I have a completely different:CueCat. I mean, COMPLETELY different. There is a complete packaged led/detector assembly (a 1.5inch Black plastic box). There are no exposed uChips (possibly under the metal shielding on both sides of the PCB.
On the PCB:
(HM+H Rev 1.1)
016-000370-10105
It appears that there are more than one version of the CueCat out there. Has anybody done an investigation as to how many versions there are? In addition, how does the idea of multiple versions complicate the "legal" matters brought about by DC?
I started working on a Windows version, but I got really lazy. The first step toward making one for Win was to translate the Perl code to C++. After about 2 hours (and 6 beers) of learning Perl from staring at it in notepad, I gave up and went to watch Gundam Wing. If anybody knows about a C++ or C version, I'll be happy to work on 2 versions for Windows (an ActiveX control, and a standalone).
I have to laugh because when I picked up my:CueCat, I just walked into Radio Shack and got it. He asked me if I shop at Radio Shack (I do for parts) and if I use the catalog (I never had before). He scanned the catalog with his barcode scanner, slid it toward me on the counter, and said "That's it."
I was startled because he didn't ask my name, address, or even Postal code (which they always ask for when I buy resistors... they must really want to know which parts of town are buying the most resistors).
I walked out of the place feeling like I got away with breaking the neighbor's window. I don't know if this is happening elsewhere, or if I encountered the laziest Radio Shack employee ever. I like that I got something free and that DC doesn't have my address tied to the serial number. This way, when the revolution comes, Digital Convergence can't yank me out of my own home.
Yes, it's not slashdotted. The link isn't there, but a quick use of backspace will show you that there are 3 files in the download directory. One of them, magically, is the 1.19 version... which, by the way, doesn't seem to run under Win2K.
Not everyone just wants a simple wordprocessor. If that's all you need, Notepad works rather well (or vi on a freeer system). High school students need to write reports. College students need to write reports, create lab reports (embedding charts, diagrams, etc) and other larger projects. Professionals need to create daily solutions (embedding diagrams, weblinks, using standard templates, using proofing tools on drafts, keeping version control, creating traceable requirement and design documents... the list goes on ad infinitum).
Who wants to see Microsoft create a slew of about 150 products that do completely different things? I think that it's great that there are just a few flavors of productivity tools to choose from. They seem to be tailored pretty well to the needs of individuals, small businesses, enterprises, and us piraters that have the premium edition.
The method of accomplishing such a comprehensive system like this is openness. Do you have any idea how easy it is to write an add-in for Outlook? There was an article in the July 2000 VCDJ (no link available) that showed very quickly how to create a full-featured add-in for Outlook. It allowed hooking into all sorts of notifications, adding buttons, getting to mail, etc... basically, really slick stuff.
The price of this openness is that little exploits like this fall through the cracks. It's all a large balancing act where you decide what is necessary, and what risks are acceptable.
Maybe we're seeing a weakness in the TLD scheme in its present state. If the Internet was a United States only entity, we would be able to keep our arenas of websites seperate by their content and intent (.org,.com,.edu,.xxx, etc). It would be nearly impossible to implement this on a global scale due to the first-come-first-serve basis of registration. There would be domain name conflicts all over the place. The difference between these conflicts and the ones we currently face is that the US judicial system has a hand in things. In a worldwide battle over www."fitb".com, there is no controlling entity that can determine who 'deserves' a TLD more.
On the flip side, to what end do we want to delineate a site by the geographic location of its server? As the world integrates its services, it shouldn't matter which country is home to the business. Or, in more extreme situations (actually, rather common), a company has offices running in different countries.
The O'Henry twist here is that we want to delineate the net by the type of content being offered. One day, countries will go to war over a scarcity of domain names that are marketable.
There is an economic term called "Sunk Cost." It refers to the idea that any money that was spent in the past can't be recovered. And, since it's a company that's now down the tubes that ate the cost, these satellites can fall on my chevy any day now. Design a better system, rather than a cludged together hack to demonstrate the possibilities of satellite phones.
I live in Tucson, AZ. We are the second city to be able to access Sprint Broadband Access: http://www.sprintbroadband.com . It is a 13.5 inch diamond shaped dish that you use line of sight with a reciever. We have a transceiver station on a mountain that uses RF to transmit to our homes. It is a guaranteed 1Mbit/s connection, with rates reaching as high as 5Mbit/s (or higher). It costs $40 per month.
This is a friggin' amazing deal for the bandwidth we get, plus there is infinite expandability, since all they have to do is add another antenna if the demand gets too high. The upload rate is slightly lower (256K/s), but it is comparable to the Frame Relay we are using at work.
One of my coworkers is getting in on this deal for many of the reasons shown here. He is sick of using his DirecPC connection with a dialup for upload. I would love to see this type of technology catch on, since it is infinitely cheaper than running coaxial cable through downtown streets. The only problem is that not every city has a mountain at the outskirts of the city.
