"The "stock" configuration of that machine when you follow that link costs over $1400 and does not include the display"
No, but it does include Office 2003 Small Business, Windows XP Home, a 3.2GHz Pentium 4, 512M of DDR, and a lot more that's probably not necessary.
With a 2.4GHz P4, no office suite, XP home, a combo drive, and a 15" LCD panel, it's $1011. That's $200+ cheaper than the iMac, and it comes with a 3 year warranty, faster CPU, faster memory, faster FSB, and gigabit ethernet (the Apple has better graphics and FireWire). Moreover, you can get it without the monitor for $871 and add your own LCD or CRT monitor.
See for yourself: E-Value Code: 6W463 - SX270U
If you want something cheaper, the Dell Dimension 4600C is around $700 without monitor. It's not exactly huge.
Or you could get one of the tiny mini-itx systems. Many of the mini-itx systems don't even require active cooling.
Re:Sound good, but...
on
OQO Examined
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· Score: 1
"I think it's too small for doing audio or video editing."
Why? It has a 20GB disk, and a FireWire port. You could always use an external FireWire drive.
Now, with 256M of memory and a 1GHz Crusoe, don't expect it to be super-fast. But it's certainly doable.
Re:How much does the AC adapter weigh?
on
OQO Examined
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· Score: 1
"The AC adapter for this thing is probably nearly the same size as the computer, and it probably weighs more"
I have a Compaq Armada M300 and the power adaptor is tiny. It puts out 65W but it's about half the size of a PDA. The OQO will probably have a very compact adaptor.
"simply put, GSM phones are much more reliable and sometimes cheaper than regular PSTN lines"
Don't bet on that. The phone network in the US was built to survive practically anything.
In the ten years I've lived at my house, the POTS service has never gone down.
When I was in New York during the blackout, the POTS lines still worked. GSM phones didn't - the network simply could not handle the call volume (remember, GSM is a TDMA technology, so there are a limited number of "slots" - when those are filled, good luck making a call).
"So, the article is not really news, it's just US being behind the curve on this one."
Right. Somehow one mobile phone for every two people is "behind the curve". Perhaps the US isn't like Finland where children get phones. Perhaps we're not like Japan where people watch TV on their phones (actually, you can do this with Sprint PCS in the US). Perhaps we don't have 3G (Although Verizon/Sprint's CDMA2000 *is* technically 3G).
But we do have GSM. And CDMA2000. And 1x-RTT. And EDGE (nationally, too). And GPRS (with unlimited data transfer for $20 a month). And SMS (with cross-carrier compatibility).
See, in the US, phone service is really cheap. Qwest charges me $15 a month for unlimited local calling. Long distance is $.05 a minute. Try that with a mobile phone.
On to the second part. Your argument is that phones are replacing the PC outside of the US. That's not true. You can't displace something that was never there.
That's like saying that bicycles are displacing cars in the 3rd world because more people ride bicycles than drive cars. The argument is rediculous.
A cell phone can no more displace a PC than a motorcycle can displace a semi truck. They are built for different purposes and serve different needs. The fact that they share some commonalities does not make them "in competition".
In twenty years, we are still going to have PCs. They may look nothing like the PCs we have today, but the concept of a configurable, standard device with a big display and a full-size keyboard will remain. Whether it runs Symbian or Windows, it is still a PC.
Hmmm... if you were writing crapware, would you target:
- 95% of desktop users - 4% of desktop users - 1% of desktop users
And, would it be more efficent to:
- Spend money on getting your crapware in more products - Spend money on porting your crapware so you can reach the other 5%
Now, Windows has some fault (the "drive-by-download" flaw in IE, thankfully corrected in SP2), but the reason that Spyware is written for Windows is that it is the easiest way to reach the broadest audience.
Trust me, whether or not you have admin privelages, spyware can exist on the Mac.
IE happens to be particularly "extensible", making it easy to add toolbars and other crap. However, it's not exactly rocket science to display advertisements using Safari and a background process.
Highlight, middle click has some serious problems.
1: It's easy to change the selection. This is particularly apparent when you are trying to paste but you accidentally move the mouse and end up losing your selection.
2: You can't overwrite text. You have to paste in and then change the selection.
3: There is no cut. You have to copy the text and then manually delete the source text. This requires much more work than CTRL+X / CTRL+V
4: Pasting multiple times is a bear. If you accidentally change your selection, you have to go and select it again.
