I use the Ubiquiti mFi mPower to control a lamp remotely. That's a very basic setup for this system, but it has been very reliable compared to other solutions I've used. There's an iPhone and Android app, and you run the server on a local machine, so there's no third party to go through. They also offer various sensors, such as a temperature sensor. I'm not sure if it's cheap enough, but otherwise I think it might meet your needs. www.ubnt.com
Actually, the Cree LR-6 and CR-6 fixtures would work fantastically well in your home. The CR-6 is available at many Home Depot locations. Costs about $50 but they really will last the 50,000 hours that they advertise. If you move to a new house, take your CR-6s with you. Great color temperature, dimmable nearly to zero on a standard triac dimmer, and only about 10 watts for the equivalent of 75 watts of incandescent lighting. Nice fixtures.
This is a great idea but a bad implementation. If Intel wanted to build consumer goodwill while still maintaining price flexibility, they should have offered a $50 rebate to anyone willing to 'downgrade' their CPU after they bought it. This is very similar to an experiment I've heard run with soda machines: it's a great idea to be able to dynamically adjust the price of the soda based on the weather, and it's very easy to do: install a temperature sensor, write a little code, and you're ready to go. The trick is how you promote the idea. If you add a "surcharge" when it's hot outside, people get angry and think you're taking advantage of them. However, if you offer a "discount" when it's cold outside, people think they're getting a deal. You can use the same prices and just advertise it differently.
I for one love my X-Arcade joystick (link warning: some video game sounds present). Nothing makes for a better MAME experience short of building an entire MAME cabinet.
Ridiculous! This is what Apple should have been providing from day one. I can't believe they are trying to charge a premium for twice the bitrate ^H^H^H^H^H^H^ number of cores.
The current Yahoo mail interface is bare-bones (no font tools, etc) when running Firefox, Safari, or IE5.5 on OS X. I suppose this has something to do with requiring ActiveX (I'm a hardware guy; forgive me if that's wrong.) Anyway, is DHTML cross-platform compatible, so that all of these pretty features will work on OS X?
It's an interesting design. I picked one up at lunch time today (east coast!)
1. The whole top surface clicks down, just like the current one-button Apple mice.
2. The little ball does, in fact, move, like a trackball, rather than an eraserhead pointer.
3. If you have two fingers on the mouse top, and you try to right click, it doesn't know which finger you're using to click, so it defaults to normal left-click mode. So, you have to lift up your index finger (for right-handed use) when right-clicking.
4. You have to squeeze the lower buttons together fairly firmly to get it to register a click. And, yes, there's a tiny audible electronic click noise when you do that. There's also a tiny click noise when using the scroll ball, to give you some feedback.
5. Clicking with the scroll ball means pressing it down and then pressing hard enough to click the entire mouse top. Not difficult, and it makes it hard to accidentally click the scroll ball.
6. I think when I hook it up to my iMac tonight and I can adjust the scroll ball sensitivity, it will be much more useful. It's a little too sensitive on my PC. It's better than the Microsoft mice that have wheels with no detents, but only marginally so. Scrolling through powerpoint slides one at a time, for example, is difficult, and I have to do that a lot as a marketeer.
A nice design- I think the OSX control panel will make it really usable.
I have bought and returned more wireless keyboards than I can count. The only one I have found that can keep up with my typing is the Apple bluetooth keyboard, and I think that's only because the keys are all mushy feeling and they slow down my typing. So, I'm stuck using either an old IBM clickity keyboard, or the Matias clickity Mac keyboard that I'm typing on now (not as good as an IBM, but pretty close. It has a hollow ring after every keystroke, like something inside isn't properly damped. I need to open it up and take a look). The wired Microsoft ergonomic keyboard is also a good alternative, but again, it's wired. What is a fast typist to do?
Thanks- that makes sense. Defect density is indeed an important factor. Cree might be getting a better handle on this since they are now offering SiC diodes, but it's still a much simpler process than anything you'd use for ICs. An improvement of a factor of 100 would be great.
I don't understand the distinction between what this group has done and what you can buy today from companies like cree. You can today buy high-temp silicon carbide products. Is this article about a new way to make SiC wafers?
Here's one that has some more quotes from Dr. Bradley about inventing Ctrl-Alt-Del, as well as interviews with others on the team that invented the first IBM PC.
Googling on his name along with "history of IBM PC" yields other good tidbits.
Dr. Bradley teaches Digital Logic (ECE212, I think) at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. At least, he taught the class there about four years ago; I hope he still does. It sounds corny, but he made digital logic "fun!" His lectures were great. On the last day of class he brought in a slide show and told the story of the development of the PC. Totally fascinating.
Don't most people just flip on the TV (or 'telly' in the UK I guess) when they are seeking "rich multimedia content" that neither broadband nor a newspaper can deliver?
