I thought about it - they are quite specific about who they want to review the applications - I'm probably on the margin, having mostly worked in text search related internet stuff. If I thought I had more relevant experience (eg networked game design) I would have gladly offered to review.
"To be considered as a reviewer you must have significant expertise and experience in at least one of the following areas: 1) the design, funding, construction, and operation of broadband networks or public computer centers; 2) broadband-related outreach, training, or education; and 3) innovative programs to increase the demand for broadband services. In addition you must agree to comply with Department of Commerce policies on conflict of interest and confidentiality."
The area does have quakes, BUT if you look at where they STARTED to cluster once drilling started it becomes really obvious that the drilling and water insertion causes additional (like a lot more) quakes. The geologists know this is the case. The issue at stake is what happens when you drill way deeper into the rocks below -- here's thge video from the times showing what happens.
We don't have to, the other companies admit as such. Start drilling, and quakes start happening, stop it and the quakes stop. The Basel engineer knew he was at fault and wasn't scared to admit it, which I think is awesome. As for proving it, I dunno, leave that to any geologists.
Note - the $200 million is not for AltaRock, its the total investment in all Geothermal. Not clear that there is ANY US government money for them. It's an aside really, who's funding them, its more that they seemed to misrepresent the technique as being safe to Fed Agency overseeing it. To the comments below, about the tons of existing earthquakes, the thing to read/watch is the pop out explanation - the existing low-level geothermal ops are causing those quakes -- and the companies have admitted as much. The issue is what the are going to do has far more destructive power than the existing ops. I agree its not clear that it could really cause the next big one 8+ (given its distance from the San Andreas fault) but you really want to be responsible for even a 5 or 6 in that area. The main thing is that they lied though, and they should go thru another safety review and have someone on hand to shut them down if something looks wrong when they start.
FTA: "Even so, there is no shortage of money for testing the idea. Mr. Reicher has overseen a $6.25 million investment by Google in AltaRock, and with more than $200 million in new federal money for geothermal, the Energy Department has already approved financing for related projects in Idaho by the University of Utah; in Nevada by Ormat Technologies; and in California by Calpine, just a few miles from AltaRockâ(TM)s project."
I was just about to post about this - this makes me FURIOUS. The profiles are a godsend - my wife and I have 3 queues, one for movies, one for a TV series we are watching and one for my trashy action tv series I watch.
It was a nightmare to manage these before, as you constantly had to interleaf the TV shows. Frankly I have NO idea how it improves the Netflix Service - in fact it will make it worse I'd say, as they wont be able to predict what I will do so easily - as it stands I barely Queue anything now - I set up say Veronica Mars seasons, and leave it alone.
So WHAT THE F*CK Netflix? Yes I'm using my real name, I am one PISSED off customer. I dont usually chose to threaten action, but if this goes through I am simply going to go to 2 movies at a time, because frankly,I cant be bothered to manage 3 simulatanously.
Good job, hope your stock falls through the floor.
Its bad enough living on small islands, where the energy cost of transportation is so inefficient compared to mainland cities.
Where would you go if you wanted to walk on a hill? Frankly I'd rather be part of a "Red Mars" mission than this.
It's kind of a sad reflection on the kind of society we would live in if Ayn Rand inspired techno-geeks ruled the world. Do none of them appreciate the social infrastructure than allowed them to spend their time inventing stuff, instead of living the life of a frontiersman foraging for food and dying of disease. Private 737 anyone?
Spend the research money on tech to save the environment we have. If we were meant to live ON the sea, god would have given us gills and a taste for our urine...
I actually find stupidly/non targeted ads as dumb and annoying. Frankly if I was an advertiser, I would wish that Yahoo would not subject me to a barrage of Match.com and Netflix ads, especially given that (a) I state in my profile I'm married and (b) I have my Netflix Queue in my.yahoo.com page.
I understand your reasoning, but to be honest, advertisers end up having to put out MORE ads in order to get their message across. Would you rather 1 targeted per 10 pages, or 1 random ad per page?
Not saying it will go like that, but its all about the cost of conversion in the end.
Its just an extension of demographic advertising, augmented with data-mining of more content based information (such as what bands you say you like).
