any DSLR with "newbie" modes, such as my 350d it says:
"The camera has various picture profiles. By default, Set 1 is chosen, which provides a sharper/saturated/contrasty image, which is great for direct printing. However, if you intend to post process the image, please select set 2, which offers a more neutral set, and then post process in your image editor"
For starters, Sharpness is almost always better to do in post-processing, than on the camera, and if you do it on the camera, it is bad to "unsharpen" on the picture editor.
Well said!
Those who talk about getting a EOS 1d, etc. Its no point buying such fancy equipment if its going to be sitting on the shelf. Especially when you consider the size of that beast!
Capturing the moment is far more important than the technical qualities (which I mentioned in a post earlier). Which is why I carry a SonyEriccson K800i Phone. That phone is ready and available always, and has been used to take some very memorable shots.
AS for the dSLR, I chose a Canon 350d over a year ago. I know the "snobs" here will say that its not a "professional" camera, compared to something like the 20d or the 5d, or if even heaven forbid I was rich, the 1d.
But the fact is, it is a very competent camera, with useful features. It's small and light to carry around, without feeling intrusive (very important, if you are actually going to USE the camera, rather than just boast about it), and the money I saved, I bought some good lenses, and a 550EX flash, and some filters (polarising, and ND).
And as such, I TAKE shots.
All that technical stuff is great for composed photographs.
However, my two best photos were of sunsets. One was taken with a Nikon point and shoot (2MegaPixel) as was of the sun setting behind the silhouetted Isle of white, and along the narrow Solent, was a few sailing boats (as opposed to modern boats) resulting a a "flat" but pleasing "timeless shot"...
The second was taken in Sri Lanka, with my EOS 350D DSLR, of a bird "kissing" the setting sun. Again a great shot, but the only "help" the DSLR gave for that was its response time to time it just right. However in retrospect, I wish I had a similarly responsive Point and shoot with a smaller lens/sensor, and larger depth of field, because despite the smaller aperture used, the depth of field was not wide enough to prevent the bird from being a little too out of focus.
AS said.. tis the picture that you think of first, then you choose the camera and lens to match.
I am a DSLR user, thoguh i am probably in the more "amature/for fun" bracket, I have a EOS 350D, and a variety of lenses, including a 90-300 zoon, a 22 to 85 zoom, and a 55mm prime.
well, recently, I bought (or rather got free on my contract) a SonyEricsson k800i as a phone, and a point and shoot camera. IT works fine for snap shots, and even "real" shots of those rare moments, which the "technical quality" of the shot is less important than capturing the moment.
Microsoft should have kept quiet on this. I don't know what its like in USA, but here in Europe, and probably the rest of the GSM world, the main competitor to the iPhone is the SonyEricsson Walkman line of phones, which are getting VERY good.
Even the non-smartphone type models, are giving the smartphoen a huge run for the money (with very good PIM sync), now feature very good Java support with "run in background", nVidia mobile 3d chipsets, MP3, Mp4, Real, wav, 3gp, amr (audio and video support, and will play non-drm AAC stuff pretty well), supports simple USB mass storage mode for songs (no need for special software, just drag and drop) and are selling like hotcakes. The recent W880i has all that, and is extremely thin and small. And it has UTMS 3G support, something the iphone is NOT going to support in its first version
All I can say is, SonyEricsson and Nokia are the biggest competitor to the iPhone here, and iPhone is going to have a tougher time competing against these behemouths, not MS. The MS phones tend to be operator branded offerings such as the XDA, etc, and have a completely different market.
If Microsoft kept its mouth shut, they would not have had to get into that particular deathmatch, as noone is tryign to compare the two.
Now MS has thrown its weight, people are goign to notice it, and those two companies may fight too much, giving SonyEricsson (the current leader in MP3 Phones) easy pickings.
And remember, SE makes good phones too..
No, you needed a third party DVD/MPeg 2 codecs for Media player to play it, such as PowerDVD/WinDVD.
