If you can spring for an Audible subscription ($49 a year I think), I'd *highly* recommend the weekly Science News . It is concisely written for an intelligent lay audience, covering all the fields, with strength in physics, astronomy and the biological sciences (They are pretty weak in compsci though).
SciNews is run by some non-profit organization, so its not the watery, awkwardly-written PopSci articles you get with most commercial publications, i.e. the "Discovery X Can Cure Cancer" or "New 2006 Automobiles Filled with Science!"
New Scientist ain't bad either, though can be a bit flakey. I'd avoid the audio broadcasts of Scientific American, which has articles that tend to be longer and murkier. That pub's seen better days.
> until they offer a lossless version of the music > that gives me the same abilities as I have when I > buy a CD:
Sorry, compact discs ARE a lossy means of reproduction. They're just not lossy due to compression, like MP3s and AACs are. Sound itself has infinite resolution, so any digitization (either at the recording studio or the digitalization for the CDs themselves represents loss).
I never understood the hype over the loss of sound quality in MP3s. Live fidelity is important when for reproducing a live performance, i.e. jazz or chamber music. Most people don't buy recordings for their performance anyway, they purchase music because it is catchy and tuneful. Much of this music couldn't be performed live as recorded anyway, since it was recorded with Protools, synthesizers, those devices that correct the picth of the singer's voice, etc. Do you really need full fidelity to a synthesized drum track?
And that is not new. 45 years ago, most pop music was recorded to be played on tiny transistor radios, which were *incredibly*. It was still some of the best music ever created. Beach Boy leader Brian Wilson used to play back his elaborate studio recordings on a small handheld radio to make sure they sounded good.
Google has a bit of a specialized workforce--people who are creative and smart. I'm not sure how well it would work elsewhere, with people who are just punching the clock and holding no interest in work-related projects.
>YEEEEEEEHAAAAAWWWWW!!!!!!!! I'm goin' 120 MPH and > the cops are clearing the road for me! How sweet > that?!?!?!
yeah, as someone who has lost control of an automobile at a relatively low 40 mph, I can tell you being in a car that is *out of your control* is far more *harrowing* and less enjoyable than being in one at that speed that is under your control.
Why is it that analysts always try to coin catch-phrases? The term "Pro-Am" floats through the essay like a damn trademark. It just makes the otherwise o.k. analysis more jargony than necessary. Fast Company should know better than allowing their sources to make up words.
I suspect that analysts coin terms because if one catches on then they can claim to be the owners of that trend. It's silly. A few years back Forrester Research (I think) kept releasing reports about the coming trend of "organic computing." Except no one else in the biz actually used that term. It just looked clueless.
>A professional does the job, even when they don't >want to do. An amateur does it whenever they feel >like it.
Conversely, a professional will only do a job as well as s/he is paid to do that job, wheras an amateur, if interested in the project, will do the job to the best of his/her abilities.
>No, because few people want to listen to indy music.
Hate to say it but there is something to be said for this. And for good reason.
Part of popular music's appeal is that it is, duh, enjoyed by a lot of people. That is the *primarily* purpose of the major labels, with their huge marketing budgets. They buy consensus along the lines of "Yes this is a song that we, the people, like."
This allows a sort of cultural bonding to take place over certain songs--the producers of "Garden State" can put Cold Play's "Don't Panic" in the begginning of that movie and we'll all understand its shared meaning. It becomes a generational thing.
Music companies buy consensus, and we all need that consensus to build a music community. (Whether we need this done in the way that music companies now do this is another matter entirely--I'd rather have 100 world music bands sell 100,000 copies each of their songs than Fleetwood Mac sell 10 million copies of their latest tired joint. But I digress).
I noticed this back in the early 90s when I was a reviewer for a heavy metal mag. We got *lots* of fantastic CDs in (Along with loads of dross) that, over time, became some of my favorite music. But I feela loss because no one today would know what a great band, say, Antic Hay, was. The music is just as good as what was popular, but something is lost nonetheless.
