So your saying Linux is only stable because it offers so much less functionality?
In a way, yes. Part of it is bad coding and adherence to the idea that it must be backwards compatible at all costs, but the majority of the reason that Windows fails is because of the bloat. The reason Linux is stable is because you have to build the OS from the ground up for each individual machine since it doesn't come with the gigabyte or two of bloat and cruft. If the first thing that you have to do is rip out half of XP and/or Windows 7 to make it clean and stable, and then build it up again to your exact needs, why not just do that with something that isn't full of DRM, stuff you can't actually remove, and of course, is free?
XP isn't so bad, really. What worries me is that Microsoft is heading in the same direction as Google and Apple and the rest of these mega-corporations and leaving the consumer as essentially a peasant with no control and no real options. Windows 7 is almost as restrictive and anal about limiting your choices a typical gaming console. Yes, it's "better" than XP. But it also is very much like Apple in that you're forced to take it or leave it as-is. Given that XP has about a 2-3 year grace period left before you'll be required to install Windows 7 to run most games and applications, this is not merely a theoretical problem.
Here is a comment from another person about what I said:
I'm using Linux (Slackware) but not as a generic-purpose OS as XP. The problem with Mint (and Ubuntu) is that it is much slower on older systems than XP and doesn't offer the same level of compatibility.
I am considering upgrading my systems to go to a full Mint installation, but the problem is the landfill I can't justify the landfill.
And that's the rub. If you want a full-blown multimedia capable OS that can handle what most people want to use their computers for, it's going to be a bit of a bloated and unwieldy beast. On the other hand, every time I install Windows on a machine for a client, I spend another 1-2 hours cleaning, removing, and installing applications one by one to get it into a proper "clean" state. The time difference between that and configuring Mint is roughly a wash. I like Mint only because it saves me a good hour or so installing the stuff 99% of us have to install anyways.
As for the speed issue, well, compared to Windows 7 and a the need for a full system replacement(or nearly so) if you're running "older hardware", it's a lot more livable.
Here is a list of Microsoft stuff to remove from your XP slipstream:
(snip enormous list of junk)
If you rip out all of that, though, you're left with essentially the same interface and options as a normal install of Linux or Mint. Ie - you have to find and download everything piece by piece and install it one at a time, which is no different at all than finding stuff from a distro server and doing it that way.
Well, except that it's still a less stable OS with the same learning curve if you are a new user who's never used Windows before(yes, some do exist...)
Not trolling here. Just, to make Windows stable as Linux, well, you have to strip it down almost to Linux levels anyways, so why bother with the headache?
I had problems with this a few years ago with a Powerbook.
The issue is that the new Li-Ion batteries have a chip inside them that monitors charge cycles and when it gets to a certain limit/number of cycles, disables the battery to keep it from possibly shorting out and catching fire. Of course, this circuit is often twice as conservative as it needs to be thanks to worries about legal actions and so on. The only option is to find a program that will refresh the chip's internal counter. For a lot of machines, though, this does not exist. The battery is perfectly fine, but since the chip says "no good" the battery bricks itself.
What was happening was that my Powerbook was doing exactly the same thing as is being described here. It was chewing through a "cycle" or two every day despite the thing actually not being unplugged or used heavily. Every day, it ate another cycle until the chip in the battery's counter decided it was "dead".
The real solution here is to get a NiMH battery replacement if you can.
I have some computer experience as well as a bit of design and electrinics in the mix and one thing comes to mind as the real cause.
Drive by Wire.
Seriously, floor mats and other issues like that are just Toyota looking for an excuse when they know full well that the issue is something that can't be fixed without a major redesign next year. Ie - "It might be that if you place the mats just this way"(bunched up like only a moron would let happen) or "This servo might stick under the right conditions and enough wear"(despite the part being nowhere near its normal end of life)
The issue is drive by wire. Something's gone pear-shaped with their electronics and/or software that controls it and they're trying to find any excuse that might be the cause other than their design is unsafe. Blaming a servo or floor mats is just total BS and anyone with an ounce of technical skill would realize that servos and relays last for the better part of a decade.
The big give-away is the reports of the automatic cruise control malfunctioning. That's 100% software, folks. Something does wrong with the sensors and the software doesn't have a proper fail-safe mode programmed.
***this is from Wikipedia on Electronic Throttle Control*** There are two primary types of throttle position sensors: a potentiometer or a Hall Effect sensor (magnetic device). The potentiometer is a satisfactory way for non-critical applications such as volume control on a radio, but as it has a wiper contact rubbing against a resistance element, dirt and wear between the wiper and the resistor can cause erratic readings. The more reliable solution is the magnetic coupling that makes no physical contact, so will never be subject to failing by wear.
This is an insidious failure as it may not provide any symptoms until there is total failure. (edit by me - they're talking about the second type of sensor here- usually the potentiometer desgins give plenty of warning) ***** Guess what type of sensors the Toyotas use? Guess what happens when they get confused and start to fail? The U.S. made parts may be defective or fail in 2-3 years instead of 8-10 like the Japanese parts, but the problem still remains. When(not if) the part breaks and needs replacement, expect it to cause the throttle to jam wide open.
There also is a note at the bottom of the article stating that ETC is currently suspected in the recent Toyota recalls but that Toyota is fiercely denying it. of course they are. This affects almost every Toyota and Lexus that they currently sell(and for the last couple of years as well). And it's not something that can be fixed without a major physical redesign.
Watch the next year or two's models switch back to a throttle cable. Then try to sell your drive-by-wire ones used. To anyone.
That's right, cooking for your cat is as easy as buying a steak and setting it out for them to nom.
