at the end of the day I can see the appeal of virtual models of real events, for example
1. police officers using stereoscopic cameras to build a very, very detailed model of the crime scene that can be explored later on or shown to a jury
2. virtual walk through of museums, natural wonders or education exhibits
but shopping and other mundane aspects of life? the obvious comment is that it will waste power, take longer and never be as satisfying as the real thing.
that said, if you can build me a holodeck then I am pretty sure I will never leave it, nothing could be as important as the simulated Monica Belluci and her simulated identical sisters.
so what if you run Linux, how long before you legislate so they can get the router/ISP?
yeah. it might hit botnets, spam, copy-right infringement (guess who will fund it) and other nefarious stuff - but the public will never allow it off the ground.
gaah! is it just me or did I mentally change "developing" into "smothering with patents"...?
well I guess its fair that if they want to pay for developing nice toys then they should get some payback, though I really wonder how much you can patent on touch sensitive surfaces? I would imagine you could be limited to copyright on your interface, right / wrong?
I was amused to see a touch sensitive interface in the new James Bond film. I was looking for a logo to see if they were advertising anybody on that one...
Because of the better inherent security in the operating system model is true that mac/linux is probably safer from direct attacks on the OS but is just as prone to browser attacks and social engineering attacks?
I mean, when root privilege is required to affect the core system this should inherently be safer then Win32 where everybody is an administrator.
Disclaimer: Feel free to flame me to a crisp on my lack of knowledge, but I'll make it clear that I am not an expert in computer security and I am interested in a genuine answer about how vulnerable Linux is compared to Windows.
From what I can tell of the article Win32 is hit hard because it is the softer more numerous target, but as Linux takes hold it will become a more attractive target. But because everybody has the source code presumably this means more eyes scanning for errors and potential security risks fixed faster?
well, part of me thinks its a bit of fun (like the IgNobels), it raises the awareness of their research and - quite frankly - anything that makes Engineering and Science look like a more attractive offering is fine by me as we need to increase the headcount.
but...
the other part of me thinks. what. the. fuck? these people fought hard for their funding and are doing dance?
I would say that china has many good research engineers to get new technology - but from my time working there I would say that industrial espionage and reverse engineering are perfectly acceptable methods to get new technology over there. I have seen new chips turn up that once decapped and FIB'd were seen to be *exact* copies of designs from the firm I worked for, complete with the same faults - but that's what you get for using a Chinese fab.
As always I am interested in this from a general viewpoint - I mean how many hours R&D is worth the hassle of paying for? obviously if something has been developed for many years and represents significant innovation it would be worthwhile, but they seem to be after anything.
It reminds me of the Tupelov 144 and Bakinor shuttle - both of which were uncannily close to planes developed elsewhere...
I like their quote "The cost of the work will fall within the Cern's existing budget" though it does make me idly speculate on the size of their budget and how large a secret fortress I could build with it....
I've wondered before, what would happen if you dropped one?
Remember the rash of pulp stories in the earlier years of tethered micro black holes that were accidentally released and orbited around the inside of a planet whilst slowly gaining mass and eating more and more.
Would a lightsaber power itself from the mass it removes/cuts - would the "battery" die out. Unlike a micro blackhole it would not generate a gravitational field.
Really, its a slow day at work - I cannot even believe I am thinking about this...
Did anybody ever think of practical jokes you could play with a theoretical light saber...?
though akira is an epic and the old film was very much shortened. the effects in both akira and witchblade had better be up to it - especially akira in a few spots, but these days they can CGI "film" anything.
of course, is it too late to ask them to file "They Boys" or "Fables", or even something like "Losers"?
Installing Microsoft software in OLPC's laptops has been controversial. OLPC started out offering Linux on the devices because the OS costs nothing and organizers believed it made the device run more efficiently. Some open-source software advocates hoped the XO would spread the use of Linux and the open source philosophy to the 5 billion people living without computers in the developing world.
Microsoft hopes to capture these 5 billion people for its future market potential.
..at least they are honest about it. and none of this "offering a better, competative.." rubbish. its plain old "get them when they are young" philosophy....
whoa, I predict the mother of all flame fests over this one.
In general the press print stories that they think will sell, perhaps Obama was more interesting? - there was lots of back stories to print on.
In the UK the press have a lot to answer for - for example, they talked Northern Rock up into a fiasco by warning people what would happen to their funds and hence everybody tried to withdraw their money at once. I have always thought news papers should be more responsible and not just profit orientated.
I thought of the same idea ages ago but there was a couple of differences...
1. no backlight, make a system with a clear mono LCD with a mirror/diffuser that allows you to light up the screen naturally on a bright day or shine any other light sauce into the back on a darker day.
2. no HDD, no moving parts - we are beginning to see this with the EEE style netbooks
3. very low power chip - forget the feature creep that is already entering the netbook market. all you need is a web browser and officeware for it to be useful.
this might have a fighting chance of running for a while after being left on a windowsill to recharge.
