Take a closer look. The first two slots closest to the processor are slightly larger. The keying notches are also in different places. Most likely DDR slots, but the board still has SDRAM slots for those who don't want DDR; now that's a nice feature.
Now, all of this stuff is well and good (dualie Athlons), but AMD needs server-class boards. That means things like built in SCSI, 64 bit PCI, etc. AMD has wanted the server market since they originally introduced the Athlon (and everyone wanted it since then) so it should be here soon.
Where's the quality industrial design? It looks like one of those cheap iMac-inspired PCs: They use the colors from the iMac, but don't take even the smallest bit of the industrial design behind the iMac. At least the iMac looks sturdy.
Drop your Agenda PDA and watch it shatter as it hits the ground... it looks like if you hold it with a bit to much zest you'll crush it and it's bubble-gum flavored insides will spill out. Steve Jobs would probably like it, because not only is it lickable, you probably could actually take a bite out of it.
There are many people who dislike the iMac, but most people have to agree that at least it has quality industrial design. So why is it, that when everyone decides to copy the iMac, that they leave out one of the most important parts of it's design?
And let's get away from the fruity colored PCs/accessories. They don't appeal to larger corporate buyers, for one. Especially in a PDA, where the buyer is probably going to be someone a bit computer savvy, they are highly unlikely to be attracted to it because of the color. In fact, they might very well not buy it (when the would have otherwise) because of the iMac-inspired colors. Then again, die hard computer guys and gals would just paint it themselves.:)
If only all my PCs were jet black like my ThinkPad 570... there's some quality industrial design, in a color that matches everything.
This is why the use of the -j parameter is often recommended even for uniprocessor systems, as a parallel make will often yield much higher CPU utilization and thus faster compiles.
Why not, then, run both tests with the -j parameter. Then you will get the "real" numbers for the uniproc compilation and then it will actually be useful for a comparison to the dualie numbers.
But then again, why do that, and make the numbers useful, when you can spread your own FUD and claim that dualie Athlons are 142% faster under Linux than a uni system? Who cares what your testing methods are when you get the numbers you want? Gee whiz... I seem to remember Microsoft and Mindcraft getting ripped for doing the same.
I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I'm sure a lot of readers do.
Typical of a slashdot story. Someone submits a link and makes a comment on it, but waters their comment down, either removing technical commentary or opinion, so that they don't have to take any stance. Thus, they cannot be "wrong."
Show some backbone and say that you think it's a bad idea to restrict access to BIND Security Info.
I'll bet the first customer will be the US Government, if they haven't already started their own projects.
Cloning the great minds, and then conditioning them to do the government's bidding (and research). Einstein, Tesla, etc.
Maybe not so far off from The Pretender.
I wonder who will get to be the first person cloned?
And how do you name clones? Alpha, beta, etc? I always thought that the book Voice Of The Whirlwind was very cool. It's the story of a beta who is revived (eg, turned on) and wants to find out who his alpha was and what he did.
Of course, in that case, he knew he was a beta. My guess is that the first person cloned by scientists today might not be told that they were, in fact, a copy of another human.
And on a slightly unrelated note... what if it goes horribly wrong and we end up with a Mini-Dubya?
This has been in the Napster FAQ for months people...
Perhaps, but no one has been asking the question, let alone frequently. And who needs a FAQ when you have the Slashdot methodology:
SIR: Speculation on Incomplete Research
It's the Slashdot national past time... just say what you want... someone who's done the research will surely come by and correct you! And don't bother to ask the question yourself and do some research, wait for it to appear on slashdot, where you can add your wild ideas so that the posts with merit are drowned in the mess.
But even when you set your threshold to three or higher, there are still posts that are modded up initially that are completely wrong, and thus have no bearing to the discussion at hand.
If there was any doubt... this product officially brings an end to the infamous, "Is that a cell phone in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" line. No longer can it be used willy-nilly, or to the amusement of friends and strangers alike.