It's not quite that simple as you will also need to give them supplements of taurine and vitamins since you can't really safely feed raw meat these days. But that's quite easy to do. Seems crazy? Well almost every professional dog breeder makes their own food(and quite a few cat breeders as well), so why NOT also do the same for your pets? It's not much harder than making food for your toddler. (same argument applies to people who spend a fortune on baby food)
With a couple of minor tweaks, X-Wing Alliance will run on XP. It was pretty much overlooked, but is the best example of the X-Wing flight sim series that was made. And it still plays very well, in fact. I really doesn't feel dated at all.
As for this MMOG, it will probably be like D&D Online or some rubbish. Unless it is almost entirely based upon space and hyper-spacing/warping around and ship combat, with some interactions on planets and missions as a side thing(X3 or EVE Online as examples), it will just be another MMOG with a Star Wars paint-job on top of it.
Oh lord, just shoot me now. Grinding levels in a star wars MMOG like that would be more painful than a root canal.
They should just stick to making another flight sim or another KOTOR installment.
A lot of this is also due to the influence of Asia in our media. Their traditional storytelling has been to have stories not have a big climax or ending but instead to be more of a "chapter" in a person's life or a part of a larger story.(ie - one person's view of a war or something). This of course has caught on in the gaming industry as it allows for easy sequels and tie-ins with other products. IMO, it also makes for a more compelling story as sometimes the good guys don't win and thing's aren't always predictable.
On a more serious note, you all remember the pet food scare a couple of years ago? Some pet foods were still causing symptoms without having any of the tainted gluten in them. The only source that could be found that might be causing liver and kidney damage in pets besides the gluten was a major pet food producer that had switched to GMO corn as to save money. This has been well-known in the pet food industry for several years now - to stay away from GMO products. Though, it appears to be fairly safe to eat animals fed it, as long as you don't eat the livers or kidneys(read - so much for sausage or animal byproducts or the like)
It's also well known in the beef industry. There are two reasons they have to pump commercial cows full of antibiotics. The first is lack of exercise. The second is that the corn they feed them(more than half of their entire diet for the last few months) destroys their immune system and they'd be literally dead on their feet if the antibiotics weren't keeping them alive for a few more weeks to finish fattening up.
It used to be that all of that GMO corn was going to feed lots and it wasn't a big issue. But now that times are tougher, the stuff is being used for human consumption more and more in order to save money.
So, things not to eat: Animal by-products including sausage for anything fed this corn(organic or grass fed is the key here) - The meat is fine. Their organs aren't and should be avoided at all costs. This of course is aside from the quality and ethical issues and so on of commercial meat.
Any corn that's not organic. More than 95% of the U.S. corn market is now ADM and Monsanto GMO corn. This is a huge time-bomb waiting to happen. As such, all corn has to be suspect unless it's from Europe where they won't allow GMO corn to be grown, or a similar country(IIRC, Japan also doesn't allow GMO grains, but I don't think they crow corn there) This limits your diet greatly, since cheap GMO corn is in literally everything, but some stores like Trader Joes(as an example) offer good alternatives without killing your wallet.
Obviously no corn syrup or other products. Thankfully the recent upswing in ethanol use has helped. One of my uncles in fact grows GMO corn because it's cheap and easy and sends 100% of it to the ethanol refinery. For this sort of use, GMO corn is perfect. This of course has made corn syrup more expensive than sugar again so it's being slowly replaced in soft drinks and other foods.
And of course, as mentioned above, pet food. Make sure it has no corn, since cats and dogs are also mildly allergic to corn and it(and most grains) have zero nutrition for cats anyways. Yes, this means virtually no canned foods and nothing from the grocery store's pet isle, but the difference is immediately noticeable. note - or just make your own food if you have a dog. It's pretty easy, in fact.
One other thing to avoid is Canola Oil. It used to be only a mild problem for your body to handle, and wasn't found in many things, but nearly 100% of all Canola Oil is now GMO in the last decade, and the combination of an already not so healthy oil with GMO tinkering has resulted in a very unhealthy product. If course, since it's subsidized and the cheapest oil out there, it's in everything. (note - it's even worse to burn - so don't use it in your bio-diesel powered car)
I know, though, that just getting rid of corn and canola oil in my diet resulted in a change of my having to take my allergy medicine every other day and getting sick once every other month to once or twice a month and twice a year. Just removing these two things from my diet had an immediate effect on my well-being and energy levels. And it's a very easy thing to try as well. Even two weeks without either is a noticeable improvement(as well as getting rid of the processed junk and fast food it's usually part of, of course).
P.S. removing both also caused my weight gain to reverse itself. I've lost 25lbs in a year by just getting rid of the garbage in my diet.
Only one?!? Someone clearly has been falling down on the job, over there.
A company for which I worked had four scientists from the PRC, and one of them was a narc.
I should have said *at least* one.:)
But that's what all governments do when they become concerned about security, be it their own against political rivals or they are worried about the security in a broader sense. I'm not saying it's bad or making any judgment here, either. It's just what always has happened throughout human history. Of course they use their power if they have the means to do so. To think otherwise is silly.
On a side note: I find it slightly amusing in fact that the U.S. seems to be one of the few nations in the world where the people actually don't by default distrust their leaders and government. We used to but somehow in the last couple of generations, we've lost that (and some would say healthy) bit of skepticism.
A good example of this is on my desk right now. I have a notice that the company that owns my storage unit across town(and dozens of other places across the state I'm in) has increased everyone's rent by 10%. It's in their best interest to make money. Myself, as the average little guy out there, has no say in the matter. But am I upset? Not at all. In fact, I expect this sort of behavior from those in power above me as a normal day-to-day occurrence. It's always been that way and why should I suddenly expect them to grow a conscience now?
They say that every medium or larger sized company in China has a spy in it reporting to the government. This sounds exactly the same, unfortunately. But then again, did you really expect it to be any different over here?
