"Using Windows Media's 4-to-1 compression ratio advantage over MPEG-2, "studios could put all the Godfather movies or an entire musician's discography on a single CD," said Poole. "
I already do.....I use something called.....MP3. It's a standard (well a default one anyway). Until something comes along that will improve upon this, noone will buy it(well just for that feature alone). Anyone remember the Music industry trying to put out stuff on Minidisc's? It flopped because CD's were a standard (although the MD was superior since it could have track names attached). Now, MP3 is the standard. Yeah it ain't open like OGG, but ask your mom what a MP3 is and she will know. Ask her what a OGG or WMA is and she probably doesn't know. I don't think of this as a bad thing until Windows Media only players are developed and are the only ones sold. I look at this as just another cool thing a DVD player could do along with VCD and MP3 on most common ones available today.
I inquired about the same thing here in Ohio when building my house. The builder would not let me do anything but the stuff on the work equity list. I asked about Cat 5 and running some RG-58 (for Amateur Radio) myself and they said NO extra wiring period. If I did add it, I would not have gotten my FHA approval since I do have a FHA loan.
Personally, even with the security issues with Wi-Fi, I would rather use it. Much more flexible and you can always setup as VPN gateway on the access point. It's much more flexible and if you decide you NEED your laptop when your on the crapper then you can do it (not that I would do it, but hey I know SOMEONE might someday!). Besides, when I get my laptop and Wi-Fi stuff, I can surf the web on a nice day out on my deck. That's just plain cool!:)
On a side note, all of my phone cabling IS Cat-5. I can steal a pair off of it since I am only using one for voice and it would work. When I decide to excise the phone and ONLY use a mobile phone, then I can just add a hub on the other side of the wall from where the demarc boax is.
"WindowsCE models use various incompatible CPUs, and some apps work only on a certain OS versions (which usually requires a ROM upgrade to change), and models usually differ in screen depth, resolution, and the presence/absence of color, all of which can make short work of a casually written GUI app -- same story on the Psions"
This is just wrong. If you by a new Pocket PC based on Pocket PC 2002 or a iPaq or other StrongARM based handheld, you are using a StrongARM chip, all programs developed for the iPaq are instantly compatible no matter if you have a iPaq or a HP 565. That matter is going by the wayside if it was even there. Microsoft's devloper tools for PocketPC/WindowsCE all compiled for multiple platforms as well. Most everything I have run across has also been available for the older Casio MIPS based handhelds and HP's older SH3 based ones. It should be just a matter of finding the program.
Also, PERL and stuff like that DO NOT BELONG ON A HANDHELD! Handhelds do not have the processing power to spare (unless running handhelds.org Linux distro) for running the PERL interpreter. Besides, why would I want to write a PERL script on a handheld?? I would rather run compiled software on a handheld. Note, I don't mean that they would not be able to RUN these, in fact I believe Pocket Internet Explorer can do Java and even Shockwave based pages, they just run a bit slow. Everything on a handheld should be super fast. That means compiled code. NO SUBSTITUTION! They also would serve as BLOAT to a great many people these are targeted at. Do you think my boss needs to write a PERL script??
Back on topic, handhelds should be able to do equations, but they have just gotten it to recognize handwriting with relative accuracy. Math equations would be difficult (especially if you want the thing to calculate it....just recording it can be accomplished with the Notes app). The best calculator/handheld for writing and calculating thes are the HP 49GX's....you can enter the formula as stated and it will help you solve it with HPsolve. These calculators even have a small programming language and can link to a PC. HP may even have a solver for their handhelds too but as I have never bought a HP PDA I have no idea. I do believe if I was back in class, this would be the way I would want to go. I have paper and this would be better for me. A PDA would be great and a laptop would be marvelous!
8 miles an hour, while faster then I would walk, is too slow for me to use it to get to work. I want one that goes about 35 max. That would get me to work in the same amount of time as my car.
Well, I agree that the I want it crowd really seem like they are begging sometimes, but sometimes I wish my family members would provide such a list for me. I LIKE to get AND Give gifts. I KNOW I spent more on all of my gifts I gave to my side of the family, but I don't care. I spend 20-30 on my brother and his wife and while mine was worth about the same, my brother got my wife a bunch of cheap pics to hang on the wall and we don't care! In fact, I like it! Showed ingenuity! Also, I don't know about you, but I go all year most years with out getting most of what I want. and gosh darn it I would like to get SOMETHING nice for once! Looks like I am getting a Radeon VE card from my wife (we have no time to shop....2 year old occupies our time...). I know, the 3d performance isn't that great but I watch more DVD's then play games so I want the TV out and dual monitor support more then supa fast 3d. That's called compromise. I REALLY want a Radeon AIW (Or the 8500 DV, the 8500 equivalent to AIW). Why won;t I get it? Costs to freakin much. Personally, the gifts I have gotten so far I like the ones that the gift giver does:
1. Think about what I may want...getting me gift certificates (I hate em, but will gladly take them) shows no thought and is a cop out. I am not THAT difficult to shop for. Hell get me a pack of socks! The washer always eats em and I can always use some new ones....
2. Don't go hog wild....unless you really want too. You don't have to spend lots on me to make me happy. Well over half the items on that list are not of much use to me. I'd rather have a new laptop (if you HAVE to spend lots on me!;)) or a DVD or heck even CD-R blanks. Don't buy me sweaters (I will wear them like once...and then not again until it's SUPER COLD!). Oh and a pound of good coffee is a nice cheap idea as well(espresso roast please).
3. Spend more on my kid....he needs it more then I do anyway.
That's so easy. I just wish I could tell people just get me all the things I wish I had picked up at the store or have been meaining to get but haven't (not that I couldn't...I just coudln't justify it at the moment or talked myself out of it over and over again...).
