A USB stick with the OS on it? Kind of handy - I wish more software developers would distribute large quantity data this way. The Adobe suites and various large content video games come to mind.
I think you misunderstand. This is just going to the trouble of using all methods that the client computer allows to uniquely identify the client computer in the future. It's not doing any haxy work to maliciously place markers. It's only doing things that the client PC is already set to allow.
Sounds like an interesting science experiment. I suggest a group of people try it out and see how it goes. Likely there will be lots of revisions to make, very little funding, and most people will thing that they should be in charge.
Wikipedia University An Almost Entirely Accurate Education
"Going rural" isn't really a new concept. For decades now anyone that's been willing to work in an area that few people are willing to work in can usually get the job pretty easily. My wife's medical class talked frequently about who was going to go work in the farming communities and make 'the big bucks' doing what no one else was willing to do. Sure you're fairly isolated from your typical peers, but those people are genuine and attempting to do real work to provide for their families. Supporting their medical, technological, mechanical, whatever, needs has to be more rewarding than supporting the bulk of urbanites who just want to get paid while they surf their favorite forum / news aggregate and wait to slowly die.
And in many fields you get paid more in remote areas as well, due to the lack of people willing to head out there.
I don't see how it can be an issue. Look how prolific development is for windows is, you have no guarantee what the hardware is yet that didn't seem to hinder development for Windows esp if you compare Windows to Apple.
Minor pet peeve, "Windows" and "Apple" are not comparable. One is an operating system, the other is a company.
The iMac isn't particularly more powerful than a Mac mini, if at all. It just has the display attached, which is fine, but doesn't make it better.
And my wants are nothing of a "pure" "hobbyist". I would like a better Mac than a Mac mini to attach to my workstation KVM switch for work but I can't justify the $2500 entry fee for a Mac Pro. I want a Mac Semi-Pro.
I get the distinct impression that Apple doesn't care about desktop users at all anymore. Their focus is almost entirely mobile computing in a variety of packagings. The Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro just seem to be strung along because they own the intellectual property and can make cultural sales, but aren't interested in developing new options. Back in the days of the Mac Pro G3 and G4 there were models coming in around $1500 which had multiple drive bays and expansion slots, but when they hit the G5 model the base cost shot up to $2500.
The discussion seems to be very OS oriented, but I'd like to see some hardware changes. There have been plenty of "refreshes" but nothing that is a truly NEW Apple computer. How about a desktop computer between the mini and the pro? Something better than the absolute base model and the absolute top end, that I can use on my KVM switch. The current pricing is $700 and $2500. Bit of a price gap for headless desktops there.
This makes me want to screw with them. Get their attention - get a tracker installed. Find the tracking device, duplicate it and its signal and start sticking them on strange things like freight trains, ships, delivery trucks, send one to space on a weather balloon...
I wonder what RF they use. If it's cellular that could be a problem. But also not a particularly reliable situation for the FBI.
I saw this technology on "Beyond 2000" back before... 2000. It was really freaking cool ten years ago. Good to see it's being put to use. HOWEVER, I do realize there is more to this than driving a loop watching for stuff, but wouldn't it be a much more effective use of technology to mount the imaging stuff on a rail car? That way it doesn't have to worry about navigation. Or flat tires. And we're pretty damn good at making rails these days.
Imagine that, the slashdot crowd would rather take shots at religion than assess what the man is actually saying.
No where is he saying that technology is bad. No where is he saying that technology will be the doom of us all. No where is he saying repent ye sinners! He's saying be careful with your gadgets and how you let them augment your life. I believe Asimov had similar warnings.
A combination PSP and telephone is a "great idea"? Why not a combination toaster and hedge trimmer?
I'm probably in the minority here, but I really don't see playing some online game and having a phone call come in on the same device as the road to great entertainment.
Maybe it makes me a curmudgeon, but I don't see how this is going to improve things for those of us who are serious about gaming. But then I also hate third-person shooters and what they've done to the gaming landscape. I guess people will buy anything.
