Policeman to bystander. "So, the bank robbers were driving a black sedan and you aren't sure of the make or year because all cars look alike nowadays? I don't suppose you got the license number?"
Bystander. "Sure. It was 'WALMART ROLLS BACK PRICES'".
Eventually, the case was heard by the Supreme Court of the Unites States. New Hampshire lost 6-3 on First Amendment -- Freedom of Speech grounds. The defendant was eventually awarded legal fees which New Hampshire refused to pay until a marshall walked into a state liquor store with a writ and demanded $21,000.
***They can't even consistently power the computers they're using to fuck up our software.***
You clearly do not get your power from Central Vermont Public Service or many companies like them. Unreliable power is not limited to third world countries.
I'm a bit more sympathetic on the software point. Indians inevitably are going to create interfaces tailored to Indians. I don't want user interface code from the subcontinent. Americans and Western Europeans do those more than badly enough already. Going out of our way to make things even worse seems sort of unenlightened.
***On top of VORTEX2's caravan of 40+ vehicles, you have NBC/The Weather Channel following the VORTEX2 project that are not included with that count. You've also got the Discovery Channel's team of production vehicles...***
40+ vehicles? Plus additional hangers on and symbiotes with their own vehicles? And the congestion on rural roads is in no way their own damn fault?
***Because Apple "Just Works". For varying values of "Just Works". ***
just_works = ["just works",
"almost works",
"sort of works",
"depends on what you mean by 'works'",
"works according to spec",
"has a few glitches",
"has many features",
"sucks" ] for i in just_works :
print "Apple " + i
***Actually they probably get tossed around a bit, but the real key is that they don't install them in hurricane prone areas.***
I don't think there ARE any areas offshore of the continental US that are totally immune from very strong winds. New England? They recorded a gust of 186mph at the Blue Hills Observatory near Boston during the 1938 hurricane.
The Pacific Northwest? Winter gales sometimes push winds to 120 mph along the coast
Southern California? Just barely in range of hurricanes and tropical storms. One plowed pretty much directly over Los Angeles in 1938. In 1976 Tropical Storm Kathleen washed out a section of Interstate 8 East of San Diego
They are just going to have to design for high winds, high waves, ice loads, and maybe even some light pack ice being tossed around in the NorthEast.
***Really, "A lot of people"? I do not personally know anyone who does.***
Some will in the future I think. My local hardware store has grown a couple of bubble wrapped Kill-A-Watt devices on a peg a few feet over from the network cables at the other end of the aisle from the PVC pipe fittings.
=====
Wrt to the technology itself. Is there some reason this couldn't be done over the power line using X-10 or something similar? I do not, repeat NOT, want to run network cables to my washing machine. Neither do I want to expose some bozo's flawed C or Java in my freezer or microwave oven to every sociopathic teenager in Eastern Europe via the magic of the Internet and IPV6.
More likely a result of bad journalism than bad science, but I suppose it could be both.
Anyway, here's the link to spaceweather.com for anyone who wants to learn a little about the sun, sunspots, etc. http://www.spaceweather.com/
Here's a link to the latest from NASA published about two weeks ago. Their take on sunspot cycle 24 as best I can translate it? They haven't a clue and won't for several years -- after they have a decent sampling of cycle 24 sunspots to work with. Right now the cycle is late to start and may be fairly weak... or not. http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml
***Wait... you expected more of IBM than that they give us a standard connector for mice and keyboards that didn't require thumbscrews***
Well, a different manufacturer might have used different connectors for the mouse and keyboard since the sockets were wired differently for the two functions. There's a reason that many techs refused to service IBM PCs in the 1990s. It has a lot to do with whacky design decisions, deliberately non-industry standard component layout, and other idiosyncracies. It didn't help that parts like power supplies tended to have about seven different part numbers stamped or embossed on them and none of the part numbers was the one that was needed to order a replacement.
***Now, maybe you mean "it would mean less and contain less protections".***
Ahem... if you recall, the original version did not in fact include what we now regard as basic protections (unless of course if you are carted off to the US's appalling overseas prisons). The first 10 ammendments -- the Bill of Rights -- was in draft before the constitution was approved, and it probably couldn't have been approved without a tacit agreement that the ammendments would be presented as soon as the details of wording and content could be worked out. Actually the states mostly had and have rights enumerated in their constitutions. No one really anticipated that federal power would supercede those rights in many cases.
