Dumbed down consumer electronics: Adding DTV channels
in [Design]
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From: Jim Thompson on 12 Aug 2010 12:10 On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:52:36 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Jim Thompson wrote: >> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:24:30 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >> wrote: >> >>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>>> Joel Koltner wrote: >>>>>>> Hi Joerg, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>>> ? Yes, having landed a de-facto monopoly provides a plum position in the >>>>>>> ? marketplace no matter how small that monopoly is. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> True... the problem with iBiquity is that the FCC let them have the entire >>>>>>> market. At least with, e.g., Apple, while they get a cut of every (non-free) >>>>>>> app that ends up on a (non-jailbroken) iPhone, there are plenty of other GSM >>>>>>> phones out there. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ? I vaguely remember one of the domestic car manufacturers offering it >>>>>>> ? (Polk i-something) but I also remember seeing a $500 price tag there. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> The car manufacturers have incredibly inflated ideas about how much radios >>>>>>> ought to cost -- even a simple AM/FM/CD player radio is often ?$200... >>>>>> $40 for the radio & $160 for three union members to install it. >>>>> No, only $20 for the radio. The other $20 is for the retirement fund and >>>>> the "jobs bank" :-) >>>> >>>> Did you ever talk to the engineers who designed them? ... >>> >>> Yes, but not in the US. I don't think there are any manufacturers left >>> for car stereos (which is sad). >>> >>> >>>> ... Where do you think I got the numbers? >>> >>>From GM? :-) >> >> The used to be DELCO _Radio_ Division. I designed chips for them. And >> Guide Lamp Division... designed a head light dimmer for them. >> > >One of mine ran on the DELCO process. But that's all gone now. The next >one will run at X-Fab. Yep. Once-upon-a-time Delco had a respectable HV process. Almost all of my recent stuff is on X-Fab. Which process? ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Spice is like a sports car... Performance only as good as the person behind the wheel.
From: Joerg on 12 Aug 2010 12:33 Jim Thompson wrote: > On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:51:19 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> > wrote: > >> Jim Thompson wrote: >>> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:23:02 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>>> JosephKK wrote: >>>>>>> On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 07:25:19 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> JosephKK wrote: >>>>>> [...] >>>>>> >>>>>>>>> cost me about $100 long distance for a little less than a MB. Now >>>>>>>>> that would be a few seconds and included (and would dissapear) in my >>>>>>>>> monthly. Today, a sloppy webpage will eat up a MB or more, and an >>>>>>>>> overnight DL would be about 5 GB; over 5 thousand times the data >>>>>>>>> volume. Just about 20 years difference. >>>>>>>> In those cases I'd rather send them a SASE envelope, a blank diskette >>>>>>>> and $20 for the effoert to copy and the walk by the mail room. Then use >>>>>>>> the remaining $80 for a nice dinner with the wife. >>>>>>> Probably would have if it was available that way at that time. >>>>>> What wasn't available? Stamps? Envelopes? Dinner? Wife? Ok then, maybe a >>>>>> girlfriend? >>>>>> >>>>>> Ok, diskettes could be hard to come by but we sometimes used audio >>>>>> cassettes for data storage. Those were cheap. I believe Commodore called >>>>>> them datasettes. >>>>> The 'Datasette' was a modified cassette deck that plugged onto the PC >>>>> board with a six pin edge connector, not the storage media. >>>> Yeah, but you know how it goes. People start using a catchy name for the >>>> media as well. Just like many people say "I made a mess here, do you >>>> have a Kleenex?" even though Kleenex is the manufacturer and not the >>>> product name. >>> And Frigidaire ;-) >>> >> Yesterday I needed one more hose to finally get the swamp cooler going >> and that store had a few old appliances on display. One was a fridge >>from the 30's that ran with sulfur. It had a big round thingie on top >> that looked like a radial engine. > > Sulfur? I've seen units that ran an ammonia cycle, natural gas > powered, that had the "big round thingie on top"... I believe it's a > heat exchanger. > This one was before the ammonia versions, it was the one in the 2nd picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator Quote "As the refrigerating medium, these refrigerators used either sulfur dioxide, which is corrosive to the eyes and may cause loss of vision, painful skin burns and lesions, or methyl