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Ideas Unlimited: 11 Suggestions for New Inventions

Posted by michael on from the mr.-fusion dept.

securitas writes "The New York Times asked 11 prominent people to write about a device that they'd like to see invented (Google). Contributors include John Perry Barlow, Scott Adams, William Gibson and Bill Joy, among others. There are some intriguing ideas and some that are way out there, but lots of fun for geeks everywhere."

397 of 554 comments (clear)

  1. Nice Idea But... by JamesSharman · · Score: 5, Funny

    This would have been a really cool article a few years ago, you know, back when to patent something you needed to actually build it and show it to the patent office.

    In the current climate this article is completely redundant, if it can be conceived of it has not only been patented but there are defensive patents surrounding it's use, offensive patents surrounding it's use while painted a different colour and more than likely several publicly traded companies bidding on the future rights to sell a cut down version for kids.

    The product itself will never be developed however because there are 3 studies proving it causes cancer and several court cases that are claiming that the concept artwork was inspiration for some violent outburst.

    Please note, I have not even suggested the possibility that you might have to pay SCO for using it. Wait a minute. Damit!

    1. Re:Nice Idea But... by Telluride · · Score: 1

      What about an open source movement for ideas? I know businesses are always trying to patent everything and sue everyone who infringes on their rights, but if you can get ideas out into the public domain fast enough, then everyone is on a level playing field (noone can exclusively patent the idea because it is already available to everyone). The guys at SlipHead.com seem to be on to this. Making money off of ideas then boils down to the best business plan and implementation. Everyone wins (somewhat simplistic I know).

    2. Re:Nice Idea But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      the real question is can you patent the process of getting a copyright/patent and sueing someone. then you'd have a mountain of cash in no time.

    3. Re:Nice Idea But... by dbIII · · Score: 1
      In the current climate this article is completely redundant, if it can be conceived of it has not only been patented
      True - in this mornings' newspaper it had a story on some idiot that is putting a patent on making ice cream with liquid nitrogen. It's not remotely approaching an original idea and there are buckets of prior art.

      Moderated -2 Signal +4 Noise

    4. Re:Nice Idea But... by Illbay · · Score: 1
      Inappropriate Mod.

      It might be "funny" to some, but it's damned "insightful" to me!

      --
      Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
    5. Re:Nice Idea But... by blakestah · · Score: 1

      In the current climate this article is completely redundant, if it can be conceived of it has not only been patented but there are defensive patents surrounding it's use, offensive patents surrounding it's use while painted a different colour and more than likely several publicly traded companies bidding on the future rights to sell a cut down version for kids.

      Whereas I get where you are coming from, I think if you actually patented stuff you might feel differently. As a part of prototyping and inventing something, you inevitably discover things about how the invention needs to work that are non-obvious to anyone that has never built a prototype. This aspect of inventing things has not changed.

      Patents based only on a drawing on a napkin are usually not even worth as much as the napkin. A working prototype and non-obvious patent is worth much much much more.

  2. Replacement retinas by BWJones · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hmmm. Aside from the rather rediculous suggestions that ended up in the NYTimes, why not spend the ink space and advocate some suggestions for real innovations that could change peoples lives. Like bionic/biological/cybernetic retinas that actually work?

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    1. Re:Replacement retinas by jandrese · · Score: 1

      Hey, I know I'd love to have the automatic bullshit detector. Too bad it was probably the device I'm least likely to see in my lifetime.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    2. Re:Replacement retinas by ptbarnett · · Score: 1
      Hey, I know I'd love to have the automatic bullshit detector.

      If you did, the NY Times would be every color except white.

    3. Re:Replacement retinas by TyrranzzX · · Score: 1

      I had a physics teacher that will rename nameless who works for a large company that will also remain nameless. They made a fake ear that actually allows people to hear, effectivly curing deathness when the ear is the problem. When you get it installed, which is a surgical process, everyone and everything sounds like daffy duck until your brain gets to know how it works.

      Mr. First post up there got the whole reason why they didn't sell them; people would be sueing right and left for whatever they could "your inplant gave me cancer, I'll sue!!!". Or some pantent violation makes it impossible, etc.

      --


      Candy-Coated Knowledge

    4. Re:Replacement retinas by BWJones · · Score: 3, Informative

      They made a fake ear that actually allows people to hear, effectivly curing deathness when the ear is the problem. When you get it installed, which is a surgical process, everyone and everything sounds like daffy duck until your brain gets to know how it works.

      Cochlear implants actually do work to some degree, and the limitations can be overcome by better amplifiers/more channels etc... The problem with cochlear implants is relatively simple with some causes of deafness. Vision rescue is a different beast however, and will require a more intimate knowledge of pathological processes and normal retinal functioning.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    5. Re:Replacement retinas by rwise2112 · · Score: 1

      "effectivly curing deathness"

      I had no idea that a fake ear could prevent death! ;)

      --

      "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
    6. Re:Replacement retinas by Ieshan · · Score: 1

      I know you're a vision scientist, so I'd chime in with both an "I agree" and a "Have you read the relevant case study in 'Anthropologist on Mars' by Oliver Sacks?"

      If not, it's a very interesting look at the restoration of sight.

    7. Re:Replacement retinas by BWJones · · Score: 1

      "Have you read the relevant case study in 'Anthropologist on Mars' by Oliver Sacks?"

      I've not yet read that title. Although other works of his such as "The man who mistook his wife for a hat" is wonderful reading. Oliver Sacks is a wonderful author and uniquely gifted communicator of neurology to both the layman and the expert. Thanks, I'll have to look into that title.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    8. Re:Replacement retinas by tricknology · · Score: 1

      They made a fake ear that actually allows people to hear, effectivly curing deathness

      Effectively curing deathness, eh? I guess we don't need cryogenics anymore. Bring on the fake ears!

      --
      I never been so broke that I couldn't leave town.
    9. Re:Replacement retinas by blakestah · · Score: 1

      Vision rescue is a different beast however, and will require a more intimate knowledge of pathological processes and normal retinal functioning.

      Not really, I suspect pretty decent retinal prosthetics will be available within 5 years. Like the cochlear implants, they will be horribly imperfect at first, but will dramatically improve the lives of their users. If you cannot see at all, even a few pixels makes like a lot better.

      The road from the first working implementation to a really good implementation is comparably easier.

      For the retina the challenges are
      1) minimal heat production. The eye doesn't cool really well, and stimulating electrodes are gonna generate heat
      2) hermetically sealed. The eye will be cut open, the implant inserted, and the eye will be sewn shut, and the outside of the eye will heal. Then, you have to remotely power the implant, while generating minimal heat, and convert visual input to stimulation of retinal neurons.

      But even these issues are completely tractable with current technology. And, there is a ton of money being thrown at it, with 4-5 centers nationwide working on it, and a company called 2ndSight.

      It'll happen.

    10. Re:Replacement retinas by BWJones · · Score: 1

      Not really, I suspect pretty decent retinal prosthetics will be available within 5 years.

      Whoa dude. You are talking to the wrong person if you maintain that. Read my dissertation to find out why.

      Like the cochlear implants, they will be horribly imperfect at first, but will dramatically improve the lives of their users. If you cannot see at all, even a few pixels makes like a lot better.

      This is true. In fact, if one could maintain even a small "grid" of say, 128 pixels, that would be tremendous.

      For the retina the challenges are
      1) minimal heat production. The eye doesn't cool really well, and stimulating electrodes are gonna generate heat

      This is true, but the other big problem (aside from those I outline in my dissertation) is going to be exact stimulation of appropriate neural circuits (even if they are not corrupt, which they are). What I mean by this is that you are going to have to stimulate ganglion cells. But there is no way that stimulating ganglion cells is going to not also stimulate other cells in the network. This is complicated by the fact that ganglion cells are coupled by gap junctions to amacrine cells.

      2) hermetically sealed. The eye will be cut open, the implant inserted, and the eye will be sewn shut, and the outside of the eye will heal. Then, you have to remotely power the implant, while generating minimal heat, and convert visual input to stimulation of retinal neurons.

      Again, read the dissertation. There are going to be problems with breaching of glial seals within the retina itself.

      But even these issues are completely tractable with current technology

      Perhaps.

      And, there is a ton of money being thrown at it, with 4-5 centers nationwide working on it, and a company called 2ndSight.

      This is very true. Don't forget Optobionics and others. But again, the problem is that everyone is missing some very fundamental issues with retinal degenerations. The retina degenerates, and remodels itself. Current approaches to vision rescue will have to be refined.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    11. Re:Replacement retinas by blakestah · · Score: 1

      The retina degenerates, and remodels itself. Current approaches to vision rescue will have to be refined.

      Haven't looked at the thesis yet, so keep that in mind.

      But these same issues occured in consideration of the cochlear implant. I work with its creators. People supposed that it NEEDED thousands of stimulation points and had to work perfectly.

      It had one electrode, and dramatically improved the lives of its users. The same would occur in a retinal prosthetic. If you could get a working prototype with 1 or 10 or 20 electrodes, and get feedback from volunteers (and there are plenty of these), and go from there, you will have a working prosthetic quickly.

      With one electrode, you could detect big changes in lighting, day from night, doors opening in dark rooms, etc. These are all things that are trivial to us, but incredibly useful to a blind man.

      If you try instead to imagine and solve all the possible problems ahead of time, it'll take forever.

      BTW, did you work with Normann?

    12. Re:Replacement retinas by BWJones · · Score: 1

      But these same issues occured in consideration of the cochlear implant. I work with its creators. People supposed that it NEEDED thousands of stimulation points and had to work perfectly.

      You are perfectly correct here. The problem with the retina is that it is a massively parallel processing device that has lots of inherent circuitry that starts rewiring itself when it is deafferented from losing its photoreceptor input.

      If you try instead to imagine and solve all the possible problems ahead of time, it'll take forever.

      Absolutely true and spoken like a true engineer. However, the big fundamental issue is that many of the folks currently engaged in retinal prosthetic research are not aware of some biological fundamentals.

      BTW, did you work with Normann?

      No, but I know him well and he will be at my dissertation defense tomorrow. Wish me luck!

      Dick Normann is rather excited at our work because it essentially supports his way of approaching the engineering problem. I will most likely take a biological approach, but he may beat me to a solution from an engineering implant perspective.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    13. Re:Replacement retinas by DzugZug · · Score: 1

      While you are right that there are a lot of different forms of blindness, most could be cured by an artificial retina. There is some promising work being done in this field. A battery powered implant tried in a group of people with retinitis pigmentosa had close to a 50% success rate.

      The reason that we need to study vision loss pathologies is that many kinds of blindness may be much easier to cure. As an example, one of the most common genetic causes of blindness, conginital stationary night blindness (CSNB), has been mapped to a particular gene which makes a special protien (called RPE65) in the visual cycle. In a recent study, puppies with CSNB were able to have their vision restored simply by feeding them RPE65 from birth.

    14. Re:Replacement retinas by BWJones · · Score: 1

      A battery powered implant tried in a group of people with retinitis pigmentosa had close to a 50% success rate

      Reference? I am not aware of any peer reviewed work that has passed muster. There has been lots of "cold fusion" style reporting on this issue from a number of companies using the popular press as a means to disseminate their work, but the fundamentals are not in the literature.

      In a recent study, puppies with CSNB were able to have their vision restored simply by feeding them RPE65 from birth.

      You are most correct here. I was at the ARVO meeting when they presented these data and they absolutely *did* rescue vision in this model. Tremendously exciting.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    15. Re:Replacement retinas by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      When you get it installed, which is a surgical process, everyone and everything sounds like daffy duck until your brain gets to know how it works.

      So, does Daffy sound like a human then? :-)

      Seriously, I had the somewhat related idea about 10 years ago of a Palm-Pilot-like device that shows a scrolling frequency chart of the sounds around you. A deaf person could learn to interpret such a chart and know what people are saying. Some hearing researchers taught themselves to read paper versions of such charts, so it is at least humanly possible to read them.

      Here is an old e-sketch I did of such a thing

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    16. Re:Replacement retinas by blakestah · · Score: 1

      Good luck. Tell him I send my best.

      -Dave

    17. Re:Replacement retinas by PooAtom · · Score: 1

      As I am typing this I am watching several people from Argus Biomedical, developers of AlphaCor (world's first artificial cornea), clearing out their rooms... It was a great technology but it's a pity that there was mismanagement. Nepotism. $300,000 a year pretty much because he was the son of a particular important person. Does anyone remember Q-Vis? He was involved with them too. You'd think they'd learn the third time round. :)

    18. Re:Replacement retinas by aszaidi · · Score: 1

      > They made a fake ear that actually allows people to hear, effectivly curing deathness

      Brilliant. I've been dead for 20 years and never thought replacing my ears would bring me back.

  3. Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to see. by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A flash/thumb drive that can store 4.2 gigs.
    Imagine all the space Blockbuster would save. Rent movies on a flash drive, go home plug it into your home entertainment center or PC and watch the flicks. Probably save Netflix a ton of money on shipping too. Or, just go to Blockbuster with your own 4.2 gig thumb drives, plug into the USB 3 (this is the future ya know) port, download right there. Movie somehow self destructs and no need to return it.
    Of course the MPAA would find some way to relate all of this to the Boston Strangler I'm sure.

  4. My favourite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    An honest-to-goodness cluebat for the manager that Just Doesn't Get It[tm].

    1. Re:My favourite by dang-a-pin · · Score: 1

      Dude, Donald Trump will be your first customer. Ride that horsie cowboy - riches await!

    2. Re:My favourite by Slicky · · Score: 1

      I'd like a remote version of the "dope slap". You use it to whack people upside the head from a distance. Telemarketers, the driver of the car that just cut you off, etc.

      I would call it rslap.

      --
      Speak softly and carry a +6 two-handed sword.
  5. Things that people want to see invented ? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

    The New York Times asked 11 prominent people to write about a device that they'd like to see invented

    Hmm, if they can think of something to invent, didn't they just invented it? I thought an invention was essentially something new that nobody thought about before (and no, it's not the same as something that's patented : you can patent something everybody wants).

    Here's the invention I'm working on : a machine with a dictionary of technical words, verbs and old english expressions, that spits out random descriptions and diagrams, staples everything together, puts it in an envelope, stick a stamp on it and sends it to the USPTO automatically. It then sits on google, waits for pages with a lot of similar words, and automatically dials my attorney's number when it finds one. I expect to reap great profits from such a machine.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Things that people want to see invented ? by kalidasa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Invention is not merely dreaming up an idea, but figuring out exactly how to do it.

    2. Re:Things that people want to see invented ? by kharchenko · · Score: 1

      Hmm, if they can think of something to invent, didn't they just invented it? I thought an invention was essentially something new that nobody thought about before

      That's a common misconception - dreaming up some gizmo is not nearly the same as actually inventing it. This is especially obvious for vague wishes such as the one suggested by Mr. Trump. All of revolutionary inventions of the past are rightfully attributed to the people who managed to implement the dreams. Today things a starting to look different.
      A guy like Billy G. can write a book about talking eyeglasses, patent the idea and have everyone congratulate him on his newest "invention". And a dozen years later some poor sucker will actually build these talking glasses, just to have everyone (including the faithful lawyers) point out to him that it has already been "invented".

  6. "Solve my problem" by el_frostie · · Score: 2, Funny
    I always dreamed of the "solvemyproblem" program:

    Just one big button saying "Solve My Problem", press it and voila....

    No more phonecalls, no customers, no deadlines and ofcourse it autoinstalls gimmemoney 1.0 at the same time. :-)

    --
    One good reason why computers can do more work than people is that they never have to stop and answer the phone.
    1. Re:"Solve my problem" by el_frostie · · Score: 1

      ... ofcourse when someone makes it they'll make it Windows-only. So after pressing "Solve My Problem" gimmemoney would be rather useless as the platform would be gone. *Sigh*

      --
      One good reason why computers can do more work than people is that they never have to stop and answer the phone.
    2. Re:"Solve my problem" by gfxguy · · Score: 1, Funny

      Our systems programming teacher described the MRC 99 command in the 8088 instruction set. He had us all going right up until he explained what it did - makes any program work the way you want it to.

      It's better known as the "Miracle 99" command.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    3. Re:"Solve my problem" by PoshSpod · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I remember on the Amiga a program called 'why'. You could type it into the CLI after a command had failed and it would tell you in plain English what had happened.

      Bring that one back and go from there...

      --

      This is my sig.

    4. Re:"Solve my problem" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      As far as I can tell, why just interpreted the errorlevel (or Amigan equivalent), something the programs themselves could have done, had they not just exploded, usually indirectly due to the lack of memory protection on the Amiga.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:"Solve my problem" by gmuslera · · Score: 1

      I think the device is already invented, you know... "Press to solve your problems... release to detonate". When not even yourself can know what really solve your problems unless going to religious matters, is hard that an automatic device knows that, unless the answer is the final solution... at least after that you will not worry anymore about problems.

    6. Re:"Solve my problem" by sciencewhiz · · Score: 2, Funny

      I already wrote 'why' for windows.

      #include

      void main(void)
      {
      printf("because windows sucks\n");
      }

    7. Re:"Solve my problem" by roskakori · · Score: 1
      As far as I can tell, why just interpreted the errorlevel.
      actually, amiga programs have 2 exit codes: a general one roughly indicting about the exit state (0=ok, 5=warn, 10=error, 20=major problem), and a detailed one containing the amiga equivalent to unix' errno. the why command basically translates the datailed error code into a string constant, comparable to unix' strerror().

      in practice, why is pretty useless. for example, it tells you that it could not open a file, but never tells you the name of it (because the name naturally is not part of the string contant why uses).

      (for details, see struct Process.pr_Result2 and the autodocs on Fault() and SetIoErr().)

  7. Personal taste... by Gago · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...ending up defining standards for new inventions does not sound all that much surprising. Wasn't Walkman invented because Sony's director wanted to hear music while playing golf, or something similar ? Sounds quite similar to the definition of the hacker by Eric Reymond. The only thing is you want people with good taste making these decisions (unlike "the Sun" or Fox News defining the standards of journalistic quality).
    Besides, there are objective criteria that can define constraints; for instance, falsh media cards are better that 5''1/4 floppies, because they fit better in the palm of the hand.

    1. Re:Personal taste... by kalidasa · · Score: 1

      That the capacity of the world's most popular music format was defined by one man's musical taste should not be all that surprising. Necessity may have once been the mother of invention, but these days convenience is the likely surrogate, or at least the midwife.

      They make it sound like the 9th Symphony is somehow an erratic thing to have such a high opinion of; in fact, the 9th Symphony is pretty widely (though of course not universally) regarded as the finest piece of music ever written, and a reduced version of its fourth movement (with the lyrics from Schiller's Ode to Joy as Beethoven adapted them) is the European Union's "national" anthem.

    2. Re:Personal taste... by Gago · · Score: 1

      The IXth Symphony certainly is a great piece of music, but the choice remains arbitrary : why not choose a 3-hour format to store Wagner's operas ?
      Besides, 74 minutes clearly adresses at one specific interpretation of the IXth Symphony. The Philippe Herreweghe version is probably much shorter, as its tempo is quicker than what used to be fashionable in the 1950s and 1960s. I wonder which version definied the standard (perhaps Karajan).

    3. Re:Personal taste... by impluvian · · Score: 1

      Pity it wasn't a Fuertwaengler recording, otherwise we'd have some serious storage capacity already!

    4. Re:Personal taste... by ScottSpeaks! · · Score: 1

      The head of Sony wanted a way to listen to music on the train. So did lots of other non-auto-driving Japanese commuters. The Walkman first caught on in America among teenagers, because they didn't have car stereos to listen to either.

    5. Re:Personal taste... by kalidasa · · Score: 1

      I suspect that there was an approximate range (40-80 minutes, say) to choose from, and the "9th Symphony" dictate simply fixed the exact number. Karajan's recording I think (not at home, so I don't have the disc to check) tops out at 69-71 minutes, not the full 74. I assumed that the 74 minutes was to accommodate all the recordings of the 9th in print at the time.

  8. Moby's is the best... by thenextpresident · · Score: 1

    "I would love to see recreational drugs that aren't bad for you and that aren't addictive."

    Drugs. The other white meat.

    --
    Jason Lotito
    1. Re:Moby's is the best... by Glock27 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      "I would love to see recreational drugs that aren't bad for you and that aren't addictive."

      Well, there is a problem with that. You see, the anti-drug puritans have basically defined "addiction" as "liking something and doing it regularly". Soon we'll be hearing about Internet addiction (oops too late), sex addiction (oops too late), chocolate addiction, McDonalds addiction and psychologist addiction.

      Let's face it, when people like something, they often do it frequently. When people really like something, they really do it frequently.

      To put it a different way, is skiing good for you? It might help your mental attitude, and might help your conditioning, but it could also land you in the hospital or the morgue (ask Sonny Bono). So, is someone that skis every day an "addict"? Should skiing be illegal because it's dangerous? Should Big Macs?

