Can't most people do this already without the need for an "app"? I think almost everyone with a smart meter should have access to the data through their power utility's website. Does this do something more, like monitor per circuit or per device usage?
It seems to me that software patents aren't all that great, but I'm no expert on that and can't easily say whether reforms or just better enforcement of the existing rules are needed. There are other issues with the patent system, though, that aren't purely mismanagement.
Patent trolls have found a loophole in patent law. Namely, that someone other than the inventor can claim ownership of an invention they have no intention of producing. I think something along the lines of the rules below could help solve that problem.
1. The inventor (the person, not a company) is the sole owner of the patent 2. The inventor can issue exclusive rights to a company only on the condition that the invention is used in a product that company makes.
This would eliminate patent trolls by virtue of requiring them to make a product and therefore contributing something of value to the system. It would also help prevent anti-competitive use of patents. If a company cannot hold exclusive rights to a patent they don't use, they can't prevent their competitors from buying a license from the inventor and producing a competing product.
I don't want social security. In my opinion, a civilized society is one in which everyone would be responsible enough to not push the cost of their retirement years onto others. If you feel that a social safety net for retired people is worthwhile, why don't you set up a privately funded non-profit program to achieve it?
I agree completely. It takes me longer to type in my password than it does to load the OS. I was just trying to point out that the time from boot loader to usable system is no longer the long pole and it might make sense to focus more on the hardware initialization side. I also think there's still room for HDDs where large amounts of storage space is needed, but I won't build another computer without a SSD to put the OS on, at least until something better comes along.
It'll go from 4 seconds to ~3.2 seconds assuming boot is limited only by read speed. The bulk of the time will still be in POST, unfortunately. Anybody hear of new motherboards that have reduced POST times?
More importantly, has he been programmed to teach us lessons about the benefits of hard work, taking care of our environment and how love can help save the human race from it's own destructive habits?
Am I just paranoid or does it seem that those password meters could be a simple phishing scam trying to find commonly used strong passwords? (not necessarily implying the one you linked isn't legit)
You do still need to remember a "password" for each site, but that password is only a symbol, a color and the length of the password (or whatever you choose) rather than a long string of random characters, which makes it easier to remember multiple strong passwords. Although this system does trade stronger cryptographic security for weaker physical security, but this weakness could be addressed by keeping multiple cards or using additional encryption schemes. The idea is that the password would remain equally random, but having a physical device will allow you to choose a system that has a balance of physical security vs. memorability that you are comfortable with.
tl;dr - It's better than having to remember strong passwords, reusing them everywhere or writing them in plaintext.
Probably somewhere between 300-500hp. It appears to be a Boeing T50/502. Although, I wouldn't imagine it's all that fast on the 1/4 mile. Turboshaft engines are designed to operate at a constant speed and are very inefficient when used like a piston engine.
You can't "understand" things if you don't have the "facts"
Sort of. You can't "understand" without at one point knowing the facts. Do you currently remember all of the words to both books? But you obviously do remember the general story lines and plot themes. This is exactly the point TFA was making. We don't recall things that we know are available to look up, but do remember those that that aren't (i.e. your interpretation of that data).
The idea that having "stubs" of knowledge in the most powerful computer on the planet and leaving the real meat of facts in the dumbest computers on the planet is somehow a good thing is just idiotic. Google is not going to link information together for you. You have to put the real meat of information into your head and then only your brain is capable of making connections to create real understanding.
The human brain is powerful, but it's strength is not accurately storing information. What it is good at is recognizing patterns and linking data together to build models that are applicable in a larger context. Once our understanding is built, there's no need to store every piece of information that went into it, just a link to where it is or the ability to recreate it from our mental model.
Absolutely. Why do these programs exist at the federal level at all? If you want the government to provide a retirement plan and health insurance for everyone, move to state that has it or try to get it passed in your state.
Fact is there isn't enough we CAN cut to turn the debt cycle around we need to enhance revenue, which means higher taxes aimed at those that can afford to pay them.
