....I'll buy it in no time flat, even if it costs US$2,200.:-) But we really don't need that many tuners built into the box--maybe three to four at most.
You have to wonder if Sony is using licensed TiVo technology for this box.
Actually, if you want to home-build a decent gaming computer, you really don't need the fastest in everything out there.
For reasonably fast, you want the following at minimum:
1. A good quality case with at least a 400-watt power supply that supports the type of power connectors found on Pentium 4 motherboards.
2. A good motherboard that supports an Athlon XP 2600+ CPU or Pentium 4 2.4 GHz CPU with reasonably fast DDR-SDRAM.
3. 1 GB of system RAM.
4. Support for ATA-100/133 IDE hard drives.
5. A 7200 RPM hard drive with 2 to 8 MB of buffer RAM at least 60 GB in capacity that uses the ATA-100/133 interface.
6. A reasonably decent sound card (the majority of gamers probably don't need surround sound).
7. An ATI Radeon 9600 (or equivalent card) or a graphics card that uses the nVidia GeForce FX 5700 chipset.
8. A decent keyboard and good mouse pointer for gaming.
In my humble opinion, the biggest issue for reasonably fast games is the amount of RAM in your system. If you have 1 GB installed that means the system can load a LOT more of the game code into memory, and that means the game will run reasonably fast.
I'm actually a little disappointed that the Boeing Connexion system is a Wi-Fi wireless connection.
Given that most modern laptops have RJ45 connectors for hardwired Ethernet connections, I was hoping that the Lufthansa planes will use RJ45 connectors for the Connexion setup--maybe offer a 1-2 feet long Category 5 cable.
Actually, for many years the standard for black and white TV in Europe was a 405-line system, especially in the UK. Alas, I don't think you can play 405-line b/w video on a standard 625-line PAL TV unless there were special modifications for a compatibility mode.
You know, one thing that intrigued me is why did Europe split into the PAL and SECAM camps for color TV standard? Given the birth of what was then called the European Economic Community (today's European Union) they should have settled on a single 625-line/50 fields per second standard by 1970.
1. We adopted baseball because it was the first professional sports league in the USA.
2. American football evolved because people got tired of the numerous injuries caused by rugby and the colleges changed the game to be less dangerous to players.
3. We adopted the 8.5" x 11" letter format long before the A4 paper format was standardized. Mind you, today's printers and word processing programs can handle the A4 format with no problems.:-)
4. NTSC color was adopted due to the need to be backward-compatible with black and white TV sets in the 1950's. The Europeans never considered black and white compatibility with older sets when PAL and SECAM color was developed in the 1960's.
You will need an operating system that supports more or less symmetrical multiprocessing for really take advantage of the new Intel CPU's.
That means you need at least Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional on the Windows side or the more recent Linux commercial distributions to fully take advantage of the chip.
If I remember correctly, just over a year ago I read on/. about a small box lightly larger than a standard briefcase that could unfolded into an antenna that transmits data via the Internet through a satellite link at a data rate of around 1.5 megabits per second. This would make it possible to send far better quality video than what we get with the videophones used by CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel. It also means we can transmit high-quality digital still images that way, too.
The ability to use digital cameras and the Internet to send pictures quickly around the world is actually kind of old news. Once digital still cameras became reasonably portable and affordable (this was by the middle 1990's) many photojournalists have been sending their pictures in all-digital format. I believe the first time this happened was during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA.
This idea is NOT a joke--a recent issue of Popular Mechanics talked about such an idea, one that could make it possible for a high-flying UAV such as the Global Hawk to fly 10-20 times the endurance it has now.
...How about a script to work with any Papa Murphy's store? They make way better pizzas than Papa John's, though you do have to bakethe Papa Murphy's pizza yourself.... (shrug)
I really don't need an illuminated keyboard. What I DO want is a keyboard that is comfortable to type in for long periods of time, like the Microsoft Natural Elite keyboard I'm using how.:-)
Nice try, but I would NOT allow the use of pencils in filling out the blank spots. That's because you can have a situation where the pencil mark may not be dark enough to read for both machine and hand counts.
