This isn't entirely accurate -- most people can tell the difference between 25fps and 60fps in a computer game, while they can't on a film or video. I believe 3dfx released an infamous demo back in the day with a spinning cube at 30fps and 60fps and you could always tell the difference.
What's the difference? Video and film have motion blur, which makes for smooth transitions between frames whereas games display things in discrete frames with no blur whatsoever.
Ever tried waving your hand underneath a strobe light going at 30 cycles/sec? That's 30fps yet the motion still looks strange, since it's like you're seeing discrete frames and not continous motion burred between frames.
Yeah, but Google itself less than 10 years ago was an "application some college students came up with." I think that part of what makes Google so successful is their willingness to make new stuff that may not produce an immediate profit.
Google Maps not high on ROI? I use Google Maps almost exclusively now when I want to find a place or a local business. That doesn't make money right now, but the potential for a huge moneymaker there is obvious.
I know I, my family, and many of my friends, do not need these super tricked out computers. We do not need games, high quality audio, video playback, cameras and image support, or mp3 players in our computers.
All we need is a very basic computer, that has a word processor, maybe a spreadsheet, and a 2400 baud modem to get email.
It is getting pretty difficult to find basic computers as it is. All the vendors try to press all these computers with extra features that I will never use. Damnit, I dont need my computer to be able to play mp3s./me grumbles
(As in, maybe pushing the envelope with cell phones isn't a bad thing. Just because camera/high speed data/high quality ringtone phones haven't found their killer app yet doesn't mean it's time to write them off as bloated and useless.)
Google Maps has also double-crossed me before. My friends and I were going out to dinner and it showed our destination as being on the wrong side of an intersection. We drove back and forth along the road where Google Maps showed it would be at least 5 times before we gave up and asked a local.
It was a huge drag. I really love the Google Maps interface but it pays to cross check with another service if your time is important.
They do already have the technology for this -- has anybody used Keyhole (now Google Earth)?
Google Maps and Keyhole share the same sattelite imagery, I believe, the difference being that Keyhole is a separate 3D-accelerated application. Keyhole renders even the smallest patch of land as being part of the curved sphere that is the Earth. Pretty wild.
You could think of single-purpose boxes with a subscription fee like a Tivo as computers with an OS that expires.
That would be how an expiring OS gets sneaked onto consumers--just integrate subscription services closely enough with the OS (integrated antivirus? media options? you name it..) and do it bit by bit. I think that that kind of treachery could pull the wool over people's eyes pretty well.
I've heard that the origins of "gangster style" firing were used by military forces with submachine guns to clear (read: kill everyone) a room quickly--when held sideways, the recoil of the gun would move around the room and, well, kill everyone.
Same here -- every GSM phone I've owned has made my CRT flicker if I leave it right next to it.
Not really a big deal, I don't think. I imagine it's some sort of interference with the electrons in the tube rather than some dangerous disruption of something dramatic with power or somesuch.
Although you could make it easy for them -- the first time it's plugged in, just have the router's DNS redirect all requests to itself, the way that pay-to-use APs do in Starbucks or airports.
Then have an easy security setup thing, and maybe enable autoconfiguration of the client-side security right from the browser.
Don't some companies do this already? I recall hearing that Apple's AirPort and the now-defunct line of Microsoft Wifi products forced you to set up security.
I agree with the sentiment that for the vast majority of residential users, WEP is fine for security. I think the only time you would have your WEP cracked would be if your neighbors had easy access to your network (as in, apartment building) and were really cheap about getting online. I might spent a week grabbing packets if it was the only way I could get online.:-)
And also, don't forget the line of S370 PPGA Celerons that were out while the Athlon was still $230+ -- the ones that could beat an equally clocked original (Slot 1) Pentium III clock-for-clock.
The same way the iPod mini was rumored to be 2GB for $99 a few months ago: it's not.
I can't imagine a device that costs $50 having a reasonable capacity as well as a compact sizing and features -- at least one that's not terribly locked down with DRM.
