Do a tablet PC which is cheap, lightweight, integrated wireless lan and has just enough power to browse the web comfortably... Then I'd get one at once so I could lie back on the couch and read articles while my partner watches TV.
For serious computing I'd still want a desktop, but a tablet PC would indeed be perfect for browsing, even if it were a bit underpowered.
I don't think it will be introduced in Europe in the near future. Even WAP is a total disaster here.
It's more of a chicken and egg problem really. WAP sucks for multimedia (Good things can be done with WAP, but they are rare). The 3G technology doesn't exist because there is no real market, but the market can't exist without the technology.
Camera phones are becomming more and more visible, and MMS messaging is beginning to show... I would speculate this could very well help fuel an increased demand for faster technologies. Time will tell though...
For Linux: not so much of an issue... for Windows: another story.
To my experience Windows always manages to slow down to a crawl when I'm moving large files around, it just somehow wastes all my processor time by staring at the harddisk.
With SMP there's another processor to keep the UI responsive. My friend was using a dual 200 MHz PPro for this very reason until quite reasently.
It might not be a good reason, but it's a reason none the less.
ESA Engineer: We need to calibrate the spinoff vector 3 micrometers forward. NASA Engineer: Micrometers? ESA Engineer: Yes, metric units. NASA Engineer: Metric?
A bit over the top perhaps, but it's not like it hasn't happened before;)
Make sure to use broken drive...
on
Floppy the Robot
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Floppy drives these days are of really bad quality... I went through something like a drive every two years at almost no use. Then I rescued a drive from an old 286. It's built like a tank, and still works perfectly.
My thoughts on the robot as soon as the page loads...;)
Are you saying this is actually a problem? Do you have *any* experience with this? From you comment it's quite clear that you have very little experience with Ethernet.
I find it somewhat naive to assume it's always going to be Ethernet. Granted I haven't myself used things like Token Ring or Thick Ethernet. But those sure need their very own cabling. And people have been known to upgrade from that to Cat5. My point simply was, no wires replaced with no wires is nothing to upgrade. Twisted pair cabling sure is flexible, but to assume all future networking technologies will use it? It's your choice.
Oh, and what is an RC45 jack? Do you mean RJ-45 jack?
Correct. I made a mistake there. Judging from your attitude you never make those, right?
I've been planning the same for some time. Currently I'm aiming for wireless. The reasons?
The speed is OK with the latest generation
No wires
Moving things around won't become an issue
Upgrading won't require new wires
The main issue with wireless is speed... it's not terribly good, but enough to stream DivX (disclaimer, haven't tested, only done the math.) If you're planning to move several gigabytes from machine to machine in a hurry you might want wires instead.
Security is also a weak link with wireless, but that depends on your location as well. Encryption is always extra overhead, which is a bummer.
But personally I'd rather have a slow flexible system than a fast system I can't change because I've installed the RC45 jacks in the wrong places.
I doubt something like this could be incorporated into global legislation even if we had 10 years to do it. It's simply far to hard to maintain.
I think that a scheme where there would be a law on marking every email advertisement with something like [Advertisement] in the subject would be much more efficient. That is easier to track, and draws a clear line between obeying the law and not.
Using a system like this most people would filter out the spam, and the spammers would find their activities unprofitable. There would still be offenders, but surely it is cheaper to go after them compared to a global email taxation system?
Technology Previews instead of plain old Beta?? What next, Mass User Testing instead of Release?
Actually, a Technology Preview usually signifies an Alpha. It's more like "We have something working" than "Please test this nearly-finished-product for us".
Not that I'm saying there's no hidden agenda, who knows?;)
SCO alleges this occurred because IBM released portions of the Unix system, owned by SCO, in to Linux.
I've understood that they've reimplemented some technology in Linux, but have they really just taken the existing pieces and put them into Linux? I doubt it.
Would someone care to shed some light on the subject?
Noun ; 1. The current scientist scam, which has replaced the older artificial intelligence scam with its more robust resistance to criticism and even more byzantine theories.
