Hopefully the release of the Standard edition code under a GPL license will incent more developers to make the platform better. J2EE is great, but are there that many people who still write Java desktop apps or web Java applets? Even the better Java apps appear to be ridiculously slow and cumbersome, particularly under Windows (but even on Linux boxes).
On the other hand, is this Sun's way of wiping their hands clean of everything besides their only Java moneymaker (J2EE)? They must realize that desktop Java has seen its day, and this might be a way to save some development resources while they continue to restructure in light of recurring market share losses.
For some people DSLR is definitely the right way to go... but certainly not for the vast majority of people as the article would like us to believe. A $200 digital camera is quite an investment for most users, and the learning curve on these simple devices is quite steep for your average non-techie. But these $200 point-n-shoot cameras supply everything your average mom or dad want, while providing rather decent video and ample 'advanced' shooting modes.
Compare the point-n-shoot with what you consider an entry level camera (the Canon 20D) and we're looking at 2 completely different users. This $1000+ camera (after lenses, accessories, etc.) is far from simple to use, is less forgiving in automatic/autofocus mode, doesn't offer video, and could never fit in a pocket (or in most cases not even a backpack). It doesn't meet the needs of your average user... who admittedly is not interested in taking professional level pictures (which yours appear to be, very nice BTW).
I have met so many average users who get sweeped into the marketing hype around DSLRs and then are highly disappointed. In the end, they often end up taking their point-n-shoot everywhere, while using the DSLR on a tripod for Christmas pictures. Hardly an effective use of $1000.
Your first two points are spot on. However, I have to disagree when you say:
To the degree that people rightly, wrongly or dishonestly don't buy into the system, there's no technology that can prevent that.
People trust technology when there is sufficient evidence that the technology is trustworthy, reliable, and sufficiently tested. When technology experts say "this is rock solid", people trust that. Up until now, there has been far more skepticism and, at best, guarded optimism surrounding the new voting machines than accolades.
A secure and reliable system, with paper audit trail, would change this IMHO. Take computers as a similar example. The vast majority of people distrust security on computers, but this is almost entirely because they are accustomed to using Windows. Ask the same person how secure Mac or Linux are, and you'll either get a 'Dunno' or a positive response.
Diebold continually has dropped the ball and made it easy for Americans to distrust the elections. Heck, even this past spring they were admitting massive security flaws, all while perpetuating security risks by maintaining Windows CE as the OS.
Every once in a while, Microsoft does something right... or at least releases something cool. When I plugged in my address (which is kind of in the middle of nowhere), up popped 3 different viewing angles of my house. Pretty detailed shots too, and in one you could even see me mowing the lawn in the backyard! I had lots of fun with this one.
I wonder why the average American (or Brit) doesn't demand the same level of privacy that many of the mainland Europeans now have? While some other freedoms (e.g. speech,press) are more limited in countries like Germany, there appears to be a strong right-to-privacy movement backed up by the government.
Sure, our media and government pay lip service to privacy issues, but the reality is that our government wants to increase monitoring in the name of fighting terror. Compare this story of Germany forcing the ISP to delete logs for a customer to this one outlining yet another argument by US officials to require ISPs to maintain even more user data.
I'd hate to see us to become a 'surveillance society' like Britain has. Unfortunately, we seem to be quickly heading down that path, particularly since our citizens haven't yet raised up to demand greater freedom.
So we've been flying the space shuttle for almost 30 years and this was never viewed as a problem before? And we're trusting NASA to send astronauts to the moon and beyond over the next 20 years?
Wow... this would explain why no aliens have ever visited Earth... they've been too busy chatting with their friends and trying to photoshop their pictures to pic up other not-so-hot aliens.
600 million years is not a long time, geologically speaking - or even evolutionarily-speaking - and I'm not convinced that every necessary process to get from Iceworld to habitable planet could occur in such a short space of time. I could be wrong, but I would need some VERY hard evidence.
600 Million years isn't a long time? The earth is believed to be under 5 Billion years old, so geologically speaking they are referring to over 10% of all geological history. The oldest multi-cellular creatures are believed to have evolved between 600 Million and 1.5 Billion years ago, with some of the oldest fossils found from about 600 Million years ago being marine animals.
