Wow, they've got more in common with the US than they thought!
Perhaps their only education is a museum of creationism?
2226 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Jun 2007
Thanks, but you are kind of saying what I already understand -- that, either through API or compiler optimisations (or ASM or whatever), you are using a chip to carry out complex instructions geared to a particular purpose -- like "MMS" for multimedia (and SIMD and the like).
What I am asking is: Is the H.264 hardware so specific that it can only be used by calling an interrupt and feeding it the video, which it then has a hard-coded routine to deal with? Or, are there specific instructions baked into the hardware that are of a great deal of use when decoding H.264 but which could be used for other purposes in the same way that graphics cards and MMS instructions can be used for tasks they were not originally designed for?
In this article it is mentioned twice, once when it is suggested that Abode are working on "hardware accelerated" Flash and once when it is mentioned that hardware support for WebM is coming.
So, if hardware support needs to be built into phones (etc.) for WebM to be hardware accelerated, how come Adobe can work on Flash and make it hardware accelerated with no help from the chip designers?
I am lead to conclude that what is being said here is that nobody has yet optimised VP8 for hardware with video acceleration chips. Is this the case?
Or, as someone has asked before, to chip manufacturers really bake in support for the specific operations of H.264 such that no other CoDec can make use of them?
Is this just the US or will places with patent laws, rather than corporate-owed courts, have to waste their time with this bullshit?
Seriously, please, would the civilised world please stop giving a fuck about US patent law and just get on with things and laugh at the US.
Was Stalin Left or Right wing? What about Hitler.
It could be argued that both were left wing. Stalin saw to it that "millions of members of ethnic minorities were also deported." and Hitler wanted "... economic security, social welfare programs for workers, a just wage, honour for workers' importance to the nation, and protection from capitalist exploitation.".
I've come to the conclusion that both "Left" and "Right" are just labels used to criticise without actual criticism. Call someone "Far Right" and people think Hitler and call them "Far Left" and they think you're calling them a "Commie" or a "Liberal" depending on the company you're in.
Added to that the slight changes in nuance depending on which wide of the Atlantic you're on and the terms loose all meaning.
These people are "Nationalist" or, if you want to be sensationalist they're "Racist" -- it seems that the religion thing is just an excuse to cause some bother though so, perhaps, they're just ignorant thugs?
Why the fuck* did they have to do that? The simplest answer to his question of "What does that word mean mommy?" would have been "It's a naughty word, so it shouldn't really be there. Let's see what the next word is.". It might not be ideal for a kid to know the word but he'll learn far worse and words don't actually cause harm.
*I don't have to swear but am given to understand that it is so shocking children have to be removed from rooms when it occurs so it must be big, hard and clever.
I realise that the majority of the population of the US are probably pretty rational and not all that puritanical -- but the country as a whole is full of this kind of law and they had to come from somewhere. The comparison with Afghanistan was a little much, but it wouldn't surprise me if, for example, China feels a little freer to the man in the street where the law isn't always applied than to others who fall foul of it or to people who just read about the laws. It is US government policy to invade other countries over a perceived lack of freedom in that country (or, at least, that is the reason given) but when it comes to lack of freedom in the US they don't care a jot.
As an aside, because I always end up defending the right to some kind of sexual freedom: little laws like this do matter and are a problem in many ways because they can be and are enforced in a lax manner -- they can be applied when no other law is broken, but the officer involved takes offence, for example. They also say a lot about a justice system where the morals of a minority are enforced upon the majority even though no harm is involved.
The fountain lady didn't die though. I'd liken it to the death penalty debate: should paying far too much attention to your phone result in ridicule or death as a penalty?
He should not have been so taken up in his texting that he didn't see the fall -- but human eyes aren't any good at distance vision outside the area they are focused on, and I don't think it is too much to expect a publicly-accesible building to have a barrier on the roof capable of stopping someone walking off.
Exactly.
By buying something that is locked down you are condoning the practice and encouraging it to go further. If you buy a PS3 now you are acknowledging that it is OK for Sony to take away functionality from you after your purchase. If you "buy" an iPhone you are asserting that it is fine for Apple to telll you what you can and cannot install on the phone you are leasing and that all your book purchases should be through Apple with a 30% cut.
If nobody bought these things then the practices would stop. If you're ignorant of the issues then you may have some excuse but if you're savvy enough to jailbreak then you're savvy enough to know you're complicit in the corporations' actions.