Now, fill in the blank with a small black ink stamp marker (where the mark on the ballot is unambigious) is something else altogether.
I actually liked the Scantron-sheet "fill in the blank" method used in many counties in California during the March 2004 primary election, but if they can improve it so you fill in the blank with a small black ink stamp that makes an unambigious mark on the ballot sheet then I'm all for it. This will allow for paper ballots that are easily readable by machine and hand counts.
After reading from a small sidebar article in the November 2003 issue of Popular Science magazine, it appears that the best method is something akin to the Scantron sheets used on the SAT and ACT college-entrance exams.
Remember the controversial ballot punch card machines? Well, instead of punching holes in a ballot it allows a small space for you to put a small ink stamp mark on the ballot at certain point. I emphasize the use of an black ink stamp mark because it makes it very unambigious what you chose for your ballot selection.
The result is a ballot sheet with clearly-readable ink marks, something that will allow for both machine and hand counts with no worries about things like hanging and dimpled chads.:-)
I remember reading in the November 2003 issue of Popular Science that the best solution so far is something akin to a Scantron sheet--you need some sort of marker (pencil, pen, ink stamp, etc.) to fill in spaces on the voting ballot.
Such a ballot has the advantages of 1) a full paper trail of the ballot and 2) the ability to easily do both machine and hand counts on a stack of ballots. That way, we don't have to worry about "hanging chads" or "dimpleed chads," the big issues with punch card ballots.
A few facts that could likely place Atlantis at Santorini today:
1. It's very likely that Solon got the date wrong on the final fall of Atlantis. If what Solon heard in Egypt said that Atlantis fell 900 years instead of 9,000 years before Solon's time, it would closely match the time that Santorini's volcano erupted in an extremely spectacular fashion, caused the island to collapse into the sea, and triggered off a major tsunami that wiped out the north coast of what is now Crete, especially since there are no islands in the way between Santorini and Crete.
2. We now know that Santorini had a very advanced civilization--probably the same civilization on Crete (there was sea trade between the two islands). The archeological finds on Santorini are very similar to what was found at Knossos on Crete.
3. The fall of the Minoan civilization due to this catastrophe very likely caused major political turmoil on the Greek mainland and probably Asia Minor, and this may have eventually led to the Trojan War.
Let's face it folks: the cancellation of Andromeda and Mutant X is due to the fact these shows aren't exactly cheap to produce on a per-episode basis.
Indeed, why do you think that there are increasing less and less one-hour drama shows on TV? Such shows can cost into the millions on a per episode basis, even more for sciene-fiction oriented shows like Firefly.
And sitcom comedy shows are suffering the same fate, too. With actors and actresses demending top dollar salaries on a per episode basis, small wonder why sitcom comedy shows are suffering, especially with the end of Friends and Frazier on NBC next month.
This has resulted in an explosion of reality shows on TV in the last few years. What makes reality shows so attractive to network executives is the fact they are VERY cheap to produce, so if the show becomes a major hit (e.g., The Apprentice and American Idol), the networks make a huge profit out of the show.
The late Paddy Chayefsky (who wrote the script for the movie Network back in 1976) would be absolutely stunned at the fact even his vision of a depraved TV network is nothing compared to what is now on TV in 2004.
The real way forward is to get out of the atmosphere, i.e. sub-orbital, and that is where development seems to be concentrated, with dual-mode engines that breathe air on takeoff and landing.
I have to disagree here!
The problem with suborbital flight is that you're talking about a vehicle that will be travelling at over Mach 5. Even at very high altitudes (over 200,000 feet for sub-orbital flight path), the thermal heating will be far more severe than what you get with the Concorde, as we've seen from X-15 test flights and the Space Shuttle returning through the atmosphere. You'll need very expensive heat protection systems, which of course will cut down on usable revenue-generating payload.
