The problem isn't that the sites were shut down, it's that police have been arrseting people. This should be a civil matter, not a criminal one.
You are still arguing from a US point of view. Other law systems might actually allow people to be arrested or detained for civil offenses, or there might be no distinction between civil and criminal offenses at all, or being arrested by the police might not have the same legal implications as in the USA. Law systems tend to differ.
Note that in Finland, nobody was arrested (AFAIK), and even the SuprNova FAQ doesn't mention anybody in Slovenia actually getting arrested. ShareConnector (whose admin was arrested) is based in the Netherlands. However, I don't know how much of an offense ED2K link sharing is under Dutch law. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it was perfectly legal to arrest them.
Intel and AMD both still run their own production facilities. In fact, Intel makes sure that the layout of the fabs is identical, so that production parameters are transferable from one fab to another. As a result, their fabs are designed for producing microprocessors, and making major changes in this general alignment would be rather difficult. IBM, on the other hand, runs a more diversified system of fabs.
You are probably confusing this with companies such as ARM. They are merely a chip design and intellectual property company now, however in spite of the "merely" this is still an enormous economic asset in today's tech arena.
Actually, I still don't think the PSP qualifies as "serious tech". It's a piece of good engineering, but the only interesting bit (from a computer science viewpoint) is the reconfigurable VME. And that's basically there as a powersaving, somewhat less general replacement for a fast DSP.
I could imagine building a wearable based on the PSP, were it not for the awfully short battery life and the awkward media. As soon as someone gets it to boot Linux or NetBSD from another media, I'll reconsider it, but for the time being, it's not that interesting for me at least.
I beleive its physically impossible to set Word to stick to anything but US English for spell checking. You can change it, but it always seems to sneak back when your back is turned, or when your window is minimized...
I don't think it would bother you all that much. Either that, or you're browsing with Word.
And I just got through explaining that the hardware in the PSP is not clearly superior. The DS has the better input device that allows for more types of games, and it clearly has the better battery life. As for pricing... DS is much cheaper, as it's cheaper per unit, and doesn't require accessories such as a carrying case (protected screen), or memory sticks.
But I would agree with you when you say PS2 all over again. I remember a year of mind numbingly horrible games, and an extremely limited number of consoles at launch so Sony could show how they were selling out so fast and build up hype.
The main difference is that the PS2 ran PS games, so you weren't limited to whatever games were available for the PS2 platform. IMHO this is still one of the key reasons for the success of the PS2, because it could build on the vast selection of games for the original PlayStation. I don't see this for the PSP.
I've been using a Nokia 5140 for some time (I'm a GSM user). While it comes a lot of unnecessary gadgets such as the compass and flashlight, it's definitely rugged. It can take a good beating and it's fairly waterproof. I've been using mine in temperatures between plus forty and minus thirty (Centigrade), it has survived a couple of drops up to about ten feet, as well as being submerged in water for a couple of minutes. I guess if you don't want to go for a special ruggedized solution, it's the best rugged brand model you can get so far. It doesn't win beauty contests, though, the blue version is OK, but the red one is butt-ugly.
My sister uses one, too. She spends a lot of time out in the open (she's a biologist doing environmental science), and she recommends it as well.
Charles Babbage's Difference Engine isn't really that much about programming, in spite of the book by Gibson/Sterling. His Analytical Engine is more like it, but this one never got built, being too complex for mid-19th-century mechanics.
Calling Ada Lovelace the first programmer is a bit off, too. She wrote a translation of Babbage's work along with a commentary on how to build the Analytical Engine, including some notes on how it might be programmed, but then, the machine she's supposed to have been programming didn't even exist. Even though her work wasn't really that influential in the long run (similar to Babbage's), she was one of the first to actually reflect on how such a machine might be programmed, though. And she was probably the first female geek in recorded history.;)
They can't even decide where to build it! Why can't I vote to spend my (US) tax money on putting one of these over here. Even as a test bed it will give the contry it's in some home field advantage.
That isn't a problem any more. The EU decided a few weeks ago to build ITER in france by themselves and inviting the Japanese to join if they like (dont know what's happening with the US participation, but considering that they didn't join until a short while ago and wasn't paying much anyway it hardly matters)
You're probably referring to the November 26 EU Commission meeting. The EU hasn't really decided yet to build it in France anyway, so far they're only threatening to do it. Here's an article in Nature on the subject.
On the other hand, they look quite committed to actually go through with it (judging, for example, from the notes on the French ITER website [in English]). As the EU is the largest sponsor on the project and China and Russia support the French site, it looks like they can actually pull this off. The US is committed to the Japanese site; it is unclear as to whether this is due to the recent anti-French stance of the US administration or other factors. However, since the US contributes next to no money, their position doesn't really count that much. (Note, however, that ITER is not expected to actually generate power until about 2020.)
The Japanese had other ideas, such as building a datacenter in France and the reactor itself in Japan, but it looks as if they're seriously under pressure now.