Evidence supports that there was a massive increase in evolution and complexity of life around 600 Million years ago... which is why some are so supportive of the 'Snowball Earth' theory (since the rapid melting would have likely initiated this rapid evolutionary process).
I'm still skeptical of the supporting evidence, but the theory of a biodiversity explosion occuring around that timeframe is relatively sound given geological and fossil evidence.
The problem is that all evidence points to the magnetic poles shifting, flipping, and changing in other ways over the course of the Earth's history. Every year the poles move by up to 40km, moving between continents within our own lifetimes. Here's an interesting article from NASA to explain the historical shifting/changing of the magnetic fields... to me, this would invalidate the 'Snowball Earth' theory to some degree.
Assuming there wasn't also a kilometer of water over the surfaces, an average depth of 2km of water would be underneath the ice given that the average depth of our oceans is approximately 3km today (source: Oceans Alive)
The Bush administration will probably love this! This will just confirm their assertions that the Earth's climate can swign wildly on its own, therefore we have no influence on it, yeah right.
In all seriousness though, how can the Earth being an axial dipole (2 magnetic poles along a single axis) hundreds of millions of years ago suggest an Earth that was covered by up to a kilometer of ice? The Earth is currently in the same magnetic configuration, and there's certainly no indication of an impending super ice age.
Using the same logic, would Geologists in 600 Million years look back on today and say the Earth was covered by ice now?
I'd agree with this as well... it seems like there are far less breakout mass-market PC games available now than in the past, which can't bode well for higher end PCs.
It's always possible my perception is just a reflection of the undeniable fact that I'm getting old... although I can easily name 10-12 anticipated PS3 or Wii games, but can't name a single PC game that isn't geared towards mature audiences (a la Bully).
In essence, NASA wants to build a roller coaster up to the crew module of the next manned Mars/Moon launcher. If there was a problem (e.g. looked like the whole thing was going to blow), they could press a button and the crew would be whisked away down the roller coaster... propelled to high speeds by technology similar to the new linear accelerator roller coasters at amusement parks.
I'd rather see NASA spend more money on developing safer vehicles, or on robotic missions, than on bizarre contraptions like this. Heck, they might as well build a loop-d-loop at the bottom so tourists can pay to ride it.
My first reaction was... Is this a joke? Even the pictures, with a massive roller coaster running up the side of a booster launcher, look rather ridiculous.
But alas, this is real NASA "innovation". It seems that any device that allows the crew to jettison themselves quickly from the new rocket just increases the risks associated with it. How many malfunctions (e.g. explosions after crew entry but before liftoff) have happened in the past where this would be useful?
I view this as being about as useful as an eject seat for a passenger car. But then again, the details for this device are so hazy (and difficult to understand), that maybe I'm just not getting it.
Sure, they could use oil to power EVERYTHING, but why use their only resource for power? Over the next few decades, oil will almost certainly average $60 per barrel. Saudi Arabia produces it for $10 per barrel. Producing a barrel equivalent worth of nuclear power costs under $20 (at least in the Mid Atlantic U.S. region)... which means that for every barrel worth of nuke power they can make, they provide themselves the opportunity to gain a $40+ profit on a real barrel of oil down the road.
If these countries were truly looking for nuclear power, why not just buy light water reactors from the U.S.? Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt could easily obtain reactors from the U.S. given their allied status and being favored trading partners.
This would afford them the ability to develop their nuclear expertise to a certain degree, while also providing them cheap power. While it would be more expensive than oil power, it's not really a relevant comparison since the value of oil is in the market value, not the production cost. Since the market value is so much higher than the cost of producing nuclear power, it's a no brainer for them to pursue, particularly for power hungry operations like desalination.
How true - glad to see someone supporting lawyers in cases where they are needed. Divorces, small claims court, car accidents, etc. can all be handled well and good without lawyers, but if you're dealing with Billion $ companies who have teams of lawyers, you don't want to move a muscle before consulting with one yourself.
Nintendo has few enough Wii's to sell that they really don't need to focus much on advertising. Heck, Walmart has already sold out of preorders. Wii may have a strong enough product that word of mouth carries it until their production kicks up, and given their competition they can use the cost savings whereever they can find them.
