Any one else noticed that very few posts are getting mod points? I have a few possible ideas why: -Suddenly most slashdotters get a life -Something's broke that divvies out mod points -A long overdue re-vamping of how many mod points are given out
The problem isn't the hardware cost- it's the labor cost. The simple fact is that in America, time is more valuable than hardware.
The cost to fix/clean a home PC can easily exceed the value of the old PC, and often the cost of a new PC. (*If* you can find a recovery CD)
This factor isn't new- it's happened to a lot of areas. Labor cost is why tech support is outsource to India. Same thing happened to textiles, manufacturing, autos, etc.
There's only one cable involved. If that one cable is air-gapped (storm, tree, blackout, etc.) so it won't move current, you can probably guess what your bandwidth will be like.
In a previous life, the company I worked for sold both hardware and consulting services. The margin on hardware & shrink-wrapped software was about 3%. The margin on consulting, with the bloated managment overhead and massive cross-country travel costs was still over 30%.
Who would you rather compete against: Dell & eBay or Best Buy's repair desk?
This is no dofferent than with any other industry in the US. Skilled labor is expensive!
Here, here! Theater screens were meant to be huge. If my field of view at home is the same as in the middle of a small theater, why bother going out?
>if the poor in the US keep getting poorer and return to the days where they can't afford "basic needs" like dvd players and air conditioners
If the poor in the USA are really getting poorer, how come DVD players and AC are now ubiquitous in "poor" homes? The standard of living is getting higher and higher all the time. I dare you to honestly compare the living standards of the poor of the 1950's and the 2000's. (or pick any random decade)
Dress code at a company I worked at was "business casual", with no reference to ink at all.
Then one day one of our desk-side techs (who really was a nice guy, by the way), got a complaint reported by a user. It was a little old lady who litterally was scared of the tech because of the ink on his arms. (a guitar, if memory serves) Instantly a new dress code went into place stating no visible tatoos. He was banished to long sleeves for the rest of his time at the company.
The moral: In a consulting company it ain't the boss who sets dress code. The client does.
Some take the poetic expression "four corners of the Earth" to make a shakey counter argument. We still refer to "relatives scatters over the four corners of the globe" without a mental contradiction.
Now there are other religions that *do* clearly state a flat Earth, complete with supporting turtles & elephants...
'There are smart people no longer even signing up to take our introductory courses. We need to fix it, or there's not going to be a U.S. work force in computer sciences.'
Red herring! Most people I've worked with in the IT world don't have an IT degree. Yes, most have a degree in something, but not IT.
To claim that an IT shortage can only be solved by people taking college classes sounds like something only a college professer would say.
After all of the drama of the last election, Gore (and Kerry) supporters were the strongest in favor of updating the voting machines from paper to electronic.
And now there's some unexplained correlation shown to slightly favor Bush.
Don't get whiplash watching those original supporters suddenly flip-flop on their support!
"Computer gaming has always been sustained by never-ending improvements in resolution and realism. But once we get to photorealism, what is going to sustain growth?"
We have a working counter-argument: Hollywood. Once we get CG that looks real, we won't be able to many movies anymore.
People who buy games just for the cool graphics are like the people who only watch movies for the SFX. Yes, they exist, but that's not what drives the industry. We've all seen moves and games with killer graphics, but didn't sell because it stunk.
While your argument sounds good, you're using Straw Man numbers. The government is only one small piece of the pie.
The amount of aid given by private charities is many times more than what the governemnt gives. Consider how much is anually given by: United Way, Red Cross, the Catholic Church, 1000's of other Christian churches, etc.
Oh how I tire of liberals with government tunnel-vision. The private sector has always (and always will) do more food aide, and do it more effeciently.
It's been reported many moons ago the most Automatic Tell Machines (ATM's) use OS/2 as the base platform. I've seen more than one ATM being serviced and seen very OS/2 like screens with diagnostic info.
Do *you* want every 133t h@x0r out there with source code to your neighborhood ATM? If the bank hasn't bothered to move off OS/2, what are the odds they'll patch any holes found by white/grey/black hats?
I know I wasn't driving in a typical or practical fashion- that wasn't the point of my little joy ride. The net result is the same though- there is no SUV on the planet that runs out of gas on a 10 minute joy ride.
I *love* the technology of electric cars, but so far they fail my #1 test: If I'm late to work and need to "refuel", I should be able to without losing my job.
