I thought the idea behind the iPod was that it loaded about 30 minutes of music into a buffer -- a conveniently-sized 32 MB buffer -- so that it would only have to spin up the hard drive occasionally and thus conserve battery power. If that is, in fact, the case, then something else must account for the gap between songs -- something that could probably be corrected with a firmware upgrade. Perhaps it does not start decompressing the next track until the previous track has been completely played? In any case, gapless playback would be a nice feature in my book.
At the launch event, Steve Jobs said that a pan-European version of iTunes is on its way and scheduled for an October release. Then, iTunes really will be available ubiquitously in Europe.
I would suspect that the reason they haven't done this yet is that they have to go through the legal handwaving to be able to do it, and the three European countries iTunes is now available in represent the majority of Europe's music sales -- at least according to The Steve at said Launch Event.
They did an amazing job of making the keyboard look like a current Apple Pro Keyboard. It looks, at least from the pictures, just like the keyboard I'm using right now. Kudos for that!
The lack of mechanical switches has always been my complaint against the keyboards you can find now. And, maybe someone can help me out here, but weren't the Extended keyboards renowned for being built like a tank -- i.e., you couldn't break them if you tried?
I like the Apple Pro keyboard, but I loved the Extended keyboard. Nice to see that it's got a USB hub in it, too. Now if only I had $100 to buy one... Sigh...
It always annoys me how quickly people, like the RIAA, like to point to P2P for decreased sales. I don't use P2P myself... well, pr0n notwithstanding... but a decrease in sales does not necessarily mean that P2P is entirely to blame.
Let's not forget that America, like most of the world, is still trying to pull out of a recession. Luxury goods -- CD's included -- are always the first to go when money gets tight.
Also, the CD sales figure does not include sales from other sources. I'm thinking in particular of iTMS and iTMS-oids. And, perhaps people are choosing to spend their "luxury budget" on other stuff, like games and DVDs.
Long story short, do I think P2P is harming music sales? If it is, then not by much. Also, as many have pointed out, the quality of the product is slipping rapidly. I know the last time I looked at music at the mall, there were maybe a couple of CDs I would consider shelling out $15 or more for.
It doesn't surprise me that CD sales are falling, because I feel that we're getting much less bang for our music dollar anymore, and online music stores are a much better deal. After all, other than CD's for the car, I listen to all my music on my computer or iPod. There's getting to be less and less of an incentive to actually go out and buy physical CDs
I don't put much stock into numbers like these, because they don't reflect the true financial situation of the affected parties well. This does not bode particularly well, however, for brick-and-mortar retail music stores, which is why I think you see so many of them carrying games and DVDs now.
I'm from Sioux City, IA, right across the Missouri River from North Sioux City, SD, where Gateway got their start. My family always bought Gateways to "support local business" -- even long after they went international. We had nothing but trouble with them. And, you were supposed to take them to the Gateway store for service -- the only reason there even was one in Sioux City was because they had their big manufacturing plant there and could dump the "refurbished" ones there.
Anyway, they made all sorts of noise about not wanting to support custom-ordered machines from the factory -- you know, all of about 100 yards away. They refused many times to fix their broken crappy computers. That whole area of the state became dependent on Gateway as a business presence, and it's because of boneheaded policies like that -- as well as an inferior product -- that they are going out of business and driving my hometown into the ground.
As much as I loathe them, I can't wish for them to go entierely out of business. But, every good thing in that town has all but disappeared as Gateway has vanished from Sioux City. Talk about sad!
Spammers are a crafty bunch. They've defeated just about every mechnaism for preventing unauthorized mail server use/relaying/etc. How long until they find a way to get their own.mail server? And also, I would venture to say that most legitimate orgs -- small businesses, personal web site owners, and non-profit organizations in particular -- will not want to, nor be able to shell out two grand for YAD (yet another domain).
I think recent innovations -- SPF being my favorite so far -- offer a lot more promise than a new TLD. But that's just me:-)
Just like with the browser war, the sad thing is that most users won't know how to change the default search page, or even that they can/should do it.
IE became the most popular browser primarily because you couldn't avoid it on any installation of Windows. Netscape, by contrast, you had to download, install, and -- in theory -- pay for.
