This is a good point. That's why I keep all of my money at home stuffed in my mattress. Most people foolishly trust a bank to hold that money, but who knows what they will do with it? They might mistakenly transfer it to some bozo or accidentally divide my balance by 2.
Some friends tell me it is convenient to use these ATM things, but I can always go home and get more money if I need it, I don't ever want to leave town anyway. And this way I get to set up my own security. They tried to sell me some fancy alarm system, but I just keep the door locked and all the windows except for on the second story, 'cause no one is going to climb into a second story window.
The apps that I use the most are a browser, a media player, a text editor, an email client and a terminal. Only the text editor isn't specifically network-centric, although most of the files I edit are scattered across many computers.
The NC isn't necessarily a terminal with no hard drive and a crummy processor. The central premise is that your data lives in a central location that you can access from anywhere. I would love to be able to access my MP3s from my car or edit code while kicking back at the beach. That is the power of the NC.
Notice that the justices that voted against this surveillance were almost all younger than the ones that voted for it. Older people are worried about what younger people are up to, and don't have much to hide. Younger people need to make sure their supply of weed is not cut off.
IIRC Moore's law is a statement on the rate of progress in integration. It doesn't apply to the methods used to achieve that rate of progress. There have been a variety of technological improvements besides die shrinks over the years (CMOS, copper) that have contributed to the exponential growth of integration.
Actually I think there is some discrimination, but it is not motivated from hate but rather ignorance. The computer industry is still strongest in the US, and most OS software is still written by US-based companies. Why don't some Chinese software developers come up with their own language standard and write a bunch of software with it? Then the Western software industry will be forced to deal with the situation.
What the hell is the "Common Era?" I am not a Christian but I think it is reasonable to respect the Christians that bothered to count 2000 years. Calling it the "Common Era" takes the Gregorian Calendar completely out of context.
I know a number of people that have ridiculous phone bills (>$50 a month). Imagine the cost savings if these people got broadband and had a way to use it for teleconferencing?
DSL service has gotten a lot better. I got hooked up at the beginning of this year. They gave me a rebate on the installation fee, so I got a modem for free. It took them two weeks to turn the service on and I did the installation myself (which was easy). I don't see how cable could be much easier and cheaper than that.
Yes, OLED sounds like it will make new form factors possible. I have read about the possibility of rolling up an OLED display, how about stretching it? Wouldn't it be cool to have a TV screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio that can stretch to 16:9 for widescreen content?
It seems like Microsoft has increasingly felt the need to justify their IP-based business model. We should see every statement of this nature as a good sign. Microsoft is starting to feel the heat, and they are responding in the usual way: FUD. Any threat to IP is a threat to their very existence.
The problem is that if Microsoft gets enough marketshare then people stop catering to other platforms, which makes the alternatives much less useful. I am thinking of Navigator vs. IE in particular. One day I noticed that many pages stopped working correctly for Navigator and even though I hated the thought of using a Microsoft product I wanted the best possible web experience.
True, but with that kind of attitude we would all still be huddled naked around fires in the rain thinking "well, this would REALLY suck if we didn't have fire."
I can browse on my TV right now through my Dreamcast or my convergence PC. And the basic fact is that the highest resolution that works well on my TV is 640X480. And it looks like web developers gave up fitting their pages in such a low resolution. console-based browsers will continue to suck as long as the TV is a low resolution device.
The last common controller interface that I remember was the Atari 2600 joystick input. The Commodore 64 used the exact same port, and so did the Sega Genesis (although Genesis controllers had two more buttons). Even if multiple console companies use the same wireless protocol they will come up with some way to lock their controllers into their own units, the bloodsucking bastards.
So we hav an active captain, a Vulcan 1st officer, an eccentric, older doctor, a good looking communications officer, and some other guys. This thing is set back in time and the name of the series is Enterprise...
Is it just me or is this promising to be an exact replica of the original Star Trek series?
