Back before the Internet(can't find a ref.), in the late 80's, there was an excellent robo-trading system, that was eventually sold to a number of trading houses. The system worked very well for the company that developed the system, but after many versions of the system where competing against each other it all fell apart, resulting in a mini-crash... Laws where passed, and lessons learned.
By the mid 2000, all these lessons where no longer remembered, and the laws updated to reflect this convent amnesia, but the nature of dynamic system has not changed, and any company that profits from these systems, almost exclusively use programmers who understand this concept...
As a programmer that has lots of experience with agents and complex dynamic systems, I can tell you that for these systems to work they all have to be individual, otherwise they "feedback" on each other, and don't preform as expected.
Not to mention that they can be easily exploited when you know the internal decision making processes within them.
Goldman Sachs is only concerned about protecting it's advantage; individual and unknown code/heuristics being there advantage...
Personally I'm surprised they(GS) would ever let one of there programmers go, especially one that has worked on a system still in use.
If GS's analysis of there liabilities, in relation to there employees, is so far out of kilter, you've got to wonder about their broader investment decisions too...
Still, it's good to see the white-wash isn't sticking.
This whole issue of climate change seems to be a red herring to distract from the real issue; Pollution and air quality.
The fact is that it's very hard to prove a proposition where we don't understand the domain; we cant even predict the weather for next week!
Based on our observations and a bit of common sense though, it's not hard to see that something is awry, even if we can't prove it, yet.
It will probably take another 50 years to prove the science; are we really going to just wait and see?
Or just move the pollution generating industry to another country, out of sight, out of mind; Problem on earth is, everywhere is downwind eventually, and those "other" countries, have essentially non-existent pollution laws.
One thing that we should all be concerned about is air quality, funny thing is, its really easy to prove, and an excellent basis for defining our global environmental policy; so why are we so fascinated by the irrelevance issue of climate change, when the real and tangible issue of air quality is starting us directly in the face.
As an app producer, I see it breaking down like this:
-If you don't pay for an app, you have to assume that the producer will find other revenue streams, like "in app ads", or selling your "usage patterns".
-If you do pay for an app, you can usually assume that they don't violate your privacy...
-Or its a free, "sponsored production", like an app for your bank, or telco; not exactly free, as your already paying for it...
But in any instance, always check what "permissions" the app requires. i.e. Internet, location and/or contacts access, but dose not seem to need it...
Generally, I don't mind paying, say, up to the price of a burger, or a beer, for a basic app, and up to the price of a movie for something "cool", but usually stay away from free app, unless its from a respectable company. Personally, I value my privacy...
At the end of the day, if I put my time into producing something like an app, I will want to be reimbursed; after-all, why do you go to work?
If a company needs metrics to evaluate their employs, then the company is barely functioning, on a communication, collaboration and management levels; interpersonal knowledge and cohesive employees always produce better results than a company that is myopically focused on the numbers.
Metrics should only be used to make projections about reimplementation of a project, i.e. highest level if estimation, but having said that, if the person responsible for that estimation, cannot make it off the top of their heads(relies on metrics alone), then the company has bigger problems...
Where a metric makes developers competitive, to the point where they are working against each other, rather than together, the metric is actually damaging the project; how many of us have worked on a project like that?
Any good metric requires each objective to be weighted based on size and difficulty, factored by the experience of the resource with the domain and code-base, a lot of hard work, but if the initial estimations are inaccurate or deliberately favour certain resources, it collapse like the house of cards that it is...
My advice take metrics with a grain of salt, especially on the macro level; its rare for the keystone developer to be the best performing in the eyes of the metric...
All GUI should, need to evolve, but some the recent attempts seem more like a de-evolution to me...
Netbooks, touch-screens and noob-users are an important part of the 'new' ecosystem, but these new approaches are only suitable for a small portion of the user base, and limits the core power-uses, and have no place in major distros.
The dream of having Linux on netbooks everywhere shouldn't be at the expense of the power-user.
If you want a unix based system that's easy to use and ticks the other boxes, get a Android or a iPxx device if you must. Linux doesn't need to go there; evolution is more importance than revolution...
