Looks like it could be lots of fun in the sand box... 24 joints filled with grit. Tell it to kick the blue ball and watch it keel over and convulse on the ground, thrashing in agony as its servos grind away.
Still, it won't be long before this keen technology makes its way into dolls that pee, bitch, and wander around the house looking for lighters. Ahh, progress.
[must.. resist... obvious.... joke....]
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things?
This may be a dumb question, but is this "Handle" approach compatible with URIs?
It sounds like a good idea to abstract the identifier for a document (or whatever) from its location, but will this mean an incompatibility with current Web names? Are we going to have two different standards of access to information resources, or can they peacefully coexist?
Personally, I love the Franklin quote:
'We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.'
First off: I'd like a definition of "cyber jabberwocky". Does this phrase imply "nonsense" or "fantasy"? I personally LOVE the poem Jabberwocky, because of its playful and memorable use of (non-)language. I doubt the term "cyber jabberwocky" has any such positive implications.
Second: If any of the criticism Katz levels at this book are true, then it is trash. "Self-important, ponderous, and opaque" is pretty bad, and I've read more than enough in that style.
I think the real sin of such authors is that they try to present sweeping, dramatic visions of transformation, inflated in importance by the current sense of urgency around the issue. They act as a regurgitative, low-latency feedback mechanism for popular culture that does nothing to actually inform or challenge the predominant views on the subject.
There is no wisdom required in this kind of work. Thought and insight take time, and they take plain speech to communicate effectively. The best synopsis of this "geographical transformation" will come when we have all grown old, and the effects can be seen clearly. We are presently in the process of evolving, along with our technologies, into a new version of the same thing that has always been our destiny: a globe full of self-hating humans who let ideologues and administrative elites tell us we are bad and must suffer to pay the (religious/moral/financial) debts of the last generation.
The thing is, our ongoing crisis will never end, since there will always be some "new" ideology to enslave us from the top down; a system of ideas that frames reality as mundane and overly-complicated: merely background noise to the signal of the "important" issues of our captive, collective mind.
Literacy is a weapon. Education is conformity. Unfashionable thought is a crime. Doubting The Truth is the worst sin of all.
Ummm... no. 244 grams would be about half a pound. (ie: a quarter of a kilo)
And one were to pay CAD$1500 for it, it had better be pretty damn good. CAD$750 for a cupie (QP = quarter pound) is more or less standard retail, so you're not getting the "I know the guy who knows the grower"-deal.
Although I have never bought herb in the states, I *seriously* doubt that 3.5 OUNCES is called an "eight-ball". You mean 3.5 grams, which is an eight of an ounce. Get it?
Of course, we just call them "eighths" in Vancouver.
I agree... the meta data is what is important here. They already have sophisticated tools to analyze "criminal networks" based simply on known associations between people of interest.
The real problem here is that they can use it "inapropriately" as easily as not. I don't trust the FBI and I don't see why anyone SHOULD trust a public institution merely because it's stated mission is to serve the interests of the US Citizenry. They can spin it all they like, but what they are really doing is making a grab for as much power over this medium as possible, while things are still relatively immature.
If they put this shite in place, they'll be able to packet-sniff with impunity from now on. And over time, this data starts to help them put together a pretty detailed picture.
I'm not saying this isn't a good tool to fight crime with, because it is. It just goes way beyond that, with only "good intentions" to keep the gatekeepers in line. I shudder to think of the power of controlling a database with the entire world's traffic and communication patterns. And to think that they can do it without cause...
Question: If hackers were tracking data like this (with permission from ISPs, of course), what would the FBI's reaction be? Should ANYBODY be allowed to do this?... this is an international issue, after all. Also, what if they could index this stuff with the content from ECHELON?
I'm half-Irish. And I suppose that helps, along with the sheer body mass...
But I am *really* not kidding. I was (and still am) blown away by how much alcohol your typical Kiwi bonehead can handle. I find it both admirable and scary that an entire nation has such a high tolerence for getting pissed. No wonder they kick ass at rugby... not only do they consume massive amounts of calories, they just can't feel The Pain!
I like Perl. Quick, dirty, and flexible. I'm sure the "C is best for everything, blah blah blah" crowd will scoff, but for protoyping Web apps, and manipulating text files(which is my main thang) it rocks the house.
