While certainly this is a popular argument, I like to make a point to say "Commercial TV" is a waste of time, and even that is not entirely the case. First off, a television is not in and of itself an evil device. What you watch on TV is what is at issue. God knows how many documentaries I have watched on my TV, that I feel have greatly improve my knowledge and appreciation of the world. I also have premium, commercial-free channels like HBO that allow me to watch intelligent and thought provoking material without bombarding me with sales pitches. And even on commercial channels, I have seen many shows that have educated me. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth? What is the likelihood that I am going to read an in depth book or website on ancient Egyptian life when that is not my main interest? A one hour History channel show can be just as informative for me as any other form of learning.
What we really mean when we say TV is crap, is that the vast majority of material that is presented to us over the device is empty mind-candy, driven by a desire to deliver an audience to advertisers. All of that is a waste of time. But given all of the other benefits, I won't be throwing out my DLP any time soon.
I do that to freak out some my friends as well. They will answer and I will say something like "Mongoose, the assets are in place. The mighty wind carries a mighty sword. By the grace of god we shall succeed. Oh, and what's up man?" Usually makes people veeery uncomfortable.
What Bush actually said was "Fool me once (pause) shame on (pause) you. (Long pause) Cause, cause you can't get fooled again."
Old southern expression mangled in a way only GW can.
I don't know about you, but after reading Slashdot the last couple of months there seem to be a LOT of killers on the loose. Better to stay home, and avoid all the electronic psycho-killers.
If memory serves, Apple went with the PDF framework rather than Post Script specifically because of licensing issues. Adobe was not pleased because it was not how the intended their system to work. The PDF is an open standard, and Apple simply worked with. I have no idea how this relates to original topic, but might answer the Apple question.
I read an article in Wired that really piqued my interest in a form of Nuclear Power plant that the Chinese had been working on. These are called Pebble Core Reactors, and basically look like a big tylenol capsule stood on its side. I am by no means an expert in this area, but in layman's terms the system works like this. Instead of radioactive rods, the system uses radioactive pellets. As the pellets heat up they fall through a grating system to the storage below. If the thing overheats, the system collapses onto itself. MIT continues to work on this, along side the Chinese and many others.
One interesting thing from the Wired article, this technology goes all the way back to the 50s. The decision to go with the water cooled system was partly based on the Navy's desire for Nuclear submarines and ships. Of course the others were waaay more expensive, so naturally business wanted those.
Geez, does OS X offer any applications that would entice me? Well, I don't know who you are, or what you like to do with your computer. But iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD are widely acknowledged to be the best integrated digital media suite for consumers. Garage Band is an absolute dream for young musicians (sure beats my first four track tape machine!). Final Cut Pro, Logic, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Aperture and Shake are all industry leading applications in their fields.
These are just the Mac only apps created by Apple. I left out iTunes and others because they are available on the pc. And it obviously doesn't include the fact that there are many, many apps that are cross platform. You are not cutting yourself off either.
I know quite a few people who have bought a Mac for some combination of these apps. No one I know has bought a Mac just for the looks. No one. Sure they like the design, but it is when they see the OS and the apps that people light up.
Some people don't like Apple's sense of humor, but I do. Here is a quote from the Apple page about the BIOS situation.
EFI and BIOS
Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries.
I made this same point to my ex-wife during one of our 'disagreements'. Although technically true, probably not a good idea at the time. Might explain the 'ex' part.
Well, I guess then I will have to wait for the 500GB iPod.;)
Apple Lossless = Huge library, but CDs in the closet. And hey, in the very near future 500GB will be nothing. I didn't want to have to rip my collection a 3rd time.
The first thing that came to my mind was the new dashboard widgets in Tiger. Remember, Dashboard widgets are written in Javascript, CSS, XML, and HTML. Each Widget is actual a webcore instance if my understanding is correct (or it's one big web core window). Couldn't be that difficult to make it work on this browser. And if you have seen the number of widgets out there (I was just @ WWDC), it is pretty amazing. And a lot of them would be perfect for cell phones.
