I don't know the details of this system, but I can make some guesses at the types of problems they've had to work through:
- Powerful lasers can ionize the air along the path, creating a plasma barrier that subsequently stops/hinders the laser beam. General workarounds include pulsing the beam to "beat" a path through the atmosphere or using a large enough beam so the total energy is high but the power at any given point is low.
- A temperature gradient in the atmosphere results in an index of refraction gradient. This will cause the beam path to deviate from a straight line. (This is the cause of mirages - hot road, cool air == large temperature gradient). If the gradient is large enough or the beam distance far enough, the beam could be moved significantly off-target (according to a straight-line estimate). I'd guess this is not an issue for this system, but I don't know.
- Scattering. If there are clouds, then there are water droplets or perhaps ice crystals, which will scatter and absorb the laser beam to various extents (depending on the wavelength chosen). Then will reduce or eliminate the laser's effectiveness. Solutions include selecting a wavelength that is not scattered or absorbed strongly by water, and praying for good weather:)
- Maintaining laser alignment. The mirrors in a laser (assuming it isn't a solid state laser) have pretty low tolerances for their position. Maintaining the alignment in a hostile environment (e.g. loud, bumpy 747 ride) might be a challenge. But, feedback-based stabilizing systems have been around for years, so this was probably dealt with pretty readily.
Anyhow, just some thoughts from an optics geek.
And remember, do not look directly at the laser with your remaining good eye. -----
D. Fischer
Windows in a public building are obviously meant to be looked through. However, if you stood long enough, gazing through the windows of a local store, they could have you removed if there are "no loitering" laws. Even though you are using the sidewalk for standing and the windows for looking, as they were meant to be.
Similarly, if you worked at one store and went to your competitor's, pen and paper in hand, and strolled the aisles noting their prices (so your store can meet/beat them), you might be asked to leave. Despite the fact that you are just writing down prices that are clearly there to be read.
Finally, various retailers, esp. car dealers, place "No wholesaler or retailer" restrictions on their best sales, even though their products are meant to be bought and other retailers may want to do just that.
It seems to me that analogous laws already exist. Just because something is available in the public realm it doesn't follow that anyone can avail themselves of it to any extent; at least not under current U.S. laws. -----
D. Fischer
I think the comments against the increased resolution of HDTV are somewhat misguided. By the reasoning, we should still be watching only silent, B&W movies. All that matters is communicating the story, right?
For that matter, all that's really needed is a tribal storyteller -- somewhat that can paint a word-picture for us, and that's all we need.
With new technology comes new uses. With motion pictures came more detailed visual sequences. With sound came voice acting once only found on the stage, and greater use of musical scoring. With color came stunning landscapes and use of color as a cinematic tool (e.g. green computer world and blue real world in the "The Matrix").
Certainly, right now, High-Defintion Jay Leno is of little use; I don't need to see his chin in greater detail:)
But, as Jay joked some years ago, about Twisted Sister's first CD release, 'Is there some musical nuance we've been missing, that we can now hear on the CD?'
People will figure out how to use the increased resolution of HDTV in interesting and worthwhile ways.
Of course, the whole pooh-poohing is a bit disingenuous, since it's coming from people who are undoubtedly writing the post on a 17" monitor, at >= 1024x768 resolution. If they meant what they said, they'd be running a 14" monitor at 320x200 for all their computing needs. -----
D. Fischer
I just got a DVD player for Xmas (big surprise:), and not consider the random access as nearly the best feature on a DVD, especially when it comes to rentals.
1) No rewind!
2) Switching from Play to Fast reverse/forward (and back again) is immediate, unlike with VHS tapes.
3) On tapes, the special features (commentary, making-of, etc) are always at the end of the tape. To see them, you must either watch them after watching the movie, or fast-forward the tape to the right point (with some guesswork as to when to stop the forwarding). With DVDs, you just skip to the section you want; it's fast, easy, and requires no guesswork.
4) Analysis - Watched "Bladerunner" Director's Cut this weekend. After the movie, a friend and I talked about various plot questions. Most were easily resolved by jumping to the appropriate scenes and re-watching them. This would have been much more difficult (and frustrating) to do without random access (e.g. VHS tape)
For me, random access is the second best part of the DVD, just barely losing to the consistently solid picture quality. -----
D. Fischer
``Since most solid tumors take 10 to 15 years to develop, it is probably too soon to see an effect,'' Lai said.
I know very little about cancer (except for a bit about Gliomlastoma Multiforme), but experience suggests that there are some quite deadly forms of cancer (brain and otherwise) that take significantly less than a decade to develop.
Some life-threatening tumors can form in less than a month or so, and others in less than six months.
I guess what bothers me, is that I am less concerned about the impact of the 10-15 year growth tumors. That suggests to me that they are very non-aggressive and could be discovered early and effectively treated.
What frightens me are the highly aggressive forms of cancer that that appear out of nowhere, and can cripple or kill someone within six months.
I'm not sure what my point is, really, and I have no reason to doubt Dr. Lai's credentials, but I feel like his closing statement in the article subtly suggests that the risk of cancer is pretty low and if it does strike, it is a slow process.
The Nautilus previews have been slick and pretty -- you can tell that the Mac folks involved haven't lost their touch.
I must be missing something, because all I see in the screenshots are pictures of a green-themed Internet Explorer with improved file icons being used to navigate the directory structure.
This has been available on PCs since Win95.
Most people don't use this mode, though, because the typical browser is a bad interface choice for system & file operations.
