Secrets are quite often "intended" features that were never fully implemented, or ended up being more support hassle than they were worth.
The main software that our group puts out has a few "secrets" too... things that sounded cool at the time, or things that were put in by developers to help them debug their code or use it while it was still half-baked.
Now, having said that, a few of those secrets are still pretty cool... but as the Product Manager, I'd hate to have to support people using them, or having problems with them (after all, we never did get to do extensive QA on those features). The features are there, but not documented. If you find them, great. If you have problems, great. Don't call me about them. q:]
You can support 700 users on a decent dual desktop system with Linux, what's this guy thinking?
Maybe he's just got an extra mainframe laying around...? You've got to think the support/maintenance on a mainframe would be horrendous compared to buying a new desktop server for this?
Now I can't mouth obscenities about the person I'm talking with without them hearing!!! You can't also hold a "quiet" conversation with the person beside you while "politely" listening to the person on the phone...
Oh well... my boss probably needs to know about what I call him behind his back anyways. q:]
Contrast: monitor contrast is WAY lower than paper, it's harder on the eyes than a sheet of paper is
Glare: monitor glare makes things hard to see
Portability: until you have a 2-ounce monitor that you can hold in your hand while reclining in your chair, paper's got you beat.
I'm sure there's more. Personally, even beeing the computer-geek that I am, I MUST do the final editing of any document I produce with a paper printout. I don't know why, but it's just SO much easier.
I wonder if it would be considered bribery if you sent a check on the condition that they voted against this bill? It's an interesting point of wording, but there is legitimacy to it:
"If you accurately represent MY viewpoints, I would like to support your office with this check. However, if you don't vote against this bill, then your viewpoint is irreconcilably different than mine, and I cannot in good conscience support you."
I'm sure that your check would be cashed either way, if it was included though...
If you wrote the specific conditions of cashing on the check, I wonder if it would be legally binding?
Yes, distilled water would work for this. However, be careful about how "pure" the water is... if it's been sitting open for a while, I wouldn't trust it.
Easy way to test: open the bottle, stick the two probes from a multi-meter in the bottle, and see what the resistance reading is. Ideally, it would be infinate. Try bringing the probes very close together in the water, but not touching, and see if it's still infinate.
If so, you're good to go. The real question is, are there any contanimants on the MB itself that would make the water conductive?
You could use water to cool the motherboard by immersion or a spray bath too... if you were brave (and lived in a clean-room).
Pure water is non-conductive. Yes, it is. Really, it is!
However, if you add impurities to the water (mostly salts), it rapidly becomes conductive due to the free ions in salt.
So, as long as your MB didn't have any contaminants on it, and you sealed it into a container, you COULD cool your MB/CPU directly by spraying cold water on it.
Now, as for actually trying this with MY computer... ah, no.
Ok, I'm not sure I believe this one, but it came from a co-worker that used to work in Marketing for Sony Canada:
Sony was working on a Peta-byte tape server system for extremely large storage requirements. You guessed it, they wanted to name it the "Peta-File"... until the connotations were carefully explained to them.
(ok, so that's not an acronym, but it fits the same subject)
The only way nowadays to guarantee that people actually see ads it to integrate them INTO the content that people actually WANT to see... a couple examples are:
-product placement (using a certain product, or showcasing it in the content, etc.)
-TV banner ads... as much as you hate them on the web, I'm sure they're not far off for TV.
-ghost-overs... just like the ghost-image of the network logo on the bottom right corner of almost every program these days. How long until these are used for advertising?
-subliminal advertising... ok, outlawed years ago, but it is a possibility too.
SOMEBODY has to pay for your content... if it's not the advertisers, it's gonna be you, directly out of your pocket. What's the worst of these two evils?
Foveon has been making CMOS type chips for quite some time actually... just a special "flavor" of CMOS. They're actually partnered with NEC's semiconductor division, who actually manufactures their chips. Although YOU've never heard of them, the professional photography industry has.
They actually made cameras too in the past, but have stopped that in favor of focusing solely on the chip technology and leaving the rest to the "pros".
Their first camera used an "analog" CMOS chip (their words... better tonal reproduction, wider exposure lattitude)... actually three of them on a prism system, just like a 3-CCD video camera. It was/is stunning... achieving the same effect as their new X3 chip, with a little more complication/cost.
Although the new chip comes along with it's fair share of "buzz talk", they're definately a player, and have a proven track record of amazing quality cameras/chips on their side.
CIA agent to Boeing exec, after arriving at Boeing facility at midnight: "Hi, we're taking over your facility for the next 8 hours for a matter of national security. Go home. If you tell anyone about this, you'll be put in jail for the rest of your life."
"My image file is variation #5432234534234223234432223443322 with hash value of 34334fa3de3ade33. Just for good measure, it's also 1200x1800 pixels, 24bits/pixel."
Of course, it'd be a royal impossibility to figure out how many variations there were, and which "variation number" you had (and then do the reverse to "decompress" it)... but wouldn't that be theoretically possible?
In theory, you could represent a 20MB image file with a 1k hash/data stream.
