illa romza

Friend of mine at work bought the Zune. First thing that hit me was the "poop" brown color - uck. It had a rubbery feel (guess it won't slip from your hands) like the protectors you can get for the ipod. Was hard to get in and out of my back pocket due to the coating and brick thickness.

I like that it played your videos landscape, though navagation became tricky.

For all its bells and whistles I wouldn't buy it. Design matters. If it didn't i'd still be using my anti skip cd- mp3 player. I own a nano and have had every generation ipod except the first and the zune seems like the 1st generation ipod in respect to design and clunkiness. Microsoft should stick with the xbox

OK, so apparently you don't have experience with automatics...



But yet you have an opinion on how superior your choice of manuals is.
I had the same thought. Then again, I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

One step closer to a MBA refresh.

Exactly what I always think in news posts like this :D

Also, some uses of a program make it easy to use multithreading, and others don't. As an example, if you use Handbrake to do H.264 encoding, it is work for the developers to use multiple cores (it has been posted here that it uses three cores) for encoding a single movie, but it would be absolutely easy to use four times as many cores to encode four movies simultaneously.

Something like that would be perfect if you want to encode four half hour movies, but awful if you want to encode a single two hour movie.I'm sorry but I don't understand what you mean. :confused: I'm kind of anti-H.264 because of how bloated the file sizes get when you use that format and because many viewers don't have H.264 players outside the Mac community. I'd rather target a file size and/or bit rate with good old fashioned universally viewable 2-pass FFmpeg encoding than not be able to do so for an H.264 encode.

My point that Handbrake could use up to 3 cores was that you could have that happening while encoding a DVD image with Toast using another 4 cores if you had an 8-core Mac without a performace-speed hit. As soon as a third process is instigated, all the programs would have to share restricted core limits but get a bunch of stuff done without us having to baby sit the queue.

I am confused by what you think about encoding 4 programs simultaneously vs. one alone. 4 simultaneously will take longer but be possilbe on the 8-core while much slower on the 4-core Macs. While one on a 4-core will do fine by itself, problem is as soon as you start doing anything else, it's speed is compromized while in an 8-core system that would-should not be the case. Does that make any sense?

I think it's way to early to make any judgments regarding Zune sales. Let's see what the numbers look like after Christmas.

5 years ago, Zune, in it's current form, might have been a hit.. but not in todays market. Especially considering folks who have lots of money tied up in MP3's aren't going to be real interested in throwing them away, and starting all over again.. or spend countless hours converting thousands of files.

I don't find it ugly, but I sure don't care for the brown color. What I noticed most about the Zune is that it feels and looks cheap in person. Like what i'd expect a mockup or prototype unit to look and feel like. From a distance, it looks fine.. you get close up, and.. well.. not so nice.

Almost like they rushed it to market in time for the '06 Holiday buying season.

Apple has the portable MP3 player market locked up.. with models in all but the lowest price ranges.. and the Zune sure is no immediate threat.

Comparisons of the Zune to the Xbox are not really fair.. they are two entirely different products.

Microsoft (as well as Sony and Nintendo) can sell the unit itself for at or below their actual cost, because where they make the real money isn't in selling the game console, but in selling the games and accessories.

With MP3 players, you have to make money on the product sale, because there is no guarantee the end user will buy all their music from your 'store'.

Zune specs are subject to change.. as are most retail products. Don't forget that when the iPod was first introduced, it only worked with Macs.. then they made a Windows version.. then finally they made an iPod that worked with either computer.

I expect a new version of the Zune by spring.. with new features, and less restriction.

This poster
http://images5.cpcache.com/product/71837185v4_350x350_Front.jpg

My daily driver is a Civic FD1:
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4709/evofdsignew.th.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/i/evofdsignew.jpg/)

My weekend car is an Evo X MR:
http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/9220/45678869185b36fc843ao.th.jpg (http://img714.imageshack.us/i/45678869185b36fc843ao.jpg/)

Evos are awesome cars! How fast is your model 0-60

Oh, and I'm gonna try to get pics of the smoked tails on my G37S (not pictured in my first post)


EDIT:
Back of my car

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e137/SaMaster14/IMG_0212.jpg

Is Al Frankin running for president again? :rolleyes:

At least he's got a birth certificate. Although I think it refers to Stewart Smalley or something like that.

Watch this issue to be linked to net neutrality in a heartbeat, and the logical .. cough: BS cough: .. conclusion that the government should make all rules for consumer devices and electronic signals.

The BDR-101 is actually a writer as well as a reader, and to be fair at $1000 [or rather around �650.00 over this side of the pond] it's pretty well priced when considering the cost of the first batch of DVD writers, eg. the Pioneer DVR-S201 authoring drive that retailed at a whacking cost of �12,000! General media writers were by definition significantly cheaper, but I recall purchasing our first DVD-R writer at a cost of around �350.00, with DVD-R5 blank media at around �15.00 a pop - so the economies of scale, etc., IMO makes BD at a pretty good starting point.

