Contrawise I really don't know why Nike can't get a clue and start paying their workers a fair wage. The cost of doing so would hardly register.
A fair wage with respect to what? US minimum wage? The wages are better than these people would otherwise make. If this was not the case, those workers wouldn't bother taking the jobs. But yeah, I have to agree on some level there. The mark-up on Nike's products is outrageous, especially considering the quality is no better than any other fad-driven clothing product made in under-developed countries, (as opposed to practical, comfortable clothing).
I don't agree with some of the related comments from some of the other posters as well. Especially the opinion that once WalMart (or whichever company) looks to the next source of cheap labor, the economy of that country dries up. That certainly didn't happen in Japan or Taiwan. These countries simply took that technical knowledge that they had gained, and built complete products to rival what US companies were assembling from imported components.
I'm not in a hurry to ditch any of my 32-bit machines, so long as I get them replaced by 2038.
I suppose you're still running a 16MHz 386 then.
The switch is probably going to happen faster than we can predict. I'm already eyeballing Athlon FX hardware thinking about my next PC upgrade. I don't need this power, but I will buy it anyway, because it'll be 2% faster for the stuff I do.
Honestly, isn't this desk worth more than quite a large percentage of US houses?
No, it's actually about the same price as a typical American luxury car. I would think that the large percentage of US homes would go for at least $80,000 these days. The median price for a house where I live is probably ~$250,000.00, a cheap house being around $130k. The wealthier areas of this state have homes that are valued generally from a half-million upwards.
I actually have zero proof that DRM is the issue. I'd just like to take any opportunity I can to undercut it. I'd work Microsoft into my fingerpointing, but someone has done a fine job of that already.
Even with "full range" speakers, a subwoofer still helps, and they are even used in most movie theaters. Most full range speakers corner at between 30 and 40 hz. A sub can improve the response between the 15-30Hz range.
A decently designed set of full range speakers can reproduce the sounds down that low. The drop-off below 50 or 60 Hz (typical) is not so sharp that nothing is reproduced below that frequency, so even if the full range speaker is less efficient there, it is still reproducing the sound, or at least it should be. And the speaker enclosure designs for evening out response on the low-end are well known.
Maybe it's an issue for AOL users, who technically foot the bill for AIM, but I've never paid a dime for the IM services I use, so I'm not concerned. ICQ has an "authorization required" feature, and I guess AIM has something similar, so at least there's a kinda sorta fix for the end user. Of course, I wouldn't want to be the service provider playing host to free advertising on my tab.
I guess I'm way out of the loop. What have they done with the theme song? It's all... techno. BTW, does anyone know where I can legally get a Dr. Who theme as an MP3?
No, they're not. A whole lot of problems are eliminated by having only two possible states. Don't try to pull audiophile voodoo on me. Sure, the strength of the signals may vary, and the shape of the waveform isn't going to have perfect right-angles, but that doesn't matter as long as the difference is enough to accurately determine the value of the bit. We can talk about jagged peaks, sloped walls and minute timing differences until were blue in the face, but the circuitry ignores that minutia in favor of measuring an "on" or "off" state.
Optical connections convert digital values into analog flashes of light... something on the other end has to see the flashes of light, decode them, and recreate the digital value. There is plenty of room for error in there.
Plenty of room for error? What type of problem could flip bits at random, but not degrade the entire signal to the point that error correction cannot salvage it? Surely regular old data connections would have experienced this is as well. What is the name of this phenomenon?
In both types of digital connections in the HT realm (optical and coaxial), the cable quality does in fact make some (probably minor) difference.
Most likely with the coaxial, where the clock signal may drift. I have yet to see a published report comparing the bit stream on both ends. The studies so far have been subjective, or added lots of other variable to the mix (like measuring in the analog domain by playing sound through the speakers).
So, if you use a crappy "digital" cable, you could hear any number of problems (including reduced dynamic range, distortion, etc) that would not be characterized as "abrupt end of data stream and therefore a lack of sound" as you claimed
I used a crappy coax cable once. I got loud noise and then silence. My "subjective" judgement based on empirical evidence though. It still does not change the fact that audiophiles claim a difference, but no one can actually prove it. The test would be to "rip" the AC-3 track from the media, play it while recording the bitstream on the other end of the cable, then compare the two data sets. Until someone does this while comparing the results with different brands of cables, in a repeatable experiment, the theories are on shaky ground.