Also, what's WRONG with wanting nice stuff? Sure, I can BE HAPPY with out it. I don't have it now and I am happy, but why is it so wrong to want things? We all want things(your lying if you say you aren't.). Some want World Peace, some want Osama's head on a pike. Why is it materialistic to want? It would be different if we just wanted it to say we have it, but I know most of the slashdot readers would use alot of that list everyday! Sure, we'd throw things away, but only if we had alot of that list. Heck I wish I had not bought that stupid web cam about a year or two ago and bought the TV/radio card instead. I would have used it more. My point is just because you think you are all high and mighty because you don't succomb to the I want monster, you are lying in saying that you never want anything for Christmas or never wanted any of these things. It would be so much easier for me if the people on my list would have given me a list. Also how would you know if I would be happier if I hadn't gotten that new video card? Sure, I might be able to deal with it, but it would make me immensely happy to get that video card this year. It would save me time and make things run better on my system so I would be happier with it then without it. Sure, I can live with what I got, but I sure would like to dump this POS video card I have now.
PS My monitor is 3 years old. Same with my video card, my Ethernet card and my speakers and my ram. Only things in there that are newer then that are my CD-RW drive, my soundcard, my motherboard+CPU and my Hard Drive. I DO by stuff that lasts. I DON'T have to have the latest stuff because if I want to game, I would rather have a console to do that (XBOX or PS/2 anyone?...:)). I need my HD space for work...
Philips has a 3 inch version of their eXpanium. Not sure of it's availablity as not that long ago it was in a beta test (announced on here....do a search) that anyone could sign up for. I would not mind having one of these as well as a 5 inch variety because at least the 5 inch one can play plain old music CD's as well.
Right now I would like any CD based MP3 player(as a gift for Christmas) but if I were buying my own, I would want a Rio Volt or any with a BIG LCD and that can read ID3 tags. If it navigates by only numbers, it's a real pain in the butt to navigate with only up and down keys and numbers. The Rio Volt (all models) displays ID3 tags. I would also like a genre specific play mode and a album play mode (play all files in a stated folder
If your worried about SDMI, then the CD based ones ar the way to go. CD's fit an INCREDIBLE amount of music on it (most fit more then I would need for the six hour trip down to my parents house.......), they are reliable, cheap and best of all, if you decide to buy a regular CD on the road, just pop it in and your jamming. I plan on getting one soon. I know, they are not as sexy and small as the solid state ones, but you can't beat them right now. to get 650 megs of storage on a small mp3 player is impossible as well as expensive unless someone figures out a way to use or build cheaper chips.
Said you can now get a MP3 player with purchase of a cybiko extreme. It plugs into the expansion slot. It also adds the SD/MMC slot and can take cards of any size. Not a bad idea to get sales going! The more Cybiko's the better.
This is NOT adequate. Yes it let's you uninstall stuff, but it does not get EVERYTHING! RPM generally get's most stuff except for user generated things that are dumped in their home directories. Documents and settings are generally left alone. Try this on both a windows system and a Linux system.
1. Look at free drive space using a appropriate command on each system ( yeah I know, highly inaccurate on windows since drive contents goes up and down due to swapping but good enough for this demo )
2. Install Mozilla on both Windows and Linux (use RPM or DEB based system).
3. Browse a bit on both.
4. Uninstall package/program using appropriate util.
5. Check drivespace.
I know the above is one program that doesn't drop a whole bunch of crap all over the drive in Windows, but chance are that the add/remove program util will miss something. I chalk most of this up to lazy programming practices. Also, Microsoft has a long history of letting programs update things and dumping things into both the Windows directory and the Windows/system directory. Microsoft said you weren't suposed to do it then several Microsoft programs did it themselves and now most do it to make sure you have the right levels. This main archetecture flaw is the main reason behind DLL hell. It's also the reason add/remove never gets everything. If Microsoft fixes this problem, then they may have a better system. Personally I think they can't fix it. It's been getting better, but Windows ME was nto as stable as they said it was going to be. Maybe XP is. I don;t have it nor do I use it at work yet so I have no clue. BUT I think alot of folks are asking for things to be like they were "back in the day" and we have to face it that they will never be like that. Code reuse force the use of shared libraries and such so it's a pain to do it the OLD way. Granted I think that APT/deb is the best, but Apt-RPM ain't the best and BOTH need some refinement. RPM more then APT/DEB.
You know, I hate it too, but hey at least with Linux you have a package manager. With Windows you don't have that! Also, KDE, GNOME and others are ALL dependant on shared libraries and you sure as heck don't want 40 copies of the libraries for all of the programs you run! Also, even if a program is in a sub directory under/usr, isn't everything in the path when you include/usr in your statement??/usr is the parent of everything underneath it. If/usr is in the path, then so are it's children. At least I think that's the way it works. Anyway, with packagemanagers such as Debian's apt, this is moot! Who cares! Why would I delete it the hard way when I can press a button (in the graphical tool) or do a apt-get remove package???
Yeah if you can FIND a old laptop where everything worked! In my area (several colleges in town) used laptops that fully work are snapped up QUICK! Also, there's no UPS or laptop battery that can last as long as a good security system backup. Power outages can happen and they can last a few hours to a few days. PC's are too fraught with problems to trust them in a security system unless you have a generator backup with a cutover when the power does goes out. Also, the author said he was going to connect this to the internet as well....SUPER bad idea. I mean, yeah, your common thief isn't going to try to hack the box, but someone might! I really don't understand the aversion some homeowners have to paying a monitoring company like ADT or Brinks to do it especially since they can get the system for free. It's a no brainer to me.
Yeah but my wife wouldn't like it. She won't buy it unless she know's what it is about! She is so so non geek. I still might get that Digital Camera!;)
I want a ATI AIW Radeon for Christmas! I know, probably not the greatest card, but I don't play games. Who gives a rats ass beyond 60 FPS anyway? (I sure as heck CAN'T see the difference.....). Besides Quake is boring. Also, the AIW features will be like getting a Tivo on your computer!:)
Other ideas:
Diamond Rio CD/MP3 Player
Kodak Digital Camera (Probably windows only for now, but it will eventually get Linux support and they are CHEAP! 1.3 Megapixel=199!)
That's what I would like anyway besides the obvious game things like Xbox, PS/2 and Gamecube.
The system you suggest would be fraught with problems. First, PC based webcam motion detection is non-discriminate. If air from a heating vent blows a piece of paper from your desk over or past one of your cameras, it will set it off. They detect pure motion only and not just motion of a piece of paper, plant, pet or whatever.
