SactoGuy18
Mar 14, 07:47 AM
My opinion: it's time to end the age of light-water cooled pressurized uranium-fueled reactors. There's so many drawbacks to this design it's not funny.
Meanwhile, the new liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is a vastly superior design that offers these advantages:
1) It uses thorium 232, which is 200 times more abundant than fuel-quality uranium.
2) The thorium fuel doesn't need to be made into fuel pellets like you need with uranium-235, substantially cutting the cost of fuel production.
3) The design of LFTR makes it effectively meltdown proof.
4) LFTR reactors don't need big cooling towers or access to a large body of water like uranium-fueled reactors do, substantially cutting construction costs.
5) You can use spent uranium fuel rods as part of the fuel for an LFTR.
6) The radioactive waste from an LFTR generated is a tiny fraction of what you get from a uranium reactor and the half-life of the waste is only a couple of hundred years, not tens of thousands of years. This means waste disposal costs will be a tiny fraction of disposing waste from a uranium reactor (just dump it into a disused salt mine).
So what are we waiting for?
Meanwhile, the new liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is a vastly superior design that offers these advantages:
1) It uses thorium 232, which is 200 times more abundant than fuel-quality uranium.
2) The thorium fuel doesn't need to be made into fuel pellets like you need with uranium-235, substantially cutting the cost of fuel production.
3) The design of LFTR makes it effectively meltdown proof.
4) LFTR reactors don't need big cooling towers or access to a large body of water like uranium-fueled reactors do, substantially cutting construction costs.
5) You can use spent uranium fuel rods as part of the fuel for an LFTR.
6) The radioactive waste from an LFTR generated is a tiny fraction of what you get from a uranium reactor and the half-life of the waste is only a couple of hundred years, not tens of thousands of years. This means waste disposal costs will be a tiny fraction of disposing waste from a uranium reactor (just dump it into a disused salt mine).
So what are we waiting for?
whatever
Oct 25, 10:44 PM
I just got my mac pro a month and a half ago.
Don't worry about it.
There is no reason for Apple to change the MacPro line at this point. Maybe in January, but even then I doubt it.
Intel is just trying to bury AMD, which they are (AMD closed at $20.83 (just think a few months ago they were trading over $40.00) and Intel closed at $21.72 (a few months ago they were trading at $16.00)).
Apple said it last week, Pros are waiting for CS3 before they upgrade, so expect to hear the announcement of upgraded Mac Pros once Adobe finishes up their applications.
Besides wasn't there a thread a few weeks back which stated that the 8 Core machines run slower than the Quads?
Don't worry about it. I know that my new MacPro has already paid for itself.
Don't worry about it.
There is no reason for Apple to change the MacPro line at this point. Maybe in January, but even then I doubt it.
Intel is just trying to bury AMD, which they are (AMD closed at $20.83 (just think a few months ago they were trading over $40.00) and Intel closed at $21.72 (a few months ago they were trading at $16.00)).
Apple said it last week, Pros are waiting for CS3 before they upgrade, so expect to hear the announcement of upgraded Mac Pros once Adobe finishes up their applications.
Besides wasn't there a thread a few weeks back which stated that the 8 Core machines run slower than the Quads?
Don't worry about it. I know that my new MacPro has already paid for itself.
Liquorpuki
Mar 14, 08:27 PM
I think part of the problem may have to do with the fact that the plants are designed by engineers. Engineers' focus is elegance: accomplishing the most in the most minimalist way. Nuclear power plants need much less minimalism and elegance than just about anything else humans can make, but costs and other limitations tend to guide the design toward what engineers are best at. Redundancy and over-building are desirable, I believe we end up with too much elegance instead.
No it's not. That would be architects, and only some of them. And maybe Steve Jobs, if you wanted to call him an engineer.
Engineering - everything is quantified down to tedium. Every single variable in a design has a reason for being a specific value.
I also have to ask, if not engineers, who would you rather have design an ECCS for a nuclear power plant? Who else would be qualified to design such a thing?
No it's not. That would be architects, and only some of them. And maybe Steve Jobs, if you wanted to call him an engineer.
Engineering - everything is quantified down to tedium. Every single variable in a design has a reason for being a specific value.
I also have to ask, if not engineers, who would you rather have design an ECCS for a nuclear power plant? Who else would be qualified to design such a thing?
mixel
Apr 10, 06:35 AM
Lets be honest, APPLE will never buy Nintendo or Sony. Apple will make them inferior and insignificant. Apple will not create the same games but rather will change gaming. Apple will probably make gaming more interactive and more inclusive.
Make gaming more interactive and inclusive? What?
Sofar Apple have shown no signs of making Nintendo or Sony inferior or insignificant. If they "change gaming" in a linear progression from how they've been doing it so far it would be a MASSIVE regression for gaming. I would not be welcoming them as gaming overlords.
I would say the odds are greater that Sony will buy Nintendo in a desperation move to remain relevant or Sony will get bought out by Microsoft after Apple starts creating televisions. Mark my words, Apple will never buy a bloated and inferior company. To truly believe that makes you a moron.
Agreed, but one could say the same about most of the things you wrote in your post. Sony buy Nintendo? Ummmm.. Sony and Nintendo are pretty relevant outside of blindfolded Mac fan circles.
Make gaming more interactive and inclusive? What?
Sofar Apple have shown no signs of making Nintendo or Sony inferior or insignificant. If they "change gaming" in a linear progression from how they've been doing it so far it would be a MASSIVE regression for gaming. I would not be welcoming them as gaming overlords.
I would say the odds are greater that Sony will buy Nintendo in a desperation move to remain relevant or Sony will get bought out by Microsoft after Apple starts creating televisions. Mark my words, Apple will never buy a bloated and inferior company. To truly believe that makes you a moron.
