I think they are doing this as an extension of being asked to look into that stupid Gator spyware, learning that it's not the only thing that makes searchresults unfair.
Well, I'll tell you what it looks like. It looks like all you have to do is put a piece of electrical tape down the middle and BAM - dual head. Not was I was hopping for.
Right In One Way
on
Is Linux Dead?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Let's face it, as a mainstream desktop, Linux has failed up to this point to be little more than a techie OS. It's still got some issues to work out and in that respect the idea that Linux has failed is somewhat true.
But there is more to Linux than the desktop. Linux is a great server OS and has been growing in market share. Combined with Apache, it's a great web-server platform that you can get FREE. As an embeded OS, Linux is doing great too. How much more do you think a TiVo would cost if they had to pay MS to do stuff for them? Not only that, they'd (probably) need better hardware to do the exact same thing. By using Linux on a platform that was already supported, they were able to save tons of time and money.
And let's not forget that Linux started as a hobbiest OS, and it has succeded greatly at this. I use, many other hobbiests do. It would cost a fortune to get some of the things Linux and the GNU project give me for free (development tools for every language, ludicrious ammounts of customizability) for Win 2k or XP.
Last of all, Linux is definatly improving. I've only been using it for a year or two and it is getting much better. But I still use Win 2k on my Windows box. Why? That's how I can support dual processors. And for me, XP has nothing new in it except it's anti-copying stuff which is a step BACK. I don't think that Windows is getting much better for me, do you? XP is what, 4 or 5 years newer, an there is no new great thing that I should get it for? Many people still use 2k very happily. How many people still use a version of Linux from 4 to 5 years ago because they see nothing out now that's any good? If they use that old version, it's on old hardware or because the computer hasn't been rebooted since '98, not because nothing in Linux has improved. Sure there are exceptions to this but lets face it. Linux is a dramatic success in the three areas that (IMHO) it focuses on: server, embeded, and hobbiest.
Re:Upgrading Mandrake & Debian packages
on
Is RPM Doomed?
·
· Score: 2
The reason that debian works is both. The package system and utilities (apt-get, etc) work great and have been designed great. But they could turn into the RPM problems if debian wasn't so strict. If you want your.deb file put into the offical repository, then it gets looked at and picked apart by many developers. So if you like your thing to install into/foo, they'll either change that or not take your package, because it should be in/usr/share/foo or/usr/local/foo or whatever it is (i'm not near a linux box right now and I can't remember, but it doesn't matter). I think a big part of it is the centralized controll.
Anyone can make a.deb file and put it on their website, but if you want it in the debian archive so people can 'apt-get install foo', then you have to make it comply.
On a side note, why not put debian on a box and try it out. That's how I started. I had a mandrake box and a second box that needed a reinstall, and so I tried debian and it won me over, quickly.
My Linux Expiriances...
on
Is RPM Doomed?
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
(Or how I learned to stop worrying and trust apt-get)
When I first tried linux oh so many years ago, I tried THE distrobution (from what I knew) called RedHat. I quickly learned to dispise RPMs, although for a n00b like me they were better than source.
I soon tried Caldera and a few others, I liked RH better, I don't remember why.
Then one day I tried Mandrake. In my oppionion this is a GREAT distro. In fact, it's the one I would use today if it wasn't for RPM. No matter how nice a distro it is, I couldn't stand fiddling with RPMs, downloading everthing I could find and still having it not work.
So I went to another famous distro: Slack. I liked slack alot, especially not having to fiddle with RPMs. Their packages had no dependencies, but they weren't RPMs. I used this distro for a few months, and it was nice, but I wasn't satisfied.
So out of sheer desperation, I tried the ultimate distro, Debian. I had heard it was tough to install. While it was no RedHat or Mandrake, by now I knew quite a bit about Linux and it didn't give me any problems. But what won me over was (like I assume was for so many others) apt-get. You just can't be typing "apt-get install gimp" to get the gimp. All dependencies resolved, all problems taken care of.
Now it's true that Potato (aka Stable) is out of date. It's stable as hell, but I don't think any desktop user should use it (servers are another story, as is often the case). "Testing" has been just as stable for me as full releases of Mandrake and others, that is no crashes. I've never used unstable, but hey, I've got a extra box lying around here somewhere.
