I was on a plane with an in-flight entertainment system recently. One gentlemen a row in front of me played a slot-machine game. I am quite certain he wasn't playing with real money (he was profitable), and it seems unlikely that it would be some system of redeemable points or miles.
So there you have it: nearly the most abstract Skinner Box conceivable. He had two buttons on the screen to press ("bet max" and "spin") and a display telling him he had been rewarded.
It might not be as plentiful as you think. I've heard an anecdote that the Guinness Book of World Records lists vacuum as the most expensive substance known to man...
Most expensive by weight, that is. Additionally, higher quality vacuums are exponentially more expensive!
Actually, the blank frames thing is a good idea. While the might be some hoops to jump through to make it work, that could actually be an effective and rather equitable copyright protection.
If done correctly, it would essentially shut down bootleg data torrents. I'm imagining that whenever an offending file is found (by hand) in the torrents, a hundred noise files with identical names are seeded automatically. If the bootleggers distinguish the correct file using method X, then OutsourcedTorrentFlooding Inc. would simply copy method X, though I imagine hashes might be somewhat hard to deal with. Whenever a legitimate torrent is unjustly buried, some nebulous, expedient legal process with teeth causes the file to be unburied I hope.
This method theoretically allows non-DRMed files to be rather safe from mass infringement, while leaving consumer rights and valid distribution channels mostly open.
It's kind of silly that spam may be the antidote to illegal copyright infringement.
[cynicism]Count the "maybe" qualifiers in this post![/cynicism]
The series you link to comes immediately from the Taylor series of Arctan(x): (d/dx)Arctan(x) = 1/(1+x^2) = 1-x^2+x^4-x^6... (this series is valid/convergent only for |x^2|<1) Arctan(x) = x-x^3/3+x^5/5-x^7/7... (when |x|=1, it is a decreasing, alternating series, so it converges.) Pi/4 = Arctan(1) = 1-1/3+1/5-1/7...
While that formula can be written very concisely, it converges slowly, requiring n terms to be summed to guarantee that the error is no more than 1/(2n+1).
Here's a formula that converges more quickly. If memory serves, it was Ramanujan who derived it. If anybody here knows the math behind it, I'd like to see it.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c298/unconvinced1/pi.gif No autolink, had to encode as Extrans to get proper formatting. 1/pi = sum, as k=0 to infinity, of Binomial[2k,k]^3 * (42k+5) * 16^(-3k-1)
I put a key-logger, mouse-logger, and screen-logger on your system (hardware ones, that is). I retrieve the loggers and memorize every mouse movement and keypress in the video. If necessary, I record a several instances of you opening that archive.
If I want that archive badly enough, I'll break even that security.
I read the Steorn patent a while ago (the last time it was posted on/.), and I spotted the flaw pretty easily. The machine is meant to move a metal plate around to selectively block the magnetic field from a permanent magnet. If you could do that without using too much energy, then it would be a viable perpetual motion machine, but moving conductors around in magnetic fields takes precisely "too much" energy.
I can't wait until they make an eggbeater with a built in webcam. Or a BlueTooth-enabled flashlight.
This reminds me of the marketing guy talking to Dilbert: "It has to have a 47'' screen and still fit in a purse or wallet. It has to act as a communications satellite as well as an air freshener. It must cure deadly diseases and whiten your teeth while you sleep! AND IT HAS TO BE CAPABLE OF TIME TRAVEL! AND HAVE A TELEPATHIC USER INTERFACE!"
I cringe every time a new buzzword is created. When new buzzwords are made out of what used to be respectable, technical words ("mapplet"?), I almost want to cry.
As far as I know, the value of the metals inside electronic waste is only a couple dollars per ton of waste. Some electronic waste recycling companies have found that it is much more profitable to resell things that still work (at roughly 90% discounts), and extract the working components from things that don't.
FTA: "The process, called airgap, enables trillions of microscopic vacuum holes to be placed between the copper wire in chips to act as an insulator."
Copper wire is not inlaid into silicon chips, as far as I know. I don't think they meant copper wire.