Actually, a lot of products have really long ranges -- right out of the box! I got a Linksys WiFi router and it seems like I can pick up my SSID "linksys" network all over the place!
Although on their FAQ page, they state that future plants will be much larger. I'm not sure if the pictures on that site are pictures of the plant, but if so, I'd say it's a pretty small facility, certainly one dwarfed by oil fields and such.
And eventually, as oil runs out, we will be able to--and quite possibly will-- "grow" more oil than we drill.
Future incarnations of Intel's entry-level Celeron microprocessor will be dubbed the 300 series. The more powerful and pricey top-of-the-line Pentium chips will be designated the 700 series.
Intel executives acknowledged their debt to the German automaker. Don MacDonald, vice president of Intel's sales and marketing group, acknowledged the new names' nod to BMW.
"Yes, we talked to them first," he said.
I know you've been modded funny, but I feel like I've seen this argument a lot in this thread, so I'll post an earnest response.
I think that offering working upgrades to pirates is more like offering clean needles to IV drug addicts rather than free oil changes to carjackers -- it's in everybody's best intrest for them to be free of AIDS or other diseases transmitted by needles. Even though they're breaking the law by taking illegal drugs, it's certainly a much better policy to offer the needles than to let AIDS act as a deterrent to illegal drug use.
Amen to that -- this is probably an exaggeration, but I feel like if you spent a few hours brushing up on the concepts (linked lists, arrays, etc.), you could take the exam and do pretty well just by relying on the quick reference and case study code. I thought it was pretty bitchin' easy.
I think there was one free response question which asked you to write an interface -- I didn't remember the exact syntax for it, but luckily, the quick reference had the complete code for a few interfaces!
Although, I think that that's not really an "unfair" advantage -- since in any real-life programming situation, you can always glance at a quick reference for the exact syntax or a quick refresher.
Okay, so communist/socialist Russia and China are doing well right now and are doing, IMHO, an exceptional job of providing for their citizens considering the population numbers.
But would they be doing as well without the assistance of capitalism in the global market? How much money does China make maufacturing things for capitalist countries? Would their communist economy work without those exports?
The intro to Economics course I took last term completely changed my view on this sort of thing. At first glance, it seems repulsive, but when you dig deeper, it really is true that free markets can provide results that are leaps and bounds ahead of anything else. Does that mean they always work? No. But when they do work, they sure as hell WORK.
A 1999 article from the Wall Street Journal with several examples. A quick excerpt:
Similar precedents exist in the U.S. In 1997, 16-year-old Luke Woodham entered Pearl High School in Pearl, Miss., armed with his estranged father's hunting rifle and dozens of cartridges. When Woodham opened fire, vice principal Joel Myrick sprinted to the parking lot, grabbed a Colt.45 automatic pistol from his truck and forced the gunman to surrender by pointing the gun at his head. This limited the casualties to two students killed and seven wounded. In 1998, Andrew Wurst, 14, opened fire on an eighth-grade graduation dance in Edinboro, Pa. The owner of the banquet hall where the dance was being held grabbed a shotgun from his office and quickly confronted Wurst, who dropped his gun. The toll was thus limited to one slain teacher and two wounded students.
I think that there is some truth to the idea that the media doesn't cover cases when guns stop deaths as much as when they cause deaths. It's hard to call.
Re:The first 15 posts on this are things you cant
on
What You Can't Say
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· Score: 2, Insightful
For a closer-to-home (probably) and less extreme example, think about some geeky calling a fellow geek a "geek" in camaraderie vs. someone "cool" saying "geek" intending to be offensive.
Nobody goes and forces people in other countries to go to McDonald's, to drink Coca-Cola, to watch the Matrix, or to wear blue jeans. These things spread because they're good. You can say that a McDonalds on every street in the world is disgusting (an assertion that is probably true), but they're not there because of some conspiracy--they're there because people patronize them.
Just as Japanese culture isn't "attacking" American culture, American culture isn't "attacking" European, Middle Eastern culture, etc.
It sounds dumb and jingoistic, but American culture isn't everywhere because of conspiracy, but because it's awesome and people like it.