Jimmy Wales has done an EXCELLENT job creating Wikipedia, but a little change in leadership is probably a good thing right now. By stepping to the side (a little), he opens the door for more collaborative decisions and possibly some creative new direction for Wikipedia. If Jimmy Wales wasn't the chairperson, would Wikipedia have walked away from a $100 Million deal with AOL? Who knows, but I would guess they'd think longer about the offer.
Hopefully the new chairperson will help look for ways for Wikipedia to increase it's reach, accuracy, and media content. It's a great tool, but it could be so much better too...
If you're not in the security industry, but have an interest and quite a lot of technical expertise, why not approach security firms with some of the details? If this flaw really is earth shattering for the financial institutions, the security firms will see $$$ and they'll have the connections to get inside and start fixing the problem (hopefully with you leading the contract).
You'll want to speak with a lawyer first to make sure the security firm just couldn't say "thank you, we'll go fix it ourselves, goodbye".
This game looks fantastic! Its just too bad the Wii doesn't support defs above 480p like everyone was hoping. It's also a little disappointing (but not surprising) that the controller doesn't convert the type of motion you perform to the screen. Oh well.
Haha... I realize they were offering WiFi, but it isn't clear how the lounges were connected to the carrier. My guess is that they had a standard land lines.
My question was around the airport's (or even broader, a landlord's) legal ability to control what telecommunications systems a tenant can use. For instance, if you rent a commercial condo, can a landlord say "sorry, you aren't allowed to run broadband connections into your office"? I don't know the answer here. Logically it would seem that a landlord could make similar restrictions if there was ample reason... anyone know?
The problem doesn't seem to be the surface components and mechanical parts of the lander (since modern ceramics could easily withstand the temperatures), but rather the wiring and power systems since these would essentially use the same materials as 20 years ago when the Russian's probed the surface last.
Way to go FCC, actually doing something that benefits the little guy!
From a legal standpoint though, doesn't the airline own the cables in the airport, and hence could restrict access to high speed connections? Or were the airlines using wireless?
This sounds great for the vast majority of web users... people who want to create blogs, picture pages, keep notes, network with their friends, use e-mail, chat, etc. Calling it an O/S is a bit of a stretch since it doesn't perform any hardware/software control on the computer or the server, it simply comes with an application to facilitate file manipulation/moving/sharing/tagging/etc. Sounds like MySpace meets e-mail meets Flickr, on steroids.
BTW - if you'd like to get more information on this product when it launches, you can get on their mailing list or just bookmark their site at www.parakey.com
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Hopefully the release of the Standard edition code under a GPL license will incent more developers to make the platform better. J2EE is great, but are there that many people who still write Java desktop apps or web Java applets? Even the better Java apps appear to be ridiculously slow and cumbersome, particularly under Windows (but even on Linux boxes).
On the other hand, is this Sun's way of wiping their hands clean of everything besides their only Java moneymaker (J2EE)? They must realize that desktop Java has seen its day, and this might be a way to save some development resources while they continue to restructure in light of recurring market share losses.
For some people DSLR is definitely the right way to go ... but certainly not for the vast majority of people as the article would like us to believe. A $200 digital camera is quite an investment for most users, and the learning curve on these simple devices is quite steep for your average non-techie. But these $200 point-n-shoot cameras supply everything your average mom or dad want, while providing rather decent video and ample 'advanced' shooting modes.
... who admittedly is not interested in taking professional level pictures (which yours appear to be, very nice BTW).
Compare the point-n-shoot with what you consider an entry level camera (the Canon 20D) and we're looking at 2 completely different users. This $1000+ camera (after lenses, accessories, etc.) is far from simple to use, is less forgiving in automatic/autofocus mode, doesn't offer video, and could never fit in a pocket (or in most cases not even a backpack). It doesn't meet the needs of your average user
I have met so many average users who get sweeped into the marketing hype around DSLRs and then are highly disappointed. In the end, they often end up taking their point-n-shoot everywhere, while using the DSLR on a tripod for Christmas pictures. Hardly an effective use of $1000.
People trust technology when there is sufficient evidence that the technology is trustworthy, reliable, and sufficiently tested. When technology experts say "this is rock solid", people trust that. Up until now, there has been far more skepticism and, at best, guarded optimism surrounding the new voting machines than accolades.