====
Other than that, you're right, a modern version of the Constitution would probably run to 3000 pages and include large chunks of material proposed by lobbiests that no one actually read prior to approval.
***Since I live here in the US, I'd really like to see a return to the US for manufacturing.***
So would we all, but it's not going to happen for many decades. All that increasing production costs in China will do is eventually move production to other countries with lower costs. That won't be the US (or the EU). Remember Ross Perot and his giant whooshing sound of US jobs leaving for Mexico? Perot was right. By 2000 the maquiladora accounted for 25% of Mexican GDP. But then the assembly of goods along the border went into decline as the jobs migrated to cheaper venues in East Asia. Presumably the same thing will happen to China.
The only difference. The Chinese appear not to be totally brain dead. It's possible that unlike the US and Mexico, they have a plan to deal with the departure of the manufacturing of trinkets and gizmos for the bazaars of the planet. For their sake, I hope so.
***Fine. Observing passengers for potential cues is security theater. Then explain to me, how exactly is airplane security is going to work?***
It's going to work exactly the same way that it did on 9/11 and does today -- not very well. The ability of 19 hijackers to get past security on 9/11/2001 came as no surprise to seasoned air travelers, and there isn't much doubt that the next bunch of hijackers or bombers won't have any trouble either. What'll they use for weapons? I have no idea. They have years to work on that problem. They'll come up with something.
In point of fact, things like the US's No-Fly list have -- so far as we know -- a perfect record. They have never, to our knowledge, impeded anyone who was an actual threat.
This sort of foolishness is an example of "We must do something even if it is dead stupid" thinking.
***Try using Flashblock. Before using it Firefox would crash multiple times a day. Since using Flashblock, the only the Firefox crashes is when Flash content is active.***
Write once, crash everywhere?
If they built cars like we build software, the cars would cost $16.95, would get 130,000 mpg, would travel at Mach 72... and wouldn't make it to the corner without breaking down.
***Well perhaps not the most rigourous, more likely that type of model has never been applied to reality, but I digress. This smells like bullshit science and shouldn't be leant much credibility.***
You probably have it right. We take some shaky data from one tree in one place in the tropics using math similar to that that recently crashed the world's financial system (because it handles correlation inappropriately) we come up with a number. I think this can safely be filed next to the "bumblebees can't fly" folder.
Mules most certainly can mate, and occasionally the female versions get pregnant and have foals. The usual fertility issues with horse/donkey mules are because they have an odd number of genes (63) rather than 62 (donkeys) or 64 (horses) which results in difficulties pairing up genetic material. At least that's what Wikipedia tells me. Would Jamie Wailes lie to me? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule
If true, and I imagine it is, that's a valid point. I don't do complex graphs and haven't had any trouble with oocalc (now kspread, there's graph trouble). I think the truth is that most people confronted with a choice between oocalc and Excel would prefer neither.
But won't most versions of Office run under wine, or if not wine, under crossover? My impression was that running office apps was a wine priority. And for the masochistic, there is always the option of running Windows and Excel in a VM. As long as you keep Windows away from the internet, it shouldn't be that awful an OS choice -- other than the bloated and hard to use thing. If you don't expose the Windows VM to networks you probably don't need to constantly update Windows either. (Hmmm, how do you get to the office printers without putting Windows at risk?)
***I would say that whatever method that works for you is fine.***
Absolutely. Provided that the numerous peculiarities of Microsoft's command language aren't an issue (will the users ever see the inards?), and you don't have to support Unix, why would anyone not use a scripting tool that requires no additional run time be installed?
***The scary part is what happens if his model actually works, or at least is better a better source of revenue than the current model?***
When it comes to predicting the actions of the general population, my track record is far from sterling. But I have trouble believing that anyone other than a few nutcases and librarians are going to buy subscriptions to the Times of London. Murdoch may, and I emphasize MAY, be able to set up the Wall Street Journal and Barrons as successful subscription driven operations, but the rest of his stable simply lacks enough unique appeal.
I'm guessing that the reason the Times is the subject of this experiment is that the operation is unsustainable under the current revenue model and would have been shut down in the near future anyway. I think this is probably what we Americans call a Hail Mary strategy -- put the ball up in the air in the final few seconds of a close, but lost, game and pray.
I suspect that Murdoch's newspaper empire will end up being yet another victim of the Internet's inability to handle micropayments. What would be a perfectly sustainable operation if people could simply pay ten or fifteen cents US each to read an interesting article is going to fail because there's no way to do that.
