Posts by Weeble
37 posts • joined Wednesday 24th June 2009 21:19 GMT
Prior Art
Didn't George Lucas already think of this one?
X-Wing = R2 Dock
Re: I have a current problem with copyrights....
" ... but if there is a known creator then by definition all assets must be passed on as inheritance ..."
Thank you for that observation.
Most of what I've read about orphans claims that "if you couldn't find the author (or estate) with reasonable diligence - you could help yourself", which implies the author is already known - but, based on the MOA, nothing with a name on it can ever be an "orphan" while it's less than a couple of lifetimes old (and at current rates of extension will never become available).
I have similar, those less highly developed, concerns to your own (the archiving and making available of material of historical interest) so I can sympathise with your position and am more than a little disturbed by the conclusions.
Perhaps the archivists perennial problem of digital archive longevity will become irrelevant once there is nothing to put in them.
Re: I have a current problem with copyrights....
Ah, but...
If no-one knows (or can prove) who owns them then that presumably makes them "orphans".
So, within a year or two, you should be able to do whatever you want to do with them?
Re: Blowing air
Actually, switching off entire stations (rather than just the am transmitters) shold have been included as a "control". Perhap the reason no-one noticed the loss of am is that no-one is listening to those local stations "at all".
Posted in Happy birthday, Compact Disc
Re: Is there any truth
Yes. Some truth at least.
The discs pressed by PDO in the UK, for a certain period, all had a habit of turning bronze and becoming unreliable/unplayable. I still have a couple left that won't rip, though I haven't tried playing them in a normal player recently.
At the time (and I think I'm talking about 10-15 years ago now), PDO did the decent thing and offered to swap-out the affected discs. An offer I accepted... I can't imagine the industry, as it is today, being quite so honourable.
Re: So things published under a law to stop other people publishing them
Perhaps that needs to be a feature of the databases people keep talking about. Somewhere where you can post a list of all your "old" identities and contact details (as used in copyright/metadata) along with a mapping to your current details.
A search of that database should be a mandatory part of the "reasonable" attempts to trace the originator.
PS: How about another rule which says that an image with NO metatdata shall be considered "mutilated" rather than "orphaned" since it must have been willfully stripped.
Profitable though...
Whilst Apple remain so dominantly "flavour of the month", any protocol/interface they offer to the audio/video industry will be eagerly embraced by all and sundry (even if it means buying a licence) simply because of the fear of getting left behind.
I suppose it's a form of feedback. Manufacturers have to support apple protocols because apple devices are so popular, apple devices become more popular because they're so widely supported.
Any alternative offering will have a very hard time of it trying to establish an ecosystem (even if they pay audio/video manufacturers to include it).
Re: Re: @AndrueC
> Bollox. I don't think there's ever been a universally accepted definition within the telecoms industry.
In the good-old-days of analogue modems (been there, done that, 300 Baud acoustically-coupled), broadband began at 2 Meg, because that was the point where you got your own bit of CoAx cable at the exchange. Typically a hideously expensive leased line. Anything less was just multiples of 64kb/s speech circuits on twisted pairs.
I don't diasgree that 512 kb/s is vastly better than 28.8 kb/s, but just because it's better doesn't make it "Broad".
@AndrueC
Half a Meg is NOT broadband, its just an always-on, slightly-faster, modem (unless you're with TalkTalk in which case it's not even always-on). I challenge you to watch even a low-res YouTube clip on just half a Meg - I never managed it.
Broadband BEGINS at 2 Meg (and it always has). At that point, a single user (only) can probably use iPlayer in real-time, or watch a video clip on the BBC web-site without it stuttering too badly.
<Title>
Didn't the STASI do just this?
Has our government forgotten the consequences already?
I seem to recall it wasn't pretty.
Up To ???
So, what they're really saying is that Cardiff, and one or two Labour marginals, will be offered FTTP whilst most of the rest of the country might get FTTC. But no mention of the alluminised string used to connect the cabinet to the premesis over the final mile.
