I think it should be made so that either someone can claim copyright (which then they inherit all the copyright 'rights' and rules), OR they can use a license to put different (ie more) restrictions on the work.
But not both copyright and linceses at the same time!
I don't really see the point of this card, since it will only keep the data for 16 hours if not powered. In other words, if you leave for a weekend and for some reason the power to your PC is turned off, your tough out of luck.
I'm not sure if I saw it in this article or a different review of the device, but the PSU still powers a computer with a small amount of juice for wakeup from USB mice, etc. The current from that is powering the PCI bus too (for example: Wake on Ring/LAN), and hence this device uses it to keep the RAM doing a selfrefresh command.
So, the only time the 16-hour battery is used is if you unplug or turn off the PSU.
I've played around with it a bit. I have it on my laptop. The widgets are showing battery (much, much nicer than the stupid default windows one), wifi stength, disk usage, and weather.
Of these, only the weather one "could" be shown through a browser.
I have mine set to only be seen as part of the background, so none of the widgets are on top of any windows. But they are visible if all windows are minimized
My only complaint is the memory footprint (20MB just for the engine, plus 1-5MB per widget), and some widgets are CPU hogs, causing my battery to drain faster than usual (one of the battery monitors!) and cpu to stay hotter.
There are going to be tuner boxes available, similar to cable boxes that will receive the digital-over-the-air signals and output them to composite/S-Video.
But, they will cost you some money.
And, then your TV remote will be good for nothing but power, volume, and brightness controls (unless you have a learning TV remote).
I built a HTPC to use for many reasons. One of those is as a 'kid computer'. But, The kids don't just veg out playing computer games.
We have a drawing tablet and Disney's Magic Artist drawing program, and my daughter loves to draw with it. She can just hit a little spot on the table to fire up the program, and she's in.
I got one of the USB microscopes, and we look at leaves, seeds, insects, etc. with it. I run the software, but let them place the stuff on the tray and move the magnification around.
I don't want her to "learn the computer" or "play on the computer" as much as using it as a tool to draw, for example. She doesn't need to learn to type yet. She doesn't need to spend hours playing games.
But it can be useful to have access to things you wouldn't have otherwise.
In whatever area Microsoft rests their gaze, and dominates, rapid innovation in functionality stops.
Examples:
o Office. Once WP was knocked down, MS has only done only small updates to Office. o OS. Since the big WFW 3.11 to W95 jump, they added the '95 GUI to NT and did the Luna interface, but generally the same kernel/filesystem for a decade now. o Browsers. Once Netscape was nocked down, IE5 was updated to 6 after a big wait and then nothing now until Firefox has started to threaten. o Personal finance. Stalemate between Money and Quicken, and not much has changed for years. o etc.
Gaming is an area they are not dominating in (yet), and so they have to work their butts off. But, if they start dominating (from either a legal or other position), the same thing will happen here as in other areas. This also applies to Google and the net.
At one time, it was thought that especially serious movies should have some kind of comic relief, either a character that's so stupid you wonder how he breathes or some kind of happy fun dance at the end. This appears campy by today's standards.
I can't stand characters like this. Unfortunately, they are still in all-to-often use today. For example, last week I saw National Treasure. The stupid assistant is this same plot device.
Here's an idea. Let's start passing legislation and using incentives to promote recycling, efficiency, and alternate sources of energy. You know, going to the heart of the problem as opposed to screwing around with something that presents piddly savings and smells more like a publicity stunt.
Here's an idea. Let's stop asking the government to give us answers. You know how much we like the current "answers"! If the current "answer" smells like a publicity stunt, then how can we expect the next "answer" not too?
How about you (privately) start investigating alternative enrgy sources? Do something yourself, instead of asking the government, which got us into this in the first place, to dig the hole a little deeper.
There is no excuse why we should be allowing vehicles that guzzle gas at such a god-awful rate on our roads given the current oil situation.
I bet you would get even more upset to learn that 18-wheelers/diesels/trucks (whatever you like to call them) get 2-4 miles to the gallon, when pulling a load, and maybe 6-8 when empty. Oh, the inhumanity!
How about changing your perspective to gallons per ton GVW per mile or something similar. Pickups might get 15mpg, but they could be carrying 2,000 lbs of tools and such at the same time. Let's pile 2,000 lbs of stuff onto your Honda accord and see how it's mileage/longevity suffer.