I'm guessing that the Nautilus team is composed solely of ex-Apple graphic designers and doesn't include any user-interface experts.
Maybe I'm just being cranky, but these screenshots are singularly uninspiring. I dare say if the MS folks announced this as the foundation of their next-gen GUI, they'd be laughed off the stage. -----
D. Fischer
As for adverts in print, I never look at the ones in newspapers.
I've been wondering recently why ads in print media continue to be used, while "banner" ads in online media are universally decried as ineffective and ignored by consumers.
While not a huge strategy game fan in particular, I enjoy games in general, Settlers is great for casual parties with friends. (To me, it's like a board-game version of my fav old-school computer game "M.U.L.E.")
What I really enjoy is playing with 6-8 people using two sets -- you can combine multiple Settlers sets to create larger boards for more people.
Searched on "php" (since I'm currently playing with it).
Neither php.net nor zend.com were found in the first 100 results.
Google returns php.net as #1, and a sub-page of zend.com somewhere before #50.
Unfortunately, that's a problem -- a search on topic "x" should return the official "x.net" site near the top and getting the related developer "we-made-x.com" site is also good.
I fear it's going to be a tough row to hoe. As for me--I'm content with Google, and would need a very compelling reason to switch. But hopefully TheIndex will eventually provide that level of performance.
Still, a new search engine from scratch by just one man is quite impressive (to me, anyway). -----
D. Fischer
You raise an interesting point, worth considering further. I'd suggest that all interfaces limit the user's actions in some way or another. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that all interfaces make certain operations easier and others harder.
Consider:
GUI: viewing a list of files, selecting a bunch of them, and moving them elsewhere is quite easy
CLI: In a strict, single screen CLI is more difficult to view a list of files (list may scroll off the top of the screen), select multiple files (must type each name correctly), and them move them
or,
CLI: With the typical suite of *nix tools, it is fairly easy to examine (more, less, head, tail) and manipulate (cat, vi, |, perl voodoo) documents for a variety of actions
GUI: Must load word processor, then open documents, then manually accomplish each action
But in each case, it *is* possible to accomplish the task. It may just be difficult.
The trick, or perhaps the key, to a good UI is making the most common and most important operations trivial, and providing a good set of tools so all other operations are not overly difficult.
But to do that, requires a good understanding of what people do and how they'd like to do it. I'm concerned that, at least in a few minor cases, UI designers don't know understand how many people work (or maybe I'm just odd).
- Easel will auto-iconify folders based on its content. Thus, a folder of music files gets a music icon.
That would be great if I organized my files by type, but I organize by content. Thus, a given folder is usually a mixed group of filetypes that all share a common (abstract) theme, like "my web page" or "my thesis" or "games". Auto icon-ifying based on filetype will most likely give me misleading icons for most of my folders.
- MSN Explorer, a partial, proto-UI for the next version, has a persistent media player.
Why? I listen to music about 50% of the time I work on a computer. And when I am listening to music, I don't want the media player visible anymore than I want my stereo on my desk/couch/lap when I'm working and listening to music. I want to start the player, and then not have to think about it again.
(I could think of something for Aqua, but I'm tired of writing:)
But despite my minor quibbles, hopefully the majority of the GUI features of these new guys will allow the important stuff to be done easily. -----
D. Fischer
Oops... I mis-typed something. The last sentance of the second to last paragraph should be
The speckle from that 'pixel' could be imperceptible, and since the device is being scanned, there is not a large 'surface' of light emitted from the GLV that could interfere in a noticeable way.
I feel your pain, as I was just about to unveil my "LightBrightATron", with an "PaperVar-Shadow Mask" (Patent Pending). It's made with space-age copolymers, high-lumen incandescant light sources, and quality, black matte, wood products which will will accent any decorating scheme in your home.
"Speckle" is what you're referring to. When a coherent light source (i.e. laser) reflects off a rough surface, the rays reflect in slightly different directions and when subsequently brought to a focus by your eye, interfere producing a speckly interference pattern.
Speckle only occurs when the laser is reflected from a rough surface. Reflected from a smooth surface, you won't get that speckle pattern.
Even when reflected form a rough source, if the beam is small compared to your eye's resolution, then the speckle is minimal or even imperceptible.
Now, assuming a single laser beam is raster scanned across the modulator thingy (similar to how the electron beam is scanned across a TV's phospors), then at any point in time a small laser beam is being focused by your eye. The speckle from that 'pixel' could be imperceptible, and since the device is being scanned, there is a large 'surface' of light emitted from the GLV that would interfere in a noticeable way.
But I'm just guessing here. Interference is one reason lasers can be a challenging illumination source for imaging optics.
"If hardware is your game, you want your hardware to cease to function after two to three years, right after the warranty runs out."
That's what a short-sighted company wants. A company that intends on being in business for a good long while wants to sell products that last so long that the user wishes it would break (as an excuse to buy a new one:)
That's exactly what Toyota & Honda have achieved. The general understanding of the typical car buyer is that a Honda or Toyota will outlive your desire for it to still be alive. (Of course, now that the reputation is firmly established, these companies charge above average prices). The issue for the consumer is whether they are willing to pay the greater price for the usually higher quality product, or pay less and hope that a lower cost product doesn't cost more in the long run.
Ironically, the bewildering array of parts for computers, the makers thereof, and the pretty rapid turnover of companies (compared to the auto industry) may be what is currently saving the computer industry from having to reap what it sows.