But given the legal issues with it, the default behavior as it is distributed should be to not allow seeding or sharing between peers. The option to turn it on to regain proper speed along with a warning box that doing so will likely result in illegal behavior would be a prudent move that would save a lot of people grief.
eg:(pop up box the first time you run it) "Your connection is currently set to download only and will be capped at 20kps. You can turn on sharing in the options menu to regain full speed. Doing so may result in illegal behavior, though." Or something similar.
It also would result in "legal" P2P behavior being the default setting, which would force the RIAA and other agencies to prove that you were actively sharing as opposed to their assumption that if you are using it at all that you're automatically guilty. This would increase the workload for the companies that collect data for them by a a couple of factors. It also would remove the potential legal burden from the people who make the P2P programs.
See, without the uploaders of content, there's nothing to download. So, if you don't encourage or require your users to upload, you don't have a very useful P2P network.
I can understand your argument, but it's flat-out wrong. You're basically complaining that your illegal activity will go slower if you don't force everyone else to be criminals as well.
You're missing the point. You shouldn't be doing any of that in the first place.
Legal torrents always have official seeds so increasing your speed at the potential expense of having the RIAA and other entities come down on you with a 20 ton sledgehammer seems downright silly. Decent people are getting their asses handed to them because they are using these programs and there isn't an option of any kind to limit the damage to where the authorities can't charge you with illegal distribution.
That the option isn't there to disable illegal activity if you want to is the real problem. As it is, you're stuck with having to do these illegal activities as an end user of any of these programs without any recourse in the matter. You turn on ANY of these programs and you're as good as guilty if anyone decides to go after you. That's just plain wrong. Complaining about it being slow or not working well is having your priorities wrong and you know it.
Also, from a purely legal standpoint, any person running a client from North America or Europe by default should have their ability to share between peers disabled since they shouldn't be re-distributing any file in any case. Explain why it's even legal or ethical to share between peers in the first place. I really want to hear your justification on this one.
And so far, they've been holding anybody who makes a copyrighted work available as any downloadable file (over HTTP, FTP, or any flavor of P2P) you're doing so willingly. Nobody's ever been able to prove that they unwillingly installed such file-sharing programs.
****
So why doesn't some bright person out there make a version of bitorrent that only allows downloading or better yet has a "0" setting for upstream speed and connections? Copying is generally only punishable by a fine of the actual value. It's the "distributing" part that is causing all of the problems for these people. Yet to date, I've not seen or heard of one file sharing program that has this option. It doesn't seem like it would take more than a few hours for a half-rate programmer to add, either.
Apple also says Nokia wanted unreasonable license terms for the patents, including a cross-license for Apple's various iPhone device patents as part of any deal, which Apple clearly wasn't willing to do.
That Nokia wanted "unreasonable" license terms still doesn't mean that you can just ignore them because you don't like them. Apple's dead in the water on this one, and Nokia is also large enough to put up a good fight. (It would be like GM suing Audi/VW - one's larger, but both are behemoths compared to most everything else)
Apple has always played fast and loose with IP and has been merciless in exploiting it and defending it - at the same level as Microsoft and the rest of them, in fact, despite their image and PR. The question is how much are they going to fork over before it goes to court and then continue as usual(ie - throw a few hundred million in pocket change at Nokia and go on as if nothing had happened)
My son is just turning eleven and his "wish" for his birthday is to get his own computer(his last one died a few months ago) and learn to program.
1: Linux. Learning a in real hard-core operating environment like this is very similar to what we had to do in the 70s and 80s where everyone built their own box and had to do everything from scratch. Also, it's a lot like those old electronics kits - you learn the basics that hard way from the ground up and you never have to worry about it later on. That said, I suggest Mint or something fairly streamlined and possible to live-boot in case he nukes the box with his fiddling.
Also, such skills will be in great demand a decade from now when he's out of college and ready to get to work. There are book-learned programmers and then there are those who understand the science and technology behind it as well. This only happens if you start early and with the very basics and don't cut corners. (that aside, it does amaze me how many computer savvy people can't even do simple things like fix a power supply - or even change the oil in their car)
2: Perl and HTML to start, then a few specific programs come to mind. Pov-Ray is complex but also is free and requires some skills that are very useful later on. Another good program to look at is NetHack/Angband/etc. They are old now, but they represent a great crash-course in entry level C programming. From there, have him work on 3-D programs ( look up "Mandelbulb" ), networking, and anything else that you can find that stresses math and programming skills over eye candy. You can also have him work on constructing levels for older games like Unreal Tournament or Halflife later on. Old as they are, they still are great to make mods for.
If you read the article, they are using substances that are related to the same family or compounds that you find in Valium and other depressants. You very well might see them succeed, but I can't imagine drinking beer that has a warning label to not mix with (real)alcohol.
You can't make classes "jack of all trades." It doesn't work.
Sure you can. Deus Ex, for instance, allowed you to make your own specialized character to suit your needs. Many other games allow you to do stuff like learn specific skills that you find useful without having to resort to a cookie-cutter class system. And quite a few just do away with it entirely or let you decide what to do and what to wear and so on.(usually only limited by money and influence).
The fact is that classes are a thirty year old crutch inherited from the days of pen and paper RPGs. They did it that way to make the players have less choices and force the game mechanics to be simpler for the person running the game. "Must act like X, must do Y". Most games still do in fact, though quite a few also don't follow those sorts of systems. Hero comes to mind as one RPG that just threw away the idea of cookie cutter templates and classes. But it was far from the first.
It's simply a matter of the programmers being lazy and the game being designed by type-A managers who can't think outside of the box. They are "idea men" who want to make a game and don't care about trying to really do anything different. They license someone else's engine and level construction tools and then grab a few basic ideas and presto... Yet another MMOG that only is different in the setting and a few graphics.