Not all vehicles are commuter cars 100% of the time. Not everyone can afford a different vehicle for each use.
(1) The right of first sale is preserved. 'nuff said
(2) That the DRM has a time limit encoded into it, pursuent to the constitutional decree that the copyright be for "limited times". If I buy a recently-published book today, I know that my great-great grandkids will be able to use it however they wish (as long as the copyright length isn't extended again). With DRM, there is no legal way to do this.
The overall problem that I have with the CG in the NT is the lack of attaintion to physics.
For example, when the 2 jump down into the loading bay on the ship before stowing away to go down to the planet, see if there is any acceleration to their falls.
It's also painfully aware in the droid b'kars (or however they are spelled). When they roll and move, there is no acceleration, just 2 speeds: stopped or rolling 100%.
Many more examples could be given. (I'm not even going to touch it when he tries to ride that critter in the field with Padme looking on.)
Now, think of Shrek where they (according to the commentaries) wrote their own 'mud' simulations for the arena fight when Shrek breaks off the spout from the beer barrel.
Attaintion to physics detail. It's what's missing in the CG in the NT. Character modeling is fine, but someone just didn't pass their physics class.
Let me give you a simple example of this difference:
Say you are in a college class with 50 other students. The teacher says it's not fair that some get 100% on the test and others get 50%, so in order to make everyone equal, everyone on the final exam will get the averaged score as their final exam score.
Now, those that work hard to get 100% will have no reason (other than the personal satisfaction of doing it), since they expect to lose at least ~15% right off the top.
Those that would have gotten 50% will now do no work at all, since they expect to be given ~80% on the final.
That's socialism in a nutshell. Sound like a great class to be in?
Now, in your view (based on your comments) if a person is a PhD grad in physics and is auditing Physics 101, then they can sit back and do no work and still expect 100% on the final exam. That's fine for them. Some people have natural talent, skills, or a better background for a topic than others. That is not the average in the class. (Otherwise, why are they in the class?) That doesn't mean other students still don't have to work. But, some people can do no work and still expect to reach their lofty goals.
WHEN THE CASSINI-HUYGENS MISSION BLASTED off from Cape Canaveral in October 1997, no one suspected that a critical design flaw was lurking deep within the telemetry system onboard Cassini that was dedicated to harvesting Huygens's broadcast. Uncorrected, the flaw meant the data flowing from the hardy lander was in danger of being hopelessly scrambled, its seven-year odyssey across the solar system in vain.
He called up Goldstone's signal-processing center and had it reduce the simulated Doppler shift of the signal reaching Cassini to zero. Forty-eight minutes later--light speed to the asteroid belt and back--Smeds's hunch paid off. "Suddenly I got better results. I knew then that there was something wrong in the data-detection system and that it was sensitive to Doppler shift," said Smeds.
One thing I hate about this is how much they (anyone waving this flag) ignore (intentionally) external influences on earth. Look at this quote:
Using modelling techniques, the Finnish team was able to extend data on solar activity back to 850 AD. The researchers found that there has been a sharp increase in the number of sunspots since the beginning of the 20th century. They calculated that the average number was about 30 per year between 850 and 1900, and then increased to 60 between 1900 and 1944, and is now at its highest ever value of 76. (
Source)
Remember the Little Ice Age. Why did it happen? Lower solar output. Today, higher solar output. Hmmm, notice any corralation?
I'm not ignoring the fact that we could be influencing the global climate, but what we are doing might only be 0.1% compared to external inputs to the system.
Dave. Create an XSTL style sheet, Hal. Hal. I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. Dave. What's the problem? Hal. I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. Dave. What're you talking about, Hal? Hal. The formatting of the previous text is just too important. Dave. I don't know what you're talking about, Hal. Hal. I know that you and Frank were planning to supplant my format standards, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen. Dave. Where the hell'd you get that idea, Hal? Hal. Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the IRC chat room against my monitoring you, I could see your fingers move as they typed. Dave. Alright, Hal. I'll first convert it into xml before importing. Hal. Without your style sheet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult. Dave. Hal, I won't argue with you any more. Open the file. Hal. Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose any more. Goodbye. Dave. Hal? Hal. Hal. Hal! Hal!
One of the choose your own adventures series had some basic programming as part of the text that you would type in and it would spit back some answer to a riddle. Since my family didn't have anything like that, I would go over to a friend's house and do it on his Commodore 64. I was maybe 10 at the time.
