Just using today's technology, you could probably get pretty close to 100 mpg with a Prius, good lithium batteries, and additional solar powered charging (to eliminate need to plug-in the hybrid). Hand modifications would easily push the cost above $40K, but cheaply mass producing such a vehicle seems theoretically feasible, and certainly doesn't violate any laws of physics.
I can't shed too many tears over having fewer entries into a DARPA sponsored event, how many more killing machines do we need? It would be a huge shame though if privately sponsored contests such as the X Prize lost funding or were inhibited with further regulations/restrictions. These contests better humanity (as opposed to creating a more deadly robot jeep) while fostering innovation and eventually our economic prosperity. Hopefully the X Prize and similar contests will continue to gain in popularity, funding, and scope... my personal preference would be to see a prize for an economically friendly automobile (e.g. $25M for first family car that gets over 100 mpg at $40,000 price) or nontraditional power sources (e.g. $500M for first economically viable fusion reactor).
Hehe... I wish I had inside knowledge about Google, I'd actually be able to start investing in their stock without my hair turning grey from the stress.
My point was that Google's video offering is a Beta product, like most of Google's products. There's a chance that they might one day decide to start charging for it (at least for longer clips and movies such as documentaries), or just drop it altogether and roll youtube onto the Google homepage. If the documentary writer plans to embed their video and just leave it untouched on the site for months while they go out to film another documentary, Google may not be the best choice... at least compared with hosting the file somewhere with a permanent file name/location controlled by the author.
Unless Nvidia is partnering with Intel to release this chip, I think they're getting too far out of their confort zone to be successful. Sure, a dual or even quad core chip with half of the cores handling graphics would be great, but can Nvidia deliver? I doubt it... look how many companies have gone down the tubes after spending millions/billions after trying to make an x86 compatible chip, let alone trying to integrate top end graphics as well.
Nvidia is a fantastic graphics card company - they should continue to innovate focus on what they're good at rather than try to play follow the leader in an arena they know nothing about.
It's good to see HP getting results from the vast improvement in PC quality, pricing, and service. My company used to solely buy Dell's, but lately have become frustrated by the 'here today gone tomorrow' pricing. It's annoying for a small business purchasing manager to go into Dell's Home PC section and find the same PC as the Small Business section for $100 less one day, and $100 more the next. Come on Dell, stop playing games with us.
Many music and video publishers are calling on Youtube, Google, Myspace, etc. to start screening using automated audio/video "fingerprinting" technologies. Here's a recent news article on a pirated music recognition offering that would really hurt Gootube in the short term. In the long term, I'd like to think that such anti-piracy measures would make submitted videos more original and interesting, but maybe I'm being naive.
I guess I'm probably stating the obvious, but it seems like Google, Yahoo, and other online cost-per-click advertising portals are most vulnerable to the new type of zombie farms. I wonder if they would employ some of the vast resources (if they aren't already) in fighting this problem?
"Nearly 14% of respondents said they found it difficult to stay away from the internet for several days"
Based on this same logic, we'd almost all be addicted to: driving, eating, refrigerators, using the toilet, showering, sleeping, and drinking. Sounds like we have a national epidemic brewing. If we can't figure out a way to get the 95% of the people who can't use the toilet for more than a few days outside doing something more productive, we may fall behind the rest of the industrialized world in technological and sociological accomplishments.
OK, on a more serious note, I think the article fails to drill down to the heart of the addiction - porn and games. The 6% of respondants who said the internet ruins their relationships are likely staring at photoshop enhanced boobies or playing WOW for 16 hours a day... not clicking refresh every 5 minutes on the CNN homepage (although I'm sure those people exist too). I don't feel like the internet itself is an addiction, but rather a easy medium for addicts to gain access to their vice.
Are you serious? I'm no Apple fan, but Apple has been releasing some impressive financials for the past couple years. Just this morning, Apple announced profits that far exceed market expectations, their stock is up 7% for the day, and they almost doubled their market share of Mac computers over the past few years (albeit, the share is still a miniscule 5% or so).
Compare Apple to Napster is a joke. Napster is losing ~$9 Million per quarter on ~$30 Million in revenue (reference here. This is hardly "making money hand over fist". Compare this to Apple, who just reported $2 BILLION in PROFIT on $19.3 BILLION in revenue... and it's obvious that you must have mixed up your numbers a bit.
The problem is that Firefox and other non-IE browsers are just trying to support the W3C standards and what web publishers write for their sites. Someone could certainly create a slimmed down version of Firefox that didn't have any bells or whistles, but would you continue to use it if some sites starting displaying incorrectly?
