Oh my lord, that web site is evil. Every single page link is actually an applet trying to run WiMP. No HREFs, no ALT text, and certainly no NOSCRIPT. My Mozilla is completely out in the cold.
Please voice your complaints about this affront to web standards. Here's some addresses:
There's a new tab on the PowerMac page, labeled Architecture. It wasn't there before, as confirmed by the Google cache.
Unfortunately, the page is slanted more towards marketing than geekspeak. I couldn't see anything significantly different than the previous Quicksilver models. Could someone provide a more ArsTechnica-style overview of this little gray box labeled "System Controller" and say whether it really is any better than before?
You need to read the article again; that's not at all what he's talking about.
The author described a particular problem he had while developing a PSX game -- mapping the limited VRAM was a pain. So he wanted to write an automated graphical utility to do it for him. Using OpenStep (aka Cocoa) it took about 2 days and saved his entire team man-months of tedious labor.
This wasn't about porting some random PSX game to Macs. It was about using the language at the heart of OS X to be more productive at whatever it is you're doing. As you recall, productivity was one of the main reasons for the computer revolution (along with communication and porn, but you get the idea).
I didn't notice where they mentioned the dot pitch of the various LCD monitors.
Non sequitur. There's no such thing as dot pitch on an LCD, just like there's no zoom, trapezoid, degauss, etc. Those are relevant only to analog CRTs.
Each pixel of an LCD (at maximum resolution) is exactly the size of the associated RGB screen elements. It doesn't move. It doesn't wiggle across phosphor dots, because there are no phosphors.
Um.. you are wrong, so I'll correct you. "Glow in the dark" stuff glows because a chemical reaction is happening
These guys actually brought light to a hault
Um.. you are wrong, so I'll correct you. Glow in the dark stuff glows because its electrons are easy to bump into higher orbitals (by absorbing photons), then slowly come back down (by emitting other photons).
These guys have a special supercooled substance that -- guess what -- absorbs photons into electron orbitals, then emits other photons! It's the same damn thing, except that in this case the photons coming out are the same color and have the same direction as the ones that went in.
Regarding external equipment and Apple laptops, MacOS X was designed to be very music-friendly. Core Audio has extremely low latency, 32 bits, unlimited channels.
A Combo iBook plus some audio gear should cost less than the lunchbox.
bottom model [iMac] has CD-RW, top two have DVD-R/CD-RWs
CD- ROM in the bottom [iBook], DVD-R/CD-RW in the top two
Close but not quite. Remember that "-R" means "Recorder" not "Reader". The correct specs are:
bottom: iMac has CD-RW, iBook has CD
middle: iMac and iBook have Combo (DVD/CD-RW)
top: iMac has Super (DVD-R/CD-RW), iBook has Combo (and 14")
And just to be anal, SuperDrive physically has DVD-RW capability, but Apple won't release -W support until the fight between DVD-RW and DVD+RW gets sorted out. Dumb reason, I know.
Re:Reason for PowerMac and iMac processor situatio
on
New iMac Announced
·
· Score: 2
new, faster G4s (or call them G5s - same chip, regardless)
I certainly hope not. While it'll be nice to see the Apollo chips running above 1GHz, they're just the same 32 bit G4s with a little speedbump. Calling that a G5 would be evil marketing crap.
The real PPC8500 is a 64 bit monster running on DDR.
Properly-designed transmission line does not radiate (much). This is primarily done by either running a balanced signal down two twisted conductors (twisted pair) or running an unbalanced signal inside a grounded shield (coax)
Umm...apparently you didn't even read the blurb at the top of this article. The story is about running 10Mbps over Cat1 cable (non-twisted pair) or random wires (non-coaxial).
Straight bare metal is pretty much the definition of an antenna. Physics dictates that there must be radiative loss here.
A couple more opinion points about the "failed companies" thing.
I think O'Reilly was more interested in targeting successful corporations who are sitting on decades of abandonware, not DotBombs with a couple pieces of beta code.
Whether or not it would endanger competing software, giving away said failure-ware would almost certainly be blocked by a bankruptcy judge. Those are assets which must be sold in order to pay back creditors.
3. legally licence the code and release a player (anyone?)
4. actually get sorsen to let people
These two are actually the same problem: Apple pays Sorenson for an exclusive license to the codec. If it isn't Quicktime, it can't use Sorenson.
Thus, the options are either convince Apple to release Quicktime for *nix (Quicktime for OS X runs way up in the Cocoa/Aqua layers, not down in BSD, so it doesn't count), or convince content producers to use another codec (MPEG4, some day).
