I want to add that the impoverished African and South American nations that ignore patents, being primarily agrarian economies, also don't benefit from international patents of their own. Canada, as part of the first world, relies heavily on technology and patents to bring wealth into its borders. To ignore international patents is for them nothing more than the basest hypocrisy.
This sounds pretty impressive, but is it really necessary? TV sets are limited to 640x480 and 24 fps, so all that power isn't even going to be seen. Already, with the current generation of console systems, game companies can't put enough detail into their graphics to stretch the limits of the hardware. There's just no market for a more powerful system. Game companies are going to stick to the current consoles rather than investing in new platforms whose advantages won't even be noticed. In fifteen years, we'll all still be playing our PlayStation 2 systems.
Isn't that a little, well, nerdy? Do they forego grades in favor of experience points, and require new students to choose an Alignment and Class instead of a major?
Seriously, they should probably be going out of their way to appeal to creative non-geeks, artists and writers who can come up with new ideas and revitalize the stagnant game market. Sure, you can always eke out a few dollars from the latest boring iteration of a proven formula, Grand Theft Auto 7 or Warcraft VI. What the industry needs is fresh ideas from different sorts of people.
The very problem with the foundering game industry is that it's run by, well, let's just say the people who were picked last in kickball. Games appeal to the most antisocial element of society, because that's all their creators know. I guess it's too optimistic of me to ask this of the founders of this school...they're probably geeks themselves, with not a creative bone in their bodies.
Like anything else, the quest for silence and coolness involves a tradeoff, or Devil's Deal.
The obvious way to keep your PC quiet is to strap pillows to the case, but this increases heat retention. Likewise, the obvious way to keep your PC cool, adding case fans, makes your PC louder.
It turns out that you can't have it both ways...a PC generates excess energy, and it is going to manifest itself either as heat or as sound. It's basic conservation of energy. So choose your poison now, and learn to live with the side effects.
Moore's Law was never intended to last as long as it did. It's a logarithmic function, which means it hits an asymptote at around 2010 and stops being useful several years before that. Moore himself predicted that computers would only follow his curve until the mid-90's or so, so he still did better than expected.
Does anyone really need something like this? The iPod you can use in the car, while working out, or while sitting at your desk. Ripping or downloading songs is fast and the files are small. None of these things are true for an iVideoPod. The only place you could use such a thing would be on a bus or train or something, where most of the passengers tend to be older and poor (not exactly Apple's niche market, to put it nicely). If they want to continue to grab the rich college girl market, they'll need to come up with something more reasonable.
Hey, maybe this will encourage people to dump Mac OS altogether and start using Linux, where all the apps are free. Maybe they really do support open source!
While it is a little scary to have the proverbial 10,000th pounded gorilla coming after you, I think we should be happy that we're starting to make the fat cats at Micro$oft nervous.
In the past, Linux has been mostly ignored by Evil Bill and company. It made sense. Like *BSD these days, we had such a small install base that we didn't really pose much of a threat. But in the past year or two, Linux has really started to explode. It's popping up on servers, PDAs, hell, even cash registers. Suddenly, we're a force to be reckoned with.
What we need to do now is strike while the iron's hot and go for the kill. We've got them running scared, and I think one final push is all it will take to bury Windows forever, another tombstone on the side of the fabled Information Superhighway. I plan to do my part by open sourcing all of my non-sensitive projects and donating a token amount to the FSF each year. I encourage others to do more.
This is just rediculous. Couldn't we focus on giving them something a little more practical like, you know, food, clean water, and medical supplies?
I'm just sick of the techno-fetishism that's taking the place of true humanitarian efforts and generosity. These people don't need cell phones and microwaves, they need basic living supplies. Let them establish some hygenic standards and bring the infant mortality rate down, and we can worry about convenience later. Never mind that the health effects of wireless networks have not yet been studied in great detail. For heaven's sake, we could be sending these people to their graves with invisible radiation!
The PayPal thing is just insult upon injury. I'll make my donations by check, thanks, so none of my money goes to line the pockets of some hokey e-business that can't even protect its own databases (and doesn't claim to!).
This is pretty cool. I remember a similar community effort being discussed several years ago to bring the Timothy Zahn Star Wars sequels to the screen (or to tape, whatever). Never got off the ground, AFAIK.
I am a little worried as to how this will be treated by Paramount. They are notoriously evil when it comes to "protecting" their copyrights, especially when it comes to Trek.