Firefox is gaining acceptance because it's more secure, generally faster, and provides far better support for the newer W3C standards such as CSS2. If you're looking for a small footprint blazing fast load times, try Cello, which can be downloaded from here. Sure, it's from 1994, but it'll run on a 386sx and you can fit 4 copies of it on a floppy. =)
This shouldn't be too much of a suprise... how many software products are 100% bug free when released, particularly Microsoft's? Anyone who downloads or buys any software within the first few weeks is just asking for it... and anyone who buys a Microsoft product within the first year is bound to have issues, whether security breaches or just annoying bugs.
Sure some artists love it, because they often get paid when the music is used, or at least get credit for the riff/sample. The courts have ruled multiple times that unlicensed sampling is a violate of copyright (for example: Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Demsion Films, 2004). Plus, I don't think most artists have access to all the master tracks when sampling "illegally"... which is partly why contests/experiments like those of Peter Gabriel and Nine Inch Nails were so interesting.
Claiming that all "Real" musicians love having the music sampled is a bit overstated... particularly since the practice seems most common in Rap and Hip Hop.
While I agree with most commentors that Peter Gabriel didn't exactly pick his shining accomplishment for the amateur mixers to work with, there were a few "gems" amongst the entries. Here was one of my personal favorites... who would have thought Carmen and Shock the Monkey would go together so well?
Next week's news: Moon covered by ice
on
No Ice on the Moon
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
These types of stories seem to go back and forth. First the moon had no water/ice/hydrogen, then they thought there might be some subsurface ice/water, then maybe ice at the south pole, now nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if another study came out revealing that the moon was actually made of ice with a couple feet of moon rock and dust on top. If nothing else, the constantly changing ideas of our moon's makeup is keeping plenty of scientists employed.
My company reports the estimated time spent online and # of sites to managers that request the information, but does not report the sites themselves. The company owners are the only ones outside of IT that can view the names of sites visited... and then only a list of blocked sites by user.
So what you're basically saying is: let's just give up on trying to make our existing politicians understand us and the things that are important to us, and stop trying to voice our opinion. I (possibly naively) believe that if there are enough people demanding technically smarter politicians then the politicians will be forced to take us seriously, and to make smarter decisions in the process. The 'education process' is critical for ensuring that America's technical know-how and innovation remain relevant and accessible going forward.
'Net neutrality' is a great example. It looks like politicians may let the anti-net neutrality bill die a slow death because of a combination of popular upswelling of resistance and convincing from the type of technical superstars Eric Schmidt is referring to. Without this resistance, telecom companies would already hold a greater power over your access to the web and your freedom to information.
While it is commendable that both you and your mother are/were so technically competent, I don't think the answer is to teach all of our Senators Perl scripting. The key is to educate politicians on the big issues, and let the experts worry about the details.
I can't imagine many people would run out to buy one of these when they could buy a fully loaded PS3 and a separate media center PC for less than half the price, then have plenty leftover for games they could never play on the Vaio. I realize that a Vaio commands a premium, but it appears like they are charging almost $2000 extra just for the blu-ray...
Why not just upload them to Google Video? There's practically no limit on file size, and you would receive a much broader audience. You would also be able to just embed the videos into your web pages, no need to find a front-end... although I imagine the quality might be a little lower, and you would have no guarantee that it would stay hosted there.
Another option may be to host it on the Internet Archive, but then upload a highlight video to Google Videos to raise awareness of the full documentary.
So now Apple needs a commercial where the Mac guy is picking up biohazardous waste while wearing a virus-proof bunny suit and "accidentally" spilling it on the PC guy who's just laying there in his beach clothes enjoying himself.
Seems rather cheap of Apple to use their blunder as an 'opportunity' to throw stones at Microsoft. Their quote was "As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it."
Wouldn't someone at Apple have at least run a quick MS virus scan for a device that is intended for use by PCs as well? I wouldn't be surprised if an engineer or two 'overlooked' the virus before shipping... but then, I've been accused of being a conspiracy theorist before.
You just made me think of something... if there was a split in our species, how many people would find it a novelty to try to "mate" with the other species, and eventually bring us back to 1 species? The only way it would seem like they'd stay split is if the new species had a different # of chromosomes...
Troll 1: Hey Biff, I just banged a Homo Tallenperty Troll 2: Unga bunga... sweet, can I have some more cheetos?
Seems like this would be repeated on both sides until we'd all be back to our mildly ghoulish yet mildly attractive selves of today.