I think Flash, Perl, and XML are my favourite ingredients. Once I get it worked out, sure, I'll call up my C-loving friends to bum the code down to a fast binary, but I aint got the time or patience to screw around.
Are there any Perl people out there who can tell me a good reason to learn PHP too? Or should I go the other direction and pick up some Java (considering I want to focus on XML and Web development)?
Don't take it as a dis, folx. I love you weird C people, and all your stories about that time you wrote a routine in a assembler...
I'd like to point out that Kiwis can drink Aussies under the table. I am Canadian, and I thought I could drink till I hooked up with some New Zealand maniacs... it wasn't pretty.
I've since given it up for marijuana, and I challenge anyone from Oz to a weekend of smoking. You can bring your inferior strains if you like, but they won't be needed....
This is significant: good information design might take a little more thought and effort, but in the end it is more than worth it.
How stupid do you have to be to take on a project THIS IMPORTANT and not pay attention to usability issues. If they had taken the extra (and obvious, in my mind) step of including the feedback from a representative group of users, they would have found out early on that this design had some serious problems.
I just gotta say: I look around today, at the press, at the goverenment, at software design, at professionals everywhere, and I see this decline in performance standards. Is this the dumbing down effect of a degrade educational system? Is the lead in the water? Why is everyone acting like they don't know how, or don't care to, do their jobs properly?
I'm sorry, I was trying to be funny. Obviously you find it offensive that I would suggest corporate control over a two-party state is a bad thing. I'm sure its wonderful. You must be very proud of the system that has given you the choice between Bore and Gush...
I made the mistake of confusing "Libertarians" with people who want liberty for everyone. That would be Anarchism, actually. I forgot that the "L" means "for me and anyone who can afford it". Being selfish isn't a political belief, by the way... no matter how you dress it up in anti-establishment rhetoric.
I prefer to break the system for the benefit of all, not just my evil masters. They're cool too, I got nothing agains working for evil masters: they pay me and everything. I just don't go out of my way to sell out everyone who isn't as priveleged as me. Why? Because freedom to starve is no freedom at all.
Ya, it was the put-your-stylus-on-the-disk-and-watch-a-movie technology. It seemed pretty cool at the time, but was truly a cracked-out premise.
Imagine if they had taken off, though:
"RCA, makers of the popular Video Disk system have launched a suit today against 2600, citing a violation of their proprietary Analog Encryption technology format. 2600, which published instructions on how to modify an ordinary stylus to view Video Disk content from a Linux-based system, defended itself by saying 'hey, if someone buys a piece of vinyl, they should be able to see their movie no matter WHAT system they use!"
I remember my first encounter with Lord of The Rings was in grade 5... they played this DARK, HORRIBLE-LOOKING MOVIE on a Video Disk (some of you may remember this little techno oddity...).
I was just a kid, but I was supremely unimpressed by the animation and modeling in this movie. The colours ranged from dark brown to light brown to reddish-brown to green-brown, and the characters all looked like they were traced badly (rotoscope style).
I look forward to someone doing it right. It's taken long enough!
Good poutine is REALLY yummy. What's not to like? Nice, fat, pommes frites (oops, I mean French Fries), with melted cheese (curds, yes, but its good, really!) topped with hot, tangy gravy that melts the cheese and gives the whole dish an extra dose of fat & cholesterol love.
Maybe you just don't get the fries & gravy thing? It's got to be my favourite way to eat 'em. Either that or with chili...mmmm.
I wish I could vote for him. Hell, I wish I could vote him as Prime Minister (some of you may have heard that we are having our own little excercise in democratic futility up here, as well), too. I can't think of another case where I have actually been interested by your choices (Perot notwithstanding... he's such a funny little loonie, and very watchable). I just hope you guys make Ralph look good this election.
I don't know how any L/libertarian could do less than support a dissenting voice in the ongoing love duet of corporate America. I'll make you all a deal. Vote for Nader, and next time you're north of the border, you can all get free poutine and doughnuts on me. Promise.
While I am hopeful for the future of this "little console that could" concept, and like the spec sheet, I am hesitant to actually show excitement.
They have everything against them: they have to convince game developers to accept a whole new model, they might be targeted for law suits (I mean WHO is going to LIKE linux + DVD in a cheap piece of h/w?), and worst of all they have no brand name recognition with the general gaming public.
