Fortunately, there is no "silicon cartel" to restrict the supply of raw materials so people who are expert at manufacturing (such as GE) can predict their costs accurately.
But there is, effectively, a rare earth cartel in China. Sure you can build solar panels without rare earth elements, but they're only about half as efficient as the ones built using rare earth elements.
Telestial is the international prepaid phone/plan we used for our recent trip to Oz and NZ, and it was incredible value...but we only used it for voice calls, not data. For teh internets, a netbook served us well, along with a little pre-planning between hotspots.
The nice thing about the Telestial phone is that if you (or your family) plan to travel to many countries, you can generally get an incredible per-minute rate both in the country you're traveling through and for long distance calls back home, all with the same phone and a US or UK phone number. No more buying phones for each country you visit!
Again, though, this is for voice only, and seems to be generally targeted toward travel outside of North America (well, outside Canada at least, since the listed rates in Canada for local calls are highway robbery compared to their rates for other countries) Their prepaid data rates also seems to be slightly criminal (from $1 per MB???) but I suppose if you're stuck and need access, it'd work for you.
It doesn't sound like this is quite what the article submitter is looking for, I just thought the info could be useful for others planning some wider world-hopping tours.
That is bringing your hand to your face like that and then moving it away (like when you put your hand back down innocently) can be construed by many Europeans and people of European descent as "fuck you." Like an enhanced middle finger.
Funny, I thought that one was when you dragged the back of your fingers up under your chin then moved your hand out towards them, like you were going to backhand them...or is that yet another 'FU' gesture?
I learn something new every day at this joint, thanks!
According to Aleksandr Soljenitsin's "Achipelag Gulag", 100,000 prisoners were dying every month from being overworked and exposed to the elements during construction of a canal in the Soviet Union. That's "hard labor." Long shifts behind a computer is not....the living conditions of the prisoners are still better than those of prisoners who have to dig ditches during their incarceration.
I think you missed the previous posters' point there, specifically:
Then there is the fact that this is as well as the hard labour, not instead of.
So, they are digging trenches all day for the state, then being forced to 'play' WOW all night for their keepers. Rinse and repeat.
Yes, it's not Club Med, but enforced lack of sleep coupled with the ongoing physical demands during the day would definitely count as cruel and unusual punishment.
Unfortunately, the article isn't clear about exactly how it typically works. If their '12 hour shifts' were split between labour and farming, then yes, you are right, the farming wouldn't be such a hardship. The implication seems to be that this is done 'on the side', though, so the farming is probably in addition to whatever labour they were allotted for the day.
Unfortunately, my particular model is not on the planned list for Netflix Canada support, although I hear it works just lovely for Netflix south of the 49th...grrr.
but at $70 for a Roku-HD versus $99 for a Blu-Ray player with Netflix, I'd probably go for the Blu-Ray player so I can play disks too.
Lucky. Blu-Ray players that support Netflix are a bit more rare in Canada (and pricier). Even if the box advertises 'Netflix capable', doesn't mean it supports Netflix Canada, or ever will...
I bought my Samsung BluRay before Netflix came to Canada partly because it advertised itself as Netflix compatible, and I knew Netflix was coming to Canada soon, so... Unfortunately, my particular model is not on the planned list for Netflix Canada support, although I hear it works just lovely for Netflix south of the 49th...grrr.
I'm happy with a standalone streaming player. Or at least I will be when the WD-TV live and Netflix.ca get it together and start co-operating.
Looks like they are...for the WD HDTV Live Plus anyways... I don't think they are planning on supporting the regular WD HDTV Live for Netflix Canada, but I could be wrong.
Haven't rigged mine in to Netflix yet, will be doing so soon. Want to know if it works when I do? (it's a Plus)
If they can do that right, then (in Firefox) it highlights the correct box. Then they can just start typing. Good luck!
Thanks!