Batteries that "fast charge" in even an hour or two just don't pass that test. Solve that problem, and the range issue becomes *much* less important.
The feel of it is really just a 2 seater Geo Metro running on batteries. Granted, there was a lot of cool ideas (no key, just a password to get in, and a "run" push button on the dash), but EV1's are *not* ready for prime time.
I took one for a spin at a GM proving grounds, and floored it from every stop sign. After about 10 minutes, a fully changed car was almost dead. A kick to drive, but I'd never buy one.
There's a reason GM didn't sell them, and chose to only lease them. GM knew they were just a big experiment, and had no intention of supporting pre-first generation EV parts for the Federally mandiated period of time (5 years?).
While these two concepts may share some technology, stitching is clearly not 3D modeling. If you've ever tried to make a 360 panoramic of a room, you'll get some funky distortion, usually resulting on a fish-eye projection. 3D Modeling gives you a NASA-like model to change perspective with little or no distortion.
As stated by others, these models have limits - mostly in the "Nothing-In, Nothing-Out" vein. The QuickTime fly-thoughs show areas in the closet, for example, that are black. No data in the original stills, hence the 3D model doesn't know what's there.
-MrLogic There are 2 kinds of people: those who would gladly give you the shirt off your back, and those who would gladly take it.
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I'm partial to my herbal, all natural, organic hemlock....
-MrLogic
The guy in the cube next to me doesn't buy ink. He just buys a new printer when they go on sale.
That's right- it's cheaper to throw away a nearly-new inkjet printer, because it's cheaper to buy a new one (with ink) than the ink alone.
Insanity....
Any one else noticed that very few posts are getting mod points? I have a few possible ideas why:
-Suddenly most slashdotters get a life
-Something's broke that divvies out mod points
-A long overdue re-vamping of how many mod points are given out
Anyone have official dirt?
The problem isn't the hardware cost- it's the labor cost. The simple fact is that in America, time is more valuable than hardware.
The cost to fix/clean a home PC can easily exceed the value of the old PC, and often the cost of a new PC. (*If* you can find a recovery CD)
This factor isn't new- it's happened to a lot of areas. Labor cost is why tech support is outsource to India. Same thing happened to textiles, manufacturing, autos, etc.
There's only one cable involved. If that one cable is air-gapped (storm, tree, blackout, etc.) so it won't move current, you can probably guess what your bandwidth will be like.
Consider this factor to capacity: how large is your nail bed? (i.e. compare the length of freshly trimmed big toe & pinky toes)
Aside from all that, the only real application I can see from this is art. Imagine etching precise patterns into nails, kinda like hena for nails.
-MrLogic
In a previous life, the company I worked for sold both hardware and consulting services. The margin on hardware & shrink-wrapped software was about 3%. The margin on consulting, with the bloated managment overhead and massive cross-country travel costs was still over 30%.
Who would you rather compete against: Dell & eBay or Best Buy's repair desk?
This is no dofferent than with any other industry in the US. Skilled labor is expensive!
-MrLogic
Here, here! Theater screens were meant to be huge. If my field of view at home is the same as in the middle of a small theater, why bother going out?
>if the poor in the US keep getting poorer and return to the days where they can't afford "basic needs" like dvd players and air conditioners
If the poor in the USA are really getting poorer, how come DVD players and AC are now ubiquitous in "poor" homes? The standard of living is getting higher and higher all the time. I dare you to honestly compare the living standards of the poor of the 1950's and the 2000's. (or pick any random decade)
Dress code at a company I worked at was "business casual", with no reference to ink at all.
Then one day one of our desk-side techs (who really was a nice guy, by the way), got a complaint reported by a user. It was a little old lady who litterally was scared of the tech because of the ink on his arms. (a guitar, if memory serves) Instantly a new dress code went into place stating no visible tatoos. He was banished to long sleeves for the rest of his time at the company.
The moral: In a consulting company it ain't the boss who sets dress code. The client does.
-MrLogic
Oh, that sounds like a great idea... let's have the governemnt pay for powering our cars - free fuel for everyone!
On an unrelated side note, have you looked at the amount of taxes you pay already?
-MrLogic, who is feeling a bit libertarian today
Hopefully you're not talking about Christianity.
See Job 26:10 and Isaiah 40:21-22.
Some take the poetic expression "four corners of the Earth" to make a shakey counter argument. We still refer to "relatives scatters over the four corners of the globe" without a mental contradiction.