Since people can't generally form a consensus about a specific product or brand name, word can't spread that "EscortVideoCard" should be avoided while "CivicVideoCard" will cause no problems.
Perhaps what is really needed is for the general domination of a few competitive players in each category (but no virtual monopolies) that allow consumers to form grounded opinions on the relative quality, and thus force the companies to shape up or ship out.
Or, perhaps, as the author suggests, India or somesuch will move in, eat our collective lunch (as happened with the auto industry, RAM production, quality cameras & lenses, and consumer electronics, to name a few over the past 50 years), but in the long run cause US companies to produce quality products (as happened with autos, but not with RAM, cameras, and electronics:( )
(BTW - I bought an Escort a few years ago, because the Civic cost much more, gambling that I wouldn't pay that difference in more in repairs over the car's life. And that's the other problem. Consumers can be finicky, two-faced, unloyal, and buy cheap rather than quality:/ ) -----
D. Fischer
Nearing the end of my Ph.D. graduate career, having come in straight from undergrad, I suppose I'm qualified to comment on why a degree might be useful:)
1) Like anything else (sports, programming, driving) "thinking" is an activity that can be made more productive & efficient through training, practice, and guidance. College can help you develop strong analytical thinking skills.
2) In certain fields it is very helpful, if not necessary. It would be very difficult to go into, say, chemistry, chem. engineering, optics, EE, etc. without the focused study required of a college degree. One could self-teach themselves, say optical science, but it would be much more challenging than learning it with other students, and being taught by professors who already understand the field.
3) Networking. networking. networking. (networking) It's an early chance to shmooze. Even if you're a socially awkard, introspective nerd (somewhat like me:), you will make friends who may be able to help you professionally later (and vice versa). Because college is so social, this is, perhaps, an easier way to start those skills compared to starting at work, where it may be more difficult initially to develop strong friendships with coworkers.
4) Credibility. The job market for scientists & engineers is great right now. But the US economy *will* slow down, at some point. When that happens you (or I:( ) may lose our job. Anecdotal evidence suggests if two middle-aged people are applying for a job, all other things being equal, the one with a degree will be hired over the one with no degree but four extra years of experience. (YMMV)
5) Further traing and/or change fields. Getting a degree later in life can be an effective way to switch careers, or move to a different field within your general profession. For example, an EE might get a M.S. in optics, so he can more easily get a job in the fiber communications field.
Those are just some ideas. There is no right or wrong choice here -- it's a matter of what's the best choice for someone given their life, desires, etc.
Assuming you are in your 20's (post typical undergrad age), then perhaps a M.S. could be a good fit (and just skip the whole undergrad thing). There are some excellent nine-month, course-only Masters Degree programs. These you can take a year off from work, get a M.S., and then get a new job. Or you can go part time (on your company's dime:) and get the M.S. in a few years.
In general, people who return to school after working are more focused and have a much clearer idea of what they want to make happen after finishing the degree. If you need to get a degree, or just more coursework, use that to your advantage.
One final thought: summer school. Departments often have two-week summer school programs which broadly cover some field. This can be a good way to: brush up on old material, schmooze, test the waters if considering changing careers.
Hope that helped. College/post-grad degrees are certainly the norm today, and generally helpful, but not required it seems. And while more difficult sometimes, people can always return to school later in life. It's not an all-or-nothing choice at age 18. -----
D. Fischer
I don't know if/. should mirror stuff or not, but I think the reasons in the FAQ are a bit weak in places.
Sure, it's a great idea, but it has a lot of implications. For example, commercial sites rely on their banner ads to generate revenue. If I cache one of their pages, this will mess with their statistics, and mess with their banner ads. In other words, this will piss them off.
I agree with that completely. It also avoids nasty legal battles over copyright & IP issues.
Of course, most of the time, the commercial sites that actually have income from banner ads easily withstand the Slashdot Effect. So perhaps we could draw the line at sites that don't have ads. They are, after all, much more likely to buckle under the pressure of all those unexpected hits.
This is sounding good...
But what happens if I cache the site, and they update themselves? Once again, I'm transmitting data that I shouldn't be, only this time my cache is out of date!
Have a 24 hour cache-and-purge policy. The mirror would be an alternate link option, like I see at Download sites, in case the site-proper is overwhelmed. Also, this means that after one day, there's no more risk of people seeing outdated information unknowingly from the/. mirror. Finally, a 24 time limit might make it more palatable for those who are concerned about IP issues.
I could try asking permission, but do you want to wait 6 hours for a cool breaking story while we wait for permission to link someone?
I don't mean any disrespect to the/. crew, but I think this is a bit overly pretentious. I'm not a hardcore/.er, but my impression is that this is not a place for to find fast-breaking news. Indeed, today's fast-breaking news was a link to one of many traditional (online) news sources. If people want hot news, they monitor the wire services, the secondaries (e.g. CNN), the stock ticker, etc.) If they don't do that, then I doubt they care if the news is 6 minutes old or 6 hours old.
Finally, if the/. kills the site linked to, such that no one can get to it for the next several hours, then what has not waiting a few hours to to get mirror-permissions gained us? (hint: nothing)
So the quick answer is: "Sure, caching would be neat." It would make things a lot easier when servers go down, but it's a complicated issue that would need to be thought through in great detail before being implemented.
I imagine there are some real legal and technical issues to be worked out before a mirroring system could be implemented. However, I don't think the reasons given in the FAQ are compelling.