***Well, then you'll be stuck on static pages, and will be impossible to render and navigate through "modern" pages.***
And that would be bad -- why? Speaking for myself, I'm a bit hazy why resource hungry modern web pages that more often than not don't render correctly in any browser are desirable.
BTW, I'm posting this using the OffByOne browser in Windows 98 running under QEMU using 128mb of RAM. I imagine it would run just as well in 64mb -- maybe less. Might work in Windows 95. Maybe I'll try that some day.
One of my fantasies is that the entire damn web will collapse under the burden of nutty design and sloppy implementation that is being piled on it (plus tthe failure to address security in any meaningful way). Probably won't happen... but surely I can dream.
***The faster you go, the less time you spend going.***
Of course. My understanding is that's why drag related fuel losses only increase with the square of velocity rather than the cube of velocity. Still, given likely future trends in fuel costs, I expect that we're more likely to see zeppelins return than supersonic airliners return.
***People have physical access to the outside of my car, it doesn't mean they can change my speedo, mileometer, fuel mixture, etc. quickly and without me realising that something has happened....***
You have things pretty much right for 1996 to early 2000s OBD2. But the clever engineers in Detroit have decided that your car needs a local network. And recent cars have one. The brakes, engine, radio, door locks, etc are likely to be on it. CAN has been added to the OBD2 port so that your code scanner can interrogate the ECU to find out why the Check Engine light is on -- or to monitor the O2 sensors -- or... Guess what, a scanner/sniffer attached to the OBD readout port under your dash can tap that network. It can read packets. It can send packets.
But the network doesn't run all over the car and isn't accessible to anyone with a Swiss Army knife and a couple of wires with alligator clips? Of course the network runs all over the car. What's the point of a network that doesn't network? I can't personally attest that James Bond or some other movie hero can grab the network wires and hook up HIS scanner sniffer just about anywhere cable harnesses are visible. But that'd be my bet.
And it's probably only a matter of time I suppose before some screwup manages a remote controlled door lock that can be used to send packets to and receive packets from the engine/brakes and everything else electronic on your shiny new vehicle. Gee, if they automate the steering and starting, maybe you'll be able to steal cars and drive them off by remote control.
But the engineers in Detroit are too clever to let that happen? Riiiiiight. Of course they are too clever to let that happen... Of course...
On most cars, the Red BRAKE light on the dash panel will probably come on after a while due to low brake fluid in the master cylinder. OTOH, for many drivers, many times, the BRAKE alert is hidden behind the overgrown spokes on the steering wheel that are there for styling and air bag storage reasons.
***When it gets affordable, I'll still be happy with analog***
1. If analog has the programming you want, it is almost certainly a superior way to get it. No synchronization delay. No glitches. I listen to a bunch of NPR programs most Saturday mornings. I can get them either via the Internet or Over The Air. I tried the Internet for a while. I found OTR to be much more reliable.
2. The failure/refusal of internet content providers to settle on a single open format for Internet Radio (or anything else) and to stick with a single http:/// get request format for their "transmission" is not only annoying, it makes acquiring programming a major annoyance. If your analog radio channels moved around and used occasionally varying encryption, you'd probably turn the analog radio off and leave it off.
3. I've played around with a lot of digital audio stuff at various times. The only thing that I occasionally actually use is streaming albums around the house from an Edna server ( http://edna.sourceforge.net/ ). Edna (a python script) runs fine as a background task on a VIA C3 system that doesn't even have enough computing power to run Google Earth. I expect it'd run on any 486 or higher CPU.
4. Podcasts would seem to be an attractive alternative to Internet Radio. Except the #$@(& content providers go out of their way to make acquiring podcasts difficult/impossible except through manual selection. And of course, they have managed to screw up RSS feed format beyond all possibility of reliable decoding.
In short -- Internet Radio and its cousins are so unreliable and unintentionally difficult to use, that it's hard to envision them replacing over the air for most people most of the time.
***May I suggest a walk outside. The fresh air is lovely.***
Maybe where you are. Where I am, the wind is howling and it is snowing. If you could give me an IP where I can pick up a stream of weather a bit warmer and without the wind, it would be appreciated.
Slashdot Mirror
A truly brilliant idea.
Policeman to bystander. "So, the bank robbers were driving a black sedan and you aren't sure of the make or year because all cars look alike nowadays? I don't suppose you got the license number?"
