Remember last year's "interview" with John Vranesevich of AntiOnline? Not only did he refuse to answer the submitted questions, his response was dismissive of and insulting to the questioners. --
A variation on this story that I heard (NPR, probably) was that Nike was going to put a giant "swoosh" in orbit to cast a shadow of its corporate logo on the moon. This was about the same time that Starship Troopers came out in theaters, so I couldn't help but think of Heinlein's old short story "The Man Who Sold the Moon". D. D. Harriman, the protagonist of the story, was trying to drum up financial support for a corporate moon shot. In one scene, he visited the head of the "Moka-Cola" beverage company with a button of the logo of their competitor "6+" superimposed on the moon. (I'm sure you've all seen the latest "Make 7-Up Yours" commercial, right?) Another scene was an attempt to scare up support from the U.S. government with another moon button, this one bearing a hammer and sickle. --
What really interests me are the inventions that Science Fiction didn't predict. I've never seen any evidence that any author foresaw the development of the personal computer, much less its implications. The computers of classic SF were usually planet-sized sentient ENIACs, bulky calculators (less power than out modern graphing calcs, but the size of a laptop), or "positronic brains" which had to be embodied in a humanoid robot. If anyone can point me to an SF story with a computer as powerful and as small as those in common use today, written before the invention of the Altair, I'd love to hear about it.
Sure, once they had been introduced to the idea of small, commonly available computers, SF authors ran with it, forseeing many of the enhancements that we now take for granted. But somehow, no one appears to have made the initial speculative breakthrough.
If any SF author "invented" virtual reality, I'd say it was probably either Vernor Vinge (who wrote the VR-hacker story "True Names" years before Gibson wrote "Burning Chrome" or Neuromancer) or possibly Ben Bova (who wrote a story about a "dueling room" which may have been the root inspiration for the holodeck). --
I've read a lot of PDA users who swear by the third-party keyboards that attach to Palm and similar PDA's. Is there anyone making a flexible keyboard for that market? --
I think the ArsDigita folks would be a little more convincing if they considered intermediate solutions instead of the extreme ends of the spectrum. I'd (personally) never trust MySQL with on-line transaction processing, or anything involving non-trivial amounts of money. On the other hand, I wouldn't seriously consider a massive system like Oracle unless I was dealing with vast numbers of transactions or large amounts of money. On the gripping hand, most of my DB experience has been with middle-of-the-road systems like Sybase and (ghod help me) MS SQL, which may not provide the full power and reliability of Oracle, but much more flexibility and stability than MySQL. It's a matter of fitting the needs of your project. Now, I am considering using MySQL for a personal project involving web page generation; I might consider Postgres after reading some of the remarks here. --
There are some bands which appeal to an audience which is mature enough to pay for value received, and is willing to support the artists they enjoy, whether they are forced to or not. There are other bands which do not appeal to such an audience. The bands who do will find ways to profit from the free exchange of music. The bands who don't, well... --
The Promised Lands also had a Cowboys vs. Indians tileset; the Cowboys were the evil ones. Bizarre world was kind of neat because it had such weird settings: only the smallest and largest settlements actually grew in population; everything else disappeared after a while. --
Last time I heard anything about this Difference Engine project, I seem to remember that, although the parts were manufactured using modern techniques, they were only made to the tolerances possible in Babbage's day. Anybody know anything about this? --
I'm kind of curious as to whether you can link the images in your account from an outside page. Right now, I'm hosting my weblog on Pitas, which is a really cool free service for maintaining and hosting a text weblog, but doesn't (currently) give you the capability of uploading your own files. (My logo is currently served from another system where I have an account.) --
How many of the people who want to hack these terminals are really interested in anything more than the compact flat screen? I might consider buying one of these rigs at a non-loss-leader price, but I'd also be interested in the availability of a cheap flat screen to hook up to my secondary computer instead of having to deal with my KVM switch. I'll admit that I hadn't even thought of the possibility of cheap flat screens before the iOpener hack; are these beasts already on the market? I know that you can get compact system units for a song these days. --
Has anyone considered the possibilty that this is just another stupid ad campaign? I'll admit that this is a low-probability scenario, but bear with me. With a few bucks worth of stickers, these guys have gotten people all over the net talking about their website (which appears to have been taken down at the moment). If they put up a new, commercial website tomorrow, with all the buzz going around the net, a lot of people would see it. For all we know, it could be some RealNames-type company trying to publicize a new, proprietary addressing scheme.
Officially, LEGO is a brand name and does not have a plural form. The technically correct term would be "LEGO Toys" or "LEGO Bricks". Of course, I call them "Legos" just like everybody else in the real world.
Anybody else remember the "Blockworld" tileset for the Populous expansion set The Promised Lands? Also, I know I've seen a few different sets of rules for using LEGO figures as miniatures for tabletop wargames.
Was this before or after the Secret Service, with the help of the Convenience Stores and the Goldfish Fanciers, attempted to take control of the Orbital Mind Control Lasers from the Semiconscious Liberation army?
Slashdot Mirror
Remember last year's "interview" with John Vranesevich of AntiOnline? Not only did he refuse to answer the submitted questions, his response was dismissive of and insulting to the questioners.
