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> Mine still has the old-fashioned steel (or whatever metal its made out
> of, I'm sure it some sort of alloy) key. ;)
You're aware that steel *is* an alloy, right? ;-)
>> Given that the batteries in the fob eventually die, it would be a safety
>> issue if the car just suddenly stopped when that happened.
>
> Hmm.. Good point, but would make auto theft rather easy. Not much the
> owner could do if the car thief jumps in, presses start and takes off
> while the owner is distracted.
I don't know about other cars, but mine seems to only work if you're
within a few feet of the driver's seat. Even if you're getting something
out of the boot, if the keys are in your pocket, the engine won't start.
It's apparently that accurate.
> Oh, it can tell if the key is inside or outside the car?
Apparently. Doesn't make any sense to me, but hey...
>> I think we all knew that flying cars really weren't just around the
>> corner. ;-)
>
> Flying cars are impractical. the FAA would never allow it ;)
The safety issues are one thing. The sheer inefficiency of
heavier-than-air flight is another...
>> It was possible to make a portable solid-state music player for quite
>> some time. But with (say) 64MB of flash, why would you bother? That
>> would be, like, 6 minutes of music.
>>
>> MP3 is what made it feasible. Now 64MB is nearer an hour of music...
>
> Right... Remember when MP3 came out, computing power wasn't really up to
> task, either. I remember it took hours to encode a single song.
Decoding is faster than encoding. For MP3 and many other codecs.
Generally encoding requires you to transform the input stream and apply
some kind of psychological model to decide which data has highest
priority, and then perform constraint-solving to cram as much of the
high priority data in as you've got room for. To decode, you more or
less just execute the instructions you're given. A bit like the way
executing a compiled program is way easier than compiling it in the
first place. ;-)
>> I wish my car could play compressed CDs. Or even if it just had a CD
>> changer like the salesman claimed it had... Or, hell, even just a way to
>> plug in an external sound source.
>
> Mine plays MP3's and has an AUX jack.... I mostly use my Zune, nowadays,
> mostly because it's a PITA to burn new CD's when my musical whim
> changes. I wish it had an SD or CF port. Also, it tends to be a bit
> finicky when it comes to playing MP3's that have been ID3 tagged in a
> weird way.
It's not uncommon for stand-alone players to be real picky about
technical details of encoded media. I've seen MP3 players that choke if
you use variable bitrates, or bitrates above or below a certain
threshold, or whatever.
>> I don't see CD dying anytime soon.
>
> Maybe ... Though it will continue on more as CD-R than as pressed CD's.
> DVD and Blu-Ray will continue, though.
Last time I checked, HMV was still selling pressed CDs by the truckload. ;-)
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On 4/19/2011 6:46, Mike Raiford wrote:
> Oh, it can tell if the key is inside or outside the car?
You still haven't read the owner's manual, have you? :-)
> Right... Remember when MP3 came out, computing power wasn't really up to
> task, either. I remember it took hours to encode a single song.
I remember back in the days of Windows 3.1 we had a hardware card to do jpeg
compression. It was faster to ship a bunch of raw images over the net to a
PC running a bat file in a loop to compress them and pull them back (over
NFS) than it was to compress them on the sparcstation where they were generated.
> I mostly use my Zune, nowadays,
How do you like that, UI-wise?
>> It's a simple idea, but in practise it doesn't work like it's supposed to.
I think it's more "in practice it doesn't work like people claimed they
wanted it to work." It could work just fine if people wanted it to, but
the folks in charge don't want it to only catch the flagrant violators.
> Now, you could say that's fairness in the most absolute sense, but,
> sometimes its best to allow a human being to intervene.
In the USA, the police are supposed to look at the picture and all and make
the decision based on all those factors. Nothing is *supposed* to go out
automatically without review.
Then they figured out they could make it a "fee" rather than an actual
ticket you might be able to fight in court.
> Well, we now have laser diodes that can work at several wavelengths now, so
> ... we're not far off. Before it just wasn't feasible. But yes, the beams
> can cross, and signals can be multiplexed by wavelength.
And it still has to interact when it gets to the other end.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"Coding without comments is like
driving without turn signals."