That's not true at all. It can be done purely through cuts, but that would necessitate shrinking the size of the federal government. Federal tax revenue has increased by 9% while expenditures have grown 85% since 2001 (chosen since it was the last year receipts covered outlays). I think reform of the tax code is necessary, but more to simplify it and reduce overhead costs than to increase revenues.
As far as your rant about the Iraq war and republican spending goes, I think both sides of the aisle are to blame. Neither has made even the slightest attempt to curb deficit spending. It wasn't until the tea party movement started that there was any willingness to talk about cuts of any kind.
If the GOP puts this country into default the resulting kaos will be worse than the great depression of 80 years ago. The result will be a putting a bull'seye target on the back of every member of the GOP, literally! I can't guess who will be shot first.
A fan of hyperbole, I see. There will be repercussions if the US defaults, but I don't believe either side will let that happen. Either way we will still be facing a mountain of debt that will require some fairly significant changes to surmount. It isn't impossible and the doomsday scenarios aren't necessary at this point, but it will take some very significant cuts and at least maintaining revenues to start chipping away at the debt we've allowed our government to accrue.
On a lighter note, your post does sound a lot like a KAOS plot. Hopefully Agent 86 and the others at CONTROL will be able to thwart it.
Does it have to be a spinning platter drive? If not, some of the PCI-E SSDs can get over 1GB/s sequential reads which would easily put a 500GB read at under 10 minutes. Of course, you'd likely have to spend at least half of the $10k prize on the drive itself.
No it doesn't. You still can't patent anything that is public knowledge or where there is clear prior art (at least you're not supposed to be able to). It simply means that when a patent is challenged on priority, the filing date and not the date of invention is used. The good thing about that is that it simplifies the court cases having a hard date to point to. Although, there is potential that if someone gains knowledge of your invention and files a patent before you, it'll be significantly more difficult to challenge it.
If our 'magnetic sense' were something clearly perceived, simply holding a rare-earth magnet against your closed eye should be a weird, disorienting experience. It doesn't seem to be.
That's because you can't sense a single magnet, the poles are too close together. You have to use two of those hard drive magnets, one on each side of the eye to notice it.
(Warning: Don't put strong magnets around remaining eye)
Do people expect immediate replies to emails? I've always understood it to be for time-insensitive matters and any time I need a quick answer I call or IM/text If I can't talk to them in person.
I could see this service being useful in managing expectations of when a response will be sent. Although, I think it would only be good for when you're sending emails that need a timely reply to people you only communicate with through email. That situation doesn't seem to be all that common in my experience.
Of course things with people and animals (or representations thereof) are more memorable than landscapes. Our minds have evolved to put greater emphasis on things that are a threat or opportunity. Besides, landscapes are generally classified as that only because they're outdoors and don't have any other distinguishing characteristics that would put it into another group.
For all I know, it could have been ideological. I wasn't saying that I know any better, only that there are other possible motivations. Deducing someone's motivations in things like this is very difficult and we'll likely never know with any certainty the reasons behind it unless the hacker wants it known. I was simply pointing out that the timing is not necessarily indicative of malice towards Sony.
It could have been a target of opportunity rather than ideology. A professional hacker may have heard about the poor security of PSN from all of the news of the PS3 hacks and realized that it would be a relatively easy way to get a lot of valuable data.
You're exactly right. Although, I'd still recommend mentioning any operating systems or devices you'd like to have a Netflix client for whenever you talk to their customer service. The more requests they get for clients on open systems, the more pressure they are likely to put on content providers to reduce or eliminate DRM requirements.
Netflix is working even though PSN is down. When you start the Netflix app it prompts for a login about three times, but after that it works normally. I've used it a couple of times since the PSN troubles started. Just keep attempting to sign in and it'll eventually let you through.
Slashdot Mirror
Can't most people do this already without the need for an "app"? I think almost everyone with a smart meter should have access to the data through their power utility's website. Does this do something more, like monitor per circuit or per device usage?
It seems to me that software patents aren't all that great, but I'm no expert on that and can't easily say whether reforms or just better enforcement of the existing rules are needed. There are other issues with the patent system, though, that aren't purely mismanagement.