Also, why the Exeter? Is there any reason given as to why the Federation would name a ship after an East Coast prep school with a history of buggery?
So we're supposed to pump out open source libraries so that giant companies like Micro$oft can write proprietary applications around them and profit from our labor? Would they like us to polish their boots while we're at it?
I don't trust this "article" a bit. $1000000 says it was funded by some big company looking to milk open source advocates for all they're worth.
While it's nice to see some standardization in what has to this point been somewhat of a doggy dog industry, I'm a little worried about letting the corporations themselves work out such standards on their own.
I suspect that whatever standards are agreed upon will favor the big players over the little ones, and be harmful to consumers and investors. Just look at the RIAA or Enron if you need proof.
It's somewhat reassuring that whatever they come up with will have to be approved by the FCC, but I somehow feel that the FCC should be the one designing the standard to begin with, to insure that everything is fair and impartial.
How could they? I thought they'd finally invented the perfect personal computer, and that the 17-inch LCD iMac would never be discontinued. I guess I thought wrong.:(
Uh oh. The guys in my frat (don't ask) used to play a form of foosball where if you were shut out then you put your name on the wall of shame, and played with your pants down until you scored a goal.
Possibility 1: This is for real, and represents a threat to freedom and democracy and should be attacked with force, just as we have done with the MPAA and RIAA and Tipper Gore. Chuckling at the poor misguided Christians will not win us back our rights.
Possibility 2: This is a hoax, also known as a Troll. If it were posted as a comment it would be modded to -1. As such, it certainly shouldn't run on the front page. This places Slashdot's credibility at risk.
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I agree, this is just plain greedy.
I want to add that the impoverished African and South American nations that ignore patents, being primarily agrarian economies, also don't benefit from international patents of their own. Canada, as part of the first world, relies heavily on technology and patents to bring wealth into its borders. To ignore international patents is for them nothing more than the basest hypocrisy.
This sounds pretty impressive, but is it really necessary? TV sets are limited to 640x480 and 24 fps, so all that power isn't even going to be seen. Already, with the current generation of console systems, game companies can't put enough detail into their graphics to stretch the limits of the hardware. There's just no market for a more powerful system. Game companies are going to stick to the current consoles rather than investing in new platforms whose advantages won't even be noticed. In fifteen years, we'll all still be playing our PlayStation 2 systems.
1. Publicize hacking attempt in progress.
2. Receive Cease and Desist letter.
3. ???
4. PROFIT!!
Not really. 4! * 4 = 96, more than enough chord combinations to cover all of the letters and digits.
Now all someone needs to do is port Linux to it, and it'll make a nice little PDA.
Isn't that a little, well, nerdy? Do they forego grades in favor of experience points, and require new students to choose an Alignment and Class instead of a major?
Seriously, they should probably be going out of their way to appeal to creative non-geeks, artists and writers who can come up with new ideas and revitalize the stagnant game market. Sure, you can always eke out a few dollars from the latest boring iteration of a proven formula, Grand Theft Auto 7 or Warcraft VI. What the industry needs is fresh ideas from different sorts of people.
The very problem with the foundering game industry is that it's run by, well, let's just say the people who were picked last in kickball. Games appeal to the most antisocial element of society, because that's all their creators know. I guess it's too optimistic of me to ask this of the founders of this school...they're probably geeks themselves, with not a creative bone in their bodies.
Like anything else, the quest for silence and coolness involves a tradeoff, or Devil's Deal.
The obvious way to keep your PC quiet is to strap pillows to the case, but this increases heat retention. Likewise, the obvious way to keep your PC cool, adding case fans, makes your PC louder.
It turns out that you can't have it both ways...a PC generates excess energy, and it is going to manifest itself either as heat or as sound. It's basic conservation of energy. So choose your poison now, and learn to live with the side effects.
Moore's Law was never intended to last as long as it did. It's a logarithmic function, which means it hits an asymptote at around 2010 and stops being useful several years before that. Moore himself predicted that computers would only follow his curve until the mid-90's or so, so he still did better than expected.
Does anyone really need something like this? The iPod you can use in the car, while working out, or while sitting at your desk. Ripping or downloading songs is fast and the files are small. None of these things are true for an iVideoPod. The only place you could use such a thing would be on a bus or train or something, where most of the passengers tend to be older and poor (not exactly Apple's niche market, to put it nicely). If they want to continue to grab the rich college girl market, they'll need to come up with something more reasonable.
