From the article it sounds as if the issue in questions is water supply and how changing the normal rate of glacial melt could change how people live. If THAT is the issue then it may suck, change usually does, but people need to just deal with it. We can't coddle societies that don't want to put in place infrastructure they need for security and stability.
The US is bad enough about it's own infrastructure, due largely to our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents not paying their fair share and we'll soon be in trouble if we don't cough up the money to repair and upgrade it. There is no reason others shouldn't have to do the same. Or don't and be at the mercy of whatever happens.
I guess the question is.. why should I care? IMO people who climb mountains have mental issues anyway and I certainly don't care how much ice is on the mountain.
I vote for installing a nice enclosed and heated handicapped accessible moving sidewalk to take everyone up to a viewing station and tourist trap on top the mountain. If I can't eat a cheeseburger at the end of the Universe then I should at least be able to eat one on top of the world.
Buying stolen goods isn't innocent. If you're stupid enough to get involved with criminals you should expect to be treated like one. Besides people who use ebay like to be hurt.
Look at the iTouch/iPhone/iPad. Lots of nice educational games and more coming all the time. I recently purchased an educational Wii game, for ten times the price of a decent iPad educational game, and it was just horrible. It wasn't good at educating and was so difficult to use that I had trouble navigating it. THIS was labeled as being for small children!? My experience with recent PC games has been similar. We tried a Dora the Explorer game recently too and it just wasn't easy to play and the educational value was slim. The best PC edutainment titles I've seen are older stuff that concentrated more on what they're made for and their expected market (kids) instead of stupid features like being 3D. The affordability of iOS apps is a big selling feature too as the games can be simple and when your kid losses interest you can go on to the next game.
I wonder if the edutainment market couldn't learn from the small developers that are developing for iPhone and Android. Of course it's hard to beat the touch screen and accelerometer on these mobile devices. My daughter will use my laptop but mostly she thinks it's just a retarded crippled device. I pretty much agree.
Get a tablet PC. It's NOT the same thing as an iOS or Android device. It'll do what you want but will be hot, heavy, breakable, and pretty much everything that is wrong about the PC. Enjoy using a system that sucks with the knowledge that you won't have to actually engage your mind long enough to learn to use something easier.
When did Microsoft ever create an OS that didn't suck? It's all in the marketing. Windows Mobile Network Slate Lite Edition 2012 v3.0003421b alpha 6 will come in the shiniest glow-in-the-dark neon green box featuring Michael Jordan and Al Gore playing Duke Nukem Forever 2 and absolutely promise to be better than other versions of Windows you may have tried. This version absolutely will maybe not have security or stability problems and will feature everything iOS has but with worse graphics designed by color blind Borg artists and even more pointless dialog boxes to click on! You'll even get to choose between 23 different versions of WinMNSLE 2012 and it will only have a few incompatibilities with your hardware. Just by rebooting 700 times those driver issues will be whipped into shape in no time. Of course it won't connect to any other version of Windows unless you pay for a license upgrade on both ends and your old software won't work but you'll have all the ease of a platform you are already familiar with and the software you already know.. except.. by the way.. the interface will be completely different and require you to learn the whole thing over..
That's the funniest thing I've read all day. Yeah let's go with a device as clumsy as a laptop without a built-in keyboard and mouse. Because holding something that folds in the middle is WAY easier than holding a flat slate. Have you actually tried holding a book and trying to write or type on it?
I once worked somewhere that we had the networks attacked, phone lines cut, and other kinds of harassment by a competitor. The local cops said they wouldn't do anything because it involved technology. The FBI said they wouldn't do anything because the damages weren't over a million dollars.
Money needs to be hard to replicate. I find it hard to believe in any digital currency that isn't managed by a centralized authority. The PayPal / Credit Card model seems the most realistic to me. It's shameful that our government doesn't provide a digital currency. The current system is akin to the days when any old bank would print their own currency. The government wants to tax Internet transactions.. well most of us pay 3+% to credit cards or PayPal.. if they'd provide their own implementation they could collect those fees without causing prices to rise.