This doesn't have anything to do with snowflakes or nature. Just a self-assembling polymer that can be used as a mask to etch holes in the oxide layer of the silicon chip, making the oxide a better insulator.
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So there you have it: nearly the most abstract Skinner Box conceivable. He had two buttons on the screen to press ("bet max" and "spin") and a display telling him he had been rewarded.
He played for something like three hours.
Most expensive by weight, that is. Additionally, higher quality vacuums are exponentially more expensive!
If done correctly, it would essentially shut down bootleg data torrents. I'm imagining that whenever an offending file is found (by hand) in the torrents, a hundred noise files with identical names are seeded automatically. If the bootleggers distinguish the correct file using method X, then OutsourcedTorrentFlooding Inc. would simply copy method X, though I imagine hashes might be somewhat hard to deal with. Whenever a legitimate torrent is unjustly buried, some nebulous, expedient legal process with teeth causes the file to be unburied I hope.
This method theoretically allows non-DRMed files to be rather safe from mass infringement, while leaving consumer rights and valid distribution channels mostly open.
It's kind of silly that spam may be the antidote to illegal copyright infringement.
[cynicism]Count the "maybe" qualifiers in this post![/cynicism]
The series you link to comes immediately from the Taylor series of Arctan(x):
(d/dx)Arctan(x) = 1/(1+x^2) = 1-x^2+x^4-x^6... (this series is valid/convergent only for |x^2|<1)
Arctan(x) = x-x^3/3+x^5/5-x^7/7... (when |x|=1, it is a decreasing, alternating series, so it converges.)
Pi/4 = Arctan(1) = 1-1/3+1/5-1/7...
While that formula can be written very concisely, it converges slowly, requiring n terms to be summed to guarantee that the error is no more than 1/(2n+1).
Here's a formula that converges more quickly. If memory serves, it was Ramanujan who derived it. If anybody here knows the math behind it, I'd like to see it.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c298/unconvinced1/pi.gif
No autolink, had to encode as Extrans to get proper formatting.
1/pi = sum, as k=0 to infinity, of Binomial[2k,k]^3 * (42k+5) * 16^(-3k-1)
I also take you up on the first bet for one dollar, thus winning the metabet.
I put a key-logger, mouse-logger, and screen-logger on your system (hardware ones, that is). I retrieve the loggers and memorize every mouse movement and keypress in the video. If necessary, I record a several instances of you opening that archive. If I want that archive badly enough, I'll break even that security.
I would love to see the National Institute for Standards and Technology establish the standard "reference cockroach".
I like to put pennies on the train tracks. Maglev trains take all the fun out of it!
Hey, you're right! I feel it!
I read the Steorn patent a while ago (the last time it was posted on /.), and I spotted the flaw pretty easily. The machine is meant to move a metal plate around to selectively block the magnetic field from a permanent magnet. If you could do that without using too much energy, then it would be a viable perpetual motion machine, but moving conductors around in magnetic fields takes precisely "too much" energy.
Not my lymph! I need my lymph!
I'm worried about how they might solve the "last mile" problem.
I can't wait until they make an eggbeater with a built in webcam. Or a BlueTooth-enabled flashlight.
This reminds me of the marketing guy talking to Dilbert: "It has to have a 47'' screen and still fit in a purse or wallet. It has to act as a communications satellite as well as an air freshener. It must cure deadly diseases and whiten your teeth while you sleep! AND IT HAS TO BE CAPABLE OF TIME TRAVEL! AND HAVE A TELEPATHIC USER INTERFACE!"
Wait, are you describing a wheelchair or a street-sweeper?
I cringe every time a new buzzword is created. When new buzzwords are made out of what used to be respectable, technical words ("mapplet"?), I almost want to cry.
As far as I know, the value of the metals inside electronic waste is only a couple dollars per ton of waste. Some electronic waste recycling companies have found that it is much more profitable to resell things that still work (at roughly 90% discounts), and extract the working components from things that don't.
Copper wire is not inlaid into silicon chips, as far as I know. I don't think they meant copper wire.
This doesn't have anything to do with snowflakes or nature. Just a self-assembling polymer that can be used as a mask to etch holes in the oxide layer of the silicon chip, making the oxide a better insulator.