...as an alternative to individual state sales taxes. they don't really want any tax (what's in it for them?).. it's just lip service to appease the bean counters.
managing state taxes is a hassle. do they tax based on where your loot ships? what about downloads that don't "ship"? do they tax based on the mailing address of your credit card? now they have to remember when I move. what about their cloud services? do they tax based on where the businesses HQ is? amazon started charging sales tax in california this year. I live here, my visa mailing address is in CA, 99% of my orders ship to a CA addy, yet they only charge tax on SOME purchases. does it have to do with where my purchases ship FROM? the digital music part of amazon is based (or has offices) in CA, so they definitely have presence here.. yet they don't charge consistently.
even a flat tax has problems.. how do you divvy it up? if huge California got the same share as little Delaware.. CA would complain. so now you're back to (presumably) sales volume or shipping origination - sales volume raises the questions above, shipping origination? well, what if the CA warehouse is out of the widget, so orders will ship from NV for the next 48 hours... CA not happy.
online only retailers do not want to deal with any of this. no matter what they settle on.. it results in nothing but the potential for more bugs in the store code and a longer QA cycle.
if the economy wasn't so fucked up with states closing schools and firing cops, we wouldn't be having this discussion. LLBean has been in business for a hundred years (initially catalog, now online with a small retail presence near their HQ) - I don't recall anyone asking them for a cut.
but it's safer. helicopters can auto-rotate and [crash] land safely (more or less).. certainly better than gliding into a house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation_(helicopter) The most common reason for an autorotation is an engine malfunction or failure, but autorotations can also be performed in the event of a complete tail rotor failure or following loss of tail-rotor effectiveness[6], since there is virtually no torque produced in an autorotation. In some extreme situations, autorotations may also be used to recover from settling with power, if the aircraft's altitude permits. In all cases, a successful landing depends on the helicopter's height and velocity at the commencement of autorotation (see height-velocity diagram).
no wings. but the rotor blades automatically fold back.
http://pal-v.com/the-pal-v-one/transformation/ Converting the PAL-V ONE from airplane to automobile is a very easy process which takes about 10 minutes. Once the engine stops, the propeller folds itself automatically into the driving position. Pushing a button then lowers the rotor mast into the horizontal position. The same motion lowers the tail. The outer blades are folded over the inner blades via hinge mechanisms. The last steps in the process are to push the tail into its driving position and secure the rotor blades. This conversion can be executed by the driver/pilot after just a short training lesson. To convert from driving to flying mode, simply reverse the sequence.
true, but it does make it so any FRAND licensing from the IP holders for current SIM tech becomes worthless.
http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/03/apples-us-patent-application-61481114.html As long as Nokia adheres to FRAND licensing obligations, the Finnish company's position that it wants to cash in on its SIM card-related patents is just as legitimate, from a shareholder value point of view, as Apple's proposal that everyone adopt a royalty-free standard. But Nokia's desire to monetize standard-essential patents is not in the public interest unless its proposal offers major advantages that offset the cost of licensing and the higher transaction cost (which in connection with FRAND patents sometimes involves litigation as I see all the time now).
the phone locked because they struck out too many times on the gesture lock. the phone is now asking for the GOOGLE credentials. It's not like the guys pattern was so awesome it defeated the FBI - how many strikes do you get before the phone requires your google login? my BBerry gives me 5 before it nukes itself. 5 failed attempts is not "utter failure"
"The applications developed by Apple have been upgraded to support the Retina Display. For example Keynote was previously only 115MB but its latest version is 327MB. Numbers is up from 109MB to 283MB, Pages moves from 95MB to 269MB, and iMovie from 70MB to 404MB." (Translated from Vietnamese)"
iMovie is the only one that went up over 5x.. and that's because they added a new feature called Trailers. there's built in themes with animations and music so most of that increase is the stored audio/video assets.. it was NOT a straight retina bump - else it wouldn't have been demo'd in the ipad keynote. you can't compare the current and previous version because they're not (feature wise) the same app. garageband also got bigger.. from 600MB to almost a 1GB I think.. but that's because they added string instruments and the ability to "jam" with other people and record all 4 tracks in the app. those string loops are big.
the pertinent copy from the appstore Create movie trailers
Choose from nine new trailers with immersive graphics and original scores by some of the world’s top film composers* *Trailers are available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later. (probably because of RAM constraints)
the "CMX-HD" format that Comixology and Marvel are using now caused a noticeable increase in file size.. but of all the titles I have, they average increase is about 3x.. and the ones I have (pre-HD) were around 20-25MB, now they're 75MB.
the way I look at it you're a fool if you repeatedly spend hundreds of dollars on ay device (or anything else, for that matter) that doesn't deliver or live up to the user's expectations. too many ipods, iphones and ipads have been sold to say that idevices are for fanboys only - because RATIONAL people don't continually pay hundreds of dollars for a shit product.
