Posts by George Madison 12 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Oct 2007
One of the reasons I don't use an iPod is because iTunes is such a vile piece of crap.
The others are that iPlods don't support Vorbis and FLAC, and don't have proper replaceable batteries. Only designs that are cheap and disposable can be excused for having a non-replaceable battery (the iPod Shuffle, for instance). In any other case, it's planned obsolescence to "encourage" people to buy another unit instead of simply replacing a worn-out battery.
The big reason for the resistance to Windows 98 was that it was the edition where M$ started actively cramming IE down people's throats by making the desktop render through the IE engine as a way to make IE a part of the OS rather than a standalone app.
Fortunately, I discovered 98Lite - a program that, with access to a W95 install CD would graft 95's purpose-built desktop code onto 98 - resulting in the combined advantages of 98SE's improved stability, vastly better USB connectivity - and 95's much faster desktop response.
I have to agree with what others have said - bandwidth shaping to control how much bittorrent traffic is going through is one thing; actively interfering with the protocol is QUITE a different thing. The first could get by as "reasonable network management," the latter can NOT.
I have to say that it looks like Comcast is in collusion with the RIAA/MPAA. I can't believe Comcast (and the Ass.'s) are unaware that many bittorrent tracker sites monitor user upload to download ratios. By blocking their users from uploading, it seems clear that Comcast is hoping to discourage bittorrent users by making it difficult to impossible for them to maintain an acceptable ratio on such sites. Sure, there are open trackers - but torrents are often better seeded and longer lived on the private trackers, for obvious reasons.
What the Trek franchise needs is some ONE at the helm who understands and loves it - and for more than the few minutes preceeding the press release announcing the hire.
Someone who can prove they've been a fan for at least 10 years or more would be a start.
Boutique directors who are going to try and turn Trek into something else are a terrible sign. Rehashing the past is foolish; it turns into an absolute nightmare of retconning and timeline management.
I suspect this film will wind up being hated even more than Star Trek Nemesis - and that's saying something.
I don't know about the legal situation elsewhere, but I do know that here in the USA, voiding a warranty for "usual and customary" upgrades - like memory, in a case like this with a standard module slot and a door designed to give access to it - is definitely illegal. I remember this being hashed out in the courts a while back.
For me, it's simple. I ride a motorcycle, and thus the SSD - vastly more vibration proof than any hard drive - makes perfect sense. But one of the major apps I want on my traveling companion is MS' _Streets & Trips_, and there is nothing remotely comparable available for Linux. From what I've seen, WINE is not an option, not least because (as one might expect of something like this from MS), S&T obtains road construction updates via Internet Exploiter.
For anyone who is tempted to suggest a "regular" laptop - obviously they've never packed a bike for a long trip. Space is at a premium, another point on which the EeePC excels.
An EeePC, a wee USB GPS module and S&T under (nLite-ed) XP - fantastic for what I want.
...how similar this "special" version of XP for this refurbishing program resembles "Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs."
When that was rolled out a while back, M$ said it was only for people in their "Software Assurance" program. I wonder if this is a way to get some return out of the work that went into creating it. I mean, all one has to do to make it look like another version of Windoze is to change the winbrand.dll file.
@Scott: The client-license issue is a big chunk of what got us an Apple XServe at my last job. No client licensing stupidity, better compatibility with the departments using Macs than "Services for Macintosh", and no downside for the PC users.
Obviously there are situations where OS X Server wouldn't be the top choice - but there are more of them than I think a lot of people realize.
The energy density of even liquid hydrogen (10.1 MJ/litre) is abysmal compared to ethanol (24 MJ/litre) or butanol (29.2 MJ/litre). For reference, gasoline produces 34.6 MJ/litre. Considering we're talking about compressed hydrogen, the energy density is even lower.
Furthermore, while ethanol and butanol are liquid at common temperatures and can be handled much as we do gasoline now, hydrogen gas requires a large expenditure of energy to compress it to even a semi-useful density, a fact often ignored by proponents of the idea. That's aside from the kind of tankage and pipework needed to contain it under high pressure.
I'd love to see a hard-nosed comparison of the energy costs for preparing various fuels from raw material to ready for use. It's an aspect of "alternative" fuels that's often glossed over at best.
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