U.S. Government Developed the iPod 614
ezavada writes "Engadget reports that in a speech at Tuskegee University, President Bush claims that government research developed the iPod." From the article: "While we have to gratefully acknowledge the efforts of government agencies such as DARPA in some of the fields mentioned by the President, we also feel obligated to point out the accomplishments of private companies in the US and abroad, including IBM, Hitachi and Toshiba -- not to mention the Fraunhofer Institute, which developed the original MP3 codec ..."
From tactical to practical (Score:4, Informative)
You guys need to learn to take a joke (Score:0, Informative)
Re:US government Invented the iPod (Score:2, Informative)
Alas I don't like to get into political conversations, but I also don't like people smugly saying something so blatently wrong even more.
Vint Cerf said Al Gore was instrumental... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Misleading title (from original article) (Score:2, Informative)
Re:US government Invented the iPod (Score:1, Informative)
Re:US government Invented the iPod (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Absurd (Score:3, Informative)
The full sentence yields:
Mr B may not claim to have invented the iPod, he's pretty much clear on the fact the iPod exists only by his grace.
Now that you mention it... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Absurd (Score:3, Informative)
Re:US government Invented the iPod (Score:2, Informative)
Personally, I think it may have more to do with generations of religious zealotry breeding a general hatred of western culture, and cartel-like governments using that to control the population and secure their own power. Then again, we do pretty much the same thing in USA.
Re:Sounds like a (bad) joke to me (Score:5, Informative)
Here is more of the quote:
" Here's another interesting example of where basic research can help change quality of life or provide practical applications for people. The government funded research in microdrive storage, electrochemistry and signal compression. They did so for one reason: It turned out that those were the key ingredients for the development of the Ipod. I tune into the Ipod occasionally, you know? (Laughter.) Basic research to meet one set of objectives can lead to interesting ideas for our society. It helps us remain competitive. So the government should double the commitment to the most basic -- critical research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years. I look forward to Congress to doubling that commitment."
Re:US government Invented the iPod (Score:5, Informative)
"the government funded research in microdrive storage, electrochemistry and signal compression. They did so for one reason: It turned out that those were the key ingredients for the development of the iPod."
Turns out the government decided to spend our money researching some technologies that happened to be useful in portable mp3 players. no more, no less.
Here is a link to the text of the speech (Score:5, Informative)
I suppose it's too much to ask that slashdotters actually read it. But I can always hope.
US Basic Research Made iPod Components Possible (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2006/im
This graphic explains what Bush is talking about. Many of the components in the iPod were made possible because of basic research funded by the federal government. Much of this basic research was done at government labs, universities, and within companies with funding from the Pentagon, Department of Energy's Office of Science, National Science Foundation, etc. Hosts of other individuals and companies developed that basic research into components, but the initial funding and reseach was supported by the U.S. government.
Smaller hard drives, codecs, file compression, etc. are build on the foundation of basic reseach - much of it made possible by initial U.S. funding.
Re:Absurd (Score:5, Informative)
Re:US government Invented the iPod (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Punctuation Makes All the Difference (Score:3, Informative)
Re:US government Invented the iPod (Score:1, Informative)
You illiterate cow. First of all, he said he tunes in to Fox News, suggesting he may enjoy it. Secondly, he didn't pass judgement on Fox News at all. Finally, his point was that the opinion expressed wasn't original ("non-groupthink") -- it is just the othergroupthink opinion.
Audio compression without Fourier transforms (Score:2, Informative)
The Swedish mathematician who proved a convergence theorem for Fourier series. without him there would be no IPOD. :p
Without Fourier transforms, we would have used time-domain methods for processing digital audio. Shorten, FLAC [sourceforge.net], Apple Lossless, and most other lossless audio codecs make use of an autoregressive [ucla.edu] analysis of a block of audio, followed by linear prediction with entropy coding of the residuals. The GSM Full Rate codec (implemented in Toast [tu-berlin.de]) and the Speex codec [speex.org] operate in much the same way, except they add pitch analysis (to filter out the periodicity of vowels and instrumental chords) and lossy quantization.
Re:US government Invented the iPod (Score:1, Informative)
They wanted to keep their empereror, USA refused this request in the full knowledge that in doing so Japan could never accept.
Japan would have surrendered months earlier had this been allowed. The atomic bombs saved no lives, and to think they did is, well, typical American rationalization.
It is similar to the Lancet report which stated that the most likely (not lowest, nor highest) level of civilian casualties was 100 000. This is information that Americans do not like, so they trivialize it, repress it, mock it.
Re:Want to read more? (Score:5, Informative)
[Note that text entered in the Congressional Record is supposed to be all-caps, but Slashdot disallows that, so it's in all lowercase.]
both of these amendments seek new information on critical problems of today. the computer network study act is designed to answer critical questions on the needs of computer telecommunications systems over the next 15 years. for example, what are the future requirements for computers in terms of quantity and quality of data transmission, data security, and softwear [SIC] compatibility? what equipment must be developed to take advantage of the high transmission rates offered by fiber optic systems?
both systems designed to handle the special needs of supercomputers and systems designed to meet the needs of smaller research computers will be evaluated. the emphasis is on research computers, but the users of all computers will benefit from this study. today, we can bank by computer, shop by computer, and send letters by computer. only a few companies and individuals use these services, but the number is growing and existing capabilities are limited.
in order to cope with the explosion of computer use in the country, we must look to new ways to advance the state-of-the-art in telecommunications -- new ways to increase the speed and quality of the data transmission. without these improvements, the telecommunication networks face data bottlenecks like those we face every day on our crowded highways.
the private sector is already aware of the need to evaluate and adopt new technologies. one promising technology is the development of fiber optic systems for voice and data transmission. eventually we will see a system of fiber optic systems being installed nationwide.
america's highways transport people and materials across the country. federal freeways connect with state highways which connect in turn with county roads and city streets. to transport data and ideas, we will need a telecommunications highway connecting users coast to coast, state to state, city to city. the study required in this amendment will identify the problems and opportunities the nation will face in establishing that highway.
No (Score:3, Informative)
No, that's not what the article says. It says that the government researched key technologies which made the creation iPod (among other things) possible. That's not the same thing as claiming that they developed the iPod, except for fools with an agenda to push.
P.S. Can no one on Slashdot spell the word cue properly?