"your favorite company has a brand like Prada and Porsche that people will pay assraping prices for that half eaten Apple logo" - ASSRAPE is the $500 bucks early adopters plunked down for the TouchPad, only to see an 80% discount within WEEKS of launch. Motorola, RIM, HP, Samsung - all have tablets (in the 9" plus range) that startED at the same price (or within $100 bucks) of an ipad3. Newegg lists a new 16GB transformer prime (no keyboard) for $399 - the same as a new, wifi only, ipad2. I don't see where assrape pricing comes in to play. Given the paltry sales figures for all of the other tablets, the MARKET (not fanboys) has spoken: price/value is not there - even after the ~$100 price drop on most of those lines.
I would say the percentage of people buying their second/third/fourth iphone/ipad/ipod/mac did so because they were satisfied with their purchase the first time. those who keep giving money to Apple because they ENJOY assrape are an insignificant minority. THIS SIMPLY DOESN'T HAPPEN: "I hated my first idevice, but I'm going to get up at the crack of ass so I can be first in line for the next one"
I don't think you can use branding to describe the reason for increased sales (units sold) year over year because the branding was there the first year; that half eaten piece of fruit was on the back from DAY ONE. the brand didn't change - yet the facts remain: ipod IS the PMP market, iphone 4 sold more than the previous phones combined.. ipad (so far), is on an ipod trajectory. Most of the people I know who use an idevice of some kind do not own macs. They are, by definition, not fanboys and dont drink the branding kool-aid.
so how DO you explain increased unit sales? 1) fanboy virus spreading? 2) reasonable price/value ratio?
IMO #2 contributes to #1, and IF price/value is a contributing factor.. fanboyism/branding become less relevant. if you read the "interviews" with people in line for the new ipad a couple weeks ago.. a significant number of them were buying their first ipad. "Fanboys" do not wait for the 3rd iteration.
say what you want about the quality of code, but I promise you Epic has the money get all their apps into the Android market place.. but they're not there..
Wilbur: [Takes out a Galaxy S, shows Epic Citadel running on it] We’ve done some development on Android. That’s Epic Citadel running on Android – now, this is not for public release. It’s on iOS first, and then once the iOS version is released then we’ll start considering Android.
Wilbur: One of the problems with the Android marketplace is hardware fragmentation, that’s a really big issue. The other thing is marketplace fragmentation, there are so many different appstores out there. The Android marketplace is a little more difficult [to develop for] because there is less control. I think the Android marketplace is robust I find it very easy to buy things on it, it’s just that Apple has very tight control. So anything in the Apple world is perfect. It’s just perfect. We like that, we like that a lot. We know that it’s just gonna work. Sometimes that’s not always the case in the Android marketplace.
isn't that why Mika quit.. yep. this sounds identical to Wilbur's comment:
"I would have preferred spending that time on more content for you, but instead I was thanklessly modifying shaders and texture formats to work on different GPUs, or pushing out patches to support new devices without crashing, or walking someone through how to fix an installation that wouldn't go through," one half of the husband and wife duo said. "We spent thousands on various test hardware. These are the unsung necessities of offering our apps on Android.
I don't have a 75 foot video cable. TV and Computer not in same room.
even if it was right next to the TV....
all my machines are somewhat older.. DVI out, doesn't carry sound. so that's a second cable... (don't have 75ft toslink either) by the time I get DVI to HDMI adapter and a huge cable I'm not even sure exists.. I've pretty much paid for the wireless solution.
A reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, i.e. the usual operation of restaurants (In contrast to a table d'hôte, at which a menu with limited or no choice is served at a fixed price.)
