-1, Bad Spelling
-2, "Then" != "Than"
+5, Correct usage of "they're" and "their"
Or maybe just Open Source Spelling (tm) -- users could change one character of any post in each article. The community could then correct spelling errors: "then" => "than", etc.
Public libraries have been providing access to records (yes, the vinyl kind), tapes, CDs, videotapes, and laserdiscs for years. There's no reason why they couldn't also distribute books with CDs. -----
D. Fischer
It seems a better business plan for the cuecat would be to sell them for ~$10 with a software package that allows the user to do all the things you mention and then some:
- scan food packages: generate grocery lists. download nutritional info and compare it to popular diet plan guidelines (e.g. Weightwatchers). Using current in-stock food, recommend recipes to cook. Allow for auto-reorder with local/online grocery store when certain items need replacing.
- scanning books/CDs/etc for insurance database. Provide hooks for spreadsheets & common databases, along with included simple app. Setup agreements with insurance companies so you can upload your lists to their system (an insurance list in your house is no good if your house burns down; and that's the whole point of such a list)
- dynamically generated barcodes on gym equipment, encodes machine type, time/difficulty on machine. Add a bit of memory to the scanner, and you digitally log your workouts, then sync with the fitness software to log your progress. Integrate with nutritional monitor.
- toys toys toys! Sell a special Lego Mindstorms edition. Sell cheap software that allows kids to print barcodes on stickers. They can barcode their toys, their clothes, their sisters:) Why? I don't know, but kids groove on that kind of stuff. Have fun electronic kits: barcode keycards with a simple lock for the home computer, or little Susie's room. Scan books as they are read to make a book reading progress chart.
- Finally, provide engineering samples cheap to those who want them (hardware, drivers, no apps), contingent on the user agreeing that they will not sell (distribute?) hardware/software using the scanner or drivers without the companies consent. Then everyone knows what they're getting into before hand.
I think I've just given out several ideas to make some clever people rich. If you use these ideas to become a gazillionare, I'd appreciate a little 'Thank you' note:) -----
D. Fischer
Re:You can't ambush somebody with a contract.
on
CueCat At It Again
·
· Score: 2
I like your analogy, but I think it can be further improved:
It would be like a stranger left their dog at your doorstep, with a note saying, "Have a dog. Feed it alpo, and play fetch with a stick."
You'd think you could do whatever with the dog: keep it, give it away, neuter it, take it to the Human Society.
But then, the stranger shows up, sees you playing fetch with a frisbee, and calls the cops for not following the instructions he left you.
In the banking case, yes, I agree. Companies can't be trusted to publicly admit to their own weakness (see also: Firestone tire debacle).
I guess my analogy was not completely on target, then, because I was thinking of the security "tests" on things that people have no business testing. I often leave my car unlocked, windows rolled down when I go get groceries, and even when parked in front of my apt. These locations are fairly safe and there's nothing of value in the car. And if someone really wants to steal my car, a locked door won't stop them. So I don't need someone trying my car doors and telling me it's unlocked. Likewise, I don't necessarily want someone checking the "doors" of my website.
But getting back to your point; if my website was "Password.com: Keeper of your Vital Info", then perhaps it would be in public's best interest for people to try and (non-maliciously) break in. -----
D. Fischer
Here is an interesting article on security methods, from a user-interface design perspective. Maximum Security
Here's a quote to whet your appetite:
Security in our nation's computer systems is in trouble, and the fault lies with an education system turning out security people unprepared to build real-world secure systems. As a result, many of our most secure-appearing systems sport all the impenetrability of a slice of Swiss Cheese.
(BTW: I recommend looking through AskTog and Alertbox if you deal at all with interface design, or want to know why today's interfaces suck so much sometimes:) -----
D. Fischer
Hmmm... I agree with your thoughts, at least to a point. This is perhaps the equivalent of opening someone's unlocked car door to turn off their lights. Or perhaps, it's like picking their lock to get in and turn off the lights.