That's why my Mach 1.7 SST proposal makes more sense, given that 1) heat protection is less of an issue and 2) you don't need to run a jet engine at full afterburner at cruising speeds. The variable-cycle engine that GE developed for the Advanced Technology Fighter (ATF) program of the early 1990's could be scaled up so we can have a jet engine that will run like a high-bypass turbofan on takeoff and landing to keep the noise down and run like a high-performance supercruising engine during supersonic flight. And since we're limiting ourselves to Mach 1.7 flight, it also means less time running on afterburner, which saves a LOT of fuel.
By the way, it is technologically feasible to reduce exhaust emissions from a jet engine. GE's annular combustor used on some variants of the CFM56 engine drastically reduces exhaust emissions, especially the critical oxides of nitrogen emissions that can deplete high-altitude ozone. When NASA did their SST studies with Boeing back in the 1990's, one of the major considerations was an engine design that would minimize the spewing of nitrogen oxide exhausts into the atmosphere during supersonic flight.
Secondly the choice of a Mach 2.0 operating regime was made with heat reasons being high up the list - a cruise at M2.0 while hot is much less hot than the M3.0 that was envisaged for the American SST which would have required special materials almost throughout. M2.0 enabled Concorde to be substantially built with materials of the day with more exotic materials being reserved for the very high temperature areas.
However, at Mach 2.0 the Concorde literally stretches several inches from thermal heating, and it's also the very limit of the use of aluminum alloys for the plane for structural integrity reasons. By dropping the top speed to Mach 1.7 my suggested SST design can get by with materials with lower temperature tolerences, and in fact may even make it possible to extensively use carbon fiber and epoxy composite materials as structural elements, which really reduce the weight of the plane for lower fuel burn.
Also, when NASA and Boeing did their High-Speed Civil Transport research program in the 1990's one of the things they developed in association with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney was jet engine technology that would operate in one mode during takeoff and landing to keep the noise down and another mode during supersonic cruise for maximum engine performance. They essentially scaled up the engine research that was done for the Advanced Technology Fighter competition of the early 1990's.
1. The plane's Olympus 593 engines were serious fuel guzzlers and made a tremendous amount of noise on takeoff, especially with the afterburner (known as reheat in Europe) running. Also, they definitely don't meet today's standards for jet engine exhaust emissions, either.
2. The plane's range limited itself to flying between New York City and London/Paris--and even then the plane require priority handling by air traffic control during its flight.
3. The plane's carrying capacity was too low for its size.
4. The plane--because it had to fly at Mach 2-plus--needed very careful design for heat-dissipation reasons.
I think for tomorrow's SST's, the technologies now available will do the following:
1. By carefully shaping the entire plane, this drastically reduces the pressure wave buildup that causes the sonic boom in the first place. By limiting the top speed to around Mach 1.7 when the plane flies at altitude the sonic boom may be barely audiable or not audiable at all.
2. The use of modern aerospace materials means the plane can be quite a bit lighter, which means you can consider larger passenger and/or cargo loads. Also, because the plane is limited to Mach 1.7 top speed there is less pressing need for heat-resistant external surfaces.
3. Jet engine technology improvements since the 1960's will allow for SST jet engines that are very quiet on takeoff and landing (meeting even the upcoming ICAO Stage IV noise standards), yet operate efficiently at supersonic cruise. Also, improved combustor designs will drastically reduce the exhaust emissions that plagued the Olympus 593 engine. Because the top speed is only Mach 1.7, it may be possible to apply the supercruise jet engine technology used on the F-22 Raptor's jet engines, which means less need for afterburner (reheat) operation and lower fuel burn.
In short, we are very close to developing a Mach 1.7 SST seating 200-250 passengers that could fly over 6,300 nautical miles, be very quiet on takeoff and landing, not be an environmental hazard from jet exhaust and have sonic boom that is almost non-existent. Imagine being able to fly from San Francisco to London at Mach 1.7--we may be talking about cutting nearly 40% the flight time compared to a Boeing 747! =)
Re:Bad Science
on
A New Ice Age?
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I think the global warming crowd is forgetting one thing: the biggest determinant of the climate on Earth is caused by this thermonuclear fireball about 93,000,000 miles away called the Sun.