I typically shy away from keyboard shortcuts with my parents, considering that they still have trouble using the Shift key when entering a password (yes, their passwords are either all lowercase or, with CAPS LOCK on, ALL UPPERCASE). They've kinda caught on to the idea of CTRL-C and CRTL-V, though, so that may be an option for our next 'troubleshooting' session...;)
I'm still waiting for a sleek UI with no buttons, sliders, toggles, or anything else. I just want a brushed aluminum skin on everything, with no controls at all.
From a user's point of view... Well, I use the address bar... But about 80% of my users do not. Even if I give them a web address, they'll go to Google/Yahoo/Bing/whatever and type it in there. So it wouldn't be much of a change for them.
I hear you. Trying to remotely 'troubleshoot' for my parents, it's often a struggle to get them to type the website into "the white box at the top of the screen, by the File/Edit/View thingys". About half the time they wind up typing whatever I tell them into the Google search bar, then we get to spend some quality time with them describing their search results and me trying to figure out which one is the one they want...to my dad, Google is 'the internet'.
They are getting better at it...but I usually still have to open up whatever program they're using to try to follow along with their 'descriptions'...
I can't help but wonder about the entropy aspect. I mean, you're taking away blackbody radiation and turning it into power at extreme efficiency so that you can get work done all over again. Doesn't that strike anyone else as odd? I mean, let's say that you've got an engine near the Carnot limit and you wrapped it in these IR solar cells, which take 90% of the radiated waste heat and turn it into electricity, when you then use to power an electric motor to boost your engine's output. Would you not have just surpassed the Carnot limit?
Sorry, had to do some quick reading on the Carnot limit. IANA Mech Eng, so my reasoning may be flawed...but here goes
As far as I understand, the Carnot limit is tied to the input and output temperatures of the system. The larger the differential, the higher the theoretical efficiency of 'work' that can be produced by the system. If the solar cells are absorbing and utilizing the 'wasted' heat, aren't they in effect reducing the effective output heat for the engine? In which case, as I understand it, they would be driving up the Carnot limit at the same time, just in a two-stage process. If the recovered energy is then redirected back into the engine (tough, but possible I suppose), well, the effective Carnot limit of the system as a whole has been raised, so we're not breaking any theories of thermodynamics here.
Apologies if I've completely missed the point. Mech and thermodynamics were always my worst classes;o)
Wow, that is quite impressive! I missed that in my skimming, thanks.
Too bad we still can't do anything with all those antennas unless we can rectify the output...it seems like saying "look at how densely we can pack data into these drive platters!" before anybody has invented the read-write head. But it is good to know they're still trying to develop this idea.
90% for that range of frequency which i bet is quite small in comparison to regular solar power. This definitely sounds like a good possibility but the total energy they can get is from a smaller pool though this may not matter due to higher efficiency but most importantly, cheapness.
There are definite and novel uses for this, if they could figure out how to actually rectify the electricity generated. Industry, for example, spends big dollars trying to shed waste heat from piping and equipment...how about wrapping it in one of these and let the generated electricity run your cooling system for you? Talk about direct waste heat recovery systems...I picture a solar farm with their 'panels' gently flapping in the breeze, not caring about incident light direction, so long as they're in the sunlight...and still keeping the lights on for some time after the sun goes down...
... to etch an antenna at the wavelength of 0.000001 meter? Well, OK, it's not trivial. But we do have things like lasers that can etch chemicals at that size and smaller. Then we need a way to transfer that etch to conductive metal, add rectification to make it usable and collectible, and have our own little power sources. A flat panel might do if the current level doesn't burn up the collection tap point.
This seems a bit well-aged for 'breaking' news, unless they've found some way to rectify the high frequency power...then it would be newsworthy indeed! I'll have to RTFA...
Then again, there was a time we had to get up off the couch to change the channel, too. Imagine the lazy people of today even thinking of such a thing or knowing where the controls were on the damn TV.