The former case is good; the second case is not exactly bad, but I'm not comfortable with it.
What I would have a strong distaste for would be someone who goes around a parking lot, trying to open car doors, and when he finds one unlocked, leaves a note or something saying, 'your car is insecure, you need to lock your doors'.
I'm not in the litho field, but I know a small bit about it, and here are a few more thoughts on the issues:
- classical imaging is limited by wavelength; the shorter the wavelength, the better the resolution. Lithography, fundamentally, is imaging a mask at a reduced size onto reactive material. So, the approach has been to decrease the wavelength, to get smaller feature sizes.
- as the wavelength and feature sizes decreases, optical interference effects became more of a concern. But they also learned to play cool tricks with the effects. Instead of using a conventional 'binary' mask (either opaque or transparent), they implemented phase masks. Certain areas, usually at corners, and line ends, had a different optical thickness, introducing a phase shift into part of the light, allowing interference, resulting in certain feature sizes to be reduced, approaching the lambda/2 limit.
- Other games they play, I think, involve the etching material itself. Because it does not react in a linear fashion, I think they have done things to modulate the image intensity more precisely, using the material reaction with the light to achieve feature sizes that are smaller than expected based on the image quality itself. That is, the material is used as a thresholding device. (I'm not sure if they actually do this, but I thought I've heard of it. Maybe not.)
- What's next? People have been declaring the death of "optical lithography" for years (decades?). Yet, the industry keeps finding ways to produce shorter wavelengths (in an industrial setting), and design/fabricate lens systems that can image at that wavelength. There have been predictions of x-ray and electron beam lithography, but 'optics' has so far held them off.
What about this new technique? I don't know anything about it. It could be a new necessary method. Or it might not pan out, faced with the multitude of other challenges, and the tremendous money & experience & effort thrown behind the current optical technologies.
- Parting thoughts:
Something often overlooked are the other parts of lithograhy. The stepper motors used to translate the silicon wafers are incredible! But that technology must be improved to provide sufficient resolution & accuracy as feature sizes decrease.
The masks themselves are also a fair feat, requiring some fabrication finesse
The lens systems required for lithography systems are insane. The search for new materials as wavelength decreases. Further, as the feature sizes decrease, lenses must have ever small tolerances, which pushes the measurement technology people to do amazing things.
I could go on, but I've rambled enough. Suffice to say that the lithography and related fields are really cool. The particular writing method is important, but there are a whole host of other challenges to face as well. -----
D. Fischer
"Of course, the record industry will sue the starving student for theft of copyrighted works. Perhaps they will take payment in "Top Ramen";->. "
I agree that the music industry is more interested in the deep pockets, and dealing with organizations, rather than individuals.
However, if they pursued criminal charges against a student, that could be far worse than "top ramen" penalties. Even if there was no fine, and no jail time, having a criminal record (that won't go away if they're >18 yrs) in an area dealing with intellectual property could make it very difficult for that stupid to get a job in IT in the future. Which means they're eating top ramen for the next 10 years:( -----
D. Fischer
As far as I can tell, Bungie was a privately held company, with 20% held by TakeTwo. MS bought TakeTwo's ownership, TakeTwo got ownership of programs, including Myth & Oni, as well access to current and future technologies.
So blame Oni's absence on TakeTwo.
If I'm correct, and Bungie is a private company, then they weren't bought unless they (the owners) wanted to be bought. By all accounts, this was not a corporate raid, or hostile takeover. MS made an offer that Bungie liked, and they went with it.
So blame Bungie if Bungie is screwed by MS. If they made a pact with the devil, it's their own doing.
Another perspective comes from their CEO. They saw the writing on the wall (and to infer), didn't want to go the way of Looking Glass Studios. So they got a big company with deep pockets to give them access to what they would need to stay in business for a good while longer.
Here's the full quote:
Why is this happening?