But what do I know? I'm just a joe who doesn't run an insanely popular news/discussion website that can crush small nations with a single link. -----
D. Fischer
I watched it recently, shortly after seeing "Ghost In the Shell", and it seemed that things were pretty vague at times in "Akira". I didn't realize I was only getting the middle part of the story.
For the anime newbies (such as myself), I recommend "Ghost..." first; I thought it was distinctly better than Akira. Akira, IMHO, was about 30 min too long -- the entire final scene should have been tighter. It was also even more vague than "Ghost...", which is saying something.
Still, both are excellent. They are very interesting and engaging movies, with some amazing animation throughout. -----
D. Fischer
I agree. I looked briefly at the 2D map ('net mapped onto Antartica), and it's not logical. Here are the problems I see:
- Arbitrary mapping of categories to unrelated geographical space. e.g. "Computers" => "Northwest corner of Antarctica". This fails to take advantage of everything users already know in terms of information categorization, alphabetical listing, etc. It also forces users to memorize the random placement of categories, rather than having the computer do that (by logical organization).
- Difficult to read interface. Having bullseye targets, text hyperlinks, a variety of region colors, black region boundaries, and a white grid all makes for a confusing and difficult-to-read interface. It was just too busy. It was necessary to intently study the sub-maps to try and find something, in contrast to Yahoo where I can quickly scan a simple text list and quickly find what I want.
I'm hesitant to dismiss others' technological visions, since I'm usually wrong, but this interface concept seems doomed from the start. It throws out almost everything known about user-interfaces. It also forces users to mentally organize and memorize a random list instead of having the computer do that and then give users a sensible list.
I hope they prove me wrong, but with Google's great searching and Yahoo!'s convenient categories, why would I want to memorize an arbitrary "Antarctization" of the internet? -----
D. Fischer
"The fact that it must be purchased is not ironic the fact that I could not buy a copy scan it in and post it on the net *is*. "
That's a good summary of what I had in mind.
I don't mean to harshly criticize the author nor the open source (or FSF) group. But I do find it amusing that a book promoting open source is most likely not "open source" itself.
I think the key issue, as someone else pointed out, is that the original author should have the discretion over the circumstances under which his/her work is copied and distributed.
Still, if someone promoted the idea of taking friends out to dinner, but never actually treated his friends to dinner, you'd have to wonder if they they truly believed what they espoused.
If code is language, as some Open Source advocates claim, then the methods by which software is created and distributed ought to be applicable in some cases to the creation of written works. But if a prominent OS "evangelical tract" does not follow the practice it promotes, I think non-Open Source people may well cry "foul"; I think that would be a reasonable assertion too.
From your link:
"The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. "
Aren't these two freedoms implied by Open Source, and aren't they denied by the by-purchase only distribution of a copyrighted book? -----
D. Fischer
"How much worse could a digital system really be?" I believe this comment is somewhat naive. A user interface will not be improved just because a computer is used. Rather, I'd argue that most likely the interface created with a computer would be worse rather than better, given the current interface designs and those from the past 20 years (give or take).
Re: the bear blocking people in the voting location. Having computers in that polling place would not have helped them get past the bear earlier (unless the bear could have been placated by a Q3A session:)
Seriously, I think tele-voting is a step in the wrong direction. Voting in a public place within our community reminds us that our private, personal decisions have social and non-private impact -- we are part of "We the people" and rubbing shoulders with strangers helps us keep in mind the reality of what voting is about, IMHO. Tele-voting in isolation is a step in the wrong direction.
(note: of course, there are valid reasons for absentee voting, but that should remain the exception, and not become the norm). -----
D. Fischer
Jon Katz intro:
"Russell Pavlicek, Linux and Open Source evangelist, has written an impassioned little book that purports to explain to the non-geek world in particular why they should care about the Open Source movement and the success of OS systems like Linux and FreeBSD. "
From ThinkGeek store:
List Price: $29.99
Save: $6.49 (21%)
Our Price: $23.50 (On Backorder)
I enjoy the irony that a book explaining and extolling the virtues of Open Source and free software must be purchased.
So, is there an open source version of this book, available for free download?
Perhaps there's an online version where people can edit and contribute new chapters, for the greater good -- many eyes creates better writing, no?
"First of all, I was wondering if maybe Intel could some up with some more creative chip names then just using stupid numbers...at least with AMD you have Duron and thunderbird and stuff....intel has Xeon and Pentium 1,2,3,4."
Actually, Intel's simplistic naming scheme makes sense with the national market in mind. Joe Consumer sees computer with "P4" and immediately knows that it is faster than the one with a "P3" since 4 > 3. Next to those, he sees a "Thunderbird", "Duron", and an "Athlon". Those sound fast and powerful, but you never know. However, he knows for sure that a P3 is fast, and the P4 must be faster. Better safe than sorry, and he buys the P4 system.
The problem with cool names (and I love cool names) is that they tell you nothing about the product and thus provide no way to remember what name corresponds to what level of performance.
So while simple numbers are boring, they aid the consumer. Cool names, while catchy, don't necessarily help, and may confuse.
Slashdot Mirror
I must register "chicken.coop"!
-----
D. Fischer
I don't know the details of this system, but I can make some guesses at the types of problems they've had to work through:
:)
- Powerful lasers can ionize the air along the path, creating a plasma barrier that subsequently stops/hinders the laser beam. General workarounds include pulsing the beam to "beat" a path through the atmosphere or using a large enough beam so the total energy is high but the power at any given point is low.