I want to only pay for the channels I watch, not the entire (fixed price) package that contains them.
tegra smegma a5x tri-dual-octo-quad core ACME RX3200 Rocket Skates GigaHertzMegaPixelPerSecond my asshole graphics is irrelevant. the ONLY thing that matters is how it works when its in your hands.
does it drive 2048x1536 at least as well as the ipad 2? yes or no.
the way i see it, neither NVIDIA or Apple can say anything about relative performance because there is nothing using tegra at that resolution.. you can benchmark/extrapolate all you want, but all that matters is real world.
the "quad core A5X GPU" damn well better be faster beause it's driving 4x as many pixels.
not sure about the water cooled system comment, but they did add "4G" to the iphone 4S with the OS patch.. everyone knows the software didn't upgrade the hardware to LTE.
not sayin' there's a problem, just that overall quality (according to Ars) will vary depending on the source... so think twice before you jump. You might not see much of an improvement... because it's not double (as some might assume) in the interest of bandwidth considerations.
from Ars -....Apple is free to use the high profile, resulting in better compression for a given quality level. The files are larger, but not that much larger. Whether the increased resolution comes with extra visual fidelity, however—and thus worth the extra download time—will vary from movie to movie and show to show.
well, you don't "have" to use the included remote.. if you have an iphone/ipad/ipod touch. the remote app (free from apple) gives you a touch screen and keyboard for ATV (via WiFi)... you can even control itunes on the desktop with the same app. all your devices need to be logged in to itunes. when you launch the app, it asks what you want to control and finds all the ATV's and Macs (w/ itunes running) on the network. http://www.apple.com/itunes/remote/
and this summer with Mountain Lion, you will be able to airplay from your desktop/laptop which of course have keyboards and mice/trackpads.
they spent about 3 and a half seconds covering the new ATV (2 seconds were spend on the new UI), the rest was ipad demos and bashing phone apps stretched to tablet size (they were not hesitant at talking a few jabs @ Android).
The reason that the 1080p versions of the iTunes Store videos can be a good deal better without doubling the file size—or worse—can be found in the tech specs of the new AppleTV and the new iPad. The AppleTV now supports H.264 compression for 1920x1080 resolution video at 30 frames per second using High or Main Profile up to level 4.0, the iPad and the iPhone 4S the same up to level 4.1. The profile indicates what kind of decompression algorithms the H.264 decoder has on board—the "High" profile obviously has some tricks up its sleeve that the "Main" or "Baseline" profiles known to previous devices don't support. The level value indicates how many blocks or bits per second a device can handle.
I don't think TV shows are the best thing to use, however.. i figure those were kind of crap to begin with. they should have done a comparison with a recently released movie
...Roku has an app store, but there's something to be said about mirroring - ipad now, and this summer, your desktop.. so in reality, you will be able to get amazon and hulu via apple tv, by mirrioring your mac on your TV. you can already see some mirroring support in apps. one of the sky mapping apps (forget which one) only put the sky/stars on the TV, while the controls remain on the ipad. one of the real racing titles also puts the main view on the TV, but control elements remain on the ipad.
I have a roku 2 and a current gen apple tv.. and one thing ATV wins.. is scrubbing video. my god. it's painful on the roku. i got the roku thinking I could use USB to play stuff locally... it plays fine, but fast forwarding sucks.
if the new UI is any indicator... the new "button/icon" interface lends itself nicely to a future app store. here's to a la carte content consumption via provider specific apps.
Slashdot Mirror
...as an alternative to individual state sales taxes.
they don't really want any tax (what's in it for them?).. it's just lip service to appease the bean counters.
managing state taxes is a hassle.
do they tax based on where your loot ships? what about downloads that don't "ship"?
do they tax based on the mailing address of your credit card? now they have to remember when I move.
what about their cloud services? do they tax based on where the businesses HQ is?
amazon started charging sales tax in california this year. I live here, my visa mailing address is in CA, 99% of my orders ship to a CA addy, yet they only charge tax on SOME purchases. does it have to do with where my purchases ship FROM? the digital music part of amazon is based (or has offices) in CA, so they definitely have presence here.. yet they don't charge consistently.
even a flat tax has problems.. how do you divvy it up? if huge California got the same share as little Delaware.. CA would complain. so now you're back to (presumably) sales volume or shipping origination - sales volume raises the questions above, shipping origination? well, what if the CA warehouse is out of the widget, so orders will ship from NV for the next 48 hours... CA not happy.
online only retailers do not want to deal with any of this. no matter what they settle on.. it results in nothing but the potential for more bugs in the store code and a longer QA cycle.
