But the demand for the idea of an information repository isn't going to go away -- users demand convenience, and this would be convenient.
How 'bout a harddrive as an "information repository."
Noone is "demanding" centralized information repositories. WTH is an information repository anyway?
The average Joe computer user does't need a centralized data area with version control and the rest of the buzz words. The few corporate needs are already fullfilled with things like CVS and ClearCase -- not to even mention group ware suites such as phpGroupWare.
It's all buzzwords. Six months ago it was XML and Java this, CSS and JSP that. So today the buzz is dotNET and Hailstorm with their information repository, well, guess what? MS just found out that this particular buzzword is utterly useless and has dropped it.
We would do better to just forget these words even existed instead of trying to breath life into something that was never meant to live in the first place.
Just fix the buttons so that they remain in place, and drill out two small holes to the tops of each button. Then, remove the momentary switch from the buttons and run a small piece of metal or wire up so that it is just above the surface of the mouse. That way, when you go to click, your finger completes the circuit and no noise or moving parts are required.
Best of all, you still get the feedback of a small *zap* so that you know you actually clicked the button:)
No. On Europa, it would be underwater plus under a thick layer of ice.
Venus' atmosphere also is quite dense and presents similar problems in transmitting data as water does. That is why a glider is being used in the first place.
Yeah, I don't see how they could not have some kind of computer system on board in order to be able to compensate. Really, they need AI to control it anyway (the lag between Europa and even Venus would be to high to do anything real time).
Not to mention the difficulty in transmitted data from underwater...
Well, I'd like to see some work done here on Earth with these things, but man, it's an awesome technology...
First of this is incredible technology. Low-impact approachs to exploration are absolutely what we need to avoid screwing up other planets as we have with this planet. Its always bothered me that we trash on Mars... but anyway, one comment in the article struck me as odd:
On Venus or Europa, that process is somewhat reversed. [...]
"A reversed gradient is nothing I would be too concerned about [...]"
So, if there is a reverse gradient, then doesn't that also mean that there is going to be extrordinary convection currents as the heated (and less dense) material rises to the surface. While there logically would also have to be a down current, the mediums would have to be really turbulent.
So, in order to heat up the machine to obtain energy to move actuators, one would have to deal with the turblence (in order to get to the heat source). I wonder if batteries are need in some way...
Now the real question is, how do we get these things off of the planet (or safely disposed of) once they are done being used.
I think this is a question that needs to be addressed more often (low-impact exploration). Who knows what kind of effect our stuff could have on other forms of life. If there were batteries, they would eventually have to leak and then there's battery acid polluting an environment.
The reason this low-impact is important is because it means we can do _more_ exploration without having to worry about the effects.
Free software advocates have argued for years now that open software could help create wealth and promote open societies in once-repressive, impoverished and technologically-primitive regimes. This idea is exciting. It attracted non-geeks like me to Open Source and Slashdot in the first place.
We know how to get rid of Katz!
Ok, we have changed our minds. Free Software won't create wealth nor will it promote an open society. Sorry, we were wrong, NOW GO AWAY! Stop trying to leverage hard-working geeks to advance your political agenda.
Re:Good idea but not likely to be effective
on
GeekPAC
·
· Score: 2
Having contributed to EFF, I would also contribute to this organize if they were a bit more professional. I don't feel comfortable donating to something that only has a "draft" of their beliefs.
I don't think that the EFF does much lobbying. I don't think they are that specific. If the EFF had a lobbying branch, that could be donated to independently, I would make a seperation donation to that.
Anyway, i think it's important that the 'net' is OK for everyone, not only for geeks.
This is the way I see it. Geeks contribute a great bit to the net. They accept ugly sites and build many sites of their own. They also work on a large portion of the software that runs the net, in their free time mind you.
So, in my mind, geeks have earned the net. The little meat shop that just wants to suck bandwidth should have to pay to make use of it. I'm sorry, but if they didn't need e-mail for any good reason and then got burnt by it, it's their own fault.
Actually, I think they were fibbing and not mentioning that they meant compressed Genomes, in which case, the numbers work out perfect if they meant 270 and 100.
If you stick a novice in front of a typical Linux distro for a couple weeks, the productivity will be measurably equivalent to sticking them in front of a TRS-80.
I can tell you from experience that this isn't true. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Since entry level folks tend to not understand how to goof off on Linux or any Unix for that matter, they tend to spend more time on real work and are more productive. Of course, my experience is in software, I don't know if the same applies to other fields.
