The General Technology Thread

[JettaKnight]

Touching on the unspoken scientific/biology side of this thread... my wife just figured out she has Aphantasia.

She can't imagine things and see them... whereas I can see anything I want, manipulate it, impose it into the world, hear things, smell things, even convince myself I'm feeling touch sensations...

Was an interesting ride home from work conversation. Asking her weird questions, she definitely couldn't give a clear answer

Apparently affects 1-3% of people. Here's a goofy video she found today that sort of explains it. Like your brain computer not having a monitor

That has a name, huh?

I got a friend with that same syndrome. He'd try to explain it, and we'd try to understand, ... he'd tell us he can't imagine simple things, or even be able to visualize someones face... nevertheless, the guy is a super smart engineer.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

PSA: Macbook batteries are exploding. Apple has issued a recall, go here to see if yours is affected.

 

[Hop]

^ Dell has been having the same problem for a year now. I am having to get an end user laptop battery replaced about every week. It even just happened on my work laptop.

 

[Phase2]

Microsoft is about to shut off its ebook DRM servers: "The books will stop working"

I don't know if any of you will be directly affected by this. The MS phone operating system was never really competitive with iOS/Android. Microsoft will be shutting down everything related to their ebooks which includes DRM (digital rights management) on July 1st. That will effectively shut off all access to any books they sold through their online store.

Do you laugh at those poor Microsoft fools? Don't get too smug. Think your Kindle, Audible, Nook (Barnes & Noble), Apple/iOS and Google/Android media products are yours? They are only yours as long as those companies continue to support them. You can't give, resell or guarantee that you will have access to those products for the rest of your life. Whenever possible, get only non-DRM media- MP3s (audio), epub (books), etc.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Microsoft is about to shut off its ebook DRM servers: "The books will stop working"

I don't know if any of you will be directly affected by this. The MS phone operating system was never really competitive with iOS/Android. Microsoft will be shutting down everything related to their ebooks which includes DRM (digital rights management) on July 1st. That will effectively shut off all access to any books they sold through their online store.

Do you laugh at those poor Microsoft fools? Don't get too smug. Think your Kindle, Audible, Nook (Barnes & Noble), Apple/iOS and Google/Android media products are yours? They are only yours as long as those companies continue to support them. You can't give, resell or guarantee that you will have access to those products for the rest of your life. Whenever possible, get only non-DRM media- MP3s (audio), epub (books), etc.

Any company worth their salt in this situation does a blanket unlock before they close the doors.

 

[jamil]

Any company worth their salt in this situation does a blanket unlock before they close the doors.

It’s not theirs to give. They work out those deals with the people who own the rights.

 

[Phase2]

It’s not theirs to give. They work out those deals with the people who own the rights.

Exactly. Microsoft was simply selling access to ebooks. They never owned the rights. They were simply enforcing access control for the publishers.

Oh? You thought you owned the ebook? Not so fast buster. Did you read the fine print of your purchase agreement? You actually only purchased a copy for your own personal use with very limited sharing capability, no resale ability, and your access can be revoked for multiple reasons in the future. Just remember that DRM (digital rights management) doesn't give you any rights at all. DRM is about publisher rights.

Also, one detail that I left out of my previous post. Even if you have non-DRM content that you have purchased but only access them "from the cloud", understand that you can lose access to them. To truly protect your purchase/rights, you should download and store them somewhere.

 

[actaeon277]

Exactly. Microsoft was simply selling access to ebooks. They never owned the rights. They were simply enforcing access control for the publishers.

Oh? You thought you owned the ebook? Not so fast buster. Did you read the fine print of your purchase agreement? You actually only purchased a copy for your own personal use with very limited sharing capability, no resale ability, and your access can be revoked for multiple reasons in the future. Just remember that DRM (digital rights management) doesn't give you any rights at all. DRM is about publisher rights.

Also, one detail that I left out of my previous post. Even if you have non-DRM content that you have purchased but only access them "from the cloud", understand that you can lose access to them. To truly protect your purchase/rights, you should download and store them somewhere.

This! This! This!

Music, books, movies.. doesn't matter. If it's on the cloud, you may lose access.
I like the "cloud", but I don't rely on it.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Deepfakes are getting... good

Here's a youtube channel called Ctrl Shift Face that does a lot of them... really, really spot on.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKpH0CKltc73e4wh0_pgL3g

Here's Jim Carrey in The Shining

[video=youtube;HG_NZpkttXE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG_NZpkttXE[/video]

 

[Phase2]

Just a point of curiosity. Someone decided to try the Bitcoin hashing algorithm (SHA256) on an Apollo navigation computer. It took 10.3 seconds to complete one hash. This compares to one of the higher-end hashing machines Bitmain Antminer S9 using 189 processors at 14 trillion hashes/second.

If you were to replace the entire Bitcoin mining network with this one computer, it would take "about a billion times the age of the universe to successfully mine a block". Amazing.

 

[JettaKnight]

Just a point of curiosity. Someone decided to try the Bitcoin hashing algorithm (SHA256) on an Apollo navigation computer. It took 10.3 seconds to complete one hash. This compares to one of the higher-end hashing machines Bitmain Antminer S9 using 189 processors at 14 trillion hashes/second.

If you were to replace the entire Bitcoin mining network with this one computer, it would take "about a billion times the age of the universe to successfully mine a block". Amazing.

Knowing a bit about that computer, I'm really surprised it was even able to run a SHA256 hash.

 

[BugI02]

So the moral of the story is that the simulation of virtual money is more realistic when done at a higher refresh rate?

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Another day, another streaming service. WarnerMedia announces HBO Max which will take Friends, among others shows off of Netflix.

https://twitter.com/WarnerMediaGrp/status/1148639422444908545

 

[KLB]

Another one that won't get my money. Too many services, too much expense.

 

[wtburnette]

I'm ending up finding other things to do than watch crap TV through too many different services. Having a hard time caring any more. Add services like Netflix putting a progressive spin on a lot of their content and it's getting harder and harder to take.

 

[KLB]

I'm ending up finding other things to do than watch crap TV through too many different services. Having a hard time caring any more. Add services like Netflix putting a progressive spin on a lot of their content and it's getting harder and harder to take.

I have to agree with you. The spin is why I have washed my hands of any Disney content. No more Star Wars or Marvel until they drop all of the nonsense.

 

[jkaetz]

The streaming services are just making the cost of paid tv transparent. Eventually there will be a backlash, services will disappear or consolidate and costs should come down.

 

[WebSnyper]

The streaming services are just making the cost of paid tv transparent. Eventually there will be a backlash, services will disappear or consolidate and costs should come down.

So you are saying with less competition, the price will go down?

 

[KLB]

So you are saying with less competition, the price will go down?

This isn't more competition. This is each studio creating a monopoly for their content.

 

[jkaetz]

This isn't more competition. This is each studio creating a monopoly for their content.

This. I compare it to the music industry. Initially there were CD sales. Content providers all wanted to sell you a $15 CD with 18 songs but you might only want two songs. Now you can purchase the individual songs and not pay for the rest. Streaming services are following the same model, two good shows but 15 shows that could be forgotten and they still want your $15/month to watch. Eventually that model will fail and the content you actually want to watch will become available from one streaming service. Granted that single streaming service might cost more, but you won't have to subscribe to 10 services either.