I believe that was what the article was really about. In effect that Vista Basic Virtual Machine takes up 1.5 Gigs at most of the 10 GB VM. The remaining 8.5 Gigs could take up compressed copies of Video and Audio with or without DRM.
More accurately, you don't need a computer at home to stream remotely from a Slingbox to your hotel room anywhere in the world... it is a server unto its own that hooks up to your cable/satellite set top box, Tivo, or all of those.
In addition to HDCP the problem with the new digital connectors (HDMI and even the older DVI) is that, unlike analog component or S-Video inputs, you could not use them in "pass through" mode. In my case, I am still lucky that most of my sources still sport analog outputs. That means I could still connect, say the Cable box to my Slingbox and stream content to my PC, at the same time the HDTV is still connected, via a passthrough, to the Cable box. This allows watching the HDTV and streaming video to the LAN or Internet simultaneously.
In the future I suspect these STBs will only have digital outputs and HDCP will make sure that you could only use one output at a time.
... censoring or asking one guy to cease and desist posting the code in his Google Notepad this morning. This story was posted on digg and it went downhill (for digg) from there. From around 10 PM EST up to the present 12 AM, all the digg stories on their tech section are about the hex codes. The question is will this be the start of digg's downfall? They have always prided themselves with giving "power to their users"...
Reddit is cool too... they haven't removed the link to the OP's site even though you can't get to it anymore. Digg Corporation/K Rose on the other hand got no balls.
You can't master the tools you use if they are constantly evolving. Case in point dotNet 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 all within a span of 5 or so years. Yeah you the fundamentals (design patterns) stays the same but vendors such as MS try their best to obfuscate the basics by providing layers of "code generators" which are suppose to to make it easier for developers but in reality does the opposite. For example, how do you migrate generated code to the next version when the new tools come out?
Yes I remember ALSA Hell which is especially true if your hardware is relatively new... Once I had to "buy" OSS drivers for a desktop as I could not get the recommended ALSA drivers to work. For wireless though the easiest method is to just connect the desktop/laptop to to a wireless bridge via ethernet.
After that, it's finding the suitable players, codecs, etc., so you can listen / watch streaming audio/video. Then comes the installation of 3D graphics drivers which usually also needs to be re-installed (same as ALSA) whenever the kernel needs to be patched for bugs/vulnerabilities.
IMHO, Linux for desktop/laptop is not ready for non-geek types who are not willing to spend extra time and effort to configure their machines.
People love underdogs... I remember 2 decades or so ago people in IT also hated IBM and embraced the then newcomer Microsoft even though Windows at the time might have been technically inferior to IBM's OS2.
Parent should have been modded insightful. I agree with his suggestion which has the added advantage of making Firefox itself less bloated. Someone will always complain about some feature no matter what so why not make most of these optional as extensions so they can easily be turned off or replaced?
It's getting difficult to sort out real reviews from those pandering to manufacturers. Even internet forums are populated with reviews from supposedly regular consumers but which, in a quite a number of instances, turn out to be astroturfers who set out to generate a buzz.
These astroturfers are often employees of the manufacturer or fanboys who get hardware/gadget in return for a favorable review.
IMHO, this release warrants the 2.0 moniker. Aside from the inline spell checker, it appears the dreaded "memory usage" problem has finally been nailed. FF 2.0 does appear to reclaim memory much faster than the older version. To me, this bug fix together with the perceptible increase in launch time and page loading/rendering is a major improvement, which combined with the inline spell checker is enough to warrant the 2.o moniker. I also agree that additional features are better left to extension developers.
Part of 2.0 release it appears is also not just contained in the browser code itself but in Mozilla's Add-ons website which gets launch when you click the "Get Extensions" link in the Add-ons dialog. Add-ons or extensions are now grouped together by functionality as opposed to being grouped together by popularity, ratings, etc.
Yes it looks like they finally nailed the memory problem with 2.0. After hours browsing with dozens of sites many opened in multiple tabs simultaneously, my memory usage never went beyond 100 MB... and this is with about a dozen extensions including NoScript, Adblock, Flashblock, FireFTP, ForecastFox, etc. I also noticed that 2.0 launched much faster than 1.5.x.x.
I'm pretty sure the version of Tab Mix Plus or some other tab related extension which will be ported to run on Firefox 2.0 will have this feature. This is the beauty of Firefox... its extensibility using extensions. Sure Opera might be smaller/faster and IE might look shinier but the community that writes extensions for Firefox is what makes it the best IMHO.