#1 is particularly a bear. If you are a new user (or are simply clumsy with the mouse), it's super easy to lose your selection while trying to paste. Moreover, most mice *don't* have a middle button (other than the scroll wheel click which is used for a different action).
My personal solution would be a mouse with "Cut", "Copy" and "Paste" buttons. Personally, I want the following buttons on a mouse:
- Primary - Secondary (context menu) - Back/Forward for web browsing - Cut/Copy/Paste - Scroll wheel / button
Fortunately, Logitech makes a mouse with 7 buttons and a scroll wheel/button (the MX700). Using their software, I can configure my mouse to do exactly this.
"No thanks, I'd rather spend $250* more and have a 750MHz iBook with a 5 hour battery life**, built-in 10/100 ethernet and modem, USB, internal wifi (including the card), a 2" larger XGA screen, nice keyboard, beautiful case, Firewire, and built-in CDRW/DVD."
First of all, the Compaq Armada M300 has USB and built in 10/100 ethernet and modem, and the $400 quote was for a unit with the thin dock with a CD-RW/DVD combo drive.
Second, PCMCIA WIFI cards are around $30. They don't appreciably add to the bulk of the unit.
Third, the 14" iBook is a tank. It's around 6lbs and is FAR larger than the Armada M300. The iBook (or even the PBG4 12") is quite a bit larger than the Armada.
Having a 3.1lb notebook is important to me. I take it everywhere. Why would I pay $250 more for a notebook which is twice as heavy?
No, but it was just a very simple app I hacked up in eVB.
You can do the same thing on paper using checks for "they definately have it" amd "O" s for "Don't have it". Use numbers (and letters when you run out of numbers) for "they have one of these three".
The secret to winning Clue is to have all of the potential information you collect organized and visible. I wrote a program for my PocketPC (it works with paper, too, but it's not as easy) that keeps track of *everything*.
If they can disprove, then you know that they have one of the three cards; if they cannot disprove with a combination containing two of those cards later, you know that they have the third card and can rule it out.
If they can't disprove, then you know that they have none of those cards. This also helps later.
Clue is all about asking the right questions and keeping track of the information.
- $7.00 for shows after 6pm Sun-Thu - $7.50 for shows after 6pm Fri-Sat - $4.75 for shows before 6pm - $3.75 for first showtime Mon-Fri
(This is at the 16-plex. The 10-plex is similar)
There's a bargain theather which plays older movies (before they hit DVD but after they leave the major theather). It's only $2 (before 6pm) or $3 (after 6pm).
There's also a drive-in which is $5 for a double-feature (even with the new releases).
"There is no limitation on PCIe connectors unlike AGP"
Actually, as of AGP 3.0 (AGP 8X), a function was introduced into the specification which allowed for an AGP switch. This would have allowed for more than one card to be used in a single system. Unfortunately, it was never implemented on a production board.
PCIe is really just Intel setting the standard again. Realistically, AGP and PCI are fine standards for the needs of 95% of users. Users who need higher bandwidth are served well with PCI-X. Like SATA, PCIe is a technology which has yet to see its true usefulness.
"more thick. It's time to start making these things use standard batteries, just like digital cameras. They'll fit, and the capacity of regular batteries is plenty high. I've seen AA batteries advertised with as much as 2300mAh of capacity."
Remember, it's mW that counts, no mA. Those AAs are NiMH, and are around 1.4V nominal. The custom Li-Ion packs, while only 1000mAh, are 3.7V nominal.
"That said, I also prefer PPC processors to x86 ones. The design is much more sensible and also gives much better performance to power used ratio. I'm sorry, but I don't want the latest AMD or Intel monstrosity sucking juice from my outlet like it was a keg at a frat party."
Right. Because the new 6W AMD Geode x86 CPU (esentially an Athlon XP 1500+) isn't low power at all.
Oh, and the 21W Dothan isn't low power either. Neither is the 10W low-voltage unit.
Oh, and the 35W Opteron EE really sucks down the current.