>just crap music being foisted off onto the public >as part of a meaningless settlement?"
Umm, OutKast just scored a #1 album--so obviously *someone* is buying their albums, and hence of interest to libraries. And I've heard of B.I.G., so I imagine he is (or was) pretty famous as well.
This really doesn't sound like Kansas rejected those CDs because they wouldn't be of interest--they felt it would attract too much of the *wrong* kind of interest.
Didn't Kansas also have the educational board that wanted to kick evolution out of the ciriculum??
The industry estimates that I've seen say only about 2 to 4 percent of the long haul fiber already in the ground is being used now--so its 96 percent dark fiber out there now--and that doesn't factor all the recent jumps in multiplexing technology that are arriving. So I don't think that will be a problem for awhile....
NYT Describing Real's service: "With a subscription service like RealRhapsody, one saves personal tastes in the form of playlists that replace actual music collections, providing access to favorites no matter what storage format comes out "
I'm really surprised the New York Times allows this blantant advertising within its editorial content, done through the guise of one interviewee's quote. I know the NYT is trying to appeal to a younger hipper audience, but damn! if this is the best they can probe the problems with music distribution, they should stick to covering opera.
Could the reporter not do a few back-of-the-envelope calculations? How much would it cost pay a small subscription fee the rest of your life, starting at $10 a month and working upwards over the years.
My parents bought 4 Simon & Garfunkel albums in the late 60s. Cost? Maybe $16 for the whole lot. They then enjoyed them for the 30 years. Then I transferred them to CD. That $16 has lasted them the better part of a century. They, like most people, do not own a *lot* of music, maybe 70 albums total (most of which I listen to now, actually). The cost of that collection is *far* cheaper than what they would have had to pay in subscription fees, would such a subscription service been in place in the 1970s. Now they enjoy the msuic they bought years ago without paying anybody anything!
>Once freeze-dried, there is no way to reconstitute the music into CD quality for playing through a good stereo.
Most people forget the Beatles, Beach Boys, Motown , Phil Spector, etc. recorded music for *transister radios* In most cases, high fidelity is a red herring argument concocted by the music industry to sell more music.
The not-good-enough-for-home-stereo argument is nonsense. I play MP3s and AACs through my home stereo all the time--the sound quality is indistinguishable between CDs. And that is using only the sound card's line-out jack and a cheap connector.
Admittedly I listen to mostly rock. Classical music is more difficult to encode, given its more dynamic nature.
I remember Alta Vista offered this sort of search-your-own-computer software back in *1998*. This seems to be the most recent version: http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/968131
The Otis player has an adapter that you can use to plug into a car cassette player.
Better yet, instead of a headphone, you can just use an earplug. With audio books, there is no real advantage in stereo. With an earplug, one ear is left free to listen for sirens, etc. And since, many cell phone users use earplugs, I don't think it will raise the ire of the police. Radio Shack sells them for like $2.
Audible rocks though, especially for commutes. It is *so* much better to listening to a book than some shock jock.
Yup, you're right. "Paper was considered a technology" would be the better way to phrase that (Hey it was 1 am in the morning, cut me some slack!)
Anyway, technology (with the root of techni) means the application of science to some practical end.
The thing that irks me is when people say "technology" when all they are talking about is "information technology" (i.e. "Get all your technology news here!" gar!)
I had one company marketing exec talk to me for twenty minutes about a revolutionary new platform that could help customers tie together disparate back-end applications and on and on.
After about 20 minutes I caught on. "So you're introducing an application server then?"
"Umm, yes" I don't think he would have said the words "application server" once if I hadn't asked.
Companies do this more and more these days. I think it may be that they don't want to backslide into a commodity market.
The problem comes along when the said user wants to install some new GUI software that may work in Gnome but not in KDE or vice versa (or at least won't work without some considerable tweaking).
This was a joke about our own local community college.... What do you need to get into Catonsville Community College???
A #2 pencil!!
(to fill out the application).
