Depending on how much CPU grunt you need, you could pick up an old second-hand machine (maybe even for free). Re-use is better than recycling anyway.
My gateway is my old desktop from 1999. Celeron 300, 384Mb RAM, 4Gb + 40Gb disk, 2 network cards, modem. Measured the power usage for 3 months using a proper power meter (spinning wheel one like the power companies use to bill you). Ended up being almost exactly 30W averaged over that entire time.
This process may be efficient, but sodium doesnt grow on trees (or mined out of the ground). The easiest way to get it is.... electrolysis of sodium chloride.
So you've just shifted the electrolysis problem further upstream and instead of using nice friendly water, you're passing current through nasty, mean molten salt.
I wont put the link to my site on here because it's on donated bandwidth and the coral cache for it doesnt seem to be working from here.
But anyway: cheap USB wifi adapter (802.11G ones are coming down in price) + USB extension cable + any sort of parabolic metal dish. The guy from the link above is a great fan of Chinese cookware, as these require very little modification.
I made a couple out of mesh food covers and frames of 20x1.4mm aluminium strip. Cheap and easy to build. They're not in continuous use at the moment because I've yet to weatherproof the adapter.
Good luck:)
Re:I want a wi-fi microwave...
on
Wi-Fi Toys
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Why waste money on two microwave generators? Just modulate the microwaves used to cook your food with the 802.11 signal... at that sort of power you could get your IM from 30 miles away! (or maybe that's the minimum safe distance)
I saw a demo of this a few years ago when I was studying at Waikato Uni. Very impressive, if you can get over feeling like an idiot singing to a machine.
Here's my advice, after four years of degree and one year of working:
For God's sake, do something that interests you. Because when you're programming fulltime, you can be sure as hell you're not going to have anything left mentally to work on your own projects, be it your own RPG implementation or nifty opengl winamp plugin or whatever.
I am slowly coming to terms with this myself. My creative output so far has mainly involved doing something on computers - programming little graphics things (I'd call them demos but they're not that good) or mucking around with music. Now I come home after battling with Oracle PL/SQL, Forms and Reports all day and look at the hunk of machinary on my desk that I've put so much money into. It's primary use is now ICQ with a bit of counterstrike thrown in occasionally. Now and then I try to do some more coding on my winamp plugin: I'll do a couple of lines of code then give up and do something else. I look back at my old coding projects, the ones where I'd stay up all night and take it from idea to fully working code in a night. I simply cant do that anymore because work has left me mentally drained.
My point is, unless you're a supergeek who can code 100 hours a week, you wont be able to do both work coding and "recreational" coding. If your primary creative outlet is your coding, then look at taking up something else, like painting or sculpture or ceramics. Of course the other way is to find a job that really interests you - this is what I'm trying to do at the moment. (I think I need more qualifications for Weta Digital http://www.wetafx.co.nz/WetaLtd-RecruitingFAQ.html Hopefully I can get them in time so I can work on the rendering for LOTR - The Return of the King./me dreams on)
My last bit of semi-useless advice: if you dont think programming for a living is right for you, DONT do it. Even if you think you want to program for a job, think long and hard about what it means. Or you could lose your sanity pretty damn quick.
Dale Carnegie (the guy walking beside the robot in the picture) used to be my 1st year electronics lecturer... If you're ever in one of his classes, wear a Pink Floyd tshirt to avoid getting asked hard questions.:)
Shouldn't corporation's be forced to play in a free market? Why do artificial barriers have to be put in place to protect a given business model. If a device comes along that pushes a business model into obsolecence, why can't we just let it be?
The "free market" does not apply to the US. It is a term used by the US in order to lower trade barriers for US companies overseas. The truth is that while the USA is the strongest advocate of the free market, their industry remains one of the most protected in the world.
Of course, you could go the other way. Some friends of mine turned their unused wok into a satellite dish on their roof. It was only for a laugh because Waikato Uni (which was next door) had put up another huge satellite dish for internet pointing almost directly at them. Presumably there was some geo-synchronous satellite just above the horizon.
Excluding libraries bursting into flame or being flooded, paper documents are still more reliable than magnetic media (or most other computer-based storage methods).
If an online-only journal is important enough, maybe some institutions (such as university libraries) should print out and archive the material, which would also help those without Internet access (gasp - these people exist?).
Imagine - the slashdot collection. 23 square miles of library, every story and comment ever posted!
It would add a new dimension to "laserzone" style games. Every player gets 3 little water balloon "grenades" to tag opponents so they show up easier in the dark. (Of course, you're already running around with flashing lights on, so you'd have to turn those off first.)
Slashdot Mirror
Depending on how much CPU grunt you need, you could pick up an old second-hand machine (maybe even for free). Re-use is better than recycling anyway.
My gateway is my old desktop from 1999. Celeron 300, 384Mb RAM, 4Gb + 40Gb disk, 2 network cards, modem. Measured the power usage for 3 months using a proper power meter (spinning wheel one like the power companies use to bill you). Ended up being almost exactly 30W averaged over that entire time.