For two reasons:
A. Microsoft is offering us the opportunity to lead the way on a next-generation console system. We will not only be one of the premier developers for the platform, but we'll be working directly with the Xbox team, helping to optimize the hardware and software for each other. We'll influence the design of the system; we'll help to ensure that the Xbox is the best platform to code for, and the most impressive console on the block. Such an opportunity does not come often. Bungie has always tried to keep abreast of the industry, if not ahead of it, and next-gen consoles seem like the place to be if you develop games. This deal allows us to get into that market in a big way.
B. The business of publishing entertainment software independently has changed enormously since Bungie started. Bungie was not in immediate danger of going under, but we realized that within a few years we'd need a strong partner if we wanted to keep making games the way we always have. We opted to make what we saw as an inevitable move while we were still in a position of strength, rather than wait for circumstances to force our hand. The ultimate goal is to ensure Bungie continues to exist and continues to produce the high-caliber games for which it is known.
"which according to the article they're not getting"
I understood that the "resistance" group was organizing in case something does happen; but all is good for now.
There is concern that MS *might* switch the servers to NT, but they have *not* done that, much less has there been any server problems. -----
D. Fischer
I'll go with the 'proto-geek' status. Although, we are plug-and-play for any Win9x machine via the hub. Friends can come over and plug in their Wintel machine (not that they do, but they could, and that's what really matters). (please no Wintel v. Linux flames. I can run what I need, so I'm mostly happy)
I always assumed I was a geek, just because I had an abnormally high interest in science and engineering. Who knew I also had to techno-commune to achieve true geekdome!:) -----
D. Fischer
Uhmmm...thanks...I think you just added another three years to my graduate 'career':)
"Then port PovRay to an IC board for hardware raytracing. "
Alas, it's not that type of ray-tracing. It's lens-simulation ray-tracing, as in optical design & optimization. POVRay doesn't do quite what I need. -----
D. Fischer
The main reason is because I started on a PC, and it's not worth the effort or money to switch machines.
Some people start off with a Alpha or other non-PC box, which can work very well. But switching to a different box mid- to late- game is not worth the effort to me. -----
D. Fischer
I've read some articles and seen some shows on this topic. The details escape me, but it was something like this:
- pre-wire the house with phone cable, electricity (of course), cat 5, and coax, and maybe something else.
- Everwhere there is an electrical outlet, place an outlet for the phone & cat-5 cables. Or at least have wiring there, 'cause it's easy to punch a hole and add the outlet, if the wires are already there.
- Pre-install stereo speakers in all rooms, using suitable wiring.
- install IR receivers/transmitters (or leave cabling for them) for house-wide universal remote control uses (stereo, tv, surveilance camera, etc.)
- integrated switchboard/hub in garage/utility closet for all cables.
Essentially, with all cable pre-installed, and outlets available in all rooms, with more added later easily, and a central 'switchboard' big enough for growth, you can then plug-and-play as you add stuff (stereo, video cameras, computers, printers) to the house. -----
D. Fischer
I've got a P3 450, and in my hobby web-site coding, I use a little program that allows multi-document search-and-replace. Currently, it will S & R 300 pages in about 5-20 seconds, depending on the search string.
I'd like that to be zero seconds, for a thousand pages.
For my research, I use a custom ray-tracing program. Takes 20-60 minutes for some runs on this machine. I'd like the runs to be instantaneous.
I also like to compress (zip) my data for archival purposes. Compressing 400+ MB of files takes 10-20 minutes. I wish it were instantaneous.
"there's a point (the "absolute processing point") where the speed of a program is dependent solely on the algorithm used, and not on how fast the microprocessor is chugging along."
Huh? Can you explain that? Since any algorithm implemented on a computer is ultimately limited by the speed at which the electronics can execute it, it seems that programs will always scale with electronics speed, barring some other bottleneck.