Second, the incapatitating device could be illegal where you reside. Home defense is one thing, but a lawsuit is another. In this day and age where everyone is trying to be PC (Politcally Correct), even though the thief was there to steal something, he might sue you because your device injured him. (Lawyers suck!)
Third, what you are talking about would cost more then 25 bucks a month by the time you wrapped everything up anyway.
Forth PC's are unreliable and power outages in some areas wil be much longer then a cheap UPS would allow. Also, most UPS's will shut it down which would not be a problem, but after the power is back, how would it be able to come back up?? The good systems that ADT and Brinks sell are low power, very reliable(main units are anyway even if you have a problem with detectors), they have panic buttons available, they have HUGE battery backups (I have never had the battery in mine replaced and it's still going strong), they can be wireless (mine is and I am a ham and routinely bath my system in RF with no problems), they cost less then what you propose and are basically the only way to go as far as I am concerned. If you REALLY want a camera deal, hang some axis cameras off your home network and setup a web page to access them all. Axis cameras are almost full motion, and since you'd keep it to yourself, you don't have to worry all that much about consuming too much bandwidth.
Also, your home is worth too much to not pay for a professional to do it. The professional has done MANY installs, and you are going to do one. If you were not a IT/IS person, would you attempt to setup a business system for your home business with out the help of someone else? Just teh same, you don't know all you need to know to setup a effective home security system. Sure, common knowledge and internet can go so far, but the internet can't help you very much when you have a glitch during your install.
Pay ADT or whoever for it. That's the only way that if your hosue is left alone, Law Enforcement can be notified and can check it out. Other then that, I know of no other way to do it and do it as well as they do. ADT usually offers the system for free as well. Also, you mean to tell me your house and valuables aren't worth an extra 25 a month?? To me, even with home owners insurance, some of teh stuff I have is irreplace able and I feel so much better knowing when I am away I have our alarm on.
It's his fault because he did not buy insurance, and because he used his own boxes. If you are intending to ship a computer, whenever possible, use the ORIGINAL box. I, on the other hand, never intend to ship mine once I have to so I usually ditch the box (until I install overhead storage in my garage I do not have room to keep such things). I bet if he had shipped his mac in it's original box, then it might possible have made it. There's no guarantee, but it masy have had a better chance. The box looked like it may not have even been strong enough to take it. I am not saying the UPS folks are totally absolved, but if you are shipping it and it's valuable, you better ship it in the best box you can find with a HALF TON of stuffing and for gods sake insure it! Styrofoam peanuts don't work. I have had stuff come with that expanding foam in a bag stuff and that would work best if you don't have the original box and styrofoam. It will conform nicely to the curves of any device.
You know, I am not sure how I feel about this. I think it's great that someone is trying to do something (other then the folks who SHOULD know better, namely hollywood), but I am not sure if this is the right idea. You see, I was allowed to watch things like Star Wars, and other similar movies when I was a kid and if we did swear or use terminology from the movie, we were punished or talked to or both. I think it can hurt a child to shelter them from things that are considered bad.
One example is the World Trade Center thing. There are so many people out there now who cannot function because of this. They are depressed, afraid to work in their building because it's a high rise or much worse. Could all of these people been sheltered from violence and then when confronted a real situation like the WTC attack, they can't handle it? I don't know.
I DO agree that as a parent, I should be the one in contol of the situation. I should be there the first time my son sees a boob on a video. I should be there with him so I can explain what is happening.
ANY history teacher should never show a movie to help teach the class unless it's pretty much historically accurate. How many movies are there that are accurate from a historical standpoint? Not many. One only needs tolook at all of the inaccuracies in the movie Apollo 13. The rocket was not even painted correctly for that mission (If memory serves). Not to mention the fact that the anachronisms of trying to emulate a time in recent history were rampant. I don't understand why this would be a teaching tool in school. Don't get me wrong, the outcomes were the same, but if you actually have read the book it's screenplay came from, it wasn't even close. Hollywood has to embellish history because, let's face it, sometimes stuff that happens during it is quite boring. Imagine what a movie about George Washington's Valley Forge encampment would be about. It would be a bunch of guys with bloodied feet huddling in a bunch of tents and just hanging around camp with the occasional emergency. It would be pretty boring, as well as graphic for being shown in anything but a R rating.
This thing still won't quite those that are trying to get Hollywood to make all movies family movies. Why? They require action and you know as well as I the default will be to show everything, or people will complain when things are cut (hey there's supposed to be a boob there....ahh this thing doesn't work!). Also, people will be too lazy to turn it on or won't want it. It's easier for them to bitch and complain abut every movie soming out the it is for them to go out and MAKE their own movies.
This option will fail to appease the right wingers as much as the V-chip failed. It's doing real well ain't it?
There are so many PARENTS that DON'T want to do their job and only want kids as a posession instead of having kids so they can LOVE them. They also want machines to do their job like machines can cook food for you. You get the things such as Columbine because of this selfish reason to have kids. I mean, yeah, I take pride in things my kid does and I well show him off as much as I would show off my new computer, but I love him more then any computer I have owned and would really be heartbroken if he was gone. I love him as much as I love my wife and more then anything else. That's the truth and I will raise him as I want to and not as the powers that be want him raised.
You can have my cable modem when you bring me a faster one, or when you pry it from my cold dead hands! NO WAY would I trade this back for a modem. I need a net connection too much. Here's the reasons why:
ALWAYS ON! (Big one with me)
NEVER as slow as a modem (I do agree that Road Runner is sometimes overloaded because of overselling, but it doesn't happen much anymore).
RELIABLE (Um, modem more reliable then a Cable/DSL connection? GET REAL!)
Time saving (I save time not waiting for the modem to dial up....you use the net differently then when you had a dialup....anytime you have a question that you don't have an answer, just hop on the browser and do a search)
Doesn't tie up a phone line
I don't understand these people who have constant problems with Road Runner. The only way I could see they have a beef is if they LIVED on the thing and I understand some geeks do. When our downtime occurs, it's usually at night and usually restored by morning. So if my connection were to die now, I would go to bed! By 5 am, it's back up. Reliability is MARKEDLY better on a cable modem of that I have no doubt. I bet the ones that DO have problems probably are one of the following:
Live in the boonies, Live in a old part of a city
or they live in a town where the net was just discovered (some towns probably never heard of it much until recently). If you live where most of us do, you probably won't have a problem. Case in point, I have a co-worker who lives in the sticks. His modem goes down every sunday. I live in the Columbus, OH metro area.....probably every other house in my neighborhood has RR. We get great service. Pity for those who live in the sticks, but that's the nature of this beast. Best to go with a dish when they start going two way.