Patent trolls have found a loophole in patent law. Namely, that someone other than the inventor can claim ownership of an invention they have no intention of producing. I think something along the lines of the rules below could help solve that problem.
1. The inventor (the person, not a company) is the sole owner of the patent
2. The inventor can issue exclusive rights to a company only on the condition that the invention is used in a product that company makes.
This would eliminate patent trolls by virtue of requiring them to make a product and therefore contributing something of value to the system. It would also help prevent anti-competitive use of patents. If a company cannot hold exclusive rights to a patent they don't use, they can't prevent their competitors from buying a license from the inventor and producing a competing product.
I don't want social security. In my opinion, a civilized society is one in which everyone would be responsible enough to not push the cost of their retirement years onto others. If you feel that a social safety net for retired people is worthwhile, why don't you set up a privately funded non-profit program to achieve it?
I agree completely. It takes me longer to type in my password than it does to load the OS. I was just trying to point out that the time from boot loader to usable system is no longer the long pole and it might make sense to focus more on the hardware initialization side. I also think there's still room for HDDs where large amounts of storage space is needed, but I won't build another computer without a SSD to put the OS on, at least until something better comes along.
It'll go from 4 seconds to ~3.2 seconds assuming boot is limited only by read speed. The bulk of the time will still be in POST, unfortunately. Anybody hear of new motherboards that have reduced POST times?
More importantly, has he been programmed to teach us lessons about the benefits of hard work, taking care of our environment and how love can help save the human race from it's own destructive habits?
Am I just paranoid or does it seem that those password meters could be a simple phishing scam trying to find commonly used strong passwords? (not necessarily implying the one you linked isn't legit)
You do still need to remember a "password" for each site, but that password is only a symbol, a color and the length of the password (or whatever you choose) rather than a long string of random characters, which makes it easier to remember multiple strong passwords. Although this system does trade stronger cryptographic security for weaker physical security, but this weakness could be addressed by keeping multiple cards or using additional encryption schemes. The idea is that the password would remain equally random, but having a physical device will allow you to choose a system that has a balance of physical security vs. memorability that you are comfortable with.
tl;dr - It's better than having to remember strong passwords, reusing them everywhere or writing them in plaintext.
Probably somewhere between 300-500hp. It appears to be a Boeing T50/502. Although, I wouldn't imagine it's all that fast on the 1/4 mile. Turboshaft engines are designed to operate at a constant speed and are very inefficient when used like a piston engine.
You can't "understand" things if you don't have the "facts"
Sort of. You can't "understand" without at one point knowing the facts. Do you currently remember all of the words to both books? But you obviously do remember the general story lines and plot themes. This is exactly the point TFA was making. We don't recall things that we know are available to look up, but do remember those that that aren't (i.e. your interpretation of that data).
The idea that having "stubs" of knowledge in the most powerful computer on the planet and leaving the real meat of facts in the dumbest computers on the planet is somehow a good thing is just idiotic. Google is not going to link information together for you. You have to put the real meat of information into your head and then only your brain is capable of making connections to create real understanding.
The human brain is powerful, but it's strength is not accurately storing information. What it is good at is recognizing patterns and linking data together to build models that are applicable in a larger context. Once our understanding is built, there's no need to store every piece of information that went into it, just a link to where it is or the ability to recreate it from our mental model.
Drastic cuts to medicare and social security?
Absolutely. Why do these programs exist at the federal level at all? If you want the government to provide a retirement plan and health insurance for everyone, move to state that has it or try to get it passed in your state.
Fact is there isn't enough we CAN cut to turn the debt cycle around we need to enhance revenue, which means higher taxes aimed at those that can afford to pay them.
That's not true at all. It can be done purely through cuts, but that would necessitate shrinking the size of the federal government. Federal tax revenue has increased by 9% while expenditures have grown 85% since 2001 (chosen since it was the last year receipts covered outlays). I think reform of the tax code is necessary, but more to simplify it and reduce overhead costs than to increase revenues.