If you stick a novice in front of OS X for a couple of weeks, you will have documents, e-mail, games, plenty of wasted time on the internet, and a genuine sense of comfortability.
Can't say I've used OS X but I will say that I have never been a fan of the Mac interface. If they port it to x86, and offer it for a reasonable price - and without some silly EULA - I would install it to check it out.
BTW: RedHat has taken the model to foster what Linux is good at and they've been doing quite well. For all the people that say that Linux can't succeed without succeeding on the desktop, I say that they are full of crap.
Linux has already succeeded far beyond anyone could ever imagine. It did so by establishing a quality product that did it's job well. I wouldn' be so hestitant to deviate from this path - and I don't think many Linux folks are. If it takes 2 years to achieve a noticable desktop market, that's fine, because that means the product will be 2 years better. I'd rather wait 2 years and have a quality desktop then rush out MS-quality software as soon as possible. Isn't that why we use Linux in the first place?
The internet is a distributed system that is entirely decentralized. As such, there is no real way to say that the "net is this." The net is simply the nodes you connect to.
What nodes do I connect to? I connect to/., Google, SatireWire, SourceForge, Freshmeat, and various personal web sites.
For me, the net is better than it was in the past. Free Software is taking off and SourceForge provides an incredibly service in hosting so much of it. As far as I'm concerned, things are just fine. BTW, I use Mozilla and run Linux so the only time I hear of Email Virii are when the people at work start bitching. At least it gives me a chance to recommend Linux to people:)
Really though, what sites do people find all this crap on? If I went to site that pop-up'd an automated d/l, I simply would stop going to it. If it offends you so much, why to you continue to go to it?
Obvious typo. Probably meant to say it could hold 270 copies of the Human Genome. Although I seem to remember the Human Genome being slightly biggerthan the.8GB they are claiming it to be.
*me looks aside to the 5 640MB cd's labeled 'Human Genome'.
There is no distro or UI (KDE/GNOME) which comes even remotely close to being user friendly as OS X or XP define it.
Many would argue that Windows and the like have done exactly what you propose: define what is user friendly.
Of course, taking a total computer novice and sticking them in front of a RedHat machine and a Windows machine is likely to result in similiar confusion. It just so happens that most people know how to use Windows.
Does that mean Linux should try to replicate Windows? No. I don't want another Windows. If I wanted to use Windows, I'd use it.
I think RedHat's best move was to decide to focus on what Linux does well instead of trying to push it into a saturated market.
Mandrake is doomed. They have too much to lose placing all their eggs in the desktop basket.
I would guess that nearly 100% of/. readers have an Anti-Virus scanner of some sort loaded on their desktop/laptop. These all have systems that are designed to automatically d/l updates, including core functionality/engines.
Huh? What's an Anti-Virus scanner? Oh, a virus is that thing that can damage your computer if you are stupid and run everything as root or run an operating system that lacks any security mechanisms.
I guess I'm part of the 0% of/. readers who use a real operating system and therefore do not need Anti-Virus scanners.
All I know is that if someone hijacks one of these networks, my computer and all my data will be fine.
Yet thttpd _sucks_ compared to tux which is what you should run if you only want static content.
In fact, if you just need to serve up a bit of dynamic content, you can run apache and tux together and tux will forward requests for dynamic content to apache.
Tux is BTW, the fastest web server according to SpecWeb. Nough said.
Guy's crazy, but not that crazy
on
Time Travel
·
· Score: 2
Well for starters, there isn't any real evidence to support the idea that traveling faster than the speed of light causes time to move backwards nor have I ever seen any math to support such an idea.
That of course doesn't mean that time can't go backwards... I once read an interesting essay on that matter that went something like this:
We just went backwards in time! How do I know? How do you not know? If one traveled back in time, then one would forget all former experience (as many have pointed out, all reference systems would have to move back too). In fact, we could be going forward and backward through time almost ad infinitum as long as there was a general trend towards going forward. That would give us the perception of moving forward in time.
So, we are already traveling backwards in time, we just keep forgetting about it.
Re:please think twice about stories like this.
on
When Looks Can Kill
·
· Score: 2
You: Oh, we need to stop glorifying war and feeding the military monster!!! Look at me!! We need to stop this!
April 15th rolls around...
You: Here ya go Uncle Sam, here's a bunch of money to do whatever you wish with.
If you really feel so strongly, then put a note with your taxes asking for your money back. Henry David Thoreau went to jail because he refused to support the Mexican American war with his tax dollars, and you just sit and bitch on/.?