Many Windows users will think it's too much to type in google.com and hit enter before they do a search, so Microsoft will once again use its monopoly to ruin a great product. Just like IE. Just like Windows Media. Just like Office. Just like Windows itself.
Remember, Microsoft's OS monopoly is so undermining precisely because Windows is the only thing most of the great unwashed computer users will ever see, and Microsoft controls what they see on that Windows computer. Well let's enjoy Google while it's still in business:-(
Is anyone else here tired of MS whipping out the ol' TCO everytime an open source product kicks their product's ass?
From the article: License cost makes up only a small portion of the total cost of ownership
We all remember Microsoft's skewed Windows.NET Server/Linux comparison and how they creatively invented numbers to show how expensive Linux was in TCO. Funny that they never factored in the billions of dollars companies lose due to security flaws that enable breakins and data theft, macro viruses and exploits of other features they think you can't live without, and lost time/effort/work from programs/OSes that crash. That will raise your TCO, won't it?
So Microsoft, QUIT IT with the TCO argument. None of us are buying it, and subsequently, none of us are buying your stuff.
Do you really think most employers are going to rule out a candidate because he was sued by the friggin' RIAA? *EVERYONE* knows they're litigious bastards, unless you've been living under a... oh... never mind... most employers I know have been living under a rock. Damn.
Discovery will never put on a show about setting up a HAM radio station anywhere. BUT, if you build and subseqeuntly redecorate said station, they'll be all over you faster than you can say "Paige Davis"
I used to have horribly crap-tastic handwriting until I started using mechanical pencils for everything. I had lots of fancy pens that forced me to either push really hard to make nice letters or caused scratchy angular characters. Using a fairly cheap mechanical pencil -- and what geek doesn't love mechanical pencils? -- I was forced to slow it down a bit, and it wrote very smoothly and cleanly.
Also, concentrate on one thing at a time. For example, say, "today, I'm going to try to make all the letters with circles in them more uniform." Once you get the hang of that, move on to something else, like evening out the height of the taller characters.
Finally, while it's a holy pain in the ass, try it in cursive. My handwriting in general used to be basically unreadable, but by forcing myself to write in cursive, I've improved all of my characters. My print and numbers have both dramatically improved as a result, and I can now write in cursive just as fast -- if not faster -- than I can in print, and it's all legible. People who didn't know me when I had horrible handwriting tell me that it's very elegant, distinctive, and unique.
Just a few little hints from me to you. Good luck!
Multiple Angels was one of my favorite pornos! Especially once they put in multiple angles on the DVD.
Seriously though. porno is about the second oldest profession on earth. It's no surprise to me that it drives so much technological development. Love it or hate it, it's a cultural fascination.
Well, alas, you got modded down because you came off as a homophobe, even though your comment had some decent content. If I worried about what every person on the Internet thought of me, I'd yank the cable out of the wall and never go near it again. Congratulations on the good gaydar, though.
Ironically, my boyfriend won't use my Mac. When he wants to check his email at my place, he fires up the ancient PC to use (snicker) Internet Explorer... He hates when I ask him why he can't just use Safari or Internet Explorer on the Mac. I think it's just the devil he knows. I'm convinced that's why lots of people stick with PC's.
P.S. -- Are even my posts gay-sounding? Christ! The one place I think I sound butch from time to time! Also, you should try the social interaction thing sometime. It's great!
Did you always have this feeling in the back of your mind that you were a homosexual, or did you wake up one day and realize that this was the way you are?
Um, I think the feeling was always there, but how does my computer preference have anything to do with my sexual preference? I guess the "gay jokes" don't really work on a gay guy, now do they?
I'm not knocking PC's -- or PC users, for that matter -- I just think that Macs are a better investment: they hold up better and run the most kick-ass OS I've ever seen. I'm also not a gamer, so that's not a concern for me. To each his own, I guess.
I *used* to own a PC. When I was an undergrad CS major, I became, as many nerdy college boys do, enthralled with Linux. But one of my profs had a spiffy (then-new) WallStreet PowerBook. When he opened up a shell and did all the things I was doing with Linux, then popped over to Mozilla (these were the pre-Safari days, remember) to show us something else, I fell in love. It had the glitz and glamour I loved, with a very powerful engine inside.
