A 39" widescreen (16:9) has an area of about 650 sq inches (~40in x ~19.12in). A 22" widescreen is about 207 sq inches (~19.2in x ~10.75in). I use three 22" widescreens at home, which is a pretty optimal setup, but I would gladly trade it for a single 39" because it gives you slightly more viewing space, but changes it from a very long X axis and very short Y axis to a balanced X and Y axis, which seems like it would be a little more ergonomic. You can't compare it to a single 27" monitor because that's not its competition... multiple smaller monitors is what a 39" would replace.
My concern with a screen that size would be that the sides are that much further from you than the center. With multiple monitors, I can tilt them to maintain an optimal distance. With a monitor this large, you might be better off with one of those slightly curved LCDs they're starting to come out with,
In a world where companies rarely go all-in on something new, isn't partially better than the only other practical alternative of not at all? Besides, it's almost impossible to be 100% ethical in every single thing you do, as you'll quickly find your bottom line nickled and dimed away.
If it's anything like "conflict-free diamonds", it will find a pretty big niche among people who care more about feeling like they're helping and less about actually helping. For the most part, the only reliably conflict-free diamonds are lab created ones. Even Canadian diamonds have been traced as going back to pay African warlords.
These are the "conflict minerals" as described by Wikipedia:
Columbite-tantalite (coltan) - this is where tantalum comes from, which is used in compact and reliable capacitors across many industries, as well as a carbide in jet turbines, drills and other tools
Cassiterite - used to make tin, which is obviously used for tin cans and solder, as well as making fungicides, paints and PVC
Wolframite - used to make tungsten, used as a weight in a variety of applications, and as a carbide is used in similar applications to tantalum. Also has some limited use in electronics, such as cell phone vibrators
Gold - sees all sorts of usage in electronics and other applications in addition to its ancient usage as jewelry
Nope, they built entire new cities for the people to move into and relocated shrines brick by brick. Netflix has a documentary on it... really quite impressive.
Have you ever tried to educate a senior exec? Sure, there's a few good ones out there, but for the most part you may well try teaching a dead dog to fetch your slippers.
"Senior management" doesn't always equate to "paid millions". I work at a medium sized company, around 1000 employees, but of the 20 or so individuals that would qualify as "senior management", only two of them are "one-percenters", and neither of them is even close to a half million in salary. Sure, they're paid more than the rest of us but for most companies, the difference isn't nearly as vast as you seem to imagine it to be.
When refuting an argument talking about statistics, airplane crashes are probably one of the worst things to mention. Even then, you can be damned sure the industry learned a few lessons from it.
I forget which manufacturer it is, but they've begun to equip cars with IR sensors that can identify people, deer, etc at a much greater distance than the car's headlights penetrate. A computer could act on that information immediately, and act differently based on whether it's a cyclist or a deer, whether it's moving parallel, towards or away from the road and other variables, but the best you can relay to a human in that time span is "SOMETHING AHEAD!". Google is heading towards the 500,000 autonomous mile mark on public roads with zero accidents, and sensors and automotive AI are progressing at a rapid rate. This is shit that is already happening.
Tailgating, speeding, failure to signal, etc are all behaviors that the current generation of self-driving car can already account for using the same tactics that a sane human driver would use. Back in August 2012, Google's team announced that they had passed the 300,000 autonomous mile mark on public roads. Accident-free.
"When my accounting software gets it wrong, they eat the bill."
You may want to read the find print, depending on the software you use. Most of them say something along the lines of giving your free audit support but you're still liable for any fees/penalties owed. It's also not a liability thing that they offer, but an added feature to get you to buy their software.
Mass transit has much heavier regulations, or at least more reliable maintenance, than your average consumer-owned car. There's also the idiots out there who want to mod everything about their car. Wipe whatever embedded Linux is on it and install OS/2.