A secure and reliable system, with paper audit trail, would change this IMHO. Take computers as a similar example. The vast majority of people distrust security on computers, but this is almost entirely because they are accustomed to using Windows. Ask the same person how secure Mac or Linux are, and you'll either get a 'Dunno' or a positive response.
Diebold continually has dropped the ball and made it easy for Americans to distrust the elections. Heck, even this past spring they were admitting massive security flaws, all while perpetuating security risks by maintaining Windows CE as the OS.
Every once in a while, Microsoft does something right ... or at least releases something cool. When I plugged in my address (which is kind of in the middle of nowhere), up popped 3 different viewing angles of my house. Pretty detailed shots too, and in one you could even see me mowing the lawn in the backyard! I had lots of fun with this one.
I wonder why the average American (or Brit) doesn't demand the same level of privacy that many of the mainland Europeans now have? While some other freedoms (e.g. speech,press) are more limited in countries like Germany, there appears to be a strong right-to-privacy movement backed up by the government.
Sure, our media and government pay lip service to privacy issues, but the reality is that our government wants to increase monitoring in the name of fighting terror. Compare this story of Germany forcing the ISP to delete logs for a customer to this one outlining yet another argument by US officials to require ISPs to maintain even more user data.
I'd hate to see us to become a 'surveillance society' like Britain has. Unfortunately, we seem to be quickly heading down that path, particularly since our citizens haven't yet raised up to demand greater freedom.
So we've been flying the space shuttle for almost 30 years and this was never viewed as a problem before? And we're trusting NASA to send astronauts to the moon and beyond over the next 20 years?
Wow ... this would explain why no aliens have ever visited Earth ... they've been too busy chatting with their friends and trying to photoshop their pictures to pic up other not-so-hot aliens.
600 Million years isn't a long time? The earth is believed to be under 5 Billion years old, so geologically speaking they are referring to over 10% of all geological history. The oldest multi-cellular creatures are believed to have evolved between 600 Million and 1.5 Billion years ago, with some of the oldest fossils found from about 600 Million years ago being marine animals.
Evidence supports that there was a massive increase in evolution and complexity of life around 600 Million years ago
I'm still skeptical of the supporting evidence, but the theory of a biodiversity explosion occuring around that timeframe is relatively sound given geological and fossil evidence.
The problem is that all evidence points to the magnetic poles shifting, flipping, and changing in other ways over the course of the Earth's history. Every year the poles move by up to 40km, moving between continents within our own lifetimes. Here's an interesting article from NASA to explain the historical shifting/changing of the magnetic fields ... to me, this would invalidate the 'Snowball Earth' theory to some degree.
Assuming there wasn't also a kilometer of water over the surfaces, an average depth of 2km of water would be underneath the ice given that the average depth of our oceans is approximately 3km today (source: Oceans Alive)
The Bush administration will probably love this! This will just confirm their assertions that the Earth's climate can swign wildly on its own, therefore we have no influence on it, yeah right.
In all seriousness though, how can the Earth being an axial dipole (2 magnetic poles along a single axis) hundreds of millions of years ago suggest an Earth that was covered by up to a kilometer of ice? The Earth is currently in the same magnetic configuration, and there's certainly no indication of an impending super ice age.
Using the same logic, would Geologists in 600 Million years look back on today and say the Earth was covered by ice now?
I'd agree with this as well ... it seems like there are far less breakout mass-market PC games available now than in the past, which can't bode well for higher end PCs.
... although I can easily name 10-12 anticipated PS3 or Wii games, but can't name a single PC game that isn't geared towards mature audiences (a la Bully).
It's always possible my perception is just a reflection of the undeniable fact that I'm getting old
In essence, NASA wants to build a roller coaster up to the crew module of the next manned Mars/Moon launcher. If there was a problem (e.g. looked like the whole thing was going to blow), they could press a button and the crew would be whisked away down the roller coaster ... propelled to high speeds by technology similar to the new linear accelerator roller coasters at amusement parks.
I'd rather see NASA spend more money on developing safer vehicles, or on robotic missions, than on bizarre contraptions like this. Heck, they might as well build a loop-d-loop at the bottom so tourists can pay to ride it.
My first reaction was ... Is this a joke? Even the pictures, with a massive roller coaster running up the side of a booster launcher, look rather ridiculous.