So in short all my distro hunting can be put in a few simple steps:
I have an Inspiron 8000, which was the first Dell to have an nVidia chip. It has a 933 PIII-M and a GeForce 2 GO. I have had this laptop for about a year now (I think) and I thought I'd tell you guys what these chips are really like.
I should tell you that I've taken to doing all my gaming on my laptop because my desktop has some hardware problems and I haven't gotten around to fixing them. So while it's no GeForce 3, it works great. My gaming consists mostly of Counter-Strike. It runs at 1024x768, almost always at 60 FPS. The smoke gernades slow it down, but what do you expect. I should note that the 60 is my refresh rate, and I run Win 2k so it probably maxes out higher. The LCD screen is GREAT and you can see things very well. I doesn't blur during action and such. The only problem is it's impossible to play FPSs with a pointstick or touchpad, so I keep a USB mouse handy. But what do you expect?
The laptop does get warm after alot of CSing, but I'm not suprised. It's not hot at all, and doesn't seem to effect anything. When it does get hot the fan(s) come on, but they are quite quiet and you can't hear them over the game unless you keep it quiet.
Basically what I'm saying is that for what I do (gameing wise), the GeForce 2 GO works great. Considering that this is basically a GeForce 2 MX or so, I'd like to see the GeForce 4 GO, which is basically a neutered GeForce 3. Things are great on the 2D side too. And, yes, I've played Quake 3 and such a few times and it works great as well. No, you're not going to get 200 FPS with 4x AA at 1400x1050 (the native resolution), but then again, it IS a laptop. I should also point out that I game with my AC adapter, not having it might trigger the power miser stuff and slow the GPU down, I don't know.
While I'm on the subject, I'll also point out that the LCD looks great in ANY resolution. I doesn't look like it's been cheesily stretched (like my old Winbook did), it looks like it's the native resolution. But if you don't like it, there is a hot key that displays the image 1:1 on the screen, centered, with a black border around it for non-native resolutions if you want. I prefer full screen (which is nice on a 15" laptop).
In summary, these things work great. I've never tried the ATI, but I bet it would be just as good if not better (but I don't like ATI, and that's another discussion). Before this, my laptop gaming was limited to SimCity 3000, The Incredible Machine, Solitare, and other 2D games. Now I can do all that and headshot people in Counter-Strike from a hotel room without one of those lanboxes-in-a-suitcase.
I've tried many new technologies in my sort life. Based on my expirences, here's how this will work:
Step 1: I go to Japan
Step 2: I go to a store
Step 3: I tell my PDA "How much is a new Pentium 5"? (they'll be out by the time I can afford to go to Japan;) )
Step 4: The PDA thinks for 20 minutes
Step 5: It says something in Japanese
Step 6: I end up infront of a firing squad
Step 7: I tell my PDA "Please don't shoot, this is just a missunderstanding!"
Step 8: The PDA thinks another 20 minutes
Step 9: They shoot me now as opposed to at sunrise tomarrow
Seriously though, this will be need if it works, but I doubt that the PDAs will be powerfull enough to do it with any reasonable speed. Desktop's maybe...
Let's see, the site you linked to seems to be dated this year (2002), while the PHKL is referenced in a posted e-mail dated.. what class?... that's right, 1998. It's good to know you know your math so well.
Does that Hello Kitty laptop seem familiar? No, it's not because it's the same one your useing to view Slashdot right now (you sick twisted...), it's because It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Quickies! That's right it's a repost! Keep your eyes peeled, you may never see this again (*sure*)
I've never tried Solaris (to my knowledge), but I'd love to. It's a good thing that I found the page where they give it away for free before it got posted on here on Slashdot. Now I might actually have a chance to get a copy;). Thanks, [H]ardOCP!
If they're not dead, then they could bring the series back! I hope they do, that was one of the best shows on TV. They could give it the X-Files' timeslot too.