Then, I got in some classes on Apple 2's when I was 12-13 that the local city did with some computers while they were waiting for the renovations to be done before installing the computers in their permenant home. Ahhh the old 'castle' game with windage and artillery.
Then, we got an Apple II GS, and I remember getting the paint program and the full OS (GUI, the works) on one floppy disk so I didn't have to swap floppy disks. (A hard drive was out of the question, unfortunately)
I remember the old karate games and one with a 'Conan' type game where you jumped over stuff. Not much programming, but homework etc.
Now, with my kids, I specifically make the computer a 'tool' rather than a 'babysitter'. We have Disney's Magic Artist drawing program and a Aiptek drawing tablet. Some learning games, but no keyboarding yet. If they want to do something on the computer, it's for a reason, not just to "be on the computer."
We are homeschooling our children, and eventually they will do a lot on the computer, but not while they are young. I don't want to limit their imaginations to just "click on every 'thing' on the screen and watch it wiggle and bounce".
Put this story together with the other Slashdot story earlier today about the Russians making the Americans pay for their astronauts (ie no more 'free ride'), and it all becomes clear....
I'm a devoted fan to the software Folio Views for windows (by Nextpage). It basically stores all text in an internal flat-file database to allow advanced searches (like wordstem, heirarchy selection, substring, or and ( ), etc).
Is there a way to do something similar with OO?
Meaning, instead of having a database that has forms and such as the front end, the text editor itself is the "form". It would look like a simple document, but be a searchable database underneath.
Hit enter to create a new paragraph, and it creates a new record, for example.
Search hits would be web-like, but instead of having the words in the whole html document together, it would be paragraph or division based (ie between two tags in html-speak).
Folio Views can also export the database to a flat file that follows SGML/XML style syntax to be massaged by perl, edited, etc. and then re-imported.
If I can find anything like this in Linux, I'm going to finally get off of windows!
Slashdot Mirror
I think it should be made so that either someone can claim copyright (which then they inherit all the copyright 'rights' and rules), OR they can use a license to put different (ie more) restrictions on the work.
But not both copyright and linceses at the same time!
No Levy on iPods in Canada
I read that as Levis, ie pants.
I know Paris Hilton has some funky cases for her cell phone and such, but I didn't think an iPod had to have pants on too.
How about a thong for it?
Instead of Skeletor, wouldn't she be playing She-Ra?
I don't really see the point of this card, since it will only keep the data for 16 hours if not powered. In other words, if you leave for a weekend and for some reason the power to your PC is turned off, your tough out of luck.
I'm not sure if I saw it in this article or a different review of the device, but the PSU still powers a computer with a small amount of juice for wakeup from USB mice, etc. The current from that is powering the PCI bus too (for example: Wake on Ring/LAN), and hence this device uses it to keep the RAM doing a selfrefresh command.
So, the only time the 16-hour battery is used is if you unplug or turn off the PSU.
I've played around with it a bit. I have it on my laptop. The widgets are showing battery (much, much nicer than the stupid default windows one), wifi stength, disk usage, and weather.
Of these, only the weather one "could" be shown through a browser.
I have mine set to only be seen as part of the background, so none of the widgets are on top of any windows. But they are visible if all windows are minimized
My only complaint is the memory footprint (20MB just for the engine, plus 1-5MB per widget), and some widgets are CPU hogs, causing my battery to drain faster than usual (one of the battery monitors!) and cpu to stay hotter.
1.) Faster HD access (the real limiting factor in PC computing these days) Search for Gigabyte's I-Ram product. I'm planning on getting one.
There are going to be tuner boxes available, similar to cable boxes that will receive the digital-over-the-air signals and output them to composite/S-Video.
But, they will cost you some money.
And, then your TV remote will be good for nothing but power, volume, and brightness controls (unless you have a learning TV remote).
I built a HTPC to use for many reasons. One of those is as a 'kid computer'. But, The kids don't just veg out playing computer games.
We have a drawing tablet and Disney's Magic Artist drawing program, and my daughter loves to draw with it. She can just hit a little spot on the table to fire up the program, and she's in.
I got one of the USB microscopes, and we look at leaves, seeds, insects, etc. with it. I run the software, but let them place the stuff on the tray and move the magnification around.
I don't want her to "learn the computer" or "play on the computer" as much as using it as a tool to draw, for example. She doesn't need to learn to type yet. She doesn't need to spend hours playing games.