Personally, I see the real future of fully automated cars as meaning large segments of the population that currently own cars will no longer need to, and parking lots will shrink. You will schedule a car to pick you up and drop you off for your commute. While you're at work, other people will rent it to go do errands, so it won't be sitting in a parking lot all day. Not needing to own a car also means fewer people will need a garage (or the land it occupies now). It would be a chain reaction affecting all aspects of life.
"If the car has a software issue and crashes then the software developer is at fault. If the car has a hardware problem then the hardware developer is at fault. If the car has a mechanical failure then then mechanical engineer is at fault and so on."
"Fault" and "Liability" are not the same thing. You can be at fault without being liable, or liable without being at fault.
A machine equipped with the full range of sensors available today will probably be able to detect, decide and alert the passengers to the threat faster than the average human driver would be able to detect and react to the same threat in the majority of situations.
Cars should have a failsafe option when faced with a decision in dangerous circumstances. Something like "pull the fuck off the road without hitting shit then ask what to do". Sure, even a failsafe option can't account for everything, but it will probably still do a better job than your average human driver - alert or not.
If we always waited until 100% of the issues are ironed out, then we still wouldn't even be using fire. Personally, once machine drivers are statistically safer than human drivers, I'm all for adopting them as our vehicular overlords.
But then what's to keep the named reviewers from just using a pseudonym? Bob's Donut Emporium could log in as Leroy Notaperson and bash Big Joe's Donuts, Hair Care and Tire Center.
My biggest peeve is the idiots who have reviews like "Just got X Product, haven't opened it yet." or "I just ordered X Product. Can't wait for it to get here" or "I ordered a different product from a different company and it's great/horrible so this one is too!". And then they rate it with either the minimum or maximum value.
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A 39" widescreen (16:9) has an area of about 650 sq inches (~40in x ~19.12in). A 22" widescreen is about 207 sq inches (~19.2in x ~10.75in). I use three 22" widescreens at home, which is a pretty optimal setup, but I would gladly trade it for a single 39" because it gives you slightly more viewing space, but changes it from a very long X axis and very short Y axis to a balanced X and Y axis, which seems like it would be a little more ergonomic. You can't compare it to a single 27" monitor because that's not its competition... multiple smaller monitors is what a 39" would replace.
My concern with a screen that size would be that the sides are that much further from you than the center. With multiple monitors, I can tilt them to maintain an optimal distance. With a monitor this large, you might be better off with one of those slightly curved LCDs they're starting to come out with,
In a world where companies rarely go all-in on something new, isn't partially better than the only other practical alternative of not at all? Besides, it's almost impossible to be 100% ethical in every single thing you do, as you'll quickly find your bottom line nickled and dimed away.
If it's anything like "conflict-free diamonds", it will find a pretty big niche among people who care more about feeling like they're helping and less about actually helping. For the most part, the only reliably conflict-free diamonds are lab created ones. Even Canadian diamonds have been traced as going back to pay African warlords.
These are the "conflict minerals" as described by Wikipedia:
Columbite-tantalite (coltan) - this is where tantalum comes from, which is used in compact and reliable capacitors across many industries, as well as a carbide in jet turbines, drills and other tools
Cassiterite - used to make tin, which is obviously used for tin cans and solder, as well as making fungicides, paints and PVC
Wolframite - used to make tungsten, used as a weight in a variety of applications, and as a carbide is used in similar applications to tantalum. Also has some limited use in electronics, such as cell phone vibrators
Gold - sees all sorts of usage in electronics and other applications in addition to its ancient usage as jewelry
With stone buildings, this might be not so easy...
They moved London Bridge from London to Arizona. Stone by stone. Not as easy, but certainly not unprecedented.
"1,000 kilometers per second (2,236.936 miles per hour)"
Either kilometers are a lot shorter than I remember, or you got your periods and commas mixed up somewhere.
Nope, they built entire new cities for the people to move into and relocated shrines brick by brick. Netflix has a documentary on it... really quite impressive.
Ask the Chinese. They moved 1.3 million people, including several cities, to make way for the Three Gorges Dam.