Yahoo does the same sort of thing, and so would Google if they had more of a portal (and pretty sure they will build user models from your searches eventually - what do you think Google Toolbar's motivation is). Yahoo's is more subtle (and more insidious even) as they are tracking your page views on the Yahoo site, and building a model of you in terms of things like finance, football, blah.
MySpace's targeting is based on what YOU EXPLICITLY SAY about yourself in public. For sure, if you're profile is completely private, then perhaps they shouldn't mine your data for targeting, but frankly, its really hardly an invasion of privacy (unlike sharing your video rental/purchases would be cf Facebook). It will probably take into account groups and bands you link to.
It should result in better ads for users (assuming you are willing to assume ads for free hosting is a reasonable trade off).
Well, I am deeply saddened. I didn't play Greyhawk (I'm 44), but I did play the Blue Rule Book D&D, in the late 70s early 80s and never looked back... Yeah, D&D was so disorganized, but it was the principle that counted. No matter that other systems had better rulesets.
First Analog game - can't really remember - certainly remember 1/6th scale Action Man (aka GI Joe) wargames with my neighbour Dennis when I was around first grade (in the late 60s). Later evolved to tabletop 1/72nd scale wargaming, and eventually to the satanic D&D and AD&D in the late 70s. Assuming we are ruling out Snap or Go Fish...
First "Electronic" game - valve-based Tic-Tac-Toe at a local hobbyist meet in the early 70s (I was born in 63). Remember being amazed by this 12"x12" sized board which was vertical and you toggled a switch to make your O or X. Its logic was unbeatable iirc (silly game really).
First Digital Game - I *THINK* (and my memory has become really hazy here), would have been Asteroids in the local train station (I skipped Pong, no TV), perhaps Trek on the local university's mainframe. First "PC" game would have been Adventure on a TRS80 around 1980.
Question though, if what is controlled is the server, and not the information, what is to stop someone using a Firefox plugin to grab their own data back.
I have a friends folder, and inside a couple of categories, US, UK, etc. Can;t be done with tags (I could create a friend.UK tag, but that is not really the same).
The Google implementation is actually buggy. The tag gets applied to the THREAD. Not the message. Thus say you send out an invite, and want to tag incoming bounces as "ERROR" using a filter, it doesn't help, as all replies get shown with that tag.
Not a huge loss? I have folders with dozens of entries. If I didnt have folder hierarchies I would be fucked in browse only mode. Therea subtle distinction: For example: I could have a Work folder from John, and a Friends folder with a John Sub-folder. Tags alone cant fix that, unless they are nestable. I'd end up having to create a Work_John label inside a Work tag...
True, Each to their own organization style. But Googles tags SUCK ass for this philosophy.
Also -- I have been completely unable to fix their TAG and THREAD conflation. Lets say I send a 100 emails for a wedding invite. I'd like a filter that would apply 'bounced_wedding_invite' tags. But if you do this, ALL replies in the thread get this tag. God knows who does their QA, or whether their PM's have any sense of usability. I've tried to get it fixed thru friends at Google, but as far as I know it still sucks. Which is why I'm sticking with Good Ole Eudora and POP gmail.
even without concerns for misuse, it's a question of informed consent && a free market for the value of your personal data. Google's self-proclaimed goal of collecting all the world's information is possibly monopolostic and in its economic interest to reduce the percieved value of that information to you.
For example, in exchange for datamining your search and placing highly valuable tagetted ads, Google et. al. gives you free websearch. People get this, and agree to it-- but its probably not so much the case with say Doubleclick beacons showing their page views being synced with their searches...
The HE reauthorization bill has cut some of the boondogles for the banks, but Bush is threatening to veto this cut in bank subsidies.
Other stuff they've tried (and suceeded with, hopefully), is capping repayments based on salary. This means that you can take lower paid (eg teaching), and you wont be penalized (for a normal sized loan).
Cuts in loan rates per-se arent a helpful benefit as what has been found is these dont help poorer kids go to college. Its better to keep rates as they are, and increase Pell Grant (for example).