Yeah or the TNN ticker when watching Star Trek: TNG on TNN. Ths ticker tells you your watching Star Trek: TNG.....WELL DUH!:) Let the freakin surfers come up with their own tools. Don't make them for them. Also, at least one of my TV's let's you program call letters or something like CNN or TNN into the TV itself. I guess having a user program something like a VCR is too much hassle (hence Tivo.....although, the season ticket thing is cool, it's the thumbs up thumbs down thing I like...lets u discover stuff you didn't know was there!). At least if they did that with Enterprise it wouldn't cover anything up (it's letterboxed in my area).
Using my 48sx to solve the problems in electronics class that they taught us to solve graphically. My answers were more correct because I could more accurately pic the spot where they intersected (I forget the actual problem, but the answer was the point which both curves intersected....i got a severe case of CRS...). Nice calc! I remember seeing ANIMATIONS done on this thing and these had IR transfer BEFORE palms did. I even seen games done on this, but not many. I miss my 48sx....damn thing dropped through a hole in my backpack when I was still in college. Damn.....had ot buy a casio to replace it and i never recovered since! I even had a IR thermal printer too! You could print your graphs and pics out on them. Very nice. I need to get another HP calculator.
How is this flamebait??? I guess if I praised the X-box it would not be? If I really wanted to flame on I would say that is look like an 8 bit!:) Now now now it didn't look THAT bad, but it did look terrible, to me IMNSHO. Seriously though, I am tired of seeing the same dang things turned out over and over again, but with pretty graphics. Let me see a new game concept like Fantavision on the PS2. That's a puzzle game and I liked it! Wait! I am supposed to hate puzzle games! Why did I like it? Because there's nothing like it. You really can't compare it too much to any other puzzle game. If I had to say it looked like anything, I'd say it looked like a upside down Gem stacker game, but it doesn't really. It's definitely a refreshing change from Madden 2002 and other EA drivel coming out. I mean I know it's been out a while, but still, it's pretty darn nifty and fun.
In my subject I said I dunno.... (or I don't know if your a grammer slut). I can't comment too much on it since I have never seen much of it.
Also, don't fool yourself....the X-Box demo units are probably pretty damn close to final units. Also, they have PROOF about some of the screenshots a while ago being faked and things like that.
I really am not all that impressed with the Gamecube either, but it looks like it may be better then the X-box because of the franchises they have. X-box has to compete with several game units that have established games that will be on them....GameCube has (or will Have) Mario, F-zero, and several other games while PS2 has Crash Bandicoot, and several others also. What does X-box have? Oddworld? Halo (which does look cool from what I have seen of it)? What compelling reason would I want to spend 300 dollars on what is pretty much a PC customized to play games when I can buy a 1-2 GHz computer for 200 more?
Game consoles better freakin wake up and do it soon, otherwise these things are going to put them under. Of all of the new stuff, the GameCube looks like it may be more of a immediate hit then even the PS2 because Nintendo has some kick butt games that will be coming out on the machine and they are playing everything real close to the vest (I heard more about the PS2 then the gamecube....). I know the Luigi game looks real cool, but something keeps me thinking that Nintendo has some surprises. Still, I think Nintendo has made some mistakes with the Gamecube because it decided to go with the proprietary disc. Nintendo never said that the GameCube would be anything but a game machine. Maybe this will be why it will do better, but still, Nintendo needs to revamp even some of it's new products (like the GBA....can ANYONE see ANYTHING on this thing?) before they will do better.
Keep this in mind when you read this post....I don't follow console games that much. I will look at them cuz, hey everyone needs a break. I refuse to be a gamer geek because it seems so pointless. If the game is fun to play who cares what the performance of it is as long as it the performance doesn't hinder the game play! Heck I loved playing Atari and we know how crappy it looked (when compared to todays stuff). My point is is games are supposed to be fun and those who harp on every little thing about a game, to me, take away that fun. This is why I buy the games I want to buy and never read a review.....let me decide if the game sucks (a game sucks if it's not fun).
On a side note, why do we need to many freakin buttons on a game controller now when the Atari only had one and NES only needed two? My ideal console would minimize the button mashing and maxmise the fun.
I mean, how can you can compete with the PS/2? The damn games are beautiful and I have never seen a PS/2 demo unit non functioning unless the store unplugged it cuz of some idiots hanging around too long!:) I saw the Oddworld game at a EB on the Xbox.....worst thing I have seen in years! It looked like a 16 bit unit to me. I mean, really, they have a full COMPUTER in the thing an no deballed thing like a PS/2 or Gamecube. The Pentium III 700 should resoundly kick butt. But, Oddworld looked ugly and the shots I have seen of that car game that are going around suck too. MS better have some better games then these two cuz SUCK! Granted, that doesn't mean the games suck. I have played the worst and the best over the years. Some of the best looking games suck when it comes to game play. The same token, some of the worst looking ones were damn fun.
I agree with Nick. Programmer Error handling sucks, but not just in Linux and Open Source. An example is at work, we had a programmer write a batch file to concatenate(sp?) two to five files together into one big file. Only thing is it depended on a network drive mapping (on a volume up on a Novell server...yech) and files to be there. If the batch file failed, there was no way to know it failed because of a network drive mapping error because bloody DOS has no frickin return codes. I WISH they'd let me and the systems programmer set these dang things up on a linux box so we could write a BASH or TCSH script with proper error checking so we could provide a return code back to the mainframe that triggers the script. That way the mainframe could holler at the operator that there's a problem. Right now, if the batch file fails it just drops thru. If it wasn't going to be replaced soon, I would rewrite the damn things, but since a new system will be entering implementation soon, we will be freezing all development except for fixing errors and fulfilling state/federal mandates. Hopefully the package we are going to (anyone ever heard of the education only package called Colleage by Datatel?.....it runs the business side as well as the scheduling, record keeping and all of the stuff a college computer system is doing....). Anyway, at least the picked the right OS and, in my opinion, the right DB for it (AIX for OS, and Oracle for DB......the other choice was....shudder....NT/2000 for OS and I believe SQL server, but it may have been something like DB/2 or something weird).