      My answer to all of that is no. People should be held accountable for their behavior, with the freedom to do what they please even if it is "partly bad for them". If someone uses drugs and kills someone they should be tried for murder. If someone uses drugs and eats a pizza, well...let the punishment fit the crime.

      --
      Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
      Score: -1 100% Flamebait
    2. Re:Moby's is the best... by zootread · · Score: 1

      "I would love to see recreational drugs that aren't bad for you and that aren't addictive."
      Drugs. The other white meat.

      Already have that. Its called marijuana. And its harmless if cooked and eaten.

      Yes, I understand the concept that anyone can get addicted to anything. But marijuana isn't inherently addictive.

      Anyone want some pot brownies?

      --
      Zoot!
    3. Re:Moby's is the best... by cloudship_tacitus · · Score: 4, Informative

      there are two kinds of addiction - physiological and psychological. that was a distinction that moby left out, in my opinion. he seems to be preoccupied with physiology. technically (and i'm remembering as best i can here, so might be a bit off), addiction is considered bad if it's maladaptive - i.e., it negatively affects your ability to attend to basic needs. so for instance, while there may be no physiological addiction to LSD or THC (could be argued either way in some cases), there can definitely be psychological addictions to the feelings/perceptual changes.

    4. Re:Moby's is the best... by Fratz · · Score: 2

      There is a difference between having a behavioral addiction and a chemical dependency.

      I'm generalizing here, but if you intake something that looks like (or is) a chemical your body produces, your body will basically say, "Hey, I'm making too much of that - better cut back." When your body no longer produces enough of that chemical to be of any use, you do need a substitute for it in the short term. Not having it causes withdrawal.

      Any pleasure drug that works on this principle would probably make you depend on it chemically.

      --
      -- Fratz, human
    5. Re:Moby's is the best... by Rahga · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Sorry, but most addictions have absolutely nothing to do with liking something.... Rather, the brain just hooks onto the addiction, regardless of how enjoyable it is. Or isn't. Think of all the Everquest and Counter-Strike addictions, games that are addictive but not actually fun. Or couch potatoes who watch sitcoms that aren't funny.... Or slashdot posters that are want to get a point of view across no matter how futile or unenjoyable it is.

    6. Re:Moby's is the best... by Builder · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, there is a problem with that. You see, the anti-drug puritans have basically defined "addiction" as "liking something and doing it regularly".

      Rubbish! Addiction is commonly accepted to mean being so dependant on something that you just can't give it up. Addiction is normally accepted to mean that an addicted person trying to stop whatever behaviour or substance they are addicted to will suffer severe repurcussions and be unable to function during this period.

    7. Re:Moby's is the best... by under_score · · Score: 2

      Liking something a lot and doing it freqently is a lot different than liking something but not being able to stop doing it without intense discomfort or struggle. Addiction isn't just doing something frequently. Cigarettes, alcohol, caffiene, and "harder" drugs all have physical and psychological (brain chemistry) effects that cause addiction in the sense of not being able to stop without (sometimes extreme) discomfort.

      --
      Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
    8. Re:Moby's is the best... by ShadarLogoth · · Score: 1

      You forgot cellphone addiction! watch out for the danger of repetitive stress disorder, a serious malady that affects people who can't stop punching in text messages.

      good thing we've got people Looking out for us.

      Learn how to text message safely TODAY!

      --Shadar

    9. Re:Moby's is the best... by IthnkImParanoid · · Score: 1

      Yes, that's the *real* definition of addiction. We also have some basterdized versions of that definition floating around, e.g. chocolate/food addiction thanks to Oprah. As a result people have started applying "addiction" to any behavior done compulsively which is hard to stop, as opposed to the more rigorous definition you gave. The grandparent's point is that, since drugs make you feel good, you won't want to stop, and that leads to them being labeled "addictive."

      --
      It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
    10. Re:Moby's is the best... by MarkGriz · · Score: 1

      It was "invented" long ago.

      Of course, those who have tried it will attest that there can be significant side effects :-)

      --
      Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
    11. Re:Moby's is the best... by sonic_ak · · Score: 1

      I think that his point was that anything can become addicting. If you are doing something that makes you feel better, there is a chance that you will use that to escape from problems in your life. By doing so, you create a new feeling of normal, and if things continue along this line, you become addicted. Case in point: marijuana. Although there really aren't any withdrawl symptoms due to how long it takes for it to leave the system, there are plenty of people who _need_ to get high just to get through the day. The problem here is not the drug, its that our society is raising people to escape from thier problems instead of dealing with them.

      --
      Sig is a crazy old German guy.
    12. Re:Moby's is the best... by legerde · · Score: 1

      Don't you mean: (try to ask Sonny Bono)

    13. Re:Moby's is the best... by Oddly_Drac · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "be psychological addictions to the feelings/perceptual changes."

      I hope you're speaking from personal experience, because it doesn't match mine.

      "there are two kinds of addiction - physiological and psychological."

      Yeah, but both can be argued to be linked to the endorphin/dopamine reward system to a certain degree, which keeps you going back despite nasty experiences during withdrawal or knowledge that it is maladaptive

      The problem is that you can't split narcotics so neatly from anything in the pharmocopia, or indeed anything that can cause a mood alteration in humans; recently we've seen people being treated for sex addiction (I regard this as an excuse for philandering) which is going to be connected with endorphin highs. Throw in the things which are like narcotics, but appear to be doled out like sweets to anyone who has the cash, and you have a problem that is both above and below the radar.

      The fundamental point is that humans like to get high, and they'll get high no matter what the vector or whether it injures themselves or others. The trick is to flatten the playfield and start to regulate the end result rather than human nature. Start with preaching personal responsibility rather than abstention. Start with Hollywood. Start with the storylines on TV.

      --
      Oddly Draconis
      Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
    14. Re:Moby's is the best... by MikeOttawa · · Score: 1

      I really hope you didn't remember that from heart...

    15. Re:Moby's is the best... by Dashing+Leech · · Score: 1
      Paraphrasing the DSM-IV, addiction is ...

      Nice rant, but it all relies on semantics and is a straw-man argument. You've taken a single definition of "addiction" and used it to discredit a lot of things that use a different definition.

      From Merriam-Webster, addiction is defined as a "compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal". It specifically mentions drugs with "chemical dependency" and directly refers to withdrawal.

      So your arguments are pointless. The TRUTH commercials are not full of shit, they are using "addiction" to mean the same as "chemical dependency", which is a common usage. At worst, they are inaccurate with their terminology, but it's the same context as the general public would understand.

    16. Re:Moby's is the best... by MrSkunk · · Score: 1

      Addiction is commonly accepted to mean being so dependant on something that you just can't give it up. Addiction is normally accepted to mean that an addicted person trying to stop whatever behaviour or substance they are addicted to will suffer severe repurcussions and be unable to function during this period.

      Hehe, according to your definition, I am addicted to work. Everytime I try to stop working (quit my job), I find that there are severe reprucussions and I can't function normally (no money for food, rent, etc.). After a few months away from work, I have to give in and start working again. Do you know of anywhere that I can get counseling for this horrible work addiction?

    17. Re:Moby's is the best... by pavon · · Score: 1

      Well, the problem with that is that pleasure itself is addictive, which is why pain killers are some of the most addictive drugs. There is no such thing as a non-addictive recreational drug, although making them less addictive and less harmfull might be a good thing.

      I reason I say might, is that reducing the most obvious bad side effects makes the drugs appear more safe, so more people use them more often, and expose themselves to less obvious bad side effects. I have the same sort of questions about safe sex. By making sex safe from the obvious bad side effects, people became more sexually active. However, is this casual additude of 'sex as a recreation' healthy for our society?

      Likewise do we really want the most pleasurable things in our lives to come from chemicals? Suddenly the pleasure we get from a job well done or a good relationship, pale in comparision to these recreational drugs. The conditioning we receive for doing a good job, and building strong relationships isn't as strong as the conditioning we receive from using drugs. This, in my humble opinion, is the main reason why I don't want to see (strong) drugs to become more wide spread.

      'Everything in moderation' applies here. Look at the current situation: strong drugs (cocaine, etc) have strong bad concequences, mild drugs (marijuana, etc) have weaker bad concequences. This is good, let it stay that way.

    18. Re:Moby's is the best... by TKinias · · Score: 1

      scripsit Oddly_Drac:

      recently we've seen people being treated for sex addiction (I regard this as an excuse for philandering)

      I will agree that there is an unfortunate confusion with the terminology. However, you focused on ``going back despite nasty experiences ... or knowledge that it is maladaptive'' as criteria of addiction. How is someone who ruins her life through reckless promiscuity -- and doesn't change behavior after getting herpes, or being raped, or being rendered sterile by a botched abortion -- not fulfilling your criteria? If as a society we are interested in a healthy citizenry, let's not focus on whether or not people are making excuses, but on helping them be healthy, whether they are drunks or junkies or philanderers or gamblers or whatever.

      --
      In principio creauit Linus Linucem.
    19. Re:Moby's is the best... by Glock27 · · Score: 1
      Addicition generally implies physiological changes of some sort that become reinforced with each use of the substance.

      No, there is "psychological addiction". Further, my skiing example involves adrenalin, which can have lasting physiological effects if abused enough.

      I'm surprised that not one of the posts in response really addressed the skiing example. Surely, if one can be "psychologically addicted" to sex, one can be "psychologically addicted" to skiing?!?

      Be consistent now... ;-)

      Eating at McDonalds everyday or enjoying too much chocolate is not an addiction, it's a lack of willpower [or laziness, in the case of the golden arches].

      Well, whether or not McDonalds is an 'addiction', the puritans are out to save you from it. Will Big Macs be legal in ten years? Stay tuned...

      --
      Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
      Score: -1 100% Flamebait
    20. Re:Moby's is the best... by Mitchell+Mebane · · Score: 1

      Um... no. I describe myself as a Slashdot addict. Yes, I like Slashdot a lot, and yes I visit Slashdot a lot, but it is having severe consequences with regard to my grades. I describe myself as an addict because it is having harmful effects, and because through my own will I have been unable to break my habit. It's not that I don't want to - it's that I can't. Everytime I have tried stopping, I've always come rushing back after a day or two because I almost went mad from not knowing what's going on in the world.

      And don't say "subscribe and get it in your email". With Slashdot's track record for accuracy (or lack thereof), you absolutely must read the comments to get the straight dope.

      --

      The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
      --Aristotle
    21. Re:Moby's is the best... by Glock27 · · Score: 1
      If as a society we are interested in a healthy citizenry, let's not focus on whether or not people are making excuses, but on helping them be healthy, whether they are drunks or junkies or philanderers or gamblers or whatever.

      What if we are interested in a free citizenry instead?

      What you view as destructive, wasteful behavior (say, skiing), I may view as a fun way to spend a weekend. The government should get out of the business of prosecuting "victimless" crimes.

      Drinking, philandering, and gambling are all legal. Drug use should fall right into the same category.

      --
      Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
      Score: -1 100% Flamebait
    22. Re:Moby's is the best... by TKinias · · Score: 1

      scripsit Glock27:

      What you view as destructive, wasteful behavior (say, skiing), I may view as a fun way to spend a weekend. The government should get out of the business of prosecuting "victimless" crimes.

      I'm certainly not arguing against that here... I was not advocating hunting down sex and love addicts and forcing them into institutions or twelve-step programs! I was arguing that, rather than condemn them, in is in our interest to assist (however possible -- I'm not a treatment specialist) those whose behaviour has become destructive to themselves and who want to stop.

      I quite enjoy a drink from time to time, and I would resent being arrested for sipping on my Lagavulin. However, if my drinking became destructive -- I got thrown out of the university, my marriage was wrecked, I developed health problems -- I would be grateful if society saw fit to help me stop the cycle of self-destruction.

      I was suggesting that a pathological philanderer might be accorded the same help as an alcoholic.

      --
      In principio creauit Linus Linucem.
    23. Re:Moby's is the best... by vDave420 · · Score: 1
      Addiction is commonly accepted to mean being so dependant on something that you just can't give it up. Addiction is normally accepted to mean that an addicted person trying to stop whatever behaviour or substance they are addicted to will suffer severe repurcussions and be unable to function during this period.

      Bah!

      Addicted to:

      Breathing
      Eating
      Sh*ting
      Walking
      Thinking

      Why aren't those illegal? =) (Obviously...)

      People are sooo stupid!
      Ya know what the problem really is?
      Stupid People just don't get how little they understand things, and these mobs fall for stupid "Save the Children" and "Buying pot==terrorism" style rants, which ruins it for the rest of us. (Sigh)

      Well, thats my $0.02 anyway.

      -dave-

      --
      The pig browse. With Google. Sigh is to the chicken. Chicken is fool. Giggle. The DailyWTF giggle.
    24. Re:Moby's is the best... by jimbolaya · · Score: 1

      Excellent points, my man. Couldn't have said it better myself. And when drugs give us greater satisfaction than a job well done or spending time with loved ones, well, we just might find ourselves spending less time working and with family. And, hell, if that isn't bad enough, we might find ourselves listening to Moby.

      --

      There ain't no rules here; we're trying to accomplish something.

    25. Re:Moby's is the best... by Oddly_Drac · · Score: 1

      "How is someone who ruins her life through reckless promiscuity"

      Complicated issue; _really_ complicated issue...and for one you need to lose the feminine pronoun, as there's been a lopsided approach to the question of promiscuity since time immemorial, and it needs to stop.

      "and doesn't change behavior after getting herpes, or being raped, or being rendered sterile by a botched abortion"

      Personally I'd see repetitive self-destructive behaviour as evidence of borderline personality disorder, Bipolar disorder or major depressive episodes as outlined by DSM IV...the trick is to remove the stigma of mental illness equating to madness and start being socially adult about malaises of the mind or the fact that people are being bombarded with images of what their life should be. Nobody is addicted to injury. Nobody is addicted to feeling worthless. Those are evidence of ambivalence rather than addiction; making the distinction is important.

      "If as a society we are interested in a healthy citizenry, let's not focus on whether or not people are making excuses, but on helping them be healthy, whether they are drunks or junkies or philanderers or gamblers or whatever."

      Okay, I mostly agree, but that does require both a definition of what is normal, acceptable and enriching to society, and although I'm a faithful partner, taxpaying non-drinker and raging dope fiend, I may not be considered to be the model of a good citizen.

      My rather offhand comment about sex addiction is that it's mostly the rich that get treatment for it in rehab, and frequently publicists just make up stuff to cover their clients asses, to start creating an 'illness' around it (ie an involuntary condition that victimises the sufferer) starts to fall into the trap of everyone being a survivor of some sort or another.

      --
      Oddly Draconis
      Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
    26. Re:Moby's is the best... by Oddly_Drac · · Score: 1

      "What if we are interested in a free citizenry instead?"

      It'll never happen. For one thing a free citizenry tends to be quite creative in it's thinking modes, and some people just don't want to know and don't care.

      "The government should get out of the business of prosecuting "victimless" crimes."

      Again, it's a question of 'victimless'...current narcotics legislation _creates_ a black market that seems to delight in cutting bits off other people. I've always considered that Government should reflect the society rather than try to increasingly resist social change as a matter of policy, but I do think that there should be controls in place. Driving under the influence of anything harder than aspirin should be a crime because of the potential of harm, but to make a hardline distinction between LSD and Valium is ludicrous.

      --
      Oddly Draconis
      Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
    27. Re:Moby's is the best... by TKinias · · Score: 1

      scripsit Oddly_Drac:

      Complicated issue; _really_ complicated issue...and for one you need to lose the feminine pronoun, as there's been a lopsided approach to the question of promiscuity since time immemorial, and it needs to stop.

      I chose the feminine pronoun intentionally, but not for the reasons you might imagine. (I agree wholeheartedly with you on the ``it needs to stop'' bit!) The reason I used the feminine is because it is much easier to see how reckless sexual behavior would be harmful to a woman. Men tend to be a bit smug in their invulnerability, and I was trying to make a point. (Around here you'd be likely to get a response of ``Oh, too much sex, cry me a river!'' or something...)

      My rather offhand comment about sex addiction is that it's mostly the rich that get treatment for it in rehab...

      I guess my image of sex addiction is more from the twelve-step side, rather than the celebrity rehab side. I really don't pay attention to People magazine, but I have known people who seemed to use sex as a substitute when recovering from narcotic addiction. The twelve-step and professional drug treatment communities do seem to treat sex and gambling as potential substitute addictions. (Very few heroin addicts are rich, by the way, at least not by the time they make it to an NA meeting.) This doesn't excuse philandering politicians, any more than the fact that crack is highly addictive excuses Marion Barry.

      --
      In principio creauit Linus Linucem.
    28. Re:Moby's is the best... by Glock27 · · Score: 1
      I've always considered that Government should reflect the society rather than try to increasingly resist social change as a matter of policy, but I do think that there should be controls in place. Driving under the influence of anything harder than aspirin should be a crime because of the potential of harm, but to make a hardline distinction between LSD and Valium is ludicrous.

      Driving under the influence of anything is not a "victimless" crime. In the case of drugs that seriously negatively effect driving capability (alchohol, valium, etc.) there should probably be a law. With other, milder, drugs you are faced with similar issues to lack of sleep, eating, using the stereo or other semi-negligent actions that decrease driver safety while still remaining perfectly legal.

      The ultimate solution, of course, is autonomous cars - sometimes known as "taxis". ;-)

      --
      Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
      Score: -1 100% Flamebait
    29. Re:Moby's is the best... by zootread · · Score: 1

      Snake venom is harmless if cooked and eaten, too. That doesn't make it harmless.

      Yes it does, you just said its harmless if cooked and eaten.

      Smoking spinach leaves is harmful, that doesn't make eating the plant harmful.

      Sure, smoking anything is generally unhealthy. But you don't have to smoke marijuana to use it, you can cook it in butter and eat that and achieve the same effects as smoking (in some ways a better effect). Therefore it is just what Moby wanted: a harmless drug that is not addictive.

      --
      Zoot!
  9. Highs that don't hurt...... by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 1

    As far as Moby is concerned regarding highs that don't hurt: think back to the days of everyone's first LEGAL high: spinning around and around.

    Huey Lewis first brought this up

    1. Re:Highs that don't hurt...... by martinthebrit · · Score: 1

      That still hurts when you collide with the playground wall. Ah, memories of a time long gone...

    2. Re:Highs that don't hurt...... by PetWolverine · · Score: 1

      But at least when you're stoned, it doesn't hurt as much to fall on your ass.

      Actually, while it's my least favorite psychoactive among those few I've tried, alcohol would be the most effective thing for that purpose--it makes falling on your ass fun.

      --
      I found the meaning of life the other day, but I had write-only access.
    3. Re:Highs that don't hurt...... by swb · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And if you had recess after lunch, too much riding on the spinning thing made you yak, or at least feel kind of green for a while.

      By "spinning thing", I'm referring to a bit of playground equipment that consisted of a round turntable, usually with 4-8 handrails set along the radius of the turntable at equal distances. A couple of people would get on, and one or more people would grab the handrails and run, setting the thing spinning, fast enough that if you were on it you really had to hang on or you'd get thrown off. I'd wager a 10 year old with decent strength could get it going 60 RPM or faster, although it was hard to sustain the speed unless the pusher didn't jump on.

      The only ones I've ever seen have been made out of steel, and I haven't seen one in a park or playground in a long time. It's one of those playground toys that one kind in 5000 might get hurt on (falling off, etc), so they're probably not insurable. Which is too bad, since they were a lot of fun.

    4. Re:Highs that don't hurt...... by Rob+Riggs · · Score: 1

      I puked my guts out on that stuff, man. No thanks!

      --
      the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
    5. Re:Highs that don't hurt...... by lambent · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I watched "I Love the 80s: Stikes Back", too. Quoting without citing (in this case, Hal Sparks), is plagiarism.

      Think up your own ideas.

  10. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Sc00ter · · Score: 4, Informative
    They already have 4gig Compact Flash cards.

    --
    Free Mac Mini
  11. Trump's onto something by mblase · · Score: 3, Funny

    Donald J. Trump... I would like a computer chip that I could attach to the brains of all my contractors so that they would know exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it, and at what price I wanted it. This would save me a lot of time and a lot of yelling.

    Heck with contractors, I'd attach those chips to my wife and kids. For pretty much the same reasons. (Admit it, Donald, you'd do the same.)

    1. Re:Trump's onto something by xao+gypsie · · Score: 1

      is it just me or does that sound too "book of Revelations"esque??

      xao

      --


      xao
      http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
    2. Re:Trump's onto something by Bill_Mische · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Two small problems...

      one...your kids almost certainly know what you want but have no intention of doing it. Back to yelling

      two...what if they get to implant the same device in you. Imagine never being able to ignore them, never to say "Sorry love I didn't catch that", never to say "If you keep quiet about bloody McDonalds for five minutes you can have one".