While it may be of limited use to those who can develop on it and otherwise fit it into their tech collections, unless it has a big user base, it won't last... the whole point is to play the same cool games your friends are playing, isn't it?
I think the Quality of Service issue is at the core of this. Once people can depend on this kind of EDI for "mission critical applications" (ugh!), it will more than fly... it'll fucking levitate, hover, whirr, and rocket off into the stratosphere.
The fact that MS is involved bothers me, but they seem to be getting a clue with the.NET thing, so maybe they won't make a complete balls-up of it. Even if they do, there's always room for someone to come along and school the big boys as to how QOS is done... niche markets will always provide safe harbour for focused, smart little ASPs.
I'm just hoping mine qualifies as such a company. I'd like to see my shares get a little fatter...
I don't know if it was the reporter desparately seeking an interesting "angle" on the story or the scientician being interviewed who wanted a mention for the project, but it seems like the experiment is focused more on behavioural effects.
I doubt anybody would spend money on RN Helicopter time to see if penguins fall over watching aircraft... it's just a tease for the public. The real value would be determining what changes in behaviour are induced by loud, low-flying aircraft.
They say they are concerned that the penguins' ability to reproduce might be affected. Wouldn't yours? Kind of a no-brainer. What a waste of money.
One way of interpreting "spooky action at a distance" (ie: apparent FTL communication between entangled photons) is to revisit the "Standard" interpretation of Quantum Physics. An interesting book I read this summer, called Shrodinger's Kittens, suggested that you can look at the phenomenon this way:
Entangled photons are created and move off in opposite directions
One photon, still entangled, hits a measuring device that determines its polarity.
This information allows knowledge of the polarity of the other (no longer entangled) photon, instantaneously. The two photons seem to have a communications channel that defies General Relativity.
But if photons travel at c (which I think everyone agrees they do), then they experience all events simultaneously. Hence, the second event (the measurement) actually allows the choice to be made during the first one (the creation).
This requires throwing our out concept our macro-world concept of past and future, but I don't think that's much of a leap, really. I challenge anyone here to prove to me that photons prefer to move FORWARDS in time, or tell me what "time" is... to a photon.
This explanation allows for an extended form of "relativity" in which events are connected out of time to each other, as if they were part of a continuous medium formed at right angles to what we think of as space-time.
The foundation for this concept comes from the fact that although a particle of light travels along ALL possible paths (not just the shortest one... it can travel a squiggly, chaotic, fractal path too, and does) from A to B, the reinforcing action of probability makes it appear that it "chose" just one. (ie: the angle of incidence does NOT equal the angle of reflection, it just averages out that way)
Basically the entangled photons chose their path and states at the beginning, and it was a mystery to us (the rest of the universe) until something happens that measures that information. The problem being, that the photons "anticipated" the measuring event... or conversely, the measuring event allowed the choice to be made earlier on.
No need for FTL, really, because the photon knows in advance about the entire history of the universe, only restricted to events along its path.
One unrelated question: how many electrons are there in the universe? Is it the same one electron/positron bouncing back and forth through time, and it only seems to be 10eWhatever of them?
Ok, so everyone thinks that mega-frames per second is good. Is this a debate?
The real issue is not how many frames per second a particular piece of hardware can cough up for a particular situation in a particular game.
Like the audio world, where every idiot thinks that a 250W amp actually delivers all of those 250 Watts all the time, this is a case of best-possible performance given an ideal situation.
There are lots of metrics you can throw at people to market your piece of technology, but in the end the metrics are only a guide. The real important thing is how it FEELS. An excellent 250W amp is still better than an ok 300W amp. A card that produces quality graphic output in real-world situations (talking about gaming here... so that's probably not the best term) is better than one that kicks ass on training wheels.
Like the article says: the purpose of a high frame rate is not to make it LOOK better, but to fool your head into seeing the game world as a real part of your environment. Basically, this is a Wetware hack on "suspension of disbelief".
Of course, we'll have to build games that are worthy of this kind of "reality". For me, first-person shooters aren't it.
(a strange coincidence: I was in an argument with an exec about the hyphens in "small- to medium-size businesses"... and now this!)
I have come around to view "e-mail" as a better alternative, even though I used "email" in my "i'll spell it however i wanna" phase.