The whole "PowerPC gives better performance to wattage" thing is bunk. It does, but only if you compare it to the 100W Prescott. MHz for MHz, PowerPC G4 is about equivilent to Athlon XP (may vary based on application, yadda yadda). So the new AMD 6W Geode (essentially an Athlon XP at 1GHz) should offer similar performance to the 1GHz PowerPC G4 in the iBook (note that practically any modern PC notebook will outperform the PowerBooks and iBooks in real world apps because the PB and iBook are FSB starved - DDR333 doesn't do you any good when your FSB is 166MHz/non-DDR).
"In short. Apple uses very little proprietary stuff these days. Yes, there are exceptions."
Point taken. Apple has moved increasingly towards standardized hardware and software.
Anyway, if you want a cool, quiet, long-running notebook, try the Compaq Armada M300. 3.1lbs (with battery), 600MHz Pentium III (with SpeedStep), 3 hour battery life, built-in Intel Pro/100 ethernet and modem, USB, a cardbus slot for wifi, nice XGA screen, decent keyboard, magnesium case.
Oh, and it's about $400 on eBay. Try getting an Apple system with an XGA screen for that price.
As much as I love to mock OS X, a similar exploit existed in Windows before SP1.
Like OS X, Windows allows applications to create their own protocols. You can make an "irc://" protocol (and many applications do) or an "outlook:" protocol (as Outlook does) or many other protocols.
The risk with OS X (and Windows) is that one of these protocols is registered to an application with a security flaw.
Windows has had this technology since 1995; I don't know how long the functionality has been in Mac OS but from the looks of things it seems to be relatively new (perhaps it was introduced with OS X?). Apple has to get the bugs shaken out of the built-in applications. 3rd party applications also present a danger, but it is less (it is more difficult for an attack to work when it relies on a specific non-standard application).
Internet Explorer (on the PC) has one of the most unique security models of any browser. IE has multiple security "zones"; it is possible to set the security settings for files on your intranet to be different from the security settings on the general internet (similar to having different users for different pages). Unfortunately, this also carries a risk: flaws in IE have lead to "cross zone" scripting which allows privelage elevation. IE SP2 a completely new zone system which is supposed to prevent this, but only time will tell if it is truly effective.
"But imagine the consequences of a beautiful, persistent, PDA platform-independent "netGUI" that was extensible and modular"
"The next showdown? Mozilla vs WinCE."
It's already happening. But the showdown isn't between Mozilla (XUL) and Windows CE. The showdown is between Java and Windows CE.
More and more devices use the J2ME every day. Most newer cellular phones have a Java environment. Some (Danger Hiptop) build their entire platform in Java.
PDAs are going to disappear. They continue to lose ground to PDA/Phone hybrids. Phones can now play MP3s, browse the internet, sync to a desktop, keep a to-do list and a calendar, and do just about anything else that PDAs can do.
In a few years, you won't be able to buy a PDA without a phone. Go look in Best Buy some time. Ask yourself: where have all the PDAs gone? They're in the phones.
And J2ME is the de-facto application platform for phones.
Re:Wow, only 64 MB of RAM?
on
Mozilla's Mini-Me
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I ran Internet Explorer 6 on a system with 64MB of memory and Windows 98 for years. I know that it wasn't being swapped out because I disabled swap (Windows 98 is horrible at memory management).
It supports the vast majority of those technologies.
KHTML also seems to run well. I had it running on my 32MB iPaq at one point.
"Why doesn't Microsoft release security patches to prevent obvious security problems?"
Huh? Haven't you seen the endless strem of patches coming out of Redmond?
"Why doesn't their browser block popups?"
As of XP SP2, it will.
"Why does my computer warn me every time I try to install a legitimate (but unsigned) driver, yet won't warn me that my browser is about to be hijacked, redirected, and then corrupted to the point that a complete OS reinstall is neccessary?"
First of all, it *does* warn you when you are installing software in IE. Second, the software you are installing in IE *is* signed - otherwise IE will disallow the installation without even prompting you. Third, drivers *need* to be signed. Bad drivers can really screw up your XP system - to the point where the corrupt your data and screw your filesystem. Yes, XP warns you when you install drivers that they have not tested, but this is a good thing. Oh, and you can turn off the security warning for installing unsigned drivers (Choose System in the Control Panel). And you can disallow all ActiveX controls (Internet Options).
IE has security holes, but they aren't as bad as they are made out to be. Most of the exploits don't work on my system (XP SP1a with latest patches and default security config).
