However, some experts question whether consumers would want to wear such a device during their day-to-day activities.
If you showed those same "experts" the bulky brick style cell phones lots of people carried in the mid-90's, they'd probably also question whether anyone would bother to lug such a thing around, while doing their day-to-day activities. Especially since all they did was take phone calls. But hey, if you can't make something cool, piss on what somebody else is doing, right?
I'm confused. Was Costco selling these drives at a loss or something, just to get people in the door?
There's a difference between selling at a loss, and selling below market value. For instance, if Costco signs a contract for delivery of a million drives in Feburary, the factory floods in March, and Costco gets delivery in April, their drives are suddenly worth substantially more. They can either sell them at the previously intended prices, or they can raise prices to market value. In the first case they still sell them for more than they paid, but less than market value. In the second case, they take the customer for all they're worth, and make much more profit. Rationing is the only way the first one can work, otherwise someone will come in and buy all your drives, then resell them at market value.
X only make things more Y when the Z know how to do their jobs effectively
That tend to be true for just about any professional combination of X,Y, and Z. Don't you think?
I worked in the power industry while our state was in the throws of deregulation. I know what you're talking about. But this thread isn't about that. And Ma-Bell suffered from the same flaws that the power companies do. Security is not a primary issue to them. During the glory days you're talking about, you could phreak the phone system with a Captin Crunch whistle. That was the state of their security. Today's whistle is just a bit more complicated.
The attackers will produce a cascading failure in the electrical grid that brings down the entire North American power grid.
Frankly, I'm surprised we haven't had this happen already. It always blows my mind when there's some massive cascading power failure across mulitple states, and people are somehow relieved that it wasn't terrorism. Just a normal failure. How the fuck is a system that just collapses all by itself better than one that has to be pushed to collapse?
It seems to me that instead of fucking around with underware bombs and shit, our enemies might get a lot better cost return with some iron spikes, aluminum wire, and some helium filled weather balloons. Giant transmission lines in the middle of the desert are virtually impossible to defend, and are already stressed to the breaking point when it's hot across the nation. All they need is a little push...no complicated cyber-hacker-shit required.
Sure hope not. I mean, does every goddamn thing need to be computerized?
Computers make things more efficient. Which means you can consume more for the same price. If it weren't for the computers, people would have to get by on less. And if there's one thing people hate more than computers, it's getting by on less. So you get what we got right here. Which is the way we want it. Well, we get it. And I don't like it any more than you men.
3e8 car mile ~ 3000 cars * 1 year * 35 miles / hour * 8 hours / day * 365 days / year
So if Google wants to reach that milestone, they need to start cranking out those self-driving cars.
So what are they basing this on? The number of miles a person would typically have to drive before they were "due" to have a fatal accident? And that is 300 Million?
Maybe google should test driverless high-performance motorcycles instead. You'd only have to show you could go...what...maybe 1500 miles, assuming the computer isn't wearing a helmet? Having the computer ride next to one of his friend computers would probably make it even less. Also, you could have some cute girl computers pull up next to the motorcycle computer at a red light. Maybe a self-driving Kia Soul, or something like that. That would tend to cut the average down too.
Why? You'd rather strike out with a skinny chick than a chubby one? With a name like that, I'm thinking you're over-compensating. Dig your User Number, though...
Just so this whole thing doesn't spin out of control, the code is total bullshit I made up myself. Seemed better than just posting a comment about the 3rd law.
My cousin used to say the same sort of thing about his know-it-all supervisor at work that was always riding him to wear safetly glasses. After he got back from disability, the guy got him a couple of tickets to Avatar in 3d, just to be an asshole.
Exactly. Sometimes code that looks useless is really pretty important. The article follow up said they removed this test from an iteration loop, since there weren't comments about what it did. Apparently the original programmers thought it obvious...
if ( asimov_3rd_violation())
{
continue;
}
else
{
remove_file(filename);
}
It would be fairly trivial to combine a low end Arduino platform, old PS2 keyboards, and an HD44780 based 40x2 LCD into a system that would cost under $30 each, and run on 4 AA NIMH batteries. You could recharge the batteries when the power was available.
I bought the same $45 Android tablet for the missus' birthday off of AliExpress; it came with Android 4.0, and shipping cost $20 more. It has (almost) everything the original Kindle Fire had, but with better battery life, and minus the DRM or spamvertising.
But there's also a good chance it has spyware built right in. I'd think twice before using it for any sort of financial transactions, or for entering any account/password combinations you want to keep secret.
Also, I think they should modify all future browsers to use extra caution when opening a file called "exploit.html" . In retrospect, it seems so obvious...
I'm glad to see they chose Nokia Lumia 920 as a phone. It is very powerful, sleek and well-done smartphone with enterprise features from Microsoft. It's really much better business phone than iPhone or Android-based smart phones. On top of that Yahoo can use Visual Studio to develop their own apps - all with the maturity and familiarity of C# and Windows programming. Great choice!