I write for a software company that makes B2B software, so I was forced to decided how to use that damned "e". I chose to use "e-mail", but "eCommerce", "eBusiness", etc. for the marketing jargon. Maybe I'll change my mind, but I didn't want to be faced with the possibility of "eMail"...
Obviously, "email" and "e-mail" are equally valid. I just think that the hyphen wins out because it is such a well-used word that it should be spelled "correctly" in a normal way, instead of in a "tech" context (I chose the lowercase e + Uppercase first letter scheme because it reminds me more of variable names: hence, more "tech").
The clincher, though, is that you would NEVER spell t-shirt "tshirt". or g-man "gman". just because its a vowel doesn't give the shortened form of "electronic" status as a real word.
Of course the brute-force application of cutting devices to these delicate mysteries will give you a practical "real-world" solution, but it points out the difference between pragmatists and mathematicians.
Maybe the beauty of a perfect sphere can only be appreciated in the mind, but a basketball is a damned good application of the model to a real-world need (i.e.: fun).
Dirk Gently's ill-fated couch not withstanding, it is funny to see the fuss that brute-force methods of solving mathematical problems have produced. The question seems to be this: is an 'elegant' proof tomorrow better than an ugly one today?
Not unless you prefer the process of solving the problem, or maybe you secretly hope the mystery will remain unsolved forever.
Is a winning technology one which takes over the market because of the monopoly position of its owner?
Perhaps a winning technology is one that forces all other competing technologies to be viewed as "losers"?
I would say that a "winning" technology (in the traditional meanings of "win" "lose" in the Geek lexicon) is one that makes doing "The Right Thing" easier and more "right". I don't doubt that.NET has its good points, but it's hard to imagine MS suddenly pulling its collective head out of its collective ass and pulling out a plum (sorry to mix metaphors). Any technically "winning" features will likely be weighed down by the awkward expediencies of the marketing and legal departments.
Lets face it: not everyone hates Microsoft. Of course, not everyone has had to live with Microsoft in their world long enough to hate them, either. I'll tell ya one thing tho': more than Bill Gates, I hate his army of drone-like apologists. Wannabees to a man.
The real reason the Avro Arrow was cancelled boiled down to two issues: the Canadian government was committed to produce war planes (I think there were mostly CF-100s) for the Korean war, and C.D. Howe wanted to focus on getting production of those planes up to speed.
He didn't want to "waste" resources on the development of two of Canada's finest achievements in aerospace: the C-102 Jetliner and the CF-105 Arrow. (the Jetliner was a greater loss to Canada than the Arrow, IMHO, but I won't get into that here).
The other reason was that the head of A.V.Roe refused to accept a scaled-back project, and demanded an all-or-nothing solution. So he got nothing. And so did the rest of us.
Good thing for the American space program too, cos without all those Canucks, their program would have had a tough time tackling the myriad problems involved in pushing the aerospace envelope well past the "aero" threshold.
I'm not sure how you go from a blanket generalization to "political fact", but don't try to bait this Tory.
I don't kiss American ass, eh? I prefer to French with Asians.
Having worked on Computer Aided Moleculer Modeling rigs at CIBA (old E&S vector displays with funky goggles that used blink-based 3D), there is obviously a LOT you can do with a display like this: get a team of mad-science Pharma PhD gathered around a molecule, and poke into the interesting bits. Animate it. Unfold it. Make it jiggle. Enlightenment is thus facilitated.
I mean, for an industry that is going to dwarf IT in a few years, this is pretty big step forward. I could see a lot of smaller R&D companies wanting this technology, and it could help level the playing field when it comes to innovation in an industry dominated by giants like Ciba-Sandoz and Merck.
So this may be too expensive for a toy (unless your name is Bill), but there is a lot of ways you could use a holograph to help in processes that require modeling of spatial relationships.
Other uses:
- 3d modeling for entertainment... do any hardcore Maya people want to play with this toy?
- arcade games (obviously not for the first coupld of generations)
- military and space applications (more ways to present complex information = worth paying for)
- a VERY funk disco-lava-kaleido-globe that will awe the ladies and set the 'right' mood. (I *did* say enhance your special relationships with models, didn't I?...)
Slashdot Mirror
Looks like it could be lots of fun in the sand box... 24 joints filled with grit. Tell it to kick the blue ball and watch it keel over and convulse on the ground, thrashing in agony as its servos grind away.
