"...taking accessibility a step too far in their rush to attract people who don't typically play video games..." Reminds me of a game called Spore. While it may have sold a lot of units, many people here would agree with me when I say this: I want my money back!
7MHz? Good luck getting that through the FCC regulations on radiated emissions, not to mention all of those HAM operators. However, if they do achieve 80% efficiency then I will wish them the best of luck.
I would love to get IE7 or IE8 working on my PC here at work, but I cannot do this because I don't have the permissions for the installation. I tried. The application that you need to install never recognized that it was already installed, so it keeps trying to install itself. (Yes, I have a legit machine. I even have that stupid windows code sticker on my PC).
If Micro$oft cared that much, they would let me install it without going through the WGA. In the mean time, I will happily use my Firefox to take care of business.
When will there be a law that will either 1.) Fine a company for every social security number that is published/hacked/stolen (to the point that they either spend the money on security OR they STOP storing social security numbers/cc numbers), or 2.) make it illegal to store a social security number/credit card number?
Lets say you are a university trying to give a student loan to a prospect. Sure, you need to run a credit inquiry and identity verification, but after that you give them a student ID to replace their SSN.
Stop storing this information unless you are able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are able to secure this information.
My parents actually ordered me a Kindle for a graduation present, but fortunately it had not arrived in time for them to give it to me at graduation. I had them cancel the order. (They got me an iPod Touch instead.)
In case you were wondering, that is why you got modded funny.
I am really thinking about buying a new PC. Why should I buy Vista when it will become obsolete a year after Windows 7 comes out? Why should I buy a "Windows 7 capable" PC when it won't really support the real Windows 7? Congrats Windows and mainstream manufactures. You leave me no choice but to build my own.
Proceeds from the program, including advertising revenue from Googleâ(TM)s book search service, will be split; Google will take 37 percent, and authors and publishers will share the rest. Google will also help set up a Book Rights Registry, run by authors and publishers, to administer rights and distribute payments.
Authors are permitted to opt out of the settlement or remove individual books from Googleâ(TM)s database. Google says it expects the pool of orphan books to shrink as authors learn about the registry and claim their books.
While the registryâ(TM)s agreement with Google is not exclusive, the registry will be allowed to license to others only the books whose authors and publishers have explicitly authorized it. Since no such authorization is possible for orphan works, only Google would have access to them, so only Google could assemble a truly comprehensive book database.
In other words, right now it is a mad grab for the "Orphaned" books. Once those are all taken by Google, no one else will be able to "publish" an orphaned book unless they have consent from the original author and publisher. Then again, if the author and publisher were known, the book wouldn't have been orphaned in the first place.
The only people this will really impact will be the other companies that are trying to create an Online repository of books.
Mass production is great for getting the cost down, but it is a lot of work and requires a lot of money.
You should really get it working before you go down that road. If you want some hardware quickly and easily, go to a university and look for someone doing a senior project to design your electronics. This would only cost you $500 for parts. Otherwise, you should go about it in the same way you would look for a website designer.
If you want to do true mass-production, be prepared to raise well over $500,000 for all of the require overhead (Hard tooling for enclosures, test fixtures for automated testing, printing manuals, not to mention packing materials).
Don't worry about a patent or having China steal your IP. Everyone thinks their idea is revolutionary, and the China shops won't recognize a revolutionary product until it slaps them in the face. As far as patents go, any company that wants to rip you off can get around your patent very easily. Don't worry about the patent until you have a working product and you have the funding to mass-produce it.
He is asking someone to design the board, including the schematic design. ExpressPCB, PCB123, and all other PCB houses fabricate the printed wiring board. They do not design and populate a circuit board for a non-technical person.
Yes, there are a LOT of companies who do this. I would compare it to asking Slashdot for a recommendation on a website designer. If you want a professional product, expect to spend well over $50,000 for a decent company.
On a side note, my experience with Chinese contractors is that they focus on making things as cheaply as possible, to a fault. You will hear stories about contract manufacturers in China who will take a design and remove components until it fails functional testing, keeping the savings for themselves. (This is a very, very bad thing since they can remove safety and quality features, such as a snubber circuit).
I would heavily recommend outsourcing to Mexico before outsourcing to China. Even better, do it in the US.
So I'm sitting at work on a completely legit machine (our IT department is well funded to ensure we don't use pirate software), but I can't download IE8 (I'm still using IE6). It needs some WGA verification for some updates, but it doesn't work (Firewall issue?). Needless to say, I have a compatibility problem with IE8 and I will not be installing it.
