to be fair, what you're describing is the media industry, not journalism itself. journalism is a trade/discipline that serves a crucial role in a free & democratic society. that it has been bastardized and corrupted by commercial interests does not preclude the existence of true journalism which is based on professional integrity and a civic duty to keep the public informed.
what i'm confused about is why the poster accuses the "digital revolution" of undermining in-depth reportage. there's a huge difference between undermining the profit margins of mainstream media news outlets and undermining the quality of journalism. if anything, the "digital revolution" has only fueled investigative journalism by breaking the monopoly previously held by mainstream news outlets.
the web has given independent journalists an easy means of reaching a global audience, and it has also given the public an easy means of sampling a much wider variety of diverse news sources. this means that any inherent biases (and there will always be some bias) a particular news outlet demonstrates can be more easily identified and compensated for by the reader.
and unlike the past where errors in reporting were rarely corrected or even acknowledged beyond a minor footnote buried in the back of the paper, the blogosphere ensures that any misreported information is quickly identified and that corrections are quickly propagated through the web. there have always been millions of eyes reading the news, but now those millions of eyes can easily do their own online research & fact checking and call journalists out when they report incorrect information.
well, clearly you must know something that i don't. because the application of copyright laws in the U.S. generally favors the interests of copyright holders--particularly extremely rich ones--rather than the public. and the only way to use copyrighted works without obtaining a license from copyright holder is through the fair use clause, which is very vaguely defined and generally of little use if the copyright holder is a major corporation like Disney or FOX. so regardless of the intent of the law, the realities of copyright enforcement generally make fair use a moot point if the copyright holder actually decides to come after you.
case in point, one of the artists on our back catalog is a sludgemetal band called Acid Bath. (they're not particularly well known outside of metal circles, though they have garnered a cult following over they ears.) anyways, they released an album in 1994 (When the Kite String Pops, album artwork by John Wayne Gacy) with a track on it entitled "Dr. Seuss is Dead." so for about a decade and a half we sold merchandise related to this song, assuming it'd be covered under fair use.
well, about a year ago we were contacted by the "Seuss" estate and threatened with legal action if we didn't immediately take down all references to Dr. Seuss from our site and hand over our entire stock of CDs, DVDs, and t-shirts which made any reference to that song title. we were even forced to change the name of the song from "Dr. Seuss is Dead" to "is Dead" on iTunes. should we have taken the dispute to court and fought the charges? i, in my infinite optimism and naiveté, had initially thought so. but that was until my boss talked some sense into me and brought up other such cases which should have been covered by fair use rights & legal parody that ended with the verdict in favor of the plaintiff.
perhaps if we were Sony BMG or one of the other Big Four labels we could have stood in chance in court. but we're a small indie label with neither the legal muscle nor the financial means to sustain a long & drawn out legal battle.
if Amtrak gives members of the public permission to take photos of their trains, then that is their prerogative. that means the police are not allowed to arrest people for taking photos of Amtrak trains. so how is their doing so "implementing applicable law"? just like, by definition someone i invite into my home is not trespassing. i don't need the police's permission to invite guests into my home. nor do i need to notify them in advance that i'm going to have guests over.
how can Amtrak's marketing department be in the wrong when they're carrying out the wishes of the company regarding what they want to allow on their own premises?
and i can finally make references to popular 1930's cartoon characters in my artistic works! hurray for copyright laws! god forbid we let artists/writers make references to popular cartoon characters while they're still culturally relevant!
i just wish Matt Groening would hurry up and die so that i can wait 70 years after that to make references to popular 90's cartoon icons.
marketing usually reports to upper management. in most corporations, if the marketing department doesn't just decide to run a major campaign without the company's approval. unless there's a law that forbids Amtrak from allowing people to take photos of their trains, then the police were out of line, not the marketing department.
that's like saying that a police officer who comes into my house and arrests one of my guests is just implementing applicable law. after all, who am i--the property owner-to decide who to allow onto my premises?
aside form the fact that there are still a lot of 32-bit processors out there (AMD Geode, Intel Atom, Intel Celeron M, NVIDIA Tegra, VIA C7/C7-D/C7-M/C3/Eden, etc.), do current applications even gain that much of a benefit from 64-bit OSes or processors?
i know that Adobe has said that Photoshop CS4 takes advantage of 64-bit processing, but aside from people working with huge hi-res images or other extremely memory-intensive applications, most people aren't really going to see much benefit in having a 64-bit OS. a modern low-power 32-bit processor with 2~3 GB of RAM is more than enough for most casual computing applications. the average person would not only benefit from their lower cost, lower power consumption, but the "leaner" 32-bit pointers occupy less space in the memory. most people just don't need a 64-bit address space.
i mean, do Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Firefox see any speed increases with a 64-bit processor?
that will happen with a human driver too. when an obstacle suddenly appears in front of your car, and you're at risk of a collision, most people simply slam on the brakes. you're not going to check to see if there's someone tailgating you, and even if there is, what are you going to do? just slam into the car in front of you at full speed? plus the whole point of the warning is to give the driver a chance to avoid the collision on their own, so if swerving out of the way the best option, then you have a chance to do that. but more often than not, swerving into another lane without checking for other vehicles will just cause a bigger accident.
the way the road system works is that each driver is responsible for avoiding the car in front of them, not behind them. if you're being tailgated, then the best thing to do is to leave a greater time gap between yourself and the car in front of you (either by slowing down, increasing the following distance, or both) so that you can stop slow enough that the tailgater won't rear end you--or just change lanes. what you don't do is drive full speed into a car in front of you just to avoid being rear-ended. also, an advantage to having a computerized system is that it, unlike the human driver, can look in all directions at once. so if sensors are put on all 4 sides of the vehicle, the avoidance system can be programmed to take rear and side vehicles into account. though removing energy from the collision by braking is still likely to be the best course of action.
aside from increasing situational awareness using electronic sensors, the best way to minimize traffic injuries is to employ well-designed crumple zones and reduce the mass of vehicles. unfortunately, here in the U.S. people take the exact opposite approach, creating bigger and heavier cars that greatly increase the energy of collisions. not only is it inconsiderate & selfish to buy a bigger car (not counting people who need large trucks/SUVs for work) for your own personal safety while endangering others on the road, but it's also illogical. sure, a big heavy car may survive the collision better, but that doesn't mean the passenger(s) will. without crumple zones to absorb the shock of impact, all that energy will simply be transferred to the passenger.
the last thing we need is for misguided paranoia to create a vehicular arms race with ever larger cars and increasingly deadly accidents. if the auto industry really wants to save lives, they would adopt an industry-wide agreement to reduce vehicle mass and coordinate their efforts to design better/more effective crumple zones. that's one area of industrial research where the best available data and vehicle designs should be openly shared across the industry. that is, of course, if the automakers truly have the interest/safety of consumers at heart.