As far as your rant about the Iraq war and republican spending goes, I think both sides of the aisle are to blame. Neither has made even the slightest attempt to curb deficit spending. It wasn't until the tea party movement started that there was any willingness to talk about cuts of any kind.
If the GOP puts this country into default the resulting kaos will be worse than the great depression of 80 years ago. The result will be a putting a bull'seye target on the back of every member of the GOP, literally! I can't guess who will be shot first.
A fan of hyperbole, I see. There will be repercussions if the US defaults, but I don't believe either side will let that happen. Either way we will still be facing a mountain of debt that will require some fairly significant changes to surmount. It isn't impossible and the doomsday scenarios aren't necessary at this point, but it will take some very significant cuts and at least maintaining revenues to start chipping away at the debt we've allowed our government to accrue.
On a lighter note, your post does sound a lot like a KAOS plot. Hopefully Agent 86 and the others at CONTROL will be able to thwart it.
Wait ... I thought the MRI was the treatment.
Maybe it would even be possible to use fMRI to view and treat simultaneously.
Does it have to be a spinning platter drive? If not, some of the PCI-E SSDs can get over 1GB/s sequential reads which would easily put a 500GB read at under 10 minutes. Of course, you'd likely have to spend at least half of the $10k prize on the drive itself.
No it doesn't. You still can't patent anything that is public knowledge or where there is clear prior art (at least you're not supposed to be able to). It simply means that when a patent is challenged on priority, the filing date and not the date of invention is used. The good thing about that is that it simplifies the court cases having a hard date to point to. Although, there is potential that if someone gains knowledge of your invention and files a patent before you, it'll be significantly more difficult to challenge it.
If our 'magnetic sense' were something clearly perceived, simply holding a rare-earth magnet against your closed eye should be a weird, disorienting experience. It doesn't seem to be.
That's because you can't sense a single magnet, the poles are too close together. You have to use two of those hard drive magnets, one on each side of the eye to notice it.
(Warning: Don't put strong magnets around remaining eye)
Correction, it's only 5040 if it disallowed repeat numbers. I was over-thinking it a bit. It's 10,000 possible numbers 0000-9999.
What I find most amazing is that the iphone only allows 4 digit 0-9 passcodes. That's only 5040 unique codes if I remember the math correctly.
Do people expect immediate replies to emails? I've always understood it to be for time-insensitive matters and any time I need a quick answer I call or IM/text If I can't talk to them in person.
I could see this service being useful in managing expectations of when a response will be sent. Although, I think it would only be good for when you're sending emails that need a timely reply to people you only communicate with through email. That situation doesn't seem to be all that common in my experience.
Of course things with people and animals (or representations thereof) are more memorable than landscapes. Our minds have evolved to put greater emphasis on things that are a threat or opportunity. Besides, landscapes are generally classified as that only because they're outdoors and don't have any other distinguishing characteristics that would put it into another group.
Pfft, all that eye candy is unnecessary and a waste of resources. Unixkcd is perfection. Simple, clean and delivers the content effectively.
No.
At least not unless tiny wires can somehow invalidate the conservation of energy.
For all I know, it could have been ideological. I wasn't saying that I know any better, only that there are other possible motivations. Deducing someone's motivations in things like this is very difficult and we'll likely never know with any certainty the reasons behind it unless the hacker wants it known. I was simply pointing out that the timing is not necessarily indicative of malice towards Sony.
It could have been a target of opportunity rather than ideology. A professional hacker may have heard about the poor security of PSN from all of the news of the PS3 hacks and realized that it would be a relatively easy way to get a lot of valuable data.
You're exactly right. Although, I'd still recommend mentioning any operating systems or devices you'd like to have a Netflix client for whenever you talk to their customer service. The more requests they get for clients on open systems, the more pressure they are likely to put on content providers to reduce or eliminate DRM requirements.
Netflix is working even though PSN is down. When you start the Netflix app it prompts for a login about three times, but after that it works normally. I've used it a couple of times since the PSN troubles started. Just keep attempting to sign in and it'll eventually let you through.