Portable gaming could be great, but the social gaming/advertising platform that Sony is envisioning doesn't do anything for me. Nor will it do a whole lot for those who rely on wireless networks to get work done. Maybe with Sony going all out with the Sony Store purchase/download requirement just to play a game some other company will use the opportunity to make a portable platform for real gaming. I'd like to see a couple more companies competing with the tired Playstation/XBox/Wii cartel.. With the iPad being locked down, maybe something to play on the multitude of cheap and decent new tablets that are being made over in China?
Years ago when the hardware was all shitty making combination multi-function media devices was a BAD idea. Turned out they were shitty.
But we have really good components these days and most of our gadgets have the same basic parts. It actually makes sense to combine them into a single device. A gaming gizmo needs a good screen, good speakers, a microphone helps, an array of buttons, a womping big battery, and at least 802.11G, 3G or better is a bonus. A phone needs that same list. A portable music player needs most of those things. A portable movie player needs most of those things. A pocket sized camera needs most of those things and a... camera.
If you're a hardcore gamer playing portable games and suddenly you have an incoming call you're either going to have to pause your game, find your phone and somewhere to put your gaming device, then answer the phone. If it's the same device you press a button and it pauses the game and answers the phone. Doesn't sound like much but if you're on a bus or train or other logical place to play a portable gaming device then getting to your phone in your pocket or bag can be difficult, and you likely don't have somewhere readily available to stick your gaming device. Press a button, answer the phone. And IF DESIGNED CORRECTLY the only thing interrupting your game could be a blinking LED on the side of the device. Wouldn't want your boss / mom / girlfriend interrupting your ever important dragon slaying.
And anyone relying on wireless networks to get work done are just sadly mistaken. Wireless is not reliable. In any form for all of time wireless anything has never had "reliable" as one of its redeeming values. The only thing it has ever been good at is 'convenient'.
But if you're considering an iPad or like tablet device as a gaming platform then you're clearly not "serious about gaming".
So learn some self control and bank the single big payoff, then spend wisely for the remainder of your days. The article refers to the people winning then "losing" the money. They didn't lose it. They fucking blew the cash!
For another $100 Dell's has a built in card reader and input selector with three more types of input options (so you can plug in your old game consoles;)
I believe it is quite the opposite. IE is the defacto browser in corporations using MS products - if the IT group installs an alternative browser that's one more thing to support. Chrome and Firefox are on computers where users actually have control of what gets installed.
I am a Windows user. I use Windows XP. I also use four installations of Windows 7.
What are the percentages of Windows installations? I bet there are still a few very active Windows 3.x installations doing important things in the world. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
My XP computer is a laptop on a custom shelf in front of the treadmill. My Windows 7 computers are a desktop at work, a desktop at home, a work laptop, and a TV PC. And I use each of them at least once a week.
I actually spent the better part of an afternoon tracking down a digital copy of the manual for mine and it still didn't help much. With all the buttons on its face they still reused some in rather unusual dual-personality roles. They just need to make them wifi with a web interface and be done with it.
What I'm looking for currently: Some sort of device(s) that a) accurately measures power usage, b) allows me to access the data for storage in a database for my own graphing/analysis purposes, c) will work with MacOS (doesn't require Windows), and d) doesn't cost more than $150 or so.
The old saying, "Cheap, fast, good. Pick two." applies here. You have too many requirements.
Slashdot Mirror
Check out the software reinstall drive included with the Air.
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html
A USB stick with the OS on it? Kind of handy - I wish more software developers would distribute large quantity data this way. The Adobe suites and various large content video games come to mind.
I think the guy should have authorization to talk to tower just like any other.
Except that it is owned by a woman.
... a woman who requested only curvilinear/feminine shapes for her new home and has purchased an entire Boeing 747-200 ...
I think you misunderstand. This is just going to the trouble of using all methods that the client computer allows to uniquely identify the client computer in the future. It's not doing any haxy work to maliciously place markers. It's only doing things that the client PC is already set to allow.