Do you know what type of drives your systems are using? Did you switch out the default drives that came with them to a specific brand/model?
I wouldn't say we're especially tough on systems, at least no more than most people, but I haven't seen a drive last that long in years. Even the external backup devices we had, which were of different brands and just sit undisturbed in well ventilated areas and are on a UPS, tend to last under a year which is why now they're all either RAID (although we had one blow a controller) or a Drobo.
I wonder how elevation effects reliability. I live at ~6000ft now and see more problems than when I lived at sea level. I just assumed drives were more fragile due to density etc. Only thing I can think of..
I keep what I must on my 128GB SSD (about $300) and the rest on my RAIDed multiple-terabyte NAS for everything I don't really use much. I can access it anywhere I have Internet access which is just about everywhere. For most people I'm really doubtful you really have so much data you need access to THAT often on your local machine.
I think server-based, or cloud, computing is where things are going. A fast/stable local cache disk and enough processing power to get by on in a portable and stable form factor with large bits of data and heavy processing handled on a server somewhere. So long as whatever I/O is needed from the client to the server can be done fast enough for you not to notice then who cares where it actually happens but most of us would rather not carry a 30lb machine that radiates heat and sucks batteries dry.
Unfortunately yes. My Macbook looks like he'll because it takes a beating but with the SSD in it it handles all the bumps well. And my wife has a special ability to drop and bang my iPad constantly so I'm really glad it doesn't use spinning rust or it'd be very dead by now.
I've read that current drives are much better than drives even a couple years ago - especially if correctly configured. I've had some problems with SSD drives having issues with certain io controllers but other than that they've been solid under pressure. Have talked to others and they've had no problems with recent drives and even people vie talked to at Facebook told me they use them for intensive applications and they are solid.
Of course I'm not a trusting fool so everything is in RAID so if drives fail they are replaced and everything still gets backed up.
I don't know where you get your numbers. My expirence is that for normal users most modern disk drives will fail within two years and for heavy users or laptops you have six months to a year.
A modern SSD drive, properly configured, is much closer to indestructible under even heavy and laptop use. The biggest issue I've experienced is that some controllers just aren't compatible with some SSD drives and will typically grind the system to a nasty halt shortly after you start using the drive.
Data loss IMO is the cardinal sin of computing and should be avoided at every opportunity. Obviously good software and backups are important but the primary layer of defense is to have RAID mirrored SSD drives on a good controller.
All this alarmist bullshit that is hurting the availability of GM and and nano products is nothing more than people whining. Sure a small portion of this stuff may be harmful but it'll be overwhelmingly beneficial. The best way to find the problems is to put it into mass use. It's very unlikely that it is worse than the stuff people willingly expose themselves to - drugs, alcohol, sugar, fried foods, etc. Hell even vegetables can be bad for you. As a non-obese diet caffeine free soda drinker in his early thirties that has recently found out he is diabetic I can tell you that damn near everything you could want to eat seems to be cursed.
It's completely ridiculous that they can't give GM crops to starving people because protestors, that aren't starving, think it's better to let the people starve than give them more viable crops that offer more nutrients than other crops, which aren't even being offered, would.
I will eat GM food and use GM and nano products. Please make em available. If other people are to scared of the bogey man then great I'll have benefits they don't. Please figure out a way to make carb free bread that doesn't suck.
Why would you upgrade a laptop? When it gets old get a new one. The only thing I bother upgrading is RAM and HDD and that's only because laptop manufacturers inflate the price so much. Still I'd rather not to if it was an option. Especially not if it made the computer any bulkier.
Standardized non-removable components though I could agree on. We need to end driver hell.
MagSafe is one reason I wouldn't recommend any other brand of laptop. I doubt their patent would hold up in court though as you're talking a very obvious idea (although other manufacturers seemed to be oblivious..). That and the nice interchangable/replacable power cord are great features.