I agree that information is not really property and that ideally everyone would start with an equal amount of physical property. But the reality of the situation is that capitalism is the strongest force on Earth because people are basically greedy. Everyone wants more than everyone else. And capitalism will continue to prevail until people realize that capitalism promotes the welfare of the corporation over any individual.
The only reason that people live with the EULA is that consumers don't really take it seriously. I'd like to see a software company try to revoke my license or prevent me from giving their software to my friends. The day that they really try to enforce these provisions for individual consumers is the day before the EULA is made illegal.
I used to entertain myself by making Speak-n-Spell say dirty words all the time. The problem with using a computer to do convert text to speech is there are bastards out there that think some words should not be heard, and a computer is smart enough to try to filter those words. Fortunately even a small child is a lot smarter than a computer.
You touched on the main weakness of this thing - it has a slow network connection. The 3rd world will not embrace computing until they can do something useful with it, and the most useful thing is to get information from hundreds or thousands of miles away. It will be problematic downloading data over dodgy phone lines or slow wireless connections.
Simputer will be a good idea when you can embed
a 3G wireless phone in the thing and use that as your net connection. Everyone would want one of those.
You probably aren't aware of the fundamental philosophical difference between GPL and Freeware. BSD is Freeware, which means that anyone can take the code and do whatever they want with it. Freeware proponents believe that open source code is a choice, while the GPL stipulates that open source is a right.
Apple has traditionally relied on proprietary hardware and software to differentiate themselves from the hordes of Wintel PC manufacturers. If they did open source their software then everyone could make Mac-compatible machines and Apple would have to compete on price, which is not their strength. If you don't like their philosophical stand then don't use their products. Personally I will use whatever works the best, be it Freeware, GPL, proprietary, or whatever.
Wouldn't scientific process be accelerated if all published works were stored in one massively cross-referenced, searchable database? This would leave the scientific publishing business out in the cold, but that's the way the cookie crumbles for information middlemen.
Each national government could contribute to maintain this database, like the UN (hopefully the US would actually pay their dues!) Peer review could be set up on this site, and governments could look at hit counts for papers to determine whether a particular researcher deserved more money to continue their work.
One problem is that the publishing cost of this information would be spread to everyone via taxes rather than to the individuals who get the most use out of this data, which doesn't sound fair. But everyone would benefit from the accelerated pace of science.
Slashdot Mirror
Someone mod this comment up, I find this observation to be more fundamental than some BS about an absolute limit to computer speed.
Some friends tell me it is convenient to use these ATM things, but I can always go home and get more money if I need it, I don't ever want to leave town anyway. And this way I get to set up my own security. They tried to sell me some fancy alarm system, but I just keep the door locked and all the windows except for on the second story, 'cause no one is going to climb into a second story window.
The NC isn't necessarily a terminal with no hard drive and a crummy processor. The central premise is that your data lives in a central location that you can access from anywhere. I would love to be able to access my MP3s from my car or edit code while kicking back at the beach. That is the power of the NC.
Notice that the justices that voted against this surveillance were almost all younger than the ones that voted for it. Older people are worried about what younger people are up to, and don't have much to hide. Younger people need to make sure their supply of weed is not cut off.
IIRC Moore's law is a statement on the rate of progress in integration. It doesn't apply to the methods used to achieve that rate of progress. There have been a variety of technological improvements besides die shrinks over the years (CMOS, copper) that have contributed to the exponential growth of integration.
Actually I think there is some discrimination, but it is not motivated from hate but rather ignorance. The computer industry is still strongest in the US, and most OS software is still written by US-based companies. Why don't some Chinese software developers come up with their own language standard and write a bunch of software with it? Then the Western software industry will be forced to deal with the situation.
What the hell is the "Common Era?" I am not a Christian but I think it is reasonable to respect the Christians that bothered to count 2000 years. Calling it the "Common Era" takes the Gregorian Calendar completely out of context.