yea, i'm sure your wilderness survival skills will come in real handy when you're dying of silicosis & respiratory failure.
i mean, a supervolcano just covered the western half of the United States in ash fall, and the first thing you think to do is to grab a gun and go outside and head into the wilderness? here's a tip for you and your hunter friends with "wilderness survival skills": when the global temperature has just dropped by 20+ degrees, it's better to stay indoors.
and you also won't be needing your guns (well, assuming you're not in the small minority of the population who freaks out during stressful situations turning into homicidal sociopaths) as there will be plenty of freshly killed animals in the first few weeks following the eruption. and after that there won't be any game left for you to hunt--but hey, cannibalism is always an option!
small amounts of volcanic ash might only irritate your lungs, but if a supervolcanic eruption took place, it would likely throw up tremendous amounts (~1000 cubic miles) of tephra/pyroclast, the finest particles of which could circle the globe and remain suspended in the atmosphere for years. if you're immediately downwind from such an eruption, you'd be breathing in heavy amounts of what is essentially microscopic shards of broken glass for weeks or months.
archaeological evidence has been uncovered showing that the mass deaths of plains animals 12 million years ago during a supervolcanic explosion at Yellowstone were due primarily to lung disease from volcanic ash inhalation. even many animals that survived the initial ashfall were still killed by the ash stirred up by their own movements or wind.
well, if that does happen then there will certainly be major food shortages around the world and severe infrastructure damage (reservoirs becoming silted up, dams breaking, entire towns covered by meters of ash, power lines in other areas snapping from the weight of ash cover, etc.) in the US, but i think science & technology will prevail. my city happens to be within the ash cover area, but i think the city population would still be able to survive.
first off, we would need to get respirators and gas masks, then we would have to secure a water supply. next, we'd need to repair the power lines or build our own little power plant. since no one is going to be driving on the roads, we would have plenty of gasoline to run a large gas turbine capable of powering a small community for a couple of years.
with basic infrastructure restored, we can then focus on securing a food supply. with careful rationing (America is the land of waste and excess after all), existing food supplies that were produced before the disaster would probably last a good year or so. that would be just enough time to establish a local food supply. lack of sunlight and cold weather won't be a problem with a power plant available. it's not too hard to build a greenhouse (or use an existing one) and set up a hydroponic system and grow lamps to produce artificial sunlight & heat.
it will take some hard work, but it's nothing that a little human ingenuity can't overcome. if anything, it'll encourage people to adopt more sustainable lifestyles, foster cooperation and a sense of community, and create a more efficient and egalitarian society in the long run. if Americans want to survive this kind of disaster, they'll have to learn to cooperate with and help one another. rather than depending on agribusiness and corporate farms hundreds of miles away to produce one's food, local communities will have to get together and set up farming co-ops and learn to be more self-sufficient.
if this were India, China, or Africa, then there might be a large death toll. but America has a lot more material wealth and natural resources. we also have a more educated population and the technological and scientific knowledge that brings. our biggest challenge is simply overcoming our culture of selfishness and ignorance. if mass hysteria breaks out or society degenerates into lawless chaos, with everyone fighting over immediate resources, each person blindly pursuing their own selfish interests rather than working together, then we probably won't survive. but chances are most communities will be able to make it through such an ordeal.
personally, i'd travel to the nearest university where there are the highest concentrations of:
progressive civic-minded & altruistic individuals
intellectuals and knowledgeable experts in assorted fields
innovative freethinkers and fresh young minds
additionally, college campuses have large libraries, digital knowledge repositories, advanced research labs, scientific equipment, and many even have greenhouses and seed banks. so you have the human resources, information resources, and material resources to survive the catastrophe. and you'll also be connected to a global academic network.
it's not just more seeders that increases download speeds. as long as there is 1 seed then each added peer, whether a seeder or leecher, is going to contribute to your download speed. that's the way BitTorrent works. the more you upload, the faster you can download, so everyone is going to be uploading even as they are "leeching."
in any case, internet TV is long overdue. but the U.S. still needs to catch up in broadband infrastructure. with 100 Mbps connections, watching TV over the internet would be even more convenient than terrestrial broadcast or cable. and if we start deploying 1 Gbps symmetric bandwidth FttH connections like they are doing in Japan, even HD content could be streamed over the internet. content producers would no longer be at the mercy of traditional television networks. that in itself would be a huge cultural boon, as this has long been a major impediment to innovative and original programming. instead of worrying about getting canceled by the network (or not even being picked up by the networks), content producers could just distribute and promote their shows on their own on the internet/web.
and yet every label knows that 99% of the promo CDs they send out will just end up in the used bin at local record shops.
we try our best to mark promo CDs as such. record companies used to punch holes in the album covers of their LPs meant for promotion use or print "white label" records to distinguish them from the retail product. these days we just use sharpies to write "PROMO" on the covers, but it really is a futile effort. if you go to any mid-sized record store with a used/second-hand section, you'll still find tons of promo materials being sold.
occasionally we'll come upon our own promo CDs being sold at a record store, and in those situations we'll ask the owner to take them off the shelves or just buy them back. but as far as i know, it's not actually illegal to sell promo CDs.
and regarding the relevance of Capitol Records distributing free mp3s to this case, i think it has to do with the plaintiff's claim that MP3Tunes has "severely and irreparably [injured] Plaintiffs and other copyright holders by eroding legitimate sales of music through both traditional and online channels." i think those claims are dubious at best to begin with. but if Capitol Records is already distributing their own music all over the web where anyone is free to download it, then they can't really claim that MP3Tunes is eroding their sales simply by allowing their users to access their own uploaded music from any computer with an internet connection.
i mean, they might as well sue wireless router or S/PDIF cable manufacturers for illegally distributing copyrighted content. it's absurd. if i want to upload copyrighted content to my web server and access it from other computers, that is my right. this kind of "distribution" (if you can even call it that) should be protected under fair use, just like bringing a CD to a friend's house or even lending it to them.
nah, it won't quite be that bad. most predictions expect the immediate danger zone to have a radius of 1000-1600km, with pumice & ash deposit probably covering all of California and most of the Midwest. but rather than being burned, most deaths/injuries will likely be caused by ash inhalation.
luckily, modern humans have the benefit of science and technology.given enough warning, most people within range of the volcanic explosion and subsequent lava/pyroclastic flow (70,000 to 100,000+ individuals by some estimates) can be evacuated beforehand. everyone else will simply have to stay in doors for a couple of days before they too can be evacuated outside of the ash cover area.