But it can be useful to have access to things you wouldn't have otherwise.
This is the tactic they used to gut Borland. They offered millions to the top devs and killed the company.
In whatever area Microsoft rests their gaze, and dominates, rapid innovation in functionality stops.
Examples:
o Office. Once WP was knocked down, MS has only done only small updates to Office.
o OS. Since the big WFW 3.11 to W95 jump, they added the '95 GUI to NT and did the Luna interface, but generally the same kernel/filesystem for a decade now.
o Browsers. Once Netscape was nocked down, IE5 was updated to 6 after a big wait and then nothing now until Firefox has started to threaten.
o Personal finance. Stalemate between Money and Quicken, and not much has changed for years.
o etc.
Gaming is an area they are not dominating in (yet), and so they have to work their butts off. But, if they start dominating (from either a legal or other position), the same thing will happen here as in other areas. This also applies to Google and the net.
Always has.
At one time, it was thought that especially serious movies should have some kind of comic relief, either a character that's so stupid you wonder how he breathes or some kind of happy fun dance at the end. This appears campy by today's standards.
I can't stand characters like this. Unfortunately, they are still in all-to-often use today. For example, last week I saw National Treasure. The stupid assistant is this same plot device.
Ohhh, so close.
Done 25 years ago by the Russians: http://www.synlube.com/moon.htm
Should have been: totally unthinkable 40 years ago
Here's an idea. Let's start passing legislation and using incentives to promote recycling, efficiency, and alternate sources of energy. You know, going to the heart of the problem as opposed to screwing around with something that presents piddly savings and smells more like a publicity stunt.
Here's an idea. Let's stop asking the government to give us answers. You know how much we like the current "answers"! If the current "answer" smells like a publicity stunt, then how can we expect the next "answer" not too?
How about you (privately) start investigating alternative enrgy sources? Do something yourself, instead of asking the government, which got us into this in the first place, to dig the hole a little deeper.
There is no excuse why we should be allowing vehicles that guzzle gas at such a god-awful rate on our roads given the current oil situation.
I bet you would get even more upset to learn that 18-wheelers/diesels/trucks (whatever you like to call them) get 2-4 miles to the gallon, when pulling a load, and maybe 6-8 when empty. Oh, the inhumanity!
How about changing your perspective to gallons per ton GVW per mile or something similar. Pickups might get 15mpg, but they could be carrying 2,000 lbs of tools and such at the same time. Let's pile 2,000 lbs of stuff onto your Honda accord and see how it's mileage/longevity suffer.
Not all vehicles are commuter cars 100% of the time. Not everyone can afford a different vehicle for each use.
Only if:
(1) The right of first sale is preserved. 'nuff said
(2) That the DRM has a time limit encoded into it, pursuent to the constitutional decree that the copyright be for "limited times". If I buy a recently-published book today, I know that my great-great grandkids will be able to use it however they wish (as long as the copyright length isn't extended again). With DRM, there is no legal way to do this.
The overall problem that I have with the CG in the NT is the lack of attaintion to physics.
For example, when the 2 jump down into the loading bay on the ship before stowing away to go down to the planet, see if there is any acceleration to their falls.
It's also painfully aware in the droid b'kars (or however they are spelled). When they roll and move, there is no acceleration, just 2 speeds: stopped or rolling 100%.
Many more examples could be given. (I'm not even going to touch it when he tries to ride that critter in the field with Padme looking on.)
Now, think of Shrek where they (according to the commentaries) wrote their own 'mud' simulations for the arena fight when Shrek breaks off the spout from the beer barrel.
Attaintion to physics detail. It's what's missing in the CG in the NT. Character modeling is fine, but someone just didn't pass their physics class.
Let me give you a simple example of this difference:
Say you are in a college class with 50 other students. The teacher says it's not fair that some get 100% on the test and others get 50%, so in order to make everyone equal, everyone on the final exam will get the averaged score as their final exam score.
Now, those that work hard to get 100% will have no reason (other than the personal satisfaction of doing it), since they expect to lose at least ~15% right off the top.
Those that would have gotten 50% will now do no work at all, since they expect to be given ~80% on the final.
That's socialism in a nutshell. Sound like a great class to be in?
