I'm pretty sure that Opera invented the TAB concept.
I remember using Opera in the late 1990s, and it had sub-windows for each page within the main window. When maximized, you'd basically have tabs. The sub-window concept looked messy, especially on a smaller screen.
However, I think the tab concept was already used elsewhere before browsers. For example, spreadsheet programs commonly allow you to handle separate sheets in one window, and the setup looks exactly like browser tabs. The whole idea of handling different "pages" or "documents" of data in one application instance feels quite general and not limited to any single niche.
If you read my second paragraph too, you may have noticed I agree how much this makes sense in terms of money.
However, I was nitpicking about the term "efficiency". I'm a physicist, and the technical definition of efficiency is "getting more shit done with less effort". Saving money doesn't mean physical efficiency, although in an ideal world it should mean, because physical resources cost money. A huge part of the world's problems is due to the mismatch between the two: we're wasting valuable physical resources because we're focusing on short-term monetary gains. Nature doesn't care about the fiction of money, yet we're all doomed to live on this planet made of physical stuff.
you're saving them money through improved efficiency (fewer bags/people to board/disembark)
Flying half-empty is not efficiency, quite the contrary. You're wasting more fuel per passenger because of the fixed costs, such as the weight of the plane itself.
From a market/arbitrage point of view I'm all for using these loopholes, and I admit I once did this myself. Still, these days people are getting quite conscious of the environmental cost. You could argue that the cheap last-minute tickets are better for the environment than regular ones.
Well, the cool guys who used to laugh at us geeks were a couple of decades late to the IT party, so let's give them a few more years to realize the obvious.
Most unemployed people don't do "nothing". They spend their energy on voluntary activities that enrich the community. Look at stay-at-home moms (and dads)
Moms and dads are raising future workers and taxpayers, so clearly they are doing something immensely valuable for free, even if you only see working and tax-paying as worthy human activities.
We (Finland / Nordic countries) already have social benefit programs for the unemployed. Just because you're young and healthy, doesn't mean there's a shitton of open jobs around. These programs waste a lot on administration: for starters, all the public money, but also the frustration of those seeking the benefits. It's not easy to battle against the bureaucracy when you've just lost a job and try to find another. Or as the study found, UBI doesn't make jobs out of thin air, but it makes people happier.
UBI is a simpler, more efficient alternative to the social care bureaucracy mess. We all pay taxes without question, so it would be fair to get something in return without question.
On a deeper level, it's about organizing the entire society in new ways in a world where the protestant work ethic doesn't hold any more. Think of the society as an engine and workers as fuel. We've made the engine more efficient, i.e. requiring less fuel to keep running, yet the "work ethic" mandates that all fuel must be burnt all the time.
I'd like to see more people working less hours. Maybe if everyone only worked 4-6 hours a day, things would be more balanced for everyone. Currently, you see some working 0 and some 12 hours a day, and both are complaining.
Well, if the magnetic monopole technology were ever discovered, it would be controlled by a single company and sold for insane prices. So maybe we're better off without it. I'm happy with a single magnetic monopole somewhere out there in space, taking care of our electric charge quantization.
You are generally correct on the supply/demand thing. The mining reward per block is mostly constant, halving every four years, and people will mine as long as it's profitable for them.
There's an important feedback mechanism in the difficulty level of mining. The network adjusts this to maintain the block interval at 10 minutes. When prices increase and more miners come aboard, blocks will be found more frequently until the difficulty adjustment kicks in. Conversely, difficulty will drop when there are fewer than 6 blocks per hour mined.
Sudden drops in mining power can be a problem. You need to keep the blocks coming to keep the whole thing running, but difficulty adjustments are not immediate. This has occasionally happened with smaller altcoins.
The "poor" kids know that they can only compete on actual merit, and they have more to lose if they cheat. The "rich" kids will just coast along using whatever means they fancy, while their fathers take care of their future careers.
