I'm on a network where the admins have blocked many/most ad servers for security reasons (ad companies have historically been tricked into serving malware with the ads).
I wonder how Spotify will deal with that. This is not a block on the app, or the device, or even the computer, but rather at the network level. If their ads are served by the same servers as their content then it should be fine, but if their ads are served by separate servers that are already on a blocked list then it could be an issue. And not one the user can control unless they switch to a different network, if available, or disable wifi and use mobile data. If they shut down my account for this then so be it, because I won't use my mobile data just for them when wifi is available.
Given the problems with the "new" keyboards and the rise of the "Pro" models replacing real Pro machines, I wonder if this estimate of savings still holds true with today's Macs. 2015 the MBP still had the good keyboards.
$265 to $535 is not a lot over 4 years. That's only $66 to $134 per year. One keyboard glitch a year and the loss of productivity or time spent cleaning/repairing that and that savings is wiped out.
IBM probably has enough metrics and enough machines to see some interesting trends. I'd love to see the savings breakdown on machines by model over the years, and especially how the new models compare to some of the older ones.
As for my bias, in 2015 I was going to do some traveling and needed a small foot print machine. I had planned on getting the slightly cheaper Macbook model, until I got to the store and typed on it. That keyboard was awful!! I ended up getting the 13" MBP because it still had a real keyboard. So happy I went for the real keyboard.
The biggest issue with SSH is the inability of the server to enforce policy on the client keys. If I'm wrong, I'd love to be corrected and learn what I've been overlooking.
As it stands, there's no way for the server to reject a key that has no pass phrase, a poor passphrase, or an old pass phrase. Short of over-the-shoulder random audits of users using their keys, there's no way to enforce a policy that sets minimum standards for pass phrases on SSH keys.
To my way of thinking that is one of the bigger areas of risk with and drawbacks of the use of SSH.
Anyone remember the Vadem Clio/Sharp TriPad? I do. For all it's clunkiness, if it wouldn't had such a problem with audio quality that would have been my first "tablet" (back in 2000 or 2001). [Oblig. wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadem_Clio ] The whine during media playback killed it for me, and I wasn't willing to settle for the price so I ended up returning it. Other than that, and WinCE, it was a very useful device.
I have had the ASuS TF101 plus keyboard now for about a year and I still like it, even if my daughter has taken it over. Plus how many people run the iPad in landscape/vertical using a special case as a stand? I know I do. I can touch type pretty quick on it too (though I prefer it more of a slant then strictly vertical, probably about 60 degrees up from the table). And don't forget about the Lenovo S10-3t convertible? It was the first "laptop" with a touch screen that I've used, and even though the 1024x600 display kills the usability IMO, I still have a hard time putting it up on eBay because I find the touch screen form factor useful in a pinch.
The bottom line is the touch screen laptop is a very usable configuration and I'm surprised it's taken this long to see more of them. I think an almost perfect machine would be something like a macbook air (either 11 or 13 inch), with a quad core i7 (or comparable), 16 gb of RAM, an iPad 3 retina display w/touch for the display, a detachable keyboard (ala Transformer) or possibly rotating keyboard (Vadem Clio, Lenovo Yoga). It should also have 5+ hours of battery life and not get uncomfortably hot. I don't ask for much.:)
Adobe released a security upgrade for Adobe Photoshop CS5 and earlier for Windows and Macintosh. This upgrade addresses vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker who successfully exploits these vulnerabilities to take control of the affected system.
Adobe has released Adobe Photoshop CS6, which addresses these vulnerabilities. For users who cannot upgrade to Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe recommends users follow security best practices and exercise caution when opening files from unknown or untrusted sources.
Sure sounds like CS5 had upgrade released that addressed these vulnerabilities. I think it also says that released version of CS6 is not vulnerable. Probably marketing people got involved to try and write this to encourage upgrades, which may have backfired a bit.
I wish it was possible to require SSH keys for some (or even all) users to have a passphrase, and enforce this requirement on the server.
As it stands right now, even if you generate a key for someone with a pass phrase, they can remove it easily on the client side and the server has no way of knowing. This means you could have passwordless logins to remote systems. Not good.
At least with modern systems and key agents you can get passwordless ease of use once you log into your local account, and if someone happens to get your private key they don't immediately have instant access to the machines you can log into. You should have a little time to secure the machines. [Think lost/stolen laptop or backup drive.]
