What kind of crazy aspect ratio is this?

I like it.

>> ^BoneRemake:

"Euler's Disk" is a trademark for a product manufactured and distributed by the "Damert Company" (Toysmith Group), consisting of a metal disk, a base having an upwards-facing concave mirror, and holographic, patterned magnetic stickers. One or more magnetic stickers may be attached to the top surface of the disk. The disk, when spun on the mirror, exhibits a spinning/rolling motion. Euler’s Disk has an optimized aspect ratio and precision polished, rounded edges to maximize the spinning/rolling time. A coin spun on a table, or any disc spun on a relatively flat surface, exhibits essentially the same type of motion.
A spinning/rolling disk ultimately comes to rest; and it does so quite abruptly, the final stage of motion being accompanied by a whirring sound of rapidly increasing frequency. As the disk rolls, the point P of rolling contact describes a circle that oscillates with a constant angular velocity ω. If the motion is non-dissipative, ω is constant and the motion persists forever, contrary to observation (since ω is not constant in real life situations).
In the April 20, 2000 edition of Nature, Keith Moffatt shows that viscous dissipation in the thin layer of air between the disk and the table is sufficient to account for the observed abruptness of the settling process. He also showed that the motion concluded in a finite-time singularity.
Moffatt shows that, as time t approaches a particular time t0 (which is mathematically a constant of integration), the viscous dissipation approaches infinity. The singularity that this implies is not realized in practice because the vertical acceleration cannot exceed the acceleration due to gravity in magnitude. Moffatt goes on to show that the theory breaks down at a time τ before the final settling time t0, given by
\tau\simeq\left(2a/9g\right)^{3/5} \left(2\pi\mu a/M\right)^{1/5}
where a is the radius of the disk, g is the acceleration due to Earth's gravity, μ the dynamic viscosity of air, and M the mass of the disk. For the commercial toy (see link below), τ is about 10 − 2 seconds, at which \alpha\simeq 0.005 and the rolling angular velocity \Omega\simeq 500\rm Hz.
Using the above notation, the total spinning time is
t_0=\left(\frac{\alpha_0^3}{2\pi}\right)\frac{M}{\mu a}
where α0 is the initial inclination of the disk. Moffatt also showed that, if t0 − t > τ, the finite-time singularity in Ω is given by.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_disk


Nerd.

"Euler's Disk" is a trademark for a product manufactured and distributed by the "Damert Company" (Toysmith Group), consisting of a metal disk, a base having an upwards-facing concave mirror, and holographic, patterned magnetic stickers. One or more magnetic stickers may be attached to the top surface of the disk. The disk, when spun on the mirror, exhibits a spinning/rolling motion. Euler’s Disk has an optimized aspect ratio and precision polished, rounded edges to maximize the spinning/rolling time. A coin spun on a table, or any disc spun on a relatively flat surface, exhibits essentially the same type of motion.

A spinning/rolling disk ultimately comes to rest; and it does so quite abruptly, the final stage of motion being accompanied by a whirring sound of rapidly increasing frequency. As the disk rolls, the point P of rolling contact describes a circle that oscillates with a constant angular velocity ω. If the motion is non-dissipative, ω is constant and the motion persists forever, contrary to observation (since ω is not constant in real life situations).

In the April 20, 2000 edition of Nature, Keith Moffatt shows that viscous dissipation in the thin layer of air between the disk and the table is sufficient to account for the observed abruptness of the settling process. He also showed that the motion concluded in a finite-time singularity.

Moffatt shows that, as time t approaches a particular time t0 (which is mathematically a constant of integration), the viscous dissipation approaches infinity. The singularity that this implies is not realized in practice because the vertical acceleration cannot exceed the acceleration due to gravity in magnitude. Moffatt goes on to show that the theory breaks down at a time τ before the final settling time t0, given by

\tau\simeq\left(2a/9g\right)^{3/5} \left(2\pi\mu a/M\right)^{1/5}

where a is the radius of the disk, g is the acceleration due to Earth's gravity, μ the dynamic viscosity of air, and M the mass of the disk. For the commercial toy (see link below), τ is about 10 − 2 seconds, at which \alpha\simeq 0.005 and the rolling angular velocity \Omega\simeq 500\rm Hz.

Using the above notation, the total spinning time is

t_0=\left(\frac{\alpha_0^3}{2\pi}\right)\frac{M}{\mu a}

where α0 is the initial inclination of the disk. Moffatt also showed that, if t0 − t > τ, the finite-time singularity in Ω is given by.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_disk

"DVD" quality, with an improper aspect ratio. *eye-roll*

Indeed - thanks for the promote, Zonbie, and thanks for coming in to discuss your armor, mawrtron! I realize looking back at my comments that I was snarky as usual - please consider that directed at the Mega Hyper Luxury HALO editions that they put out, which I can't stand.

Mawrtron, how long did it take you to create the armor?

>> ^mawrtron:

Hey mad my armors on this site. Its good to see a bit of feed back... I had to upload another vid because the aspect ratio is wrong in this video.
Everything looks short and wide. Inlcuding my ass. Theres a better version here. Check it out.


>> ^Zonbie:

promote - hehe happy geekery is always good

Hey mad my armors on this site. Its good to see a bit of feed back... I had to upload another vid because the aspect ratio is wrong in this video.
Everything looks short and wide. Inlcuding my ass. Theres a better version here. Check it out.

I want my aspect ratio back

I hate it when they screw up the aspect ratio. Correct one is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI8oHZDJYuA

>> ^spoco2:

So.. yeah... That's why I don't like the iPad. For what it's MARKETED as, it's shit.
For all the other things you could use it for over and above that... it's nice tech



Ahhh, so the truth comes out then. It's what it has been marketed for that bugs you and a lot of other people.