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I already do.....I use something called.....MP3. It's a standard (well a default one anyway). Until something comes along that will improve upon this, noone will buy it(well just for that feature alone). Anyone remember the Music industry trying to put out stuff on Minidisc's? It flopped because CD's were a standard (although the MD was superior since it could have track names attached). Now, MP3 is the standard. Yeah it ain't open like OGG, but ask your mom what a MP3 is and she will know. Ask her what a OGG or WMA is and she probably doesn't know. I don't think of this as a bad thing until Windows Media only players are developed and are the only ones sold. I look at this as just another cool thing a DVD player could do along with VCD and MP3 on most common ones available today.
I inquired about the same thing here in Ohio when building my house. The builder would not let me do anything but the stuff on the work equity list. I asked about Cat 5 and running some RG-58 (for Amateur Radio) myself and they said NO extra wiring period. If I did add it, I would not have gotten my FHA approval since I do have a FHA loan.
:)
Personally, even with the security issues with Wi-Fi, I would rather use it. Much more flexible and you can always setup as VPN gateway on the access point. It's much more flexible and if you decide you NEED your laptop when your on the crapper then you can do it (not that I would do it, but hey I know SOMEONE might someday!). Besides, when I get my laptop and Wi-Fi stuff, I can surf the web on a nice day out on my deck. That's just plain cool!
On a side note, all of my phone cabling IS Cat-5. I can steal a pair off of it since I am only using one for voice and it would work. When I decide to excise the phone and ONLY use a mobile phone, then I can just add a hub on the other side of the wall from where the demarc boax is.
You said:
"WindowsCE models use various incompatible CPUs, and some apps work only on a certain OS versions (which usually requires a ROM upgrade to change), and models usually differ in screen depth, resolution, and the presence/absence of color, all of which can make short work of a casually written GUI app -- same story on the Psions"
This is just wrong. If you by a new Pocket PC based on Pocket PC 2002 or a iPaq or other StrongARM based handheld, you are using a StrongARM chip, all programs developed for the iPaq are instantly compatible no matter if you have a iPaq or a HP 565. That matter is going by the wayside if it was even there. Microsoft's devloper tools for PocketPC/WindowsCE all compiled for multiple platforms as well. Most everything I have run across has also been available for the older Casio MIPS based handhelds and HP's older SH3 based ones. It should be just a matter of finding the program.
Also, PERL and stuff like that DO NOT BELONG ON A HANDHELD! Handhelds do not have the processing power to spare (unless running handhelds.org Linux distro) for running the PERL interpreter. Besides, why would I want to write a PERL script on a handheld?? I would rather run compiled software on a handheld. Note, I don't mean that they would not be able to RUN these, in fact I believe Pocket Internet Explorer can do Java and even Shockwave based pages, they just run a bit slow. Everything on a handheld should be super fast. That means compiled code. NO SUBSTITUTION! They also would serve as BLOAT to a great many people these are targeted at. Do you think my boss needs to write a PERL script??
Back on topic, handhelds should be able to do equations, but they have just gotten it to recognize handwriting with relative accuracy. Math equations would be difficult (especially if you want the thing to calculate it....just recording it can be accomplished with the Notes app). The best calculator/handheld for writing and calculating thes are the HP 49GX's....you can enter the formula as stated and it will help you solve it with HPsolve. These calculators even have a small programming language and can link to a PC. HP may even have a solver for their handhelds too but as I have never bought a HP PDA I have no idea. I do believe if I was back in class, this would be the way I would want to go. I have paper and this would be better for me. A PDA would be great and a laptop would be marvelous!
8 miles an hour, while faster then I would walk, is too slow for me to use it to get to work. I want one that goes about 35 max. That would get me to work in the same amount of time as my car.
Well, I agree that the I want it crowd really seem like they are begging sometimes, but sometimes I wish my family members would provide such a list for me. I LIKE to get AND Give gifts. I KNOW I spent more on all of my gifts I gave to my side of the family, but I don't care. I spend 20-30 on my brother and his wife and while mine was worth about the same, my brother got my wife a bunch of cheap pics to hang on the wall and we don't care! In fact, I like it! Showed ingenuity! Also, I don't know about you, but I go all year most years with out getting most of what I want. and gosh darn it I would like to get SOMETHING nice for once! Looks like I am getting a Radeon VE card from my wife (we have no time to shop....2 year old occupies our time...). I know, the 3d performance isn't that great but I watch more DVD's then play games so I want the TV out and dual monitor support more then supa fast 3d. That's called compromise. I REALLY want a Radeon AIW (Or the 8500 DV, the 8500 equivalent to AIW). Why won;t I get it? Costs to freakin much. Personally, the gifts I have gotten so far I like the ones that the gift giver does:
;)) or a DVD or heck even CD-R blanks. Don't buy me sweaters (I will wear them like once...and then not again until it's SUPER COLD!). Oh and a pound of good coffee is a nice cheap idea as well(espresso roast please).
...:)). I need my HD space for work...
1. Think about what I may want...getting me gift certificates (I hate em, but will gladly take them) shows no thought and is a cop out. I am not THAT difficult to shop for. Hell get me a pack of socks! The washer always eats em and I can always use some new ones....
2. Don't go hog wild....unless you really want too. You don't have to spend lots on me to make me happy. Well over half the items on that list are not of much use to me. I'd rather have a new laptop (if you HAVE to spend lots on me!
3. Spend more on my kid....he needs it more then I do anyway.
That's so easy. I just wish I could tell people just get me all the things I wish I had picked up at the store or have been meaining to get but haven't (not that I couldn't...I just coudln't justify it at the moment or talked myself out of it over and over again...).