If the answer is affirmative to all of the above, then you've got yourself a winner. It's very cool how Ubuntu has essentially forced every other distro to get up to speed on these seemingly basic features. Otherwise, the distros are just flavored differently. It's all the same under the hood.
Which is a good thing, really. This trend finally seems to be accelerating, which is great. But some are clearly better than others.
My favorite right now is Ubuntu+ (also known as Mint), because it does that extra bit of A/V and connectivity hand-holding for those who just want a solution and not the "fun" of manually tweaking everything. I can. I just don't want to any more. But you're right - work like this is forcing all of them to finally start making Linux and BSD work as actual modern operating systems and not as some hobbyist's toy.
This is the last of a number of massive infrastructure failures in the past few months. The issues with Gmail, T-Mobile, SwissDisk, etc and this should be a warning that the computing infrastructure is becoming baroquely fragile.
Nonsense. The infrastructure is perfectly sound. Our reliance on these few companies to do what could be done and used to be done in simpler ways is our problem. These companies care more about their next new venture than doing the extra work to make sure it works correctly the first time. They do the minimum work possible and try to make the most profit that they can, all while consolidating enormous power and limiting our choices. The rest of the Internet and communications infrastructure is perfectly healthy, and most companies do a decent job(as do the governments that maintain it around the world). We just have to learn to steer clear of these diseased monopolies and opt for smaller and better run choices instead.
#40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
My main gripe with the percentages that they commonly cite is that it is worldwide and includes every computer that runs Windows or Mac/Apple/etc ever made, despite the fact that what we should be concerned about is new sales only. Counting legacy hardware in that percentage is extremely disingenuous to say the least, since almost nobody uses 10+ year old PCs these days. Counting every PC on the planet is also bonus as well, since that also includes pretty much every obsolete computer that can possibly connect to the net.
***I found this tag line in a current article*** In November, 89.6% of users who connected to the Web sites that Net Applications Inc. monitors did so from systems powered by Windows *** So what that means is that if you don't connect to one of those sites, you're not counted. If you have it set up so that you don't give out that information to remote sites, you're not counted either. If you are running Windows 98 or even 3.11 and connect, you're counted as a Windows machine. If you connect more than once or hit more than one of their monitored sites, well, you're counted all those extra times as well. It's simply put, the collection method is full of holes and makes for bogus statistics.
What matters in commerce at almost every level is what's being sold and moved out the door. We don't care about how used car sales are doing, for instance. We care about NEW ones and how the companies that make NEW cars are doing(or not doing as the case seems to be lately)
***I found this online in the news feeds, dated 10/25/2009*** Apple's US retail desktop revenue share for October was 47.71 percent, up from same time last year when it hit 33.44 percent. ***
Current actual sales data from October shows Apple at 47.71% of the new computer market in the U.S. and a whopping 91% of $1000+ sales in the U.S.
Yep, power hungry video card. (raises hand) Going to get a $400 bigger, badder one in a few months.:)
I loathe having the machine's fans go up and down all the time, so they are set to 7V and run at about 700-800rpm all the time. Apple quiet as a result. Though the heat sinks for the video and CPU are huge to allow this sort of operation. Well worth the $200 it cost in custom fans and modding. And I don't worry about $10-$20 more a year in power usage, since the thing only draws 70-100W during normal operation/web/etc. The real power hungry devices are the video card when it gets going and my printer, which is a like a mini-fridge in terms of power appetite when it's running. But I don't know of any energy efficient color laser printers.
Disabling Speed Step and power management/power saving/etc in BIOS and the OS(whatever one is installed) is the very first thing I do on any machine. I want it at full power all the time. This also makes it easier to keep my fans at a constant speed as well, which makes for a quieter work environment. Similar to how a clock ticking is filtered out after a few hours or days, a constant low drone from the PC is as well.
You missed the point. The reality is that like it or not, the producers and studios have to give at least some of it away for free just to compete with the enormous amount of free entertainment that is currently easily available without strings or copyright issues. Or else they just get lost in the noise. That doesn't mean that it has to be the full version or perfect quality, of course. Nobody said that. Some companies do this by having low quality but free samples of the songs on the various websites(go to most bands' websites - almost all have streaming music or similar), some by playing part of the song, some by having demos and the like(especially true for a game - try to find one without a single demo), and some just give it away for free to grow faster(often true with brand new independent bands)
You have to market your product to the widest possible audience to compete and the studios just don't get it that the harder they force the issue, the more people just simply opt out and do other things for their twenty minutes a day of entertainment. YouTube is free. Dozens of java game sites are free or a tiny monthly fee. 80+ channels of Cable TV, Satellite radio, video games(plus MMOGs)... the list is enormous. It's no longer a few studios controlling most of the content like in the 70s or 80s, which is when most of their board members started in the business. It's sheer chaos with tens of thousands of small and large sources all yelling and screaming for their piece of fame and attention.
http://www.youtube.com/shows%5D Even commercial firms are beginning to do exactly this. http://www.youtube.com/show/topgear Even the BBC is giving content away for free. They finally understand. And these are real TV shows. You don't even need Cable TV any more - just a fast connection. I could spend 24 hours a day watching new stuff just here and still not see a small fraction of what's available.
And this is just YouTube. Multiply that times a hundred or more.
Future consumers like my son and his friends don't even see a need at all to even consider them. Zero interest at all. Not even on their radar, because it costs money and free(and legal) entertainment is everywhere. Shoot, my son won't even stay still for ten minutes to listen to an entire song, let alone a CD. His entire view of "entertainment" is different than previous generations.
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So your saying Linux is only stable because it offers so much less functionality?