Slashdot Mirror
This isn't entirely accurate -- most people can tell the difference between 25fps and 60fps in a computer game, while they can't on a film or video. I believe 3dfx released an infamous demo back in the day with a spinning cube at 30fps and 60fps and you could always tell the difference.
What's the difference? Video and film have motion blur, which makes for smooth transitions between frames whereas games display things in discrete frames with no blur whatsoever.
Ever tried waving your hand underneath a strobe light going at 30 cycles/sec? That's 30fps yet the motion still looks strange, since it's like you're seeing discrete frames and not continous motion burred between frames.
Yeah, but Google itself less than 10 years ago was an "application some college students came up with." I think that part of what makes Google so successful is their willingness to make new stuff that may not produce an immediate profit.
Google Maps not high on ROI? I use Google Maps almost exclusively now when I want to find a place or a local business. That doesn't make money right now, but the potential for a huge moneymaker there is obvious.
I know I, my family, and many of my friends, do not need these super tricked out computers. We do not need games, high quality audio, video playback, cameras and image support, or mp3 players in our computers.
/me grumbles
All we need is a very basic computer, that has a word processor, maybe a spreadsheet, and a 2400 baud modem to get email.
It is getting pretty difficult to find basic computers as it is. All the vendors try to press all these computers with extra features that I will never use. Damnit, I dont need my computer to be able to play mp3s.
(As in, maybe pushing the envelope with cell phones isn't a bad thing. Just because camera/high speed data/high quality ringtone phones haven't found their killer app yet doesn't mean it's time to write them off as bloated and useless.)
Google Maps has also double-crossed me before. My friends and I were going out to dinner and it showed our destination as being on the wrong side of an intersection. We drove back and forth along the road where Google Maps showed it would be at least 5 times before we gave up and asked a local.
It was a huge drag. I really love the Google Maps interface but it pays to cross check with another service if your time is important.
They do already have the technology for this -- has anybody used Keyhole (now Google Earth)?
Google Maps and Keyhole share the same sattelite imagery, I believe, the difference being that Keyhole is a separate 3D-accelerated application. Keyhole renders even the smallest patch of land as being part of the curved sphere that is the Earth. Pretty wild.
You could think of single-purpose boxes with a subscription fee like a Tivo as computers with an OS that expires.
That would be how an expiring OS gets sneaked onto consumers--just integrate subscription services closely enough with the OS (integrated antivirus? media options? you name it..) and do it bit by bit. I think that that kind of treachery could pull the wool over people's eyes pretty well.
I've heard that the origins of "gangster style" firing were used by military forces with submachine guns to clear (read: kill everyone) a room quickly--when held sideways, the recoil of the gun would move around the room and, well, kill everyone.
Same here -- every GSM phone I've owned has made my CRT flicker if I leave it right next to it.
Not really a big deal, I don't think. I imagine it's some sort of interference with the electrons in the tube rather than some dangerous disruption of something dramatic with power or somesuch.
Actually, I believe the Mr. Fusion only powered the time circuits.
The fuel to move the vehicle was still regular gasoline.
Although you could make it easy for them -- the first time it's plugged in, just have the router's DNS redirect all requests to itself, the way that pay-to-use APs do in Starbucks or airports.
:-)
Then have an easy security setup thing, and maybe enable autoconfiguration of the client-side security right from the browser.
Don't some companies do this already? I recall hearing that Apple's AirPort and the now-defunct line of Microsoft Wifi products forced you to set up security.
I agree with the sentiment that for the vast majority of residential users, WEP is fine for security. I think the only time you would have your WEP cracked would be if your neighbors had easy access to your network (as in, apartment building) and were really cheap about getting online. I might spent a week grabbing packets if it was the only way I could get online.
And also, don't forget the line of S370 PPGA Celerons that were out while the Athlon was still $230+ -- the ones that could beat an equally clocked original (Slot 1) Pentium III clock-for-clock.
I've read and posted a good amount when connected via Bluetooth to my GPRS-enabled phone while riding in various motor vehicles.
