Seems to me there would have to be an absolute hot. Absolute zero, ferinstance, is the temperature at which all molecular motion stops. Nothing moves at absolute zero. Heat would, then, be a function of how fast the molecules are moving in a given substance, right?
Given that the universe has an effective speed limit ( C: it's not just a good idea, it's the law), it seems to me that for a given substance, there has to be an upper limit of how hot it can get solely because the molecules within it aren't allowed to vibrate any faster. (I'm not certain that the function of vibration speed to heat isn't substance dependent-- it may be.)
However, given that the idea of an absolute hot is apparently not agreed upon by physicists, I am probably missing something important in my layman's analysis of the situation.
The mousepad next to me is a promo item from the Babylon 5 space combat simulator game-- neat faux-3d thing with Starfuries that move around EAS Agamemnon depending on what angle you look at it. I even played a development version of the game at E3 back in '98.
If the World Federation of Whatever begins to require GPS on athletes competing in their events, then if you wish to compete in a World Federaton of Whatever sanctioned event, you submit to the GPS.
If sufficient numbers of athletes consider this to be evil and rude, that's no problem, either, as there will soon be an International Federation of Whatever to compete with the World Federation of Whatever to make a few Euros off those athletes, as well.
That said, it seems like it'd be easier to simply do drug testing...
I'm sorry, I know, you'd think I'd know better by now, but I read the article.
And it basically says Jobs likes the idea of a company selling a "premium" version of a DVD that includes an iTunes download of the same movie. And so TechDirt spins it as "the DMCA at work"-- which is a reasonable explanation, given that technically a tool like Handbrake _is_ illegal.
(Funny, of course, that nobody wants to take the folks who make Handbrake to court yet...)
It would've been so easy for Apple to spin it the other way-- heck, spin's what they're good at. "You can pop the disc in your computer and let it grind for a few hours, or you can buy the premium version that comes with the iTunes download of the thing for you. We've handled all the details for you, so you don't have to know what an h.264 is or what resolution your iPod can handle"
...but I can't complain that XP has the same bug as Windows 2000 in this case-- if the researchers didn't find the problem and publish it before last month, it seems to be asking a little much to expect Microsoft to fix a bug nobody knew they had.
As to patching Windows 2000: They're going to patch XP, and if the bug is in both, chances are it's the same code. I believe they should at least look at it and see if a patch is going to be simple. That said, it'd have to be darned simple to be worth it: if you're running Windows 2000 still, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you're probably not all that interested in updating it, or you'd probably be running XP by now... Not releasing a patch won't affect many people at all, and for those people, they still had to get Admin rights cracked to begin with...
The idea of skipping a release of an OS is pretty common-- at our office, we skipped Solaris 7 and 9, ferinstance. Many folks skip MacOS releases.
It seems like it would be a good idea for businesses to skip Vista-- take their site license and their Corporate Approved XP image and load it on all the new stuff that walks in the door, right? But what will keep businesses from skipping Vista is the hardware one buys a year from now likely won't have Windows XP drivers available for it. Other folks have control of the hardware-- Microsoft does not. And for once, this plays into their hands.
So I started wondering what I could get as far as a toy without Made in China on it. in Short, you can't easily.A specialty store sometimes you can find things made in maybe Europe somewhere, but US made things are hard to find and anything non-chinese is pretty hard as well. Forget about shopping at Wal-Mart. That's the retail arm of China now.
Bah. You can get great toys not made in China in every Wal-Mart in the US.
They're called "Lego". I'm sure you've never heard of 'em, but since every last brick is made in Denmark or the Czech Republic, with packaging made in one of those places or Enfield, CT, there's nothing Chinese about 'em.
Of course, you can also get 'em in specialty stores, but why pay the extra markup?
So you're saying Gates and Slim and Buffet, who own piles of assets, aren't really rich compared to people who don't actually own anything much, they're just figureheads for assets owned by the people of their respective countries?