How's this going to fly with consumers? Are the advantages big enough that people would switch en masse? CDs were smaller and priced about the same as record albums when they first came out. They also didn't wear out like cassettes. There was a definite advantage for the consumer. Are consumers really demanding a replacement for the CD? Or is this a misinterpretation of the general dislike for CD pricing and electronic alternatives?
My gripe with CDs has nothing to do with physical characteristics (I have a tiny MP3 player that addresses this issue). My problem is with the pricing, and to a lesser extent, using the storage space efficiently. I think the next format should be the Affordable CD.
Not to mention the fact that those sharp moon rocks would be murder on your wax job. Although you have to admit there are some good slopes in those crater walls.
How does this affect the theories about the moon being formed after Earth collided with some ancient planetoid? Or am I way behind on the current theories about the moon?
Companies have no real incentive to clean up the sound since they can sell snake oil fixes for audio quality problems *cough*monster cable*cough*
Yeah, and what's sad is a lot of audio rags promoted these snake oil products, claiming there was a noticeable difference. I once did a comparison between using a thick cable, a thin cable and UTP cable (!) to my speakers, and I found no difference. Perhaps there was a small difference in sound quality, but I couldn't hear it, and Joe Sixpack probably wouldn't notice either. Probably because, like many people, I was using relatively low power, a mediocre amp and mediocre speakers. I cancelled my subscription to some audiophile magazine when they tried to pull the same crap with [fiber]optical connections, claiming that a bad cable would "reduce the dynamic range of your sound". While I can understand the problems caused by a bad digital link-up, I think I would describe it as "abrupt end of data stream and therefore a lack of sound." A bad optical connection would immediately be obvious.
Many suround sound systems would also benifit GREATLY from a simple user adjustable delay on each channel to help compensate for an odd speaker placement
Many mid- to high-end AC3 and DTS decoders already do allow you to adjust the delay on each channel. Not many people ask for this feature in low-end home theater set-ups, because they have no idea what it's supposed to sound like. Joe Sixpack doesn't know or care about seating position or speaker placement.
I know I'm glad I've worked with pro level equipment running concerts and such. Really opens your eyes to what needs to be there for a good clear sound.
I think that they majority of low- and mid-end home theater set-ups would get an immediate benefit from improved speaker design, probably more immediately noticeable than with balanced signal cables (although that would certainly be nice). Most of the speakers I've heard are built like this:
With "reflex" ports to increase low-end efficiency and "flatten" out the peak a little.
With mismatched mid-range and tweeters (with regard to efficiency).
Thin platic enclosures, or fiberboard lacking the appropriate amount of internal support.
Bass reflex ports are a way to flatten the response curve and extend the low end (just putting it out there; I'm sure you know all this already), but most cheap speakers aren't designed correctly (or can't be due to the size of the speaker), and the resulting sound is boomy and annoying. I guess it's just cheaper to use as little material as possible in the cabinet, then glue a tube to it.
A lot of speaker manufacturers seem to purposely mismatch higher-efficiency tweeters (or midrange drivers) with the other drivers in the cabinet. Due to the limiting factor of size, they'll never get it exact, since woofers need so much precious real estate (and air volume). But manufacturers aren't even trying to get close. The recent popularity of horn-loaded drivers makes the situation worse. Even though the resulting sound is not so great, it raises the average peak efficiency of the speaker system, and it makes for a nice number to print on a color brochure.
Many low-end home theater speakers are made of relatively thin plastic with no internal support. The surface area of the cabinet is probably radiating sound more efficiently than the drivers attached to it. Too bad the cabinet isn't designed to accurately reproduce this sound. It's big bucks before we get into enclosures with internal support or better materials.
***
Sellers need comparable figures to sell against their competition. Unfortunately, power output is the easiest one for consumers to understand. Some consumers have become mindful of speaker efficiency as well, but not too many really understand that the efficiency varies between drivers and depends on the frequency of the sound being reproduced, and they don't understand that the quoted figures for efficiency ar
The problem is that this is alluded to in the first film, when Frodo gazes into the mirror. Sam is also carrying an item which is skipped over in the movies, but has a part in the final climax. I'll wait for the extended DVD, so I can see the "making of" and get an idea of what kind of contraints Jackson was up against.
Does their business model (the manufacturer, not the hacker) depend on remanufacturing these things? I don't know about DMACA (digital millenium anti-competition act) violations, but I'd think a simple deposit on sale system what fix any issues with consumers keeping the cameras. It works for car batteries, it can work for these cameras.