By the time they finish the roll-out (and with no competition from Fujitsu I doubt they'll worry about the 2015 deadline) I'm sure that FTTC will be as up-to-date as a bakelite telephone.
What they really mean ...
"On the contrary, he writes, Apple would like to see the existing EPEAT standards strengthened to include more of the environmental protection practices Cupertino uses in its manufacturing today..."
Namely, all the ones we have patents on.
RE: what else do you want - parallel printer ports?
Yes please. We still have software tied to non-upgradable parallel security keys. [No, USB adapters don't work.]
Re: Once they have this "think of the children" system in place...
"Think of all the other "stuff we don't like (TM)" that it can be applied to"
No need, I'm sure *they* already have a very long list...
Re: A Little Story, or Two. Or Three.
If I recall the "not the nine o'clock news" sketch correctly, you were supposed to phone the electricity company.
Posted in So, what IS the worst film ever made?
Eraserhead
Not that nine other people here are likely to have seen it.
I still don't know what it was about...
(Didn't he do something famous later on?)
Re: History almost repeating ...
I also had an early Britannica CD-ROM (late 1990's I think), I seem to recall it was so bad that it made Encarta (RIP) look good.
It was also chronically unstable (did it use Internet Explorer as its rendering engine?)
Mind you, the OED on CD looks little better, and is just as unupgradable. Erudition, it would appear, does not confer an ability in UI design, s/w design, or customer focus
.
Posted in Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet
USB 2.0
Is it my imagination, or is this actually the first tablet to offer a full USB 2.0 port?
[I exclude the Transformer as the USB is on the keyboard dock].
Does this mean I can finally load images, from my camera's CF cards (with suatable adapter), in the field?
Long Term Success
"Because nothing says long term business like a bricks and mortar electronics retailer?"
Depends whose success you're talking about.
I'm sure that there are many successful on-line retailers that depend on peoples' ability to inspect the goods in Comet/Currys prior to making an on-line purchase.
Or do you prefer to buy your TVs without ever seeing one (or a close equivalent)?
When I'm Sixty Four
>> Brilliant marketing point there: Windows Phone - for the old and half-blind!
Agreed, the problem is how to dress it up such that people can buy your products without being seen to admit that they're old-n-grey. This is Doro's problem.
Ever since the 2-line-LCD display became old-fashioned, I've failed to find an affordable phone I can read - they all have such noisy graphics as backgrounds (with no mechanism to change them).
> I vote for GrumpyOS, as the new name.
Sorry, Disney's already got that one: Snow White and the dance of the seven mobile phones.
Lighting
Could be time for a new ASA guidleline:
Shoot all "cosmetics" adverts under natural light.
Just find a studio with a big north-facing window - they do exist.
Compromises
If it's a phone, it has to be small enough go in your pocket (and be tough enough to be sat on).
If not, it might as well be big enough to show a sheet of A4 at life-size.
Anything in-between is just a trade-off between the two useful sizes.
That picture ...
... is one of the scariest I have seen in a long time.
Even a medieval Jesuit couldn't have done better.
Why wait 'til tomorrow?
I'd buy one this afternoon (providing they can somewhere close to Psion battery life).
Sheep ...
and cattle for that matter, are so closely regulated these days that the shepherd probably does know the stock-number of every single beast, to a level of precision only dreamed of by the Inland Revenue.
Cupertino only won by a nose ...
... but that is still a win, in this "winner takes all" battle. Christmas has gone up in smoke, so Samsung may as well pull out of Australia now.
I wonder if Apple will be increasing its prices in AU$ ????
Power of the Brand
This is, of course, the power of the "Brand".
Once a consumer decides that Apple (or Sony, or whoever) is a "Good Brand", they will stick by that Brand no matter how far behind the curve their products might be, simply because it comes from a "Good Brand".
The "Brand" is however a double edged weapon. Just as it creates loyalty, it can also create hatred.
Consumers may decide that Apple (or Sony, or whoever) is an "Evil Brand". It may take just one act of perceived evil, or an entire company culture, to acquire the "Evil" label, but consumers have long memories and will never buy from "Evil Brand" - no matter how far ahead of the field the products may be - they are still "Evil".