- A temperature gradient in the atmosphere results in an index of refraction gradient. This will cause the beam path to deviate from a straight line. (This is the cause of mirages - hot road, cool air == large temperature gradient). If the gradient is large enough or the beam distance far enough, the beam could be moved significantly off-target (according to a straight-line estimate). I'd guess this is not an issue for this system, but I don't know.
- Scattering. If there are clouds, then there are water droplets or perhaps ice crystals, which will scatter and absorb the laser beam to various extents (depending on the wavelength chosen). Then will reduce or eliminate the laser's effectiveness. Solutions include selecting a wavelength that is not scattered or absorbed strongly by water, and praying for good weather
- Maintaining laser alignment. The mirrors in a laser (assuming it isn't a solid state laser) have pretty low tolerances for their position. Maintaining the alignment in a hostile environment (e.g. loud, bumpy 747 ride) might be a challenge. But, feedback-based stabilizing systems have been around for years, so this was probably dealt with pretty readily.
Anyhow, just some thoughts from an optics geek.
And remember, do not look directly at the laser with your remaining good eye.
-----
D. Fischer
Windows in a public building are obviously meant to be looked through. However, if you stood long enough, gazing through the windows of a local store, they could have you removed if there are "no loitering" laws. Even though you are using the sidewalk for standing and the windows for looking, as they were meant to be.
Similarly, if you worked at one store and went to your competitor's, pen and paper in hand, and strolled the aisles noting their prices (so your store can meet/beat them), you might be asked to leave. Despite the fact that you are just writing down prices that are clearly there to be read.
Finally, various retailers, esp. car dealers, place "No wholesaler or retailer" restrictions on their best sales, even though their products are meant to be bought and other retailers may want to do just that.
It seems to me that analogous laws already exist. Just because something is available in the public realm it doesn't follow that anyone can avail themselves of it to any extent; at least not under current U.S. laws.
-----
D. Fischer
I think the comments against the increased resolution of HDTV are somewhat misguided. By the reasoning, we should still be watching only silent, B&W movies. All that matters is communicating the story, right?
:)
For that matter, all that's really needed is a tribal storyteller -- somewhat that can paint a word-picture for us, and that's all we need.
With new technology comes new uses. With motion pictures came more detailed visual sequences. With sound came voice acting once only found on the stage, and greater use of musical scoring. With color came stunning landscapes and use of color as a cinematic tool (e.g. green computer world and blue real world in the "The Matrix").
Certainly, right now, High-Defintion Jay Leno is of little use; I don't need to see his chin in greater detail
But, as Jay joked some years ago, about Twisted Sister's first CD release, 'Is there some musical nuance we've been missing, that we can now hear on the CD?'
People will figure out how to use the increased resolution of HDTV in interesting and worthwhile ways.
Of course, the whole pooh-poohing is a bit disingenuous, since it's coming from people who are undoubtedly writing the post on a 17" monitor, at >= 1024x768 resolution. If they meant what they said, they'd be running a 14" monitor at 320x200 for all their computing needs.
-----
D. Fischer
To add to this...
:), and not consider the random access as nearly the best feature on a DVD, especially when it comes to rentals.
I just got a DVD player for Xmas (big surprise
1) No rewind!
2) Switching from Play to Fast reverse/forward (and back again) is immediate, unlike with VHS tapes.
3) On tapes, the special features (commentary, making-of, etc) are always at the end of the tape. To see them, you must either watch them after watching the movie, or fast-forward the tape to the right point (with some guesswork as to when to stop the forwarding). With DVDs, you just skip to the section you want; it's fast, easy, and requires no guesswork.
4) Analysis - Watched "Bladerunner" Director's Cut this weekend. After the movie, a friend and I talked about various plot questions. Most were easily resolved by jumping to the appropriate scenes and re-watching them. This would have been much more difficult (and frustrating) to do without random access (e.g. VHS tape)
For me, random access is the second best part of the DVD, just barely losing to the consistently solid picture quality.
-----
D. Fischer
``Since most solid tumors take 10 to 15 years to develop, it is probably too soon to see an effect,'' Lai said.
I know very little about cancer (except for a bit about Gliomlastoma Multiforme), but experience suggests that there are some quite deadly forms of cancer (brain and otherwise) that take significantly less than a decade to develop.
Some life-threatening tumors can form in less than a month or so, and others in less than six months.
I guess what bothers me, is that I am less concerned about the impact of the 10-15 year growth tumors. That suggests to me that they are very non-aggressive and could be discovered early and effectively treated.
What frightens me are the highly aggressive forms of cancer that that appear out of nowhere, and can cripple or kill someone within six months.
I'm not sure what my point is, really, and I have no reason to doubt Dr. Lai's credentials, but I feel like his closing statement in the article subtly suggests that the risk of cancer is pretty low and if it does strike, it is a slow process.
In some cases, it's not.
-----
D. Fischer
The Nautilus previews have been slick and pretty -- you can tell that the Mac folks involved haven't lost their touch.
I must be missing something, because all I see in the screenshots are pictures of a green-themed Internet Explorer with improved file icons being used to navigate the directory structure.
This has been available on PCs since Win95.
Most people don't use this mode, though, because the typical browser is a bad interface choice for system & file operations.
I'm guessing that the Nautilus team is composed solely of ex-Apple graphic designers and doesn't include any user-interface experts.
Maybe I'm just being cranky, but these screenshots are singularly uninspiring. I dare say if the MS folks announced this as the foundation of their next-gen GUI, they'd be laughed off the stage.