I'm pretty sure I get more exercise hunting for the damn remote than I ever did changing the channel manually...now if they'd only put a 'locate' beeper on them like they do for cordless phones, I'd be in couch-potato heaven!
The basic premises of the Matrix is fundamentally flawed. Why the ^%$^ would you grow humans when you can grow, you know, YEAST, for much more benefit at a fraction of a hassle?
Just guessing here, but maybe because yeast can't get dressed up in sexy leather outfits and kick ass in slow-mo? And it would be even harder to postulate that sufficiently photogenic humans would get worked up enough over yeast-abuse to do so for their benefit?
It's just a movie. Engaging and entertaining, but still, it's just a movie.
Don't know why I'm bothering to reply to an AC, but anyways...
If you do not want to participate in sports, that is your choice. However, the same cannot be said about a student who does not want to be exposed to cell phone and wi-fi radiation and that is the problem.
Same thing can be said about students who don't want to be exposed to sunlight, because it is known* to cause cancer. Shall we cover all approaches to schools with light-proof tunnels? Black out shades on all windows and busses? But wait, what about the studies that 'prove' fluorescent lights can cause cancer too?
Sure, sunlight is a basic necessity for growing minds, but more and more in this day and age, so is wireless communication and access to computer resources. Sure it can detract from the learning experience by distracting the student from their studies, just as all that nice warm sunlight on the ball field used to provide similar distractions. Sure, information and communication for schools could be effected by landlines instead, with the corresponding severe restrictions on both number of users and physical location for access. Not to mention the cost and environmental impact of mining, laying and maintaining that much more copper and plastic...
IMHO, the societal impact of allowing our learning generation ready access to current news and events as well as increasingly efficient forms for the more traditional sources of knowledge (searchable textbooks and encyclopedias, for example) is net positive, as long as we include some education regarding how to critically assess the information being presented to them. Just as we (hopefully) teach our kids not to believe everything they're told, we should be teaching them that not everything written or presented on the intertubes is true, and most especially how to think for themselves.
* 'known' as in 'well, some guys did a half-assed study and noted that if they exposed lab animals to a metric-crapload of demon X, it caused hazard Y to develop, and conclude (with a straight face no less) that therefore any amount of demon X must cause hazard Y!'
Don't get me wrong I enjoy the freedom of cell phones and wireless Internet but not at the cost of someone else's freedom to not participate. Why can't we come up with some solutions such as local wi-fi hot-spots that are insulated against radiation emissions (maybe like a smoking room) and probably many other ideas that we as a society could come up with if we made a decision to do so.
If the student (or more correctly, the overprotective and misinformed parent) is that concerned, perhaps there can be special faraday-protected classrooms set up to accommodate them. These classrooms could be rigged to be sunlight and fluorescent light proof as well, leaving them completely safe and utterly in the dark.
Slashdot Mirror
--
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
OT, but I love your sig! ;)
Fortunately, there is no "silicon cartel" to restrict the supply of raw materials so people who are expert at manufacturing (such as GE) can predict their costs accurately.
But there is, effectively, a rare earth cartel in China. Sure you can build solar panels without rare earth elements, but they're only about half as efficient as the ones built using rare earth elements.
Which part of "the cost of solar cells has dropped 21 percent this year" didn't you understand?
The part where I can use that to predict the price in 5 years.
Let's see...21% drop per year times 5 years...OMG! They'll be paying us 5% to use them! ;)
Yeah, something tells me my crystal ball is a bit cloudy...
$15/MB (count them, ONE MB) ?!
Please see prices above, we're talking in the range of 500 MB for $25.
Wow! In which case, Telestial's $1/MB prepaid data rate looks better than I thought...but it's still no mega data plan.
Best option...bring a netbook and just hang out at Starbucks when you want to update your FB photo albums...or do it at night in your hotel room.
Telestial is the international prepaid phone/plan we used for our recent trip to Oz and NZ, and it was incredible value...but we only used it for voice calls, not data. For teh internets, a netbook served us well, along with a little pre-planning between hotspots.