Once upon a time, those peoples' ancestors did indeed own scads of land. Renaissance monarchs funded wars by selling off and annexing land. Today? It's not like Her Royal Highness can sell off Buckingham Palace. Her "holdings" are in trust of the British People. _They_ own it.
Now, these guys on the list can't exactly cash out, either-- if Bill Gates announced he was liquidating his Microsoft stock, people would fear that move enough that Microsoft stock might be worth wiping your ass with. But he at least owns it, and can decide to do as he wishes with it. European princes can't.
for Sun (Whose name came from where their first machines were seen, the Stanford University Network) to deploy their first of a new idea.
I'm not sure it's the world-killer that everyone wants to think, mind: If your data center is tapped out for power or cooling, you'll still need to get portable power and cooling to go next to your portable data center, but it does seem to be an excellent idea to tide you over until your real data center expansion gets built. Which means I expect to see a number of these sitting outside fixed data center locations in a basically permanent role, just like the "temporary" trailer classroom buildings outside schools and all the other stop-gap measures we implement "just to tide us over" that wind up being permanent emplacements.
I kinda fear this outside our data center. Especially when the machines therein get on the "long in the tooth" side, and we've decommissioned every application in the thing but one.
It's a great new idea, don't get me wrong, but the problem is how most companies want to run their data centers doesn't look a whole lot like how anybody's actually doing so in the real world.:)
Admittedly, there are issues with not having any hardware warranty, but do we need to get so incendiary against someone who is trying to work with us?
Especially when, this being Slashdot, everything gets overblown.
These machines come with a hardware warranty.
They don't come with the ability to purchase an extended warranty.
Now, this makes some sense. Loading Dells with Linux is a trial thing. This is not something they want to figure out how to support long-term yet; if this doesn't work for them, having four and five year service contracts out there they have to cover is going to make this a very expensive prospect. They're willing to make sure they have Linux expertise around to support these things for their base warranty time, whether or not it turns out they can make a buck selling Linux systems long-term. But it makes sense that they wouldn't want to keep Linux geeks around (which, let's face it, cost more than Windows monkeys) long term if they can't sell these things long-term.
Of course, I should note: While test _more closely_ match reality, they're still not there yet. For example, the new "high-speed" test does hit 80 MPH. It also _still_ averages 48 mph...
The real numbers probably won't be as bad as the article implies.
a) Current EPA tests were designed a while ago, back when the national speed limit was 55 mph. b) Manufacturers currently design vehicles to do well on the EPA test, not in everyday use. This means the drivetrain is geared so that the engine is at its optimal efficiency at about 50mph (the EPA's highway test averages 48 mph!)
This means, yes, your 2006 Prius will probably get similar numbers to what's in this article-- it's designed to beat the old test, but being driven under real-world conditions that the new test intends to replicate.
This means a 2009 Prius will probably do better than the numbers in this article: It will have a higher top gear, and thus won't spin the engine nearly as fast to tool along at normal highway speeds.
The best thing about this test isn't that we'll get accurate fuel economy figures out of it. The best thing about this new test is the auto manufacturers will now be designing vehicles to get their best fuel economy in conditions that more closely match what we really do out there on the roads.
Your best chance to prove ROT-26 is a DMCA approved encryption method would be to read the legalese and find the definition of "encrpytion" in the text and hope it is not a very good definition. Something like "a function INTENDED to prevent observation by an untrusted party" would be enough, especially if they do not mention keys. In that case, it doesn't have to work successfully to be an "encryption device".
I dunno. If ROT-13 counts, seems to me it'd be easier to claim that the text was _doubly encrypted_ for maximum security.
Map randomization helps reduce multiplayer FPS from a legitimate competitive sport to just another amusement.
I disagree: It adds a new feature to "map control", and that's "reconnaissance." If you don't know what the map looks like up front, you have to determine what it looks like, and then you can attempt control just like in any other map.
A randomized map still has chokepoints, item spawns, and enemy spawns. Figure them out before the other guy does.
