You wonder if those ELF terrorists realize that an AM radio tower on a higher-powered station (more than 10 kW transmitting power) have a lot of electricity flowing through them, even on the guide wires. They're going to be in for a VERY unpleasant and deadly surprise if they tried to bring down such a tower.
A good analogy of this is comparing today's high-definition flat-panel televisions versus the color TV's of the 1960's with all its tube components in the interior of the TV. Today's latest flat panels run cooler, offer a VASTLY sharper and clearer picture in terms of resolution and color clarity, and generally do way more than that old TV. And inflation-adjusted, the new TV is actually quite a bargain, too; a top-of-the-line 25" (diagonal) color TV from 1968 cost around US$500, about US$3,061 in 2009 dollars. What can you buy for US$3,000 nowadays? How about Samsung's UN55B7000 55" LCD panel with LED backlighting, a flat-panel TV with AMAZING picture quality, especially if you watch playback from a Blu-ray disc. That TV is good reason why a lot of people have less interest in watching sporting events in person.:-)
Indeed, that's what makes the Apple iPod models with its click wheel interface such a hugely successful product. Note that by keeping the controls simple, it won't take long to master the features of this portable media player.
If you think this is bad, just wait until the Google Chrome OS, where a large fraction of things done online are tied to the online services Google provides. This is control that would make Microsoft including Internet Explorer in Windows seem like a minor event in comparison.
Maybe FOSS should stop being like PETA and, instead, tell people why it's *good* to use FOSS. Why Linux is *better* than Windows, GiMP is *better* than Photoshop, OpenOffice is *better* than MS Office. And maybe people will listen. But if you insult their software and tell them to use something else, they won't be very open to the idea.
I think the FSF needs to stop sounding like PETA because frankly, few people take PETA's PR methods seriously because of the backlash against PETA. The FSF should be more emphasize what a good Linux distribution like Ubuntu Linux can do nowadays, not bash Microsoft Windows 7 without showing the advantages of a Linux alternative.
The problem with the FSF is that while Linux has successfully proven itself as a server operating system, it has yet to really prove itself on a large scale as a desktop operating system for everyone. Despite Canonical's efforts with Ubuntu Linux, Linux as a desktop operating system still has a tiny, tiny fraction of the desktop operating system market compared to Windows and MacOS X.
This is where a HUGE mistake was done by the judge in the US v. Microsoft case in the late 1990's, in my opinion--why didn't the judge insist on selling the hardware and the operating system as separate cost items? If they had done that, Linux could have gained a much larger marketshare because the per-seat license cost--even with a commercial distribution--would have been a fraction of what Microsoft would have charged for Windows even if Microsoft offered a corporate volume discount.
If you're running Windows XP/Vista, many users install a full Internet security suite program. Don't these programs override the browser security settings and use the malware list from the security program itself, a list that is usually automatically updated on a regular basis anytime you're connected to the Internet?
I'm running Norton Internet Security 2009 on my Windows Vista machine at home and this program imposes its own malware monitoring list into Internet Explorer 7.0/8.0 and Firefox 3.0 and 3.5.
It has also something to do with the very fact that the income tax system in the USA (Title 26, the Internal Revenue Code) is causing a lot of these problems because by definition income taxes causes a disincentive to increase personal savings and capital investment in the USA.
This is why a MASSIVE revamp of the taxation system(s) in the USA is WAY overdue. If we can change our taxation system so in effect that personal savings and capital investment are not subject to income tax, the incentive to offshore corporate headquarter, research and development and manufacturing operations out of the USA vanishes, and that means effectively zero unemployment and far higher economic growth.
What you just wrote is all the more reason to dump the 16th Amendment and get FairTax passed to replace our current income tax system.
I mean think about it: American citizens and businesses are participating in the cash-only underground economy to the tune of US$2 TRILLION and using tax loopholes to offshore out of the USA somewhere between US$12 and US$17 TRILLION--all in an effort to keep their assets out of the reach of the IRS. We're talking by most estimates somewhere between US$14 to US$19 TRILLION in liquidity lost out of the US financial system, an amount that if returned back to the USA under better tax circumstances would halt our recession in literally a blink of an eye.