Since the 1600's when telescopes became widely available, scientists have actually plotted the level of sunspot activity. They noted that between the 17th and 18th Centuries there was a long period of NO sunspot activity, and that corresponded in a mini Ice Age period where temperatures in Europe were quite a bit lower than normal and the Thames River going through London regularly froze over during the winter.
Indeed, I think Earth is returning to a period of warmer weather akin to what it was like before the dinosaurs died out about 65,000,000 years ago.
Indeed, why become a slave to the idiot box most of the time when you can instead have the truly interactive Internet coming to you at very fast speeds when you have broadband?
What is happening nowadays is that with the proliferation especially of pre-recorded videos of movies and (ironically) TV shows on DVD people are watching a lot less TV then they used to be. And viewers are much more discriminating on what they do watch.
If you're read Alvin Toffler's prophetic book The Third Wave he predicted that as communications technology improves the audience for television will severely fragment; with today's broadband Internet, 60-plus channel cable TV systems, 200-plus channel satellite TV systems, and modern means to store prerecorded videos on videocassette and DVD, no wonder why people aren't slaves to TV schedules anymore.
Thanks for the correction. I based my information based on the articles in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, which tend to often times be obselete by the time it hits the newsstands.
But the 802.16 and 802.20 standards will likely be the ones that will finally bring broadband all over the USA, because it's way cheaper to string up wireless tranceiver towers than to literally do the last mile connection to the residence/business site, especially in rural areas. People forget that unlike in Europe, Japan, Korea, and some other countries, putting up broadband in the USA is very expensive due to the sheer size of the country and the frequently low population density in much of the USA.
Why do I keep on thinking that the 802.16a extension to WiMax wireless networking will allocated that 50 MHz allocation in the 3.6 GHz range?
(For those who don't know, 802.16a is the standard that allows wireless broadband Internet even if you're in a moving vehicle up to 250 km/h or 155 mph; that means you can have wireless broadband Internet even in a moving car or a fast-moving train if you're in the range of the antenna.)
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....I'll buy it in no time flat, even if it costs US$2,200. :-) But we really don't need that many tuners built into the box--maybe three to four at most.
You have to wonder if Sony is using licensed TiVo technology for this box.
Actually, if you want to home-build a decent gaming computer, you really don't need the fastest in everything out there.
For reasonably fast, you want the following at minimum:
1. A good quality case with at least a 400-watt power supply that supports the type of power connectors found on Pentium 4 motherboards.
2. A good motherboard that supports an Athlon XP 2600+ CPU or Pentium 4 2.4 GHz CPU with reasonably fast DDR-SDRAM.
3. 1 GB of system RAM.
4. Support for ATA-100/133 IDE hard drives.
5. A 7200 RPM hard drive with 2 to 8 MB of buffer RAM at least 60 GB in capacity that uses the ATA-100/133 interface.
6. A reasonably decent sound card (the majority of gamers probably don't need surround sound).
7. An ATI Radeon 9600 (or equivalent card) or a graphics card that uses the nVidia GeForce FX 5700 chipset.
8. A decent keyboard and good mouse pointer for gaming.
In my humble opinion, the biggest issue for reasonably fast games is the amount of RAM in your system. If you have 1 GB installed that means the system can load a LOT more of the game code into memory, and that means the game will run reasonably fast.
I'm actually a little disappointed that the Boeing Connexion system is a Wi-Fi wireless connection.
Given that most modern laptops have RJ45 connectors for hardwired Ethernet connections, I was hoping that the Lufthansa planes will use RJ45 connectors for the Connexion setup--maybe offer a 1-2 feet long Category 5 cable.
Actually, for many years the standard for black and white TV in Europe was a 405-line system, especially in the UK. Alas, I don't think you can play 405-line b/w video on a standard 625-line PAL TV unless there were special modifications for a compatibility mode.
You know, one thing that intrigued me is why did Europe split into the PAL and SECAM camps for color TV standard? Given the birth of what was then called the European Economic Community (today's European Union) they should have settled on a single 625-line/50 fields per second standard by 1970.