Of course the power supply still could be better. Why isn't the cord that connects it to the computer also replaceable? A couple built-in USB ports capable of charging an iPad would be handy. And why must the brick be in the middle of the cord where it's practically always going to be in the way? An interchangeable cord on the PC side would allow for a nice short cord or a nice long cord (for when using the short plug on the outlet side) as an option.
Now if only Apple would communicate with itself and make all other connectors magnetic. Magnetic USB and iPod dock connectors would be a good start.
You must never do anything very interesting. Constantly our company has to back off anything advanced because IE has serious issues. And I'm not talking CSS3, HTML5, canvas, etc. Frequently it's not just wrong behavior it's behavior that changes depending on the situation such as to many elements on screen.
Just drop IE support. It's not worth the effort. At least I wouldn't bother with anything alter than the newest version. Unfortunately IE still makes up half the visitors to my none geek sites but non-IE8 has dropped down to under 10% and those users convert to less revenue than other users.. so I've gradually dropped support. Nothing new is being tested for old versions of IE. I'm seeing the dropoff from IE accelerating as a whole. Firefox is at about 25%, Chrome and Safari make up another 15%, and Opera and iPod/iPhone/iPad/Android devices most of the rest. The speed of Chrome and mobile device growth is most impressive. Seriously considering versions formatted to the screen sizes of popular mobile devices.
It's fast but can it render the page correctly? It doesn't much matter how fast it is if it doesn't do it right. IE8 is still a big turd - have they actually fixed IE9 or is it all smoke and mirrors by posting speed results? The last results I saw proved that they could pass the tests they wanted to pass but that they failed horribly at real world results. I guess if it's good enough for the education system then it's good enough for web browsers eh?
Overall I agree with you but to be fair, Android does allow C with it's NDK and while you code for Android in Java it isn't really the Java you are thinking of.
Slashdot Mirror
From the article it sounds as if the issue in questions is water supply and how changing the normal rate of glacial melt could change how people live. If THAT is the issue then it may suck, change usually does, but people need to just deal with it. We can't coddle societies that don't want to put in place infrastructure they need for security and stability.
The US is bad enough about it's own infrastructure, due largely to our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents not paying their fair share and we'll soon be in trouble if we don't cough up the money to repair and upgrade it. There is no reason others shouldn't have to do the same. Or don't and be at the mercy of whatever happens.
I guess the question is.. why should I care? IMO people who climb mountains have mental issues anyway and I certainly don't care how much ice is on the mountain.
I vote for installing a nice enclosed and heated handicapped accessible moving sidewalk to take everyone up to a viewing station and tourist trap on top the mountain. If I can't eat a cheeseburger at the end of the Universe then I should at least be able to eat one on top of the world.
Buying stolen goods isn't innocent. If you're stupid enough to get involved with criminals you should expect to be treated like one. Besides people who use ebay like to be hurt.
Look at the iTouch/iPhone/iPad. Lots of nice educational games and more coming all the time. I recently purchased an educational Wii game, for ten times the price of a decent iPad educational game, and it was just horrible. It wasn't good at educating and was so difficult to use that I had trouble navigating it. THIS was labeled as being for small children!? My experience with recent PC games has been similar. We tried a Dora the Explorer game recently too and it just wasn't easy to play and the educational value was slim. The best PC edutainment titles I've seen are older stuff that concentrated more on what they're made for and their expected market (kids) instead of stupid features like being 3D. The affordability of iOS apps is a big selling feature too as the games can be simple and when your kid losses interest you can go on to the next game.
I wonder if the edutainment market couldn't learn from the small developers that are developing for iPhone and Android. Of course it's hard to beat the touch screen and accelerometer on these mobile devices. My daughter will use my laptop but mostly she thinks it's just a retarded crippled device. I pretty much agree.
Get a tablet PC. It's NOT the same thing as an iOS or Android device. It'll do what you want but will be hot, heavy, breakable, and pretty much everything that is wrong about the PC. Enjoy using a system that sucks with the knowledge that you won't have to actually engage your mind long enough to learn to use something easier.