What's probably happening is that they are attempting to buy out a small chip company (Transmeta, anyone?). So, in essence, it will be a Microsoft product in the same way that the Intellimouse or Sidewinder is. They are primarily a software house, but they will dabble in hardware for a low enough venture cost.
The real advantage to MS leveraging this type of technology is that they can have a creative "influence" on the design of chips so that they work along with WinCE and.NET technologies. This type of vertical approach to a full internet solution is what will put them in a great position to set the standards.
From these credentials, he seems like too intelligent and educated of a man to let that sort of bile spew from his mouth. I wonder what happened... Maybe he got a good talking to by his CEO (or CFO:) ).
It's statements like this that make me very happy that the internet was designed to be run independantly of a centralized controlling body. In the end, the more they (corporations, now) tighten their grips, the more sand will slip through their fingers.
So, how does a simpleton like me acquire a set of balls that large? Besides a VP speaking personally to represent a company as large as Sony, where does he get off telling me that his revenue stream transcends our rights to develop technology?
The computer I had 16 years ago:
Beige Box with a keyboard, monitor, telecom wire running to the wall and power coming from the wall.
Computer I bought 4 years ago (almost to the day):
White Box with a keyboard, monitor, telecom wire running to the wall and power coming from the wall (plus mouse, speakers).
The computer I'm building this moment:
Blue Box with a keyboard, monitor, telecom wire running to the wall and power coming from the wall (plus mouse, speakers).
Are the people writing this article trying to be revolutionary? It sounds like they are trying do exactly the same stuff, but use buzzwords and fancy plastic molding to accomplish it. I don't expect the computer of 2010 to look any different, just be faster and slightly more ergonomically friendly.
One thing that has remained constant in PCs for the last 20 years: the mechanical engineers designing the physical apparatus holding the works together have come secondary to the EE's and CE's building the junk inside.
I can tell you from my own experience that faster bandwidth makes you more charitable. Last year (my senior year at an engineering school), I had massive amounts of bandwidth to spare. Because of this, I left the thousand, or so, songs I "owned" up for grabs. Even though I probably downloaded about 4-5 songs a day, about 100 songs were grabbed from me each day. I felt it a community service, of sorts.
Now that I'm graduated, and I have a crappy dial-up account, I don't share anything. If I share one song, and one person wants to download it, I can't even hit a webpage without a timeout. Actually, I don't use either Napster or Gnutella right now. The fact that Dr. Dre killed my Napster account, Gnutella manages to eat 99% of my crappy computer's CPU time, and I don't have any bandwidth makes me not want to even download, much less run a leach server.
Now, in 3 weeks when I get my 5Mbit wireless line, I will be serving up 100's of songs a day. I'll be bigger than the radio stations!
They should call it Star Wars: Episode 2 -
Dear lord, we are sooooo sorry about Jar Jar. It was Bill's idea, and he has been promptly sacked... Thank you
Do you remember the communication majors from college? You know, the guys that were only up at 4AM because they were smoking pot, while you were walking back from lab for the 3rd consecutive night. It's no wonder so few of them make it to being serious journalists that can be respected.
I do, however, give them a bit of credit for being able to hold their own while under the ratings gun. It's awfully unfortunate that the American public (with an attention span as short as the propegation delay through 9 inches of silicon) is holding onto the trigger.
Slashdot Mirror
On the PCB:
(HM+H Rev 1.1)
016-000370-10105
It appears that there are more than one version of the CueCat out there. Has anybody done an investigation as to how many versions there are? In addition, how does the idea of multiple versions complicate the "legal" matters brought about by DC?
I started working on a Windows version, but I got really lazy. The first step toward making one for Win was to translate the Perl code to C++. After about 2 hours (and 6 beers) of learning Perl from staring at it in notepad, I gave up and went to watch Gundam Wing. If anybody knows about a C++ or C version, I'll be happy to work on 2 versions for Windows (an ActiveX control, and a standalone).
I was startled because he didn't ask my name, address, or even Postal code (which they always ask for when I buy resistors... they must really want to know which parts of town are buying the most resistors).
I walked out of the place feeling like I got away with breaking the neighbor's window. I don't know if this is happening elsewhere, or if I encountered the laziest Radio Shack employee ever. I like that I got something free and that DC doesn't have my address tied to the serial number. This way, when the revolution comes, Digital Convergence can't yank me out of my own home.
Poor kid... he's just getting back from his Lit-201 class and his little linux box is on fire.
Slashdot effect takes down another soul.
Yes, it's not slashdotted. The link isn't there, but a quick use of backspace will show you that there are 3 files in the download directory. One of them, magically, is the 1.19 version... which, by the way, doesn't seem to run under Win2K.
Who wants to see Microsoft create a slew of about 150 products that do completely different things? I think that it's great that there are just a few flavors of productivity tools to choose from. They seem to be tailored pretty well to the needs of individuals, small businesses, enterprises, and us piraters that have the premium edition.
