Exactly. If "PC" means "Windows on x86", then your possibilities for innovation are pretty limited. Meanwhile, you can run opensource software on pretty much any architecture you like, not just "mobile".
It must be hard to spell the word "desiccant" correctly, especially after you have just copied the correct name (Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative air conditioner) from TFA.
A "sweeping" mobile input method always reminds me of Dasher. I guess one reason why it doesn't get all the attention is that it must be tuned to a particular corpus of text, so it's not immediately usable like something qwerty-based.
Too many scientists, too few professorships?
on
The Real Science Gap
·
· Score: 1
I'm one of those kids who wanted to be a scientist, and so far have failed in the strictest sense. After getting a world class master's degree, I've had a really unlucky streak with numerous attempts at graduate studies, and ended up as a teacher. I actually enjoy it very much, and I feel like it suits my personality better; I want to do something more "energetic" than working quietly in the lab or on the computer all day.
However, I have zero regrets about my career choices. The article makes it seem like every succesful scientist should become a professor one day. There are way too many scientifically minded people for that to work out. However, it is a great thing having those people in different fields of life. For example, having computer scientists and nuclear physicists in politics would be a good start. I also like having some real-world research experience, so I know what I'm teaching.
We always hear about singularities necessitating event horizons, but the converse is most certainly not true. An event horizon may exist without a singularity inside of it.
There is also the effect of simple acceleration. If a spacecraft has sufficient acceleration away from you, you can send photons after it, and they will never reach it. Thus there is an event horizon.
A related phenomenon on a quantum scale is the Unruh effect. When particle physicists claim to see apparent evidence of tiny black holes, i.e. Hawking radiation, it may actually be due to this effect.
(The effect is somewhat aptly named, as "Unruhe" is German for something like "discomfort". Even if you don't know German, you might recognize this word from an X-Files episode;)
Acceleration of H.264 is different than OpenGL acceleration. You can have a card with full GL acceleration that doesn't accelerate H.264 decoding. Indeed many older cards were like this. The original GeForce 8800s didn't have full H.264 acceleration, despite their massive amount of 3D hardware.
However, you can use GPGPU techniques to run almost any software you want on the 3D engine, including video decoding. I understand this is a planned feature of the opensource driver for older Radeon cards: "Video Decode (XvMC/VDPAU/VA-API) using the 3D engine"
You can get laptop-style PSUs for ATX power, the most famous brand is probably PicoPSU. They have a 12-volt adaptor, similar to laptops, and a voltage converter board inside the case. I've used these since 2004 so it's not exactly a new thing.
Since moving from dialup to ADSL, cable and 3G, I've never seen a "limited" data plan here in Finland. You pay a monthly fee for a given speed, and that's it. ISPs usually reserve the right to throttle, but I've only rarely seen it with 3G, never in wired connections.
I currently pay 9.80 euros for the slowest possible 3G, 384/384 kbps. This is actually better than it sounds, since for example a 1M/1M ADSL gives you about 103 kbytes/s max, but 3G uses a different encoding, and this 384 kbps translates to about 55 kbytes/s.
The faster 3G plans are likewise unlimited for a higher monthly fee, but it's probably not worth it, given all the complications with radio networks.
From my understanding of the wheel-powered propeller system, this works basically like a gearbox that converts a lower RPM to higher. There is nothing unphysical about converting a lower velocity to a higher one this way.
Of course, in the gearbox analogy, the torque is lower in proportion, meaning less acceleration. Also, since the vehicle is now moving relatively against the wind, it needs power even to maintain that velocity.
It is a complete netbook, with a HD/SSD and a DDR2 SODIMM, so it's not really comparable if you want a smaller handheld. But at least it is Free as in GNU/RMS.
(I have no affiliation with this company, but it seems to be the only professional-looking vendor I have found so far.)
I'm jealous of those that use more to keep going, more just makes me want to lay down and give up for the day.
To me, coffee means a well-deserved break from work. I associate it with relaxing, for example after a heavy meal. It's not uncommon for me to fall asleep after a cup of coffee. So I believe a lot of the buzz is psychological.
However, I did experience a weekend of withdrawal symptoms, after a summer job where I ended up drinking lots of coffee. I normally drink quite a lot of green tea, but I can easily go without it for days or weeks, so there is clearly something about coffee and its higher caffeine content. In my case, I only got the negative effects.
One thing I've never understood is drinking coffee first thing in the morning. Even at the times I've drunk coffee, I could never handle the taste in the morning. Surely I'm not the only one with heightened senses in the morning? Conversely, I've met many people who only drink coffee or black tea in the morning (though often with milk, wussies).
I agree about the "vice" part, but "ay" is just wrong. Not just here, but in practically every foreign word containing an [e:], English speakers want to pronounce it as [ei]. Of course, English language does not really have this [e:], but I'm sure you could approximate it by using a single vowel, instead of the diphthong [ei].