When did Microsoft ever create an OS that didn't suck? It's all in the marketing. Windows Mobile Network Slate Lite Edition 2012 v3.0003421b alpha 6 will come in the shiniest glow-in-the-dark neon green box featuring Michael Jordan and Al Gore playing Duke Nukem Forever 2 and absolutely promise to be better than other versions of Windows you may have tried. This version absolutely will maybe not have security or stability problems and will feature everything iOS has but with worse graphics designed by color blind Borg artists and even more pointless dialog boxes to click on! You'll even get to choose between 23 different versions of WinMNSLE 2012 and it will only have a few incompatibilities with your hardware. Just by rebooting 700 times those driver issues will be whipped into shape in no time. Of course it won't connect to any other version of Windows unless you pay for a license upgrade on both ends and your old software won't work but you'll have all the ease of a platform you are already familiar with and the software you already know.. except.. by the way.. the interface will be completely different and require you to learn the whole thing over..
That's the funniest thing I've read all day. Yeah let's go with a device as clumsy as a laptop without a built-in keyboard and mouse. Because holding something that folds in the middle is WAY easier than holding a flat slate. Have you actually tried holding a book and trying to write or type on it?
I once worked somewhere that we had the networks attacked, phone lines cut, and other kinds of harassment by a competitor. The local cops said they wouldn't do anything because it involved technology. The FBI said they wouldn't do anything because the damages weren't over a million dollars.
An address works better. Breaking a guys knees and hands is a lot more satisfying than cops and lawyers.
But who is going to enforce such a currency? Why not counterfeit and if caught create a new identity and go at it again?
Money needs to be hard to replicate. I find it hard to believe in any digital currency that isn't managed by a centralized authority. The PayPal / Credit Card model seems the most realistic to me. It's shameful that our government doesn't provide a digital currency. The current system is akin to the days when any old bank would print their own currency. The government wants to tax Internet transactions.. well most of us pay 3+% to credit cards or PayPal.. if they'd provide their own implementation they could collect those fees without causing prices to rise.
Do you know what type of drives your systems are using? Did you switch out the default drives that came with them to a specific brand/model?
I wouldn't say we're especially tough on systems, at least no more than most people, but I haven't seen a drive last that long in years. Even the external backup devices we had, which were of different brands and just sit undisturbed in well ventilated areas and are on a UPS, tend to last under a year which is why now they're all either RAID (although we had one blow a controller) or a Drobo.
I wonder how elevation effects reliability. I live at ~6000ft now and see more problems than when I lived at sea level. I just assumed drives were more fragile due to density etc. Only thing I can think of..
I keep what I must on my 128GB SSD (about $300) and the rest on my RAIDed multiple-terabyte NAS for everything I don't really use much. I can access it anywhere I have Internet access which is just about everywhere. For most people I'm really doubtful you really have so much data you need access to THAT often on your local machine.
I think server-based, or cloud, computing is where things are going. A fast/stable local cache disk and enough processing power to get by on in a portable and stable form factor with large bits of data and heavy processing handled on a server somewhere. So long as whatever I/O is needed from the client to the server can be done fast enough for you not to notice then who cares where it actually happens but most of us would rather not carry a 30lb machine that radiates heat and sucks batteries dry.
Unfortunately yes. My Macbook looks like he'll because it takes a beating but with the SSD in it it handles all the bumps well. And my wife has a special ability to drop and bang my iPad constantly so I'm really glad it doesn't use spinning rust or it'd be very dead by now.
I've read that current drives are much better than drives even a couple years ago - especially if correctly configured. I've had some problems with SSD drives having issues with certain io controllers but other than that they've been solid under pressure. Have talked to others and they've had no problems with recent drives and even people vie talked to at Facebook told me they use them for intensive applications and they are solid.
Of course I'm not a trusting fool so everything is in RAID so if drives fail they are replaced and everything still gets backed up.
