"The idea that laws decide what is right or wrong is mistaken in general. Laws are, at their best, an attempt to achieve justice; to say that laws define justice or ethical conduct is turning things upside down."
> Compare CD with analogue laserdisc instead. > AFAIK, there is no noise
Oh, there's noise alright. And the "CX" noise reduction circuitry really doesn't help much...
> and it definitely doesn't get worse with playback
Sure, the spinning and the laser don't do much, but with laserdisc you do get laser rot, and a poorly handled disc DOES result in audible artifacts in the analog channel.
That is misinformation. The user only got his Telstra ADSL connection because Telstra didn't want him to complain to Australia's Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). Such complaints generate automatic fines against Telstra, whether or not the telco is at fault.
And indeed he did retract his complaint to the TIO, instead, he just released his story to the media.
You'll no doubt be amused to know that New Zealand 20c coins pop up occasionally in Australia, and are generally considered acceptable tender.
In fact, I've got one in my wallet at the moment.
Australia's very colourful and very durable plastic notes might look like monopoly money to an American, but seriously, it's just a case of fashion and culture.
I think our notes are some of the best currency designs I've ever seen, with the possible exception of the Euro. The transparent panels make it easy to do a reliable forgery check in a fraction of a second.
I also like how the strong colours make sorting cash in your wallet extremely easy to do, and you never hear anyone ask "did you give me a 10 or a 20?"
But the gun technology IS possible, and without legislation, there won't be any incentive for gun manufacturers to put research dollars into the issue.
This is just as pointless as Distributed.net's RC5-64 effort. Yes, they managed to crack the code, and yes, they showed that (a) with enough computing power you can brute force RC5-64; (b) the now-outdated RC5-64 is very hard to brute-force; and (c) the same system at a much higher keysize would be safe from brute-force attacks this side of World War III.
Well worth knowing, I'm sure. But they spent 1,757 days to do it. Nearly half a decade. Surely it didn't require FIVE years to "learn" what was obvious within a month of the project starting!
Like RC5-64, this "Speech Synthesized Kernel WebCast" is another such example of "there's absolutely no doubt it can be done, it'll take a whole bunch of resources to pull off, it won't be finished for two years, it'll be completely irrelevant when it does finish, and we won't learn anything in the process."
This isn't art, it's just pointless. Calling it "art" is a patently weak justification.
Hey, don't get me wrong -- I couldn't care less whether they do it or not, it just makes me wonder how nuts these people are.
Seriously, the only way this thing's going to achieve any more than a cursory listen by a small number of bored Slashdot readers is if the synthesized voice is set to "breathy, seductive woman"...
APPARENTLY THE AUDIO QUALITY DECAYS ALONG WITH ITS CREDIBILITY, WHICH IS WHY IT'S NECESSARY TO SHOUT OUT EVERYTHING...
-- Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted! Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING. Therefore, I have to pad my mildly chucklable reply with somewhat less funny text... honk honk!
I run a discussion forum which focusses on broadband internet access in Australia.
The previously named Apple Communications has some really competitive broadband plans, and they are discussed often. However, I have often seen people casually confusing the huge computer company and the micro-Telco.
This was not a paranoia strike or an over-reaching hand by Apple Computer -- they were being confused. This wasn't apples and oranges, it was apples and apples. Sorry, but I have no sympathy for the previously named Apple Communications.
XDocs and PDF are so widely different, that it amazes me that this correlation could be even considered. XDocs and PDF are no more similar as Slashdot is to a banana!
PDF is a multi-purpose page description language, primarily used to represent the printed page on screen. It is the central element to Adobe's modern digital publishing workflow.
XDocs is an extensive corporate forms tool based around XML.
At best, XDocs is competing with a VERY SMALL PART of what PDF can do -- forms.
Please add Ogg Vorbis audio support to iTunes and iPod, even if it's "only there if you look for it". Xiph have released an integer decoder that should work fine on the iPod's processors. The advantages of supporting Vorbis are numerous:
* You will recieve huge community kudos for being the first major vendor to support the patent-free format. This mindshare alone would be worth gold.