This process may be efficient, but sodium doesnt grow on trees (or mined out of the ground). The easiest way to get it is.... electrolysis of sodium chloride.
So you've just shifted the electrolysis problem further upstream and instead of using nice friendly water, you're passing current through nasty, mean molten salt.
Right now, of the 48 processes currently running on my work machine, only 9 are single-threaded.
Regardless of this, as other replies have noted, SMP means intensive multitasking is that much smoother.
Try USBWifi
:)
I wont put the link to my site on here because it's on donated bandwidth and the coral cache for it doesnt seem to be working from here.
But anyway: cheap USB wifi adapter (802.11G ones are coming down in price) + USB extension cable + any sort of parabolic metal dish. The guy from the link above is a great fan of Chinese cookware, as these require very little modification.
I made a couple out of mesh food covers and frames of 20x1.4mm aluminium strip. Cheap and easy to build. They're not in continuous use at the moment because I've yet to weatherproof the adapter.
Good luck
Why waste money on two microwave generators? Just modulate the microwaves used to cook your food with the 802.11 signal... at that sort of power you could get your IM from 30 miles away! (or maybe that's the minimum safe distance)
Well reports are coming in that the accused pressed B-4-1, followed by B-6 and B-8-2 immediately prior to the attack.
Here and here
I saw a demo of this a few years ago when I was studying at Waikato Uni. Very impressive, if you can get over feeling like an idiot singing to a machine.
Trust slashdot to kill a website hosting a 96k file.
try here and here or for a complete list here
Farb-Rausch do some nice demos... worth checking out.
Here's my advice, after four years of degree and one year of working:
l Hopefully I can get them in time so I can work on the rendering for LOTR - The Return of the King. /me dreams on)
For God's sake, do something that interests you. Because when you're programming fulltime, you can be sure as hell you're not going to have anything left mentally to work on your own projects, be it your own RPG implementation or nifty opengl winamp plugin or whatever.
I am slowly coming to terms with this myself. My creative output so far has mainly involved doing something on computers - programming little graphics things (I'd call them demos but they're not that good) or mucking around with music. Now I come home after battling with Oracle PL/SQL, Forms and Reports all day and look at the hunk of machinary on my desk that I've put so much money into. It's primary use is now ICQ with a bit of counterstrike thrown in occasionally. Now and then I try to do some more coding on my winamp plugin: I'll do a couple of lines of code then give up and do something else. I look back at my old coding projects, the ones where I'd stay up all night and take it from idea to fully working code in a night. I simply cant do that anymore because work has left me mentally drained.
My point is, unless you're a supergeek who can code 100 hours a week, you wont be able to do both work coding and "recreational" coding. If your primary creative outlet is your coding, then look at taking up something else, like painting or sculpture or ceramics. Of course the other way is to find a job that really interests you - this is what I'm trying to do at the moment. (I think I need more qualifications for Weta Digital http://www.wetafx.co.nz/WetaLtd-RecruitingFAQ.htm
My last bit of semi-useless advice: if you dont think programming for a living is right for you, DONT do it. Even if you think you want to program for a job, think long and hard about what it means. Or you could lose your sanity pretty damn quick.
Dale Carnegie (the guy walking beside the robot in the picture) used to be my 1st year electronics lecturer... If you're ever in one of his classes, wear a Pink Floyd tshirt to avoid getting asked hard questions. :)
Now why didnt I major in electronics?
The "free market" does not apply to the US. It is a term used by the US in order to lower trade barriers for US companies overseas. The truth is that while the USA is the strongest advocate of the free market, their industry remains one of the most protected in the world.
Bad, bad reader, no sig for you
Are they those wood-like plastic pencils?
Did you know that if you heat them gently over a bunsen burner you can tie them in knots?
The things you discover in high-school chemistry.
1. A stir fry dish
Of course, you could go the other way. Some friends of mine turned their unused wok into a satellite dish on their roof. It was only for a laugh because Waikato Uni (which was next door) had put up another huge satellite dish for internet pointing almost directly at them. Presumably there was some geo-synchronous satellite just above the horizon.
One word: cool focus/maximize/minimize transitions! (ok, 5 words).
Minimize an app and it spins and fades to the bottom of the screen.
Transparent windows: dont miss a second of your streaming video from behind a full-screen terminal.
Excluding libraries bursting into flame or being flooded, paper documents are still more reliable than magnetic media (or most other computer-based storage methods).
If an online-only journal is important enough, maybe some institutions (such as university libraries) should print out and archive the material, which would also help those without Internet access (gasp - these people exist?).
Imagine - the slashdot collection. 23 square miles of library, every story and comment ever posted!
It would add a new dimension to "laserzone" style games. Every player gets 3 little water balloon "grenades" to tag opponents so they show up easier in the dark. (Of course, you're already running around with flashing lights on, so you'd have to turn those off first.)