Still, it won't be long before this keen technology makes its way into dolls that pee, bitch, and wander around the house looking for lighters. Ahh, progress.
[must.. resist... obvious.... joke....]
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things?
This may be a dumb question, but is this "Handle" approach compatible with URIs?
;)
It sounds like a good idea to abstract the identifier for a document (or whatever) from its location, but will this mean an incompatibility with current Web names? Are we going to have two different standards of access to information resources, or can they peacefully coexist?
Personally, I love the Franklin quote:
'We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.'
Just as long as you're well-hung.
First off: I'd like a definition of "cyber jabberwocky". Does this phrase imply "nonsense" or "fantasy"? I personally LOVE the poem Jabberwocky, because of its playful and memorable use of (non-)language. I doubt the term "cyber jabberwocky" has any such positive implications.
Second: If any of the criticism Katz levels at this book are true, then it is trash. "Self-important, ponderous, and opaque" is pretty bad, and I've read more than enough in that style.
I think the real sin of such authors is that they try to present sweeping, dramatic visions of transformation, inflated in importance by the current sense of urgency around the issue. They act as a regurgitative, low-latency feedback mechanism for popular culture that does nothing to actually inform or challenge the predominant views on the subject.
There is no wisdom required in this kind of work. Thought and insight take time, and they take plain speech to communicate effectively. The best synopsis of this "geographical transformation" will come when we have all grown old, and the effects can be seen clearly. We are presently in the process of evolving, along with our technologies, into a new version of the same thing that has always been our destiny: a globe full of self-hating humans who let ideologues and administrative elites tell us we are bad and must suffer to pay the (religious/moral/financial) debts of the last generation.
The thing is, our ongoing crisis will never end, since there will always be some "new" ideology to enslave us from the top down; a system of ideas that frames reality as mundane and overly-complicated: merely background noise to the signal of the "important" issues of our captive, collective mind.
Literacy is a weapon. Education is conformity. Unfashionable thought is a crime. Doubting The Truth is the worst sin of all.
The hip pack CPU with a wire / wireless connection to
- monocle / monitor
- headphones
- keyboard / tablet / game controller(?!)
- modem
- printer
would be great.I just can't wait to have a dual PPC with half a gig of RAM on my hip... BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
And one were to pay CAD$1500 for it, it had better be pretty damn good. CAD$750 for a cupie (QP = quarter pound) is more or less standard retail, so you're not getting the "I know the guy who knows the grower"-deal.
Although I have never bought herb in the states, I *seriously* doubt that 3.5 OUNCES is called an "eight-ball". You mean 3.5 grams, which is an eight of an ounce. Get it?
Of course, we just call them "eighths" in Vancouver.
I agree... the meta data is what is important here. They already have sophisticated tools to analyze "criminal networks" based simply on known associations between people of interest.
The real problem here is that they can use it "inapropriately" as easily as not. I don't trust the FBI and I don't see why anyone SHOULD trust a public institution merely because it's stated mission is to serve the interests of the US Citizenry. They can spin it all they like, but what they are really doing is making a grab for as much power over this medium as possible, while things are still relatively immature.
If they put this shite in place, they'll be able to packet-sniff with impunity from now on. And over time, this data starts to help them put together a pretty detailed picture.
I'm not saying this isn't a good tool to fight crime with, because it is. It just goes way beyond that, with only "good intentions" to keep the gatekeepers in line. I shudder to think of the power of controlling a database with the entire world's traffic and communication patterns. And to think that they can do it without cause...
Question: If hackers were tracking data like this (with permission from ISPs, of course), what would the FBI's reaction be? Should ANYBODY be allowed to do this?... this is an international issue, after all. Also, what if they could index this stuff with the content from ECHELON?
I'm half-Irish. And I suppose that helps, along with the sheer body mass...
But I am *really* not kidding. I was (and still am) blown away by how much alcohol your typical Kiwi bonehead can handle. I find it both admirable and scary that an entire nation has such a high tolerence for getting pissed. No wonder they kick ass at rugby... not only do they consume massive amounts of calories, they just can't feel The Pain!
I like Perl. Quick, dirty, and flexible. I'm sure the "C is best for everything, blah blah blah" crowd will scoff, but for protoyping Web apps, and manipulating text files(which is my main thang) it rocks the house.