Remember that there are two key components to a movie player -- the file format and the video codec. When the MPEG4 codec is finalized, the Quicktime format (and maybe also WiMP) will support it. With a little luck the Sorenson problem will become irrelevant at that point.
There are several reasons the Quicktime format can be more useful than straight MPEG. One of the best (but sadly underused) features is text tracks, which allows subtitles, descriptors for the disabled, etc. Another is the ability to overlay static sprites (for example, TV channel logos) onto the video layer. This kind of stuff can improve image quality and save bandwidth at the same time.
The whole point of quantum encryption (which is completely a different process than quantum computing) is that observing the quantum causes the quantum to change. Therefore, the man in the middle will disrupt the transmission and be detected instantly.
Quantum encryption, when used correctly, is really truly mathematically proven to be unbreakable by any means.
until the Blue Screen of Death is really, provably responsible for human fatalities (Think saftey control at a power plant, or a crash
Re-read the Microsoft EULA (in fact, the EULA for just about any off-the-shelf software). It specifically forbids use of their software in power plants, aircraft, and other systems that may endanger human lives.
"See, it's not our fault -- they were evil pirates."
Wait. According to previous articles, MS had only managed to build about 400,000 XBoxen, while GameCube built about twice as many. So how could they sell 934,000 XBoxen?
Scott's essay says: I don't mind AppleScript. I wish the system were open to other languages
Actually, the system is open to other languages, although I don't know how many of them have OS X ports. MacOS uses Open Scripting Architecture, which means that pretty much any scripting language can operate your Mac, given an appropriate OSAX plugin.
I've toyed with the ones for JavaScript, Perl, and Python, but decided to stick with AppleScript since I already know (some of) the syntax.
Natural monopolies, as long as there's oversight and consumer protection, can work.
In that case, you should ask your Congressperson to oppose Tauzin-Dingell. One of its provisions is that neither the FCC nor state governments would be allowed to regulate broadband -- Verizon and friends would be answerable solely to Congress.
Apple has asked Sorensen at least to release a Linux binary, and they declined.
J'Accuse! Point us to a reputable URL for this claim, or forever hold your tongue. I have never seen anything but stonewalling from Apple in the available data.
Apple pays Sorenson serious money to make their codec available only on the platform(s) of Apple's choice.
Tidbits (a MacOS maillist & web site that happens to be based in Washington state) sued a spammer in 1998. They won in 2000, but by then the spammer had fled across different state lines a dozen times, and you have to file new paperwork every time. They eventually gave up on collecting from him.
The article doesn't specify if Bennett has actually received money yet, or just a judgement. It's quite possible he won't see a dime.
media player is one of the few players that doesnt have a problem with using 3rd party codecs
I suppose that's technically a true statement, since there are only a few major media players total. For the record though, QuickTime is perfectly happy using a multitude of codecs.
(very disappointed that Discreet took down CodecCentral)
On top of that, I'd guess at least 1/2 (probably 3/4) of regular internet users already have an email account through school and/or work. I have both of those plus some webmails; my @home email box is an untouched spam-filled wasteland.
Apple says "We can't write a Quicktime player for Linux without Sorenson on it first".
False. Search the public record and you will not see any instance where Apple has said this is Sorenson's fault. Apple reps never even use the words "Sorenson" and "Linux" in the same sentence. Talk to the hand.
You will probably notice there are also damn few instances of Sorenson talking about it. The terms "exclusive contract" and "hush money" come to mind. But when they do speak, Sorenson always says "ask Apple".
I'm an EvangeLista, but I do hate two things about Apple: their legal department and their unwillingness to port Sorenson.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh my lord, that web site is evil. Every single page link is actually an applet trying to run WiMP. No HREFs, no ALT text, and certainly no NOSCRIPT. My Mozilla is completely out in the cold.
Please voice your complaints about this affront to web standards. Here's some addresses:There's a new tab on the PowerMac page, labeled Architecture. It wasn't there before, as confirmed by the Google cache.
Unfortunately, the page is slanted more towards marketing than geekspeak. I couldn't see anything significantly different than the previous Quicksilver models. Could someone provide a more ArsTechnica-style overview of this little gray box labeled "System Controller" and say whether it really is any better than before?
You need to read the article again; that's not at all what he's talking about.
The author described a particular problem he had while developing a PSX game -- mapping the limited VRAM was a pain. So he wanted to write an automated graphical utility to do it for him. Using OpenStep (aka Cocoa) it took about 2 days and saved his entire team man-months of tedious labor.
This wasn't about porting some random PSX game to Macs. It was about using the language at the heart of OS X to be more productive at whatever it is you're doing. As you recall, productivity was one of the main reasons for the computer revolution (along with communication and porn, but you get the idea).