Personally, I am enjoying the humans play the role of rebels/insurgents versus the militarily superior cylons... strapping bombs on their chest on suicide missions, but at the same time those captured have sacks put on their heads just like prisoners in Iraq / Guantanamo. Watching the conflicts within number 6 and number 8 (Sharon) who have been "exposed" to humans is also heady stuff. With plot twists like these, who cares about blowing up stuff in space?
...A Slingbox is is a device that allows me to stream video from my Set Top Box (STB), DVD player, cable connection, etc., so I can watch it on any PC, Handheld device, Mobile Phone (certain models), and now Mac computer (running the SlingPlayer software) on the LAN or over the internet. So I can be on some business trip in Asia but still be able to watch local shows from my STB in North America via the internet. This is what is known as place shifting. It is actually pretty cool...
You hit the nail right in the head... I have not bought any music from iTunes preferring instead to rip mp3s from my huge CD collection or from mp3s I have downloaded or shared with me over the years. I still buy CDs, usually waiting until they are on sale for 10 bucks each... I then usually rip them to mp3s. MP3s gives me the freedom to play my music not just on the ipod but on my home PCs, my office PC, on my PocketPC, and most importantly use any player I want and not just iTunes. Long live mp3s... Fuck iTunes and all its DRM ilk.
It makes more sense and is much cheaper to stream video (HD or otherwise) from the source (Set Top Box, HD or DVD player, etc.) to a PC, video phone, pocket computer, etc. I currently use a Slingbox (cost: ~ $199) to stream SD TV to all my PCs at home and I could stream content over the internet too. I think this "other way around" (Streaming device such as the cheapo Slingbox to PCs) is the common sense way to go but I suspect Hollywood, Cable and DSL ISPs, and the PC OS manufacturers would try and restrict this via DRM such as HDCP, etc.
Hollywood obviously would be concerned about consumers place shifting their content. Cable and DSL ISPs would prefer that consumers not stream content and that they buy/rent multiple Set Top Boxes instead. PC OS manufacturers would prefer consumers buy overpriced and overcomplicated hardware and use these as "media centers".
Reading articles about 802.11n, there seems to be no compeling reason to upgrade to this draft specification for most folks right now... Poor interoperability with other "n" devices, poor backward compatibility with both "b" and "g" devices, more expensive hardware, and buggy firmware.
The bottomline is, upgrading to 802.11n today means you are willing to be a beta tester for the hardware manufacturers.
...that folks at home use wireless just for internet surfing and downloading. However there are other sources of content beside the web which require higher bandwidth. For example, you can have a couple of Slingboxes or Snappy HAVA's that could wirelessly stream video from your cable boxes, dvds, etc., PVRs, on you LAN to any PCs anywhere on your LAN (and even broadcast it over the internet). I actually had to upgrade my 802.11b to g because I ran into bandwidth limitations.
Right now I am happy with using the 802.11g standard on my LAN but I can see the uses of higher bandwidth in the not so distant future for stuff such as as streaming HD Quality video from a cable box to PCs anywhere at home. I currently use a Slingbox to stream video to a single client at a time at 2Mbps. However, new devices such as the HAVA video streamer from Snappy are now on sale could do multicast streaming at up to 8 Mbps. Stream multicast, say to 3 wireless clients at that rate and you start to bump into 802.11g's real world limitations (~20Mbps). In the near future, devices that stream HD Quality video will require even higher bandwidth.
I myself use these tips except #2 (I have Flashblock for that) and #5 (I use Visual Studio). However, I cannot force my kids to abandon IE... they need it to install and run "free" games like MapleStory which appears to run only in IE (Kids love playing games such as this with their friends online). The result is I have to reformat their PC every couple of months because of Spyware like those from Zango (thanks 180 Solutions).
Soon I will instruct them how to reformat and re-install the OS and software themselves and later on administer their own PCs. I figure this is the new way to make kids "online smart"... let them experience pain and then they will learn.
Firefox does a good job marketing...
on
World Firefox Day
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I gotta hand it to the Firefox team though... They do a good job marketing Firefox. In this day and age, it no longer is enough to have a superior product or have a better mousetrap especially if the competion has the desktop monopolized... every opportunity to spread the word helps.
Slashdot Mirror
I believe that was what the article was really about. In effect that Vista Basic Virtual Machine takes up 1.5 Gigs at most of the 10 GB VM. The remaining 8.5 Gigs could take up compressed copies of Video and Audio with or without DRM.