I hate to say it but win8 and the metro interface is the right way to do it, easy on top, with the power interface below, both ends of the user spectrum catered for... But personally I think I'll disable metro, if I can...
Nice work, but this is hardly the first of its kind...
A friend of a friend invented this concept while working at the CSIRO(those guys that invented the good wi-fi), in Australia.
He was even on a local show called "The New Inventers" where he showed it off, about 4 years ago, for the record.
This JPL model is definitely bigger, and badder, but NASA/JPL could have saved millions of dollars if they had a good look around every once in a while, or didn't fall asleep in front of the TV...
Bill Gates was a trust fund baby. His dad was a wealthy business lawyer, and Bill used those contacts to get in with IBM. Didn't you ever wonder how a fresh faced nerd boy made it with the big leagues?
Almost right...
His mom worked at IBM; you've got to imagine that that must have opened a few doors, but at the end of the day, you've sill got to deliver......small chuckle...
Don't forget, William is also well-educated, ambitious and a formidable programmer.
He obviously had/has a taste for money, but I bet his family's previous wealth has been eclipsed by what he has achieved since.
Every big company was once a small one, with a few good ideas; it was all of us that made him/them rich!
As for the general discussion; Should we really be outraged about human nature, especially in this day and age? Coffee... Smell... Wake-Up......all that.
I find it hard to be sorry for the music companies; They produce "by the numbers" music, and rip off next to all genuine artists, by calming that the cost of production through distribution is 99.9% of earnings... Akin the the movie industry claiming that a recent Harry Potter film didn't make profit...
But I don't support piracy either, artists need to eat, and diverse to profit from their work too...
It's not just digital downloads that have changed the music industry, i.e. distribution; an album can be recorded "at home", if ya know what your doing. So if the cost of production and distribution are not prohibitive factors, so how dose the industry justify the "mark-up"?
Radio you say. Yes the network to promote the music is "buttoned up tight", and the relationships go way back, so penetration is still an issue, though it shouldn't be...
Materialism vs. Virtual downloads: When I was a kid, there where these things called cassettes, you could even copy music on to them, but it was never as good as getting the whole package, album art, song lyrics, etc. Paying for a digital download still don't feel as "good value" as having the product sitting on my shelf.
If you buy an album these days, your lucky if you get more than a single sheet of paper, badly printed, and I cant remember the last time I saw lyrics...
So I pose the question; Has the reduction of the physical product made it easer to see value in the digital download, or has it blurred the line between a copy and the real product?
I see digital download(low profit) as eating in to physical record sales(higher profit), rather than offsetting the piracy numbers, so why dose the industry fixate on a non-markets rather than retaining(premium) paying customers?
PS. I've read statements recently that movie studios are becoming "more concerned about loosing distribution than the issue of piracy", very strong words...
Steve was a man that was unafraid of big ideas, could see outside of the box in a way that few are able, and was capable of changing the world, and he did...
He was instrumental in redefining the stigma related to technology, and raised the bar for his competitors and contemporaries.
While he polarised the 'community', and ruffled more than a few feathers, he dragged many industries, sometimes "kicking and screaming", into a new future; we are all better off for his contribution.
The seeds that he planted will grow for years to come; the legacy of Steve Jobs will live on.
I will remember Steve as the man that made technology ubiquitous and am sorry that he was not given that chance to watch his creations flourish.
Like the Joker "needs" Batman; the I.T. world needed Steve Jobs, we are all diminished without his presence...
With Apple trying to ban any product that is seen as a threat, via their patents, now the opposition are teaming up; what if Apple's tactics turn against them?
If the "tablet patent' Apple is using to try and ban the Samsung devices is overturned, and it should be (the prior art discussions here are evidence enough), the door will be open to the original IP holders, in this case most of the companies are represented in this "opposition".
I'm wonder when IBM will play its trump card and join the ranks? Or Microsoft even...
What if the iPad was banned for the same reasons Apple are trying to ban the Samsung devices?
Or that Apple's uncompetitive practices initiated a structural separation of the company?
Or that the monopolise they have built in the music, games and video industries via iTunes where opened to the competition?
