This idea has been used for centuries. Older ships used to have prism-like crystals embedded throughout the upper deck which would transmit light down to the lower levels without the need for candles.
I actually saw an installation of this fiber optic lighting several years ago, though I can't remeber where.
It seems like a lot of people say "Skype is just another VoIP product" when in truth it is, however, it does perform noticeably better than most alternatives.
I have yet to see another H323 based app with such a large user base that is as centralized as Skype. It really is easy to find people I'm looking for that I assumed would have Skype.
Audio quality and compression are also better than many H323 alternatives. Using gnomemeeting and several different codecs, bandwidth usage was much higher than Skype for much lower quality audio.
Integration with the public phone network is a great option also. I make regular calls to our mobile employees and offices in Hong Kong and Shenzhen and so far Skype is our cheapest and most convenient alternative.
That is the big selling point though. There's really no config required to use it behind a NAT box. This makes things a lot simpler for a lot of people. Even if users on both ends are behind NAT boxes, the traffic if forwarded through a 3rd party PC so that at least one end of the data is coming from a public IP.
This is a big bonus for home users and those who don't know how or don't want to play with the settings on their router.
Coming from a Math/Science magnet school where the administration believed the school itself was responsible for the success of it's students, this definately hits home. Over the years, the school made it a point to put a computer lab in every classroom. They seemed to think that if there was a computer to use, it would make everything better.
So, they blindly added hundreds of donated, underpowered PCs to our network. More often than not, they were used for downloading pr0n, playing games and cheating on tests and homework. Not only did they take up valuable classroom space (where new desks and books would do much more good), they proved to be more of a hassle and a distraction to both teachers and students. (Especially those few students responsible for maintaining the network)
Teachers were required to post grades using one of two online grading services. More often than not, the teachers complained about the hassle and speed of a P90 with 16MB running NT4 than praising the marginal advantage of accessing grades from home.
Without looking into actually securing the network, the school let loose a swarm of worms and virii. The solution, "If you want to bring your own work in on a floppy, it must be run through NAV by the computer lab teacher." I guess they only travel through word docs on floppies...
Eventually, they cut a deal with some company to install TVs in every room in exchange for advertising time in the morning. The company would broadcast a short spot of news, play some advertisements and generally just push the product of the moment in the first 10 minutes of every day.
Anyway, I'd love to rant some more about the joys and "success" of having computers in the classroom, but there's just to much to list.
was an Amiga 1000 (ok im pretty young, so what?) with 256k ram, later upgraded to 512k, I don't really remember too much about it. I guess I'll have to go dig it up.
For a while now, Bell Atlantic (the only provider i can get) required the self install in our area, they no longer do home installs.
The process is a lot faster to get your order through too. You call, give them your telephone number, they test the line while your on the phone and fill out an order for the self install kit. Then they send someone out to double check the line...The new installs don't require the use of the splitter anymore, you just install a small filter on each phone jack to filter out the DSL signal. The only special attention needed was for multi-line phones which used a single cable for all the lines.
Threaten to kick them in the shins with very heavy boots if we find it doesnt work as stated. Or a more reasonable answer would be to return it and find something that does...
Not only when it starts, but how long it lasts. Its set for 10 years. Correction on my last post: restrictions take effect in 90 days, MSFT must submit their plan within 4 months. But..they will appeal...
I have used Dragon Naturally Speaking as well as IBM's ViaVoice and neither seem to work too well. I don't think I studder or anything and as far as I can tell I speak pretty clearly. Neither worked well for dictating and they slowed down my computer noticeably. (P200, 48MB) How well can this possibly work on a Palm? Does anyone know what Speech-to-Text engine this uses?
It's probably been implied many times already, but one of the reasons NASA projects continue to fail is that they are going with the budget mission idea where they can send lots of small/cheap/disposable missions instead of the expensive but more calculated(read: successfull missions)
Here's some stats on some of the recent NASA missions:
August 12, 1998: A Titan IVA rocket loses control because testing failed to catch frayed wires in the power supply.
August 27, 1998: Delta III Rocket loses control due to flaw in control system.
October 24, 1998: Successfull launch of Deep Space 1.
December 5, 1998: Submillimeter Wave Astronomy satellite successfully launched on a Pegasus-XL.
March 4, 1999: Wide-Field Infrared explorer loses coolant first day in orbit.
