Random Tech Musings

[Kwyjibo]

4k and 8k what?  I gotta learn another set of terminologies?  Boo.

[dirk]

There are still 720P TV manufactured, and for most people, they are a great deal.  For watching TV, there is very little difference between a 720P and a 1080P TV.  Unless you are watching BlueRay, the average person doesn't see a big difference (if they see one at all).  And since so few people have BR players, 720P makes perfect sense for as cheap as they are. 

[va_vacious]

I'm planning on getting a new tv soon, and I'm looking at the 720s... no blue ray, no cable, and I just want to watch my how to shows in peace! And Vampire Diaries.

[Nate]

Count me in the minority, but I don't see buying anything in HD when my "normal" pic on the TV looks just fine.

[lutz]

Looks like I picked the wrong crowd for that post :p

I, personally, cannot wait to see The Hobbit (filmed at 48 fps) on an 8K screen. Even those who claim not to see the difference between SD/HD will be in awe.

[jcarwash31]

Count me in the minority, but I don't see buying anything in HD when my "normal" pic on the TV looks just fine.

Dude, have you seen Joe Mauer's sideburns in HD?  You'll never go back to "normal".

[Butter]

Yeah, I have no idea what 4K and 8K are either, but since I made the switch to HDTVs, I won't go back to SD.  They just look like garbage by comparison.

[lutz]

4K is four times 1080p, 8K is eight times, although there seem to be a couple of different standards emerging (3840 vs 4096 horizontal lines).

[Kwyjibo]

Sounds like overkill to me...

Agree with Butter though, can't stand SD TVs now, they look like shit.

[Butter]

4K is four times 1080p, 8K is eight times, although there seem to be a couple of different standards emerging (3840 vs 4096 horizontal lines).

So that's what the "Digital Cinema 4K" means.  Got it.

[lutz]

I believe these "ultra-high" resolutions will only be available on TVs larger than 42", though.

[Homsar]

Y'all gotta read this article.  Crazy stuff.

The boy who played with fusion.

The fact that there are people out there who are this intelligent is enough to blow my mind and get me totally psyched for the future.

[lutz]

Y'all gotta read this article.  Crazy stuff.

The boy who played with fusion.

The fact that there are people out there who are this intelligent is enough to blow my mind and get me totally psyched for the future.

This is incredible. If he figures out how to scale it up to be able to provide power to people's homes, we're saved!

I think we need a Random Science Musings thread for articles like this.

EDIT: I just had a look at his website, wherein he lists the chemicals required for fluoridating uranium trioxide. One of the reagents is hydrofluoric acid. If you google "HF burns", you will understand my sharp intake of breath. I hope to god he wasn't doing that in his garage.

[Kwyjibo]

I have come to the conclusion that people that don't have a clue how to use excel effectively compensate by adding copious amounts of needless formatting.  In my work environment I'm being sent data, lots and lots of data, for various purposes every day.  Invariably when I open one up I find a hideous morass of hidden data, bolding, highlighting, color coding (with no indication of what any of it means), crazy fonts, varied font sizing, unnecessary extra tabs... I don't get it.  If I spent that much time on every spreadsheet I created I'd do nothing else.  The first thing I do with almost every spreadsheet I get is create an empty cell with no formatting, copy it with the format painter, and apply it to the entire spreadsheet... all that time spent formatting goes right out the window.

Thank Christ for the format painter.