To me, the keyboard is a thinking aid. It allows me to use/access different parts of the brain than to those I use while talking to people. I'm sure a lot of people are used to "thinking with their hands" while playing musical instruments or doing woodwork, for example.
People just have to complain. It's their nature. And they use the "Smoking kills you!" "That is not true because my granfather smoked like a chimney and he died at 92" argument where N=1.
He smoked, he died. Ergo, smoking kills you.
I also recall an ad saying "90% of smokers die". It might be a good idea to start smoking now, in case you're in the lucky 10% that will live forever.
I thought the name of HAL in 2001 was derived from "Heuristic Algorithmic Learning"?
Yep, and possibly also because it's an alphabetical shift of "IBM". But the last time I've seen the abbreviation in any real computing context was some kind of hardware abstraction layer thingy on Linux.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Though I guess Clarke was referring to potential alien technology that was developed completely detached from ours.
Perhaps post-singularity "AI" will look completely alien to us, but that points to another problem: Current "AI" is a buzzword that has little to do with the "magic" of the original meaning, much like "hoverboard" and "android". So I would say no to anything promised by "AI", but I wouldn't rule out "things done on computers" in general.
How would a computer that fits in your pocket have the UI for you to program it? I don't know about you but when I program something, I need a keyboard, mouse, and a full screen monitor. Also I tend not to program on the computer itself. I am generally writing programs for another system: server code, SQL code, web code, etc. that doesn't run on the machine itself.
My Nokia N900 has a real, physical keyboard. It also comes with Xterm and Python. I've used it as an SSH terminal in various emergency situations. It's not much and I wouldn't want to work with it extensively, but it's been very handy on those few occasions. Moreover, it's a nice idea that when you've paid money for real computer hardware, you're allowed to use it like a real computer, instead of putting up artificial barriers.
It's also interesting that you mention server code etc. -- it's almost like using a terminal to access a stronger machine. Phones are logically closer to terminals than servers, yet they lack a lot of the necessary UI, as you pointed out yourself. (Pet peeve: the more people started to use phones for written messages, the fewer phones came out with real keyboards.)
Kyocera has a rather nice modern day flip phone with t9 texting plus 4G LTE and hotspot ability without the iOS or Android. Itâ(TM)s a great buy for under $100
Sounds a lot like Nokia 8110 4G, including the price.
Define "program". Like all smartphones you can develop for it if you choose. You'll need a Mac whereas with an Android you'll need a Mac or PC
I remember dreaming about a full computer that would fit in my pocket. Now, all you can get are toys/appliances that cannot be used to program themselves.
English speaking people tend to misspell certain German digraphs by swapping the letters, for example ie (writing weiner instead of wiener) or ue (Kreuger instead of Krueger). I have no idea why, though.
German "wie" is pronounced roughly like English "we". IMHO, the same logic applies to a lot of other common misspellings: you know how the word sounds, then you try write it as if it were a word of your native language.
To me, this always gives the impression that the person never studied any foreign languages, because (omg) different languages have different logic for spelling and pronunciation.
When I was young I heard proposals like this and the main argument against it was transmission line losses over very long distances.
Using DC means it's not a transmission line. Then you don't have issues with inductive losses. There's still resistance, though, but that part is compensated for by the high voltage (or more importantly, low current).
Has the technology improved to the point that this has become a lesser problem?
The problem in the past was efficient DC/AC conversion, or converting between different voltages of DC. Semiconductors have been used for HVDC since the 1970s and the hardware keeps improving. I'm not sure if there have been any specific improvements lately, though.
Slashdot Mirror
Chemists are unionized. They pronounce it differently, but that's what it is.
This. See Intel740 for a GPU that practically ditched all onboard memory for AGP and failed miserably.
Some companies like to wait until product launch, but Intel isn't being too discrete about their plans.
I'm pretty sure that Opera invented the TAB concept.
I remember using Opera in the late 1990s, and it had sub-windows for each page within the main window. When maximized, you'd basically have tabs. The sub-window concept looked messy, especially on a smaller screen.
