Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:A very MS centric blog indeed... (Score 3, Informative) 357

The other day, MS's engineering team did an AMA on reddit where they answered the question of screen resolution:

Hey this is Stevie. Screen resolution is one component of perceived detail. The true measure of resolvability of a screen called Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), not Pixels. MTF is a combination of both contrast and resolution. There are over a dozen subsystems that effect this MTF number.. Most folks just focus on one number out of dozens that effect perceived detail. Without good contrast resolution decreases. Check out contrast sensitivity of the human eye graph (http://www.telescope-optics.net/images/eye_contrast.PNG) and if you want more see the links below. Basically, as resolution/DPI increases the eye has becomes less sensitive. So as a result, the amount of light in a room and the reflections off the screen have a huge effect on the contrast of the display. In fact, a small amount of reflection can greatly reduce contrast and thus the perceived resolution of the display. With the ClearType Display technology we took a 3 pronged approach to maximize that perceived resolution and optimize for battery life, weight, and thickness. First prong, Microsoft has the best pixel rendering technology in the industry (cleartype 1.0 and 2.0) .. these are exclusive and unique to Windows, it smooths text regardless of pixel count. Second, we designed a custom 10.6” high-contrast wide-angle screen LCD screen. Lastly we optically bonded the screen with the thinnest optical stack anywhere on the market.. something which is more commonly done on phones we are doing on Surface. While this is not official, our current Cleartype measurements on the amount of light reflected off the screen is around 5.5%-6.2%, the new IPad has a measurement of 9.9% mirror reflections (see the displaymate link: http://www.displaymate.com/iPad_ShootOut_1.htm). Doing a side by side with the new iPad in a consistently lit room, we have had many people see more detail on Surface RT than on the Ipad with more resolution.

Some more links to share if you want to know more (http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF.html)... Also This is a great book to read if you really want to get into it: http://www.amazon.com/Contrast-Sensitivity-Effects-Quality-Monograph/dp/0819434965 or more here http://alexandria.tue.nl/extra2/9901043.pdf

So it seems that Microsoft has data that suggests that, despite the lower resolution, the Surface has greater precieved detail than the iPad. (although I find it annoying that they've muddied the waters by re-using trademarks - they've repurposed "Cleartype Display" as the MS equivalent of Apple's "Retina Display")

Comment Re:The NYSE shouldn't reverse trades. (Score 2) 223

I use a method by the late great Harry Browne he called failsafe investing.

Here is the summary. Divide your investment into quarters.
25% S&P 500 stocks
25% 30 year Treasury Bonds
25% 100% Treasury Money Market (If you can find one. They pretty much all went under after they put FDIC on money markets)
25% Gold Bullion Coins
[...]
The beauty of it is that when anything bad happens it is usually people running from one of these to another. This allows you to automatically buy low and sell high.

So in other words it's like traditional portfolio theory except worse?

Comment Re:The NYSE shouldn't reverse trades. (Score 2) 223

That isn't true. The pure idiocy and stupidity rampant in American politics means that the US government can default, just like they came close to doing a while ago. That's why the rating on government bonds was dropped to AA - the fact that default was even being considered as a possibility is utterly mindboggling.

Economically there's no reason why the government would ever default. Instead it's the pure unadultered retardation of the politicans in this country that have ensured that an investment that should be risk-free, actually isn't. And that's just so insane that I still have trouble believing that we actually managed to get ourselves into this situation.

Comment Re:DirectX? (Score 1) 711

I'm sorry to have to ask this, but are you retarded? Honestly.

Hardware acceleration means that the drawing/animations/etc are done faster, more efficiently, and with lower power. And if you don't have hardware acceleration available, it falls back to software. There is not a single conceivable case in which you would prefer software over hardware-accelerated rendering - if it's available the hardware does the same thing, except faster and more efficiently. If you prefer to do everything in software, feel free to rip the graphics card from your PC and go back to your P-133.

Comment Re:New options? (Score 2) 219

Er, because any filesystem can have nonfatal minor errors? For example a filesystem that uses a bitmap to track free space (like NTFS does) can have that bitmap corrupted by bad sectors or whatever. Things like that are sufficiently simple that you can attempt a repair while the volume is online, without major risk of failure.

Comment Re:What I want to know is... (Score 2) 163

The German courts and legal system doesn't listen to the US judge. That much is patently obvious, because the US has no jurisdiction in Germany.

But Motorola is a US company who does business in the US. Hence it must abide by US laws and rulings. The US judge said to Motorola, "even if you win the case in Germany, you must not follow through on the ban on MS products in Germany until I have made my ruling here." That doesn't infringe on German jurisdiction.

Comment "Arise Sir Jonathan Ive"? (Score 4, Informative) 183

In ceremony of knighting, the knight-elect kneels on a knighting-stool in front of The Queen, who then lays the sword blade on the knight's right and then left shoulder.

After he has been dubbed, the new knight stands up, and The Queen invests the knight with the insignia of the Order to which he has been appointed, or the Badge of a Knight Bachelor.

Contrary to popular belief, the words 'Arise, Sir ...' are not used.

Source: royal.gov.uk

Slashdot Top Deals

If you want to put yourself on the map, publish your own map.

Working...