My parents hav been some of my best teachers. They're both well educated, and have encouraged me to learn as much as a I can, without expecting me to get good grades in school. They support me in my decisions regarding school, no matter what they are, and that encourages me to make my own mistakes and learn from them. My mom used to read to me when I was much younger, and I firmly believe that had a lot to do with my learning skills and my "lust for learning." I still enjoy learning new things... it has a lot to do with curiousity, yes, but I also like impressing people with my knowledge of varied subjects.
My coworkers also help me learn about new topics, or extend my knowledge of others. My work environment is very loose... I work in IT support and some days are slower than others. Sometimes we talk about computers and how to administer Terminal Services for Windows 2000. Or maybe we'll talk about world politics (something I don't know a lot about). There's give and take... sometimes I'm the teacher sometimes I'm the student. When I don't know "enough" (in my opinion) about a subject I'll research it a bit on the internet (ah, the internet:)).
I thought I'd mention some college teachers as well:
San Francisco State University:
Erwin Seibel
Philip King
City College Of San Francisco:
Suzanne Homer
Craig Kuhns
Michael Shannon
Consequently, I also attended University Of California at San Diego and did not find any teachers that seemed to care about my education, or have any interest in encouraging me to learn.
I don't know why you'd want to remove their names for privacy reasons. Does privacy == keeping them to yourself? Why not give their name so that other students can receive the same encouragement you did? I highly recommend taking a class from these teachers if you attend either of these schools.
I work for an IT consulting firm in San Francisco.
One of our client's offices power was cut off during the day and we had a guy in the office to shut the servers down because their UPS is not large enough to last extended blackouts. The blackout lasted two hours. Out client will not pay for larger UPSes.
In the process, the DSL was (surprise) down, but it did not come back up when power was restored. Apparently the router, a Cayman model, decided to reset itself back to defaults.
I called Pacific Bell Internet in order to see if I could get a trouble ticket (at 7 PM -- yeah right!). The woman on the phone didn't say much, in fact, the only way I knew I dialed the right number was I was on hold for 30 minutes. All the woman could tell me was that it was my fault ("You provide the line") when I told her I represented the consulting firm that took care of the servers. Then she told me that PacBell was down "in California" so apparently it would be fixed when PacBell fixed everything else that had gone wrong. So much for major corporations having backup power.
No wonder my boss hates Pacific Bell, and we make every effort to recommend that our clients not use them for any sort of service... T1/PRI/DSL/ISDN. They have the worst customer support, and the worst techs. It took them two months to get a T1 line installed... they blamed us for the longest time until they realized it was there faulty wiring.::sigh::
No offense if you work at PacBell and know what's going on. Contact me and we'd be happy to get you some commissions on sales if you can actually get things done.
Ironically, my website, which runs on PacBell DSL, was not down during the "system wide problems," nor did my power go off (I live in the city).
But let's say you sue a failing dot com. What can you hope to gain? You won't get paid anyways... or if you do, it will be pennies on the dollar.
Of course, you could alternately sue for one hundred trillion dollars, so if you ever did get paid, it might still be enough to buy yourself a pack of gum.
Why do computer people always use cars as an analogy when explaining computer hardware?
I can see using it to explain computer hardware to a non-tech, but techs use it to debate arguments like Mac vs. PC, etc.
The problem is that someone will say something general like "high RPMs means the car goes faster" (or something equivalent) when trying to explain why their computer is faster than the next guy's. Then someone has to say, "But what about XYZ car that has lower RPM but still goes faster (composite body perhaps)."
Then they proceed to argue about the fine points on RPM vs. speed rather than debating the original subject. See some of the other replies to this post's parent for some examples. There's already one.
The car analogy is obviously flawed -- you need to use generalizations to relate two distinct, different technologies. Analogies are intended to let you understand the problem/issue/tech/whatever in a different view, one which you were not aware of. This should aid in your understanding of the subject.
I don't need to know the startup sequence my car goes through when I turn the key in the ignition. I just turn the key, the engine starts and I drive away.