Just something to chew on...
Agreed. I especially love the inevitable "he ruined my childhood memories theme". Geez, ever think that no Star Wars movie could live up to your memories? Or that maybe as an adult you would see the movies differently? Every new episode I've seen has been with a room full actual kids who seemed to really enjoy the movie, and weren't too old and cynical to enjoy anything.
And I would like to stand up for Mr. Lucas too. Everyone may have opinions about his writing, but some things are facts. He is a visionary when it comes to tech in the movies, and has funded too many film revolutions to count. He also has worked outside of the system, using his resources to literally build the future of filmmaking.
And for my opinion on his writing, if you look past the stuff that was there for children and the stilted love scenes you will find IMHO an incredibly rich story of how a noble political system is corrupted from within by using fear and the manipulation of events. But I guess that is not relevant, let's beat up on the stupid character for kids to show how cool we are.
I can see where people like Thurrot only look at the consumer advances of Tiger that come with the package. Spotlight, Automator, etc are all aimed at the user. The real power of Tiger is in the new frameworks. Get ready for some absolutely incredible apps to built on top of Tiger. I am becoming a believer in Cocoa and Obj-C, and think there is an opportunity for small groups of programmers to accomplish amazing things with Tiger. See Delicious Library for an example of what a small team can do now. In addition to the additions of CoreImage, CoreVideo, CoreData, and finally Quicktime frameworks for Cocoa, xCode 2 is looking very cool. Hey VB guys, take a look. And everyone else too, because it will come free with your Tiger disk.
Its not the first time the original trilogy has been available in a digital format. I have the laserdisc box set to prove it. As a bonus, it is the original films not the special editions. Now if I just had a laserdisc player that works...
Slashdot Mirror
While certainly this is a popular argument, I like to make a point to say "Commercial TV" is a waste of time, and even that is not entirely the case. First off, a television is not in and of itself an evil device. What you watch on TV is what is at issue. God knows how many documentaries I have watched on my TV, that I feel have greatly improve my knowledge and appreciation of the world. I also have premium, commercial-free channels like HBO that allow me to watch intelligent and thought provoking material without bombarding me with sales pitches. And even on commercial channels, I have seen many shows that have educated me. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth? What is the likelihood that I am going to read an in depth book or website on ancient Egyptian life when that is not my main interest? A one hour History channel show can be just as informative for me as any other form of learning.
What we really mean when we say TV is crap, is that the vast majority of material that is presented to us over the device is empty mind-candy, driven by a desire to deliver an audience to advertisers. All of that is a waste of time. But given all of the other benefits, I won't be throwing out my DLP any time soon.
I do that to freak out some my friends as well. They will answer and I will say something like "Mongoose, the assets are in place. The mighty wind carries a mighty sword. By the grace of god we shall succeed. Oh, and what's up man?" Usually makes people veeery uncomfortable.
What Bush actually said was "Fool me once (pause) shame on (pause) you. (Long pause) Cause, cause you can't get fooled again." Old southern expression mangled in a way only GW can.
I don't know about you, but after reading Slashdot the last couple of months there seem to be a LOT of killers on the loose. Better to stay home, and avoid all the electronic psycho-killers.
If memory serves, Apple went with the PDF framework rather than Post Script specifically because of licensing issues. Adobe was not pleased because it was not how the intended their system to work. The PDF is an open standard, and Apple simply worked with. I have no idea how this relates to original topic, but might answer the Apple question.