Have you ever tried to educate a senior exec? Sure, there's a few good ones out there, but for the most part you may well try teaching a dead dog to fetch your slippers.
"Senior management" doesn't always equate to "paid millions". I work at a medium sized company, around 1000 employees, but of the 20 or so individuals that would qualify as "senior management", only two of them are "one-percenters", and neither of them is even close to a half million in salary. Sure, they're paid more than the rest of us but for most companies, the difference isn't nearly as vast as you seem to imagine it to be.
When refuting an argument talking about statistics, airplane crashes are probably one of the worst things to mention. Even then, you can be damned sure the industry learned a few lessons from it.
I forget which manufacturer it is, but they've begun to equip cars with IR sensors that can identify people, deer, etc at a much greater distance than the car's headlights penetrate. A computer could act on that information immediately, and act differently based on whether it's a cyclist or a deer, whether it's moving parallel, towards or away from the road and other variables, but the best you can relay to a human in that time span is "SOMETHING AHEAD!". Google is heading towards the 500,000 autonomous mile mark on public roads with zero accidents, and sensors and automotive AI are progressing at a rapid rate. This is shit that is already happening.
Tailgating, speeding, failure to signal, etc are all behaviors that the current generation of self-driving car can already account for using the same tactics that a sane human driver would use. Back in August 2012, Google's team announced that they had passed the 300,000 autonomous mile mark on public roads. Accident-free.
"When my accounting software gets it wrong, they eat the bill."
You may want to read the find print, depending on the software you use. Most of them say something along the lines of giving your free audit support but you're still liable for any fees/penalties owed. It's also not a liability thing that they offer, but an added feature to get you to buy their software.
"So why is non-mass transit any different?"
Mass transit has much heavier regulations, or at least more reliable maintenance, than your average consumer-owned car. There's also the idiots out there who want to mod everything about their car. Wipe whatever embedded Linux is on it and install OS/2.
Personally, I see the real future of fully automated cars as meaning large segments of the population that currently own cars will no longer need to, and parking lots will shrink. You will schedule a car to pick you up and drop you off for your commute. While you're at work, other people will rent it to go do errands, so it won't be sitting in a parking lot all day. Not needing to own a car also means fewer people will need a garage (or the land it occupies now). It would be a chain reaction affecting all aspects of life.
If your breaks break, does that mean they stay in one piece?
"If the car has a software issue and crashes then the software developer is at fault. If the car has a hardware problem then the hardware developer is at fault. If the car has a mechanical failure then then mechanical engineer is at fault and so on."
"Fault" and "Liability" are not the same thing. You can be at fault without being liable, or liable without being at fault.
Hell, current laws aren't appropriate for many current technologies.
A machine equipped with the full range of sensors available today will probably be able to detect, decide and alert the passengers to the threat faster than the average human driver would be able to detect and react to the same threat in the majority of situations.
Cars should have a failsafe option when faced with a decision in dangerous circumstances. Something like "pull the fuck off the road without hitting shit then ask what to do". Sure, even a failsafe option can't account for everything, but it will probably still do a better job than your average human driver - alert or not.
If we always waited until 100% of the issues are ironed out, then we still wouldn't even be using fire. Personally, once machine drivers are statistically safer than human drivers, I'm all for adopting them as our vehicular overlords.
...so said the Anonymous Coward
But then what's to keep the named reviewers from just using a pseudonym? Bob's Donut Emporium could log in as Leroy Notaperson and bash Big Joe's Donuts, Hair Care and Tire Center.
My biggest peeve is the idiots who have reviews like "Just got X Product, haven't opened it yet." or "I just ordered X Product. Can't wait for it to get here" or "I ordered a different product from a different company and it's great/horrible so this one is too!". And then they rate it with either the minimum or maximum value.
A few companies, at least in New York, have gotten in trouble for fake positive reviews.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/23/new-york-fake-online-reviews-yoghurt
"No company's terms of service can override the law"
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