That is an excellent analogy when you compare it to computers/technology, yet see how the specifics are debated and the original analogy and intent are lost in the scuffle...
Analogies are used to explain an aspect of something by comparing that aspect to something separate that can be easily understood. Take it at that and stop bickering.
According to this page, Washington law sets the following as penalties for spam:
The law allows for damages to the recipient of $500 or actual damages, which ever is greater, for EACH MESSAGE received. The law also allows $1,000 or actual damages, which ever is greater, to the Internet Service Provider, for EACH MESSAGE received.
What is the status of the PowerPC Open Platform? It's been out for a little while now, and I seem to recall that there was at least one manufacturer who was planning on making POP-based PCs. Do these machines exist as a commercial product? Will they/do they run LinuxPPC?
What is the current state of SMP on LinuxPPC? Are there many SMP PPC machines (beyond the few Mac MP machines) that will run LinuxPPC? Does SMP with G3 processors work, or does one need to use 604 or G4 processors?
And in reply I'd say that if you weren't explicitly told it's none of your business and you're not welcome. If a house has many doors it isn't my right to check what they're for unless there's big signs welcoming me in. What about people scanning for backdoors : They're not just checking to see what they're for...they're looking for victims.
Is it wrong to go up to a house an check for open windows? Is it wrong to push that window a bit to see if it really is open? Is it wrong to stick your head inside the window and look around a bit, just to see what you can see (maybe you're a interior decorator looking for inspiration)?
Now let's say the owner comes home and finds you with your head in the window (or worse, you actually climbed through to see the other rooms in the house). But wait, don't call the authorities, you're just an interior decorator!
If it was really necessary for you to look around in that house, then you ring the doorbell. If the owner is home, maybe they'll allow inside and give you a tour. If not, you're out of luck.
Lyndsey Nagle: Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
Professor Frink: (looks at sarcasm detector) Are you kidding? This baby is off the charts!
Comic Store Guy: A sarcasm detector, that's a real useful invention.
(sarcasm detector explodes on desk)
"I build this scarecrow to scare off elephants."
"Elephants? There/are/ no elephants around here!"
"Exactly. See, its working."
I want to buy your scarecrow.
Now, what how did the conversation between Lisa and Homer go?
Lisa: (picks up a rock from the ground) Dad, by that logic this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: How does it work?
Lisa: Do you see any tigers around here?
Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
Lisa: But dad...
Homer: I'll give you twenty dollars.
Lisa: (sigh) Okay.
Well, something like that... it's been a while since I've seen that episode.
What about Halo? I've been waiting for Halo since I saw it 2 years ago (that seems so long ago!) at MacWorld Expo. Even their website (halo.bungie.com) hasn't had any new screenshots added in months (years it seems). There's been the purchase by Microsoft, and I can accept that as a delay in site updates. But they didn't update it for months before their acquisition by Microsoft.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Halo is one of the most anticipated games of all time... and here it is 2 years later and nothing!
I've been wanting something exactly like this for a long long time.
I do editing using Adobe Premiere on my Macintosh. When I finish a project, or finish a "stage" of it, I have to render the project overnight. My next editing machine will likely be a dual processor PC, but for now I'm using my Mac.
In addition to my Mac, I have four other computers available, all of which will happily run Linux. Setting up a Linux cluster would be a good project, and is definitely feasible. But my Macintosh has no means to offload the rendering to a cluster...
I think this would be a fantastic product, I can see it maybe as a wholly separate product. It would run separate from the actual editing application and distribute its rendering load to some sort of cluster (I'd assume a customized Linux cluster).
Computers are cheap now, but it is expensive to buy very fast machines every few months... why not allow for clustering of your old machines (even if you do replace the primary one every few months)? Then you could still use those extra CPU cycles, and maybe you could actually use your money effectively.