Bystander. "Sure. It was 'WALMART ROLLS BACK PRICES'".
It's way worse than that. The state was New Hampshire and the slogan that was taped over was "LIVE FREE OR DIE".
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15440
Eventually, the case was heard by the Supreme Court of the Unites States. New Hampshire lost 6-3 on First Amendment -- Freedom of Speech grounds. The defendant was eventually awarded legal fees which New Hampshire refused to pay until a marshall walked into a state liquor store with a writ and demanded $21,000.
***They can't even consistently power the computers they're using to fuck up our software.***
You clearly do not get your power from Central Vermont Public Service or many companies like them. Unreliable power is not limited to third world countries.
I'm a bit more sympathetic on the software point. Indians inevitably are going to create interfaces tailored to Indians. I don't want user interface code from the subcontinent. Americans and Western Europeans do those more than badly enough already. Going out of our way to make things even worse seems sort of unenlightened.
***On top of VORTEX2's caravan of 40+ vehicles, you have NBC/The Weather Channel following the VORTEX2 project that are not included with that count. You've also got the Discovery Channel's team of production vehicles ...***
40+ vehicles? Plus additional hangers on and symbiotes with their own vehicles? And the congestion on rural roads is in no way their own damn fault?
C'est magnifique, but is it science?
***Because Apple "Just Works". For varying values of "Just Works". ***
just_works = ["just works",
"almost works",
"sort of works",
"depends on what you mean by 'works'",
"works according to spec",
"has a few glitches",
"has many features",
"sucks" ]
for i in just_works :
print "Apple " + i
***Actually they probably get tossed around a bit, but the real key is that they don't install them in hurricane prone areas.***
I don't think there ARE any areas offshore of the continental US that are totally immune from very strong winds. New England? They recorded a gust of 186mph at the Blue Hills Observatory near Boston during the 1938 hurricane.
The Pacific Northwest? Winter gales sometimes push winds to 120 mph along the coast
Southern California? Just barely in range of hurricanes and tropical storms. One plowed pretty much directly over Los Angeles in 1938. In 1976 Tropical Storm Kathleen washed out a section of Interstate 8 East of San Diego
They are just going to have to design for high winds, high waves, ice loads, and maybe even some light pack ice being tossed around in the NorthEast.
***Really, "A lot of people"? I do not personally know anyone who does.***
Some will in the future I think. My local hardware store has grown a couple of bubble wrapped Kill-A-Watt devices on a peg a few feet over from the network cables at the other end of the aisle from the PVC pipe fittings.
=====
Wrt to the technology itself. Is there some reason this couldn't be done over the power line using X-10 or something similar? I do not, repeat NOT, want to run network cables to my washing machine. Neither do I want to expose some bozo's flawed C or Java in my freezer or microwave oven to every sociopathic teenager in Eastern Europe via the magic of the Internet and IPV6.
More likely a result of bad journalism than bad science, but I suppose it could be both.
Anyway, here's the link to spaceweather.com for anyone who wants to learn a little about the sun, sunspots, etc. http://www.spaceweather.com/
Here's a link to the latest from NASA published about two weeks ago. Their take on sunspot cycle 24 as best I can translate it? They haven't a clue and won't for several years -- after they have a decent sampling of cycle 24 sunspots to work with. Right now the cycle is late to start and may be fairly weak ... or not. http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml
***Wait... you expected more of IBM than that they give us a standard connector for mice and keyboards that didn't require thumbscrews***
Well, a different manufacturer might have used different connectors for the mouse and keyboard since the sockets were wired differently for the two functions. There's a reason that many techs refused to service IBM PCs in the 1990s. It has a lot to do with whacky design decisions, deliberately non-industry standard component layout, and other idiosyncracies. It didn't help that parts like power supplies tended to have about seven different part numbers stamped or embossed on them and none of the part numbers was the one that was needed to order a replacement.
***Now, maybe you mean "it would mean less and contain less protections".***
Ahem ... if you recall, the original version did not in fact include what we now regard as basic protections (unless of course if you are carted off to the US's appalling overseas prisons). The first 10 ammendments -- the Bill of Rights -- was in draft before the constitution was approved, and it probably couldn't have been approved without a tacit agreement that the ammendments would be presented as soon as the details of wording and content could be worked out. Actually the states mostly had and have rights enumerated in their constitutions. No one really anticipated that federal power would supercede those rights in many cases.