...Have we really gotten so strange in this day and age that some passwords are now considered "property"?
I have no problem with him being fired. He sounds like a control freak who took the whole system to be his personal baby. But the charges against him sound more like someone is pissed off, and trying to take it out through the court system.
Are your car keys considered property? If your employer gives you the keys to a company car and you refuse to return the keys, wouldn't that be the same thing as you refusing to return the car?
Lets say I'm paying an engineer to design a new widget. Sure, I want the final widget, but I also own their designs, their firmware, their manufacturing plans, and everything in between. Holding a password is the same as refusing to release the old work to management.
At first you think it is stupidity (since she dropped out of her class), but I would base it on the fact that she just wants it to work. Back when I was in high school/college, I had plenty of time to mess around with a computer to make it work properly. Now I don't care about my PC and I just want it to work. I would gladly pay someone an additional $50 to set up my PC to be optimized to my usage.
I purchased the Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu, and it took me over 45 minutes to install Skype (I had to change the config file from x86 to ?lda? and then build it). If I knew it would have taken that much work, I would have gotten the XP version.
These things definitely need a better resource than Google. Most of my initial google searches resulted in unanswered forum posts and flamewars, making me feel stupid and making me hate my laptop.
For example, how do I get a terminal open in the folder that I am in? Do I just type in Make, or do I need more arguments? Why are these google results telling me to RTFM? What Manual? This stupid help file is pretty much worthless, so what are they talking about? What are these errors doing here? Why don't I have permissions and how do I get them? (sudo is a non-obvious command.) How can I edit a.config file? Wtf is VI and how do I save and quit? Ok, I finally ?compiled? it, but now what? Is it installed? Ok, I think it is installed, but now where is the executable? ARGH! I FREAKING HATE THIS THING!!!.... Ok, I have it working... Now I need to install the skype webcam options?!? F*(K!!! (Yes, I have it up and running, but this was very annoying and a non-tech person would have quit after the initial compiler error)
This may be too late for me to respond, but here it goes...
A true Halo MMO would be possible, but the way Ensemble was going about it was completely wrong. Ensemble was using magic and practically copying WoW. If they had read the Halo books and followed the story, it could have been great.
You would start out as a 5-year old human doing some basic puzzle scenarios. Jumping puzzles, vehicle training, ect (aka an extended tutorial). Then you get medical augmentations to increase your abilities (Non-magical). You don't get the spartan armor until 30, you don't get AI until 40, ect.
I agree that it is a bit limited, and it would go much better as a FPS, but its still possible.
1.) Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
2.) Metal is stronger when being pulled then pushed.
3.) If we make a space elevator, the elevator will need to move vertically, which will cause downward force. This will either be absorbed by the bottom (very unlikely), the top (Seems possible, but improbable since the top will need fuel to pull the item upward), or using boosters (not very different from the current method).
Is there an advantage that I am not seeing? Every method requires fuel unless all of the weight is absorbed by the bottom, which is unlikely if they use metal.
Forget taxes. What about when a person is required for maintenance? (For example: ship electrical systems) You will need more manpower as a land-based server farm, but now you have to have living quarters or several fast boats to get your people from the shore to the boat.
I bet Google was just patenting this idea for patents sake.
When I was 11, I started becoming curious about computers. My brother gave me an HTML book, and 2 days later I swore I would never become a computer programmer. EVER. A web page would be cool, but I did not have direction or a desire for a final project. It was like a book report on... html... not that interesting. (I know HTML is not the same as C++ or Ruby, but in my young mind it was)
What started perking my interest was creating a video game mod (Specifically Battlefield Vietnam). At first it was just maps, then I wanted to insert bots, then... My interest kept growing. If it wasn't for that first HTML book I might have gotten into some of the more advanced mods, but I swore that I would never go farther than changing.config files. When I got to college and I was forced to take a programming course, I really enjoyed it. In the end I graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering (Couldn't go full software, too boring:-). If it wasn't for BF:V, I probably would have been a music major (not a joke, I was seriously considering it).
If he wants to do something specific on the computer ("Hey dad, I want to make my own video game" or "Hey dad, do you know how to make the PC run faster?") then you can do some code. Learning code for the sole purpose of learning how to program is useless and counterproductive at this stage in life.
