Media Stupidity about Computers

[WLC-1989]

Couldn't believe this one....

I was listening to the Ian Collins show very early this morning (on TalkSport). A supposedly experienced photographer who was apparently also skilled in 'the ways of the computer', rang in as a psuedo-guest/caller. The guy was dreary and inaccurate enough to start with, but then the presenter brought up something he had heard about only recently:

Ian Collins: "Now, unlike most, you don't keep your photographs on drives do you... You keep them on.. eh... discs, right?"

Photographer: "Yes, that's right."

Ian Collins: "Yeah, just I heard recently that when you keep them on discs, you can lose the photos after 3 years" - He went on further to elaborate, but he made it very clear that he was talking about the degredation of CDs over time, and the consequent corruption/loss of data, etc.

Photographer: "Ah well, I don't have that problem. *very matter-of-factly* You see, there are two images I use, JPEG, and TIFF..... Everyone knows what a JPEG is, but TIFF is 'loss-less'. That means, I can open and close it on the disc as many times as I want, without the quality being lost.

... I'd imagine every geeky type in Christendom listening was shouting at the radio... How someone who apparently knows 'so much' about the subject can get something so wrong is beyond me. Needless to say, the presenter got several emails stating that CDs are read-only etc, but it would appear nobody clarified that the man was confusing compression with CD degredation.

I get so tired by such stupidity, more often than not on TV. PC World adverts especially, where they say "High tech PC with DVD"... They could quite legally bundle a cheap DVD-R disc with the PC and get away with it.

Comments? I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets irritated by such things.

[ACiD303]

Irritated....shouting at the radio......man, Id just be laughing!

Stupidity can exist in everything - noone knows everything about anything - so if someone knows less than you about something you know more than, its much better to take it with a pinch of sugar!

[Whiternoise]

People calling MP3 **PLAYERS** just mp3, NO mp3 is the file type retard..

For instance:

Friend1: Hey what did you get for Xmas?

Friend2: Oh a brand new mp3, it's really cool!
does my nut in..

/rant

Actually.. this reminds me of the video that was posted a while ago on Youtube outlining the problems with the Ninendo DS - anyone remember that? MP3 standing for Music Playback 3 or something..

[WLC-1989]

Yeah I recall that, the guy was doing it as a 2 part spoof-of-sorts; the man also did an identical 'analysis' of the PSP.

[iranu]

I always love the PCworld adds - Intel Centrino duo technology, allows you to do twice as much twice as fast.

So that'll be opening up word and IE then.

[nichomach]

One of the most annoying things I've seen recently is the Beeb's coverage of Browzar as though it were the second coming:

The developers say it does this automatically by deleting all files associated with websites when the application is shut down or by not storing them in the first place.
Many web browsers, including Firefox, IE and Safari, already allow users to do this manually.
Some experts claim the application is not doing what it says it does
Mr Ahmed said at the time of its release: "Although it's possible to delete history folders and empty cache with existing internet browsers, the majority of internet users worldwide don't have the time or expertise to do this.
"There is no free method that offers the freedom to surf the web privately that is as simple and easy to use as Browzar.
"It doesn't keep copies of pages that have been visited or retain details that have been entered into online forms."

So that'd be exactly what you can do with Firefox then, by ticking the "Clear private data when closing Firefox" box then. Without the fricking redirected home page and spamsored search results. The annoying thing is that no-one from the supposed Technology section at the Beeb has called him on this blatant misrepresentation.

[Funkstar]

I always love the PCworld adds - Intel Centrino duo technology, allows you to do twice as much twice as fast.

So that'll be opening up word and IE then.

Yeah, because without Centrino Duo i can't download files to my MP3 player while doing something else random at the same time

But then i'm not a student steriotype, so i would know about doing more than one thing at a time...

[MadduckUK]

now you can look at porn AND listen to music! thats progress people!

[Lee H]

now you can look at porn AND listen to music! thats progress people!

ANYTHING to get rid of that "chicka-chicka-wow-wow-pow" music

[charleski]

They showed 'The Cassandra Crossing' on TV last week.
I got a smile out of the bit where Burt Lancaster says, "The bridge is fine, our computers have checked it!" Gave me images of 1970's IBM mainframes out in the valley with stress testers.
Well if the computers have tested it, it must be fine!

[nichomach]

Nah...he meant they ROLLED the IBMs across the bridge - tapes and all - and it didn't collapse so it MUST be fine...

[leeglf]

Nah...he meant they ROLLED the IBMs across the bridge - tapes and all - and it didn't collapse so it MUST be fine...

rofl

[awm]

Backtracking a bit can someone post a link to those youtube videos, they sound really funny.