Actually, cognitive science does not replace AI. The goal of cognitive science is to figure out how our brain works on a functional level. Where neurology studies the actual chemical reactions and neural activity, cognitive science studies how the "hardware" works to achieve our thought processes.
One good example is how the brain works out an image of the mismash of neural impulses going through the retinal nerves. The resolution of the eye is actually quite low, and the "pixels" aren't ordered in any linear fashion. The brain does an enormous amount of processing to form an actual image. This is why babies can't see, even though the optics work. The brain needs to develop the processing algorithms in order to make sense of all the information coming in.
Of course, all of this is theory, and subject to scientific dispute:)
When I'm 85, I'm going to have a nice little holographic butler keeping track of my appointments and stuff like that... Never tiring, never forgetting.
When you're that old I think it's your right to be lazy... right?;)
If I've understood thing correctly, Chinese uses both formants and pitch to signify meaning. A formant is a distinct sound, like A or O, which is recognizible at any pitch, and that part can be lip-read.
But can pitch be lip-read? If not, would a system like this work at all for languages who apply pitch aswell as formants to distinguish between words?
I don't know if this makes any sense or not... but I would stress that it is kind of pointless to use a tool like this, since you might be an exception yourself.
Statistics often make sense on a demographical scale, but never on an individual scale.
In my experience, if a person doesn't understand why HTML isn't a programming language, it's not worth my while to explain it, I'll just play along and know the truth.
Programming languages are instructions to be interpreted by a compiler of some sort, eventually resulting into machine code which can be executed.
HTML surely isn't a Turing complete programming language, but I would say one does program HTML in a sense. Not that I consider HTML a programming language as I do the around ten procedural and object oriented languages I know, but surely HTML is interpreted and indirectly turned into machine code just as Pyhton, Perl, Java, C, Assembler? Not that the result is a stand-program, but the result is your browser generating the machine code to display the page. Much like what a Java virtual machine does with an applet...
I guess it's like the term hacker. I don't see cracking as being equal to hacking, but I do recognize the fact that for many people that distinction simply doesn't exist. Why be so absolute?
What model of bike had serial output? I have been looking for an exercise bike with USB or serial data output.
I can't remember what model it was then, but the manufacturer was Tunturi (a Finnish firm). Their current models, complete with RS232 ports, can be found on this product page.
This feels really creepy... Years ago I was thinking about interfacing my parents' exercise bike with my computer (the bike has a serial port and sends out lots of data when you're pedaling). I figured you could have all sorts of motivational games and rendered landscapes to motivate your exercise... Now Microsoft has gone and done it.
So I guess my dilemma is if I should applaud it or just conclude that it can't be safe to have an exercise bike running Winows XP;)
Where in the article does any reference to wireless phones occur? And where in reality does a teraflop processor have its place in a phone?
This has nothing to do with cellular phones. The article refers to the processor rumored to be used in Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console.
The name spawns from the fact that the Cell processor is to be designed so that several chips can work together, forming a larger processing entity. The individual chips being the cells, that is.
That's great and all, but how are they getting this quality? Was T2 filmed in digital?
Nope, I doubt it was. What they prabably are saying is that the analog masters have been retransferred into a digital format. Analog masters can have great quality and (in theory) infinite dynamic range. The resulting quality of the digital version is all about the conversion. With a better conversion a better digital version can be produced.
802.11 as next-generation cell? Unlikely. The contention arbitration mechanisms aren't there, and the protocol was never designed to be used over a distance of greater than about 500 metres.
Your comment is no doubt very convincing. On the other hand, IDE was never designed to run at 133 MHz. I realize the analogy is poor, but we've managed to scale technology beyond the wldest dreams of the original designers before... providing the demand existed, that is.
Slashdot Mirror
Do a tablet PC which is cheap, lightweight, integrated wireless lan and has just enough power to browse the web comfortably... Then I'd get one at once so I could lie back on the couch and read articles while my partner watches TV.
For serious computing I'd still want a desktop, but a tablet PC would indeed be perfect for browsing, even if it were a bit underpowered.
My 2 cents anyway...
