I would imagine it would depend on the part of the brain being used by the device...one would hope that they tap into the part of the brain that has already decided what sounds it would like to make rather than picking up random unfiltered thoughts.
The administration also says the immunity is warranted because the lawsuits threaten to expose government secrets.
So if the government wants to get away with (insert atrocity here), all that would be necessary is for them to say "shhhh, it's a secret!" I see they've been to the Cheney School of Government:P I thought in cases where secrets were involved the court just reviewed that evidence behind closed doors...maybe I'm wrong.
It never ceases to amaze me that big companies put up the money to buy a productive company, then turn around and destroy the very processes that made the company productive in the first place. If all the company wants is a key product, why not just buy the product? Otherwise, leave the structure that made them an attractive acquisition in the first place alone and let them do what works. If anything, the processes should be incorporated to streamline the operations of the whole company.
Didn't he at least free them in his will? At least he made some kind of statement about it with his actions. I'd wager he was a better owner than many of his peers.
And no one quite knows what it means to a generation of 2-year-olds to have slightly pixelated versions of their grandparents as regular fixtures in their lives.
First of all, I'd like to think that contact with (normal, decent) grandparents in addition to what they may get with one-on-one face time would be good for all parties involved - and grandparents do love pictures!
This story made me think about dreams, though. IIRC, it is common for people who grew up in the age of black and white TV to dream in black and white, while those of us who grew up with color TV tend to dream in color...does this mean that some kids may end up dreaming of pixelated grandparents?
For the most part, I agree with these recommendations. That said, learning different kinds of skills will definitely help keep your mind sharp. If you are a programmer, learning a new programming language isn't going to do much for you. OTOH, picking up something completely different (gardening, for example, which is also excellent exercise) would help quite a bit. When you start to feel confident in your understanding of the new skill, move on to something different again (maybe woodworking or origami). The less the new skill resembles your older skill sets, the more good it will do your brain.
I'm sure a lot of work went into this, and I appreciate the thought behind it as far as wanting to make the robots easier to "relate to". On the other hand, the video looked more like the robot was really constipated rather than contemplative. More work will be needed before it starts to resemble human emotion.
I use Chrome all of the time. I like it really well, and it's only getting better. The problem is, Google seems to keep their apps in perpetual beta. What OEM is going to want to install a beta on all of their equipment?
Right then - take the brake system on a car as an example...I don't need to know how the entire system works in order to press the pedal and stop. On the other hand, I should know enough to check the fluid level and add fluid as necessary to keep them stopping in the future. Without access to the reservoir, I'd never know when the whole system would fail and cause a fiery crash.
What you are suggesting is the total abandonment of the U.S. Constitution. If you wanted to buy an island somewhere and set up your own government, I believe your idea might be worth a try. Here in the U.S. though, the Constitution has been subverted quite enough already. If anything, we need a Congressional review of the existing legislation to look at constitutionality of the laws and repeal any as necessary. (Yeah, I know, that's supposed to be the job of the Supreme Court, but they've done a poor job of it.)
What we really need is a way to implement changes (within the context of the Constitution) that take advantage of some of the conveniences of modern technology. Take my idea for limiting bad legislation: Let's have the sponsors of bills post them to a website where they can be reviewed by the public-at-large. Then every lawmaker who wants to amend the bill would post the amendment as a comment so that the public can see who is loading the bills down with what pork. I doubt it would take very long for the public to see exactly which politicians are screwing us and how. - That's transparency!
An excellent point! Just because the media is digital does not mean it is any less a work of art. What applies to one should apply to them all, and since the fine arts have been around a long, long time, they should set the precedent.
This is yet another way that the current patent SNAFU will hinder innovation. What students in their right minds are going to want to contribute their (potentially) brilliant and innovative ideas for the profits of a bunch of patent trolls? It seems more likely that they'd hold onto their best ideas in the hope that they'll someday find themselves in a position to profit from them, meanwhile putting forth work that is merely adequate to graduate.
I would imagine they were tired of tracking down all of these students in order to forward the RIAABS. I doubt they're really thinking of the students, they're just saving themselves a little work. If the RIAA has any actual proof they'll come up with a court order, then Duke will track them down. In the end, Duke will likely have to track down fewer students that way.
Perhaps this why the White House is so resistant to bailing out the Auto Industry.
I'm not sure I follow you on that...if the design is worked out, tests well, and is approved, eventually they will need someone with the manufacturing infrastructure and know-how to build them. The auto industry would be a likely candidate. After all, they're not exactly making a ton of money cranking out SUVs lately, and their skilled labor will need the work!
...I've read a few stories about researchers infiltrating botnets and being able to see a list of all the compromised computers. I wonder if it's possible to completely stop network access remotely without causing data loss.