And lets not mention the lobbying...
Apple has been playing a dangerous game for a long time, it's only a matter of time before the "competition" will have had enough.
We'll just have to wait and see where this one leads.;)
It's a sign of the times, the percentage of the population capable of coming up with a new idea is shrinking, and the model employee(technical) is now too specialised to see the big picture dew to technical requirements, etc... Not to mention the fact that most things have already been done.
Innovation is now something that is attained through acquisition of other companies. Recognise.
For a small company to "make a splash", hold on to their "idea" and be the one to profit, a patent is the only option.
At the end of the day, most starts-ups want to be bought-out, so a patent is essentially the dominant currency of today.
The age of "Inverse outsourcing of innovation", is upon us.
One of the primary objectives of wikileaks, is to present this information in a way that is not illegal, and to protect the identity of the people involved. It's one of the reasons it has been so successful, as opposed to Anomalous... Those kids are headed for trouble, and I certainly do not condone their actions...
There are no hidden agendas, it(wikileaks) is for us, the people of the world, we diverse to live in a world that is not governed by the greedy and morally unsound...
As for this current slip-up, I think I'm safe to say that, it is NOT the intent of wikileaks to undermine it's authority and legality, and in no way should this action compromise the continuing objectives of the movement.
Just don't forget that there are many people with vested interested; those that oppose the idea generally have something to hide, and more often than not, they have the power to manipulate and influence, in this instance, I see reality distortion and a bit of sabotage thrown into the mix for good measure...
I remember playing with one of these as a kid(dad an IBMer), was awesome, but after dad told me how much it was worth, I didn't feel comfortable walking around with it... It was too big for a kid to use while standing, and I didn't want to be the one answering the question of "what happens if it is dropped"!
It was limited compared to today's expectation, in most ways at least, but it was real, and it was on-par with laptops at the time, specs-wise. I even put Civilization and SimCity on it!
Tablets these days are consumer devices, even though they cost as more than a cheap laptop and a half as capable. Just goes to show what a fat advertising budget can do...
Funny how Steve talks about his "competitor", Bill, but fails to mention their "competitor", IBM. Reality distortion 1990's style!
I'm just wondering when we'll start getting the pen/digitiser as well, the TOS version uses a Pen for input where the TNG version is button based, and possibly touch, though I cant remember seeing anyone using it that way in the show...
Though the "station", in TNG, are all 'touch screen', so I'd assume the PADD's are also capable...
But lets not forget the first non-fictional tablet was the IBM Thinkpad Slate, 1992...
Me, it's only when an update requires a reboot, so not even monthly these days. Touch-wood, but I haven't had a 'crash' in years!
I use Win7 on a velociraptor for my desktop, when waking from sleep mode the screens often take longer to 'wake up'.
A regular boot, is less than a minute.
It's a different issue with laptops though, using 'hibernate' mode, rather than 'sleep ' and the combination of lots of memory can still be slowish without an SSD.
The slowest boots and shutdown have got to be when using a 'remote desktop', i.e. syncing your desktop with a server over a network...
I'll be playing the nintendo version rather than the zynga one; ya gota watch out for these Skinner Boxes!
But in all seriousness, there will be good and bad examples of gamification, the ones that are tied to "rewards programs" will probably be as numerous as the "entertainment based" title, and there will be people that take it to the point of neglect, it's human nature...
Imagine what's going to happen when "Augmented Reality Glasses" become available and where all playing games 24/7...
Perhaps we need to make games to make people addicted to being "more functional"...
If you haven't read the book, you should, it will "open your mind"...
The "Primer" is an awesome concept, and I'm sure we'll see something like that someday...
It's been a while since I read it, but isn't the main concept that "When a child can learn at their own pace, from a high-quality source, their potential can be maximised, regardless of socio-economic factors".
And that, "It wont be long before AI is teaching our children, and it will be smarter, more knowledgeable and more patient than the best human teacher", and that will create a device bigger divide between the generation than, say, the Internet has today...
It would only be Gamification if the desire to learn was fueled by the achievements, rather than the joy of understanding and as presented in the book, and the outcome of that 'knowledge is power'...
