Actually, if you look at it, any good article on technology would rarely contain elements of science fiction.
The truth is, a lot of good technology out there is largely harmless.
Sure, grey-goo is likely to happen. However, its as likely to happen as some random evil person in the world would get hold of a dirty bomb to wipe out half the world and hold us at ransom.
Everytime I see people ranting about nano-tech, nuclear energy or global warming, this is what puts me off.
The truth is, Nuclear Energy when done properly is a perfectly safe and nice resource. Unfortunately, most people do not realize this.
We're at the end of an ice-age. Ofcourse the world will be getting hotter. And there is nothing to be so alarmed as to predict apocalypse because of this.
Take a look at these folks -- they make it sound like nano-tech is the Next Worst Thing (tm). Or read this article -- the risks mentioned there are likely to happen in a million professions that are out there today.
What if the tiny, man-made particles accumulate in the liver or lungs? she asks.
Well, how about people working in the chip-manufacturing industry? Those who deal with asbestos? Miners? This is true for each one of those professions.
The article says that --
But studies have also shown that nanoparticles can act as poisons in the environment and accumulate in animal organs. And the first two studies of the health effects of engineered nanoparticles, published in January, have documented lung damage more severe and strangely different than that caused by conventional toxic dusts.
Well, there are enough studies to prove that exposure to Nuclear Radiation is harmful. And enough studies to prove that inhalation of particulate silicon or asbestos could kill you.
That does not mean we cannot have safe and effective use of Nuclear Energy or of other stuff. Likewise for nano-tech.
When done properly, nano-tech can be really beneficial. Sure, there is every possibility that there will be some accidents or disasters -- but these would largely be because of the callousness and immaturity of the people involved, not the technology.
Agreed, but these days that seems to be happening to seldom that it really makes you wonder about the quality of music thats coming out.
In fact, some of the bands I really like are ones which are unaffliated and which you probably have not even heard of.
My point is that good music will get heard, no matter what. Hell, I hated G3 when I first heard them, and after listening to them for a while, I do not know how I ever got by without listening to them.
Quality seldom goes unnoticed, especially in an area like music. And the advantage of this kind of system is that it levels the playing field for everyone.
Now, Eddie from Ohio has as much (if not more) chance of making millions as Shania Twain without having to affiliate with any record label.
Like I've said earlier, the real risk to the Record Labels and the music industry is not Peer-to-Peer networks or piracy, although both may affect them to an extent.
The real hit is going to come in the form of people downloading songs that they like - I do not have to buy an entire album of crap just to listen to one song, and neither do I have to pay $12 for a CD full of crap.
This is the market's way of getting back and eliminating bad music. Sure, there will always be some cross section that will listen to stuff like Britney and the Boybands, but they will largely diminish purely because popular demand for better material will kill them.
Apple, HP, Microsoft and now Dell. Yay! Way to go.
Stop trolling. What the hell has licensing got to do with this?
This is more for the sake for portability and compatibility issues, thats all. Its a way for the user of one tool to be able to use another tool without having to really work hard at porting - the exact problem which users face when moving even between various platforms in MS (WinNT vs. Win98, etc).
If I use app Foo on Gnome, I can use KFoo on KDE without too much trouble (K added for attitude;). If anything, this is great.
Did you know that one of the tenets of Hinduism forbids eating of anything where the plants are killed?
Which is why, if you notice, a lot of Hindus do not eat things like Garlic, Onions, Carrots, Potatos, and the like -- anything where a plant is killed.
Ideally, Hinduism also preaches eating only those things where you do not kill - when you pluck a fruit off the tree, and eat the fruit and throw/plant the trees, you are not killing anything. And the purpose of the seeds are also fulfilled.
Just that it has been corrupted over the years to become something cruel and crude like vegetarianism. Its actually pantheism.
Humour aside, what you may not realize as an industry expert is that they have enough patents to last them a lifetime even if they pursued a purely IP Licensing based business model:)
Besides, ever worked on labs that _really_ need to do serious number crunching (hint, hint)? They swear by IBM. PC clusters are a joke, Macs even more so.
I once had a discussion with a CEO of quite a big product development organization who was thinking of diversifying into Bio-informatics because they had done some pioneering research and had some patents and cool algorithms. Mind you, this is a really technically savvy guy with years of experience (who would probably even tell you Perl syntax) and respected by VCs for his experience and expertiese -- not a yuppie management guy.
One of his core business models for furthering the bio-informatics idea was to contact IBM and get them to design CPUs that would optimize the algorithms for certain vector and matrix operations. And he had enough information from IBM contacts who confirmed that if the idea proved viable, they would do so.
IBM still has that respect and trust among corporates that most other companies don't. And IBM has that trust factor for new research -- sure, they're not as big a market presence (relatively) as they once were, but they're definitely one of the better ones out there.