The idea isn't for targetting objects that are within line-of-sight, but to allow pilots to select tracks via eye movement. A track can be something that is within line of sight or something quite far away.
Think about it, what is the most effective way to select an item to attack when there is like 50 things on your screen to possibly attack? By the way, your hands are kind of being used to fly a plane at the time;-)
Great technology but not new... Already being used in the Apache Longbows for machine gun aiming.
Frankly no. The majority of the features they list I would turn off (they would have that option, right?) Some are good but obvious (integrate PGP - no-one's said *that* before)
Yes, Mozilla can already do this. I am convinced that Mozilla can do anything at this point. It has become the Emacs of web browsers (MozillaOS anyone;-))
See, with Google, the Ad's are really links that are for the most part relavant to the topic being searched for.
If the results are returned using SOAP, then the backend surely would want to display the ads because a lot of the time, they are what the user is looking for.
I know if I am looking to buy something search Google for vendors, I am more likely to choose a vendor from the Ads on the side. I figure it is a bit safer since these people actually have something invested in it.
The only reason I can think that someone would filter out the ads is simply because they want to hurt Google. Who wants to hurt Google though?
The click through rate is probably going to make things hard since there is no way to tell if a user clicked an ad. That just means a different guage...
Good for Google. It's about time someone stood up and forced ComCast to get their stupid network under control. My servers still get pounded by Win boxes that are infected with Nimda and such. Broadband is a dangerous thing when given to the masses who have no clue how to secure themselves.
Just get 9 of your rich fellow executives together and you can purchase your very own DD(x) Land Attack Destroyer.
Comes complete with 5-inch/62 extended range guided munitions and 155mm Howitzers, land attack missiles and of course, Tactical Tomahawk missiles.
No need to worry about the wife catching you fishing with your buddies either as it use stealth technology to give it almost no radar signature.
By the way, this ship has a fully robotic mini-sub to allow scouting in unfriendly water ways.
With a price tag of $750 million, they are just as affordable as these silly luxury 'subs.' Besides, you know what they say about submarine people don't ya?
Slashdot Mirror
But the demand for the idea of an information repository isn't going to go away -- users demand convenience, and this would be convenient.
How 'bout a harddrive as an "information repository."
Noone is "demanding" centralized information repositories. WTH is an information repository anyway?
The average Joe computer user does't need a centralized data area with version control and the rest of the buzz words. The few corporate needs are already fullfilled with things like CVS and ClearCase -- not to even mention group ware suites such as phpGroupWare.
It's all buzzwords. Six months ago it was XML and Java this, CSS and JSP that. So today the buzz is dotNET and Hailstorm with their information repository, well, guess what? MS just found out that this particular buzzword is utterly useless and has dropped it.
We would do better to just forget these words even existed instead of trying to breath life into something that was never meant to live in the first place.
Just fix the buttons so that they remain in place, and drill out two small holes to the tops of each button. Then, remove the momentary switch from the buttons and run a small piece of metal or wire up so that it is just above the surface of the mouse. That way, when you go to click, your finger completes the circuit and no noise or moving parts are required.
:)
Best of all, you still get the feedback of a small *zap* so that you know you actually clicked the button
No. On Europa, it would be underwater plus under a thick layer of ice.
Venus' atmosphere also is quite dense and presents similar problems in transmitting data as water does. That is why a glider is being used in the first place.
Read before you critize.
Yeah, I don't see how they could not have some kind of computer system on board in order to be able to compensate. Really, they need AI to control it anyway (the lag between Europa and even Venus would be to high to do anything real time).
Not to mention the difficulty in transmitted data from underwater...
Well, I'd like to see some work done here on Earth with these things, but man, it's an awesome technology...
First of this is incredible technology. Low-impact approachs to exploration are absolutely what we need to avoid screwing up other planets as we have with this planet. Its always bothered me that we trash on Mars... but anyway, one comment in the article struck me as odd:
On Venus or Europa, that process is somewhat reversed. [...]
"A reversed gradient is nothing I would be too concerned about [...]"
So, if there is a reverse gradient, then doesn't that also mean that there is going to be extrordinary convection currents as the heated (and less dense) material rises to the surface. While there logically would also have to be a down current, the mediums would have to be really turbulent.
So, in order to heat up the machine to obtain energy to move actuators, one would have to deal with the turblence (in order to get to the heat source). I wonder if batteries are need in some way...
Now the real question is, how do we get these things off of the planet (or safely disposed of) once they are done being used.