Slashdot Mirror
Just using today's technology, you could probably get pretty close to 100 mpg with a Prius, good lithium batteries, and additional solar powered charging (to eliminate need to plug-in the hybrid). Hand modifications would easily push the cost above $40K, but cheaply mass producing such a vehicle seems theoretically feasible, and certainly doesn't violate any laws of physics.
I can't shed too many tears over having fewer entries into a DARPA sponsored event, how many more killing machines do we need? It would be a huge shame though if privately sponsored contests such as the X Prize lost funding or were inhibited with further regulations/restrictions. These contests better humanity (as opposed to creating a more deadly robot jeep) while fostering innovation and eventually our economic prosperity. Hopefully the X Prize and similar contests will continue to gain in popularity, funding, and scope ... my personal preference would be to see a prize for an economically friendly automobile (e.g. $25M for first family car that gets over 100 mpg at $40,000 price) or nontraditional power sources (e.g. $500M for first economically viable fusion reactor).
Hehe ... I wish I had inside knowledge about Google, I'd actually be able to start investing in their stock without my hair turning grey from the stress.
... at least compared with hosting the file somewhere with a permanent file name/location controlled by the author.
My point was that Google's video offering is a Beta product, like most of Google's products. There's a chance that they might one day decide to start charging for it (at least for longer clips and movies such as documentaries), or just drop it altogether and roll youtube onto the Google homepage. If the documentary writer plans to embed their video and just leave it untouched on the site for months while they go out to film another documentary, Google may not be the best choice
Unless Nvidia is partnering with Intel to release this chip, I think they're getting too far out of their confort zone to be successful. Sure, a dual or even quad core chip with half of the cores handling graphics would be great, but can Nvidia deliver? I doubt it ... look how many companies have gone down the tubes after spending millions/billions after trying to make an x86 compatible chip, let alone trying to integrate top end graphics as well.
Nvidia is a fantastic graphics card company - they should continue to innovate focus on what they're good at rather than try to play follow the leader in an arena they know nothing about.
Oops, link doesn't seem to parse right in /. ... here's the correct one
Content is correct, just misprint in date ... here's the scoop from The Register
I think the article just has the wrong date ... here's a similar article today from The Register
It's good to see HP getting results from the vast improvement in PC quality, pricing, and service. My company used to solely buy Dell's, but lately have become frustrated by the 'here today gone tomorrow' pricing. It's annoying for a small business purchasing manager to go into Dell's Home PC section and find the same PC as the Small Business section for $100 less one day, and $100 more the next. Come on Dell, stop playing games with us.
Many music and video publishers are calling on Youtube, Google, Myspace, etc. to start screening using automated audio/video "fingerprinting" technologies. Here's a recent news article on a pirated music recognition offering that would really hurt Gootube in the short term. In the long term, I'd like to think that such anti-piracy measures would make submitted videos more original and interesting, but maybe I'm being naive.
I guess I'm probably stating the obvious, but it seems like Google, Yahoo, and other online cost-per-click advertising portals are most vulnerable to the new type of zombie farms. I wonder if they would employ some of the vast resources (if they aren't already) in fighting this problem?
"Nearly 14% of respondents said they found it difficult to stay away from the internet for several days"
... not clicking refresh every 5 minutes on the CNN homepage (although I'm sure those people exist too). I don't feel like the internet itself is an addiction, but rather a easy medium for addicts to gain access to their vice.
Based on this same logic, we'd almost all be addicted to: driving, eating, refrigerators, using the toilet, showering, sleeping, and drinking. Sounds like we have a national epidemic brewing. If we can't figure out a way to get the 95% of the people who can't use the toilet for more than a few days outside doing something more productive, we may fall behind the rest of the industrialized world in technological and sociological accomplishments.
OK, on a more serious note, I think the article fails to drill down to the heart of the addiction - porn and games. The 6% of respondants who said the internet ruins their relationships are likely staring at photoshop enhanced boobies or playing WOW for 16 hours a day
My apologies ... maybe I need to increase my meds ;)
Are you serious? I'm no Apple fan, but Apple has been releasing some impressive financials for the past couple years. Just this morning, Apple announced profits that far exceed market expectations, their stock is up 7% for the day, and they almost doubled their market share of Mac computers over the past few years (albeit, the share is still a miniscule 5% or so).
... and it's obvious that you must have mixed up your numbers a bit.
Compare Apple to Napster is a joke. Napster is losing ~$9 Million per quarter on ~$30 Million in revenue (reference here. This is hardly "making money hand over fist". Compare this to Apple, who just reported $2 BILLION in PROFIT on $19.3 BILLION in revenue
The problem is that Firefox and other non-IE browsers are just trying to support the W3C standards and what web publishers write for their sites. Someone could certainly create a slimmed down version of Firefox that didn't have any bells or whistles, but would you continue to use it if some sites starting displaying incorrectly?
