Pilots used to navigate with ground-based beacons (VOR, NDB), inertial references, and, sometimes, by simply looking out the window. Everybody is so in love with GPS (it is handy) that they've de-emphasized backup technologies.

...laura, private pilot who flies mostly by looking out the window

Third party app stores on iOS will not be as unrestrictive. Apps will still need to adhere to Apple's technical requirements in order to get notarized. Emulators (still) violate the "executable code" provision, for example.

So anything that was unacceptable to run on the Apple app store for technical reasons will still be unacceptable on third-party stores. The only real difference is that Apple won't be enforcing content restrictions, or making sure apps aren't just straight-up lousy (e.g. quality and content checking).

Which to get back to the topic at hand, is why the idea that open source applications are banned seems misplaced. If anything, since open source applications are typically distributed for free, they'd want to stay on Apple's store in order to avoid distribution fees.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but is there a particular reason that open source applications would need to be on a third-party app store?

We already have things like VLC and Signal on the official app store. The only thing that comes to mind as not being distributable in the current store is browsers.

As far as freedom and choice go, this is undoubtedly the right direction to be going.

But I am not looking forward to having to support my idiot relatives. Their inability to load up malicious applications has been the only thing that's made it possible to have tech products that don't require constant maintenance and repair. I am greatly concerned that scammers and other scumbags are going to take advantage of this to get malware onto iPhones and use that as a springboard for stealing valuable information.

There's something to be said for the value of a small secure computing terminal.

Thank you! Now I can make sense of this article.

AAC and Opus have pretty much obsoleted Vorbis except for highly CPU constrained systems. And if you're constrained enough, MP3 decodes faster than Vorbis (Realtime on 33Mhz ARM), and is no longer patented.

AAC-LC decoder patents should also be close to or past expiration as well. That spec was written in 1997, around half a decade after MP3. And the patents for that expired 6 years ago.

I've never used Ogg much (if at all), though I'm certainly aware of it.

I'm currently doing some mobile application development. Android will have a go at playing just about anything as a ringtone or notification sound, but since the system sounds are all in Ogg (maybe this is a Samsung thing?), I've included our custom alert sounds as Ogg in the app.

...laura

The fact that it happened raises more questions though about the design of the fuselage and the door installation.

It's my understanding that it's the same plug as used on the 737-900ER (the predecessor to the MAX9). So the design is 20(ish) years old. Which is part of what makes this so unusual.

CableCard is well on its way out. It's a solution designed around traditional multicasting of digital QAM streams, which has become an outdated method of delivering TV.

Cable providers are all moving towards pure IP networks. So Cable TV will just be another application on top of that stack delivered by IP.

Once that happens, cable boxes in general can start to be phased out. Customers can instead just load up the cable company's app on their now Smart TV. Or get a Roku/Firestick/whathaveyou if they still need an input source.

My employers closed a couple of offices for good in 2022 and 2023. Work from home or quit. Since I work very remotely (head office in Dallas, me in Canada) work from home is here to stay. We tried a shared packaged office space a few years ago but decided the costs didn't justify the benefits.

The Powers That Be decided this year that it would be a good idea for remote people to be seen in person every now and then, so I spent a few days in Dallas early in December. It was good to interact with the voices on the computer. And far less expensive than maintaining a remote office. Perfect weather and good food didn't hurt.

...laura

Does anyone know what exactly Weldon and Lin are hoping to accomplish with the master tapes? It's cool that they've found them, but at first blush, they don't seem to be all that valuable.

All 4 seasons of ReBoot received good-enough DVD transfers back in the early 2000s. The show was mastered to D-1 tape to begin with (as noted in TFA), so the DVDs are full-resolution releases with standard 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. The D-1 masters are uncompressed at 4:2:2 chroma, which is technically better, but by human visual standards not immensely so. That kind of detail is normally only needed for intermediates, since anything going out for release today (download or broadcast) will still get compressed and reduced to 4:2:0.

Are they doing something that actually requires the masters? Or are they just geeking out (as we all love to do)? A simple documentary wouldn't require D-1 masters; the DVDs would be fine for that.

This was a great series full of era-appropriate computer and IT in-jokes and adult humor, definitely not a kids show.

This is more true for the last two seasons than the first two. ABC's Broadcast Standards and Practices division was notoriously hard-assed for the two seasons they ran. This is a show where they mandated a uniboob, after all.

Between the wiki and TV Tropes there's a sizable list of things BS&P did, or things the writers did to get crap past them.

It doesn't matter how the information is stored, on paper or in a computer. People need to trust the system. If they don't trust the system it's game over.

I've seen lots of FAA 8130-3 and Transport Canada Form One maintenance releases. A human actually signed the form and accepted legal responsibility for the parts or work on them being done right. I'm trusting my life to them.

...laura

Genres come and go. The superhero genre has run its course. Poor writing hasn't helped. M-She-U, anybody? Ugh!

Give people something entertaining and they'll pay to watch it. Barbie and Oppenheimer weren't superhero movies. Nor was The Eras Tour. All three made a bundle.

...laura

If women aren't interested in such careers, who cares? We're all different.

If there are barriers to womens' participation in technology, that is a problem. Some workplaces are a little too much of a frat house atmosphere. This is a bona fide problem, but it's not the subject of this silly article.

Yes, sometimes I get tired sometimes of being the only woman in the office or in meetings. It's a rare treat when there are other women around, whether we go for coffee and doodle equations on napkins, discuss fashion trends or DSP algorithms over lunch, whatever.

...laura