Solution: Raise the capital to cover the cost of production plus a tidy profit before producing the work. If you can't raise the funds, it probably wasn't worth producing in the first place.
That is why I have iTunes automatically put random songs on my iPod every time it syncs. This achieves the same effect without the need for a gigantic drive.
Find me a DVD-sized USB drive that can be distributed for the same price as a CD/DVD and I'll agree with you. This is an economics issue, not a technological one.
all that remains is the media player (CD, DVD, etc)
The network replaced the CD/DVD media players years ago. I would like to say that Apple will discontinue the CD/DVD drive in certain models as soon as tomorrow (like they did with the floppy in the iMac), but I'm not sure we have a decent alternative for OS installation yet, so that's going to keep them around for a while longer.
I've somehow managed to accumulate 50GB worth of data and I don't store anything of interest. If I was storing photos and video like Joe Average does I'd imagine I'd be looking for a new hard drive right about now.
On the MP3 player side of things, realistically, you can't even listen to 1GB worth of music in a day. Because it's synced with your computer it doesn't matter if you need to remove some songs to make room for more. Therefore if you synced your MP3 player daily you wouldn't need more than 1GB of storage (assuming you want to listen to new music each day). On the other hand, I wouldn't want to remove photos on my computer to make way for newer photos. That's why you need a huge drive in your computer, but you don't need much space at all in your MP3 player.
1. Distiller's grain is a byproduct of ethanol production. It is a food for animals. 2. Not in my country. The current corn prices are pretty close to the cost of production. 3. I don't know much about growing switchgrass specifically, but I do have lots of experience with growing other grasses. You can get a good couple of years out of crop, but after that the yields start to drop off dramatically.
Someone has to push though those crontab modifications.
But seriously, as someone else pointed out, corn is the crop of choice because we have the infrastructure already in place. The farmers have the planters, combines, and storage to handle corn. There is no way any farmer can tear that all down overnight and buy all the equipment and buildings necessary to start growing switchgrass.
Also, the 400 restarts/day were across probably 60 processes. So perhaps the drama pitch of "That's a production application that can't stay up for more than 4 minutes on average" is a key or two stretched beyond what it can bear.
But reading that section really made my head spin. 4 MINUTES???
You'd think that the guy who wrote mongrel would understand how Rails applications are deployed better than anyway, but:
If 37signals had say 100 web servers, each running 4 instances of the application, that's one restart per day per instance. I don't know how many they really run, but I can guarantee that it's more than one, much more. Furthermore, while one instance is restarting, the rest will continue to happily serve up requests as usual. It's not like the application becomes unavailable every four minutes.
While even one restart per day it's great, it's nowhere near as bad as he makes it sound.
If the entity that holds a registered copyright ceases distribution of the work
Perhaps the copyright holder should not have distribution rights at all. As long as the royalty is paid, I should be free to acquire/store/view the work as I, not the copyright holder, see fit.
All we've really been missing lately is those OMG moments like a moon landing.
All the OMG moments of the past were born out of the threat of war. As long as America faces no real homeland threats, the advancement in technology will be relatively limited.
That said, I think we're still in pretty exciting times. 2007, in my mind, marks the emergence of mobile computing. Something that is going to heat up in the next few years. While I realize the technology has been around for quite some time, 2007 was really the first time someone got it right.
but the actual IDEA behind the iPhone is at least a decade old.
How many ideas can you take from concept to production in less than a year? I bet there were a number of revolutionary ideas envisioned in 2007 that we will not see for ten years, and beyond.
As far as the PC world comparisons are concerned, the "upgrade" version is the version you buy for $129. The previous operating system requirement is a given as you more or less cannot install it on any system that didn't come with MacOS from the store. The "full" version, on the other hand, is the one that comes with your Mac. It's impossible to buy the "full" version except with a new computer, therefore we have no idea how much Apple would charge for it if it were a standalone product. Probably more than $129 though.
The side USB ports would be handy when plugging in temporary devices: Digital cameras, iPods, etc. The Mac has the extra ports on the keyboard, but often they do not supply enough power, leaving you feeling around behind the computer trying to find a port to use them.
"and since they don't have any magic margin fairy that just means they're charging more for the same components"
Or could it be that the "full" version of OS X costs more than the "full" version of Windows? The "upgrade" version is $129, so it's safe to assume that it's worth more than that when you originally purchase it with your Mac. Of course we'll never know for sure. At least not until Apple starts offering a generic version.
The thing that makes Ruby stand out above the languages I'm well versed in (unfortunately Python isn't one of them) is its metaprogramming abilities. For lack of a better way to describe it: You don't write Ruby programs. You write Ruby programs that write Ruby programs. If Python is the same in this regard, then I guess probably nothing.
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Solution: Raise the capital to cover the cost of production plus a tidy profit before producing the work. If you can't raise the funds, it probably wasn't worth producing in the first place.