The method of accomplishing such a comprehensive system like this is openness. Do you have any idea how easy it is to write an add-in for Outlook? There was an article in the July 2000 VCDJ (no link available) that showed very quickly how to create a full-featured add-in for Outlook. It allowed hooking into all sorts of notifications, adding buttons, getting to mail, etc... basically, really slick stuff.
The price of this openness is that little exploits like this fall through the cracks. It's all a large balancing act where you decide what is necessary, and what risks are acceptable.
Respectfully
I wish I were that smooth.
It's the same sh*t he's pulling with DVDs. The man is too full of himself to remember where he came from: story telling.
On the flip side, to what end do we want to delineate a site by the geographic location of its server? As the world integrates its services, it shouldn't matter which country is home to the business. Or, in more extreme situations (actually, rather common), a company has offices running in different countries.
The O'Henry twist here is that we want to delineate the net by the type of content being offered. One day, countries will go to war over a scarcity of domain names that are marketable.
There is an economic term called "Sunk Cost." It refers to the idea that any money that was spent in the past can't be recovered. And, since it's a company that's now down the tubes that ate the cost, these satellites can fall on my chevy any day now. Design a better system, rather than a cludged together hack to demonstrate the possibilities of satellite phones.
This is a friggin' amazing deal for the bandwidth we get, plus there is infinite expandability, since all they have to do is add another antenna if the demand gets too high. The upload rate is slightly lower (256K/s), but it is comparable to the Frame Relay we are using at work.
One of my coworkers is getting in on this deal for many of the reasons shown here. He is sick of using his DirecPC connection with a dialup for upload. I would love to see this type of technology catch on, since it is infinitely cheaper than running coaxial cable through downtown streets. The only problem is that not every city has a mountain at the outskirts of the city.
The real advantage to MS leveraging this type of technology is that they can have a creative "influence" on the design of chips so that they work along with WinCE and .NET technologies. This type of vertical approach to a full internet solution is what will put them in a great position to set the standards.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
From these credentials, he seems like too intelligent and educated of a man to let that sort of bile spew from his mouth. I wonder what happened... Maybe he got a good talking to by his CEO (or CFO :) ).
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
"I'll take a size 8, in red, please..."
The 'please' will be optional.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
It's statements like this that make me very happy that the internet was designed to be run independantly of a centralized controlling body. In the end, the more they (corporations, now) tighten their grips, the more sand will slip through their fingers.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
And then, our l33t HaX0rz will convert all of your VHS tapes to Betamax!!!
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
In the words of Beavis: "Are you threatening me?"
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
Beige Box with a keyboard, monitor, telecom wire running to the wall and power coming from the wall.
Computer I bought 4 years ago (almost to the day):
White Box with a keyboard, monitor, telecom wire running to the wall and power coming from the wall (plus mouse, speakers).
The computer I'm building this moment:
Blue Box with a keyboard, monitor, telecom wire running to the wall and power coming from the wall (plus mouse, speakers).
Are the people writing this article trying to be revolutionary? It sounds like they are trying do exactly the same stuff, but use buzzwords and fancy plastic molding to accomplish it. I don't expect the computer of 2010 to look any different, just be faster and slightly more ergonomically friendly.
One thing that has remained constant in PCs for the last 20 years: the mechanical engineers designing the physical apparatus holding the works together have come secondary to the EE's and CE's building the junk inside.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
Who takes the biggest cut of them all: the lawyers.
Lawyers are great to have on your side, but the only reason you need them is because of other lawyers.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
I think N*Sync will be even more pissed.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
Now that I'm graduated, and I have a crappy dial-up account, I don't share anything. If I share one song, and one person wants to download it, I can't even hit a webpage without a timeout. Actually, I don't use either Napster or Gnutella right now. The fact that Dr. Dre killed my Napster account, Gnutella manages to eat 99% of my crappy computer's CPU time, and I don't have any bandwidth makes me not want to even download, much less run a leach server.
Now, in 3 weeks when I get my 5Mbit wireless line, I will be serving up 100's of songs a day. I'll be bigger than the radio stations!
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
Damnit... Oh well. Guess I have to find another way to get rich.
"Blue Elf has destroyed the food!"
You have to be kidding! What rules more than:
"Blue elf has destroyed the food."
I got hit a lot when I did that.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
They should call it Star Wars: Episode 2 -
Dear lord, we are sooooo sorry about Jar Jar. It was Bill's idea, and he has been promptly sacked... Thank you
"Blue Elf shot the food!"
Caution: Flamebait!
Do you remember the communication majors from college? You know, the guys that were only up at 4AM because they were smoking pot, while you were walking back from lab for the 3rd consecutive night. It's no wonder so few of them make it to being serious journalists that can be respected.
I do, however, give them a bit of credit for being able to hold their own while under the ratings gun. It's awfully unfortunate that the American public (with an attention span as short as the propegation delay through 9 inches of silicon) is holding onto the trigger.
"Blue Elf shot the food!"