There might be an easier way
on
Disconnecting
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· Score: 2
I see this as simple. If you can't get them to cancel your service easily, why bother asking them to? Just call up your credit card compay and put a charge-back on bill. Then when AOL/Earthlink/Other ISP calls you to find out why you did that, tell them simply:
"I want to cancel my service. You made it hell for me to try to cancel, so I'm making it hell for you to try to get your money. Don't bill me again.
Wait, could you hold for just a sec?."
At this point either put your phone on hold and leave it like that for a few hours, or set it next to the radio, tuned to your local obnoxious contry station. Or just hang up without telling them. I should note that I haven't tried this, but I'd love a chance;).
I recently bought a PowerMac 7200 off ebay. As you may know it is about the size of a "normal" deskotp PC, or maybe a small tower on it's side. Anyway, when I got it the outside box was pristine, but somehow the inside box had a large dent in each side. It took me a day and a half to bend the case metal back to a "normal" shape.
Spiderman's Web and other guesses
on
Comic Book Physics
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· Score: 5, Funny
Well, I'm no scientist but it seems to me that if he went swinging around like that, it would litteraly rip his arm off. Does he have an exoskeleton I don't know about?
The flash does burn alot of callories, but unfortunatly, he still eats way more than he needs. This is why he hasn't had a movie (at least not lately), he is now over 600 lbs and can only run at abou 100mph.
Let's see, what other comic books are out there? Superman is just too easy to do (that or I can't think of any right now).
The incredible hulk is actually a very buff man who simply put on some halloween makeup once that caused a skin rash. Unfortunatly, while the makeup washed off, his skin stayed green. I guess this doesn't have to do with physics, does it?
Aquaman prevents his head from imploding when he dives deep because it is, in fact, filled with water and not a brain, as was previously thought. This allows him to equalize the pressure because he has holes in his ear drums. This explains why he spends his time with dolphins and tuna.
Wolverine's system survived the adamantium bonding because he takes lots of Citrical (R), a vitamin that helps prevent ostioperosis and death while bonding rare metals to your skeleton. To do this though, he had to take 2 bottles per day. This added up to so much money that he was forced to join a traveling, crime-fighting circus. They later dropped the circus part and just became the X-Men.
Of course, the last thing that I know is that the Silver Surfer is not actually silver but a rare form of mercury, which is why he is not only neutraly boyant in water, air, and anything else, but explains why anyone who touches him goes insane. I realize that this isn't in the comic books, but if they put that in, would you buy them?
OK, so I got off topic. Yes I made it all up. Sure I've never read a comic book for any of the above heros. Yes, most of it doesn't have to do with physics. Sure you can mod me down. But I got a long post in as one of the first, doesn't that deserve me a +1 "Good Try" mod? Admit it, this was funny. It was also not meant to offend any 300 piple-faced fanboys who might come to my house and trivia me to death about the time when they drew Batman's head 0.01% too small for his body. Those are my nighmares you know. I did mean the first part seriously, but then I got off topic. Oh well.
I think I speek for many in saying that I can fully understand his ruling in regards to Doom and Mortal Kombat. That said, I'm suprised with RE, as that game definatly has a story. As for the fourth, I've never played it and don't know anything about it. But like many of you, I think that he needed to review a few other games. Here is a list I think would have been much better:
First, let's keep the initial 4
Final Fantasy VII (I'm sorry, but I still think VII is the best one, the rest were great to, but as the stories go, I love VII)
A sim game (SimCity, a Sid Meyer, just not SimGolf, i've had so many problems with that game, but that's a different topic)
Something like Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
A game like Pikmin (for example, Pikmin)
Grand Theft Auto III (it's import to get a fair sample)
A puzzle game, maybe Aqua Aqua
Maybe something like JSRF
I should mention my stance, I guess. Yes video games have freedom of expression and are most definatly works of art (although I still could see otherwise for Mortal Kombat), I support limiting minors from violent games. I thought that State of Emergency was fun, but if I had a 10 year, I would NOT want him to be able to walk into a store and just buy it.
If the make nanotubes, what happens when they get loose?
Doc: "Billy, you've got nanitis, you need to stay away from pregnant women and flash photography." Billy: "Flash photography? You're kidding right?" Doc: "You don't have to, but don't blame me if you explode."
