INQ delivers CIA propaganda

Dear Mr Letterman,

I watched the debate on UK television licences with great amusement and from a safe distance.

In your latest crop of reader letters, Andy Gardiner quoted from the regulations:

" (2) In this regulation, "computer apparatus" means apparatus which - (a) is designed or adapted to be used (either alone or in association with other apparatus) for storing or processing data, but not for doing so in connection with the reception by means of wireless telegraphy of television programme services".

So, say, somebody has a wireless router and watches what may be deemed "television programme" an a PC connected to it wirelessly. Wait a minute! What's that if not reception by means of wireless telegraphy of television programme services? Licence... Kaching!

:-)

Cheers,
Sandor

Subject: IBM builds faster transistor

Hi Nick,

Germanium if not mistaken is what they use to cool chips with metal (liquid), problem with this product is very rare and extremely expensive to find and produce. The only problem, dont mix well with water, it will explode.

Lets see how IBM comes with explosive chips in the future.

Cheers,

Paul from Club 3D.

Subject: IBM builds faster transistor

My friend,

There is a big difference between "near" absolute zero and absolute zero. And there is also a big difference cooling a small device and cooling a complete room ... So I'm sure you will not have enough energy to even cool a transistor to absolute zero and just in case it will suddenly disappear!

Thomas

Subject: Streaming

Unfortunately, Andy Gardiner's belief (letter on streaming media and TV licence, referring to http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32399) that you do not need a TV licence for a computer is most likely mistaken. The section of The Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004 that he cites, Section 11 paragraph 2A, provides a definition of "television set" as the term is used in Part 1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1977.

However, the statute requiring a TV license is Part 4 of the Communications Act 2003, which provides that: "A television receiver must not be installed or used unless the installation and use of the receiver is authorised by a licence under this Part." (section 363 paragraph 1) In other words, a license is required for television receivers, not television sets. Strange though it may seem, for the purposes of the statute a television set is not the same thing as a television receiver.

The term "television receiver" for the purposes of the Communications Act 2003 is defined by The Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004: "'television receiver' means any apparatus installed or used for the purpose of receiving (whether by means of wireless telegraphy or otherwise) any television programme service, whether or not it is installed or used for any other purpose" (section 9 paragraph 1) Television programme service is defined as including: "a reference to receiving by any means any programme included in that service, where that programme is received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public by virtue of its being broadcast or distributed as part of that service" (section 9 paragraph 2)

This would seem to include live streaming. There is no exception for computers or computer apparatus in the definition of "television receiver", and a license is required for a television receiver - so a TV license is most likely required to watch live TV streams on your computer. :(

Cheers,
Eion

Subject: IBM builds faster transistor

There's nothing like a good apples to oranges comparison when you want to get big numbers. 500 GHz may well be a new record for transistor switching speed, but it is nothing close to 100 times faster than the devices used in current fast processors. Remember, when a cpu switches at 5 GHz, there can be dozens of transistors in serial which need to switch one after the other within the same clock period. Obviously the length of these chains is minimised (that's why you pipeline your processor), but I'd guess that the individual transistors could switch up to something like 50 GHz, meaning the new devices are of the order of ten times faster than current devices, not a hundred times.

David

Subject: Cubans without the INQ

Reporters without borders is a propaganda vehicle of the CIA. They are created the undermine the enemy of the US. Don't make yourself a foul with repeating the imperial propaganda. Mr. Robert Nard, secretary general of the RSF for twenty years, has confessed to receiving financing from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an organization that depends on the US Department of State, whose principal role is to promote the agenda of the White House for the entire world.

joris willems

Subject: 80 percent of iPod users will not touch a Mac

Don't have an iPod either, don't really know what it offers that I can't do with my Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC phone. Yeah, its a little bit of a nag dealing with encrypted content, but fortunately, well, there's still ways around that.

Over the years I on many occasions said, "Yeah, I think I'm going to get a Mac". But then the Tablet PC came out. Windows Media Center came out. Now you need two video cards for top gaming performance for PC gaming. PhysX card. You name it. A high end PC is big money, so a cheap PC or a cheap Mac would at best be a door stop for me and I need the money for other stuff!

The problem with Job's and Apple is that they are now a gadget company. And the gadgets don't actaully go INSIDE the Mac.

I guess Macs are more secure, maybe more stable, but primarily because they don't do anything intresting anymore.

The Windows based PC ecosystem is so rich and diverse that nothing out there can replace it, not easily anyway.

High end gaming, media, movies, music, apps galore, cutting edge hardware like the Physx card, cool development tools like Visual Studio, its just so much stuff, that fits together and works. That's what makes Windows what it is. Is the sum of so many parts, from so many sources, there's just nothing like it right now.

byron dowell

Subject: desktop version of CD/DVD playback in notebooks

I've been wondering for some time why there hasn't been a widespread release (if any release at all) of a desktop version of the CD and DVD playback feature that has been introduced in several notebooks. This feature being the ability to listen to a CD or watch a DVD without powering up the notebook and launching Windows. Instead, you just push a button on the laptop that starts it in some type of "Media Only" mode, where the optical drive, sound chip and video chip and screen (in the case of DVDs) are the only components that are powered up and in use. This is a great feature, for simplicity of using your computer as a cd/dvd player, and for conserving battery life when you're out and about.

Why hasn't this made it to desktops in some form? It would be a tremendous power-saving feature, since modern desktops are notoriously power hungry, and it should be fairly simple to implement. I am by no means an expert on semiconductors and their accompanying programming, but even I can visualize ways to accomplish this.

Any thoughts or ideas on how this feature can make it to the shelves? I have a few. Just looking for outside input.

-Brad Epperson

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