In a way, yes. Part of it is bad coding and adherence to the idea that it must be backwards compatible at all costs, but the majority of the reason that Windows fails is because of the bloat. The reason Linux is stable is because you have to build the OS from the ground up for each individual machine since it doesn't come with the gigabyte or two of bloat and cruft. If the first thing that you have to do is rip out half of XP and/or Windows 7 to make it clean and stable, and then build it up again to your exact needs, why not just do that with something that isn't full of DRM, stuff you can't actually remove, and of course, is free?
XP isn't so bad, really. What worries me is that Microsoft is heading in the same direction as Google and Apple and the rest of these mega-corporations and leaving the consumer as essentially a peasant with no control and no real options. Windows 7 is almost as restrictive and anal about limiting your choices a typical gaming console. Yes, it's "better" than XP. But it also is very much like Apple in that you're forced to take it or leave it as-is. Given that XP has about a 2-3 year grace period left before you'll be required to install Windows 7 to run most games and applications, this is not merely a theoretical problem.
Here is a comment from another person about what I said:
I'm using Linux (Slackware) but not as a generic-purpose OS as XP. The problem with Mint (and Ubuntu) is that it is much slower on older systems than XP and doesn't offer the same level of compatibility.
I am considering upgrading my systems to go to a full Mint installation, but the problem is the landfill I can't justify the landfill.
And that's the rub. If you want a full-blown multimedia capable OS that can handle what most people want to use their computers for, it's going to be a bit of a bloated and unwieldy beast. On the other hand, every time I install Windows on a machine for a client, I spend another 1-2 hours cleaning, removing, and installing applications one by one to get it into a proper "clean" state. The time difference between that and configuring Mint is roughly a wash. I like Mint only because it saves me a good hour or so installing the stuff 99% of us have to install anyways.
As for the speed issue, well, compared to Windows 7 and a the need for a full system replacement(or nearly so) if you're running "older hardware", it's a lot more livable.
Here is a list of Microsoft stuff to remove from your XP slipstream:
(snip enormous list of junk)
If you rip out all of that, though, you're left with essentially the same interface and options as a normal install of Linux or Mint. Ie - you have to find and download everything piece by piece and install it one at a time, which is no different at all than finding stuff from a distro server and doing it that way.
Well, except that it's still a less stable OS with the same learning curve if you are a new user who's never used Windows before(yes, some do exist...)
Not trolling here. Just, to make Windows stable as Linux, well, you have to strip it down almost to Linux levels anyways, so why bother with the headache?
I had problems with this a few years ago with a Powerbook.
The issue is that the new Li-Ion batteries have a chip inside them that monitors charge cycles and when it gets to a certain limit/number of cycles, disables the battery to keep it from possibly shorting out and catching fire. Of course, this circuit is often twice as conservative as it needs to be thanks to worries about legal actions and so on. The only option is to find a program that will refresh the chip's internal counter. For a lot of machines, though, this does not exist. The battery is perfectly fine, but since the chip says "no good" the battery bricks itself.
What was happening was that my Powerbook was doing exactly the same thing as is being described here. It was chewing through a "cycle" or two every day despite the thing actually not being unplugged or used heavily. Every day, it ate another cycle until the chip in the battery's counter decided it was "dead".
The real solution here is to get a NiMH battery replacement if you can.
I have some computer experience as well as a bit of design and electrinics in the mix and one thing comes to mind as the real cause.
Drive by Wire.
Seriously, floor mats and other issues like that are just Toyota looking for an excuse when they know full well that the issue is something that can't be fixed without a major redesign next year. Ie - "It might be that if you place the mats just this way"(bunched up like only a moron would let happen) or "This servo might stick under the right conditions and enough wear"(despite the part being nowhere near its normal end of life)
The issue is drive by wire. Something's gone pear-shaped with their electronics and/or software that controls it and they're trying to find any excuse that might be the cause other than their design is unsafe. Blaming a servo or floor mats is just total BS and anyone with an ounce of technical skill would realize that servos and relays last for the better part of a decade.
The big give-away is the reports of the automatic cruise control malfunctioning. That's 100% software, folks. Something does wrong with the sensors and the software doesn't have a proper fail-safe mode programmed.
***this is from Wikipedia on Electronic Throttle Control***
There are two primary types of throttle position sensors: a potentiometer or a Hall Effect sensor (magnetic device). The potentiometer is a satisfactory way for non-critical applications such as volume control on a radio, but as it has a wiper contact rubbing against a resistance element, dirt and wear between the wiper and the resistor can cause erratic readings. The more reliable solution is the magnetic coupling that makes no physical contact, so will never be subject to failing by wear.
This is an insidious failure as it may not provide any symptoms until there is total failure. (edit by me - they're talking about the second type of sensor here- usually the potentiometer desgins give plenty of warning)
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Guess what type of sensors the Toyotas use? Guess what happens when they get confused and start to fail? The U.S. made parts may be defective or fail in 2-3 years instead of 8-10 like the Japanese parts, but the problem still remains. When(not if) the part breaks and needs replacement, expect it to cause the throttle to jam wide open.
There also is a note at the bottom of the article stating that ETC is currently suspected in the recent Toyota recalls but that Toyota is fiercely denying it. of course they are. This affects almost every Toyota and Lexus that they currently sell(and for the last couple of years as well). And it's not something that can be fixed without a major physical redesign.
Watch the next year or two's models switch back to a throttle cable. Then try to sell your drive-by-wire ones used. To anyone.
That's right, cooking for your cat is as easy as buying a steak and setting it out for them to nom.
