I have a Q6600 (quad core), and regularly play a video game on one monitor and an H.264-encoded movie on the other. Between the two, it will keep all four cores at 100%.
A "Gaming Mode" to disable some services? When is the last time you said "Ah, crap, my error reporting service is making me lag?"
And Program Caching notice? The average user doesn't even know that Vista uses RAM. His suggestion would just confuse them more. We need fewer popup notifications, not more. Instead of cluttering the user's view, get stuff out of the way. Interfere less.
Yeah, folks will shell out the money for photovoltaics, only to put them inside the house, and at an odd angle where they will be even more inefficient. Then they'll shell out for the grid-tie inverter... all to shave $1 off of their electric bill each month.
I should have said "consumer electronics". Long before the devices reach 30 years of age, folks have long since abandoned them because much better technology is out.
Good, high-end amplifiers are an exception, but I can't think of any others. I don't know a single person who uses 30-year old electronics for any reason other than sentimentality.
Actually, I am what is *right* with the electronics industry.
I don't know how old you are, but think back to what electronics were like in 1978. Apart from a few stereos, was there anything produced back then that you would actually want to use?
Technology advances so fast that products are obsolete long before they break down. I have seen a LOT of free or nearly-free 50"+ big-screen TVs in the classifieds lately, simply because people are dumping them for something better. Not cheap electronics, but things that cost a LOT of money.
I've had two DVD players so far. The second cost a full order of magnitude less than the first. It does everything the first did (and more), and will surely last until I decide to go to something better.
My laptop charger already shows a big, fat zero-watt draw on my watt meter after the laptop is finished charging. Why would I need to spend "under $100" for the same thing?
I know several people who work or have worked in factory automation, underwater ROVs, and other areas like that. These days, the computers controlling the machinery often are just PCs (well - expensive, small, industrially-cased PCs, but PCs nonetheless), running any of the standard operating systems. No need for special virii or exploits, just the same old regular ones.
Being able to tap into the vast numbers of programmers who can program for Linux or Windows means that the companies have a lot more options for hiring people at lower wages, and might be able to crank out a somewhat-working solution faster than their competitors at a lower cost. And nuclear safety be damned, the lowest bid is the lowest bid, right?
"Personally, I don't think letting devices on a critical control system accept data values from the business network is a good idea.""
Yeah, well that's why you obviously wouldn't succeed in business. You can't seem to grasp that things like time-to-market and pleasing focus groups are far more important than piddly little things like that. Geez.
At 20 months old, one of my kid's favorite things to do was to drive screws with my cordless drill. I'd hold the drill, he'd drive them in and out.
Now, at almost three, he LOOOOOOVES to help run the nail gun. He walks around the house pretending that various objects are his "compressor".
And soldering? He talks about it non-stop. He looooooves to solder.
But model rockets? Doesn't care about them. That surprised me, since he LOVES to look at my 7' high-power rocket. But launching them? He'll watch a launch or two, then go find something more interesting. Ah, well.
+1. Let them try everything you and they want, and let them go to things that they like. It's disappointing when you go out of your way to set up something cool for your kid and they're not interested, but that's life. Your kid has to find their own way - you can expose them to things, but that's about all.
Judging from C, it's making giving the programmer complete control. A lot of people want/need that.
Judging from PHP, it's taking everything including the kitchen sink and wrapping it into the interpreter, so that any schmoe with very little knowledge can whip out a web app quickly, without regard to security issues. A lot of people want that.
Judging from Basic, it's making it easy to learn. A lot of people want that, too.
I guess the ultimate answer is that a programming language is successful when it appeals to a need or a want in a significant section of people. But should that really be that hard to figure out?
I would LOVE an e-ink based reader with a decent size. But they still cost quite a bit more than I'm willing to spend.
The cost of a Kindle gets me a loooooot of books from the bargain racks and half.com.
Of course, with the Kindle, I'd probably be locked into paying high prices for books, shopping the closeouts and used books wouldn't be a possibility. Yet one more thing I'd have to start cracking.
The best way to lower your bill is to simply use less electricity. Compare the cost of a 100-watt setup vs. the ease of eliminating 100 watts of usage.
But if you still want to generate your own, don't go grid-tied. Charge a battery bank, and use that to power or charge things like cell phones, mp3 players, laptops, etc.. Or use it with an inverter to run whatever you like.
Every computer in our local hospitals is networked, so that docs can pull up records whenever they need. And guess what, many of those are running heart monitors. Oh... and yes, they're running Windows.
Also, they transmit data to the (again, networked) computers at the nursing stations, so that the nurses can monitor all of the patients. Crashing that computer could be bad as well.
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Only if it's written for it.
I have a Q6600 (quad core), and regularly play a video game on one monitor and an H.264-encoded movie on the other. Between the two, it will keep all four cores at 100%.
By the time a user is able to understand what caching does, they're generally smart enough that they don't need the beginner's notification.
What would you say if someone suggested that Linux distros have popups to explain cache memory?
A "Gaming Mode" to disable some services? When is the last time you said "Ah, crap, my error reporting service is making me lag?"