Sounds like an interesting science experiment. I suggest a group of people try it out and see how it goes. Likely there will be lots of revisions to make, very little funding, and most people will thing that they should be in charge.
Wikipedia University
An Almost Entirely Accurate Education
Anyone with the name "shirt off" doesn't need to be commenting on the use of the internet.
"Going rural" isn't really a new concept. For decades now anyone that's been willing to work in an area that few people are willing to work in can usually get the job pretty easily. My wife's medical class talked frequently about who was going to go work in the farming communities and make 'the big bucks' doing what no one else was willing to do. Sure you're fairly isolated from your typical peers, but those people are genuine and attempting to do real work to provide for their families. Supporting their medical, technological, mechanical, whatever, needs has to be more rewarding than supporting the bulk of urbanites who just want to get paid while they surf their favorite forum / news aggregate and wait to slowly die.
And in many fields you get paid more in remote areas as well, due to the lack of people willing to head out there.
Agreed.
I don't see how it can be an issue. Look how prolific development is for windows is, you have no guarantee what the hardware is yet that didn't seem to hinder development for Windows esp if you compare Windows to Apple.
Minor pet peeve, "Windows" and "Apple" are not comparable. One is an operating system, the other is a company.
The iMac isn't particularly more powerful than a Mac mini, if at all. It just has the display attached, which is fine, but doesn't make it better.
And my wants are nothing of a "pure" "hobbyist". I would like a better Mac than a Mac mini to attach to my workstation KVM switch for work but I can't justify the $2500 entry fee for a Mac Pro. I want a Mac Semi-Pro.
I get the distinct impression that Apple doesn't care about desktop users at all anymore. Their focus is almost entirely mobile computing in a variety of packagings. The Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro just seem to be strung along because they own the intellectual property and can make cultural sales, but aren't interested in developing new options. Back in the days of the Mac Pro G3 and G4 there were models coming in around $1500 which had multiple drive bays and expansion slots, but when they hit the G5 model the base cost shot up to $2500.
The discussion seems to be very OS oriented, but I'd like to see some hardware changes. There have been plenty of "refreshes" but nothing that is a truly NEW Apple computer. How about a desktop computer between the mini and the pro? Something better than the absolute base model and the absolute top end, that I can use on my KVM switch. The current pricing is $700 and $2500. Bit of a price gap for headless desktops there.
This makes me want to screw with them. Get their attention - get a tracker installed. Find the tracking device, duplicate it and its signal and start sticking them on strange things like freight trains, ships, delivery trucks, send one to space on a weather balloon ...
I wonder what RF they use. If it's cellular that could be a problem. But also not a particularly reliable situation for the FBI.
Being a dog owner, I think most dogs just want to hump, eat, and sleep. Some like to bark.
That's pretty much it.
I saw this technology on "Beyond 2000" back before ... 2000. It was really freaking cool ten years ago. Good to see it's being put to use. HOWEVER, I do realize there is more to this than driving a loop watching for stuff, but wouldn't it be a much more effective use of technology to mount the imaging stuff on a rail car? That way it doesn't have to worry about navigation. Or flat tires. And we're pretty damn good at making rails these days.
Hey! Someone mount a Vulcan AA gun on that thing!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M163_VADS
Imagine that, the slashdot crowd would rather take shots at religion than assess what the man is actually saying.
No where is he saying that technology is bad. No where is he saying that technology will be the doom of us all. No where is he saying repent ye sinners! He's saying be careful with your gadgets and how you let them augment your life. I believe Asimov had similar warnings.
A combination PSP and telephone is a "great idea"? Why not a combination toaster and hedge trimmer?
I'm probably in the minority here, but I really don't see playing some online game and having a phone call come in on the same device as the road to great entertainment.
Maybe it makes me a curmudgeon, but I don't see how this is going to improve things for those of us who are serious about gaming. But then I also hate third-person shooters and what they've done to the gaming landscape. I guess people will buy anything.