Since FairTax has essentially no taxes on earning money, the incentive to hide assets out of the reach of the IRS vanishes. Indeed, not only will we see most of the amounts I mentioned come back to flow in the US financial system, but we'll also have several trillion more come in from foreign investors eager to put their money into what amounts to the world's largest legal tax haven.
What you wrote is the VERY reason we need to repeal the 16th Amendment and replace the entire Title 26 (the Internal Revenue Code) with the FairTax system.
Indeed, under FairTax, we would enjoy these advantages:
1) The personal savings and capital investment rate in the USA would rocket through the roof, since there are no taxes on savings account interest, corporate income, corporate payroll taxes and capital gains.
2) Americans would be more than willing to save up to buy big-ticket items in cash or with much small loan sizes, since they can afford to pay larger down payments.
3) The incentive disappears to "hide" liquid assets from the reach of the IRS. This means somewhere between US$14 to US$19 TRILLION in liquidity lost to participation in the underground economy and lost to offshore financial centers using tax loopholes will mostly return to the USA, providing what essentially is the world's largest "private bailout," something far larger than any Obama Administration bailout plan.
4) American companies--because of more more taxes on earning money--will drastically reduce the practice of offshoring corporate headquarter and manufacturing facilities outside the USA. The so-called Rust Belt stops being that as millions of manufacturing jobs return to the USA under far better tax circumstances.
5) We'll get a MASSIVE new infusion of foreign investment in the USA, since there are no more taxes on earning money. We could see Japanese and European companies expand operations here in the USA because we become effectively the world's largest legal tax haven.
So what is the Obama Administration waiting for, Godot?
The Economist has done reasonably well because it is a magazine that is read widely around the world by anyone who has a vested interest in economic matters--especially political leaders and anyone involved in multinational financial services industries.
However, Google Wave has many aspects which does require online access--especially the collaborative features. In short, despite a lot of offline features Wave is designed for situations where you can get "always on" broadband access fairly easily, whether through a cable, DSL or fiber connection or through a Wi-Fi connection.
Google Wave sounds like an interesting idea but the need for an always on broadband connection to make it work could be a problem in parts of the world where such connections aren't so readily available.
And the reason is simple: unknown compatibility with the higher-end Apple iPod players out there.
Because Apple's "Cocktail" project will probably be compatible with 3G/4G iPod nanos, 5G and later iPod classics, the iPhone and iPod touch, that means the vast majority of the portable music player market will support this format. The record companies can't ignore this--we're talking a HUGE market.
In fact, because nobody has yet started duplicating the retail, OEM or system vendor versions of Windows 7 final release for retail or OEM sale, it's very likely that Microsoft may "slipstream" in a fix before large-scale duplication of the Windows 7 installation DVD-ROM disc starts, probably in middle September 2009. This is why MIcrosoft right now is watching for any possible final showstopper bugs to show up now that the OEM's have a chance to look at essentially the complete version.
If Kepler does find a planet less than 100 light years away that is a rocky-crust planet with an atmospheric gas mix very close to that of Earth, it would be a HUGE breakthrough.
The reason is simple: it means we have found a planet that could just about support life as we know it--and it's possible that this discovered planet may have life that has evolved far beyond the microbial stage.
MOAB was designed as a ground-level explosive device to destroy targets over a large area. MOP, on the other hand, is designed with the same philosophy as Barnes Wallis' Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, though with modern GPS guidance for a circular error of probabilty under 30 feet and much deeper ground penetration than Grand Slam could ever achieve.
Barnes Wallis' Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs had one big problem: delivery accuracy. The somewhat poor aerodynamic shape of the bomb and the fact you had to rely on the accuracy of a visual bombsight meant the CEP for the Grand Slam was a several hundred feet even with the bomb dropped from 20,000 feet from modified Avro Lancaster bombers. The new MOP--which weighs some 8,000 lb more than even Grand Slam--is a far more effective at its task, since it relies on GPS satellite positioning like the JDAM bomb and because of its weight, can penetrate far deeper into the ground, which means the penetration effect and the "earthquake" effect from the deep-pentrating impact will far more likely destroy the target.
That's because Sony is still using the original PlayStation 3 design, which is proving to be pretty expensive to build.
