One option that is important to the Slashdot crowd, but is not listed in the article is creating your own DVR. There are several HDTV PCI cards available that can be used to build your own HD recorder. I have used one for the last two years to record all kinds of OTA HD material for free.
Some of the options:
- pchdtv.com HD-2000 / HD-3000 cards + MythTV, on Linux. This option has a ton of potential. But, from what I hear, there are still some fairly major kinks to be worked out. I am hoping this improves, as I would love to switch to a Linux solution.
- MyHD MDP-120. HD tuner card with hardware MPEG2 decoder (so, system requirements are very low). Probably the best of the group of similar cards with hardware tuner. Software is reliable for basic recording and playback. Can't do full PVR functionality, like pausing live TV or playing a saved file while recording another. (Some of the similar cards are: AccessHDTV, HiPix, OnAir DTV Pro, etc)
- Dvico FusionHDTV. HD Tuner card, MPEG decoding done in software.. simpler hardware means it's cheaper. Software has been unstable in the past, but seems to be improving. Reportedly making BDA drivers for use with Windows Media Center 2005.
- ATI HDTV Wonder. Fairly new. Software based MPEG decoding. Is supposed to have good MS Media Center 2005 integration.
- ElGato EyeTV 500. MacOS X HDTV solution. Firewire based device, uses software MPEG decoding.
- Sasem OnAir USB HDTV. supported on Windows only, connects via USB 2.0 port.
The DirecTV service fees listed in the article are a bit misleading..
The $10.99/month is for a package of HDTV channels (ESPN-HD, Discovery-HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, Bravo-HD.) You are not required to purchase this package.
For no additional charge, you can record all of your local off-the-air channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, etc.). And, if you have HBO or Showtime, those you automatically get their HD channels as part of your existing package.
I've been looking for a cheap web terminal type device for my parents. I've set them up with a good PC, but I think they would like (and actually use) a laptop. But, laptops are overkill both in terms of price and functionality.
I got a Compaq Aero 8000 a few years ago. It seemed to be the perfect fit.. laptop form factor, flash based - instant on, good sized LCD display and keyboard, built-in PCMCIA and CompactFlash slots.. But, the Windows CE software sucked badly enough to make the device painful to use.
The same form factor - maybe upping the resolution to 1024x768, with a decently responsive OS, and a good WWW browser, would be all the laptop most people would need. If it ran an open OS, like Linux, there would be plenty of software available for it (even if the manufacturer abandoned it, like Compaq did with the Aero 8000, leaving users with an extremely outdated version of IE for a browser).
15-25 Mbps is enough for one HDTV stream to one location.. I would hope that a jump in technology like this would at least support something equal to current technology (many people have 2 or three cable or satellite receivers today).
Hopefully they are using multicast.. it would almost have to be, otherwise the network and server resources for streaming a huge number of HDTV streams would be immense.
Obviously, there is a possibility for a bunch of restrictions to be placed on what would otherwise be an incredibly powerful concept. But, they could also make really powerful changes that could change the competitive landscape.
If they look at it as a general communications platform, with additional services sold on top of it (Internet, VOIP, TV, PPV, etc.), ala-carte pricing might be more feasible. I would be very happy if I could just pay for HBO-HD, EPSN-HD, Comedy Central, and my locals. And, that would be a big blow to their cable/satellite competitors.
That's a good idea.. I recently got an HD Tivo, and it had 250GB of empty space that could have been used for sample content.
It could allow for a better user experience, otherwise you have to wait several days for the Tivo to build up a list of programs captured. It could also kickstart the Tivo learning process by providing many programs for the user to rate. If they threw in a couple of more valuable items, like pay-per-view movies, or HBO movies, it would be even more effective.
They could probably even get companies to pay them for the privilege.. I'm sure the networks would love the opportunity to pre-load the pilot episode of their programs on Tivos to make it easy for people to greatly increase the chance that viewers give it a chance.
Even a couple sample HDTV programs would be nice to show off the 1080i video and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio capabilities of the unit..
It's probably because Tivo has kowtowed to the corporate overlords and received their blessing.
That's the good and bad about Tivo.. They work with Big Media to avoid litigation, allowing them some cool features. But, to get the buy-in from Big Media, they must agree to restrictive terms - and NOT bring many more cool features.
As was mentioned in the article, ReplayTV was litigated into a smoking hole in the ground after pissing off Big Media.
An iPod is nice, for portability. But, I don't think that was listed in the requirements. Also, if the music is to be played on a stereo system, the iPod interface may not be the best.
Another option would be an Airport Express. Rip all the music, and store it on their desktop PC. Then, play it via iTunes + Airport Express on their stereo.
If they wanted portability, the iPod could fit nicely into this structure. But, just for home stereo playback, it's not really necessary.
I am a longtime owner of the SL-5500 Zaurus. It's nice to have a very small Linux box..
I use mine primarily as a Wifi detector. I pull out the Zaurus, and quickly check to see if Wifi is available, and if it's open and free. If so, I pull out my PowerBook for any real www access.
But, a hard drive would be the last thing I would have wanted on my Zaurus. The microdrives would be a power drain, on an already power limited device. And, I have plenty of storage already - via the large/cheap SD cards.
Some things that the Zaurus would be better off with are:
- Built-in Wifi. I use a CF card wifi adapter. It's pretty small, but I would still prefer to have it built in. That would leave the CF slot open, and hopefully an internal version would take less power. - Bigger screen. 640x480 is nice, but there is plenty of wasted bezel space that would be better used as a widescreen display.
I got one of those tiny DeLorme Tripmate USB GPS receivers, which was bundled with Windows software for ~ $120. I knew my chances of running with MacOS X or Linux were slim, but I needed it for a big roadtrip. And, yup.. I was right. DeLorme will not release any information on the hardware to enable driver development on Mac or Linux platforms.
The only option is to buy the bluetooth dock for it, which costs more than the GPS unit. I know this works with my PowerBook. I think it coul be made to work in Linux too.
Yes, it is kind of odd for a Republican administration to be moving so strongly into regulation. They have always claimed that they want small government, and that the government should stay out of the way of business.
But, the current administration has a bit of a different idea about business. Rather than just promoting free markets, they have a track record of supporting big business, which in a lot of ways is the opposite of a free market.
Disney, and the other big media corporations lobbied hard for the broadcast flag. They screamed about the "napsterization" of their markets, and claimed that this was needed to stop it. When Congress refused to bite on this, they took it to the FCC, where Mr. Powell went for it.
Okay, here is a tangent to a Supreme Court story.. Maybe some court watchers out there will have some good info.
Since the 2000 election, there have been lots of rumors about three Supreme Court justices retiring due to health or age reasons. People "in the know" made it sound like a sure thing. But, it hasn't happened, and it's obviously not happening during this presidential term.
Any clues as to why none have retired? I think two of the three potential retirees were rather conservative, so leaving in a Republican administration was the basis for many of the rumors. With a Bush re-election definitely not a sure thing, it would seem risky for them to wait until the next term.
Do they not want Bush nominating their replacements? Or, were the court watchers just way off base?
Around here, you used to find all kinds of people complaining about the old kludgy x86 architecture and how the backwards compatibility placed terrible limitations on the CPUs and on software that runs on it.
Now, everyone jumped on the bandwagon spouting "what were they thinking? Trying to define a new architecture.. dumb asses!"
So, which is it?? I learned architecture and assembly on a Motorola 68k processor. So, the x86 stuff has always seemed kludgy to me. Have the problems been overcome, or do people just not care anymore?
In either case, it's just transferring compressed multimedia data (either MPEG2 in HDTV or DVD, and DV for your camcorder). The recording device either dumps the data to disk, or transcodes it to a format for playback (DV -> MPEG2 for DVD playback).
But, my point was that the firewire port is the best choice, and pretty much the standard way, to transfer compressed multimedia data.
He was way off base in the article by saying they should record the analog (RGB, YPrPB) or DVI/HDMI ports, since recording those is either prohibitively expensive or impossible (DVI-HDCP/HDMI is encrypted, to prohibit any attempt at recording).
I love my HD-Tivo. He had some good points on the limitations, but he seemed to misunderstand some of the reasons behind them, or existing ways to solve them.
Some wrong or misleading info:
- "JVC's decision to use firewire was a mistake". He obviously doesn't anderstand what is involved in recording HD video. Firewire is used to xfer the compressed digital data stream -- the raw, unmodified MPEG2 stream that is sent from the broadcaster. Recording by any other means (RGB/VGA, YPrPb, DVI) requires the recorder to re-compress the video with MPEG2 or some other format (think of trying to record the VGA output from your computer.. this is the same as recording HDTV.. You don't record the analog output, you record the original digital data). HD MPEG encoders are extremely expensive pieces of hardware (currently just used in professional video production).
The issue is not JVC's choice of connections, firewire is definitely the best choice for this function, the issue is the MPAA's pressure on satellite companies to not allow external archiving of HD material. So, despite customer outcry, DirecTV has refused to include a firewire port. Dish does include a firewire port, but it is currently disabled - and they are calling it "dishwire", presumably to limit its functionality if needed.
But, cable companies are beginning to include firewire ports on their HD boxes. There is some FCC directive saying that the new cable boxes must include a firewire port for recording. But, I think this is still not a done deal.
Several DVD recorders also include firewire input ports. It is definitely the right port for the job..
- Sluggish Tivo operation. Yes, I would like the HD Tivo to operate faster.. But, this can be minimized by using the other still Tivo guide. The other guide shows the current playing programs in one column, then a longer list of upcoming programs for the selected channel in the second column. This updates faster because it only needs to update one channel. And, it's better for selecting programs to record, because you can quickly see all the programs on the channel you want for the next two weeks.
- Dish forward skip button. This is a nice feature. Tivo can also do this if you enter a short series of keypresses on the remote to change the functionality of the jump-to-end and instant-replay keys. The jump-to-end changes to 30 second skip, and the replay becomes a 7 second rewind in case you go too far.
Data access via fast cellular networks has always seemed like a better route than wifi to me.. Anyone more versed in cell networks care to debunk this?
With the very short range of WiFi, it's great for using my laptop around the house, but for ubiquitous access it has big limitations. Then, add on the pay-per model that many places have, and it is a big pain in the butt. If I could subscribe once to all hotspots it would be okay. But, as it is now, I go from a coffee shop - to the airport - fly to another airport, and they all have different wifi services.. each wanting $15 for that five minutes of access to grab my e-mail.
Even at slower speeds, the ubiquity of cell networks is the killer app.
What are the other factors?
- I have seen talk of a metro-net version of WiFi, which would presumably cover areas similar to cell networks. - Capacity issues. Will 3G cell networks have the capacity for a huge number of data users? How about metro area wifi?
If you want insight into the candidate's views on science, you should look into views on basic issues, like Evolution.
Bush has made several comments supporting the teaching of creationism in public schools. But, given the radical religious beliefs permeating his administration, this is not really surprising.
> Um, he's the guy who cut taxes. Kerry wants to raise them, er, repeal the cuts, er, something, unless you actually ask him, or something.
The original poster was giving an "even if" argument, not saying he raised taxes.
But, yes.. Bush did the tax refund thing. Oh boy, that $300 check really made a big difference for me. That was certainly worth growing the deficit even further than it already was. It was also at a time after the economic bubble had burst, and everyone knew the budget surplus was long gone. But, the Bushies pushed ahead, defying all logic or facts (a precedent for their Iraq policy), and did the tax refund anyway.
To me, a $300 tax break is not worth plunging the country further into debt, making the prospect of social security for my generation even more tenuous.
Just because we survived Reaganomics once doesn't mean it's sound fiscal policy.
They mention a mini-VGA port for "mirroring" several times. The GPU (Nvidia FX 5200) definitely supports dual heads, I wonder if this is disabled on the iMac.
I would like the small size of this system.. But, dual head operation is a requirement for me.
Trying to scale up that many processors in a single small chassis seems like the wrong direction to go. Especially since the power/heat requirements make a relatively slow processor necessary.
Wouldn't someone be better off using a good Gig-E network and some processing nodes with fast CPUs to do the crunching?
Apple's Xgrid is a good example of this.. Use a G5 workstation, and process on some Xserves.
I guess the main downside to Xgrid is that it needs application support, where SMP is divided up in the OS.
From The Register article, it sounds like it's just a new format definition. The 2TB size would just be the addressing limit. Also, the claim a 120MB/s xfer rate.. which, like ATA133, represents the upper limit - not any real xfer rate.
So, it's basically an updated format specification with no (current) practical limits.
Altered Carbon was more detective story than scifi
on
Broken Angels
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I haven't read "Broken Angels", but I have read his previous novel, "Altered Carbon". It was decent, but not what I would call great scifi. It had a few scifi concepts, thrown into a basic detective plot. It felt more like a hollywood screenplay.. lots of action around a basic mystery, with scifi concepts that could quickly be explained in the story.
For a much better scifi work, with a lot of though t provoking concepts, check out "Permutation City" by Greg Egan. He has a similar concept of taking human consciousness into an electronic form. But, Egan covers it much more thoroughly.
This is great, it gives Macs the hardware needed to receive HD. But, it seems like the playback will be a bit rough. Without MPEG2 accel, it takes a ridiculous amount of CPU power to display good HD.
On the x86 side, an 800MHz cpu can do it when using DxVA. If Apple would open up the APIs for hardware accel, this could be a much more accessible solution.
Hey, at least it's a Unix box.. I'm a long time Linux user (over 10 years) and have Linux systems at home. But, when looking at laptop options, nothing came close to the PowerBook. That thing is great! All the standard Unix stuff, with an excellent GUI.
If you're really hard core, you could install Linux on your PowerBook, and use Mac-on-Linux to run MacOS as needed. I'm waiting for the next version of MoL, so I can run a Linux VM on my MacOS PowerBook.
I was driving out to visit family in Michigan, and stopped at that rest stop & noticed they had free wireless access.
The funny thing is, it didn't work. I could connect to the access point, but I couldn't get beyond that (traceroutes, pings, and any other access stopped at the AP). The photographer called the the iDot people responsible for it, and the telco guys were heading over to fix it, but I didn't stick around.
Get a good espresso machine, and people will look forward to getting into the office.
Well, at least it worked that way for a mild coffee addict like me. I also didn't need to leave the office for 40 minutes twice a day to go to the local coffee shop, so productivity was higher.
Slashdot Mirror
One option that is important to the Slashdot crowd, but is not listed in the article is creating your own DVR. There are several HDTV PCI cards available that can be used to build your own HD recorder. I have used one for the last two years to record all kinds of OTA HD material for free.
Some of the options:
- pchdtv.com HD-2000 / HD-3000 cards + MythTV, on Linux. This option has a ton of potential. But, from what I hear, there are still some fairly major kinks to be worked out. I am hoping this improves, as I would love to switch to a Linux solution.
- MyHD MDP-120. HD tuner card with hardware MPEG2 decoder (so, system requirements are very low). Probably the best of the group of similar cards with hardware tuner. Software is reliable for basic recording and playback. Can't do full PVR functionality, like pausing live TV or playing a saved file while recording another. (Some of the similar cards are: AccessHDTV, HiPix, OnAir DTV Pro, etc)
- Dvico FusionHDTV. HD Tuner card, MPEG decoding done in software.. simpler hardware means it's cheaper. Software has been unstable in the past, but seems to be improving. Reportedly making BDA drivers for use with Windows Media Center 2005.
- ATI HDTV Wonder. Fairly new. Software based MPEG decoding. Is supposed to have good MS Media Center 2005 integration.
- ElGato EyeTV 500. MacOS X HDTV solution. Firewire based device, uses software MPEG decoding.
- Sasem OnAir USB HDTV. supported on Windows only, connects via USB 2.0 port.
The DirecTV service fees listed in the article are a bit misleading..
The $10.99/month is for a package of HDTV channels (ESPN-HD, Discovery-HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, Bravo-HD.) You are not required to purchase this package.
For no additional charge, you can record all of your local off-the-air channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, etc.). And, if you have HBO or Showtime, those you automatically get their HD channels as part of your existing package.
I've been looking for a cheap web terminal type device for my parents. I've set them up with a good PC, but I think they would like (and actually use) a laptop. But, laptops are overkill both in terms of price and functionality.
I got a Compaq Aero 8000 a few years ago. It seemed to be the perfect fit.. laptop form factor, flash based - instant on, good sized LCD display and keyboard, built-in PCMCIA and CompactFlash slots.. But, the Windows CE software sucked badly enough to make the device painful to use.