You've got to wonder why a body of governance that is responsible for advising parents as to the suitability of media for their children, think that they are entitled to prevent adults from enjoying media specificity created for an adult audience. Completely overstepping their authority if you ask me.
If you look at the list of modified titles and non-released games, dew to the lack of a +18 classification, none of the games are anywhere near justifying a Not Classifieds, so why prevent adults from playing these games?
Is it that they think parents will still but these games anyway?
Anyone who values the classification system will abide by it, and anyone else, well, it's not as if they don't have the right to buy it, and make that assessment for themselves, because at the end of the day, it's just an advisory...
While I acknowledged that the iphone was an evolution, it was as much deevolutionary as evolutionary, there where, and still are huge aspects to the platform(PocketPC) that still are not present in the Apple or Android equivalents, the only area that was at all impressive was the pretty interface, and that was a no brainer, if Microsoft didn't walk away from the PocketPC market, it would have come...
There where a few PocketPC device towards the end that had graphic chips, so it could do all the snazzy stuff we all expect today. That was the big change, and apple was right to wait for them to "make the push", it's just a shame that MS never released a Graphic and UI centric version of PocketPC, things might have been different.
You've got to ask why they did though, I wonder if MS has regained that market share with Phone 7 they enjoyed with PocketPC; Some wheeling and dealing you'd have to suspect...
And it's not that good(the UI), certainly nothing evolutionary about it, it's essentially the same interface as the PocketPC, but with tweening animation of the transitions...
The one thing Apple did to was advertise the bugger out of it! Now every pleb want a shiny apple device, it obviously make people "feel" good to have one, but that's just coz your mate has has one, and emperor Steve ordains it on your box every day!
But in all seriousness, I'm not saying the PocketPC was better than today's, devices, but for their time, they where much more impressive. And yes it was a cobbled together solution, a showcase of what could be done, and yes, I still had a regular mobile, but seriously, no one reacts to a iPhone like they did when they first saw the iPaq, its common place today, and everyone has one!
But back to my point, at the end of the day, if a product is really better, they shouldn't need to mess with their competitors...
Cant find a link, but the original IBM slate was out around then, and that was a fully fledged pc.
Of course all new ideas are built on the shoulders of old ideas, and there was a lot of precedence, you could say Gene Roddenberry inverted the concept...
While I agree with your point, I'm not sure whether the general public being interested in space is really the issue; there are always areas of the public that are deeply interested in the space program, from kids to scientists, but if TV rating are governing these projects, we're all doomed!
At the end of the day, all the cool and interesting things about space, are, at best 'the fat', and at worst just a guise for what really drives the space program...
The aspect of issue that I think merits most consideration is that the military has driven the space program from day one. All the infrastructure that allowed NASA to do what they do/did, is derived from things that really aren't cool; von Brawn knew what I'm talking about. And I'm not talking politics or political affiliations... We may never have gotten to space if he had been more concerned where they 'landed', ask anyone who was in London in the 40's.
But I digress, as far as Chinas new role, and the Space Shuttles retirement goes, it's a good thing, and a sign of progress. And anyway, don't forget, the cia has a bigger budget for space than nasa's entire budget, and has had for a long time; the US is not really 'loosing' capacity.
So, when you say "alternatives like warfare", when talking about space and the budgets required, it's got to be an issue of "Hot" or "Cold" warfare, rather than alternatives to.
But I do concede that the budgets for space are a pittance to the cost of what we see as war today; I heard that in the past two years, the US has spent more than the entire nasa budget since inception.
It is nice too see that the ISS has provided a platform for everyone to work together though, and who knows, maybe one day a scientific body might take control of these budgets, and we might get some real science done!!
Slashdot Mirror
Back before the Internet(can't find a ref.), in the late 80's, there was an excellent robo-trading system, that was eventually sold to a number of trading houses. The system worked very well for the company that developed the system, but after many versions of the system where competing against each other it all fell apart, resulting in a mini-crash... Laws where passed, and lessons learned.