"There are a number of these on the market now, such as the Palm Tungsten and the Blackberry RIM handhelds, and they mostly have a builtin mike and speaker. Also, voice-recognition software is available for all of these machines. Combine these with the Internet, and using them to remotely access sound files looks a lot like "phone" service."
No, it doesn't.
Repeat after me:
*** A blackberry playing sound files is not phone service. Vonage is phone service because they provide access to the telephone network (e.g. you can call a landline phone or any other phone on the telephone network) and market their service as such. Internet telephony (service without access to the phone network) is not "phone service" because it does not allow access to the phone network. ***
"Am I now a phone company? Do I have to file the appropiate papers, pay taxes, and so on?"
No, but as soon as you connect to the telephone network you are.
Look, Slashdot doesn't seem to get this: Vonage is a phone company because they offer connectivity to the phone network.
It's just like the FCC. You don't need to censor your programming if you are broadcasting on a closed system (cable). You do have to follow the regulations when you broadcast on the public airwaves.
How is Vonage any less of a phone company than Qwest? My Qwest phone lines terminate at a local box - from there on it is all fiber. The fact that Vonage service runs through the internet makes it no different.
Cellular phones are regulated because they connect to the phone network. Landline phones are regulated because they connect to the phone network. Cable phone service is regulated because it connects to the phone network.
So why shouldn't internet phone service be regulated? That's like saying that a TV station broadcast over the public airwaves shouldn't be regulated because their programming is sent accross the internet before it is broadcast.
"So if I write a browser plugin that lets me talk into my PDA, which connects to my home machine and retrieves some files, am I now running a phone company? How about if I connect to a friend's home machine and do the same?"
No. You're not providing phone service, are you. Phone service means that you're connecting to the telephone network.
"And some of us are working on voice-based interfaces for the benefit of the visually impaired. Is this all now to be considered a "phone" service, to be regulated and taxed as such?"
Nope. Not on telephone network.
"Maybe it's time to just declare the Internet to be a phone system"
This is the typical Slashdot attitude.
Repeat after me:
*** Vonage is a phone company because they connect a provider to the telephone network. You can dial any phone in the world with Vonage. Anyone can call your Vonage phone. Thus, you are on the telephone network. Vonage should be regulated like any service which provides connectivity to the telephone network. ***
*** > is not a phone company unless they connect to the telephone network. They should not - and are not - regulated as a telephone company. ***
"How are these system supposed to scribble in the margins and tell you your ideas don't fit together?"
They can't. But on a standardized test, you don't get any feedback anyway.
"In order for these students to get that feedback someone has to read it, and since they're reading it anyway, why not just grade it then?"
Because it takes too long.
"Are there really so many papers to mark you need a machine to do it?"
Yes. Human graders for standardized tests get about 1-3 minutes per paper. Human graders don't have time to really read your essay, so they grade you on the same kinds of criteria as this software does (grammar, spelling, a clear layout, etc.). Thus, it's not hard to create a computerized system which performs the same tasks as well as human graders.
"How do they judge the content? What if you submit an excellent paper on middle ages history but the assignment was on socialism?"
As I said, human graders don't have time to evaluate this anyway. The computer systems actually tend to be better at this.
Look, this system can and should not be used to relpace English teachers grading papers. A good English teacher will spend at least 30-60 minutes on a paper, and will write lots of comments.
What this system *is* good for is standardized tests. When everyone takes a test, you have (in many cases) a million tests to grade. This system can blast through the data and can actually perform better than an underpaid, overworked employee who has 1-2 minutes to grade a paper (and who grades hundreds of papers per day).
Any company which develops software that spies on its users and interferes with the operation of their computer deserves our scorn.
RealPlayer (on Windows):
- Runs on login - Displays ads in the "messege center" (even when you are not running RealPlayer) - Sends the URLs of the websites and clips you view back to Real - Sends a unique ID so Real can track your habits - Takes over file exensions - Resets the auto-run-at-login registry key if you delete it - Displays advertisements all over the interface - Misleads individuals into purchasing subscriptions - Attempts to conceal the fact that they offer a free player - Displays advertisments in the player after 30 seconds of inactivity - Requires personal information and an internet connection to "activate" it
Why would a company which produces such crapware deserve anything *but* our scorn.
Real has been doing this crap for *years*. Their software was the first major product to contain spyware, and it set a benchmark for scum matched only recently by Gator and friends.
Being polite isn't going to get anything done. Real's product is crap and their policies are crap.