      If you want to imagine the future, imagine a five year old whinging for an ice cream...for ever!

      --
      Boring Old Fart (40, married, 3 kids...er no...make that 49, married, 3 grown up kids...it's been a long time)
    3. Re:Trump's onto something by citizenc · · Score: 1

      Reading Donald Trump's response made me laugh out loud. Everybody in the computer lab here looked at me. :P

    4. Re:Trump's onto something by Elbow+Macaroni · · Score: 1

      Yeah but that would still coincide with what the recipients of the chips would want. I think what the Donald really wants is some slaves.

      --
      -------------------------------------
      Technically, we are beyond survival.
    5. Re:Trump's onto something by StrawberryFrog · · Score: 1

      Donald J. Trump... I would like a computer chip that I could attach to the brains of all my contractors so that they would know exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it, and at what price I wanted it.

      If I had a boss like that (I don't, thankfully), I'd want the device to be two-way, so he could share my vivid mental image of exactly what I'd like him to shove, and where.

      --

      My Karma: ran over your Dogma
      StrawberryFrog

    6. Re:Trump's onto something by pmz · · Score: 1

      I'd attach those chips to my wife and kids.

      Ask and ye shall recieve...two fold (your wife is asking for an electric clamp for your balls!)

      --
      Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
    7. Re:Trump's onto something by Sri+Lumpa · · Score: 1


      Just make sure your kids don't receive the thoughts of what you want from your wife.

      --
      "The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
  12. Re:Road to riches by POds · · Score: 1

    As i believe (correct me if im wrong) but if these ideas are not already patiented they have recieved copyright or some sort of protection, just because they have been talked about publicly or in this case publish for the public.

    So if i remember correctly. Which im am probably NOT, these ideas are safe for a number of years, for the people who spoke about them!

    hrmm... someone may want to correct me if im wrong.

    --


    Giving IE users a taste of their own medicine since 2005 - http://pods.-is-a-geek.net/
  13. Someone needs to invent... by Evil+Adrian · · Score: 1

    ... a way for the Red Sox to get to the World Series.

    --
    evil adrian
    1. Re:Someone needs to invent... by schuster · · Score: 1

      the hell with getting to/winning the world series. let's just beat the yankees first. I bet that just by beating the yankees in something significant (either winning the division series in the final game of the season to keep them out of the playoffs or beating them in the playoffs) we can break the curse.

      --
      --- Don't ever trust a woman until she's dead- B.B. King
    2. Re:Someone needs to invent... by mesach · · Score: 1

      simple, move the yankees to another league...

      oh wait you would still have to play them IN the world series to win...

      to bad.

      --
      moo.
    3. Re:Someone needs to invent... by MsGeek · · Score: 1

      Screw that, someone needs to invent a way for the Chicago Cubs to get there. That would be some accomplishment!

      --
      Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
  14. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by kruczkowski · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No late return fees?

    You know that companies make a lot of money of silly things like that.

    --
    hmm... for fun I enjoy launching DDoS attacks against 127.87.42.5
  15. My Favorite by geeber · · Score: 5, Funny

    Margret Cho says, "The computer should be powered by solar energy, which could be from any source, not only the sun, so that even the illumination of the screen could keep it going."

    Holy Crap! Patent that before someone else does!

    --
    Download my free songs!
  16. Cat locator by The+G · · Score: 1

    The cat locator really would for me be the proof that we have truly Arrived at the era of High Tech. I mean, if we can locate a cat, what can't we do? It's embodying the intelligence of the cat in an electronic device. It's just one jump from Star Trek tech levels ("check the tricorder; scan for life signs!"). And it's finally a link between the two most arbitrary and capricious elements in my life: Cats and computers (they're brothers in spirit, or at least in league with one another, I'm sure).
    --G

    1. Re:Cat locator by pdhenry · · Score: 1, Funny

      Finding the cat is one thing. Determining whether it is alive or dead has been proven to be impossible.

    2. Re:Cat locator by RealSalmon · · Score: 1

      Since Sci Fi movies are realistic predictors of our lives in the future, this obviously won't happen for quite some time (if ever). Otherwise they might have lasted a little longer on the Nostromo.

      --

      -B

    3. Re:Cat locator by Elbow+Macaroni · · Score: 1

      Or even better a kid locator???

      --
      -------------------------------------
      Technically, we are beyond survival.
    4. Re:Cat locator by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      I think you missed the joke. See, there's this little known scientist (ahem) who theorized that if a cat is locked in a box, the cat would remain in an indeterminate, neither alive nor dead, state until you opened the box and observed the the cat. Upon observing the cat, the quantum universe will decide its state of being and thus fork the universe in two ways, one where it's alive and one where it's dead.

      And before you say that it's all gobbledygook, ponder this for a moment. The only reason our universe works the way it does is because the quantum probability that things will work the way they do is far higher than the probability that they won't. So while you may not fall through your chair due to the extremely low quantum probability, a few particles that have detached from your being may have just passed through your chair and landed solidly on the floor.

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    5. Re:Cat locator by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      No, you're quite right. Here's a good description. However, for the purpose of explaining thought experiment, the contraption actually does not matter. The cat could simply die of starvation. The primary point is that there is nothing more than a probability of the cat's life or death situation. One cannot state with 100% certainty that the cat will be alive or dead once the box is opened.

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    6. Re:Cat locator by wilsonjd · · Score: 1

      The Cat locator already exists. It is an RFID tag that is implanted into you pet. See you Vet. http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/230 /

    7. Re:Cat locator by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      This demonstrates the fictional world in which Slashdot readers live. Say after me: RFIDs cannot be read at any significant distance, they're just an electronic replacement for barcodes.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
  17. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by sklib · · Score: 1

    By the time you can squeeze a dvd into flash memory, it won't even be necessary. I think that within a few years, cable providers will be offering on-demand programmint out the wazoo, and companies like Blockbuster and Netflix will either go out of business, or change their business model from moving physical data containers (dvd) to their customers, they will host data instead, so ppl can download it. The idea isn't that far off -- you can already order movies in your home/hotel room just by browsing some menus. Right now the selections are relatively limited, but given time i think that can only grow.

    A lot of people talk about convergence as the wave of the future, where every device does has pretty much the same capabilities. I think that things are going in a different direction -- the convergence of people's butts to the couch. Right now you might have to go to a store to get a dvd you want, but in our bright future you'll just click your remote, and content will magically appear on your tv. iTunes is doing this for computers now, so video can't be far off.

    --
    -S
  18. Open source ideas website by StarEmperor · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hey, we don't need 11 prominent people to come up with ideas. Everyday folks do just fine. Check out whynot.net for a variety of clever solutions just waiting to be implemented.

    1. Re:Open source ideas website by jolshefsky · · Score: 1

      For things a little less realistic, there's also Half Bakery.

      --
      --- Jason Olshefsky

      Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)

    2. Re:Open source ideas website by Elbow+Macaroni · · Score: 1
      Well judging from the article I think we at least need 11 different people - how boring!

      "Prominent people" don't want the same things as regular people anyway. I want cars that drive themselves so I can take a nap or read a book.

      --
      -------------------------------------
      Technically, we are beyond survival.
    3. Re:Open source ideas website by DaBj · · Score: 1

      "I want cars that drive themselves so I can take a nap or read a book""

      We call a car like that a "TAXI".

      --
      "GNU's not Unix....it's Linux" / Kami "kokamomi" Petersen
    4. Re:Open source ideas website by Mawbid · · Score: 1

      There's also shouldexist.org

      --
      Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
    5. Re:Open source ideas website by vigilology · · Score: 1
      whynot.net

      "How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small"

      All those great ideas to solve problems and they haven't solved the bgcolor problem yet...

    6. Re:Open source ideas website by LeBain · · Score: 1
      Or check out halfbakery.com for some truly useful suggestions.

      --
      Give serendipity a chance.
  19. Tee Hee by dolo666 · · Score: 1

    The article, as written, seems to be one pageblock after another. This has to be the most annoying slashdot article I've seen to date.

    I would like Slashdot users to invent a strategy for posting articles from sites that require login/passwords... sites like the New York Times. You can't have an article that requires this, and the google link leads to a hacked-down version of the article.

    I have a NYT account somewhere, but it's going to take me fifteen minutes to dig up my old username and password. This is a pain in the ass.

    My solution? What if we use the new copyright law that states:

    "Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace."

    Pretty simple here to argue that the text we want is not reasonably available in the commercial marketplace, because their delivery system is all wrong. I signed up already for a NYT account, but they keep asking me for a password and username I forget. Who cares about that? Seriously.

    What difference does it make if I sign up to their website, or if I don't? I'm still not paying any money! Who does?

    1. Re:Tee Hee by theGreater · · Score: 1

      It's already been invented, and I've been using it for years. It's called disobedience.

      See, apparently the New York Times thinks I'm a 103 year old grandmother making a quarter million per year as Chief Technology Operator of a homemaking empire. I also subscribe regularly to the NYT.

      If you don't like what they're doing to you, break it so it doesn't work.

      -theGreater Disruption.

    2. Re:Tee Hee by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      Then you've got more time on your hands than I do. I always just pick the first option, and fill in all 1's for the numbers. So I'm an accountant, who does accounting, but only makes $20k a year, my zip code is 11111, and I was born in 1911. My email address is something quite obscene, and, why, yes I would like to sign up for your newsletter, thankyouverymuch!

      I wonder if anybody actually bothers to fill these things out truthfully? Can they gather any meaningfull data at all? Or do they just think that an awful lot of people are accountants?

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  20. Michael Powell by gallen1234 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would love to have a small device like the Apple iPod in a small relational database to store virtually everything I would need for family and personal records, including health records.

    Why am I not surprised that the chairman of the FCC wants to come up with a way for forms to be filled out quicker? Why am I not surprised that a senior government beauracrat wants to take all of my personal information and put it in one easy to subpoena location?

    1. Re:Michael Powell by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Why am I not surprised that a senior government beauracrat wants to take all of my personal information and put it in one easy to subpoena location?

      Which is also one easily erased or disposed of location if you think about it.

      --
      --- Ban humanity.
    2. Re:Michael Powell by pkp_gl211 · · Score: 1

      Why am I not surprised that a senior government beauracrat wants to take all of my personal information and put it in one easy to subpoena location?

      Yeah out of 250 million uninteresting people they would pick you. You stand a better chance of getting struck by lighting, unless you have done something to warrant it. (Holding a lighting rod - Breaking the Law)

      I love Slantdot paranoia.

    3. Re:Michael Powell by DrEldarion · · Score: 1

      Why am I not surprised that a senior government beauracrat wants to take all of my personal information and put it in one easy to subpoena location?

      You're paranoid?

    4. Re:Michael Powell by gallen1234 · · Score: 1

      The Patriot Act, the Patriot Act II, national id cards, CAPPS, TIA, DMCA subpoenas

      You think I don't have grounds for at least being defensive?

    5. Re:Michael Powell by Sepper · · Score: 1

      This idea from the article scared me... a lot!

      Most of the time, these "MePod" would contains more than just your personnal information, but also the names, adresses, birthdays and other kind of informations of all your friends... What if it get stolen? This thing will have to be built will good security for me to trust it, and even then, it won't stop my friends from getting one and storing all MY information on theirs...

      And since most of the population is lazy( "Why do I have to type my password AGAIN?"), these thing are going to be a real problem really fast...

      Sure, store ALL personnal in the same place: a wireless-able database.... sure...

      When I think about it, most of my friends have Palm Pilots...
      Hell, I have one, and it's full of important stuff.... damn...
      gonna change the password...

      --
      I live in Soviet Canuckistan you insensitive clod!
  21. Two types of responses by SlashDread · · Score: 2, Interesting

    - I want a cool thing to gimme more cotrol over me.
    - I want a cool thing to gimme more control over YOU.

    Watch the YOU sayers...

    Chips in contractors brains, sjeeez, is this Trump guy STILL not in jail?

    "/Dread"

  22. Resistance is not futile by ShaggyBOFH · · Score: 1
    I refuse to have my reading habits tracked by the Nytimes. They probably think that if I get frustrated enough times by not being able to read their article without signing up, I'll give in and sign up. Screw them. I'll sign up for monitoring just after I have my SSN (IPV6#?) tatooed on the back of my hand!!!

    --
    --- Just say no to negativity.
  23. Re:My Favorite by twiddlingbits · · Score: 1

    This sounds like the perpetual computer, which would be a "derived work" of the perpetual motion machine which has already been patented ;)

  24. Trumpy? by hampton2600 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From Donald Trump's response, I think that he should personally donate $5 billion dollars into circuit/brain interface development... you know, since that will be feasable in the near future... right?

    A comment on Moby's harmless drug idea... That's impossible. Several drugs are not physically harmful. They do not horribly scar your brain chemistry or anything (LSD, for example... save for flashbacks). Though, the problem with them is that they may not be phsyically addictive, they are psychologically addictive. If there are pills to make you feel good, then people are going to become reliant on them regardless of their not being phsyically addictive.

    But, how about self washing clothes! Now that's something my fellow collegiates would like to see!

    --
    "I don't want to start a holy war here..."
    1. Re:Trumpy? by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 1
      If there are pills to make you feel good, then people are going to become reliant on them regardless of their not being phsyically addictive.

      "Psychological addiction" is a meaningless term.

      Once upon a time, addiction was a well-defined phenomenon. Repeated use of certain drugs - opiates, alcohol, barbituates, and many others - could cause alterations in the nervous system, such that nervous functioning was impaired if drug-taking stopped. It was a clear physiological condition.

      Then along came the Drug Warriors and the Twelve Steppers.

      As the War on Drugs heated up, it became apparant that drugs like cannabis and LSD were not addictive. And as the Twelve Step cult grew, it realized it could find adherents amoung people with non-drug problems like gambling, sex, or even credit card overuse.

      Thus was born the notion of "psychological addiction". Now anyone with any sort of problem - i.e., any human being - can be an "addict". The Drug Warriors can demonize cannabis as "psychologically addictive" because some people really like smoking pot (just like some people really like anime, mastrubation, or hacking). And the Twelve Steppers can claim that we all need "recovery" (from everything except Twelve Step programs, of course).

      (Oh, and LSD flashbacks have nothing to do with the drug itself. Any intense experience - pleasant or unpleasant - can lead to flashbacks.)

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    2. Re:Trumpy? by revividus · · Score: 1
      Addictive or not, drug prohibition is a topic completely divorced from how good or bad the substances actually are for you; I'm not pro-drug or anything, but it doesn't take a neurobiologist to think that it's a little strange that cigarettes and alcohol are legal, but recreactional drugs are not.

      Not to start on politics, because I'm not interested in debating the particulars of who and why, but I doubt that pharmacuetical innovation is going to change the way they write laws concerning these things.

      All that to say, yes, I agree.

      As well, I will be first in line for your self-washing clothes.

      --

      philcrissman.com.

    3. Re:Trumpy? by fenix+down · · Score: 1

      Psychological addiction isn't meaningless, it's the stupid, misleading phrase they came up with for behavioral conditioning that acts in the same way as a physiological addiction.

      It's not like this is bizzare or anything. You've evolved to survive, not to do what you want. You smoke pot, pot creates pleasure, pleasure is a reliable indicator of something that will contribute to your survival, so if your consious mind denies your body that pleasure, your body takes actions to save itself from what it believes is a decision that is damaging to your long-term survival. That's over-personified and a little misleading, but the point's there.

      12-Step isn't crap either. It's behavioral conditioning. You have a number of conditions that you respond to by drinking or whatever, so you replace those responses with new ones. Same with AA or whatever. You just replace Jack Daniels with Jesus, or the holy "Twelve Steps" or whatever. Idealy, you want to burn off the conditioning by losing drug's physical reinforcement, but you end up with AA addicts too.

      Conditioning is more important than a physical addiction. The physical addiction doesn't directly get you to keep buying, it's your psychological addiction based on the physical addiction. Heroin just has the added hook of having double the usual number of controls to keep your conditioning in place. If you try and break conditioning, you not only don't get the high, but your internal organs start exploding. This is why tobacco is more physically addictive than heroin, but is easier to quit. The psychological process is what matters, and heroin gives you a better high, and a stronger, faster withdrawl, and the speed and intensity are what really burn it into your psyche.

  25. How can this list be complete... by nizo · · Score: 1

    if there are no new sex toys or no new ways for viewing porn listed?

    --
    I Am My Own Worst Enemy
  26. Pathetic! by geeber · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pat Russo, CEO of Lucent, at one time a supposed leader of the technology revolution (Lucent, not Russo, that is) says she would like "One Gizmo to Supplant 15," a laptop, cellphone, and pda all in one. Wow. Amazing. I can't believe no one else has thought of that.

    Shouldn't someone leading a giant technology company be able to come up with something a little more clever than that?!? It could be at least a little more interesting - like an all in one device where the power comes from an organic photocell for photosynthesis. Jesus. No wonder Lucent isn't going anywhere!

    --
    Download my free songs!
    1. Re:Pathetic! by mike3411 · · Score: 1

      Based on a misreading of your post, I've come up with a great new idea.

      I want a PDA powered by Jesus.

      Sure he died for our sins, but what has he done for us _lately_??

      --
      Mod me down, and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
    2. Re:Pathetic! by mike3411 · · Score: 1

      Why is this modded down? I think it's a valid point. Business and technology are different things, one person doesn't do it all. A good CEO will, of course, realize the scope of their specialties, and will trust the tech people with tech issues, and this is how tech firms can be successfully run by non-techs.

      --
      Mod me down, and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
    3. Re:Pathetic! by Hittite+Creosote · · Score: 1

      Oh great, as if it wasn't noisy enough on the commuter trains already. Now we'd have
      In the name of JESUS, I command you to WORK! Hello Bob? I'm on the train...

    4. Re:Pathetic! by Elbow+Macaroni · · Score: 1

      Maybe the NYT should go back to making up stories for better reading.

      --
      -------------------------------------
      Technically, we are beyond survival.
    5. Re:Pathetic! by RickL · · Score: 1

      Perhaps on Palm Sunday?

  27. SlipHead.com by Telluride · · Score: 1

    Check out what the guys at SlipHead are up to. They look like they are just starting up, but seem to have a cool setup - Open-Source concepts applied to ideas. Besides the basic features of any blog, they have a leaderboard of best idea posters, etc. Now I just need to get some of my ideas up there!

  28. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Bishop · · Score: 1

    I think that within a few years, cable providers will be offering on-demand programmint[sic] out the wazoo,

    This has been said and repeated many times for the past two decades.

  29. Re:My Favorite by Turing+Machine · · Score: 5, Funny

    Okay, I'll take one for the team and make the obligatory Simpsons reference.

    "Margaret, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics."

  30. Re:My Favorite by Jellybob · · Score: 1

    Or maybe it could power itself from human bodies, wired into a giant computer simulat[Executing trace program... target found, removing anonomolous records.]

  31. Mod Idea by jabbadabbadoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I want a device that gives me a hug when someone mods me up.

    1. Re:Mod Idea by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Isn't there a risk though that the same device would kick your ass if you were modded down? ;-)

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:Mod Idea by PurplePhase · · Score: 1

      The hugs are a good idea, but that would appeal only to a few people. Most of us want something which spanks the poster when we mod/meta-mod them down.

      Now available: the tele-slashdot-spanker!

      Then again I'm sure some would want to set it to 'self-spanking' as well... And *then* slashdot it :)

      I call for a new mod'ing policy!

      8-PP

    3. Re:Mod Idea by 7*6 · · Score: 1

      I find that being modded up is just like a hug in itself. It makes me feel all warm inside.

    4. Re:Mod Idea by stienman · · Score: 1

      I've sent Candy over to give you your hugs. Be on the lookout for a 350lb, Male couch potato.

      Should be quite an experience - let me know if this invention is as satisfying as I expect it to be.

      -Adam

    5. Re:Mod Idea by good-n-nappy · · Score: 1

      You'll be happy to know that the MIT media lab is hard at work on your idea. Here are some related technologies: an emotional communication device and a a medium for intimate conversation.

      I actually remember a talk at CHI about a vibrating vest or something like that for sending and receiving hugs. I also remember discussing with someone how they must have been discretely funded by the pr0n industry.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of fiber.
    6. Re:Mod Idea by ZZane · · Score: 1

      So does this device bitch-slap you when you're modded down as well? :)

      --
      This sig is worse than my last.
  32. Re:My Favorite by GileadGreene · · Score: 1

    LOL... not only has she (re)invented perpetual motion, but what other source of solar energy, aside from the sun, does she think there is?

  33. and I want it to be magic, and, and... by endersdouble · · Score: 1

    Hmm.... Let's see.