By the mid 2000, all these lessons where no longer remembered, and the laws updated to reflect this convent amnesia, but the nature of dynamic system has not changed, and any company that profits from these systems, almost exclusively use programmers who understand this concept...
As a programmer that has lots of experience with agents and complex dynamic systems, I can tell you that for these systems to work they all have to be individual, otherwise they "feedback" on each other, and don't preform as expected.
Not to mention that they can be easily exploited when you know the internal decision making processes within them.
Goldman Sachs is only concerned about protecting it's advantage; individual and unknown code/heuristics being there advantage...
Personally I'm surprised they(GS) would ever let one of there programmers go, especially one that has worked on a system still in use.
If GS's analysis of there liabilities, in relation to there employees, is so far out of kilter, you've got to wonder about their broader investment decisions too...
Still, it's good to see the white-wash isn't sticking.
This whole issue of climate change seems to be a red herring to distract from the real issue; Pollution and air quality.
The fact is that it's very hard to prove a proposition where we don't understand the domain; we cant even predict the weather for next week!
Based on our observations and a bit of common sense though, it's not hard to see that something is awry, even if we can't prove it, yet.
It will probably take another 50 years to prove the science; are we really going to just wait and see?
Or just move the pollution generating industry to another country, out of sight, out of mind; Problem on earth is, everywhere is downwind eventually, and those "other" countries, have essentially non-existent pollution laws.
One thing that we should all be concerned about is air quality, funny thing is, its really easy to prove, and an excellent basis for defining our global environmental policy; so why are we so fascinated by the irrelevance issue of climate change, when the real and tangible issue of air quality is starting us directly in the face.
As an app producer, I see it breaking down like this:
-If you don't pay for an app, you have to assume that the producer will find other revenue streams, like "in app ads", or selling your "usage patterns".
-If you do pay for an app, you can usually assume that they don't violate your privacy...
-Or its a free, "sponsored production", like an app for your bank, or telco; not exactly free, as your already paying for it...
But in any instance, always check what "permissions" the app requires. i.e. Internet, location and/or contacts access, but dose not seem to need it...
Generally, I don't mind paying, say, up to the price of a burger, or a beer, for a basic app, and up to the price of a movie for something "cool", but usually stay away from free app, unless its from a respectable company. Personally, I value my privacy...
At the end of the day, if I put my time into producing something like an app, I will want to be reimbursed; after-all, why do you go to work?
So the bed wasn't made from, 3 wool and 3 wood planks?
Don't invent anything that apple might want to monopolise in the future; after all, you'd only be copying a product they haven't 'invented' yet...
If a company needs metrics to evaluate their employs, then the company is barely functioning, on a communication, collaboration and management levels; interpersonal knowledge and cohesive employees always produce better results than a company that is myopically focused on the numbers.
Metrics should only be used to make projections about reimplementation of a project, i.e. highest level if estimation, but having said that, if the person responsible for that estimation, cannot make it off the top of their heads(relies on metrics alone), then the company has bigger problems...
Where a metric makes developers competitive, to the point where they are working against each other, rather than together, the metric is actually damaging the project; how many of us have worked on a project like that?
Any good metric requires each objective to be weighted based on size and difficulty, factored by the experience of the resource with the domain and code-base, a lot of hard work, but if the initial estimations are inaccurate or deliberately favour certain resources, it collapse like the house of cards that it is...
My advice take metrics with a grain of salt, especially on the macro level; its rare for the keystone developer to be the best performing in the eyes of the metric...
All GUI should, need to evolve, but some the recent attempts seem more like a de-evolution to me...
Netbooks, touch-screens and noob-users are an important part of the 'new' ecosystem, but these new approaches are only suitable for a small portion of the user base, and limits the core power-uses, and have no place in major distros.
The dream of having Linux on netbooks everywhere shouldn't be at the expense of the power-user.
If you want a unix based system that's easy to use and ticks the other boxes, get a Android or a iPxx device if you must. Linux doesn't need to go there; evolution is more importance than revolution...
I hate to say it but win8 and the metro interface is the right way to do it, easy on top, with the power interface below, both ends of the user spectrum catered for... But personally I think I'll disable metro, if I can...