* Token gesture acknowledgement of Vorbis will stimulate its acceptance immensely. It's the community which will bring new codecs to a critical mass. Product manufacturers like Apple can only benefit from the proliferation of license-free technologies.
* You will offer a credible alternative to MP3 and AAC. Vorbis can compress music files below 96kbps and still sound as good as a 160kbps MP3.
* The smaller file means more songs will fit in on-board memory, meaning the hard disk will be used less. Therefore, Vorbis users will be less likely to suffer warranty issues with their hard drive.
* The reduction in hard drive use would prolong battery charge. It's always good to keep existing customers feeling pleased about their purchases, and anything that can improve battery life would make existing customers very happy indeed.
All the above points can go towards luring new customers to the iPod (and then the Mac), or will make existing customers happier (who will then evangelise their product more). I can't possibly see any disadvantage.
It's Unisys all over again. I'd love to see the look on Forgent Networks' collective faces when Adobe, Kodak, and the rest of the world tells them they don't gif a damn...
Hate to break it to you, but you're wrong (JK, wanna back me up here?;)).
IIRC, he released for MacOS first because it had the most consistent hardware, thus allowing one array of bugs to be fixed before moving to more complicated systems.
I suspect in the case of game playing, Windows would be the most complicated platform, as it'd support more 3D hardware, have a wider array of driver versions, and codebases (NT or 98, anyone?).
So it wasn't ordered from least gamers to most gamers, it was ordered from most consistent to most complicated.
There are a few cool things Sony could do with their Playstation 3 console.
Make the controllers all USB based, with a chunkier connector, of course.
And instead of custom memory cards, why not amortize the development on Sony memory sticks and use them instead? Put the memory stick slot on the gamepad.
Let people stick in memory sticks with pictures on them and view the images on the TV (just imagine the boost in sony digital camera sales!).
Let people stick in memory sticks with music on them, and play the music through the TV or Hi-Fi (just imagine the boost in sony network walkman players!).
Let people stick in memory sticks with homebrew software on them, and allow them to execute (just imagine appeasing a community of hackers whilst tightening optical drive security! and just imagine the general popularity surge in memory stick technology!).
Let people use USB cable/ADSL modems as well as ethernet ones -- no need to put the user through the extra expense (over here in Aus, most ethernet ADSL modems are more expensive than PS2's).
> The only reason Russel Crowe won last year was > because people felt he should have won for LA > Confidential.
Maybe, but he deserved to win this year. I mean, Denzel Washington in Training day is a pretty weak choice, and says more about a precrafted mood of African-American tokenism than anything else.
> This year's prime example is Randy Neuman > (sp?) winning for best song for that Monsters > Inc tune. That song sounded EXACTLY like his > past 10 million movie songs. > The LOTR Enya song was by far the best, even > my wife agreed!
How amusing. I thought the Enya song sounded like all of her past 10 million Enya songs.
I thought the Sting song sounded like another great Sting album song -- definately better than LOTR. But I'm pleased MI won.
Amelie deserved better recognition. As did Sexy Beast, Gosford Park and Mulholland Drive. And I felt that Le Placard deserved at least a nomination for best foreign film.
Congratulations, your entire post was 100% bullshit. I bet you feel proud.
Lossless compression would be a ridiculous move... A high definition, lossless compressed movie would require HUNDREDS of gigabytes per HOUR, if not more. A long movie might need a thousand gigabytes of storage.
Fuck storage requirements, I'd like to see a consumer format that could handle the DATA RATE.:)
Slashdot Mirror
> According the Linux's own creater, the system is accurately called Linux.
No, according to Linux's own creater, the KERNEL is accurately called Linux.
Here in Australia, Steve Irwin is largely ignored. The Crocodile Hunter doesn't even screen on Australian TV...
> In communist China, the viruses write you!
In capitalist America, bugs exploit operating system writers!
>it really drives home the idea that Video Games are the new Movies.
That's funny. I was just thinking how movies these days are like video games.
Nonetheless... You'll look pretty stupid if the asteroid hits earth and you forgot to back up!
Here it is on CNN.com, no registration required:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/06/29/nyt.friedman/
Yeah. It's bad grammar.