I actually agree with your comment. :-) Mind you, Apple hardware is a bit on the expensive side, though. :-(
But Linux has to be easy to use when you attach multimedia hardware. That's why my original suggestion makes a lot of sense.
Some comments:
:-)
1. We adopted baseball because it was the first professional sports league in the USA.
2. American football evolved because people got tired of the numerous injuries caused by rugby and the colleges changed the game to be less dangerous to players.
3. We adopted the 8.5" x 11" letter format long before the A4 paper format was standardized. Mind you, today's printers and word processing programs can handle the A4 format with no problems.
4. NTSC color was adopted due to the need to be backward-compatible with black and white TV sets in the 1950's. The Europeans never considered black and white compatibility with older sets when PAL and SECAM color was developed in the 1960's.
You will need an operating system that supports more or less symmetrical multiprocessing for really take advantage of the new Intel CPU's.
That means you need at least Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional on the Windows side or the more recent Linux commercial distributions to fully take advantage of the chip.
If I remember correctly, just over a year ago I read on /. about a small box lightly larger than a standard briefcase that could unfolded into an antenna that transmits data via the Internet through a satellite link at a data rate of around 1.5 megabits per second. This would make it possible to send far better quality video than what we get with the videophones used by CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel. It also means we can transmit high-quality digital still images that way, too.
Folks,
The ability to use digital cameras and the Internet to send pictures quickly around the world is actually kind of old news. Once digital still cameras became reasonably portable and affordable (this was by the middle 1990's) many photojournalists have been sending their pictures in all-digital format. I believe the first time this happened was during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA.
This idea is NOT a joke--a recent issue of Popular Mechanics talked about such an idea, one that could make it possible for a high-flying UAV such as the Global Hawk to fly 10-20 times the endurance it has now.
...How about a script to work with any Papa Murphy's store? They make way better pizzas than Papa John's, though you do have to bakethe Papa Murphy's pizza yourself.... (shrug)
I really don't need an illuminated keyboard. What I DO want is a keyboard that is comfortable to type in for long periods of time, like the Microsoft Natural Elite keyboard I'm using how. :-)
Nice try, but I would NOT allow the use of pencils in filling out the blank spots. That's because you can have a situation where the pencil mark may not be dark enough to read for both machine and hand counts.
Now, fill in the blank with a small black ink stamp marker (where the mark on the ballot is unambigious) is something else altogether.
I actually liked the Scantron-sheet "fill in the blank" method used in many counties in California during the March 2004 primary election, but if they can improve it so you fill in the blank with a small black ink stamp that makes an unambigious mark on the ballot sheet then I'm all for it. This will allow for paper ballots that are easily readable by machine and hand counts.
After reading from a small sidebar article in the November 2003 issue of Popular Science magazine, it appears that the best method is something akin to the Scantron sheets used on the SAT and ACT college-entrance exams.
:-)
Remember the controversial ballot punch card machines? Well, instead of punching holes in a ballot it allows a small space for you to put a small ink stamp mark on the ballot at certain point. I emphasize the use of an black ink stamp mark because it makes it very unambigious what you chose for your ballot selection.
The result is a ballot sheet with clearly-readable ink marks, something that will allow for both machine and hand counts with no worries about things like hanging and dimpled chads.
I remember reading in the November 2003 issue of Popular Science that the best solution so far is something akin to a Scantron sheet--you need some sort of marker (pencil, pen, ink stamp, etc.) to fill in spaces on the voting ballot.
Such a ballot has the advantages of 1) a full paper trail of the ballot and 2) the ability to easily do both machine and hand counts on a stack of ballots. That way, we don't have to worry about "hanging chads" or "dimpleed chads," the big issues with punch card ballots.
A few facts that could likely place Atlantis at Santorini today:
1. It's very likely that Solon got the date wrong on the final fall of Atlantis. If what Solon heard in Egypt said that Atlantis fell 900 years instead of 9,000 years before Solon's time, it would closely match the time that Santorini's volcano erupted in an extremely spectacular fashion, caused the island to collapse into the sea, and triggered off a major tsunami that wiped out the north coast of what is now Crete, especially since there are no islands in the way between Santorini and Crete.