Firefox is gaining acceptance because it's more secure, generally faster, and provides far better support for the newer W3C standards such as CSS2. If you're looking for a small footprint blazing fast load times, try Cello, which can be downloaded from here. Sure, it's from 1994, but it'll run on a 386sx and you can fit 4 copies of it on a floppy. =)
This shouldn't be too much of a suprise ... how many software products are 100% bug free when released, particularly Microsoft's? Anyone who downloads or buys any software within the first few weeks is just asking for it ... and anyone who buys a Microsoft product within the first year is bound to have issues, whether security breaches or just annoying bugs.
Sure some artists love it, because they often get paid when the music is used, or at least get credit for the riff/sample. The courts have ruled multiple times that unlicensed sampling is a violate of copyright (for example: Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Demsion Films, 2004). Plus, I don't think most artists have access to all the master tracks when sampling "illegally" ... which is partly why contests/experiments like those of Peter Gabriel and Nine Inch Nails were so interesting.
... particularly since the practice seems most common in Rap and Hip Hop.
Claiming that all "Real" musicians love having the music sampled is a bit overstated
While I agree with most commentors that Peter Gabriel didn't exactly pick his shining accomplishment for the amateur mixers to work with, there were a few "gems" amongst the entries. Here was one of my personal favorites ... who would have thought Carmen and Shock the Monkey would go together so well?
These types of stories seem to go back and forth. First the moon had no water/ice/hydrogen, then they thought there might be some subsurface ice/water, then maybe ice at the south pole, now nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if another study came out revealing that the moon was actually made of ice with a couple feet of moon rock and dust on top. If nothing else, the constantly changing ideas of our moon's makeup is keeping plenty of scientists employed.
My company reports the estimated time spent online and # of sites to managers that request the information, but does not report the sites themselves. The company owners are the only ones outside of IT that can view the names of sites visited ... and then only a list of blocked sites by user.
So what you're basically saying is: let's just give up on trying to make our existing politicians understand us and the things that are important to us, and stop trying to voice our opinion. I (possibly naively) believe that if there are enough people demanding technically smarter politicians then the politicians will be forced to take us seriously, and to make smarter decisions in the process. The 'education process' is critical for ensuring that America's technical know-how and innovation remain relevant and accessible going forward.
'Net neutrality' is a great example. It looks like politicians may let the anti-net neutrality bill die a slow death because of a combination of popular upswelling of resistance and convincing from the type of technical superstars Eric Schmidt is referring to. Without this resistance, telecom companies would already hold a greater power over your access to the web and your freedom to information.
While it is commendable that both you and your mother are/were so technically competent, I don't think the answer is to teach all of our Senators Perl scripting. The key is to educate politicians on the big issues, and let the experts worry about the details.
I can't imagine many people would run out to buy one of these when they could buy a fully loaded PS3 and a separate media center PC for less than half the price, then have plenty leftover for games they could never play on the Vaio. I realize that a Vaio commands a premium, but it appears like they are charging almost $2000 extra just for the blu-ray ...
Why not just upload them to Google Video? There's practically no limit on file size, and you would receive a much broader audience. You would also be able to just embed the videos into your web pages, no need to find a front-end ... although I imagine the quality might be a little lower, and you would have no guarantee that it would stay hosted there.
Another option may be to host it on the Internet Archive, but then upload a highlight video to Google Videos to raise awareness of the full documentary.
So now Apple needs a commercial where the Mac guy is picking up biohazardous waste while wearing a virus-proof bunny suit and "accidentally" spilling it on the PC guy who's just laying there in his beach clothes enjoying himself.
Seems rather cheap of Apple to use their blunder as an 'opportunity' to throw stones at Microsoft. Their quote was "As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it."
... but then, I've been accused of being a conspiracy theorist before.
Wouldn't someone at Apple have at least run a quick MS virus scan for a device that is intended for use by PCs as well? I wouldn't be surprised if an engineer or two 'overlooked' the virus before shipping
You just made me think of something ... if there was a split in our species, how many people would find it a novelty to try to "mate" with the other species, and eventually bring us back to 1 species? The only way it would seem like they'd stay split is if the new species had a different # of chromosomes ...
... sweet, can I have some more cheetos?
Troll 1: Hey Biff, I just banged a Homo Tallenperty
Troll 2: Unga bunga
Seems like this would be repeated on both sides until we'd all be back to our mildly ghoulish yet mildly attractive selves of today.