Nice RMS quote:
"The idea that laws decide what is right or wrong is mistaken in general. Laws are, at their best, an attempt to achieve justice; to say that laws define justice or ethical conduct is turning things upside down."
That is just so true.
> Compare CD with analogue laserdisc instead.
> AFAIK, there is no noise
Oh, there's noise alright. And the "CX" noise reduction circuitry really doesn't help much...
> and it definitely doesn't get worse with playback
Sure, the spinning and the laser don't do much, but with laserdisc you do get laser rot, and a poorly handled disc DOES result in audible artifacts in the analog channel.
Cheers
Simon
That is misinformation. The user only got his Telstra ADSL connection because Telstra didn't want him to complain to Australia's Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). Such complaints generate automatic fines against Telstra, whether or not the telco is at fault.
And indeed he did retract his complaint to the TIO, instead, he just released his story to the media.
Cheers
Simon Wright
whirlpool.net.au
You'll no doubt be amused to know that New Zealand 20c coins pop up occasionally in Australia, and are generally considered acceptable tender.
In fact, I've got one in my wallet at the moment.
Australia's very colourful and very durable plastic notes might look like monopoly money to an American, but seriously, it's just a case of fashion and culture.
I think our notes are some of the best currency designs I've ever seen, with the possible exception of the Euro. The transparent panels make it easy to do a reliable forgery check in a fraction of a second.
I also like how the strong colours make sorting cash in your wallet extremely easy to do, and you never hear anyone ask "did you give me a 10 or a 20?"
Cheers
Simon
Apparently this phone is so clever that if your wife calls when you're with your mistress, the phone will kernel panic.
But the gun technology IS possible, and without legislation, there won't be any incentive for gun manufacturers to put research dollars into the issue.
This is just as pointless as Distributed.net's RC5-64 effort. Yes, they managed to crack the code, and yes, they showed that (a) with enough computing power you can brute force RC5-64; (b) the now-outdated RC5-64 is very hard to brute-force; and (c) the same system at a much higher keysize would be safe from brute-force attacks this side of World War III.
Well worth knowing, I'm sure. But they spent 1,757 days to do it. Nearly half a decade. Surely it didn't require FIVE years to "learn" what was obvious within a month of the project starting!
Like RC5-64, this "Speech Synthesized Kernel WebCast" is another such example of "there's absolutely no doubt it can be done, it'll take a whole bunch of resources to pull off, it won't be finished for two years, it'll be completely irrelevant when it does finish, and we won't learn anything in the process."
This isn't art, it's just pointless. Calling it "art" is a patently weak justification.
Hey, don't get me wrong -- I couldn't care less whether they do it or not, it just makes me wonder how nuts these people are.
Seriously, the only way this thing's going to achieve any more than a cursory listen by a small number of bored Slashdot readers is if the synthesized voice is set to "breathy, seductive woman"...
APPARENTLY THE AUDIO QUALITY DECAYS ALONG WITH ITS CREDIBILITY, WHICH IS WHY IT'S NECESSARY TO SHOUT OUT EVERYTHING...
--
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
Therefore, I have to pad my mildly chucklable reply with somewhat less funny text... honk honk!
I run a discussion forum which focusses on broadband internet access in Australia.
The previously named Apple Communications has some really competitive broadband plans, and they are discussed often. However, I have often seen people casually confusing the huge computer company and the micro-Telco.
This was not a paranoia strike or an over-reaching hand by Apple Computer -- they were being confused. This wasn't apples and oranges, it was apples and apples. Sorry, but I have no sympathy for the previously named Apple Communications.
Simon Wright
http://whirlpool.net.au
XDocs and PDF are so widely different, that it amazes me that this correlation could be even considered. XDocs and PDF are no more similar as Slashdot is to a banana!
PDF is a multi-purpose page description language, primarily used to represent the printed page on screen. It is the central element to Adobe's modern digital publishing workflow.
XDocs is an extensive corporate forms tool based around XML.
At best, XDocs is competing with a VERY SMALL PART of what PDF can do -- forms.
Simon
And what would be in these mysterious brown paper bags? Hmm?