However, I think the tab concept was already used elsewhere before browsers. For example, spreadsheet programs commonly allow you to handle separate sheets in one window, and the setup looks exactly like browser tabs. The whole idea of handling different "pages" or "documents" of data in one application instance feels quite general and not limited to any single niche.
I hope it does not end up being a subprime cryptocurrency.
Unlike those real cryptocurrencies that use real primes for their cryptography.
If you read my second paragraph too, you may have noticed I agree how much this makes sense in terms of money.
However, I was nitpicking about the term "efficiency". I'm a physicist, and the technical definition of efficiency is "getting more shit done with less effort". Saving money doesn't mean physical efficiency, although in an ideal world it should mean, because physical resources cost money. A huge part of the world's problems is due to the mismatch between the two: we're wasting valuable physical resources because we're focusing on short-term monetary gains. Nature doesn't care about the fiction of money, yet we're all doomed to live on this planet made of physical stuff.
you're saving them money through improved efficiency (fewer bags/people to board/disembark)
Flying half-empty is not efficiency, quite the contrary. You're wasting more fuel per passenger because of the fixed costs, such as the weight of the plane itself.
From a market/arbitrage point of view I'm all for using these loopholes, and I admit I once did this myself. Still, these days people are getting quite conscious of the environmental cost. You could argue that the cheap last-minute tickets are better for the environment than regular ones.
Well, the cool guys who used to laugh at us geeks were a couple of decades late to the IT party, so let's give them a few more years to realize the obvious.
Most unemployed people don't do "nothing". They spend their energy on voluntary activities that enrich the community. Look at stay-at-home moms (and dads)
Moms and dads are raising future workers and taxpayers, so clearly they are doing something immensely valuable for free, even if you only see working and tax-paying as worthy human activities.
We (Finland / Nordic countries) already have social benefit programs for the unemployed. Just because you're young and healthy, doesn't mean there's a shitton of open jobs around. These programs waste a lot on administration: for starters, all the public money, but also the frustration of those seeking the benefits. It's not easy to battle against the bureaucracy when you've just lost a job and try to find another. Or as the study found, UBI doesn't make jobs out of thin air, but it makes people happier.
UBI is a simpler, more efficient alternative to the social care bureaucracy mess. We all pay taxes without question, so it would be fair to get something in return without question.
On a deeper level, it's about organizing the entire society in new ways in a world where the protestant work ethic doesn't hold any more. Think of the society as an engine and workers as fuel. We've made the engine more efficient, i.e. requiring less fuel to keep running, yet the "work ethic" mandates that all fuel must be burnt all the time.
I'd like to see more people working less hours. Maybe if everyone only worked 4-6 hours a day, things would be more balanced for everyone. Currently, you see some working 0 and some 12 hours a day, and both are complaining.
Well, if the magnetic monopole technology were ever discovered, it would be controlled by a single company and sold for insane prices. So maybe we're better off without it. I'm happy with a single magnetic monopole somewhere out there in space, taking care of our electric charge quantization.
You are generally correct on the supply/demand thing. The mining reward per block is mostly constant, halving every four years, and people will mine as long as it's profitable for them.
There's an important feedback mechanism in the difficulty level of mining. The network adjusts this to maintain the block interval at 10 minutes. When prices increase and more miners come aboard, blocks will be found more frequently until the difficulty adjustment kicks in. Conversely, difficulty will drop when there are fewer than 6 blocks per hour mined.
Sudden drops in mining power can be a problem. You need to keep the blocks coming to keep the whole thing running, but difficulty adjustments are not immediate. This has occasionally happened with smaller altcoins.
The "poor" kids know that they can only compete on actual merit, and they have more to lose if they cheat. The "rich" kids will just coast along using whatever means they fancy, while their fathers take care of their future careers.