Long story short, I dumped my PC, got me a PowerBook, and haven't looked back since. I can run gcc, vim, and all those great *NIX tools we all can't live without, and I have access to all those allegedly vitally important Windows applications because they have Mac equivalents. It's the best of both worlds! Best of all, I've never had to have it fixed. Every PC I've ever had has had to either go back to the manufacturer so they can "repair" something I could easily do myself if they'd give me the parts, or I've had to replace some ridiculous card or something myself.
Seriously, though, anything you'd really want to do on a PC -- word processing, spreadsheet stuff, presentations, programming, RDBMS, etc., you can do just as well -- usually better -- on a Mac.
Oh my God, I sound like one of those friggin' "Switch" ads. Maybe mine could go, "My name is Alex, and I post on slashdot." And yes, I still can use Linux (w00t) -- I installed YellowDog so I can switch it up every now and then -- and (shudder) Windows with equal facility.
One thing I've found that alleviates some of the concerns of QA is test-first programming. A lot of the agile methodologies (not just XP) advocate having working automated unit tests at every stage. The problem with a lot of QA, in my experience, is that it's seen as an afterthought -- we do the programming, then the testing. When the two are done simultaneously, interesting and reasonable test cases develop quickly.
The "throw the code over the wall" method doesn't work so well, because, as you correctly point out, it is indeed bloody expensive. However, fixing a flaw that isn't found until testing -- when testing is done only after coding -- is also bloody expensive.
What I particularly like about test-first development is that you decide what the proper behavior is before you write the code. Also, since you are encouraged to work in pairs, you automatically have two brains thinking about tests. Formal testing strategies are, of course, still a part of the equation, but in my experience, this strategy reduces errors *fast* and without a lot of expense. The tests are great, because you know when you've broken something with new function/module/class etc.
In an ideal world, I think "traditional" (if you can even call it that!) software engineering and the more progressive agile methodologies can cooperate quite well. Unfortunately, each side has its zealots that spoil it for those of use who would like to live somewhere in the middle. That is a cultural phenomenon more than a technical one, and that is the hurdle that prevents truly great software from being built, more often than not.
As for the spec problem, I'm thinking primarily in terms of "feature creep." When the specification -- i.e., the work that needs to be done -- changes drastically, then it's time to recognize that we're not building the same thing anymore, and we have to start all over. Empirical studies show that this is the place where most errors begin, and it's something nontechnical managers -- of whom there are entirely too many -- simply cannot understand.
Also, I should point out, I'm speaking entirely from a philosophical "in the best of all worlds" standpoint. Much of this is culturally impossible to implement, regardless of how much money/lives it could save in the long run. *BUT* you can do it yourself. I do test-first, even though my company doesn't, for example.
As they say, in theory, theory works in reality, but in reality, theory doesn't always work. And also, as Pascal once said, "if I had more time I would have written a shorter letter." Sorry!
Software is an engineered thing, just like any other tool upon which we rely. Think about airplanes, which occasionally have mechanical failures in flight. Think about Columbia, which burned up because of engineering defects. So, if the software is flawed, it will certainly cause eventual damage. Sometimes it's benign -- restarting Word isn't so big a deal -- but sometimes it's catastrophic.
This is why I've always thought it's vitally important to have good, precise specifications in place and excellent quality assurance for any life-critical application. It's even better with many eyes overseeing every step of the process -- wait... that smacks of open source, doesn't it?
If you ask me -- and you haven't, but I'll tell you anyway -- what would be the best way to prevent catastrophe, it would be to PREVENT CHANGES TO THE SPEC. In college, our software engineering prof. gave us an assignment, then halfway through, she changed the spec on us. Well, not surprisingly, there wasn't a single project that worked faultlessly, and many of us were doing really well before that.
Software itself doesn't kill people. Bad software written by overworked developers writing to a constantly-changing specification with not nearly enough QA does. That is, people inadvertantly -- we hope -- kill people with software. Yeah yeah, it's cliche, but it works.
It's been a few years since I've been in the K-6 category, but can anyone else remember doing anything truly educational with computers in grade school? They tried to teach us typing -- "tried" being the operative word -- throwing out a couple of dozen decent typewriters in favor of Apples with typing software.