Also, what's WRONG with wanting nice stuff? Sure, I can BE HAPPY with out it. I don't have it now and I am happy, but why is it so wrong to want things? We all want things(your lying if you say you aren't.). Some want World Peace, some want Osama's head on a pike. Why is it materialistic to want? It would be different if we just wanted it to say we have it, but I know most of the slashdot readers would use alot of that list everyday! Sure, we'd throw things away, but only if we had alot of that list. Heck I wish I had not bought that stupid web cam about a year or two ago and bought the TV/radio card instead. I would have used it more. My point is just because you think you are all high and mighty because you don't succomb to the I want monster, you are lying in saying that you never want anything for Christmas or never wanted any of these things. It would be so much easier for me if the people on my list would have given me a list. Also how would you know if I would be happier if I hadn't gotten that new video card? Sure, I might be able to deal with it, but it would make me immensely happy to get that video card this year. It would save me time and make things run better on my system so I would be happier with it then without it. Sure, I can live with what I got, but I sure would like to dump this POS video card I have now.
PS My monitor is 3 years old. Same with my video card, my Ethernet card and my speakers and my ram. Only things in there that are newer then that are my CD-RW drive, my soundcard, my motherboard+CPU and my Hard Drive. I DO by stuff that lasts. I DON'T have to have the latest stuff because if I want to game, I would rather have a console to do that (XBOX or PS/2 anyone?
Philips has a 3 inch version of their eXpanium. Not sure of it's availablity as not that long ago it was in a beta test (announced on here....do a search) that anyone could sign up for. I would not mind having one of these as well as a 5 inch variety because at least the 5 inch one can play plain old music CD's as well.
Right now I would like any CD based MP3 player(as a gift for Christmas) but if I were buying my own, I would want a Rio Volt or any with a BIG LCD and that can read ID3 tags. If it navigates by only numbers, it's a real pain in the butt to navigate with only up and down keys and numbers. The Rio Volt (all models) displays ID3 tags. I would also like a genre specific play mode and a album play mode (play all files in a stated folder
If your worried about SDMI, then the CD based ones ar the way to go. CD's fit an INCREDIBLE amount of music on it (most fit more then I would need for the six hour trip down to my parents house.......), they are reliable, cheap and best of all, if you decide to buy a regular CD on the road, just pop it in and your jamming. I plan on getting one soon. I know, they are not as sexy and small as the solid state ones, but you can't beat them right now. to get 650 megs of storage on a small mp3 player is impossible as well as expensive unless someone figures out a way to use or build cheaper chips.
Said you can now get a MP3 player with purchase of a cybiko extreme. It plugs into the expansion slot. It also adds the SD/MMC slot and can take cards of any size. Not a bad idea to get sales going! The more Cybiko's the better.
This is NOT adequate. Yes it let's you uninstall stuff, but it does not get EVERYTHING! RPM generally get's most stuff except for user generated things that are dumped in their home directories. Documents and settings are generally left alone. Try this on both a windows system and a Linux system.
1. Look at free drive space using a appropriate command on each system ( yeah I know, highly inaccurate on windows since drive contents goes up and down due to swapping but good enough for this demo )
2. Install Mozilla on both Windows and Linux (use RPM or DEB based system).
3. Browse a bit on both.
4. Uninstall package/program using appropriate util.
5. Check drivespace.
I know the above is one program that doesn't drop a whole bunch of crap all over the drive in Windows, but chance are that the add/remove program util will miss something. I chalk most of this up to lazy programming practices. Also, Microsoft has a long history of letting programs update things and dumping things into both the Windows directory and the Windows/system directory. Microsoft said you weren't suposed to do it then several Microsoft programs did it themselves and now most do it to make sure you have the right levels. This main archetecture flaw is the main reason behind DLL hell. It's also the reason add/remove never gets everything. If Microsoft fixes this problem, then they may have a better system. Personally I think they can't fix it. It's been getting better, but Windows ME was nto as stable as they said it was going to be. Maybe XP is. I don;t have it nor do I use it at work yet so I have no clue. BUT I think alot of folks are asking for things to be like they were "back in the day" and we have to face it that they will never be like that. Code reuse force the use of shared libraries and such so it's a pain to do it the OLD way. Granted I think that APT/deb is the best, but Apt-RPM ain't the best and BOTH need some refinement. RPM more then APT/DEB.
You know, I hate it too, but hey at least with Linux you have a package manager. With Windows you don't have that! Also, KDE, GNOME and others are ALL dependant on shared libraries and you sure as heck don't want 40 copies of the libraries for all of the programs you run! Also, even if a program is in a sub directory under /usr, isn't everything in the path when you include /usr in your statement?? /usr is the parent of everything underneath it. If /usr is in the path, then so are it's children. At least I think that's the way it works. Anyway, with packagemanagers such as Debian's apt, this is moot! Who cares! Why would I delete it the hard way when I can press a button (in the graphical tool) or do a apt-get remove package???
Yeah if you can FIND a old laptop where everything worked! In my area (several colleges in town) used laptops that fully work are snapped up QUICK! Also, there's no UPS or laptop battery that can last as long as a good security system backup. Power outages can happen and they can last a few hours to a few days. PC's are too fraught with problems to trust them in a security system unless you have a generator backup with a cutover when the power does goes out. Also, the author said he was going to connect this to the internet as well....SUPER bad idea. I mean, yeah, your common thief isn't going to try to hack the box, but someone might! I really don't understand the aversion some homeowners have to paying a monitoring company like ADT or Brinks to do it especially since they can get the system for free. It's a no brainer to me.
Yeah but my wife wouldn't like it. She won't buy it unless she know's what it is about! She is so so non geek. I still might get that Digital Camera! ;)
Other ideas:
Diamond Rio CD/MP3 Player
Kodak Digital Camera (Probably windows only for now, but it will eventually get Linux support and they are CHEAP! 1.3 Megapixel=199!)
That's what I would like anyway besides the obvious game things like Xbox, PS/2 and Gamecube.
The system you suggest would be fraught with problems. First, PC based webcam motion detection is non-discriminate. If air from a heating vent blows a piece of paper from your desk over or past one of your cameras, it will set it off. They detect pure motion only and not just motion of a piece of paper, plant, pet or whatever.
Second, the incapatitating device could be illegal where you reside. Home defense is one thing, but a lawsuit is another. In this day and age where everyone is trying to be PC (Politcally Correct), even though the thief was there to steal something, he might sue you because your device injured him. (Lawyers suck!)
Third, what you are talking about would cost more then 25 bucks a month by the time you wrapped everything up anyway.