2. We now know that Santorini had a very advanced civilization--probably the same civilization on Crete (there was sea trade between the two islands). The archeological finds on Santorini are very similar to what was found at Knossos on Crete.
3. The fall of the Minoan civilization due to this catastrophe very likely caused major political turmoil on the Greek mainland and probably Asia Minor, and this may have eventually led to the Trojan War.
Let's face it folks: the cancellation of Andromeda and Mutant X is due to the fact these shows aren't exactly cheap to produce on a per-episode basis.
Indeed, why do you think that there are increasing less and less one-hour drama shows on TV? Such shows can cost into the millions on a per episode basis, even more for sciene-fiction oriented shows like Firefly.
And sitcom comedy shows are suffering the same fate, too. With actors and actresses demending top dollar salaries on a per episode basis, small wonder why sitcom comedy shows are suffering, especially with the end of Friends and Frazier on NBC next month.
This has resulted in an explosion of reality shows on TV in the last few years. What makes reality shows so attractive to network executives is the fact they are VERY cheap to produce, so if the show becomes a major hit (e.g., The Apprentice and American Idol), the networks make a huge profit out of the show.
The late Paddy Chayefsky (who wrote the script for the movie Network back in 1976) would be absolutely stunned at the fact even his vision of a depraved TV network is nothing compared to what is now on TV in 2004.
The real way forward is to get out of the atmosphere, i.e. sub-orbital, and that is where development seems to be concentrated, with dual-mode engines that breathe air on takeoff and landing.
I have to disagree here!
The problem with suborbital flight is that you're talking about a vehicle that will be travelling at over Mach 5. Even at very high altitudes (over 200,000 feet for sub-orbital flight path), the thermal heating will be far more severe than what you get with the Concorde, as we've seen from X-15 test flights and the Space Shuttle returning through the atmosphere. You'll need very expensive heat protection systems, which of course will cut down on usable revenue-generating payload.
That's why my Mach 1.7 SST proposal makes more sense, given that 1) heat protection is less of an issue and 2) you don't need to run a jet engine at full afterburner at cruising speeds. The variable-cycle engine that GE developed for the Advanced Technology Fighter (ATF) program of the early 1990's could be scaled up so we can have a jet engine that will run like a high-bypass turbofan on takeoff and landing to keep the noise down and run like a high-performance supercruising engine during supersonic flight. And since we're limiting ourselves to Mach 1.7 flight, it also means less time running on afterburner, which saves a LOT of fuel.
By the way, it is technologically feasible to reduce exhaust emissions from a jet engine. GE's annular combustor used on some variants of the CFM56 engine drastically reduces exhaust emissions, especially the critical oxides of nitrogen emissions that can deplete high-altitude ozone. When NASA did their SST studies with Boeing back in the 1990's, one of the major considerations was an engine design that would minimize the spewing of nitrogen oxide exhausts into the atmosphere during supersonic flight.
Secondly the choice of a Mach 2.0 operating regime was made with heat reasons being high up the list - a cruise at M2.0 while hot is much less hot than the M3.0 that was envisaged for the American SST which would have required special materials almost throughout. M2.0 enabled Concorde to be substantially built with materials of the day with more exotic materials being reserved for the very high temperature areas.
However, at Mach 2.0 the Concorde literally stretches several inches from thermal heating, and it's also the very limit of the use of aluminum alloys for the plane for structural integrity reasons. By dropping the top speed to Mach 1.7 my suggested SST design can get by with materials with lower temperature tolerences, and in fact may even make it possible to extensively use carbon fiber and epoxy composite materials as structural elements, which really reduce the weight of the plane for lower fuel burn.
Also, when NASA and Boeing did their High-Speed Civil Transport research program in the 1990's one of the things they developed in association with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney was jet engine technology that would operate in one mode during takeoff and landing to keep the noise down and another mode during supersonic cruise for maximum engine performance. They essentially scaled up the engine research that was done for the Advanced Technology Fighter competition of the early 1990's.