Don't get me wrong: I'm a Mac lover through and through, but looking back on it, I've always felt that the money could have been better spent elsewhere -- like fixing the dilapidated building we called a school. I went to a Catholic school where the textbooks were in terrible condition, the desks literally fell apart from time to time, and the "heater" keep the rooms at a balmy 55-60 degrees. But we had a bright, modern computer lab with lots o' Macs that we used for, well, nothing much, really.
By the time I made it to eighth grade -- yes, grades K-8 were all in one building... sigh -- the computers were so woefully out of date that they couldn't use them for anything more than teaching typing.
I've read a couple of studies recently that demonstrate that tech education for grade/middle-schoolers really doesn't benefit them much in the long run, given what they try to teach the kids, particularly when one considers the expense such education naturally engenders. Just about any educational software marketed to schools can be easily replicated by much cheaper (gasp) low-tech tools.
I think the highschoolers on up can benefit a lot more from technology, and computers are so ubiquitous in the home these days that it's not like they'll get to high school and have never seen one of these glowing boxes before. I have friends with kids who are in fourth grade or higher and who read well below grade-level, but they have plenty of access to technology at school. All this technology won't do them any good if they don't have the education to use it. Computers are just a tool -- bicycles for the brain, as Steve Jobs once said -- but you've got to know how to ride first, and where you want to go.
Although, none of us will deny that Number Munchers was hella fun:-)
One record executive turned to another and said, "How the (bleep) do you think they'll get away without putting DRM on the music? Let's dispatch the RIAA hounds at once!"
I guess "f**k" wouldn't have been such a good name for a music download service.
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I thought the idea behind the iPod was that it loaded about 30 minutes of music into a buffer -- a conveniently-sized 32 MB buffer -- so that it would only have to spin up the hard drive occasionally and thus conserve battery power. If that is, in fact, the case, then something else must account for the gap between songs -- something that could probably be corrected with a firmware upgrade. Perhaps it does not start decompressing the next track until the previous track has been completely played? In any case, gapless playback would be a nice feature in my book.
I would suspect that the reason they haven't done this yet is that they have to go through the legal handwaving to be able to do it, and the three European countries iTunes is now available in represent the majority of Europe's music sales -- at least according to The Steve at said Launch Event.
You could probably fit about 1/7 of Darl McBride in 10 kg -- let's say just the head. Now if only I had $6 million...
The lack of mechanical switches has always been my complaint against the keyboards you can find now. And, maybe someone can help me out here, but weren't the Extended keyboards renowned for being built like a tank -- i.e., you couldn't break them if you tried?
I like the Apple Pro keyboard, but I loved the Extended keyboard. Nice to see that it's got a USB hub in it, too. Now if only I had $100 to buy one... Sigh...
It always annoys me how quickly people, like the RIAA, like to point to P2P for decreased sales. I don't use P2P myself... well, pr0n notwithstanding... but a decrease in sales does not necessarily mean that P2P is entirely to blame.
Let's not forget that America, like most of the world, is still trying to pull out of a recession. Luxury goods -- CD's included -- are always the first to go when money gets tight.
Also, the CD sales figure does not include sales from other sources. I'm thinking in particular of iTMS and iTMS-oids. And, perhaps people are choosing to spend their "luxury budget" on other stuff, like games and DVDs.
Long story short, do I think P2P is harming music sales? If it is, then not by much. Also, as many have pointed out, the quality of the product is slipping rapidly. I know the last time I looked at music at the mall, there were maybe a couple of CDs I would consider shelling out $15 or more for.
It doesn't surprise me that CD sales are falling, because I feel that we're getting much less bang for our music dollar anymore, and online music stores are a much better deal. After all, other than CD's for the car, I listen to all my music on my computer or iPod. There's getting to be less and less of an incentive to actually go out and buy physical CDs
I don't put much stock into numbers like these, because they don't reflect the true financial situation of the affected parties well. This does not bode particularly well, however, for brick-and-mortar retail music stores, which is why I think you see so many of them carrying games and DVDs now.
Anyway, they made all sorts of noise about not wanting to support custom-ordered machines from the factory -- you know, all of about 100 yards away. They refused many times to fix their broken crappy computers. That whole area of the state became dependent on Gateway as a business presence, and it's because of boneheaded policies like that -- as well as an inferior product -- that they are going out of business and driving my hometown into the ground.