And Program Caching notice? The average user doesn't even know that Vista uses RAM. His suggestion would just confuse them more. We need fewer popup notifications, not more. Instead of cluttering the user's view, get stuff out of the way. Interfere less.
Alright. I'm duly shamed.
That "makemake" is from Japanese or some other language... and that the guy who named it wasn't really just a complete loser.
The 1970's called, and said that it was time for you to move on. Solar technology certainly has.
Yeah, folks will shell out the money for photovoltaics, only to put them inside the house, and at an odd angle where they will be even more inefficient. Then they'll shell out for the grid-tie inverter... all to shave $1 off of their electric bill each month.
Yeah, that will happen.
Please, please, no.
The hope that my mother-in-law will someday die is one of the few things that allows me to be around her. PLEASE, don't take that away from me.
I should have said "consumer electronics". Long before the devices reach 30 years of age, folks have long since abandoned them because much better technology is out.
Good, high-end amplifiers are an exception, but I can't think of any others. I don't know a single person who uses 30-year old electronics for any reason other than sentimentality.
Yes, but good amps are one of the extraordinarily few areas where technology has little chance of making them obsolete any time soon.
Actually, I am what is *right* with the electronics industry.
I don't know how old you are, but think back to what electronics were like in 1978. Apart from a few stereos, was there anything produced back then that you would actually want to use?
Technology advances so fast that products are obsolete long before they break down. I have seen a LOT of free or nearly-free 50"+ big-screen TVs in the classifieds lately, simply because people are dumping them for something better. Not cheap electronics, but things that cost a LOT of money.
I've had two DVD players so far. The second cost a full order of magnitude less than the first. It does everything the first did (and more), and will surely last until I decide to go to something better.
Cars, televisions, players, music, computers... are there really any electronics intended to last 30 years any more?
My laptop charger already shows a big, fat zero-watt draw on my watt meter after the laptop is finished charging. Why would I need to spend "under $100" for the same thing?
Steal it from the natives.
As that will make it harder for people to walk, and they will have to expend more energy... that means greater sales in the food court. Woohoo!
I know several people who work or have worked in factory automation, underwater ROVs, and other areas like that. These days, the computers controlling the machinery often are just PCs (well - expensive, small, industrially-cased PCs, but PCs nonetheless), running any of the standard operating systems. No need for special virii or exploits, just the same old regular ones.
Being able to tap into the vast numbers of programmers who can program for Linux or Windows means that the companies have a lot more options for hiring people at lower wages, and might be able to crank out a somewhat-working solution faster than their competitors at a lower cost. And nuclear safety be damned, the lowest bid is the lowest bid, right?
"Personally, I don't think letting devices on a critical control system accept data values from the business network is a good idea.""
Yeah, well that's why you obviously wouldn't succeed in business. You can't seem to grasp that things like time-to-market and pleasing focus groups are far more important than piddly little things like that. Geez.
Yeah, see how long that lasts, particularly with young kids.
Get them interested first, and give them a reason to WANT to learn, then you won't be able to stop them.
At 20 months old, one of my kid's favorite things to do was to drive screws with my cordless drill. I'd hold the drill, he'd drive them in and out.
Now, at almost three, he LOOOOOOVES to help run the nail gun. He walks around the house pretending that various objects are his "compressor".
And soldering? He talks about it non-stop. He looooooves to solder.
But model rockets? Doesn't care about them. That surprised me, since he LOVES to look at my 7' high-power rocket. But launching them? He'll watch a launch or two, then go find something more interesting. Ah, well.
+1. Let them try everything you and they want, and let them go to things that they like. It's disappointing when you go out of your way to set up something cool for your kid and they're not interested, but that's life. Your kid has to find their own way - you can expose them to things, but that's about all.
Judging from C, it's making giving the programmer complete control. A lot of people want/need that.
Judging from PHP, it's taking everything including the kitchen sink and wrapping it into the interpreter, so that any schmoe with very little knowledge can whip out a web app quickly, without regard to security issues. A lot of people want that.
Judging from Basic, it's making it easy to learn. A lot of people want that, too.
I guess the ultimate answer is that a programming language is successful when it appeals to a need or a want in a significant section of people. But should that really be that hard to figure out?
I would LOVE an e-ink based reader with a decent size. But they still cost quite a bit more than I'm willing to spend.
The cost of a Kindle gets me a loooooot of books from the bargain racks and half.com.
Of course, with the Kindle, I'd probably be locked into paying high prices for books, shopping the closeouts and used books wouldn't be a possibility. Yet one more thing I'd have to start cracking.
The best way to lower your bill is to simply use less electricity. Compare the cost of a 100-watt setup vs. the ease of eliminating 100 watts of usage.
But if you still want to generate your own, don't go grid-tied. Charge a battery bank, and use that to power or charge things like cell phones, mp3 players, laptops, etc.. Or use it with an inverter to run whatever you like.
Ding-ding-ding!!!!
Every computer in our local hospitals is networked, so that docs can pull up records whenever they need. And guess what, many of those are running heart monitors. Oh... and yes, they're running Windows.
Also, they transmit data to the (again, networked) computers at the nursing stations, so that the nurses can monitor all of the patients. Crashing that computer could be bad as well.
I just thought of Mechwarrior.