hmmm, thats a mighty small crumple zone that the passengers all sit in.
no thanks, if I wanted a micro city car then I'd get a SMART. at least that has a safety tridon cage around the passengers, and does better mpg. it also performs surprisingly well on the safety test. though on an impact I would put my money on the other car...
I don't know which is more appropriate....
"thats a mighty fine and intelligent piece of design there god"
"well done, marvelously detailed and cunningly hidden fossil, we almost fell for that one"
I am waiting for my mini laser powered home cinema projector that I can get for £100 (or $200 if you like), never have to change a £300 bulb on a £300 projector, never have a loud whirry fan and huge amounts of excess heat, generates a good HD image with a respectable amount of lumens and can be tastefully hidden in a wall of books with a drop down projector screen on the over side of the room. Now *thats* a product I would get excited by.
Rubbish 10 lumen images projected from a bloody mobile phones of all gizmo's are nothing to me except an obvious tactic to attempt to sell phones. Of course the projector market might suppress this because of bulb sales, but who knows?
The alternative use for this technology is mini computers with projected screens and laser/IR keyboards that can fit in a pocket and allow office work against a hotel wall with full wifi, SSD and decent battery life. Now thats another use I would get exited by. I want my Zardoz projector/interface ring.
you get home, put on the ol' Indicube and immerse yourself totally in the audio and video of your favorite p*rnstar doing what she does. there you are, she's 2m away in glorious full OLED color and resolution as you are cranking away....
you remove the headphones to find your mum has been in and left tea and biscuits on the side table whilst you were busy.
on a more serious note, add sound canceling headphones and I can see a use for this on a long haul flight.
because I am specifying a fantasy device that has not been built or invented yet, thats why...
Obviously for this to work it should be cheap enough that it can be made in bulk to bring the prices down, this is viable if there is demand and they are suitably versatile. After all the basic module is nothing more then a cheap touch sensitive flat screen (think sprayed OLED), a processor, and wireless. You then plug in USB, power, memory into the slots on the back (naturally a standard interface) to make a tablet.
Then you plug another one into the side to make a wide screen tablet.
Then you register another wirelessly as your keyboard and away you go. Or indeed just use a 5$ wireless keyboard.
Later on you plug your keyboard one and a spare into a cube to make a wraparound screen for a presentation stand at a conferance, three of them echoing the display from the master. Back in the hotel in the evening you unconnect them and you and your colleagues play wireless poker and freecell to pass the time on four in tablet configuration.
The basic module (screen, processor and wireless) can be very cheap indeed if mass made. Designed to join end to end quite seamlessly you can use four of them to watch TV or DVDs back at you hotel on a big screen by registering a TV Tuner/DVD drive module wirelessly.
The system is ubiquitous, and cheap. Mass market. A whole industry exists to make items that can plug into the standard sockets. Competition forces the price of components down to reasonable levels.
They are used in hospitals with an ultrasound module, in laboratories with a oscilloscope module.
but..
And of course it will never be attempted as big business love nothing better then a good format war. Big business will always attempt proprietary solutions and use all means to lock out the competition. This will happen at HW, SW and IP levels.
Actually, done a but more thought on the subject. Picture this:
A 14"*12" flat panel touch sensitive display with bluetooth, wifi, inductive power and some clips at the back for mounting.
Now what can this be used for?
1. x1 a tablet PC
2. z2 with a hinge - a laptop, program the lower one to have a keyboard and tracker pad
3. x2 24"*12" widescreen TV/Monitor
4. x3 computer, 1= keyb, rest = screen
5. x4 wraparound display for conferences
6. x8 home cinema or wall screen
7. x1 advertisement kiosk
8. x1 display module and brains for industrial kiosk or ATE
the possibilities are endless.
but what would it need to function?
1. one seriously configurable operating system. mesh computer between linked components, mini cluster?
2. versatile mounting clip so you could add at will - USB, floppy, SD, CF, 10baseT, hinge for laptop, support for screen, external power cable, TV tuner etc.