Portable gaming could be great, but the social gaming/advertising platform that Sony is envisioning doesn't do anything for me. Nor will it do a whole lot for those who rely on wireless networks to get work done. Maybe with Sony going all out with the Sony Store purchase/download requirement just to play a game some other company will use the opportunity to make a portable platform for real gaming. I'd like to see a couple more companies competing with the tired Playstation/XBox/Wii cartel.. With the iPad being locked down, maybe something to play on the multitude of cheap and decent new tablets that are being made over in China?
Years ago when the hardware was all shitty making combination multi-function media devices was a BAD idea. Turned out they were shitty.
But we have really good components these days and most of our gadgets have the same basic parts. It actually makes sense to combine them into a single device. A gaming gizmo needs a good screen, good speakers, a microphone helps, an array of buttons, a womping big battery, and at least 802.11G, 3G or better is a bonus. A phone needs that same list. A portable music player needs most of those things. A portable movie player needs most of those things. A pocket sized camera needs most of those things and a ... camera.
If you're a hardcore gamer playing portable games and suddenly you have an incoming call you're either going to have to pause your game, find your phone and somewhere to put your gaming device, then answer the phone. If it's the same device you press a button and it pauses the game and answers the phone. Doesn't sound like much but if you're on a bus or train or other logical place to play a portable gaming device then getting to your phone in your pocket or bag can be difficult, and you likely don't have somewhere readily available to stick your gaming device. Press a button, answer the phone. And IF DESIGNED CORRECTLY the only thing interrupting your game could be a blinking LED on the side of the device. Wouldn't want your boss / mom / girlfriend interrupting your ever important dragon slaying.
And anyone relying on wireless networks to get work done are just sadly mistaken. Wireless is not reliable. In any form for all of time wireless anything has never had "reliable" as one of its redeeming values. The only thing it has ever been good at is 'convenient'.
But if you're considering an iPad or like tablet device as a gaming platform then you're clearly not "serious about gaming".
I'm not buying a new car until I can have one that doesn't burn anything at all, for any reason.
I can't imagine it's any different on any other social networking site. Even Slashdot has a large percentage of unresponded-to posts.
So learn some self control and bank the single big payoff, then spend wisely for the remainder of your days. The article refers to the people winning then "losing" the money. They didn't lose it. They fucking blew the cash!
For another $100 Dell's has a built in card reader and input selector with three more types of input options (so you can plug in your old game consoles ;)
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-8277
I believe it is quite the opposite. IE is the defacto browser in corporations using MS products - if the IT group installs an alternative browser that's one more thing to support. Chrome and Firefox are on computers where users actually have control of what gets installed.
66% of All Windows Users Still Use Windows XP
I am a Windows user.
I use Windows XP.
I also use four installations of Windows 7.
What are the percentages of Windows installations? I bet there are still a few very active Windows 3.x installations doing important things in the world. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
My XP computer is a laptop on a custom shelf in front of the treadmill. My Windows 7 computers are a desktop at work, a desktop at home, a work laptop, and a TV PC. And I use each of them at least once a week.
I used XMarks back when it was called FoxMarks! Get off my lawn!
But seriously, I thought it had a way to use a private server for storing the synchronization file?
I've since moved to Chrome which has it built in, as does Opera so a coworker tells me.
I actually spent the better part of an afternoon tracking down a digital copy of the manual for mine and it still didn't help much. With all the buttons on its face they still reused some in rather unusual dual-personality roles. They just need to make them wifi with a web interface and be done with it.
What I'm looking for currently: Some sort of device(s) that a) accurately measures power usage, b) allows me to access the data for storage in a database for my own graphing/analysis purposes, c) will work with MacOS (doesn't require Windows), and d) doesn't cost more than $150 or so.
The old saying, "Cheap, fast, good. Pick two." applies here. You have too many requirements.
My wife runs the automatic sprinkler system. I don't go near that damn thing. It's worse than setting up Lexmark printers.
Don't hold your breath ;)