Nice work, but this is hardly the first of its kind...
A friend of a friend invented this concept while working at the CSIRO(those guys that invented the good wi-fi), in Australia.
He was even on a local show called "The New Inventers" where he showed it off, about 4 years ago, for the record.
This JPL model is definitely bigger, and badder, but NASA/JPL could have saved millions of dollars if they had a good look around every once in a while, or didn't fall asleep in front of the TV...
Credit where credit is dew. http://www.eoc.csiro.au/vsis/lidhome.htm
Bill Gates was a trust fund baby. His dad was a wealthy business lawyer, and Bill used those contacts to get in with IBM. Didn't you ever wonder how a fresh faced nerd boy made it with the big leagues?
Almost right... ...small chuckle...
...all that.
His mom worked at IBM; you've got to imagine that that must have opened a few doors, but at the end of the day, you've sill got to deliver...
Don't forget, William is also well-educated, ambitious and a formidable programmer.
He obviously had/has a taste for money, but I bet his family's previous wealth has been eclipsed by what he has achieved since.
Every big company was once a small one, with a few good ideas; it was all of us that made him/them rich!
As for the general discussion; Should we really be outraged about human nature, especially in this day and age? Coffee... Smell... Wake-Up...
I find it hard to be sorry for the music companies; They produce "by the numbers" music, and rip off next to all genuine artists, by calming that the cost of production through distribution is 99.9% of earnings... Akin the the movie industry claiming that a recent Harry Potter film didn't make profit...
But I don't support piracy either, artists need to eat, and diverse to profit from their work too...
It's not just digital downloads that have changed the music industry, i.e. distribution; an album can be recorded "at home", if ya know what your doing. So if the cost of production and distribution are not prohibitive factors, so how dose the industry justify the "mark-up"?
Radio you say. Yes the network to promote the music is "buttoned up tight", and the relationships go way back, so penetration is still an issue, though it shouldn't be...
Materialism vs. Virtual downloads: When I was a kid, there where these things called cassettes, you could even copy music on to them, but it was never as good as getting the whole package, album art, song lyrics, etc. Paying for a digital download still don't feel as "good value" as having the product sitting on my shelf.
If you buy an album these days, your lucky if you get more than a single sheet of paper, badly printed, and I cant remember the last time I saw lyrics...
So I pose the question; Has the reduction of the physical product made it easer to see value in the digital download, or has it blurred the line between a copy and the real product?
I see digital download(low profit) as eating in to physical record sales(higher profit), rather than offsetting the piracy numbers, so why dose the industry fixate on a non-markets rather than retaining(premium) paying customers?
PS. I've read statements recently that movie studios are becoming "more concerned about loosing distribution than the issue of piracy", very strong words...
Steve was a man that was unafraid of big ideas, could see outside of the box in a way that few are able, and was capable of changing the world, and he did...
He was instrumental in redefining the stigma related to technology, and raised the bar for his competitors and contemporaries.
While he polarised the 'community', and ruffled more than a few feathers, he dragged many industries, sometimes "kicking and screaming", into a new future; we are all better off for his contribution.
The seeds that he planted will grow for years to come; the legacy of Steve Jobs will live on.
I will remember Steve as the man that made technology ubiquitous and am sorry that he was not given that chance to watch his creations flourish.
Like the Joker "needs" Batman; the I.T. world needed Steve Jobs, we are all diminished without his presence...
Mr Shatner, my question is offbeat, so feel free to take it anywhere;
If you could, would you become Captain Kirk?
And what do you imagine an average day would be like, if you were...
Also, thank-you for choosing to become an actor, and creating one of the most iconic characters of modern times.
With Apple trying to ban any product that is seen as a threat, via their patents, now the opposition are teaming up; what if Apple's tactics turn against them?
;)
If the "tablet patent' Apple is using to try and ban the Samsung devices is overturned, and it should be (the prior art discussions here are evidence enough), the door will be open to the original IP holders, in this case most of the companies are represented in this "opposition".
I'm wonder when IBM will play its trump card and join the ranks? Or Microsoft even...
What if the iPad was banned for the same reasons Apple are trying to ban the Samsung devices?