the USGS seems pretty confident that the YVO monitoring program will detect any premonitory indicators (such as emissions of magmatic gases) of any such impending disaster. and studies indicate that, if there is a volcanic eruption, it is not likely to be a caldera-forming supervolcanic eruption due to insufficient rhyolitic magma-storage to sustain such an event.
in the event that a caldera-forming eruption takes place, then yes the ash will probably circle the entire globe and lower the temperature in the lower atmosphere for a few years, and that can have a severe impact on the ecology of the planet. but it's certainly survivable. and the chances of such an event actually occurring is still statistically insignificant--contrary to what is often reported, are are not "overdue" for a supervolcanic eruption. (the mean interval between such eruptions is 710,000 years, not 600,000 years.)
i think MS did a pretty good job with the Xbox, and the Zune also had a lot of potential--i especially like the wireless file sharing feature. however, the Zune has just as much DRM as the iPod. as i understand it, the Zune deletes any wirelessly traded content regardless of who owns the copyright. this is a featured designed purely for the benefit of content producers rather than actual Zune users/owners.
Microsoft really dropped the ball with the wireless capabilities of the Zune. they could have made it unencumbered by DRM (and thus actually useful) or even make it an open standard that could be adopted by other PMP manufacturers. instead, their DRMed implementation ensures that the Zune's small market share will cause this innovative feature to go ignored by most people.
i mean, being able to carry a Zune with you and promote your music to people who own Zunes, PSPs, Archos, Zens, laptops, netbooks, etc. anywhere you go would be a huge selling point for indie musicians. but a DRMed closed standard completely undermines the utility & innovation of such a feature. only by working with other vendors and promoting interoperability and consumer interests can Microsoft hope to compete with the iPod. instead, their shortsightedness killed any chance the Zune had of achieving commercial success (despite the merits of its engineering).
i definitely prefer Wikipedia not to have ads. ads should really be a last resort for a non-profit site like Wikipedia. not every site on the web needs to be plastered with ads. we're already bombarded with advertisements everywhere we look without being assaulted with ads in an encyclopedia. i mean, why don't we just start placing billboards in libraries or in classrooms? soliciting advertisers would greatly compromise the neutrality of the site, and it has the potential of creating a conflict of interest by making Wikipedia financially tied to commercial organizations.
the idea of paying contributors is just plain idiotic though. the reason that most registered users aren't active is because they have no useful information to contribute. 99% of the time i go to Wikipedia, i make no contributions to the site. that's because i can't contribute any useful information.
if Wikipedia started paying contributors, it would only attract the wrong kind of contributors that are more interested in profit than actually contributing to the community. right now Wikipedia is driven by altruism and free access to/free exchange of information. just look at the sea of spamblogs and MLM/get-rich-quick schemes on the web. there are a lot of people out there willing to be inconsiderate societal parasites just to make a few bucks. if Wikipedia began paying contributors, that is the exact kind of people it will attract to the site.
people who will actually contribute useful content to Wikipedia are already doing so. that is because they have a sense of community, altruism, and cooperation. it's enough that they themselves find the site useful and know that they are contributing to something greater (and that is societally beneficial). financial reward cheapens the ideals that Wikipedia stands for.
content quality would drop, due to lots of useless articles being added.
content quality would drop, due to editors being inundated with useless articles.
storage capacity would be wasted on useless content, which in turn would drive up the operational costs of Wikipedia
people would start using Wikipedia as their personal blogs and to advertise their products--further lowering the quality of the site
useful information would be harder to find--the more information you have to process, the harder it is to organize and sift through to find the desired info.
Wikipedia is a tool that has become immensely popular because of its usefulness. any changes made to the site should thus be weighed based on how it would increase/decrease the site's usefulness. allowing people to add unverifiable information that has no place in an encyclopedic reference would ruin the usefulness of the site.
Lake Superior State University "maverick" word-watchers, fresh from the holiday "staycation" but without an economic "bailout" even after a "desperate search," have issued their 34th annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. This year's list may be more "green" than any of the previous lists and includes words and phrases that people from "Wall Street to Main Street" say they love "not so much" and wish to have erased from their "carbon footprint."
Environmental buzzwords are getting the axe this year. "Green" and "going green" received the most nominations.
GREEN - The ubiquitous 'Green' and all of its variables, such as 'going green,' 'building green,' 'greening,' 'green technology,' 'green solutions' and more, drew the most attention from those who sent in nominations this year.
"This phrase makes me go green every time I hear it." Danielle Brunin, Lawrence, Kansas.
"I'm all for being environmentally responsible, but this 'green' needs to be nipped in the bud." Valerie Gilson, Gales Ferry, Conn.
"Companies are less 'green' than ever, advertising the fact they are 'green.' Is anyone buying this nonsense?" Mark Etchason, Denver, Colo.
"If something is good for the environment, just say so. As Kermit would say, 'It isn't easy being green.'" Kevin Sherlock, Hiawatha, Iowa.
"If I see one more corporation declare itself 'green,' I'm going to start burning tires in my backyard." Ed Hardiman, Bristow, Va.
"This spawned 'green solutions,' 'green technology,' and the horrible use of the word as a verb, as in, 'We really need to think about greening our office.'" Mike McDermott, Philadelphia, Penn.
CARBON FOOTPRINT or CARBON OFFSETTING - "It is now considered fashionable for everyone, tree hugger or lumberjack alike, to pay money to questionable companies to 'offset' their own 'carbon footprint.' What a scam! Get rid of it immediately!" Ginger Hunt, London, England.
Mike of Chicago says that when he hears the phrase 'carbon footprint,' "I envision microscopic impressions on the surface of the earth where an atom of carbon forgot to wear its shoes."
Christy Loop of Woodbridge, Va., says that 'leaving a carbon footprint' has become the new 'politically incorrect.' "How can we not, in one way or another, affect our natural environment?"
Presidential election years are always ripe for language abuse. This year, the electorate grew weary of 'mavericks' and 'super delegates.' As Michael W. Casby of Haslett, Mich. said, when he suggested banning all of the candidates' names, "Come on, it's been another too-long campaign season."
MAVERICK - "The constant repetition of this word for months before the US election diluted whatever meaning it previously had. Even the comic offshoot 'mavericky' was terribly overused. A minimum five-year banishment of both words is suggested so they will not be available during the next federal election." Matthew Mattila, Green Bay, Wisc.
"You know it's time to banish this word when even the Maverick family, who descended from the rancher who inspired the term, says it's being mis-used." Scott Urbanowski, Kentwood, Mich.
"I'm a maverick, he's a maverick, wouldn't you like to be a maverick, too?" Michael Burke, Silver Spring, Md.