-----
D. Fischer
As for adverts in print, I never look at the ones in newspapers.
I've been wondering recently why ads in print media continue to be used, while "banner" ads in online media are universally decried as ineffective and ignored by consumers.
Any thoughts?
-----
D. Fischer
While not a huge strategy game fan in particular, I enjoy games in general, Settlers is great for casual parties with friends. (To me, it's like a board-game version of my fav old-school computer game "M.U.L.E.")
What I really enjoy is playing with 6-8 people using two sets -- you can combine multiple Settlers sets to create larger boards for more people.
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D. Fischer
Searched on "php" (since I'm currently playing with it).
Neither php.net nor zend.com were found in the first 100 results.
Google returns php.net as #1, and a sub-page of zend.com somewhere before #50.
Unfortunately, that's a problem -- a search on topic "x" should return the official "x.net" site near the top and getting the related developer "we-made-x.com" site is also good.
I fear it's going to be a tough row to hoe. As for me--I'm content with Google, and would need a very compelling reason to switch. But hopefully TheIndex will eventually provide that level of performance.
Still, a new search engine from scratch by just one man is quite impressive (to me, anyway).
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D. Fischer
You raise an interesting point, worth considering further. I'd suggest that all interfaces limit the user's actions in some way or another. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that all interfaces make certain operations easier and others harder.
:)
Consider:
GUI: viewing a list of files, selecting a bunch of them, and moving them elsewhere is quite easy
CLI: In a strict, single screen CLI is more difficult to view a list of files (list may scroll off the top of the screen), select multiple files (must type each name correctly), and them move them
or,
CLI: With the typical suite of *nix tools, it is fairly easy to examine (more, less, head, tail) and manipulate (cat, vi, |, perl voodoo) documents for a variety of actions
GUI: Must load word processor, then open documents, then manually accomplish each action
But in each case, it *is* possible to accomplish the task. It may just be difficult.
The trick, or perhaps the key, to a good UI is making the most common and most important operations trivial, and providing a good set of tools so all other operations are not overly difficult.
But to do that, requires a good understanding of what people do and how they'd like to do it. I'm concerned that, at least in a few minor cases, UI designers don't know understand how many people work (or maybe I'm just odd).
- Easel will auto-iconify folders based on its content. Thus, a folder of music files gets a music icon.
That would be great if I organized my files by type, but I organize by content. Thus, a given folder is usually a mixed group of filetypes that all share a common (abstract) theme, like "my web page" or "my thesis" or "games". Auto icon-ifying based on filetype will most likely give me misleading icons for most of my folders.
- MSN Explorer, a partial, proto-UI for the next version, has a persistent media player.
Why? I listen to music about 50% of the time I work on a computer. And when I am listening to music, I don't want the media player visible anymore than I want my stereo on my desk/couch/lap when I'm working and listening to music. I want to start the player, and then not have to think about it again.
(I could think of something for Aqua, but I'm tired of writing
But despite my minor quibbles, hopefully the majority of the GUI features of these new guys will allow the important stuff to be done easily.
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D. Fischer
Oops... I mis-typed something. The last sentance of the second to last paragraph should be
The speckle from that 'pixel' could be imperceptible, and since the device is being scanned, there is not a large 'surface' of light emitted from the GLV that could interfere in a noticeable way.
Sorry for that error.
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D. Fischer
I feel your pain, as I was just about to unveil my "LightBrightATron", with an "PaperVar-Shadow Mask" (Patent Pending). It's made with space-age copolymers, high-lumen incandescant light sources, and quality, black matte, wood products which will will accent any decorating scheme in your home.
:)
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D. Fischer
"Speckle" is what you're referring to. When a coherent light source (i.e. laser) reflects off a rough surface, the rays reflect in slightly different directions and when subsequently brought to a focus by your eye, interfere producing a speckly interference pattern.
Speckle only occurs when the laser is reflected from a rough surface. Reflected from a smooth surface, you won't get that speckle pattern.
Even when reflected form a rough source, if the beam is small compared to your eye's resolution, then the speckle is minimal or even imperceptible.
Now, assuming a single laser beam is raster scanned across the modulator thingy (similar to how the electron beam is scanned across a TV's phospors), then at any point in time a small laser beam is being focused by your eye. The speckle from that 'pixel' could be imperceptible, and since the device is being scanned, there is a large 'surface' of light emitted from the GLV that would interfere in a noticeable way.
But I'm just guessing here. Interference is one reason lasers can be a challenging illumination source for imaging optics.
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D. Fischer
"If hardware is your game, you want your hardware to cease to function after two to three years, right after the warranty runs out."
:)
:( )
:/ )
That's what a short-sighted company wants. A company that intends on being in business for a good long while wants to sell products that last so long that the user wishes it would break (as an excuse to buy a new one
That's exactly what Toyota & Honda have achieved. The general understanding of the typical car buyer is that a Honda or Toyota will outlive your desire for it to still be alive. (Of course, now that the reputation is firmly established, these companies charge above average prices). The issue for the consumer is whether they are willing to pay the greater price for the usually higher quality product, or pay less and hope that a lower cost product doesn't cost more in the long run.
Ironically, the bewildering array of parts for computers, the makers thereof, and the pretty rapid turnover of companies (compared to the auto industry) may be what is currently saving the computer industry from having to reap what it sows.