Now there are other religions that *do* clearly state a flat Earth, complete with supporting turtles & elephants...
Red herring! Most people I've worked with in the IT world don't have an IT degree. Yes, most have a degree in something, but not IT.
To claim that an IT shortage can only be solved by people taking college classes sounds like something only a college professer would say.
-Mr Logic
And now there's some unexplained correlation shown to slightly favor Bush.
Don't get whiplash watching those original supporters suddenly flip-flop on their support!
-MrLogic
"Computer gaming has always been sustained by never-ending improvements in resolution and realism. But once we get to photorealism, what is going to sustain growth?"
We have a working counter-argument: Hollywood. Once we get CG that looks real, we won't be able to many movies anymore.
People who buy games just for the cool graphics are like the people who only watch movies for the SFX. Yes, they exist, but that's not what drives the industry. We've all seen moves and games with killer graphics, but didn't sell because it stunk.
-MrLogic
While your argument sounds good, you're using Straw Man numbers. The government is only one small piece of the pie.
The amount of aid given by private charities is many times more than what the governemnt gives. Consider how much is anually given by: United Way, Red Cross, the Catholic Church, 1000's of other Christian churches, etc.
Oh how I tire of liberals with government tunnel-vision. The private sector has always (and always will) do more food aide, and do it more effeciently.
-MrLogic
It's been reported many moons ago the most Automatic Tell Machines (ATM's) use OS/2 as the base platform. I've seen more than one ATM being serviced and seen very OS/2 like screens with diagnostic info.
Do *you* want every 133t h@x0r out there with source code to your neighborhood ATM? If the bank hasn't bothered to move off OS/2, what are the odds they'll patch any holes found by white/grey/black hats?
-MrLogic
A simple test to see if GP is right:
- Try blowing up a balloon
- Try blowing the same volume of air into a glass bottle.
If you could, the pressure inside the glass would be *much* higher. The balloon has *very little* pressure. Yes, a little more, but not much.
Check out high-speed pictures of balloons popping for further proof. The balloon shards don't fly outward.
-MrLogic
Or more accurately, pick any two of the following:
"something you know" (i.e. password)
"something you have" (i.e. smart card)
"something you are" (i.e. biometric)
-MrLogic
I know I wasn't driving in a typical or practical fashion- that wasn't the point of my little joy ride. The net result is the same though- there is no SUV on the planet that runs out of gas on a 10 minute joy ride.
I *love* the technology of electric cars, but so far they fail my #1 test: If I'm late to work and need to "refuel", I should be able to without losing my job.
Batteries that "fast charge" in even an hour or two just don't pass that test. Solve that problem, and the range issue becomes *much* less important.
-MrLogic
I took one for a spin at a GM proving grounds, and floored it from every stop sign. After about 10 minutes, a fully changed car was almost dead. A kick to drive, but I'd never buy one.
There's a reason GM didn't sell them, and chose to only lease them. GM knew they were just a big experiment, and had no intention of supporting pre-first generation EV parts for the Federally mandiated period of time (5 years?).
-MrLogic
Nice... a story without a "RTFA" possibility...
-MrLogic
While these two concepts may share some technology, stitching is clearly not 3D modeling. If you've ever tried to make a 360 panoramic of a room, you'll get some funky distortion, usually resulting on a fish-eye projection. 3D Modeling gives you a NASA-like model to change perspective with little or no distortion.
As stated by others, these models have limits - mostly in the "Nothing-In, Nothing-Out" vein. The QuickTime fly-thoughs show areas in the closet, for example, that are black. No data in the original stills, hence the 3D model doesn't know what's there.
-MrLogic
There are 2 kinds of people: those who would gladly give you the shirt off your back, and those who would gladly take it.
Ever try to call HP for support? If these experiences are any indication, India is currently just a source of cheap labor- not skilled labor.
Plentifull cheap labor does not an IT powerhouse make. There needs to be a *lot* of cultural and economic change first.
-MrLogic
Don't knock it 'till you've tried it. My iPaq 545x can be held in the palm leaving the thumb free for swiping. Do it all the time.
And to those complaining about leaving prints on the screen... the scanner isn't on the screen. It's the white bar below the 4-way "joystick".
-MrLogic
Read The Friendly Article...
"Like the HP iPAQ h5450 and h5550, the hx2755 has an integrated biometric fingerprint reader"
My 5455 has a great fingerprint reader, had it foe a while...
-MrLogic