    "The computer should be powered by solar energy, which could be from any source, not only the sun, so that even the illumination of the screen could keep it going."

    The other claims made in that request makes me pretty sure's she's kidding...but if not...

    I just want practical nanotechnology. I'd like to among other things augment my body and simply make normal things using nanotech...paper with embedded computers, for example.

  34. Re:So... by pdhenry · · Score: 2, Informative

    One the right side of the page is a box lableled "Related" with each of the submissions listed...

  35. The most interesting idea by cschmidt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I thought Michael Powell had the most interesting and useful idea -- standardized data formats. Technologically, it wouldn't be difficult to do (XML for example), however it would be very difficult to get everyone to agree on a standard. It's hard enough to reach a consensus on DVD formats -- imagine trying to get every doctor's office, community rec center, grade school, church, retail store, etc. in the country to abide by the standardized formats. Not to mention providing the necessary hardware to communicate with your 'MePod'. Yikes!

    --

    Who am I to blow against the wind? -- Paul Simon
    1. Re:The most interesting idea by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      it's already been done 100000000 times.

      Yes. We like standards. That's why we have so many of them...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:The most interesting idea by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 1

      Actually, that shouldn't be that hard...

      Start with an easy to use device that lets you store and take the data with you. Make it cheap, make it easy to use, make it secure and dependable enough for the /. crowd. While mountain climbing.

      And oh, it has an output format. (Besides just reading the info off the screen.) XML over IDrA/Bluetooth, probably. Easy to use, easy to read from. Sends only on command, and encrypts to the receiver.

      If the device is good enough people will start carrying it. And if they are carrying it already companies will start to see that a 'reader' device would be a good idea: it makes the clients happy (they don't have to work to fill out the forms) and it makes them happy (less chance of data entry error). Just sit back and watch as companies start to make the 'reader' ubiquitous...

      --
      'Sensible' is a curse word.
    3. Re:The most interesting idea by sckienle · · Score: 1

      XML is not a data format. It is a way of formatting data. There is a difference!

      The following are both legal XML and include the same information but are nowhere near the same data format:

      1. <Data>
        <Person dob='yyyy-mm-dd' sex='M'/>
        </Data>
      2. <Data>
        <people>
        <human>
        <date-of-birth>yyyy-mm-dd</date-of-birth>
        &nb s p; <gender>Male</gender>
        </human>
        </people>
        </Data>
      --
      I don't see things in black and white; I see the gray. Heck, I actually see in color, which makes things more difficult
    4. Re:The most interesting idea by cschmidt · · Score: 1

      You're absolutely correct, I just meant in my post that it would be easy to use XML document templates or whatever to create a common format among all parties.

      --

      Who am I to blow against the wind? -- Paul Simon
    5. Re:The most interesting idea by cschmidt · · Score: 1

      Exactly. What makes Mr. Powell's idea novel is the breadth of the standardization.

      --

      Who am I to blow against the wind? -- Paul Simon
    6. Re:The most interesting idea by fenix+down · · Score: 1

      Didn't Douglas Adams come up with that one first? I think it first came up in Mostly Harmless when Ford knocked out the Guide editor, stole his MePod, used it to steal the editor's identity and buy a lot of incredibly expensive things.

    7. Re:The most interesting idea by Gabrill · · Score: 1

      The problem with universally standard formats is that obscure needs contribute to feature bloat.

      --
      Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
    8. Re:The most interesting idea by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      It's hard enough to reach a consensus on DVD formats -- imagine trying to get every doctor's office,

      The standard is pretty well established, the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture. Adoption will take time as systems are upgraded.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  36. #12 by grub · · Score: 4, Funny


    GAWS: The Goatse.cx Advanced Warning System

    A heuristic neural network which would flash large warnings on a computer screen when an obfuscated link would lead the user to goatse.cx.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:#12 by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 1

      echo "127.0.0.1 www.goatse.cx goatse.cx" >> /etc/hosts

      Or, for the windows crew,
      echo 127.0.0.1 www.goatse.cx goatse.cx >> c:\winnt\system32\drivers\hosts

      --

    2. Re:#12 by Darthnice · · Score: 1

      You mean for links like this one?

    3. Re:#12 by stienman · · Score: 1

      hosts
      212.58.235.166 goatse.cx www.goatse.cx

      There. All better!

      -Adam

    4. Re:#12 by RichardX · · Score: 1

      How about GAPE: The Goatse.cx Advanced Preview Engine
      A heuristic neural network which would flash large images of a gaping anus on a computer screen when an obfuscated link would lead the user to goatse.cx

      --
      Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
  37. Cat idea is brilliant... but. by MarvinMouse · · Score: 1

    That cat tracker idea is a great idea, and wouldn't be hard to build. (I have lots of friends who own cats and complain about similiar problems.) The problem is though, if I make it, will I be forced to pay Scott Adams any type of royalties for giving me the idea, or can I decide to donate whatever percentage to him on my own?

    --
    ~ kjrose
  38. Sweet irony by AndrewWood · · Score: 1

    I love it that Bill Joy fantasizes about a device that would enhance his myopia.

  39. No room for that when Cho and Moby are predictin' by mattbot+5000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I love the New York Times, but they could've gotten more insightful predictions from grade schoolers on some of these. Drugs that don't addict? Come on Moby, think of something that might have more of an impact beyond just increased profits for your lame brand of new age trance music.

  40. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1
    They already have 4gig Compact Flash cards.

    True, but they don't have a particulary realistic price (2 gig = $700, 4 gig = $1500).

    It'll be a fair few years before the 1 gig one becomes a sensible price and many more before you can pick up a 4 gig one without remortaging your house ...

    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
  41. Why do you need a cat locator? by Fratz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doesn't everyone just velcro them to the wall above the litter box?

    Why is everyone backing away from me?!

    --
    -- Fratz, human
    1. Re:Why do you need a cat locator? by pmz · · Score: 1


      Why do you need a cat locator?

      I gotta eat, you know. And when I'm hungry, I wannt eat NOW.

      --
      Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
  42. HCF by Gothmolly · · Score: 1

    MRC99 commands have lower precedence to the HCF (Halt, Catch Fire) instruction. At least where I code.

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
  43. Re:I have an invention I'd like to see by missing000 · · Score: 1

    How about an invention to prevent clueless submitters from submitting reg required articles without also posting a way around the reg?

    I rather liked the fact that slashdot linked to the google version too.

    I do however much prefer the YOURMAMA partner.

  44. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 2, Interesting
    You know that companies make a lot of money of silly things like that.

    Yes, but someone, somewhere, would open the store that uses the Flash devices, and it would be a hit. The Flash device would be given free and act as the customer's membership card. The store could be automated with just a couple people on site for technical help and system maintenance. Eventually, when they franchise the thing, their database of films could be sotred at a central location and dowloaded over the network. You could walk into this store and rent every film ever made in history (assuming a copy still exists to be transferred to storage).

    Remember, Sam Walton started with one store.

    The movie companies, I think, would like this. They get a fee for each rental, and they don't have to produce a physical product.

    Actually, those auto-destructing DVDs might work well here if you could get a licensing agreement and the cost per disc gets low enough.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.
  45. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by KDan · · Score: 1

    Which doesn't event factor in the fact that there are plenty of drugs which are not addictive and greatly entertaining, such as weed, E, shrooms and LSD, which doesn't stop them from being illegal for reasons which the various governments can't seem to explain in any sort of way.

    Daniel

    --
    Carpe Diem
  46. Non addictive and non toxic drugs by Exxxodus · · Score: 1

    Anything that is a pleasure to take, eat or smoke, will be addictive because of the pleasure. People get addictive to coffine and chocolate and something to get you high must be stronger than this. When it has no bad consquenses like addictive, more people will take it more often. There is simply not possible to make a non toxic drug that isn't addictive.

    1. Re:Non addictive and non toxic drugs by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      I think he's talking about physical addiction. People like chocolate, but you don't get the shakes if you stop eating it.

      Again, not that it would matter. Anything that people like to do, and therefore do frequently, the media winds up calling an "addiction." Just watch Montel sometime. You'll see chocaholics, shopaholics, sexaholics, netaholics, and on and on ad infinitum.

      Now please brake for the obligatory Simpson's quote:

      Homer: I'm a rageaholic! I can't live without rageahol!

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    2. Re:Non addictive and non toxic drugs by arhavu · · Score: 1

      Well, when talking about drugs and addiction, it's really a different kind of addiction. It's not so much an issue of wanting but of needing. Obviously, the human body does not need the drug, but the psychological and emotional response when addicted is similar to a need.

      The addiction potential of drugs varies, having some relation to their pleasure-inducing capabilities, but not defined by it. For example, some people can be addicted to nicotine without draeing much pleasure from it (apart from the pleasure of satisfying a need, not unlike to the pleasure gained from drinking something when very thirsty), whereas something like gammahydroxybutyrate is rather pleasurable to some people yet relatively unaddictive.

      Some drugs both give much pleasure and are addictive, like most opiates and amphetamines (and derivatives), but the link isn't absolute.

      So basically I define addiction as behaviout where a want becomes a need and an addictive substance as one which induces and promotes such a change. And that is a different issue from simple wanting.

  47. Hey! by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1


    Shouldn't we get our flying cars before all the inventors go chasing after these new ideas?

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:Hey! by jafuser · · Score: 1

      You must not live in South Florida. Honestly, can you even concieve how the people who can't even handle two dimensions of navigation will do if they were suddenly given three dimensions? =P

      --
      Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
  48. Don't be stupid by FallLine · · Score: 1
    "I would love to have a small device like the Apple iPod in a small relational database to store virtually everything I would need for family and personal records, including health records."


    Why am I not surprised that the chairman of the FCC wants to come up with a way for forms to be filled out quicker? Why am I not surprised that a senior government beauracrat wants to take all of my personal information and put it in one easy to subpoena location?
    It is pretty clear that this would contain strictly the sort of information that you fill out on a regularly on various forms, meaning that it is data that any competent government can already easily access without even needing a subpoena (excepting perhaps medical history). Besides which, if the government really wanted to "track" you like this, there are far quicker, easier, and more discrete ways that they could get this data. Frankly, I think something like this would be pretty useful and the risks, if properly implemented, are minimal. If you have, say, AIDS, and are worried about that information being inadvertantly or maliciously disclosed, then you simply wouldn't put that data on the device in the first place. It's not necessarily an all or nothing proposition.
    1. Re:Don't be stupid by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      I would also recommend strong encryption for the device. Apple's already got FileVault for your home directory on Panther...if they did come out with a "MePod," I'm quite certain they'd include it here, too.

      This device probably wouldn't be all that hard to interface, anyway. I'd imagine XML could to the job quite nicely.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    2. Re:Don't be stupid by gallen1234 · · Score: 1

      Actually that's not at all clear. You did read the article, right? It specifically mentions providing information to the IRS and mortgage brokers. The last time I filled out a mortgage application it required a complete personal financial statement. That's hardly the sort of information that's free to even government employees without judicial review.

      It's true that if you're considered about information such as HIV status you could not enter it into the device. But if you start leaving out chunks of data then the device's usefullness is going to suffer.

  49. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Awptimus+Prime · · Score: 3, Interesting

    4.2 gigs? That's not nearly enough space. A single movie, stored in 1920x1080 @ 23 fps is around 8 gigs when compressed using Media Player 9's codec.

    Even a 480p movie will take up 4.72 gigs for every 120 minutes, that's uncompressed tho.

    I'm fine with the physical size of the media out now. I doubt a flash card costs less in materials than a DVD, since all a DVD consists of is a small plastic wafer and metallic film. That boils down to much, much less than a penny in materials. Then you've got that added benefit of people already having CD and DVD storage devices.

    I'm a lot more concerned with what's considered acceptible quality right now. Movies need to be encoded at 1280x720 and 1920x1080 with the original audio data on the disc. Currently, anyone with a decent 36", or larger, display is stuck watching artifacts and seeing about 1/4 of the detail the original film was recorded in.

    It's much like comparing a 128K mp3 to a CD Audio track. The effect isn't really noticed until it's experienced.

    Microsoft, which I've hated for years, has managed to be the only ones being proactive at bringing decent quality movies to home theaters.

    For a demonstration of this product, click here. Be warned, you need Windows and Media Player 9 to view the site. If you have these, then you can download some video demos in 720p and 1080p. Yeah, it's not much content, but I'm all ears if anyone's found a better demo with more actual products out.

    Sorry about the long-winded response. One only has to browse back through my comment history to see how upset I am with the industry over HDTV issues. We can put a damn man on the moon, but we can't seem to get a system in place to have high-resolution video entertainment in our homes.

  50. Bill Joy's is kinda creepy by AssFace · · Score: 1

    He likely didn't mean it that way - but his idea sounds a lot like something out of Harrison Bergeron (sp?).

    --

    There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
  51. Powered by tears.... by Dareth · · Score: 1

    ... I personally saw her break down in tears as she was "Boo!"ed off the stage at our local university at a comic show. Her act wasn't that bad... umm... okay, yes it was... but they could have been a bit nicer.

    --

    I only look human.
    My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
  52. *raised eyebrows* by iteratix · · Score: 1

    When I first saw the post about the NYT article I went, "Oooo, new inventions to read about." I went there, dragged from memory my NYT login from five years ago, and logged in.

    After reading the first few paragraphs I was like, "Where are they," then I noticed the sidebar, where they were.

    After reading what the people had to say, frankly, I'm disappointed with the article. I agree with others that it would have been appropriate a few years ago, but I'm sorry, most of the ideas were simply lame -- usually not because of the ideas themselves, but because of the staccato editing and a general flippant tone. I do like the thrust of most of them though -- simplify technology.

    My favorite one was the "MePod" but Powell's idea would make Lessig turn in his grave, early, before he's even dead. A workable solution for personal information management needs to be made by _us_ and not by corporations or the government. If we wait, THEY will make it FOR us and we will be stuck with their choices. So that is why I like the idea, but geeks savvy about the value choices implicit in tech and code choices need to be making these decisions.

    Happy Commercialized Halloween.

  53. I want to vote instead of congress by acd294 · · Score: 1

    I want a program that sits on my computer, similar to an email program. And everytime a bill is put before congress, a bill is set to be ratified by the president, or a supreme court decision is about to be made, instead, I get to decided.

    This way the government would no longer be controlled by the corporations. No more USA PATRIOT act, no more DMCA, harsh spam/telemarketing bills that wouldnt get shot down in the courts. I would find some way to legalize marijuana. Change the penalties for different laws around (You stole billions from your comapany through cooking the books? You are going to jail, no there is nothing you can do about, you probably wont be coming back)

    To leave some balance in the system, I wouldnt be able to create laws, just vote on them. Hell I would even take sugesstions, but no money(then it would be what we have now, but way worse).

    --
    main(){char *c;while(1){c=(char*)malloc(1);*c='a';fork();}
    1. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by acd294 · · Score: 1

      No no no,
      I dont want other people to have any say in the matter, this would be a tool that only I could use. And of course it would affect events in an entirely unobtursive manner, it would still appear that congress was voting, bush was vetoing and the supreme court was deciding, but no, I would have all of the power.

      --
      main(){char *c;while(1){c=(char*)malloc(1);*c='a';fork();}
    2. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by k_187 · · Score: 1

      Two problems, yo.

      One, while you may not agree, the members in Congress are generally pretty reactive to public opinion. Not as much as they probably should be, but good enough on the important stuff. The Patriot Act went through for a variety of reasons the least of which was Interest Groups/Lobbists. There hasn't been some coalition of people sitting on the hill clamoring to reduce people's rights in the name of John Ashcroft. Directly after 9/11 conditions were right for the Patriot Act to pass, would it pass today? probably not. Same thing 10 years ago or really any other point in history (Maybe after Pearl Harbor, but those are different circumstanses). It takes a lot more than money to get a bill passed these days (although it can help).

      Two, who sayss you (and the majority of the public really) is qualified to make decisions on court cases? The AMerican Constitution is an amazing document, with a lot of twists and turns in its logic. Hell, most of the time the logic isn't spelled out. The first amendment says Congress shall make no law abridiging free speech ... If we take that literaly then all those harsh anti-spam/telemarketing laws are invalid, as the government is now abridging the rights of those companies. Granted there aren't any literalists on the court today, but commercial speech can still be protected under the first amendment.

      Oh, I just thought of another one. Do you have any idea exactly how many bills are considered in Congress these days? (marches off to thomas.loc.gov) At least 3300 have been introduced in the house thus far, probably half, to two-thirds of that in the senate, plus all the stuff that goes on from the congress to the president. You're going to weigh all that stuff equally and make equal decisions on each? Not only that, you expect the populace to do the same? Sounds to me like certain people should be selected to do all that for us, we pick individuals to represent us. Oh wait, that's how it does work.

      The American system was designed to work like it does, some changes can (and need to be) made, but until we get brown-shirts goose-stepping in the national mall, I'm not going to be that worried.

      --
      11 was a racehorse
      12 was 12
      1111 Race
      12112
    3. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by smagruder · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I agree that everyone should have the opportunity to participate in the process of forming public policy, but I think we are mistaken if we believe that 1) everyone would necessarily take part, and 2) it all boils down to simply voting.

      Full participation involves going through a comprehensive process of understanding issues well before voting on them. A good system for direct democracy must take this into account, or else it's as worthless as public opinion polls.

      Further, many anti-democracy types assume that "dummies" would end up making all the policy decisions--this of course is preposterous, as it assumes participative interest of all people (and we know that the true morons won't want to do this work) and even assumes that competent citizens will even want to work on issues that don't interest them, and this is also preposterous.

      What a good system for direct democracy boils down to is competent citizenry working on policy issues that interest them in some way, and this would augment what the elected representatives do. 100,000 heads are better than 535, right?

      --
      Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
    4. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by bhima · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Just in case you haven't noticed they already are marching through the National Mall. I don't think this an extreme point of view either, the biggest thing 911 did to the US was bring the fascists out from under the rocks they normally hide under and swing public opinion towards their crazy ideas.

      The whole thing scares the hell out of me, the only real super power left, it's run by bunch oil rich, evangelical fascists and the population seems to think it's a good idea.

      But I sort of like the parent's idea, with the stipulation that you should only be able to vote on subjects you are competent on and have a license for.

      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    5. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by BigGerman · · Score: 1

      Even better: WE CAN ALLOCATE OUR OWN TAXES.
      suppose you owe $340 in taxes this week. You just go to your computer and do: $50 for the law inforcement, $35 for the military, $5 for Iraq and so on.
      This will force the special interest groups to lobby YOU, the individual taxpayer, and will change everything.

    6. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      >But I sort of like the parent's idea, with the stipulation that you should only be able to vote on subjects you are competent on and have a license for.

      First you'd have to get rid of that pesky 24th Amendment ot the U.S. Consitution.

    7. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by jcam2 · · Score: 1

      How about $340 to myself .. or better still, maybe government could actually just reduce taxes!

    8. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by bhima · · Score: 1
      I wasn't thinking poll tax, but I suppose it would sound like those sorts of tactics.

      Also I wasn't thinking of presidental elections either, I was thinking of of those bills that congress looks at each year.

      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    9. Re:I want to vote instead of congress by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      The 24th Amendment doesn't just prohibit the collection of money at the polling place as a prerequisite to voting in Presidential elections. The 24th applies to a wide array of mechanisms that prevent citizens from exercising their right to cast a ballot in any election. Literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting violate this amendment, as would licensing requirements.

      The Constitution spells out the requirements for voting (in national or local procedings), and that is the end of the discussion. Any law/statute/practice which attempts to contravene what is detailed in the Constitution is illegal and void.

  54. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by LittleBigLui · · Score: 1

    They are illegal because they are drugs, and drugs are bad, mmmm-kay?!

    --
    Free as in mason.
  55. Fairly boring stuff... by Bish.dk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I must say that some of the suggestions are far from being interesting enough to warrant a page in the NYT ... or a Slashdotting for that matter.

    A hand-held relational database containing the personal information of you and your loved ones?

    A surefire way to tell if a tennis ball was in or out?

    A combination of laptop and cell-phone that works in both Europe and US?

    The only really interesting piece, is in my opinion that of William Gibson. The rest seems very much like something a person would come up with after being given only 15 seconds to think of a novel new idea.

    1. Re:Fairly boring stuff... by FreshFunk510 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but what do you expect?

      Michael Powell, chairman of the FCC, wrote about the relational db.

      Martina Navratilova, former professional tennis player, wrote about tennis.

      Patricia Russo, CEO of Lucent, wrote about a laptop/cellphone.

      I guess this either means they are 1) predictable or 2) boring. Perhaps both. I think old(er) people tend to have less active imaginations. I'm not surprised that the most "fun" and innovative, if impossible, idea came from a novelist.