If I buy a case of AK47s, melt them down, and turn them into prams for an orphanage I'm still supporting the arms industry*...
*extreme example I know, but it was the simplest that came to mind
OK, stop it right now!
Just because some dipshit middle-manager saw a picture of a cloud in the visio drawing does not mean that everything on the internet is "in the cloud".
This just means that some fairly high power servers are going to be playing games and streaming pictures to customers.
"Cloud" my arse.
Next you'll be telling me I'm a Scottish journalist who had a run in with an old friend who went on a murderous rampage (I'm not the one on facebook now).
I do have to agree with a poster above: don't use facebook for [partially]*anonymous communication because it isn't.
*If you don't use an unsecured WiFi network with a MAC address nobody knows, or can find out, you own you're not doing it anonymously even if you don't ever give your name.
So why would another council be worried? If another council fucks up they get their budget cut and spend less on steetlighting, or doing up the local community centre or whatever. Then the residents get pissed off and... what exactly? Move? Since you are forced to pay council tax to the council where you live (which does make sense, I'll admit) there is nothing you can do.
Even if you vote out one mayor, for example, the next will inherit the same pricks that lost the data for the last one.
Someone should be sacked and/or jailed over this. The fine is adding insult to injury and amounts to the ICO stealing from taxpayers in those districts.
This would have worked out better for those hit had the ICO not been involved. Perhaps someone from the ICO could explain why they are stealing tax payers money and where it is going?
OK, so there are a lot more people using smart phones for twitter and facebook. But there are many, I'm sure, who don't use them for anything but texts and calls but have bought them because they were cheap or free and looked "cool".
Oh, and as far as replacing PCs goes I agree with the above comments that a phone cannot replace a PC any more than it can replace an AGA -- which I am sure they are outselling also.
I used to be able to do that. When looking out of the window, if I saw a light in the sky moving towards my position it meant the imminent arrival of a bunch of scrotes in a nicked car followed, a few hours later, by a van full of plod.
In April last year the lack of the faster-moving lights in the sky meant was an omen of great trouble and confusion.
I have, amongst others, a PDF copy of "The Art Of Assembler" and .txt files of a good percentage of the works of Sir ArthuR Conan Doyle. They cost me nothing.
I am told it's possible to back up Amazon ebooks too, using third-party software. If that's the case the only issue with ebooks is that, over here, uk.gov demand 20% because they're more luxurious than a real book.
I thought that grenades were designed to be safe to throw around (well, perhaps gingerly) until the pin was removed? SO, surely, in this case all they had to do was cart them away?
OK, so I don't know what I'm talking about and I realise very old explosives are unpredictable but it still seems a weird thing to do to "send in the robot" when obviously these grenades had been moved by people recently without going off. In fact, had the pins been loose one of those grenades could quite easily have been set off by the "robot" couldn't it? Whereas a person could check and say "oh shit the pin is loose".
What am I missing experts?
As a single person I do not use broadcast TV at all -- preferring DVDs and online sources to watch what I want when I want. Even with friends, or whatever, bunging on a few episodes of a comedy or watching a DVD is preferable to live telly because adverts are annoying and programmes can't be resumed another day.
However, I hadn't considered that there might be situations, such as just wanting to shut the kids up or view as a family, where a schedule could help -- not only by removing the need to choose while busy or stressed but also by meaning that the only dispute is which channel not which one of thousands of programmes. For such a simple study it seems to tell quite a bit about family life in the US.
That said, I can't help thinking that effective parenting would allow a parent to schedule a couple of episodes of Postman Pat, In The Night Garden, or whatever every day when they wanted peace for a while after dinner.
Ms Bee was right -- I could have said "fucktards", "arsewipes", "shit-for-brains" or anything else. Having had the potentially homophobic nature of the statement pointed out, however, I think that calling people who hate homosexuals "cockmunchers" may be a good idea anyhow -- after all people who actually do like gay sex are hardly going to be offended by being called "cockmunchers" but, on the other hand, people who get all their ideas and thoughts spoon-fed by bigots would be insulted. Win-win I say.
I refuse to call these imbeciles "terrorists" because I find them to be objects of ridicule rather than fear.
I am fully aware that, in some ways, Islam has been at war with "the west" since the day the religion started.