The moral of the story is this: Find an end result that He wants to do. It might be as simple as Forge on Halo 3, his own OS, or even a go-kart, but it has to be his idea.
The game and the book are related, but artistically independent.
It is a sci-fi twist on the Spartan warrior story. Kids are taken away and trained, augmented with technology, and then defends humanity against overwhelming odds. They are easier to read (think star wars kind of difficulty), but a very enjoyable.
Note: If you do go along these lines, Don't bother with "The Flood".
To drive 60 miles in my ford escort: $6.26 (non-taxed)
To drive 60 miles in an Aptera Motor vehicle: $0.38
proof:
I have a car that does 30mpg. If I travel at 60 mph, I will use 2 gallons. I pay $3.50 for a gallon of gas, but state and federal taxes make up at least $.37. This gives me 60 miles of driving for $6.26.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_Motors [wikipedia.org], the Aptera consumes 60 WattÃhours/km. Lets assume an electrical rate of.06498/kwh=.00006498$/wh. If I want to go 60 miles (96.56064 km), it will cost me.00006498$/wh * 60wh/km * 96.56046km=$.37647
To drive 60 miles in my ford escort: $6.26 (non-taxed)
To drive 60 miles in an Aptera Motor vehicle: $0.38
proof:
I have a car that does 30mpg. If I travel at 60 mph, I will use 2 gallons. I pay $3.50 for a gallon of gas, but state and federal taxes make up at least $.37. This gives me 60 miles of driving for $6.26.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_Motors, the Aptera consumes 60 WattÂhours/km. Lets assume an electrical rate of.06498/kwh=.00006498$/wh. If I want to go 60 miles (96.56064 km), it will cost me.00006498$/wh * 60wh/km * 96.56046km=$.37647
Instead of doing your whole house, maybe you should do something a bit different: limit it to one or two circuits and put those on the homebrew solution (Easiest and best solution: Your lighting for multiple rooms). You can use a single relay (double pole) to control the source. When you have enough solar/wind power to power these units, the relay switches the load to your system. When you run low on juice, it switches to the main system. This also protects people on the mains because you cannot put power on the grid. (You probably won't generate enough power to do that anyways, especially on a budget).
In order to create a good quality drug, you have an enormous amount of costs. (R&D, materials, FDA, distribution, ect).
Open source does not have a corporate cost associated with it. People develop it for free, and they do it for personal pride. If the costs are zero, why should you expect to get paid for it?
*Note: Nothing is free, it takes peoples time. However, this time is "Donated" to the project, which makes it more of a non-profit entity.
Slashdot Mirror
"...taking accessibility a step too far in their rush to attract people who don't typically play video games..." Reminds me of a game called Spore. While it may have sold a lot of units, many people here would agree with me when I say this: I want my money back!
7MHz? Good luck getting that through the FCC regulations on radiated emissions, not to mention all of those HAM operators. However, if they do achieve 80% efficiency then I will wish them the best of luck.
I would love to get IE7 or IE8 working on my PC here at work, but I cannot do this because I don't have the permissions for the installation. I tried. The application that you need to install never recognized that it was already installed, so it keeps trying to install itself. (Yes, I have a legit machine. I even have that stupid windows code sticker on my PC). If Micro$oft cared that much, they would let me install it without going through the WGA. In the mean time, I will happily use my Firefox to take care of business.
A competing company had a patent that contained the word "may use" in a claim. We changed it to "will use". We got a patent.
When will there be a law that will either 1.) Fine a company for every social security number that is published/hacked/stolen (to the point that they either spend the money on security OR they STOP storing social security numbers/cc numbers), or 2.) make it illegal to store a social security number/credit card number? Lets say you are a university trying to give a student loan to a prospect. Sure, you need to run a credit inquiry and identity verification, but after that you give them a student ID to replace their SSN. Stop storing this information unless you are able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are able to secure this information.
My parents actually ordered me a Kindle for a graduation present, but fortunately it had not arrived in time for them to give it to me at graduation. I had them cancel the order. (They got me an iPod Touch instead.)
In case you were wondering, that is why you got modded funny.
We learned another important detail about Conficker. Not only does it destroy software, but it feeds on fiber!
I am really thinking about buying a new PC. Why should I buy Vista when it will become obsolete a year after Windows 7 comes out? Why should I buy a "Windows 7 capable" PC when it won't really support the real Windows 7? Congrats Windows and mainstream manufactures. You leave me no choice but to build my own.
