R. Paul McCarty - Slashdot User

Submission + - New Mail Boxes Pay Tribute to Star Wars

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10, 2007 @02:24AM

An anonymous reader writes: With the 30th anniversary of Star Wars this year, the Postal Service has come up with a unique tribute: R2D2 mail boxes. Pictures of legions of them lined up can be found here.

Submission + - Viiv Versus Live!, Battle For The Living Room

Submitted by Slimbizkit on Saturday March 10, 2007 @01:36AM

Slimbizkit writes: Both Intel Viiv and AMD Live! branding and standardization efforts for Media Center PC architectures have their pluses and minuses, depending on what you intend to do with your system. While Intel imposes strict guidelines on system builders for the use of Intel chipsets with integrated graphics, AMD's Live! platform allows for third party chipset vendors like NVIDIA to enter the fray. As a result, pre-built systems based on Intel Viiv branding may come up short, when you consider how strong an AMD platform may be with an nForce IGP chipset versus the i965G. Viiv versus Live! is an interesting dynamic for the DYI market, where you can definitely build yourself a more capable Intel-based HTPC that isn't Viiv compliant. But then again, you probably wouldn't have much use for either platform branding anyway.

Submission + - GPS without Navigation

Submitted by ejwong on Friday March 09, 2007 @11:22PM

ejwong writes: Looks like NYC taxis are getting mandatory GPS units with everything including entertainment, commercial, ... except navigation! As the Bloomberg administration sets out to install a high-tech GPS video monitor in every NYC taxi cab, many drivers are prepping to strike. Philadelphia cab drivers faced the same challenges last year and decided to strike, however, units were installed anyway — indicative of what we might see later on this year. The monitors would be mandatorily installed in the backs of all 13,000 NYC cabs, providing entertainment with commercials and allowing credit card transactions — great for the customer, but what do drivers get? Well, they'll pretty much get the shaft. The meter activates GPS tracking of each trip's beginning and end destination, which many drivers claim is an invasion of privacy. Also, drivers who are buying their vehicles will be forced to shell out $2,900 to $7,200 for use of the units over a three-year period. The real kicker is that they totally dropped the ball on any sort of navigational support. Hello? Spending major cash on new taxi-gadgets with GPS technology should, first and foremost, mean we no longer have to tell clueless drivers how to get around the city. At least we'll have the "entertainment with commercials" to distract us while taking the scenic route.

Comment A Possible Solution (Score 1) 214

by R. Paul McCarty on Sunday May 19, 2002 @09:28AM (#3545566) Attached to: BusinessWeek on Open Source and Copy Protection

It seems like the whole problem is the recording industry is based on a model in which the average consumer does not have the means to reproduce music with good fidelity. Since that has changed with the convergence of CDs and PCs, the obvious solution is to introduce a new format that is incompatible with existing cd-rom and cd hardware.

If I were in the recording industry, I would work with the electronics industry to create a new recorded music standard and by patenting the technology, they could block any third party from building hardware that could allow ripping of the music to a computer.

Since there is no compeling reason for people to move to a new recorded music format, they could introduce the new disks and price them 3 dollars less as an incentive to move to the new format. And sell all new players with backward compatibility for the old disks. They could also allow trade-ins of old cds for the new format.

I'm not sure anyone would swallow this, but it seems like their second option if they can't get widespread adoption of a DRM system.

Slashdot Top Deals