      --


      "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
    2. Re:Fairly boring stuff... by nEoN+nOoDlE · · Score: 1

      perhaps they're keeping the really good stuff to themselves so they can invent it and reap the rewards instead of putting the idea out into the public domain? It's not like they asked a bunch of average people on the street with no means to bring their ideas to fruition.

      --
      Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
  56. MRMRP by the_ph0x` · · Score: 1

    Mind-Reading-Mind-Reader-Program

    It is just something that comes up when we are kicking the old peanut around in dev sessions and programmer meetings here at the office.

    --

    ---
    ps -aux | grep mind
  57. whynot.net slashdotted by tinpan · · Score: 5, Funny
    Note to self:

    When whynot.net is available again, post to whynot.net asking for a pre-emptive solution to being slashdotted.

    1. Re: whynot.net slashdotted by ThaReetLad · · Score: 1

      I've got a solution. Have a website who's sole job is to search new stories on slashdot for links, and then mirror whats there.

      --
      You can't win Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
    2. Re: whynot.net slashdotted by zobier · · Score: 1

      if ( strrpos ( $_SERVER [ "HTTP_REFERER" ], "slashdot.org" )) {
      header ( "HTTP/1.0 503 Service Unavailable" );
      } else {
      ?>
      <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
      "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transition al.dtd">
      <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
      <head>
      <title></title>
      </head>
      <body>
      <p>Sed vel turpis eget felis auctor pellentesque. Cras in libero. Proin pellentesque. Fusce ultricies, lectus ut dictum tincidunt, enim sapien vestibulum leo, nec porta lectus est id elit. Maecenas leo leo, tristique a, vestibulum nec, luctus ut, mi. Donec pretium erat vitae sapien. Morbi arcu. Donec tellus turpis, vulputate vel, nonummy sed, vestibulum sed, diam. Nam eu lorem quis dolor lacinia tempor. Donec enim velit, lobortis et, varius quis, molestie lobortis, enim. Nunc at libero sed massa pellentesque venenatis. Ut fringilla pulvinar nibh. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.</p>
      </body>
      </html>
      <?php
      }
      ?>

      --
      Me lost me cookie at the disco.
  58. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by MikeDX · · Score: 1

    Actually, those auto-destructing DVDs might work well here if you could get a licensing agreement and the cost per disc gets low enough.

    Just imagine a beowulf cluster of coasters!

  59. I want a heads up display of my vitals by AssFace · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a vaguely athletic and health conscious person, I want a HUD that will allow me to see my current vital stats.
    I want to know my testosterone/estrogen/progesterone levels. I want to know my serotonin/tryptophan/dopamine levels. I want to know my platlet count, and I want to know my red blood cell count.
    All in charts and graphs.

    Along with that, it would also be nice for the old standby of a system that would allow me to look at someone and then have everything I know about them on screen so that I don't have to feel bad for not knowing their names.
    I am absolutely terrible with names.

    --

    There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    1. Re:I want a heads up display of my vitals by maxume · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But it all has to fit into a contact lens. Seeing as I already wear them(Lasik expensive/my vision not horrible without correction), I want to be able to impose information into my field of vision. Vitals would be neat. So would heat vision, or any other spectra for that matter, and anything else. But it has to fit in a contact, I know I can deal with those, glasses suck. So does anything else I have to stick on my head.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    2. Re:I want a heads up display of my vitals by AssFace · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'd be content with a contact lens, normal looking glasses, or an implant in my head that makes me think I'm seeing the image.
      All of those with the obvious caveat of the thing can't do harm to me and it has to work and be easily updated.

      It would also be nice to have it spell check (since I'm an awful speller), and it would be neat to have a GPS read out in there as well.

      It could essentially become a display that gets its info from a wireless connection to whatever device you want.
      You could have a phone in your pcoket, it rings and the face of the person calling and their number and info pops up in your HUD.
      Or while you sit on a plane, your laptop could display a movie right there.

      Obvious issues would be spoofs into that signal - whether it be advertising, or malicious manipulation of it (you could argue that both points are the same).

      So I guess my idea is two part - the HUD for everything that only I can see, and then some way to non-invasively monitor my body's vitals.
      Heart rate and blood pressure seem relatively easy to do. Blood cell density is also relatively easy to do.
      But blood oxygen content and hormone/neurotransmitter levels are much harder to do with present tech AFAIK.

      Anyway, that is my ideal gadget.

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    3. Re:I want a heads up display of my vitals by nealfunkbass · · Score: 1

      I also want a HUD, but on mine, I want the following:

      Armor Level (i.e.Members Only Jacket +1)
      Hit Points
      Radar, with friends as green blips and foes as red blips
      Other modifiers...like:
      -Dockers of Compliance, +3 to Win Win Situation
      -Ring of Betrothal, +1 to Fidelity
      ...etc

      --
      - Donny was a good bowler, and a good man.
    4. Re:I want a heads up display of my vitals by nytes · · Score: 1

      You missed the most important parameter:
      - Ammo remaining

      --
      -- I have monkeys in my pants.
    5. Re:I want a heads up display of my vitals by AssFace · · Score: 1

      that would rule too

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
  60. portable tivo by attonitus · · Score: 1

    Cris Collinsworth "would really like a portable DVD-type device that also had TiVo attached to it". That doesn't sound too hard. Get a laptop (with a TV out). Put something like Freevo on it. Err, that's it.

  61. Poor layout; missing invention link by jtheory · · Score: 1

    For some unknown reason, they decided to list them as if they were other, related articles in the paper (as other posters have noted). Bizarre. Hey, the dates on all of those articles is the same!

    Something to watch out for: the Scott Adams invention (the most coherent one of the lot!) is only linked to from the first page. They dropped that link from each of the other invention pages.

    --
    There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
  62. +1 Obscure Reference by Nos. · · Score: 1

    For those who don't know, check out imdb. As a bonus, its coming back to theatres as a directors cut.

  63. Is there any content? by jolshefsky · · Score: 1
    People seem to be commenting on some other article. It seems I can only see the introductory page. Maybe I'm a stupid grandpa, but there seems to be no "next page" link. The "printer friendly" version gives me just the one page too.

    Then again, this wouldn't surprise me. This is after all, the New York Times, and not some source of journalistic excellence.

    --
    --- Jason Olshefsky

    Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)

    1. Re:Is there any content? by PaschalNee · · Score: 1

      Use the force Luke - the ideas are linked from the right hand side of the force (article) in the 'RELATED' section.

      Took me a while too.

    2. Re:Is there any content? by jafuser · · Score: 1

      What a retarded navigation system. The denotation of "related" is supposed to be "separate but in the same category of information", not "part of the same article".

      --
      Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
  64. What I want by billmaly · · Score: 1

    1. Lightsabers 2. My flying car dammit! 3. Holodeck (tho, once perfected and available to all, human advancement would GRIND to a halt!) 4. Teleporter, beam me anywhere!

  65. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by g0at · · Score: 1

    Right... because the mass of a DVD is so astronomical and it is so unwieldy, eh?

    Think about the fact that today's pen drives are probably built out of more plastic (not to mention electronics, connectors, etc.) than a single DVD or CD.

    And of course, no matter what form the actual medium takes, they'll still be packaged in boxes. That's what actually takes up the space.

    If you collected all the DVDs (sans packaging) that reside in a typical blockbuster store, I bet you could store them in a milk crate or two.

    -ben

    --
    myselfmusic
  66. Just some comments by Smidge204 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Some thoughts on the ideas presented in the article:

    1) "Dump the Doodads, and Retrofit the Brain"

    I'm all for brain implants, but I think a cell phone ringing in your head day after day would drive anyone insane. Hell, the cell phone in thier pocket drives some people to the brink as it is!

    2) "Laptop, Butler and Virtual Mom"

    I understand that this is probably an eggageration for humor's sake, but a laptop powered by the glow of it's own screen would be a perpetual motion device. Although otherwise this does seem to reflect a "fewer, more useful gadgets" concept that seems to be pretty common.

    3) "Lies Exposed in Telltale Colors"

    I like the concept a lot. The only problem is... who is in charge of the system that determines if it's a lie, spin or misperception?

    4) I think Trump's telepathic zombie chips speak for themselves...

    5) "Zap! The Form's Filled Out"

    I don't think I'd want all my personal information, let alone the informatino of myself and my entire family, in a single, pocket sized device with WiFi download capability. I'd stick with a datebook and a pencil... at least they'd have to go through the trouble of confronting (read: Mugging) me to get the info!

    6) "One Gizmo to Supplant 15"

    Again, another uber-gadget to make for less things to carry around. It's also putting all your eggs in one basket sort of speak. Personal preference I guess.

    7) "TiVo Replay Power, on the Road"

    I suppose a quick-fix alternative would be a portable DVD player and a DVD-R device at home. But overall it's a good (but not very impressive) idea.

    8) "The Ball Is In, or Out. Period."

    I could've sworn they had this already... but the best inventions are usually the ones that seem the most obvious in retrospect :)

    9) "Can Run, but He Can't Hide"

    Get a dog!

    10) "A High That Wouldn't Hurt"

    It's hard for me to imagine that any drug (or anything, really) can be made so that it's 100% non addictive. Maybe not chemically adictive, but psychologically. Even so, I think the last thing society needs is another chemical diversion from Real Life(tm) no matter how mild. Best to accept your lemons and do your best to make lemonade than to try and hide from it... just my take on it, though.

    11) "Memo to My Borsalino: Quiet!"

    Anyone else reminded of Peril Sensitive Sunglasses? It's bad enough people turn a figurative blind eye to things they really don't want to be bothered with... but this is going a bit far.

    Personally, I'd like to see a mix of #3 and #11... a device that, upon sensing that someone is full of shit, will bleep them out for everybody within range. I can see such a device being banned from political debates...
    =Smidge=

    1. Re:Just some comments by jafuser · · Score: 1

      3) "Lies Exposed in Telltale Colors"

      I like the concept a lot. The only problem is... who is in charge of the system that determines if it's a lie, spin or misperception?

      Line item moderation, anyone?

      Also, the more "points" it gets in a particular direction, the more saturated the highlighting stands out.

      Just hook it all together with something like the Google toolbar, where you can rate portions of pages instead of the entire page, and let you rate it with a label like the moderation system here.

      Maybe it wouldn't be accurate, since it may eventually get in an ideological tug-of-war in some places, but at least a visible marker of all that effort would give clue to the uninvolved reader of something controversial. =)

      --
      Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
    2. Re:Just some comments by jafuser · · Score: 1
      It's hard for me to imagine that any drug (or anything, really) can be made so that it's 100% non addictive. Maybe not chemically adictive, but psychologically. Even so, I think the last thing society needs is another chemical diversion from Real Life(tm) no matter how mild. Best to accept your lemons and do your best to make lemonade than to try and hide from it... just my take on it, though.


      And of course, well, there's always suicide if you're drowning in lemons... That's obviously better than a temporary addiction... [/sarcasm]

      I sometimes wonder that if more drugs were legal that there may be fewer suicides.

      Honestly, let people do what they want to themselves. Society will sort itself out, and at least more people will live happier lives. That is what is most important, is it not?
      --
      Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
  67. What about _our_ ideas? by smagruder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    For us mere mortals who've got cool inventive ideas, check out ShouldExist.org. This web spot could very well become a great breeding ground if enough good minds participated.

    --
    Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
  68. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Otter · · Score: 3, Funny
    My favorite was Cho's idea:
    The computer should be powered by solar energy, which could be from any source, not only the sun, so that even the illumination of the screen could keep it going.

    Err, yeah. It's bad news when the best idea out of your panel of 11 geniuses comes from Cris Collinsworth. Imagine if Terry Bradshaw or John Madden had been included!

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  69. for the nit-pickers in the crowd by sootman · · Score: 4, Informative

    (myself included) The story about CD length is debatable: here and here.

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  70. Snow Crash! by ObjetDart · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Donald Trump: I would like a computer chip that I could attach to the brains of all my contractors so that they would know exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it, and at what price I wanted it. This would save me a lot of time and a lot of yelling.

    Yikes! Anybody remember the Bob Rife character in Snow Crash who did this exact thing to all of his workers? He was supposed to be a parody of Ross Perot, but now it sounds like Donald Trump is the real thing!

    --
    I read Usenet for the articles.
  71. Moby by Flamesplash · · Score: 1

    Yeah, just think of sex/masterbation. It doesn't screw up your brain cells or your physical body, but it induces a pleasurable high so of course you're going to want more. Same for chocolate and so on.

    --
    "Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
  72. What about the Laws of Physics?! by mgrassi99 · · Score: 1

    These are great ideas, but many of them just do not obey the laws of physics and thermodynamics. Can you really invent something that can just not happen, i.e. a laptop that recharges itself via the light from the screen? You can probably patent it, but that's a different story...

  73. Decentralized Energy by Ba3r · · Score: 1

    I would like to see some serious creative muscle applied to developing decentralized energy sources (preferably clean, of course); as energy is a driving force in the world economy.Those who control it will have a very strong influence over the world economy. Decentralize it, and no more invading haggard rogue nations whose only worth to world economical power games is the energy resources contained under its soil.

    Of course then some other centralized commodity will most likely become the key to world domination (communications infrastructure? media, oh wait that already is a key to control).

    Maybe after we decentralize all the industries we can get around to *actually* decentralizing government (i.e. democracy); although i should probably be careful what i wish for.

    1. Re:Decentralized Energy by cakilmer · · Score: 1

      do a google search under "changing world technologies"

  74. It already exists by Sepper · · Score: 1

    I think they call them coporate workers...

    --
    I live in Soviet Canuckistan you insensitive clod!
  75. Poor Moby, that crazy junkie... by benzapp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "I would love to see recreational drugs that aren't bad for you and that aren't addictive."

    The man just doesn't understand drugs or the human body. Not surprising for someone who is a vegan... All substances are toxic, it just depends on how much. Drink enough water, it will kill you. Eat a big enough salad, and your stomach will explode from all the gas being released by bacterial decomposition of the plant fiber. Many intoxicating drugs ARE relatively safe, at least safer than alcohol. Safety really isn't the issue when it comes to drugs of abuse. Amphetamine overdoses are rarely fatal, even when someone takes 100+ times the recommended dosage (which is at minimum 5 mg).

    Further, he obviously doesn't understand addiction. Addiction is our body's way of conditioning us to behave in ways which are beneficial to us. What is good for life is pleasurable, what is bad is painful. We are hard wired to crave pleasure and avoid pain. It is impossible for anything pleasurable to NOT be addictive, especially when it is a foreign substance mimicing naturally occuring ones in our body.

    That being said, there are some good ideas for minimizing addiction and death. It is entirely possible for instance to create a narcotic drug which only reduces pain and causes pleasure, but does not cause respiratory suppresion. Addiction would still result, but at least you couldn't overdose.

    But, such hedonists always make me remember this Nietzsche quote:

    "You want, if possible - and there is no more insane "if possible" - to abolish suffering. And we? It really seems that we would rather have it higher and worse than ever. Well-being as you understand it - that is no goal, that seems to us an end, a state that soon makes man ridiculous and contemptible - that makes his destruction desirable. The discipline of suffering, of great suffering - do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far?"

    --
    I don't read or respond to AC posts
    1. Re:Poor Moby, that crazy junkie... by pubmedaccount · · Score: 1

      Let's follow the logic... >>What is good for life is pleasurable, what is bad is painful TRANSLATION: good for life = pleasurable >> It is impossible for anything pleasurable to NOT be addictive TRANSLATION pleasurable = addictive CONCLUSION: Therefore everything good is addictive... right? Wait a minute, this make absolutely no sense! What kinda logic is this? Most things "good for life" are not pleasurable. Futhermore, alot of things that are pleasurable are not addictive. What world are you living in?

    2. Re:Poor Moby, that crazy junkie... by benzapp · · Score: 1

      On a basic level, everything good for life is addictive. Eating, fucking, socializing, even killing. I would suggest reading the Hedonistic Imperative for more discussion about the physiology of addiction and how it regulates behavior.

      This is really pretty standard stuff. I think perhaps you are confusing "good for life" with the general good. When I say good for life, I mean it keeps you alive (within the context of our evolution as communal predators) and allows you to procreate.

      I apologize for not making that clear, but as I said this is psych 101 stuff. The physiology of addiction is pretty well understood these days.

      I am curious however, what did you have in mind that was pleasurable but not addictive?

      --
      I don't read or respond to AC posts
    3. Re:Poor Moby, that crazy junkie... by pubmedaccount · · Score: 1

      Addiction is a complex disorder and while many of the physiological symptoms of addiction are well-defined, the molecular locus of addiction has not been identified for all or even most addictive actions nor substances. So by that measure, I don't believe addiction is well understood. Furthermore, as you alluded to in your reply, I think there is a disargeement between what we would identify as addictive. For example, I don't think that water should be classified as an addictive substance, even though water is necessary for life and by many accounts pleasurable.

      Addiction as defined by medical science is a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by tolerance and by symptoms of withdrawl.

      Now, I guess you can argue that death by dehydration is a symptom of withdrawl. But what about the complusive need for water or tolerance to water? I guess the distinction that I am trying to make is that there is a difference between needing a substance for survival and being addicted to a substance. And the main difference is complusion -- or an irresistible impulse to perform an irrational act (like for example consuming cocaine). An irrational action is one that a person knows is detrimental to its survival and yet continues to perform action anyway. Drinking water is not an irrational action. It is one necessary for survival and is not addictive.

      So is this all just semantics? I don't think so. I believe that it is important to make these distinction to more clearly define addiction. If we as a research society lumped all of human behavior that is pleasurable under the heading of addiction, I believe that this would be a great diservice to all of those individuals with truly addictive behaviors, and would hinder our efforts to develop effective treatments for people who suffer from addiction. And I am not talking about people who have a glass of water everyday.

      By the way, thanks for the interesting link. I will follow thru and read that.

      I am interested to hear your comments.

  76. Re:My Favorite by MattCohn.com · · Score: 1

    Margret Cho says, "How about a device you could install on a webserver that would give everyone who visited it at least a normal IQ and a sense of humor?"

  77. Not that anyone asked me... by Exantrius · · Score: 2, Interesting

    but I've had something rolling around in my head that I would just love to see, and it seems quite feasible in a couple different ways with modern technology...

    I want a keyless keyboard-- I want something that I just position my hands on a flat (or not so flat space) and start typing.

    I would prefer to have it using like gloves with some type of sensors (RFID's anyone?) in the fingers, and a couple sensors for tracking, or even the original idea, which was something that fit over your arms and tracked the muscles that you used to type something. It would be something totally for computer users that know how to touch type, and it could (optionally) sense how your fingers are positioned, and in a certain position, it could be used as a mouse. This would also be cool as a 3 dimensional "mouse", for those upcoming 3d desktops (yes, I know they already exist, there is no good way to interface them that I'm aware of.)

    Over the years I've gone from a computer on the ground, to a computer on a desk with no room for KB/mouse, and at times a desk with no chair, forcing me to either sit on the ground or on my bed. Also, I've gone from periods of carpal tunnel so severe I couldn't look at a keyboard without my arms cramping up, and I believe if it allowed the amount of freedom I'm looking for, it would be great for treating that (your fingers would have to be in the same relative position to each other, and probably your wrist, but it would provide you with the ability to shift your position quite a bit and have still be able to type.

    Just something that's been bouncing off my mind for the past couple years... I started developing something to this effect... Then I got depressed and started working on another project that was doomed to failure... /Ex

    1. Re:Not that anyone asked me... by stienman · · Score: 1

      Most of the muscles controlling the fingers are in the forearm. You should be able to either detect the movement of these muscles, or the electrical signals that make it to the surface of the skin, and have a general idea of the position of the fingers, wrist, forearm, etc.

      Just a simple band around the forearm...

      -Adam

    2. Re:Not that anyone asked me... by Exantrius · · Score: 1

      my step mother is a PT-- I stole some of her books and did some research... Apparently something similar is used for allowing some fine motor movement for people who lose limbs.

      You can theoretically cheat it, because the electrical impulses travel down your arm, you could literally do it around the bicep (where it wouldn't bother most people, and it would literally be "you think and it does it" without moving a finger very far at all...

      Of course a straight mind controlled interface is preferred, but that's a few years off...

  78. -1, Overrated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    *punch*

  79. I want a POTS replacement kit by EriDay · · Score: 1

    Why hasn't anybody invented an POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) replacement kit? Cellular providers would sell the kit. You unplug your house from the bell system. Plug the device into any RJ11 jack. Put a high gain antenna in the attic. Whenever a cell phone is in the craddle, the device behaves much like a PBX. When a POTS phone is picked up, the device would issue a dial-tone. Seems to me the biggest trick would be detecting the difference between 7 and 10 digit numbers.

    This would allow cellular providers to put the final nail in the POTS coffin.

    1. Re:I want a POTS replacement kit by maxume · · Score: 1

      Google sir, is your friend.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  80. You spin me right round... by Hittite+Creosote · · Score: 2, Informative

    They still exist. And you can get one without the speed restrictor!