It's not quite that simple as you will also need to give them supplements of taurine and vitamins since you can't really safely feed raw meat these days. But that's quite easy to do. Seems crazy? Well almost every professional dog breeder makes their own food(and quite a few cat breeders as well), so why NOT also do the same for your pets? It's not much harder than making food for your toddler. (same argument applies to people who spend a fortune on baby food)
With a couple of minor tweaks, X-Wing Alliance will run on XP. It was pretty much overlooked, but is the best example of the X-Wing flight sim series that was made. And it still plays very well, in fact. I really doesn't feel dated at all.
As for this MMOG, it will probably be like D&D Online or some rubbish. Unless it is almost entirely based upon space and hyper-spacing/warping around and ship combat, with some interactions on planets and missions as a side thing(X3 or EVE Online as examples), it will just be another MMOG with a Star Wars paint-job on top of it.
Oh lord, just shoot me now. Grinding levels in a star wars MMOG like that would be more painful than a root canal.
They should just stick to making another flight sim or another KOTOR installment.
A lot of this is also due to the influence of Asia in our media. Their traditional storytelling has been to have stories not have a big climax or ending but instead to be more of a "chapter" in a person's life or a part of a larger story.(ie - one person's view of a war or something). This of course has caught on in the gaming industry as it allows for easy sequels and tie-ins with other products. IMO, it also makes for a more compelling story as sometimes the good guys don't win and thing's aren't always predictable.
Vodka. Check. :)
On a more serious note, you all remember the pet food scare a couple of years ago? Some pet foods were still causing symptoms without having any of the tainted gluten in them. The only source that could be found that might be causing liver and kidney damage in pets besides the gluten was a major pet food producer that had switched to GMO corn as to save money. This has been well-known in the pet food industry for several years now - to stay away from GMO products. Though, it appears to be fairly safe to eat animals fed it, as long as you don't eat the livers or kidneys(read - so much for sausage or animal byproducts or the like)
It's also well known in the beef industry. There are two reasons they have to pump commercial cows full of antibiotics. The first is lack of exercise. The second is that the corn they feed them(more than half of their entire diet for the last few months) destroys their immune system and they'd be literally dead on their feet if the antibiotics weren't keeping them alive for a few more weeks to finish fattening up.
It used to be that all of that GMO corn was going to feed lots and it wasn't a big issue. But now that times are tougher, the stuff is being used for human consumption more and more in order to save money.
So, things not to eat:
Animal by-products including sausage for anything fed this corn(organic or grass fed is the key here) - The meat is fine. Their organs aren't and should be avoided at all costs. This of course is aside from the quality and ethical issues and so on of commercial meat.
Any corn that's not organic. More than 95% of the U.S. corn market is now ADM and Monsanto GMO corn. This is a huge time-bomb waiting to happen. As such, all corn has to be suspect unless it's from Europe where they won't allow GMO corn to be grown, or a similar country(IIRC, Japan also doesn't allow GMO grains, but I don't think they crow corn there) This limits your diet greatly, since cheap GMO corn is in literally everything, but some stores like Trader Joes(as an example) offer good alternatives without killing your wallet.
Obviously no corn syrup or other products. Thankfully the recent upswing in ethanol use has helped. One of my uncles in fact grows GMO corn because it's cheap and easy and sends 100% of it to the ethanol refinery. For this sort of use, GMO corn is perfect. This of course has made corn syrup more expensive than sugar again so it's being slowly replaced in soft drinks and other foods.
And of course, as mentioned above, pet food. Make sure it has no corn, since cats and dogs are also mildly allergic to corn and it(and most grains) have zero nutrition for cats anyways. Yes, this means virtually no canned foods and nothing from the grocery store's pet isle, but the difference is immediately noticeable. note - or just make your own food if you have a dog. It's pretty easy, in fact.
One other thing to avoid is Canola Oil. It used to be only a mild problem for your body to handle, and wasn't found in many things, but nearly 100% of all Canola Oil is now GMO in the last decade, and the combination of an already not so healthy oil with GMO tinkering has resulted in a very unhealthy product. If course, since it's subsidized and the cheapest oil out there, it's in everything. (note - it's even worse to burn - so don't use it in your bio-diesel powered car)
I know, though, that just getting rid of corn and canola oil in my diet resulted in a change of my having to take my allergy medicine every other day and getting sick once every other month to once or twice a month and twice a year. Just removing these two things from my diet had an immediate effect on my well-being and energy levels. And it's a very easy thing to try as well. Even two weeks without either is a noticeable improvement(as well as getting rid of the processed junk and fast food it's usually part of, of course).
P.S. removing both also caused my weight gain to reverse itself. I've lost 25lbs in a year by just getting rid of the garbage in my diet.
Only one?!? Someone clearly has been falling down on the job, over there.
A company for which I worked had four scientists from the PRC, and one of them was a narc.
I should have said *at least* one. :)
But that's what all governments do when they become concerned about security, be it their own against political rivals or they are worried about the security in a broader sense. I'm not saying it's bad or making any judgment here, either. It's just what always has happened throughout human history. Of course they use their power if they have the means to do so. To think otherwise is silly.
On a side note:
I find it slightly amusing in fact that the U.S. seems to be one of the few nations in the world where the people actually don't by default distrust their leaders and government. We used to but somehow in the last couple of generations, we've lost that (and some would say healthy) bit of skepticism.
A good example of this is on my desk right now. I have a notice that the company that owns my storage unit across town(and dozens of other places across the state I'm in) has increased everyone's rent by 10%. It's in their best interest to make money. Myself, as the average little guy out there, has no say in the matter. But am I upset? Not at all. In fact, I expect this sort of behavior from those in power above me as a normal day-to-day occurrence. It's always been that way and why should I suddenly expect them to grow a conscience now?
They say that every medium or larger sized company in China has a spy in it reporting to the government. This sounds exactly the same, unfortunately. But then again, did you really expect it to be any different over here?