As much as I loathe them, I can't wish for them to go entierely out of business. But, every good thing in that town has all but disappeared as Gateway has vanished from Sioux City. Talk about sad!
I think recent innovations -- SPF being my favorite so far -- offer a lot more promise than a new TLD. But that's just me :-)
IE became the most popular browser primarily because you couldn't avoid it on any installation of Windows. Netscape, by contrast, you had to download, install, and -- in theory -- pay for.
Many Windows users will think it's too much to type in google.com and hit enter before they do a search, so Microsoft will once again use its monopoly to ruin a great product. Just like IE. Just like Windows Media. Just like Office. Just like Windows itself.
Remember, Microsoft's OS monopoly is so undermining precisely because Windows is the only thing most of the great unwashed computer users will ever see, and Microsoft controls what they see on that Windows computer. Well let's enjoy Google while it's still in business :-(
From the article:
License cost makes up only a small portion of the total cost of ownership
We all remember Microsoft's skewed Windows .NET Server/Linux comparison and how they creatively invented numbers to show how expensive Linux was in TCO. Funny that they never factored in the billions of dollars companies lose due to security flaws that enable breakins and data theft, macro viruses and exploits of other features they think you can't live without, and lost time/effort/work from programs/OSes that crash. That will raise your TCO, won't it?
So Microsoft, QUIT IT with the TCO argument. None of us are buying it, and subsequently, none of us are buying your stuff.
I am only .84 of a person. I think that means they can't sue me.
Do you really think most employers are going to rule out a candidate because he was sued by the friggin' RIAA? *EVERYONE* knows they're litigious bastards, unless you've been living under a... oh... never mind... most employers I know have been living under a rock. Damn.
Discovery will never put on a show about setting up a HAM radio station anywhere. BUT, if you build and subseqeuntly redecorate said station, they'll be all over you faster than you can say "Paige Davis"
Also, concentrate on one thing at a time. For example, say, "today, I'm going to try to make all the letters with circles in them more uniform." Once you get the hang of that, move on to something else, like evening out the height of the taller characters.
Finally, while it's a holy pain in the ass, try it in cursive. My handwriting in general used to be basically unreadable, but by forcing myself to write in cursive, I've improved all of my characters. My print and numbers have both dramatically improved as a result, and I can now write in cursive just as fast -- if not faster -- than I can in print, and it's all legible. People who didn't know me when I had horrible handwriting tell me that it's very elegant, distinctive, and unique.
Just a few little hints from me to you. Good luck!
Wait a minute... are we talking toucus lingus?
Seriously though. porno is about the second oldest profession on earth. It's no surprise to me that it drives so much technological development. Love it or hate it, it's a cultural fascination.
Ironically, my boyfriend won't use my Mac. When he wants to check his email at my place, he fires up the ancient PC to use (snicker) Internet Explorer... He hates when I ask him why he can't just use Safari or Internet Explorer on the Mac. I think it's just the devil he knows. I'm convinced that's why lots of people stick with PC's.
P.S. -- Are even my posts gay-sounding? Christ! The one place I think I sound butch from time to time! Also, you should try the social interaction thing sometime. It's great!
Um, I think the feeling was always there, but how does my computer preference have anything to do with my sexual preference? I guess the "gay jokes" don't really work on a gay guy, now do they?
I'm not knocking PC's -- or PC users, for that matter -- I just think that Macs are a better investment: they hold up better and run the most kick-ass OS I've ever seen. I'm also not a gamer, so that's not a concern for me. To each his own, I guess.
I think .mobile is too long. Why don't they just make it simple on us and go with .mob?
Long story short, I dumped my PC, got me a PowerBook, and haven't looked back since. I can run gcc, vim, and all those great *NIX tools we all can't live without, and I have access to all those allegedly vitally important Windows applications because they have Mac equivalents. It's the best of both worlds! Best of all, I've never had to have it fixed. Every PC I've ever had has had to either go back to the manufacturer so they can "repair" something I could easily do myself if they'd give me the parts, or I've had to replace some ridiculous card or something myself.
Seriously, though, anything you'd really want to do on a PC -- word processing, spreadsheet stuff, presentations, programming, RDBMS, etc., you can do just as well -- usually better -- on a Mac.