When the company tried to insist that an AOL icon instantly appear on a user's desktop during a Winamp installation, Frankel hit the roof. "I'd be like, 'Look, our users don't want to use AOL!' " he says. " 'They think AOL sucks!'"
It does show an Add AOL icon to desktop, and what more, the option is checked by default too. Am not saying its right or wrong, Nullsoft can do jollywell what it pleases, but this is just an observation.
Now it would be cooler if Justin had come out with a version that has this greyed:)
The blonde agent handed me the seizure receipt to look over and sign. It looked ok to me, but I really had no idea at the time that some items they'd taken weren't on the list.
I wonder if he will ever get back those things that weren't on the list.
There is a reason for this, one that anyone taking even the most basic Human Factors class is taught -- most of the data available on human factors is based on either military experiments or from Universities, which employ undergrads. Most willing undergrad participants for these experiments tend to be male.
Both of these largely tend to show a niche-section of the population, and the data has a tendency to lean towards the male populace.
Its not just a question of design, its also limited data availability. Go look at Salvendy et al or any book on Engineering Psychology - you will realize that what really makes a strong case for you is the data thats available to you.
Seth Jayson is currently struggling through a new Linux install on a computer he built from an old wood crate. SCO may serve his papers at FoolishSeth@sethj.com.
Hahaha! If _that_ is not snubbing SCO, I do not know what is.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, if you look at it, any good article on technology would rarely contain elements of science fiction.
:)
The truth is, a lot of good technology out there is largely harmless.
Sure, grey-goo is likely to happen. However, its as likely to happen as some random evil person in the world would get hold of a dirty bomb to wipe out half the world and hold us at ransom.
Everytime I see people ranting about nano-tech, nuclear energy or global warming, this is what puts me off.
The truth is, Nuclear Energy when done properly is a perfectly safe and nice resource. Unfortunately, most people do not realize this.
We're at the end of an ice-age. Ofcourse the world will be getting hotter. And there is nothing to be so alarmed as to predict apocalypse because of this.
Take a look at these folks -- they make it sound like nano-tech is the Next Worst Thing (tm). Or read this article -- the risks mentioned there are likely to happen in a million professions that are out there today.
What if the tiny, man-made particles accumulate in the liver or lungs? she asks.
Well, how about people working in the chip-manufacturing industry? Those who deal with asbestos? Miners? This is true for each one of those professions.
The article says that --
But studies have also shown that nanoparticles can act as poisons in the environment and accumulate in animal organs. And the first two studies of the health effects of engineered nanoparticles, published in January, have documented lung damage more severe and strangely different than that caused by conventional toxic dusts.
Well, there are enough studies to prove that exposure to Nuclear Radiation is harmful. And enough studies to prove that inhalation of particulate silicon or asbestos could kill you.
That does not mean we cannot have safe and effective use of Nuclear Energy or of other stuff. Likewise for nano-tech.
When done properly, nano-tech can be really beneficial. Sure, there is every possibility that there will be some accidents or disasters -- but these would largely be because of the callousness and immaturity of the people involved, not the technology.
Technology does not kill people, people do
Agreed, but these days that seems to be happening to seldom that it really makes you wonder about the quality of music thats coming out.
In fact, some of the bands I really like are ones which are unaffliated and which you probably have not even heard of.
My point is that good music will get heard, no matter what. Hell, I hated G3 when I first heard them, and after listening to them for a while, I do not know how I ever got by without listening to them.
Quality seldom goes unnoticed, especially in an area like music. And the advantage of this kind of system is that it levels the playing field for everyone.
Now, Eddie from Ohio has as much (if not more) chance of making millions as Shania Twain without having to affiliate with any record label.
Don't you think its worth it?
Like I've said earlier, the real risk to the Record Labels and the music industry is not Peer-to-Peer networks or piracy, although both may affect them to an extent.
The real hit is going to come in the form of people downloading songs that they like - I do not have to buy an entire album of crap just to listen to one song, and neither do I have to pay $12 for a CD full of crap.
This is the market's way of getting back and eliminating bad music. Sure, there will always be some cross section that will listen to stuff like Britney and the Boybands, but they will largely diminish purely because popular demand for better material will kill them.
Apple, HP, Microsoft and now Dell. Yay! Way to go.
And more importantly, are they single ;-)
From Dictionary.com (emphasis mine) -
:)
stupid ( P ) Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-)
adj. stupider, stupidest
I thought that Mr. Spolsky had made a mistake too, until I noticed that the word stupider _does_ exist as an adjective
I was actually thinking more along the lines of a certain place in Utah?
Then we could perhaps call it Operation: Santa Cruz and do the world a favour.
Oh the irony of the dilemma!
Stop trolling. What the hell has licensing got to do with this?
;). If anything, this is great.
This is more for the sake for portability and compatibility issues, thats all. Its a way for the user of one tool to be able to use another tool without having to really work hard at porting - the exact problem which users face when moving even between various platforms in MS (WinNT vs. Win98, etc).