Maybe that idea some indian tribes used to have about it bad to get your picture taken was right. Hey! There's a reporter here at my house to put me in the paper for this insight. You need a photograph for the front page? OK, what harm could it do? Wait... Noooooooo.........
If AOL can not be easily avoided/turned off, they just lost my money. I have been looking into TiVo type devices for a while. When I fould out about the new series two units from TiVo, I've been getting ready to buy one. But if my TiVo is going to be slow and crash because of AOL software, I don't want it. If I'm going to get IMs from people trying to send me viruses during my favorite shows, I don't want it. If I get a single piece of spam on my TV, I don't want it. I sure hope TiVo will keep a VERY tight rope around AOL.
The watch I've always thought was cool and wanted is called the "See Touch Watch". They have a website but it doesn't seem to work. If you search google, you can find this page with a picture of it at the bottom. The idea is that the watch looks like a dominoe, and the bumps move up or down to tell the time. It is really quite cool. I first found out about it on "Next Step" on the discovery channel. That was a cool show, so was Beyond 2000 for that matter. Anyway, I've always thought it's a cool watch but they have never answered my e-mails, and I don't have the $$$ to call Europe. The only time I found a price for it, I think it was a few hundred, but I don't remember. Such a cool watch.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I have tried many USB devices. I have a MS Intellimouse Explorer that can be USB or PS/2, and a MS Natural Keyboard Pro that can also be USB or PS/2. My grand master plan a while ago was to get rid of some of the legacy stuff in my PC so that I wouldn't have so many cables in the back, makeing it easier to make it look better, to unplug for upgrades, etc. Well, I tried it for about 1 day and went back to PS/2. Why? Because the thing I use my PC for more than anything else is gaming, and I could notice the delay in response between a USB keyboard and mouse and having them on the PS/2 ports, even when they were the only USB devices in the system. If I had the bios make them act like PS/2 devices, instead of windows, it was still noticeable. 100+ FPS in games like Quake 3 and Counter Strike is useless if your mouse/kb doesn't update fast or consistantly. Sure, when I need a mouse on my laptop, USB is great. When I need to borrow my mom's color ink jet instead of our network attached laser printer, it's great too. But when I need fast response time for killing that AWP whore, I'll take PS/2 any day. Frankly, I'm disappointed in USB, I'm still waiting for it to make my life easier.
I heard a story on NPR the other day about some of the robots at Robodex, and they talked a little about how in Japan some nursing homes are doing this. They gave reasons such as some people are afraid of animails (dogs, etc), nothing to clean up, you can't be cruel to a robot (at least not untill People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots is created), don't have to feed/walk/clean up after them, etc. I think this is a good idea.
The fact that you can get all those papers is exactly the point. It is ILLEGAL in the US for them to do that with TV. I live in Kansas. And it is illegal for me to recieve out of market stations on a satalite dish, unless I pay extra to make up for "the economic loss that I'm causing by watching their commercials." The newspaper arguement is a perfect one. If I can get out of area news papers, why can't I get out of area TV stations? It's a stupid law.
Slashdot Mirror
I think they are doing this as an extension of being asked to look into that stupid Gator spyware, learning that it's not the only thing that makes searchresults unfair.
Well, I'll tell you what it looks like. It looks like all you have to do is put a piece of electrical tape down the middle and BAM - dual head. Not was I was hopping for.
But there is more to Linux than the desktop. Linux is a great server OS and has been growing in market share. Combined with Apache, it's a great web-server platform that you can get FREE. As an embeded OS, Linux is doing great too. How much more do you think a TiVo would cost if they had to pay MS to do stuff for them? Not only that, they'd (probably) need better hardware to do the exact same thing. By using Linux on a platform that was already supported, they were able to save tons of time and money.
And let's not forget that Linux started as a hobbiest OS, and it has succeded greatly at this. I use, many other hobbiests do. It would cost a fortune to get some of the things Linux and the GNU project give me for free (development tools for every language, ludicrious ammounts of customizability) for Win 2k or XP.