3. ubiquitous standard - that would be the killer, you need a recognised standard so everybodies components would work together instead of a diversive formats war
4. power saving, power sharing (power one on a cable, it shares to connected units), some clever self configuration.
5. cheap enough or versatile enough to make it all worthwhile.
and finally, and obligatory - open standards on HW and an SDK so anybody can port apps or write their own.
The Jam trousers Q? now whose idea were those, bloody silly.
To be fair the only part of TFA that got to me were the iRing (jokes abound for the silly name) and Sony apple remote controls. They are very cool. Expect contactless recharging to be the norm in a few years - now how can I retrofit that into my antique desk?
The concept of jigsaw mini screens seems cool (build your own supersize screen by combining unlimited numbers of smaller screen. Of course then the pricing regime follow the square law - 2*area = 4*cost. Damn it, I want my wall screen.
well that's great! What does the Magic 8 Ball say about SCO?
..outlook not so good?
(also why does it have such a problem with Outlook? ok, I'm no MS fan boy but Outlook at least works. sheesh, next thing you know somebody will claim the 8 ball runs Linux.)
FaceBook have it now and you can bet your metaphorical hat that they will use it to gain any revenue, business advantage, or advertisement that they can by fair means or foul.
who owns the data? as if the Internet played fair and said "sorry! my mistake" and coughed it up? yeah right.
You want your data from them, then be prepared to claw it out of their cold, dead hands. after taking Beacon and shoving it so far...
anybody remember that Sean Connery scifi flick Zardoz? An good well thought out plot and Charlotte Rampling's knockers could not save it from some hammed up acting and a general public with no intelligence. But one of the cooler points of the film was the rings that all the immortals wore - voice driven data interfaces to the central computer (called the tabernacle if memory serves me well..) and capable of projecting images, movies and information onto any nearby wall with perfect clarity.
we now have projected keyboards, mini laser projectors and infra-red tracking - come on, lets build our own mini computers and dump those expensive power hungry boxes on our desks. if we could finally solve the porblem of mesh computing and get rid of the ISP monopolies then that would be fantastic as well, lets hope OLPC proves the concept viable..
somebody please give me an example of why I should ever want to control my dishwasher from my phone or my web browser.
the only intelligence I want in my gadgets it on the lines of smart machines that can detect the load and vary the power consumption and resource usage accordingly. possibly the only interaction I would want is a little minimalist chime to alert me that the cycle or current operation has finished and some human interaction is needed.
*everything* else should work behind the scenes to my benefit to save power or alert me when the washing powder is running low.
interaction by web browser? what utter rot. I would say "whatever next, a fridge with a built in web browser?" but I remember talk of such stuff a few years ago...
that brought a mental image of a mad scientist with frizzy white hair in a lightning storm between two massive jacobs ladders screaming...
"IT LIVES! IT LIVES!".
second the other posters, if it does not come with linux, an SDK, circuit diagrams and full specs then I am not interested.
Its not a format war, its a new format. But it *will* be a format war if any of the large firms thinks there is any money in it.
Remember "DataPlay"? A small format optical disk (with an elaborate and complicated DRM system btw) in the early 2000s - they had a new and innovative format. They even got the record companies on their side until the big players (in this case Philips) looked at them, saw they had a business model and crushed them to develop small-form factor optical (SFFO). Of course, SFFO vanished as soon as cheap flash memory was available (low power, no moving part) but the point remains. A single isolated firm will be destroyed by a large multinational as soon as they prove they have a business case. And I bet my metaphorical hat that any array of patents will not affect that outcome in any way.
Besides, I've seen a number of multi terrabyte, multi layered optical systems paraded over the last few years - I label this vapor ware until I see it on the shelves. And even then I would not trust my data to it until its been proven in the corporate world.
Yikes, considering how often my old classic LandRover breaks down, I would not want to fly an old classic Space Shuttle.
Yeah, I know. I cannot compare a rusty old relic with a well maintained shining example of top NASA technology, but even so, hats off to the people brave enough to fly into space in something designed in the early 70s. In real terms is probably not that different to people who fly Sopwith Camels for the hell of it - just more spectacular and better publicized when it goes wrong.