I didn't notice where they mentioned the dot pitch of the various LCD monitors.
Non sequitur. There's no such thing as dot pitch on an LCD, just like there's no zoom, trapezoid, degauss, etc. Those are relevant only to analog CRTs.
Each pixel of an LCD (at maximum resolution) is exactly the size of the associated RGB screen elements. It doesn't move. It doesn't wiggle across phosphor dots, because there are no phosphors.
and it has little of the traditional UNIX architecture
..
.DS_Store
.vol
/mach.sym
Not a Unix? Excuse me, but what part of...
[cty197:~] fuy% cd /
[cty197:/] fuy% ls -al
total 1228649
drwxrwxr-t 35 root admin 1146 Jan 11 08:58 .
drwxrwxr-t 35 root admin 1146 Jan 11 08:58
-rw-rw-rw- 1 fuy admin 8196 Jan 3 17:03
dr--r--r-- 2 root wheel 128 Jan 11 08:58
drwxrwxr-x 28 root admin 908 Jan 7 17:07 Applications
drwxrwxr-x 11 root admin 330 Nov 15 22:59 Developer
drwxrwxr-x 27 root admin 874 Dec 20 19:16 Library
drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 264 Nov 9 23:23 Network
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 264 Dec 10 17:45 System
drwxr-xr-x 2 fuy unknown 264 Nov 12 08:54 Trash
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 92 Nov 9 22:29 Users
drwxrwxrwt 3 root wheel 264 Jan 11 08:59 Volumes
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 512 Jan 11 11:08 automount
drwxr-xr-x 33 root wheel 1078 Dec 21 20:00 bin
lrwxrwxr-t 1 root admin 13 Jan 11 08:58 cores -> private/cores
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Jan 11 08:58 dev
lrwxrwxr-t 1 root admin 11 Jan 11 08:58 etc -> private/etc
lrwxrwxr-t 1 root admin 9 Jan 11 08:58 mach ->
-r--r--r-- 1 root admin 563484 Jan 11 08:58 mach.sym
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 3152156 Dec 8 00:40 mach_kernel
drwxr-xr-x 7 root wheel 264 Jan 11 08:59 private
drwxr-xr-x 59 root wheel 1962 Dec 21 20:01 sbin
lrwxrwxr-t 1 root admin 11 Jan 11 08:58 tmp -> private/tmp
drwxr-xr-x 10 root wheel 296 Dec 22 20:40 usr
lrwxrwxr-t 1 root admin 11 Jan 11 08:58 var -> private/var
...don't you understand?
Um.. you are wrong, so I'll correct you. "Glow in the dark" stuff glows because a chemical reaction is happening
These guys actually brought light to a hault
Um.. you are wrong, so I'll correct you. Glow in the dark stuff glows because its electrons are easy to bump into higher orbitals (by absorbing photons), then slowly come back down (by emitting other photons).
These guys have a special supercooled substance that -- guess what -- absorbs photons into electron orbitals, then emits other photons! It's the same damn thing, except that in this case the photons coming out are the same color and have the same direction as the ones that went in.
Regarding external equipment and Apple laptops, MacOS X was designed to be very music-friendly. Core Audio has extremely low latency, 32 bits, unlimited channels.
A Combo iBook plus some audio gear should cost less than the lunchbox.
CD- ROM in the bottom [iBook], DVD-R/CD-RW in the top two
Close but not quite. Remember that "-R" means "Recorder" not "Reader". The correct specs are:
- bottom: iMac has CD-RW, iBook has CD
- middle: iMac and iBook have Combo (DVD/CD-RW)
- top: iMac has Super (DVD-R/CD-RW), iBook has Combo (and 14")
And just to be anal, SuperDrive physically has DVD-RW capability, but Apple won't release -W support until the fight between DVD-RW and DVD+RW gets sorted out. Dumb reason, I know.new, faster G4s (or call them G5s - same chip, regardless)
I certainly hope not. While it'll be nice to see the Apollo chips running above 1GHz, they're just the same 32 bit G4s with a little speedbump. Calling that a G5 would be evil marketing crap.
The real PPC8500 is a 64 bit monster running on DDR.
Properly-designed transmission line does not radiate (much). This is primarily done by either running a balanced signal down two twisted conductors (twisted pair) or running an unbalanced signal inside a grounded shield (coax)
Umm...apparently you didn't even read the blurb at the top of this article. The story is about running 10Mbps over Cat1 cable (non-twisted pair) or random wires (non-coaxial).
Straight bare metal is pretty much the definition of an antenna. Physics dictates that there must be radiative loss here.