I liked the concept of the OLPC but the moment IBM and MS got on board I thought it was fucked.
for the curious, a RAID system with occasional offsite backup (my parents) and my "~/documents" folder will all my really important stuff is a mounted ~4GB partition that is backup up onto a blank DVD once a weeks or so or more frequently if I work any faster.
some years ago I had the pain of a 20GB HDD (it seemed big at the time) falling over and wiping alot of my data, I backup religiously now. I have always thought that people only learn to backup this way...
The only way I would do this is if all my important data was on a server in another part of my house with all the HDD with seperate coolers, this can be as noisy as I like as it would only bother the cat.
Then I could have a silent PC using all the data only on the server via a nice fast network, then if the local one dies you drop in another 20GBP HDD and reinstall.
There is no way in hell I would trust important data with a system that ran the HDD hot. Absolutely no way.
Still, I applaud his free thinking and can do approach.
but in the next season, assuming it has not been buried in dust it will then get power again from the solar array, so what then? surely some basic SW should be functional as the power rises over a certain point. and it does not need a huge amount of power to transmit basic telemetry like temperature, light, perhaps the odd photo in low res broadcast at low power.
with all the research and development that went into the thing, I do not see why one season should kill it.
however, I recognize I am not an expert and the people who write the articles presumably are, so what have I missed?
corrosion in the environment?
batteries that cannot survive being fully discharged?
lander cannot run on solar alone?
anyhow, kudos to NASA for lasting well beyond the tables life span in the first place.
If people want to pay for it then they'll go to iTunes.
If they do not then they will use another P2P system instead.
Having the ISP intercept and redirect their traffic will only annoy the consumers and damage the reputation of the ISP. Much like the trials of Phorm in the UK - which has lead to customer desertion and legal challenges.
I wonder if the people who come up with such stupid ideas even use the internet sometimes.
Slashdot Mirror
I would rather it had an ON switch so I could turn it...
oh wait.
gaah. this is the sort of drivel that managers beat over and looks good in slideshows.
this smacks of first life... http://www.getafirstlife.com/
at the end of the day I can see the appeal of virtual models of real events, for example
1. police officers using stereoscopic cameras to build a very, very detailed model of the crime scene that can be explored later on or shown to a jury
2. virtual walk through of museums, natural wonders or education exhibits
but shopping and other mundane aspects of life? the obvious comment is that it will waste power, take longer and never be as satisfying as the real thing.
that said, if you can build me a holodeck then I am pretty sure I will never leave it, nothing could be as important as the simulated Monica Belluci and her simulated identical sisters.
so what if you run Linux, how long before you legislate so they can get the router/ISP?
yeah. it might hit botnets, spam, copy-right infringement (guess who will fund it) and other nefarious stuff - but the public will never allow it off the ground.
gaah! is it just me or did I mentally change "developing" into "smothering with patents"...?
well I guess its fair that if they want to pay for developing nice toys then they should get some payback, though I really wonder how much you can patent on touch sensitive surfaces? I would imagine you could be limited to copyright on your interface, right / wrong?
I was amused to see a touch sensitive interface in the new James Bond film. I was looking for a logo to see if they were advertising anybody on that one...
Because of the better inherent security in the operating system model is true that mac/linux is probably safer from direct attacks on the OS but is just as prone to browser attacks and social engineering attacks?
I mean, when root privilege is required to affect the core system this should inherently be safer then Win32 where everybody is an administrator.
Disclaimer: Feel free to flame me to a crisp on my lack of knowledge, but I'll make it clear that I am not an expert in computer security and I am interested in a genuine answer about how vulnerable Linux is compared to Windows.
From what I can tell of the article Win32 is hit hard because it is the softer more numerous target, but as Linux takes hold it will become a more attractive target. But because everybody has the source code presumably this means more eyes scanning for errors and potential security risks fixed faster?
well, part of me thinks its a bit of fun (like the IgNobels), it raises the awareness of their research and - quite frankly - anything that makes Engineering and Science look like a more attractive offering is fine by me as we need to increase the headcount.
but...
the other part of me thinks. what. the. fuck? these people fought hard for their funding and are doing dance?
another fine example of the barbara streisand effect in the making.
see...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
stupid. sometimes I wonder how these executives think, or even if.
perhaps next time he could attempt to build a reliable web server?
haha! with delight! I will be reaching for the popcorn whilst I read what promises to be an amusing article and linked mails.
/. crowd.
This will haunt them.
I suspect they will get little sympathy from the
I would say that china has many good research engineers to get new technology - but from my time working there I would say that industrial espionage and reverse engineering are perfectly acceptable methods to get new technology over there. I have seen new chips turn up that once decapped and FIB'd were seen to be *exact* copies of designs from the firm I worked for, complete with the same faults - but that's what you get for using a Chinese fab.
As always I am interested in this from a general viewpoint - I mean how many hours R&D is worth the hassle of paying for? obviously if something has been developed for many years and represents significant innovation it would be worthwhile, but they seem to be after anything.
It reminds me of the Tupelov 144 and Bakinor shuttle - both of which were uncannily close to planes developed elsewhere...
bbc reported the same thing...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7734251.stm
I like their quote "The cost of the work will fall within the Cern's existing budget" though it does make me idly speculate on the size of their budget and how large a secret fortress I could build with it....