My problem with their business model is that they are a bunch of con-artists. I had to spend TWO HOURS on the phone with them after my grandmother accidentally signed herself up for a subscription to their "SuperPass". Real lured her in with a big sign that said "free" and small text that described what she was really doing (signing up for a 14-day "free trial" which auto-bills after 14 days and can only be canceled by calling Real).
Not to mention the advertisements for "full screen high quality video". Yeah, that will work great over my Grandmom's 56K modem. Yet the disclamer ("Broadband required") was in 6 point type at the bottom of the page.
Oh, and the advertisement she got to upgrade to the "Free!" RealOne player (actually just a free trial that auto-billed) was in her older version of RealPlayer - integrated into the plugin, so it looked like a part of the NPR page.
I WILL NEVER USE ANOTHER REAL PRODUCT EVER AGAIN. OPEN SOURCE, CLOSED SOURCE, FREE OR PAID, EVEN IF THEY CORRECT ALL OF THE ISSUES IN THEIR SOFTWARE, I CANNOT AND WILL NOT USE PRODUCTS FROM A COMPANY WHICH ENGAGES IN SUCH MORALLY REPREHENSABLE PRACTICES.
This is the same path as any system with a northbridge, except that the FSB runs at the same clock as the CPU, and is physically much shorter.
Connecting to another CPU is as follows:
MC = Memory/HyperTransport Controller HT = HyperTransport
CPU0 > FSB0 > MC0 > HT > MC1 > DDR
Not as low-latency as a typical northbridge arrangement, but not bad.
Remember that memory bandwidth scales as you add more CPUs in an Opteron system. The HyperTransport link will eventually become a limiting factor, so it is critical to have an OS that knows the difference between "near" and "far" memory.
Slashdot Mirror
"The "stock" configuration of that machine when you follow that link costs over $1400 and does not include the display"
No, but it does include Office 2003 Small Business, Windows XP Home, a 3.2GHz Pentium 4, 512M of DDR, and a lot more that's probably not necessary.
With a 2.4GHz P4, no office suite, XP home, a combo drive, and a 15" LCD panel, it's $1011.
That's $200+ cheaper than the iMac, and it comes with a 3 year warranty, faster CPU, faster memory, faster FSB, and gigabit ethernet (the Apple has better graphics and FireWire). Moreover, you can get it without the monitor for $871 and add your own LCD or CRT monitor.
See for yourself:
E-Value Code: 6W463 - SX270U
If you want something cheaper, the Dell Dimension 4600C is around $700 without monitor. It's not exactly huge.
Or you could get one of the tiny mini-itx systems. Many of the mini-itx systems don't even require active cooling.
"does it run MAME?"
I don't know, does your desktop PC run MAME?
Well, then the OQO does.
"Because that is using their bandwidth and services."
And Windows Update isn't using Microsoft's bandwidth and services?
"I think it's too small for doing audio or video editing."
Why? It has a 20GB disk, and a FireWire port. You could always use an external FireWire drive.
Now, with 256M of memory and a 1GHz Crusoe, don't expect it to be super-fast. But it's certainly doable.
"The AC adapter for this thing is probably nearly the same size as the computer, and it probably weighs more"
I have a Compaq Armada M300 and the power adaptor is tiny. It puts out 65W but it's about half the size of a PDA. The OQO will probably have a very compact adaptor.
"simply put, GSM phones are much more reliable and sometimes cheaper than regular PSTN lines"
Don't bet on that. The phone network in the US was built to survive practically anything.
In the ten years I've lived at my house, the POTS service has never gone down.
When I was in New York during the blackout, the POTS lines still worked. GSM phones didn't - the network simply could not handle the call volume (remember, GSM is a TDMA technology, so there are a limited number of "slots" - when those are filled, good luck making a call).
"So, the article is not really news, it's just US being behind the curve on this one."
Right. Somehow one mobile phone for every two people is "behind the curve". Perhaps the US isn't like Finland where children get phones. Perhaps we're not like Japan where people watch TV on their phones (actually, you can do this with Sprint PCS in the US). Perhaps we don't have 3G (Although Verizon/Sprint's CDMA2000 *is* technically 3G).
But we do have GSM. And CDMA2000. And 1x-RTT. And EDGE (nationally, too). And GPRS (with unlimited data transfer for $20 a month). And SMS (with cross-carrier compatibility).