I don't know where you get your numbers. My expirence is that for normal users most modern disk drives will fail within two years and for heavy users or laptops you have six months to a year.
A modern SSD drive, properly configured, is much closer to indestructible under even heavy and laptop use. The biggest issue I've experienced is that some controllers just aren't compatible with some SSD drives and will typically grind the system to a nasty halt shortly after you start using the drive.
Data loss IMO is the cardinal sin of computing and should be avoided at every opportunity. Obviously good software and backups are important but the primary layer of defense is to have RAID mirrored SSD drives on a good controller.
All this alarmist bullshit that is hurting the availability of GM and and nano products is nothing more than people whining. Sure a small portion of this stuff may be harmful but it'll be overwhelmingly beneficial. The best way to find the problems is to put it into mass use. It's very unlikely that it is worse than the stuff people willingly expose themselves to - drugs, alcohol, sugar, fried foods, etc. Hell even vegetables can be bad for you. As a non-obese diet caffeine free soda drinker in his early thirties that has recently found out he is diabetic I can tell you that damn near everything you could want to eat seems to be cursed.
It's completely ridiculous that they can't give GM crops to starving people because protestors, that aren't starving, think it's better to let the people starve than give them more viable crops that offer more nutrients than other crops, which aren't even being offered, would.
I will eat GM food and use GM and nano products. Please make em available. If other people are to scared of the bogey man then great I'll have benefits they don't. Please figure out a way to make carb free bread that doesn't suck.
Why would you upgrade a laptop? When it gets old get a new one. The only thing I bother upgrading is RAM and HDD and that's only because laptop manufacturers inflate the price so much. Still I'd rather not to if it was an option. Especially not if it made the computer any bulkier.
Standardized non-removable components though I could agree on. We need to end driver hell.
Why not be a normal person and use a closet? To many jackets?
MagSafe is one reason I wouldn't recommend any other brand of laptop. I doubt their patent would hold up in court though as you're talking a very obvious idea (although other manufacturers seemed to be oblivious..). That and the nice interchangable/replacable power cord are great features.
Of course the power supply still could be better. Why isn't the cord that connects it to the computer also replaceable? A couple built-in USB ports capable of charging an iPad would be handy. And why must the brick be in the middle of the cord where it's practically always going to be in the way? An interchangeable cord on the PC side would allow for a nice short cord or a nice long cord (for when using the short plug on the outlet side) as an option.
Now if only Apple would communicate with itself and make all other connectors magnetic. Magnetic USB and iPod dock connectors would be a good start.
It's like wearing a wool suit in the summer. Old men seem to delight in that sort of self punishment.
You must never do anything very interesting. Constantly our company has to back off anything advanced because IE has serious issues. And I'm not talking CSS3, HTML5, canvas, etc. Frequently it's not just wrong behavior it's behavior that changes depending on the situation such as to many elements on screen.
Just drop IE support. It's not worth the effort. At least I wouldn't bother with anything alter than the newest version. Unfortunately IE still makes up half the visitors to my none geek sites but non-IE8 has dropped down to under 10% and those users convert to less revenue than other users.. so I've gradually dropped support. Nothing new is being tested for old versions of IE. I'm seeing the dropoff from IE accelerating as a whole. Firefox is at about 25%, Chrome and Safari make up another 15%, and Opera and iPod/iPhone/iPad/Android devices most of the rest. The speed of Chrome and mobile device growth is most impressive. Seriously considering versions formatted to the screen sizes of popular mobile devices.
It's fast but can it render the page correctly? It doesn't much matter how fast it is if it doesn't do it right. IE8 is still a big turd - have they actually fixed IE9 or is it all smoke and mirrors by posting speed results? The last results I saw proved that they could pass the tests they wanted to pass but that they failed horribly at real world results. I guess if it's good enough for the education system then it's good enough for web browsers eh?
Overall I agree with you but to be fair, Android does allow C with it's NDK and while you code for Android in Java it isn't really the Java you are thinking of.