Last of all, Linux is definatly improving. I've only been using it for a year or two and it is getting much better. But I still use Win 2k on my Windows box. Why? That's how I can support dual processors. And for me, XP has nothing new in it except it's anti-copying stuff which is a step BACK. I don't think that Windows is getting much better for me, do you? XP is what, 4 or 5 years newer, an there is no new great thing that I should get it for? Many people still use 2k very happily. How many people still use a version of Linux from 4 to 5 years ago because they see nothing out now that's any good? If they use that old version, it's on old hardware or because the computer hasn't been rebooted since '98, not because nothing in Linux has improved. Sure there are exceptions to this but lets face it. Linux is a dramatic success in the three areas that (IMHO) it focuses on: server, embeded, and hobbiest.
Anyone can make a .deb file and put it on their website, but if you want it in the debian archive so people can 'apt-get install foo', then you have to make it comply.
On a side note, why not put debian on a box and try it out. That's how I started. I had a mandrake box and a second box that needed a reinstall, and so I tried debian and it won me over, quickly.
When I first tried linux oh so many years ago, I tried THE distrobution (from what I knew) called RedHat. I quickly learned to dispise RPMs, although for a n00b like me they were better than source.
I soon tried Caldera and a few others, I liked RH better, I don't remember why.
Then one day I tried Mandrake. In my oppionion this is a GREAT distro. In fact, it's the one I would use today if it wasn't for RPM. No matter how nice a distro it is, I couldn't stand fiddling with RPMs, downloading everthing I could find and still having it not work.
So I went to another famous distro: Slack. I liked slack alot, especially not having to fiddle with RPMs. Their packages had no dependencies, but they weren't RPMs. I used this distro for a few months, and it was nice, but I wasn't satisfied.
So out of sheer desperation, I tried the ultimate distro, Debian. I had heard it was tough to install. While it was no RedHat or Mandrake, by now I knew quite a bit about Linux and it didn't give me any problems. But what won me over was (like I assume was for so many others) apt-get. You just can't be typing "apt-get install gimp" to get the gimp. All dependencies resolved, all problems taken care of.
Now it's true that Potato (aka Stable) is out of date. It's stable as hell, but I don't think any desktop user should use it (servers are another story, as is often the case). "Testing" has been just as stable for me as full releases of Mandrake and others, that is no crashes. I've never used unstable, but hey, I've got a extra box lying around here somewhere.
So in short all my distro hunting can be put in a few simple steps:
This is purely my oppionion blah blah blah....
I should tell you that I've taken to doing all my gaming on my laptop because my desktop has some hardware problems and I haven't gotten around to fixing them. So while it's no GeForce 3, it works great. My gaming consists mostly of Counter-Strike. It runs at 1024x768, almost always at 60 FPS. The smoke gernades slow it down, but what do you expect. I should note that the 60 is my refresh rate, and I run Win 2k so it probably maxes out higher. The LCD screen is GREAT and you can see things very well. I doesn't blur during action and such. The only problem is it's impossible to play FPSs with a pointstick or touchpad, so I keep a USB mouse handy. But what do you expect?
The laptop does get warm after alot of CSing, but I'm not suprised. It's not hot at all, and doesn't seem to effect anything. When it does get hot the fan(s) come on, but they are quite quiet and you can't hear them over the game unless you keep it quiet.
Basically what I'm saying is that for what I do (gameing wise), the GeForce 2 GO works great. Considering that this is basically a GeForce 2 MX or so, I'd like to see the GeForce 4 GO, which is basically a neutered GeForce 3. Things are great on the 2D side too. And, yes, I've played Quake 3 and such a few times and it works great as well. No, you're not going to get 200 FPS with 4x AA at 1400x1050 (the native resolution), but then again, it IS a laptop. I should also point out that I game with my AC adapter, not having it might trigger the power miser stuff and slow the GPU down, I don't know.
While I'm on the subject, I'll also point out that the LCD looks great in ANY resolution. I doesn't look like it's been cheesily stretched (like my old Winbook did), it looks like it's the native resolution. But if you don't like it, there is a hot key that displays the image 1:1 on the screen, centered, with a black border around it for non-native resolutions if you want. I prefer full screen (which is nice on a 15" laptop).
