1. iTunes Subscription Service
How many times does Steve have to say that people prefer to own their music. How many different subscription services have to loose bucket loads of money before the media stops pretending apple needs subscription services just because they don't have one? If this was such a great fucking idea, then why didn't Naptster or Yahoo or one of the others make a big profit doing it?? Very lame, Crave. Napster never got my business because I can't load their DRM format onto my iPod. Apple got my iPod business because I like their straight-forward, no-nonsense methods of organizing and synching.
I absolutely refuse to buy a single track from the iTunes Store. Steve can talk all he wants about our desires to "own" our music, but I don't own the music if it's crippled with DRM. On the other hand, I would pay a significant amount of money per month to "rent" unlimited iTunes songs. In this case I am willing to submit to DRM because there's no confusion about the fact I do not own any of the songs. I will happily enjoy hours upon hours of DRMed protected content that I do not own. And I will happily purchase music from iTunes if they switched to this method -- or anyone else for that matter if their tunes played on my device.
Until music is rented as "All I can eat" I will continue to own my music in the form of CDs, ripping them to my format of choice for my player of choice.
Oh yes, many of us DID respond. They called us names like "unpatriotic" and some even went as far to call us traitors. Our Senators buckled at the first sign of resistance and failed to represent the voice of their dissenting voters. A two party system fails to work when both parties are on the same side.
Should have checked with Wikipedia first, sorry for the double post. They are the same show:
Planet Earth is a BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 5 March 2006. The US version is narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
The series was co-produced with Discovery Channel and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) in association with the CBC, and was described by its makers as "the definitive look at the diversity of our planet". It was also the first of its kind to be filmed entirely in high-definition format. The series has been nominated for the Pioneer Audience Award for Best Programme at the 2007 BAFTA TV awards.
Wait a minute, I had no idea BBC also carried a show titled Planet Earth -- I've been watching Planet Earth on Discovery HD for the past few weeks. Are they the same show?
I've been using the free SUSE since 9.2 and I've always thought it was one of the best looking desktops, especially with their fonts. It gets better and better with each version, but with 10.2 I think they've stepped back a notch. This article highlights exactly the reason why, I couldn't quite figure it out before.
As crappy as Novell is behaving lately, I really need to switch in protest. Unfortunately, they will force it on me when the distro completely collapses under the pressure of their bad decisions.
For most systems that output "only" 720P (720 is still a very nice looking picture) they are still "HD" sets that accept 1080i input. So if the PS3 does discriminate to 1080i like you said there is no issue as the TV will downscale to its native resolution.
I'm not sure where you get this DRM-related agreement or conspiracy crap but you're spewing FUD on the discussion. There are standards that define up to 1080i over component so I'm not sure where the conspiracy lies, and companies like Samsung have gone with unnofficial (but working and supported) 1080p over component.
Although I don't know how many, I do know there are HD sets out there that only support 1080i/p over HDMI. Fortunately my set doesn't care where the source comes from, but HDMI matters to at least a handful of users out there.
The thing that kills me about this decision is its lack of an HD DVD drive. All of this trouble to release a revised model but I still need to buy an external DVD drive? No thank you I don't need the equipment in my living room to look any more like a PC, and at that price I could still get Bluray / PS3 for cheaper than HD-DVD / X360.
I don't believe my newer slim-style PS2 is affected nearly as much as you say. I run progressive scan on it at 61", and for the most part it looks good with only a few de-interlacing artifacts. While I do plan on replacing it with a real standalone player (I'd love to hear what player you bought) I don't think the progressive upscaling is nearly as bad on the newest PS2s.
I must be confused, I know that the Cb/Cr signals on component are simply levels - when I plug that component feed into a composite jack I get the gresycale you're talking about. I was under the impression the other two signals made up the other half of the SVideo signal (the color info) or could be all three combined for composite. So are you saying the other two signals are not NTSC encoded / unable to be combined?
It's very easy to convert component video -> composite (single video cord) -- simply mix the signal off all three component outputs into one line. This causes a loss in image quality but it's no worse than you have with any other composite signal.
Really? No I'm seriously asking the question because Google shows Mac usage between 2% and 12%, I always pictured Linux users as being ~ 1% of the overall computer using population.
PS3 games still look better than PS2 on a low def set. X360 games still look better than XBOX on a low def set.
Higher polygon counts means more shit on the screen at once, more room for textures allows more varied environments and more processing power allows for better physics engines.
Higher resolution looks better, but it's not the only factor in graphics performance.
The only advantage the HDMI port has over DVI is the ability to implement HDCP. This isn't to say all HDMI ports implement HDCP, but they have the ability.