The problems with ICANN go back a long time. The only thing that seems to be new here is that perhaps, finally, more light is being focused on them and more people are finally taking notice. Sadly, I suspect it's too little, too late.
I'm a single parent, and even though I work from home I still take my child to daycare so I can work during work hours. While it's nice to have the easy flexibility working from home affords when daycare is unavailable or my child is sick, it really makes a difference being able to have a quiet place to work. The irony of having to leave the house to work from home wasn't lost on me either.:)
Interesting. I'm not disagreeing with you, though based on the definitions I'm familiar with it would seem to violate the interstate commerce rules. Definitely intrastate would apply, but interstate gets interesting.
However if I am in California and someone from Mass comes to my online service and buys from me, I do not have a presence in Mass. Likewise if I were a mail order business. I am not familiar with any precedents that define businesses in different states as having a presence in other states simply because they have a web site that *might* be visited by someone in another state. Of course, I've not been following it as close as I probably should, and IANA, so it's quite likely I missed that when (if) it happened.
Can you point to those? I'd like to get caught up.
Otherwise, it would seem problematic for a business on one side of the country having to follow business rules on the other side of the country. Take the internet out of the equation. A brick and morter business in California (say a used book store) has a telephone. Someone in Mass. calls that book store and asks if they have a specific book. They do, a transaction is made over the telephone and the book sent to the purchaser. Based on the theory you put forth, this brick and morter store in California would now have to jump through the special regulatory and financial hoops being passed in Mass. If other states do the same thing, then these businesses could find themselves having to comply with a myriad of laws, regulations, and other restrictions, potentially just because of the random, one-off transaction of a diligent customer looking for a special book.
I don't think that's likely to go very far, and were it challenged in court I seriously believe it would be thrown out as violating interstate commerce laws.
Obviously this would only be for businesses not maintaining a physical presence of some form in the state. If they have an office, a store, etc. then they would need to comply. Of course, that then begs the question of whether they have to make their nationwide operations comply or just those operations and transactions that originate within the state of Mass.
This will ultimately probably only end up affect Mass businesses or people with presence in Mass directly. Otherwise this kind of requirement has the potential to impact interstate commerce which states expressly do not have the authority to legislate.
I'm all for requirements to protect data, however it is usually not a good idea to legislate how to accomplish that. When that happens then the industry's ability to innovate is legislated away.
I'm unsure myself - personally I want to know exactly what traits are being changed. There are times where using both pedals at the same time can be useful. Admittedly in a passenger car on the road it's a lot less frequent than going off road or rock crawling in a 4x4.
Specifically, I want to know what criteria need to be met for it to trigger. Does the change cause the engine shutdown (or return to idle? presumably return to idle) at any point when both the brake and gas are pushed at any speed, or only if the vehicle is traveling over 10-20 mph, or only if the accelerator pedal is pressed more then X%?
Odds are I'll end up getting it regardless, just for overall safety in general. Though i'll be pretty annoyed if it is a simple if gas and brake then stall.
I had to think long and hard before buying the Camry Hybrid because of all the drive-by-wire. Finally I decided to give it a go and I am glad I did. I get plenty of room in the cabin (not so much in the trunk though), and consistently get 30+ mpg around town and up to 40+ on highway trips (averaging 36-38 across West Texas at 80 mpg).
Some observations of mine: - I have a "gear lever" to shift, but I'm pretty sure it's just there for "feel" and it's all electronic; if an electrical problem prevented the car from going into neutral then it wouldn't matter if it were "push button" or the gear lever like I have, it's still electronic. - the emergency brake is mechanical - and that's your best bet if all else fails (assuming you aren't already going so fast as to make the car uncontrollable by locking the rear wheels - It is not unusual for me to pull into a parking place, put the car into park, be totally stopped, release the brake, and (while totally still) push the button to turn off the car and have the car jump forward slightly; i suspect it has to do with getting a mechanical "break" in the transmission to engage and by slightly moving the car something akin to a tooth is able to engage the appropriate gear. I'm not able to reproduce on demand so I've not taken the car in for this. - I have floor mats that are supposed to be held in place by hooks but the hooks keep coming out and floor mat moves all around. This is the factor carpeted floor, not the all season one, and i've never had it cause problems with the accelerator. - i've not been able to reproduce the launching triggered by the cruise control as reported by SteveWoz, but that may be prius specific and/or speed related (i haven't been anywhere to try at 85 mph yet, speed limits around here stop at 75).
