There already exists a standard for decimal notation of time: fractional Julian days.
Julian day numbers are the count of days since noon GMT on January 1, 4713 BCE (on the Julian calendar); the fraction is simply an expression of the fraction of the day elapsed. Astronomers have used this scheme for a long time; it's perfect for the nocturnal. Since it resets at noon, it can be confusing for diurnal people in Europe, but it could work well for those in the western hemisphere.
To explain why a handheld needs a multiuser operating system, we'll look at the Simputer FAQ's answer under question #20:
We have also recognized that even $200 could be too high and such products may need to be subsidized. However, we have added a SmartCard as a prime method of enabling the "sharing" of such devices. Rural communities could own several devices and hire these out for usage to individuals based on the ownership of a SmartCard. Each user's Smart Card would contain the minimum "personalization" information required to log into a Community Server which would maintain personalized data about the user. You can treat this as some sort of "roaming profile" information maintained in a smart card.
This model of sharing would bring down the cost of the Simputer to that of owning only a simple smart card, and paying for the usage of a shared Simputer.
Shared Simputers could be made available in rural schools, community halls or other such areas where common facilities are usually found.
Multiuser brings the cost-per-person down quite a bit this way...
Existing copies of "Shadow of the Hegemon" are bug
on
Shadow of the Hegemon
·
· Score: 1
Seems the publisher didn't make the changes Card indicated on the galleys. So the book that's out there is a buggy beta.
Luckily, Mr Card has provided a patch at http://www.hatrack.com/misc/hegemon-corrections.sh tml .
The thing codenamed Xpander is going to be essentially an PDA specialized as a teaching tool and for student use.
The _real_ HP successor calculator, codenamed Ranger, is still coming...
(This all from public discussion from the designers/programmers over on comp.sys.hp48. Y'know, Usenet? The thing slashdot-type weblogs were supposed to replace?)
There's a lot to be said in favor of convergence, but there's a lot to be said against as well. Primarily in the arena of already learned interfaces.
Cameras are the obvious things to point out here; we've had several generations who know a camera as something to look through and push a button for a picture. It's now more than possible to imbed a camera (digital, video, or otherwise) into just about anything, but it changes the nature of the pictures, the amount of feedback, and the degree of control.
I'm not saying there's anything magical about the humble viewfinder, but the camera aimed for WYSIWYG long before the term existed. Do we want to lose that to the forces of smaller/more?
(And of course it's not a binary choice; cameras will continue to exist long after there's the possiblity for a pair of glasses that feed data straight down your optic nerve and bypass sight completely. But sometimes the answer 'Because we can' isn't the answer to look for.)
Disney was in talks to buy Henson Associates and the related properties when Jim died. After hisdeath, those talks fell through. Henson has a good relationship with Disney -- Disney distributes their films and so on -- but they're still their own company.
oKay... i dID as you SDuggested and i'm laoded on Meth. I founD a gazeLLe in the PaRJikng lot, and i bRought her iNSIde. sHJe didN't liKe the linUX box oR the Win98 or mac cpoMuters. iNfact, she reFused to surf tHe web on anyHting but an amiGa...
The US government makes a whole lot of mapping data available free.
Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs) are scanned USGS quadrangle maps. They're great big TIFF files--the one map one has of a section of Wyoming is 7.4M--but very nice-looking, and usable by Mayko's xmap. Some are available free; others you need to pay for, at the rate of $45 per CD-R plus $1 per file you stick on it.
The USGS also offers Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), Digital Line Graphs (DLGs), and Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) data, at varying scales. DEMs are elevation data at regularly spaced points. DLGs are vector data for topographic lines, hydrography (flowing and standing water and wetlands), roads, trails, railways, pipelines, transmission lines, and state, county, city, and other borders. Names are included. LULC files "describe the vegetation, water, natural surface, and cultural features on the land surface." This includes such things as residential/commercial/industrial urban areas, types of cultivated land, 7 variations on 'barren land', and glaciers.