Since people can't generally form a consensus about a specific product or brand name, word can't spread that "EscortVideoCard" should be avoided while "CivicVideoCard" will cause no problems.
Perhaps what is really needed is for the general domination of a few competitive players in each category (but no virtual monopolies) that allow consumers to form grounded opinions on the relative quality, and thus force the companies to shape up or ship out.
Or, perhaps, as the author suggests, India or somesuch will move in, eat our collective lunch (as happened with the auto industry, RAM production, quality cameras & lenses, and consumer electronics, to name a few over the past 50 years), but in the long run cause US companies to produce quality products (as happened with autos, but not with RAM, cameras, and electronics
(BTW - I bought an Escort a few years ago, because the Civic cost much more, gambling that I wouldn't pay that difference in more in repairs over the car's life. And that's the other problem. Consumers can be finicky, two-faced, unloyal, and buy cheap rather than quality
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D. Fischer
Nearing the end of my Ph.D. graduate career, having come in straight from undergrad, I suppose I'm qualified to comment on why a degree might be useful :)
:), you will make friends who may be able to help you professionally later (and vice versa). Because college is so social, this is, perhaps, an easier way to start those skills compared to starting at work, where it may be more difficult initially to develop strong friendships with coworkers.
:( ) may lose our job. Anecdotal evidence suggests if two middle-aged people are applying for a job, all other things being equal, the one with a degree will be hired over the one with no degree but four extra years of experience. (YMMV)
:) and get the M.S. in a few years.
1) Like anything else (sports, programming, driving) "thinking" is an activity that can be made more productive & efficient through training, practice, and guidance. College can help you develop strong analytical thinking skills.
2) In certain fields it is very helpful, if not necessary. It would be very difficult to go into, say, chemistry, chem. engineering, optics, EE, etc. without the focused study required of a college degree. One could self-teach themselves, say optical science, but it would be much more challenging than learning it with other students, and being taught by professors who already understand the field.
3) Networking. networking. networking. (networking) It's an early chance to shmooze. Even if you're a socially awkard, introspective nerd (somewhat like me
4) Credibility. The job market for scientists & engineers is great right now. But the US economy *will* slow down, at some point. When that happens you (or I
5) Further traing and/or change fields. Getting a degree later in life can be an effective way to switch careers, or move to a different field within your general profession. For example, an EE might get a M.S. in optics, so he can more easily get a job in the fiber communications field.
Those are just some ideas. There is no right or wrong choice here -- it's a matter of what's the best choice for someone given their life, desires, etc.
Assuming you are in your 20's (post typical undergrad age), then perhaps a M.S. could be a good fit (and just skip the whole undergrad thing). There are some excellent nine-month, course-only Masters Degree programs. These you can take a year off from work, get a M.S., and then get a new job. Or you can go part time (on your company's dime
In general, people who return to school after working are more focused and have a much clearer idea of what they want to make happen after finishing the degree. If you need to get a degree, or just more coursework, use that to your advantage.
One final thought: summer school. Departments often have two-week summer school programs which broadly cover some field. This can be a good way to: brush up on old material, schmooze, test the waters if considering changing careers.
Hope that helped. College/post-grad degrees are certainly the norm today, and generally helpful, but not required it seems. And while more difficult sometimes, people can always return to school later in life. It's not an all-or-nothing choice at age 18.
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D. Fischer
Google's cache is updated infrequently (monthly at best, I think). If the link is newer than the Google cache, then the cache won't be of any use.
:)
For older sites, then your idea is good (a little too sensible and obvious for me, I fear
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D. Fischer
I don't know if /. should mirror stuff or not, but I think the reasons in the FAQ are a bit weak in places.
/. mirror. Finally, a 24 time limit might make it more palatable for those who are concerned about IP issues.
/. crew, but I think this is a bit overly pretentious. I'm not a hardcore /.er, but my impression is that this is not a place for to find fast-breaking news. Indeed, today's fast-breaking news was a link to one of many traditional (online) news sources. If people want hot news, they monitor the wire services, the secondaries (e.g. CNN), the stock ticker, etc.) If they don't do that, then I doubt they care if the news is 6 minutes old or 6 hours old.
/. kills the site linked to, such that no one can get to it for the next several hours, then what has not waiting a few hours to to get mirror-permissions gained us? (hint: nothing)
Sure, it's a great idea, but it has a lot of implications. For example, commercial sites rely on their banner ads to generate revenue. If I cache one of their pages, this will mess with their statistics, and mess with their banner ads. In other words, this will piss them off.
I agree with that completely. It also avoids nasty legal battles over copyright & IP issues.
Of course, most of the time, the commercial sites that actually have income from banner ads easily withstand the Slashdot Effect. So perhaps we could draw the line at sites that don't have ads. They are, after all, much more likely to buckle under the pressure of all those unexpected hits.
This is sounding good...
But what happens if I cache the site, and they update themselves? Once again, I'm transmitting data that I shouldn't be, only this time my cache is out of date!
Have a 24 hour cache-and-purge policy. The mirror would be an alternate link option, like I see at Download sites, in case the site-proper is overwhelmed. Also, this means that after one day, there's no more risk of people seeing outdated information unknowingly from the
I could try asking permission, but do you want to wait 6 hours for a cool breaking story while we wait for permission to link someone?
I don't mean any disrespect to the
Finally, if the
So the quick answer is: "Sure, caching would be neat." It would make things a lot easier when servers go down, but it's a complicated issue that would need to be thought through in great detail before being implemented.