More accurately, you don't need a computer at home to stream remotely from a Slingbox to your hotel room anywhere in the world... it is a server unto its own that hooks up to your cable/satellite set top box, Tivo, or all of those.
In addition to HDCP the problem with the new digital connectors (HDMI and even the older DVI) is that, unlike analog component or S-Video inputs, you could not use them in "pass through" mode. In my case, I am still lucky that most of my sources still sport analog outputs. That means I could still connect, say the Cable box to my Slingbox and stream content to my PC, at the same time the HDTV is still connected, via a passthrough, to the Cable box. This allows watching the HDTV and streaming video to the LAN or Internet simultaneously.
In the future I suspect these STBs will only have digital outputs and HDCP will make sure that you could only use one output at a time.
... censoring or asking one guy to cease and desist posting the code in his Google Notepad this morning. This story was posted on digg and it went downhill (for digg) from there. From around 10 PM EST up to the present 12 AM, all the digg stories on their tech section are about the hex codes. The question is will this be the start of digg's downfall? They have always prided themselves with giving "power to their users"...
Looks like corporations bent on ramming DRM down our collective throats is painting this hex code as the devil's...
Reddit is cool too... they haven't removed the link to the OP's site even though you can't get to it anymore. Digg Corporation/K Rose on the other hand got no balls.
His death was likely planned to be slow and painful... revenge for accusing Vladimir Putin of being a pedophile among other things.
You can't master the tools you use if they are constantly evolving. Case in point dotNet 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 all within a span of 5 or so years. Yeah you the fundamentals (design patterns) stays the same but vendors such as MS try their best to obfuscate the basics by providing layers of "code generators" which are suppose to to make it easier for developers but in reality does the opposite. For example, how do you migrate generated code to the next version when the new tools come out?
Yes I remember ALSA Hell which is especially true if your hardware is relatively new... Once I had to "buy" OSS drivers for a desktop as I could not get the recommended ALSA drivers to work. For wireless though the easiest method is to just connect the desktop/laptop to to a wireless bridge via ethernet.
After that, it's finding the suitable players, codecs, etc., so you can listen / watch streaming audio/video. Then comes the installation of 3D graphics drivers which usually also needs to be re-installed (same as ALSA) whenever the kernel needs to be patched for bugs/vulnerabilities.
IMHO, Linux for desktop/laptop is not ready for non-geek types who are not willing to spend extra time and effort to configure their machines.
You talking about Microsoft, Big Banks, Big Pharma, or the US under Bush? I guess its all the same...
People love underdogs... I remember 2 decades or so ago people in IT also hated IBM and embraced the then newcomer Microsoft even though Windows at the time might have been technically inferior to IBM's OS2.
Parent should have been modded insightful. I agree with his suggestion which has the added advantage of making Firefox itself less bloated. Someone will always complain about some feature no matter what so why not make most of these optional as extensions so they can easily be turned off or replaced?
It's getting difficult to sort out real reviews from those pandering to manufacturers. Even internet forums are populated with reviews from supposedly regular consumers but which, in a quite a number of instances, turn out to be astroturfers who set out to generate a buzz.
These astroturfers are often employees of the manufacturer or fanboys who get hardware/gadget in return for a favorable review.
IMHO, this release warrants the 2.0 moniker. Aside from the inline spell checker, it appears the dreaded "memory usage" problem has finally been nailed. FF 2.0 does appear to reclaim memory much faster than the older version. To me, this bug fix together with the perceptible increase in launch time and page loading/rendering is a major improvement, which combined with the inline spell checker is enough to warrant the 2.o moniker. I also agree that additional features are better left to extension developers.
Part of 2.0 release it appears is also not just contained in the browser code itself but in Mozilla's Add-ons website which gets launch when you click the "Get Extensions" link in the Add-ons dialog. Add-ons or extensions are now grouped together by functionality as opposed to being grouped together by popularity, ratings, etc.
Yes it looks like they finally nailed the memory problem with 2.0. After hours browsing with dozens of sites many opened in multiple tabs simultaneously, my memory usage never went beyond 100 MB... and this is with about a dozen extensions including NoScript, Adblock, Flashblock, FireFTP, ForecastFox, etc. I also noticed that 2.0 launched much faster than 1.5.x.x.