This NOAA site has much the same information as the DEM files on a global scale, also including bathymetric (elevation descriptions of undersea areas) data.
And if Bruce is listening, one'd really like a set of these CDs... see, there's this project one's working on to make an open-source browser for any data conceivably represented geographically, like weather maps, airline flight tracking, and so on...
Slashdot Mirror
The spiders probably saw this story and decided, heck, let's catch us a plane...
Julian day numbers are the count of days since noon GMT on January 1, 4713 BCE (on the Julian calendar); the fraction is simply an expression of the fraction of the day elapsed. Astronomers have used this scheme for a long time; it's perfect for the nocturnal. Since it resets at noon, it can be confusing for diurnal people in Europe, but it could work well for those in the western hemisphere.
Here is a converter, along with more information.
Luckily, Mr Card has provided a patch at http://www.hatrack.com/misc/hegemon-corrections.sh tml .
The thing codenamed Xpander is going to be essentially an PDA specialized as a teaching tool and for student use.
The _real_ HP successor calculator, codenamed Ranger, is still coming...
(This all from public discussion from the designers/programmers over on comp.sys.hp48. Y'know, Usenet? The thing slashdot-type weblogs were supposed to replace?)
There's a lot to be said in favor of convergence, but there's a lot to be said against as well. Primarily in the arena of already learned interfaces.
Cameras are the obvious things to point out here; we've had several generations who know a camera as something to look through and push a button for a picture. It's now more than possible to imbed a camera (digital, video, or otherwise) into just about anything, but it changes the nature of the pictures, the amount of feedback, and the degree of control.
I'm not saying there's anything magical about the humble viewfinder, but the camera aimed for WYSIWYG long before the term existed. Do we want to lose that to the forces of smaller/more?
(And of course it's not a binary choice; cameras will continue to exist long after there's the possiblity for a pair of glasses that feed data straight down your optic nerve and bypass sight completely. But sometimes the answer 'Because we can' isn't the answer to look for.)
The images and accompanying text are all up at http://waxwolf.com/yopy/.
This does look like a nifty little beastie, though I'd like to handle one before buying...
Should obviously be Mickey Dolenz's shoebox.
Note that the first two seasons/series of Slayers will be out this fall as DVD box sets ($100 each--pretty decent for 26 eps)...
Disney was in talks to buy Henson Associates and the related properties when Jim died. After hisdeath, those talks fell through. Henson has a good relationship with Disney -- Disney distributes their films and so on -- but they're still their own company.
oKay... i dID as you SDuggested and i'm laoded on Meth. I founD a gazeLLe in the PaRJikng lot, and i bRought her iNSIde. sHJe didN't liKe the linUX box oR the Win98 or mac cpoMuters. iNfact, she reFused to surf tHe web on anyHting but an amiGa...
i thInmk thsi mEans somEthing.
The US government makes a whole lot of mapping data available free.
Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs) are scanned USGS quadrangle maps. They're great big TIFF files--the one map one has of a section of Wyoming is 7.4M--but very nice-looking, and usable by Mayko's xmap. Some are available free; others you need to pay for, at the rate of $45 per CD-R plus $1 per file you stick on it.
The USGS also offers Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), Digital Line Graphs (DLGs), and Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) data, at varying scales.
DEMs are elevation data at regularly spaced points.
DLGs are vector data for topographic lines, hydrography (flowing and standing water and wetlands), roads, trails, railways, pipelines, transmission lines, and state, county, city, and other borders. Names are included.
LULC files "describe the vegetation, water, natural surface, and cultural features on the land surface." This includes such things as residential/commercial/industrial urban areas, types of cultivated land, 7 variations on 'barren land', and glaciers.
This NOAA site has much the same information as the DEM files on a global scale, also including bathymetric (elevation descriptions of undersea areas) data.
The Great Lakes Data Rescue project has bathymetric data for the Great Lakes.
And if Bruce is listening, one'd really like a set of these CDs... see, there's this project one's working on to make an open-source browser for any data conceivably represented geographically, like weather maps, airline flight tracking, and so on...
Taper.