Another issue in Vista and DRM 3

[pmonett]

It seems that Vista is not content with only restricting your rights and wasting humongous amounts of time and processor power in controlling what bits you want to delete.

Vista is apparently in a whole new league when it comes to phoning home what you are doing. Check this article and wonder why all that data on your activity is being transmitted back to Microsoft.

This is not something that encourages me to go to Vista. Far from it.

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[Sympology]

Digital TV IS going to kill Analogue (in UK anyway).
BT is moving to 21CN pure IP telephony and Data. So maybe not in the next decade, but "over-the-air" broadcasting will dimish.


Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[flapeyre]

By law, analog TV goes away in the US after Feb. 17, 2009. Everything will be digital after that.

I disagree that "over-the-air broadcasting will diminish". There will always be a demand for it. Not everyone can afford (or even wants) cable or satellite. Just because the latest and greatest becomes available doesn't mean that everybody will jump on the bandwagon.

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.

 

[flapeyre]

Grenage:

AM radio is alive and well in the US, by the way. A 50kW clear-channel station can be heard over most of the continental US at night. And the over-the-road truckers and insomiacs still listen.

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.

 

[Grenage]

That's some impressive coverage. Considering your land mass, it's not surprising that AM is still going strong then.

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area" - Major Mike Shearer

 

[Opieo]

@flap
Its really that strong?
Danggggg.
My lack of knowledge of wireless stuff and signals (aside from 802.11, and I still only know general rangers and version there) astounds me. =(

~
Give a man some fire, he will be warm for a day, Set a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life.

 

[flapeyre]

Yep. 50kW is the max for AM. Some small stations are licensed for as low as 250 w.

FM, IIRC, can be as much as 100KW. International shortwave stations have to be at least 50kW.

TV stations can have maximum power levels of 100kW (channels 2-6), 316kW (channels 7-13), and up to 5 MW (channels 14-70).

The digital power levels may be different, and many stations are licensed for lower power output. (The TV power output is for the visual; the aural is usually 20% of the visual power).

(I once worked at a TV station, and I still have an FCC General Radio Telephone Operator license).

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.

 

[burtsbees]

Rush Limbaugh broadcasts at 50 Kilowatts...should I be embarrassed to admit that I know that?

Burt

 

[Sympology]

Maybe this is the difference. As US has to cover large distances, AM is best suited to this. Much of europe is mainly FM (and slowly DAB), guess due to the smaller distances required.
Sometime technology has to evolve for each area. Take the iPhone.
In the UK, where it is being reviewed (but is not yet available), it is being slammed for a poor keyboard for text and no 3G (US has better WiFi coverage). Both of these are less important in the US than they are in Europe for a device of this price.

No of text's sent per month:
UK 4.5 billion

http://www.text.it/mediacentre/sms_figures.cfm

US 5 billion

http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P4870

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[flapeyre]

Actually, since Rush is on from 12 noon to 3 pm (Eastern time, which is -04:00 from GMT in the summertime, he's always on in the daytime, which reduces the coverage. But you can still hear WWL in New Orleans (a 50 kW Class A AM clear channel station) over in Baton rouge, some 80 miles away, loud and clear during the day. I'm taging a little vacation to Shreveport next weekend and I'll see just how far I can get WWL in the daytime.

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.