I think Flash, Perl, and XML are my favourite ingredients. Once I get it worked out, sure, I'll call up my C-loving friends to bum the code down to a fast binary, but I aint got the time or patience to screw around.
Are there any Perl people out there who can tell me a good reason to learn PHP too? Or should I go the other direction and pick up some Java (considering I want to focus on XML and Web development)?
Don't take it as a dis, folx. I love you weird C people, and all your stories about that time you wrote a routine in a assembler...
I'd like to point out that Kiwis can drink Aussies under the table. I am Canadian, and I thought I could drink till I hooked up with some New Zealand maniacs... it wasn't pretty.
I've since given it up for marijuana, and I challenge anyone from Oz to a weekend of smoking. You can bring your inferior strains if you like, but they won't be needed....
This is significant: good information design might take a little more thought and effort, but in the end it is more than worth it.
How stupid do you have to be to take on a project THIS IMPORTANT and not pay attention to usability issues. If they had taken the extra (and obvious, in my mind) step of including the feedback from a representative group of users, they would have found out early on that this design had some serious problems.
I just gotta say: I look around today, at the press, at the goverenment, at software design, at professionals everywhere, and I see this decline in performance standards. Is this the dumbing down effect of a degrade educational system? Is the lead in the water? Why is everyone acting like they don't know how, or don't care to, do their jobs properly?
I'm sorry, I was trying to be funny. Obviously you find it offensive that I would suggest corporate control over a two-party state is a bad thing. I'm sure its wonderful. You must be very proud of the system that has given you the choice between Bore and Gush...
I made the mistake of confusing "Libertarians" with people who want liberty for everyone. That would be Anarchism, actually. I forgot that the "L" means "for me and anyone who can afford it". Being selfish isn't a political belief, by the way... no matter how you dress it up in anti-establishment rhetoric.
I prefer to break the system for the benefit of all, not just my evil masters. They're cool too, I got nothing agains working for evil masters: they pay me and everything. I just don't go out of my way to sell out everyone who isn't as priveleged as me. Why? Because freedom to starve is no freedom at all.
All for one, and one for all.
Ya, it was the put-your-stylus-on-the-disk-and-watch-a-movie technology. It seemed pretty cool at the time, but was truly a cracked-out premise.
Imagine if they had taken off, though:
"RCA, makers of the popular Video Disk system have launched a suit today against 2600, citing a violation of their proprietary Analog Encryption technology format. 2600, which published instructions on how to modify an ordinary stylus to view Video Disk content from a Linux-based system, defended itself by saying 'hey, if someone buys a piece of vinyl, they should be able to see their movie no matter WHAT system they use!"
I remember my first encounter with Lord of The Rings was in grade 5... they played this DARK, HORRIBLE-LOOKING MOVIE on a Video Disk (some of you may remember this little techno oddity...).
I was just a kid, but I was supremely unimpressed by the animation and modeling in this movie. The colours ranged from dark brown to light brown to reddish-brown to green-brown, and the characters all looked like they were traced badly (rotoscope style).
I look forward to someone doing it right. It's taken long enough!
Good poutine is REALLY yummy. What's not to like? Nice, fat, pommes frites (oops, I mean French Fries), with melted cheese (curds, yes, but its good, really!) topped with hot, tangy gravy that melts the cheese and gives the whole dish an extra dose of fat & cholesterol love.
Maybe you just don't get the fries & gravy thing? It's got to be my favourite way to eat 'em. Either that or with chili...mmmm.
Is it lunch already?
I wish I could vote for him. Hell, I wish I could vote him as Prime Minister (some of you may have heard that we are having our own little excercise in democratic futility up here, as well), too. I can't think of another case where I have actually been interested by your choices (Perot notwithstanding... he's such a funny little loonie, and very watchable). I just hope you guys make Ralph look good this election.
I don't know how any L/libertarian could do less than support a dissenting voice in the ongoing love duet of corporate America. I'll make you all a deal. Vote for Nader, and next time you're north of the border, you can all get free poutine and doughnuts on me. Promise.
While I am hopeful for the future of this "little console that could" concept, and like the spec sheet, I am hesitant to actually show excitement.
