The article is very heavy on breathless anticipation, and very light on details. It reminds me of all the "flying cars" types of articles from the 50s. Oh, how wonderful will it be when each household can have a flying car ! No more traffic congestion ! And the cars will fly themselves, too -- just push a button ! Golly gee ! Etc. etc.
Yes, I agree, I would love to put on my e-textile t-shirt, hop into my flying car, and fly it to my vacation villa on the Moon. But, as far as I can tell, these technologies are a long, long way off from actual implementation. Our current limits right now are power storage (all that Bluetooth needs to be fed), durability and size (small chips are fine, but we are talking hundreds of pretty powerful computers), architecture (implementing that automatic handoff on failure is hard), cost (buy an e-shirt now ! Only $9999.99 !"), and dozens of other things. Until we can overcome these problems, I am not holding my breath.
Technology is like a knife. It's not inherently good or bad; it all depends on how you wield it.
Trance sounds better on an expensive audio system
Anime and The Matrix sure look better on a 90" plasma HDTV
GPS is very helpful if you're planning to go to that hacker convention three cities away
Computer and console games like Tetris will bring you hours of joy
See what I mean ? I just rearranged your list a bit, and now it sounds a lot better, doesn't it ? So what's the conclusion: only geeks deserve the latest tech gadgets ?
No. The conclusion is that you shouldn't be so arrogant as to assume that you're the final arbiter of what kind of toys other people deserve. If I want to watch Friends and listen to Celine Dion, you bet your ass I want to be able to enjoy it full-size, full-color, with high dynamic range. It's not your place to stop me.
You may find it funny, but broken copy/paste is actually the reason I don't use Linux on the desktop. Oh, I'm sorry, what, it's not broken ? It's just giving me a choice of which copy/paste method to use ? Sorry, that's not good enough.
On Windows, I can copy/paste pretty much anything from any program to any other reasonable program -- images, files, text, URLs, whatever. In Linux, I have to use a different button for each program, and half the time it doesn't work at all. If you think that's a trivial complaint, then you probably aren't using a desktop at all -- you must be doing all your work in vi or something.
Ultimately, Dyson is confident her team's solar cells can reach nearly 100 percent efficiency -- compared with typical solar panels' conversion rate of less than 20 percent.
What ? 100% efficiency ? How is that supposed to work ? It's true that our current solar panels give at best 20% (and usually 12%); and it's also true that the theoretical limit is at about 50% or so. How will the magic windows achieve the "nearly 100%" efficiency ? Are they made of black holes, so that they can absorb any and all light that comes anywhere near them ?
I think that.NET can really blow Java out of the water on the desktop -- well, Java blows itself out of the water in that market, really.
.NET accomplishes what Java never could, and what has not been possible on Windows until now: a fast, fully OOP, easy to use native GUI toolkit. Swing tried to do this, but it's too slow and inconsistent for any kind of real application.
It's a good thing Disney decided to put the computers in a cart behind the dino. Otherwise, I just know that about half of Slashdot would be out in Disneyland right now, wardriving (war-walking ?) Lucky and hacking the wireless protocol.
Hi, my name is Lucky, and I luuuv yyy-y-y-y L-l-l-ook at you haCker (hacker), huffing and pUfFing as you cr-cr-crawl through my database (base). How can yOu coMpAre to a perperperfect, immmmmmortAl MaChIne ?
That ought to send half the kids looking for cover, and the other half whipping out their trusty PsiAmp and overcharging Projected Pyrokinesis...
Actually, that's a good point. What I'd like to see is a doll like this, but with learning capability. In the simple case, you'd just give it USB and download word lists into it. In the complex case, you'd give it WiFi, and hook it up to google, so that it can learn in real-time.
Then, all you have to do until it develops intelligence and comes after you with plasma weapons...
Holy mecha Batman, wasn't there an anime written about this ? I can never tell when the Japanese are serious, when they are making a publicity stunt, or when they go all out and implement something totally crazy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go see if the trains to Central Dogma are still running in my Geofront...
A lot more can be achieved with smaller non-manned vehicles for a fraction of the price.
That depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to create an orbital station (so you can assemble spacecraft there) or a permanent nuclear-powered base on another planet, robots simply won't cut it -- unless we get much smarter robots.
In other news, Russia has announced their intention to harvest electrical energy from leprechauns. "The necessary technical drawings have been completed" -- said the Russian science director. "With the abundance of leprechauns in our ecosystem, we believe our new Green Power station will be a major success". The only problem that remains now is actually catching the leprechauns; initial plans call for an automated leprechaun-trap similar to the mousetraps in use today.
Seriously, though, Russia can't even keep up payments on the ISS. No one in the world right now has any plans on how to ship a live human being to Mars (and have him remain live there). "Technical drawings" alone won't cut it; I have some technical drawings in my closet that show how to build an SSTO spacecraft out of crayons (I was in kindergarten at the time of this techincal breakthrough), but I am not holding my breath waiting for NASA to knock on my door.
The voice-over in the trailer states that, "in the future", corporations will use reverse-engineering to learn each other's secrets. I think someone in Hollywood has their wires crossed -- because that's what corporations do now.
A more realistic trailer would involve something like this:
Voiceover: To learn how something works, you must first take it apart (*). But, in the past, reverse-engineering was outlawed by the megacorporations. Technological innovation has stopped. Now, 20 years in the future, one man strives to revive the old arts... Ben Affleck: Hmm. So to tighten the screw, you can only turn it clockwise ! Ingenious ! Voiceover: But now, he must race against time as corporate forces are closing in... Jack-booted thug: Ben Affleck ! You are charged with the violation of DMCA in the first degree. By the powers invested in me by RIAA/MPAA, I pronounce your warranty void ! Ben Affleck: Aiiieee ! The Fritz Chip ! In my head ! Erasing... memory... Must remember... which... way... screws... turn... Voiceover: Will this dangerous criminal be brought to justice ? It is your duty as a consumer to watch this movie NOW and find out. Remember: you belong to the MPAA.
Whoa, I thought only the Taelons were supposed to have this technology ! But hmm, now that I think about it, Da'an's screen is actually crappier-looking than this... Go humans go !
Ok, that's great, but try listing all the PC games that came out last year... you can't -- there are too many. In addition, Linux video drivers have been lagging behind their Windows counterparts; last time I tried getting my Geforce 3 working, I couldn't really get it to do FSAA or anisotropic filtering correctly. I mean, yes, I suppose even Macs have some games written for them nowadays -- but Windows/PC is still the de facto gaming platform.
I in the other hand invested a bit of time to learn Linux... I know that if I need a new network card I should buy a supported one which will be recognized automatically... Knowledge is power, and this exemplifies it perfectly: you have delegated knowledge into others...
In other words, you are willing to invest vast amounts of time (learning Linux, researching cards) and money (buying aforementioned cards) in order to support your political/ideological platform (information wants to be free). This is a perfectly valid choice; and this is the niche Linux currently occupies. The original post, however, mentioned some ways in which Linux can get out of this niche, and into the major market.
As I said earlier, I don't see my computer as a political platform; and I don't have all that much free time (or free money for that matter). Hence, Linux so far is not for me. Of course, when the new-and-improved DRM comes along and cripples Windows, I will probably switch to Linux, because dealing with its inconsistencies and bugs will become cheaper (in terms of time as well as money) than trying to crack the DRM.
I think I'll have to disagree with this point though:
Oh yes, and when I want to play games I go and a buy a 2nd hand console, which is much better suited for the task and does not demand outrageous hardware upgrades with each new game that comes into the market.
Unfortunately, this is not really an option for a gamer such as myself. I like my games to be involved, pretty, and multiplayer (massively multiplayer if possible). I also like having a keyboard and a mouse as the input devices. Currently, none of the major consoles can quite satisfy these demands. The one console that comes close is the X-Box, but I already have a PC, so I don't need a PC clone on top of it. And presumably , you would not want to support it as well, seeing as it comes from the Evil Empire.