<Title>
'Ere, lay off my handle...
Posted in OED goes the way of all flesh paper
Never mind paper...
For the sake of posterity, the exisiting OED2 and any future OED3 need to be available hand-scribed onto the finest vellum in stout leather bindings.
Available evidence show that hese will still be readable in 1000 years, whilst any electronic means will be lucky to last 1000 weeks.
CTI not ICT
By the sounds of things, they should be calling it CTI (Corporate Tools Indoctrination).
Schools are supposed to churn out future employees who already know how to use the tools required by their future employers. It's not about understanding what's inside the box. Besides, taking the lid off to see what's inside is probably a violation of HSE guidelines.
Though, saying that, I know of one school that said "here's a pile of bits, see if you can put them together" - it generated some genuine enthusiasm.
Posted in Cowon iAudio J3 personal media player
How Much ???
£14.99 for a proprietary USB lead ????
Who do they think they are - an inkjet cartridge manufacturer?
Posted in BT signs first smart meter deal
Redcare Incompatibility
Last time I looked into Redcare (for burglar alarm monitoring) I was told you couldn't have it on an ADSL line. So perhaps to 10,000 users of which BT speak are those to whom they will never be offering a broadband service. The rest of us will no doubt be forced to do it some other way.
Personally I fear smart metering, as currently prososed for two reasons:
1) Richness of billling options as offered by mobile phone industry. i.e. You can never work out if you're on the best tariff.
2) Real time feedback. I don't want some lowlife in the control centre phoning his mates when the meter tells him there's no-one home. For that matter, would you want the 16Amp spike at 4pm alerting the aforementioned lowlife's paedo associate that you 14 year old daughter has just come home from scool and is now in the shower.
Conclusion: energy charges will rise, but you won't know why - and it's just another means of spying on you.
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Posted in Whatever happened to the email app?
Virtual Access
Still out there, still works, still being developed (courtesy of the "Virtual Access Foundation"), still safe from embedded nasties. It's even free.
Yes, I know the rest of you have never heard of it, but you have now.
Where can I buy a pitchfork ...
... in anticipation of the rollout of these "spies under the stairs" in the UK?
I for one do not welcome the capability for utility companies to monitor my usage on a minute by minute basis, no doubt cutting power whenever they deem it isn't expensive enough.
Posted in Merkel rips into Google Books
Relative Values
Is it just me, or is anyone else noticing the disparity between the perceived value of IP vested in a printed book (the future of our culture and civilization) and the value vested in a 3 minute pop song.
e.g. Google scans 10 million books and the alleged copyright owners settle for $125 million ($12.50 per title) which Google has probably already recouped. Jammie Thomas uploads 24 tunes and is fined over $9000 per tune (and the law allows for double that).
Divide $125 million by the number of alleged illegal file sharers in the world (over half a billion by UK government estimates) the per-capita lifetime licence for all film/music ever produced comes in at about 20cents. Count me in.
@Demolition of Democracy
"Let's suppose MPs do need to be vetted. What happens if an MP fails to pass the test?"
Nothing that shouldn't happen to anyone else - they just don't get to kiss babies or hold photoshoots outside the local school. I don't see that failing an eCRB bars you from acting as an MP - just from having contact with children. [Though I do like the idea of their criminal records being in the public domain].
All the other abuses of CRB checks need to be stamped out.
These CRBs were introduced to protect children and vulnerable adults and, frankly, that is ALL they should be used for. Full Stop.
Having said that, with any database you are going to need a test data set. I propose that for any government initiated database, the test data set be derived from serving MPs (especially ministers), life peers, senior civil servants and the families of the aforementioned. The test data will NOT be removed when the database goes live. By pre-loading the database with such people we might, possibly, ensure that the data is then protected adequately.
Posted in Femto cells with big ideas
Why ??
Industry Expert A : Connect a femto cell to your broadband because mobile coverage is crap.
Industry Expert B : Mobile will fill in the holes in broadband coverage.
Am I the only one who detects a contradiction in the above?