HDMI and DVI speak the same protocol, TMDS. My roommate has a nice graphics card with a DVI port, I spent $10 online for a DVI -> HDMI connector and have the same exact 1920x1080(p) digital image quality. So the ability to preview images on a real HDTV has been around for a couple of years now. The only thing lacking is HDCP support, for if and when studios decide to use the Image Constraint Token.
and I'm not blown up by a terrorist, should I thank the DHS?
Sorry, I don't give thanks to the government for non-incidents. I'll thank the FAA every time I take my shoes off or have to throw out a perfectly good bottle of water to board. If airplanes started to crash the problem would be corrected without government intervention because the airline business would pick up the slack. They have other reasons besides mandated regulation to keep air travel safe. If they didn't, people would be scared to fly and the business would fail.
Microsoft Office has become the industry standard because, to all intents and purposes, it's free.... And people who work in businesses where Office is used get a pirate copy to use at home, because that's what they know from work. Microsoft actually gives away nearly free ($15 for media + shipping) copies of Office Professional to all of our employees because of our license agreement. So half of your argument is good and valid (people use it at home which makes them want to use it at work which makes them want to use it at home) but they don't even have to pirate it.
Microsoft gets the employers to foot the bill, making it "free" to all of the employees. Employees throw fits at the first signs of change because they don't see any reason to change away from the "free" software they're used to.
There is no equivalent of a "contains" method for the string class, with strpos() being the recommended alternative. strpos() returns 0 if a string doesn't contain the specified substring... or it contains it at position 0. So to do a true "does this string contain some substring?" check requires using both strpos() *and* a separate check between the substring and a new substring made from the original string but chopped off at the length of the substring you're checking for. Use === with your comparison. Yes, dynamically typed variables can be a pain but only if you don't understand how to use them. Look at the following example:
$inputstring = "This is my PHP script";
if(strpos($inputstring,"This") === false) echo "Not found in inputstring";//This does NOT evaluate to true because 0 is NOT === false
if(strpos($inputstring,"This") == false) echo "Not found in inputstring";//This WILL evaluate to true and echo happens because 0 == false
So your criticism of dynamically-typed variables is valid and is what confuses you when it comes to using strpos().
Conditioned Response
on
Is Vista a Trap?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I'm not sure what lies you've been reading about UAC, but it conditions users to always say "Yes" to security prompts. This is a very terrible idea and in this situation the criticism is well deserved. "You are about to open the Control Panel -- allow or deny?" "You are about to open the Program Files folder -- allow or deny?" "You are about to modify user preferences -- allow or deny? "You are about to open attachment pzxyTrojan.exe -- allow or deny?" Allow.. allow.. allow.. allow.. allow..
I have a three year old Dell Inspiron that runs SUSE10.1 just fine. My wireless, NIC and ATI video were all supported out of the box. The ONLY hardware issue I've ever had was with dual monitors, and I think I was pushing the limitations of X.. NOT the hardware.
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Napster never got my business because I can't load their DRM format onto my iPod. Apple got my iPod business because I like their straight-forward, no-nonsense methods of organizing and synching.
I absolutely refuse to buy a single track from the iTunes Store. Steve can talk all he wants about our desires to "own" our music, but I don't own the music if it's crippled with DRM. On the other hand, I would pay a significant amount of money per month to "rent" unlimited iTunes songs. In this case I am willing to submit to DRM because there's no confusion about the fact I do not own any of the songs. I will happily enjoy hours upon hours of DRMed protected content that I do not own. And I will happily purchase music from iTunes if they switched to this method -- or anyone else for that matter if their tunes played on my device.
Until music is rented as "All I can eat" I will continue to own my music in the form of CDs, ripping them to my format of choice for my player of choice.
Oh yes, many of us DID respond. They called us names like "unpatriotic" and some even went as far to call us traitors. Our Senators buckled at the first sign of resistance and failed to represent the voice of their dissenting voters. A two party system fails to work when both parties are on the same side.
That's the best news I've read all week!
Clicky
Wait a minute, I had no idea BBC also carried a show titled Planet Earth -- I've been watching Planet Earth on Discovery HD for the past few weeks. Are they the same show?
I've been using the free SUSE since 9.2 and I've always thought it was one of the best looking desktops, especially with their fonts. It gets better and better with each version, but with 10.2 I think they've stepped back a notch. This article highlights exactly the reason why, I couldn't quite figure it out before.
As crappy as Novell is behaving lately, I really need to switch in protest. Unfortunately, they will force it on me when the distro completely collapses under the pressure of their bad decisions.
If your 720P display doesn't downscale from 1080i then you got hosed. Fact. FACT!