Oh my God, I sound like one of those friggin' "Switch" ads. Maybe mine could go, "My name is Alex, and I post on slashdot." And yes, I still can use Linux (w00t) -- I installed YellowDog so I can switch it up every now and then -- and (shudder) Windows with equal facility.
The "throw the code over the wall" method doesn't work so well, because, as you correctly point out, it is indeed bloody expensive. However, fixing a flaw that isn't found until testing -- when testing is done only after coding -- is also bloody expensive.
What I particularly like about test-first development is that you decide what the proper behavior is before you write the code. Also, since you are encouraged to work in pairs, you automatically have two brains thinking about tests. Formal testing strategies are, of course, still a part of the equation, but in my experience, this strategy reduces errors *fast* and without a lot of expense. The tests are great, because you know when you've broken something with new function/module/class etc.
In an ideal world, I think "traditional" (if you can even call it that!) software engineering and the more progressive agile methodologies can cooperate quite well. Unfortunately, each side has its zealots that spoil it for those of use who would like to live somewhere in the middle. That is a cultural phenomenon more than a technical one, and that is the hurdle that prevents truly great software from being built, more often than not.
As for the spec problem, I'm thinking primarily in terms of "feature creep." When the specification -- i.e., the work that needs to be done -- changes drastically, then it's time to recognize that we're not building the same thing anymore, and we have to start all over. Empirical studies show that this is the place where most errors begin, and it's something nontechnical managers -- of whom there are entirely too many -- simply cannot understand.
Also, I should point out, I'm speaking entirely from a philosophical "in the best of all worlds" standpoint. Much of this is culturally impossible to implement, regardless of how much money/lives it could save in the long run. *BUT* you can do it yourself. I do test-first, even though my company doesn't, for example.
As they say, in theory, theory works in reality, but in reality, theory doesn't always work. And also, as Pascal once said, "if I had more time I would have written a shorter letter." Sorry!
This is why I've always thought it's vitally important to have good, precise specifications in place and excellent quality assurance for any life-critical application. It's even better with many eyes overseeing every step of the process -- wait... that smacks of open source, doesn't it?
If you ask me -- and you haven't, but I'll tell you anyway -- what would be the best way to prevent catastrophe, it would be to PREVENT CHANGES TO THE SPEC. In college, our software engineering prof. gave us an assignment, then halfway through, she changed the spec on us. Well, not surprisingly, there wasn't a single project that worked faultlessly, and many of us were doing really well before that.
Software itself doesn't kill people. Bad software written by overworked developers writing to a constantly-changing specification with not nearly enough QA does. That is, people inadvertantly -- we hope -- kill people with software. Yeah yeah, it's cliche, but it works.
Don't get me wrong: I'm a Mac lover through and through, but looking back on it, I've always felt that the money could have been better spent elsewhere -- like fixing the dilapidated building we called a school. I went to a Catholic school where the textbooks were in terrible condition, the desks literally fell apart from time to time, and the "heater" keep the rooms at a balmy 55-60 degrees. But we had a bright, modern computer lab with lots o' Macs that we used for, well, nothing much, really.
By the time I made it to eighth grade -- yes, grades K-8 were all in one building... sigh -- the computers were so woefully out of date that they couldn't use them for anything more than teaching typing.
I've read a couple of studies recently that demonstrate that tech education for grade/middle-schoolers really doesn't benefit them much in the long run, given what they try to teach the kids, particularly when one considers the expense such education naturally engenders. Just about any educational software marketed to schools can be easily replicated by much cheaper (gasp) low-tech tools.
I think the highschoolers on up can benefit a lot more from technology, and computers are so ubiquitous in the home these days that it's not like they'll get to high school and have never seen one of these glowing boxes before. I have friends with kids who are in fourth grade or higher and who read well below grade-level, but they have plenty of access to technology at school. All this technology won't do them any good if they don't have the education to use it. Computers are just a tool -- bicycles for the brain, as Steve Jobs once said -- but you've got to know how to ride first, and where you want to go.
Although, none of us will deny that Number Munchers was hella fun :-)
But don't you all know the government puts RFID tags in tinfoil???
I guess "f**k" wouldn't have been such a good name for a music download service.
I thought the end of the universe was in Houston, Texas, where there's a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks.