I saw a video of Joe Rogan doing standup. The guy is a total loon, but he made a really interesting point about our technological society, and how smart we tend to think we are.
He posed the question, if you were in the woods with nothing but a hatchet, how long before you could send an email?
This device may not compare favorably with commercially available computing platforms, but having people in our society with curious minds and an ability to make things is invaluable.
I'd rather be a Morlock than an Eloi. I'd rather be a rancher than a steer.
I've done some lousy business travel. I've always enjoyed some of the moments. Hell, I enjoyed some moments of my deployment when I was in the Army.
If you aren't enjoying a single moment, then you are the problem. I get that you are burnt out. And it sounds like you'd be better off if you made a career change. But if you aren't enjoying one moment of your work week, well, you're doing it wrong.
You give the industry way too much credit for forward-thinking.
Every time a cable company takes down an analog channel they can put up twelve digital (SD) channels. That makes operators salivate.
All other effects of digital (VOD, HD, interactive TV, targeted ads) are things that the operators go along with grudgingly, at best.
(Of course, I'm speaking about the operators as "institutions". There are many brilliant, forward-thinking people involved, but they're hopelessly outnumbered by maintainers of the status quo.)
I'm not at all into set top hacking, so maybe I'm missing something obvious. But how do you get provisioned if you have a hacked UID? Is this like "cloning" a set top?
This is only on digital. And they surely aren't sending a different ad to each subscriber. In all likelihood they're transmitting two to four ads per service.
Digital cable video bitrates are highly variable. There is no technical impediment to sending out multiple A/V streams on the same service at the same time without increasing the total bandwidth used by the service. Of course, video quality will suffer, but a significant portion of ads are "talking heads" anyway.
Furthermore, it would be quite possible to monitor bandwidth at the QAM level, and "steal" some bandwidth from other services on the QAM in order to provide more consistent quality during targeted ad breaks.
The really interesting thing here is that previous systems (that I'm aware of, anyway) have used a software client on the set top to select the ad. This scales. If they're doing this in the headend I don't see how they're going to scale to a significant number of channels with a useful number of demographic groups. Maybe this is only on DSG boxes?
I really don't mean this in a nasty way, but I'm not sure you understand what "semantics" means.
"Having everyone agree on which particles are in which groups make[ing] these discussions less prone to misunderstandings" is precisely what semantics does.
I knew someone would bring this up. Please understand that I'm not accusing you of anything, but I am going to assume that someone might read your post and jump to the wrong conclusions.
While resolving that Pluto is a planet is a goofy thing for the Illinois legislature to do, it isn't objectively wrong the way the pi thing was.
The question as to whether or not Pluto is a planet is purely one of semantics. "Planet" is nothing more than an English word that means what we agree for it to mean. Whatever criteria we chose will either be satisfied by the facts or not. I don't see any evidence that the legislature attempted to change any facts by resolution.
Pi means the ratio of of a circle's circumference to its diameter. That definition is also a question of semantics. But if we agree to that definition, then the value of pi becomes an objective fact.
Attempting to change this fact by resolution is an entirely different class of behavior.
Also, the NewerTech MiniStack3 lets you add a SATA drive to your mini. Plus it has an eSATA connection. Obviously, the internal drive and any drive connected to the eSATA port ultimately communicate with the Mini via FireWire or USB. As another poster said, these ports have ample bandwidth for streaming any HD video files.
Any Mac Mini should be able to do DVD-quality video over WiFi without breaking a sweat. (Assuming a dedicated 802.11g network with reasonable performance.)
I use GigE to an AEBS using a Drobo as an AirDisk with a 2006 Mac Mini. 720P video is no problem at all. It can't quite handle 1080P video, but I believe that's a CPU issue. Other than the CPU, read performance on the Drobo should be the weakest link, and it should be able capable of reading back multiple Bluray streams concurrently.
The type actually isn't small. On the "medium" setting it only puts about 18 lines on a "page" and about 30 characters per line. The text is comparable in size with a typical hardcover, and larger than a typical paperback.
The smallest setting is quite clear, and the largest setting is perhaps 20 point.
Slashdot Mirror
What does walking upright have to do with it?!
-Peter
I wonder if Amazon implemented Kindle in software for the iPhone to head off this claim.
-Peter
I saw a video of Joe Rogan doing standup. The guy is a total loon, but he made a really interesting point about our technological society, and how smart we tend to think we are.
He posed the question, if you were in the woods with nothing but a hatchet, how long before you could send an email?
This device may not compare favorably with commercially available computing platforms, but having people in our society with curious minds and an ability to make things is invaluable.
I'd rather be a Morlock than an Eloi. I'd rather be a rancher than a steer.
-Peter
I've done some lousy business travel. I've always enjoyed some of the moments. Hell, I enjoyed some moments of my deployment when I was in the Army.
If you aren't enjoying a single moment, then you are the problem. I get that you are burnt out. And it sounds like you'd be better off if you made a career change. But if you aren't enjoying one moment of your work week, well, you're doing it wrong.
-Peter
It would be worse on a sunny Colorado Winter's day. You Texans are spoiled with all your fancy atmosphere.
-Peter
I think that you're being sarcastic, but I recently ran a survey in Pollster's Quarterly that supports this conclusion!
-Peter
Will you still say that America showed wisdom by electing Obama if he invades Pakistan? Is he ending our fascination with missle strikes?
-Peter
You give the industry way too much credit for forward-thinking.
Every time a cable company takes down an analog channel they can put up twelve digital (SD) channels. That makes operators salivate.
All other effects of digital (VOD, HD, interactive TV, targeted ads) are things that the operators go along with grudgingly, at best.
(Of course, I'm speaking about the operators as "institutions". There are many brilliant, forward-thinking people involved, but they're hopelessly outnumbered by maintainers of the status quo.)
I'm not at all into set top hacking, so maybe I'm missing something obvious. But how do you get provisioned if you have a hacked UID? Is this like "cloning" a set top?
-Peter
This is only on digital. And they surely aren't sending a different ad to each subscriber. In all likelihood they're transmitting two to four ads per service.
Digital cable video bitrates are highly variable. There is no technical impediment to sending out multiple A/V streams on the same service at the same time without increasing the total bandwidth used by the service. Of course, video quality will suffer, but a significant portion of ads are "talking heads" anyway.
Furthermore, it would be quite possible to monitor bandwidth at the QAM level, and "steal" some bandwidth from other services on the QAM in order to provide more consistent quality during targeted ad breaks.
The really interesting thing here is that previous systems (that I'm aware of, anyway) have used a software client on the set top to select the ad. This scales. If they're doing this in the headend I don't see how they're going to scale to a significant number of channels with a useful number of demographic groups. Maybe this is only on DSG boxes?
-Peter
I really don't mean this in a nasty way, but I'm not sure you understand what "semantics" means.
"Having everyone agree on which particles are in which groups make[ing] these discussions less prone to misunderstandings" is precisely what semantics does.
-Peter
I knew someone would bring this up. Please understand that I'm not accusing you of anything, but I am going to assume that someone might read your post and jump to the wrong conclusions.
While resolving that Pluto is a planet is a goofy thing for the Illinois legislature to do, it isn't objectively wrong the way the pi thing was.
The question as to whether or not Pluto is a planet is purely one of semantics. "Planet" is nothing more than an English word that means what we agree for it to mean. Whatever criteria we chose will either be satisfied by the facts or not. I don't see any evidence that the legislature attempted to change any facts by resolution.
Pi means the ratio of of a circle's circumference to its diameter. That definition is also a question of semantics. But if we agree to that definition, then the value of pi becomes an objective fact.
Attempting to change this fact by resolution is an entirely different class of behavior.
-Peter
Also, the NewerTech MiniStack3 lets you add a SATA drive to your mini. Plus it has an eSATA connection. Obviously, the internal drive and any drive connected to the eSATA port ultimately communicate with the Mini via FireWire or USB. As another poster said, these ports have ample bandwidth for streaming any HD video files.
-Peter
Any Mac Mini should be able to do DVD-quality video over WiFi without breaking a sweat. (Assuming a dedicated 802.11g network with reasonable performance.)
I use GigE to an AEBS using a Drobo as an AirDisk with a 2006 Mac Mini. 720P video is no problem at all. It can't quite handle 1080P video, but I believe that's a CPU issue. Other than the CPU, read performance on the Drobo should be the weakest link, and it should be able capable of reading back multiple Bluray streams concurrently.
-Peter
The type actually isn't small. On the "medium" setting it only puts about 18 lines on a "page" and about 30 characters per line. The text is comparable in size with a typical hardcover, and larger than a typical paperback.
The smallest setting is quite clear, and the largest setting is perhaps 20 point.
I've only glanced at it, but it seems very good.
-Peter
The G-ring is a MYTH!
-Peter
I think you mean AirPort Express. The AirPort Extreme is the bigger, more traditional router with an integrated Ethernet hub.
-Peter
Between the video quality and the quality of the selection, "watch instantly" is just about unwatchable.
The visual quality doesn't even begin to compare to DVD. There's a huge gap to make up to even consider comparing it with Bluray.
The question is, does a significant portion of the movie watching population care? It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
-Peter
No net decrease in surface area. No proven increase in efficiency.
There's a third axis; cost per watt. Acrylic is cheaper than PV silicon.
(Actually the relationship of surface area and efficiency is fixed, so it's really a second axis.)
-Peter
Your memories are rusty. You're thinking of Donkey Kong. That's a whole other Kong.
-Peter
I do. And I read the linked article, which covers it. And I read the Wikipedia page.
So what? It's still a very intriguing phrase that deserves its very own link.
I'm a big fan of Wikipedia, but it doesn't render hyperlinking obsolete.
-Peter
I've been hanging around Slashdot for over ten years, and "legendary 'King Kong' defense" has to be the most link-worthy phrase I've ever seen.
Because I'm not new here, I'm not at all surprised it isn't linked in the summary.
-Peter
I'm at the other end of the spectrum. My laptop battery is guarded by a dragon.
-Peter
Someone with carcasses they need to dispose of anyway?
-Peter
Uh, cattle are renewable.
-Peter
Designed and built themselves. Did you miss that part?
-Peter