Or that Apple's uncompetitive practices initiated a structural separation of the company?
Or that the monopolise they have built in the music, games and video industries via iTunes where opened to the competition?
And lets not mention the lobbying...
Apple has been playing a dangerous game for a long time, it's only a matter of time before the "competition" will have had enough.
We'll just have to wait and see where this one leads.
It's a sign of the times, the percentage of the population capable of coming up with a new idea is shrinking, and the model employee(technical) is now too specialised to see the big picture dew to technical requirements, etc... Not to mention the fact that most things have already been done.
Innovation is now something that is attained through acquisition of other companies. Recognise.
For a small company to "make a splash", hold on to their "idea" and be the one to profit, a patent is the only option.
At the end of the day, most starts-ups want to be bought-out, so a patent is essentially the dominant currency of today.
The age of "Inverse outsourcing of innovation", is upon us.
One of the primary objectives of wikileaks, is to present this information in a way that is not illegal, and to protect the identity of the people involved. It's one of the reasons it has been so successful, as opposed to Anomalous... Those kids are headed for trouble, and I certainly do not condone their actions...
There are no hidden agendas, it(wikileaks) is for us, the people of the world, we diverse to live in a world that is not governed by the greedy and morally unsound...
As for this current slip-up, I think I'm safe to say that, it is NOT the intent of wikileaks to undermine it's authority and legality, and in no way should this action compromise the continuing objectives of the movement.
Just don't forget that there are many people with vested interested; those that oppose the idea generally have something to hide, and more often than not, they have the power to manipulate and influence, in this instance, I see reality distortion and a bit of sabotage thrown into the mix for good measure...
Just another day in the mud for wikileaks!
I remember playing with one of these as a kid(dad an IBMer), was awesome, but after dad told me how much it was worth, I didn't feel comfortable walking around with it... It was too big for a kid to use while standing, and I didn't want to be the one answering the question of "what happens if it is dropped"!
It was limited compared to today's expectation, in most ways at least, but it was real, and it was on-par with laptops at the time, specs-wise. I even put Civilization and SimCity on it!
Tablets these days are consumer devices, even though they cost as more than a cheap laptop and a half as capable. Just goes to show what a fat advertising budget can do...
Funny how Steve talks about his "competitor", Bill, but fails to mention their "competitor", IBM. Reality distortion 1990's style!
+1
Still tempted to find one of those watches!
I'm wondering if this is a swatch stealth viral advertising campaign!?
Or just the ramblings of a mad man...
I'm just wondering when we'll start getting the pen/digitiser as well, the TOS version uses a Pen for input where the TNG version is button based, and possibly touch, though I cant remember seeing anyone using it that way in the show...
Though the "station", in TNG, are all 'touch screen', so I'd assume the PADD's are also capable...
But lets not forget the first non-fictional tablet was the IBM Thinkpad Slate, 1992...
Me, it's only when an update requires a reboot, so not even monthly these days. Touch-wood, but I haven't had a 'crash' in years!
I use Win7 on a velociraptor for my desktop, when waking from sleep mode the screens often take longer to 'wake up'.
A regular boot, is less than a minute.
It's a different issue with laptops though, using 'hibernate' mode, rather than 'sleep ' and the combination of lots of memory can still be slowish without an SSD.
The slowest boots and shutdown have got to be when using a 'remote desktop', i.e. syncing your desktop with a server over a network...
I call the death of needing to boot up!
I'll be playing the nintendo version rather than the zynga one; ya gota watch out for these Skinner Boxes!
But in all seriousness, there will be good and bad examples of gamification, the ones that are tied to "rewards programs" will probably be as numerous as the "entertainment based" title, and there will be people that take it to the point of neglect, it's human nature...
Imagine what's going to happen when "Augmented Reality Glasses" become available and where all playing games 24/7...
Perhaps we need to make games to make people addicted to being "more functional"...
If you haven't read the book, you should, it will "open your mind"...
The "Primer" is an awesome concept, and I'm sure we'll see something like that someday...