If I use app Foo on Gnome, I can use KFoo on KDE without too much trouble (K added for attitude
The funny thing is that the fortune cookie at the bottom of my Slashdot page reads as
:-p
buzzword, n: The fly in the ointment of computer literacy.
Did you know that one of the tenets of Hinduism forbids eating of anything where the plants are killed?
Which is why, if you notice, a lot of Hindus do not eat things like Garlic, Onions, Carrots, Potatos, and the like -- anything where a plant is killed.
Ideally, Hinduism also preaches eating only those things where you do not kill - when you pluck a fruit off the tree, and eat the fruit and throw/plant the trees, you are not killing anything. And the purpose of the seeds are also fulfilled.
Just that it has been corrupted over the years to become something cruel and crude like vegetarianism. Its actually pantheism.
I had found an interesting article exposing the innards of the 775 pin Prescott -- see it here
(Credit: Got it off The Register from this article)
How the FUCK is this a troll you freakin' moderators on crack?
The damn PDF contained a Goatse pic initially and was then changed.
Freakin' hell, Slashdot is crawling with morons whose IQs are less than that of my shoelaces put together.
Sheesh! Asshats. See you in metamod hell.
Not when you're having your lunch and see the picture of a big gaping anus.
;-)
I do understand that the article is about SCO, but lets not be too anal about it
Thats funny, because now it has the letter :-/ Not to troll, but when I first downloaded, it was a PDF with the picture of Goatse in it. :-/
Informative? Did the moderators even bother reading the PDF?
Its got a picture of Goatse. Sheesh!
Freakin' hell.
Humour aside, what you may not realize as an industry expert is that they have enough patents to last them a lifetime even if they pursued a purely IP Licensing based business model :)
Besides, ever worked on labs that _really_ need to do serious number crunching (hint, hint)? They swear by IBM. PC clusters are a joke, Macs even more so.
I once had a discussion with a CEO of quite a big product development organization who was thinking of diversifying into Bio-informatics because they had done some pioneering research and had some patents and cool algorithms. Mind you, this is a really technically savvy guy with years of experience (who would probably even tell you Perl syntax) and respected by VCs for his experience and expertiese -- not a yuppie management guy.
One of his core business models for furthering the bio-informatics idea was to contact IBM and get them to design CPUs that would optimize the algorithms for certain vector and matrix operations. And he had enough information from IBM contacts who confirmed that if the idea proved viable, they would do so.
IBM still has that respect and trust among corporates that most other companies don't. And IBM has that trust factor for new research -- sure, they're not as big a market presence (relatively) as they once were, but they're definitely one of the better ones out there.
Not to troll, but an honest question - who was Lindberg? I really would like to know, merely out of curiosity (and ignorance :)
From the article --
:)
When the company tried to insist that an AOL icon instantly appear on a user's desktop during a Winamp installation, Frankel hit the roof. "I'd be like, 'Look, our users don't want to use AOL!' " he says. " 'They think AOL sucks!'"
But if you notice the Winamp 5 install, this option DOES exist.
It does show an Add AOL icon to desktop, and what more, the option is checked by default too. Am not saying its right or wrong, Nullsoft can do jollywell what it pleases, but this is just an observation.
Now it would be cooler if Justin had come out with a version that has this greyed
Its interesting you say this, because this seems to be something thats quickly catching on.
:)
This Register article seems to indicate that the Trojan Horse Excuse syndrome is quickly catching on.
Do not know how well it would hold against the RIAAs corporate hoodlums, but seems to have some effect
You know, at my apt we have a Wireless Network which is shared by 3 other roomies.
Sometimes, my neighbours use it too when their net is slow. All in all, one DSL shared by ateast 5-6 peple.
Now, any one person could have used their system for P2P. Are the going to take all 6 of us to court just because one IP has been logged?
Has anyone had similar experiences? What would the RIAA do in such a situation?
Must be blue in color :-P
The blonde agent handed me the seizure receipt to look over and sign. It looked ok to me, but I really had no idea at the time that some items they'd taken weren't on the list.
I wonder if he will ever get back those things that weren't on the list.
That would be Windows - Acquired IQ Deficiency Syndrome ;-)
There is a reason for this, one that anyone taking even the most basic Human Factors class is taught -- most of the data available on human factors is based on either military experiments or from Universities, which employ undergrads. Most willing undergrad participants for these experiments tend to be male.
Both of these largely tend to show a niche-section of the population, and the data has a tendency to lean towards the male populace.
Its not just a question of design, its also limited data availability. Go look at Salvendy et al or any book on Engineering Psychology - you will realize that what really makes a strong case for you is the data thats available to you.
Or perhaps T-mobile's new Nokia Sidekick? ;-)
I love the way the Motley Fool article ended -
Seth Jayson is currently struggling through a new Linux install on a computer he built from an old wood crate. SCO may serve his papers at FoolishSeth@sethj.com.
Hahaha! If _that_ is not snubbing SCO, I do not know what is.