FIRST DUDE - "Skateboard English is not an appropriate way to refer to the spouse of a high-ranking public official." Paul Ruschmann, Canton, Mich.
Of course, the economy couldn't escape the list this year.
BAILOUT - "Use of emergency funds to remove toxic assets from banks' balance sheets is not a bailout. When your cousin calls you from jail in the middle of the night, he wants a bailout." Ben Green, State College, Penn.
"Is it a loan? Is it a purchase of assets by the government? Is it a gift made by the taxpayers?" Dave Gill, Traverse City, Mich.
"Now it seems as though every sector of the economy wants a
which is why the telecom industry tried to dissuade the government from pursuing plans for a free public wireless network. first they claimed that public wireless wasn't viable, and that all attempts to create such networks by governments have been huge failures. and now they're changing the reason for their opposition to claims of "interference and quality degradation."
it's ridiculous that they're even given a voice on this issue when they have such a conflict of interest. the only people whose opinions should be solicited is the public. just hold a nationwide referendum. if people want a public national wireless infrastructure, then it should be created. the technology has been available for a while and has been proven to be sound. San Francisco and many other smaller cities here in California already have open wireless networks, and there's no evidence that it has any impact on cellphone networks or any other communication systems.
the Federal Reserve had nothing to do with predatory lending practices (which had been going on in the credit industry long before the mortgage crisis). and for the most part, the investment banking industry has been self-regulated--which is an inherent conflict of interest.
do a little research into the history of industry regulations in the U.S., and you'll see exactly why these regulations are necessary. anyone who thinks a laissez-faire free market economy is the solution to all the world's problems is clearly ignorant of our past and needs a reality check.
despite what many libertarians seem to believe, greed does not inherently promote public welfare or ethical/responsible behavior. the truth is quite the opposite, which is historically why regulations have been legislated in the first place.
well, there are two ways of resurrecting old games: remake and re-imagining. the former may be straight remakes like Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles or Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, or they can be new installments to an old series following the same formula, like Contra 4 or Bomberman (Portable). but re-imaginings present a completely new/original take on an old franchise. an example of this would be Metroid Prime, which is practically in a different genre from the original 2D platformer. likewise, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has very different gameplay from its 2D predecessor as well.
both methods of breathing new life into old games have their place. though it's probably harder to create a successful re-imagining. Space Invaders Extreme, for example, is a hugely successful remake of the classic arcade game with updated trippy graphics; whereas Space Invaders: Evolution (Galaxy Beat) is sort of somewhere in between a remake and a re-imagining that attempts to stay true to the original game while adding new depth to it (mixing in elements of a rhythm game).
personally, i prefer games of the in-between route like Space Invaders: Evolution or Atari Classics Evolved. they're not just graphics updates, but also update the gameplay (while keeping the spirit of the original).
don't know why the parent is modded offtopic; the 'gamepads' he's referring to are the ones referenced in TFA.
in any case, my experiences with my Logitech wireless mouse/keyboard combo have been less than satisfactory. i don't really game much on my computer, so just want a functional conventional keyboard--no wacky key layouts, macro keys, track pads, etc. and while the Logitech set i have looks and feels great, the software leaves much to be desired.
first of all, i need to run Logitech's SetPoint program in order for most of the non-standard function keys to work. but then whenever i run Adobe Illustrator and use the scroll wheel (on either the mouse or keyboard) with SetPoint running the system makes an annoying beeping noise. i've tried contacting Logitech customer service about the problem to see if they have a fix for it (Illustrator is a pretty popular program after all), but i never received a response.
also, the programmable keys are somewhat limited in their function, and a lot of keys either don't work they way they're supposed to or have annoying behaviors. for instance, there's a "MediaLife" key right next to the volume knob that often gets triggered (at the slightest touch) when adjusting the volume. by default it launches Logitech's crappy media library application, which runs in full screen and takes about 20 seconds to load. and then there's the media player buttons (forward, rewind, pause/play, stop, eject), but they only work with Windows Media Player and WinDVD, and there's no way to program them to work with Winamp, iTunes, BS.Player, or any other media player. and even with Windows Media Player the forward & rewind buttons don't work.
frankly, i wish Logitech would just release open hardware/driver specs so that i could program the keys myself. i mean, they've already been paid for the keyboard/mouse, so should they care how their product is used? it's not like they'll lose money by doing so. they're too incompetent to write decent software, and too lazy to even bother with Linux support, so why not open up the specs so that users can get better use out of their hardware?
that's doubtful. all three of those solutions are about half the price of the cheapest Atom netbook. perhaps an Atom 330 w/ a generic mini-ITX motherboard would be cheaper than the C7 + EPIA, but a VIA C3 CPU/motherboard combo starts at around $60. and general-purpose processing power isn't what VIA processors aim towards. if you buy a VIA processor, it's going to be for:
low power consumption->low heat output->longer battery life and less noise. using a 16 stage fully-pipelined superscalar architecture w/ a specialized 128-bit vector FPU (2 in the VIA Nano), SWAR/SIMD instruction sets, out-of-order execution & advanced branch prediction, and on-die encryption & twin RNGs, VIA processors achieve the highest per-Watt performance of just about any processor on the market.
their multimedia-specific design. VIA embedded processors are exceptionally well suited to multimedia applications when paired with VIA's robust digital media IGP chipsets. not only do they possess on-die Floating Point "media" units, but by offloading processor-intensive tasks like video encoding/decoding and audio processing to off-die coprocessors, VIA embedded systems handle multimedia applications extremely efficiently. because of hardware-accelerated video processing, VIA systems can often match the performance of systems with twice their clock speed.
hacker-friendly open hardware. features like LVDS connectors, LPC interface, pico-ITX form-factor, Linux support, etc. make VIA embedded solutions perfect for building set-top boxes, embedded devices, and personal hacking projects.
it's simply silly to try to compare Intel Atom netbooks with VIA embedded systems that are designed specifically for embedded multimedia applications. a netbook doesn't come with dual monitor support, TV out, S/PDIF, MPEG-2/4 hardware acceleration, a video capture interface, HDTV encoding, video de-blocking, etc. if you build a VIA set-top box, you're obviously not going to use it for gaming or to run Windows Vista. but as a set-top box, VIA solutions are more than adequate. so any additional processing power is just meaningless dicksizing with no real world benefits.
there are major cultural differences between Japan/South Korea and the U.S. to be sure, but there are also fundamental socioeconomic & technological differences as well. these things are inextricably tied to one another i think, so you really can't discuss one without the other.