formate, which is highly flammable, harmful to the eyes, and toxic if inhaled or ingested." -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Michael A. Terrell on 12 Aug 2010 13:25 Joerg wrote: > > Michael A. Terrell wrote: > > Joerg wrote: > >> JosephKK wrote: > >>> On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 07:25:19 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> > >>> wrote: > >>> > >>>> JosephKK wrote: > >> [...] > >> > >>>>> cost me about $100 long distance for a little less than a MB. Now > >>>>> that would be a few seconds and included (and would dissapear) in my > >>>>> monthly. Today, a sloppy webpage will eat up a MB or more, and an > >>>>> overnight DL would be about 5 GB; over 5 thousand times the data > >>>>> volume. Just about 20 years difference. > >>>> In those cases I'd rather send them a SASE envelope, a blank diskette > >>>> and $20 for the effoert to copy and the walk by the mail room. Then use > >>>> the remaining $80 for a nice dinner with the wife. > >>> Probably would have if it was available that way at that time. > >> What wasn't available? Stamps? Envelopes? Dinner? Wife? Ok then, maybe a > >> girlfriend? > >> > >> Ok, diskettes could be hard to come by but we sometimes used audio > >> cassettes for data storage. Those were cheap. I believe Commodore called > >> them datasettes. > > > > > > The 'Datasette' was a modified cassette deck that plugged onto the PC > > board with a six pin edge connector, not the storage media. > > Yeah, but you know how it goes. People start using a catchy name for the > media as well. Just like many people say "I made a mess here, do you > have a Kleenex?" even though Kleenex is the manufacturer and not the > product name. That may be, but I never saw any 'Compact Cassette' marked Datasette.
From: Michael A. Terrell on 12 Aug 2010 13:26 Jim Thompson wrote: > > On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:09:07 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" > <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > > > > >Jim Thompson wrote: > >> > >> On Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:41:50 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" > >> <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > >> > >> > > >> >Jim Thompson wrote: > >> >> > >> >> That's pretty poor... Firefox claims _92_ "Radio Broadcast Companies" > >> >> in Mesa alone... which I doubt... maybe 30 active AM and FM that I can > >> >> think of. > >> >> > >> >> I have Sirius in the Q45, but I do web radio in my office...Roku > >> >> Soundbridge. > >> > > >> > > >> > Here are pictures of some of your local radio stations: > >> > > >> >http://www.fybush.com/site-010509.html > >> >http://www.fybush.com/sites/2005/site-051125.html > >> >http://www.fybush.com/sites/2009/site-090918.html > >> > >> Our house is one additional ridge south of the South Mountain towers, > >> so I don't have to constantly see the !@#$% blinking lights ;-) > > > > > > Yeah, but you can't see inside the studios from your house. :) > > Almost bought a lot on the next ridge north, but checked it out at > night to see how driving the ridge road in the dark would be. The > towers were blindingly annoying. Then they aren't tall enough. :)
From: Martin Brown on 12 Aug 2010 13:28
On 12/08/2010 16:51, Joerg wrote: > Jim Thompson wrote: >> On Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:23:02 -0700, Joerg<invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >> wrote: >> >>> Michael A. Terrell wrote: >>>> Joerg wrote: >>>>> Ok, diskettes could be hard to come by but we sometimes used audio >>>>> cassettes for data storage. Those were cheap. I believe Commodore called >>>>> them datasettes. >>>> >>>> The 'Datasette' was a modified cassette deck that plugged onto the PC >>>> board with a six pin edge connector, not the storage media. Presumably the evil datalosing Sinclair ZX Microdrives as used on the QL never made it across the pond. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Microdrive >>> >>> Yeah, but you know how it goes. People start using a catchy name for the >>> media as well. Just like many people say "I made a mess here, do you >>> have a Kleenex?" even though Kleenex is the manufacturer and not the >>> product name. >> >> And Frigidaire ;-) >> > > Yesterday I needed one more hose to finally get the swamp cooler going > and that store had a few old appliances on display. One was a fridge > from the 30's that ran with sulfur. It had a big round thingie on top > that looked like a radial engine. ITYM sulphur dioxide (which was at one time used) as was ammonia. Both have boiling point in about the right range but are horribly toxic for home use. I still recall an industrial scale ice plant for diazo dyes with a 30' flywheel with a pump that shook the ground on the compression cycle and smelt of ammonia downwind. Molten sulphur is only used for cooling in Hell. Regards, Martin Bron |