FUN FACT: While testing the game, Bill came across a bug: every now and then, the game would, seemingly at random, hyperspace you. He and his boss, Mike Minkoff, went over the code with a fine-tooth comb before realizing what the problem was: the Intellivision hand controllers encode button presses in such a way that an action (side) key pressed at the same time as particular directions on the disc will be interpreted instead as a numeric key being pressed. There was no software way around this; shooting while moving would occasionally be interpreted as pressing 9 -- the hyperspace button.
After several days of puzzling over a solution, the bug was ultimately "fixed" by including the following note in the instruction manual:
"Every once in a while, your space hunter will move near a 'black hole,' and the computer will automatically put him into HYPERSPACE. This will cost you the same number of points as if you had pressed the HYPERSPACE key yourself. On the other hand, it will save your hunter."
This led to an axiom frequently heard around Mattel: If you document it, it's not a bug -- it's a feature. Anytime a game in development crashed -- no matter how badly or bizarrely -- witnesses would invariably turn to the frustrated programmer, shrug, and calmly say "document it."
Apple has contracts with various record houses that allow Apple to sell their music.
Sadly, while the Internet is world-wide and country borders are merely speedbumps, the legal world hasn't figured that one out yet...
So their deals with Japanese record houses probably only allow Apple to sell their music in Japan.
Seems short-sighted to me. If you're making a deal with the guys who sell 80% of the online music sold, why not let them sell to as many people as possible instead of holding back rights? You get a cut on each...
I dunno. It seems to me that building hardware around three different CPU architectures is an awful lot of duplication of effort-- while AMD and Intel are both "x86" and run the same software, it's not like they're pin-compatible. And Sun's not exactly buying Intel 965 or nForce chipsets...
I like the move, don't get me wrong-- anything that gives me a choice is probably a good thing from where I'm sitting. But I'm not sure it's a wise thing for Sun...
Slashdot Mirror
Seems to me there would have to be an absolute hot. Absolute zero, ferinstance, is the temperature at which all molecular motion stops. Nothing moves at absolute zero. Heat would, then, be a function of how fast the molecules are moving in a given substance, right?
Given that the universe has an effective speed limit ( C: it's not just a good idea, it's the law), it seems to me that for a given substance, there has to be an upper limit of how hot it can get solely because the molecules within it aren't allowed to vibrate any faster. (I'm not certain that the function of vibration speed to heat isn't substance dependent-- it may be.)
However, given that the idea of an absolute hot is apparently not agreed upon by physicists, I am probably missing something important in my layman's analysis of the situation.
-F
The mousepad next to me is a promo item from the Babylon 5 space combat simulator game-- neat faux-3d thing with Starfuries that move around EAS Agamemnon depending on what angle you look at it. I even played a development version of the game at E3 back in '98.
It still never made it to market...
If the World Federation of Whatever begins to require GPS on athletes competing in their events, then if you wish to compete in a World Federaton of Whatever sanctioned event, you submit to the GPS.
If sufficient numbers of athletes consider this to be evil and rude, that's no problem, either, as there will soon be an International Federation of Whatever to compete with the World Federation of Whatever to make a few Euros off those athletes, as well.
That said, it seems like it'd be easier to simply do drug testing...
I'm sorry, I know, you'd think I'd know better by now, but I read the article.
And it basically says Jobs likes the idea of a company selling a "premium" version of a DVD that includes an iTunes download of the same movie. And so TechDirt spins it as "the DMCA at work"-- which is a reasonable explanation, given that technically a tool like Handbrake _is_ illegal.
(Funny, of course, that nobody wants to take the folks who make Handbrake to court yet...)
It would've been so easy for Apple to spin it the other way-- heck, spin's what they're good at. "You can pop the disc in your computer and let it grind for a few hours, or you can buy the premium version that comes with the iTunes download of the thing for you. We've handled all the details for you, so you don't have to know what an h.264 is or what resolution your iPod can handle"
...but I can get my dog's DNA scanned for $100.
Seems overpriced to me. I already know I'm at risk for diabetes and heart disease, but I have no idea what breeds are mixed up in my mutt...