The rumored PS3 Slimline model will likely be far less expensive to build, and may likely sport the same 1.8" 120 GB hard drive used on the current Apple iPod classic portable media player. I haven't heard when will Sony offer such a new machine, especially since the news from Chinese/Taiwanese assemblers and component manufacturers have not mentioned Sony placing any orders for the parts for such a new machine.
However, given that Chinese/Taiwanese companies will be involved in producing this "new" PlayStation 3, I've heard NOTHING from the assemblers or component manufacturers about Sony ordering parts or setting up assembly lines for the new model. In contrast, we know that Apple does have a tablet-like device on-tap because of several reports about Apple ordering circa 10" LCD panels for such a device.
If this new PS3 does exist, I expect it to use the same 1.8" 120 GB drive used on the current Apple iPod classic to keep the new PS2 as small as possible. Expect the device to be fully BD-Live compliant "out of the box" and may even offer NetFlix streaming (if Sony can reach a deal with NetFlix).
...I still think Sony is working on a new PS3 model with far more integrated chipsets to cut the cost even further.
With more integrated chipsets, the circuit board production cost goes down dramatically, and if properly engineered it may even run cooler than the original. This could result in a PS3 Slimline like what Sony did with the PlayStation 2 hardware redesign.
While technically the Xbox 360 is a great console, the big problem with this console is the hardware leaves something to be desired in terms of noise and hardware reliability.
I'm hoping that within the next two years Microsoft will do a "hardware refresh" on the Xbox 360 with a new model that uses improved chip technology to lower the running temperature (hence less need for noisy cooling fans and to improve circuit board reliability) and to possibly offer Blu-ray disc support (especially now that Blu-ray technology licensing needs only one lower cost license, not multiple licenses like in the past).
I'd almost say that but Windows 7 has a number of quite significant changes that make it beyond just a Service Pack. You can see small but very significant interface changes and there are a lot of changes "under the hood" to improve overall performance.
It's more like the leap from MacOS X 10.5 to 10.6, where there are some small (but significant) interface changes and a LOT of changes "under the hood."
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You wonder if those ELF terrorists realize that an AM radio tower on a higher-powered station (more than 10 kW transmitting power) have a lot of electricity flowing through them, even on the guide wires. They're going to be in for a VERY unpleasant and deadly surprise if they tried to bring down such a tower.
A good analogy of this is comparing today's high-definition flat-panel televisions versus the color TV's of the 1960's with all its tube components in the interior of the TV. Today's latest flat panels run cooler, offer a VASTLY sharper and clearer picture in terms of resolution and color clarity, and generally do way more than that old TV. And inflation-adjusted, the new TV is actually quite a bargain, too; a top-of-the-line 25" (diagonal) color TV from 1968 cost around US$500, about US$3,061 in 2009 dollars. What can you buy for US$3,000 nowadays? How about Samsung's UN55B7000 55" LCD panel with LED backlighting, a flat-panel TV with AMAZING picture quality, especially if you watch playback from a Blu-ray disc. That TV is good reason why a lot of people have less interest in watching sporting events in person. :-)
Indeed, that's what makes the Apple iPod models with its click wheel interface such a hugely successful product. Note that by keeping the controls simple, it won't take long to master the features of this portable media player.
If you think this is bad, just wait until the Google Chrome OS, where a large fraction of things done online are tied to the online services Google provides. This is control that would make Microsoft including Internet Explorer in Windows seem like a minor event in comparison.
Maybe FOSS should stop being like PETA and, instead, tell people why it's *good* to use FOSS. Why Linux is *better* than Windows, GiMP is *better* than Photoshop, OpenOffice is *better* than MS Office. And maybe people will listen. But if you insult their software and tell them to use something else, they won't be very open to the idea.
I think the FSF needs to stop sounding like PETA because frankly, few people take PETA's PR methods seriously because of the backlash against PETA. The FSF should be more emphasize what a good Linux distribution like Ubuntu Linux can do nowadays, not bash Microsoft Windows 7 without showing the advantages of a Linux alternative.
The problem with the FSF is that while Linux has successfully proven itself as a server operating system, it has yet to really prove itself on a large scale as a desktop operating system for everyone. Despite Canonical's efforts with Ubuntu Linux, Linux as a desktop operating system still has a tiny, tiny fraction of the desktop operating system market compared to Windows and MacOS X.