But given the legal issues with it, the default behavior as it is distributed should be to not allow seeding or sharing between peers. The option to turn it on to regain proper speed along with a warning box that doing so will likely result in illegal behavior would be a prudent move that would save a lot of people grief.
eg:(pop up box the first time you run it) "Your connection is currently set to download only and will be capped at 20kps. You can turn on sharing in the options menu to regain full speed. Doing so may result in illegal behavior, though." Or something similar.
It also would result in "legal" P2P behavior being the default setting, which would force the RIAA and other agencies to prove that you were actively sharing as opposed to their assumption that if you are using it at all that you're automatically guilty. This would increase the workload for the companies that collect data for them by a a couple of factors. It also would remove the potential legal burden from the people who make the P2P programs.
See, without the uploaders of content, there's nothing to download. So, if you don't encourage or require your users to upload, you don't have a very useful P2P network.
I can understand your argument, but it's flat-out wrong. You're basically complaining that your illegal activity will go slower if you don't force everyone else to be criminals as well.
You're missing the point. You shouldn't be doing any of that in the first place.
Legal torrents always have official seeds so increasing your speed at the potential expense of having the RIAA and other entities come down on you with a 20 ton sledgehammer seems downright silly. Decent people are getting their asses handed to them because they are using these programs and there isn't an option of any kind to limit the damage to where the authorities can't charge you with illegal distribution.
That the option isn't there to disable illegal activity if you want to is the real problem. As it is, you're stuck with having to do these illegal activities as an end user of any of these programs without any recourse in the matter. You turn on ANY of these programs and you're as good as guilty if anyone decides to go after you. That's just plain wrong. Complaining about it being slow or not working well is having your priorities wrong and you know it.
Also, from a purely legal standpoint, any person running a client from North America or Europe by default should have their ability to share between peers disabled since they shouldn't be re-distributing any file in any case. Explain why it's even legal or ethical to share between peers in the first place. I really want to hear your justification on this one.
And so far, they've been holding anybody who makes a copyrighted work available as any downloadable file (over HTTP, FTP, or any flavor of P2P) you're doing so willingly. Nobody's ever been able to prove that they unwillingly installed such file-sharing programs.
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So why doesn't some bright person out there make a version of bitorrent that only allows downloading or better yet has a "0" setting for upstream speed and connections? Copying is generally only punishable by a fine of the actual value. It's the "distributing" part that is causing all of the problems for these people. Yet to date, I've not seen or heard of one file sharing program that has this option. It doesn't seem like it would take more than a few hours for a half-rate programmer to add, either.
Apple also says Nokia wanted unreasonable license terms for the patents, including a cross-license for Apple's various iPhone device patents as part of any deal, which Apple clearly wasn't willing to do.
That Nokia wanted "unreasonable" license terms still doesn't mean that you can just ignore them because you don't like them. Apple's dead in the water on this one, and Nokia is also large enough to put up a good fight. (It would be like GM suing Audi/VW - one's larger, but both are behemoths compared to most everything else)
Apple has always played fast and loose with IP and has been merciless in exploiting it and defending it - at the same level as Microsoft and the rest of them, in fact, despite their image and PR. The question is how much are they going to fork over before it goes to court and then continue as usual(ie - throw a few hundred million in pocket change at Nokia and go on as if nothing had happened)
My son is just turning eleven and his "wish" for his birthday is to get his own computer(his last one died a few months ago) and learn to program.
1: Linux. Learning a in real hard-core operating environment like this is very similar to what we had to do in the 70s and 80s where everyone built their own box and had to do everything from scratch. Also, it's a lot like those old electronics kits - you learn the basics that hard way from the ground up and you never have to worry about it later on. That said, I suggest Mint or something fairly streamlined and possible to live-boot in case he nukes the box with his fiddling.
Also, such skills will be in great demand a decade from now when he's out of college and ready to get to work. There are book-learned programmers and then there are those who understand the science and technology behind it as well. This only happens if you start early and with the very basics and don't cut corners. (that aside, it does amaze me how many computer savvy people can't even do simple things like fix a power supply - or even change the oil in their car)
2: Perl and HTML to start, then a few specific programs come to mind. Pov-Ray is complex but also is free and requires some skills that are very useful later on. Another good program to look at is NetHack/Angband/etc. They are old now, but they represent a great crash-course in entry level C programming. From there, have him work on 3-D programs ( look up "Mandelbulb" ), networking, and anything else that you can find that stresses math and programming skills over eye candy. You can also have him work on constructing levels for older games like Unreal Tournament or Halflife later on. Old as they are, they still are great to make mods for.
If you read the article, they are using substances that are related to the same family or compounds that you find in Valium and other depressants. You very well might see them succeed, but I can't imagine drinking beer that has a warning label to not mix with (real)alcohol.
You can't make classes "jack of all trades." It doesn't work.
Sure you can. Deus Ex, for instance, allowed you to make your own specialized character to suit your needs. Many other games allow you to do stuff like learn specific skills that you find useful without having to resort to a cookie-cutter class system. And quite a few just do away with it entirely or let you decide what to do and what to wear and so on.(usually only limited by money and influence).
The fact is that classes are a thirty year old crutch inherited from the days of pen and paper RPGs. They did it that way to make the players have less choices and force the game mechanics to be simpler for the person running the game. "Must act like X, must do Y". Most games still do in fact, though quite a few also don't follow those sorts of systems. Hero comes to mind as one RPG that just threw away the idea of cookie cutter templates and classes. But it was far from the first.
It's simply a matter of the programmers being lazy and the game being designed by type-A managers who can't think outside of the box. They are "idea men" who want to make a game and don't care about trying to really do anything different. They license someone else's engine and level construction tools and then grab a few basic ideas and presto... Yet another MMOG that only is different in the setting and a few graphics.