They have everything against them: they have to convince game developers to accept a whole new model, they might be targeted for law suits (I mean WHO is going to LIKE linux + DVD in a cheap piece of h/w?), and worst of all they have no brand name recognition with the general gaming public.
While it may be of limited use to those who can develop on it and otherwise fit it into their tech collections, unless it has a big user base, it won't last... the whole point is to play the same cool games your friends are playing, isn't it?
I think the Quality of Service issue is at the core of this. Once people can depend on this kind of EDI for "mission critical applications" (ugh!), it will more than fly... it'll fucking levitate, hover, whirr, and rocket off into the stratosphere.
.NET thing, so maybe they won't make a complete balls-up of it. Even if they do, there's always room for someone to come along and school the big boys as to how QOS is done... niche markets will always provide safe harbour for focused, smart little ASPs.
The fact that MS is involved bothers me, but they seem to be getting a clue with the
I'm just hoping mine qualifies as such a company. I'd like to see my shares get a little fatter...
I don't know if it was the reporter desparately seeking an interesting "angle" on the story or the scientician being interviewed who wanted a mention for the project, but it seems like the experiment is focused more on behavioural effects.
I doubt anybody would spend money on RN Helicopter time to see if penguins fall over watching aircraft... it's just a tease for the public. The real value would be determining what changes in behaviour are induced by loud, low-flying aircraft.
They say they are concerned that the penguins' ability to reproduce might be affected. Wouldn't yours? Kind of a no-brainer. What a waste of money.
One way of interpreting "spooky action at a distance" (ie: apparent FTL communication between entangled photons) is to revisit the "Standard" interpretation of Quantum Physics. An interesting book I read this summer, called Shrodinger's Kittens, suggested that you can look at the phenomenon this way:
Entangled photons are created and move off in opposite directions
One photon, still entangled, hits a measuring device that determines its polarity.
This information allows knowledge of the polarity of the other (no longer entangled) photon, instantaneously. The two photons seem to have a communications channel that defies General Relativity.
But if photons travel at c (which I think everyone agrees they do), then they experience all events simultaneously. Hence, the second event (the measurement) actually allows the choice to be made during the first one (the creation).
This requires throwing our out concept our macro-world concept of past and future, but I don't think that's much of a leap, really. I challenge anyone here to prove to me that photons prefer to move FORWARDS in time, or tell me what "time" is... to a photon.
This explanation allows for an extended form of "relativity" in which events are connected out of time to each other, as if they were part of a continuous medium formed at right angles to what we think of as space-time.
The foundation for this concept comes from the fact that although a particle of light travels along ALL possible paths (not just the shortest one... it can travel a squiggly, chaotic, fractal path too, and does) from A to B, the reinforcing action of probability makes it appear that it "chose" just one. (ie: the angle of incidence does NOT equal the angle of reflection, it just averages out that way)
Basically the entangled photons chose their path and states at the beginning, and it was a mystery to us (the rest of the universe) until something happens that measures that information. The problem being, that the photons "anticipated" the measuring event... or conversely, the measuring event allowed the choice to be made earlier on.
No need for FTL, really, because the photon knows in advance about the entire history of the universe, only restricted to events along its path.
One unrelated question: how many electrons are there in the universe? Is it the same one electron/positron bouncing back and forth through time, and it only seems to be 10eWhatever of them?
Ok, so everyone thinks that mega-frames per second is good. Is this a debate?
The real issue is not how many frames per second a particular piece of hardware can cough up for a particular situation in a particular game.
Like the audio world, where every idiot thinks that a 250W amp actually delivers all of those 250 Watts all the time, this is a case of best-possible performance given an ideal situation.
There are lots of metrics you can throw at people to market your piece of technology, but in the end the metrics are only a guide. The real important thing is how it FEELS. An excellent 250W amp is still better than an ok 300W amp. A card that produces quality graphic output in real-world situations (talking about gaming here... so that's probably not the best term) is better than one that kicks ass on training wheels.
Like the article says: the purpose of a high frame rate is not to make it LOOK better, but to fool your head into seeing the game world as a real part of your environment. Basically, this is a Wetware hack on "suspension of disbelief".
Of course, we'll have to build games that are worthy of this kind of "reality". For me, first-person shooters aren't it.
(a strange coincidence: I was in an argument with an exec about the hyphens in "small- to medium-size businesses"... and now this!)
