And what will that do to the office-furniture-repair industry?
Thanks Rob, for all the years of distraction and information:-) Future paleo-anthropologists are going to make careers out of mining the depths of the/. archives (you *do* have this all backed up on floppies under your desk, right???)
Exactly how is this different from Wikimapia (http://wikimapia.org)? That's a community-driven map-places-editing site that's been active for several years now...
Oh, there's an issue with the radio side of it also. The more data you are shoving over the radio channels and the more devices you have in the field, the more spectrum you need. That's simple physics. This is why all those people hoping to get fantastic speeds on Verizon LTE are in for a big shock, once the number of units in the field gets past the miniscule level. They just don't have the radio bandwidth to support lots of 4G users, and it's going to fall over badly.
Data theft from phones is a very real possibility - just look at that recent Ars article. This is what I wrote my LokPix Android photo encryption app for - keeping pictures private in case my phone is stolen. I have scanned images of documents (ID, medical cards, etc.) that I need access to away from home, but I don't want freely accessible. So they get the full AES treatment, and no unencrypted bytes hit the SD card - thus no forensic recovery from there.
That should stop an info thief, but a police agency can always try to force you to divulge your keys (if they realize that there are secured images). Encryption systems aren't automatically all about hiding unlawful activity - there's a very strong case for legitimate use as well.
All of my Android apps are either free, or one-time paid. Sure, I could probably make some more money bundling in an ad network, but who wants to be responsible for exposing my customers like that? Besides, some of my apps are designed to *enhance* privacy - I could hardly turn around and sell out my users. The developer who includes ads in their app has little, if any, control over how the collected data will be used or disseminated. So for me, it's just too much of a risk.
Think about it. Compare this mythical 50-mi radius super WiFi to an existing hotspot. Or cell tower, for that matter...
1 - Contention. how many clients will be in that coverage footprint, competing for the bandwidth. Radio is a shared medium - only one source can be using it at a time (disregarding exotic and expensive tricks). So you split it up into channels - there goes your bandwidth. And you MIMO the area into sectors - bummer if you live on a sector boundary and bounce between them. No matter what you do, you have to divide a limited resource among a whole lot of users. Suddenly, small local cells look a lot better.
2 - Power. Sure, your local TV station gets great coverage (or since digital, not so much). They've got a 50-Gazillion-Watt transmitter, and it's one-way. How much power will your laptop/tablet/phone/etc. need to talk reliably to a base station 50 *miles* away? At a decent data rate, with the interference of everybody *else* trying to get the attention of that base? It's hard enough to do on analog *voice* systems. If you thought hidden-node problems were bad with WiFi, you ain't seen nothing yet! Oh, and how big are the antennas going to have to be for these lower frequencies (compared to 2.4Ghz)? The next iPad will have a band around *it* for the antenna....
3 - Infrastructure. How many of these mega-APs will get to be in a given area? Does everybody get one (hey - no license)? It's not going to be easy or cheap to backhaul all of those clients from your huge central site. It's simple to serve a small area at a time, and the cell companies certainly have the hand-off issues worked out (well, mostly). But the only long-range two-way systems out there are fairly low-bandwidth and server relatively few nodes.
You can have bandwidth, coverage, or population - pick 2.
What I want to know is - did they incorporate the F22 fire-control systems? It's getting increasingly difficult to line up a Sidewinder shot on the tailpipe of the idiot car ahead of you. Hybrids and EVs will only make that worse - going to have to switch to fully radar-guided missles, and the current Ford package just won't handle it.
Their MagiQuest game uses a motion-sensitive "magic wand" with an IR transmitter to interact with objects in real space. The game is geared for kids, but it's rather fun to walk through the hotel and trigger animated objects by flicking the wand at them.
This looks just like the kind of thing they do at those FIRST robotics competitions. So now you know what all the high-school robotics nerds will be doing when they graduate - they'll be hustling robotic pool with their finely-honed skills:-)
I personally, want to see little robots with saws and flamethrowers. Although that might be a bit hard on the felt...
Yup, the line across the top trick saved me once or twice in High School. I moved from a school with PDPs and TTYs for the students to one with an 029 keypunch and daily trips to the computer building. Talk about a downgrade... But you quickly learn to protect your card stack.
On the last day of our Senior year, the computer geeks brought out the carefully-collected chad from the keypunch - and rained it down the 5-story main stairwells. I'll bet there's chad in there to this day...
Aside from the FAT issues, these are even more troubling:
6175789 - Vehicle computer system with open platform architecture
6202008 - Vehicle computer system with wireless internet connectivity
There are a lot of people in the geek community who build Linux-based car computers: http://www.mp3car.com/ . These patents, at first reading, seem to lock up that entire product space. Or at least, that's how Microsoft is going to spin it...
Slashdot Mirror
And what will that do to the office-furniture-repair industry?
Thanks Rob, for all the years of distraction and information :-) Future paleo-anthropologists are going to make careers out of mining the depths of the /. archives (you *do* have this all backed up on floppies under your desk, right???)
Oh, this is just the use of the word "unlimited" in the cellular carrier sense...
as in, "unlimited data" == 2GB.
Simple.
Exactly how is this different from Wikimapia (http://wikimapia.org)? That's a community-driven map-places-editing site that's been active for several years now...
Oh, there's an issue with the radio side of it also. The more data you are shoving over the radio channels and the more devices you have in the field, the more spectrum you need. That's simple physics. This is why all those people hoping to get fantastic speeds on Verizon LTE are in for a big shock, once the number of units in the field gets past the miniscule level. They just don't have the radio bandwidth to support lots of 4G users, and it's going to fall over badly.