Dr. Hibbert: You have twenty-four hours to live. Homer: Twenty-four hours! Dr. Hibbert: Well, twenty-two. I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long. Dr. Hibbert: Well, if there's one consolation, it's that you will feel no pain at all until some time tomorrow evening, when your heart suddenly explodes. Dr. Hibbert: Now, a little death anxiety is normal. You can expect to go through five stages. The first is denial. Homer: No way! Because I'm not dying! Dr. Hibbert: The second is anger. Homer: Why you little! Dr. Hibbert: After that comes fear. Homer: What's after fear? What's after fear? Dr. Hibbert: Bargaining. Homer: Doc, you gotta get me out of this! I'll make it worth your while! Dr. Hibbert: Finally, acceptance. Homer: Well, we all gotta go sometime. Dr. Hibbert: Mr. Simpson, your progress astounds me.
Hardware support for new Macs, but will it install
on
OpenBSD 2.8 Released
·
· Score: 1
Sounds good, sounds very good.
I wonder, though if they'll install for these new Macs, or if it's strictly hardware support. I'd hope they'd install, I could sure use some more security than the Mac's current state. Why would anyone want OS X when they've got the security of OpenBSD?
Just think, eventually there will be T101s and T1000s (hey, maybe they're open source!) roaming the world, and humans will be forced to fight for their very survival against the machines they created.
The upside is that, when it happens, I will finally be able to say that, yes, the Terminator series is a documentary. My regrets to our Los Angeles readers.
Now, which galaxy do I have to go to in order to prove the Star Wars trilogy is one as well? I mean, if I point a telescope at it, I can see it in "real time" since it happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
Then you keep the signal digital, don't need to worry about compression (or generation loss). And you can edit on the Mac/PC using Adobe Premiere/Final Cut/etc. Remove commercials, add your own commentary... your imagination is the limit. A lot of MiniDV camcorders can take RCA/S-Video input... just route your cable signal into your camcorder. Or be super cool and get one of those Sony DV decks. They're nice.:)
Of course, then there's the problem that you only get 4 minutes per gig. But one could easily make a 320 gig (or greater) RAID array using the latest ATA/100 drives.
Slashdot Mirror
Take a closer look. The first two slots closest to the processor are slightly larger. The keying notches are also in different places. Most likely DDR slots, but the board still has SDRAM slots for those who don't want DDR; now that's a nice feature.
Now, all of this stuff is well and good (dualie Athlons), but AMD needs server-class boards. That means things like built in SCSI, 64 bit PCI, etc. AMD has wanted the server market since they originally introduced the Athlon (and everyone wanted it since then) so it should be here soon.
Where's the quality industrial design? It looks like one of those cheap iMac-inspired PCs: They use the colors from the iMac, but don't take even the smallest bit of the industrial design behind the iMac. At least the iMac looks sturdy.
:)
Drop your Agenda PDA and watch it shatter as it hits the ground... it looks like if you hold it with a bit to much zest you'll crush it and it's bubble-gum flavored insides will spill out. Steve Jobs would probably like it, because not only is it lickable, you probably could actually take a bite out of it.
There are many people who dislike the iMac, but most people have to agree that at least it has quality industrial design. So why is it, that when everyone decides to copy the iMac, that they leave out one of the most important parts of it's design?
And let's get away from the fruity colored PCs/accessories. They don't appeal to larger corporate buyers, for one. Especially in a PDA, where the buyer is probably going to be someone a bit computer savvy, they are highly unlikely to be attracted to it because of the color. In fact, they might very well not buy it (when the would have otherwise) because of the iMac-inspired colors. Then again, die hard computer guys and gals would just paint it themselves.
If only all my PCs were jet black like my ThinkPad 570... there's some quality industrial design, in a color that matches everything.
This is why the use of the -j parameter is often recommended even for uniprocessor systems, as a parallel make will often yield much higher CPU utilization and thus faster compiles.
Why not, then, run both tests with the -j parameter. Then you will get the "real" numbers for the uniproc compilation and then it will actually be useful for a comparison to the dualie numbers.
