BTW, I am a programmer. I just don't want to spend weeks trying to figure out how the mozilla code works in order to submit patches for a small number of bugs, especially since I doubt many of my patches would be applied to the tree.
Thank you, someone on slashdot who actually realizes and knows that playing with source code is not as simple as reading a magazine article!
It takes a lot to figure out how even small programs work when someone else wrote it, especially if the source comments suck. Mozilla is, well, on the larger side.
Fixing/debugging source code is not that simple as so many people seem to think.
The protein cube does glow at the moment, due to the laser refracting. That's bad.:) But good.:) Details to work out, that's why it's still a lab technology.
It wouldn't probably hurt to put some sort of LED below the block to make it glow. It's a purple looking substance.
Perhaps denatured isn't an accurate description. I'm not exactly sure of the specifics as I can't remember, but it does involve either a specific protein or organic creature (bacterial maybe).
Whatever it is, the substance is rewritable and in a sealed container. Degradation is a valid concern, I don't know the status of that.
Here's a project that some people are working on up here at Syracuse University.
Jello RAM.:-) Okay, not exactly, but it's fun to call it that. A very small rectangular cube (about 0.5" by 0.5" by 1.5" or so) is filled with a protein substance suspended in a solution. It is primed by hitting the substance with a laser, and it denatures the protein. Then, a laser is shot through on an X plane, and a different laser hits on certain points on the Y plane. The protein is denatured where the two meet. This substance is a three dimensional memory system. You read back by a similar method, but with a lower power laser beam. The laser doesn't pass through the points that are denatured, and produces a grid of binary numbers essentially. Of course, the protein cube requires no power, so it's perserved when off. Imagine being able to take the ram out of one machine and put it in a different machine, without changing the contents.
These small cubes can hold about 4 gigabytes of data, and last price I heard was $20 (the cubes are practically nothing. They're cheap to make. It's the read/write equipment that costs a bunch). It has decent access speeds, cheap, and very small.
This is all very experimental lab stuff right now, so the size and speed can change. The goal is to make very cheap, small, random access memory. Might be good to replace tape drives. It's several years off though, but money keeps coming in and development continues. Should be nice stuff, keep on the lookout for it.
I saw development stuff in use a year ago when touring that laboratory, so I reserve the right to be incorrect or inaccurate with some of the statements in this post.:-)
Mike DeMaria It's the FBI, we're being raided! Quick, break out the spoons! Eat the evidence!
I am willing to bet small amounts of money that there will be more stories of troubles between registers. Wait until you get registration company foo and registration company bar having an arguement with NSI in the middle. Those will be fun days.
I had a feeling that by opening up competing domains, something like this would of happened.
Personally, I think that there should be a monopoly on the domain name arena. Doesn't have to necessarily be a commercial group. All I said when NSI lost the monopoly was that domain names was going to get messy.
"Network Solutions couldn't just delete the registration since it was filed by Register.com. The company contacted Register.com and asked them to do a favor and give it back, but Register.com said no, we're under contract with the guy who registered it from us."
Slashdot Mirror
Thank you, someone on slashdot who actually realizes and knows that playing with source code is not as simple as reading a magazine article!
It takes a lot to figure out how even small programs work when someone else wrote it, especially if the source comments suck. Mozilla is, well, on the larger side.
Fixing/debugging source code is not that simple as so many people seem to think.
-- Mike DeMaria
Programmer/Network Administrator
It looks cool in prototype form. :-)
:) But good. :) Details to work out, that's why it's still a lab technology.
The protein cube does glow at the moment, due to the laser refracting. That's bad.
It wouldn't probably hurt to put some sort of LED below the block to make it glow. It's a purple looking substance.
Mike DeMaria
No, it is rewritable.
Perhaps denatured isn't an accurate description. I'm not exactly sure of the specifics as I can't remember, but it does involve either a specific protein or organic creature (bacterial maybe).
Whatever it is, the substance is rewritable and in a sealed container. Degradation is a valid concern, I don't know the status of that.
Mike DeMaria
Here's a project that some people are working on up here at Syracuse University.
:-) Okay, not exactly, but it's fun to call it that. A very small rectangular cube (about 0.5" by 0.5" by 1.5" or so) is filled with a protein substance suspended in a solution. It is primed by hitting the substance with a laser, and it denatures the protein. Then, a laser is shot through on an X plane, and a different laser hits on certain points on the Y plane. The protein is denatured where the two meet. This substance is a three dimensional memory system. You read back by a similar method, but with a lower power laser beam. The laser doesn't pass through the points that are denatured, and produces a grid of binary numbers essentially. Of course, the protein cube requires no power, so it's perserved when off. Imagine being able to take the ram out of one machine and put it in a different machine, without changing the contents.
:-)
Jello RAM.
These small cubes can hold about 4 gigabytes of data, and last price I heard was $20 (the cubes are practically nothing. They're cheap to make. It's the read/write equipment that costs a bunch). It has decent access speeds, cheap, and very small.
This is all very experimental lab stuff right now, so the size and speed can change. The goal is to make very cheap, small, random access memory. Might be good to replace tape drives. It's several years off though, but money keeps coming in and development continues. Should be nice stuff, keep on the lookout for it.
I saw development stuff in use a year ago when touring that laboratory, so I reserve the right to be incorrect or inaccurate with some of the statements in this post.
Mike DeMaria
It's the FBI, we're being raided!
Quick, break out the spoons! Eat the evidence!
I am willing to bet small amounts of money that there will be more stories of troubles between registers. Wait until you get registration company foo and registration company bar having an arguement with NSI in the middle. Those will be fun days.
:)
Let's just rid of all DNS and memorise IP addresses like phone numbers.
+++
Mike DeMaria
Want an alternate to the GPL? Find out about it here.
I had a feeling that by opening up competing domains, something like this would of happened.
Personally, I think that there should be a monopoly on the domain name arena. Doesn't have to necessarily be a commercial group. All I said when NSI lost the monopoly was that domain names was going to get messy.
"Network Solutions couldn't just delete the registration since it was filed by Register.com. The company contacted Register.com and asked them to do a favor and give it back, but Register.com said no, we're under contract with the guy who registered it from us."
Sometimes, monopolies can be good.
+++
Mike DeMaria
Want an alternate to the GPL? Find out about it here.