if the economy wasn't so fucked up with states closing schools and firing cops, we wouldn't be having this discussion. LLBean has been in business for a hundred years (initially catalog, now online with a small retail presence near their HQ) - I don't recall anyone asking them for a cut.
but it's safer. helicopters can auto-rotate and [crash] land safely (more or less).. certainly better than gliding into a house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation_(helicopter)
The most common reason for an autorotation is an engine malfunction or failure, but autorotations can also be performed in the event of a complete tail rotor failure or following loss of tail-rotor effectiveness[6], since there is virtually no torque produced in an autorotation. In some extreme situations, autorotations may also be used to recover from settling with power, if the aircraft's altitude permits. In all cases, a successful landing depends on the helicopter's height and velocity at the commencement of autorotation (see height-velocity diagram).
no wings.
but the rotor blades automatically fold back.
http://pal-v.com/the-pal-v-one/transformation/
Converting the PAL-V ONE from airplane to automobile is a very easy process which takes about 10 minutes. Once the engine stops, the propeller folds itself automatically into the driving position. Pushing a button then lowers the rotor mast into the horizontal position. The same motion lowers the tail. The outer blades are folded over the inner blades via hinge mechanisms. The last steps in the process are to push the tail into its driving position and secure the rotor blades. This conversion can be executed by the driver/pilot after just a short training lesson. To convert from driving to flying mode, simply reverse the sequence.
yet :)
true, but it does make it so any FRAND licensing from the IP holders for current SIM tech becomes worthless.
http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/03/apples-us-patent-application-61481114.html
As long as Nokia adheres to FRAND licensing obligations, the Finnish company's position that it wants to cash in on its SIM card-related patents is just as legitimate, from a shareholder value point of view, as Apple's proposal that everyone adopt a royalty-free standard. But Nokia's desire to monetize standard-essential patents is not in the public interest unless its proposal offers major advantages that offset the cost of licensing and the higher transaction cost (which in connection with FRAND patents sometimes involves litigation as I see all the time now).
Nokia could really use the money. no wonder they're fighting against it.. even pomoting their own "standard" which I'm sure they have no intentions of giving away. RIM is also against the nano-SIM - wonder why.. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/rim-earnings-sales-fall-short-as-blackberry-demand-wanes.html
no you weren't. did you read the linked piece?
the phone locked because they struck out too many times on the gesture lock. the phone is now asking for the GOOGLE credentials. It's not like the guys pattern was so awesome it defeated the FBI - how many strikes do you get before the phone requires your google login? my BBerry gives me 5 before it nukes itself. 5 failed attempts is not "utter failure"
https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/can-google-be-forced-fbi-unlock-users-phones-031412
"Once they failed enough times, the phone locked and now requires the user's Google username and password for access. As a result, the FBI is asking that Google be forced to hand over the information to get them into the phone."
great system (seriously) .. require stronger auth if the first lock thinks it's being attacked.
why don't you provide a link to the headline you mention.. is it this one?
http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/14/2870374/new-ipad-apps-larger-size-retina-display
"The applications developed by Apple have been upgraded to support the Retina Display. For example Keynote was previously only 115MB but its latest version is 327MB. Numbers is up from 109MB to 283MB, Pages moves from 95MB to 269MB, and iMovie from 70MB to 404MB." (Translated from Vietnamese)"
iMovie is the only one that went up over 5x.. and that's because they added a new feature called Trailers. there's built in themes with animations and music so most of that increase is the stored audio/video assets.. it was NOT a straight retina bump - else it wouldn't have been demo'd in the ipad keynote. you can't compare the current and previous version because they're not (feature wise) the same app. garageband also got bigger.. from 600MB to almost a 1GB I think.. but that's because they added string instruments and the ability to "jam" with other people and record all 4 tracks in the app. those string loops are big.
here's the info about Trailers for the desktop version of iMovie - all the same features are in the iOS version.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/#movie-trailers-section
the pertinent copy from the appstore
Create movie trailers
Choose from nine new trailers with immersive graphics and original scores by some of the world’s top film composers*
*Trailers are available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later. (probably because of RAM constraints)
the "CMX-HD" format that Comixology and Marvel are using now caused a noticeable increase in file size.. but of all the titles I have, they average increase is about 3x.. and the ones I have (pre-HD) were around 20-25MB, now they're 75MB.