3. legally licence the code and release a player (anyone?)
4. actually get sorsen to let people
These two are actually the same problem: Apple pays Sorenson for an exclusive license to the codec. If it isn't Quicktime, it can't use Sorenson.
Thus, the options are either convince Apple to release Quicktime for *nix (Quicktime for OS X runs way up in the Cocoa/Aqua layers, not down in BSD, so it doesn't count), or convince content producers to use another codec (MPEG4, some day).
Remember that there are two key components to a movie player -- the file format and the video codec. When the MPEG4 codec is finalized, the Quicktime format (and maybe also WiMP) will support it. With a little luck the Sorenson problem will become irrelevant at that point.
There are several reasons the Quicktime format can be more useful than straight MPEG. One of the best (but sadly underused) features is text tracks, which allows subtitles, descriptors for the disabled, etc. Another is the ability to overlay static sprites (for example, TV channel logos) onto the video layer. This kind of stuff can improve image quality and save bandwidth at the same time.
The whole point of quantum encryption (which is completely a different process than quantum computing) is that observing the quantum causes the quantum to change. Therefore, the man in the middle will disrupt the transmission and be detected instantly.
Quantum encryption, when used correctly, is really truly mathematically proven to be unbreakable by any means.
until the Blue Screen of Death is really, provably responsible for human fatalities (Think saftey control at a power plant, or a crash
Re-read the Microsoft EULA (in fact, the EULA for just about any off-the-shelf software). It specifically forbids use of their software in power plants, aircraft, and other systems that may endanger human lives.
"See, it's not our fault -- they were evil pirates."
Wait. According to previous articles, MS had only managed to build about 400,000 XBoxen, while GameCube built about twice as many. So how could they sell 934,000 XBoxen?
Are they counting preorders, perhaps?
Scott's essay says: I don't mind AppleScript. I wish the system were open to other languages
Actually, the system is open to other languages, although I don't know how many of them have OS X ports. MacOS uses Open Scripting Architecture, which means that pretty much any scripting language can operate your Mac, given an appropriate OSAX plugin.
I've toyed with the ones for JavaScript, Perl, and Python, but decided to stick with AppleScript since I already know (some of) the syntax.
Natural monopolies, as long as there's oversight and consumer protection, can work.
In that case, you should ask your Congressperson to oppose Tauzin-Dingell. One of its provisions is that neither the FCC nor state governments would be allowed to regulate broadband -- Verizon and friends would be answerable solely to Congress.
At least, that's according to a few of their opponents.
Apple has asked Sorensen at least to release a Linux binary, and they declined.
J'Accuse! Point us to a reputable URL for this claim, or forever hold your tongue. I have never seen anything but stonewalling from Apple in the available data.
Apple pays Sorenson serious money to make their codec available only on the platform(s) of Apple's choice.
Tidbits (a MacOS maillist & web site that happens to be based in Washington state) sued a spammer in 1998. They won in 2000, but by then the spammer had fled across different state lines a dozen times, and you have to file new paperwork every time. They eventually gave up on collecting from him.
The article doesn't specify if Bennett has actually received money yet, or just a judgement. It's quite possible he won't see a dime.
Although it was certainly the first commercial robo-spam, and arguably the most important, Green Card Lottery was not the first robo-spam on Usenet.
That "honor" goes to Zumabot. Sadly, I couldn't find of Serdar's actual turkey rants in Google.
media player is one of the few players that doesnt have a problem with using 3rd party codecs
I suppose that's technically a true statement, since there are only a few major media players total. For the record though, QuickTime is perfectly happy using a multitude of codecs.
(very disappointed that Discreet took down CodecCentral)
Imagine the flaming if you had to pay Linus $100+ every few years. When I buy software, I expect it to keep working.
most people haven't the technical expertise to go out and hunt for their own email server,
Sure they do. It's not hard. Running SMTP in your house isn't the only way to have email.
On top of that, I'd guess at least 1/2 (probably 3/4) of regular internet users already have an email account through school and/or work. I have both of those plus some webmails; my @home email box is an untouched spam-filled wasteland.
Apple says "We can't write a Quicktime player for Linux without Sorenson on it first".
False. Search the public record and you will not see any instance where Apple has said this is Sorenson's fault. Apple reps never even use the words "Sorenson" and "Linux" in the same sentence. Talk to the hand.
You will probably notice there are also damn few instances of Sorenson talking about it. The terms "exclusive contract" and "hush money" come to mind. But when they do speak, Sorenson always says "ask Apple".
I'm an EvangeLista, but I do hate two things about Apple: their legal department and their unwillingness to port Sorenson.