Somehow I think my maths skills are perhaps best used for counting loose change.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21607945
Thursday, 28 February 2013
I'm spinning around
Somehow I think my maths skills are perhaps best used for counting loose change.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21607945
Locked in the zone
Do you remember when those evil media companies thwarted your attempts
to buy a DVD overseas and play it in a different world DVD zone? Region
locking on the DVD player (Zone 1 US, Zone 2 Europe, Zone 3 Asia, Zone 4
Australasia, etc.) meant you had a problem if you tried to move the
media between countries.
Over the years though, people started to realise
that even though the DVD player was set to the home zone, it could
usually be changed to a different zone or the region checking could be removed entirely with a cryptic sequence of
numbers made widely available through the webosphere and then entered via the remote control. Next, the manufacturers (at least the nicer
ones) gave up the pretence of locking and even started selling the players as multi-region capable right out
of the box.
People bought lots of DVDs, consumers were happy, retailers were happy (particularly those with overseas customers) and even the evil media makers muffled their bleating.
Then along
came a shiny new high definition technology called Blu-ray and people
threw out their DVD players so they could play the new kid on the
block. No problem, Mr Customer, our Blu-ray player has backward
compatibility and will play your DVDs. Are we nice or what? We media makers have also realised that the world zones were too numerous so we've simplified things and this time we have put both Europe and Australasia in a zone we call Zone B, since Zone 2 and Zone 4 didn't make
much sense. Be aware though that we expect you customers to play
nice too and only buy Blu-ray discs from your own zone so we're locking
that down real tight - you won't be able to multi-zone your Blu-ray player to play those cheaper, bonus feature-laden US discs so don't even try.
The evil media makers, never ones to understand how to look after their customers, kept this new Blu-ray technology priced so high in Australasia that most people didn't buy the discs and instead bought more DVDs, because unlike Blu-ray, DVD was now as cheap as chips.
But hey - what's this? My new Blu-ray player won't play my DVDs I bought from Amazon UK or Amazon US. No worries - I'll just unlock the DVD part of the player. WRONG! It's locked down as tight as the Blu-ray and I've already junked my old multi-region DVD player. One step forward, two steps back.
People long ago learned to hate media companies who seem determined to commit commercial suicide. In the Blu-ray era that disgust will undoubtedly reach a new level of loathing and only the pirates will win.
Footnote - When I reported the locking issue to Panasonic they took my player into their workshop and unlocked the DVD part of my Blu-ray player for me free of charge, unlike LG who greeted my request with as much warmth as a Nuremberg trial.
Over the years though, people started to realise
that even though the DVD player was set to the home zone, it could
usually be changed to a different zone or the region checking could be removed entirely with a cryptic sequence of
numbers made widely available through the webosphere and then entered via the remote control. Next, the manufacturers (at least the nicer
ones) gave up the pretence of locking and even started selling the players as multi-region capable right out
of the box.People bought lots of DVDs, consumers were happy, retailers were happy (particularly those with overseas customers) and even the evil media makers muffled their bleating.
The evil media makers, never ones to understand how to look after their customers, kept this new Blu-ray technology priced so high in Australasia that most people didn't buy the discs and instead bought more DVDs, because unlike Blu-ray, DVD was now as cheap as chips.
But hey - what's this? My new Blu-ray player won't play my DVDs I bought from Amazon UK or Amazon US. No worries - I'll just unlock the DVD part of the player. WRONG! It's locked down as tight as the Blu-ray and I've already junked my old multi-region DVD player. One step forward, two steps back.
People long ago learned to hate media companies who seem determined to commit commercial suicide. In the Blu-ray era that disgust will undoubtedly reach a new level of loathing and only the pirates will win.
Footnote - When I reported the locking issue to Panasonic they took my player into their workshop and unlocked the DVD part of my Blu-ray player for me free of charge, unlike LG who greeted my request with as much warmth as a Nuremberg trial.
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Let's hear it for the plough
Some people are nervous of technology and timidly avoid it whenever they
can. Others love it to bits and can't get enough. Most just seem to
accept it as a product of our maturing world. Regardless of your level
of love or hatred of high tech, you probably take many recent
innovations for granted.
Given our relative ambivalence to the marvels of high tech I reckon we don't even think about the low tech stuff that's actually fundamental to our civilisation.
I got to pondering this in an study activity where we were asked to think about historical technology and consider the consequences/impact of introducing that innovation. My first historical technology example was the humble plough. It's an ancient invention that probably came into being in various guises around the world thousands of years ago but it's still as vital now as it always was.
The impact of this kind of technology is so fundamental to our civilisation yet most of us don't even spare it a passing thought. Where would we be if we couldn't till the land without resorting to digging it with a spade? How could we grow the crops that we all consume or provide the pasture for cattle to graze so that we could produce meat, dairy, wool? How would our ability to produce sufficient food to feed the ever expanding world population suffer? How could we have tamed the landscape that allows us to build our cities? I'm thinking the answer is that we simply couldn't have done these things beyond subsistence levels without a simple invention that turns soil when you drag it along.
For me, it's a sobering thought that I couldn't have any of my modern high tech toys if these most fundamental innovations hadn't come first.
Given our relative ambivalence to the marvels of high tech I reckon we don't even think about the low tech stuff that's actually fundamental to our civilisation.
I got to pondering this in an study activity where we were asked to think about historical technology and consider the consequences/impact of introducing that innovation. My first historical technology example was the humble plough. It's an ancient invention that probably came into being in various guises around the world thousands of years ago but it's still as vital now as it always was.
The impact of this kind of technology is so fundamental to our civilisation yet most of us don't even spare it a passing thought. Where would we be if we couldn't till the land without resorting to digging it with a spade? How could we grow the crops that we all consume or provide the pasture for cattle to graze so that we could produce meat, dairy, wool? How would our ability to produce sufficient food to feed the ever expanding world population suffer? How could we have tamed the landscape that allows us to build our cities? I'm thinking the answer is that we simply couldn't have done these things beyond subsistence levels without a simple invention that turns soil when you drag it along.
For me, it's a sobering thought that I couldn't have any of my modern high tech toys if these most fundamental innovations hadn't come first.
A reason to blog
I long thought about trying this blogging thing but it never quite came about.
Now I've made that decision to give it a go, so please . . .
Now I've made that decision to give it a go, so please . . .
Bear with me while I take those baby steps into this brave new world.
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
The very beginning
Welcome!
My first blog post ever. Sad but true. I know, I've arrived very late to the blogosphere but better late than never.
I'll aim to write a little bit, often.
Who knows where this may lead?
My first blog post ever. Sad but true. I know, I've arrived very late to the blogosphere but better late than never.
I'll aim to write a little bit, often.
Who knows where this may lead?
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