I imagine there are some real legal and technical issues to be worked out before a mirroring system could be implemented. However, I don't think the reasons given in the FAQ are compelling.
But what do I know? I'm just a joe who doesn't run an insanely popular news/discussion website that can crush small nations with a single link.
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D. Fischer
Interesting...
I watched it recently, shortly after seeing "Ghost In the Shell", and it seemed that things were pretty vague at times in "Akira". I didn't realize I was only getting the middle part of the story.
For the anime newbies (such as myself), I recommend "Ghost..." first; I thought it was distinctly better than Akira. Akira, IMHO, was about 30 min too long -- the entire final scene should have been tighter. It was also even more vague than "Ghost...", which is saying something.
Still, both are excellent. They are very interesting and engaging movies, with some amazing animation throughout.
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D. Fischer
I agree. I looked briefly at the 2D map ('net mapped onto Antartica), and it's not logical. Here are the problems I see:
- Arbitrary mapping of categories to unrelated geographical space. e.g. "Computers" => "Northwest corner of Antarctica". This fails to take advantage of everything users already know in terms of information categorization, alphabetical listing, etc. It also forces users to memorize the random placement of categories, rather than having the computer do that (by logical organization).
- Difficult to read interface. Having bullseye targets, text hyperlinks, a variety of region colors, black region boundaries, and a white grid all makes for a confusing and difficult-to-read interface. It was just too busy. It was necessary to intently study the sub-maps to try and find something, in contrast to Yahoo where I can quickly scan a simple text list and quickly find what I want.
I'm hesitant to dismiss others' technological visions, since I'm usually wrong, but this interface concept seems doomed from the start. It throws out almost everything known about user-interfaces. It also forces users to mentally organize and memorize a random list instead of having the computer do that and then give users a sensible list.
I hope they prove me wrong, but with Google's great searching and Yahoo!'s convenient categories, why would I want to memorize an arbitrary "Antarctization" of the internet?
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D. Fischer
"The fact that it must be purchased is not ironic the fact that I could not buy a copy scan it in and post it on the net *is*. "
That's a good summary of what I had in mind.
I don't mean to harshly criticize the author nor the open source (or FSF) group. But I do find it amusing that a book promoting open source is most likely not "open source" itself.
I think the key issue, as someone else pointed out, is that the original author should have the discretion over the circumstances under which his/her work is copied and distributed.
Still, if someone promoted the idea of taking friends out to dinner, but never actually treated his friends to dinner, you'd have to wonder if they they truly believed what they espoused.
If code is language, as some Open Source advocates claim, then the methods by which software is created and distributed ought to be applicable in some cases to the creation of written works. But if a prominent OS "evangelical tract" does not follow the practice it promotes, I think non-Open Source people may well cry "foul"; I think that would be a reasonable assertion too.
Just something to think about. (And sorry about all the butchered metaphors) (And I like free software, and have contributed some minor free for PHP stuff. So I think that a pseudo-OS approach to writing texts is viable in some cases.)
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D. Fischer
From your link:
"The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. "
Aren't these two freedoms implied by Open Source, and aren't they denied by the by-purchase only distribution of a copyrighted book?
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D. Fischer
"How much worse could a digital system really be?"
:)
I believe this comment is somewhat naive. A user interface will not be improved just because a computer is used. Rather, I'd argue that most likely the interface created with a computer would be worse rather than better, given the current interface designs and those from the past 20 years (give or take).
Re: the bear blocking people in the voting location. Having computers in that polling place would not have helped them get past the bear earlier (unless the bear could have been placated by a Q3A session
Seriously, I think tele-voting is a step in the wrong direction. Voting in a public place within our community reminds us that our private, personal decisions have social and non-private impact -- we are part of "We the people" and rubbing shoulders with strangers helps us keep in mind the reality of what voting is about, IMHO. Tele-voting in isolation is a step in the wrong direction.
(note: of course, there are valid reasons for absentee voting, but that should remain the exception, and not become the norm).
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D. Fischer
Jon Katz intro:
"Russell Pavlicek, Linux and Open Source evangelist, has written an impassioned little book that purports to explain to the non-geek world in particular why they should care about the Open Source movement and the success of OS systems like Linux and FreeBSD. "
From ThinkGeek store:
List Price: $29.99
Save: $6.49 (21%)
Our Price: $23.50 (On Backorder)
I enjoy the irony that a book explaining and extolling the virtues of Open Source and free software must be purchased.
So, is there an open source version of this book, available for free download?
Perhaps there's an online version where people can edit and contribute new chapters, for the greater good -- many eyes creates better writing, no?
:)
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D. Fischer
"First of all, I was wondering if maybe Intel could some up with some more creative chip names then just using stupid numbers...at least with AMD you have Duron and thunderbird and stuff....intel has Xeon and Pentium 1,2,3,4."
Actually, Intel's simplistic naming scheme makes sense with the national market in mind. Joe Consumer sees computer with "P4" and immediately knows that it is faster than the one with a "P3" since 4 > 3. Next to those, he sees a "Thunderbird", "Duron", and an "Athlon". Those sound fast and powerful, but you never know. However, he knows for sure that a P3 is fast, and the P4 must be faster. Better safe than sorry, and he buys the P4 system.
The problem with cool names (and I love cool names) is that they tell you nothing about the product and thus provide no way to remember what name corresponds to what level of performance.
So while simple numbers are boring, they aid the consumer. Cool names, while catchy, don't necessarily help, and may confuse.
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D. Fischer