April 9, 1999: Titan IVB fails because of improperly placed electrical tape...
April 27, 1999: Payload shroud on Athena II fails to release. Ikonos satellite lost.
April 30, 1999: Titan IVB fails to reach proper orbit because of incorrect manual data entry.
The list goes on, this is from Popular Science (April 2000). I left some out because of lack of time but I woudl suggest reading the article.
Actually they do have business using that line. The reason the University is angry is that they charge 24$ a semester for internet access in the rooms and now the students have to get up and walk 280 feet less to get downstairs to plug in. Wonder what they would have been able to say if the students hooked up a wireless Anypoint network...the physical connection to the hub/switch would still be less than 20 feet.
I better watch what length ethernet cable I use for my @home service. I wouldn't want to make them mad by adding a longer cable because I was too lazy to lug my computer, monitor and speakers down the hall to the family room.
Maybe by releasing that it the information is regarding the state of terrorist activities in Northern Ireland, many people will brush it off as less important because it doesn't really affect them. This is opposed to letting people speculate what information it could contain if they didn't release anything. Things like that lead to harmful rumors.
I don't think this agent was a spy, but apparently this laptop contained information on the state of terrorist activity in N. Ireland. Since the data was important enough to be encrypted, the theft is a major concern.
If you were going to spend 30,000$ on a toy helicopter, at least get one that looks cool. Revlotion makes some really cool design in their 2 place helicopter kits. They have advertisements for ultralights that you can build yourself in the back of Popular Science too.
Maybe they'll start sending millions of these keyboards out in the mail. The only problem is, I don't think these keyboards make good coasters coasters.:)
Slashdot Mirror
This idea has been used for centuries. Older ships used to have prism-like crystals embedded throughout the upper deck which would transmit light down to the lower levels without the need for candles.
I actually saw an installation of this fiber optic lighting several years ago, though I can't remeber where.
It seems like a lot of people say "Skype is just another VoIP product" when in truth it is, however, it does perform noticeably better than most alternatives.
I have yet to see another H323 based app with such a large user base that is as centralized as Skype. It really is easy to find people I'm looking for that I assumed would have Skype.
Audio quality and compression are also better than many H323 alternatives. Using gnomemeeting and several different codecs, bandwidth usage was much higher than Skype for much lower quality audio.
Integration with the public phone network is a great option also. I make regular calls to our mobile employees and offices in Hong Kong and Shenzhen and so far Skype is our cheapest and most convenient alternative.
Skype has some cool stuff...
That is the big selling point though. There's really no config required to use it behind a NAT box. This makes things a lot simpler for a lot of people. Even if users on both ends are behind NAT boxes, the traffic if forwarded through a 3rd party PC so that at least one end of the data is coming from a public IP.
This is a big bonus for home users and those who don't know how or don't want to play with the settings on their router.
Coming from a Math/Science magnet school where the administration believed the school itself was responsible for the success of it's students, this definately hits home. Over the years, the school made it a point to put a computer lab in every classroom. They seemed to think that if there was a computer to use, it would make everything better.
So, they blindly added hundreds of donated, underpowered PCs to our network. More often than not, they were used for downloading pr0n, playing games and cheating on tests and homework. Not only did they take up valuable classroom space (where new desks and books would do much more good), they proved to be more of a hassle and a distraction to both teachers and students. (Especially those few students responsible for maintaining the network)
Teachers were required to post grades using one of two online grading services. More often than not, the teachers complained about the hassle and speed of a P90 with 16MB running NT4 than praising the marginal advantage of accessing grades from home.
Without looking into actually securing the network, the school let loose a swarm of worms and virii. The solution, "If you want to bring your own work in on a floppy, it must be run through NAV by the computer lab teacher." I guess they only travel through word docs on floppies...
Eventually, they cut a deal with some company to install TVs in every room in exchange for advertising time in the morning. The company would broadcast a short spot of news, play some advertisements and generally just push the product of the moment in the first 10 minutes of every day.
Anyway, I'd love to rant some more about the joys and "success" of having computers in the classroom, but there's just to much to list.
required the self install in our area
was an Amiga 1000 (ok im pretty young, so what?) with 256k ram, later upgraded to 512k, I don't really remember too much about it. I guess I'll have to go dig it up.
About that LinuxSucks.com....If that's not twisted reasonging, then maybe I'll have to go read up on what twisted actually means.