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On Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:59:30 +0100, Invisible wrote:
> On 18/04/2011 16:58, Stephen wrote:
>> On 18/04/2011 2:59 PM, Invisible wrote:
>>> I wish my car could play compressed CDs. Or even if it just had a CD
>>> changer like the salesman claimed it had... Or, hell, even just a way
>>> to plug in an external sound source.
>>
>> You could buy something like an iTrip which connects to your MP3 player
>> and transmits the audio output as an FM radio signal, which is picked
>> up by your car radio.
>
> Wouldn't that mean that everybody within a 30-meter radius of my car can
> illegally pick up the same signals?
Maybe not 30 metres, but yes, it is possible that others might be able to
receive it. So? It's a legal device used for a legal purpose.
> Also, would the fact that my car's aerial is missing be a problem?
No, because the aerial isn't the only receiver - the cable to the aerial
also is capable of receiving the signal just as well.
Jim
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On Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:46:24 -0500, Mike Raiford wrote:
>> I think we all knew that flying cars really weren't just around the
>> corner. ;-)
There are a couple of companies that make them - one that I read about a
couple weeks ago that's actually in production, but it's more expensive
than a decent private jet and a decent car.
Jim
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>> Now, you could say that's fairness in the most absolute sense, but,
>> sometimes its best to allow a human being to intervene.
>
> In the USA, the police are supposed to look at the picture and all and
> make the decision based on all those factors. Nothing is *supposed* to
> go out automatically without review.
>
> Then they figured out they could make it a "fee" rather than an actual
> ticket you might be able to fight in court.
I heard some guy here took a speeding ticket to court - and won.
The reason? His car wasn't breaking the speed limit. The bus on the
other side of the road was.
In short, the machine is /not/ always right.
Now, the real WTF: Why the hell was a bus [which is government property]
breaking the speed limit? And was the driver prosecuted??
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On 4/19/2011 13:49, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> The reason? His car wasn't breaking the speed limit. The bus on the other
> side of the road was.
>
> In short, the machine is /not/ always right.
Sounds more like a radar gun. And yes, you have to know how to work those to
use them properly. In the USA, the traffic cameras are almost always for
people running red lights, not speeding, for exactly that reason.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"Coding without comments is like
driving without turn signals."
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On 4/19/2011 9:18 AM, Invisible wrote:
>> Mine still has the old-fashioned steel (or whatever metal its made out
>> of, I'm sure it some sort of alloy) key. ;)
>
> You're aware that steel *is* an alloy, right? ;-)
>
Yeah, I'm aware ;P
> I don't know about other cars, but mine seems to only work if you're
> within a few feet of the driver's seat. Even if you're getting something
> out of the boot, if the keys are in your pocket, the engine won't start.
> It's apparently that accurate.
Ah, OK...
>
>> Oh, it can tell if the key is inside or outside the car?
>
> Apparently. Doesn't make any sense to me, but hey...
>
Three receivers. It can know where the transducer in the key is, then.
>
> The safety issues are one thing. The sheer inefficiency of
> heavier-than-air flight is another...
>
Gliders are heavier than air, and are also rather efficient.
--
~Mike
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On 4/19/2011 10:58 AM, Darren New wrote:
> On 4/19/2011 6:46, Mike Raiford wrote:
>> Oh, it can tell if the key is inside or outside the car?
>
> You still haven't read the owner's manual, have you? :-)
>
huh? Of course not!
>> I mostly use my Zune, nowadays,
>
> How do you like that, UI-wise?
>
Not too bad. It has some quirks, but it generally flows OK. It is rather
convenient to have the button on the side to bring up the transport
controls and pause/play.
--
~Mike
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On 4/19/2011 10:58 AM, Darren New wrote:
>
>> I mostly use my Zune, nowadays,
>
> How do you like that, UI-wise?
>
BTW, I meant to ask, why do you ask?
--
~Mike
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>>> I mostly use my Zune, nowadays,
>> How do you like that, UI-wise?
> BTW, I meant to ask, why do you ask?
I've never seen one, I am writing programs for the XBox using the same
development platform that runs on the Zune (and now the windows phone).
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"Coding without comments is like
driving without turn signals."
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