jwz: 10-Sep-2004 (Fri)

AquaDom

"The base of the AquaDom rises 26 feet above the ground floor. Visitors have the unique experience of ascending through the water's depths as they ride a split-level glass elevator from the ground floor up seven floors, through the center of the AquaDom. As they rise they experience an array of colorful corals, rock formations and a myriad of over 2,000 fish.
"It breaks all records as the largest cylinder aquarium in the world, at over 52 feet in depth by 36 feet in diameter. The enormous height, water pressure and unique viewing opportunities created a number of challenges for the ICM filtration design team. Maintaining perfect water clarity in an aquarium of this size is achieved through a sophisticated system of filtration components situated two floors beneath the cylinder. One million liters of artificially created seawater are recycled once every hour to ensure that the aquarium occupants are given the best possible environment while maintaining a perfectly clear viewing experience for visitors."

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Tags: the future

Current Music: Switchblade Symphony -- Clown ♬

Tivo and Replay sell out their customers again

19 years ago

The makers of TiVo and ReplayTV digital video recorders have agreed to limit how long consumers can keep pay-for-view movies stored on future versions of the VCR-like devices.
The new technology also will allow Hollywood movie studios and broadcasters to regulate how often movies purchased through pay-for-view services can be watched. Digital video recorders that recognize these new copy restrictions will begin appearing in the spring of 2005.
Fred von Lohmann, senior attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, described the technology as anti-consumer. "Consumers are not the ones who are asking for this so-called feature. And I hope that the marketplace will respond by punishing TiVo and Replay and others that do this."
One control would limit recording to 90 minutes -- essentially enough time for a viewer to watch an on-demand movie. Another would allow a movie to be stored for up to seven days but once the film was started it must be viewed within 24 hours. Another would allow unlimited viewing within a seven-day period.

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