If the answer is affirmative to all of the above, then you've got yourself a winner. It's very cool how Ubuntu has essentially forced every other distro to get up to speed on these seemingly basic features. Otherwise, the distros are just flavored differently. It's all the same under the hood.
Which is a good thing, really. This trend finally seems to be accelerating, which is great. But some are clearly better than others.
My favorite right now is Ubuntu+ (also known as Mint), because it does that extra bit of A/V and connectivity hand-holding for those who just want a solution and not the "fun" of manually tweaking everything. I can. I just don't want to any more. But you're right - work like this is forcing all of them to finally start making Linux and BSD work as actual modern operating systems and not as some hobbyist's toy.
This is the last of a number of massive infrastructure failures in the past few months. The issues with Gmail, T-Mobile, SwissDisk, etc and this should be a warning that the computing infrastructure is becoming baroquely fragile.
Nonsense. The infrastructure is perfectly sound. Our reliance on these few companies to do what could be done and used to be done in simpler ways is our problem. These companies care more about their next new venture than doing the extra work to make sure it works correctly the first time. They do the minimum work possible and try to make the most profit that they can, all while consolidating enormous power and limiting our choices. The rest of the Internet and communications infrastructure is perfectly healthy, and most companies do a decent job(as do the governments that maintain it around the world). We just have to learn to steer clear of these diseased monopolies and opt for smaller and better run choices instead.
#40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
My main gripe with the percentages that they commonly cite is that it is worldwide and includes every computer that runs Windows or Mac/Apple/etc ever made, despite the fact that what we should be concerned about is new sales only. Counting legacy hardware in that percentage is extremely disingenuous to say the least, since almost nobody uses 10+ year old PCs these days. Counting every PC on the planet is also bonus as well, since that also includes pretty much every obsolete computer that can possibly connect to the net.
***I found this tag line in a current article***
In November, 89.6% of users who connected to the Web sites that Net Applications Inc. monitors did so from systems powered by Windows
***
So what that means is that if you don't connect to one of those sites, you're not counted. If you have it set up so that you don't give out that information to remote sites, you're not counted either. If you are running Windows 98 or even 3.11 and connect, you're counted as a Windows machine. If you connect more than once or hit more than one of their monitored sites, well, you're counted all those extra times as well. It's simply put, the collection method is full of holes and makes for bogus statistics.
What matters in commerce at almost every level is what's being sold and moved out the door. We don't care about how used car sales are doing, for instance. We care about NEW ones and how the companies that make NEW cars are doing(or not doing as the case seems to be lately)
***I found this online in the news feeds, dated 10/25/2009***
Apple's US retail desktop revenue share for October was 47.71 percent, up from same time last year when it hit 33.44 percent.
***
Current actual sales data from October shows Apple at 47.71% of the new computer market in the U.S. and a whopping 91% of $1000+ sales in the U.S.
Yep, power hungry video card. (raises hand) Going to get a $400 bigger, badder one in a few months. :)
I loathe having the machine's fans go up and down all the time, so they are set to 7V and run at about 700-800rpm all the time. Apple quiet as a result. Though the heat sinks for the video and CPU are huge to allow this sort of operation. Well worth the $200 it cost in custom fans and modding. And I don't worry about $10-$20 more a year in power usage, since the thing only draws 70-100W during normal operation/web/etc. The real power hungry devices are the video card when it gets going and my printer, which is a like a mini-fridge in terms of power appetite when it's running. But I don't know of any energy efficient color laser printers.
Disabling Speed Step and power management/power saving/etc in BIOS and the OS(whatever one is installed) is the very first thing I do on any machine. I want it at full power all the time. This also makes it easier to keep my fans at a constant speed as well, which makes for a quieter work environment. Similar to how a clock ticking is filtered out after a few hours or days, a constant low drone from the PC is as well.
http://www.calcentron.com/Pages/unicom/unicom_networking_equip/unicom_fast_enet_switches.htm
I use these and they are not only small but work flawlessly.
You missed the point. The reality is that like it or not, the producers and studios have to give at least some of it away for free just to compete with the enormous amount of free entertainment that is currently easily available without strings or copyright issues. Or else they just get lost in the noise. That doesn't mean that it has to be the full version or perfect quality, of course. Nobody said that. Some companies do this by having low quality but free samples of the songs on the various websites(go to most bands' websites - almost all have streaming music or similar), some by playing part of the song, some by having demos and the like(especially true for a game - try to find one without a single demo), and some just give it away for free to grow faster(often true with brand new independent bands)
You have to market your product to the widest possible audience to compete and the studios just don't get it that the harder they force the issue, the more people just simply opt out and do other things for their twenty minutes a day of entertainment. YouTube is free. Dozens of java game sites are free or a tiny monthly fee. 80+ channels of Cable TV, Satellite radio, video games(plus MMOGs)... the list is enormous. It's no longer a few studios controlling most of the content like in the 70s or 80s, which is when most of their board members started in the business. It's sheer chaos with tens of thousands of small and large sources all yelling and screaming for their piece of fame and attention.
http://www.youtube.com/shows%5D
Even commercial firms are beginning to do exactly this.
http://www.youtube.com/show/topgear
Even the BBC is giving content away for free. They finally understand. And these are real TV shows. You don't even need Cable TV any more - just a fast connection. I could spend 24 hours a day watching new stuff just here and still not see a small fraction of what's available.
And this is just YouTube. Multiply that times a hundred or more.
Future consumers like my son and his friends don't even see a need at all to even consider them. Zero interest at all. Not even on their radar, because it costs money and free(and legal) entertainment is everywhere. Shoot, my son won't even stay still for ten minutes to listen to an entire song, let alone a CD. His entire view of "entertainment" is different than previous generations.