Depending on whether or not square allows its service to be used by websites in addition to the physical swipe of the card, then Square could be going right for PayPal's jugular. Of course there are other variables too - sign up process, fees, etc.
Friend of mine and I were talking about this earlier in the week. My guess is that there will be something of a tablet and that it will be in the macbook air family. Something like a keyboardless mac book air, but able to use the bluetooth keyboard/mouse they already offer (or a new smaller version possibly for the purpose). This would let the air become even thinner.
Wildly off-the-wall speculation - verizon data card built in or optional.
Google is known for its advertising business, and has been putting ads everywhere. Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board from 2006 to 2009, when he resigned (or was forced out?) due to Google's entering "more of Apple's core business" with Chrome and Android. The new, unlocked, Google phone has plenty of speculation surrounding it, but one of the more interesting bits was that it could show up in two forms: (1) expensive, not subsidized, and (2) cheap, with advertising subsidizing it somehow, perhaps forced ad viewing or something?
Given Schmidt's time on the board, I wonder if he deliberately or inadvertently revealed any of these plans, or if Apple found itself aware of these plans through some other means. Regardless, if Apple has a patent on OS-level ad displays and/or forced ad viewing on a device, it would seem that they would be in a position to try and extract money from Google if they go forward with an ad-subsidized phone.
So now this begs the questions: Was Apple's patents on these concepts the result of information about Google's upcoming plans (either acquired legitimately or otherwise), or were they plans they had for a device of their own? Tough to say.
Personally I'm all for the carriers to be reduced to a conduit provider only. It's about time too. If they all had to compete as nearly identical providers of bandwidth instead of a myriad of services, then perhaps we'd see some improvements in the network quality. In fact, they'd have a lot more network capacity if they'd deliver one type of service instead of fragmenting it between different technologies. A friend and I often lament the poor audio quality people have come to expect from wrieless phones now that we are 100% digital. Sure there's no more "static" - but audio quality has suffered to get there.
I'm hopeful LTE will improve things - though I'm not holding my breath for it. It's going to be an expensive network upgrade that won't happen overnight. Sprint is banking on wimax and outsourcing their network, Verizon is claiming latter half 2010 for LTE. And along the way comes Google's Android and the exclusivity of the iPhone on AT&T nearing expiration (was it renewed? last I read it was all talk but I didn't see anything come from it), perhaps we'll finally have some heavy hitters that can break the carrier strangleholds. Should be interesting if they can.
Consider Solaris + ZFS too. Especially now that Solaris 10 u6(?) now can install to ZFS root partition (HINT: Use Text installer - options 3 or 4 if memory serves).
Solaris is free as in beer, even if it isn't open source. Plus you get the benefit of some of the proprietary drives if you have older hardware. Plus, Solaris proper won't leave you in a lurch when things change in OpenSolaris and you can't do updates or run some programs. [Admittedly this problem seems to be mostly resolved, but for mostly production environment I'd suggest Solaris over OpenSolaris unless you need some particular bleeding edge feature not yet migrated from OpenSolaris into Solaris.]
I did just this a while back when looking for a storage solution for backups. The SOHO options did not have the bandwidth, even with gigabit nic ports. In the end, moving to PC hardware with SATA drives worked much better.
Due to SATA controller issues with port multipliers when I set this up a year or two ago I ended up having to switch to Linux with md. Regardless, the performance difference was dramatic and the PC based system actually worked quite well.
How about a critical resource starvation issue on the Mac when rsync. I used rsync to move LOTS of data between a mac and various linux machines. At least, I did until it started dumping tons of errors. This also happened when I built rsync on the Mac, so the problem is some underlying library and I didn't have time to track it down.
End result, I stopped using the Mac and then sold it since it become more of a headache than it was worth to move data to/from it at that point.
This was around the time 10.4 was released (the problem affected both 10.3 and 10.4), and I don't remember the actual error message any longer. That wasn't the only oddity I encountered during the 6-9 months or so where the Mac was basically my only machine. Overall, I was less than impressed and quite disappointed. Oh well.
Not even original. Using modified shipping containers has been done for a number of years. I remember deploying cellular telephone MTSO and cell sites in shipping contains back in 1991 in a few rural wireless markets.
Also, semi trailers make good portable stations. I know there was at least a few semi-trailer cell sites in the Houston area as far back as 1988.