-F
...but I can't complain that XP has the same bug as Windows 2000 in this case-- if the researchers didn't find the problem and publish it before last month, it seems to be asking a little much to expect Microsoft to fix a bug nobody knew they had.
As to patching Windows 2000: They're going to patch XP, and if the bug is in both, chances are it's the same code. I believe they should at least look at it and see if a patch is going to be simple. That said, it'd have to be darned simple to be worth it: if you're running Windows 2000 still, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you're probably not all that interested in updating it, or you'd probably be running XP by now... Not releasing a patch won't affect many people at all, and for those people, they still had to get Admin rights cracked to begin with...
...that the school whose mascot is Buzz would think bees might be the solution for, well, anything...
-Proud Georgia Tech alum
The idea of skipping a release of an OS is pretty common-- at our office, we skipped Solaris 7 and 9, ferinstance. Many folks skip MacOS releases.
It seems like it would be a good idea for businesses to skip Vista-- take their site license and their Corporate Approved XP image and load it on all the new stuff that walks in the door, right? But what will keep businesses from skipping Vista is the hardware one buys a year from now likely won't have Windows XP drivers available for it. Other folks have control of the hardware-- Microsoft does not. And for once, this plays into their hands.
Vinyl is better than CDs because the lack of technology and features means that the people who make 'em can't fuck 'em up as much?
And they say technology can't solve social problems. Or, in this case, lack of technology...
-F
...apparently I am in the wrong line of work.
-F
er, uh, sorry, fingers on autopilot there.
Anyhow, this thing will sell like hot cakes in Russia.
In Russia, "Pivo" means "beer".
On the other hand, the "keep the driver happy" robot has one hell of a set of shoes to fill if it's gonna try to keep people as happy as beer.
-F
So I started wondering what I could get as far as a toy without Made in China on it.
in Short, you can't easily.A specialty store sometimes you can find things made in maybe Europe somewhere, but US made things are hard to find and anything non-chinese is pretty hard as well. Forget about shopping at Wal-Mart. That's the retail arm of China now.
Bah. You can get great toys not made in China in every Wal-Mart in the US.
They're called "Lego". I'm sure you've never heard of 'em, but since every last brick is made in Denmark or the Czech Republic, with packaging made in one of those places or Enfield, CT, there's nothing Chinese about 'em.
Of course, you can also get 'em in specialty stores, but why pay the extra markup?
-F
So you're saying Gates and Slim and Buffet, who own piles of assets, aren't really rich compared to people who don't actually own anything much, they're just figureheads for assets owned by the people of their respective countries?
Once upon a time, those peoples' ancestors did indeed own scads of land. Renaissance monarchs funded wars by selling off and annexing land. Today? It's not like Her Royal Highness can sell off Buckingham Palace. Her "holdings" are in trust of the British People. _They_ own it.
Now, these guys on the list can't exactly cash out, either-- if Bill Gates announced he was liquidating his Microsoft stock, people would fear that move enough that Microsoft stock might be worth wiping your ass with. But he at least owns it, and can decide to do as he wishes with it. European princes can't.
for Sun (Whose name came from where their first machines were seen, the Stanford University Network) to deploy their first of a new idea.
:)
I'm not sure it's the world-killer that everyone wants to think, mind: If your data center is tapped out for power or cooling, you'll still need to get portable power and cooling to go next to your portable data center, but it does seem to be an excellent idea to tide you over until your real data center expansion gets built. Which means I expect to see a number of these sitting outside fixed data center locations in a basically permanent role, just like the "temporary" trailer classroom buildings outside schools and all the other stop-gap measures we implement "just to tide us over" that wind up being permanent emplacements.
I kinda fear this outside our data center. Especially when the machines therein get on the "long in the tooth" side, and we've decommissioned every application in the thing but one.
It's a great new idea, don't get me wrong, but the problem is how most companies want to run their data centers doesn't look a whole lot like how anybody's actually doing so in the real world.
Admittedly, there are issues with not having any hardware warranty, but do we need to get so incendiary against someone who is trying to work with us?