There are already other open-source Flash players, notably Gnash, and the GPU-powered one that was discussed on/. recently. None of these is a complete implementation, but I like to think that competition between different OS projects will make things better.
I'm just curious, why use sic in your own posts? Wouldn't you just correct whatever you are sic-ing?
IMHO, this kind of use of [sic] is perfectly valid. It means "this is not a typo, it's really how it is spelled" (literally "thus"). In this case it refers to an unusual word that may look like a misspelling of a more common word. However, it can also refer to a genuine misspelling, when you are referring to what somebody else wrote.
There is nothing inherently difficult about Linux on ARM. I have installed Gentoo on two such systems, a Buffalo Linkstation and a Nokia N800 (though the latter runs Maemo most of the time). These devices were designed for Linux to begin with.
IMHO, it is much better to support manufacturers that support Linux. Even if you get Linux running on one of these WinCE devices, you are supporting a closed monoculture by buying it.
As of netbooks, there are two currently available in online stores that I find particularly interesting: Always Innovating Touchbook (ARM) and Lemote Yeeloong (MIPS). Both of these are intended for open source hackers. The Lemote, in fact, is completely open source down to the firmware level. Both of these are considerably more powerful than the WinCE ARM netbooks.
The last time I mentioned these, some people complained that the Lemote is not actually available anywhere, so here are two places:
I don't know anything about Linux, bur I thought odd numbers (2.odd) indicated a beta/alfa/beingTested version...
2.6 changed that. Now development happens in smaller increments between 2.6.x and 2.6.x+1, which is much more manageable than getting an entire 2.odd into a stable 2.even. AFAIK, the really stable versions are 2.6.x.y, because the.y are mainly bugfixes to the newly developed 2.6.x. These bugfixes are released in parallel with the development of 2.6.x+1.
This also means that 2.6.x style numbering may go on for quite some time, unless there are some huge compatibility changes that probably mean a 3.0.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. If "PC" means "Windows on x86", then your possibilities for innovation are pretty limited. Meanwhile, you can run opensource software on pretty much any architecture you like, not just "mobile".
It must be hard to spell the word "desiccant" correctly, especially after you have just copied the correct name (Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative air conditioner) from TFA.
A "sweeping" mobile input method always reminds me of Dasher. I guess one reason why it doesn't get all the attention is that it must be tuned to a particular corpus of text, so it's not immediately usable like something qwerty-based.
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/
I'm one of those kids who wanted to be a scientist, and so far have failed in the strictest sense. After getting a world class master's degree, I've had a really unlucky streak with numerous attempts at graduate studies, and ended up as a teacher. I actually enjoy it very much, and I feel like it suits my personality better; I want to do something more "energetic" than working quietly in the lab or on the computer all day.
However, I have zero regrets about my career choices. The article makes it seem like every succesful scientist should become a professor one day. There are way too many scientifically minded people for that to work out. However, it is a great thing having those people in different fields of life. For example, having computer scientists and nuclear physicists in politics would be a good start. I also like having some real-world research experience, so I know what I'm teaching.
http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3565
We always hear about singularities necessitating event horizons, but the converse is most certainly not true. An event horizon may exist without a singularity inside of it.
There is also the effect of simple acceleration. If a spacecraft has sufficient acceleration away from you, you can send photons after it, and they will never reach it. Thus there is an event horizon.
A related phenomenon on a quantum scale is the Unruh effect. When particle physicists claim to see apparent evidence of tiny black holes, i.e. Hawking radiation, it may actually be due to this effect.
(The effect is somewhat aptly named, as "Unruhe" is German for something like "discomfort". Even if you don't know German, you might recognize this word from an X-Files episode ;)
Acceleration of H.264 is different than OpenGL acceleration. You can have a card with full GL acceleration that doesn't accelerate H.264 decoding. Indeed many older cards were like this. The original GeForce 8800s didn't have full H.264 acceleration, despite their massive amount of 3D hardware.
However, you can use GPGPU techniques to run almost any software you want on the 3D engine, including video decoding. I understand this is a planned feature of the opensource driver for older Radeon cards: "Video Decode (XvMC/VDPAU/VA-API) using the 3D engine"
You can get laptop-style PSUs for ATX power, the most famous brand is probably PicoPSU. They have a 12-volt adaptor, similar to laptops, and a voltage converter board inside the case. I've used these since 2004 so it's not exactly a new thing.
There are 10 people in the world. All their base are belong equal to their number.
hydrophilic (it bonds with the hydrogen molecules in water)
*facepalm* No, it does not.
"Hydrophilic" means water-loving. There are no hydrogen molecules in water. In fact, "hydro" means water and "hydrogen" means water-former.
Would it be possible to put them on a condom?
Guy in bar to babe: "Hey. My phone died. Would you like to go and charge it?"
The effect uses a temperature difference to generate power, so unless you are doing a dead fish, it wouldn't help much.