I think this is a question that needs to be addressed more often (low-impact exploration). Who knows what kind of effect our stuff could have on other forms of life. If there were batteries, they would eventually have to leak and then there's battery acid polluting an environment.
The reason this low-impact is important is because it means we can do _more_ exploration without having to worry about the effects.
Free software advocates have argued for years now that open software could help create wealth and promote open societies in once-repressive, impoverished and technologically-primitive regimes. This idea is exciting. It attracted non-geeks like me to Open Source and Slashdot in the first place.
We know how to get rid of Katz!
Ok, we have changed our minds. Free Software won't create wealth nor will it promote an open society. Sorry, we were wrong, NOW GO AWAY! Stop trying to leverage hard-working geeks to advance your political agenda.
Having contributed to EFF, I would also contribute to this organize if they were a bit more professional. I don't feel comfortable donating to something that only has a "draft" of their beliefs.
I don't think that the EFF does much lobbying. I don't think they are that specific. If the EFF had a lobbying branch, that could be donated to independently, I would make a seperation donation to that.
Anyway, i think it's important that the 'net' is OK for everyone, not only for geeks.
This is the way I see it. Geeks contribute a great bit to the net. They accept ugly sites and build many sites of their own. They also work on a large portion of the software that runs the net, in their free time mind you.
So, in my mind, geeks have earned the net. The little meat shop that just wants to suck bandwidth should have to pay to make use of it. I'm sorry, but if they didn't need e-mail for any good reason and then got burnt by it, it's their own fault.
http://genome.ucsc.edu/
Actually, I think they were fibbing and not mentioning that they meant compressed Genomes, in which case, the numbers work out perfect if they meant 270 and 100.
If you stick a novice in front of a typical Linux distro for a couple weeks, the productivity will be measurably equivalent to sticking them in front of a TRS-80.
I can tell you from experience that this isn't true. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Since entry level folks tend to not understand how to goof off on Linux or any Unix for that matter, they tend to spend more time on real work and are more productive. Of course, my experience is in software, I don't know if the same applies to other fields.
If you stick a novice in front of OS X for a couple of weeks, you will have documents, e-mail, games, plenty of wasted time on the internet, and a genuine sense of comfortability.
Can't say I've used OS X but I will say that I have never been a fan of the Mac interface. If they port it to x86, and offer it for a reasonable price - and without some silly EULA - I would install it to check it out.
BTW: RedHat has taken the model to foster what Linux is good at and they've been doing quite well. For all the people that say that Linux can't succeed without succeeding on the desktop, I say that they are full of crap.
Linux has already succeeded far beyond anyone could ever imagine. It did so by establishing a quality product that did it's job well. I wouldn' be so hestitant to deviate from this path - and I don't think many Linux folks are. If it takes 2 years to achieve a noticable desktop market, that's fine, because that means the product will be 2 years better. I'd rather wait 2 years and have a quality desktop then rush out MS-quality software as soon as possible. Isn't that why we use Linux in the first place?
The internet is a distributed system that is entirely decentralized. As such, there is no real way to say that the "net is this." The net is simply the nodes you connect to.
/., Google, SatireWire, SourceForge, Freshmeat, and various personal web sites.
:)
What nodes do I connect to? I connect to
For me, the net is better than it was in the past. Free Software is taking off and SourceForge provides an incredibly service in hosting so much of it. As far as I'm concerned, things are just fine. BTW, I use Mozilla and run Linux so the only time I hear of Email Virii are when the people at work start bitching. At least it gives me a chance to recommend Linux to people
Really though, what sites do people find all this crap on? If I went to site that pop-up'd an automated d/l, I simply would stop going to it. If it offends you so much, why to you continue to go to it?
Obvious typo. Probably meant to say it could hold 270 copies of the Human Genome. Although I seem to remember the Human Genome being slightly biggerthan the .8GB they are claiming it to be.
*me looks aside to the 5 640MB cd's labeled 'Human Genome'.
There is no distro or UI (KDE/GNOME) which comes even remotely close to being user friendly as OS X or XP define it.
Many would argue that Windows and the like have done exactly what you propose: define what is user friendly.
Of course, taking a total computer novice and sticking them in front of a RedHat machine and a Windows machine is likely to result in similiar confusion. It just so happens that most people know how to use Windows.
Does that mean Linux should try to replicate Windows? No. I don't want another Windows. If I wanted to use Windows, I'd use it.
I think RedHat's best move was to decide to focus on what Linux does well instead of trying to push it into a saturated market.