A couple of issues with shipping containers: - if they are used, they will likely need to be replaced within 5 years (this could be a good thing though, after 5 years truck in a new "data center", pick up the old, drop off the new, and you've upgraded the entire DC) - grounding can be problematic, especially if there is a hot AM radio tower anywhere nearby - shipping them preloaded with equipment can be risky, even built out with earthquake prevention supports does not mean equipment will arrive in one piece - it's a shipping container -- if they are not modified much, they can be difficult to secure since they are fairly easy to open once you get past a couple of locks.
Somehow, I can't see this ever holding up. It's not a big stretch to move from "telecommunications center" or MTSO to "data center." Seems like it should fail on the obvious test.
At least part of the potential downside was included in the article:
But it's a different story for CPU makers. From a technical perspective, ditching your fab capabilities is an iffy proposition as it introduces a separation between design and manufacturing that could ultimately stretch out development times. While I understand that outsourcing to third parties things that are not part of your organization's core competencies, such as an auto parts store using an IT services provider or a software development house hiring an accounting firm, it seems very risky to farm out your core business to third parties. That is, unless AMD does not consider chips to be their main business any longer. Perhaps their main business is chip design? Or graphics cards?
However, if chips are their core business, then they should probably maintain at least some manufacturing capacity of their own just to be able to maintain control of their own destiny. It might be cheaper for a third party to make some of their chips now, but in just a short while I bet it becomes more expensive when the third parties realize that AMD can't make their own chips any more. What are they going to do? They will have AMD between a rock and a hard place. Besides, AMD has already had problems in the past with ramping up to production fast enough to satisfy demand, and more than one person mentioned potential availability concerns as one of the reasons Apple went to Intel instead of AMD.
If AMD does this, I hope they look to copy how Apple does things. As far as I understand it, Apple doesn't manufacture much of anything themselves any longer. Apple's core business is not "making computers" or "making ipods." No, Apple's core business revolves a lot around design, usability, etc. With that clearly understood, then it makes sense for Apple not to be a "manufacturer" (building computers and circuit boards from scratch like they used to).
I certainly hope this isn't a short pier that AMD will be taking a long walk on. Time will tell.
It seems I recall reading about medical devices that were looking to store data on the iPod. Things like heart and other monitors that people wear for extended periods of time, with details of their condition recorded. The iPod becomes a bit of a 'flight data recorder'. They can store and listen to music, and at the same time they are able to have their medical data recorded for the doctor to review.
There's also Alltel (or is that Altel?) and in some of the rural areas there may be a few independents left, but for the most part they've all been swallowed up. Just about everyone else resells service on one of these 6 (Verizon, US Cellular, Cingular, TMobile, Sprint, and Alltel).
This is what I was going to propose as well. Passive is the way to go, simply because you should be able to do this without running afoul of the FCC.
Here are a few more details to help with this:
(1) Make sure your service provider is one of the cellular carriers in the 800 mhz band. While this will work for both cellular and pcs frequency bands, generally speaking the 800 mhz will have a slight advantage for penetration within buildings. At this point you will probably need every edge you can get.
(2) Locate the closest cell tower that provides coverage to your location.
(3) Get a directional high-gain antenna and mount it outside pointing at the cell tower.
(4) Determine where the inside antenna will be placed, and then figure out the beam pattern/width you need. For example, if you put it in the center of your area, an omni antenna will probably work, if you put it on one end, a directional antenna with the main lobe pointing inside the area.
(5) Connect the two with low-loss coax. You may need to use 5/8, 7/8, or larger coax depending on the length of the run from the internal antenna to the external antenna.
You are going to want antennas that are tuned to cover the entire range of the cellular band, not just tx only or rx only antennas.
If the passive system does not work, contact the wireless phone provider you are using, and ask them about setting up a micro-cell, repeater, or enhancer to cover your area. You may need to volunteer to pay for some or all of the physical equipment and provide electricity for it. Since they are putting in the equipment, you still shouldn't have any problems with the FCC.
I don't know how well this type of passive antenna configuration will work. I've seen mixed results in the past when I was playing around with things like this. It all depends on how much boost you really need to make things work. If you have a budget to make this work, your best bet might be a powered system put in with help from your wireless provider.
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I'm on a network where the admins have blocked many/most ad servers for security reasons (ad companies have historically been tricked into serving malware with the ads).