A previous post suggested that tuition has risen as loan availability increased. In fact the issue is way more complex. For example, there's been a big decrease in per capita state funding for schools, which has been a large part of this rise. Demand for staff has also risen. Not the same as schools just soaking up extra cash.
I remember liking AD&D over the D&D blue and white booklet - but I hear what you are saying. Yeah I think it was 79 or 80 too. I stopped playing by 83 (usual suspects, sex, drugs and rock and roll).
Being old now, I play WOW now, and I have to say that once "they" master the ability for everyone to have a personal GM like experience things will be so much better. However, the actual physical experience of playing WOW is almost like magic to those cut out cardboard dungeons and painted lead minatures (yes I still have my favourite half-orc cleric too:)). I'm amazed to the extent that computing power has come since then. I remember typing basic into a Sinclair to do some character creation (iirc). Now there is this huge (almost real) world to explore, and interact with, interchangeable armor sets, seamless combat...
I suspect a lot more 3rd party Info can be gained from phone numbers rather than emails. I think every CC, etc I ever signed up for has my telephone, but not my email.
I use Gmail happily, although some of the ads are still laughable, and TBH pretty fricking annoying.
As the article says they'd be outsourcing the manufacture to HTC. And Google has already moved into wireless hardware deployment remember - there free muni wireless plans? What about the Google Search Appliance? I'm no expert, but these days you can probably design your own mobile phone (in fact I know someone who did, that little Kid's one called Firefly), without being a EE major.
Yahoo has also moved into the mobile field, although mainly by building a small suite to go on various platform/carrier combinations.
Of course, they would probably really piss off the major carrier with a wifi voip phone...
Slashdot Mirror
I thought about it - they are quite specific about who they want to review the applications - I'm probably on the margin, having mostly worked in text search related internet stuff. If I thought I had more relevant experience (eg networked game design) I would have gladly offered to review.
"To be considered as a reviewer you must have significant expertise and experience in at least one of the following areas:
1) the design, funding, construction, and operation of broadband networks or public computer centers; 2) broadband-related outreach, training, or education; and 3) innovative programs to increase the demand for broadband services. In addition you must agree to comply with Department of Commerce policies on conflict of interest and confidentiality."
The area does have quakes, BUT if you look at where they STARTED to cluster once drilling started it becomes really obvious that the drilling and water insertion causes additional (like a lot more) quakes. The geologists know this is the case. The issue at stake is what happens when you drill way deeper into the rocks below -- here's thge video from the times showing what happens.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/06/23/us/Geothermal.html
We don't have to, the other companies admit as such. Start drilling, and quakes start happening, stop it and the quakes stop. The Basel engineer knew he was at fault and wasn't scared to admit it, which I think is awesome. As for proving it, I dunno, leave that to any geologists.
Note - the $200 million is not for AltaRock, its the total investment in all Geothermal. Not clear that there is ANY US government money for them. It's an aside really, who's funding them, its more that they seemed to misrepresent the technique as being safe to Fed Agency overseeing it. To the comments below, about the tons of existing earthquakes, the thing to read/watch is the pop out explanation - the existing low-level geothermal ops are causing those quakes -- and the companies have admitted as much. The issue is what the are going to do has far more destructive power than the existing ops. I agree its not clear that it could really cause the next big one 8+ (given its distance from the San Andreas fault) but you really want to be responsible for even a 5 or 6 in that area. The main thing is that they lied though, and they should go thru another safety review and have someone on hand to shut them down if something looks wrong when they start.
FTA: "Even so, there is no shortage of money for testing the idea. Mr. Reicher has overseen a $6.25 million investment by Google in AltaRock, and with more than $200 million in new federal money for geothermal, the Energy Department has already approved financing for related projects in Idaho by the University of Utah; in Nevada by Ormat Technologies; and in California by Calpine, just a few miles from AltaRockâ(TM)s project."
H P Lovecraft RIP
Someone mod this up please. Most sensible comment on this I've seen.
Third possibility:
Someone is duping the numbers, and only one person out of N will get the cheap music.
yep, great news, Kudos Netflix. I was one who called and complained as well. Funny thing was that even the rep was bummed at them removing profiles.
