You'd have to wonder how long it's going to take before we've tied up all available frequencies with garbage signals comming from remotes, wireless devices, radios, etc. All of the EM radiation could eventually pose a problem too, just as it seems to do for people living too close to high voltage power lines. As the world SLOWLY becomes more technologically savvy the number of devices like this will likely increase. So I guess we can all look forward to a bright future of having our hair standing on end every time we enter a building due to the wireless/cordless traffic.
Curious thought... since the human body puts off an EM field too, how long will it be before just having a person walk past a wireless/cordless device will cause it to do something strange?
Sorry for yet another Star Trek reference, but...
on
Antimatter Space Drive
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· Score: 4, Interesting
...it would seem to me that they have the right idea. They used a crystal of sorts(dilithium) to regulate the matter/antimatter reaction. Here's the reality check:
Since matter/antimatter reactions cause 2 gamma-frequency photons to be thrown off at right predictable angles to the impact vectors of the original matter and antimatter particles, an engine could be designed that ensured that one of the 2 photons always exited from the engine exhaust port to propel the ship. What of the other one? Position a crystal in the appropriate location to catch the second photon. Depending on the structure of the crystal, the result would either be mechanical (heat or vibration) or electrical energy which could be converted and/or stored as needed.
So M$ is balking about KMart trying to sell off some assets due to licensing issues. What does M$ expect to get out of it? KMart is out! I've got a solution, but if you feel the ground freeze under you, you'll know Hell froze over first. If M$ keeps KMart afloat, then they won't have to worry about their prescious license being broken.
In truth, all M$ has to do is sell the purchasing company a license for the software. I'm sure that would be far more cost effective than pulling out the gaggle of lawyers to stop the sale.
So now that RealNetworks has released some of the dna for their RealMedial product line, does that mean someone's gonna write code to infect it? That's just what we need. If email viruses weren't bad enough, now our PC's will start getting sick of playing music... literally!
So RealNetworks has released a portion of their code. The problem is that it's only a portion. That's not going to do much in the way of improving adoption of their audio format, especially considering the existance of MP3 and OGG formats, both of which offer much better quality.
I understand that the real issue is in the streaming media format, and sure, a few modifications to the code they have released will allow RealMedia streams on portable devices (can you imagine watching a news broadcast on your digital, internet-enabled, camera equiped cell phone?). However, if people don't like the license, or have difficulty understanding the code... or for that matter, have difficulty getting support in understanding the code, then all of this will turn out to be an excercise in futility for RealNetworks.
Even if the programmers were Americans, they would have no worry about the DCMA. The reason is simple. The DCMA protects encrypted content. WMA is simply a codec. As long as the group makes no attempts at breaking some kind of security encryption in WMA, then there's no concern. So I guess the next thing we can expect to see from M$ is a heavily encrypted version of the WMA format. However, I'd wager that people will not be likely to use such a version since encryption will undoubtedly put a hit on both performance and file size.
I'm inclined to agree with you, both about the benchmarks and the designs. The sad truth is that todays line of CISC processors waste too much time and power trying to figure out what to do well in advance of actually having to do it. Since the main job of these processors is to run some form of multitasking OS on a system that loves to throw interrupts, all of those pre-fetches get tossed to the wind all to frequently, especially when the user is like ma and loves running 16+ applications in a windowed environment (and that doesn't account for the services running!).
The solution? I don't really know but I have an idea. CISC is simply too bloated. RISC is good and fast, but incompatible with Windows (no big loss to me, but people will complain:-( ). How about PIRIS(Parallel Inernally Reduced Instruction Set)?
The idea is to make a single processor with a ridiculously wide internal bus (say 256 bit) that allows the processor to act as a set of subprocessors with varying bit widths as needed. Each subprocessor could be set aside by the controlling OS code to handle separate tasks running in parallel. The core instruction set would be RISC in nature, but each sub-processor could be set to filter it's input through an internal dynamically reprogramable fpga that contained optimized translation tables for other types of instruction sets.
With such a setup, someone who refuses to excise M$'s hold on their desktop, they could easily run Windows simply by having a host OS launch a VM for Windows on a 32/64bit subprocessor setup to a fpga with x86/ia64 instructions. Meanwhile, the host OS can still run programs requiring varying bitwiths in parallel with the Windows VM using either the native RISC instructions or some other instruction set.
Can you imagine? In a few years this technology may just redefine the term "microcomputer". It may even progress to the point that "nanites" even become feasible.
Soon they'll be building computers like this, I'm sure of it, but it does leave me with a few questions...
Since they'll be building computers using organic techniques, what happens when a computer catches a cold or the flu? I can just see it now... a coughing and sniffing sound comming from the speakers, the screen starts looking like a runny oil painting, the floppy and cd drives start "coughing-up" deformed yellow disks, and of course, the processor runs an uncontrollably high "fever". I hope somebody's working on virtual chicken soup!
I'd rather not even think about what would happen if a computer virus crosses over to people from these "organically" built PC's?...on second thought, I know a lot of women (and men, too) that would be happy to be infected by some virus that would delete their "FAT".;-p
Let's see... using brain cells from a fish to drive electric motors... What's next? teaching the fish to drive?
As with every other technical wonder, this concept has it's good and bad points. * Please note that I am a religious person by choice and after much heavy analysis, so please no flames or even mild discussions trying to punch holes in how I see reality. I won't destroy your world if you leave mine alone;-D *
Good points:
Advances in cyberetics leading to fully functional artificial limbs for people who have lost (the use of?) their real ones.
A better understanding of the world's first supercomputer... the brain.
Bad points:
These are humans controling this technology!!!!
Some fool is going to want to transfer his/her consciousness into a machine eventually!!