I've wondered before, what would happen if you dropped one?
Remember the rash of pulp stories in the earlier years of tethered micro black holes that were accidentally released and orbited around the inside of a planet whilst slowly gaining mass and eating more and more.
Would a lightsaber power itself from the mass it removes/cuts - would the "battery" die out. Unlike a micro blackhole it would not generate a gravitational field.
Really, its a slow day at work - I cannot even believe I am thinking about this...
Did anybody ever think of practical jokes you could play with a theoretical light saber...?
And why is it lightsaber not lightsabre...?
my highlights:
akira, runaways, whiteout, witchblade, gamekeeper
though akira is an epic and the old film was very much shortened. the effects in both akira and witchblade had better be up to it - especially akira in a few spots, but these days they can CGI "film" anything.
of course, is it too late to ask them to file "They Boys" or "Fables", or even something like "Losers"?
Installing Microsoft software in OLPC's laptops has been controversial. OLPC started out offering Linux on the devices because the OS costs nothing and organizers believed it made the device run more efficiently. Some open-source software advocates hoped the XO would spread the use of Linux and the open source philosophy to the 5 billion people living without computers in the developing world.
Microsoft hopes to capture these 5 billion people for its future market potential.
whoa, I predict the mother of all flame fests over this one.
In general the press print stories that they think will sell, perhaps Obama was more interesting? - there was lots of back stories to print on.
In the UK the press have a lot to answer for - for example, they talked Northern Rock up into a fiasco by warning people what would happen to their funds and hence everybody tried to withdraw their money at once. I have always thought news papers should be more responsible and not just profit orientated.
yes, yes, yes, I'm sure you uncovered a conspiracy of epic proportions behind the dating sites, but this is /. and only one thing matters....
did you get a date?
why yes, I am new round here.. how did you know?
Sad (but predictable on /.) to see a lot of jokes already, so I'll be first to say commiserations to the family and RIP a pioneer.
He died doing what he loved and always challenged his boundaries, I can admire that.
At least the mystery is finally cleared up, the crash investigation can begin.
theres a reason why the OLPC had a hand crank.
I thought of the same idea ages ago but there was a couple of differences...
1. no backlight, make a system with a clear mono LCD with a mirror/diffuser that allows you to light up the screen naturally on a bright day or shine any other light sauce into the back on a darker day.
2. no HDD, no moving parts - we are beginning to see this with the EEE style netbooks
3. very low power chip - forget the feature creep that is already entering the netbook market. all you need is a web browser and officeware for it to be useful.
this might have a fighting chance of running for a while after being left on a windowsill to recharge.
I liked the concept of the OLPC but the moment IBM and MS got on board I thought it was fucked.
hell, yes. but I thought that was implied!
for the curious, a RAID system with occasional offsite backup (my parents) and my "~/documents" folder will all my really important stuff is a mounted ~4GB partition that is backup up onto a blank DVD once a weeks or so or more frequently if I work any faster.
some years ago I had the pain of a 20GB HDD (it seemed big at the time) falling over and wiping alot of my data, I backup religiously now. I have always thought that people only learn to backup this way...
The only way I would do this is if all my important data was on a server in another part of my house with all the HDD with seperate coolers, this can be as noisy as I like as it would only bother the cat.
Then I could have a silent PC using all the data only on the server via a nice fast network, then if the local one dies you drop in another 20GBP HDD and reinstall.
There is no way in hell I would trust important data with a system that ran the HDD hot. Absolutely no way.
Still, I applaud his free thinking and can do approach.
The lander may be shutting down, but its work remembering that its done its job and exceeded 2.5 times its planned life span.
If everything I designed lasted 2.5 times its product life I would be happy.
or to crunch the numbers another way - Windows lost 5.5% of the desktop market in a little over a year....
ouch, I bet that smarts.
here's what I do not understand.
so no sunlight = no power. the lander dies.
but in the next season, assuming it has not been buried in dust it will then get power again from the solar array, so what then? surely some basic SW should be functional as the power rises over a certain point. and it does not need a huge amount of power to transmit basic telemetry like temperature, light, perhaps the odd photo in low res broadcast at low power.
with all the research and development that went into the thing, I do not see why one season should kill it.
however, I recognize I am not an expert and the people who write the articles presumably are, so what have I missed?
corrosion in the environment?
batteries that cannot survive being fully discharged?
lander cannot run on solar alone?
anyhow, kudos to NASA for lasting well beyond the tables life span in the first place.
What planet are these people on?
If people want to pay for it then they'll go to iTunes.
If they do not then they will use another P2P system instead.
Having the ISP intercept and redirect their traffic will only annoy the consumers and damage the reputation of the ISP. Much like the trials of Phorm in the UK - which has lead to customer desertion and legal challenges.
I wonder if the people who come up with such stupid ideas even use the internet sometimes.
I don't know about you, but for me it says a lot that the mere fact that any law is being backed by a MPAA policy advisor makes me distrust it more.