Multiple news sources just confirmed that Aragorn has been completely cut from `Return of the King'. Now, I have complete faith in Peter Jackson as filmmaker, and the 60 minutes of deleted footage will return in next year's RotK special edition DVD release. But, this does bring the theatrical release running time down to a more manageable 241 minutes. Rumour has it that the film contains 78 minutes of scenes not in the book involving Liv Tyler, some of which detail a surprising romantic relationship between the she-elf and Sauron. (Oops! Sorry about the spoiler!)
Absolutely. I was thinking the same thing. IBM should demand a book report on those 100,000 pages of documents to see if SCO comprehends what they read. I'd better not see, "these documents were great and I think everyone should read them." And no Cliff's notes!
I guess... If you're operating under the assumption that SCO is actually trying to recover damages, instead of just harassing "free software" developers and generally throwing mud on Microsoft's most dangerous competitor.
Why would SCO want to go after Microsoft's biggest competitor, anyway? Didn't Microsoft use it's monopoly power to force Caldera out as a competitor?
I was going to post this in the previous story's comments, but what the hell:
1. SCO (formerly Caldera) was at odds with Microsoft over the monopoly case, where their business was nearly destroyed by anti-competitive practices.
2. Unless someone can prove otherwise, Microsoft does not have any insiders that sit on the board for Canopy group, and therefore, logically, has no influence on it.
3. SCO cries poor, yet refuses to go to court, even though it claims that it is owed money for illegal use of its IP. It doesn't get anymore contradictory than this. It's been a while since SGI kinda-sorta admitted its trangressions, yet SCO hasn't done anything about it.
4. Microsoft, already established as an enemy that nearly put Caldera out of business the first time, and with no reason to cooperate or share information with SCO, and prevented from entering the Unix market, is -- oddly enough -- stepping in unison with SCO... To the point where they are saying the same things.
Yeah, it's just a bunch of inexplicable events that happened at random, and I'm a crazy conspiracy theorist.
Slashdot Mirror
Contrawise I really don't know why Nike can't get a clue and start paying their workers a fair wage. The cost of doing so would hardly register.
A fair wage with respect to what? US minimum wage? The wages are better than these people would otherwise make. If this was not the case, those workers wouldn't bother taking the jobs. But yeah, I have to agree on some level there. The mark-up on Nike's products is outrageous, especially considering the quality is no better than any other fad-driven clothing product made in under-developed countries, (as opposed to practical, comfortable clothing).
I don't agree with some of the related comments from some of the other posters as well. Especially the opinion that once WalMart (or whichever company) looks to the next source of cheap labor, the economy of that country dries up. That certainly didn't happen in Japan or Taiwan. These countries simply took that technical knowledge that they had gained, and built complete products to rival what US companies were assembling from imported components.
I though it was "X-Window" or just "X".
I'm not in a hurry to ditch any of my 32-bit machines, so long as I get them replaced by 2038.
I suppose you're still running a 16MHz 386 then.
The switch is probably going to happen faster than we can predict. I'm already eyeballing Athlon FX hardware thinking about my next PC upgrade. I don't need this power, but I will buy it anyway, because it'll be 2% faster for the stuff I do.
Honestly, isn't this desk worth more than quite a large percentage of US houses?
No, it's actually about the same price as a typical American luxury car. I would think that the large percentage of US homes would go for at least $80,000 these days. The median price for a house where I live is probably ~$250,000.00, a cheap house being around $130k. The wealthier areas of this state have homes that are valued generally from a half-million upwards.
Ahhhh, the benefits of DRM!
I actually have zero proof that DRM is the issue. I'd just like to take any opportunity I can to undercut it. I'd work Microsoft into my fingerpointing, but someone has done a fine job of that already.
Even with "full range" speakers, a subwoofer still helps, and they are even used in most movie theaters. Most full range speakers corner at between 30 and 40 hz. A sub can improve the response between the 15-30Hz range.
A decently designed set of full range speakers can reproduce the sounds down that low. The drop-off below 50 or 60 Hz (typical) is not so sharp that nothing is reproduced below that frequency, so even if the full range speaker is less efficient there, it is still reproducing the sound, or at least it should be. And the speaker enclosure designs for evening out response on the low-end are well known.
Maybe it's an issue for AOL users, who technically foot the bill for AIM, but I've never paid a dime for the IM services I use, so I'm not concerned. ICQ has an "authorization required" feature, and I guess AIM has something similar, so at least there's a kinda sorta fix for the end user. Of course, I wouldn't want to be the service provider playing host to free advertising on my tab.