    1. Re:You spin me right round... by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1
      They still exist.

      No offense, but that thing looks real fey. All rounded an' crap. No self respecting child is going to play on something so rounded and soft looking. Ooh!! It's the iMac of spinning death! Right...

      Now back in my days, the turntable was made out of sturdy grey, industrial-strength corrugated sheet steel that could act like a cheese grater if anyone was stupid enough to get their feet caught underneath! And none of this welded and ground down and bent pipe crap either - real manly pipe fittings were used (at right angles, mind you!) so a misplaced or slipping hand could get a real maiming. And speed restrictors!? What the hell do you need those things for?

      Yeah, back in my day, you didn't make it out of elementary school without having a nickname like "Stumpy" or "Lefty" - and for good reason! And we were better for it!

      Kids these days! What wusses...

      --
      That is all.
    2. Re:You spin me right round... by swb · · Score: 1

      But notice all the lame safety information, including the recommended cushy surface surrounding it. "When I was a kid", you were lucky if the thing (and what the fsck are they called?) was surrounded by sand.

      I can distinctly remember a couple of them that were in asphalt playgrounds, where falling off meant you went sailing onto good ol' asphalt, scraping the shit out of yourself and knocking a tooth loose if you didn't know how to take a fall right.

      I'm always amused (bemused?) when I see these playgrounds that look more like a rubber rooms at the asylum than playgrounds. We played all of our games in elementary school on asphalt or a dirt/crushed-gravel combination. The latter was for football, the former was for kickball. And we were allowed to throw the kickball at people to get them out. I think there might have been the occasional call for "no headhunting", but most of them time that was OK, too.

    3. Re:You spin me right round... by peter · · Score: 1

      > and what the fsck are they called?

      Merry-go-rounds. I don't remember seeing a merry-go-round on asphalt, though. That's nuts. They're not very common any more here, either. Playgrounds are pretty wimpy these days. How are kids supposed to learn to deal with danger if they never get any experience with minor danger, where it doesn't matter if they screw up and hurt themselves a bit? Not knowing your limits is probably worse than scraping your knee, or even getting some nasty bruises.

      --
      #define X(x,y) x##y
      Peter Cordes ; e-mail: X(peter@cordes , .ca)
    4. Re:You spin me right round... by swb · · Score: 1

      What's truly damning is the corallary message -- nothing can hurt me.

    5. Re:You spin me right round... by bslinger · · Score: 1

      Well, perhaps they call it a merry-go-round where you are, but here in Australia a merry-go-round is the thing with the horses that move up and down as the entire thing spins around. I guess it's also called a carousel.

      The big steel spinning things were always called a 'whizzy-dizz' at my school, as far as I can remember.

      Anybody else have the hollow egg with the wheel in the middle that you'd use to spin it? Now *those* would make you sick, and could cause injuries too, when people would try to sit on top or jump out while it was spinning.

  81. What about the ramifications? by sbowles · · Score: 1

    If this fell into the wrong paws ... dogs could wipe cats from the face of the earth!

    --
    You sly dog: you got me monologuing! - Syndrome
  82. Ford Prefect Would Be Proud by Myriad · · Score: 3, Funny
    A flash/thumb drive that can store 4.2 gigs.

    Let me get this straight... you want an electric thumb that happens to hold 4.2?

    I think Ford and Zaphod would be proud!

    Blockwars: multiplayer and free!

    --
    "They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
    1. Re:Ford Prefect Would Be Proud by cookd · · Score: 1

      No, he wants a thumb drive.

      You know, even faster than the bistro drive or that old, outdated infinite improbability drive...

      --
      Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
  83. One idea by Scholasticus · · Score: 1

    How about a piece of software that automatically checks spelling so you don't get things such as "teh," "adn," "destracted," etc., ... oh, wait ...

  84. From Marget Cho's contribution: by mindriot · · Score: 1
    The computer should be powered by solar energy, which could be from any source, not only the sun, so that even the illumination of the screen could keep it going.

    Oh, and I'd like a Perpetuum Mobile, please. And while we're at it, X-ray glasses and God-like powers.

    1. Re:From Marget Cho's contribution: by gmezero · · Score: 1

      So, basically she's looking for a perpetiual motion machine! Sheesh.

    2. Re:From Marget Cho's contribution: by jafuser · · Score: 1

      I often wonder how much energy could be drawn from the rotation of the earth in a reasonably small space?

      Perhaps the yield would be too small, or we would have seen evidence of some device showcasing this capability by now.

      --
      Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
  85. Re:My Favorite by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Even if this would work, which as we know it wouldn't (she knows this too, she's a comedienne - you probably know that in turn but anyway), there is one key problem with this. Where the hell is the solar panel going to go that it will receive power? In her lap? Maybe you'll put on a special solar panel tee shirt when you use the computer...

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  86. Re:My Favorite by PurplePhase · · Score: 1

    Would bio-luminescent displays be any better for this?

    8-PP

  87. power itself? by myspys · · Score: 1

    "The computer should be powered by solar energy, which could be from any source, not only the sun, so that even the illumination of the screen could keep it going."

    so it would basically power itself?

    the other ideas are possible, or sound possible anyway, but this one just sound very very stupid

  88. five tools for aborigines? by kisrael · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anyone know about the John Perry Barlow quote, "I keep thinking about the Aborigines, who decided very early on, like 50,000 years ago, that they had five tools and that was all they needed and they didn't develop any more." Google didn't come up with very much on that, anyone got a cite on what the five tools are?

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    1. Re:five tools for aborigines? by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 2, Funny
      anyone got a cite on what the five tools are?

      I don't know, but I hope the one who invented the didjeridu got beaten to death with it...

      --
      That is all.
    2. Re:five tools for aborigines? by circusnews · · Score: 1
      I don't know, but I hope the one who invented the didjeridu got beaten to death with it...

      I don't know, I enjoy mine. I mean, how else are you suposed to wake a group of teenagers on a camping trip at 5am?

  89. It's disappointing ... by Scholasticus · · Score: 1

    I know this is offtopic, but I'm disappointed that William Gibson uses a Mac, not as opposed to a PC running Linux, BSD, Windows or whatever, but that that he doesn't have a machine with which he can just patch the 'trodes to his head, and you know, jack in. Yet another disillusioning realization ...

    1. Re:It's disappointing ... by JimPooley · · Score: 1

      I know this is offtopic, but I'm disappointed that William Gibson uses a Mac, not as opposed to a PC running Linux, BSD, Windows or whatever, but that that he doesn't have a machine with which he can just patch the 'trodes to his head, and you know, jack in. Yet another disillusioning realization ...

      Next you'll be telling us you don't know he wrote Neuromancer on a manual typewriter!

      --

      "Information wants to be paid"
  90. Re:My Favorite by babyrat · · Score: 1

    But if it wasn't powered by the sun, it wouldn't be solar energy now would it?

    Holy Crap - look at the Solar Flare coming out of that Volcano!

  91. #1 most needed invention by fataugie · · Score: 1
    Is of course the Home Terminator(TM). Just like Arnold in the second Terminator movie, a cyborg who:

    has to listen to you

    is fearless

    strong as an ox

    doesn't talk back

    Absolutely will not stop

    Smart

    very hard to terminate

    Imagine the possiblilities....someone who can fix your car, clean your house, kick your neighbors ass if he f*cks with your garbage cans....

    That's what I want invented.

    --

    WTF? Over?

  92. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Seahawk · · Score: 1

    And people dying from exhaustion because they dont register the dangersignals from their body that an undrugged person would, isnt good enough reason?

    People being violent to other random people is also a bad reason?(Not the case in all drugs though)

    Having a negative effect on learning is a bad reason as well?

    In a 100% liberal(anarchistic) society, I could follow your point, but only extremists believes in that! :o)

  93. POTS Phone Replacement System for Home by Cy+Guy · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Here's my* idea:

    A mobile phone and/or PDA cradle that is located right inside the front door to your house or apartment (or anywhere you want, I guess) that connects to your current POTS** phone wiring in your home so that you can continue to use the existing POTS phones throughout your home. Essentially the mobile phone or PDA would provide the dialtone service for your home and/or IP connectivity for ethernet/wifi connections throughout the house - all calls (or IP traffic) would be routed through the existing wiring to the phone and onto your wireless providers network.

    My priority would be the POTS telephony device, especially given that commercial WiFi that PDAs and 3G phones connect to is still prohibitively slow and expensive compared to wired broadband service for residential users. With the POTS cradle system, you could disconnect your current landline phone from the RBOC's** and just get an unlimited minutes mobile phone plan that would give you a single number that is always with you (the ability to switch your current POTS/landline phone number to your mobile phone is one of the benefits of recent cell phone regs reform). You could throw out your current answering machine and/or drop your landline voicemail since you would only need the voicemail that comes with your mobile phone.

    Remember, as the RBOC's remind us anytime we have phone problems, the wiring in your your home belongs to you. Once you drop your RBOC account, you would be free of their charges (and the accompanying taxes) entirely.

    I figure the unit could be built with off-the-shelf components for about $25, and could easily sell for $90, given that it should be able to rapidly pay for itself. The cradle would be designed to act as a charger for the mobile phone, but in the case of power outage, the battery of the phone would ideally be able to power the POTS dialtone wiring for up to a day. A speaker phone version of the cradle is a possible upgade, as it would be nice for retrieving voicemail, but I don't think it would be needed for the basic unit.



    * If any tech firm wants to use this idea contact me via my Slashdot Journal. I'm sure we can work out a mutually agreeable arrangement. The ideal development partner would be a Cell phone provider, or an IP telephony provider.

    ** POTS = Plain Old Telephone System, aka Landline.
    RBOC = Regional Bell Operating Companies, the former AT&T subsidiaries that run the POTS, aka Verizon, SBC, PacBell, etc.

    --
    Work for Change & GET PAID!
    1. Re:POTS Phone Replacement System for Home by maxume · · Score: 1

      See my previous comment.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  94. Re:My Favorite by PetWolverine · · Score: 1

    Maybe it was a typo, but the original spelling was "Margaret". However, I also made a mistake as I realized after posting that one of those characters is named Margerie, not Margaret--and I still can't remember which one. I believe it's Marge--that would make the most sense to me.

    --
    I found the meaning of life the other day, but I had write-only access.
  95. This was invented aeons ago. by MoronBob · · Score: 1

    Its called a bell.

    --
    Telecommuting! What about socialization?
  96. Three words: Milla Jovovich fembot. by crazyphilman · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I want a robotic nymphomaniac. I want her to look like Milla Jovovich. I want her to talk like a New Yorker. I want her to curse like a truck driver. And, I want her to have an aggressive "bodyguard mode" in which she goes absolutely POSTAL if anyone messes with her or me. Her signature move would be grabbing an enemy by the ankles, swinging him around in a hyperkinetic hammer throw, and going for distance! "Wow, honey, I think you cleared a hundred meters with that one, he almost made it to the river. You would have had much better distance if he hadn't have hit that billboard..."

    --
    Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
    1. Re:Three words: Milla Jovovich fembot. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Her signature move would be grabbing an enemy by the ankles, swinging him around in a hyperkinetic hammer throw, and going for distance!

      I don't know, Lilu's jeetkunedo was pretty frikkin' impressive. She'll need to have her own techno generator and a good coreography algorithm, but I must say it'll be a might bit more fun than the hammer throw.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:Three words: Milla Jovovich fembot. by crazyphilman · · Score: 1

      You have a point there... But think how funny the hammer throw would be! And, the whooshing sound the person would make while flying through the air! It's just so promising.

      --
      Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
  97. Re:My Favorite by calethix · · Score: 1

    That's a great idea. It got me thinking..
    I can throw some magnets/coils in and around my car tires. Then I can use the electricity generated to power my car without gas. I'm gonna be rich! ;)

  98. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by fean · · Score: 1
    WHAT?


    Movies need to be encoded at 1280x720 and 1920x1080 with the original audio data on the disc. Currently, anyone with a decent 36", or larger, display


    I'm sorry... maybe I'm missing something, correct me if I'm wrong, but TV's now days run at 420 (isn't it, or is it 480, I can never remember for sure), and HD is considered 720/1080.... WHY OH WHY would you encode at anything higher than that? I just purchased a TV that can display 1080p, I'm not planning on buying another for at least 4-5 years.... by then, any movies I encode will be lost in my coaster pile....

    OK if you're displaying it on your monitor, but you bring up HDTV....
  99. What *DOES* Michael Powell Want? by Asprin · · Score: 1


    Yup, you guessed it. Michael Powell wants Gator^H^H^H^H^HClaria.

    --
    "Lawyers are for sucks."
    - Doug McKenzie
  100. Gimme a sleep machine! by YetAnotherName · · Score: 1

    Science fiction author David Brin put sleep machines on board the earthling's space ship in his award winning novel Startide Rising. I immediately thought, "What a great idea!"

    I am an ultra-light sleeper. The slightest variation in noise will rouse me. And I'm a parent of a 3 year old. As you can imagine, I don't sleep very much at all. I'm sick a lot, have migraines, and suffer all the other usual complications of sleep deprivation.

    A sleep machine would be ideal. I'd lay down, set the timer, turn it on, and get a guaranteed uninterruptable rest.

    That'd be version 1. Version 2 would give you accelerated sleep: set the timer for 8 minutes, and get the equivalent of 8 hours of sleep, complete with REM, long-term memory refiling, new connection formation, the works.

    *yawn*. Oh, excuse me.

  101. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by operagost · · Score: 1

    The original poster was a little off, but single-layer DVDs do have a data capacity of merely 4.7 GB. Having uber-HDTV movies on your keychain would be really great, but for now let's shoot for standard DVD quality.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  102. Re:My Favorite by MarkusH · · Score: 1

    Take the lap cover, make it transparant, put the solar panel there. You could probably get a 100 square inch panel in a standard laptop. You would get a little of the illuminated power back from the screen as it bounces off you and bounces off the wall in front of you.

    No, you can't power the laptop indefinately, but you may get an increase in battery life, especially in sunlight or in a bright room. And it could be used to recharge while not on.

    There are of course other problems, but it's a start.

  103. Re:My Favorite by haroldK · · Score: 1

    Marge is Margerie and Maggie is Margaret.

  104. A great invention would be.... by cvd6262 · · Score: 4, Funny

    A use for the Segway.

    --

    I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.

    1. Re:A great invention would be.... by unsung · · Score: 1


      This isn't applicable to the way the Segway is currently designed, but I think that it will eventually make a great mobility device for the handicapped and elderly. The alternatives now are a terrible eyesore and embarrassing to use.

    2. Re:A great invention would be.... by Gabrill · · Score: 1

      After having test-driven a segway, the best improvement would be a way to turn left and right that is as natural and intuitive as forward and reverse. Currently you twist a portion of the handle to turn, similar to a motorcycle's throttle control. Perhaps the feet should control turning by placing a rotating pad on the platform?

      --
      Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
  105. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by hatchet · · Score: 1

    many things are bad but aren't illegal.. like guns for example...
    Guns kill more people than drugs, but they aren't illegal.. and u can't throw drugs at someone and kill him.
    And it's very rare that drug user affects other peoples lives (assuming alcohol isn't a drug, since is legal?). There can be however indirect affects like theft, but those effects would be nullified if drugs were legal, since tobacco stores would sell cheap (heavy taxated) drugs.. drugs would be 10 times cheaper.
    And why not? If someone feels better when taking drugs, why wouldn't he take them? Because YOU say it's bad? If someone wants to live such life.. it's his decision. As long as it doesn't affect others..

  106. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by bfree · · Score: 1

    No, just because something can kill people is not enough. If it was we would criminalise fire (how many people are burnt to death annually), electricity (fried), cars (run over) and pencils (falling asleep and taking one up the nose). Oh yeah, how about firearms?

    As for violence, well need I say more then alcohol?

    As for learning, well need I say more then alcohol?

    Now as for how societies should deal with things which are not safe, I don't know the answer (I know my answer but not societies) but I wish people who thought they did could at least come up with a consitent answer. For example, I can bungee but not base jump. I can drink 1 litre (well I've never gone past 0.75) of vodka and smoke 200 cigarettes (80) but I can't take a drag of a joint even if I don't inhale.

    For me the drugs issue comes down to two major factors. Firstly if society rejects recreational drugs then they should criminalise Alcohol and Tobacco and start a real "War on Drugs". Secondly doctors should not be restricted from researching alternative therapies and employing them (i.e. if we criminalise alcohol but a doctor feels that a glass of wine a day is required for a heart patient he should be allowed prescribe it).

    --

    Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

  107. gah, moby's getting dumb... by caveat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So just as we've taken the sting out of space travel, why can't we eliminate or ameliorate the toxic qualities and effects of recreational drug use?

    because it's bloody likely the toxic and addictive qualities of a drug are also the same ones that produce the high. sheesh...i would have thought he'd at least brush up on the subject before talking about it.

    --

    Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
    1. Re:gah, moby's getting dumb... by Galvatron · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and don't forget psychological addiction. Alchohol isn't chemically addictive, but there are plenty of alchoholics out there. Anyway, the government doesn't care whether something's bad for you. If it's not one of the priviledged substances (caffine, nicotine, alchohol), then anything mind altering is automatically illegal. No serious studies are even done on the effects.

      --
      "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
    2. Re:gah, moby's getting dumb... by Artifakt · · Score: 1

      Somewhat, but there's also a physical constraint. Drugs usually emulate natural substances in the body for example, its amazing how much the opiates pass through the same paths as natural endorphins, or LSD 's breakdown prducts resemble natural Serotonin inhibiters. But all these types hit a point in the metabolic processes where the natural enzymes don't break them down further at the normal rates. Generally, they plug up receptors for additional time, and the human using them gets both a high and a low afterwards. A real copy of a natural chemical such as Endorphin alpha would affect those centers normally associated with feeling good, but would it throw off the metabolism in the same way that heroin, for example, does? Part of drug addiction is the negative half of the reinforcement cycle, where you take the drug again to overcome the down that it puts you in when the first dose wears off.

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
    3. Re:gah, moby's getting dumb... by tricknology · · Score: 2, Informative

      Alchohol isn't chemically addictive

      Umm, alcohol is quite chemically addictive. People who are seriously addicted to alcohol (think Leaving Las Vegas) and quit drinking without supervision can die from the withdrawal symptoms. The DTs aren't a result of a psychological addiction.

      --
      I never been so broke that I couldn't leave town.
    4. Re:gah, moby's getting dumb... by FreshFunk510 · · Score: 1

      True. But imagine the power of drugs that give you that sort of high with no negative effects? I'm sure there's a book on this (I think I've read it but forgot the name) but essentially people would be "plugging in" 24/7.

      --


      "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
    5. Re:gah, moby's getting dumb... by kliment · · Score: 1

      The book is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, among many others. I think this was one of the first mentions of drugs like that

  108. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by KDan · · Score: 1

    And people dying from exhaustion because they dont register the dangersignals from their body that an undrugged person would, isnt good enough reason?
    No. The solution to that is better drug education, just like kids are educated to look when they cross the road. People die run over by cars all year round, but we don't ban cars for that.

    People being violent to other random people is also a bad reason?(Not the case in all drugs though)
    No. People do that whether or not drugs are involved. And one of the most violence-inducing drug (alcohol) is legal, so there is definitely a lack of consistence in this argument.

    Having a negative effect on learning is a bad reason as well?
    No. To say that kids, who are in a period when they need to learn a lot, should not smoke joints is perfectly reasonable, just like they should not drink alcohol, which certainly doesn't help learning either. But we're talking about responsible adults here. Drinking alcohol hurts your liver. Smoking cigarettes destroys your lungs. Eating too much causes health problems. Are those illegal? No, because it's up to you what you do with your body, once you're an adult.

    In a 100% liberal(anarchistic) society, I could follow your point, but only extremists believes in that! :o)
    No. 100% Liberalism and anarchy are very different things. They're at extremes of two different axes: the liberal-conservative axis, and the authoritarian-libertarian axis. Liberal != Libertarian.

    In short, wrong on every single line of your post.

    Daniel

    --
    Carpe Diem
  109. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Patik · · Score: 1
    just go to Blockbuster with your own 4.2 gig thumb drives, plug into the USB 3 (this is the future ya know) port, download right there. Movie somehow self destructs and no need to return it.
    In other words, a more expensive version of Circuit City's Divx, which failed miserably. Fantastic idea.
  110. Huh huh they had that in jackass huh huh by caveat · · Score: 1

    Of course, they used a hundred foot of rope wrapped around the spindle and tied to a pickup truck...just wait till some enterprising 17-year olds try that with their kid brothers..

    --

    Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
  111. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by plover · · Score: 1

    How about the iRiver iHP-120? 20GB, and it can act like a storage device. ClubMac has 'em for $349. Seems particularily realistic to me.