The same form factor - maybe upping the resolution to 1024x768, with a decently responsive OS, and a good WWW browser, would be all the laptop most people would need. If it ran an open OS, like Linux, there would be plenty of software available for it (even if the manufacturer abandoned it, like Compaq did with the Aero 8000, leaving users with an extremely outdated version of IE for a browser).
15-25 Mbps is enough for one HDTV stream to one location.. I would hope that a jump in technology like this would at least support something equal to current technology (many people have 2 or three cable or satellite receivers today).
Hopefully they are using multicast.. it would almost have to be, otherwise the network and server resources for streaming a huge number of HDTV streams would be immense.
Obviously, there is a possibility for a bunch of restrictions to be placed on what would otherwise be an incredibly powerful concept. But, they could also make really powerful changes that could change the competitive landscape.
If they look at it as a general communications platform, with additional services sold on top of it (Internet, VOIP, TV, PPV, etc.), ala-carte pricing might be more feasible. I would be very happy if I could just pay for HBO-HD, EPSN-HD, Comedy Central, and my locals. And, that would be a big blow to their cable/satellite competitors.
> Or TiVo with 10 seasons of Friends?
That's a good idea.. I recently got an HD Tivo, and it had 250GB of empty space that could have been used for sample content.
It could allow for a better user experience, otherwise you have to wait several days for the Tivo to build up a list of programs captured. It could also kickstart the Tivo learning process by providing many programs for the user to rate. If they threw in a couple of more valuable items, like pay-per-view movies, or HBO movies, it would be even more effective.
They could probably even get companies to pay them for the privilege.. I'm sure the networks would love the opportunity to pre-load the pilot episode of their programs on Tivos to make it easy for people to greatly increase the chance that viewers give it a chance.
Even a couple sample HDTV programs would be nice to show off the 1080i video and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio capabilities of the unit..
It's probably because Tivo has kowtowed to the corporate overlords and received their blessing.
That's the good and bad about Tivo.. They work with Big Media to avoid litigation, allowing them some cool features. But, to get the buy-in from Big Media, they must agree to restrictive terms - and NOT bring many more cool features.
As was mentioned in the article, ReplayTV was litigated into a smoking hole in the ground after pissing off Big Media.
An iPod is nice, for portability. But, I don't think that was listed in the requirements. Also, if the music is to be played on a stereo system, the iPod interface may not be the best.
Another option would be an Airport Express. Rip all the music, and store it on their desktop PC. Then, play it via iTunes + Airport Express on their stereo.
If they wanted portability, the iPod could fit nicely into this structure. But, just for home stereo playback, it's not really necessary.
I am a longtime owner of the SL-5500 Zaurus. It's nice to have a very small Linux box..
I use mine primarily as a Wifi detector. I pull out the Zaurus, and quickly check to see if Wifi is available, and if it's open and free. If so, I pull out my PowerBook for any real www access.
But, a hard drive would be the last thing I would have wanted on my Zaurus. The microdrives would be a power drain, on an already power limited device. And, I have plenty of storage already - via the large/cheap SD cards.
Some things that the Zaurus would be better off with are:
- Built-in Wifi. I use a CF card wifi adapter. It's pretty small, but I would still prefer to have it built in. That would leave the CF slot open, and hopefully an internal version would take less power.
- Bigger screen. 640x480 is nice, but there is plenty of wasted bezel space that would be better used as a widescreen display.
I got one of those tiny DeLorme Tripmate USB GPS receivers, which was bundled with Windows software for ~ $120. I knew my chances of running with MacOS X or Linux were slim, but I needed it for a big roadtrip. And, yup.. I was right. DeLorme will not release any information on the hardware to enable driver development on Mac or Linux platforms.
The only option is to buy the bluetooth dock for it, which costs more than the GPS unit. I know this works with my PowerBook. I think it coul be made to work in Linux too.
Yes, it is kind of odd for a Republican administration to be moving so strongly into regulation. They have always claimed that they want small government, and that the government should stay out of the way of business.
But, the current administration has a bit of a different idea about business. Rather than just promoting free markets, they have a track record of supporting big business, which in a lot of ways is the opposite of a free market.