If it's possible to get lists of compromised computers, why not spend some resources on notifying the clueless masses that they are compromised and let them know what to do about it?
It would seem to be a lot more ethical than just blowing them out of the water.
IIRC, products should be developed prior to any patent search, but searching after the fact can help with the approval process. If the applicant can reference existing patents, comparing similar products while contrasting features/methods/design/etc. to demonstrate uniqueness, it should help with getting the application approved.
That being said, the search itself should be conducted by a patent attorney since the odds are that the developer is likely to work on similar projects in the future.
Let's face it, I'd probably never buy a song on-line if I had any doubts about whether I'd have to put up with DRMBS, and many others probably feel the same. The nifty little logo would make me much more likely to part with my cash because I would expect to actually get my moneys worth from DRM free files.
In this case that means every voter can demand diebold's source, which in a Free Society can only be considered a Good Thing.
...the voters get to demand nothing, since the software was not distributed to them. Only the people that received the hardware from Diebold can request the source code from Diebold, the voters are not receivers of anything in this case...
Perhaps we confused about the nature of a representative government then. It seems to me that if the gov't that represents me receives the equipment, then it is the same as if I received it myself and the GPL would extend the same rights to me as to the gov't office that actually took possession of the equipment.
I hear all the time about cable companies constantly raising their rates, even for basic programming. Are subscribers really using so much bandwidth that the "poor" cable companies are losing money? This sounds like just another scheme to squeeze every last dime out of customers who usually don't have much of an option, IMHO.
I suppose next we'll hear about the pending mergers of big oil companies and cable providers...
If the companies do decide to address DVD packaging, I hope they do something about the little round disk retainers inside the package. I know the idea is to keep the DVD from falling out when you open the case, but do they have to make the retainers so difficult to release that one worries about breaking the disk trying to get it out?
to think that I've been spending my work hours actually working when I could have been goofing off and calling it 'productive social networking':P Sure, social networking has a place in a productive work environment, but it should be limited in a very tangible way, with the guidelines explained up front, for it not to be abused.
Slashdot Mirror
...what about thoughts becoming verbalized?
I would imagine it would depend on the part of the brain being used by the device...one would hope that they tap into the part of the brain that has already decided what sounds it would like to make rather than picking up random unfiltered thoughts.
*grins**nods*
Right! That's why so many companies are asking for that bailout money...they're not BIG enough:)
From the full article...
The administration also says the immunity is warranted because the lawsuits threaten to expose government secrets.
So if the government wants to get away with (insert atrocity here), all that would be necessary is for them to say "shhhh, it's a secret!" I see they've been to the Cheney School of Government:P I thought in cases where secrets were involved the court just reviewed that evidence behind closed doors...maybe I'm wrong.
It never ceases to amaze me that big companies put up the money to buy a productive company, then turn around and destroy the very processes that made the company productive in the first place. If all the company wants is a key product, why not just buy the product? Otherwise, leave the structure that made them an attractive acquisition in the first place alone and let them do what works. If anything, the processes should be incorporated to streamline the operations of the whole company.
Didn't he at least free them in his will? At least he made some kind of statement about it with his actions. I'd wager he was a better owner than many of his peers.
And no one quite knows what it means to a generation of 2-year-olds to have slightly pixelated versions of their grandparents as regular fixtures in their lives.
First of all, I'd like to think that contact with (normal, decent) grandparents in addition to what they may get with one-on-one face time would be good for all parties involved - and grandparents do love pictures!
This story made me think about dreams, though. IIRC, it is common for people who grew up in the age of black and white TV to dream in black and white, while those of us who grew up with color TV tend to dream in color...does this mean that some kids may end up dreaming of pixelated grandparents?
For the most part, I agree with these recommendations. That said, learning different kinds of skills will definitely help keep your mind sharp. If you are a programmer, learning a new programming language isn't going to do much for you. OTOH, picking up something completely different (gardening, for example, which is also excellent exercise) would help quite a bit. When you start to feel confident in your understanding of the new skill, move on to something different again (maybe woodworking or origami). The less the new skill resembles your older skill sets, the more good it will do your brain.
Best of luck to you!
I'm sure a lot of work went into this, and I appreciate the thought behind it as far as wanting to make the robots easier to "relate to". On the other hand, the video looked more like the robot was really constipated rather than contemplative. More work will be needed before it starts to resemble human emotion.
Johnny 5 emoted a lot more realistically, IMHO.
I use Chrome all of the time. I like it really well, and it's only getting better. The problem is, Google seems to keep their apps in perpetual beta. What OEM is going to want to install a beta on all of their equipment?
I won't use Crome because it feeds all the data to Google.
