>> ^deathcow:

I'm not saying 10 TB of video. Several TB of astronomical images, etc. Stuff that takes a long time to move around. USB2 is not up to modern requirements for speed.


You are still not answering the question. What is there to get excited about???

Hard drives (SATA 3.0) are topping out at 6Gbps, which means that a typical PC can't get anywhere near the max Thunderbolt speed. USB 3.0 (available right now) peaks at 5Gbps, which is more than most hard drives can handle. PLUS USB 3.0 is backward compatible. In the real world, there will be no noticeable difference between USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt unless you have multiple RAID arrays in close proximity, and are pushing your systems to the limit on a daily basis. It would be about a thousand times more useful to have that kind of speed on your network connections, and 10G ethernet has been around for years!

Thunderbolt is nothing but a small incremental improvement over USB 3.0 that most people will not be able to notice, except for the fact that all their old peripherals won't be compatible.

If you're just geeking out about the new shiny, that's cool. But please just say so.

His wife, daughter and her boyfriend chose to be seen and associated with him in public. Fair game even if it is peripheral damage.

>> ^deathcow:

I'm not following what is obnoxious about silent texting in a movie. Is it the glowy screen? I see maybe 10 movies a year at cinemas but never have a problem with texters. (Never noticed any...)
Waiting for GDGD to downvote my comment.


Nothing enhances the immersion of a good film like a bright moving light in my peripheral vision.

> and a good powerdrill...

yeah!! pshhhaaa how TOXIC could thallium be... come on.

Wikipedia says:

"Because of its use for murder, thallium has gained the nicknames "The Poisoner's Poison" and "Inheritance Powder" (alongside arsenic).[3]"

"Thallium and its compounds are extremely toxic, and should be handled with great care. There are numerous recorded cases of fatal thallium poisoning.[44] Contact with skin is dangerous, and adequate ventilation should be provided when melting this metal. Thallium(I) compounds have a high aqueous solubility and are readily absorbed through the skin. Exposure to them should not exceed 0.1 mg per m2 of skin in an 8-hour time-weighted average (40-hour work week). Thallium is a suspected human carcinogen.[45] For a long time thallium compounds were easily available as rat poison. This fact and that it is water soluble and nearly tasteless led to frequent intoxications caused by accident or criminal intent.[18]"

"Among the distinctive effects of thallium poisoning are loss of hair (which led to its initial use as a depilatory before its toxicity was properly appreciated) and damage to peripheral nerves (victims may experience a sensation of walking on hot coals). Thallium was once an effective murder weapon before its effects became understood, and an antidote (Prussian blue) discovered.[3]"


No more than 100 micrograms per square meter of skin per 8 hour work day !!!!

there's also another very cool visual illusion is going on.
concentrate on watching middle balls and with your peripheral vision you should see that the lowest ball is turning blue color.

I just thought I'd point out that I've ran my main computer (of course I'm a hardware geek, so I know my stuff--no conflicts is another way to put it) for 4 years on Vista SP2 64-Bit WITHOUT ONE CRASH (this is a: on for 24/7 as it acts as a media server and Windows Media Center Extender-provider)! Now I'm on Win 7 64-Bit and same deal, nothing, no problems, no crashes, and I have my fair share of peripherals plugged in.

People need to realize that somewhere towards the end of Vista and into Windows 7 Microsoft has taken their crappy old software and made it work extremely well, considering what it has to do. It has drivers for virtually everything and if your a scientist, engineer, or something similar you're using Windows for this very reason: Windows will recognize your device and allow you to write a driver to let you do whatever you need it to do; easily!

People are afraid to switch out Windows XP. They're expecting to go through all the hassle only to get the same crap. But, Windows 7 is definitely a new breed of design for Microsoft. You can tell the old guys must have been canned or given an epiphany inducing lashing by Bill: Bill was retired from production for a long time, but when Vista came out, it literally pissed him off (as he was trying to use it himself) and there was a big bust-up/fight internally; so in a way I'm glad Vista started out as a complete and utter piece of crap that performed as well as a brick in a GrandPrix race. It led to Windows 7 and the service packs that made Vista very usable.

Again, back to why Windows IS successful even when it was crashing... You can right your own driver AND IT WORKS. Now days it works great, and the development software is pretty straight forward and is fairly good. That is the one thing he should point out in the video is the extremes Microsoft went to (and still does), to get an OS that would do everything. Yeah, it crashed and was buggy, but realistically you won't be running your new hardware on a MacOS. People with MacOS's (in the past especially) are one trick pony users. They do music or they do art. They don't need a virtual driver that supports incoming data from a USB blender/centrifuge that will let you write a program using the driver to tamper with the spin and modulation rate of the device while getting real-time data updates. Hell, the roving "Doppler on Wheels" uses Windows for this very reason.

