scholia

44 ms·

361.
by scholia 10y ago
Yes, I've already mentioned that. See some of my other comments, including: "Some countries have stations at 48kbps. The UK is leading the drive to lower sound quality with DAB+ stations on the SDL multiplex at 32kbps." >
362.
by scholia 10y ago
You could buy a cheap Nokia or an MP3 player with built in FM radio for less than $20....
363.
by scholia 10y ago
Yes. Unfortunately the numbers are based on cheating the public. The 50% isn't 50% of people using DAB, it's 50% of listening to digital sources in total, including DAB. This could allow them to switch off FM even if more people
364.
by scholia 10y ago
Most people in the UK listen to live radio most of the time, and that includes me. These bullet points are from RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research), which is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. * Live radio
365.
by scholia 10y ago
What sort of aerial are you using?
366.
by scholia 10y ago
DAB mandated the use of MP2, which pre-dated MP3. DAB+ uses MP4 aacPlus(HE-AAC v2). Unfortunately this doesn't improve sound quality because stations use the extra efficiency to switch to lower bit-rates. Some countries have stations a
367.
by scholia 10y ago
It's not clear that there are any good alternative uses for the FM spectrum. The UK plan is to move the national stations to DAB and use the old FM bandwidth for community and local radio. My personal expectation is that the FM spectru
368.
by scholia 10y ago
Ideally, long wave, AM and FM spectrum will be used for DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) instead. To quote Wikipedia: "The principle of DRM is that bandwidth is the limited element, and computer processing power is cheap; modern CPU-intens
369.
by scholia 10y ago
DAB sound quality can be as good as you like, but as implemented, it's generally very low. (Stations use low bit-rates to reduce costs.) On average, in fact, DAB sound quality is much lower than FM, assuming you're in a good sig
370.
by scholia 10y ago
True, but you didn't have to replace your TV, just add a cheap set-top box. (And not even that if you had cable or satellite TV.) Also, at the time, most people only had one or two TV sets. With DAB, you have to buy a new set, and most
371.
by scholia 10y ago
The new digital standard for radio is DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). Given a choice, nobody would adopt 1990s-style DAB today. Problem is that countries are so deep in failing DAB systems that they don't have the will or the guts to cha
372.
by scholia 10y ago
FM is amazingly cheap, and green. You can reach millions of listeners with high quality sound. In many cases, you can reach tens of millions for exactly the same cost. Until you need another mast, the extra cost per user is $0. Smartphone c
373.
by scholia 10y ago
It would be nice if some sort of captcha could weed them out, but that sounds unlikely. Is there any way of creating a hierarchy of users? Newbies would have probationary status and limited powers until promoted to standard level. You could
374.
by scholia 10y ago
He does have a point. On the other hand, the two decades since he wrote that have been marked by "the consumerization of IT". Even before 1997, it was individuals rather than IT departments who first demonstrated business uses for
375.
by scholia 10y ago
The whole market isn't moving away from high-travel keyboards. In fact, there's a lot of interest in them, and they are generally preferred by gamers. How do you explain the widespread perception that laptop keyboards used to be
376.
by scholia 10y ago
Agreed. Netmarketshare's figures for all operating systems vary in unbelievable ways ... and April's 9.56% looks like one of those unbelievable variations. (The Mac share went up 2 points for no discernible reason, then came down
377.
by scholia 10y ago
So much for you "not replying further" ;-) Apple wasn't the first to audit production lines, but it does have some special problems. For a start, its "big bang" event-based marketing model puts exceptional stress on
378.
by scholia 10y ago
Got any research to show that? Or should I just assume that your personal opinion is worth more than everybody elses'?
379.
by scholia 10y ago
Sure. That's why Cherry went out of business years ago...
380.
by scholia 10y ago
> I don't know what happened, really. 10 years ago you bought a laptop, no matter which brand, and you would get a decent keyboard. THIN became a much more important marketing tool than GOOD, or even FUNCTIONAL.
381.
by scholia 10y ago
> Microsoft also has a huge cloud business, second only to Azure Ooops. That should say "AWS"...
382.
by scholia 10y ago
Haha. As I said, you need to do more research. You could start with China Labor Watch. You'd also do better if you approached this with an open mind. > They moved production from Foxconn exactly because of these faults. Love to se
383.
by scholia 10y ago
You need to do more research. Apple says it does have responsibility for workers in its supply chain, and some of your statements are not factually correct. Here's an example of how Apple actually works. (1) Enough Foxconn workers comm
384.
by scholia 10y ago
> the UK and Germany and France all have laws that make it okay to avoid paying taxes by claiming (truthfully) that you're taxed in Ireland Yes. The problem is that Apple isn't paying taxes in Ireland on the money it tells th
385.
by scholia 10y ago
Sure. The problem is Apple telling France, Germany etc that they're taxed in Ireland, and then the money not being taxed in Ireland because it's funneled into some stateless figment of Apple's corporate imagination....
386.
by scholia 10y ago
> It's not a scam as much as it's a loophole. You surely don't mean that Apple accidentally created a stateless company with no staff and no buildings to swindle taxpayers out of billions? I'm pretty sure a lot of
387.
by scholia 10y ago
As I've said in another comment, what Apple is doing is basically a scam. (1) Avoid paying taxes in the UK, Germany, France etc by claiming you're taxed in Ireland. (2) Once in Ireland, channel the money into a fake company (0 sta
388.
by scholia 10y ago
> by letting companies dodge other companies taxes I think you mean "by letting companies dodge other country's taxes"! Not many people here seem to appreciate that that's what Apple is doing. It's basically a
389.
by scholia 10y ago
"The first Microsoft apps for the Mac were Excel and Word" would, of course, be correct. Microsoft was the Mac's biggest supporter, and Bill Gates appeared on stage at the Mac launch. For which he has been richly rewarded wit
390.
by scholia 10y ago
> Microsoft got into applications before DOS existed. Not actually true. DOS was already done when Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi from Xerox Parc to start its application division in 1981. Multiplan and Word were the first results, re

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