In summary, these things work great. I've never tried the ATI, but I bet it would be just as good if not better (but I don't like ATI, and that's another discussion). Before this, my laptop gaming was limited to SimCity 3000, The Incredible Machine, Solitare, and other 2D games. Now I can do all that and headshot people in Counter-Strike from a hotel room without one of those lanboxes-in-a-suitcase.
What is the major difference between openMosix and Mosix, and what do you think openMosix needs to improve on the most?
Step 1: I go to Japan ;) )
Step 2: I go to a store
Step 3: I tell my PDA "How much is a new Pentium 5"? (they'll be out by the time I can afford to go to Japan
Step 4: The PDA thinks for 20 minutes
Step 5: It says something in Japanese
Step 6: I end up infront of a firing squad
Step 7: I tell my PDA "Please don't shoot, this is just a missunderstanding!"
Step 8: The PDA thinks another 20 minutes
Step 9: They shoot me now as opposed to at sunrise tomarrow
Seriously though, this will be need if it works, but I doubt that the PDAs will be powerfull enough to do it with any reasonable speed. Desktop's maybe...
Let's see, the site you linked to seems to be dated this year (2002), while the PHKL is referenced in a posted e-mail dated.. what class?... that's right, 1998. It's good to know you know your math so well.
Does that Hello Kitty laptop seem familiar? No, it's not because it's the same one your useing to view Slashdot right now (you sick twisted...), it's because It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Quickies! That's right it's a repost! Keep your eyes peeled, you may never see this again (*sure*)
I've never tried Solaris (to my knowledge), but I'd love to. It's a good thing that I found the page where they give it away for free before it got posted on here on Slashdot. Now I might actually have a chance to get a copy ;). Thanks, [H]ardOCP!
If they're not dead, then they could bring the series back! I hope they do, that was one of the best shows on TV. They could give it the X-Files' timeslot too.
"I want to cancel my service. You made it hell for me to try to cancel, so I'm making it hell for you to try to get your money. Don't bill me again.
Wait, could you hold for just a sec?."
At this point either put your phone on hold and leave it like that for a few hours, or set it next to the radio, tuned to your local obnoxious contry station. Or just hang up without telling them. I should note that I haven't tried this, but I'd love a chance ;).
Or does this sound like William Shatner "singing"?
I recently bought a PowerMac 7200 off ebay. As you may know it is about the size of a "normal" deskotp PC, or maybe a small tower on it's side. Anyway, when I got it the outside box was pristine, but somehow the inside box had a large dent in each side. It took me a day and a half to bend the case metal back to a "normal" shape.
Well, I'm no scientist but it seems to me that if he went swinging around like that, it would litteraly rip his arm off. Does he have an exoskeleton I don't know about?
The flash does burn alot of callories, but unfortunatly, he still eats way more than he needs. This is why he hasn't had a movie (at least not lately), he is now over 600 lbs and can only run at abou 100mph.
Let's see, what other comic books are out there? Superman is just too easy to do (that or I can't think of any right now).
The incredible hulk is actually a very buff man who simply put on some halloween makeup once that caused a skin rash. Unfortunatly, while the makeup washed off, his skin stayed green. I guess this doesn't have to do with physics, does it?
Aquaman prevents his head from imploding when he dives deep because it is, in fact, filled with water and not a brain, as was previously thought. This allows him to equalize the pressure because he has holes in his ear drums. This explains why he spends his time with dolphins and tuna.
Wolverine's system survived the adamantium bonding because he takes lots of Citrical (R), a vitamin that helps prevent ostioperosis and death while bonding rare metals to your skeleton. To do this though, he had to take 2 bottles per day. This added up to so much money that he was forced to join a traveling, crime-fighting circus. They later dropped the circus part and just became the X-Men.
Of course, the last thing that I know is that the Silver Surfer is not actually silver but a rare form of mercury, which is why he is not only neutraly boyant in water, air, and anything else, but explains why anyone who touches him goes insane. I realize that this isn't in the comic books, but if they put that in, would you buy them?