Yeah sure. And in 24 hours it'll be on Kazaa. :)
=D
Thanks!
I guess I'm way out of the loop. What have they done with the theme song? It's all... techno. BTW, does anyone know where I can legally get a Dr. Who theme as an MP3?
SCO's spokesman says Sontag and Darl McBride, SCO's chief executive, did not know that SCO's lawyers were planning the move.
Okay, so fire them!
I know this was quoted in an earlier reply, so don't castrate me, ok?
"Digital" connections are fiction.
No, they're not. A whole lot of problems are eliminated by having only two possible states. Don't try to pull audiophile voodoo on me. Sure, the strength of the signals may vary, and the shape of the waveform isn't going to have perfect right-angles, but that doesn't matter as long as the difference is enough to accurately determine the value of the bit. We can talk about jagged peaks, sloped walls and minute timing differences until were blue in the face, but the circuitry ignores that minutia in favor of measuring an "on" or "off" state.
Optical connections convert digital values into analog flashes of light... something on the other end has to see the flashes of light, decode them, and recreate the digital value. There is plenty of room for error in there.
Plenty of room for error? What type of problem could flip bits at random, but not degrade the entire signal to the point that error correction cannot salvage it? Surely regular old data connections would have experienced this is as well. What is the name of this phenomenon?
In both types of digital connections in the HT realm (optical and coaxial), the cable quality does in fact make some (probably minor) difference.
Most likely with the coaxial, where the clock signal may drift. I have yet to see a published report comparing the bit stream on both ends. The studies so far have been subjective, or added lots of other variable to the mix (like measuring in the analog domain by playing sound through the speakers).
So, if you use a crappy "digital" cable, you could hear any number of problems (including reduced dynamic range, distortion, etc) that would not be characterized as "abrupt end of data stream and therefore a lack of sound" as you claimed
I used a crappy coax cable once. I got loud noise and then silence. My "subjective" judgement based on empirical evidence though. It still does not change the fact that audiophiles claim a difference, but no one can actually prove it. The test would be to "rip" the AC-3 track from the media, play it while recording the bitstream on the other end of the cable, then compare the two data sets. Until someone does this while comparing the results with different brands of cables, in a repeatable experiment, the theories are on shaky ground.
How's this going to fly with consumers? Are the advantages big enough that people would switch en masse? CDs were smaller and priced about the same as record albums when they first came out. They also didn't wear out like cassettes. There was a definite advantage for the consumer. Are consumers really demanding a replacement for the CD? Or is this a misinterpretation of the general dislike for CD pricing and electronic alternatives?
My gripe with CDs has nothing to do with physical characteristics (I have a tiny MP3 player that addresses this issue). My problem is with the pricing, and to a lesser extent, using the storage space efficiently. I think the next format should be the Affordable CD.
Not to mention the fact that those sharp moon rocks would be murder on your wax job. Although you have to admit there are some good slopes in those crater walls.
How does this affect the theories about the moon being formed after Earth collided with some ancient planetoid? Or am I way behind on the current theories about the moon?
Yeah, and what's sad is a lot of audio rags promoted these snake oil products, claiming there was a noticeable difference. I once did a comparison between using a thick cable, a thin cable and UTP cable (!) to my speakers, and I found no difference. Perhaps there was a small difference in sound quality, but I couldn't hear it, and Joe Sixpack probably wouldn't notice either. Probably because, like many people, I was using relatively low power, a mediocre amp and mediocre speakers. I cancelled my subscription to some audiophile magazine when they tried to pull the same crap with [fiber]optical connections, claiming that a bad cable would "reduce the dynamic range of your sound". While I can understand the problems caused by a bad digital link-up, I think I would describe it as "abrupt end of data stream and therefore a lack of sound." A bad optical connection would immediately be obvious.
Many suround sound systems would also benifit GREATLY from a simple user adjustable delay on each channel to help compensate for an odd speaker placement
Many mid- to high-end AC3 and DTS decoders already do allow you to adjust the delay on each channel. Not many people ask for this feature in low-end home theater set-ups, because they have no idea what it's supposed to sound like. Joe Sixpack doesn't know or care about seating position or speaker placement.
I know I'm glad I've worked with pro level equipment running concerts and such. Really opens your eyes to what needs to be there for a good clear sound.
I think that they majority of low- and mid-end home theater set-ups would get an immediate benefit from improved speaker design, probably more immediately noticeable than with balanced signal cables (although that would certainly be nice). Most of the speakers I've heard are built like this:
With "reflex" ports to increase low-end efficiency and "flatten" out the peak a little.