1. The plane's Olympus 593 engines were serious fuel guzzlers and made a tremendous amount of noise on takeoff, especially with the afterburner (known as reheat in Europe) running. Also, they definitely don't meet today's standards for jet engine exhaust emissions, either.
2. The plane's range limited itself to flying between New York City and London/Paris--and even then the plane require priority handling by air traffic control during its flight.
3. The plane's carrying capacity was too low for its size.
4. The plane--because it had to fly at Mach 2-plus--needed very careful design for heat-dissipation reasons.
I think for tomorrow's SST's, the technologies now available will do the following:
1. By carefully shaping the entire plane, this drastically reduces the pressure wave buildup that causes the sonic boom in the first place. By limiting the top speed to around Mach 1.7 when the plane flies at altitude the sonic boom may be barely audiable or not audiable at all.
2. The use of modern aerospace materials means the plane can be quite a bit lighter, which means you can consider larger passenger and/or cargo loads. Also, because the plane is limited to Mach 1.7 top speed there is less pressing need for heat-resistant external surfaces.
3. Jet engine technology improvements since the 1960's will allow for SST jet engines that are very quiet on takeoff and landing (meeting even the upcoming ICAO Stage IV noise standards), yet operate efficiently at supersonic cruise. Also, improved combustor designs will drastically reduce the exhaust emissions that plagued the Olympus 593 engine. Because the top speed is only Mach 1.7, it may be possible to apply the supercruise jet engine technology used on the F-22 Raptor's jet engines, which means less need for afterburner (reheat) operation and lower fuel burn.
In short, we are very close to developing a Mach 1.7 SST seating 200-250 passengers that could fly over 6,300 nautical miles, be very quiet on takeoff and landing, not be an environmental hazard from jet exhaust and have sonic boom that is almost non-existent. Imagine being able to fly from San Francisco to London at Mach 1.7--we may be talking about cutting nearly 40% the flight time compared to a Boeing 747! =)
I think the global warming crowd is forgetting one thing: the biggest determinant of the climate on Earth is caused by this thermonuclear fireball about 93,000,000 miles away called the Sun.
Since the 1600's when telescopes became widely available, scientists have actually plotted the level of sunspot activity. They noted that between the 17th and 18th Centuries there was a long period of NO sunspot activity, and that corresponded in a mini Ice Age period where temperatures in Europe were quite a bit lower than normal and the Thames River going through London regularly froze over during the winter.
Indeed, I think Earth is returning to a period of warmer weather akin to what it was like before the dinosaurs died out about 65,000,000 years ago.
Indeed, why become a slave to the idiot box most of the time when you can instead have the truly interactive Internet coming to you at very fast speeds when you have broadband?
What is happening nowadays is that with the proliferation especially of pre-recorded videos of movies and (ironically) TV shows on DVD people are watching a lot less TV then they used to be. And viewers are much more discriminating on what they do watch.
If you're read Alvin Toffler's prophetic book The Third Wave he predicted that as communications technology improves the audience for television will severely fragment; with today's broadband Internet, 60-plus channel cable TV systems, 200-plus channel satellite TV systems, and modern means to store prerecorded videos on videocassette and DVD, no wonder why people aren't slaves to TV schedules anymore.
Thanks for the correction. I based my information based on the articles in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, which tend to often times be obselete by the time it hits the newsstands.
But the 802.16 and 802.20 standards will likely be the ones that will finally bring broadband all over the USA, because it's way cheaper to string up wireless tranceiver towers than to literally do the last mile connection to the residence/business site, especially in rural areas. People forget that unlike in Europe, Japan, Korea, and some other countries, putting up broadband in the USA is very expensive due to the sheer size of the country and the frequently low population density in much of the USA.
Why do I keep on thinking that the 802.16a extension to WiMax wireless networking will allocated that 50 MHz allocation in the 3.6 GHz range?
(For those who don't know, 802.16a is the standard that allows wireless broadband Internet even if you're in a moving vehicle up to 250 km/h or 155 mph; that means you can have wireless broadband Internet even in a moving car or a fast-moving train if you're in the range of the antenna.)