See, in the US, phone service is really cheap. Qwest charges me $15 a month for unlimited local calling. Long distance is $.05 a minute. Try that with a mobile phone.
On to the second part. Your argument is that phones are replacing the PC outside of the US. That's not true. You can't displace something that was never there.
That's like saying that bicycles are displacing cars in the 3rd world because more people ride bicycles than drive cars. The argument is rediculous.
A cell phone can no more displace a PC than a motorcycle can displace a semi truck. They are built for different purposes and serve different needs. The fact that they share some commonalities does not make them "in competition".
In twenty years, we are still going to have PCs. They may look nothing like the PCs we have today, but the concept of a configurable, standard device with a big display and a full-size keyboard will remain. Whether it runs Symbian or Windows, it is still a PC.
Hmmm... if you were writing crapware, would you target:
- 95% of desktop users
- 4% of desktop users
- 1% of desktop users
And, would it be more efficent to:
- Spend money on getting your crapware in more products
- Spend money on porting your crapware so you can reach the other 5%
Now, Windows has some fault (the "drive-by-download" flaw in IE, thankfully corrected in SP2), but the reason that Spyware is written for Windows is that it is the easiest way to reach the broadest audience.
Trust me, whether or not you have admin privelages, spyware can exist on the Mac.
IE happens to be particularly "extensible", making it easy to add toolbars and other crap. However, it's not exactly rocket science to display advertisements using Safari and a background process.
"highlight, middle click is vastly superior"
Highlight, middle click has some serious problems.
1: It's easy to change the selection. This is particularly apparent when you are trying to paste but you accidentally move the mouse and end up losing your selection.
2: You can't overwrite text. You have to paste in and then change the selection.
3: There is no cut. You have to copy the text and then manually delete the source text. This requires much more work than CTRL+X / CTRL+V
4: Pasting multiple times is a bear. If you accidentally change your selection, you have to go and select it again.
#1 is particularly a bear. If you are a new user (or are simply clumsy with the mouse), it's super easy to lose your selection while trying to paste. Moreover, most mice *don't* have a middle button (other than the scroll wheel click which is used for a different action).
My personal solution would be a mouse with "Cut", "Copy" and "Paste" buttons. Personally, I want the following buttons on a mouse:
- Primary
- Secondary (context menu)
- Back/Forward for web browsing
- Cut/Copy/Paste
- Scroll wheel / button
Fortunately, Logitech makes a mouse with 7 buttons and a scroll wheel/button (the MX700). Using their software, I can configure my mouse to do exactly this.
Sidenote: in Internet Explorer, CTRL+L brings up the "Open Page" dialog and gives focus to the URL field. You can paste in a URL and press enter.
So this trick is cross browser.
Also, AlT+D in IE does the same thing as CTRL+L in Mozilla.
"No thanks, I'd rather spend $250* more and have a 750MHz iBook with a 5 hour battery life**, built-in 10/100 ethernet and modem, USB, internal wifi (including the card), a 2" larger XGA screen, nice keyboard, beautiful case, Firewire, and built-in CDRW/DVD."
First of all, the Compaq Armada M300 has USB and built in 10/100 ethernet and modem, and the $400 quote was for a unit with the thin dock with a CD-RW/DVD combo drive.
Second, PCMCIA WIFI cards are around $30. They don't appreciably add to the bulk of the unit.
Third, the 14" iBook is a tank. It's around 6lbs and is FAR larger than the Armada M300. The iBook (or even the PBG4 12") is quite a bit larger than the Armada.
Having a 3.1lb notebook is important to me. I take it everywhere. Why would I pay $250 more for a notebook which is twice as heavy?
No, but it was just a very simple app I hacked up in eVB.
You can do the same thing on paper using checks for "they definately have it" amd "O" s for "Don't have it". Use numbers (and letters when you run out of numbers) for "they have one of these three".
The secret to winning Clue is to have all of the potential information you collect organized and visible. I wrote a program for my PocketPC (it works with paper, too, but it's not as easy) that keeps track of *everything*.
If they can disprove, then you know that they have one of the three cards; if they cannot disprove with a combination containing two of those cards later, you know that they have the third card and can rule it out.
If they can't disprove, then you know that they have none of those cards. This also helps later.
Clue is all about asking the right questions and keeping track of the information.