Agreed, but one could say the same about most of the things you wrote in your post. Sony buy Nintendo? Ummmm.. Sony and Nintendo are pretty relevant outside of blindfolded Mac fan circles.
edifyingGerbil
Apr 24, 05:18 PM
don't thank me, thank ct2k7 for saying just why islam is a threat to democracy.
So, follow the local law unless a sane muslim man commits apostasy (then sentence him to death as under sharia law).
follow local law unless someone insults the name of muhammad or who is critical of islam.
you say it only applies to muslims yet the victims in blasphemy cases in pakistan, for example, are mostly christians.
I do understand that correlation doesn't equal causation. However, Morocco is thousands of miles away from Pakistan yet both condone honour killing, do you understand the significance of that?
My view may not be shared by ~1.5 billion muslims but it is shared by the many millions of muslims (ten million in africa by some estimates) who leave islam despite the death penalty levelled against them for apostasy.
Lauren Booth isn't a very good advocate to endorse anything, except perhaps anti-psychotic medication.
Lots of intellectuals supported the Nazi party yet many would be hard pressed to not call the Nazi party evil. the Qur'an and Mein Kampf are very similar. Both are chauvinistic, misogynistic and supremacist. Who wouldn't want to join a group that told you you can do whatever you want to your wife/children and that you're "the best of people" and going to heaven for emulating a degenerate warlord from the 7th century, and that all other people who disagree with you are wrong wrong wrong?
The "war" against islam that you speak of is being encouraged by imams, and at saudi funded madrassas in the UK and beyond.
in the US more hate crimes were perpetrated against jews in 2010 than any other group. hate crimes against muslims had gone down in 2010. so, i guess the islamophobia is really poisonous and rampant...
interestingly, as the muslim population increases so too do reported cases of anti-semitic hate crimes.
So, follow the local law unless a sane muslim man commits apostasy (then sentence him to death as under sharia law).
follow local law unless someone insults the name of muhammad or who is critical of islam.
you say it only applies to muslims yet the victims in blasphemy cases in pakistan, for example, are mostly christians.
I do understand that correlation doesn't equal causation. However, Morocco is thousands of miles away from Pakistan yet both condone honour killing, do you understand the significance of that?
My view may not be shared by ~1.5 billion muslims but it is shared by the many millions of muslims (ten million in africa by some estimates) who leave islam despite the death penalty levelled against them for apostasy.
Lauren Booth isn't a very good advocate to endorse anything, except perhaps anti-psychotic medication.
Lots of intellectuals supported the Nazi party yet many would be hard pressed to not call the Nazi party evil. the Qur'an and Mein Kampf are very similar. Both are chauvinistic, misogynistic and supremacist. Who wouldn't want to join a group that told you you can do whatever you want to your wife/children and that you're "the best of people" and going to heaven for emulating a degenerate warlord from the 7th century, and that all other people who disagree with you are wrong wrong wrong?
The "war" against islam that you speak of is being encouraged by imams, and at saudi funded madrassas in the UK and beyond.
in the US more hate crimes were perpetrated against jews in 2010 than any other group. hate crimes against muslims had gone down in 2010. so, i guess the islamophobia is really poisonous and rampant...
interestingly, as the muslim population increases so too do reported cases of anti-semitic hate crimes.
ATD
Nov 2, 01:25 AM
How well does Maya scale when you use 2, 4, and 6 threads?
I'm not sure how the app (Maya) itself scales but the rendering in Mental Ray scales perfectly. 4 cpus render twice as fast as 2, 6 cpus render 3 times as fast as 2. That's if all the cpus are the same of course.
Is that what you were asking?
I'm not sure how the app (Maya) itself scales but the rendering in Mental Ray scales perfectly. 4 cpus render twice as fast as 2, 6 cpus render 3 times as fast as 2. That's if all the cpus are the same of course.
Is that what you were asking?
tempusfugit
Jun 18, 01:33 AM
My husband has been an AT&T user for over a decade. He never experienced dropped calls until we started dating and he was talking to me (I'm on an iPhone, he is not). We often get disconnected 2-4 times per hour as we talk during our commutes home. We have different shifts, but take the same routes home and we get dropped no matter whether I'm stationary and he's moving, vice versa, or if we're both moving. This also happens when we're on business trips - both stationary - him at home, me in a hotel - and we will get disconnected. The recurring motif has been the iPhone. When I talk with others who have AT&T but no iPhone, they only get disconnected when they are talking w/ someone who has an iPhone. The worst issue is when I am communicating w/ someone iPhone to iPhone.
IF this wasn't the iPhone and otherwise so awesome, I would have switched a long time ago... and frankly, I'm still contemplating going to another phone when my contract is up - because the dropped calls are so aggravating.
Coworkers of mine that have switched from Blackberry on AT&T to iPhone have reported an inordinant number of disconnected calls since switching to the iPhone, even though it's the same carrier, same phone number and same physical location of use.
My "assumption" is that the iPhone software is making some errant call to the tower intermittently (whether too high/low power request or other issue) at which point, the tower drops the call.
While my experience with disconnects are sometimes random, there are some places that either I or my husband will be travelling by, when we will experience a disconnect - a place where he never gets disconnected while speaking to others w/o iPhones... places I never got disconnected before having an iPhone, either.
This may not be just an AT&T issue. It could be when you are a certain distance from a tower (lower power or significantly higher power?) and/or the phone is experiencing a push of data, that the interrupt happens.
This has largely been the elephant in the living room that AT&T and Apple has been ignoring. I have not only not seen an improvement, I've seen the situation get worse over time - whether this has to do w/ an increase of iPhone use faster than the towers can keep up, OR problems w/ iPhone OS updates or a combination of both - who knows. They need to fix this already.
people like you make me sick. stop talking on your ****ing phone so much while driving and you wouldn't have nearly as much to complain about. not to mention you'd be doing everyone around you a favor.
IF this wasn't the iPhone and otherwise so awesome, I would have switched a long time ago... and frankly, I'm still contemplating going to another phone when my contract is up - because the dropped calls are so aggravating.