I don't think it will be introduced in Europe in the near future. Even WAP is a total disaster here.
It's more of a chicken and egg problem really. WAP sucks for multimedia (Good things can be done with WAP, but they are rare). The 3G technology doesn't exist because there is no real market, but the market can't exist without the technology.
Camera phones are becomming more and more visible, and MMS messaging is beginning to show... I would speculate this could very well help fuel an increased demand for faster technologies. Time will tell though...
Windows is always impressively responsive; its scheduler is well suited to interactive and low-latency multimedia type tasks.
:)
Which version of Windows is this? I have Win2K on a 700 MHz Athlon. It slows to a crawl when I move large files around.
I'm not disputing your claims, just showing genuine interrest
already /.'ed at 6:30am ??!!
;)
Actually it's afternoon in Europe right now... There's more than one timezone in the world, you know
why SMP nowadays?
For Linux: not so much of an issue... for Windows: another story.
To my experience Windows always manages to slow down to a crawl when I'm moving large files around, it just somehow wastes all my processor time by staring at the harddisk.
With SMP there's another processor to keep the UI responsive. My friend was using a dual 200 MHz PPro for this very reason until quite reasently.
It might not be a good reason, but it's a reason none the less.
This has been beaten to death already. Can we get over the stupid metric jokes? And if your going to do them, can you at least get them RIGHT?
I'm sorry if the joke offends you, but it was meant as a joke, not an I-point-out-stupid-Americans exercise.
Nasa along with the European Space Agency
;)
ESA Engineer: We need to calibrate the spinoff vector 3 micrometers forward.
NASA Engineer: Micrometers?
ESA Engineer: Yes, metric units.
NASA Engineer: Metric?
A bit over the top perhaps, but it's not like it hasn't happened before
Floppy drives these days are of really bad quality... I went through something like a drive every two years at almost no use. Then I rescued a drive from an old 286. It's built like a tank, and still works perfectly.
;)
My thoughts on the robot as soon as the page loads...
It's cracker dammit...
Dear "Anonymous Coward",
* Upgrading won't require new wires
Are you saying this is actually a problem? Do you have *any* experience with this? From you comment it's quite clear that you have very little experience with Ethernet.
I find it somewhat naive to assume it's always going to be Ethernet. Granted I haven't myself used things like Token Ring or Thick Ethernet. But those sure need their very own cabling. And people have been known to upgrade from that to Cat5. My point simply was, no wires replaced with no wires is nothing to upgrade. Twisted pair cabling sure is flexible, but to assume all future networking technologies will use it? It's your choice.
Oh, and what is an RC45 jack? Do you mean RJ-45 jack?
Correct. I made a mistake there. Judging from your attitude you never make those, right?
The main issue with wireless is speed... it's not terribly good, but enough to stream DivX (disclaimer, haven't tested, only done the math.) If you're planning to move several gigabytes from machine to machine in a hurry you might want wires instead.
Security is also a weak link with wireless, but that depends on your location as well. Encryption is always extra overhead, which is a bummer.
But personally I'd rather have a slow flexible system than a fast system I can't change because I've installed the RC45 jacks in the wrong places.
I doubt something like this could be incorporated into global legislation even if we had 10 years to do it. It's simply far to hard to maintain.
I think that a scheme where there would be a law on marking every email advertisement with something like [Advertisement] in the subject would be much more efficient. That is easier to track, and draws a clear line between obeying the law and not.
Using a system like this most people would filter out the spam, and the spammers would find their activities unprofitable. There would still be offenders, but surely it is cheaper to go after them compared to a global email taxation system?
Technology Previews instead of plain old Beta??
;)
What next, Mass User Testing instead of Release?
Actually, a Technology Preview usually signifies an Alpha. It's more like "We have something working" than "Please test this nearly-finished-product for us".
Not that I'm saying there's no hidden agenda, who knows?
SCO alleges this occurred because IBM released portions of the Unix system, owned by SCO, in to Linux.
I've understood that they've reimplemented some technology in Linux, but have they really just taken the existing pieces and put them into Linux? I doubt it.