{rant}
Any you truly believe that plain, boring, run-of-the-mill HTML is what has brought grandma, grandpa, your niece, and Ubu the dog onto the internet?
High-level scripting languages like Flash, Java, JavaScript, etc., have brought the Internet into a "slicker" dimension... one that appeals to the masses rather than just technodweebs.
Ok, so you say: "Why do I care if they've made the Internet popular with the masses? Fsck 'em, the Internet is made for technodweebies like me anyways!"
Why do you think you can get broadband for $40/mo instead of having to get a T1 at $800/mo? Why do you think you can get $400 off your next computer when you sign up for online access? Why do you think computer prices are falling rapidly and performance is growing just as quick? None of that would be happening if computers, driven by the desire for the Internet, weren't booming.
>> The difference between these occurrences is so small that we will have for all intents and purposes successfully encoded lossley universal compression.
Based on this quote, they don't claim lossless... anyone believe their claim now? (ok, they claim that "these (differences are) so small that we have for all intents...)"...)
Actually, I've noticed the same thing... however I'm 99% sure that it's the Mozilla code that is so slow launching. Ever notice how other Mozilla apps launch like slugs? (i.e. Netscape, etc.).
However, on a dual 1.2ghz, it's hardly noticable... q:]
A few years back they added a "tax" to recordable media to "help compensate the recording industry" for pirating that happens on such media.
Now, if the RIAA were to "prevent" (haha) such pirating through copy protection, why should they get to double-dip by continuing to collect the revenues from that "tax"?
You can also use a nifty chemical marketed under the name "Florinert" I believe... completely non-conductive. I remember seeing an overclocking test where they submerged the MB in this stuff and started pouring in liquid nitrogen too... very cool!
I'd feel much more comfortable filling a "water" cooling system with that stuff, just in case.
That means that only one company will be enforcing DRM. For the rest of us using Mac, Linux, et al, we can simply go on about our business without the fear of being bossed around and controlled by Big Brother.
Slashdot Mirror
Secrets are quite often "intended" features that were never fully implemented, or ended up being more support hassle than they were worth.
The main software that our group puts out has a few "secrets" too... things that sounded cool at the time, or things that were put in by developers to help them debug their code or use it while it was still half-baked.
Now, having said that, a few of those secrets are still pretty cool... but as the Product Manager, I'd hate to have to support people using them, or having problems with them (after all, we never did get to do extensive QA on those features). The features are there, but not documented. If you find them, great. If you have problems, great. Don't call me about them. q:]
MadCow.
You can support 700 users on a decent dual desktop system with Linux, what's this guy thinking?
Maybe he's just got an extra mainframe laying around...? You've got to think the support/maintenance on a mainframe would be horrendous compared to buying a new desktop server for this?
MadCow.
Now I can't mouth obscenities about the person I'm talking with without them hearing!!! You can't also hold a "quiet" conversation with the person beside you while "politely" listening to the person on the phone...
Oh well... my boss probably needs to know about what I call him behind his back anyways. q:]
MadCow.
If you strap 8 of them together so you have a 8.5x11" color screen, sure. q:]
MadCow.
Contrast: monitor contrast is WAY lower than paper, it's harder on the eyes than a sheet of paper is
Glare: monitor glare makes things hard to see
Portability: until you have a 2-ounce monitor that you can hold in your hand while reclining in your chair, paper's got you beat.
I'm sure there's more. Personally, even beeing the computer-geek that I am, I MUST do the final editing of any document I produce with a paper printout. I don't know why, but it's just SO much easier.
MadCow.
And how does the title "Slashback" confuse you on this matter?
Have you ever read Slashback before?
I wonder if it would be considered bribery if you sent a check on the condition that they voted against this bill? It's an interesting point of wording, but there is legitimacy to it:
"If you accurately represent MY viewpoints, I would like to support your office with this check. However, if you don't vote against this bill, then your viewpoint is irreconcilably different than mine, and I cannot in good conscience support you."
I'm sure that your check would be cashed either way, if it was included though...
If you wrote the specific conditions of cashing on the check, I wonder if it would be legally binding?
Just wondering,
MadCow.
Yes, distilled water would work for this. However, be careful about how "pure" the water is... if it's been sitting open for a while, I wouldn't trust it.
Easy way to test: open the bottle, stick the two probes from a multi-meter in the bottle, and see what the resistance reading is. Ideally, it would be infinate. Try bringing the probes very close together in the water, but not touching, and see if it's still infinate.
If so, you're good to go. The real question is, are there any contanimants on the MB itself that would make the water conductive?
MadCow.
You could use water to cool the motherboard by immersion or a spray bath too... if you were brave (and lived in a clean-room).
Pure water is non-conductive. Yes, it is. Really, it is!
However, if you add impurities to the water (mostly salts), it rapidly becomes conductive due to the free ions in salt.
So, as long as your MB didn't have any contaminants on it, and you sealed it into a container, you COULD cool your MB/CPU directly by spraying cold water on it.
Now, as for actually trying this with MY computer... ah, no.
MadCow.
Ok, I'm not sure I believe this one, but it came from a co-worker that used to work in Marketing for Sony Canada:
Sony was working on a Peta-byte tape server system for extremely large storage requirements. You guessed it, they wanted to name it the "Peta-File"... until the connotations were carefully explained to them.