Coworkers of mine that have switched from Blackberry on AT&T to iPhone have reported an inordinant number of disconnected calls since switching to the iPhone, even though it's the same carrier, same phone number and same physical location of use.
My "assumption" is that the iPhone software is making some errant call to the tower intermittently (whether too high/low power request or other issue) at which point, the tower drops the call.
While my experience with disconnects are sometimes random, there are some places that either I or my husband will be travelling by, when we will experience a disconnect - a place where he never gets disconnected while speaking to others w/o iPhones... places I never got disconnected before having an iPhone, either.
This may not be just an AT&T issue. It could be when you are a certain distance from a tower (lower power or significantly higher power?) and/or the phone is experiencing a push of data, that the interrupt happens.
This has largely been the elephant in the living room that AT&T and Apple has been ignoring. I have not only not seen an improvement, I've seen the situation get worse over time - whether this has to do w/ an increase of iPhone use faster than the towers can keep up, OR problems w/ iPhone OS updates or a combination of both - who knows. They need to fix this already.
people like you make me sick. stop talking on your ****ing phone so much while driving and you wouldn't have nearly as much to complain about. not to mention you'd be doing everyone around you a favor.
iJohnHenry
Mar 13, 11:34 AM
I am inland of two, on the shores of Lake Ontario, one East one West, both at ~20 miles.
BUT, the prevailing wind is from the North-West, so Rochester, Northern New York will probably get the fallout.
Candu reactors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANDU_reactor) are reasonably safe.
BUT, the prevailing wind is from the North-West, so Rochester, Northern New York will probably get the fallout.
Candu reactors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANDU_reactor) are reasonably safe.
Multimedia
Sep 26, 06:09 PM
And the wait for 8 Core Mac Pros and Merom MacBook Pros/MaBook is on. Waiting for speed bumps means no one buys a dang thing.It's also not just speed bumps. I want a MBP redesign that includes a better cooling system and an easy access HD Bay like in the MB. Lots of good reasons to be waiting. It's the IN thing to do right now. We're the IN Crowd. :Dat least the educated do not.... Well... it's amazing that now every dual core computer is obsolete, and every single core computer is like an Apple II compared to this.Yes but that 2.7GHz DP G5 of yours is a keeper. The fastest last classic G5 DP on the planet. Kudos to you for hanging on to it. If I were you I would NEVER sell it. Should become a family heirloom. Wish I had one.
Freshfishing
May 5, 10:17 PM
At least 50% of my calls are dropped on ATT iPhones in MN. I probably know 50+ people in the area who have iPhones and everyone has the same level of issues. We are all getting really good at texting!
damnyooneek
Mar 18, 04:26 AM
stop gouging the customer. first we pay for 'unlimited' data thats capped at 5gb then they limit it to 2gb and force you to pay more to tether.
NathanMuir
Mar 25, 12:32 PM
You misspeak and mischaracterize.
This is a thread on the Vatican correct? So far as I know, the Vatican is the leadership hierarchy for the Catholic Church. Please correct me if that's not right.
A conservative member of this board has already narrowed the discussion from "hate" to "specific acts of violence linked diretly to the catholic church". A distinction that gives a massive amount of "stretch" and eliminates things like a Roman Catholic pastor in Texas comparing homosexuals to rapists or Mexican catholic priests fomenting hate in the wake of a same-sex marriage bill. And yet we are working within his narrowed definition.
I can't and don't speak for that member. I've already presented my views on why I think that speech is different from physical acts.
This is a thread on the Vatican correct? So far as I know, the Vatican is the leadership hierarchy for the Catholic Church. Please correct me if that's not right.
A conservative member of this board has already narrowed the discussion from "hate" to "specific acts of violence linked diretly to the catholic church". A distinction that gives a massive amount of "stretch" and eliminates things like a Roman Catholic pastor in Texas comparing homosexuals to rapists or Mexican catholic priests fomenting hate in the wake of a same-sex marriage bill. And yet we are working within his narrowed definition.
I can't and don't speak for that member. I've already presented my views on why I think that speech is different from physical acts.
carlgo
May 9, 12:31 PM
There is only one rational, consumer-friendly way to deal with this: allow carriers of our choice and offer plans that reflect the amount of use.
Right now it is like if you buy a BMW you can only use Shell gas and have to sign a contract to buy 200 gallons a month even even if you don't drive much. And, you have to pay for 200 gallons even if you do want to drive a lot, but the gas isn't even available!
Of course, you should have known that there are no Shell stations nearby and that others are driving around in perfectly good Fords and Kias that can fuel up at any of the other gas stations in town.
Maybe you really did believe the Shell employees who said a new station would be up soon. Of course, you do know that they might be tempted to sign you up to a contract that forced you to buy gas that wasn't actually available? Sort of a double-dip, eh?
And, maybe you didn't realize that many of the Shell stations that are open, in neighboring towns, only have one pump and that there are long lines of people waiting to fuel up their BMWs.
Shell says that they will build more stations, but mostly they just put new logos on the existing pumps and advertise more. Turns out that more pumps cost money and are opposed by many residents.
So, Shell simply charges more for the existing gas! And, they sell apps and BMWs and gas cards in the convenience store. Now they make so much money from all this that they actually give a large percentage back to BMW!
BMW is able to sell their cars for half the price because of this subsidy. Selling a very desirable and expensive car cheap and locking customers into a kick-back exclusive arrangement to regain the profit margin is genius. And, Shell can charge enough to cover the kickback and still make a huge profit. Pure genius.
The head of BMW, the improbably-named Herr Jobs is renowned all over the world for pulling off this marketing arrangement and greatly enriching both BMW and Shell. This business model will be studied for a hundred years.
In fact, it is so successful that other gas companies want to sell gas for BMWs as well. The problem is that it would cost a fortune to change their gas formulation to work in BMWs and they want BMW to instead change the fuel system to work with their gas.