one major point of divergence is Japan's more progressive approach to public infrastructure. whereas the US favors privatization and deregulation, the Japanese government takes a more pro-active approach in promoting technological progress. for example, the government owns a 1/3rd stake in Japan's largest telecom/cellular phone carrier/ISP, NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone). this hybrid private/socialized approach is similar to Japan's health care system, which, while provided by the private sector, is heavily regulated through price controls determined by negotiations between the government and industry leaders ever couple of years.
the Japanese government also actively funds the sciences and technology. in the mid 90's Japan invested 2.6% of their GDP into R&D, which is about on par with the US, which invested 2.5% at the time. however, whereas US funding is focused primarily on defense, Japan's funding has been focused on non-military R&D, which far exceeds the US. and while government funded (non-defense-related) R&D has been decreasing in the US over the past decade, R&D funding in Japan has roughly doubled--largely due to efforts to intensify international research cooperation (creating world class research facilities within Japan and abroad) and also to strengthen Japan's human and physical infrastructure for basic sciences within universities.
but Japan's rapid pace of technological progress isn't just due to publicly funded basic research. there have also been reports in the media that Toyota's hybrid gas-electric technology was largely subsidized by the government, which is in line with the Japanese government's history of working closely with domestic industries. and through NTT the Japanese government has also provided its citizens with faster and cheaper broadband. as a result, Japan has the highest FttH penetration in the world.
so what came first, the Japanese government's interventionist policies or Japan's technophilic culture? it's hard to say, but whichever is the case, this system clearly has its advantages. Sweden is another country with similar public policy, and in both cases it seems to serve the public better than a strictly free market approach. not only do individuals enjoy better/more advanced public infrastructure (and at a far lower cost), but the Japanese economy has proven extremely resilient even during global economic downturns.
USB devices certainly are eligible for autoplay, they just prompt the user when the device is first connected by default. however, an autorun.inf file can still change the default action for that drive, so that when the user double clicks on the volume in My Computer, it will run the autplay program rather than open up the drive for browsing. and in that situation the user gets no warning.
and i'm not sure what U3 is, but i know that if a removable drive has a partition formated with CDFS, Windows will assume that it's a copy-protected CD and will allow autoplay without the user's consent regardless of your autoplay settings. i think this can be done with any USB drive, which in a way makes disabling autoplay or prompting the user useless. just one more way consumers get screwed by DRM i guess.
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to be fair, what you're describing is the media industry, not journalism itself. journalism is a trade/discipline that serves a crucial role in a free & democratic society. that it has been bastardized and corrupted by commercial interests does not preclude the existence of true journalism which is based on professional integrity and a civic duty to keep the public informed.
what i'm confused about is why the poster accuses the "digital revolution" of undermining in-depth reportage. there's a huge difference between undermining the profit margins of mainstream media news outlets and undermining the quality of journalism. if anything, the "digital revolution" has only fueled investigative journalism by breaking the monopoly previously held by mainstream news outlets.
the web has given independent journalists an easy means of reaching a global audience, and it has also given the public an easy means of sampling a much wider variety of diverse news sources. this means that any inherent biases (and there will always be some bias) a particular news outlet demonstrates can be more easily identified and compensated for by the reader.
and unlike the past where errors in reporting were rarely corrected or even acknowledged beyond a minor footnote buried in the back of the paper, the blogosphere ensures that any misreported information is quickly identified and that corrections are quickly propagated through the web. there have always been millions of eyes reading the news, but now those millions of eyes can easily do their own online research & fact checking and call journalists out when they report incorrect information.
well, clearly you must know something that i don't. because the application of copyright laws in the U.S. generally favors the interests of copyright holders--particularly extremely rich ones--rather than the public. and the only way to use copyrighted works without obtaining a license from copyright holder is through the fair use clause, which is very vaguely defined and generally of little use if the copyright holder is a major corporation like Disney or FOX. so regardless of the intent of the law, the realities of copyright enforcement generally make fair use a moot point if the copyright holder actually decides to come after you.
case in point, one of the artists on our back catalog is a sludgemetal band called Acid Bath. (they're not particularly well known outside of metal circles, though they have garnered a cult following over they ears.) anyways, they released an album in 1994 (When the Kite String Pops, album artwork by John Wayne Gacy) with a track on it entitled "Dr. Seuss is Dead." so for about a decade and a half we sold merchandise related to this song, assuming it'd be covered under fair use.
well, about a year ago we were contacted by the "Seuss" estate and threatened with legal action if we didn't immediately take down all references to Dr. Seuss from our site and hand over our entire stock of CDs, DVDs, and t-shirts which made any reference to that song title. we were even forced to change the name of the song from "Dr. Seuss is Dead" to "is Dead" on iTunes. should we have taken the dispute to court and fought the charges? i, in my infinite optimism and naiveté, had initially thought so. but that was until my boss talked some sense into me and brought up other such cases which should have been covered by fair use rights & legal parody that ended with the verdict in favor of the plaintiff.
perhaps if we were Sony BMG or one of the other Big Four labels we could have stood in chance in court. but we're a small indie label with neither the legal muscle nor the financial means to sustain a long & drawn out legal battle.
um, it has nothing to do with smart or dumb...
if Amtrak gives members of the public permission to take photos of their trains, then that is their prerogative. that means the police are not allowed to arrest people for taking photos of Amtrak trains. so how is their doing so "implementing applicable law"? just like, by definition someone i invite into my home is not trespassing. i don't need the police's permission to invite guests into my home. nor do i need to notify them in advance that i'm going to have guests over.
how can Amtrak's marketing department be in the wrong when they're carrying out the wishes of the company regarding what they want to allow on their own premises?
and i can finally make references to popular 1930's cartoon characters in my artistic works! hurray for copyright laws! god forbid we let artists/writers make references to popular cartoon characters while they're still culturally relevant!
i just wish Matt Groening would hurry up and die so that i can wait 70 years after that to make references to popular 90's cartoon icons.
marketing usually reports to upper management. in most corporations, if the marketing department doesn't just decide to run a major campaign without the company's approval. unless there's a law that forbids Amtrak from allowing people to take photos of their trains, then the police were out of line, not the marketing department.
that's like saying that a police officer who comes into my house and arrests one of my guests is just implementing applicable law. after all, who am i--the property owner-to decide who to allow onto my premises?
aside form the fact that there are still a lot of 32-bit processors out there (AMD Geode, Intel Atom, Intel Celeron M, NVIDIA Tegra, VIA C7/C7-D/C7-M/C3/Eden, etc.), do current applications even gain that much of a benefit from 64-bit OSes or processors?
i know that Adobe has said that Photoshop CS4 takes advantage of 64-bit processing, but aside from people working with huge hi-res images or other extremely memory-intensive applications, most people aren't really going to see much benefit in having a 64-bit OS. a modern low-power 32-bit processor with 2~3 GB of RAM is more than enough for most casual computing applications. the average person would not only benefit from their lower cost, lower power consumption, but the "leaner" 32-bit pointers occupy less space in the memory. most people just don't need a 64-bit address space.