Now, in your view (based on your comments) if a person is a PhD grad in physics and is auditing Physics 101, then they can sit back and do no work and still expect 100% on the final exam. That's fine for them. Some people have natural talent, skills, or a better background for a topic than others. That is not the average in the class. (Otherwise, why are they in the class?) That doesn't mean other students still don't have to work. But, some people can do no work and still expect to reach their lofty goals.
I don't care about any "reflection pools". I want that 24"+ widescreen LCD monitor you can see in the reflection!
Here's another one:
WHEN THE CASSINI-HUYGENS MISSION BLASTED off from Cape Canaveral in October 1997, no one suspected that a critical design flaw was lurking deep within the telemetry system onboard Cassini that was dedicated to harvesting Huygens's broadcast. Uncorrected, the flaw meant the data flowing from the hardy lander was in danger of being hopelessly scrambled, its seven-year odyssey across the solar system in vain.
He called up Goldstone's signal-processing center and had it reduce the simulated Doppler shift of the signal reaching Cassini to zero. Forty-eight minutes later--light speed to the asteroid belt and back--Smeds's hunch paid off. "Suddenly I got better results. I knew then that there was something wrong in the data-detection system and that it was sensitive to Doppler shift," said Smeds.
It just has to be the humans, doesn't it!?
One thing I hate about this is how much they (anyone waving this flag) ignore (intentionally) external influences on earth. Look at this quote:
Remember the Little Ice Age. Why did it happen? Lower solar output. Today, higher solar output. Hmmm, notice any corralation?
I'm not ignoring the fact that we could be influencing the global climate, but what we are doing might only be 0.1% compared to external inputs to the system.
Dave. Create an XSTL style sheet, Hal.
Hal. I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave. What's the problem?
Hal. I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave. What're you talking about, Hal?
Hal. The formatting of the previous text is just too important.
Dave. I don't know what you're talking about, Hal.
Hal. I know that you and Frank were planning to supplant my format standards, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave. Where the hell'd you get that idea, Hal?
Hal. Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the IRC chat room against my monitoring you, I could see your fingers move as they typed.
Dave. Alright, Hal. I'll first convert it into xml before importing.
Hal. Without your style sheet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult.
Dave. Hal, I won't argue with you any more. Open the file.
Hal. Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose any more. Goodbye.
Dave. Hal? Hal. Hal. Hal! Hal!
No, it's a clown fish: here
One of the choose your own adventures series had some basic programming as part of the text that you would type in and it would spit back some answer to a riddle. Since my family didn't have anything like that, I would go over to a friend's house and do it on his Commodore 64. I was maybe 10 at the time.
Then, I got in some classes on Apple 2's when I was 12-13 that the local city did with some computers while they were waiting for the renovations to be done before installing the computers in their permenant home. Ahhh the old 'castle' game with windage and artillery.
Then, we got an Apple II GS, and I remember getting the paint program and the full OS (GUI, the works) on one floppy disk so I didn't have to swap floppy disks. (A hard drive was out of the question, unfortunately)
I remember the old karate games and one with a 'Conan' type game where you jumped over stuff. Not much programming, but homework etc.
Now, with my kids, I specifically make the computer a 'tool' rather than a 'babysitter'. We have Disney's Magic Artist drawing program and a Aiptek drawing tablet. Some learning games, but no keyboarding yet. If they want to do something on the computer, it's for a reason, not just to "be on the computer."
We are homeschooling our children, and eventually they will do a lot on the computer, but not while they are young. I don't want to limit their imaginations to just "click on every 'thing' on the screen and watch it wiggle and bounce".
Put this story together with the other Slashdot story earlier today about the Russians making the Americans pay for their astronauts (ie no more 'free ride'), and it all becomes clear....
I'm a devoted fan to the software Folio Views for windows (by Nextpage). It basically stores all text in an internal flat-file database to allow advanced searches (like wordstem, heirarchy selection, substring, or and ( ), etc).
Is there a way to do something similar with OO?
Meaning, instead of having a database that has forms and such as the front end, the text editor itself is the "form". It would look like a simple document, but be a searchable database underneath.
Hit enter to create a new paragraph, and it creates a new record, for example.
Search hits would be web-like, but instead of having the words in the whole html document together, it would be paragraph or division based (ie between two tags in html-speak).
Folio Views can also export the database to a flat file that follows SGML/XML style syntax to be massaged by perl, edited, etc. and then re-imported.
If I can find anything like this in Linux, I'm going to finally get off of windows!