I just happen to be one of those clueless Joe Sixpacks out there, and I completely agree with you. Ok, so I do understand the ideology behind open source; and I would like to see truly free software to take hold of the market. However, to me, my computer is primarily a tool, and secondarily a toy. I use it to make my employers happy so that they pay me money; I then invest some of that money into games. For me, the computer is not a political platform, a hobby, or a lover. I do enjoy programming various things in my free time, but I am not going to waste all day fucking with my computer just so that I can install a network card.
Currently, Windows XP makes a better tool (and a better toy) than Linux (any distro). Windows XP is consistent, it supports all my hardware, and it's reasonably easy to use. Linux is none of these things. Until Linux improves dramatically (or until Windows worsens dramatically, due to DRM), I'll stick to XP. I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be.
IMO, the reason for all the features of the Russian PVR (as opposed to the American one) is that copyright enforcement in Russia is nonexistent. There is no DMCA, no patent protection to speak of (except on paper), no RIAA/MPAA, etc. A right-thinking Russian would never think of actually paying $10k for some piece of software; he'll get the bootleg version for $5.
This is bad for software/music/video companies, but good for the consumer. Unlike their American cousins, Russian PVRs don't need to be crippled just to appease some content cartel. Hence all the extra features.
In order to have a cyborg rights movement, wouldn't we need to get some cyborgs, first ? I mean, technically, I could start a Pink Unicorn Rights movement, but it's not really all that useful.
I understand that, in a general sense, we are all cyborgs (glasses, fillings, pacemakers, etc.), but I can't think of any civil rights issues in these cases. So, as soon as someone starts getting oppressed for having their arm replaced with a particle cannon, I'll be the first to march on Washington, holding a big "Particle Guns for Freedom !" sign. Until this technology actually becomes available, though, the cyborg rights people might as well throw their support behind the Tooth Fairy. At least they might get some free teeth out of that one.
"I want to warn you that if you continue your illegal activity, then the necessary measures will be taken not just by me," the Korotkov voice intoned, after giving his name and ministerial affiliation."
As for how Korotkov's message was received by the language center's staff, Petrova said, "That question is for the management, who are not available." In fact, they were "very far away, too far away to receive phone calls," she said...
Remember folks: this is Russia, where the leaders of the country are also the biggest crime lords. The spammers did the right thing when they suddenly became "very far away". If you're too far away to receive phone calls, you are also too far away to receive "necessary measures", such as a bullet to the head.
This may sound cool and exotic, but it's actually pretty sad... Westerns are only fun to watch, they are not fun to live in. Especially when the robber gangs grow to the size of entire cities.
If people take the films for free and the Studios can't recoup their investment, they may not be able to make the big summer movies we all enjoy so much; the TITANICs, the SPIDER-MANs, the JURASSIC PARKs.
Sweet. It's not often that I, the consumer, can have such a direct effect on anything. Please tell me MPAA, is there anything else I can do to prevent the next Titanic from coming out ? I'll do whatever it takes.
What I am saying is that people will pay if they find a product which caters for their needs, and especially if the free products available do not
In general, this is true -- I mean, I paid for Opera, after all. However, browsers are not like other products: with browsers, the users have been conditioned from the beginning that the product should be free. In order to compensate for that, a browser would have to be exceptionally good to sway the average user into forking over that $20.
Er. Opera had tabbed browsing way before Mozilla, and ditto on popup blocking. And, unlike Mozilla, Opera's tabs are actually easy to use, and its popup blocking is configurable with just one button. I confess, I was happy when Mozilla decided to follow in Opera's footsteps, but so far they are still following.
I hate to say it, but I agree with the original article regarding these features: most users don't know or care about them. No one knows what these "XML, XUL, halved ping times and total protocol compatibility" are; and in the long run, it doesn't matter. What does matter to the user is the following:
Can the browser show me all the websites I go to like they're supposed to be seen ?
How nice is it to use ?
Will it run on my computer ?
I think you can see how the features you mentioned map onto these three points (except for XUL, that's just pointless), but one should always keep in mind that the users think in general terms, not specifics.