Flash may not be open or perfect - but there are enough cross platform implementations to make it nearly ubiquitous. Given the choice between windows DRMware or Flash I would of made the same choice any day of the week. I am linux only at home, so I'm happy about this.
It would be great news if they then donated the domain to a fan based organization who could then preserve, maintain and preferably enhance the whole website and continue to move it forwards.
But I suspect it will be sold to the highest bidder, no doubt something to do with the new upcoming prequels.
"oh no it won't"..."oh yes it will"... time for the inevitable and entirely predictable arguments.
Seriously though, if you think linux will make any inroads to low cost computing you are totally crackers, the moment it looks like it will then MS will crush it like a fly. It will be lost cost Windows, Vista "ultra basic" or something on those lines. MS will simply not permit it, why would they?
If they are guilty then charge them and let them have their day in court.
If there is no evidence then release them.
But holding them indefinitely on hearsay and suspicion in a legal limbo is madness. The problem will not get easier to deal with the longer you leave it, at some point they will have to be dealt with - so better to get it out of the way now. Confront the problem whatever the cost, return or charge them, and get that embarrassment and shut down.
Slashdot Mirror
hmmm, thats a mighty small crumple zone that the passengers all sit in.
no thanks, if I wanted a micro city car then I'd get a SMART. at least that has a safety tridon cage around the passengers, and does better mpg. it also performs surprisingly well on the safety test. though on an impact I would put my money on the other car...
I don't know which is more appropriate.... "thats a mighty fine and intelligent piece of design there god" "well done, marvelously detailed and cunningly hidden fossil, we almost fell for that one"
sod the mobile phone market.
I am waiting for my mini laser powered home cinema projector that I can get for £100 (or $200 if you like), never have to change a £300 bulb on a £300 projector, never have a loud whirry fan and huge amounts of excess heat, generates a good HD image with a respectable amount of lumens and can be tastefully hidden in a wall of books with a drop down projector screen on the over side of the room. Now *thats* a product I would get excited by.
Rubbish 10 lumen images projected from a bloody mobile phones of all gizmo's are nothing to me except an obvious tactic to attempt to sell phones. Of course the projector market might suppress this because of bulb sales, but who knows?
The alternative use for this technology is mini computers with projected screens and laser/IR keyboards that can fit in a pocket and allow office work against a hotel wall with full wifi, SSD and decent battery life. Now thats another use I would get exited by. I want my Zardoz projector/interface ring.
to rehash the old joke...
you get home, put on the ol' Indicube and immerse yourself totally in the audio and video of your favorite p*rnstar doing what she does. there you are, she's 2m away in glorious full OLED color and resolution as you are cranking away....
you remove the headphones to find your mum has been in and left tea and biscuits on the side table whilst you were busy.
on a more serious note, add sound canceling headphones and I can see a use for this on a long haul flight.
because I am specifying a fantasy device that has not been built or invented yet, thats why...
Obviously for this to work it should be cheap enough that it can be made in bulk to bring the prices down, this is viable if there is demand and they are suitably versatile. After all the basic module is nothing more then a cheap touch sensitive flat screen (think sprayed OLED), a processor, and wireless. You then plug in USB, power, memory into the slots on the back (naturally a standard interface) to make a tablet.
Then you plug another one into the side to make a wide screen tablet.
Then you register another wirelessly as your keyboard and away you go. Or indeed just use a 5$ wireless keyboard.
Later on you plug your keyboard one and a spare into a cube to make a wraparound screen for a presentation stand at a conferance, three of them echoing the display from the master. Back in the hotel in the evening you unconnect them and you and your colleagues play wireless poker and freecell to pass the time on four in tablet configuration.
The basic module (screen, processor and wireless) can be very cheap indeed if mass made. Designed to join end to end quite seamlessly you can use four of them to watch TV or DVDs back at you hotel on a big screen by registering a TV Tuner/DVD drive module wirelessly.
The system is ubiquitous, and cheap. Mass market. A whole industry exists to make items that can plug into the standard sockets. Competition forces the price of components down to reasonable levels.