Forth PC's are unreliable and power outages in some areas wil be much longer then a cheap UPS would allow. Also, most UPS's will shut it down which would not be a problem, but after the power is back, how would it be able to come back up?? The good systems that ADT and Brinks sell are low power, very reliable(main units are anyway even if you have a problem with detectors), they have panic buttons available, they have HUGE battery backups (I have never had the battery in mine replaced and it's still going strong), they can be wireless (mine is and I am a ham and routinely bath my system in RF with no problems), they cost less then what you propose and are basically the only way to go as far as I am concerned. If you REALLY want a camera deal, hang some axis cameras off your home network and setup a web page to access them all. Axis cameras are almost full motion, and since you'd keep it to yourself, you don't have to worry all that much about consuming too much bandwidth.
Also, your home is worth too much to not pay for a professional to do it. The professional has done MANY installs, and you are going to do one. If you were not a IT/IS person, would you attempt to setup a business system for your home business with out the help of someone else? Just teh same, you don't know all you need to know to setup a effective home security system. Sure, common knowledge and internet can go so far, but the internet can't help you very much when you have a glitch during your install.
Pay ADT or whoever for it. That's the only way that if your hosue is left alone, Law Enforcement can be notified and can check it out. Other then that, I know of no other way to do it and do it as well as they do. ADT usually offers the system for free as well. Also, you mean to tell me your house and valuables aren't worth an extra 25 a month?? To me, even with home owners insurance, some of teh stuff I have is irreplace able and I feel so much better knowing when I am away I have our alarm on.
It's his fault because he did not buy insurance, and because he used his own boxes. If you are intending to ship a computer, whenever possible, use the ORIGINAL box. I, on the other hand, never intend to ship mine once I have to so I usually ditch the box (until I install overhead storage in my garage I do not have room to keep such things). I bet if he had shipped his mac in it's original box, then it might possible have made it. There's no guarantee, but it masy have had a better chance. The box looked like it may not have even been strong enough to take it. I am not saying the UPS folks are totally absolved, but if you are shipping it and it's valuable, you better ship it in the best box you can find with a HALF TON of stuffing and for gods sake insure it! Styrofoam peanuts don't work. I have had stuff come with that expanding foam in a bag stuff and that would work best if you don't have the original box and styrofoam. It will conform nicely to the curves of any device.
You know, I am not sure how I feel about this. I think it's great that someone is trying to do something (other then the folks who SHOULD know better, namely hollywood), but I am not sure if this is the right idea. You see, I was allowed to watch things like Star Wars, and other similar movies when I was a kid and if we did swear or use terminology from the movie, we were punished or talked to or both. I think it can hurt a child to shelter them from things that are considered bad.
One example is the World Trade Center thing. There are so many people out there now who cannot function because of this. They are depressed, afraid to work in their building because it's a high rise or much worse. Could all of these people been sheltered from violence and then when confronted a real situation like the WTC attack, they can't handle it? I don't know.
I DO agree that as a parent, I should be the one in contol of the situation. I should be there the first time my son sees a boob on a video. I should be there with him so I can explain what is happening.
ANY history teacher should never show a movie to help teach the class unless it's pretty much historically accurate. How many movies are there that are accurate from a historical standpoint? Not many. One only needs tolook at all of the inaccuracies in the movie Apollo 13. The rocket was not even painted correctly for that mission (If memory serves). Not to mention the fact that the anachronisms of trying to emulate a time in recent history were rampant. I don't understand why this would be a teaching tool in school. Don't get me wrong, the outcomes were the same, but if you actually have read the book it's screenplay came from, it wasn't even close. Hollywood has to embellish history because, let's face it, sometimes stuff that happens during it is quite boring. Imagine what a movie about George Washington's Valley Forge encampment would be about. It would be a bunch of guys with bloodied feet huddling in a bunch of tents and just hanging around camp with the occasional emergency. It would be pretty boring, as well as graphic for being shown in anything but a R rating.
This thing still won't quite those that are trying to get Hollywood to make all movies family movies. Why? They require action and you know as well as I the default will be to show everything, or people will complain when things are cut (hey there's supposed to be a boob there....ahh this thing doesn't work!). Also, people will be too lazy to turn it on or won't want it. It's easier for them to bitch and complain abut every movie soming out the it is for them to go out and MAKE their own movies.
This option will fail to appease the right wingers as much as the V-chip failed. It's doing real well ain't it?
There are so many PARENTS that DON'T want to do their job and only want kids as a posession instead of having kids so they can LOVE them. They also want machines to do their job like machines can cook food for you. You get the things such as Columbine because of this selfish reason to have kids. I mean, yeah, I take pride in things my kid does and I well show him off as much as I would show off my new computer, but I love him more then any computer I have owned and would really be heartbroken if he was gone. I love him as much as I love my wife and more then anything else. That's the truth and I will raise him as I want to and not as the powers that be want him raised.
You can have my cable modem when you bring me a faster one, or when you pry it from my cold dead hands! NO WAY would I trade this back for a modem. I need a net connection too much. Here's the reasons why:
ALWAYS ON! (Big one with me)
NEVER as slow as a modem (I do agree that Road Runner is sometimes overloaded because of overselling, but it doesn't happen much anymore).
RELIABLE (Um, modem more reliable then a Cable/DSL connection? GET REAL!)
Time saving (I save time not waiting for the modem to dial up....you use the net differently then when you had a dialup....anytime you have a question that you don't have an answer, just hop on the browser and do a search)
Doesn't tie up a phone line
I don't understand these people who have constant problems with Road Runner. The only way I could see they have a beef is if they LIVED on the thing and I understand some geeks do. When our downtime occurs, it's usually at night and usually restored by morning. So if my connection were to die now, I would go to bed! By 5 am, it's back up. Reliability is MARKEDLY better on a cable modem of that I have no doubt. I bet the ones that DO have problems probably are one of the following:
Live in the boonies, Live in a old part of a city
or they live in a town where the net was just discovered (some towns probably never heard of it much until recently). If you live where most of us do, you probably won't have a problem. Case in point, I have a co-worker who lives in the sticks. His modem goes down every sunday. I live in the Columbus, OH metro area.....probably every other house in my neighborhood has RR. We get great service. Pity for those who live in the sticks, but that's the nature of this beast. Best to go with a dish when they start going two way.