In my town, it's:
- $7.00 for shows after 6pm Sun-Thu
- $7.50 for shows after 6pm Fri-Sat
- $4.75 for shows before 6pm
- $3.75 for first showtime Mon-Fri
(This is at the 16-plex. The 10-plex is similar)
There's a bargain theather which plays older movies (before they hit DVD but after they leave the major theather). It's only $2 (before 6pm) or $3 (after 6pm).
There's also a drive-in which is $5 for a double-feature (even with the new releases).
"There is no limitation on PCIe connectors unlike AGP"
Actually, as of AGP 3.0 (AGP 8X), a function was introduced into the specification which allowed for an AGP switch. This would have allowed for more than one card to be used in a single system. Unfortunately, it was never implemented on a production board.
PCIe is really just Intel setting the standard again. Realistically, AGP and PCI are fine standards for the needs of 95% of users. Users who need higher bandwidth are served well with PCI-X. Like SATA, PCIe is a technology which has yet to see its true usefulness.
"more thick. It's time to start making these things use standard batteries, just like digital cameras. They'll fit, and the capacity of regular batteries is plenty high. I've seen AA batteries advertised with as much as 2300mAh of capacity."
Remember, it's mW that counts, no mA. Those AAs are NiMH, and are around 1.4V nominal. The custom Li-Ion packs, while only 1000mAh, are 3.7V nominal.
"That said, I also prefer PPC processors to x86 ones. The design is much more sensible and also gives much better performance to power used ratio. I'm sorry, but I don't want the latest AMD or Intel monstrosity sucking juice from my outlet like it was a keg at a frat party."
Right. Because the new 6W AMD Geode x86 CPU (esentially an Athlon XP 1500+) isn't low power at all.
Oh, and the 21W Dothan isn't low power either. Neither is the 10W low-voltage unit.
Oh, and the 35W Opteron EE really sucks down the current.
The whole "PowerPC gives better performance to wattage" thing is bunk. It does, but only if you compare it to the 100W Prescott. MHz for MHz, PowerPC G4 is about equivilent to Athlon XP (may vary based on application, yadda yadda). So the new AMD 6W Geode (essentially an Athlon XP at 1GHz) should offer similar performance to the 1GHz PowerPC G4 in the iBook (note that practically any modern PC notebook will outperform the PowerBooks and iBooks in real world apps because the PB and iBook are FSB starved - DDR333 doesn't do you any good when your FSB is 166MHz/non-DDR).
"In short. Apple uses very little proprietary stuff these days. Yes, there are exceptions."
Point taken. Apple has moved increasingly towards standardized hardware and software.
Anyway, if you want a cool, quiet, long-running notebook, try the Compaq Armada M300. 3.1lbs (with battery), 600MHz Pentium III (with SpeedStep), 3 hour battery life, built-in Intel Pro/100 ethernet and modem, USB, a cardbus slot for wifi, nice XGA screen, decent keyboard, magnesium case.
Oh, and it's about $400 on eBay. Try getting an Apple system with an XGA screen for that price.
As much as I love to mock OS X, a similar exploit existed in Windows before SP1.
Like OS X, Windows allows applications to create their own protocols. You can make an "irc://" protocol (and many applications do) or an "outlook:" protocol (as Outlook does) or many other protocols.
The risk with OS X (and Windows) is that one of these protocols is registered to an application with a security flaw.
Windows has had this technology since 1995; I don't know how long the functionality has been in Mac OS but from the looks of things it seems to be relatively new (perhaps it was introduced with OS X?). Apple has to get the bugs shaken out of the built-in applications. 3rd party applications also present a danger, but it is less (it is more difficult for an attack to work when it relies on a specific non-standard application).
Internet Explorer (on the PC) has one of the most unique security models of any browser. IE has multiple security "zones"; it is possible to set the security settings for files on your intranet to be different from the security settings on the general internet (similar to having different users for different pages). Unfortunately, this also carries a risk: flaws in IE have lead to "cross zone" scripting which allows privelage elevation. IE SP2 a completely new zone system which is supposed to prevent this, but only time will tell if it is truly effective.
"But imagine the consequences of a beautiful, persistent, PDA platform-independent "netGUI" that was extensible and modular"
"The next showdown? Mozilla vs WinCE."