Perhaps you were think of how an algorithm scales. A common example is fast-Fourier transform: it scales as N*ln(N) (something like that) where N is the # of points in the data set. An FFT routine cannot 'beat' that scaling factor. You can't make an FFT routine that scales by N. However, an FFT can always be sped up by using faster computers.
If that's not what you meant, can you give an example of an algorithm that cannot run any faster than a certain speed, regardless of the hardware?
Hmmm... That's helps, but can the poster (or someone else) explain just what a "geek house" is?
My apartment-mate bought a computer a while back. Then I bought one. Then I bought a network kit on sale. Now we play Starcraft on weekends occaisionally. Do we qualify as having a "geek apartment"?
Seems that just need to get a house-mate with a computer, then buy networking equipment. -----
D. Fischer
The word "explore" in common vernacular, as well as the majority of definitions, pertains to physical activity, experimentation, traveling, etc. While "explore" can be used for intellectual-only activity, that's not how the word is typically understood.
So, I don't consider Hawking an "explorer." And I agree, "inventor" is not the right word either. "Theoretician", "investigator", "scientist", "researcher", "thinker", "philosopher", "luminary" are all good ones, though.
I don't mean to diminish what Hawking has done; I just don't think "explore" is the best word to describe his accomplishments. -----
D. Fischer
Slashdot Mirror
You seemed to have made some spelling errors; revisions follow.
"...has forgotten that they're's too different words hear."
;)
-----
D. Fischer
This and recent discussions on moderation make me think /. could use a new moderation factor:
-1, Bad Spelling
-2, "Then" != "Than"
+5, Correct usage of "they're" and "their"
Or maybe just Open Source Spelling (tm) -- users could change one character of any post in each article. The community could then correct spelling errors: "then" => "than", etc.
:)
-----
D. Fischer
Public libraries have been providing access to records (yes, the vinyl kind), tapes, CDs, videotapes, and laserdiscs for years. There's no reason why they couldn't also distribute books with CDs.
-----
D. Fischer
Doh! I screwed up big time! That link is to an alternate history fiction (what if the South had won the Civil War, I think).
:(
Here is the List of US Presidents
So, no, there was not a President Hancock (or Handcock).
Sorry for the previous disinformation.
-----
D. Fischer
Winfield Scott Hancock/David B. Hill (Liberal Rep.) 1885-1886 (Hancock died in office)
-----
D. Fischer
OTOH, since /. only posts ~12 articles/day, every CueCat article is one less article on something else, that could be more interesting.
Personally, I find the whole CueCat thing fascinating, but I understand the dissenters' dis-interest.
-----
D. Fischer
It seems a better business plan for the cuecat would be to sell them for ~$10 with a software package that allows the user to do all the things you mention and then some:
:) Why? I don't know, but kids groove on that kind of stuff. Have fun electronic kits: barcode keycards with a simple lock for the home computer, or little Susie's room. Scan books as they are read to make a book reading progress chart.
:)
- scan food packages: generate grocery lists. download nutritional info and compare it to popular diet plan guidelines (e.g. Weightwatchers). Using current in-stock food, recommend recipes to cook. Allow for auto-reorder with local/online grocery store when certain items need replacing.
- scanning books/CDs/etc for insurance database. Provide hooks for spreadsheets & common databases, along with included simple app. Setup agreements with insurance companies so you can upload your lists to their system (an insurance list in your house is no good if your house burns down; and that's the whole point of such a list)
- dynamically generated barcodes on gym equipment, encodes machine type, time/difficulty on machine. Add a bit of memory to the scanner, and you digitally log your workouts, then sync with the fitness software to log your progress. Integrate with nutritional monitor.
- toys toys toys! Sell a special Lego Mindstorms edition. Sell cheap software that allows kids to print barcodes on stickers. They can barcode their toys, their clothes, their sisters
- Finally, provide engineering samples cheap to those who want them (hardware, drivers, no apps), contingent on the user agreeing that they will not sell (distribute?) hardware/software using the scanner or drivers without the companies consent. Then everyone knows what they're getting into before hand.