    --
    John
  112. Lies Exposed in Telltale Colors by wintermute1974 · · Score: 2

    > The only really interesting piece, is in my
    > opinion that of William Gibson.

    Yes, I too like the idea of having outright lies, misperceptions, and spin all beautifully color-coded for your reading pleasure.

    Of course, then we have to ask ourselves, is there really such a thing as The Objective Truth?

    Whatever off-shore datahaven those sleepless programmers dream up, I imagine that the registration process would be long and involved: First, the site would have to quiz you on your beliefs, your attitudes toward the world, and your mental model of the world. Thus equipped, it could easily tell you "the truth".

    Naturally, for the truly lazy, the site could have some presets, if you want to skip the set up. Judging by some of the whoppingly ignorant or doctrinaire submissions slashdot regularly sees, I would guess that "socially-conservative bible literalist", "libertarian technophile", and "emotionally insecure piece of dirt" would be popular preset choices.

    1. Re:Lies Exposed in Telltale Colors by kevmit · · Score: 1
      First, the site would have to quiz you on your beliefs, your attitudes toward the world, and your mental model of the world. Thus equipped, it could easily tell you "the truth".
      Now see, this is exactly the sort of short-sighted obstructionist attitude that is going to stifle creativity in bringing these devices to market.
      WHO CARES if the device accurately measures something so indefinable as "objective truth", as if such a thing exists.
      AFAIC, if the good old polygraph is proof enough for the courts and "Meet my Parents", by God it's good enough for White House press releases.
      Make it a condition that every politician that says anything on TV must be constantly connected to a polygraph, whose results are updated in realtime on an on-screen sidebar.
  113. Doctor's offices. by oneiros27 · · Score: 1

    Isn't the doctors office issue handled in HIPPA?
    [to allow to the standardized exchange of information]

    HIPPA covers more than just privacy of information.

    --
    Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
  114. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by proj_2501 · · Score: 1

    1920x1080 is the same resolution as 1080i no?

  115. Simple Missing Things by __aagmrb7289 · · Score: 1

    1. Most everything listed could fit into the implant that was listed - I like this one;
    2. Wormholes for communications & travel
    3. Anti-gravity
    4. Moving manufacturer to orbit
    5. Terraforming
    6. Unlimited & safe energy source

    Aren't these the basics? Am I missing anything?

  116. Re: Keyless keyboard by Brad+Mace · · Score: 1

    It exists

  117. The late 20th century version by chadjg · · Score: 1

    is the electric can opener.

    When ever I run it the cat comes running. Sometimes I just look around and whistle like nothing is happening and the cat gets confused and stalks away.

    It's one of the few times I can feel that my kind is superior to Fluffy's.

    --
    Why do I have this? I don't smoke.
  118. Re:and who will pay for all this? by Oddly_Drac · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Certainly some people can use recreational drugs and not cause a burden to society, but there are many more who become unable to maintain gainful employment."

    Swap 'Fast food' for 'recreational drugs'. Interesting, huh?

    The idea that recreational drugs turns you into an unemployable SOB is as old as 'Reefer madness', and given theres a social penetration of cannibis approaching 60% (UK Polls) there have to be some that are useful members of society. Hell, check out my tax bill for a rough idea.

    "Just don't let me see them in the unemployment line asking for a check, or in the ER with no insurance asking to have their heart evaluated or their lungs checked."

    Yeah, fuck the smokers. They contribute nothing in taxes...oh, wait...

    Funnily enough, some people think the same about the UK welfare state and NHS without remembering that it's a safety net for reasonable people. Yes, there are some that are perfectly willing to stay home and watch their ass spread, but that's the downside of society; create rules to provide for special cases and you start descriminating. I'm not suggesting that's a bad thing, but it doesn't take much to add another rule, and another, and another...

    Hopefully you get the picture.

    "Therefore, we must limit the burden by keeping some of these drugs on the illegal status list."

    Huzzah. That way we can keep track of the health implications and dangerous cocktails that dealers (notoriously bad in the field of personal health and safety) have a propensity to develop in the search for higher profits. While I agree that usage under some circumstances should be kept illegal, they present an interesting method of tracking health and black market taxation if they're regulated. The trouble is that the US is fostering a certain level of fear regarding recreational drug use that ignores such things as the current president admitting to having a drink problem up until the age of 40.

    On the one hand, it shows that he's human, but on the other hand you have to ape a certain amount of the shocked outrage that permeates any attempt at a reasoned discussion into drugs.

    I should point out that modern SSRIs (Anti-depressants) are functionally the same as MDMA with minor kinks; The prescription of Seroxat to under sixteens should be investigated as a criminal offence because of the neurology involved, but that might involve a bit of a scandal...

    --
    Oddly Draconis
    Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
  119. Interface by xxyyxxzz · · Score: 1

    So I log onto the NY Times site to take a look at this article and am enticed to read these 11 "ideas" for needed inventions. The article ends after a page of setup, with no explanation of where to go next - no "next page" link, no, "Click on these links for the ideas" direction. I clicked on the printer-friendly button to see if that would reveal more of the article, to no avail. It took me almost 5 minutes to figure out the links to the rest of the article were embedded in the "related" box to the right of the story, buried around news trackers and advertisement.

    BAD INTERFACE! BAD!

    Then, after reading the rest of the article, I wish I had given up looking earlier. With the exception of Gibson's well-written tongue-in-cheek, this was a pretty poor list.

    1. Re:Interface by greenbeard · · Score: 1

      agreed wholeheartedly!

  120. Man, what a disappointing article by serutan · · Score: 1

    Non-polluting energy, cheap food for the world, disease cures? Nawww, these visionaries are too preoccupied with life's minor inconveniences to generate a significant thought. With the exception of Gibson's lie detector, none of these ideas would have any impact on the world.

    What a bunch of wankers.

  121. #12.5 by HalliS · · Score: 1

    I suggest that people who make goatse jokes stop putting the .cx ending behind the word goatse. Thus innocent newcommers will not be harmed by their' curiosity of what this goatse link that everybody is talking about, actually is.

    A warning to all of you, DO NOT GO THERE!!! The mental image will be burned into your brain for life.

    --


    My other UID is 1337
  122. 11) "Memo to My Borsalino: Quiet!" by wintermute1974 · · Score: 1

    > Anyone else reminded of Peril Sensitive Sunglasses? It's bad enough people turn a
    > figurative blind eye to things they really don't want to be bothered with... but this is
    > going a bit far.

    Steve Mann, a professor at the University of Toronto, and a former graduate of MIT has already got the Peril Sensitive sunglasses.

    In his particular case, he uses them to block out advertising, and other visual nuisances. From what I've read of his work (see http://wearcam.org/), I don't think he's done much aural work yet.

  123. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by the+idoru · · Score: 1

    I think you meant to say "extended viewing fees".

  124. Re:Michael Powell trolling by lamp540 · · Score: 1

    One word: COINTELPRO

  125. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by digitalgiblet · · Score: 1

    She's not thinking BIG enough!

    Why create it so that "the illumination of the screen could keep it going" when you could just as realistically create it so that the illumination of the screen would create a SURPLUS of energy?

    As a matter of fact, why not just have it create so much energy that it could "beam" the energy back to supplement the "power grid"?

    Yeah! She and Moby should definitely get together.

    ;-)

  126. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Rasta+Prefect · · Score: 1
    The computer should be powered by solar energy, which could be from any source, not only the sun, so that even the illumination of the screen could keep it going.

    Err, yeah. It's bad news when the best idea out of your panel of 11 geniuses comes from Cris Collinsworth. Imagine if Terry Bradshaw or John Madden had been included!



    Hmmm....."Geniuses" who haven't yet mastered the laws of Thermodynamics....

    --
    Why?
  127. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1
    How about the iRiver iHP-120? 20GB, and it can act like a storage device. ClubMac has 'em for $349. Seems particularily realistic to me.

    The iHP product line is hard drive based, iFP is flash memory based. The tech specs don't tell you this, but if you wave your mouse over the products link you'll find it categorised there.

    I have a SlimX CD/MP3 player and it's excellent, but I think i'd still pick an iPod over the iHP-120.

    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
  128. Re:My Favorite by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nah, just learn to be very convincing and let some random guy push your car towards your destination.
    That wouldn't be too hard. Just tell the guy someone doesn't think he could push your car all the way to your office.
    Damn, I just invented the Ego-powered car.

  129. Re:I have an invention I'd like to see by spacecowboy420 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do what all of the other geniuses in the world and use one logon for the sites you rarely visit. I know I have three combos; a work related, a personal, and a junk. Obviously you change the important passwords (both of them) often, but the junk one - who cares?

    Quit your whining and exaggerating - it isn't that difficult, and you don't to give any more info than you want. Yeah, it's inconvenient, but you put it in one time and most browsers on most oses will remember your login from then on. Fucking drama queen.

    --
    ymmv
  130. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Digital11 · · Score: 1

    Yea good luck with that. I believe that would count as perpetual motion, so lets all just toss entropy out of the window and start using our self-powered laptops...

    How is that the best idea when the laws of physics say its impossible. If we were able to develop a device that could convert energy with that much efficiency, there'd be no need to make it solar powered because a battery would last next-to-forever anyways without all the extraneous leakage of energy that comes from the conversion.

    I personally think the most practical idea's revolved around integrating everything in to one device instead of having to look like a poor imitation of Batman and his utility belt.

    Holy shark-repellant spray Batman!

    --
    I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
  131. They missed what should be the #1 priority... by Flat5 · · Score: 1

    Personal air transportation. Period. It's about 20 years overdue. It seems so obvious that this would have the single greatest impact on the way the majority of Americans live of any "device" that could possibly be invented.

    Screw X-prize. We need cheap, reliable, safe personal helicopters (or jet-packs, or whatever).

  132. Re:A bunch of nobodies trying to remain relevant. by wintermute1974 · · Score: 1

    > The Cap of Silence would be the ultimate in productivity enhancement.

    So search Google for noise cancellation earphones.

    Sony makes them. Bose makes them. Who knows, if you tried them, they may just work.

  133. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by cens0r · · Score: 1

    But did they smoke weed because the were unreliable and lazy, or did the weed make them that way? I have a feeling they were just lazy people to begin with.

    --
    Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
  134. Microsoft's new vision statement by stephenbooth · · Score: 1

    A standard on every desktop

    --
    "Don't write down to your readers, the only people less intelligent than you can't read" - Sign on Newspaper Office Wall
  135. The ideal size of things by RedCard · · Score: 1

    The IXth Symphony certainly is a great piece of music, but the choice remains arbitrary : why not choose a 3-hour format to store Wagner's operas ?

    A CS professor of mine once devoted a lecture to "the ideal size of things". In it, he related how the original CD prototype was the size of an LP record, and held hours upon hours of audio. The engineers were operating on the presumptions that more is always better.

    It's not, of course, and a format with such expansive capability would present problems to music companies and producers... people would expect them to fill (or at least mostly fill) a multi-hour disc! Additionally, a large disc would be prey to warping, and would require similarly large components to read it.

    And so, the 74-minutes was decreed, and here we are today.

    My professor's point was that things have an ideal size. CDs are hand-size, they're not cumbersome like LPs, they're easy to handle, easy to change, but not too small to be easily lost. They're small enough to play in the car, like tapes.

    A can of coke is the right size, too. It's easy for the average person to hold, and on average it's not too much drink, and it's not too little. You better believe that the coca-cola company spent many millions of dollars researching this. And if they didn't, someone else did.

    I don't know how true any of my professor's story was, of course, it's entirely possible that he made it all up, but it did illustrate his point.

  136. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by cens0r · · Score: 1

    I have the slimX as well and love it. I'm curious why you would choose an iPod over the iHP-120? The iHP-120 is cheaper, and has quite a few features the iPod lacks. The only feature I see the iPod having over the iHP-120 is the ability to play AAC and songs from iTMS. AAC could easily be added to the iHP via firmware and there are plenty of other music stores.

    --
    Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
  137. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Alan · · Score: 1

    You know, when I was about 10 I got one of those "science kits". You know, the ones with a lightbulb, coils, some wires on aligator clips, and other stuff to allow kids to learn about electricity and make neat stuff like flashlights or radios or whatever. Even at 10 it didn't take me long to figure out that I couldn't use a lightbulb to give energy to the solar panel which would then power the same lightbulb.

  138. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Alan · · Score: 1

    Yet the US points to Canada like we're the anti-christ for proposing to legalize pot. Yea, that makes sense.

  139. M. Cho is prominent? by stinkyfingers · · Score: 1

    She's not even the most promient thing on Comedy Central.

  140. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by KDan · · Score: 1

    Then get a job where you don't have to deal with rich white lazy bastards who get everything from daddy, including the money to buy weed if they feel so inclined. That's got nothing to do with weed, more with where you're working.

    Daniel

    --
    Carpe Diem
  141. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1
    I'm curious why you would choose an iPod over the iHP-120?

    Cost doesn't really bother me. If I'm going to carry something around with me all day and every day then I want something small, light and looks good.

    The major problem I have with the iHP is that it's really ugly. Also if it is anything like the SlimX - the control system will be a mess.

    It's probably the most illogical argument for a iPod but I just don't like the look of it - and if i'm going to spend buttloads of money, I want it to look good.

    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
  142. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by WhiteBandit · · Score: 1

    They already have 4gig Compact Flash cards.

    Aren't these not really flash/solid state cards though? I thought these contained those little IBM Microdrives in them?

    Of course then again, I guess it doesn't ultimately matter, it's still 4gb on something slightly larger than a quarter ;)

  143. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by default+luser · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, I think I came up with this brilliant idea in 6th grade, something to do with an electric car that used a generator to continuously regenerate power. After we started discusing physics in Junior High, I felt really stupid having ever conceived of the above, because once it was mentioned to me, conservation of energy made perfect sense.

    Now I don't feel so stupid, because I have living proof that people can graduate high school and STILL not understand the simple concept of conservation of energy.

    --

    Man is the animal that laughs.
    And occasionally whores for Karma.

  144. Re:My Favorite by krogoth · · Score: 1

    That's not new - perpetual motion/free energy has already been invented!

    --

    They that quote Benjamin Franklin on liberty and safety deserve neither.
  145. Nice Idea by mykepredko · · Score: 1

    I would love to see this implemented.

    myke

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
  146. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by default+luser · · Score: 1

    Or, just go to Blockbuster with your own 4.2 gig thumb drives, plug into the USB 3 (this is the future ya know) port, download right there.

    ....

    .... ( 30 minutes later ) still waiting....

    I hope you can grasp the fact that the fastest flash on earth can only write at a few megs a second ( this is regardless of bus technology ). Until there comes a fundamental change in how flash memory is designed ( MRAM, perhaps? ), you're going to be stuck with slow writes.

    --

    Man is the animal that laughs.
    And occasionally whores for Karma.

  147. A High That Wouldn't Hurt by Xistic · · Score: 1

    Moby is a musician.

    No shit?

    --
    BASE Conflict for Quake 3
  148. Yea, I have a quantum solar computer... by StressGuy · · Score: 1

    It'll run off the monitor illumination but, problem is, as soon I determine that the monitor is on, it's state changes and it goes off again....

    --
    A goal is a dream with a deadline
  149. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by cens0r · · Score: 1

    I actually like the way it looks myself, but that's purely subjective i guess. I also found the SlimX confusing at first, but kick ass once I got the hang of the remote.

    Of course none of the MP3 players fit my needs completly. the two best right now are the rio karma and the iHP. If the nomad zen would add flac and or ogg support then I'd really have what I want.

    --
    Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
  150. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by pmz · · Score: 1


    "extended viewing fees"

    Actually, they're another instance of the "stupid tax" (along with 20%+ APR loans, list prices on cars, telemarketed charities, etc.), where people are given genuine financial incentives to be responsible and knowledgable.

    --
    Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
  151. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by spilich · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Spoken like a true Apple user. Apple's always had more sucess marketing the image then the product. Colored computers - sheesh.

  152. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Dashing+Leech · · Score: 1
    I believe that would count as perpetual motion

    That was my first thought too, but on closer reading it's technically not so. If the computer was powered by light (solar, screen, whatever), but the monitor was powered by another source it would be possible. However, this would make things a lot worse than they are. Instead of directly running power into the computer, we'd first be transforming it into light energy (and producing waste heat) and then transforming some of that light back into electricity using something like solar cells, which at least today are highly inefficient.

    However, in the context it was given, I think the monitor was supposed to be included as part of the computer, in which case you'd be right about the "perpetual motion" problem.

  153. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by armyofone · · Score: 1
    Watching a friend or a loved one slowly rot away and trying to get them help which they refuse or which doesn't work. It feels futile and seeing someone die because of "their own decision" still greatly affects people around them.
    What you say is true. I've seen it in my own family. My dad killed himself with alcohol and tobacco and my mother-in-law is busy doing the same thing right now. Neither of these substances are illegal. So why is that? The grandparent poster was correct in saying that these other drugs are not as addictive as alcohol or tobacco. So why are some substances illegal while others are not? Methinks the situation is motivated by politics and profit and has little to do with protecting people from themselves - which is impossible to do. If there is one thing I learned from watching my dad drink himself to death it's this; if a person wants to drink, they will. You can't make them stop no matter how much money you throw at the problem. This is why the war on drugs is doomed to failure. People even find ways to get high while incarcerated. You just can't legislate sobriety.

    And please, "cheap" drugs. Tobacco is heavily taxated as well, which makes it NOT cheap.
    How cheap do you think it would be 'on the street' if it was illegal? Do you really think it would cost less than the current over-the-counter price?

    --
    "A revolution without dancing is... a revolution not worth having"
  154. William Gibson by MrWa · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure that I read it quite right but it reads like Gibson wants someone to invent a lot of future sounding, hip, techno-related, meme-changing, paradigm-shifting phrases and splice them together like a surgeon creating new blood vessels out of nano-created synthetic air to be grafted onto a clone of himself.

    1. Re:William Gibson by Xeger · · Score: 1

      That's just how Gibson writes. If he talks that way too, I can only imagine the sublime surreality of his lunch order, or his instructions to the cable guy.

      But no, I think he was just using this bit of media exposure as a chance to grandstand his slick, chromed buzzword-laden writing style. Trying to scare up a few more readers, as any self-respecting, self-promoting artist should always be trying to do.

      One day, perhaps I'll write a send-up of Gibson. It would be a boring and very ordinary short story with no sci-fi elements, that nonetheless sounded cool as all shit because of the language.

  155. Give me funding by sprekken · · Score: 1

    I've always been fascinated with the idea of bio-technical interfaces, and I have a pretty healthy knowledge of physics and computer science... and I do have some contacts in the world of biological science.

    Someone give me fifty million dollars, and I'll build you some kind of implantable gizmo controller.

    Business plan? Wha... this is the nineties, man! We don't need no stinkin' business plan!

  156. One Gizmo to Rule Them All? by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 1
    Interesting how several of them basically wanted something to cut down the number of devices they have to have.

    There's a good LoTR parody lurking in there somewhere...

  157. forms auto-filled by bitspotter · · Score: 1

    Having to read application forms is a feature, not a bug. There's no way I'm not going to look at every single piece of data some psychotic institution requires me to tell them. If auto-fill becomes customary, Forms will become as bad as ten-page EULAs - thus, no one will read them, and unscrupulous parties will start putting unusual and unnecessary fields in their forms to harvest data they don't need.

  158. Re:My Favorite by Jimee+D'Geek · · Score: 1

    Isn't this perpetual motion? They won't patent that, I tried. "If It feels good, do It." "If It feels really good, do It a Lot!"

  159. Empathy Machine by mabu · · Score: 1

    I would like to see a device that has the capacity of transferring emotions and feelings to others in a very specific, targeted manner. A veritable "Empathy Player"; not a drug; not a VR device, but a way to capture someone's emotions and share them.

    One problem I see with our society is the ongoing reduction of empathy and understanding we have for others. If there was an ability to show someone what another person's happiness or frustration was actually like, we all might have a much better understanding (and tolerance) for each other. Art aspires to do this in an abstract way, but imagine the possibilities if we could make someone else understand what we're going through in a very direct manner?

  160. Re: Keyless keyboard by Exantrius · · Score: 1

    no it doesn't.
    At least not how I envision it-- This still limits you where you can set it up, you can't randomly have one hand on your head typing and the other on your leg-- that's what I envision...

    That's just a gimicky keyboard

  161. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Awptimus+Prime · · Score: 1


    I'm not sure where I was off, considering DVD media that holds 4.72 gigs is also considered a 120 dvd video disc.

  162. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by fenix+down · · Score: 1

    On the one hand, she's violated the house rules regarding thermodynamics, but on the other hand, she called Anne Coulter "Cunta Kinte". I just don't know what to think anymore.