Potentially thousands of people experimented on to make this technology work right, just to have people suffering fromt he same type of bugs that we complain about in our PC software!
I'm left to wonder when people are going to realize that just because you can do something, it doesn't mean that you should. Honestly, I could easilt build a bomb large enough to level a 10 mile radious with just the equipment in my house, but you won't find me trying to. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of the world still keeps some form of religious belief. How are these scientists going to convince this majority of the ethicality and morality of the implications of this upcomming technology? I get left with the impression that this technology will hit the same wall that cloning hit.
Slashdot Mirror
Curious thought... since the human body puts off an EM field too, how long will it be before just having a person walk past a wireless/cordless device will cause it to do something strange?
...it would seem to me that they have the right idea. They used a crystal of sorts(dilithium) to regulate the matter/antimatter reaction. Here's the reality check:
Since matter/antimatter reactions cause 2 gamma-frequency photons to be thrown off at right predictable angles to the impact vectors of the original matter and antimatter particles, an engine could be designed that ensured that one of the 2 photons always exited from the engine exhaust port to propel the ship. What of the other one? Position a crystal in the appropriate location to catch the second photon. Depending on the structure of the crystal, the result would either be mechanical (heat or vibration) or electrical energy which could be converted and/or stored as needed.
So M$ is balking about KMart trying to sell off some assets due to licensing issues. What does M$ expect to get out of it? KMart is out! I've got a solution, but if you feel the ground freeze under you, you'll know Hell froze over first. If M$ keeps KMart afloat, then they won't have to worry about their prescious license being broken.
In truth, all M$ has to do is sell the purchasing company a license for the software. I'm sure that would be far more cost effective than pulling out the gaggle of lawyers to stop the sale.
So now that RealNetworks has released some of the dna for their RealMedial product line, does that mean someone's gonna write code to infect it? That's just what we need. If email viruses weren't bad enough, now our PC's will start getting sick of playing music... literally!
So RealNetworks has released a portion of their code. The problem is that it's only a portion. That's not going to do much in the way of improving adoption of their audio format, especially considering the existance of MP3 and OGG formats, both of which offer much better quality.
I understand that the real issue is in the streaming media format, and sure, a few modifications to the code they have released will allow RealMedia streams on portable devices (can you imagine watching a news broadcast on your digital, internet-enabled, camera equiped cell phone?). However, if people don't like the license, or have difficulty understanding the code... or for that matter, have difficulty getting support in understanding the code, then all of this will turn out to be an excercise in futility for RealNetworks.
Even if the programmers were Americans, they would have no worry about the DCMA. The reason is simple. The DCMA protects encrypted content. WMA is simply a codec. As long as the group makes no attempts at breaking some kind of security encryption in WMA, then there's no concern. So I guess the next thing we can expect to see from M$ is a heavily encrypted version of the WMA format. However, I'd wager that people will not be likely to use such a version since encryption will undoubtedly put a hit on both performance and file size.
I'm inclined to agree with you, both about the benchmarks and the designs. The sad truth is that todays line of CISC processors waste too much time and power trying to figure out what to do well in advance of actually having to do it. Since the main job of these processors is to run some form of multitasking OS on a system that loves to throw interrupts, all of those pre-fetches get tossed to the wind all to frequently, especially when the user is like ma and loves running 16+ applications in a windowed environment (and that doesn't account for the services running!).
:-( ). How about PIRIS(Parallel Inernally Reduced Instruction Set)?
;-)
The solution? I don't really know but I have an idea. CISC is simply too bloated. RISC is good and fast, but incompatible with Windows (no big loss to me, but people will complain
The idea is to make a single processor with a ridiculously wide internal bus (say 256 bit) that allows the processor to act as a set of subprocessors with varying bit widths as needed. Each subprocessor could be set aside by the controlling OS code to handle separate tasks running in parallel. The core instruction set would be RISC in nature, but each sub-processor could be set to filter it's input through an internal dynamically reprogramable fpga that contained optimized translation tables for other types of instruction sets.
With such a setup, someone who refuses to excise M$'s hold on their desktop, they could easily run Windows simply by having a host OS launch a VM for Windows on a 32/64bit subprocessor setup to a fpga with x86/ia64 instructions. Meanwhile, the host OS can still run programs requiring varying bitwiths in parallel with the Windows VM using either the native RISC instructions or some other instruction set.
It's just a beautiful dream of mine.
Soon they'll be building computers like this, I'm sure of it, but it does leave me with a few questions...
Since they'll be building computers using organic techniques, what happens when a computer catches a cold or the flu? I can just see it now... a coughing and sniffing sound comming from the speakers, the screen starts looking like a runny oil painting, the floppy and cd drives start "coughing-up" deformed yellow disks, and of course, the processor runs an uncontrollably high "fever". I hope somebody's working on virtual chicken soup!
I'd rather not even think about what would happen if a computer virus crosses over to people from these "organically" built PC's? ...on second thought, I know a lot of women (and men, too) that would be happy to be infected by some virus that would delete their "FAT". ;-p
As with every other technical wonder, this concept has it's good and bad points. ;-D *
* Please note that I am a religious person by choice and after much heavy analysis, so please no flames or even mild discussions trying to punch holes in how I see reality. I won't destroy your world if you leave mine alone
Good points:
Bad points:
I'm left to wonder when people are going to realize that just because you can do something, it doesn't mean that you should. Honestly, I could easilt build a bomb large enough to level a 10 mile radious with just the equipment in my house, but you won't find me trying to. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of the world still keeps some form of religious belief. How are these scientists going to convince this majority of the ethicality and morality of the implications of this upcomming technology? I get left with the impression that this technology will hit the same wall that cloning hit.
"Only fools walk where angels fear to tread."