Microsoft takes a lot of flak, but they filled their role very well and I was never surprised that it was buggy (however, I'll totally agree that the initial version of Vista was a complete an utter joke--like I said I didn't get it till they had their second service pack and had great user feedback; especially, since I went 64-bit).

Windows 7 though IS the OS to use or some sort of Linux distribution. But, with the great support built in, right off the bat (this time) and the easy to make drivers for developers and hardware vendors, it's getting hard to find a reason to not use it other than: "I hate Windows and/or Bill Gates".

Thought I'd write this bit if people didn't know the story or reasons why the latest Windows have changed direction so drastically.

>> ^deathcow:

I am doing the AVR thing right now, but not with Arduino.


I work with AVR in C/ASM as well, which is why Arduino initially annoyed me. The Arduino system forces you to use a large pre-loaded library, which assumes lots of bloaty things, like non-native 16bit math, so any low level work, like software uarts, or anything else highly time dependant is much more of a pain to implement.

Of course you can always do inline ASM, if you need to count the timing.

I tend to proto with my Ardunio, and then port over to an attiny once my other circuitry is working. It especially useful for doing proof of concept before you put too much time into something.

The best thing about these boards: they are cheap. I had to drop >$100 to get a devel board and chips, and necessary peripheral components when I started doing AVR 6 years ago. Now somebody can get in the door for <$20 and they can be up and running in less than an hour, with only the most basic understanding of programming, and a common usb cable.

GIMMICK! Gaming always has these cycles of little peripherals, control schemes, etc. that at best contribute a few fun experiences, but are always are advertised as revolutionary, incredible things that will forever change way we play games.

Some examples:
Nintendo Power Glove (NES) - worthless as a controller, for any purpose

Light Gun (NES) - Games worth playing that used the light gun: Duck Hunt

Super Scope (SNES) - the Super Nintendo version of the light gun, minus anything worthwhile to play with it

3D/"Virtual Reality" goggles, Virtual Boy (var.) - the next "big thing" is always 3D displays through glasses or head-mounted displays. Reality: the hardware has always detracted from the experience, ranging from mildly annoying at best to instant motion sickness / vomit-inducing nightmare. Good 3D software engines displayed on a flat 2D screen actually *did* revolutionize gaming in a way these likely never will.

Dance Pad/Mat control (Dance Dance Revolution, etc.) - Makes kids exercise! Watch all the fatties lose weight! Sound familiar? Reality: niche appeal, niche market, fatties stay fat

Guitar Hero guitar controllers - Kids learn to appreciate music! They can develop musical talent! Reality: learn to play a faster-paced, vaguely guitar shaped version of Simon!


I don't mean to suggest that some of these things aren't fun. However, I think this sort of thing is guaranteed to have at best a pretty quick flash-in-the-pan sort of popularity. The best ones are instances where the peripheral is designed to work and work well with one given game or type of game, and the cost of that niche input method is just added in to the price of the game it was designed for.

To me, Nintendo was insane to base the entire market viability of the Wii around motion control. Competitors will develop their own solutions (Kinect, for example) and steal away some of the surge of motion control novelty attraction. Once the novelty wears off people will realize that the controllers, keyboard and mouse, joysticks etc. that have been used as input methods for 30+ years have been around that long because they aren't gimmicks, they actually *(&%ing work.

/rant over
//get off my lawn

I can do all those things with a mouse. Ok, it looks cool, but its like a flying car. Totally badass but probably completely impractical. When they show me something that I couldn't easily do with current peripherals then I'll be impressed, atm I feel like any innovation is hamstringed by this bizarre habit of trying to make movie sets. I know I know, life imitates art imitates life etc, but heres another one. Necessity is the mother of invention. Where is the necessity here?

If built then F1 drivers would need to learn how not to black out out on hairpins, and how to pass without peripheral vision and how to recover from the 'funky chicken' due to g-forces. This is a video games only car.

OK, the fear and darkness are peripheral. >> ^rgroom1:

I'm not trying to be subversive, but I find some inappropriate channel assignments.
nochannel asia wtf kids music livemusic

As a Rider, to me this is a great vid because it illustrates that you can be as prepared as you want but the dangers still exist.

Drivers don't see motorcycles - It's a fact!
A cyclist can take all the precautions in the world but they are still sitting ducks out there.

When I ride - I hold by one simple rule.
All other vehicles are trying to hit you - don't give them that chance.
This means: NEVER ride in a blind spot
Always assume that car at the intersection is going to pull out in front of you.
Peripheral vision is reduced in a helmet, take the time to look properly.
Always Ride with traffic, cars are not pylons to weave through.
Hold your lane - ride on the inside (not the shoulder side) of the road.
Avoid tunnel vision, like in a car, always watch everything - you need ten times the alertness on a bike!