They are used in hospitals with an ultrasound module, in laboratories with a oscilloscope module.
but..
And of course it will never be attempted as big business love nothing better then a good format war. Big business will always attempt proprietary solutions and use all means to lock out the competition. This will happen at HW, SW and IP levels.
no idea of pricing yet, but several major limbs and a contract signed in your own bodily fluid was hinted at.
832GB SSD?! holy cow thats going to be dear.
Now tell me why anybody should want this outside of the media/video industry...
Actually, done a but more thought on the subject. Picture this:
A 14"*12" flat panel touch sensitive display with bluetooth, wifi, inductive power and some clips at the back for mounting.
Now what can this be used for?
1. x1 a tablet PC
2. z2 with a hinge - a laptop, program the lower one to have a keyboard and tracker pad
3. x2 24"*12" widescreen TV/Monitor
4. x3 computer, 1= keyb, rest = screen
5. x4 wraparound display for conferences
6. x8 home cinema or wall screen
7. x1 advertisement kiosk
8. x1 display module and brains for industrial kiosk or ATE
the possibilities are endless.
but what would it need to function?
1. one seriously configurable operating system. mesh computer between linked components, mini cluster?
2. versatile mounting clip so you could add at will - USB, floppy, SD, CF, 10baseT, hinge for laptop, support for screen, external power cable, TV tuner etc.
3. ubiquitous standard - that would be the killer, you need a recognised standard so everybodies components would work together instead of a diversive formats war
4. power saving, power sharing (power one on a cable, it shares to connected units), some clever self configuration.
5. cheap enough or versatile enough to make it all worthwhile.
and finally, and obligatory - open standards on HW and an SDK so anybody can port apps or write their own.
well, I can dream.
The Jam trousers Q? now whose idea were those, bloody silly.
To be fair the only part of TFA that got to me were the iRing (jokes abound for the silly name) and Sony apple remote controls. They are very cool. Expect contactless recharging to be the norm in a few years - now how can I retrofit that into my antique desk?
The concept of jigsaw mini screens seems cool (build your own supersize screen by combining unlimited numbers of smaller screen. Of course then the pricing regime follow the square law - 2*area = 4*cost. Damn it, I want my wall screen.
well that's great! What does the Magic 8 Ball say about SCO?
..outlook not so good?
(also why does it have such a problem with Outlook? ok, I'm no MS fan boy but Outlook at least works. sheesh, next thing you know somebody will claim the 8 ball runs Linux.)
I would imagine the real question is: how large a firm are lebedev and can they afford to see Apple in court to protect their IP?
..after all, I find thats the real issue at stake in these weaselesque (is that a word?) situations..
kinda irrelevant who 'owns' the data.
FaceBook have it now and you can bet your metaphorical hat that they will use it to gain any revenue, business advantage, or advertisement that they can by fair means or foul.
who owns the data? as if the Internet played fair and said "sorry! my mistake" and coughed it up? yeah right.
You want your data from them, then be prepared to claw it out of their cold, dead hands. after taking Beacon and shoving it so far...
anybody remember that Sean Connery scifi flick Zardoz? An good well thought out plot and Charlotte Rampling's knockers could not save it from some hammed up acting and a general public with no intelligence. But one of the cooler points of the film was the rings that all the immortals wore - voice driven data interfaces to the central computer (called the tabernacle if memory serves me well..) and capable of projecting images, movies and information onto any nearby wall with perfect clarity.
we now have projected keyboards, mini laser projectors and infra-red tracking - come on, lets build our own mini computers and dump those expensive power hungry boxes on our desks. if we could finally solve the porblem of mesh computing and get rid of the ISP monopolies then that would be fantastic as well, lets hope OLPC proves the concept viable..
..spare me this drivel.
somebody please give me an example of why I should ever want to control my dishwasher from my phone or my web browser.
the only intelligence I want in my gadgets it on the lines of smart machines that can detect the load and vary the power consumption and resource usage accordingly. possibly the only interaction I would want is a little minimalist chime to alert me that the cycle or current operation has finished and some human interaction is needed.
