I could attend a demo of ASIMO in Paris a few years ago. It was truly impressive, even if we couldn't get a demo of the IA. ASIMO was on the stage and performed various walks and movements and went up and down stairs (and it was fully automated since this prototype of ASIMO need to compute something like 20 seconds before going on stairs). The audience was full of kids that were so impressed that we could hear only silence... and laughter when ASIMO made fun of the presenter from Honda that was also on stage.
The new 2004 protoype looks even greater. I can't wait to see how that android can help disabled people.
Had the same problem with my bank's site (French Société Générale). At the time the problem was a JavaScript that detected Opera as IE-compatible. When I spoofed it to switch to "Netscape-compatible", it worked. I told them, they replied that they were developing a new version and that they took my comment into account. A few weeks later, they changed the behavior and since then every new version of the site worked perfectly with IE, Firefox and Opera.
iTunes 5 rebuilds the music library, so you might be unable to revert to iTunes 4.9.
iTunes 5 has a new interface look, and it automatically use the language set up in the "Regional and Language Options" control panel, under the "Regional Options" tab. It seems clever, but it is not since this setting is used to define the default currency, time format, etc. NOT the default language of the GUI. This setting exists in Windows XP but does not appear on regular consumer versions (only on Corporate ones, when a Microsoft MUI extension is installed). Yes, it's stupid since other OS like MacOS X let you switch the language of the entire interface even on the cheapest Mac you can get, but it's the way Microsoft did it. The only right way to define the UI language is to do it on a per-app basis. Which means : Add a bloody "Language" options to the iTunes preferences instead of trying to play the smart guy. I have an English version of Windows and my Regional Options are set to French, but I'd like iTunes to be in ENGLISH like the rest of the UI.
iTunes 5 still not support OGG.
iTunes 5 is unable to read correctly some very old AIFF files I still have in my Library (by "old", I mean "from my Atari ST": 12,538Khz 8 bit mono). QuickTime 7 opens them perfectly and it worked with iTunes 4.9.
QuickTime 7 is a real pain in the ass. I mean it. First, if you registered QuickTime 6, you need to pay again to register QuickTime 7. The player has the exact same limitations than the previous versions: it's unable to open files which have Unicode filenames or filenames that are >31 characters. Yes, exactly like on MacOS 9! Furthermore, the very convenient menus to work with tracks (delete tracks, enable tracks, extract tracks etc) disappeared. Now you must open the Movie Properties dialog, go to the correct tab, enable or disable the track(s), go back to the movie window, work on the track(s), go back to the Movie Properties dialog, etc. I use QuickTime Pro mostly to correct the movies I do with my little camera without recompression (the sound is delayed by 1 sound frame), now with this version it's became a real torture.
By the way, if you use any keyboard shortcut of the Pro version (for example Ctrl-F for Fullscreen) but have the basic player only, you get a message asking if you want to register. It seems very clever too, except that some movies I made use QuickTime scripts associated to some keyboard shortcuts... like Ctrl-F. Guess what's happening ?
I've always been a big supporter of QuickTime, hoping that QuickTime 7 would be the same leap for the Windows versions that it was for the OS X version of QuickTime 6... I guess I had too much expectations...
The QuickTime file format has always been documented.
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/QuickTime/QTFF/index.html
You can expand the file format as you wish and use any codec you want. Proprietary codecs like Sorenson are not mandatory... Blame the open source developers for not writing a QuickTime version of codecs like Xvid. Or to invent new exotic file formats instead of using MooV.
Just tried Bonjour on Windows, and it automatically detected our two network printers : one's an HP LaserJet 3030 (with a network box) and the other is a Lexmark C510N. I'm really glad I can at last uninstall all the crap that comes with the drivers to make them work... And I won't have to define network ports that crash or fail to detect network names again! Nobody will come ever again to tell me "the printer doesn't work"... I'll switch all our computers to Bonjour as soon as I can. Thanks Apple.
I'm French and when I go to the UK I only need to show my ID (I don't have a passport).
BTW I was lucky enough to be able to play at the demo of Metroid Hunters on DS two days ago. I wasn't really convinced about the DS before but now I definitively get one when it's available. (sorry to be offtopic)
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It was not 1080p but 1080i. Or more precisely, 1080/50i. I guess they'll have to convert it to 59.94i for the US.