I wonder how Spotify will deal with that. This is not a block on the app, or the device, or even the computer, but rather at the network level. If their ads are served by the same servers as their content then it should be fine, but if their ads are served by separate servers that are already on a blocked list then it could be an issue. And not one the user can control unless they switch to a different network, if available, or disable wifi and use mobile data. If they shut down my account for this then so be it, because I won't use my mobile data just for them when wifi is available.
Given the problems with the "new" keyboards and the rise of the "Pro" models replacing real Pro machines, I wonder if this estimate of savings still holds true with today's Macs. 2015 the MBP still had the good keyboards.
$265 to $535 is not a lot over 4 years. That's only $66 to $134 per year. One keyboard glitch a year and the loss of productivity or time spent cleaning/repairing that and that savings is wiped out.
IBM probably has enough metrics and enough machines to see some interesting trends. I'd love to see the savings breakdown on machines by model over the years, and especially how the new models compare to some of the older ones.
As for my bias, in 2015 I was going to do some traveling and needed a small foot print machine. I had planned on getting the slightly cheaper Macbook model, until I got to the store and typed on it. That keyboard was awful!! I ended up getting the 13" MBP because it still had a real keyboard. So happy I went for the real keyboard.
Wasn't he ousted earlier? Might this be a case of sour grapes and a way to get back and give RIM, I mean Blackberry, a bit of a black eye?
The biggest issue with SSH is the inability of the server to enforce policy on the client keys. If I'm wrong, I'd love to be corrected and learn what I've been overlooking.
As it stands, there's no way for the server to reject a key that has no pass phrase, a poor passphrase, or an old pass phrase. Short of over-the-shoulder random audits of users using their keys, there's no way to enforce a policy that sets minimum standards for pass phrases on SSH keys.
To my way of thinking that is one of the bigger areas of risk with and drawbacks of the use of SSH.
Anyone remember the Vadem Clio/Sharp TriPad? I do. For all it's clunkiness, if it wouldn't had such a problem with audio quality that would have been my first "tablet" (back in 2000 or 2001). [Oblig. wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadem_Clio ] The whine during media playback killed it for me, and I wasn't willing to settle for the price so I ended up returning it. Other than that, and WinCE, it was a very useful device.
I have had the ASuS TF101 plus keyboard now for about a year and I still like it, even if my daughter has taken it over. Plus how many people run the iPad in landscape/vertical using a special case as a stand? I know I do. I can touch type pretty quick on it too (though I prefer it more of a slant then strictly vertical, probably about 60 degrees up from the table). And don't forget about the Lenovo S10-3t convertible? It was the first "laptop" with a touch screen that I've used, and even though the 1024x600 display kills the usability IMO, I still have a hard time putting it up on eBay because I find the touch screen form factor useful in a pinch.
The bottom line is the touch screen laptop is a very usable configuration and I'm surprised it's taken this long to see more of them. I think an almost perfect machine would be something like a macbook air (either 11 or 13 inch), with a quad core i7 (or comparable), 16 gb of RAM, an iPad 3 retina display w/touch for the display, a detachable keyboard (ala Transformer) or possibly rotating keyboard (Vadem Clio, Lenovo Yoga). It should also have 5+ hours of battery life and not get uncomfortably hot. I don't ask for much. :)
So, exit X and all X apps, update, restart X. You've "restarted" the graphical world.
Rebooting the entire machine is just lazy, short of a kernel update, and even then there used to be other options (ksplice, which oracle bought).
From the bulletin:
Adobe released a security upgrade for Adobe Photoshop CS5 and earlier for Windows and Macintosh. This upgrade addresses vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker who successfully exploits these vulnerabilities to take control of the affected system.
Adobe has released Adobe Photoshop CS6, which addresses these vulnerabilities. For users who cannot upgrade to Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe recommends users follow security best practices and exercise caution when opening files from unknown or untrusted sources.
Sure sounds like CS5 had upgrade released that addressed these vulnerabilities. I think it also says that released version of CS6 is not vulnerable. Probably marketing people got involved to try and write this to encourage upgrades, which may have backfired a bit.
I wish it was possible to require SSH keys for some (or even all) users to have a passphrase, and enforce this requirement on the server.
As it stands right now, even if you generate a key for someone with a pass phrase, they can remove it easily on the client side and the server has no way of knowing. This means you could have passwordless logins to remote systems. Not good.
