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Comment Re:Vizio is throwing away a great opportunity (Score 1) 64

Imagine if Vizio were to become the first pro-consumer TV.

The MPA member movie studios would probably withdraw their respective streaming services from Vizio's platform on grounds that a user-modifiable free operating system fails to satisfy the "compliance and robustness" rules of whatever digital restrictions management protocol they use.

Comment I doubt most home users have heard of HTPC (Score 2) 64

Seriously who bothers with the crapware built into a tv anyway? Just use it as a dumb screen and attach other devices to it.

First, the user needs to know that "a cheap little computer" exists and can be connected to a TV. Walmart and Best Buy haven't been doing a good job of marketing these to the public. Second, the user needs the spare time to learn to administer yet another computer. Third, the user needs to be satisfied with some services limiting streams to 480p because a desktop computer running Linux and Firefox has a low "integrity level" in Widevine.

Comment Re:Only 2.5Gbps? (Score 1) 39

Clouds will depend on the frequency.

X-Ray lasers are extremely difficult but they exist. Stepping down from extremely difficult to merely difficult may have some merit.

Whether it's worth the cost will be interesting. Microsats is curious - geostationary would be an easier place to start without the steering complexity.

An interesting project for sure.

Comment Re:9WM? (Score 2) 46

> All that stuff has to react rapidly

Just to add color ... equipment that has to do a lot of work quickly, even if intermittently, has a huge draw. Like your well pump or air conditioner when it starts up.

Now imagine you need to start a few dozen air conditioners simultaneously. The startup energy can be 10x the operating energy.

I've been doing the math on some of this for home solar. In my case I can ramp up the voltage over a few seconds but AIUI rockets still need instant action in many cases.

It's possible future reusable spacecraft could be more proactive, lowering costs and necessary chassis strength. Most of our technology starts off brute force and gets refined with more elegance but also more complexity over time. We're still early days in spaceflight.

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