HAHAHA. Actually, I took a few course at some community colleges, they can be a cheap way to fill out electives on a BA (You transfer them in). In many cases the teachers were just as good AND they graded easier. Don't knock the community colleges, man.
Who is distributing? All Kazaa/Gnutella/etc users do is open the door to their computers. They're not actively peddling the music, much less profiting from it.
So, if I accidently leave my front door open, and someone comes in and steals my Huey Lewis CDs, can I be prosecuted for "distributing"? What if I ripped a bunch of my own CDs but leave the security settings on Win98 untouched allowing others from my cable trunk come in and copy my collection. Is that distibuting?
If my experience is any indication, the company has been pulling such sleazy "forced upgrade" tactics for awhile. A few years back I bought Quicken 97 to balance my checking account. It worked fine up until earlier this year, when I wiped the hard drive and reinstalled the OS and had tor install the Quicken as well.
For the installation, I had to (re)register the product electronically. Trouble is, Intuit had long since cut off its end of the registration process for the '97, and , as a way of user support in the FAQ, mentioned only that users should upgrade (i.e. buy the new version).
Bloody hell. I spent $80 for the damn software, I have no use for the additional bells and whistles and it really pisses me off I can longer use this software that I purchased! I went back to using plain spreadsheets and I can gaurantee that under no circumstances will I ever purchase some product by this company. Greedy fucks.
I've actually had one tech support guy on the cableco service I'm on (Starpower) *request* that we do troubleshooting through Linux, even though Starpower doesn't offically support Linux.
I had dual boot connected to the cable modem which I kept specifically to keep Windows onboard for their benefit. The tech guy found it easier to diagnose the problem through Linux's IP tools though.
Slashdot Mirror
If you can spring for an Audible subscription ($49 a year I think), I'd *highly* recommend the weekly Science News . It is concisely written for an intelligent lay audience, covering all the fields, with strength in physics, astronomy and the biological sciences (They are pretty weak in compsci though).
SciNews is run by some non-profit organization, so its not the watery, awkwardly-written PopSci articles you get with most commercial publications, i.e. the "Discovery X Can Cure Cancer" or "New 2006 Automobiles Filled with Science!"
New Scientist ain't bad either, though can be a bit flakey. I'd avoid the audio broadcasts of Scientific American, which has articles that tend to be longer and murkier. That pub's seen better days.
> until they offer a lossless version of the music :
> that gives me the same abilities as I have when I
> buy a CD
Sorry, compact discs ARE a lossy means of reproduction. They're just not lossy due to compression, like MP3s and AACs are. Sound itself has infinite resolution, so any digitization (either at the recording studio or the digitalization for the CDs themselves represents loss).
I never understood the hype over the loss of sound quality in MP3s. Live fidelity is important when for reproducing a live performance, i.e. jazz or chamber music. Most people don't buy recordings for their performance anyway, they purchase music because it is catchy and tuneful. Much of this music couldn't be performed live as recorded anyway, since it was recorded with Protools, synthesizers, those devices that correct the picth of the singer's voice, etc. Do you really need full fidelity to a synthesized drum track?
And that is not new. 45 years ago, most pop music was recorded to be played on tiny transistor radios, which were *incredibly*. It was still some of the best music ever created. Beach Boy leader Brian Wilson used to play back his elaborate studio recordings on a small handheld radio to make sure they sounded good.
Dear /. editors,
re: "Is Google Breaking Their Own Rules?"
A company (or a search engine) is not a "their." The proper pronoun is "it."
Is Google Breaking its Own Rules?
Thank you,
The Grammar Police
Bank of America just misplaced the SSNs of 1.2 million federal employees: Data on 1.2 million federal charge card holders goes missing
Google has a bit of a specialized workforce--people who are creative and smart. I'm not sure how well it would work elsewhere, with people who are just punching the clock and holding no interest in work-related projects.
I thought FOI applied only to getting data from Federal agencies. Why would states be compelled to fulfill FOIA requests?