However, I postulate that the cockmunchers who targeted New York and London were motivated by more than just some old fool with an evil mind and a copy of the Qur'an. Or have there been Islamic terror attacks in "The West" before which have gone latgely unreported(genuine question, my initial post was more a counterpoint to the one I was replying to)?
I can play that game too:
The "911" attacks were due to the gulf war as well as America's continual interference in areas such as Afghanistan.
I may be wrong but I think it would be harder for young British men and women could be radicalised to the extent that they were willing to become a suicide bomber if the motivation was "Muslim lives are being lost because the UK won't help." rather than "Muslim lives are being taken by the UK every day.". Granted, there are likely to be dipshits who want to kill themselves for raisins either way -- but I can't see not acting being considered worse than acting. Heck, the UK could even condemn the illegal Oil wars -- that may get them some points.
So, they're good because they allow you to install another OS _or_ use the console for playing games? Are they really good because they did allow you to do both but now they don't?
Or are they good because it wasn't them but a court which seized Mr. Hotz's computers, as well as his PS3, because he worked out how to run unsigned code.
Defend Sony all you want, I'm sure they are only protecting their business interests, but for fuck's sake don't pretend they're allowing you freedom when using their product.
Seems that their time would be better spent helping with Linux or *BSD, or whatever -- rather than just trying to get Sony to sue them but, in the mean time, actually helping Sony to sell consoles.s
Sony told the world that you do not own your console, you rent it. After that nobody should be helping them at all.
"In fact, if someone has gone to the trouble of putting it into advertising material and printing it on glossy paper in four-colour separations, then the odds are they are deliberately trying to mislead you or distract you from something."
This, I think, is a very important thing to remember.
Almost all advertising is designed to coerce you into buying something you do not either want or need. Most advertising should be viewed as deceit -- since it is, effectively, the nearest that the company producing it can get to out lies without being censured.
Never, ever, ever, believe anything that anyone trying to sell you something says if you are not able to interrogate* them and see proof.
If you have children drill it into them that adverts are lies (for a "fun" example of how -- try showing them the pictures and adverts for Sea Monkeys, then buy them some) I am sure other people have their examples too.
*politely, of course
So, what is "... the international phone and data system ..."? Does it just include the bits hardwired together, or bits that are in communication, or bits that are usually in communication? Does Egypt's telecoms structure count? Do the various probes out there in the Solar System?
You may have a point but I think what you describe is a network of interconnected machines.
Yup, I do.
Same way I assume it's Paris, Texas (etc.) if I don't see "Paris, France". You can't have it both ways. I'm quite happy to allow that people in the US need it spelling out that events are happening outside the US, but they should extend the same courtesy to us rest-of-the-worldians.
You don't have to be a techie to know not to give money to a stranger. I know of computer-illiterate people in their 60s who would know this for the scam it is.
That said, I have some modicum of sympathy for her if her kids have left home or live with their dad. If it's the roof over their heads she's lost then she's worse than the scammer -- you do not sell your kids out for anything ever.
@ JC 2: So, you suggest that the guy should have left his country of birth so that he could have sex and film it? An uncivilised law is an uncivilised law whether it's this guy being sent to prison for recording his sex session or a guy being prosecuted for having a joke video involving a tiger having sex.
@ Hans 1: I think that may have been the OPs point -- rather like the US having to sort out barbaric dictators they used to "own" in times gone by, or hte UK trying to sort out its old colonies.
Which OSs are supported -- any chance of booting into Ubuntu or something and seeing what works and what doesn't, for example?
If you hold a key down in an FPS, for example, do they "get stuck" and need tapping again to turn them off? I've used a few wireless keyboards and they've all done that, but that was years ago and I'd like to know if they have moved on. I realise "serious gamers" probably won't touch wireless keyboards but it would be nice to know if they work OK.
There's a reason that nobody from Facebook checks on these things -- that would cost money.
The whole point of Facebook is to keep advertising revenue above hosting costs while the "users" behave as unpaid content creators. Well, that and massaging the Arsehole Zuckerberg's ego.
I think the trend may be there anyhow. A man thinking about his partner having sex with with another man would, I think, feel more disgust than if she did so with another woman. Also, from an evolutionary point of view, she's got 0 chance of having another man's child and so isn't tainted (for want of a better word) in the same way.
I agree a little in that I think the results may be less clear cut. It also says "cheated on" rather than "had an affair" and I suspect that there would be a difference between one night stand and an affair.