3x may seem like a lot, but look at the difference. (photo by Andy Ihnatko)
https://twitter.com/#!/Ihnatko/status/180865456389885954/photo/1
(note the paperclip in the foreground)
"I'm actually conducting an experiment this week, to see if my usage goes down when I stop using voice dictation."
this week? - shut the radios off. that will tell you if it needs the network.
the way I look at it you're a fool if you repeatedly spend hundreds of dollars on ay device (or anything else, for that matter) that doesn't deliver or live up to the user's expectations. too many ipods, iphones and ipads have been sold to say that idevices are for fanboys only - because RATIONAL people don't continually pay hundreds of dollars for a shit product.
"your favorite company has a brand like Prada and Porsche that people will pay assraping prices for that half eaten Apple logo" -
ASSRAPE is the $500 bucks early adopters plunked down for the TouchPad, only to see an 80% discount within WEEKS of launch. Motorola, RIM, HP, Samsung - all have tablets (in the 9" plus range) that startED at the same price (or within $100 bucks) of an ipad3. Newegg lists a new 16GB transformer prime (no keyboard) for $399 - the same as a new, wifi only, ipad2. I don't see where assrape pricing comes in to play. Given the paltry sales figures for all of the other tablets, the MARKET (not fanboys) has spoken: price/value is not there - even after the ~$100 price drop on most of those lines.
I would say the percentage of people buying their second/third/fourth iphone/ipad/ipod/mac did so because they were satisfied with their purchase the first time. those who keep giving money to Apple because they ENJOY assrape are an insignificant minority. THIS SIMPLY DOESN'T HAPPEN: "I hated my first idevice, but I'm going to get up at the crack of ass so I can be first in line for the next one"
I don't think you can use branding to describe the reason for increased sales (units sold) year over year because the branding was there the first year; that half eaten piece of fruit was on the back from DAY ONE. the brand didn't change - yet the facts remain: ipod IS the PMP market, iphone 4 sold more than the previous phones combined.. ipad (so far), is on an ipod trajectory. Most of the people I know who use an idevice of some kind do not own macs. They are, by definition, not fanboys and dont drink the branding kool-aid.
so how DO you explain increased unit sales?
1) fanboy virus spreading?
2) reasonable price/value ratio?
IMO #2 contributes to #1, and IF price/value is a contributing factor.. fanboyism/branding become less relevant. if you read the "interviews" with people in line for the new ipad a couple weeks ago.. a significant number of them were buying their first ipad. "Fanboys" do not wait for the 3rd iteration.
"rarely has dead air been used to such effect."
just listened to it last night.
I looked at my player a couple times to make sure it wasn't paused.
spying? please.
you VOLUNTARILY gave them your name and billing address when you ordered the damn thing.
don't your highlights get sync'd to all copies on your devices?
some would consider that a feature.. and how else are they going to do that if they're not watching?
say what you want about the quality of code, but I promise you Epic has the money get all their apps into the Android market place.. but they're not there..
http://www.androidcentral.com/epic-games-reveals-android-plans
Wilbur: [Takes out a Galaxy S, shows Epic Citadel running on it] We’ve done some development on Android. That’s Epic Citadel running on Android – now, this is not for public release. It’s on iOS first, and then once the iOS version is released then we’ll start considering Android.
Wilbur: One of the problems with the Android marketplace is hardware fragmentation, that’s a really big issue. The other thing is marketplace fragmentation, there are so many different appstores out there. The Android marketplace is a little more difficult [to develop for] because there is less control. I think the Android marketplace is robust I find it very easy to buy things on it, it’s just that Apple has very tight control. So anything in the Apple world is perfect. It’s just perfect. We like that, we like that a lot. We know that it’s just gonna work. Sometimes that’s not always the case in the Android marketplace.
isn't that why Mika quit.. yep. this sounds identical to Wilbur's comment:
"I would have preferred spending that time on more content for you, but instead I was thanklessly modifying shaders and texture formats to work on different GPUs, or pushing out patches to support new devices without crashing, or walking someone through how to fix an installation that wouldn't go through," one half of the husband and wife duo said. "We spent thousands on various test hardware. These are the unsung necessities of offering our apps on Android.