From the article:
washington is one of the 32+ states that have specific legislation that states that the segway ht can go anywhere a pedestrian can go
Fascinating that they can pass a law that allows the Segway to go up ladders.
Hey, maybe this will encourage people to dump Mac OS altogether and start using Linux, where all the apps are free. Maybe they really do support open source!
While it is a little scary to have the proverbial 10,000th pounded gorilla coming after you, I think we should be happy that we're starting to make the fat cats at Micro$oft nervous.
In the past, Linux has been mostly ignored by Evil Bill and company. It made sense. Like *BSD these days, we had such a small install base that we didn't really pose much of a threat. But in the past year or two, Linux has really started to explode. It's popping up on servers, PDAs, hell, even cash registers. Suddenly, we're a force to be reckoned with.
What we need to do now is strike while the iron's hot and go for the kill. We've got them running scared, and I think one final push is all it will take to bury Windows forever, another tombstone on the side of the fabled Information Superhighway. I plan to do my part by open sourcing all of my non-sensitive projects and donating a token amount to the FSF each year. I encourage others to do more.
Russian puppets - forgot the name
Babushkas. Also similar to the "Chinese Box."
No Segway?
He should look at another trilogy of books, LOTR, to notice that a suprise plot is not needed for great movies.
Too late. He's already noticed that great movies are not needed for making tons of money.
This is just rediculous. Couldn't we focus on giving them something a little more practical like, you know, food, clean water, and medical supplies?
I'm just sick of the techno-fetishism that's taking the place of true humanitarian efforts and generosity. These people don't need cell phones and microwaves, they need basic living supplies. Let them establish some hygenic standards and bring the infant mortality rate down, and we can worry about convenience later. Never mind that the health effects of wireless networks have not yet been studied in great detail. For heaven's sake, we could be sending these people to their graves with invisible radiation!
The PayPal thing is just insult upon injury. I'll make my donations by check, thanks, so none of my money goes to line the pockets of some hokey e-business that can't even protect its own databases (and doesn't claim to!).
This is pretty cool. I remember a similar community effort being discussed several years ago to bring the Timothy Zahn Star Wars sequels to the screen (or to tape, whatever). Never got off the ground, AFAIK.
I am a little worried as to how this will be treated by Paramount. They are notoriously evil when it comes to "protecting" their copyrights, especially when it comes to Trek.
Also, why the Exeter? Is there any reason given as to why the Federation would name a ship after an East Coast prep school with a history of buggery?
So we're supposed to pump out open source libraries so that giant companies like Micro$oft can write proprietary applications around them and profit from our labor? Would they like us to polish their boots while we're at it?
I don't trust this "article" a bit. $1000000 says it was funded by some big company looking to milk open source advocates for all they're worth.
While it's nice to see some standardization in what has to this point been somewhat of a doggy dog industry, I'm a little worried about letting the corporations themselves work out such standards on their own.
I suspect that whatever standards are agreed upon will favor the big players over the little ones, and be harmful to consumers and investors. Just look at the RIAA or Enron if you need proof.
It's somewhat reassuring that whatever they come up with will have to be approved by the FCC, but I somehow feel that the FCC should be the one designing the standard to begin with, to insure that everything is fair and impartial.
How could they? I thought they'd finally invented the perfect personal computer, and that the 17-inch LCD iMac would never be discontinued. I guess I thought wrong. :(
Uh oh. The guys in my frat (don't ask) used to play a form of foosball where if you were shut out then you put your name on the wall of shame, and played with your pants down until you scored a goal.
I was sort of dismayed to see how he seemed to stick with proprietary technologies like Windows and Director. Still, pretty fun project.
No Segway?
NASA started the program by wanting to provide burgers for Mars astronauts
This is a perfect example of what's wrong with NASA. They had two options:
1. Go to the store and pick up some ready-made beef patties at $2.50/lb.
2. At a cost of $97 bazillion in taxpayer money, invent cowless beef in a laboratory.
And they went with option 2. Is there any wonder they're running short on cash and haven't done anything useful in a decade and a half?
Possibility 1: This is for real, and represents a threat to freedom and democracy and should be attacked with force, just as we have done with the MPAA and RIAA and Tipper Gore. Chuckling at the poor misguided Christians will not win us back our rights.
Possibility 2: This is a hoax, also known as a Troll. If it were posted as a comment it would be modded to -1. As such, it certainly shouldn't run on the front page. This places Slashdot's credibility at risk.