If that's true, how do you suppose they get around all those spyware blockers?
Right then - take the brake system on a car as an example...I don't need to know how the entire system works in order to press the pedal and stop. On the other hand, I should know enough to check the fluid level and add fluid as necessary to keep them stopping in the future. Without access to the reservoir, I'd never know when the whole system would fail and cause a fiery crash.
What you are suggesting is the total abandonment of the U.S. Constitution. If you wanted to buy an island somewhere and set up your own government, I believe your idea might be worth a try. Here in the U.S. though, the Constitution has been subverted quite enough already. If anything, we need a Congressional review of the existing legislation to look at constitutionality of the laws and repeal any as necessary. (Yeah, I know, that's supposed to be the job of the Supreme Court, but they've done a poor job of it.)
What we really need is a way to implement changes (within the context of the Constitution) that take advantage of some of the conveniences of modern technology. Take my idea for limiting bad legislation: Let's have the sponsors of bills post them to a website where they can be reviewed by the public-at-large. Then every lawmaker who wants to amend the bill would post the amendment as a comment so that the public can see who is loading the bills down with what pork. I doubt it would take very long for the public to see exactly which politicians are screwing us and how. - That's transparency!
An excellent point! Just because the media is digital does not mean it is any less a work of art. What applies to one should apply to them all, and since the fine arts have been around a long, long time, they should set the precedent.
This is yet another way that the current patent SNAFU will hinder innovation. What students in their right minds are going to want to contribute their (potentially) brilliant and innovative ideas for the profits of a bunch of patent trolls? It seems more likely that they'd hold onto their best ideas in the hope that they'll someday find themselves in a position to profit from them, meanwhile putting forth work that is merely adequate to graduate.
I would imagine they were tired of tracking down all of these students in order to forward the RIAABS. I doubt they're really thinking of the students, they're just saving themselves a little work. If the RIAA has any actual proof they'll come up with a court order, then Duke will track them down. In the end, Duke will likely have to track down fewer students that way.
Perhaps this why the White House is so resistant to bailing out the Auto Industry.
I'm not sure I follow you on that...if the design is worked out, tests well, and is approved, eventually they will need someone with the manufacturing infrastructure and know-how to build them. The auto industry would be a likely candidate. After all, they're not exactly making a ton of money cranking out SUVs lately, and their skilled labor will need the work!
No, it's probably just a case of pink-eye. Don't worry, there have been some marvelous advances in the field of topical creams.
...I've read a few stories about researchers infiltrating botnets and being able to see a list of all the compromised computers. I wonder if it's possible to completely stop network access remotely without causing data loss.
If it's possible to get lists of compromised computers, why not spend some resources on notifying the clueless masses that they are compromised and let them know what to do about it?
It would seem to be a lot more ethical than just blowing them out of the water.
IIRC, products should be developed prior to any patent search, but searching after the fact can help with the approval process. If the applicant can reference existing patents, comparing similar products while contrasting features/methods/design/etc. to demonstrate uniqueness, it should help with getting the application approved.
That being said, the search itself should be conducted by a patent attorney since the odds are that the developer is likely to work on similar projects in the future.
Yes, I know that's how they're supposed to work...my point is that very often they don't.
Let's face it, I'd probably never buy a song on-line if I had any doubts about whether I'd have to put up with DRMBS, and many others probably feel the same. The nifty little logo would make me much more likely to part with my cash because I would expect to actually get my moneys worth from DRM free files.
In this case that means every voter can demand diebold's source, which in a Free Society can only be considered a Good Thing.
...the voters get to demand nothing, since the software was not distributed to them. Only the people that received the hardware from Diebold can request the source code from Diebold, the voters are not receivers of anything in this case...
Perhaps we confused about the nature of a representative government then. It seems to me that if the gov't that represents me receives the equipment, then it is the same as if I received it myself and the GPL would extend the same rights to me as to the gov't office that actually took possession of the equipment.
I hear all the time about cable companies constantly raising their rates, even for basic programming. Are subscribers really using so much bandwidth that the "poor" cable companies are losing money? This sounds like just another scheme to squeeze every last dime out of customers who usually don't have much of an option, IMHO.
I suppose next we'll hear about the pending mergers of big oil companies and cable providers...
If the companies do decide to address DVD packaging, I hope they do something about the little round disk retainers inside the package. I know the idea is to keep the DVD from falling out when you open the case, but do they have to make the retainers so difficult to release that one worries about breaking the disk trying to get it out?
to think that I've been spending my work hours actually working when I could have been goofing off and calling it 'productive social networking' :P Sure, social networking has a place in a productive work environment, but it should be limited in a very tangible way, with the guidelines explained up front, for it not to be abused.