At least with modern systems and key agents you can get passwordless ease of use once you log into your local account, and if someone happens to get your private key they don't immediately have instant access to the machines you can log into. You should have a little time to secure the machines. [Think lost/stolen laptop or backup drive.]
Remember these?
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/05/22/0150223/icann-director-seeks-court-order-to-review-records
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/03/15/1655246/icann-board-spurns-democratic-elections
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/02/10/31/2035207/icann-ditches-public-participation
The problems with ICANN go back a long time. The only thing that seems to be new here is that perhaps, finally, more light is being focused on them and more people are finally taking notice. Sadly, I suspect it's too little, too late.
I'm a single parent, and even though I work from home I still take my child to daycare so I can work during work hours. While it's nice to have the easy flexibility working from home affords when daycare is unavailable or my child is sick, it really makes a difference being able to have a quiet place to work. The irony of having to leave the house to work from home wasn't lost on me either. :)
Interesting. I'm not disagreeing with you, though based on the definitions I'm familiar with it would seem to violate the interstate commerce rules. Definitely intrastate would apply, but interstate gets interesting.
However if I am in California and someone from Mass comes to my online service and buys from me, I do not have a presence in Mass. Likewise if I were a mail order business. I am not familiar with any precedents that define businesses in different states as having a presence in other states simply because they have a web site that *might* be visited by someone in another state. Of course, I've not been following it as close as I probably should, and IANA, so it's quite likely I missed that when (if) it happened.
Can you point to those? I'd like to get caught up.
Otherwise, it would seem problematic for a business on one side of the country having to follow business rules on the other side of the country. Take the internet out of the equation. A brick and morter business in California (say a used book store) has a telephone. Someone in Mass. calls that book store and asks if they have a specific book. They do, a transaction is made over the telephone and the book sent to the purchaser. Based on the theory you put forth, this brick and morter store in California would now have to jump through the special regulatory and financial hoops being passed in Mass. If other states do the same thing, then these businesses could find themselves having to comply with a myriad of laws, regulations, and other restrictions, potentially just because of the random, one-off transaction of a diligent customer looking for a special book.
I don't think that's likely to go very far, and were it challenged in court I seriously believe it would be thrown out as violating interstate commerce laws.
Obviously this would only be for businesses not maintaining a physical presence of some form in the state. If they have an office, a store, etc. then they would need to comply. Of course, that then begs the question of whether they have to make their nationwide operations comply or just those operations and transactions that originate within the state of Mass.
One things for sure, the lawyers will have fun.
This will ultimately probably only end up affect Mass businesses or people with presence in Mass directly. Otherwise this kind of requirement has the potential to impact interstate commerce which states expressly do not have the authority to legislate.
I'm all for requirements to protect data, however it is usually not a good idea to legislate how to accomplish that. When that happens then the industry's ability to innovate is legislated away.
I'm unsure myself - personally I want to know exactly what traits are being changed. There are times where using both pedals at the same time can be useful. Admittedly in a passenger car on the road it's a lot less frequent than going off road or rock crawling in a 4x4.
Specifically, I want to know what criteria need to be met for it to trigger. Does the change cause the engine shutdown (or return to idle? presumably return to idle) at any point when both the brake and gas are pushed at any speed, or only if the vehicle is traveling over 10-20 mph, or only if the accelerator pedal is pressed more then X%?
Odds are I'll end up getting it regardless, just for overall safety in general. Though i'll be pretty annoyed if it is a simple if gas and brake then stall.
I had to think long and hard before buying the Camry Hybrid because of all the drive-by-wire. Finally I decided to give it a go and I am glad I did. I get plenty of room in the cabin (not so much in the trunk though), and consistently get 30+ mpg around town and up to 40+ on highway trips (averaging 36-38 across West Texas at 80 mpg).
Some observations of mine:
- I have a "gear lever" to shift, but I'm pretty sure it's just there for "feel" and it's all electronic; if an electrical problem prevented the car from going into neutral then it wouldn't matter if it were "push button" or the gear lever like I have, it's still electronic.
- the emergency brake is mechanical - and that's your best bet if all else fails (assuming you aren't already going so fast as to make the car uncontrollable by locking the rear wheels
- It is not unusual for me to pull into a parking place, put the car into park, be totally stopped, release the brake, and (while totally still) push the button to turn off the car and have the car jump forward slightly; i suspect it has to do with getting a mechanical "break" in the transmission to engage and by slightly moving the car something akin to a tooth is able to engage the appropriate gear. I'm not able to reproduce on demand so I've not taken the car in for this.