My only question about that is, Why Do You Give One Shit?

I mean, marketing is the very last thing I ever pay attention to in anything that I purchase. Hell, the entire hacker manifesto is based on using things the way you want, to achieve something other than its intended purpose. Marketing is the darkest form of evil, in my book. (Cue Bill Hicks rant about marketers). But then again, I don't have cable television, so I never see any advertisements anyway, and even when they're online, I just don't watch them.


I'll quickly debate your points:

1- Emailing/Typing - Yes, it's a bit awkward at first, but then again I learned the weird graffiti language for PalmOS back in the day, and we all learned T9. Putting this thing on my lap at an airport isn't the best experience ever, but it beats the hell out of using my phone, or having to lug a laptop around everywhere.

2- Movies - Again, it's not as awesome as my 52" 1080p at home. But it's not supposed to be. It's a smaller screen, and maybe not your ideal aspect ratio, but again, in bed or on the train it's a hell of a lot better than a laptop.

3- Photos - Yep. It's awesome, and I'm an avid photographer. Thing looks stunning.

4- Books - Again with the traveling thing. Being able to carry 100 books on a plane is fantastic. Doesn't beat an actual printed book, but it's a fanastic in-between.

5- Web - You and I can argue about Flash all day (I used to use Flash to build websites too, even worked on one of the very first Flash cartoons ever, through Macromedia/Spumco) Sometimes it's a bummer you can't watch a video, but I just change my browsing habits. I don't really miss Flash at all. Again, this is while traveling, or sitting in my garden, where I just read some blogs and visit videosift, respond to some emails, etc.

But, these are all complaints you have with the way Jobs likes to run his marketing. Me, I just don't pay any attention, and figure out how these bloody things can be integrated into my life. Again, I don't care one shit if the thing has an Apple logo, a Dell logo, or a freakin' McDonald's logo. Just give me the technology and I'll use it the way I want.


btw: This is all coming from a jailbroken T-Mobile iPhone PineApple user.

I can definitely see the cool things you can do with it @volumptuous, hell, I can see a number of things it would be good for. BUT... my issue is what it's being marketed at, and therefore what it's being bought for in the most part:
The ads tout these things as being great to do on it:
* Emailing/writing: except if you're holding it you can only one finger peck, or if you're sitting on the couch you have to sit with your legs on an angle so you can have it at a comfortable angle for typing. Jobs showed how awkward it is on stage.
* Movie watching: It's a horrible resolution at a 4:3 aspect ratio... just horrible all round. (Although it is a nice quality screen)
* Photo viewing: Ok... yeah, I can see it would be great for showing your photos to people
* Book reading: I'm still out on the whole e-book thing, but it is kinda pretty. But my GOD I hate how excited people get about the whole page turning thing, like that hasn't been in pretty much every flash catalogue reader on the web for years...
* Surfing the web: Jobs has the gall to say it's the best web surfing experience you'll ever have. Bullshit. Without flash it is not. He tries to put HTML5 as the solution for everything, but that's utter crap for at least another couple of years. THIS is my space, I code rich internet applications, have been doing so for more than 10 years. And I can tell you right now that Flash is a godsend. Once you are forced to have a gazillion little bits of code that switch based on which browser your targeting because each damn browser handles html slightly differently and displays things a bit differently... THEN you will never want to do anything remotely complex in html if you can help it.

Bloody current HTML is still like this. If the previous version of html is not handled the same across all browsers, how can we expect HTML5 to? So screw him for just saying 'Nope, HTML5 can do it all, we're not supporting Flash, even though it gives you a consistent experience across all platforms... NOPE, that's TOO EASY'.

So.. yeah... That's why I don't like the iPad. For what it's MARKETED as, it's shit.

For all the other things you could use it for over and above that... it's nice tech

HD is just a consumer level term and probably what VideoSift should stick to in aiming to be accessible. Usually it implies 720p (another consumer term!) and up, with the actual height (by which I mean width) of the resolution depending on the aspect ratio (16:9, or 16:10 or 4:3 ...).

I think it's a good idea purely for attracting a bigger audience. It's like having tags for Facebook, Buzz, Stumble. The vast majority of users don't use it or use it sparingly but it serves the same purpose of attracting the unwashed masses.

The vast majority of the content on here is usually political/comedy, and you either know it will be HD because it's an embed from a broadcast or network or you know it won't be already. Usually it doesn't matter either way, there's (relatively) very few arty sifts here that really benefit from HD. But hey, more information is never bad, I wouldn't mind knowing ahead of time, although I don't really care either way.

Seems it fits more with NSFW/long/short than with channel categories. Channels relate to a description of the content matter, the tags describe format. HD is clearly a type of format. As far as it being phased out in the future, surely it's just as easy to wipe clean the tag as it is the channels?

Oh I should probably read other people's replies before making the exact same points.

>> ^dag:
On second thought- maybe they did think about the aspect ratio and figured it worked best like this:
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/12/apple-rolls-out-ibooks-feature-pag
e/


I don't see how that excuses anything, it would work just as well with a widescreen display... and it still ignores movies, which they like to show so much in their ads.

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

On second thought- maybe they did think about the aspect ratio and figured it worked best like this:
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/12/apple-rolls-out-ibooks-feature-page/

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

@spoco. I agree that I can't understand what they were thanking with that aspect ratio. Both movies and books have longer form factor- it doesn't make sense to me.

On the other points- I disagree- but you know I do. I'm putting this on the official record- that I think the iPad is going to be huge.

screwed aspect ratio.
stupid horrible, big-ass logo added.

this is the correct one.
if you switch, I'll +promote