Hum. You guys aren't up to the standard of the normal turfers from waggeneredstrom.com. They usually throw in some links:
I know ford around the same era required other valid keys to be present when the new key was programmed. I'm surprised BMW didn't have a similar requirement
This isn't the same thing. You're talking about a consumer being able to program their own key. Typically, you have to have two valid keys to program a third, so a valet can't do it with one key. But cars typically come with only two keys. If you lose one, you can't program a new one yourself. You have to take it to a dealership who has a backdoor to program more keys through the CAN network. The BMW theives are exploiting this backdoor. Some of these details vary a bit for maker to maker, model to model, but this has been pretty standard for around 15 years.
BTW, if you only have two keys to your car now, do yourself a favor, and get a third one from wal-mart, and program it yourself. This is much cheaper than the $150 or more if you lose a key, and have to have the dealership reprogram one for you.
If the QR idea takes hold memorials will be able to tell much more to future generations
Or not, if these companies go out of business, which is extremely likely to happen in the next few decades or centuries.
If you want to add additional data, encode it somehow and engrave it on the stone itself. And put an additional tablet in each graveyard explaining the encoding.
Tombstones are horribly expensive. At present, i don't think the idea of being able to engrave a significant amount of data into the stone itself is practical.
It seems to me that you might be better off with a different solution. An RFID style passive tag that is actually part of the coffin might be good. Currently availbe technology would allow you to encode a reasonable amount of data including a low-res photo. It would also be useful in cases where the coffin floated to the top in a flood and got moved, or things like that.
If you're dead set on putting a link on the tombstone, I'd recommend a 128 bit GUID, along with some sort of hash of the data it points to. When you die, you submit a zip file of crap you want to a a torrent tracker run by the geneaology nuts. the GUID gives you something to search for. The hash lets you know it is what the deceased intended, and not some modified version. I hate the cloud as much as the next guy, but I trust that system more than any single provider to still have the data in 100 years.
Slashdot Mirror
However, some experts question whether consumers would want to wear such a device during their day-to-day activities.
If you showed those same "experts" the bulky brick style cell phones lots of people carried in the mid-90's, they'd probably also question whether anyone would bother to lug such a thing around, while doing their day-to-day activities. Especially since all they did was take phone calls. But hey, if you can't make something cool, piss on what somebody else is doing, right?
I'm confused. Was Costco selling these drives at a loss or something, just to get people in the door?
There's a difference between selling at a loss, and selling below market value. For instance, if Costco signs a contract for delivery of a million drives in Feburary, the factory floods in March, and Costco gets delivery in April, their drives are suddenly worth substantially more. They can either sell them at the previously intended prices, or they can raise prices to market value. In the first case they still sell them for more than they paid, but less than market value. In the second case, they take the customer for all they're worth, and make much more profit. Rationing is the only way the first one can work, otherwise someone will come in and buy all your drives, then resell them at market value.
X only make things more Y when the Z know how to do their jobs effectively
That tend to be true for just about any professional combination of X,Y, and Z. Don't you think?
I worked in the power industry while our state was in the throws of deregulation. I know what you're talking about. But this thread isn't about that. And Ma-Bell suffered from the same flaws that the power companies do. Security is not a primary issue to them. During the glory days you're talking about, you could phreak the phone system with a Captin Crunch whistle. That was the state of their security. Today's whistle is just a bit more complicated.
What's a bantex ass mart meter? I don't want to click it and find out, because I'm fearful it's probably NSFW....
The attackers will produce a cascading failure in the electrical grid that brings down the entire North American power grid.
Frankly, I'm surprised we haven't had this happen already. It always blows my mind when there's some massive cascading power failure across mulitple states, and people are somehow relieved that it wasn't terrorism. Just a normal failure. How the fuck is a system that just collapses all by itself better than one that has to be pushed to collapse?
It seems to me that instead of fucking around with underware bombs and shit, our enemies might get a lot better cost return with some iron spikes, aluminum wire, and some helium filled weather balloons. Giant transmission lines in the middle of the desert are virtually impossible to defend, and are already stressed to the breaking point when it's hot across the nation. All they need is a little push...no complicated cyber-hacker-shit required.
Sure hope not. I mean, does every goddamn thing need to be computerized?
Computers make things more efficient. Which means you can consume more for the same price. If it weren't for the computers, people would have to get by on less. And if there's one thing people hate more than computers, it's getting by on less. So you get what we got right here. Which is the way we want it. Well, we get it. And I don't like it any more than you men.
3e8 car mile ~ 3000 cars * 1 year * 35 miles / hour * 8 hours / day * 365 days / year
So if Google wants to reach that milestone, they need to start cranking out those self-driving cars.
So what are they basing this on? The number of miles a person would typically have to drive before they were "due" to have a fatal accident? And that is 300 Million?
Maybe google should test driverless high-performance motorcycles instead. You'd only have to show you could go...what...maybe 1500 miles, assuming the computer isn't wearing a helmet? Having the computer ride next to one of his friend computers would probably make it even less. Also, you could have some cute girl computers pull up next to the motorcycle computer at a red light. Maybe a self-driving Kia Soul, or something like that. That would tend to cut the average down too.
Whelp, time to bust out my narwhal outfit, platform shoes and monocle every time I hit the bars. Great ice breakers at least.
Why is this Slashdot's answer to everything?