i mean, do Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Firefox see any speed increases with a 64-bit processor?
that will happen with a human driver too. when an obstacle suddenly appears in front of your car, and you're at risk of a collision, most people simply slam on the brakes. you're not going to check to see if there's someone tailgating you, and even if there is, what are you going to do? just slam into the car in front of you at full speed? plus the whole point of the warning is to give the driver a chance to avoid the collision on their own, so if swerving out of the way the best option, then you have a chance to do that. but more often than not, swerving into another lane without checking for other vehicles will just cause a bigger accident.
the way the road system works is that each driver is responsible for avoiding the car in front of them, not behind them. if you're being tailgated, then the best thing to do is to leave a greater time gap between yourself and the car in front of you (either by slowing down, increasing the following distance, or both) so that you can stop slow enough that the tailgater won't rear end you--or just change lanes. what you don't do is drive full speed into a car in front of you just to avoid being rear-ended. also, an advantage to having a computerized system is that it, unlike the human driver, can look in all directions at once. so if sensors are put on all 4 sides of the vehicle, the avoidance system can be programmed to take rear and side vehicles into account. though removing energy from the collision by braking is still likely to be the best course of action.
aside from increasing situational awareness using electronic sensors, the best way to minimize traffic injuries is to employ well-designed crumple zones and reduce the mass of vehicles. unfortunately, here in the U.S. people take the exact opposite approach, creating bigger and heavier cars that greatly increase the energy of collisions. not only is it inconsiderate & selfish to buy a bigger car (not counting people who need large trucks/SUVs for work) for your own personal safety while endangering others on the road, but it's also illogical. sure, a big heavy car may survive the collision better, but that doesn't mean the passenger(s) will. without crumple zones to absorb the shock of impact, all that energy will simply be transferred to the passenger.
the last thing we need is for misguided paranoia to create a vehicular arms race with ever larger cars and increasingly deadly accidents. if the auto industry really wants to save lives, they would adopt an industry-wide agreement to reduce vehicle mass and coordinate their efforts to design better/more effective crumple zones. that's one area of industrial research where the best available data and vehicle designs should be openly shared across the industry. that is, of course, if the automakers truly have the interest/safety of consumers at heart.
yea, i'm sure your wilderness survival skills will come in real handy when you're dying of silicosis & respiratory failure.
i mean, a supervolcano just covered the western half of the United States in ash fall, and the first thing you think to do is to grab a gun and go outside and head into the wilderness? here's a tip for you and your hunter friends with "wilderness survival skills": when the global temperature has just dropped by 20+ degrees, it's better to stay indoors.
and you also won't be needing your guns (well, assuming you're not in the small minority of the population who freaks out during stressful situations turning into homicidal sociopaths) as there will be plenty of freshly killed animals in the first few weeks following the eruption. and after that there won't be any game left for you to hunt--but hey, cannibalism is always an option!
small amounts of volcanic ash might only irritate your lungs, but if a supervolcanic eruption took place, it would likely throw up tremendous amounts (~1000 cubic miles) of tephra/pyroclast, the finest particles of which could circle the globe and remain suspended in the atmosphere for years. if you're immediately downwind from such an eruption, you'd be breathing in heavy amounts of what is essentially microscopic shards of broken glass for weeks or months.
archaeological evidence has been uncovered showing that the mass deaths of plains animals 12 million years ago during a supervolcanic explosion at Yellowstone were due primarily to lung disease from volcanic ash inhalation. even many animals that survived the initial ashfall were still killed by the ash stirred up by their own movements or wind.
well, if that does happen then there will certainly be major food shortages around the world and severe infrastructure damage (reservoirs becoming silted up, dams breaking, entire towns covered by meters of ash, power lines in other areas snapping from the weight of ash cover, etc.) in the US, but i think science & technology will prevail. my city happens to be within the ash cover area, but i think the city population would still be able to survive.
first off, we would need to get respirators and gas masks, then we would have to secure a water supply. next, we'd need to repair the power lines or build our own little power plant. since no one is going to be driving on the roads, we would have plenty of gasoline to run a large gas turbine capable of powering a small community for a couple of years.
with basic infrastructure restored, we can then focus on securing a food supply. with careful rationing (America is the land of waste and excess after all), existing food supplies that were produced before the disaster would probably last a good year or so. that would be just enough time to establish a local food supply. lack of sunlight and cold weather won't be a problem with a power plant available. it's not too hard to build a greenhouse (or use an existing one) and set up a hydroponic system and grow lamps to produce artificial sunlight & heat.
it will take some hard work, but it's nothing that a little human ingenuity can't overcome. if anything, it'll encourage people to adopt more sustainable lifestyles, foster cooperation and a sense of community, and create a more efficient and egalitarian society in the long run. if Americans want to survive this kind of disaster, they'll have to learn to cooperate with and help one another. rather than depending on agribusiness and corporate farms hundreds of miles away to produce one's food, local communities will have to get together and set up farming co-ops and learn to be more self-sufficient.
if this were India, China, or Africa, then there might be a large death toll. but America has a lot more material wealth and natural resources. we also have a more educated population and the technological and scientific knowledge that brings. our biggest challenge is simply overcoming our culture of selfishness and ignorance. if mass hysteria breaks out or society degenerates into lawless chaos, with everyone fighting over immediate resources, each person blindly pursuing their own selfish interests rather than working together, then we probably won't survive. but chances are most communities will be able to make it through such an ordeal.
personally, i'd travel to the nearest university where there are the highest concentrations of:
additionally, college campuses have large libraries, digital knowledge repositories, advanced research labs, scientific equipment, and many even have greenhouses and seed banks. so you have the human resources, information resources, and material resources to survive the catastrophe. and you'll also be connected to a global academic network.
it's not just more seeders that increases download speeds. as long as there is 1 seed then each added peer, whether a seeder or leecher, is going to contribute to your download speed. that's the way BitTorrent works. the more you upload, the faster you can download, so everyone is going to be uploading even as they are "leeching."
in any case, internet TV is long overdue. but the U.S. still needs to catch up in broadband infrastructure. with 100 Mbps connections, watching TV over the internet would be even more convenient than terrestrial broadcast or cable. and if we start deploying 1 Gbps symmetric bandwidth FttH connections like they are doing in Japan, even HD content could be streamed over the internet. content producers would no longer be at the mercy of traditional television networks. that in itself would be a huge cultural boon, as this has long been a major impediment to innovative and original programming. instead of worrying about getting canceled by the network (or not even being picked up by the networks), content producers could just distribute and promote their shows on their own on the internet/web.