But alas, this is real NASA "innovation". It seems that any device that allows the crew to jettison themselves quickly from the new rocket just increases the risks associated with it. How many malfunctions (e.g. explosions after crew entry but before liftoff) have happened in the past where this would be useful?
I view this as being about as useful as an eject seat for a passenger car. But then again, the details for this device are so hazy (and difficult to understand), that maybe I'm just not getting it.
Sure, they could use oil to power EVERYTHING, but why use their only resource for power? Over the next few decades, oil will almost certainly average $60 per barrel. Saudi Arabia produces it for $10 per barrel. Producing a barrel equivalent worth of nuclear power costs under $20 (at least in the Mid Atlantic U.S. region) ... which means that for every barrel worth of nuke power they can make, they provide themselves the opportunity to gain a $40+ profit on a real barrel of oil down the road.
If these countries were truly looking for nuclear power, why not just buy light water reactors from the U.S.? Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt could easily obtain reactors from the U.S. given their allied status and being favored trading partners.
This would afford them the ability to develop their nuclear expertise to a certain degree, while also providing them cheap power. While it would be more expensive than oil power, it's not really a relevant comparison since the value of oil is in the market value, not the production cost. Since the market value is so much higher than the cost of producing nuclear power, it's a no brainer for them to pursue, particularly for power hungry operations like desalination.
How true - glad to see someone supporting lawyers in cases where they are needed. Divorces, small claims court, car accidents, etc. can all be handled well and good without lawyers, but if you're dealing with Billion $ companies who have teams of lawyers, you don't want to move a muscle before consulting with one yourself.
Nintendo has few enough Wii's to sell that they really don't need to focus much on advertising. Heck, Walmart has already sold out of preorders. Wii may have a strong enough product that word of mouth carries it until their production kicks up, and given their competition they can use the cost savings whereever they can find them.
Jimmy Wales has done an EXCELLENT job creating Wikipedia, but a little change in leadership is probably a good thing right now. By stepping to the side (a little), he opens the door for more collaborative decisions and possibly some creative new direction for Wikipedia. If Jimmy Wales wasn't the chairperson, would Wikipedia have walked away from a $100 Million deal with AOL? Who knows, but I would guess they'd think longer about the offer.
...
Hopefully the new chairperson will help look for ways for Wikipedia to increase it's reach, accuracy, and media content. It's a great tool, but it could be so much better too
If you're not in the security industry, but have an interest and quite a lot of technical expertise, why not approach security firms with some of the details? If this flaw really is earth shattering for the financial institutions, the security firms will see $$$ and they'll have the connections to get inside and start fixing the problem (hopefully with you leading the contract).
You'll want to speak with a lawyer first to make sure the security firm just couldn't say "thank you, we'll go fix it ourselves, goodbye".
This game looks fantastic! Its just too bad the Wii doesn't support defs above 480p like everyone was hoping. It's also a little disappointing (but not surprising) that the controller doesn't convert the type of motion you perform to the screen. Oh well.
Haha ... I realize they were offering WiFi, but it isn't clear how the lounges were connected to the carrier. My guess is that they had a standard land lines.
... anyone know?
My question was around the airport's (or even broader, a landlord's) legal ability to control what telecommunications systems a tenant can use. For instance, if you rent a commercial condo, can a landlord say "sorry, you aren't allowed to run broadband connections into your office"? I don't know the answer here. Logically it would seem that a landlord could make similar restrictions if there was ample reason
The problem doesn't seem to be the surface components and mechanical parts of the lander (since modern ceramics could easily withstand the temperatures), but rather the wiring and power systems since these would essentially use the same materials as 20 years ago when the Russian's probed the surface last.
Way to go FCC, actually doing something that benefits the little guy!
From a legal standpoint though, doesn't the airline own the cables in the airport, and hence could restrict access to high speed connections? Or were the airlines using wireless?
This sounds great for the vast majority of web users ... people who want to create blogs, picture pages, keep notes, network with their friends, use e-mail, chat, etc. Calling it an O/S is a bit of a stretch since it doesn't perform any hardware/software control on the computer or the server, it simply comes with an application to facilitate file manipulation/moving/sharing/tagging/etc. Sounds like MySpace meets e-mail meets Flickr, on steroids.
BTW - if you'd like to get more information on this product when it launches, you can get on their mailing list or just bookmark their site at www.parakey.com