====
Other than that, you're right, a modern version of the Constitution would probably run to 3000 pages and include large chunks of material proposed by lobbiests that no one actually read prior to approval.
***Since I live here in the US, I'd really like to see a return to the US for manufacturing.***
So would we all, but it's not going to happen for many decades. All that increasing production costs in China will do is eventually move production to other countries with lower costs. That won't be the US (or the EU). Remember Ross Perot and his giant whooshing sound of US jobs leaving for Mexico? Perot was right. By 2000 the maquiladora accounted for 25% of Mexican GDP. But then the assembly of goods along the border went into decline as the jobs migrated to cheaper venues in East Asia. Presumably the same thing will happen to China.
The only difference. The Chinese appear not to be totally brain dead. It's possible that unlike the US and Mexico, they have a plan to deal with the departure of the manufacturing of trinkets and gizmos for the bazaars of the planet. For their sake, I hope so.
***Fine. Observing passengers for potential cues is security theater. Then explain to me, how exactly is airplane security is going to work?***
It's going to work exactly the same way that it did on 9/11 and does today -- not very well. The ability of 19 hijackers to get past security on 9/11/2001 came as no surprise to seasoned air travelers, and there isn't much doubt that the next bunch of hijackers or bombers won't have any trouble either. What'll they use for weapons? I have no idea. They have years to work on that problem. They'll come up with something.
In point of fact, things like the US's No-Fly list have -- so far as we know -- a perfect record. They have never, to our knowledge, impeded anyone who was an actual threat.
This sort of foolishness is an example of "We must do something even if it is dead stupid" thinking.
***Try using Flashblock. Before using it Firefox would crash multiple times a day. Since using Flashblock, the only the Firefox crashes is when Flash content is active.***
Write once, crash everywhere?
If they built cars like we build software, the cars would cost $16.95, would get 130,000 mpg, would travel at Mach 72 ... and wouldn't make it to the corner without breaking down.
***Well perhaps not the most rigourous, more likely that type of model has never been applied to reality, but I digress. This smells like bullshit science and shouldn't be leant much credibility.***
You probably have it right. We take some shaky data from one tree in one place in the tropics using math similar to that that recently crashed the world's financial system (because it handles correlation inappropriately) we come up with a number. I think this can safely be filed next to the "bumblebees can't fly" folder.
Mules most certainly can mate, and occasionally the female versions get pregnant and have foals. The usual fertility issues with horse/donkey mules are because they have an odd number of genes (63) rather than 62 (donkeys) or 64 (horses) which results in difficulties pairing up genetic material. At least that's what Wikipedia tells me. Would Jamie Wailes lie to me? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule
***Shame about the graphs, though.***
If true, and I imagine it is, that's a valid point. I don't do complex graphs and haven't had any trouble with oocalc (now kspread, there's graph trouble). I think the truth is that most people confronted with a choice between oocalc and Excel would prefer neither.
But won't most versions of Office run under wine, or if not wine, under crossover? My impression was that running office apps was a wine priority. And for the masochistic, there is always the option of running Windows and Excel in a VM. As long as you keep Windows away from the internet, it shouldn't be that awful an OS choice -- other than the bloated and hard to use thing. If you don't expose the Windows VM to networks you probably don't need to constantly update Windows either. (Hmmm, how do you get to the office printers without putting Windows at risk?)
***I would say that whatever method that works for you is fine.***
Absolutely. Provided that the numerous peculiarities of Microsoft's command language aren't an issue (will the users ever see the inards?), and you don't have to support Unix, why would anyone not use a scripting tool that requires no additional run time be installed?
***The scary part is what happens if his model actually works, or at least is better a better source of revenue than the current model?***
When it comes to predicting the actions of the general population, my track record is far from sterling. But I have trouble believing that anyone other than a few nutcases and librarians are going to buy subscriptions to the Times of London. Murdoch may, and I emphasize MAY, be able to set up the Wall Street Journal and Barrons as successful subscription driven operations, but the rest of his stable simply lacks enough unique appeal.
I'm guessing that the reason the Times is the subject of this experiment is that the operation is unsustainable under the current revenue model and would have been shut down in the near future anyway. I think this is probably what we Americans call a Hail Mary strategy -- put the ball up in the air in the final few seconds of a close, but lost, game and pray.