Especially when, this being Slashdot, everything gets overblown.
These machines come with a hardware warranty.
They don't come with the ability to purchase an extended warranty.
Now, this makes some sense. Loading Dells with Linux is a trial thing. This is not something they want to figure out how to support long-term yet; if this doesn't work for them, having four and five year service contracts out there they have to cover is going to make this a very expensive prospect. They're willing to make sure they have Linux expertise around to support these things for their base warranty time, whether or not it turns out they can make a buck selling Linux systems long-term. But it makes sense that they wouldn't want to keep Linux geeks around (which, let's face it, cost more than Windows monkeys) long term if they can't sell these things long-term.
Either I'm missing something or this is a short-sighted move.
I think this is great. Two Dell stories today:
1) Dell sells in Wal-Mart.
2) Dell sells pre-loaded with Ubuntu.
All we need to do is convince Dell to convince the two and people will actually start buying Linux PCs!
Hm, or maybe they'll go over just as well as the Linspire ones. Ok, you win.
-F
Of course, I should note: While test _more closely_ match reality, they're still not there yet. For example, the new "high-speed" test does hit 80 MPH. It also _still_ averages 48 mph...
-F
The real numbers probably won't be as bad as the article implies.
a) Current EPA tests were designed a while ago, back when the national speed limit was 55 mph.
b) Manufacturers currently design vehicles to do well on the EPA test, not in everyday use. This means the drivetrain is geared so that the engine is at its optimal efficiency at about 50mph (the EPA's highway test averages 48 mph!)
This means, yes, your 2006 Prius will probably get similar numbers to what's in this article-- it's designed to beat the old test, but being driven under real-world conditions that the new test intends to replicate.
This means a 2009 Prius will probably do better than the numbers in this article: It will have a higher top gear, and thus won't spin the engine nearly as fast to tool along at normal highway speeds.
The best thing about this test isn't that we'll get accurate fuel economy figures out of it. The best thing about this new test is the auto manufacturers will now be designing vehicles to get their best fuel economy in conditions that more closely match what we really do out there on the roads.
-F
Your best chance to prove ROT-26 is a DMCA approved encryption method would be to read the legalese and find the definition of "encrpytion" in the text and hope it is not a very good definition. Something like "a function INTENDED to prevent observation by an untrusted party" would be enough, especially if they do not mention keys. In that case, it doesn't have to work successfully to be an "encryption device".
I dunno. If ROT-13 counts, seems to me it'd be easier to claim that the text was _doubly encrypted_ for maximum security.
-F
Map randomization helps reduce multiplayer FPS from a legitimate competitive sport to just another amusement.
I disagree: It adds a new feature to "map control", and that's "reconnaissance." If you don't know what the map looks like up front, you have to determine what it looks like, and then you can attempt control just like in any other map.
A randomized map still has chokepoints, item spawns, and enemy spawns. Figure them out before the other guy does.
-F
-JDF
We can now turn the Australian Outback into Tattooine. We now have vaporators!
Apple has contracts with various record houses that allow Apple to sell their music.
Sadly, while the Internet is world-wide and country borders are merely speedbumps, the legal world hasn't figured that one out yet...
So their deals with Japanese record houses probably only allow Apple to sell their music in Japan.
Seems short-sighted to me. If you're making a deal with the guys who sell 80% of the online music sold, why not let them sell to as many people as possible instead of holding back rights? You get a cut on each...
I dunno. It seems to me that building hardware around three different CPU architectures is an awful lot of duplication of effort-- while AMD and Intel are both "x86" and run the same software, it's not like they're pin-compatible. And Sun's not exactly buying Intel 965 or nForce chipsets...
I like the move, don't get me wrong-- anything that gives me a choice is probably a good thing from where I'm sitting. But I'm not sure it's a wise thing for Sun...
-F
Granted this might have been because of my Tseng ET4000
Well, _duh_.
It's an ET4000.
It's OBVIOUSLY optimized for Enemy Territory, not Quake...
-F