Herr Jobs sees no reason to change the arrangement with Shell because he gets the financial breakdown every day and he first looks at the column showing the take from Shell.
As a kid, Herr Jobs loved Scrooge McDuck and hoped someday he would be diving into huge piles of money in the basement of his lavish new McMansion. Now he can do that!
It will all end. In time we will be able to buy the gas of our choice, from stations that are open in our area and which have fast, friendly service. We will actually be able to buy just the gas we need.
It is just hoped that this change will happen sooner than later because we consumers will certainly be better off when it does. Don't worry about Scrooge McDuck. He is a resilient old duck who will do quite fine and will remain the Head Duck on the pond as long as he wants.
Right now it is like if you buy a BMW you can only use Shell gas and have to sign a contract to buy 200 gallons a month even even if you don't drive much. And, you have to pay for 200 gallons even if you do want to drive a lot, but the gas isn't even available!
Of course, you should have known that there are no Shell stations nearby and that others are driving around in perfectly good Fords and Kias that can fuel up at any of the other gas stations in town.
Maybe you really did believe the Shell employees who said a new station would be up soon. Of course, you do know that they might be tempted to sign you up to a contract that forced you to buy gas that wasn't actually available? Sort of a double-dip, eh?
And, maybe you didn't realize that many of the Shell stations that are open, in neighboring towns, only have one pump and that there are long lines of people waiting to fuel up their BMWs.
Shell says that they will build more stations, but mostly they just put new logos on the existing pumps and advertise more. Turns out that more pumps cost money and are opposed by many residents.
So, Shell simply charges more for the existing gas! And, they sell apps and BMWs and gas cards in the convenience store. Now they make so much money from all this that they actually give a large percentage back to BMW!
BMW is able to sell their cars for half the price because of this subsidy. Selling a very desirable and expensive car cheap and locking customers into a kick-back exclusive arrangement to regain the profit margin is genius. And, Shell can charge enough to cover the kickback and still make a huge profit. Pure genius.
The head of BMW, the improbably-named Herr Jobs is renowned all over the world for pulling off this marketing arrangement and greatly enriching both BMW and Shell. This business model will be studied for a hundred years.
In fact, it is so successful that other gas companies want to sell gas for BMWs as well. The problem is that it would cost a fortune to change their gas formulation to work in BMWs and they want BMW to instead change the fuel system to work with their gas.
Herr Jobs sees no reason to change the arrangement with Shell because he gets the financial breakdown every day and he first looks at the column showing the take from Shell.
As a kid, Herr Jobs loved Scrooge McDuck and hoped someday he would be diving into huge piles of money in the basement of his lavish new McMansion. Now he can do that!
It will all end. In time we will be able to buy the gas of our choice, from stations that are open in our area and which have fast, friendly service. We will actually be able to buy just the gas we need.
It is just hoped that this change will happen sooner than later because we consumers will certainly be better off when it does. Don't worry about Scrooge McDuck. He is a resilient old duck who will do quite fine and will remain the Head Duck on the pond as long as he wants.
Rodimus Prime
Apr 15, 10:02 AM
I don't agree. If those groups got organized, their message would eventually get picked up my the media. It's not like LGBT groups were started last weekend and, bam, the media picked up on it. It took decades for them to get to this point of media attention.
And I agree with Heilage: the message from the video doesn't only apply to LGBT folk.
Problem you run into is those other groups are not targeted for endless bully as a group. Take a fat kid. A fat kid being bullied is going be hit or miss. I can not promise you that the fact kid will be bullies but I can promise you a LGBT is going to be bullied. On top of that the public at large does not target fat people for being harrassed but they do target the LGBT. Hence no real way for a small group to orginzed or the groups originations to get the message out.
My fear and hell already seeing it happening is bulling in it self is not being targeted to try to shut down and protect kids from it but instead you are finding them focusing really hard on protecting LGBT from harrassement in both legal terms and school rules. Never minding the others who get targeted. If you are not being pick on for LGBT reasons the school policies do not offer you much protection. That is the reality.
I have a problem with bulling in general as I was pushed to my limits growing up. I fear that it will get viewed as a LGBT issue only and as such only try to be stop from that angle and that can not be allowed to happen.
Now I will agree LGBT kids have some other larger mental problems they will be suffering with as they will be struggling comes to terms with them being LGBT and chances are a lot higher they will not have support at home on top of being pick on at school so it is a lot of extra crap to be pilled on top of the bulling itself.
And I agree with Heilage: the message from the video doesn't only apply to LGBT folk.
Problem you run into is those other groups are not targeted for endless bully as a group. Take a fat kid. A fat kid being bullied is going be hit or miss. I can not promise you that the fact kid will be bullies but I can promise you a LGBT is going to be bullied. On top of that the public at large does not target fat people for being harrassed but they do target the LGBT. Hence no real way for a small group to orginzed or the groups originations to get the message out.
My fear and hell already seeing it happening is bulling in it self is not being targeted to try to shut down and protect kids from it but instead you are finding them focusing really hard on protecting LGBT from harrassement in both legal terms and school rules. Never minding the others who get targeted. If you are not being pick on for LGBT reasons the school policies do not offer you much protection. That is the reality.
I have a problem with bulling in general as I was pushed to my limits growing up. I fear that it will get viewed as a LGBT issue only and as such only try to be stop from that angle and that can not be allowed to happen.
Now I will agree LGBT kids have some other larger mental problems they will be suffering with as they will be struggling comes to terms with them being LGBT and chances are a lot higher they will not have support at home on top of being pick on at school so it is a lot of extra crap to be pilled on top of the bulling itself.
macridah
Oct 25, 10:33 PM
I just got my mac pro a month and a half ago.
leekohler
Apr 15, 12:16 PM
Did you maybe mean celibacy? I'm sorry that this confusion has happened to you. I know, there are lots of words in the English language and it's really hard to keep track of them all.