I suspect that Murdoch's newspaper empire will end up being yet another victim of the Internet's inability to handle micropayments. What would be a perfectly sustainable operation if people could simply pay ten or fifteen cents US each to read an interesting article is going to fail because there's no way to do that.
***Well, then you'll be stuck on static pages, and will be impossible to render and navigate through "modern" pages.***
And that would be bad -- why? Speaking for myself, I'm a bit hazy why resource hungry modern web pages that more often than not don't render correctly in any browser are desirable.
BTW, I'm posting this using the OffByOne browser in Windows 98 running under QEMU using 128mb of RAM. I imagine it would run just as well in 64mb -- maybe less. Might work in Windows 95. Maybe I'll try that some day.
One of my fantasies is that the entire damn web will collapse under the burden of nutty design and sloppy implementation that is being piled on it (plus tthe failure to address security in any meaningful way). Probably won't happen ... but surely I can dream.
I believe that the Chinese are designing an airliner, but I doubt their first design will be anything unusual. Now their third or fourth design ...
***The faster you go, the less time you spend going.***
Of course. My understanding is that's why drag related fuel losses only increase with the square of velocity rather than the cube of velocity. Still, given likely future trends in fuel costs, I expect that we're more likely to see zeppelins return than supersonic airliners return.
***People have physical access to the outside of my car, it doesn't mean they can change my speedo, mileometer, fuel mixture, etc. quickly and without me realising that something has happened. ...***
You have things pretty much right for 1996 to early 2000s OBD2. But the clever engineers in Detroit have decided that your car needs a local network. And recent cars have one. The brakes, engine, radio, door locks, etc are likely to be on it. CAN has been added to the OBD2 port so that your code scanner can interrogate the ECU to find out why the Check Engine light is on -- or to monitor the O2 sensors -- or ... Guess what, a scanner/sniffer attached to the OBD readout port under your dash can tap that network. It can read packets. It can send packets.
But the network doesn't run all over the car and isn't accessible to anyone with a Swiss Army knife and a couple of wires with alligator clips? Of course the network runs all over the car. What's the point of a network that doesn't network? I can't personally attest that James Bond or some other movie hero can grab the network wires and hook up HIS scanner sniffer just about anywhere cable harnesses are visible. But that'd be my bet.
And it's probably only a matter of time I suppose before some screwup manages a remote controlled door lock that can be used to send packets to and receive packets from the engine/brakes and everything else electronic on your shiny new vehicle. Gee, if they automate the steering and starting, maybe you'll be able to steal cars and drive them off by remote control.
But the engineers in Detroit are too clever to let that happen? Riiiiiight. Of course they are too clever to let that happen ... Of course ...
On most cars, the Red BRAKE light on the dash panel will probably come on after a while due to low brake fluid in the master cylinder. OTOH, for many drivers, many times, the BRAKE alert is hidden behind the overgrown spokes on the steering wheel that are there for styling and air bag storage reasons.
***When it gets affordable, I'll still be happy with analog***
1. If analog has the programming you want, it is almost certainly a superior way to get it. No synchronization delay. No glitches. I listen to a bunch of NPR programs most Saturday mornings. I can get them either via the Internet or Over The Air. I tried the Internet for a while. I found OTR to be much more reliable.
2. The failure/refusal of internet content providers to settle on a single open format for Internet Radio (or anything else) and to stick with a single http:/// get request format for their "transmission" is not only annoying, it makes acquiring programming a major annoyance. If your analog radio channels moved around and used occasionally varying encryption, you'd probably turn the analog radio off and leave it off.
3. I've played around with a lot of digital audio stuff at various times. The only thing that I occasionally actually use is streaming albums around the house from an Edna server ( http://edna.sourceforge.net/ ). Edna (a python script) runs fine as a background task on a VIA C3 system that doesn't even have enough computing power to run Google Earth. I expect it'd run on any 486 or higher CPU.
4. Podcasts would seem to be an attractive alternative to Internet Radio. Except the #$@(& content providers go out of their way to make acquiring podcasts difficult/impossible except through manual selection. And of course, they have managed to screw up RSS feed format beyond all possibility of reliable decoding.
In short -- Internet Radio and its cousins are so unreliable and unintentionally difficult to use, that it's hard to envision them replacing over the air for most people most of the time.
***May I suggest a walk outside. The fresh air is lovely.***
Maybe where you are. Where I am, the wind is howling and it is snowing. If you could give me an IP where I can pick up a stream of weather a bit warmer and without the wind, it would be appreciated.