- I have floor mats that are supposed to be held in place by hooks but the hooks keep coming out and floor mat moves all around. This is the factor carpeted floor, not the all season one, and i've never had it cause problems with the accelerator.
- i've not been able to reproduce the launching triggered by the cruise control as reported by SteveWoz, but that may be prius specific and/or speed related (i haven't been anywhere to try at 85 mph yet, speed limits around here stop at 75).
Depending on whether or not square allows its service to be used by websites in addition to the physical swipe of the card, then Square could be going right for PayPal's jugular. Of course there are other variables too - sign up process, fees, etc.
Friend of mine and I were talking about this earlier in the week. My guess is that there will be something of a tablet and that it will be in the macbook air family. Something like a keyboardless mac book air, but able to use the bluetooth keyboard/mouse they already offer (or a new smaller version possibly for the purpose). This would let the air become even thinner.
Wildly off-the-wall speculation - verizon data card built in or optional.
You know, if I were the paranoid type, I might be prone to think there were some high level shenanigans going on.
Remember the Apple patent enforcing ad viewing or the Apple patent on OS advertising?
Google is known for its advertising business, and has been putting ads everywhere. Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board from 2006 to 2009, when he resigned (or was forced out?) due to Google's entering "more of Apple's core business" with Chrome and Android. The new, unlocked, Google phone has plenty of speculation surrounding it, but one of the more interesting bits was that it could show up in two forms: (1) expensive, not subsidized, and (2) cheap, with advertising subsidizing it somehow, perhaps forced ad viewing or something?
Given Schmidt's time on the board, I wonder if he deliberately or inadvertently revealed any of these plans, or if Apple found itself aware of these plans through some other means. Regardless, if Apple has a patent on OS-level ad displays and/or forced ad viewing on a device, it would seem that they would be in a position to try and extract money from Google if they go forward with an ad-subsidized phone.
So now this begs the questions: Was Apple's patents on these concepts the result of information about Google's upcoming plans (either acquired legitimately or otherwise), or were they plans they had for a device of their own? Tough to say.
Personally I'm all for the carriers to be reduced to a conduit provider only. It's about time too. If they all had to compete as nearly identical providers of bandwidth instead of a myriad of services, then perhaps we'd see some improvements in the network quality. In fact, they'd have a lot more network capacity if they'd deliver one type of service instead of fragmenting it between different technologies. A friend and I often lament the poor audio quality people have come to expect from wrieless phones now that we are 100% digital. Sure there's no more "static" - but audio quality has suffered to get there.
I'm hopeful LTE will improve things - though I'm not holding my breath for it. It's going to be an expensive network upgrade that won't happen overnight. Sprint is banking on wimax and outsourcing their network, Verizon is claiming latter half 2010 for LTE. And along the way comes Google's Android and the exclusivity of the iPhone on AT&T nearing expiration (was it renewed? last I read it was all talk but I didn't see anything come from it), perhaps we'll finally have some heavy hitters that can break the carrier strangleholds. Should be interesting if they can.
Consider Solaris + ZFS too. Especially now that Solaris 10 u6(?) now can install to ZFS root partition (HINT: Use Text installer - options 3 or 4 if memory serves).
Solaris is free as in beer, even if it isn't open source. Plus you get the benefit of some of the proprietary drives if you have older hardware. Plus, Solaris proper won't leave you in a lurch when things change in OpenSolaris and you can't do updates or run some programs. [Admittedly this problem seems to be mostly resolved, but for mostly production environment I'd suggest Solaris over OpenSolaris unless you need some particular bleeding edge feature not yet migrated from OpenSolaris into Solaris.]
I did just this a while back when looking for a storage solution for backups. The SOHO options did not have the bandwidth, even with gigabit nic ports. In the end, moving to PC hardware with SATA drives worked much better.
Due to SATA controller issues with port multipliers when I set this up a year or two ago I ended up having to switch to Linux with md. Regardless, the performance difference was dramatic and the PC based system actually worked quite well.
How about a critical resource starvation issue on the Mac when rsync. I used rsync to move LOTS of data between a mac and various linux machines. At least, I did until it started dumping tons of errors. This also happened when I built rsync on the Mac, so the problem is some underlying library and I didn't have time to track it down.