But then again, why do that, and make the numbers useful, when you can spread your own FUD and claim that dualie Athlons are 142% faster under Linux than a uni system? Who cares what your testing methods are when you get the numbers you want? Gee whiz... I seem to remember Microsoft and Mindcraft getting ripped for doing the same.
I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I'm sure a lot of readers do.
Typical of a slashdot story. Someone submits a link and makes a comment on it, but waters their comment down, either removing technical commentary or opinion, so that they don't have to take any stance. Thus, they cannot be "wrong."
Show some backbone and say that you think it's a bad idea to restrict access to BIND Security Info.
I'll bet the first customer will be the US Government, if they haven't already started their own projects.
Cloning the great minds, and then conditioning them to do the government's bidding (and research). Einstein, Tesla, etc.
Maybe not so far off from The Pretender.
I wonder who will get to be the first person cloned?
And how do you name clones? Alpha, beta, etc? I always thought that the book Voice Of The Whirlwind was very cool. It's the story of a beta who is revived (eg, turned on) and wants to find out who his alpha was and what he did.
Of course, in that case, he knew he was a beta. My guess is that the first person cloned by scientists today might not be told that they were, in fact, a copy of another human.
And on a slightly unrelated note... what if it goes horribly wrong and we end up with a Mini-Dubya?
This has been in the Napster FAQ for months people...
Perhaps, but no one has been asking the question, let alone frequently. And who needs a FAQ when you have the Slashdot methodology:
SIR: Speculation on Incomplete Research
It's the Slashdot national past time... just say what you want... someone who's done the research will surely come by and correct you! And don't bother to ask the question yourself and do some research, wait for it to appear on slashdot, where you can add your wild ideas so that the posts with merit are drowned in the mess.
But even when you set your threshold to three or higher, there are still posts that are modded up initially that are completely wrong, and thus have no bearing to the discussion at hand.
If there was any doubt... this product officially brings an end to the infamous, "Is that a cell phone in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" line. No longer can it be used willy-nilly, or to the amusement of friends and strangers alike.
::sigh::
Progress: At too great a cost?
My parents hav been some of my best teachers. They're both well educated, and have encouraged me to learn as much as a I can, without expecting me to get good grades in school. They support me in my decisions regarding school, no matter what they are, and that encourages me to make my own mistakes and learn from them. My mom used to read to me when I was much younger, and I firmly believe that had a lot to do with my learning skills and my "lust for learning." I still enjoy learning new things... it has a lot to do with curiousity, yes, but I also like impressing people with my knowledge of varied subjects.
:)).
My coworkers also help me learn about new topics, or extend my knowledge of others. My work environment is very loose... I work in IT support and some days are slower than others. Sometimes we talk about computers and how to administer Terminal Services for Windows 2000. Or maybe we'll talk about world politics (something I don't know a lot about). There's give and take... sometimes I'm the teacher sometimes I'm the student. When I don't know "enough" (in my opinion) about a subject I'll research it a bit on the internet (ah, the internet
I thought I'd mention some college teachers as well:
San Francisco State University:
Erwin Seibel
Philip King
City College Of San Francisco:
Suzanne Homer
Craig Kuhns
Michael Shannon
Consequently, I also attended University Of California at San Diego and did not find any teachers that seemed to care about my education, or have any interest in encouraging me to learn.
I don't know why you'd want to remove their names for privacy reasons. Does privacy == keeping them to yourself? Why not give their name so that other students can receive the same encouragement you did? I highly recommend taking a class from these teachers if you attend either of these schools.
They'll just buy their blank CDs from stores in England.
Or, alternately, some enterprising individual could bomb France with leaflets containing a free blank recordable CD. That'd be fun.
I work for an IT consulting firm in San Francisco.
::sigh::
One of our client's offices power was cut off during the day and we had a guy in the office to shut the servers down because their UPS is not large enough to last extended blackouts. The blackout lasted two hours. Out client will not pay for larger UPSes.
In the process, the DSL was (surprise) down, but it did not come back up when power was restored. Apparently the router, a Cayman model, decided to reset itself back to defaults.