>YEEEEEEEHAAAAAWWWWW!!!!!!!! I'm goin' 120 MPH and
> the cops are clearing the road for me! How sweet
> that?!?!?!
yeah, as someone who has lost control of an automobile at a relatively low 40 mph, I can tell you being in a car that is *out of your control* is far more *harrowing* and less enjoyable than being in one at that speed that is under your control.
joab
Why is it that analysts always try to coin catch-phrases? The term "Pro-Am" floats through the essay like a damn trademark. It just makes the otherwise o.k. analysis more jargony than necessary. Fast Company should know better than allowing their sources to make up words.
I suspect that analysts coin terms because if one catches on then they can claim to be the owners of that trend. It's silly. A few years back Forrester Research (I think) kept releasing reports about the coming trend of "organic computing." Except no one else in the biz actually used that term. It just looked clueless.
joab
>A professional does the job, even when they don't
>want to do. An amateur does it whenever they feel
>like it.
Conversely, a professional will only do a job as well as s/he is paid to do that job, wheras an amateur, if interested in the project, will do the job to the best of his/her abilities.
joab
>No, because few people want to listen to indy music.
Hate to say it but there is something to be said for this. And for good reason.
Part of popular music's appeal is that it is, duh, enjoyed by a lot of people. That is the *primarily* purpose of the major labels, with their huge marketing budgets. They buy consensus along the lines of "Yes this is a song that we, the people, like."
This allows a sort of cultural bonding to take place over certain songs--the producers of "Garden State" can put Cold Play's "Don't Panic" in the begginning of that movie and we'll all understand its shared meaning. It becomes a generational thing.
Music companies buy consensus, and we all need that consensus to build a music community. (Whether we need this done in the way that music companies now do this is another matter entirely--I'd rather have 100 world music bands sell 100,000 copies each of their songs than Fleetwood Mac sell 10 million copies of their latest tired joint. But I digress).
I noticed this back in the early 90s when I was a reviewer for a heavy metal mag. We got *lots* of fantastic CDs in (Along with loads of dross) that, over time, became some of my favorite music. But I feela loss because no one today would know what a great band, say, Antic Hay, was. The music is just as good as what was popular, but something is lost nonetheless.
So Yay! for the major labels!
joab
>just crap music being foisted off onto the public >as part of a meaningless settlement?"
Umm, OutKast just scored a #1 album--so obviously *someone* is buying their albums, and hence of interest to libraries. And I've heard of B.I.G., so I imagine he is (or was) pretty famous as well.
This really doesn't sound like Kansas rejected those CDs because they wouldn't be of interest--they felt it would attract too much of the *wrong* kind of interest.
Didn't Kansas also have the educational board that wanted to kick evolution out of the ciriculum??
joab
The industry estimates that I've seen say only about 2 to 4 percent of the long haul fiber already in the ground is being used now--so its 96 percent dark fiber out there now--and that doesn't factor all the recent jumps in multiplexing technology that are arriving. So I don't think that will be a problem for awhile....
joab
NYT Describing Real's service: "With a subscription service like RealRhapsody, one saves personal tastes in the form of playlists that replace actual music collections, providing access to favorites no matter what storage format comes out "
I'm really surprised the New York Times allows this blantant advertising within its editorial content, done through the guise of one interviewee's quote. I know the NYT is trying to appeal to a younger hipper audience, but damn! if this is the best they can probe the problems with music distribution, they should stick to covering opera.
Could the reporter not do a few back-of-the-envelope calculations? How much would it cost pay a small subscription fee the rest of your life, starting at $10 a month and working upwards over the years.
My parents bought 4 Simon & Garfunkel albums in the late 60s. Cost? Maybe $16 for the whole lot. They then enjoyed them for the 30 years. Then I transferred them to CD. That $16 has lasted them the better part of a century. They, like most people, do not own a *lot* of music, maybe 70 albums total (most of which I listen to now, actually). The cost of that collection is *far* cheaper than what they would have had to pay in subscription fees, would such a subscription service been in place in the 1970s. Now they enjoy the msuic they bought years ago without paying anybody anything!
joab
>Once freeze-dried, there is no way to reconstitute the music into CD quality for playing through a good stereo.