I think I've just given out several ideas to make some clever people rich. If you use these ideas to become a gazillionare, I'd appreciate a little 'Thank you' note
-----
D. Fischer
I like your analogy, but I think it can be further improved:
It would be like a stranger left their dog at your doorstep, with a note saying, "Have a dog. Feed it alpo, and play fetch with a stick."
You'd think you could do whatever with the dog: keep it, give it away, neuter it, take it to the Human Society.
But then, the stranger shows up, sees you playing fetch with a frisbee, and calls the cops for not following the instructions he left you.
That's how I see it, anyway.
-----
D. Fischer
In the banking case, yes, I agree. Companies can't be trusted to publicly admit to their own weakness (see also: Firestone tire debacle).
I guess my analogy was not completely on target, then, because I was thinking of the security "tests" on things that people have no business testing. I often leave my car unlocked, windows rolled down when I go get groceries, and even when parked in front of my apt. These locations are fairly safe and there's nothing of value in the car. And if someone really wants to steal my car, a locked door won't stop them. So I don't need someone trying my car doors and telling me it's unlocked. Likewise, I don't necessarily want someone checking the "doors" of my website.
But getting back to your point; if my website was "Password.com: Keeper of your Vital Info", then perhaps it would be in public's best interest for people to try and (non-maliciously) break in.
-----
D. Fischer
Here is an interesting article on security methods, from a user-interface design perspective. Maximum Security
:)
Here's a quote to whet your appetite:
Security in our nation's computer systems is in trouble, and the fault lies with an education system turning out security people unprepared to build real-world secure systems. As a result, many of our most secure-appearing systems sport all the impenetrability of a slice of Swiss Cheese.
(BTW: I recommend looking through AskTog and Alertbox if you deal at all with interface design, or want to know why today's interfaces suck so much sometimes
-----
D. Fischer
Hmmm... I agree with your thoughts, at least to a point. This is perhaps the equivalent of opening someone's unlocked car door to turn off their lights. Or perhaps, it's like picking their lock to get in and turn off the lights.
The former case is good; the second case is not exactly bad, but I'm not comfortable with it.
What I would have a strong distaste for would be someone who goes around a parking lot, trying to open car doors, and when he finds one unlocked, leaves a note or something saying, 'your car is insecure, you need to lock your doors'.
Well, just some thoughts.
-----
D. Fischer
I'm not in the litho field, but I know a small bit about it, and here are a few more thoughts on the issues:
- classical imaging is limited by wavelength; the shorter the wavelength, the better the resolution. Lithography, fundamentally, is imaging a mask at a reduced size onto reactive material. So, the approach has been to decrease the wavelength, to get smaller feature sizes.
- as the wavelength and feature sizes decreases, optical interference effects became more of a concern. But they also learned to play cool tricks with the effects. Instead of using a conventional 'binary' mask (either opaque or transparent), they implemented phase masks. Certain areas, usually at corners, and line ends, had a different optical thickness, introducing a phase shift into part of the light, allowing interference, resulting in certain feature sizes to be reduced, approaching the lambda/2 limit.
- Other games they play, I think, involve the etching material itself. Because it does not react in a linear fashion, I think they have done things to modulate the image intensity more precisely, using the material reaction with the light to achieve feature sizes that are smaller than expected based on the image quality itself. That is, the material is used as a thresholding device. (I'm not sure if they actually do this, but I thought I've heard of it. Maybe not.)
- What's next? People have been declaring the death of "optical lithography" for years (decades?). Yet, the industry keeps finding ways to produce shorter wavelengths (in an industrial setting), and design/fabricate lens systems that can image at that wavelength. There have been predictions of x-ray and electron beam lithography, but 'optics' has so far held them off.