I know a number of people that have ridiculous phone bills (>$50 a month). Imagine the cost savings if these people got broadband and had a way to use it for teleconferencing?
DSL service has gotten a lot better. I got hooked up at the beginning of this year. They gave me a rebate on the installation fee, so I got a modem for free. It took them two weeks to turn the service on and I did the installation myself (which was easy). I don't see how cable could be much easier and cheaper than that.
Yes, OLED sounds like it will make new form factors possible. I have read about the possibility of rolling up an OLED display, how about stretching it? Wouldn't it be cool to have a TV screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio that can stretch to 16:9 for widescreen content?
It seems like Microsoft has increasingly felt the need to justify their IP-based business model. We should see every statement of this nature as a good sign. Microsoft is starting to feel the heat, and they are responding in the usual way: FUD. Any threat to IP is a threat to their very existence.
The problem is that if Microsoft gets enough marketshare then people stop catering to other platforms, which makes the alternatives much less useful. I am thinking of Navigator vs. IE in particular. One day I noticed that many pages stopped working correctly for Navigator and even though I hated the thought of using a Microsoft product I wanted the best possible web experience.
I can browse on my TV right now through my Dreamcast or my convergence PC. And the basic fact is that the highest resolution that works well on my TV is 640X480. And it looks like web developers gave up fitting their pages in such a low resolution. console-based browsers will continue to suck as long as the TV is a low resolution device.
The last common controller interface that I remember was the Atari 2600 joystick input. The Commodore 64 used the exact same port, and so did the Sega Genesis (although Genesis controllers had two more buttons). Even if multiple console companies use the same wireless protocol they will come up with some way to lock their controllers into their own units, the bloodsucking bastards.
No one is twisting your arm to play newer games. Why don't you get some compilation discs of Space Quest and Might and Magic and stop complaining?
Right on, I got sick of playing Quake years ago but I might fire it up again to take a look at these mods.
So we hav an active captain, a Vulcan 1st officer, an eccentric, older doctor, a good looking communications officer, and some other guys. This thing is set back in time and the name of the series is Enterprise... Is it just me or is this promising to be an exact replica of the original Star Trek series?
As long as Wesley ends up with an exploded head it's all good.
I agree that information is not really property and that ideally everyone would start with an equal amount of physical property. But the reality of the situation is that capitalism is the strongest force on Earth because people are basically greedy. Everyone wants more than everyone else. And capitalism will continue to prevail until people realize that capitalism promotes the welfare of the corporation over any individual.
The only reason that people live with the EULA is that consumers don't really take it seriously. I'd like to see a software company try to revoke my license or prevent me from giving their software to my friends. The day that they really try to enforce these provisions for individual consumers is the day before the EULA is made illegal.
I used to entertain myself by making Speak-n-Spell say dirty words all the time. The problem with using a computer to do convert text to speech is there are bastards out there that think some words should not be heard, and a computer is smart enough to try to filter those words. Fortunately even a small child is a lot smarter than a computer.
Simputer will be a good idea when you can embed a 3G wireless phone in the thing and use that as your net connection. Everyone would want one of those.
Apple has traditionally relied on proprietary hardware and software to differentiate themselves from the hordes of Wintel PC manufacturers. If they did open source their software then everyone could make Mac-compatible machines and Apple would have to compete on price, which is not their strength. If you don't like their philosophical stand then don't use their products. Personally I will use whatever works the best, be it Freeware, GPL, proprietary, or whatever.
Each national government could contribute to maintain this database, like the UN (hopefully the US would actually pay their dues!) Peer review could be set up on this site, and governments could look at hit counts for papers to determine whether a particular researcher deserved more money to continue their work.
One problem is that the publishing cost of this information would be spread to everyone via taxes rather than to the individuals who get the most use out of this data, which doesn't sound fair. But everyone would benefit from the accelerated pace of science.