Most people forget the Beatles, Beach Boys, Motown , Phil Spector, etc. recorded music for *transister radios* In most cases, high fidelity is a red herring argument concocted by the music industry to sell more music.
The not-good-enough-for-home-stereo argument is nonsense. I play MP3s and AACs through my home stereo all the time--the sound quality is indistinguishable between CDs. And that is using only the sound card's line-out jack and a cheap connector.
Admittedly I listen to mostly rock. Classical music is more difficult to encode, given its more dynamic nature.
joab
I remember Alta Vista offered this sort of search-your-own-computer software back in *1998*. This seems to be the most recent version: http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.ph
The Otis player has an adapter that you can use to plug into a car cassette player.
Better yet, instead of a headphone, you can just use an earplug. With audio books, there is no real advantage in stereo. With an earplug, one ear is left free to listen for sirens, etc. And since, many cell phone users use earplugs, I don't think it will raise the ire of the police. Radio Shack sells them for like $2.
Audible rocks though, especially for commutes. It is *so* much better to listening to a book than some shock jock.
Yup, you're right. "Paper was considered a technology" would be the better way to phrase that (Hey it was 1 am in the morning, cut me some slack!)
Anyway, technology (with the root of techni) means the application of science to some practical end.
The thing that irks me is when people say "technology" when all they are talking about is "information technology" (i.e. "Get all your technology news here!" gar!)
After about 20 minutes I caught on. "So you're introducing an application server then?"
"Umm, yes" I don't think he would have said the words "application server" once if I hadn't asked.
Companies do this more and more these days. I think it may be that they don't want to backslide into a commodity market.
The problem comes along when the said user wants to install some new GUI software that may work in Gnome but not in KDE or vice versa (or at least won't work without some considerable tweaking).
joab
This was a joke about our own local community college. ... What do you need to get into Catonsville Community College???
A #2 pencil!!
(to fill out the application).
HAHAHA. Actually, I took a few course at some community colleges, they can be a cheap way to fill out electives on a BA (You transfer them in). In many cases the teachers were just as good AND they graded easier. Don't knock the community colleges, man.
Who is distributing? All Kazaa/Gnutella/etc users do is open the door to their computers. They're not actively peddling the music, much less profiting from it.
So, if I accidently leave my front door open, and someone comes in and steals my Huey Lewis CDs, can I be prosecuted for "distributing"? What if I ripped a bunch of my own CDs but leave the security settings on Win98 untouched allowing others from my cable trunk come in and copy my collection. Is that distibuting?
Seems like a slippery slope.
I get this message whenever I try to access A web page about MP3 vs. Winamp features from the Media player:
a sp:
http://windowsmedia.com/9series/detection/NSPage.
We're sorry. This Windows Media 9 Series content is only available to be viewed using Internet Explorer.
Learn more about Internet Explorer.
If my experience is any indication, the company has been pulling such sleazy "forced upgrade" tactics for awhile. A few years back I bought Quicken 97 to balance my checking account. It worked fine up until earlier this year, when I wiped the hard drive and reinstalled the OS and had tor install the Quicken as well.
For the installation, I had to (re)register the product electronically. Trouble is, Intuit had long since cut off its end of the registration process for the '97, and , as a way of user support in the FAQ, mentioned only that users should upgrade (i.e. buy the new version).
Bloody hell. I spent $80 for the damn software, I have no use for the additional bells and whistles and it really pisses me off I can longer use this software that I purchased! I went back to using plain spreadsheets and I can gaurantee that under no circumstances will I ever purchase some product by this company. Greedy fucks.
I just realized I get better Microsoft coverage here at Slashdot than anywhere else! Innit ironic?
I had dual boot connected to the cable modem which I kept specifically to keep Windows onboard for their benefit. The tech guy found it easier to diagnose the problem through Linux's IP tools though.