To me, the keyboard is a thinking aid. It allows me to use/access different parts of the brain than to those I use while talking to people. I'm sure a lot of people are used to "thinking with their hands" while playing musical instruments or doing woodwork, for example.
People just have to complain. It's their nature. And they use the "Smoking kills you!" "That is not true because my granfather smoked like a chimney and he died at 92" argument where N=1.
He smoked, he died. Ergo, smoking kills you.
I also recall an ad saying "90% of smokers die". It might be a good idea to start smoking now, in case you're in the lucky 10% that will live forever.
USD is a Fiat currency. Bitcoin is a Ferrari currency.
I thought the name of HAL in 2001 was derived from "Heuristic Algorithmic Learning"?
Yep, and possibly also because it's an alphabetical shift of "IBM". But the last time I've seen the abbreviation in any real computing context was some kind of hardware abstraction layer thingy on Linux.
hal 9000(Space Odyssey )?
It came up with an abstraction of its own hardware. Ergo, Hardware Abstraction Layer.
Damn, I haven't even come close to touching all of the different robots that have previously been named.
Have you perchance touched Dominique, Auburn, Gabriella, Lana, or Irina?
A proper 3D camera would be interesting in its own right. But combining a few 2D slices is not 3D.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Though I guess Clarke was referring to potential alien technology that was developed completely detached from ours.
Perhaps post-singularity "AI" will look completely alien to us, but that points to another problem: Current "AI" is a buzzword that has little to do with the "magic" of the original meaning, much like "hoverboard" and "android". So I would say no to anything promised by "AI", but I wouldn't rule out "things done on computers" in general.
How would a computer that fits in your pocket have the UI for you to program it? I don't know about you but when I program something, I need a keyboard, mouse, and a full screen monitor. Also I tend not to program on the computer itself. I am generally writing programs for another system: server code, SQL code, web code, etc. that doesn't run on the machine itself.
My Nokia N900 has a real, physical keyboard. It also comes with Xterm and Python. I've used it as an SSH terminal in various emergency situations. It's not much and I wouldn't want to work with it extensively, but it's been very handy on those few occasions. Moreover, it's a nice idea that when you've paid money for real computer hardware, you're allowed to use it like a real computer, instead of putting up artificial barriers.
It's also interesting that you mention server code etc. -- it's almost like using a terminal to access a stronger machine. Phones are logically closer to terminals than servers, yet they lack a lot of the necessary UI, as you pointed out yourself. (Pet peeve: the more people started to use phones for written messages, the fewer phones came out with real keyboards.)
Kyocera has a rather nice modern day flip phone with t9 texting plus 4G LTE and hotspot ability without the iOS or Android. Itâ(TM)s a great buy for under $100
Sounds a lot like Nokia 8110 4G, including the price.
Define "program". Like all smartphones you can develop for it if you choose. You'll need a Mac whereas with an Android you'll need a Mac or PC
I remember dreaming about a full computer that would fit in my pocket. Now, all you can get are toys/appliances that cannot be used to program themselves.
English speaking people tend to misspell certain German digraphs by swapping the letters, for example ie (writing weiner instead of wiener) or ue (Kreuger instead of Krueger). I have no idea why, though.
German "wie" is pronounced roughly like English "we". IMHO, the same logic applies to a lot of other common misspellings: you know how the word sounds, then you try write it as if it were a word of your native language. To me, this always gives the impression that the person never studied any foreign languages, because (omg) different languages have different logic for spelling and pronunciation.
When I was young I heard proposals like this and the main argument against it was transmission line losses over very long distances.
Using DC means it's not a transmission line. Then you don't have issues with inductive losses. There's still resistance, though, but that part is compensated for by the high voltage (or more importantly, low current).
Has the technology improved to the point that this has become a lesser problem?
The problem in the past was efficient DC/AC conversion, or converting between different voltages of DC. Semiconductors have been used for HVDC since the 1970s and the hardware keeps improving. I'm not sure if there have been any specific improvements lately, though.