That's a shame about the radio station... I was there when it went from "cable FM" to "over-the-air" broadcasting. It was a big deal.
I guess that's also too bad about the football team, although I have to admit that I never went to one of their games; why watch football when you have division I hockey? (Although it looks like the hockey team is still sucking wind, but the coach quitting can only help)
Michigan Tech is a small 6,000 person engineering school stuck up in the middle of NOWHERE. Check out this map to get some idea of what I mean. It's an absolutely beautiful area- it's on the shore of Lake Superior, and the hiking/biking/camping/skiing is fantastic. Tech turns out a lot of good engineers in part because there's not much to do throughout most of the school year except play in the snow and drink. Oh, and the poor (for the men) male:female ratio means not much of a distraction for the guys in that regard, either.
Aside from the great college radio station (all 100 watts of it), at least in 1996 there was basically nowhere to hear new music. Bands wouldn't ever stop in the area and the three local radio stations were top 40, country, and NPR.
So, while I can't really defend this guy, I have to imagine his network was *extremely* popular. It was probably the only place to get music locally unless Musicland was still open at the Copper Country Mall ("Over Forty Stores!")
Anybody from Tech care to comment on whether or not things are any different today than they were when I was there?
I don't think the incumbent flash vendors have anything to worry about... all they have to do is lobby their favorite Senator to preserve their oligopoly & make any new solid-state non-volatile data storage medim illegal. Come to think of it, Fritz Hollings would probably be up to the task as that would suit the entertainment lobby well- if you can't buy dense solid-state media, it's tougher to transport those pesky "fair use" music & movie files.
FWIW, I remember this same sort of nay-saying a couple of years ago when pundits claimed that sub- 100 nm lithography was impossible. Looks like those hurdles have been cleared so I'm sure someone will come up with some way to improve memory density.
Slashdot Mirror
I use the Ubiquiti mFi mPower to control a lamp remotely. That's a very basic setup for this system, but it has been very reliable compared to other solutions I've used. There's an iPhone and Android app, and you run the server on a local machine, so there's no third party to go through. They also offer various sensors, such as a temperature sensor. I'm not sure if it's cheap enough, but otherwise I think it might meet your needs. www.ubnt.com
Actually, the Cree LR-6 and CR-6 fixtures would work fantastically well in your home. The CR-6 is available at many Home Depot locations. Costs about $50 but they really will last the 50,000 hours that they advertise. If you move to a new house, take your CR-6s with you. Great color temperature, dimmable nearly to zero on a standard triac dimmer, and only about 10 watts for the equivalent of 75 watts of incandescent lighting. Nice fixtures.
This is a great idea but a bad implementation. If Intel wanted to build consumer goodwill while still maintaining price flexibility, they should have offered a $50 rebate to anyone willing to 'downgrade' their CPU after they bought it. This is very similar to an experiment I've heard run with soda machines: it's a great idea to be able to dynamically adjust the price of the soda based on the weather, and it's very easy to do: install a temperature sensor, write a little code, and you're ready to go. The trick is how you promote the idea. If you add a "surcharge" when it's hot outside, people get angry and think you're taking advantage of them. However, if you offer a "discount" when it's cold outside, people think they're getting a deal. You can use the same prices and just advertise it differently.
You have an elevator in your house?
I believe the GPS III constellation will be the modernization effort you're looking for.
"All your base are belong to us."
Interesting. I'll have to check out the Hori. I loved my Dreamcast but never had the arcade stick for it.
I for one love my X-Arcade joystick (link warning: some video game sounds present). Nothing makes for a better MAME experience short of building an entire MAME cabinet.
Ford's in his flivver, all's well with the world.
Yahoo Mail doesn't work in Safari, either... I can only assume it's an AJAX problem, too.
Ridiculous! This is what Apple should have been providing from day one. I can't believe they are trying to charge a premium for twice the bitrate ^H^H^H^H^H^H^ number of cores.
We asked her a lot of questions when we were studying the planets. Poor old woman. It only took her a week of Uranus questions before she caught on.
Q: If we sent a probe to Uranus, would it ever come back?
A: No, it wouldn't.
Q: Does Uranus have a lot of gasses?
A: Yes, there is a lot of methane and sulfur.
Q: Is there a ring around Uranus?
A: No, I don't think so, but we can check.
Q: Is Uranus cold?
A: Yes, it's extremely frigid.
etc
The current Yahoo mail interface is bare-bones (no font tools, etc) when running Firefox, Safari, or IE5.5 on OS X. I suppose this has something to do with requiring ActiveX (I'm a hardware guy; forgive me if that's wrong.) Anyway, is DHTML cross-platform compatible, so that all of these pretty features will work on OS X?