According to their "manifesto", I am a "second class citizen" of the UK, despite the fact that me and my family are all tax payers, NEVER been on Benefits, or whatever, and considered "model citizens" by many.
They may say: "we are not forcing Ethnic minorities to leave, instead we are providing incentives for them to relocate back to their country". However, by restricting the freedom, or ability of minorities they are indeed going to force minorities out against their will, despite there being no specific law forcing them. And remember, many of these minorities are sworn to allegiance to the UK. Whether or not the British people support the BNP or not should be looked at in no different a light to whether or not Indians supported Ghandi and the Quit India Movement. Incorrect, and very typical of the sort of illogical statements provided by the BNP.
Ghandi and co supported freedom for India to rule itself independently of Britain, as an independent self ruling sovereign nation, as it had been before being "conquered/invaded/taken over" by Britain.
They didn't want white men out of India, instead, they wanted British RULE ended in India, a very big distinction. Even now, India welcomes all races into India. and in terms of government, is pretty agnostic in principle.
The last time I remember, the UK is ruled by the UK, by its people (with the possible muddying of the EU).. telling BRITISH Citizens, who may be of a different colour to white is racism, pure and simple.
And sir, that's where you come to the tragedy of the situation.
Sri Lankan's in general are very well educated and resourceful. Our education still models around the British system, and uses O-Levels and A-Levels, with pass rates still extremely High, and very competitive to England (yes a lot of the exams papers are still sent to be moderated and marked in British Exam Board)
As such, Sri Lankans generally do well in professional posts in British Companies.
In the past, they have been responsible for great advances in Medicine, engineering and Sciences.
Even now, the majority of Sri Lankan's are still in the same position.
Exactly, especially considering in Sri Lanka, since Independance, Tamils have been racially and xenophobically put down, by a a majority ruling party, who just happen to speak a different language.
0 07.
See "Black July" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_July and other awful cases of poor human rights and racist actions by a few in power.
I have seen the problem at face, as I have recently (November 2006) been to Sri Lanka myself: as a tourist, and stayed in a hotel, in Colombo, for only 3 nights, to see my girlfriend who lives in Colombo (she is half Singhalese, half Tamil, by the way) Whenever my hotel car was stopped at numerous checkpoints, and they saw on my BRITISH passport, that I was born in Jaffna, I was given "special treatment". I usually responded with a query of the officers Badge Number, as well as reasons for the delay in letting me through, which usually for me, made them back off.
But others are not so lucky.
A friend of mine, was recently spotted as a Tamil at the immigration in Colombo airport, and was kidnapped en route to the capital, and was help, until he paid a ransom of £2000. The kidnapping was done by gangs, supporting the current administration, with the help of the police, and authorities.
Unfortunately the current administration in Sri Lanka, has a unwritten, but oft repeated view that all Tamils are LTTE. Amnesty International has been recently doing a large campaign highlighting the general lack of human rights in Sri Lanka http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA370102
No Tamil Sri Lankan wants to separate from the rest of the country, they just desire to live together in harmony. But when the government does not protect, and then attacks members of their own people, of cause people will support the LTTE in desperation.
It's a really sad tragic situation, and destroying a very beautiful country.
I am a Tamil, born in Sri Lanka, have lived nearly all my life in the UK, and work in a professional job here, as an IT consultant and am PROUD of it. I have been proud to work for my now native country, the UK, and have worked in BAe, and other companies.
Yet, because of the fact I am Tamil, you do gooders are supposed to now be looking at everything I do? It doesn't matter the fact that I have lived in the UK for so long, I cannot even speak Tamil properly.
Its bad enough, going to Sri Lanka, and being sometimes treated like dirt by immigration, customs, and checkpoints, simply because I was born in Jaffna, fearing I would be kidnapped or killed by extra-legal gangs, operating with apparent clandestine approval from authorities.
Should I expect the same treatment from my "friends"?