*everything* else should work behind the scenes to my benefit to save power or alert me when the washing powder is running low.
interaction by web browser? what utter rot. I would say "whatever next, a fridge with a built in web browser?" but I remember talk of such stuff a few years ago...
an extra internal wall, stuffed full of sound insulation between you and the racks.
oh yes, and while you are designing your perfect office don't forget the supermodel PA and view over the river.
"Heathkit Reincarnates the Hero Robot"??!
that brought a mental image of a mad scientist with frizzy white hair in a lightning storm between two massive jacobs ladders screaming...
"IT LIVES! IT LIVES!".
second the other posters, if it does not come with linux, an SDK, circuit diagrams and full specs then I am not interested.
Its not a format war, its a new format. But it *will* be a format war if any of the large firms thinks there is any money in it.
Remember "DataPlay"? A small format optical disk (with an elaborate and complicated DRM system btw) in the early 2000s - they had a new and innovative format. They even got the record companies on their side until the big players (in this case Philips) looked at them, saw they had a business model and crushed them to develop small-form factor optical (SFFO). Of course, SFFO vanished as soon as cheap flash memory was available (low power, no moving part) but the point remains. A single isolated firm will be destroyed by a large multinational as soon as they prove they have a business case. And I bet my metaphorical hat that any array of patents will not affect that outcome in any way.
More information on Dataplay/SFFO available on net, here one's link:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2930-tiny-optical-disc-could-store-five-movies.html
Besides, I've seen a number of multi terrabyte, multi layered optical systems paraded over the last few years - I label this vapor ware until I see it on the shelves. And even then I would not trust my data to it until its been proven in the corporate world.
Get the cameras rolling, I'm sure it'll be a better impact then the Beagle meteorite simulation of a few years ago.
:-)
(I do feel bad for poking fun at Beagle, many people much smarter then me put a lot of work into that probe.)
Yikes, considering how often my old classic LandRover breaks down, I would not want to fly an old classic Space Shuttle.
Yeah, I know. I cannot compare a rusty old relic with a well maintained shining example of top NASA technology, but even so, hats off to the people brave enough to fly into space in something designed in the early 70s. In real terms is probably not that different to people who fly Sopwith Camels for the hell of it - just more spectacular and better publicized when it goes wrong.
kudos to the BBC.
Flash may not be open or perfect - but there are enough cross platform implementations to make it nearly ubiquitous. Given the choice between windows DRMware or Flash I would of made the same choice any day of the week. I am linux only at home, so I'm happy about this.
It would be great news if they then donated the domain to a fan based organization who could then preserve, maintain and preferably enhance the whole website and continue to move it forwards.
But I suspect it will be sold to the highest bidder, no doubt something to do with the new upcoming prequels.
way cool! I know what I'm doing in my shed this Christmas!
and if my neighbors complain? well, I've have* a very powerful laser....
*(well maybe not, at £1-2m thats a little out of my fripperies budget, back to building the war robot then. shucks)
"I see you have made your choice....
...now lets see you enforce it".
/oblig quote. honestly, it was all I could do not to type TMYTYGTTMSWSTYF, I could only *just* resist.
in chorus now....
"oh no it won't"..."oh yes it will"... time for the inevitable and entirely predictable arguments.
Seriously though, if you think linux will make any inroads to low cost computing you are totally crackers, the moment it looks like it will then MS will crush it like a fly. It will be lost cost Windows, Vista "ultra basic" or something on those lines. MS will simply not permit it, why would they?
..and what happens if they actually do find anything new? hello! Boy who cried wolf syndrome....
pffffft. that was the sound of their credability dying a death.
its sad really, somewhere in China there are some *very* capable engineers holding their heads in their hands.
If they are guilty then charge them and let them have their day in court.
If there is no evidence then release them.
But holding them indefinitely on hearsay and suspicion in a legal limbo is madness. The problem will not get easier to deal with the longer you leave it, at some point they will have to be dealt with - so better to get it out of the way now. Confront the problem whatever the cost, return or charge them, and get that embarrassment and shut down.