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Small Talk: Bits and Bytes


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I'm looking forward to this.  My mom worked in IT back during that time period.  She wasn't working for an IT company, but for the government, though.  I think she'd be interested in seeing this! 

 

Note: I remember my mom bringing home "computer paper" for me to use to draw.  Looking back, I think they were printouts of something from a spreadsheet - a bunch of numbers printed landscape.

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I haven't watched this yet, but I'm already pissed off at AMC for doing the same damn thing that they do with Mad Men. The show is on from 7:00-8:04. Those 4 extra minutes do nothing but screw up my show recordings on Sunday night. Seeing those 4 extra minutes showing up in my guide make me want to stab someone. Friggin' AMC, those 4 extra minutes are not going to make me watch your channel for the rest of the night, but it might make me blow off your show for a different channel.

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Usually they replay the show later at night (like 11ish or so).  Maybe set your DVR to record it then.  That's why I usually do with AMC shows.  I don't get the opportunity to watch the show until the next day anyway.

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(edited)

Gonna try this with a friend for the first time tomorrow.  Might be interesting.

 

Do you mean watching the show, or:

 

           Hey good looking, wanna come over tonight & reverse engineer a BIOS with me?

           I have all the right tools...

 

Somehow I don't think that line will succeed, even with Lisbeth Salander.

Edited by Syme
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(edited)

One look at the upcoming episode titles tells you exactly how this will end.

The finale is titled "1984" as in the famous Ridley Scott-directed Super Bowl ad to announce the Apple Mac. So the end is they finally get the computer on the market & are immediately forgotten in the wake of something better.

Edited by mascan42
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My last (and current) VCR is from Sony and lasted over ten years with declining usage. The one before that was GE. That one was a piece of shit. The one piece of advice I can give is if you play a tape and it looks bad, it's likely the VCR. My first GE destroyed parts of 3 tapes before I realized it was the VCR. The replacement lasted just past the warranty period. That's why I advise to get the extended warranty.

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Macrovision still applies to VHS, so it would likely make the picture look terrible. There are a number of devices you can connect from the VCR to the computer directly with a USB cable that don't seem to have the same problem. The media companies always complained that you can't duplicate a tape because you were paying for rights to a movie. However, you can't walk into a store with a VHS movie and walk out with a DVD of the same at a big discount, even though you "own" the right to the movie.

 

Back to the (late) 80s. I remember editing VHS camera stuff with two VCRs and an old Commodore 64 to make titles and credits. Teenage me would be dumbstruck with the ease of editing with even the most basic software now.

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Once I had a box filled with video clarifiers and video boosters that made it possible to copy tape to tape. To the NSA and FBI reading this: this was pre-DMCA.

 

The thing you own the right to is the physical copy (tape, dvd). The media conglomerate owns the rights to the content, which includes the right to reproduce. There are exceptions like fair use (in the US) and I think most of the time you're entitled to make a backup copy for your own use.

 

Now, the chances that Universal or Disney are going to find out you've transferred a VHS movie to a DVD and come after you are remote unless you're going to make multiple bootleg copies or upload it as a torrent.

Edited by ABay
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Looks like they're going to try to make personal computers hot and interesting again, and the people who worked on them sexy and passionate.

 

Yep, you wouldn't believe the shenanigans that went on during the West Coast Computer Faires back in the 80's. I went to the one where Adam Osborne introduced the Osborne I. I bet that guy got laid non-stop that weekend!

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Just as a reminder, folks, the Small Talk thread is intended to catch all off-topic discussion. That means, if you want to talk about your kids, your pets, your mother-in-law, whatever, it goes in here. 

 

If you want to take about the show, however, that goes in whichever thread is most appropriate. That will never be this thread, as talk about the show is, by definition, not off-topic. Thanks!

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I think it's sufficiently off-topic to mention that Cooper Anderson (Yo-Yo) popped up in the comic-con trailer for The Walking Dead. He's apparently playing "Kingdom resident #2". I hope the lack of a character name doesn't add up to a high ratio of death-screams over more productive activities, like his rather wonderful facial reactions, though I suppose a walker chowing down could prove quite a strong reaction.

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