This is where a HUGE mistake was done by the judge in the US v. Microsoft case in the late 1990's, in my opinion--why didn't the judge insist on selling the hardware and the operating system as separate cost items? If they had done that, Linux could have gained a much larger marketshare because the per-seat license cost--even with a commercial distribution--would have been a fraction of what Microsoft would have charged for Windows even if Microsoft offered a corporate volume discount.
If you're running Windows XP/Vista, many users install a full Internet security suite program. Don't these programs override the browser security settings and use the malware list from the security program itself, a list that is usually automatically updated on a regular basis anytime you're connected to the Internet?
I'm running Norton Internet Security 2009 on my Windows Vista machine at home and this program imposes its own malware monitoring list into Internet Explorer 7.0/8.0 and Firefox 3.0 and 3.5.
Correction: #4 should say "...because of no more taxes on earning money..."
It has also something to do with the very fact that the income tax system in the USA (Title 26, the Internal Revenue Code) is causing a lot of these problems because by definition income taxes causes a disincentive to increase personal savings and capital investment in the USA.
This is why a MASSIVE revamp of the taxation system(s) in the USA is WAY overdue. If we can change our taxation system so in effect that personal savings and capital investment are not subject to income tax, the incentive to offshore corporate headquarter, research and development and manufacturing operations out of the USA vanishes, and that means effectively zero unemployment and far higher economic growth.
What you just wrote is all the more reason to dump the 16th Amendment and get FairTax passed to replace our current income tax system.
I mean think about it: American citizens and businesses are participating in the cash-only underground economy to the tune of US$2 TRILLION and using tax loopholes to offshore out of the USA somewhere between US$12 and US$17 TRILLION--all in an effort to keep their assets out of the reach of the IRS. We're talking by most estimates somewhere between US$14 to US$19 TRILLION in liquidity lost out of the US financial system, an amount that if returned back to the USA under better tax circumstances would halt our recession in literally a blink of an eye.
Since FairTax has essentially no taxes on earning money, the incentive to hide assets out of the reach of the IRS vanishes. Indeed, not only will we see most of the amounts I mentioned come back to flow in the US financial system, but we'll also have several trillion more come in from foreign investors eager to put their money into what amounts to the world's largest legal tax haven.
What you wrote is the VERY reason we need to repeal the 16th Amendment and replace the entire Title 26 (the Internal Revenue Code) with the FairTax system.
Indeed, under FairTax, we would enjoy these advantages:
1) The personal savings and capital investment rate in the USA would rocket through the roof, since there are no taxes on savings account interest, corporate income, corporate payroll taxes and capital gains.
2) Americans would be more than willing to save up to buy big-ticket items in cash or with much small loan sizes, since they can afford to pay larger down payments.
3) The incentive disappears to "hide" liquid assets from the reach of the IRS. This means somewhere between US$14 to US$19 TRILLION in liquidity lost to participation in the underground economy and lost to offshore financial centers using tax loopholes will mostly return to the USA, providing what essentially is the world's largest "private bailout," something far larger than any Obama Administration bailout plan.
4) American companies--because of more more taxes on earning money--will drastically reduce the practice of offshoring corporate headquarter and manufacturing facilities outside the USA. The so-called Rust Belt stops being that as millions of manufacturing jobs return to the USA under far better tax circumstances.
5) We'll get a MASSIVE new infusion of foreign investment in the USA, since there are no more taxes on earning money. We could see Japanese and European companies expand operations here in the USA because we become effectively the world's largest legal tax haven.
So what is the Obama Administration waiting for, Godot?
The Economist has done reasonably well because it is a magazine that is read widely around the world by anyone who has a vested interest in economic matters--especially political leaders and anyone involved in multinational financial services industries.
However, Google Wave has many aspects which does require online access--especially the collaborative features. In short, despite a lot of offline features Wave is designed for situations where you can get "always on" broadband access fairly easily, whether through a cable, DSL or fiber connection or through a Wi-Fi connection.
Google Wave sounds like an interesting idea but the need for an always on broadband connection to make it work could be a problem in parts of the world where such connections aren't so readily available.