OK, so I got off topic. Yes I made it all up. Sure I've never read a comic book for any of the above heros. Yes, most of it doesn't have to do with physics. Sure you can mod me down. But I got a long post in as one of the first, doesn't that deserve me a +1 "Good Try" mod? Admit it, this was funny. It was also not meant to offend any 300 piple-faced fanboys who might come to my house and trivia me to death about the time when they drew Batman's head 0.01% too small for his body. Those are my nighmares you know. I did mean the first part seriously, but then I got off topic. Oh well.
I should mention my stance, I guess. Yes video games have freedom of expression and are most definatly works of art (although I still could see otherwise for Mortal Kombat), I support limiting minors from violent games. I thought that State of Emergency was fun, but if I had a 10 year, I would NOT want him to be able to walk into a store and just buy it.
Yeah, that will change the image of viruses ;)
If the make nanotubes, what happens when they get loose?
Doc: "Billy, you've got nanitis, you need to stay away from pregnant women and flash photography."
Billy: "Flash photography? You're kidding right?"
Doc: "You don't have to, but don't blame me if you explode."
Maybe that idea some indian tribes used to have about it bad to get your picture taken was right. Hey! There's a reporter here at my house to put me in the paper for this insight. You need a photograph for the front page? OK, what harm could it do? Wait... Noooooooo.........
*KABOOM*
If AOL can not be easily avoided/turned off, they just lost my money. I have been looking into TiVo type devices for a while. When I fould out about the new series two units from TiVo, I've been getting ready to buy one. But if my TiVo is going to be slow and crash because of AOL software, I don't want it. If I'm going to get IMs from people trying to send me viruses during my favorite shows, I don't want it. If I get a single piece of spam on my TV, I don't want it. I sure hope TiVo will keep a VERY tight rope around AOL.
The watch I've always thought was cool and wanted is called the "See Touch Watch". They have a website but it doesn't seem to work. If you search google, you can find this page with a picture of it at the bottom. The idea is that the watch looks like a dominoe, and the bumps move up or down to tell the time. It is really quite cool. I first found out about it on "Next Step" on the discovery channel. That was a cool show, so was Beyond 2000 for that matter. Anyway, I've always thought it's a cool watch but they have never answered my e-mails, and I don't have the $$$ to call Europe. The only time I found a price for it, I think it was a few hundred, but I don't remember. Such a cool watch.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I have tried many USB devices. I have a MS Intellimouse Explorer that can be USB or PS/2, and a MS Natural Keyboard Pro that can also be USB or PS/2. My grand master plan a while ago was to get rid of some of the legacy stuff in my PC so that I wouldn't have so many cables in the back, makeing it easier to make it look better, to unplug for upgrades, etc. Well, I tried it for about 1 day and went back to PS/2. Why? Because the thing I use my PC for more than anything else is gaming, and I could notice the delay in response between a USB keyboard and mouse and having them on the PS/2 ports, even when they were the only USB devices in the system. If I had the bios make them act like PS/2 devices, instead of windows, it was still noticeable. 100+ FPS in games like Quake 3 and Counter Strike is useless if your mouse/kb doesn't update fast or consistantly. Sure, when I need a mouse on my laptop, USB is great. When I need to borrow my mom's color ink jet instead of our network attached laser printer, it's great too. But when I need fast response time for killing that AWP whore, I'll take PS/2 any day. Frankly, I'm disappointed in USB, I'm still waiting for it to make my life easier.
I heard a story on NPR the other day about some of the robots at Robodex, and they talked a little about how in Japan some nursing homes are doing this. They gave reasons such as some people are afraid of animails (dogs, etc), nothing to clean up, you can't be cruel to a robot (at least not untill People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots is created), don't have to feed/walk/clean up after them, etc. I think this is a good idea.
The fact that you can get all those papers is exactly the point. It is ILLEGAL in the US for them to do that with TV. I live in Kansas. And it is illegal for me to recieve out of market stations on a satalite dish, unless I pay extra to make up for "the economic loss that I'm causing by watching their commercials." The newspaper arguement is a perfect one. If I can get out of area news papers, why can't I get out of area TV stations? It's a stupid law.