I was just about to post about this - this makes me FURIOUS. The profiles are a godsend - my wife and I have 3 queues, one for movies, one for a TV series we are watching and one for my trashy action tv series I watch.
It was a nightmare to manage these before, as you constantly had to interleaf the TV shows. Frankly I have NO idea how it improves the Netflix Service - in fact it will make it worse I'd say, as they wont be able to predict what I will do so easily - as it stands I barely Queue anything now - I set up say Veronica Mars seasons, and leave it alone.
So WHAT THE F*CK Netflix? Yes I'm using my real name, I am one PISSED off customer. I dont usually chose to threaten action, but if this goes through I am simply going to go to 2 movies at a time, because frankly,I cant be bothered to manage 3 simulatanously.
Good job, hope your stock falls through the floor.
Winton
if only I had mod points today. Up up up!
Its bad enough living on small islands, where the energy cost of transportation is so inefficient compared to mainland cities.
Where would you go if you wanted to walk on a hill? Frankly I'd rather be part of a "Red Mars" mission than this.
It's kind of a sad reflection on the kind of society we would live in if Ayn Rand inspired techno-geeks ruled the world. Do none of them appreciate the social infrastructure than allowed them to spend their time inventing stuff, instead of living the life of a frontiersman foraging for food and dying of disease. Private 737 anyone?
Spend the research money on tech to save the environment we have. If we were meant to live ON the sea, god would have given us gills and a taste for our urine...
I actually find stupidly /non targeted ads as dumb and annoying. Frankly if I was an advertiser, I would wish that Yahoo would not subject me to a barrage of Match.com and Netflix ads, especially given that (a) I state in my profile I'm married and (b) I have my Netflix Queue in my.yahoo.com page.
I understand your reasoning, but to be honest, advertisers end up having to put out MORE ads in order to get their message across. Would you rather 1 targeted per 10 pages, or 1 random ad per page?
Not saying it will go like that, but its all about the cost of conversion in the end.
hah hah :)
Its just an extension of demographic advertising, augmented with data-mining of more content based information (such as what bands you say you like).
Yahoo does the same sort of thing, and so would Google if they had more of a portal (and pretty sure they will build user models from your searches eventually - what do you think Google Toolbar's motivation is). Yahoo's is more subtle (and more insidious even) as they are tracking your page views on the Yahoo site, and building a model of you in terms of things like finance, football, blah.
MySpace's targeting is based on what YOU EXPLICITLY SAY about yourself in public. For sure, if you're profile is completely private, then perhaps they shouldn't mine your data for targeting, but frankly, its really hardly an invasion of privacy (unlike sharing your video rental/purchases would be cf Facebook). It will probably take into account groups and bands you link to.
It should result in better ads for users (assuming you are willing to assume ads for free hosting is a reasonable trade off).
Winton
Well, I am deeply saddened. I didn't play Greyhawk (I'm 44), but I did play the Blue Rule Book D&D, in the late 70s early 80s and never looked back...
Yeah, D&D was so disorganized, but it was the principle that counted. No matter that other systems had better rulesets.
Thanks Gary, You will be remembered.
Winton
Trouble is, you have to keep the baby afterwards. If you think WOW= No Life, try living with a 3 month old :)
Puts a crimp in ya gaming, let me tell you that.
First Analog game - can't really remember - certainly remember 1/6th scale Action Man (aka GI Joe) wargames with my neighbour Dennis when I was around first grade (in the late 60s). Later evolved to tabletop 1/72nd scale wargaming, and eventually to the satanic D&D and AD&D in the late 70s. Assuming we are ruling out Snap or Go Fish...
:-)
First "Electronic" game - valve-based Tic-Tac-Toe at a local hobbyist meet in the early 70s (I was born in 63). Remember being amazed by this 12"x12" sized board which was vertical and you toggled a switch to make your O or X. Its logic was unbeatable iirc (silly game really).
First Digital Game - I *THINK* (and my memory has become really hazy here), would have been Asteroids in the local train station (I skipped Pong, no TV), perhaps Trek on the local university's mainframe. First "PC" game would have been Adventure on a TRS80 around 1980.