Since moving from dialup to ADSL, cable and 3G, I've never seen a "limited" data plan here in Finland. You pay a monthly fee for a given speed, and that's it. ISPs usually reserve the right to throttle, but I've only rarely seen it with 3G, never in wired connections.
I currently pay 9.80 euros for the slowest possible 3G, 384/384 kbps. This is actually better than it sounds, since for example a 1M/1M ADSL gives you about 103 kbytes/s max, but 3G uses a different encoding, and this 384 kbps translates to about 55 kbytes/s.
The faster 3G plans are likewise unlimited for a higher monthly fee, but it's probably not worth it, given all the complications with radio networks.
From my understanding of the wheel-powered propeller system, this works basically like a gearbox that converts a lower RPM to higher. There is nothing unphysical about converting a lower velocity to a higher one this way.
Of course, in the gearbox analogy, the torque is lower in proportion, meaning less acceleration. Also, since the vehicle is now moving relatively against the wind, it needs power even to maintain that velocity.
It is a complete netbook, with a HD/SSD and a DDR2 SODIMM, so it's not really comparable if you want a smaller handheld. But at least it is Free as in GNU/RMS.
(I have no affiliation with this company, but it seems to be the only professional-looking vendor I have found so far.)
I'm jealous of those that use more to keep going, more just makes me want to lay down and give up for the day.
To me, coffee means a well-deserved break from work. I associate it with relaxing, for example after a heavy meal. It's not uncommon for me to fall asleep after a cup of coffee. So I believe a lot of the buzz is psychological.
However, I did experience a weekend of withdrawal symptoms, after a summer job where I ended up drinking lots of coffee. I normally drink quite a lot of green tea, but I can easily go without it for days or weeks, so there is clearly something about coffee and its higher caffeine content. In my case, I only got the negative effects.
One thing I've never understood is drinking coffee first thing in the morning. Even at the times I've drunk coffee, I could never handle the taste in the morning. Surely I'm not the only one with heightened senses in the morning? Conversely, I've met many people who only drink coffee or black tea in the morning (though often with milk, wussies).
Edelweiss is actually pronounced "Aydel-vice"
I agree about the "vice" part, but "ay" is just wrong. Not just here, but in practically every foreign word containing an [e:], English speakers want to pronounce it as [ei]. Of course, English language does not really have this [e:], but I'm sure you could approximate it by using a single vowel, instead of the diphthong [ei].
There are already other open-source Flash players, notably Gnash, and the GPU-powered one that was discussed on /. recently. None of these is a complete implementation, but I like to think that competition between different OS projects will make things better.
No, here at Intel, we only support 1337.
But over here at the 1336 0f 1337 63n700m3n, either one is fine.
Flash is a kind of EEPROM. It's an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory.
I'm just curious, why use sic in your own posts? Wouldn't you just correct whatever you are sic-ing?
IMHO, this kind of use of [sic] is perfectly valid. It means "this is not a typo, it's really how it is spelled" (literally "thus"). In this case it refers to an unusual word that may look like a misspelling of a more common word. However, it can also refer to a genuine misspelling, when you are referring to what somebody else wrote.
http://www.redorbit.com.nyud.net/news/technology/1869698/new_disc_could_hold_a_thousand_times_more_data/
Shouldn't that be "soldered"?-)
There is nothing inherently difficult about Linux on ARM. I have installed Gentoo on two such systems, a Buffalo Linkstation and a Nokia N800 (though the latter runs Maemo most of the time). These devices were designed for Linux to begin with.
IMHO, it is much better to support manufacturers that support Linux. Even if you get Linux running on one of these WinCE devices, you are supporting a closed monoculture by buying it.
As of netbooks, there are two currently available in online stores that I find particularly interesting: Always Innovating Touchbook (ARM) and Lemote Yeeloong (MIPS). Both of these are intended for open source hackers. The Lemote, in fact, is completely open source down to the firmware level. Both of these are considerably more powerful than the WinCE ARM netbooks.
The last time I mentioned these, some people complained that the Lemote is not actually available anywhere, so here are two places:
http://lemote.kd85.com/
http://www.tekmote.nl/epages/61504599.sf/nl_NL/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61504599/Categories/%22Lemote%20linux%20PC%20and%20Linux%20laptops%22
Plus, there's already a project for cracking encryption and other mathematical challenges using bovine power.
I don't know anything about Linux, bur I thought odd numbers (2.odd) indicated a beta/alfa/beingTested version...
2.6 changed that. Now development happens in smaller increments between 2.6.x and 2.6.x+1, which is much more manageable than getting an entire 2.odd into a stable 2.even. AFAIK, the really stable versions are 2.6.x.y, because the .y are mainly bugfixes to the newly developed 2.6.x. These bugfixes are released in parallel with the development of 2.6.x+1.
This also means that 2.6.x style numbering may go on for quite some time, unless there are some huge compatibility changes that probably mean a 3.0.