While I tend to agree the Cell is an impressive architecture, this article is a steaming pile of B.S.
No cache for CPUs? A breakthrough? Hello! Both PSone and PS2 have the so-called scratchpad, which is what the Cell seems to have: a cache which has to be managed explicitly by the programmer. Breaking news: This is a royal pain in the ass. And calculating bandwidth when reading from this tiny scratchpads makes about as much sense as calculating the speed at which a x86 processor can execute MOV EAX, EBX.
Magically "the OS solves everything", and, in an obvious attempt to automatically get OSS-crowd support (is that "slashdot-trolling" or "slashdot-baiting"?) the triumph of Linux is predicted, because it's portable. Good luck getting the Linux kernel and GCC compiled, let alone running well on a massively parallel array of tiny CPUs without cache.
Citydesk by the company of software engineering guru Joel Spolsky, would be an excellent choice if you are a) running Windows b) willing to spend a little money.
The question is, since we live in a land of capitalism and the cell phone market has tremendous competition, why hasn't the price of SMS messaging dropped?
Telcos don't live in the land of capitalism. It's a closely-regulated industry where the government doesn't allow anyone near the airwaves.
BTW is it just me, or does it seem in poor taste for News outlets like FOX and CNN to focus on possible American casualties when these kind of natural disasters happen?
FWIW, it's not just you, and it's not just American media. Bulgarian media are doing the same for the past few hours - ringing up embassies, expats and tour guides of Bulgarian groups in the affected countries, trying to find out if there are Bulgarian casualties.
Bad taste is universal. As some would say, we all descended from the same ape.
Makes a slight difference, going from Kerry 298 to Bush 287, eh?
He used to link to the predicted map, and explain it... he even used to default to the average rather than last poll. Now all plugs are off, the Kool-Aid needs to be doled out in huge portions. Does that smell like desperation?
...the latest and greatest [read: 6800GT/X300] as their graphics card.
Your license to post on 3D graphics-related issues has been suspended; apply at the Higher Court for 3D Graphics for re-examination of your case in 6 months.
...Maybe your next game will be paid for by a cereal company to give away in their re-launched breakfast products?...
rather than catering to the common denominator commercial QA guys are simulating.
Oh, I'm SOOO sure breakfast products company will cater to your artistic values.
There has been zero indication so far that a small team of volunteers can create your beloved GTA3.
Of course! People should only have Free (I don't have an even more capital F letter on my keyboard) stuff, not good stuff, cheap stuff, attractive stuff or technically advanced stuff! Just ask St. IGNUtius...
Personally, I'm dissappointed that the idea of using genetic programming (or related technology) to develop or improve CODECs has not, at least to my knowlege, taken off. Hopefully the people with the expertise in both fields will at some point come together.
Translation: I have no frickin' idea about video codecs and/or genetic programming, but I have this warm fuzzy feeling that they must somehow go together. Hopefully somebody will work their ass off to prove me right, but I can't even be bothered to read enough about one or both of these fields to disrupt said warm, fuzzy feeling.
You should take a look at the Mini-ITX or Micro-ITX based systems from VIA. Although not as sexy from technological perspective (i.e. Linus didn't work for them), they are generally faster than Transmeta CPUs, and very, very low-power.
I second the recommendation for Canon's A80; I think they very recently released a successor, I think it's A95. Believe me, the swivel LCD makes a HUGE difference, it's not a gimmick.
Somebody questioned the credibility of a supposedly 1973 memo typed with a proportional font, and made a little experiment.
If you're too lazy to click on the link: the document typed with all default settings in Microsoft Word looks 1:1 identical, minus the "aging" probably induced by running through the photocopier 4-5 times.
Easy! All it needs to do is detect and remove the ad breaks.
OK, anyone up for a game of Bayesian filtering for video?
Actually, it doesn't have to be Bayesian. I don't mind watching each ad once - some of them are even clever or funny. But then, I would like to mark it as "remove this", and skip the other 999 viewings.
Yes, I realize that. I even realize that AAC is an excellent codec and that the blanket statement "160 is more than 128, so MS's music is higher quality" is bullshit.
I'm just pointing out that some of the tests quoted aren't something to base an argument on.
None of these tests compare VBR WMA at 160 kbps against AAC at 128 kbps.
The EKEI.com test is last updated in 2002, and includes a WMA version two versions too old (v7 vs. v9); significant improvements have been made to the encoder since then.
And, about somebody calling themselves "infoanarchy", do you, like, expect them to be _impartial_ and _professional_ when judging a product by Microsoft, of all companies?
Slashdot Mirror
"You can run your own voicemail / menu trees"
Menu trees? Die die evil scum!!!
Google makes money by prioritising quality. Microsoft makes money by prioritising money.
:-)
So far, Microsoft makes waaay more money. So maybe their prioritizing is the right kind of prioritizing
Ummm, not exactly. The Gamecube is *very* developer-friendly, and the graphics API is OpenGL in all but name.
While I tend to agree the Cell is an impressive architecture, this article is a steaming pile of B.S.
No cache for CPUs? A breakthrough? Hello! Both PSone and PS2 have the so-called scratchpad, which is what the Cell seems to have: a cache which has to be managed explicitly by the programmer. Breaking news: This is a royal pain in the ass. And calculating bandwidth when reading from this tiny scratchpads makes about as much sense as calculating the speed at which a x86 processor can execute MOV EAX, EBX.