:)
Cheers,
Simon Wright
whirlpool.net.au
P.S. Gotta love my 4-digit slashdot account ID.
Dear Apple,
Please add Ogg Vorbis audio support to iTunes and iPod, even if it's "only there if you look for it". Xiph have released an integer decoder that should work fine on the iPod's processors. The advantages of supporting Vorbis are numerous:
* You will recieve huge community kudos for being the first major vendor to support the patent-free format. This mindshare alone would be worth gold.
* Token gesture acknowledgement of Vorbis will stimulate its acceptance immensely. It's the community which will bring new codecs to a critical mass. Product manufacturers like Apple can only benefit from the proliferation of license-free technologies.
* You will offer a credible alternative to MP3 and AAC. Vorbis can compress music files below 96kbps and still sound as good as a 160kbps MP3.
* The smaller file means more songs will fit in on-board memory, meaning the hard disk will be used less. Therefore, Vorbis users will be less likely to suffer warranty issues with their hard drive.
* The reduction in hard drive use would prolong battery charge. It's always good to keep existing customers feeling pleased about their purchases, and anything that can improve battery life would make existing customers very happy indeed.
All the above points can go towards luring new customers to the iPod (and then the Mac), or will make existing customers happier (who will then evangelise their product more). I can't possibly see any disadvantage.
Regards,
It's Unisys all over again. I'd love to see the look on Forgent Networks' collective faces when Adobe, Kodak, and the rest of the world tells them they don't gif a damn...
Hate to break it to you, but you're wrong (JK, wanna back me up here? ;)).
IIRC, he released for MacOS first because it had the most consistent hardware, thus allowing one array of bugs to be fixed before moving to more complicated systems.
I suspect in the case of game playing, Windows would be the most complicated platform, as it'd support more 3D hardware, have a wider array of driver versions, and codebases (NT or 98, anyone?).
So it wasn't ordered from least gamers to most gamers, it was ordered from most consistent to most complicated.
Simon
There are a few cool things Sony could do with their Playstation 3 console.
Make the controllers all USB based, with a chunkier connector, of course.
And instead of custom memory cards, why not amortize the development on Sony memory sticks and use them instead? Put the memory stick slot on the gamepad.
Let people stick in memory sticks with pictures on them and view the images on the TV (just imagine the boost in sony digital camera sales!).
Let people stick in memory sticks with music on them, and play the music through the TV or Hi-Fi (just imagine the boost in sony network walkman players!).
Let people stick in memory sticks with homebrew software on them, and allow them to execute (just imagine appeasing a community of hackers whilst tightening optical drive security! and just imagine the general popularity surge in memory stick technology!).
Let people use USB cable/ADSL modems as well as ethernet ones -- no need to put the user through the extra expense (over here in Aus, most ethernet ADSL modems are more expensive than PS2's).
Simon
Hey Mark. :)
Simon,
Whirlpool
> The only reason Russel Crowe won last year was
> because people felt he should have won for LA
> Confidential.
Maybe, but he deserved to win this year. I mean, Denzel Washington in Training day is a pretty weak choice, and says more about a precrafted mood of African-American tokenism than anything else.
> This year's prime example is Randy Neuman
> (sp?) winning for best song for that Monsters
> Inc tune. That song sounded EXACTLY like his
> past 10 million movie songs.
> The LOTR Enya song was by far the best, even
> my wife agreed!
How amusing. I thought the Enya song sounded like all of her past 10 million Enya songs.
I thought the Sting song sounded like another great Sting album song -- definately better than LOTR. But I'm pleased MI won.
Amelie deserved better recognition. As did Sexy Beast, Gosford Park and Mulholland Drive. And I felt that Le Placard deserved at least a nomination for best foreign film.
Simon
Congratulations, your entire post was 100% bullshit. I bet you feel proud.
:)
Lossless compression would be a ridiculous move... A high definition, lossless compressed movie would require HUNDREDS of gigabytes per HOUR, if not more. A long movie might need a thousand gigabytes of storage.
Fuck storage requirements, I'd like to see a consumer format that could handle the DATA RATE.