For most systems that output "only" 720P (720 is still a very nice looking picture) they are still "HD" sets that accept 1080i input. So if the PS3 does discriminate to 1080i like you said there is no issue as the TV will downscale to its native resolution.
I'm not sure where you get this DRM-related agreement or conspiracy crap but you're spewing FUD on the discussion. There are standards that define up to 1080i over component so I'm not sure where the conspiracy lies, and companies like Samsung have gone with unnofficial (but working and supported) 1080p over component.
..and if he would have called it "hl.exe" there are many people like myself who would have missed the joke.
Although I don't know how many, I do know there are HD sets out there that only support 1080i/p over HDMI. Fortunately my set doesn't care where the source comes from, but HDMI matters to at least a handful of users out there.
The thing that kills me about this decision is its lack of an HD DVD drive. All of this trouble to release a revised model but I still need to buy an external DVD drive? No thank you I don't need the equipment in my living room to look any more like a PC, and at that price I could still get Bluray / PS3 for cheaper than HD-DVD / X360.
I don't believe my newer slim-style PS2 is affected nearly as much as you say. I run progressive scan on it at 61", and for the most part it looks good with only a few de-interlacing artifacts. While I do plan on replacing it with a real standalone player (I'd love to hear what player you bought) I don't think the progressive upscaling is nearly as bad on the newest PS2s.
I must be confused, I know that the Cb/Cr signals on component are simply levels - when I plug that component feed into a composite jack I get the gresycale you're talking about. I was under the impression the other two signals made up the other half of the SVideo signal (the color info) or could be all three combined for composite. So are you saying the other two signals are not NTSC encoded / unable to be combined?
It's very easy to convert component video -> composite (single video cord) -- simply mix the signal off all three component outputs into one line. This causes a loss in image quality but it's no worse than you have with any other composite signal.
Really? No I'm seriously asking the question because Google shows Mac usage between 2% and 12%, I always pictured Linux users as being ~ 1% of the overall computer using population.
PS3 games still look better than PS2 on a low def set. X360 games still look better than XBOX on a low def set.
Higher polygon counts means more shit on the screen at once, more room for textures allows more varied environments and more processing power allows for better physics engines.
Higher resolution looks better, but it's not the only factor in graphics performance.
~# /etc/init.d/nfs restart
The only advantage the HDMI port has over DVI is the ability to implement HDCP. This isn't to say all HDMI ports implement HDCP, but they have the ability.
HDMI and DVI speak the same protocol, TMDS. My roommate has a nice graphics card with a DVI port, I spent $10 online for a DVI -> HDMI connector and have the same exact 1920x1080(p) digital image quality. So the ability to preview images on a real HDTV has been around for a couple of years now. The only thing lacking is HDCP support, for if and when studios decide to use the Image Constraint Token.
and I'm not blown up by a terrorist, should I thank the DHS?
Sorry, I don't give thanks to the government for non-incidents. I'll thank the FAA every time I take my shoes off or have to throw out a perfectly good bottle of water to board. If airplanes started to crash the problem would be corrected without government intervention because the airline business would pick up the slack. They have other reasons besides mandated regulation to keep air travel safe. If they didn't, people would be scared to fly and the business would fail.
..well I just checked and according to Wikipedia one might hit in the next twelve days!
Microsoft gets the employers to foot the bill, making it "free" to all of the employees. Employees throw fits at the first signs of change because they don't see any reason to change away from the "free" software they're used to.
$inputstring = "This is my PHP script";
if(strpos($inputstring,"This") === false) echo "Not found in inputstring";
if(strpos($inputstring,"This") == false) echo "Not found in inputstring";
So your criticism of dynamically-typed variables is valid and is what confuses you when it comes to using strpos().
I'm not sure what lies you've been reading about UAC, but it conditions users to always say "Yes" to security prompts. This is a very terrible idea and in this situation the criticism is well deserved.
"You are about to open the Control Panel -- allow or deny?"
"You are about to open the Program Files folder -- allow or deny?"
"You are about to modify user preferences -- allow or deny?
"You are about to open attachment pzxyTrojan.exe -- allow or deny?"
Allow.. allow.. allow.. allow.. allow..
In order to save costs, the European and Australian models will have a "limited range" of backwards compatibility.
They used different hardware specs for their models, replacing a PS2-like hardware chip with software emulation that isn't as good.
I see you're covering ground patrol this week.
I have a three year old Dell Inspiron that runs SUSE10.1 just fine. My wireless, NIC and ATI video were all supported out of the box. The ONLY hardware issue I've ever had was with dual monitors, and I think I was pushing the limitations of X.. NOT the hardware.