And thus, the critters living in the swamp get great Internet speeds. While the rest you *outside* the swamp get nothing.
Wireless 2-way data is *not* broadcast TV!
are taking pot-shots at the U.S.????
(thank you - I'll be here all week... :-)
Data theft from phones is a very real possibility - just look at that recent Ars article. This is what I wrote my LokPix Android photo encryption app for - keeping pictures private in case my phone is stolen. I have scanned images of documents (ID, medical cards, etc.) that I need access to away from home, but I don't want freely accessible. So they get the full AES treatment, and no unencrypted bytes hit the SD card - thus no forensic recovery from there.
That should stop an info thief, but a police agency can always try to force you to divulge your keys (if they realize that there are secured images). Encryption systems aren't automatically all about hiding unlawful activity - there's a very strong case for legitimate use as well.
All of my Android apps are either free, or one-time paid. Sure, I could probably make some more money bundling in an ad network, but who wants to be responsible for exposing my customers like that? Besides, some of my apps are designed to *enhance* privacy - I could hardly turn around and sell out my users. The developer who includes ads in their app has little, if any, control over how the collected data will be used or disseminated. So for me, it's just too much of a risk.
Yeah, but which one had better *acting*???
Gotta give *that* one to Rudy....
This is going to work really well... not
Think about it. Compare this mythical 50-mi radius super WiFi to an existing hotspot. Or cell tower, for that matter...
1 - Contention. how many clients will be in that coverage footprint, competing for the bandwidth. Radio is a shared medium - only one source can be using it at a time (disregarding exotic and expensive tricks). So you split it up into channels - there goes your bandwidth. And you MIMO the area into sectors - bummer if you live on a sector boundary and bounce between them. No matter what you do, you have to divide a limited resource among a whole lot of users. Suddenly, small local cells look a lot better.
2 - Power. Sure, your local TV station gets great coverage (or since digital, not so much). They've got a 50-Gazillion-Watt transmitter, and it's one-way. How much power will your laptop/tablet/phone/etc. need to talk reliably to a base station 50 *miles* away? At a decent data rate, with the interference of everybody *else* trying to get the attention of that base? It's hard enough to do on analog *voice* systems. If you thought hidden-node problems were bad with WiFi, you ain't seen nothing yet! Oh, and how big are the antennas going to have to be for these lower frequencies (compared to 2.4Ghz)? The next iPad will have a band around *it* for the antenna....
3 - Infrastructure. How many of these mega-APs will get to be in a given area? Does everybody get one (hey - no license)? It's not going to be easy or cheap to backhaul all of those clients from your huge central site. It's simple to serve a small area at a time, and the cell companies certainly have the hand-off issues worked out (well, mostly). But the only long-range two-way systems out there are fairly low-bandwidth and server relatively few nodes.
You can have bandwidth, coverage, or population - pick 2.
let's hope they keep a better eye on the nuclear waste dump this time :-)
or at least stock up on supplies (and better actors).
How else will the school be certain they have cameras, so they can spy on the kids? It's the Lower Merton Technology Plan! :-)
What I want to know is - did they incorporate the F22 fire-control systems? It's getting increasingly difficult to line up a Sidewinder shot on the tailpipe of the idiot car ahead of you. Hybrids and EVs will only make that worse - going to have to switch to fully radar-guided missles, and the current Ford package just won't handle it.
(and you think YOU have a tough commute...:-)
http://www.creativekingdoms.com/CK1.html Creative Kingdoms
Their MagiQuest game uses a motion-sensitive "magic wand" with an IR transmitter to interact with objects in real space. The game is geared for kids, but it's rather fun to walk through the hotel and trigger animated objects by flicking the wand at them.
So, they give you a job as a Sysadmin????
(and the high-value prisoners they make Windows admins???)
Let me get this straight - they're infusing a super-strong metal into biological organisms. Why, oh why does this sound familiar???
Let's just hope they don't give the silkworms claws....
This looks just like the kind of thing they do at those FIRST robotics competitions. So now you know what all the high-school robotics nerds will be doing when they graduate - they'll be hustling robotic pool with their finely-honed skills :-)
I personally, want to see little robots with saws and flamethrowers. Although that might be a bit hard on the felt...
but Monsanto's are more equal than others?
I think that what they're saying :-)
(just wait until they try to apply this to designer babies...)
But that's what pathalias and the Usenet Mapping Project was for...
those were the days...
Yup, the line across the top trick saved me once or twice in High School. I moved from a school with PDPs and TTYs for the students to one with an 029 keypunch and daily trips to the computer building. Talk about a downgrade... But you quickly learn to protect your card stack.
On the last day of our Senior year, the computer geeks brought out the carefully-collected chad from the keypunch - and rained it down the 5-story main stairwells. I'll bet there's chad in there to this day...
Warning: Unknown: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
Fatal error: Unknown: Failed opening required '/www/ssd.eff.org/docs/index.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/share/pear') in Unknown on line 0
Black helicopters are hovering over the EFF compund even now...
Aside from the FAT issues, these are even more troubling:
6175789 - Vehicle computer system with open platform architecture
6202008 - Vehicle computer system with wireless internet connectivity
There are a lot of people in the geek community who build Linux-based car computers: http://www.mp3car.com/ . These patents, at first reading, seem to lock up that entire product space. Or at least, that's how Microsoft is going to spin it...
Since when are the French our allies? Non-combatants maybe, but exactly allies.
The British sub obviously didn't hear the French sub laying on it's horn as it ran through the red light...
- but you've heard this one before...
The way Detroit is going, soon they'll be pining for the Fords...