And yes, we all know it was fake - no one claimed it wasn't - Funny? maybe not, but it still makes a point.
As a non-German speaker, maybe this is one time where language barrier enhances the video, we don't get caught up on unimportant things like diction and just see the message!

That each packet is treated equally is a fundamental underpinning of the freedom of the internet. It's basic, it's easy to understand, and it's easy to see that if that one law is broken, the internet is no longer free.

Yes, telecom/media conglomeration is a _huge_ problem. But it is only peripherally related to this problem in that without any sort of intervening measures all corporations would (will) implement net-neutrality-destroying policies.

Human communication from and to each person on the planet must not be regulated by any forces, and net neutrality is exactly the measure that is needed to prevent this.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Actually, my favourite character was Richmond the Goth - I thought Noel Fielding played this well. "The Dinner Party" episode was hilarious. "I only drink Absinthe".

Roy and Moss are characters I care about- but I agree that they could invest more in the actual character development- and story some story arc please! If Roy broke up with his GF in the first episode- why is it never mentioned again? I also agree that Katherine's character is a real weak link.

>> ^Deano:

Hey, let's not be like that - I don't mind anyone getting a kick out of a sitcom and I'm not going to rant on them if they don't like say, Seinfeld. But let me get a little more specific as to why I feel the I.T Crowd hasn't really worked.
I agree those eps had their moments but you're probably looking at the very, very best bits there. The Outing relied on broad, farcical humour which you can't use to sustain a series and had nothing to do with the situation of the show (which is supposed to be where the humour comes from).
But mostly I don't see where the gags are most of the time. Having a bloke pretend like he's from The Matrix and not giving him any jokes means you're putting A LOT on the actor. And most of the time this show does not get the balance of jokes and performances right.
In The Final Countdown Roy doesn't want to be mistaken for a window cleaner by an aquaintance. But because the antagonist is so sketchily drawn along there isn't anything at stake nor is there a payoff. And like most of the principals the guy playing Roy doesn't have the comedic acting chops to pull this off. A similar situation in Seinfeld would have worked because Jason Alexander (this would be a George situation) can turn average material into gold. And I'm beginning to wonder what Katherine Parkinson is supposed to be doing - her character doesn't develop and her storylines are as flimsy as can be.
It's interesting that Linehan co-wrote Father Ted which was much better than the I.T Crowd and is solely responsible for this.
I'll say this again - the best thing about the show is Matt Berry. He's clearly having fun and has a character that could go places. The show should be about him or some similar nutcase and the guys in the basement should be peripheral characters. I'm glad that Noel Fielding and Chris Morris appear to be gone as they were bloody awful.

>> ^kymbos:
Haven't seen the new series, but there are a few episodes of the earlier series' that are as close to perfect comedy as it gets. The one where they go to see Gay - the Gay Musical is brilliant, and the one where the boss starts going out with the woman who used to be a man. And the one where the old boss dies and they have his funeral.
If you don't find it funny (in general), I honestly pity you.

Hey, let's not be like that - I don't mind anyone getting a kick out of a sitcom and I'm not going to rant on them if they don't like say, Seinfeld. But let me get a little more specific as to why I feel the I.T Crowd hasn't really worked.

I agree those eps had their moments but you're probably looking at the very, very best bits there. The Outing relied on broad, farcical humour which you can't use to sustain a series and had nothing to do with the situation of the show (which is supposed to be where the humour comes from).

But mostly I don't see where the gags are most of the time. Having a bloke pretend like he's from The Matrix and not giving him any jokes means you're putting A LOT on the actor. And most of the time this show does not get the balance of jokes and performances right.

In The Final Countdown Roy doesn't want to be mistaken for a window cleaner by an aquaintance. But because the antagonist is so sketchily drawn along there isn't anything at stake nor is there a payoff. And like most of the principals the guy playing Roy doesn't have the comedic acting chops to pull this off. A similar situation in Seinfeld would have worked because Jason Alexander (this would be a George situation) can turn average material into gold. And I'm beginning to wonder what Katherine Parkinson is supposed to be doing - her character doesn't develop and her storylines are as flimsy as can be.

It's interesting that Linehan co-wrote Father Ted which was much better than the I.T Crowd and is solely responsible for this.

I'll say this again - the best thing about the show is Matt Berry. He's clearly having fun and has a character that could go places. The show should be about him or some similar nutcase and the guys in the basement should be peripheral characters. I'm glad that Noel Fielding and Chris Morris appear to be gone as they were bloody awful.


>> ^kymbos:

Haven't seen the new series, but there are a few episodes of the earlier series' that are as close to perfect comedy as it gets. The one where they go to see Gay - the Gay Musical is brilliant, and the one where the boss starts going out with the woman who used to be a man. And the one where the old boss dies and they have his funeral.
If you don't find it funny (in general), I honestly pity you.