Current games - WOW and DOD:S.
Question though, if what is controlled is the server, and not the information, what is to stop someone using a Firefox plugin to grab their own data back.
Winton
So not true.
I have a friends folder, and inside a couple of categories, US, UK, etc. Can;t be done with tags (I could create a friend.UK tag, but that is not really the same).
The Google implementation is actually buggy. The tag gets applied to the THREAD. Not the message. Thus say you send out an invite, and want to tag incoming bounces as "ERROR" using a filter, it doesn't help, as all replies get shown with that tag.
FYI, I'm not anti tagging, just anti fanboi-ism.
Not a huge loss? I have folders with dozens of entries. If I didnt have folder hierarchies I would be fucked in browse only mode. Therea subtle distinction: For example:
I could have a Work folder from John, and a Friends folder with a John Sub-folder. Tags alone cant fix that, unless they are nestable. I'd end up having to create a Work_John label inside a Work tag...
True, Each to their own organization style. But Googles tags SUCK ass for this philosophy.
Also -- I have been completely unable to fix their TAG and THREAD conflation. Lets say I send a 100 emails for a wedding invite. I'd like a filter that would apply 'bounced_wedding_invite' tags. But if you do this, ALL replies in the thread get this tag. God knows who does their QA, or whether their PM's have any sense of usability.
I've tried to get it fixed thru friends at Google, but as far as I know it still sucks. Which is why I'm sticking with Good Ole Eudora and POP gmail.
even without concerns for misuse, it's a question of informed consent && a free market for the value of your personal data. Google's self-proclaimed goal of collecting all the world's information is possibly monopolostic and in its economic interest to reduce the percieved value of that information to you.
For example, in exchange for datamining your search and placing highly valuable tagetted ads, Google et. al. gives you free websearch. People get this, and agree to it-- but its probably not so much the case with say Doubleclick beacons showing their page views being synced with their searches...
All Very true. My wife has been working on this for last 2 years - their website is at http://projectonstudentdebt.org/
The HE reauthorization bill has cut some of the boondogles for the banks, but Bush is threatening to veto this cut in bank subsidies.
Other stuff they've tried (and suceeded with, hopefully), is capping repayments based on salary. This means that you can take lower
paid (eg teaching), and you wont be penalized (for a normal sized loan).
Cuts in loan rates per-se arent a helpful benefit as what has been found is these dont help poorer kids go to college. Its better to keep
rates as they are, and increase Pell Grant (for example).
A previous post suggested that tuition has risen as loan availability increased. In fact the issue is way more complex. For example, there's been a big decrease in per capita state funding for schools, which has been a large part of this rise. Demand for staff has also risen. Not the same as schools just soaking up extra cash.
I remember liking AD&D over the D&D blue and white booklet - but I hear what you are saying. Yeah I think it was 79 or 80 too. I stopped playing by 83 (usual suspects, sex, drugs and rock and roll).
:)). I'm amazed to the extent that computing power has come since then. I remember typing basic into a Sinclair to do some character creation (iirc). Now there is this huge (almost real) world to explore, and interact with, interchangeable armor sets, seamless combat...
Being old now, I play WOW now, and I have to say that once "they" master the ability for everyone to have a personal GM like experience things will be so much better. However, the actual physical experience of playing WOW is almost like magic to those cut out cardboard dungeons and painted lead minatures (yes I still have my favourite half-orc cleric too
Phone No's + Email == Too much Info?
I suspect a lot more 3rd party Info can be gained from phone numbers rather than emails. I think every CC, etc I ever signed up for has my telephone, but not my email.
I use Gmail happily, although some of the ads are still laughable, and TBH pretty fricking annoying.
Winton
As the article says they'd be outsourcing the manufacture to HTC. And Google has already moved into wireless hardware deployment remember - there free muni wireless plans? What about the Google Search Appliance? I'm no expert, but these days you can probably design your own mobile phone (in fact I know someone who did, that little Kid's one called Firefly), without being a EE major.
Yahoo has also moved into the mobile field, although mainly by building a small suite to go on various platform/carrier combinations.
Of course, they would probably really piss off the major carrier with a wifi voip phone...