As for the Sony BD story I feel a lot of people are indeed watching how well the PS3 takes off to then try and validate the outcome and success of BD. But as you rightly said it's historic and as with the PS2 being such a huge success story which then solidified the consumer need for DVD as a new medium; certainly in Japan the green lights shone very brightly for DVD as a consequence of the PS2 success story!

But all in all personally speaking I hope BD wins; from a technical viewpoint it's able to offer a lot of new and quite exciting features that aren't possible on HD-DVD. And I know my next statement is probably going to cause controversy but HD-DVD is [in simple terms] simply a DVD-Video, but with larger capacity! I know that's generalising A LOT!!

Yes, HD-DVD requires a lot less re-tooling for replication houses, which in turn means it's cheaper to bring to market BUT BD has a lot to offer and I hope and prey it's given a chance!

Anyway, here's to hoping... ;)

While im all for BR, I don't think the PS3 will be the #1 promoter for it, and I don't thnk the PS2 did all that much. For a few weeks maybe it was my only DVD player when another broke or when we moved one into another room to make way for a new one that hadn't arrived- but really it is limited- not necessarily going to be the best quality BR player, and to be honest, people will buy it because it's a game console. I think that in the future it will be multipurpose devices yet again, yes, but of a different sort. I'm now on my 2nd DVD burner TiVo and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've burned over 60 DVDs worth so far. If someone makes one Blu-Ray, i'll be all over it as soon as I can afford it. And who knows, the tech savvy may head more for media center computers to drive their home theaters?
So while I think that devices with multiple funcitons will have an effect here, I don't think the PS3 will drive BR to domination on its own.

Did you buy the 1.66 or 1.83 model? Would You Mind Comparative Testing It Against Your Dual 2 G5 Please? I need to know if it is in fact faster even at these slower speeds. I have a spare Dual 2 G5 here now I got at Fry's for $864.26 a few weeks ago. I need to know how it stacks up to a mini in performance.

When I was at Fry's yesterday, I tried a few things on a 1.83 MacBook and found it to be much slower than I expected - I think slower than the dual 2 G5. What do you think? Can you put them side by side and run some comparisons?

I wouldn't do the comparison like that, the Dual G5 does offer you drive bays and expansion capabilities that you do not get with the Mini. I will take the G5 over the Mini at that price you got it for.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/80/211502142_db3000b150.jpg?v=0

damn Son, very nicely done!:cool:

From what I recall, Philips began working on the compact disk project and Sony later on joined them in that venture.

It was originally made by Philips, but the CD we know today is a Philips/Sony Co-Op.

And, regarding the BetaMax... It was actually quite succesfull. Yes, it failed in consumer-space, but it's still being used in television-productions.

Just keep in mind Sony's hit/miss ratio for standardization.;)

Is it REALLY that bad? BetaMax wasn 't really a failure, since it's widely used even today. It's just not used by consumers. Sony was very important in creating the CD. They do have to misses that can't be denied: Memory Stick and MiniDisk.

Other companies might have less misses in these things, but we must acknowledge that none of them has been as active in coming up with alternatives. I haven't really seen Matsushita (for example) try to come up with new stuff. Sony has tried to come up with new stuff. Some of the succeeded, some of them failed.

Who gives a flying-you-know-what about an iPod with wireless capabilities?

What, so the transfer speeds can be even slower?
So someone can use terrible sounding, cheap bluetooth headphones?

What is the point of wireless in an iPod? These sound like rumors started by technically-inept, idiot investors who are trying to sell Apple stock to their technically-inept, idiot clients.

Macrumors: remember that part of your slogan where it says rumors "you care about"???

Next please.

or possibly so you can purchase music etc whilst out and about or even share your music between you and your friends ipods?

Those two functions alone seem attractive to me.

EDIT: Why couldn't they make ipods with mini solar cells in like calculators?

Avoid that BMW like the plague.

German + high miles = no way

Been there, done that, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Shame on me.

I'd rather take my chances with an old pile of an American car, because at least it will be cheaper to fix constantly.

Old BMWs are great if you like $1000 surprises. For the price you'll pay in repairs, you could have a car 2.5 times more expensive with a regular, planned, budgeted payment.

Actually, you're wrong on both premise. On crowded roads, manuals are better. No need to constantly hit the brakes, you can better control a car's speed with a manual with compression and clutch manipulation. In traffic, I hardly ever touch the brakes.

On straight roads, manual is again better. For passing, a quick throttle blip/downshift gives you better boost than waiting for an automatic to kick in as you stomp the pedal.
Valid points however, anyone driving in stop and go traffic will tell you automatics are a lot easier on the knees. Also, after a tiring day at work the last thing I wanted to do was drive a stick in that mess.

Also, you can downshift in an automatic as well. Most people don't do that though.

Any driving enthousiast doesn't mind a clutch and a stick, no matter the situation.
I think you mean most driving enthusiasts in most situations.

Kill it!!!!!

Apple needs to get away from making such a big deal our of small updates (processor change) as Intel will have such things changing more often than motorola or ibm ever did. apple should reserve such announcements and hoopla for major revisions or complete overhauls. based on recent benchmarks there is little performance improvement in these new chips save for the speed bump.