The nice thing about the Telestial phone is that if you (or your family) plan to travel to many countries, you can generally get an incredible per-minute rate both in the country you're traveling through and for long distance calls back home, all with the same phone and a US or UK phone number. No more buying phones for each country you visit!
Again, though, this is for voice only, and seems to be generally targeted toward travel outside of North America (well, outside Canada at least, since the listed rates in Canada for local calls are highway robbery compared to their rates for other countries) Their prepaid data rates also seems to be slightly criminal (from $1 per MB???) but I suppose if you're stuck and need access, it'd work for you.
It doesn't sound like this is quite what the article submitter is looking for, I just thought the info could be useful for others planning some wider world-hopping tours.
Anyone know why the /. summary pic for this story is some guy playing with a puppy?
Mmmm...think I'll have the bichon veal today...gotta tenderize it first!
That is bringing your hand to your face like that and then moving it away (like when you put your hand back down innocently) can be construed by many Europeans and people of European descent as "fuck you." Like an enhanced middle finger.
Funny, I thought that one was when you dragged the back of your fingers up under your chin then moved your hand out towards them, like you were going to backhand them...or is that yet another 'FU' gesture?
I learn something new every day at this joint, thanks!
...a universal gesture for "thank you" is surely needed.
You could use the ASL sign for thank you, although they might think you're just blowing them a kiss...
According to Aleksandr Soljenitsin's "Achipelag Gulag", 100,000 prisoners were dying every month from being overworked and exposed to the elements during construction of a canal in the Soviet Union. That's "hard labor." Long shifts behind a computer is not....the living conditions of the prisoners are still better than those of prisoners who have to dig ditches during their incarceration.
I think you missed the previous posters' point there, specifically:
Then there is the fact that this is as well as the hard labour, not instead of.
So, they are digging trenches all day for the state, then being forced to 'play' WOW all night for their keepers. Rinse and repeat.
Yes, it's not Club Med, but enforced lack of sleep coupled with the ongoing physical demands during the day would definitely count as cruel and unusual punishment.
Unfortunately, the article isn't clear about exactly how it typically works. If their '12 hour shifts' were split between labour and farming, then yes, you are right, the farming wouldn't be such a hardship. The implication seems to be that this is done 'on the side', though, so the farming is probably in addition to whatever labour they were allotted for the day.
Unfortunately, my particular model is not on the planned list for Netflix Canada support, although I hear it works just lovely for Netflix south of the 49th...grrr.
So will it work if you move to Victoria, BC?
Heh, yeah. Also for Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa and St. Johns NB I suppose.
Which "Wonders" list should it be added to?
Maybe a new Wonders list is needed...the Seven Wonders of the Digital World? ;o)
but at $70 for a Roku-HD versus $99 for a Blu-Ray player with Netflix, I'd probably go for the Blu-Ray player so I can play disks too.
Lucky. Blu-Ray players that support Netflix are a bit more rare in Canada (and pricier). Even if the box advertises 'Netflix capable', doesn't mean it supports Netflix Canada, or ever will...
I bought my Samsung BluRay before Netflix came to Canada partly because it advertised itself as Netflix compatible, and I knew Netflix was coming to Canada soon, so... Unfortunately, my particular model is not on the planned list for Netflix Canada support, although I hear it works just lovely for Netflix south of the 49th...grrr.
I don't have a personal need for a game console. When I want to get my game on, I prefer to use my PC.
What do you do when you happen to have friends over at your place and you all want to get your game on?
That's what the board games are for...ahhh, Iron Dragon...yes, my friends enjoy colouring with crayons as much as I do....
On the plus side, we don't end up with Wiimotes through the LCD, just crayons in the carpet.
I'm happy with a standalone streaming player. Or at least I will be when the WD-TV live and Netflix.ca get it together and start co-operating.