This means that they won't be saying "I switched to Mozilla because it halves ping times !", they will be saying "Hey, my friend Bob showed me this trick I can use to stop popups from shwoing up... it's probably illegal but what the heck". Later on, they might say, "hey, Bob's trick works pretty well, but now I can't see movies in my browser for some reason... I guess I'll put up with the popups". (Note: that's just an example, Mozilla probably handles Flash anf WMV just fine).
In other words, only the user-visible features are important, and the margins are razor-thin. One missing feature, such as correct CSS support, DHTML implementation, or that "deny unrequested popups" button, can mean the difference between victory and oblivion.
This is why I believe that Mozilla is ultimately doomed. The people who make it think in terms of XML, XUL, ZYZ, not in terms of "how can we make the users like us". Opera has a shot, because they are actually trying to make money with their browser (as opposed to a political statement). However, paying money for browsers is a new idea that probably won't catch on. This leaves the Mac crowd (which will always be there), and IE as far as the eye can see (because it comes with the OS, and it's the path of least resistance). Sad, but that's the way things currently stand.
Actually, I recal reading somewhere that some roller coasters achieve 10g in places. Actually, I was on a roller coaster that had a warning sign posted; the sign said that the coaster achieves 6g and thus pregnant mothers with history of heart failure should not get on it. It was a fun ride.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, I agree, I would love to put on my e-textile t-shirt, hop into my flying car, and fly it to my vacation villa on the Moon. But, as far as I can tell, these technologies are a long, long way off from actual implementation. Our current limits right now are power storage (all that Bluetooth needs to be fed), durability and size (small chips are fine, but we are talking hundreds of pretty powerful computers), architecture (implementing that automatic handoff on failure is hard), cost (buy an e-shirt now ! Only $9999.99 !"), and dozens of other things. Until we can overcome these problems, I am not holding my breath.
- Trance sounds better on an expensive audio system
- Anime and The Matrix sure look better on a 90" plasma HDTV
- GPS is very helpful if you're planning to go to that hacker convention three cities away
- Computer and console games like Tetris will bring you hours of joy
See what I mean ? I just rearranged your list a bit, and now it sounds a lot better, doesn't it ? So what's the conclusion: only geeks deserve the latest tech gadgets ?No. The conclusion is that you shouldn't be so arrogant as to assume that you're the final arbiter of what kind of toys other people deserve. If I want to watch Friends and listen to Celine Dion, you bet your ass I want to be able to enjoy it full-size, full-color, with high dynamic range. It's not your place to stop me.
On Windows, I can copy/paste pretty much anything from any program to any other reasonable program -- images, files, text, URLs, whatever. In Linux, I have to use a different button for each program, and half the time it doesn't work at all. If you think that's a trivial complaint, then you probably aren't using a desktop at all -- you must be doing all your work in vi or something.
Actually no... Can you post the link ? Sounds intriguing :-)
Then, all you have to do until it develops intelligence and comes after you with plasma weapons...
Holy mecha Batman, wasn't there an anime written about this ? I can never tell when the Japanese are serious, when they are making a publicity stunt, or when they go all out and implement something totally crazy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go see if the trains to Central Dogma are still running in my Geofront...
Seriously, though, Russia can't even keep up payments on the ISS. No one in the world right now has any plans on how to ship a live human being to Mars (and have him remain live there). "Technical drawings" alone won't cut it; I have some technical drawings in my closet that show how to build an SSTO spacecraft out of crayons (I was in kindergarten at the time of this techincal breakthrough), but I am not holding my breath waiting for NASA to knock on my door.
A more realistic trailer would involve something like this:
(*) actual trailer quote
Whoa, I thought only the Taelons were supposed to have this technology ! But hmm, now that I think about it, Da'an's screen is actually crappier-looking than this... Go humans go !
Ok, that's great, but try listing all the PC games that came out last year... you can't -- there are too many. In addition, Linux video drivers have been lagging behind their Windows counterparts; last time I tried getting my Geforce 3 working, I couldn't really get it to do FSAA or anisotropic filtering correctly. I mean, yes, I suppose even Macs have some games written for them nowadays -- but Windows/PC is still the de facto gaming platform.