I don't have a 75 foot video cable. TV and Computer not in same room.
even if it was right next to the TV....
all my machines are somewhat older.. DVI out, doesn't carry sound. so that's a second cable... (don't have 75ft toslink either) by the time I get DVI to HDMI adapter and a huge cable I'm not even sure exists.. I've pretty much paid for the wireless solution.
yep:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%80_la_carte
A reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, i.e. the usual operation of restaurants (In contrast to a table d'hôte, at which a menu with limited or no choice is served at a fixed price.)
I want to only pay for the channels I watch, not the entire (fixed price) package that contains them.
what's YOUR definition?
my point is they changed it with a software update.. whereas the non-4G but marketed as 4G Android phones have always been that way.
shetchy marketing if you ask me
(whether or not ATT was behind the decision doesn't matter because Apple included it in THEIR software update)
tegra smegma a5x tri-dual-octo-quad core ACME RX3200 Rocket Skates GigaHertzMegaPixelPerSecond my asshole graphics is irrelevant.
the ONLY thing that matters is how it works when its in your hands.
does it drive 2048x1536 at least as well as the ipad 2? yes or no.
the way i see it, neither NVIDIA or Apple can say anything about relative performance because there is nothing using tegra at that resolution.. you can benchmark/extrapolate all you want, but all that matters is real world.
the "quad core A5X GPU" damn well better be faster beause it's driving 4x as many pixels.
not sure about the water cooled system comment, but they did add "4G" to the iphone 4S with the OS patch.. everyone knows the software didn't upgrade the hardware to LTE.
not sayin' there's a problem, just that overall quality (according to Ars) will vary depending on the source... so think twice before you jump. You might not see much of an improvement... because it's not double (as some might assume) in the interest of bandwidth considerations.
from Ars - ....Apple is free to use the high profile, resulting in better compression for a given quality level. The files are larger, but not that much larger. Whether the increased resolution comes with extra visual fidelity, however—and thus worth the extra download time—will vary from movie to movie and show to show.
er.. dot org. /sorry
"So why no Slashdot hype for the Popcorn Hour"
because there's no such thing as popcornhour.slashdot.com whereas this is apple.slashdot.com?
well, you don't "have" to use the included remote.. if you have an iphone/ipad/ipod touch. the remote app (free from apple) gives you a touch screen and keyboard for ATV (via WiFi)... you can even control itunes on the desktop with the same app. all your devices need to be logged in to itunes. when you launch the app, it asks what you want to control and finds all the ATV's and Macs (w/ itunes running) on the network. http://www.apple.com/itunes/remote/
and this summer with Mountain Lion, you will be able to airplay from your desktop/laptop which of course have keyboards and mice/trackpads.
they spent about 3 and a half seconds covering the new ATV (2 seconds were spend on the new UI), the rest was ipad demos and bashing phone apps stretched to tablet size (they were not hesitant at talking a few jabs @ Android).
sounds like 1080p might not necessarily be all that - or it's not a gaurantee
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/03/new-itunes-1080p-looks-good-through-better-h264-compression.ars
The reason that the 1080p versions of the iTunes Store videos can be a good deal better without doubling the file size—or worse—can be found in the tech specs of the new AppleTV and the new iPad. The AppleTV now supports H.264 compression for 1920x1080 resolution video at 30 frames per second using High or Main Profile up to level 4.0, the iPad and the iPhone 4S the same up to level 4.1. The profile indicates what kind of decompression algorithms the H.264 decoder has on board—the "High" profile obviously has some tricks up its sleeve that the "Main" or "Baseline" profiles known to previous devices don't support. The level value indicates how many blocks or bits per second a device can handle.
here's what they're talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H264#Levels
I don't think TV shows are the best thing to use, however.. i figure those were kind of crap to begin with. they should have done a comparison with a recently released movie
...Roku has an app store, but there's something to be said about mirroring - ipad now, and this summer, your desktop.. so in reality, you will be able to get amazon and hulu via apple tv, by mirrioring your mac on your TV. you can already see some mirroring support in apps. one of the sky mapping apps (forget which one) only put the sky/stars on the TV, while the controls remain on the ipad. one of the real racing titles also puts the main view on the TV, but control elements remain on the ipad.
I have a roku 2 and a current gen apple tv.. and one thing ATV wins.. is scrubbing video. my god. it's painful on the roku. i got the roku thinking I could use USB to play stuff locally... it plays fine, but fast forwarding sucks.
if the new UI is any indicator... the new "button/icon" interface lends itself nicely to a future app store. here's to a la carte content consumption via provider specific apps.