It's an interesting design. I picked one up at lunch time today (east coast!)
1. The whole top surface clicks down, just like the current one-button Apple mice.
2. The little ball does, in fact, move, like a trackball, rather than an eraserhead pointer.
3. If you have two fingers on the mouse top, and you try to right click, it doesn't know which finger you're using to click, so it defaults to normal left-click mode. So, you have to lift up your index finger (for right-handed use) when right-clicking.
4. You have to squeeze the lower buttons together fairly firmly to get it to register a click. And, yes, there's a tiny audible electronic click noise when you do that. There's also a tiny click noise when using the scroll ball, to give you some feedback.
5. Clicking with the scroll ball means pressing it down and then pressing hard enough to click the entire mouse top. Not difficult, and it makes it hard to accidentally click the scroll ball.
6. I think when I hook it up to my iMac tonight and I can adjust the scroll ball sensitivity, it will be much more useful. It's a little too sensitive on my PC. It's better than the Microsoft mice that have wheels with no detents, but only marginally so. Scrolling through powerpoint slides one at a time, for example, is difficult, and I have to do that a lot as a marketeer.
A nice design- I think the OSX control panel will make it really usable.
Ewann
I have bought and returned more wireless keyboards than I can count. The only one I have found that can keep up with my typing is the Apple bluetooth keyboard, and I think that's only because the keys are all mushy feeling and they slow down my typing. So, I'm stuck using either an old IBM clickity keyboard, or the Matias clickity Mac keyboard that I'm typing on now (not as good as an IBM, but pretty close. It has a hollow ring after every keystroke, like something inside isn't properly damped. I need to open it up and take a look). The wired Microsoft ergonomic keyboard is also a good alternative, but again, it's wired. What is a fast typist to do?
Ever read that one? Everyone takes "Soma" which keeps them happy. Sorta like X. Pretty visionary for a 1920s (30s?) book.
Thanks- that makes sense. Defect density is indeed an important factor. Cree might be getting a better handle on this since they are now offering SiC diodes, but it's still a much simpler process than anything you'd use for ICs. An improvement of a factor of 100 would be great.
I don't understand the distinction between what this group has done and what you can buy today from companies like cree. You can today buy high-temp silicon carbide products. Is this article about a new way to make SiC wafers?
Here's one that has some more quotes from Dr. Bradley about inventing Ctrl-Alt-Del, as well as interviews with others on the team that invented the first IBM PC.
Googling on his name along with "history of IBM PC" yields other good tidbits.
Dr. Bradley teaches Digital Logic (ECE212, I think) at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. At least, he taught the class there about four years ago; I hope he still does. It sounds corny, but he made digital logic "fun!" His lectures were great. On the last day of class he brought in a slide show and told the story of the development of the PC. Totally fascinating.
Don't most people just flip on the TV (or 'telly' in the UK I guess) when they are seeking "rich multimedia content" that neither broadband nor a newspaper can deliver?
Oh well.
How long until they get around to doing this for email? Another 80-90 years?
That's a shame about the radio station... I was there when it went from "cable FM" to "over-the-air" broadcasting. It was a big deal.
I guess that's also too bad about the football team, although I have to admit that I never went to one of their games; why watch football when you have division I hockey? (Although it looks like the hockey team is still sucking wind, but the coach quitting can only help)
Michigan Tech is a small 6,000 person engineering school stuck up in the middle of NOWHERE. Check out this map to get some idea of what I mean. It's an absolutely beautiful area- it's on the shore of Lake Superior, and the hiking/biking/camping/skiing is fantastic. Tech turns out a lot of good engineers in part because there's not much to do throughout most of the school year except play in the snow and drink. Oh, and the poor (for the men) male:female ratio means not much of a distraction for the guys in that regard, either.
Aside from the great college radio station (all 100 watts of it), at least in 1996 there was basically nowhere to hear new music. Bands wouldn't ever stop in the area and the three local radio stations were top 40, country, and NPR.
So, while I can't really defend this guy, I have to imagine his network was *extremely* popular. It was probably the only place to get music locally unless Musicland was still open at the Copper Country Mall ("Over Forty Stores!")
Anybody from Tech care to comment on whether or not things are any different today than they were when I was there?
I don't think the incumbent flash vendors have anything to worry about... all they have to do is lobby their favorite Senator to preserve their oligopoly & make any new solid-state non-volatile data storage medim illegal. Come to think of it, Fritz Hollings would probably be up to the task as that would suit the entertainment lobby well- if you can't buy dense solid-state media, it's tougher to transport those pesky "fair use" music & movie files.
FWIW, I remember this same sort of nay-saying a couple of years ago when pundits claimed that sub- 100 nm lithography was impossible. Looks like those hurdles have been cleared so I'm sure someone will come up with some way to improve memory density.