I read an article in Wired that really piqued my interest in a form of Nuclear Power plant that the Chinese had been working on. These are called Pebble Core Reactors, and basically look like a big tylenol capsule stood on its side. I am by no means an expert in this area, but in layman's terms the system works like this. Instead of radioactive rods, the system uses radioactive pellets. As the pellets heat up they fall through a grating system to the storage below. If the thing overheats, the system collapses onto itself. MIT continues to work on this, along side the Chinese and many others. One interesting thing from the Wired article, this technology goes all the way back to the 50s. The decision to go with the water cooled system was partly based on the Navy's desire for Nuclear submarines and ships. Of course the others were waaay more expensive, so naturally business wanted those.
Geez, does OS X offer any applications that would entice me? Well, I don't know who you are, or what you like to do with your computer. But iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD are widely acknowledged to be the best integrated digital media suite for consumers. Garage Band is an absolute dream for young musicians (sure beats my first four track tape machine!). Final Cut Pro, Logic, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Aperture and Shake are all industry leading applications in their fields.
These are just the Mac only apps created by Apple. I left out iTunes and others because they are available on the pc. And it obviously doesn't include the fact that there are many, many apps that are cross platform. You are not cutting yourself off either.
I know quite a few people who have bought a Mac for some combination of these apps. No one I know has bought a Mac just for the looks. No one. Sure they like the design, but it is when they see the OS and the apps that people light up.
Some people don't like Apple's sense of humor, but I do. Here is a quote from the Apple page about the BIOS situation. EFI and BIOS Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries.
I made this same point to my ex-wife during one of our 'disagreements'. Although technically true, probably not a good idea at the time. Might explain the 'ex' part.
It doesn't come with batteries because it will require 4200 size Ds. They are getting design help from the xBox 360 team on power enclosures.
People always mention allofmp3 as if it is some legal alternative. It is not. If you want to avoid DRM, buy the CD and rip it. Better quality anyway.
Well, I guess then I will have to wait for the 500GB iPod. ;)
Apple Lossless = Huge library, but CDs in the closet. And hey, in the very near future 500GB will be nothing. I didn't want to have to rip my collection a 3rd time.
The first thing that came to my mind was the new dashboard widgets in Tiger. Remember, Dashboard widgets are written in Javascript, CSS, XML, and HTML. Each Widget is actual a webcore instance if my understanding is correct (or it's one big web core window). Couldn't be that difficult to make it work on this browser. And if you have seen the number of widgets out there (I was just @ WWDC), it is pretty amazing. And a lot of them would be perfect for cell phones. Just something to chew on...
Agreed. I especially love the inevitable "he ruined my childhood memories theme". Geez, ever think that no Star Wars movie could live up to your memories? Or that maybe as an adult you would see the movies differently? Every new episode I've seen has been with a room full actual kids who seemed to really enjoy the movie, and weren't too old and cynical to enjoy anything. And I would like to stand up for Mr. Lucas too. Everyone may have opinions about his writing, but some things are facts. He is a visionary when it comes to tech in the movies, and has funded too many film revolutions to count. He also has worked outside of the system, using his resources to literally build the future of filmmaking. And for my opinion on his writing, if you look past the stuff that was there for children and the stilted love scenes you will find IMHO an incredibly rich story of how a noble political system is corrupted from within by using fear and the manipulation of events. But I guess that is not relevant, let's beat up on the stupid character for kids to show how cool we are.
I can see where people like Thurrot only look at the consumer advances of Tiger that come with the package. Spotlight, Automator, etc are all aimed at the user. The real power of Tiger is in the new frameworks. Get ready for some absolutely incredible apps to built on top of Tiger. I am becoming a believer in Cocoa and Obj-C, and think there is an opportunity for small groups of programmers to accomplish amazing things with Tiger. See Delicious Library for an example of what a small team can do now. In addition to the additions of CoreImage, CoreVideo, CoreData, and finally Quicktime frameworks for Cocoa, xCode 2 is looking very cool. Hey VB guys, take a look. And everyone else too, because it will come free with your Tiger disk.
Its not the first time the original trilogy has been available in a digital format. I have the laserdisc box set to prove it. As a bonus, it is the original films not the special editions. Now if I just had a laserdisc player that works...