I suggest a dictionary. There are many on the web, even.
Post reported. If you can't see fit to post without insulting the intelligence of other members, then maybe you should not post. Everyone makes mistakes. If you can't accept that others make them and address it in a civil manner, maybe you should sit back and chill for a minute.
I suggest a dictionary. There are many on the web, even.
Post reported. If you can't see fit to post without insulting the intelligence of other members, then maybe you should not post. Everyone makes mistakes. If you can't accept that others make them and address it in a civil manner, maybe you should sit back and chill for a minute.
Macinposh
Oct 26, 04:36 AM
No Way -- We had activity monitor open -- Photoshop used an average of 72% off ALL FOUR PROCESSORS.
Wow. You must be using some uber version of PS.
I havent managed to break 110% whatever I am doing with my MP.
You have the CS 3 or 4?
We did use safari at the same time to download a template for the art book (250 MG) and we had a DVD ripping via Mac the Ripper as well.
Ooooh..
Have you tought that that might be the reason for the high cpu usage? Eh? By any coincidence?
Wow. You must be using some uber version of PS.
I havent managed to break 110% whatever I am doing with my MP.
You have the CS 3 or 4?
We did use safari at the same time to download a template for the art book (250 MG) and we had a DVD ripping via Mac the Ripper as well.
Ooooh..
Have you tought that that might be the reason for the high cpu usage? Eh? By any coincidence?
somemacuser
Apr 5, 11:04 PM
Was a MSFT user since DOS. Switched about 2.5 years ago. I'd concur with the few gripes already listed in here that are a bit of a change for windows users - my favorites (quitting applications isnt alt-f4 anymore, cmd-tab doesnt cycle windows, not being able to launch multiple occurrences of an application, giving up the ability to repair my imac myself, and the lack of a PC-like "delete" key instead of the backspace delete that's on the wireless keyboard - WTF!).
However, for the few things that were a change for me, I discover new stuff seemingly every week that makes me smile at the thoughtfulness that has been put into the Mac/OSX. Hard to list them all, but the sum of them makes the whole experience SO well done. A few weeks after getting the Mac I was ticked I waited so long to cut over. It was a non issue. I didnt make the leap until I was satisfied parallels would still be a viable option to run XP. It works great, but I never use it other than to show people a mac can run windows. :) OSX is so stable, smooth (scrolling, transitions, etc.), beautiful hardware, and elegant to work in I had no desire to go back. I am well aware that Windows 7 has come a long way, but its *still* not as thoughtfully designed.
As has been said many times on this site, ultimately, you can accomplish the same stuff on a PC, but its not as pleasant or easy to get there. As I get older and have less free time in my life with family/career, I appreciate just getting what I want out of the computer and not tinkering. I've done a 180 from my earlier days of taking some pleasure in reformatting a pc and reinstalling windows clean. Now my time spent fiddling is learning cool stuff in aperture and imovie. And I am constantly amazed at the quality of the output vs. the time invested.
Its hard not to be a raving fan of a tool that is that is so enjoyable to use, gives pleasure when you just look at the damn thing, and gives a meaningful return on time spent "learning" it. But my needs may be different than yours. 15 years ago I pounded code for a living and scoffed at apple stuff. Today my way of making a living and my priorities in life are very different. The mac is the right choice for me even if I cant close an application in one click from the corner.
However, for the few things that were a change for me, I discover new stuff seemingly every week that makes me smile at the thoughtfulness that has been put into the Mac/OSX. Hard to list them all, but the sum of them makes the whole experience SO well done. A few weeks after getting the Mac I was ticked I waited so long to cut over. It was a non issue. I didnt make the leap until I was satisfied parallels would still be a viable option to run XP. It works great, but I never use it other than to show people a mac can run windows. :) OSX is so stable, smooth (scrolling, transitions, etc.), beautiful hardware, and elegant to work in I had no desire to go back. I am well aware that Windows 7 has come a long way, but its *still* not as thoughtfully designed.
As has been said many times on this site, ultimately, you can accomplish the same stuff on a PC, but its not as pleasant or easy to get there. As I get older and have less free time in my life with family/career, I appreciate just getting what I want out of the computer and not tinkering. I've done a 180 from my earlier days of taking some pleasure in reformatting a pc and reinstalling windows clean. Now my time spent fiddling is learning cool stuff in aperture and imovie. And I am constantly amazed at the quality of the output vs. the time invested.
Its hard not to be a raving fan of a tool that is that is so enjoyable to use, gives pleasure when you just look at the damn thing, and gives a meaningful return on time spent "learning" it. But my needs may be different than yours. 15 years ago I pounded code for a living and scoffed at apple stuff. Today my way of making a living and my priorities in life are very different. The mac is the right choice for me even if I cant close an application in one click from the corner.
charliehustle
Oct 8, 11:16 AM
the reason this topic has gotten so long is due to the fact that most apple fans have no idea what they're talking about..
they love apple and they will defend it to the death, even when their argument has no logic..
this has nothing to do with which product is better..
it's the simple fact that android will be available on a greater number of handsets compared to apple..
you guys need to look at the Microsoft vs Apple situation..
regardless of what you prefer or believe is a better product,
the one that makes software and licenses it out dominates the market share
you really must have a thick skull not to understand that..
they love apple and they will defend it to the death, even when their argument has no logic..
this has nothing to do with which product is better..
it's the simple fact that android will be available on a greater number of handsets compared to apple..
you guys need to look at the Microsoft vs Apple situation..
regardless of what you prefer or believe is a better product,
the one that makes software and licenses it out dominates the market share
you really must have a thick skull not to understand that..