Looks like they are...for the WD HDTV Live Plus anyways... I don't think they are planning on supporting the regular WD HDTV Live for Netflix Canada, but I could be wrong.
Haven't rigged mine in to Netflix yet, will be doing so soon. Want to know if it works when I do? (it's a Plus)
Press: CTRL L
If they can do that right, then (in Firefox) it highlights the correct box. Then they can just start typing. Good luck!
Thanks!
I typically shy away from keyboard shortcuts with my parents, considering that they still have trouble using the Shift key when entering a password (yes, their passwords are either all lowercase or, with CAPS LOCK on, ALL UPPERCASE). They've kinda caught on to the idea of CTRL-C and CRTL-V, though, so that may be an option for our next 'troubleshooting' session...;)
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_wants_to_be_your_one_true_login.php
Read the comments starting with oldest-first. It's either depressing or hilarious, depending on your view of life.
Tried the link, but got tired of trying to figure out which of the 25 third party scriptlets enabled the comments view through NoScript.
No thanks.
I'm still waiting for a sleek UI with no buttons, sliders, toggles, or anything else. I just want a brushed aluminum skin on everything, with no controls at all.
Steve, is that you?
This.
The Onion can still make me laugh as well as cry...
From a user's point of view... Well, I use the address bar... But about 80% of my users do not. Even if I give them a web address, they'll go to Google/Yahoo/Bing/whatever and type it in there. So it wouldn't be much of a change for them.
I hear you. Trying to remotely 'troubleshoot' for my parents, it's often a struggle to get them to type the website into "the white box at the top of the screen, by the File/Edit/View thingys". About half the time they wind up typing whatever I tell them into the Google search bar, then we get to spend some quality time with them describing their search results and me trying to figure out which one is the one they want...to my dad, Google is 'the internet'.
They are getting better at it...but I usually still have to open up whatever program they're using to try to follow along with their 'descriptions'...
I can't help but wonder about the entropy aspect. I mean, you're taking away blackbody radiation and turning it into power at extreme efficiency so that you can get work done all over again. Doesn't that strike anyone else as odd? I mean, let's say that you've got an engine near the Carnot limit and you wrapped it in these IR solar cells, which take 90% of the radiated waste heat and turn it into electricity, when you then use to power an electric motor to boost your engine's output. Would you not have just surpassed the Carnot limit?
Sorry, had to do some quick reading on the Carnot limit. IANA Mech Eng, so my reasoning may be flawed...but here goes
As far as I understand, the Carnot limit is tied to the input and output temperatures of the system. The larger the differential, the higher the theoretical efficiency of 'work' that can be produced by the system. If the solar cells are absorbing and utilizing the 'wasted' heat, aren't they in effect reducing the effective output heat for the engine? In which case, as I understand it, they would be driving up the Carnot limit at the same time, just in a two-stage process. If the recovered energy is then redirected back into the engine (tough, but possible I suppose), well, the effective Carnot limit of the system as a whole has been raised, so we're not breaking any theories of thermodynamics here.
Apologies if I've completely missed the point. Mech and thermodynamics were always my worst classes ;o)
Wow, that is quite impressive! I missed that in my skimming, thanks.
Too bad we still can't do anything with all those antennas unless we can rectify the output...it seems like saying "look at how densely we can pack data into these drive platters!" before anybody has invented the read-write head. But it is good to know they're still trying to develop this idea.
90% for that range of frequency which i bet is quite small in comparison to regular solar power. This definitely sounds like a good possibility but the total energy they can get is from a smaller pool though this may not matter due to higher efficiency but most importantly, cheapness.