What about this new technique? I don't know anything about it. It could be a new necessary method. Or it might not pan out, faced with the multitude of other challenges, and the tremendous money & experience & effort thrown behind the current optical technologies.
- Parting thoughts:
Something often overlooked are the other parts of lithograhy. The stepper motors used to translate the silicon wafers are incredible! But that technology must be improved to provide sufficient resolution & accuracy as feature sizes decrease.
The masks themselves are also a fair feat, requiring some fabrication finesse
The lens systems required for lithography systems are insane. The search for new materials as wavelength decreases. Further, as the feature sizes decrease, lenses must have ever small tolerances, which pushes the measurement technology people to do amazing things.
I could go on, but I've rambled enough. Suffice to say that the lithography and related fields are really cool. The particular writing method is important, but there are a whole host of other challenges to face as well.
-----
D. Fischer
"Of course, the record industry will sue the starving student for theft of copyrighted works. Perhaps they will take payment in "Top Ramen" ;->. "
:(
I agree that the music industry is more interested in the deep pockets, and dealing with organizations, rather than individuals.
However, if they pursued criminal charges against a student, that could be far worse than "top ramen" penalties. Even if there was no fine, and no jail time, having a criminal record (that won't go away if they're >18 yrs) in an area dealing with intellectual property could make it very difficult for that stupid to get a job in IT in the future. Which means they're eating top ramen for the next 10 years
-----
D. Fischer
As far as I can tell, Bungie was a privately held company, with 20% held by TakeTwo. MS bought TakeTwo's ownership, TakeTwo got ownership of programs, including Myth & Oni, as well access to current and future technologies.
So blame Oni's absence on TakeTwo.
If I'm correct, and Bungie is a private company, then they weren't bought unless they (the owners) wanted to be bought. By all accounts, this was not a corporate raid, or hostile takeover. MS made an offer that Bungie liked, and they went with it.
So blame Bungie if Bungie is screwed by MS. If they made a pact with the devil, it's their own doing.
Another perspective comes from their CEO. They saw the writing on the wall (and to infer), didn't want to go the way of Looking Glass Studios. So they got a big company with deep pockets to give them access to what they would need to stay in business for a good while longer.
Here's the full quote:
Why is this happening?
For two reasons:
A. Microsoft is offering us the opportunity to lead the way on a next-generation console system. We will not only be one of the premier developers for the platform, but we'll be working directly with the Xbox team, helping to optimize the hardware and software for each other. We'll influence the design of the system; we'll help to ensure that the Xbox is the best platform to code for, and the most impressive console on the block. Such an opportunity does not come often. Bungie has always tried to keep abreast of the industry, if not ahead of it, and next-gen consoles seem like the place to be if you develop games. This deal allows us to get into that market in a big way.
B. The business of publishing entertainment software independently has changed enormously since Bungie started. Bungie was not in immediate danger of going under, but we realized that within a few years we'd need a strong partner if we wanted to keep making games the way we always have. We opted to make what we saw as an inevitable move while we were still in a position of strength, rather than wait for circumstances to force our hand. The ultimate goal is to ensure Bungie continues to exist and continues to produce the high-caliber games for which it is known.
Here are locations of info:
MacCentral report on acquisition
Bungie Corporate Info
NDB.com
Bungie Acquisition FAQ
-----
D. Fischer
"which according to the article they're not getting"
I understood that the "resistance" group was organizing in case something does happen; but all is good for now.
There is concern that MS *might* switch the servers to NT, but they have *not* done that, much less has there been any server problems.
-----
D. Fischer
Thanks, that clarifies things.
:)
I'll go with the 'proto-geek' status. Although, we are plug-and-play for any Win9x machine via the hub. Friends can come over and plug in their Wintel machine (not that they do, but they could, and that's what really matters). (please no Wintel v. Linux flames. I can run what I need, so I'm mostly happy)
I always assumed I was a geek, just because I had an abnormally high interest in science and engineering. Who knew I also had to techno-commune to achieve true geekdome!