cartwagon
Sep 20, 01:32 AM
I hate to be the first to post a negative but here it is. I don't think this will be overly expensive, but I also think we will be underwhelmed with it's features. Wireless is not that important to me. There are many wires back there already. It sounds like it will not have HDMI or TiVo features, and it will play movies out of iTunes, which screams to me that it will only play .mp4 and .m4v files much like my 5G iPod. If it cannot browse my my mac or firedrive, cannot stream from them, cannot play .avi, .wmw, .rm or VCD, then it will not replace my 4 year old xbox. Which itself has a 120Gig drive and a remote. Unless we are all sorely mistaken about what iTV will end up being, and it ends up adding these features (as someone above me noted, hoping Apple would read this forum) I will wait. Honestly, I am far more excited over the prospect of the MacBook Pros hopefully switching to Core 2 Duos before year end. Then I will have a much more powerful machine slung to my firedrive, router, xbox and tv. :)
Edit:
@Ino: Yes, you are correct, I wrote this yesterday before seeing that diagram. However, it has an HDMI output, but the iTunes store only puts out normal TV quality(currently). In essence, unless you are using Handbrake to make your own rips above 640x480, you can use your HDMI output and it does not matter. Since Job's whole plan here is to make us buy iTV and then only be able to buy from iTunes, this is very relevant. I know this release is months away and things may change before then. Whom do you think apple will bed with, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?
@ Project: Quicktime can do .wmv with Flip4Mac, but cannot play .avi. (or .bin or .rm) . The 3ivx codec patch only works for some avi files. There is a convoluted way to use DivX doctor to make .mov files, but there is no reason to bother. MPlayer and VLC take care of everything. My point is that I don't think I need to pay $299US for something that does only a third of what my xbox already does, and I also don't need to pay this exorbitant amount for the privilege of boxing myself into a corner where I can only buy movies from the iTunes store. Even if I wasn't using my xbox to stream and play everything, I'd still save my money and press play on MPlayer and then sit down. Know what I mean? We all have a way of playing media on our TVs already, even if it's a total welfare solution like $6 worth of RCA cable. I am usually pretty pro-apple, but I need to be more impressed to drop that kind of money on something like this.
Much love for you all,
cartwagon
Edit:
@Ino: Yes, you are correct, I wrote this yesterday before seeing that diagram. However, it has an HDMI output, but the iTunes store only puts out normal TV quality(currently). In essence, unless you are using Handbrake to make your own rips above 640x480, you can use your HDMI output and it does not matter. Since Job's whole plan here is to make us buy iTV and then only be able to buy from iTunes, this is very relevant. I know this release is months away and things may change before then. Whom do you think apple will bed with, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?
@ Project: Quicktime can do .wmv with Flip4Mac, but cannot play .avi. (or .bin or .rm) . The 3ivx codec patch only works for some avi files. There is a convoluted way to use DivX doctor to make .mov files, but there is no reason to bother. MPlayer and VLC take care of everything. My point is that I don't think I need to pay $299US for something that does only a third of what my xbox already does, and I also don't need to pay this exorbitant amount for the privilege of boxing myself into a corner where I can only buy movies from the iTunes store. Even if I wasn't using my xbox to stream and play everything, I'd still save my money and press play on MPlayer and then sit down. Know what I mean? We all have a way of playing media on our TVs already, even if it's a total welfare solution like $6 worth of RCA cable. I am usually pretty pro-apple, but I need to be more impressed to drop that kind of money on something like this.
Much love for you all,
cartwagon
Anuba
Jun 7, 07:35 AM
My husband has been an AT&T user for over a decade. He never experienced dropped calls until we started dating and he was talking to me (I'm on an iPhone, he is not).
Right, and during that decade there were no iPhones overloading the networks. Barely anyone used the data traffic capacity back then. With the iPhone, usage of the onboard internet browser on smartphones went up from 15% to 85%. Steve has unleashed hell and now he's poured gasoline on the whole thing by introducing the 3G iPad.
What you have now is a situation with millions of people overloading the network by utilizing their wireless devices in ways the networks won't be able to handle for at least another 5 years, and it's only going to get worse. Netbooks, iPhones, iPads, Androids... sorry, guess we'll have to discontinue voice traffic services, please go back to your land phone.
"Explosion of wireless devices causing data traffic jam" (http://www.physorg.com/news185457426.html)
It's not only a capacity problem, it's also a spectrum problem. AT&T could put up a dozen cell towers in a ring around your house, it ain't gonna do much about the dropped calls. The data traffic jamming is the reason for dropped calls. Voice and data are different services but it's the same network infrastructure equipment handling both services. This equipment uses dozens of different technologies to maximize capacity. Adaptive Multi Rate codecs, Cell Load Sharing, Dynamic Half-Rate Allocation, Frequency Hopping, Intra Cell Handover, DTX Discontinuous Transmission, Fractional Load Planning, Multiple Re-use Pattern... all these technologies are band-aids that milk more capacity out of the network. Each time one of these technologies kicks in during a call, there's a slight risk of the call being dropped, and this risk increases ten fold if the infrastructure is so busy with data traffic it really doesn't have the resources to manage voice traffic properly. As long as the carriers don't get more spectrum, they're stuck in this situation.
"Currently, wireless companies have 534 megahertz of spectrum allotted to them, with an additional 50 megahertz in the pipeline. The industry says it needs at least 800 megahertz more within six years to accommodate demand.
"Spectrum for us is our highway," said Christopher Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group. "But the volume of traffic is picking up. Without more lanes, we'll have more traffic and more congestion," which will result in slower service."
So who are the real culprits in this mess? Well, 1) naive carriers who introduced services the networks weren't built for (they have the technology but not the capacity for this massive volume), and 2) these customers:
"Limited spectrum is only part of the problem, experts say, though an important part. Often, slow cell service is caused by a handful of bandwidth hogs -- watching videos on their iPhones, for example -- in a small area between cell phone towers.
"You have a few users clogging up capacity -- that is not something which can be solved just by providing more spectrum," said Aditya Kaul, director of mobile networks for ABI Research, a technology research firm."