Proceeds from the program, including advertising revenue from Googleâ(TM)s book search service, will be split; Google will take 37 percent, and authors and publishers will share the rest. Google will also help set up a Book Rights Registry, run by authors and publishers, to administer rights and distribute payments.
Authors are permitted to opt out of the settlement or remove individual books from Googleâ(TM)s database. Google says it expects the pool of orphan books to shrink as authors learn about the registry and claim their books.
While the registryâ(TM)s agreement with Google is not exclusive, the registry will be allowed to license to others only the books whose authors and publishers have explicitly authorized it. Since no such authorization is possible for orphan works, only Google would have access to them, so only Google could assemble a truly comprehensive book database.
In other words, right now it is a mad grab for the "Orphaned" books. Once those are all taken by Google, no one else will be able to "publish" an orphaned book unless they have consent from the original author and publisher. Then again, if the author and publisher were known, the book wouldn't have been orphaned in the first place.
The only people this will really impact will be the other companies that are trying to create an Online repository of books.
You should really get it working before you go down that road. If you want some hardware quickly and easily, go to a university and look for someone doing a senior project to design your electronics. This would only cost you $500 for parts. Otherwise, you should go about it in the same way you would look for a website designer.
If you want to do true mass-production, be prepared to raise well over $500,000 for all of the require overhead (Hard tooling for enclosures, test fixtures for automated testing, printing manuals, not to mention packing materials).
Don't worry about a patent or having China steal your IP. Everyone thinks their idea is revolutionary, and the China shops won't recognize a revolutionary product until it slaps them in the face. As far as patents go, any company that wants to rip you off can get around your patent very easily. Don't worry about the patent until you have a working product and you have the funding to mass-produce it.
Yes, there are a LOT of companies who do this. I would compare it to asking Slashdot for a recommendation on a website designer. If you want a professional product, expect to spend well over $50,000 for a decent company.
On a side note, my experience with Chinese contractors is that they focus on making things as cheaply as possible, to a fault. You will hear stories about contract manufacturers in China who will take a design and remove components until it fails functional testing, keeping the savings for themselves. (This is a very, very bad thing since they can remove safety and quality features, such as a snubber circuit).
I would heavily recommend outsourcing to Mexico before outsourcing to China. Even better, do it in the US.
So I'm sitting at work on a completely legit machine (our IT department is well funded to ensure we don't use pirate software), but I can't download IE8 (I'm still using IE6). It needs some WGA verification for some updates, but it doesn't work (Firewall issue?). Needless to say, I have a compatibility problem with IE8 and I will not be installing it.
...Have we really gotten so strange in this day and age that some passwords are now considered "property"?
I have no problem with him being fired. He sounds like a control freak who took the whole system to be his personal baby. But the charges against him sound more like someone is pissed off, and trying to take it out through the court system.
Are your car keys considered property? If your employer gives you the keys to a company car and you refuse to return the keys, wouldn't that be the same thing as you refusing to return the car?
Lets say I'm paying an engineer to design a new widget. Sure, I want the final widget, but I also own their designs, their firmware, their manufacturing plans, and everything in between. Holding a password is the same as refusing to release the old work to management.
I purchased the Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu, and it took me over 45 minutes to install Skype (I had to change the config file from x86 to ?lda? and then build it). If I knew it would have taken that much work, I would have gotten the XP version.
These things definitely need a better resource than Google. Most of my initial google searches resulted in unanswered forum posts and flamewars, making me feel stupid and making me hate my laptop.
For example, how do I get a terminal open in the folder that I am in? Do I just type in Make, or do I need more arguments? Why are these google results telling me to RTFM? What Manual? This stupid help file is pretty much worthless, so what are they talking about? What are these errors doing here? Why don't I have permissions and how do I get them? (sudo is a non-obvious command.) How can I edit a .config file? Wtf is VI and how do I save and quit? Ok, I finally ?compiled? it, but now what? Is it installed? Ok, I think it is installed, but now where is the executable? ARGH! I FREAKING HATE THIS THING!!!.... Ok, I have it working... Now I need to install the skype webcam options?!? F*(K!!! (Yes, I have it up and running, but this was very annoying and a non-tech person would have quit after the initial compiler error)
A true Halo MMO would be possible, but the way Ensemble was going about it was completely wrong. Ensemble was using magic and practically copying WoW. If they had read the Halo books and followed the story, it could have been great.