As I said earlier, I don't see my computer as a political platform; and I don't have all that much free time (or free money for that matter). Hence, Linux so far is not for me. Of course, when the new-and-improved DRM comes along and cripples Windows, I will probably switch to Linux, because dealing with its inconsistencies and bugs will become cheaper (in terms of time as well as money) than trying to crack the DRM.
I think I'll have to disagree with this point though:
Unfortunately, this is not really an option for a gamer such as myself. I like my games to be involved, pretty, and multiplayer (massively multiplayer if possible). I also like having a keyboard and a mouse as the input devices. Currently, none of the major consoles can quite satisfy these demands. The one console that comes close is the X-Box, but I already have a PC, so I don't need a PC clone on top of it. And presumably , you would not want to support it as well, seeing as it comes from the Evil Empire.I just happen to be one of those clueless Joe Sixpacks out there, and I completely agree with you. Ok, so I do understand the ideology behind open source; and I would like to see truly free software to take hold of the market. However, to me, my computer is primarily a tool, and secondarily a toy. I use it to make my employers happy so that they pay me money; I then invest some of that money into games. For me, the computer is not a political platform, a hobby, or a lover. I do enjoy programming various things in my free time, but I am not going to waste all day fucking with my computer just so that I can install a network card.
Currently, Windows XP makes a better tool (and a better toy) than Linux (any distro). Windows XP is consistent, it supports all my hardware, and it's reasonably easy to use. Linux is none of these things. Until Linux improves dramatically (or until Windows worsens dramatically, due to DRM), I'll stick to XP. I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be.
This is bad for software/music/video companies, but good for the consumer. Unlike their American cousins, Russian PVRs don't need to be crippled just to appease some content cartel. Hence all the extra features.
I understand that, in a general sense, we are all cyborgs (glasses, fillings, pacemakers, etc.), but I can't think of any civil rights issues in these cases. So, as soon as someone starts getting oppressed for having their arm replaced with a particle cannon, I'll be the first to march on Washington, holding a big "Particle Guns for Freedom !" sign. Until this technology actually becomes available, though, the cyborg rights people might as well throw their support behind the Tooth Fairy. At least they might get some free teeth out of that one.
This may sound cool and exotic, but it's actually pretty sad... Westerns are only fun to watch, they are not fun to live in. Especially when the robber gangs grow to the size of entire cities.
Er. Opera had tabbed browsing way before Mozilla, and ditto on popup blocking. And, unlike Mozilla, Opera's tabs are actually easy to use, and its popup blocking is configurable with just one button. I confess, I was happy when Mozilla decided to follow in Opera's footsteps, but so far they are still following.
- Can the browser show me all the websites I go to like they're supposed to be seen ?
- How nice is it to use ?
- Will it run on my computer ?
I think you can see how the features you mentioned map onto these three points (except for XUL, that's just pointless), but one should always keep in mind that the users think in general terms, not specifics.This means that they won't be saying "I switched to Mozilla because it halves ping times !", they will be saying "Hey, my friend Bob showed me this trick I can use to stop popups from shwoing up... it's probably illegal but what the heck". Later on, they might say, "hey, Bob's trick works pretty well, but now I can't see movies in my browser for some reason... I guess I'll put up with the popups". (Note: that's just an example, Mozilla probably handles Flash anf WMV just fine).
In other words, only the user-visible features are important, and the margins are razor-thin. One missing feature, such as correct CSS support, DHTML implementation, or that "deny unrequested popups" button, can mean the difference between victory and oblivion.
This is why I believe that Mozilla is ultimately doomed. The people who make it think in terms of XML, XUL, ZYZ, not in terms of "how can we make the users like us". Opera has a shot, because they are actually trying to make money with their browser (as opposed to a political statement). However, paying money for browsers is a new idea that probably won't catch on. This leaves the Mac crowd (which will always be there), and IE as far as the eye can see (because it comes with the OS, and it's the path of least resistance). Sad, but that's the way things currently stand.
Actually, I recal reading somewhere that some roller coasters achieve 10g in places. Actually, I was on a roller coaster that had a warning sign posted; the sign said that the coaster achieves 6g and thus pregnant mothers with history of heart failure should not get on it. It was a fun ride.