Magically "the OS solves everything", and, in an obvious attempt to automatically get OSS-crowd support (is that "slashdot-trolling" or "slashdot-baiting"?) the triumph of Linux is predicted, because it's portable. Good luck getting the Linux kernel and GCC compiled, let alone running well on a massively parallel array of tiny CPUs without cache.
Citydesk by the company of software engineering guru Joel Spolsky, would be an excellent choice if you are a) running Windows b) willing to spend a little money.
If you want to make sure your money goes to the guys who are actually doing someting to help, donate to the USMC.
The question is, since we live in a land of capitalism and the cell phone market has tremendous competition, why hasn't the price of SMS messaging dropped?
Telcos don't live in the land of capitalism. It's a closely-regulated industry where the government doesn't allow anyone near the airwaves.
BTW is it just me, or does it seem in poor taste for News outlets like FOX and CNN to focus on possible American casualties when these kind of natural disasters happen?
FWIW, it's not just you, and it's not just American media. Bulgarian media are doing the same for the past few hours - ringing up embassies, expats and tour guides of Bulgarian groups in the affected countries, trying to find out if there are Bulgarian casualties.
Bad taste is universal. As some would say, we all descended from the same ape.
Depends on whether both teams are more interested in politics or good software...
If they weren't into politics, they'd choose a less politically-laden license than the GPL.
Make sure to check out his predicted map using an average of the last few polls in each state:
http://www.electoral-vote.com/fin/nov01z.html
(mirrors:)
http://www.electoral-vote2.com/fin/nov01z.html
http://www.electoral-vote3.com/fin/nov01z.html
http://www.electoral-vote4.com/fin/nov01z.html
Makes a slight difference, going from Kerry 298 to Bush 287, eh?
He used to link to the predicted map, and explain it... he even used to default to the average rather than last poll. Now all plugs are off, the Kool-Aid needs to be doled out in huge portions. Does that smell like desperation?
After all, if you're going to use Google Local then you might want to provide a map.
A satellite photo != a map; it's much, much harder to read, although cuter.
The moron gave me the following reasons why ASP.NET was to be the "entlösung" to all problems...
The Entlösung? As in "solution involving ducks"? Or "the Duck solution"? Is there a Monty Python + Holy Grail reference I'm missing here?
...the latest and greatest [read: 6800GT/X300] as their graphics card.
Your license to post on 3D graphics-related issues has been suspended; apply at the Higher Court for 3D Graphics for re-examination of your case in 6 months.
...Maybe your next game will be paid for by a cereal company to give away in their re-launched breakfast products? ...
rather than catering to the common denominator commercial QA guys are simulating.
Oh, I'm SOOO sure breakfast products company will cater to your artistic values.
There has been zero indication so far that a small team of volunteers can create your beloved GTA3.
Of course! People should only have Free (I don't have an even more capital F letter on my keyboard) stuff, not good stuff, cheap stuff, attractive stuff or technically advanced stuff! Just ask St. IGNUtius...
Is Whitehouse.org cybersquatting or free speech?
The fact is, there IS NO OTHER SIDE....
... hired by special interest groups or oil companies
All of the research I have read...
Ahem... you're not convincing anyone who isn't already subscribed to your theory, you realize that?
I'm starting to think Goldwin's law [regarding Nazis in Internet discussions] should be ammended to include oil companies.
Personally, I'm dissappointed that the idea of using genetic programming (or related technology) to develop or improve CODECs has not, at least to my knowlege, taken off. Hopefully the people with the expertise in both fields will at some point come together.
Translation: I have no frickin' idea about video codecs and/or genetic programming, but I have this warm fuzzy feeling that they must somehow go together. Hopefully somebody will work their ass off to prove me right, but I can't even be bothered to read enough about one or both of these fields to disrupt said warm, fuzzy feeling.
You should take a look at the Mini-ITX or Micro-ITX based systems from VIA. Although not as sexy from technological perspective (i.e. Linus didn't work for them), they are generally faster than Transmeta CPUs, and very, very low-power.
...some business apps like Gator even refuse to run!
I second the recommendation for Canon's A80; I think they very recently released a successor, I think it's A95. Believe me, the swivel LCD makes a HUGE difference, it's not a gimmick.
Somebody questioned the credibility of a supposedly 1973 memo typed with a proportional font, and made a little experiment.
If you're too lazy to click on the link: the document typed with all default settings in Microsoft Word looks 1:1 identical, minus the "aging" probably induced by running through the photocopier 4-5 times.
Easy! All it needs to do is detect and remove the ad breaks.
OK, anyone up for a game of Bayesian filtering for video?
Actually, it doesn't have to be Bayesian. I don't mind watching each ad once - some of them are even clever or funny. But then, I would like to mark it as "remove this", and skip the other 999 viewings.
Yes, I realize that. I even realize that AAC is an excellent codec and that the blanket statement "160 is more than 128, so MS's music is higher quality" is bullshit.
I'm just pointing out that some of the tests quoted aren't something to base an argument on.
None of these tests compare VBR WMA at 160 kbps against AAC at 128 kbps.
The EKEI.com test is last updated in 2002, and includes a WMA version two versions too old (v7 vs. v9); significant improvements have been made to the encoder since then.
And, about somebody calling themselves "infoanarchy", do you, like, expect them to be _impartial_ and _professional_ when judging a product by Microsoft, of all companies?