-----
D. Fischer
Uhmmm...thanks...I think you just added another three years to my graduate 'career' :)
"Then port PovRay to an IC board for hardware raytracing. "
Alas, it's not that type of ray-tracing. It's lens-simulation ray-tracing, as in optical design & optimization. POVRay doesn't do quite what I need.
-----
D. Fischer
The main reason is because I started on a PC, and it's not worth the effort or money to switch machines.
Some people start off with a Alpha or other non-PC box, which can work very well. But switching to a different box mid- to late- game is not worth the effort to me.
-----
D. Fischer
I've read some articles and seen some shows on this topic. The details escape me, but it was something like this:
- pre-wire the house with phone cable, electricity (of course), cat 5, and coax, and maybe something else.
- Everwhere there is an electrical outlet, place an outlet for the phone & cat-5 cables. Or at least have wiring there, 'cause it's easy to punch a hole and add the outlet, if the wires are already there.
- Pre-install stereo speakers in all rooms, using suitable wiring.
- install IR receivers/transmitters (or leave cabling for them) for house-wide universal remote control uses (stereo, tv, surveilance camera, etc.)
- integrated switchboard/hub in garage/utility closet for all cables.
Essentially, with all cable pre-installed, and outlets available in all rooms, with more added later easily, and a central 'switchboard' big enough for growth, you can then plug-and-play as you add stuff (stereo, video cameras, computers, printers) to the house.
-----
D. Fischer
I'm not sure if I should feel relieved, or insulted by your post :)
-----
D. Fischer
Obviously, what we need is a dual 1.6GHz machine. No need to compromise between threaded apps and floating-point perf. apps. :)
-----
D. Fischer
I've got a P3 450, and in my hobby web-site coding, I use a little program that allows multi-document search-and-replace. Currently, it will S & R 300 pages in about 5-20 seconds, depending on the search string.
I'd like that to be zero seconds, for a thousand pages.
For my research, I use a custom ray-tracing program. Takes 20-60 minutes for some runs on this machine. I'd like the runs to be instantaneous.
I also like to compress (zip) my data for archival purposes. Compressing 400+ MB of files takes 10-20 minutes. I wish it were instantaneous.
I could use a faster computer.
-----
D. Fischer
"there's a point (the "absolute processing point") where the speed of a program is dependent solely on the algorithm used, and not on how fast the microprocessor is chugging along."
Huh? Can you explain that? Since any algorithm implemented on a computer is ultimately limited by the speed at which the electronics can execute it, it seems that programs will always scale with electronics speed, barring some other bottleneck.
Perhaps you were think of how an algorithm scales. A common example is fast-Fourier transform: it scales as N*ln(N) (something like that) where N is the # of points in the data set. An FFT routine cannot 'beat' that scaling factor. You can't make an FFT routine that scales by N. However, an FFT can always be sped up by using faster computers.
If that's not what you meant, can you give an example of an algorithm that cannot run any faster than a certain speed, regardless of the hardware?
-----
D. Fischer
Hmmm... That's helps, but can the poster (or someone else) explain just what a "geek house" is?
My apartment-mate bought a computer a while back. Then I bought one. Then I bought a network kit on sale. Now we play Starcraft on weekends occaisionally. Do we qualify as having a "geek apartment"?
Seems that just need to get a house-mate with a computer, then buy networking equipment.
-----
D. Fischer
The word "explore" in common vernacular, as well as the majority of definitions, pertains to physical activity, experimentation, traveling, etc. While "explore" can be used for intellectual-only activity, that's not how the word is typically understood.
So, I don't consider Hawking an "explorer." And I agree, "inventor" is not the right word either. "Theoretician", "investigator", "scientist", "researcher", "thinker", "philosopher", "luminary" are all good ones, though.
I don't mean to diminish what Hawking has done; I just don't think "explore" is the best word to describe his accomplishments.
-----
D. Fischer