You would start out as a 5-year old human doing some basic puzzle scenarios. Jumping puzzles, vehicle training, ect (aka an extended tutorial). Then you get medical augmentations to increase your abilities (Non-magical). You don't get the spartan armor until 30, you don't get AI until 40, ect.
I agree that it is a bit limited, and it would go much better as a FPS, but its still possible.
1.) Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
2.) Metal is stronger when being pulled then pushed.
3.) If we make a space elevator, the elevator will need to move vertically, which will cause downward force. This will either be absorbed by the bottom (very unlikely), the top (Seems possible, but improbable since the top will need fuel to pull the item upward), or using boosters (not very different from the current method).
Is there an advantage that I am not seeing? Every method requires fuel unless all of the weight is absorbed by the bottom, which is unlikely if they use metal.
Forget taxes. What about when a person is required for maintenance? (For example: ship electrical systems) You will need more manpower as a land-based server farm, but now you have to have living quarters or several fast boats to get your people from the shore to the boat. I bet Google was just patenting this idea for patents sake.
What started perking my interest was creating a video game mod (Specifically Battlefield Vietnam). At first it was just maps, then I wanted to insert bots, then... My interest kept growing. If it wasn't for that first HTML book I might have gotten into some of the more advanced mods, but I swore that I would never go farther than changing .config files. When I got to college and I was forced to take a programming course, I really enjoyed it. In the end I graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering (Couldn't go full software, too boring :-). If it wasn't for BF:V, I probably would have been a music major (not a joke, I was seriously considering it).
If he wants to do something specific on the computer ("Hey dad, I want to make my own video game" or "Hey dad, do you know how to make the PC run faster?") then you can do some code. Learning code for the sole purpose of learning how to program is useless and counterproductive at this stage in life.
The moral of the story is this: Find an end result that He wants to do. It might be as simple as Forge on Halo 3, his own OS, or even a go-kart, but it has to be his idea.
The game and the book are related, but artistically independent.
It is a sci-fi twist on the Spartan warrior story. Kids are taken away and trained, augmented with technology, and then defends humanity against overwhelming odds. They are easier to read (think star wars kind of difficulty), but a very enjoyable.
Note: If you do go along these lines, Don't bother with "The Flood".
In other news, 81% of Americans on Dial-up would like to switch to high speed internet if the price was right...
Nothing to see here... Move along...
To drive 60 miles in an Aptera Motor vehicle: $0.38
proof:
I have a car that does 30mpg. If I travel at 60 mph, I will use 2 gallons. I pay $3.50 for a gallon of gas, but state and federal taxes make up at least $.37. This gives me 60 miles of driving for $6.26.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_Motors [wikipedia.org], the Aptera consumes 60 WattÃhours/km. Lets assume an electrical rate of .06498/kwh=.00006498$/wh. If I want to go 60 miles (96.56064 km), it will cost me .00006498$/wh * 60wh/km * 96.56046km=$.37647
To drive 60 miles in an Aptera Motor vehicle: $0.38
proof:
I have a car that does 30mpg. If I travel at 60 mph, I will use 2 gallons. I pay $3.50 for a gallon of gas, but state and federal taxes make up at least $.37. This gives me 60 miles of driving for $6.26.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_Motors, the Aptera consumes 60 WattÂhours/km. Lets assume an electrical rate of .06498/kwh=.00006498$/wh. If I want to go 60 miles (96.56064 km), it will cost me .00006498$/wh * 60wh/km * 96.56046km=$.37647
Instead of doing your whole house, maybe you should do something a bit different: limit it to one or two circuits and put those on the homebrew solution (Easiest and best solution: Your lighting for multiple rooms). You can use a single relay (double pole) to control the source. When you have enough solar/wind power to power these units, the relay switches the load to your system. When you run low on juice, it switches to the main system. This also protects people on the mains because you cannot put power on the grid. (You probably won't generate enough power to do that anyways, especially on a budget).
However, if you break an individual apart, they can't fix themselves.
This is not breakthrough. The only advance they are showing is the ability for robots to work together.
In order to create a good quality drug, you have an enormous amount of costs. (R&D, materials, FDA, distribution, ect). Open source does not have a corporate cost associated with it. People develop it for free, and they do it for personal pride. If the costs are zero, why should you expect to get paid for it? *Note: Nothing is free, it takes peoples time. However, this time is "Donated" to the project, which makes it more of a non-profit entity.