BellGab.com Archive

https://www.techhive.com/article/3238869/smart-tv/what-is-next-gen-tv-and-when-will-it-launch.html

QuoteYou'll soon be hearing a lot about a new television broadcast technology called "Next Gen TV" that promises better picture quality, a signal more resistant to interference, interactive features, and localized emergency alerts.
...
The new broadcast standard updates the current standard, ATSC 1.0 standard, with a host of new features and technology. It's based on an IP (Internet Protocol) backbone and attempts to merge broadcast TV with content from the internet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_3.0#References

Good:
HEVC encoding capability (h.265) will allow higher compression rates at good quality
They're basically starting a new standard instead of duct-taping together something on top of the old NTSC
Higher resolutions, etc...
"Mesh" model for broadcasting, instead of having one giant tower blasting a signal
Could allow more localized content
Five year simulcasting with current standard
Keep your antenna

Bad:
You'll have to buy ANOTHER converter box (or a new TV)
Targeted ads
Do you really think they'll localize the content more?
4K content still quite expensive/unwieldy to produce
At a certain screen size/distance, 4K may not matter anyway (http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html)
Digital watermarking may cut down on piracy (wink wink)
Public alert system will be able to turn on your TV (I'm quite paranoid)

This one is for the Lurkers.

You sneak around the boards as "guests" reading the posts. But even if you might have an account, you never log in.

Or perhaps you are like me: you log in when you have something to say. Hey, at least MV might still get some ad revenue out of it if you don't have your friggin blockers turned on.

Post once, noble Lurkers With Accounts! Say your piece!

What audio player do you use on your phone? Is it the same one for podcasts and music?

I used to use the default music player app on my old Galaxy S4, but since my Moto G didn't have one I've been using Poweramp. For music and podcasts. I like the way it handles playlists and queues. The EQ and basic processing settings are all I need, too.
http://powerampapp.com/
I guess they're working on version 3 (after forever) that's supposed to have a new audio engine and wider codec support.

I've also heard that the mobile Foobar2000 project (http://mobile.foobar2000.com/) is finally public. Just a preview release, for now.

For streams, I like VLC.

I didn't see a thread here on Solid State hard drives, so here it is.

Any drives or makes you like? What about ones you avoid? How have they changed the way you do computing, if at all? Is it too early to transition to solid state for storing media files?

I wasn't a huge SSD guy, but took a shot on one after my laptop started slowing down. It is now significantly faster to start up and run things, but I did pay quite the premium for less space vs the hybrid drive that was in there. My choice was the Samsung EVO series, which seems to get excellent reviews.

Here's an interesting article on SSD reliability over time:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/ssd-reliability-in-the-real-world-googles-experience/

And the associated paper:
http://0b4af6cdc2f0c5998459-c0245c5c937c5dedcca3f1764ecc9b2f.r43.cf2.rackcdn.com/23105-fast16-papers-schroeder.pdf

QuoteThe paper's second major conclusion, that age, not use, correlates with increasing error rates, means that over-provisioning for fear of flash wearout is not needed. None of the drives in the study came anywhere near their write limits, even the 3,000 writes specified for the MLC drives.

But it isn't all good news. SSD UBER rates are higher than disk rates, which means that backing up SSDs is even more important than it is with disks. The SSD is less likely to fail during its normal life, but more likely to lose data.

Years ago, I purchased a Sandisk Sansa Clip+. It was an amazing device. Sadly, it has not aged well. The clip is gone, the battery life is decreasing, and the power button is busted beyond repair. A great long run but it's time for a new device.

Here's what I need:
- MP3 playback
- Good battery life
- Backlit screen
- MicroSD card slot
- Small-ish size
- Under $50
- Decent file management/ playlist support

I don't need: video playback, games, wifi, bluetooth, ebook reader, garage door opener, pizza roll maker, a phone

Because the Clip+ was so awesome, they don't make it any more. And buying one from Amazon will run you over $70.

I'm considering the successor, the Clip Sport (http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Player-Screen-MicroSDHC-SDMX24-008G-G46K/dp/B00HCMZ2SE/) but there are some pretty bad software complaints.

There's also the Kubik Evo (http://www.amazon.com/Kubik-Player-Radio-Expandable-MicroSD/dp/B0041MMMWW/) but that has its own issues with file selection, organization, and playback.

Any other ideas?

Called CHIP.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598272670/chip-the-worlds-first-9-computer

1Ghz ARM CPU, decent graphics capability. Runs a version of Linux.

It should be noted that in order to output HDMI, you need a $15 addon that brings the price to $24. So then it's only $9 cheaper than the new Raspberry Pi 2-- which will allegedly be able to run Windows 10.

Still, what kind of fun could you have with something like this in an infrastructure that uses thin clients?

Twin Peaks is coming back for 9 episodes in 2016, on Showtime! Who else is excited?

http://thefilmstage.com/news/twin-peaks-will-return-in-2016-for-nine-episode-series-all-directed-by-david-lynch/

QuoteAfter a tease late last week, David Lynch and Mark Frost have officially announced that Twin Peaks will be returning to the airwaves, a quarter-century after the initial series aired. It’s reported that the limited series, consisting of nine episodes, will be airing on Showtime in  early 2016 with every episode directed by Lynch.

It appears this time, they'll actually stay involved...

I recently saw an article on Tom's about Seagate beginning to ship 8TB drives to "key customers." Just thinking about a drive that holds 8 terabytes of data is staggering to me if I look back at some of the machines I've owned. The first five had (respectively) 16MB, 1.5GB, 40GB, 60GB, and 120GB of drive capacity. Now they're shipping something that holds 500,000 times what my first PC did.

Look at the growth in file sizes compared to that. I don't feel like file size has grown at quite the same rate as drive capacity. Basically, it seems we're becoming able to store more and more stuff.

Which brings the question: where does it end? Most data in some way, shape, or form is an electrical or digital signal that's stored somewhere. The cloud is still made up of physical servers at the most fundamental end. Something has to power all this.

My big question is where is data storage going? Yes, cloud this and cloud that. But what constructs the cloud? Beyond hard drives and flash memory, how are our descendants going to store their data?

A few starting points: coding into DNA strands and quantum computing. In some far-off future, will our data be coded into massive cell banks that exist in space? Will we take the cloud to yet another extreme? Or will our data become tucked into one of the other dimensions of matter?

So, how do YOU torment others? It can be things you do for amusement, or stuff that people find annoying about you.

I'll start.

My girlfriend really hates when I quote the Butters Tinkle Song.
Butters Tinkle

Or try to vocalize the South Park credits song "derky derky dee, durky durky doo doo."

A friend of mine was driving with his girlfriend and told her (in the most serious, shaky tone) "there's something I gotta tell you. It's not easy for me to say this, but..."
"But what? Is everything okay?"
"I just... I'm not sure if I'm ready to talk about this."
"You know you can tell me anything."
"Well.... *voice breaking* okay..."
"Aww, what is it?"
"I'm Spider Man."