I could attend a demo of ASIMO in Paris a few years ago. It was truly impressive, even if we couldn't get a demo of the IA. ASIMO was on the stage and performed various walks and movements and went up and down stairs (and it was fully automated since this prototype of ASIMO need to compute something like 20 seconds before going on stairs). The audience was full of kids that were so impressed that we could hear only silence... and laughter when ASIMO made fun of the presenter from Honda that was also on stage. The new 2004 protoype looks even greater. I can't wait to see how that android can help disabled people.
Had the same problem with my bank's site (French Société Générale). At the time the problem was a JavaScript that detected Opera as IE-compatible. When I spoofed it to switch to "Netscape-compatible", it worked. I told them, they replied that they were developing a new version and that they took my comment into account. A few weeks later, they changed the behavior and since then every new version of the site worked perfectly with IE, Firefox and Opera.
Just tested them (Windows version):
iTunes 5 rebuilds the music library, so you might be unable to revert to iTunes 4.9.
iTunes 5 has a new interface look, and it automatically use the language set up in the "Regional and Language Options" control panel, under the "Regional Options" tab. It seems clever, but it is not since this setting is used to define the default currency, time format, etc. NOT the default language of the GUI. This setting exists in Windows XP but does not appear on regular consumer versions (only on Corporate ones, when a Microsoft MUI extension is installed). Yes, it's stupid since other OS like MacOS X let you switch the language of the entire interface even on the cheapest Mac you can get, but it's the way Microsoft did it. The only right way to define the UI language is to do it on a per-app basis. Which means : Add a bloody "Language" options to the iTunes preferences instead of trying to play the smart guy. I have an English version of Windows and my Regional Options are set to French, but I'd like iTunes to be in ENGLISH like the rest of the UI.
iTunes 5 still not support OGG.
iTunes 5 is unable to read correctly some very old AIFF files I still have in my Library (by "old", I mean "from my Atari ST": 12,538Khz 8 bit mono). QuickTime 7 opens them perfectly and it worked with iTunes 4.9.
QuickTime 7 is a real pain in the ass. I mean it. First, if you registered QuickTime 6, you need to pay again to register QuickTime 7. The player has the exact same limitations than the previous versions: it's unable to open files which have Unicode filenames or filenames that are >31 characters. Yes, exactly like on MacOS 9! Furthermore, the very convenient menus to work with tracks (delete tracks, enable tracks, extract tracks etc) disappeared. Now you must open the Movie Properties dialog, go to the correct tab, enable or disable the track(s), go back to the movie window, work on the track(s), go back to the Movie Properties dialog, etc. I use QuickTime Pro mostly to correct the movies I do with my little camera without recompression (the sound is delayed by 1 sound frame), now with this version it's became a real torture. By the way, if you use any keyboard shortcut of the Pro version (for example Ctrl-F for Fullscreen) but have the basic player only, you get a message asking if you want to register. It seems very clever too, except that some movies I made use QuickTime scripts associated to some keyboard shortcuts... like Ctrl-F. Guess what's happening ?
I've always been a big supporter of QuickTime, hoping that QuickTime 7 would be the same leap for the Windows versions that it was for the OS X version of QuickTime 6... I guess I had too much expectations...
Winzip 10 is still unreliable since it still doesn't support Unicode filenames. Use WinRAR or 7-zip instead.
The QuickTime file format has always been documented. http://developer.apple.com/documentation/QuickTime /QTFF/index.html
You can expand the file format as you wish and use any codec you want. Proprietary codecs like Sorenson are not mandatory... Blame the open source developers for not writing a QuickTime version of codecs like Xvid. Or to invent new exotic file formats instead of using MooV.
Just tried Bonjour on Windows, and it automatically detected our two network printers : one's an HP LaserJet 3030 (with a network box) and the other is a Lexmark C510N. I'm really glad I can at last uninstall all the crap that comes with the drivers to make them work... And I won't have to define network ports that crash or fail to detect network names again! Nobody will come ever again to tell me "the printer doesn't work"... I'll switch all our computers to Bonjour as soon as I can. Thanks Apple.
I'm French and when I go to the UK I only need to show my ID (I don't have a passport).
BTW I was lucky enough to be able to play at the demo of Metroid Hunters on DS two days ago. I wasn't really convinced about the DS before but now I definitively get one when it's available. (sorry to be offtopic)
Here's a good start:
http://www.google.com/intl/xx-klingon/