Should I likewise assume that every "white man" is a potential KKK, or BNP member?
I have many friends who are Singhalese (the 'other side'), who treat me as a brother.
I have a "work" iPod Nano, which i use for testing at work. But I do not find the sound quality of that very impressive, plus, I have very little scope for a standalone player.
We have a similar problem here in England on the West Coast mainline. It's very twisty, due to the fact it was built years ago. yet thanks to new tilting trains, we regularly get speeds of up to 125mph. And those trains are built like a brick too.
Also the Eurostar, which is actually a TGV in all respects, just VERY long... until 2003, ran on some VERY ordinary third rail type track in the south of England until it reached the Channel tunnel, before accelerating.
Now that part one of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) has been created, part of the England route is on high speed track, and the Second stage will be ready sometime this year.
But yes, existing track can run these behemoths, just not at full speed, and the platforms may be a teeny weeny short!
Ok, I am not a Windows or a Linux zealot, I use both OSes and also Mac OSX. EAch OS has their strength and weaknesses.. but I cant stand the typical "Linux Zealot" mentality.
7 Mins to start an OS? That is an exaggeration?
Neither my Windows or Linux boxes take that long to start, even with Vista. In fact, currently, my Linux Boxen take on average longer than the Windows ones, that is including starting X.
and the typical "besides, my tools don't work on Vista"
Tell me, what is wrong with Re-Compiling the tools using Cygwin, or whatever? It shouldn't be difficult right? Especially if you are already a Linux so called "power user"...
I have all my platforms containing all the tools I need, recompiling where necessary, and i have a growing collection of Java based tools which don't need recompiling.
I don't know what country you live in, but here in the UK, SonyEricsson have made a MASSIVE push, maybe to try and saturate the market before the iPhone comes out.
The w880i is being sold for free on contract, and the advertising is extremely heavy, and its a great phone to boot too, ultra thin, 1GB memory card included, expandable, 3g UMTS, Push email, Java, and a lot of other goodies. Oh and a replacable battery. On the daily commute I am seeing more people with a SE Walkman phone.
One word, yes.. provided they support the higher 256Kbps which should sound sweeter.
My SonyEricsson should handle it fine!
OF course, there would be more players that can play MP3s than any other format. But to say only a few can play AAC is pure humbug.
Of the players in my house:
SonyEricsson K800i: MP3, AAC, Real
SonyEricsson W880i: MP3, AAC, Real
Panasonic DVD player: MP3, WMA
Jaguar Audio Connectivity Module: MP3, AAC
iPaq (with TCP): MP3, Vorbis, WMA, AAC (and many more)
PSP portable: MP3, AAC (maybe ATRAC, but not sure)
CD Player: MP3, AAC (m4a), WMA
in this list.. AAC is well represented in all but the Panasonic DVD player.
But more so, the current future is Phones with Music Players, Nokia, Sony Ericssons (both walkman and non walkman) Motorola and SAmsung seem committed to providing AAC, as opposed to WMA.
Exactly, and I will be buying..
I REALLY don't mind paying that for 256kbps non DRM AAC.
To be honest, I expected that they were going to spoil it by charging $2, but $1.30 is very reasonable.
Time for us to encourage it, by actually buying these songs.
I have to disagree. Have a look at the W880i Walkman Phone,
It's only 1mm thicker than an iPod Nano (I have measured it) (and remember its got REAL buttons for the phone, as opposed to touch sensitive crap) ITs got a DECENT backlit 320x240 TFT.
AND a replaceable battery....
And Decent battery life...
As for the ability to change battery whilst on a call, well there is a reason (though fairly strange reason) for why you cannot do that.
AS part of the GSM spec, a user should NOT be able to take a SIM card out of a phone while it is switched on (don't ask why). As such, you may notice on all phones, the battery has to be removed before the SIM can be removed, to ensure the phone is turned off. This also applies when plugged in, when the Battery is taken off, the phone switches off, even when plugged in as a safety precaution.