Why? You'd rather strike out with a skinny chick than a chubby one? With a name like that, I'm thinking you're over-compensating. Dig your User Number, though...
Just so this whole thing doesn't spin out of control, the code is total bullshit I made up myself. Seemed better than just posting a comment about the 3rd law.
My cousin used to say the same sort of thing about his know-it-all supervisor at work that was always riding him to wear safetly glasses. After he got back from disability, the guy got him a couple of tickets to Avatar in 3d, just to be an asshole.
"test by eyeballing the code" has its drawbacks.
Exactly. Sometimes code that looks useless is really pretty important. The article follow up said they removed this test from an iteration loop, since there weren't comments about what it did. Apparently the original programmers thought it obvious...
if ( asimov_3rd_violation())
{
continue;
}
else
{
remove_file(filename);
}
And replacement ribbons. That you have to find in Bangladesh. For a typewriter that hasn't been manufactured for many years. Good luck.
It would be fairly trivial to combine a low end Arduino platform, old PS2 keyboards, and an HD44780 based 40x2 LCD into a system that would cost under $30 each, and run on 4 AA NIMH batteries. You could recharge the batteries when the power was available.
They don't want them, even in India. The last mechanical typewriter factory in the world (in india) shut down last year...
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-04-26/news/30072856_1_typewriters-manufacturers-machines
You could probably look around for enough of them, eventually, but the effort probably isn't worth it.
I bought the same $45 Android tablet for the missus' birthday off of AliExpress; it came with Android 4.0, and shipping cost $20 more. It has (almost) everything the original Kindle Fire had, but with better battery life, and minus the DRM or spamvertising.
But there's also a good chance it has spyware built right in. I'd think twice before using it for any sort of financial transactions, or for entering any account/password combinations you want to keep secret.
Also, I think they should modify all future browsers to use extra caution when opening a file called "exploit.html" . In retrospect, it seems so obvious...
I'm glad to see they chose Nokia Lumia 920 as a phone. It is very powerful, sleek and well-done smartphone with enterprise features from Microsoft. It's really much better business phone than iPhone or Android-based smart phones. On top of that Yahoo can use Visual Studio to develop their own apps - all with the maturity and familiarity of C# and Windows programming. Great choice!
Hum. You guys aren't up to the standard of the normal turfers from waggeneredstrom.com. They usually throw in some links:
I'm glad to see they chose Nokia Lumia 920 as a phone. It is very powerful, sleek and well-done smartphone with enterprise features from Microsoft. It's really much better business phone than iPhone or Android-based smart phones. On top of that Yahoo can use Visual Studio to develop their own apps - all with the maturity and familiarity of C# and Windows programming. Great choice!
Don't respond to RottenImp. He's an astroturfer. Look at his post history.
What difference does it make? It's not like you're going to roll up the windows if there's a hobo pile in the back seat.
I know ford around the same era required other valid keys to be present when the new key was programmed. I'm surprised BMW didn't have a similar requirement
This isn't the same thing. You're talking about a consumer being able to program their own key. Typically, you have to have two valid keys to program a third, so a valet can't do it with one key. But cars typically come with only two keys. If you lose one, you can't program a new one yourself. You have to take it to a dealership who has a backdoor to program more keys through the CAN network. The BMW theives are exploiting this backdoor. Some of these details vary a bit for maker to maker, model to model, but this has been pretty standard for around 15 years.
BTW, if you only have two keys to your car now, do yourself a favor, and get a third one from wal-mart, and program it yourself. This is much cheaper than the $150 or more if you lose a key, and have to have the dealership reprogram one for you.
If Jobs did the presentation it would be amazing.
Oh, and one more thing....BRAAAAAINNNNNS!
You did? That's amazing! I'm submitting it as a slashdot article now.
Man Builds SuperComputer from a 486 and a 300 Baud Modem
If the QR idea takes hold memorials will be able to tell much more to future generations
Or not, if these companies go out of business, which is extremely likely to happen in the next few decades or centuries.
If you want to add additional data, encode it somehow and engrave it on the stone itself. And put an additional tablet in each graveyard explaining the encoding.
Tombstones are horribly expensive. At present, i don't think the idea of being able to engrave a significant amount of data into the stone itself is practical.
It seems to me that you might be better off with a different solution. An RFID style passive tag that is actually part of the coffin might be good. Currently availbe technology would allow you to encode a reasonable amount of data including a low-res photo. It would also be useful in cases where the coffin floated to the top in a flood and got moved, or things like that.
If you're dead set on putting a link on the tombstone, I'd recommend a 128 bit GUID, along with some sort of hash of the data it points to. When you die, you submit a zip file of crap you want to a a torrent tracker run by the geneaology nuts. the GUID gives you something to search for. The hash lets you know it is what the deceased intended, and not some modified version. I hate the cloud as much as the next guy, but I trust that system more than any single provider to still have the data in 100 years.
Bitcoin indeed seems to attract the same sort of nutters that gold standard advocacy does.
Anyone who advocates a fixed supply currency where massive deflation is inevitable needs to have their head checked.
They go to this one doctor from Texas for the exam. According to him, they're thinking perfectly rationally.