I called Pacific Bell Internet in order to see if I could get a trouble ticket (at 7 PM -- yeah right!). The woman on the phone didn't say much, in fact, the only way I knew I dialed the right number was I was on hold for 30 minutes. All the woman could tell me was that it was my fault ("You provide the line") when I told her I represented the consulting firm that took care of the servers. Then she told me that PacBell was down "in California" so apparently it would be fixed when PacBell fixed everything else that had gone wrong. So much for major corporations having backup power.
No wonder my boss hates Pacific Bell, and we make every effort to recommend that our clients not use them for any sort of service... T1/PRI/DSL/ISDN. They have the worst customer support, and the worst techs. It took them two months to get a T1 line installed... they blamed us for the longest time until they realized it was there faulty wiring.
No offense if you work at PacBell and know what's going on. Contact me and we'd be happy to get you some commissions on sales if you can actually get things done.
Ironically, my website, which runs on PacBell DSL, was not down during the "system wide problems," nor did my power go off (I live in the city).
But let's say you sue a failing dot com. What can you hope to gain? You won't get paid anyways... or if you do, it will be pennies on the dollar.
Of course, you could alternately sue for one hundred trillion dollars, so if you ever did get paid, it might still be enough to buy yourself a pack of gum.
I can see using it to explain computer hardware to a non-tech, but techs use it to debate arguments like Mac vs. PC, etc.
The problem is that someone will say something general like "high RPMs means the car goes faster" (or something equivalent) when trying to explain why their computer is faster than the next guy's. Then someone has to say, "But what about XYZ car that has lower RPM but still goes faster (composite body perhaps)."
Then they proceed to argue about the fine points on RPM vs. speed rather than debating the original subject. See some of the other replies to this post's parent for some examples. There's already one.
The car analogy is obviously flawed -- you need to use generalizations to relate two distinct, different technologies. Analogies are intended to let you understand the problem/issue/tech/whatever in a different view, one which you were not aware of. This should aid in your understanding of the subject.
That is an excellent analogy when you compare it to computers/technology, yet see how the specifics are debated and the original analogy and intent are lost in the scuffle...
Analogies are used to explain an aspect of something by comparing that aspect to something separate that can be easily understood. Take it at that and stop bickering.
Spam Laws in the US, Europe, and beyond
According to this page, Washington law sets the following as penalties for spam:
Full text of the law is available.
Question:
What is the status of the PowerPC Open Platform? It's been out for a little while now, and I seem to recall that there was at least one manufacturer who was planning on making POP-based PCs. Do these machines exist as a commercial product? Will they/do they run LinuxPPC?
What is the current state of SMP on LinuxPPC? Are there many SMP PPC machines (beyond the few Mac MP machines) that will run LinuxPPC? Does SMP with G3 processors work, or does one need to use 604 or G4 processors?
And in reply I'd say that if you weren't explicitly told it's none of your business and you're not welcome. If a house has many doors it isn't my right to check what they're for unless there's big signs welcoming me in. What about people scanning for backdoors : They're not just checking to see what they're for...they're looking for victims.
Is it wrong to go up to a house an check for open windows? Is it wrong to push that window a bit to see if it really is open? Is it wrong to stick your head inside the window and look around a bit, just to see what you can see (maybe you're a interior decorator looking for inspiration)?
Now let's say the owner comes home and finds you with your head in the window (or worse, you actually climbed through to see the other rooms in the house). But wait, don't call the authorities, you're just an interior decorator!
If it was really necessary for you to look around in that house, then you ring the doorbell. If the owner is home, maybe they'll allow inside and give you a tour. If not, you're out of luck.
Lyndsey Nagle: Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
Professor Frink: (looks at sarcasm detector) Are you kidding? This baby is off the charts!
Comic Store Guy: A sarcasm detector, that's a real useful invention.
(sarcasm detector explodes on desk)
"I build this scarecrow to scare off elephants." /are/ no elephants around here!"
"Elephants? There
"Exactly. See, its working."