and yet every label knows that 99% of the promo CDs they send out will just end up in the used bin at local record shops.
we try our best to mark promo CDs as such. record companies used to punch holes in the album covers of their LPs meant for promotion use or print "white label" records to distinguish them from the retail product. these days we just use sharpies to write "PROMO" on the covers, but it really is a futile effort. if you go to any mid-sized record store with a used/second-hand section, you'll still find tons of promo materials being sold.
occasionally we'll come upon our own promo CDs being sold at a record store, and in those situations we'll ask the owner to take them off the shelves or just buy them back. but as far as i know, it's not actually illegal to sell promo CDs.
and regarding the relevance of Capitol Records distributing free mp3s to this case, i think it has to do with the plaintiff's claim that MP3Tunes has "severely and irreparably [injured] Plaintiffs and other copyright holders by eroding legitimate sales of music through both traditional and online channels." i think those claims are dubious at best to begin with. but if Capitol Records is already distributing their own music all over the web where anyone is free to download it, then they can't really claim that MP3Tunes is eroding their sales simply by allowing their users to access their own uploaded music from any computer with an internet connection.
i mean, they might as well sue wireless router or S/PDIF cable manufacturers for illegally distributing copyrighted content. it's absurd. if i want to upload copyrighted content to my web server and access it from other computers, that is my right. this kind of "distribution" (if you can even call it that) should be protected under fair use, just like bringing a CD to a friend's house or even lending it to them.
nah, it won't quite be that bad. most predictions expect the immediate danger zone to have a radius of 1000-1600km, with pumice & ash deposit probably covering all of California and most of the Midwest. but rather than being burned, most deaths/injuries will likely be caused by ash inhalation.
luckily, modern humans have the benefit of science and technology.given enough warning, most people within range of the volcanic explosion and subsequent lava/pyroclastic flow (70,000 to 100,000+ individuals by some estimates) can be evacuated beforehand. everyone else will simply have to stay in doors for a couple of days before they too can be evacuated outside of the ash cover area.
the USGS seems pretty confident that the YVO monitoring program will detect any premonitory indicators (such as emissions of magmatic gases) of any such impending disaster. and studies indicate that, if there is a volcanic eruption, it is not likely to be a caldera-forming supervolcanic eruption due to insufficient rhyolitic magma-storage to sustain such an event.
in the event that a caldera-forming eruption takes place, then yes the ash will probably circle the entire globe and lower the temperature in the lower atmosphere for a few years, and that can have a severe impact on the ecology of the planet. but it's certainly survivable. and the chances of such an event actually occurring is still statistically insignificant--contrary to what is often reported, are are not "overdue" for a supervolcanic eruption. (the mean interval between such eruptions is 710,000 years, not 600,000 years.)
if others are interested, you can read the USGS's report on the Preliminary Assessment of Volcanic and Hydrothermal Hazards in Yellowstone National Park and Vicinity (the actual report is in PDF format).
if people can't find it (and thus won't ever see it), then why bother adding the content and wasting storage space?
i think MS did a pretty good job with the Xbox, and the Zune also had a lot of potential--i especially like the wireless file sharing feature. however, the Zune has just as much DRM as the iPod. as i understand it, the Zune deletes any wirelessly traded content regardless of who owns the copyright. this is a featured designed purely for the benefit of content producers rather than actual Zune users/owners.
Microsoft really dropped the ball with the wireless capabilities of the Zune. they could have made it unencumbered by DRM (and thus actually useful) or even make it an open standard that could be adopted by other PMP manufacturers. instead, their DRMed implementation ensures that the Zune's small market share will cause this innovative feature to go ignored by most people.
i mean, being able to carry a Zune with you and promote your music to people who own Zunes, PSPs, Archos, Zens, laptops, netbooks, etc. anywhere you go would be a huge selling point for indie musicians. but a DRMed closed standard completely undermines the utility & innovation of such a feature. only by working with other vendors and promoting interoperability and consumer interests can Microsoft hope to compete with the iPod. instead, their shortsightedness killed any chance the Zune had of achieving commercial success (despite the merits of its engineering).
i definitely prefer Wikipedia not to have ads. ads should really be a last resort for a non-profit site like Wikipedia. not every site on the web needs to be plastered with ads. we're already bombarded with advertisements everywhere we look without being assaulted with ads in an encyclopedia. i mean, why don't we just start placing billboards in libraries or in classrooms? soliciting advertisers would greatly compromise the neutrality of the site, and it has the potential of creating a conflict of interest by making Wikipedia financially tied to commercial organizations.
the idea of paying contributors is just plain idiotic though. the reason that most registered users aren't active is because they have no useful information to contribute. 99% of the time i go to Wikipedia, i make no contributions to the site. that's because i can't contribute any useful information.
if Wikipedia started paying contributors, it would only attract the wrong kind of contributors that are more interested in profit than actually contributing to the community. right now Wikipedia is driven by altruism and free access to/free exchange of information. just look at the sea of spamblogs and MLM/get-rich-quick schemes on the web. there are a lot of people out there willing to be inconsiderate societal parasites just to make a few bucks. if Wikipedia began paying contributors, that is the exact kind of people it will attract to the site.
people who will actually contribute useful content to Wikipedia are already doing so. that is because they have a sense of community, altruism, and cooperation. it's enough that they themselves find the site useful and know that they are contributing to something greater (and that is societally beneficial). financial reward cheapens the ideals that Wikipedia stands for.
it would be bad because:
Wikipedia is a tool that has become immensely popular because of its usefulness. any changes made to the site should thus be weighed based on how it would increase/decrease the site's usefulness. allowing people to add unverifiable information that has no place in an encyclopedic reference would ruin the usefulness of the site.
slashdotted. here's the text:
which is why the telecom industry tried to dissuade the government from pursuing plans for a free public wireless network. first they claimed that public wireless wasn't viable, and that all attempts to create such networks by governments have been huge failures. and now they're changing the reason for their opposition to claims of "interference and quality degradation."
it's ridiculous that they're even given a voice on this issue when they have such a conflict of interest. the only people whose opinions should be solicited is the public. just hold a nationwide referendum. if people want a public national wireless infrastructure, then it should be created. the technology has been available for a while and has been proven to be sound. San Francisco and many other smaller cities here in California already have open wireless networks, and there's no evidence that it has any impact on cellphone networks or any other communication systems.
the Federal Reserve had nothing to do with predatory lending practices (which had been going on in the credit industry long before the mortgage crisis). and for the most part, the investment banking industry has been self-regulated--which is an inherent conflict of interest.