And the reason is simple: unknown compatibility with the higher-end Apple iPod players out there.
Because Apple's "Cocktail" project will probably be compatible with 3G/4G iPod nanos, 5G and later iPod classics, the iPhone and iPod touch, that means the vast majority of the portable music player market will support this format. The record companies can't ignore this--we're talking a HUGE market.
I agree! In fact, the person who created the most famous version of the BSD Daemon logo was none other than Pixar's John Lasseter.
In fact, because nobody has yet started duplicating the retail, OEM or system vendor versions of Windows 7 final release for retail or OEM sale, it's very likely that Microsoft may "slipstream" in a fix before large-scale duplication of the Windows 7 installation DVD-ROM disc starts, probably in middle September 2009. This is why MIcrosoft right now is watching for any possible final showstopper bugs to show up now that the OEM's have a chance to look at essentially the complete version.
If Kepler does find a planet less than 100 light years away that is a rocky-crust planet with an atmospheric gas mix very close to that of Earth, it would be a HUGE breakthrough.
The reason is simple: it means we have found a planet that could just about support life as we know it--and it's possible that this discovered planet may have life that has evolved far beyond the microbial stage.
MOAB was designed as a ground-level explosive device to destroy targets over a large area. MOP, on the other hand, is designed with the same philosophy as Barnes Wallis' Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, though with modern GPS guidance for a circular error of probabilty under 30 feet and much deeper ground penetration than Grand Slam could ever achieve.
Barnes Wallis' Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs had one big problem: delivery accuracy. The somewhat poor aerodynamic shape of the bomb and the fact you had to rely on the accuracy of a visual bombsight meant the CEP for the Grand Slam was a several hundred feet even with the bomb dropped from 20,000 feet from modified Avro Lancaster bombers. The new MOP--which weighs some 8,000 lb more than even Grand Slam--is a far more effective at its task, since it relies on GPS satellite positioning like the JDAM bomb and because of its weight, can penetrate far deeper into the ground, which means the penetration effect and the "earthquake" effect from the deep-pentrating impact will far more likely destroy the target.
That's because Sony is still using the original PlayStation 3 design, which is proving to be pretty expensive to build.
The rumored PS3 Slimline model will likely be far less expensive to build, and may likely sport the same 1.8" 120 GB hard drive used on the current Apple iPod classic portable media player. I haven't heard when will Sony offer such a new machine, especially since the news from Chinese/Taiwanese assemblers and component manufacturers have not mentioned Sony placing any orders for the parts for such a new machine.
However, given that Chinese/Taiwanese companies will be involved in producing this "new" PlayStation 3, I've heard NOTHING from the assemblers or component manufacturers about Sony ordering parts or setting up assembly lines for the new model. In contrast, we know that Apple does have a tablet-like device on-tap because of several reports about Apple ordering circa 10" LCD panels for such a device.
If this new PS3 does exist, I expect it to use the same 1.8" 120 GB drive used on the current Apple iPod classic to keep the new PS2 as small as possible. Expect the device to be fully BD-Live compliant "out of the box" and may even offer NetFlix streaming (if Sony can reach a deal with NetFlix).
...I still think Sony is working on a new PS3 model with far more integrated chipsets to cut the cost even further.
With more integrated chipsets, the circuit board production cost goes down dramatically, and if properly engineered it may even run cooler than the original. This could result in a PS3 Slimline like what Sony did with the PlayStation 2 hardware redesign.
While technically the Xbox 360 is a great console, the big problem with this console is the hardware leaves something to be desired in terms of noise and hardware reliability.
I'm hoping that within the next two years Microsoft will do a "hardware refresh" on the Xbox 360 with a new model that uses improved chip technology to lower the running temperature (hence less need for noisy cooling fans and to improve circuit board reliability) and to possibly offer Blu-ray disc support (especially now that Blu-ray technology licensing needs only one lower cost license, not multiple licenses like in the past).
I'd almost say that but Windows 7 has a number of quite significant changes that make it beyond just a Service Pack. You can see small but very significant interface changes and there are a lot of changes "under the hood" to improve overall performance.
It's more like the leap from MacOS X 10.5 to 10.6, where there are some small (but significant) interface changes and a LOT of changes "under the hood."