Unless it's discovered that the brain is capable of receiving a digital signal directly, how do you propose that they do that?
That is why I have iTunes automatically put random songs on my iPod every time it syncs. This achieves the same effect without the need for a gigantic drive.
Find me a DVD-sized USB drive that can be distributed for the same price as a CD/DVD and I'll agree with you. This is an economics issue, not a technological one.
The network replaced the CD/DVD media players years ago. I would like to say that Apple will discontinue the CD/DVD drive in certain models as soon as tomorrow (like they did with the floppy in the iMac), but I'm not sure we have a decent alternative for OS installation yet, so that's going to keep them around for a while longer.
I've somehow managed to accumulate 50GB worth of data and I don't store anything of interest. If I was storing photos and video like Joe Average does I'd imagine I'd be looking for a new hard drive right about now.
On the MP3 player side of things, realistically, you can't even listen to 1GB worth of music in a day. Because it's synced with your computer it doesn't matter if you need to remove some songs to make room for more. Therefore if you synced your MP3 player daily you wouldn't need more than 1GB of storage (assuming you want to listen to new music each day). On the other hand, I wouldn't want to remove photos on my computer to make way for newer photos. That's why you need a huge drive in your computer, but you don't need much space at all in your MP3 player.
Hemp (but not marijuana) is legal where I'm from. Nobody grows it.
1. Distiller's grain is a byproduct of ethanol production. It is a food for animals.
2. Not in my country. The current corn prices are pretty close to the cost of production.
3. I don't know much about growing switchgrass specifically, but I do have lots of experience with growing other grasses. You can get a good couple of years out of crop, but after that the yields start to drop off dramatically.
Someone has to push though those crontab modifications.
But seriously, as someone else pointed out, corn is the crop of choice because we have the infrastructure already in place. The farmers have the planters, combines, and storage to handle corn. There is no way any farmer can tear that all down overnight and buy all the equipment and buildings necessary to start growing switchgrass.
Corn is still just barely above the cost of production. Call me when corn is actually worth something.
I did read the article, thanks. Perhaps you should read my comment. For your own benefit.
You'd think that the guy who wrote mongrel would understand how Rails applications are deployed better than anyway, but:
If 37signals had say 100 web servers, each running 4 instances of the application, that's one restart per day per instance. I don't know how many they really run, but I can guarantee that it's more than one, much more. Furthermore, while one instance is restarting, the rest will continue to happily serve up requests as usual. It's not like the application becomes unavailable every four minutes.
While even one restart per day it's great, it's nowhere near as bad as he makes it sound.
Perhaps the copyright holder should not have distribution rights at all. As long as the royalty is paid, I should be free to acquire/store/view the work as I, not the copyright holder, see fit.
The plastic on the iMac was pretty revolutionary. Even today, you still see several products that were inspired by the original iMac design.
All the OMG moments of the past were born out of the threat of war. As long as America faces no real homeland threats, the advancement in technology will be relatively limited.
That said, I think we're still in pretty exciting times. 2007, in my mind, marks the emergence of mobile computing. Something that is going to heat up in the next few years. While I realize the technology has been around for quite some time, 2007 was really the first time someone got it right.
How many ideas can you take from concept to production in less than a year? I bet there were a number of revolutionary ideas envisioned in 2007 that we will not see for ten years, and beyond.
Ontario, Canada, actually.
And in the real world. From my point of view it seems like pretty much everyone has a Mac these days. It is quite possibly a local phenomena, however.
As far as the PC world comparisons are concerned, the "upgrade" version is the version you buy for $129. The previous operating system requirement is a given as you more or less cannot install it on any system that didn't come with MacOS from the store. The "full" version, on the other hand, is the one that comes with your Mac. It's impossible to buy the "full" version except with a new computer, therefore we have no idea how much Apple would charge for it if it were a standalone product. Probably more than $129 though.
The side USB ports would be handy when plugging in temporary devices: Digital cameras, iPods, etc. The Mac has the extra ports on the keyboard, but often they do not supply enough power, leaving you feeling around behind the computer trying to find a port to use them.
"and since they don't have any magic margin fairy that just means they're charging more for the same components"
Or could it be that the "full" version of OS X costs more than the "full" version of Windows? The "upgrade" version is $129, so it's safe to assume that it's worth more than that when you originally purchase it with your Mac. Of course we'll never know for sure. At least not until Apple starts offering a generic version.
I'll take the one that runs OS X. Who really cares about the hardware?
What inherit flaw in Ruby prevents it from scaling? Do keep in mind that performance and scalability are not the same thing.
The thing that makes Ruby stand out above the languages I'm well versed in (unfortunately Python isn't one of them) is its metaprogramming abilities. For lack of a better way to describe it: You don't write Ruby programs. You write Ruby programs that write Ruby programs. If Python is the same in this regard, then I guess probably nothing.