Actually, it sounds like by varying the size and materials of the antennas on a panel, they can capture a much broader spectrum of light than 'conventional' panels, including extending into the infrared.
https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1269&mode=2&featurestory=DA_101047
There are definite and novel uses for this, if they could figure out how to actually rectify the electricity generated. Industry, for example, spends big dollars trying to shed waste heat from piping and equipment...how about wrapping it in one of these and let the generated electricity run your cooling system for you? Talk about direct waste heat recovery systems...I picture a solar farm with their 'panels' gently flapping in the breeze, not caring about incident light direction, so long as they're in the sunlight...and still keeping the lights on for some time after the sun goes down...
good times.
... to etch an antenna at the wavelength of 0.000001 meter? Well, OK, it's not trivial. But we do have things like lasers that can etch chemicals at that size and smaller. Then we need a way to transfer that etch to conductive metal, add rectification to make it usable and collectible, and have our own little power sources. A flat panel might do if the current level doesn't burn up the collection tap point.
They can 'print' them.
https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1269&mode=2&featurestory=DA_101047
This seems a bit well-aged for 'breaking' news, unless they've found some way to rectify the high frequency power...then it would be newsworthy indeed! I'll have to RTFA...
Then again, there was a time we had to get up off the couch to change the channel, too. Imagine the lazy people of today even thinking of such a thing or knowing where the controls were on the damn TV.
I'm pretty sure I get more exercise hunting for the damn remote than I ever did changing the channel manually...now if they'd only put a 'locate' beeper on them like they do for cordless phones, I'd be in couch-potato heaven!
The basic premises of the Matrix is fundamentally flawed.
Why the ^%$^ would you grow humans when you can grow, you know, YEAST, for much more benefit at a fraction of a hassle?
Just guessing here, but maybe because yeast can't get dressed up in sexy leather outfits and kick ass in slow-mo? And it would be even harder to postulate that sufficiently photogenic humans would get worked up enough over yeast-abuse to do so for their benefit?
It's just a movie. Engaging and entertaining, but still, it's just a movie.
Don't know why I'm bothering to reply to an AC, but anyways...
If you do not want to participate in sports, that is your choice. However, the same cannot be said about a student who does not want to be exposed to cell phone and wi-fi radiation and that is the problem.
Same thing can be said about students who don't want to be exposed to sunlight, because it is known* to cause cancer. Shall we cover all approaches to schools with light-proof tunnels? Black out shades on all windows and busses? But wait, what about the studies that 'prove' fluorescent lights can cause cancer too?
Sure, sunlight is a basic necessity for growing minds, but more and more in this day and age, so is wireless communication and access to computer resources. Sure it can detract from the learning experience by distracting the student from their studies, just as all that nice warm sunlight on the ball field used to provide similar distractions. Sure, information and communication for schools could be effected by landlines instead, with the corresponding severe restrictions on both number of users and physical location for access. Not to mention the cost and environmental impact of mining, laying and maintaining that much more copper and plastic...
IMHO, the societal impact of allowing our learning generation ready access to current news and events as well as increasingly efficient forms for the more traditional sources of knowledge (searchable textbooks and encyclopedias, for example) is net positive, as long as we include some education regarding how to critically assess the information being presented to them. Just as we (hopefully) teach our kids not to believe everything they're told, we should be teaching them that not everything written or presented on the intertubes is true, and most especially how to think for themselves.
* 'known' as in 'well, some guys did a half-assed study and noted that if they exposed lab animals to a metric-crapload of demon X, it caused hazard Y to develop, and conclude (with a straight face no less) that therefore any amount of demon X must cause hazard Y!'
Don't get me wrong I enjoy the freedom of cell phones and wireless Internet but not at the cost of someone else's freedom to not participate. Why can't we come up with some solutions such as local wi-fi hot-spots that are insulated against radiation emissions (maybe like a smoking room) and probably many other ideas that we as a society could come up with if we made a decision to do so.
If the student (or more correctly, the overprotective and misinformed parent) is that concerned, perhaps there can be special faraday-protected classrooms set up to accommodate them. These classrooms could be rigged to be sunlight and fluorescent light proof as well, leaving them completely safe and utterly in the dark.