Wanna get rid of dropped calls before 2015? Find the bandwidth hogs in your neighborhood and tell them if they don't stop using 3G like it was regular broadband, you will shoot them. Tell them it's because of them that everyone else who had an unlimited plan will soon have a capped plan, and if they don't stop, everyone will soon be on a plan where they pay by the megabyte.
Right, and during that decade there were no iPhones overloading the networks. Barely anyone used the data traffic capacity back then. With the iPhone, usage of the onboard internet browser on smartphones went up from 15% to 85%. Steve has unleashed hell and now he's poured gasoline on the whole thing by introducing the 3G iPad.
What you have now is a situation with millions of people overloading the network by utilizing their wireless devices in ways the networks won't be able to handle for at least another 5 years, and it's only going to get worse. Netbooks, iPhones, iPads, Androids... sorry, guess we'll have to discontinue voice traffic services, please go back to your land phone.
"Explosion of wireless devices causing data traffic jam" (http://www.physorg.com/news185457426.html)
It's not only a capacity problem, it's also a spectrum problem. AT&T could put up a dozen cell towers in a ring around your house, it ain't gonna do much about the dropped calls. The data traffic jamming is the reason for dropped calls. Voice and data are different services but it's the same network infrastructure equipment handling both services. This equipment uses dozens of different technologies to maximize capacity. Adaptive Multi Rate codecs, Cell Load Sharing, Dynamic Half-Rate Allocation, Frequency Hopping, Intra Cell Handover, DTX Discontinuous Transmission, Fractional Load Planning, Multiple Re-use Pattern... all these technologies are band-aids that milk more capacity out of the network. Each time one of these technologies kicks in during a call, there's a slight risk of the call being dropped, and this risk increases ten fold if the infrastructure is so busy with data traffic it really doesn't have the resources to manage voice traffic properly. As long as the carriers don't get more spectrum, they're stuck in this situation.
"Currently, wireless companies have 534 megahertz of spectrum allotted to them, with an additional 50 megahertz in the pipeline. The industry says it needs at least 800 megahertz more within six years to accommodate demand.
"Spectrum for us is our highway," said Christopher Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group. "But the volume of traffic is picking up. Without more lanes, we'll have more traffic and more congestion," which will result in slower service."
So who are the real culprits in this mess? Well, 1) naive carriers who introduced services the networks weren't built for (they have the technology but not the capacity for this massive volume), and 2) these customers:
"Limited spectrum is only part of the problem, experts say, though an important part. Often, slow cell service is caused by a handful of bandwidth hogs -- watching videos on their iPhones, for example -- in a small area between cell phone towers.
"You have a few users clogging up capacity -- that is not something which can be solved just by providing more spectrum," said Aditya Kaul, director of mobile networks for ABI Research, a technology research firm."
Wanna get rid of dropped calls before 2015? Find the bandwidth hogs in your neighborhood and tell them if they don't stop using 3G like it was regular broadband, you will shoot them. Tell them it's because of them that everyone else who had an unlimited plan will soon have a capped plan, and if they don't stop, everyone will soon be on a plan where they pay by the megabyte.
javajedi
Oct 10, 10:28 PM
Originally posted by ddtlm
javajedi:
Yes, the JVM is the deciding factor here. If the Java takes that damn long on a G4 but goes fast on a P4, can can rest assured that the JVM Apple is distributing sucks compared to whatever one the x86 machines are using.
There is no way in heck that the performance delta can be so large without a large difference in quality of JVM. G4's may be slower, but they are not as slow as those number indicate.
Like I've been saying, when you start to see 5x leads by the PCs you need to start asking questions about the fairness of the benchmark. The G4 is better than 1/5 the speed. There are very few things were a P4 can get better performance per clock than a G4.
BTW:
Your G3 results as bizzarre as well, because of the contrast between them and the G4 results. Do not take it as proof one way or the other of the G3 or other IBM chips being superior to the G4. What we have here are raw numbers that defy a simple explanations. We should ask why these numbers are popping up, rather than running off with them as if they were uttered by a great voice in the sky or somthing.
I should note that the 90 second and 72 second results I just recently posted are from my cocoa implementation, not java.. so the jvm is out of the picture now on the mac.
Do not take it as proof one way or the other of the G3 or other IBM chips being superior to the G4.
Don't worry, I don't make assumptions like that. And no, I don�t think this does defy simple explanations. I will say that, what we are starting to see here is evidence that the scalar units (integer and fpu) in the IBM 750FX (G3) are more efficient than those in the Motorola G4.
If this is true, then my program hit it right on the nail. Also if this is true, it means there exist theoretical situations when using non altivec code that it would be faster on one of these newer G3 chips.
Also what alex said about how tedious it was to make altivec code, I would agree there is some truth to this. When you vectorize code (either for the P4 or G4), if you don't watch your p's and q's you can actually slow *down* your code. Just because you use the nice and special vector registers on these G4 and Pentium 4 processors does not mean you gain 5 times the speed. You literally have to take your methods back to the drawing board. You will only get peak performance out of pipelined, fully vectorized code.
None the less, scalar operations on both G3/G4 are miserable compared to x86. The JVM is no longer the deciding factor in the performance delta. It's out of the equation on the Mac since the benchmark is now a 100% native cocoa application with c code and no longer java. Mean while on the x86, the benchmark remains java.
70-ish seconds navtive on a G3
90-ish seconds on a native on a G4
5.9-6-ish seconds running under JVM 1.4.1 on a P4
javajedi:
Yes, the JVM is the deciding factor here. If the Java takes that damn long on a G4 but goes fast on a P4, can can rest assured that the JVM Apple is distributing sucks compared to whatever one the x86 machines are using.
There is no way in heck that the performance delta can be so large without a large difference in quality of JVM. G4's may be slower, but they are not as slow as those number indicate.