Disney, and the other big media corporations lobbied hard for the broadcast flag. They screamed about the "napsterization" of their markets, and claimed that this was needed to stop it. When Congress refused to bite on this, they took it to the FCC, where Mr. Powell went for it.
Okay, here is a tangent to a Supreme Court story.. Maybe some court watchers out there will have some good info.
Since the 2000 election, there have been lots of rumors about three Supreme Court justices retiring due to health or age reasons. People "in the know" made it sound like a sure thing. But, it hasn't happened, and it's obviously not happening during this presidential term.
Any clues as to why none have retired? I think two of the three potential retirees were rather conservative, so leaving in a Republican administration was the basis for many of the rumors. With a Bush re-election definitely not a sure thing, it would seem risky for them to wait until the next term.
Do they not want Bush nominating their replacements? Or, were the court watchers just way off base?
Around here, you used to find all kinds of people complaining about the old kludgy x86 architecture and how the backwards compatibility placed terrible limitations on the CPUs and on software that runs on it.
Now, everyone jumped on the bandwagon spouting "what were they thinking? Trying to define a new architecture.. dumb asses!"
So, which is it?? I learned architecture and assembly on a Motorola 68k processor. So, the x86 stuff has always seemed kludgy to me. Have the problems been overcome, or do people just not care anymore?
In either case, it's just transferring compressed multimedia data (either MPEG2 in HDTV or DVD, and DV for your camcorder). The recording device either dumps the data to disk, or transcodes it to a format for playback (DV -> MPEG2 for DVD playback).
But, my point was that the firewire port is the best choice, and pretty much the standard way, to transfer compressed multimedia data.
He was way off base in the article by saying they should record the analog (RGB, YPrPB) or DVI/HDMI ports, since recording those is either prohibitively expensive or impossible (DVI-HDCP/HDMI is encrypted, to prohibit any attempt at recording).
I love my HD-Tivo. He had some good points on the limitations, but he seemed to misunderstand some of the reasons behind them, or existing ways to solve them.
Some wrong or misleading info:
- "JVC's decision to use firewire was a mistake". He obviously doesn't anderstand what is involved in recording HD video. Firewire is used to xfer the compressed digital data stream -- the raw, unmodified MPEG2 stream that is sent from the broadcaster. Recording by any other means (RGB/VGA, YPrPb, DVI) requires the recorder to re-compress the video with MPEG2 or some other format (think of trying to record the VGA output from your computer.. this is the same as recording HDTV.. You don't record the analog output, you record the original digital data). HD MPEG encoders are extremely expensive pieces of hardware (currently just used in professional video production).
The issue is not JVC's choice of connections, firewire is definitely the best choice for this function, the issue is the MPAA's pressure on satellite companies to not allow external archiving of HD material. So, despite customer outcry, DirecTV has refused to include a firewire port. Dish does include a firewire port, but it is currently disabled - and they are calling it "dishwire", presumably to limit its functionality if needed.
But, cable companies are beginning to include firewire ports on their HD boxes. There is some FCC directive saying that the new cable boxes must include a firewire port for recording. But, I think this is still not a done deal.
Several DVD recorders also include firewire input ports. It is definitely the right port for the job..
- Sluggish Tivo operation. Yes, I would like the HD Tivo to operate faster.. But, this can be minimized by using the other still Tivo guide. The other guide shows the current playing programs in one column, then a longer list of upcoming programs for the selected channel in the second column. This updates faster because it only needs to update one channel. And, it's better for selecting programs to record, because you can quickly see all the programs on the channel you want for the next two weeks.
- Dish forward skip button. This is a nice feature. Tivo can also do this if you enter a short series of keypresses on the remote to change the functionality of the jump-to-end and instant-replay keys. The jump-to-end changes to 30 second skip, and the replay becomes a 7 second rewind in case you go too far.
Data access via fast cellular networks has always seemed like a better route than wifi to me.. Anyone more versed in cell networks care to debunk this?
With the very short range of WiFi, it's great for using my laptop around the house, but for ubiquitous access it has big limitations. Then, add on the pay-per model that many places have, and it is a big pain in the butt. If I could subscribe once to all hotspots it would be okay. But, as it is now, I go from a coffee shop - to the airport - fly to another airport, and they all have different wifi services.. each wanting $15 for that five minutes of access to grab my e-mail.