Would someone care to shed some light on the subject?
Noun ; 1. The current scientist scam, which has replaced the older artificial intelligence scam with its more robust resistance to criticism and even more byzantine theories.
:)
Actually, cognitive science does not replace AI. The goal of cognitive science is to figure out how our brain works on a functional level. Where neurology studies the actual chemical reactions and neural activity, cognitive science studies how the "hardware" works to achieve our thought processes.
One good example is how the brain works out an image of the mismash of neural impulses going through the retinal nerves. The resolution of the eye is actually quite low, and the "pixels" aren't ordered in any linear fashion. The brain does an enormous amount of processing to form an actual image. This is why babies can't see, even though the optics work. The brain needs to develop the processing algorithms in order to make sense of all the information coming in.
Of course, all of this is theory, and subject to scientific dispute
When I'm 85, I'm going to have a nice little holographic butler keeping track of my appointments and stuff like that... Never tiring, never forgetting.
;)
When you're that old I think it's your right to be lazy... right?
If I've understood thing correctly, Chinese uses both formants and pitch to signify meaning. A formant is a distinct sound, like A or O, which is recognizible at any pitch, and that part can be lip-read.
But can pitch be lip-read? If not, would a system like this work at all for languages who apply pitch aswell as formants to distinguish between words?
I don't know if this makes any sense or not... but I would stress that it is kind of pointless to use a tool like this, since you might be an exception yourself.
Statistics often make sense on a demographical scale, but never on an individual scale.
You are wrong.
I might well be. But surely not as wrong as you are unable to back up your oppinions in any way.
In my experience, if a person doesn't understand why HTML isn't a programming language, it's not worth my while to explain it, I'll just play along and know the truth.
Programming languages are instructions to be interpreted by a compiler of some sort, eventually resulting into machine code which can be executed.
HTML surely isn't a Turing complete programming language, but I would say one does program HTML in a sense. Not that I consider HTML a programming language as I do the around ten procedural and object oriented languages I know, but surely HTML is interpreted and indirectly turned into machine code just as Pyhton, Perl, Java, C, Assembler? Not that the result is a stand-program, but the result is your browser generating the machine code to display the page. Much like what a Java virtual machine does with an applet...
I guess it's like the term hacker. I don't see cracking as being equal to hacking, but I do recognize the fact that for many people that distinction simply doesn't exist. Why be so absolute?
What model of bike had serial output? I have been looking for an exercise bike with USB or serial data output.
I can't remember what model it was then, but the manufacturer was Tunturi (a Finnish firm). Their current models, complete with RS232 ports, can be found on this product page.
This feels really creepy... Years ago I was thinking about interfacing my parents' exercise bike with my computer (the bike has a serial port and sends out lots of data when you're pedaling). I figured you could have all sorts of motivational games and rendered landscapes to motivate your exercise... Now Microsoft has gone and done it.
;)
So I guess my dilemma is if I should applaud it or just conclude that it can't be safe to have an exercise bike running Winows XP
Where in the article does any reference to wireless phones occur? And where in reality does a teraflop processor have its place in a phone?
This has nothing to do with cellular phones. The article refers to the processor rumored to be used in Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console.
The name spawns from the fact that the Cell processor is to be designed so that several chips can work together, forming a larger processing entity. The individual chips being the cells, that is.
That's great and all, but how are they getting this quality? Was T2 filmed in digital?
Nope, I doubt it was. What they prabably are saying is that the analog masters have been retransferred into a digital format. Analog masters can have great quality and (in theory) infinite dynamic range. The resulting quality of the digital version is all about the conversion. With a better conversion a better digital version can be produced.
My guess, anyway.
802.11 as next-generation cell? Unlikely. The contention arbitration mechanisms aren't there, and the protocol was never designed to be used over a distance of greater than about 500 metres.
Your comment is no doubt very convincing. On the other hand, IDE was never designed to run at 133 MHz. I realize the analogy is poor, but we've managed to scale technology beyond the wldest dreams of the original designers before... providing the demand existed, that is.