  163. Hey, people, still in AT era? by SharpFang · · Score: 1

    We've moved to ATX some time ago. Now think about that: The monitor is still plugged into your wall socket, so it produces light just OK. Then the CPU collects the light. Perpetual motion? Where? Of course monitors "Made In USSR" would do best for that task. "High Radiation" models that make your room glow for a hour after switching power off preferably. And then people will start complaining that this ecology is so unhealthy...

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  164. Of course... by DigitalNinja7 · · Score: 1

    Of course, the only musician in the forum just wants to get stoned.

    --
    Show your love for the Hacker community
    HackerLogo.com
  165. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by TKinias · · Score: 1

    scripsit KDan:

    100% Liberalism and anarchy are very different things. They're at extremes of two different axes: the liberal-conservative axis, and the authoritarian-libertarian axis. Liberal != Libertarian.

    That's only true if you accept the redefinition of `liberal' that has happened in modern American politics. Liberal means, in the original sense, that you want basic guarantees of civil and human rights, legal equality, and no messing with private property (i.e., pro-business). Check out the platforms of European parties which call themselves Liberal, as opposed to Socialist or Social Democrat, and you'll see the difference. Really, American Libertarians are the closest to pure liberalism in the States.

    I think that, before the word `liberal' became a dirty word among right-wingers (so that the Libertarians don't want to be tarred with it), it was used by the left to distance themselves from socialism. If they called themselves, as their continental counterparts did, Social Democrats, they would be accepting a connection between their ideas and Marxism or whatever was the bogeyman-du-jour. `Liberal' sounded safe, even if what they espoused (affirmative action, state-funded medicine, whatever) was counter to true liberal ideals.

    As far as axes go, I can construct many schematic representations of political ideologies, none of which are wholly satisfactory. The libertarians' favored schema, which you mention, is only one way of looking at things. The axes could as well be revolution/reaction and materialism/antimaterialism, for example...

    --
    In principio creauit Linus Linucem.
  166. Re:My Favorite by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
    I agree that we should be putting solar panels on the backs of laptop displays. The problem is that you have to protect the panel so it adds weight. The solution, of course, is to use the adhesive solar panels as an add-on, but of course you need some way to get that to charge the battery, which these days is usually considerably more voltage than the average solar panel is set up to provide. Obviously it's not an insurmountable problem, but it does complicate the add-on method.

    You can go to any battery store and buy a solar panel which consists of very thin cells (thin film?) which have been attached to a PC board with adhesive, which is intended to go on the dash of your car and keep your battery topped off. I'd like to get some of the adhesive cells and lay them on top of the wing of a radio controlled glider, with a capacitor to smooth things out a little bit, or perhaps a small battery and a simple charging circuit. I haven't worked out the details because A> I don't have the glider and B> I'm working on a .29ci two stroke diesel right now.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  167. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by kernelfoobar · · Score: 1

    It's already here.
    They always seem to be quite ahead in the game.

    --
    Here we go again!
  168. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by FreshFunk510 · · Score: 1

    It'll never happen. Why?

    Because, I suspect that as technology for storage increases so will the technology it is used for. For instance, before 8-tracks and tapes were useful for low-fidelity (well, i guess they called it hifi) music. But while CDs could hold more information it was because we needed to code more information. The same goes for video when DVDs could give more information for better quality video.

    I suspect that in several years when a thumb drive can hold 40 Gigs, image resolution will have multiplied by a similar amount.

    1 Gigapixel digital cameras anyone?

    MPX compressed audio will have built int 10 point surround sound, with greater frequency range, greater sampling, etc.

    And let's not talk about the home movie experience. At the point scene will probably be encoded in 4096 x 3072 essentially requiring a new video format and 4.2 Gigs wont' be enough to hold home videos.

    --


    "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
  169. Who knew??? by TFloore · · Score: 1

    Moby is really a closet Huey Lewis and the News fan.

    I never would have believed it...

    --
    This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is... Oops. Frank, I've got your sig again! Where's mine?
  170. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Digital11 · · Score: 1

    Yea.. since the suggestor of the idea was speaking of a laptop it'd be a pretty good assumption that said screen would also be powered by whatever powers the laptop. And if it wasn't, they'd still be powered by the same thing in the end anyways because the battery powering the screen would essentially be powering the laptop through the screen's light (and like I said before, unless they can invent some kind of transformation that has 0 loss it'd be alot more efficient just to power the laptop straight from the battery in the first place...)

    --
    I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
  171. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by plover · · Score: 1
    No, I knew it was a hard drive based player. I wasn't particularily put off by that. Sure, solid state would be nicer from a durability POV but the microdrives I've used haven't ever given me problems before.

    For me, the points that sold me over the comparably sized-and-priced iPod were the inclusion of the FM receiver and the ability to act like a hard drive over USB without adding software; I also considered it a plus that it supports OGG Vorbis out of the box. The iRiver's software is upgradeable, and it sounds like they're going to try to add AAC in the future. (Not that I care much about AAC at this point, but it might be nice, and it's nice to know the machine is upgradeable.) I don't know if Apple has any interest in playing anything but their DRM AACs and MP3s, but I had already pretty much written it off since it is firewire-only and has no FM tuner. Apple's software is definitely nice, and the iPod looks nice, but it's really tough to flash an FM tuner or Hi-Speed USB (the USB formerly known as 2.0) onto an iPod...

    Used to have a Nomad jukebox, which wouldn't act like a generic storage device and would only talk to the way fugly Creative software (meaning it couldn't carry stuff to and from public computers.) I was also considering the FM tuner remote for an additional $60, (bringing it up to almost this price anyway.) But it got stolen, so time to go shopping again.

    --
    John
  172. Re:I have an invention I'd like to see by hesiod · · Score: 1

    > I rather liked the fact that slashdot linked to the google version too.

    Except that the 11 suggestions were listed as articles to get extra ad revenue for NYT. To get to those, you need to register. The google link was partially helpful.

  173. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by hesiod · · Score: 1

    > Yet the US points to Canada like we're the anti-christ for proposing to legalize pot.

    No, the U.S. Gov does. Probably a large majority of Americans don't care if it's legalized there. Getting it legalized here is another matter entirely.

  174. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Awptimus+Prime · · Score: 1


    You are correct. I should have said "120 minutes, normal DVD encoding, compression level 0".

    Damned geeks.. ;-)

  175. 74 Minute? by lostchicken · · Score: 1

    The article discusses the time limits on CDs (namely, 74 minutes for a pressed disc). If this is true, can anybody explain how I can get 80 minutes of Red Book audio on a CD-R?

    If the format supports 80 minutes, can't they just press the tracks burned into the dye on a CDR onto a metal CD? I don't see the difference.

    --
    -twb
  176. she just made lucent stock go up 8% by morcheeba · · Score: 1

    lucent stock up 8% on Russo's comments, so it looks like she did something right. To summerize her quote: "we intend to make money this year, not lose money like last year". Too bad people fall for this garbage, and too bad the media reports it as something interesting.

    --
    HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
  177. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by aardwolf204 · · Score: 1

    I've had this idea for a long time also. Too bad the write speed of CF or USB is too slow and cost of such a device is too expensive (how about a 8GB card for renting 2 movies... 3 movies...).

    Not to mention the fact that not everyone is leet enough to have built a tv box (call it a HTPC if you really want to, all my PC implementations, car, bike, tv, end in box), and good luck getting everyone to upgrade their dvd players to ones that accept such media just to watch your movies. Its a great idea, and if only this country was made up of nothing but geeks it could come true, but in that case we'd all be downloading the movie's torrents anyway so, um, nevermind.

    --
    Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the /.crowd.May ur days b merry & bright & may al
  178. Get me out of bed by Ugodown · · Score: 1

    If something could get me out of bed and awake I would be very grateful to the person who invented it. I mean, I can get out of bed, but I always give in to temptation (the urge is just too strong) and go back to sleep. I need something like George Jetson has to get him going in the morning. A no-way-in-hell your going back to sleep device.

    --
    --- to swing on the spiral...
  179. Re:I have an invention I'd like to see by drDugan · · Score: 1

    luckily [satire], our ability to control how we get tracked will quickly be going away. so the need to remember logins and passwords should be gone within a few years.

    controlled hardware, compulory DRM, and biometrics will remove the need for remembering anything with respect to identity.

  180. Sum up the answers by Hecatonchires · · Score: 1

    A bunch of people want _a_ device that does everything all their devices do, in a really small form factor. Possibly make it look cool.

    Scott Adams wants a cat locator.

    Navratilova wants a laser determined in or out for tennis, and possibly to do away with the umpire.

    Some guy wants a form filler outerer. XML is a start, tagging info semantically. Its a while till everyone agrees to use the same formats tho.

    Moby wants a safe high. God bless you Moby for being honest.

    --

    Yay me!

  181. NY Times registration zapper by edxwelch · · Score: 1

    How about a device that automatically circumvates the compulsory online registartion of any newspaper?

  182. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by G-funk · · Score: 1

    Lisa!

    In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

    --
    Send lawyers, guns, and money!
  183. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Ed+Avis · · Score: 1

    I think it means light falling on the screen could power the computer. If you use a laptop outside on a sunny day. Still, a lame 'suggestion', since it's just a wish and not particularly exciting. You can suggest new things to be invented at the halfbakery, but you're supposed to keep away from magic items.

    --
    -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
  184. Re:I have an invention I'd like to see by scott_evil · · Score: 1

    it's a pity that a lot of the stupid sites require your email address as a login

  185. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by RedWizzard · · Score: 1

    If you'd read the linked article you'd know that they are solid state, not microdrives.

  186. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by scott_evil · · Score: 1

    I see you've never met anyone addicted to marijuana. It's not a pretty sight. The psychosis isn't a good trait either...

  187. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by RedWizzard · · Score: 1

    Not true. IBM has sold their disk drive business to Hitachi who are promising microdrives up to 4GB this year. They're expecting them to be faster than solid state drives too.4GB for $489 (not yet available), 2.2GB $230 (available now).

  188. Re:I have an invention I'd like to see by spacecowboy420 · · Score: 1

    You don't have a throw away email address? You put your *real* email address out for public exploitation? You need at LEAST 3 - A personal, a business, and a junk - the junk one you can read if you need to, but is meant to be ignored. I thought every sane person did that.

    --
    ymmv
  189. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by snilloc · · Score: 1
    I know you're (half) joking, but some people can barely read when they get out of high school.

    My sister couldn't even name one officially communist country (past or present) after she graduated. It's really sad. The "2nd law of thermodynamics" might as well be "practical applications for quantum slipstream warp drives".

  190. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by jimbolaya · · Score: 1

    So, the gist of your argument (and the argument of every person who thinks pot should be legal) is, if we don't ban everything, we shouldn't ban anything. Do I have that correct?

    --

    There ain't no rules here; we're trying to accomplish something.

  191. Basic problem of mind altering drugs by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    Generally, the results of mental processes come about through specific paths to solve specific problems. Altering that path with psycho-active chemicals usually results in inferior results, and is thus harmful without further consideration needed. Looking for non-harmful mind drugs is in this sense looking for a contradiction.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  192. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Awptimus+Prime · · Score: 1

    dude, hurry up and pass the doob.. you hit it like three times in a row. huhuh

  193. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by FreeForm+Response · · Score: 1

    So, the gist of your argument (and the argument of every person who thinks pot should be legal) is, if we don't ban everything, we shouldn't ban anything. Do I have that correct?

    Not my argument. When I argue drug legalization with people, I fix on two key points.

    1. Current drug laws are more harmful than the drugs they "protect" us from. I'm sure you've heard all the arguments for this one, though (mandatory minimums, overcrowding, etc.), so I won't go into them here in depth.
    2. Any sort of ban should, in my opinion, must be exactly all of these things: reasonable, enforceable, and consistent.
    reasonable: A ban should have a good reason, other than moral repugnance. In particular, a drug ban should have reputable proof that the drug is too dangerous in society to be uncontrolled (I'm thinking along the lines of PCP here).
    enforceable: Any laws put on the books should be enforceable by the current executive powers of the government. It's silly to make laws that cannot be enforced consistently, which leads to the next item:
    consistent: Here's the big problem with both the reasoning behind and the enforcement of current drug laws. They do not specify, in a consistent fashion, why certain substances are controlled or not controlled, and under what circumstances for each. Also, as a consequence of the laws being unenforceable by the extant government, they are not consistent in that regard. Sentencing can vary widely, and is generally harsher to minorities than it is to whites.

    Do I think everything should be legal? No. It's an untenable position; I don't think it should be legal for people to have dangerous, harmful substances without the assurance that they can handle them safely.
    Do I think our current drug laws are a shambles? Definitely. The laws we have are basically arbitrary as to both reasoning and enforcement. If there's a good reason for marijuana to be banned, state it, and let it stand on its merits. Otherwise, don't abrogate my rights in an arbitrary fashion.

  194. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by Lodragandraoidh · · Score: 1

    Actually, the new hybrid gas/electric cars use dynamic braking - like diesel locomotives - to reclaim some of the energy and store it in the batteries.

    So, your idea wasn't so far off; energy can be translated - however you lose something in the translation.

    --

    Lodragan Draoidh
    The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
  195. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Licensed2Hack · · Score: 1

    I doubt a flash card costs less in materials than a DVD, since all a DVD consists of is a small plastic wafer and metallic film. That boils down to much, much less than a penny in materials.

    Not even close. The polycarbonate might be less than a penny, but that is a very small part of making a DVD/CD. Years ago break even on audio CDs or CD-ROMs was around US$.56-US$.60 per disc, including mastering and packaging.

    Mastering was a flat rate of about US$1500 per title. Each CD replicator (from Krausse-Maffei) cost about US$1.7 million delivered and could kick out a finished disc every 4.2 seconds at full speed. Then silk-screen or offset (cost more), and packaging (jewel case, graphics, shrink wrap, bar codes, spine lables and other special labels).

    Did I mention that I used to be the network engineer for a CD replicator?

  196. By the way... by StarKruzr · · Score: 1

    Incidentally, is it legal in Canada for a private citizen to own a gun?

    (I'm too tired to look up the laws and compare them to our own :)

    --

    +++ATH0
    1. Re:By the way... by ottawanker · · Score: 1

      Incidentally, is it legal in Canada for a private citizen to own a gun?

      Yes, of course.. How else are we going to defend ourselves from the polar bears?

      If you want to own a gun, you need to get a possession only license, or if you want to buy one, you need a possession and acquisition license.

      Also, if you want to buy a gun and have a spouse, they need to sign off on it as well (or else further investigation will take place).

      For rifles and shotguns, you need to take the Canadian Firearms Safety Course. For handguns, you need to take the Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course.

      Handgun possession is limited to collectors, target shooters and those who can demonstrate a need of guns to protect their lives.

  197. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by LittleBigLui · · Score: 1
    and u can't throw drugs at someone and kill him.


    sure you can, if it's a heavy enough package. that's why we (most european countries, i would guess) have a limit for "personal use", usually defined to be a few grams. no danger being hit by a 5-gram-bag, right? but as soon as we go up to, say a kilo of drugs, they can be - when thrown by a well-trained person with good aim - deadly. thats why we have stiff penalties for possession of those amounts.
    --
    Free as in mason.
  198. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Awptimus+Prime · · Score: 1

    Really? I can get blanks for around 20 cent each.

  199. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1
    Spoken like a true Apple user.

    Maybe, maybe not. Apple with the iPod have realised something that other manufacturers fail to grasp. People are fully prepared to pay more for something that looks good and has an easy to use interface. Tonnes of features and codecs isn't a high issue. For example, your majority user has never heard of FLAC or OGG, let alone want to use them.

    Despite what Mac-zealots think, people aren't buying it because it's branded Apple - they're buying it because it looks and feels good.

    All other manufacturers attempt to beat Apple on price - but by doing so they inevitably end up using inferior materials which means they come out with something that looks, and feels, cheap and nasty.

    The closest thing I've seen to rival Apple is Toshiba's new HD based MP3 player. If it looks as good as Apple's then it will sell well - even if it is the same price.

    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
  200. Why DVD formats are hard by Quizo69 · · Score: 1

    Standardising on a DVD format (I assume you are taking about the writeable versions or next gen technology such as Blu-Ray) is difficult not for technical reasons, but for patent reasons (this applies to other ideas such as communications protocols too).

    The company that wins the "standards war" gets to collect handsome royalties on that technology for a long time, which is why there are so many vying for control.

    Note that this only applies to proprietary formats. Open formats are free of this commercialised bickering and hence are the true future of format cross-compatibility. Of course, an open format is by definition less likely to be used by commercial companies because of my first point (they seek to profit from THEIR format), which is why you have the current state of affairs. Open formats also have to contend with avoiding the use or derivation of patented processes which can be difficult to fight since an open format's advocates/developers rarely have financial backing to hire lawyers etc. This is just how the corporate sector wants it of course.

    Quizo69

    --

    Visceral Psyche Films

  201. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by KDan · · Score: 1

    Plenty of people are psychologically addicted to marijuana. Mistaking that for physical addiction is stupid. The psychosis affects something like 3 people in a million. A higher percentage of people are lactose-intolerant. Should we ban milk too?

    PS: You're right, I've never met, nor even hear of, anyone physically addicted to marijuana. Some of my friends who smoke a lot more than me have had minor withdrawal symptoms (a bit irritable/bad sleep for a couple of days) but that was nothing compared to those who stopped smoking cigarettes.

    Daniel

    --
    Carpe Diem
  202. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by bfree · · Score: 1

    The gist of my argument is that the current situation is a absurd as possible. The path towards sanity lies in figuring out what we are banning and why? I would personally ban anyone from distributing any psychoactive substance unless they have a licence (same for bungee and base jumping), would decriminalise the possession and production of small quantities but would enfore legislation which came down heavily on anyone who didn't addequately try to prevent substances coming into childrens hands.

    --

    Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

  203. Whoah! by Cackmobile · · Score: 1

    I would really love that whole matrix thing of downloading stuff to your brain. Encyclopedia Britannica straight up. Then how to skate. THat would be awesome.

    --
    -- Karma Karma Karma Karma, Karma Chameleon - Boy George
  204. Perfect analogues wouldn't really be drugs by caveat · · Score: 1

    "Perfect" copies of natural neurochemicals wouldn't really get you "high" though, they would just make you feel/act as if you had an unbalance of whatever chemical you're replicating. Drug effects come from the synergy of all the changes the substance produces - MDMA, for example, not only stimulates serotonin secretion and inhibits its reuptake, but also releases a little bit of dopamine, stimulates your endorphin system (which accounts for the "natural/runner's high" feelings), and causes a set of physiological responses, all of which combine to create the particular "high" of MDMA. If it perfectly imitated serotonin, the high would be totally different, probably just like a long-term high-dose SSRI effect. Alex Shulgin's books (PiHKAL and TiHKAL) are a good read for this - he synthesized a whole bunch of psychoactives, and closely related analogues, and documented how the chemical changes affected the highs - example, adding another methyl group to the methylamine moiety totally deactivates MDMA. Really interesting if you're into neurochemistry.

    --

    Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
  205. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Awptimus+Prime · · Score: 1

    The WM9 files are linked from the parent. They are heavily compressed. That's what allows for a full-length WM9 compressed movie to fit on one dual layer DVD.

    Duh

  206. Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s by Licensed2Hack · · Score: 1

    Consider the differences between bulk blank CD-Rs and CD-ROMs in jewel cases with graphics, shrink wrap, labels, spine labels and bar codes. Big difference there, Sparky.

    Manufacturing cost difference for the disc ONLY, around 7 years ago (when CD-Rs were VERY expensive vs. today), was about 2:1. The Krausse-Maffei exquipment for CD-Rs was about double, and there were other material differences. The company I worked for back then moved to a suburb of Nashville, I didn't, so don't know anything more current.

  207. Re:and who will pay for all this? by Glock27 · · Score: 1
    You must understand that there is a real cost to what you suggest. Certainly some people can use recreational drugs and not cause a burden to society, but there are many more who become unable to maintain gainful employment. Also, there would be plenty of people (there already are) putting a huge burden on the healthcare industry and Medicaid/Medicare programs. This would become even more out of control than it already is should legalizing any known substance occur.

    Sorry I didn't get around to this earlier, but the evidence shows that legalizing drugs would most likely lead to lower use rates. It would certainly lead to lower medical costs among users, mainly because there would be no stigma in seeking medical help early, and also because the quality of the drugs and proper dosages would be known quantities.

    Strange, but true.

    --
    Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
    Score: -1 100% Flamebait
  208. Re:No room for that when Cho and Moby are predicti by scott_evil · · Score: 1

    My brother has to smoke at least 40 or 50 bongs a day. If he doesn't, he's dangerous to be around. Call it psychological addiction if you like, but the fucker is still addicted. If you're right about the psychosis affecting 3 in a million, I've probably met most of the psychosis suffering dope smokers in the world. Statistics are a good way for intellectuals to make money.