--
A variation on this story that I heard (NPR, probably) was that Nike was going to put a giant "swoosh" in orbit to cast a shadow of its corporate logo on the moon. This was about the same time that Starship Troopers came out in theaters, so I couldn't help but think of Heinlein's old short story "The Man Who Sold the Moon". D. D. Harriman, the protagonist of the story, was trying to drum up financial support for a corporate moon shot. In one scene, he visited the head of the "Moka-Cola" beverage company with a button of the logo of their competitor "6+" superimposed on the moon. (I'm sure you've all seen the latest "Make 7-Up Yours" commercial, right?) Another scene was an attempt to scare up support from the U.S. government with another moon button, this one bearing a hammer and sickle.
--
First I've heard of it, but I'm grateful for the reference.
--
What really interests me are the inventions that Science Fiction didn't predict. I've never seen any evidence that any author foresaw the development of the personal computer, much less its implications. The computers of classic SF were usually planet-sized sentient ENIACs, bulky calculators (less power than out modern graphing calcs, but the size of a laptop), or "positronic brains" which had to be embodied in a humanoid robot. If anyone can point me to an SF story with a computer as powerful and as small as those in common use today, written before the invention of the Altair, I'd love to hear about it.
Sure, once they had been introduced to the idea of small, commonly available computers, SF authors ran with it, forseeing many of the enhancements that we now take for granted. But somehow, no one appears to have made the initial speculative breakthrough.
--
If any SF author "invented" virtual reality, I'd say it was probably either Vernor Vinge (who wrote the VR-hacker story "True Names" years before Gibson wrote "Burning Chrome" or Neuromancer) or possibly Ben Bova (who wrote a story about a "dueling room" which may have been the root inspiration for the holodeck).
--
Oracle, perhaps not. But how about Microsoft? Or Sybase?
--
I've read a lot of PDA users who swear by the third-party keyboards that attach to Palm and similar PDA's. Is there anyone making a flexible keyboard for that market?
--
Free-gratis, as opposed to free-libre, of course.
--
I think the ArsDigita folks would be a little more convincing if they considered intermediate solutions instead of the extreme ends of the spectrum. I'd (personally) never trust MySQL with on-line transaction processing, or anything involving non-trivial amounts of money. On the other hand, I wouldn't seriously consider a massive system like Oracle unless I was dealing with vast numbers of transactions or large amounts of money. On the gripping hand, most of my DB experience has been with middle-of-the-road systems like Sybase and (ghod help me) MS SQL, which may not provide the full power and reliability of Oracle, but much more flexibility and stability than MySQL. It's a matter of fitting the needs of your project. Now, I am considering using MySQL for a personal project involving web page generation; I might consider Postgres after reading some of the remarks here.
--
There are some bands which appeal to an audience which is mature enough to pay for value received, and is willing to support the artists they enjoy, whether they are forced to or not. There are other bands which do not appeal to such an audience. The bands who do will find ways to profit from the free exchange of music. The bands who don't, well...
--
I love it when the trolls have nothing to complain about except having nothing to complain about.
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OK, so there's a demand for this type of program. Where is the demand coming from?
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The Promised Lands also had a Cowboys vs. Indians tileset; the Cowboys were the evil ones. Bizarre world was kind of neat because it had such weird settings: only the smallest and largest settlements actually grew in population; everything else disappeared after a while.
--
Last time I heard anything about this Difference Engine project, I seem to remember that, although the parts were manufactured using modern techniques, they were only made to the tolerances possible in Babbage's day. Anybody know anything about this?
--
I'm kind of curious as to whether you can link the images in your account from an outside page. Right now, I'm hosting my weblog on Pitas, which is a really cool free service for maintaining and hosting a text weblog, but doesn't (currently) give you the capability of uploading your own files. (My logo is currently served from another system where I have an account.)
--
How many of the people who want to hack these terminals are really interested in anything more than the compact flat screen? I might consider buying one of these rigs at a non-loss-leader price, but I'd also be interested in the availability of a cheap flat screen to hook up to my secondary computer instead of having to deal with my KVM switch. I'll admit that I hadn't even thought of the possibility of cheap flat screens before the iOpener hack; are these beasts already on the market? I know that you can get compact system units for a song these days.
--
For those interested in the science behind this, Ars Technica is running a good piece on Peltier cooling, including a summary of how they work.
--
Has anyone considered the possibilty that this is just another stupid ad campaign? I'll admit that this is a low-probability scenario, but bear with me. With a few bucks worth of stickers, these guys have gotten people all over the net talking about their website (which appears to have been taken down at the moment). If they put up a new, commercial website tomorrow, with all the buzz going around the net, a lot of people would see it. For all we know, it could be some RealNames-type company trying to publicize a new, proprietary addressing scheme.
Obscenity is the last refuge of the inarticulate motherfucker.
Probably not. I hear emu is pretty scarce right now. Drop-bears have been killing emu-hunters left and right.
Officially, LEGO is a brand name and does not have a plural form. The technically correct term would be "LEGO Toys" or "LEGO Bricks". Of course, I call them "Legos" just like everybody else in the real world.
Anybody else remember the "Blockworld" tileset for the Populous expansion set The Promised Lands? Also, I know I've seen a few different sets of rules for using LEGO figures as miniatures for tabletop wargames.
Breakthrough blah Electronic distribution blah blah publishing blah blah blah old media blah blah slow download blah marketing blah blah...
So, is the story worth reading?
Was this before or after the Secret Service, with the help of the Convenience Stores and the Goldfish Fanciers, attempted to take control of the Orbital Mind Control Lasers from the Semiconscious Liberation army?
What, hasn't anybody linked to the ZDNet cartoon about why this is a bad idea?