I have come around to view "e-mail" as a better alternative, even though I used "email" in my "i'll spell it however i wanna" phase.
I write for a software company that makes B2B software, so I was forced to decided how to use that damned "e". I chose to use "e-mail", but "eCommerce", "eBusiness", etc. for the marketing jargon. Maybe I'll change my mind, but I didn't want to be faced with the possibility of "eMail"...
Obviously, "email" and "e-mail" are equally valid. I just think that the hyphen wins out because it is such a well-used word that it should be spelled "correctly" in a normal way, instead of in a "tech" context (I chose the lowercase e + Uppercase first letter scheme because it reminds me more of variable names: hence, more "tech").
The clincher, though, is that you would NEVER spell t-shirt "tshirt". or g-man "gman". just because its a vowel doesn't give the shortened form of "electronic" status as a real word.
just my $0.125
Of course the brute-force application of cutting devices to these delicate mysteries will give you a practical "real-world" solution, but it points out the difference between pragmatists and mathematicians.
Maybe the beauty of a perfect sphere can only be appreciated in the mind, but a basketball is a damned good application of the model to a real-world need (i.e.: fun).
Dirk Gently's ill-fated couch not withstanding, it is funny to see the fuss that brute-force methods of solving mathematical problems have produced. The question seems to be this: is an 'elegant' proof tomorrow better than an ugly one today?
Not unless you prefer the process of solving the problem, or maybe you secretly hope the mystery will remain unsolved forever.
Please define "winning technology".
.NET has its good points, but it's hard to imagine MS suddenly pulling its collective head out of its collective ass and pulling out a plum (sorry to mix metaphors). Any technically "winning" features will likely be weighed down by the awkward expediencies of the marketing and legal departments.
Is a winning technology one which takes over the market because of the monopoly position of its owner?
Perhaps a winning technology is one that forces all other competing technologies to be viewed as "losers"?
I would say that a "winning" technology (in the traditional meanings of "win" "lose" in the Geek lexicon) is one that makes doing "The Right Thing" easier and more "right". I don't doubt that
Lets face it: not everyone hates Microsoft. Of course, not everyone has had to live with Microsoft in their world long enough to hate them, either. I'll tell ya one thing tho': more than Bill Gates, I hate his army of drone-like apologists. Wannabees to a man.
The real reason the Avro Arrow was cancelled boiled down to two issues: the Canadian government was committed to produce war planes (I think there were mostly CF-100s) for the Korean war, and C.D. Howe wanted to focus on getting production of those planes up to speed.
He didn't want to "waste" resources on the development of two of Canada's finest achievements in aerospace: the C-102 Jetliner and the CF-105 Arrow. (the Jetliner was a greater loss to Canada than the Arrow, IMHO, but I won't get into that here).
The other reason was that the head of A.V.Roe refused to accept a scaled-back project, and demanded an all-or-nothing solution. So he got nothing. And so did the rest of us.
Good thing for the American space program too, cos without all those Canucks, their program would have had a tough time tackling the myriad problems involved in pushing the aerospace envelope well past the "aero" threshold.
I'm not sure how you go from a blanket generalization to "political fact", but don't try to bait this Tory.
I don't kiss American ass, eh? I prefer to French with Asians.
Having worked on Computer Aided Moleculer Modeling rigs at CIBA (old E&S vector displays with funky goggles that used blink-based 3D), there is obviously a LOT you can do with a display like this: get a team of mad-science Pharma PhD gathered around a molecule, and poke into the interesting bits. Animate it. Unfold it. Make it jiggle. Enlightenment is thus facilitated.
I mean, for an industry that is going to dwarf IT in a few years, this is pretty big step forward. I could see a lot of smaller R&D companies wanting this technology, and it could help level the playing field when it comes to innovation in an industry dominated by giants like Ciba-Sandoz and Merck.
So this may be too expensive for a toy (unless your name is Bill), but there is a lot of ways you could use a holograph to help in processes that require modeling of spatial relationships.
Other uses:
- 3d modeling for entertainment... do any hardcore Maya people want to play with this toy?
- arcade games (obviously not for the first coupld of generations)
- military and space applications (more ways to present complex information = worth paying for)
- a VERY funk disco-lava-kaleido-globe that will awe the ladies and set the 'right' mood. (I *did* say enhance your special relationships with models, didn't I?...)