Mandrake is doomed. They have too much to lose placing all their eggs in the desktop basket.
In three easy steps:
1) Goto mozilla.org and download latest release installer here.
2) Start up mozilla after installer completes
3) Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Scripts & Windows and uncheck "Open unrequested windows"
Couldn't be easier.
I would guess that nearly 100% of /. readers have an Anti-Virus scanner of some sort loaded on their desktop/laptop. These all have systems that are designed to automatically d/l updates, including core functionality/engines.
/. readers who use a real operating system and therefore do not need Anti-Virus scanners.
Huh? What's an Anti-Virus scanner? Oh, a virus is that thing that can damage your computer if you are stupid and run everything as root or run an operating system that lacks any security mechanisms.
I guess I'm part of the 0% of
All I know is that if someone hijacks one of these networks, my computer and all my data will be fine.
Yet thttpd _sucks_ compared to tux which is what you should run if you only want static content.
In fact, if you just need to serve up a bit of dynamic content, you can run apache and tux together and tux will forward requests for dynamic content to apache.
Tux is BTW, the fastest web server according to SpecWeb. Nough said.
Well for starters, there isn't any real evidence to support the idea that traveling faster than the speed of light causes time to move backwards nor have I ever seen any math to support such an idea.
That of course doesn't mean that time can't go backwards... I once read an interesting essay on that matter that went something like this:
We just went backwards in time! How do I know? How do you not know? If one traveled back in time, then one would forget all former experience (as many have pointed out, all reference systems would have to move back too). In fact, we could be going forward and backward through time almost ad infinitum as long as there was a general trend towards going forward. That would give us the perception of moving forward in time.
So, we are already traveling backwards in time, we just keep forgetting about it.
You: Oh, we need to stop glorifying war and feeding the military monster!!! Look at me!! We need to stop this!
/.?
April 15th rolls around...
You: Here ya go Uncle Sam, here's a bunch of money to do whatever you wish with.
If you really feel so strongly, then put a note with your taxes asking for your money back. Henry David Thoreau went to jail because he refused to support the Mexican American war with his tax dollars, and you just sit and bitch on
The idea isn't for targetting objects that are within line-of-sight, but to allow pilots to select tracks via eye movement. A track can be something that is within line of sight or something quite far away.
;-)
Think about it, what is the most effective way to select an item to attack when there is like 50 things on your screen to possibly attack? By the way, your hands are kind of being used to fly a plane at the time
Great technology but not new... Already being used in the Apache Longbows for machine gun aiming.
Frankly no. The majority of the features they list I would turn off (they would have that option, right?) Some are good but obvious (integrate PGP - no-one's said *that* before)
;-))
Yes, Mozilla can already do this. I am convinced that Mozilla can do anything at this point. It has become the Emacs of web browsers (MozillaOS anyone
See, with Google, the Ad's are really links that are for the most part relavant to the topic being searched for.
If the results are returned using SOAP, then the backend surely would want to display the ads because a lot of the time, they are what the user is looking for.
I know if I am looking to buy something search Google for vendors, I am more likely to choose a vendor from the Ads on the side. I figure it is a bit safer since these people actually have something invested in it.
The only reason I can think that someone would filter out the ads is simply because they want to hurt Google. Who wants to hurt Google though?
The click through rate is probably going to make things hard since there is no way to tell if a user clicked an ad. That just means a different guage...
*standing up and cheering!!!*
Good for Google. It's about time someone stood up and forced ComCast to get their stupid network under control. My servers still get pounded by Win boxes that are infected with Nimda and such. Broadband is a dangerous thing when given to the masses who have no clue how to secure themselves.
Just get 9 of your rich fellow executives together and you can purchase your very own DD(x) Land Attack Destroyer.
Comes complete with 5-inch/62 extended range guided munitions and 155mm Howitzers, land attack missiles and of course, Tactical Tomahawk missiles.
No need to worry about the wife catching you fishing with your buddies either as it use stealth technology to give it almost no radar signature.
By the way, this ship has a fully robotic mini-sub to allow scouting in unfriendly water ways.
With a price tag of $750 million, they are just as affordable as these silly luxury 'subs.' Besides, you know what they say about submarine people don't ya?
I haven't bought a cd in many, many, years. In fact, I have Nirvana Unplugged sitting in my cd tray right now.
Looks like I won't be able to go out and get the latest Brittany Spears albumn *darnit*.
The sad thing is that the music industry is killing themselves with this shit. Oh well, that's capitalism.