Yeah or the TNN ticker when watching Star Trek: TNG on TNN. Ths ticker tells you your watching Star Trek: TNG.....WELL DUH! :) Let the freakin surfers come up with their own tools. Don't make them for them. Also, at least one of my TV's let's you program call letters or something like CNN or TNN into the TV itself. I guess having a user program something like a VCR is too much hassle (hence Tivo.....although, the season ticket thing is cool, it's the thumbs up thumbs down thing I like...lets u discover stuff you didn't know was there!). At least if they did that with Enterprise it wouldn't cover anything up (it's letterboxed in my area).
Using my 48sx to solve the problems in electronics class that they taught us to solve graphically. My answers were more correct because I could more accurately pic the spot where they intersected (I forget the actual problem, but the answer was the point which both curves intersected....i got a severe case of CRS...). Nice calc! I remember seeing ANIMATIONS done on this thing and these had IR transfer BEFORE palms did. I even seen games done on this, but not many. I miss my 48sx....damn thing dropped through a hole in my backpack when I was still in college. Damn.....had ot buy a casio to replace it and i never recovered since! I even had a IR thermal printer too! You could print your graphs and pics out on them. Very nice. I need to get another HP calculator.
How is this flamebait??? I guess if I praised the X-box it would not be? If I really wanted to flame on I would say that is look like an 8 bit! :) Now now now it didn't look THAT bad, but it did look terrible, to me IMNSHO. Seriously though, I am tired of seeing the same dang things turned out over and over again, but with pretty graphics. Let me see a new game concept like Fantavision on the PS2. That's a puzzle game and I liked it! Wait! I am supposed to hate puzzle games! Why did I like it? Because there's nothing like it. You really can't compare it too much to any other puzzle game. If I had to say it looked like anything, I'd say it looked like a upside down Gem stacker game, but it doesn't really. It's definitely a refreshing change from Madden 2002 and other EA drivel coming out. I mean I know it's been out a while, but still, it's pretty darn nifty and fun.
In my subject I said I dunno.... (or I don't know if your a grammer slut). I can't comment too much on it since I have never seen much of it.
Also, don't fool yourself....the X-Box demo units are probably pretty damn close to final units. Also, they have PROOF about some of the screenshots a while ago being faked and things like that.
I really am not all that impressed with the Gamecube either, but it looks like it may be better then the X-box because of the franchises they have. X-box has to compete with several game units that have established games that will be on them....GameCube has (or will Have) Mario, F-zero, and several other games while PS2 has Crash Bandicoot, and several others also. What does X-box have? Oddworld? Halo (which does look cool from what I have seen of it)? What compelling reason would I want to spend 300 dollars on what is pretty much a PC customized to play games when I can buy a 1-2 GHz computer for 200 more?
Game consoles better freakin wake up and do it soon, otherwise these things are going to put them under. Of all of the new stuff, the GameCube looks like it may be more of a immediate hit then even the PS2 because Nintendo has some kick butt games that will be coming out on the machine and they are playing everything real close to the vest (I heard more about the PS2 then the gamecube....). I know the Luigi game looks real cool, but something keeps me thinking that Nintendo has some surprises. Still, I think Nintendo has made some mistakes with the Gamecube because it decided to go with the proprietary disc. Nintendo never said that the GameCube would be anything but a game machine. Maybe this will be why it will do better, but still, Nintendo needs to revamp even some of it's new products (like the GBA....can ANYONE see ANYTHING on this thing?) before they will do better.
Keep this in mind when you read this post....I don't follow console games that much. I will look at them cuz, hey everyone needs a break. I refuse to be a gamer geek because it seems so pointless. If the game is fun to play who cares what the performance of it is as long as it the performance doesn't hinder the game play! Heck I loved playing Atari and we know how crappy it looked (when compared to todays stuff). My point is is games are supposed to be fun and those who harp on every little thing about a game, to me, take away that fun. This is why I buy the games I want to buy and never read a review.....let me decide if the game sucks (a game sucks if it's not fun).
On a side note, why do we need to many freakin buttons on a game controller now when the Atari only had one and NES only needed two? My ideal console would minimize the button mashing and maxmise the fun.
I mean, how can you can compete with the PS/2? The damn games are beautiful and I have never seen a PS/2 demo unit non functioning unless the store unplugged it cuz of some idiots hanging around too long! :) I saw the Oddworld game at a EB on the Xbox.....worst thing I have seen in years! It looked like a 16 bit unit to me. I mean, really, they have a full COMPUTER in the thing an no deballed thing like a PS/2 or Gamecube. The Pentium III 700 should resoundly kick butt. But, Oddworld looked ugly and the shots I have seen of that car game that are going around suck too. MS better have some better games then these two cuz SUCK! Granted, that doesn't mean the games suck. I have played the worst and the best over the years. Some of the best looking games suck when it comes to game play. The same token, some of the worst looking ones were damn fun.
I agree with Nick. Programmer Error handling sucks, but not just in Linux and Open Source. An example is at work, we had a programmer write a batch file to concatenate(sp?) two to five files together into one big file. Only thing is it depended on a network drive mapping (on a volume up on a Novell server...yech) and files to be there. If the batch file failed, there was no way to know it failed because of a network drive mapping error because bloody DOS has no frickin return codes. I WISH they'd let me and the systems programmer set these dang things up on a linux box so we could write a BASH or TCSH script with proper error checking so we could provide a return code back to the mainframe that triggers the script. That way the mainframe could holler at the operator that there's a problem. Right now, if the batch file fails it just drops thru. If it wasn't going to be replaced soon, I would rewrite the damn things, but since a new system will be entering implementation soon, we will be freezing all development except for fixing errors and fulfilling state/federal mandates. Hopefully the package we are going to (anyone ever heard of the education only package called Colleage by Datatel?.....it runs the business side as well as the scheduling, record keeping and all of the stuff a college computer system is doing....). Anyway, at least the picked the right OS and, in my opinion, the right DB for it (AIX for OS, and Oracle for DB......the other choice was....shudder....NT/2000 for OS and I believe SQL server, but it may have been something like DB/2 or something weird).