Which is what Apple did with the "silent update" for the iMacs from CD to C2D. Likely what will happen (this coming morning??) with the MBP update to C2D.

Probably save the keynote announcements for truely new products and major upgrades.

Sure beats the "bad old days" of Moto and IBM processors, every 6-18 months.......

iBorg

I predict:

iLife '07 - 'Coverflow' integrated into iWeb and iPhoto, new & improved iWeb features, more themes for iMovie and iDVD.

iWork '07 - Pages and keynote updated, plus a spreadsheet app to take over from the now defunct Appleworks.

An extended Leopard preview, some new features and possibly a new UI(?)

iPod and iTunes - more movie studios added to the store, also available outside the US, slight revision to iPod range (increased storage?) - full-screen iPod event to follow in a month or two for full media coverage effect.

iTV - named and demoed, available today (but shipping in a month!)

One more thing - the Apple phone (all of those rumours must mean something)


I'm probably completely wrong, but I would be happy with movies and maybe TV shows on the UK iTunes Store!

It's just time for us to be mature adults and walk away from this. We know this guy is an ignoramus. We know Apple doesn't need saving. We know that as far as corporations go Apple couldn't be much healthier. We know what Apple's target market is, and that a cheap computer won't accomplish anything. Most importantly, we know we won't change iMacjapan's mind. He's stubborn and he's not listening. Why risk carpal tunnel on it? How about those NHL playoffs? I predict San Jose will take the Blues in 6 games.

i agree....

i just want to know if this will replace the airport express.

Don't think it will replace the Airtunes but be a product of it's own.
There will be an updated Airport though..802.11n.

Thats awesome.....They attempted to give me a ticket for doing about 100mph in a residential zone a few years ago...was actually doing it too.. When they tried to speak to me I pretended to not know english( handed him a PA license) I kept speaking to him in pig latin and pretending I didn't understand...meanwhile he was ready haul us off to the Klink...LOL He eventually got so pissed off he got in his cruiser and left. What I didn't know was they filed a complaint with the rental car agency and we where banned from renting from them again...oooohhhh whoptie do da:D:D:D The things a bottle of good tequila will make you do.

Are you familiar with Darwinism?

Windows and Amazon are not a generic names. If Microsoft would have named it "Operating System" then that would be generic. If Amazon were named "Online Store" then that would be generic. I'm sure Amazon could have named App Store something else, but then again, it's such a known term now that instantly helps customers identify what they are looking at.

I like Apple products, but they're beginning to be one of the most anal companies out there.

Actually windows is generic - a windows OS is an operating system with a GUI that uses a desktop and windows (such as finder, word processors etc) developed by XEROX and first mass produced for the Apple Lisa. The generic term for that type of OS among others was windows OS - then Microsoft came out with a windowing OS and called it Windows and trademarked it. Microsoft is actually arguing against Apple exactly what they did years ago. Back on topic though - it doesn't matter - Amazon is using it while Apple has already filed for the mark. The courts will settle this and if it goes to Apple, Amazon will pay big and have to change their name. Would have been simpler to just change their name to begin with.

Brian Tong also claims to have dated women and have friends...both statements are so obviously contradicted by his horrible fashion sense and self destructive tendency to embarrass himself with every spoken word. He looks like a Shaolin Monk merged with Amy Winehouse.

I'm glad I wasn't drinking water when I read your reply. It is flat out hilarious!

Ace!

One a separate note: who gave this article a negative?:mad: Probably someone wanting more iphone/ipad/ios rumours.:p

Yes, a 30 second observation of people surfing FB on their Macbook (pros) is sufficient for me to assume that they are not performing complex video rendering or multi-filter Photoshop layering.

Laptops are not Pro machines. A 13" laptop with shared memory and a glossy screen is not professional. Unless your profession is being a writer. The "pro" moniker is a marketing ploy.

I realize the 15" and 17" are more powerful, but you still can't edit 4K RED footage on one, for example. But a Mac Pro? There's nothing professional you can throw at it that it can't do.

If you walked by someone using a high-end machine and they happened to be underutilizing their resources for a few seconds, would you also say the same thing?

I agree 100% that it's a marketing tactic. And you never specified size, that does make a difference. But I'm sure you you can find many people, both here and in the real world, that use 15" and 17" for heavy-duty, professional use in the field and can attest to it. There have been plenty of instances where I have seen them put to use. Perhaps your standards are higher. Yes, there is a tradeoff in resources between a laptop and a desktop. But don't knock a fully-blown 17" MacBook Pro because someone is casually using it in a public place.


Also, regarding the car metaphor: put your 400hp car up against a NASCAR or Formula 1 vehicle and see how well it does on the racetrack against other REAL professional cars.

The car is nice, I'm sure, but is not a vehicle doing professional high performance driving. The same is true of macbook pros. They're solid machines, but they are not professional performance machines.

The NASCAR and F1 cars are not consumer, road-driven vehicles. This is like comparing a Mac Pro to the giant supercomputers that run NASA. Keep in mind, there are varying degrees of professionality (I may have made that word up).