Technically, he's just reinjecting his capital into the economy. Fiscally speaking, this is more responsible than tucking the cash away under your pillow. What's the interest rate on your average bank account again, as compared to the inflation rate?
How then, for example, do you know that "Man bites dog" and "Dog bites man" mean different things? Unless you have a rule that correlates semantic dependencies with word order, there's no way to tell. This is already a feature of grammar (B).
One would question why they went with Windows CE. Microsoft must have given them an amazing price otherwise it simply would have eaten up too much of the $195. I'm guessing MS is selling them copies at less than $5 a pop, but who know.
Windows CE is sold at $3 per "core license" by Microsoft, so the price isn't that much of an issue. Developing and supporting a custom version of Linux wouldn't probably be cheaper.
Another reason for the choice might be that Windows CE offers better i18n and Unicode support, both on the OS and application levels. Since this is targeted largely at markets with non-Latin scripts, good i18n is a necessity. While it's possible to use Unicode with Linux as well as most of the scripts in question, application compatibility can't still always be taken for granted and can be a hassle at times. Linux is making good progress here, but Windows is still better.
Slashdot Mirror
Note that in Finland, nobody was arrested (AFAIK), and even the SuprNova FAQ doesn't mention anybody in Slovenia actually getting arrested. ShareConnector (whose admin was arrested) is based in the Netherlands. However, I don't know how much of an offense ED2K link sharing is under Dutch law. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it was perfectly legal to arrest them.
Ninety seconds, actually (three times at two rounds per minute). I guess he's just a fast eater ;)
Intel and AMD both still run their own production facilities. In fact, Intel makes sure that the layout of the fabs is identical, so that production parameters are transferable from one fab to another. As a result, their fabs are designed for producing microprocessors, and making major changes in this general alignment would be rather difficult. IBM, on the other hand, runs a more diversified system of fabs.
You are probably confusing this with companies such as ARM. They are merely a chip design and intellectual property company now, however in spite of the "merely" this is still an enormous economic asset in today's tech arena.
Actually, I still don't think the PSP qualifies as "serious tech". It's a piece of good engineering, but the only interesting bit (from a computer science viewpoint) is the reconfigurable VME. And that's basically there as a powersaving, somewhat less general replacement for a fast DSP.
I could imagine building a wearable based on the PSP, were it not for the awfully short battery life and the awkward media. As soon as someone gets it to boot Linux or NetBSD from another media, I'll reconsider it, but for the time being, it's not that interesting for me at least.
(Lame, unoriginal, I know, SCNR, answer: not yet)
Remove the trailing slash, then it works.
My sister uses one, too. She spends a lot of time out in the open (she's a biologist doing environmental science), and she recommends it as well.
That's BS. Alan Turing looks pretty dead to me, anyway.
Charles Babbage's Difference Engine isn't really that much about programming, in spite of the book by Gibson/Sterling. His Analytical Engine is more like it, but this one never got built, being too complex for mid-19th-century mechanics.
;)
Calling Ada Lovelace the first programmer is a bit off, too. She wrote a translation of Babbage's work along with a commentary on how to build the Analytical Engine, including some notes on how it might be programmed, but then, the machine she's supposed to have been programming didn't even exist. Even though her work wasn't really that influential in the long run (similar to Babbage's), she was one of the first to actually reflect on how such a machine might be programmed, though. And she was probably the first female geek in recorded history.
Shit, nature.com appears to be down. Sorry. Worked for me half an hour ago.
On the other hand, they look quite committed to actually go through with it (judging, for example, from the notes on the French ITER website [in English]). As the EU is the largest sponsor on the project and China and Russia support the French site, it looks like they can actually pull this off. The US is committed to the Japanese site; it is unclear as to whether this is due to the recent anti-French stance of the US administration or other factors. However, since the US contributes next to no money, their position doesn't really count that much. (Note, however, that ITER is not expected to actually generate power until about 2020.)
The Japanese had other ideas, such as building a datacenter in France and the reactor itself in Japan, but it looks as if they're seriously under pressure now.
The better the encryption, the less it will be discernible from random data. (Same with compression, BTW. It's all about entropy.)
Technically, he's just reinjecting his capital into the economy. Fiscally speaking, this is more responsible than tucking the cash away under your pillow. What's the interest rate on your average bank account again, as compared to the inflation rate?
Latin would be "scrota", but that sounds extremely awkward. I guess "scrotums" is OK in English, same as "albums".
How then, for example, do you know that "Man bites dog" and "Dog bites man" mean different things? Unless you have a rule that correlates semantic dependencies with word order, there's no way to tell. This is already a feature of grammar (B).
This is easy to work around, as long as you have access to another compiler. Can even be on another machine.
Another reason for the choice might be that Windows CE offers better i18n and Unicode support, both on the OS and application levels. Since this is targeted largely at markets with non-Latin scripts, good i18n is a necessity. While it's possible to use Unicode with Linux as well as most of the scripts in question, application compatibility can't still always be taken for granted and can be a hassle at times. Linux is making good progress here, but Windows is still better.