do a little research into the history of industry regulations in the U.S., and you'll see exactly why these regulations are necessary. anyone who thinks a laissez-faire free market economy is the solution to all the world's problems is clearly ignorant of our past and needs a reality check.
despite what many libertarians seem to believe, greed does not inherently promote public welfare or ethical/responsible behavior. the truth is quite the opposite, which is historically why regulations have been legislated in the first place.
well, there are two ways of resurrecting old games: remake and re-imagining. the former may be straight remakes like Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles or Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, or they can be new installments to an old series following the same formula, like Contra 4 or Bomberman (Portable). but re-imaginings present a completely new/original take on an old franchise. an example of this would be Metroid Prime, which is practically in a different genre from the original 2D platformer. likewise, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has very different gameplay from its 2D predecessor as well.
both methods of breathing new life into old games have their place. though it's probably harder to create a successful re-imagining. Space Invaders Extreme, for example, is a hugely successful remake of the classic arcade game with updated trippy graphics; whereas Space Invaders: Evolution (Galaxy Beat) is sort of somewhere in between a remake and a re-imagining that attempts to stay true to the original game while adding new depth to it (mixing in elements of a rhythm game).
personally, i prefer games of the in-between route like Space Invaders: Evolution or Atari Classics Evolved. they're not just graphics updates, but also update the gameplay (while keeping the spirit of the original).
don't know why the parent is modded offtopic; the 'gamepads' he's referring to are the ones referenced in TFA.
in any case, my experiences with my Logitech wireless mouse/keyboard combo have been less than satisfactory. i don't really game much on my computer, so just want a functional conventional keyboard--no wacky key layouts, macro keys, track pads, etc. and while the Logitech set i have looks and feels great, the software leaves much to be desired.
first of all, i need to run Logitech's SetPoint program in order for most of the non-standard function keys to work. but then whenever i run Adobe Illustrator and use the scroll wheel (on either the mouse or keyboard) with SetPoint running the system makes an annoying beeping noise. i've tried contacting Logitech customer service about the problem to see if they have a fix for it (Illustrator is a pretty popular program after all), but i never received a response.
also, the programmable keys are somewhat limited in their function, and a lot of keys either don't work they way they're supposed to or have annoying behaviors. for instance, there's a "MediaLife" key right next to the volume knob that often gets triggered (at the slightest touch) when adjusting the volume. by default it launches Logitech's crappy media library application, which runs in full screen and takes about 20 seconds to load. and then there's the media player buttons (forward, rewind, pause/play, stop, eject), but they only work with Windows Media Player and WinDVD, and there's no way to program them to work with Winamp, iTunes, BS.Player, or any other media player. and even with Windows Media Player the forward & rewind buttons don't work.
frankly, i wish Logitech would just release open hardware/driver specs so that i could program the keys myself. i mean, they've already been paid for the keyboard/mouse, so should they care how their product is used? it's not like they'll lose money by doing so. they're too incompetent to write decent software, and too lazy to even bother with Linux support, so why not open up the specs so that users can get better use out of their hardware?
that's doubtful. all three of those solutions are about half the price of the cheapest Atom netbook. perhaps an Atom 330 w/ a generic mini-ITX motherboard would be cheaper than the C7 + EPIA, but a VIA C3 CPU/motherboard combo starts at around $60. and general-purpose processing power isn't what VIA processors aim towards. if you buy a VIA processor, it's going to be for:
it's simply silly to try to compare Intel Atom netbooks with VIA embedded systems that are designed specifically for embedded multimedia applications. a netbook doesn't come with dual monitor support, TV out, S/PDIF, MPEG-2/4 hardware acceleration, a video capture interface, HDTV encoding, video de-blocking, etc. if you build a VIA set-top box, you're obviously not going to use it for gaming or to run Windows Vista. but as a set-top box, VIA solutions are more than adequate. so any additional processing power is just meaningless dicksizing with no real world benefits.
besides, the C7's successor--the VIA Nano--wipes the floor with the Intel Atom in multimedia encoding (LAME mp3 audio encoding, Windows Media Encoder video encoding, DivX movie encoding, Vista Movie Maker, TMPG VOB to WMV, etc.), HD video playback (1080p), and even in general-purpose computing performance.
there are major cultural differences between Japan/South Korea and the U.S. to be sure, but there are also fundamental socioeconomic & technological differences as well. these things are inextricably tied to one another i think, so you really can't discuss one without the other.
one major point of divergence is Japan's more progressive approach to public infrastructure. whereas the US favors privatization and deregulation, the Japanese government takes a more pro-active approach in promoting technological progress. for example, the government owns a 1/3rd stake in Japan's largest telecom/cellular phone carrier/ISP, NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone). this hybrid private/socialized approach is similar to Japan's health care system, which, while provided by the private sector, is heavily regulated through price controls determined by negotiations between the government and industry leaders ever couple of years.
the Japanese government also actively funds the sciences and technology. in the mid 90's Japan invested 2.6% of their GDP into R&D, which is about on par with the US, which invested 2.5% at the time. however, whereas US funding is focused primarily on defense, Japan's funding has been focused on non-military R&D, which far exceeds the US. and while government funded (non-defense-related) R&D has been decreasing in the US over the past decade, R&D funding in Japan has roughly doubled--largely due to efforts to intensify international research cooperation (creating world class research facilities within Japan and abroad) and also to strengthen Japan's human and physical infrastructure for basic sciences within universities.
but Japan's rapid pace of technological progress isn't just due to publicly funded basic research. there have also been reports in the media that Toyota's hybrid gas-electric technology was largely subsidized by the government, which is in line with the Japanese government's history of working closely with domestic industries. and through NTT the Japanese government has also provided its citizens with faster and cheaper broadband. as a result, Japan has the highest FttH penetration in the world.
so what came first, the Japanese government's interventionist policies or Japan's technophilic culture? it's hard to say, but whichever is the case, this system clearly has its advantages. Sweden is another country with similar public policy, and in both cases it seems to serve the public better than a strictly free market approach. not only do individuals enjoy better/more advanced public infrastructure (and at a far lower cost), but the Japanese economy has proven extremely resilient even during global economic downturns.
USB devices certainly are eligible for autoplay, they just prompt the user when the device is first connected by default. however, an autorun.inf file can still change the default action for that drive, so that when the user double clicks on the volume in My Computer, it will run the autplay program rather than open up the drive for browsing. and in that situation the user gets no warning.
and i'm not sure what U3 is, but i know that if a removable drive has a partition formated with CDFS, Windows will assume that it's a copy-protected CD and will allow autoplay without the user's consent regardless of your autoplay settings. i think this can be done with any USB drive, which in a way makes disabling autoplay or prompting the user useless. just one more way consumers get screwed by DRM i guess.