Like I've been saying, when you start to see 5x leads by the PCs you need to start asking questions about the fairness of the benchmark. The G4 is better than 1/5 the speed. There are very few things were a P4 can get better performance per clock than a G4.
BTW:
Your G3 results as bizzarre as well, because of the contrast between them and the G4 results. Do not take it as proof one way or the other of the G3 or other IBM chips being superior to the G4. What we have here are raw numbers that defy a simple explanations. We should ask why these numbers are popping up, rather than running off with them as if they were uttered by a great voice in the sky or somthing.
I should note that the 90 second and 72 second results I just recently posted are from my cocoa implementation, not java.. so the jvm is out of the picture now on the mac.
Do not take it as proof one way or the other of the G3 or other IBM chips being superior to the G4.
Don't worry, I don't make assumptions like that. And no, I don�t think this does defy simple explanations. I will say that, what we are starting to see here is evidence that the scalar units (integer and fpu) in the IBM 750FX (G3) are more efficient than those in the Motorola G4.
If this is true, then my program hit it right on the nail. Also if this is true, it means there exist theoretical situations when using non altivec code that it would be faster on one of these newer G3 chips.
Also what alex said about how tedious it was to make altivec code, I would agree there is some truth to this. When you vectorize code (either for the P4 or G4), if you don't watch your p's and q's you can actually slow *down* your code. Just because you use the nice and special vector registers on these G4 and Pentium 4 processors does not mean you gain 5 times the speed. You literally have to take your methods back to the drawing board. You will only get peak performance out of pipelined, fully vectorized code.
None the less, scalar operations on both G3/G4 are miserable compared to x86. The JVM is no longer the deciding factor in the performance delta. It's out of the equation on the Mac since the benchmark is now a 100% native cocoa application with c code and no longer java. Mean while on the x86, the benchmark remains java.
70-ish seconds navtive on a G3
90-ish seconds on a native on a G4
5.9-6-ish seconds running under JVM 1.4.1 on a P4
braddouglass
Apr 10, 04:25 PM
If you are happy with windows stick with it. if you don't "have" to switch because you need a specifitc application, just don't do it. It's not "THAT MUCH" better as everyone wants to make you believe. I still like to use my macbook though ;)
You might not like the lack of customization, the need to drag and drop to move files (most cases), windows resizing, the dock, finder in general, graphics performance, lack of games, lack of professional software other than audio/video etc... the list goes on...
So.. You can customize a mac pro just as much as any PC. There are plenty of games for mac, the good ones anyways. and they run them beautifully if your machine is equipped for it. and the gfx cards are good you just have to get a mac with a good gfx card. you cant buy a low end mac and expect it to run everything at HQ settings, nor a windows. There is tons of pro software but it is a little spendy, but what software isn't?
You might not like the lack of customization, the need to drag and drop to move files (most cases), windows resizing, the dock, finder in general, graphics performance, lack of games, lack of professional software other than audio/video etc... the list goes on...
So.. You can customize a mac pro just as much as any PC. There are plenty of games for mac, the good ones anyways. and they run them beautifully if your machine is equipped for it. and the gfx cards are good you just have to get a mac with a good gfx card. you cant buy a low end mac and expect it to run everything at HQ settings, nor a windows. There is tons of pro software but it is a little spendy, but what software isn't?
Rodimus Prime
Apr 15, 10:02 AM
I don't agree. If those groups got organized, their message would eventually get picked up my the media. It's not like LGBT groups were started last weekend and, bam, the media picked up on it. It took decades for them to get to this point of media attention.
And I agree with Heilage: the message from the video doesn't only apply to LGBT folk.
Problem you run into is those other groups are not targeted for endless bully as a group. Take a fat kid. A fat kid being bullied is going be hit or miss. I can not promise you that the fact kid will be bullies but I can promise you a LGBT is going to be bullied. On top of that the public at large does not target fat people for being harrassed but they do target the LGBT. Hence no real way for a small group to orginzed or the groups originations to get the message out.
My fear and hell already seeing it happening is bulling in it self is not being targeted to try to shut down and protect kids from it but instead you are finding them focusing really hard on protecting LGBT from harrassement in both legal terms and school rules. Never minding the others who get targeted. If you are not being pick on for LGBT reasons the school policies do not offer you much protection. That is the reality.
I have a problem with bulling in general as I was pushed to my limits growing up. I fear that it will get viewed as a LGBT issue only and as such only try to be stop from that angle and that can not be allowed to happen.
Now I will agree LGBT kids have some other larger mental problems they will be suffering with as they will be struggling comes to terms with them being LGBT and chances are a lot higher they will not have support at home on top of being pick on at school so it is a lot of extra crap to be pilled on top of the bulling itself.
And I agree with Heilage: the message from the video doesn't only apply to LGBT folk.
Problem you run into is those other groups are not targeted for endless bully as a group. Take a fat kid. A fat kid being bullied is going be hit or miss. I can not promise you that the fact kid will be bullies but I can promise you a LGBT is going to be bullied. On top of that the public at large does not target fat people for being harrassed but they do target the LGBT. Hence no real way for a small group to orginzed or the groups originations to get the message out.
My fear and hell already seeing it happening is bulling in it self is not being targeted to try to shut down and protect kids from it but instead you are finding them focusing really hard on protecting LGBT from harrassement in both legal terms and school rules. Never minding the others who get targeted. If you are not being pick on for LGBT reasons the school policies do not offer you much protection. That is the reality.
I have a problem with bulling in general as I was pushed to my limits growing up. I fear that it will get viewed as a LGBT issue only and as such only try to be stop from that angle and that can not be allowed to happen.
Now I will agree LGBT kids have some other larger mental problems they will be suffering with as they will be struggling comes to terms with them being LGBT and chances are a lot higher they will not have support at home on top of being pick on at school so it is a lot of extra crap to be pilled on top of the bulling itself.
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