I'm pretty sure the version of Tab Mix Plus or some other tab related extension which will be ported to run on Firefox 2.0 will have this feature. This is the beauty of Firefox... its extensibility using extensions. Sure Opera might be smaller/faster and IE might look shinier but the community that writes extensions for Firefox is what makes it the best IMHO.
Personally, I am enjoying the humans play the role of rebels/insurgents versus the militarily superior cylons... strapping bombs on their chest on suicide missions, but at the same time those captured have sacks put on their heads just like prisoners in Iraq / Guantanamo. Watching the conflicts within number 6 and number 8 (Sharon) who have been "exposed" to humans is also heady stuff. With plot twists like these, who cares about blowing up stuff in space?
...A Slingbox is is a device that allows me to stream video from my Set Top Box (STB), DVD player, cable connection, etc., so I can watch it on any PC, Handheld device, Mobile Phone (certain models), and now Mac computer (running the SlingPlayer software) on the LAN or over the internet. So I can be on some business trip in Asia but still be able to watch local shows from my STB in North America via the internet. This is what is known as place shifting. It is actually pretty cool...
You hit the nail right in the head... I have not bought any music from iTunes preferring instead to rip mp3s from my huge CD collection or from mp3s I have downloaded or shared with me over the years. I still buy CDs, usually waiting until they are on sale for 10 bucks each... I then usually rip them to mp3s. MP3s gives me the freedom to play my music not just on the ipod but on my home PCs, my office PC, on my PocketPC, and most importantly use any player I want and not just iTunes. Long live mp3s... Fuck iTunes and all its DRM ilk.
It makes more sense and is much cheaper to stream video (HD or otherwise) from the source (Set Top Box, HD or DVD player, etc.) to a PC, video phone, pocket computer, etc. I currently use a Slingbox (cost: ~ $199) to stream SD TV to all my PCs at home and I could stream content over the internet too. I think this "other way around" (Streaming device such as the cheapo Slingbox to PCs) is the common sense way to go but I suspect Hollywood, Cable and DSL ISPs, and the PC OS manufacturers would try and restrict this via DRM such as HDCP, etc.
Hollywood obviously would be concerned about consumers place shifting their content. Cable and DSL ISPs would prefer that consumers not stream content and that they buy/rent multiple Set Top Boxes instead. PC OS manufacturers would prefer consumers buy overpriced and overcomplicated hardware and use these as "media centers".
The consumers end up getting screwed yet again.
Reading articles about 802.11n, there seems to be no compeling reason to upgrade to this draft specification for most folks right now... Poor interoperability with other "n" devices, poor backward compatibility with both "b" and "g" devices, more expensive hardware, and buggy firmware. The bottomline is, upgrading to 802.11n today means you are willing to be a beta tester for the hardware manufacturers.
...that folks at home use wireless just for internet surfing and downloading. However there are other sources of content beside the web which require higher bandwidth. For example, you can have a couple of Slingboxes or Snappy HAVA's that could wirelessly stream video from your cable boxes, dvds, etc., PVRs, on you LAN to any PCs anywhere on your LAN (and even broadcast it over the internet). I actually had to upgrade my 802.11b to g because I ran into bandwidth limitations.
Right now I am happy with using the 802.11g standard on my LAN but I can see the uses of higher bandwidth in the not so distant future for stuff such as as streaming HD Quality video from a cable box to PCs anywhere at home. I currently use a Slingbox to stream video to a single client at a time at 2Mbps. However, new devices such as the HAVA video streamer from Snappy are now on sale could do multicast streaming at up to 8 Mbps. Stream multicast, say to 3 wireless clients at that rate and you start to bump into 802.11g's real world limitations (~20Mbps). In the near future, devices that stream HD Quality video will require even higher bandwidth.
I myself use these tips except #2 (I have Flashblock for that) and #5 (I use Visual Studio). However, I cannot force my kids to abandon IE... they need it to install and run "free" games like MapleStory which appears to run only in IE (Kids love playing games such as this with their friends online). The result is I have to reformat their PC every couple of months because of Spyware like those from Zango (thanks 180 Solutions). Soon I will instruct them how to reformat and re-install the OS and software themselves and later on administer their own PCs. I figure this is the new way to make kids "online smart"... let them experience pain and then they will learn.
I gotta hand it to the Firefox team though... They do a good job marketing Firefox. In this day and age, it no longer is enough to have a superior product or have a better mousetrap especially if the competion has the desktop monopolized... every opportunity to spread the word helps.