With mismatched mid-range and tweeters (with regard to efficiency).
Thin platic enclosures, or fiberboard lacking the appropriate amount of internal support.
Bass reflex ports are a way to flatten the response curve and extend the low end (just putting it out there; I'm sure you know all this already), but most cheap speakers aren't designed correctly (or can't be due to the size of the speaker), and the resulting sound is boomy and annoying. I guess it's just cheaper to use as little material as possible in the cabinet, then glue a tube to it.
A lot of speaker manufacturers seem to purposely mismatch higher-efficiency tweeters (or midrange drivers) with the other drivers in the cabinet. Due to the limiting factor of size, they'll never get it exact, since woofers need so much precious real estate (and air volume). But manufacturers aren't even trying to get close. The recent popularity of horn-loaded drivers makes the situation worse. Even though the resulting sound is not so great, it raises the average peak efficiency of the speaker system, and it makes for a nice number to print on a color brochure.
Many low-end home theater speakers are made of relatively thin plastic with no internal support. The surface area of the cabinet is probably radiating sound more efficiently than the drivers attached to it. Too bad the cabinet isn't designed to accurately reproduce this sound. It's big bucks before we get into enclosures with internal support or better materials.
***
Sellers need comparable figures to sell against their competition. Unfortunately, power output is the easiest one for consumers to understand. Some consumers have become mindful of speaker efficiency as well, but not too many really understand that the efficiency varies between drivers and depends on the frequency of the sound being reproduced, and they don't understand that the quoted figures for efficiency ar
The problem is that this is alluded to in the first film, when Frodo gazes into the mirror. Sam is also carrying an item which is skipped over in the movies, but has a part in the final climax. I'll wait for the extended DVD, so I can see the "making of" and get an idea of what kind of contraints Jackson was up against.
What kind of quality can one expect from these reusable cameras? I'd think a cheap Argus for under $50 would be an easier solution.
Does their business model (the manufacturer, not the hacker) depend on remanufacturing these things? I don't know about DMACA (digital millenium anti-competition act) violations, but I'd think a simple deposit on sale system what fix any issues with consumers keeping the cameras. It works for car batteries, it can work for these cameras.
Multiple news sources just confirmed that Aragorn has been completely cut from `Return of the King'. Now, I have complete faith in Peter Jackson as filmmaker, and the 60 minutes of deleted footage will return in next year's RotK special edition DVD release. But, this does bring the theatrical release running time down to a more manageable 241 minutes. Rumour has it that the film contains 78 minutes of scenes not in the book involving Liv Tyler, some of which detail a surprising romantic relationship between the she-elf and Sauron. (Oops! Sorry about the spoiler!)
I kid! We all know that Microsoft's problem is conflicting internal agendas, feature insanity and impossible deadlines.
Absolutely. I was thinking the same thing. IBM should demand a book report on those 100,000 pages of documents to see if SCO comprehends what they read. I'd better not see, "these documents were great and I think everyone should read them." And no Cliff's notes!
I guess... If you're operating under the assumption that SCO is actually trying to recover damages, instead of just harassing "free software" developers and generally throwing mud on Microsoft's most dangerous competitor.
Why would SCO want to go after Microsoft's biggest competitor, anyway? Didn't Microsoft use it's monopoly power to force Caldera out as a competitor?
They haven't got a clue what they're doing, but they're doing it.
Further proof of Microsoft's involvement with SCO's recent irrational behavior. They're already adopted Microsoft's approach to software development!
I was going to post this in the previous story's comments, but what the hell:
1. SCO (formerly Caldera) was at odds with Microsoft over the monopoly case, where their business was nearly destroyed by anti-competitive practices.
2. Unless someone can prove otherwise, Microsoft does not have any insiders that sit on the board for Canopy group, and therefore, logically, has no influence on it.
3. SCO cries poor, yet refuses to go to court, even though it claims that it is owed money for illegal use of its IP. It doesn't get anymore contradictory than this. It's been a while since SGI kinda-sorta admitted its trangressions, yet SCO hasn't done anything about it.
4. Microsoft, already established as an enemy that nearly put Caldera out of business the first time, and with no reason to cooperate or share information with SCO, and prevented from entering the Unix market, is -- oddly enough -- stepping in unison with SCO... To the point where they are saying the same things.
Yeah, it's just a bunch of inexplicable events that happened at random, and I'm a crazy conspiracy theorist.