Comment Re:No (Score 2, Funny) 496
OffTopic?
Okay, bsdgames is dying.
OffTopic?
Okay, bsdgames is dying.
The TV studios need to realize that the internet and bittorrent are not going away. They need to adapt and learn to use these technologies to their advantage.
They should release directly and officially to bittorrent with tastefully inserted ads. If the ads aren't overly obnoxious, people will be more likely to stay with the official, legitimate version and less likely to remove them or grab copies with the ads already removed.
Bittorrent also has the practical advantage of providing ratings with an enormous sample size. Even if the viewer to downloader ratio isn't exactly 1:1, bittorrent tracker stats would still be a good indicator of popularity.
I would suggest replacing the station ID watermark with a static "Sponsored by..." notice that changes at the points when there would otherwise be a commercial break. These would be better than banners because they'd be harder to remove without destroying part of the picture and would be far less annoying and offputting than the animated [unprintable] found in some OTA broadcasts.
If advertisers are unwilling to pay as much for such watermarks tucked away in the corner of the screen, classic-style commercials interspersed at certain intervals, but these would be easier to remove or just fast-forward through. These are more annoying and disruptive if not skipped, but customers (and advertisers) are used to them. DVR and VHS have had fast-forwarding for ages with time-shifted watching. Perhaps torrent streaming could be the answer to this for those who want their shows *right now*, before the download finishes all the way.
Hulu is a step in the right direction, but Flash is annoying, restrictive, and has performance issues for non-Windows users.
As a Missing Option how about the "SysRq" part of the Print Screen button... What the heck does that do?
It's useful for sending commands to the kernel.
For instance,
Alt+SysRq+{REISUB} (mnemonic: "Raising Elephants Is So Utterly Boring" or just "busier" backwards) is used to reboot an unresponsive Linux box:
It is useful, but it's inconvenient enough that it should avoid the watered-down fate of ctrl+alt+delete.
CapsLock is for trolling, overexcited teenage girls on AOL IM, and other such unenviable situations.
Just remap the key to something useful, such as Compose or, as with the Colemak keyboard layout, a second backspace.
The key itself isn't useless, but its default function is rather redundant and encourages bad behavior. Hold shift down if you really need to shout your emphasis. The added discomfort should serve as a reminder to use it sparingly.
BTW, I voted the "Windows key" since I strictly run Linux. For me, it doesn't even have the functionality of the scroll lock key.
For goodness' sake, man, slap a Tux logo over that key and call it "meta" like the KDE folks do. KDE4 uses it for a number of global shortcuts. I've been using it to control Amarok since before KDE4 was thought of (meta+Z = play/pause; meta+shift+Z = stop; meta+alt+Z = stop after current track). I'm sure Gnome and XFCE users can think of similar uses for it.
(and before anyone suggests Compose/multi_key, I have that mapped to CapsLock, a key which is otherwise rather useless in most cases.)
Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness of a pig is more or less green than the designated hitter rule." -- David Guaspari