I want to buy your scarecrow.
Now, what how did the conversation between Lisa and Homer go?
Lisa: (picks up a rock from the ground) Dad, by that logic this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: How does it work?
Lisa: Do you see any tigers around here?
Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
Lisa: But dad...
Homer: I'll give you twenty dollars.
Lisa: (sigh) Okay.
Well, something like that... it's been a while since I've seen that episode.
What about Halo? I've been waiting for Halo since I saw it 2 years ago (that seems so long ago!) at MacWorld Expo. Even their website (halo.bungie.com) hasn't had any new screenshots added in months (years it seems). There's been the purchase by Microsoft, and I can accept that as a delay in site updates. But they didn't update it for months before their acquisition by Microsoft.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Halo is one of the most anticipated games of all time... and here it is 2 years later and nothing!
I've been wanting something exactly like this for a long long time.
I do editing using Adobe Premiere on my Macintosh. When I finish a project, or finish a "stage" of it, I have to render the project overnight. My next editing machine will likely be a dual processor PC, but for now I'm using my Mac.
In addition to my Mac, I have four other computers available, all of which will happily run Linux. Setting up a Linux cluster would be a good project, and is definitely feasible. But my Macintosh has no means to offload the rendering to a cluster...
I think this would be a fantastic product, I can see it maybe as a wholly separate product. It would run separate from the actual editing application and distribute its rendering load to some sort of cluster (I'd assume a customized Linux cluster).
Computers are cheap now, but it is expensive to buy very fast machines every few months... why not allow for clustering of your old machines (even if you do replace the primary one every few months)? Then you could still use those extra CPU cycles, and maybe you could actually use your money effectively.
"loans would be spread through 13 months so people would be saving on principle"
So the 00 month (New Years) you'd have to pay a full month's (28 days) worth of interest when the month was only a day long?
Don't they already use banks of LEDs for the red traffic lights?
Dr. Hibbert: You have twenty-four hours to live.
Homer: Twenty-four hours!
Dr. Hibbert: Well, twenty-two. I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long.
Dr. Hibbert: Well, if there's one consolation, it's that you will feel no pain at all until some time tomorrow evening, when your heart suddenly explodes.
Dr. Hibbert: Now, a little death anxiety is normal. You can expect to go through five stages. The first is denial.
Homer: No way! Because I'm not dying!
Dr. Hibbert: The second is anger.
Homer: Why you little!
Dr. Hibbert: After that comes fear.
Homer: What's after fear? What's after fear?
Dr. Hibbert: Bargaining.
Homer: Doc, you gotta get me out of this! I'll make it worth your while!
Dr. Hibbert: Finally, acceptance.
Homer: Well, we all gotta go sometime.
Dr. Hibbert: Mr. Simpson, your progress astounds me.
Sounds good, sounds very good.
I wonder, though if they'll install for these new Macs, or if it's strictly hardware support. I'd hope they'd install, I could sure use some more security than the Mac's current state. Why would anyone want OS X when they've got the security of OpenBSD?
Nope.
Just think, eventually there will be T101s and T1000s (hey, maybe they're open source!) roaming the world, and humans will be forced to fight for their very survival against the machines they created.
The upside is that, when it happens, I will finally be able to say that, yes, the Terminator series is a documentary. My regrets to our Los Angeles readers.
Now, which galaxy do I have to go to in order to prove the Star Wars trilogy is one as well? I mean, if I point a telescope at it, I can see it in "real time" since it happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
Then you keep the signal digital, don't need to worry about compression (or generation loss). And you can edit on the Mac/PC using Adobe Premiere/Final Cut/etc. Remove commercials, add your own commentary... your imagination is the limit. A lot of MiniDV camcorders can take RCA/S-Video input... just route your cable signal into your camcorder. Or be super cool and get one of those Sony DV decks. They're nice. :)
Of course, then there's the problem that you only get 4 minutes per gig. But one could easily make a 320 gig (or greater) RAID array using the latest ATA/100 drives.