I suppose it's becoming more commonplace, but it still always feels l33t to me..
The same way the iPod mini was rumored to be 2GB for $99 a few months ago: it's not.
I can't imagine a device that costs $50 having a reasonable capacity as well as a compact sizing and features -- at least one that's not terribly locked down with DRM.
Actually, a lot of products have really long ranges -- right out of the box! I got a Linksys WiFi router and it seems like I can pick up my SSID "linksys" network all over the place!
Heh heh..
Although on their FAQ page, they state that future plants will be much larger. I'm not sure if the pictures on that site are pictures of the plant, but if so, I'd say it's a pretty small facility, certainly one dwarfed by oil fields and such.
And eventually, as oil runs out, we will be able to--and quite possibly will-- "grow" more oil than we drill.
Actually, I believe I read that Intel cleared it with BMW, believe it or not.
Source on this
Quoted here:
I know you've been modded funny, but I feel like I've seen this argument a lot in this thread, so I'll post an earnest response.
I think that offering working upgrades to pirates is more like offering clean needles to IV drug addicts rather than free oil changes to carjackers -- it's in everybody's best intrest for them to be free of AIDS or other diseases transmitted by needles. Even though they're breaking the law by taking illegal drugs, it's certainly a much better policy to offer the needles than to let AIDS act as a deterrent to illegal drug use.
Amen to that -- this is probably an exaggeration, but I feel like if you spent a few hours brushing up on the concepts (linked lists, arrays, etc.), you could take the exam and do pretty well just by relying on the quick reference and case study code. I thought it was pretty bitchin' easy.
I think there was one free response question which asked you to write an interface -- I didn't remember the exact syntax for it, but luckily, the quick reference had the complete code for a few interfaces!
Although, I think that that's not really an "unfair" advantage -- since in any real-life programming situation, you can always glance at a quick reference for the exact syntax or a quick refresher.
Holy crap!
Which campuses are blocking slashdot?
What justification could they possibly have?
I mean, other than the hour or more I waste ever day on here...
Okay, so communist/socialist Russia and China are doing well right now and are doing, IMHO, an exceptional job of providing for their citizens considering the population numbers.
But would they be doing as well without the assistance of capitalism in the global market? How much money does China make maufacturing things for capitalist countries? Would their communist economy work without those exports?
The intro to Economics course I took last term completely changed my view on this sort of thing. At first glance, it seems repulsive, but when you dig deeper, it really is true that free markets can provide results that are leaps and bounds ahead of anything else. Does that mean they always work? No. But when they do work, they sure as hell WORK.
I wonder how it deals with all of the soliloquies in Shakespeare's texts, especially since those are some of the largest blocks of conversation.
Seems like the thickest line should be a loop from Hamlet back to Hamlet.
Heh.
Check out these links:
A 1999 article from the Wall Street Journal with several examples. A quick excerpt:
Another from CNN in 2001.
I think that there is some truth to the idea that the media doesn't cover cases when guns stop deaths as much as when they cause deaths. It's hard to call.
For a closer-to-home (probably) and less extreme example, think about some geeky calling a fellow geek a "geek" in camaraderie vs. someone "cool" saying "geek" intending to be offensive.
Still a double-standard, but probably okay.
Daffy Duck as Robin beats any anime I've ever seen for pure entertainment value. Refute that. His beak! How it pops up! Oh, man.
It also has a certain quality of timelessness that I don't seen in anime.
Agreed. Mod this man up!
Nobody goes and forces people in other countries to go to McDonald's, to drink Coca-Cola, to watch the Matrix, or to wear blue jeans. These things spread because they're good. You can say that a McDonalds on every street in the world is disgusting (an assertion that is probably true), but they're not there because of some conspiracy--they're there because people patronize them.
Just as Japanese culture isn't "attacking" American culture, American culture isn't "attacking" European, Middle Eastern culture, etc.
It sounds dumb and jingoistic, but American culture isn't everywhere because of conspiracy, but because it's awesome and people like it.