Even at slower speeds, the ubiquity of cell networks is the killer app.
What are the other factors?
- I have seen talk of a metro-net version of WiFi, which would presumably cover areas similar to cell networks.
- Capacity issues. Will 3G cell networks have the capacity for a huge number of data users? How about metro area wifi?
If you want insight into the candidate's views on science, you should look into views on basic issues, like Evolution.
Bush has made several comments supporting the teaching of creationism in public schools. But, given the radical religious beliefs permeating his administration, this is not really surprising.
> Um, he's the guy who cut taxes. Kerry wants to raise them, er, repeal the cuts, er, something, unless you actually ask him, or something.
The original poster was giving an "even if" argument, not saying he raised taxes.
But, yes.. Bush did the tax refund thing. Oh boy, that $300 check really made a big difference for me. That was certainly worth growing the deficit even further than it already was. It was also at a time after the economic bubble had burst, and everyone knew the budget surplus was long gone. But, the Bushies pushed ahead, defying all logic or facts (a precedent for their Iraq policy), and did the tax refund anyway.
To me, a $300 tax break is not worth plunging the country further into debt, making the prospect of social security for my generation even more tenuous.
Just because we survived Reaganomics once doesn't mean it's sound fiscal policy.
They mention a mini-VGA port for "mirroring" several times. The GPU (Nvidia FX 5200) definitely supports dual heads, I wonder if this is disabled on the iMac.
I would like the small size of this system.. But, dual head operation is a requirement for me.
Trying to scale up that many processors in a single small chassis seems like the wrong direction to go. Especially since the power/heat requirements make a relatively slow processor necessary.
Wouldn't someone be better off using a good Gig-E network and some processing nodes with fast CPUs to do the crunching?
Apple's Xgrid is a good example of this.. Use a G5 workstation, and process on some Xserves.
I guess the main downside to Xgrid is that it needs application support, where SMP is divided up in the OS.
From The Register article, it sounds like it's just a new format definition. The 2TB size would just be the addressing limit. Also, the claim a 120MB/s xfer rate.. which, like ATA133, represents the upper limit - not any real xfer rate.
So, it's basically an updated format specification with no (current) practical limits.
I haven't read "Broken Angels", but I have read his previous novel, "Altered Carbon". It was decent, but not what I would call great scifi. It had a few scifi concepts, thrown into a basic detective plot. It felt more like a hollywood screenplay.. lots of action around a basic mystery, with scifi concepts that could quickly be explained in the story.
For a much better scifi work, with a lot of though t provoking concepts, check out "Permutation City" by Greg Egan. He has a similar concept of taking human consciousness into an electronic form. But, Egan covers it much more thoroughly.
This is great, it gives Macs the hardware needed to receive HD. But, it seems like the playback will be a bit rough. Without MPEG2 accel, it takes a ridiculous amount of CPU power to display good HD.
On the x86 side, an 800MHz cpu can do it when using DxVA. If Apple would open up the APIs for hardware accel, this could be a much more accessible solution.
Hey, at least it's a Unix box.. I'm a long time Linux user (over 10 years) and have Linux systems at home. But, when looking at laptop options, nothing came close to the PowerBook. That thing is great! All the standard Unix stuff, with an excellent GUI.
If you're really hard core, you could install Linux on your PowerBook, and use Mac-on-Linux to run MacOS as needed. I'm waiting for the next version of MoL, so I can run a Linux VM on my MacOS PowerBook.
The picture in the Des Moines register is me! ( http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2 0040630/NEWS08/406300350/1001&lead=1
I was driving out to visit family in Michigan, and stopped at that rest stop & noticed they had free wireless access.
The funny thing is, it didn't work. I could connect to the access point, but I couldn't get beyond that (traceroutes, pings, and any other access stopped at the AP). The photographer called the the iDot people responsible for it, and the telco guys were heading over to fix it, but I didn't stick around.
Get a good espresso machine, and people will look forward to getting into the office.
Well, at least it worked that way for a mild coffee addict like me. I also didn't need to leave the office for 40 minutes twice a day to go to the local coffee shop, so productivity was higher.