(ok, so that's not an acronym, but it fits the same subject)
MadCow.
The only way nowadays to guarantee that people actually see ads it to integrate them INTO the content that people actually WANT to see... a couple examples are:
-product placement (using a certain product, or showcasing it in the content, etc.)
-TV banner ads... as much as you hate them on the web, I'm sure they're not far off for TV.
-ghost-overs... just like the ghost-image of the network logo on the bottom right corner of almost every program these days. How long until these are used for advertising?
-subliminal advertising... ok, outlawed years ago, but it is a possibility too.
SOMEBODY has to pay for your content... if it's not the advertisers, it's gonna be you, directly out of your pocket. What's the worst of these two evils?
MadCow.
Foveon has been making CMOS type chips for quite some time actually... just a special "flavor" of CMOS. They're actually partnered with NEC's semiconductor division, who actually manufactures their chips. Although YOU've never heard of them, the professional photography industry has.
They actually made cameras too in the past, but have stopped that in favor of focusing solely on the chip technology and leaving the rest to the "pros".
Their first camera used an "analog" CMOS chip (their words... better tonal reproduction, wider exposure lattitude)... actually three of them on a prism system, just like a 3-CCD video camera. It was/is stunning... achieving the same effect as their new X3 chip, with a little more complication/cost.
Although the new chip comes along with it's fair share of "buzz talk", they're definately a player, and have a proven track record of amazing quality cameras/chips on their side.
MadCow.
Darn, I guess I'll still have to buy em or burn em myself.
MadCow.
CIA agent to Boeing exec, after arriving at Boeing facility at midnight: "Hi, we're taking over your facility for the next 8 hours for a matter of national security. Go home. If you tell anyone about this, you'll be put in jail for the rest of your life."
Boeing exec: "Uh.... ok.... uh...."
Probably not too much more complicated than that.
q:]
MadCow.
why couldn't you say:
"My image file is variation #5432234534234223234432223443322 with hash value of 34334fa3de3ade33. Just for good measure, it's also 1200x1800 pixels, 24bits/pixel."
Of course, it'd be a royal impossibility to figure out how many variations there were, and which "variation number" you had (and then do the reverse to "decompress" it)... but wouldn't that be theoretically possible?
In theory, you could represent a 20MB image file with a 1k hash/data stream.
MadCow.
{rant}
Any you truly believe that plain, boring, run-of-the-mill HTML is what has brought grandma, grandpa, your niece, and Ubu the dog onto the internet?
High-level scripting languages like Flash, Java, JavaScript, etc., have brought the Internet into a "slicker" dimension... one that appeals to the masses rather than just technodweebs.
Ok, so you say: "Why do I care if they've made the Internet popular with the masses? Fsck 'em, the Internet is made for technodweebies like me anyways!"
Why do you think you can get broadband for $40/mo instead of having to get a T1 at $800/mo? Why do you think you can get $400 off your next computer when you sign up for online access? Why do you think computer prices are falling rapidly and performance is growing just as quick? None of that would be happening if computers, driven by the desire for the Internet, weren't booming.
{/rant}
MadCow
>> The difference between these occurrences is so small that we will have for all intents and purposes successfully encoded lossley universal compression.
Based on this quote, they don't claim lossless... anyone believe their claim now? (ok, they claim that "these (differences are) so small that we have for all intents...)"...)
MadCow
Actually, I've noticed the same thing... however I'm 99% sure that it's the Mozilla code that is so slow launching. Ever notice how other Mozilla apps launch like slugs? (i.e. Netscape, etc.).
However, on a dual 1.2ghz, it's hardly noticable... q:]
MadCow.
A few years back they added a "tax" to recordable media to "help compensate the recording industry" for pirating that happens on such media.
Now, if the RIAA were to "prevent" (haha) such pirating through copy protection, why should they get to double-dip by continuing to collect the revenues from that "tax"?
You can't have your Cake and Rip it too.
MadCow.
Isn't this what ActiveState is trying to do with Komodo?
I use Komodo for all my at-home development of Python/Perl/HTML/Javascript/etc, and actually quite like it.
MadCow.
How about an "F-Off" postcard from MY site? q:]
www.fuckaway.com
MadCow.
Yeah, and his daughter Emma doesn't like to be seen in public with him because of his funny name. q:]
(ok, think about it a bit before you mod me down)
MadCow.
You can also use a nifty chemical marketed under the name "Florinert" I believe... completely non-conductive. I remember seeing an overclocking test where they submerged the MB in this stuff and started pouring in liquid nitrogen too... very cool!
I'd feel much more comfortable filling a "water" cooling system with that stuff, just in case.
MadCow.
Would YOU have been thrilled to see your watch roll over with the UNIX clock a few months back?
"What time is it?"
"Hmmm.... it says 1008722379... I'm not sure if that's AM or PM though."
MadCow
That means that only one company will be enforcing DRM. For the rest of us using Mac, Linux, et al, we can simply go on about our business without the fear of being bossed around and controlled by Big Brother.
q:]
MadCow.