It's been a while since I read it, but isn't the main concept that "When a child can learn at their own pace, from a high-quality source, their potential can be maximised, regardless of socio-economic factors".
And that, "It wont be long before AI is teaching our children, and it will be smarter, more knowledgeable and more patient than the best human teacher", and that will create a device bigger divide between the generation than, say, the Internet has today...
It would only be Gamification if the desire to learn was fueled by the achievements, rather than the joy of understanding and as presented in the book, and the outcome of that 'knowledge is power'...
You've got to wonder why a body of governance that is responsible for advising parents as to the suitability of media for their children, think that they are entitled to prevent adults from enjoying media specificity created for an adult audience. Completely overstepping their authority if you ask me.
If you look at the list of modified titles and non-released games, dew to the lack of a +18 classification, none of the games are anywhere near justifying a Not Classifieds, so why prevent adults from playing these games?
Is it that they think parents will still but these games anyway?
Anyone who values the classification system will abide by it, and anyone else, well, it's not as if they don't have the right to buy it, and make that assessment for themselves, because at the end of the day, it's just an advisory...
While I acknowledged that the iphone was an evolution, it was as much deevolutionary as evolutionary, there where, and still are huge aspects to the platform(PocketPC) that still are not present in the Apple or Android equivalents, the only area that was at all impressive was the pretty interface, and that was a no brainer, if Microsoft didn't walk away from the PocketPC market, it would have come...
There where a few PocketPC device towards the end that had graphic chips, so it could do all the snazzy stuff we all expect today. That was the big change, and apple was right to wait for them to "make the push", it's just a shame that MS never released a Graphic and UI centric version of PocketPC, things might have been different.
You've got to ask why they did though, I wonder if MS has regained that market share with Phone 7 they enjoyed with PocketPC; Some wheeling and dealing you'd have to suspect...
And it's not that good(the UI), certainly nothing evolutionary about it, it's essentially the same interface as the PocketPC, but with tweening animation of the transitions...
The one thing Apple did to was advertise the bugger out of it! Now every pleb want a shiny apple device, it obviously make people "feel" good to have one, but that's just coz your mate has has one, and emperor Steve ordains it on your box every day!
But in all seriousness, I'm not saying the PocketPC was better than today's, devices, but for their time, they where much more impressive. And yes it was a cobbled together solution, a showcase of what could be done, and yes, I still had a regular mobile, but seriously, no one reacts to a iPhone like they did when they first saw the iPaq, its common place today, and everyone has one!
But back to my point, at the end of the day, if a product is really better, they shouldn't need to mess with their competitors...
Cant find a link, but the original IBM slate was out around then, and that was a fully fledged pc.
Of course all new ideas are built on the shoulders of old ideas, and there was a lot of precedence, you could say Gene Roddenberry inverted the concept...
While I agree with your point, I'm not sure whether the general public being interested in space is really the issue; there are always areas of the public that are deeply interested in the space program, from kids to scientists, but if TV rating are governing these projects, we're all doomed!
At the end of the day, all the cool and interesting things about space, are, at best 'the fat', and at worst just a guise for what really drives the space program...
The aspect of issue that I think merits most consideration is that the military has driven the space program from day one. All the infrastructure that allowed NASA to do what they do/did, is derived from things that really aren't cool; von Brawn knew what I'm talking about. And I'm not talking politics or political affiliations... We may never have gotten to space if he had been more concerned where they 'landed', ask anyone who was in London in the 40's.
But I digress, as far as Chinas new role, and the Space Shuttles retirement goes, it's a good thing, and a sign of progress. And anyway, don't forget, the cia has a bigger budget for space than nasa's entire budget, and has had for a long time; the US is not really 'loosing' capacity.
So, when you say "alternatives like warfare", when talking about space and the budgets required, it's got to be an issue of "Hot" or "Cold" warfare, rather than alternatives to.
But I do concede that the budgets for space are a pittance to the cost of what we see as war today; I heard that in the past two years, the US has spent more than the entire nasa budget since inception.
It is nice too see that the ISS has provided a platform for everyone to work together though, and who knows, maybe one day a scientific body might take control of these budgets, and we might get some real science done!!