End result, I stopped using the Mac and then sold it since it become more of a headache than it was worth to move data to/from it at that point.
This was around the time 10.4 was released (the problem affected both 10.3 and 10.4), and I don't remember the actual error message any longer. That wasn't the only oddity I encountered during the 6-9 months or so where the Mac was basically my only machine. Overall, I was less than impressed and quite disappointed. Oh well.
Not even original. Using modified shipping containers has been done for a number of years. I remember deploying cellular telephone MTSO and cell sites in shipping contains back in 1991 in a few rural wireless markets.
Also, semi trailers make good portable stations. I know there was at least a few semi-trailer cell sites in the Houston area as far back as 1988.
A couple of issues with shipping containers:
- if they are used, they will likely need to be replaced within 5 years (this could be a good thing though, after 5 years truck in a new "data center", pick up the old, drop off the new, and you've upgraded the entire DC)
- grounding can be problematic, especially if there is a hot AM radio tower anywhere nearby
- shipping them preloaded with equipment can be risky, even built out with earthquake prevention supports does not mean equipment will arrive in one piece
- it's a shipping container -- if they are not modified much, they can be difficult to secure since they are fairly easy to open once you get past a couple of locks.
Somehow, I can't see this ever holding up. It's not a big stretch to move from "telecommunications center" or MTSO to "data center." Seems like it should fail on the obvious test.
However, if chips are their core business, then they should probably maintain at least some manufacturing capacity of their own just to be able to maintain control of their own destiny. It might be cheaper for a third party to make some of their chips now, but in just a short while I bet it becomes more expensive when the third parties realize that AMD can't make their own chips any more. What are they going to do? They will have AMD between a rock and a hard place. Besides, AMD has already had problems in the past with ramping up to production fast enough to satisfy demand, and more than one person mentioned potential availability concerns as one of the reasons Apple went to Intel instead of AMD.
If AMD does this, I hope they look to copy how Apple does things. As far as I understand it, Apple doesn't manufacture much of anything themselves any longer. Apple's core business is not "making computers" or "making ipods." No, Apple's core business revolves a lot around design, usability, etc. With that clearly understood, then it makes sense for Apple not to be a "manufacturer" (building computers and circuit boards from scratch like they used to).
I certainly hope this isn't a short pier that AMD will be taking a long walk on. Time will tell.
It seems I recall reading about medical devices that were looking to store data on the iPod. Things like heart and other monitors that people wear for extended periods of time, with details of their condition recorded. The iPod becomes a bit of a 'flight data recorder'. They can store and listen to music, and at the same time they are able to have their medical data recorded for the doctor to review.
pair of computers with extra nics and you can have redundant firewall
There's also Alltel (or is that Altel?) and in some of the rural areas there may be a few independents left, but for the most part they've all been swallowed up. Just about everyone else resells service on one of these 6 (Verizon, US Cellular, Cingular, TMobile, Sprint, and Alltel).
This is what I was going to propose as well. Passive is the way to go, simply because you should be able to do this without running afoul of the FCC.
Here are a few more details to help with this:
(1) Make sure your service provider is one of the cellular carriers in the 800 mhz band. While this will work for both cellular and pcs frequency bands, generally speaking the 800 mhz will have a slight advantage for penetration within buildings. At this point you will probably need every edge you can get.
(2) Locate the closest cell tower that provides coverage to your location.
(3) Get a directional high-gain antenna and mount it outside pointing at the cell tower.
(4) Determine where the inside antenna will be placed, and then figure out the beam pattern/width you need. For example, if you put it in the center of your area, an omni antenna will probably work, if you put it on one end, a directional antenna with the main lobe pointing inside the area.
(5) Connect the two with low-loss coax. You may need to use 5/8, 7/8, or larger coax depending on the length of the run from the internal antenna to the external antenna.
You are going to want antennas that are tuned to cover the entire range of the cellular band, not just tx only or rx only antennas.
If the passive system does not work, contact the wireless phone provider you are using, and ask them about setting up a micro-cell, repeater, or enhancer to cover your area. You may need to volunteer to pay for some or all of the physical equipment and provide electricity for it. Since they are putting in the equipment, you still shouldn't have any problems with the FCC.
I don't know how well this type of passive antenna configuration will work. I've seen mixed results in the past when I was playing around with things like this. It all depends on how much boost you really need to make things work. If you have a budget to make this work, your best bet might be a powered system put in with help from your wireless provider.