Just a few things before I lose it:
How is freebsd.org a site which tries to convince you that linux sucks?
How does that fact that linux can run under windows using vmware make it suck?
My TV doesn't crash. My microwave doesn't crash. - nuff said
Allows older hardware to be useful again - this makes it suck?
Why can't those people speak proper (or even close to proper) English?
I think I'll stop now
For a while now, Bell Atlantic (the only provider i can get) required the self install in our area, they no longer do home installs.
The process is a lot faster to get your order through too. You call, give them your telephone number, they test the line while your on the phone and fill out an order for the self install kit. Then they send someone out to double check the line...The new installs don't require the use of the splitter anymore, you just install a small filter on each phone jack to filter out the DSL signal. The only special attention needed was for multi-line phones which used a single cable for all the lines.
Threaten to kick them in the shins with very heavy boots if we find it doesnt work as stated.
Or a more reasonable answer would be to return it and find something that does...
Today's not as bad as tommorow going to be... Tommorow he has to decide where he wants to go to work...:)
Not only when it starts, but how long it lasts. Its set for 10 years. Correction on my last post: restrictions take effect in 90 days, MSFT must submit their plan within 4 months. But..they will appeal...
I believe it's 90 days, or four months...
Go Here
Basically a complete description of the worm and the associated filenames.
By the way, not only did it not work well, I had to sit and "train" it for hours by reading it long passages of Treasure Island and Tom Sawyer.
I have used Dragon Naturally Speaking as well as IBM's ViaVoice and neither seem to work too well. I don't think I studder or anything and as far as I can tell I speak pretty clearly. Neither worked well for dictating and they slowed down my computer noticeably. (P200, 48MB) How well can this possibly work on a Palm? Does anyone know what Speech-to-Text engine this uses?
It's probably been implied many times already, but one of the reasons NASA projects continue to fail is that they are going with the budget mission idea where they can send lots of small/cheap/disposable missions instead of the expensive but more calculated(read: successfull missions)
Here's some stats on some of the recent NASA missions:
August 12, 1998: A Titan IVA rocket loses control because testing failed to catch frayed wires in the power supply.
August 27, 1998: Delta III Rocket loses control due to flaw in control system.
October 24, 1998: Successfull launch of Deep Space 1.
December 5, 1998: Submillimeter Wave Astronomy satellite successfully launched on a Pegasus-XL.
March 4, 1999: Wide-Field Infrared explorer loses coolant first day in orbit.
April 9, 1999: Titan IVB fails because of improperly placed electrical tape...
April 27, 1999: Payload shroud on Athena II fails to release. Ikonos satellite lost.
April 30, 1999: Titan IVB fails to reach proper orbit because of incorrect manual data entry.
The list goes on, this is from Popular Science (April 2000). I left some out because of lack of time but I woudl suggest reading the article.
Actually, for emergencies, you don't even need to buy a service plan with your phone. All cell phones can call 911 whether they're activated or not.
this may be the beginning of the end for the dotcom fad.
Actually they do have business using that line. The reason the University is angry is that they charge 24$ a semester for internet access in the rooms and now the students have to get up and walk 280 feet less to get downstairs to plug in. Wonder what they would have been able to say if the students hooked up a wireless Anypoint network...the physical connection to the hub/switch would still be less than 20 feet.
I better watch what length ethernet cable I use for my @home service. I wouldn't want to make them mad by adding a longer cable because I was too lazy to lug my computer, monitor and speakers down the hall to the family room.
Maybe by releasing that it the information is regarding the state of terrorist activities in Northern Ireland, many people will brush it off as less important because it doesn't really affect them. This is opposed to letting people speculate what information it could contain if they didn't release anything. Things like that lead to harmful rumors.
I don't think this agent was a spy, but apparently this laptop contained information on the state of terrorist activity in N. Ireland. Since the data was important enough to be encrypted, the theft is a major concern.
Actually, I don't think this qualifies as an ultra-light because it exceeds the maximum horsepower and speed limits.
If you were going to spend 30,000$ on a toy helicopter, at least get one that looks cool. Revlotion makes some really cool design in their 2 place helicopter kits. They have advertisements for ultralights that you can build yourself in the back of Popular Science too.
Maybe they'll start sending millions of these keyboards out in the mail. The only problem is, I don't think these keyboards make good coasters coasters. :)