It's already happening. But the showdown isn't between Mozilla (XUL) and Windows CE. The showdown is between Java and Windows CE.
More and more devices use the J2ME every day. Most newer cellular phones have a Java environment. Some (Danger Hiptop) build their entire platform in Java.
PDAs are going to disappear. They continue to lose ground to PDA/Phone hybrids. Phones can now play MP3s, browse the internet, sync to a desktop, keep a to-do list and a calendar, and do just about anything else that PDAs can do.
In a few years, you won't be able to buy a PDA without a phone. Go look in Best Buy some time. Ask yourself: where have all the PDAs gone? They're in the phones.
And J2ME is the de-facto application platform for phones.
I ran Internet Explorer 6 on a system with 64MB of memory and Windows 98 for years. I know that it wasn't being swapped out because I disabled swap (Windows 98 is horrible at memory management).
It supports the vast majority of those technologies.
KHTML also seems to run well. I had it running on my 32MB iPaq at one point.
"Why doesn't Microsoft release security patches to prevent obvious security problems?"
Huh? Haven't you seen the endless strem of patches coming out of Redmond?
"Why doesn't their browser block popups?"
As of XP SP2, it will.
"Why does my computer warn me every time I try to install a legitimate (but unsigned) driver, yet won't warn me that my browser is about to be hijacked, redirected, and then corrupted to the point that a complete OS reinstall is neccessary?"
First of all, it *does* warn you when you are installing software in IE. Second, the software you are installing in IE *is* signed - otherwise IE will disallow the installation without even prompting you. Third, drivers *need* to be signed. Bad drivers can really screw up your XP system - to the point where the corrupt your data and screw your filesystem. Yes, XP warns you when you install drivers that they have not tested, but this is a good thing. Oh, and you can turn off the security warning for installing unsigned drivers (Choose System in the Control Panel). And you can disallow all ActiveX controls (Internet Options).
IE has security holes, but they aren't as bad as they are made out to be. Most of the exploits don't work on my system (XP SP1a with latest patches and default security config).
"There are a number of these on the market now, such as the Palm Tungsten and the Blackberry RIM handhelds, and they mostly have a builtin mike and speaker. Also, voice-recognition software is available for all of these machines. Combine these with the Internet, and using them to remotely access sound files looks a lot like "phone" service."
No, it doesn't.
Repeat after me:
*** A blackberry playing sound files is not phone service. Vonage is phone service because they provide access to the telephone network (e.g. you can call a landline phone or any other phone on the telephone network) and market their service as such. Internet telephony (service without access to the phone network) is not "phone service" because it does not allow access to the phone network. ***
"Am I now a phone company? Do I have to file the appropiate papers, pay taxes, and so on?"
No, but as soon as you connect to the telephone network you are.
Look, Slashdot doesn't seem to get this: Vonage is a phone company because they offer connectivity to the phone network.
It's just like the FCC. You don't need to censor your programming if you are broadcasting on a closed system (cable). You do have to follow the regulations when you broadcast on the public airwaves.
How is Vonage any less of a phone company than Qwest? My Qwest phone lines terminate at a local box - from there on it is all fiber. The fact that Vonage service runs through the internet makes it no different.
Cellular phones are regulated because they connect to the phone network. Landline phones are regulated because they connect to the phone network. Cable phone service is regulated because it connects to the phone network.
So why shouldn't internet phone service be regulated? That's like saying that a TV station broadcast over the public airwaves shouldn't be regulated because their programming is sent accross the internet before it is broadcast.
"So if I write a browser plugin that lets me talk into my PDA, which connects to my home machine and retrieves some files, am I now running a phone company? How about if I connect to a friend's home machine and do the same?"
No. You're not providing phone service, are you. Phone service means that you're connecting to the telephone network.
"And some of us are working on voice-based interfaces for the benefit of the visually impaired. Is this all now to be considered a "phone" service, to be regulated and taxed as such?"
Nope. Not on telephone network.
"Maybe it's time to just declare the Internet to be a phone system"
This is the typical Slashdot attitude.
Repeat after me:
*** Vonage is a phone company because they connect a provider to the telephone network. You can dial any phone in the world with Vonage. Anyone can call your Vonage phone. Thus, you are on the telephone network. Vonage should be regulated like any service which provides connectivity to the telephone network. ***
*** > is not a phone company unless they connect to the telephone network. They should not - and are not - regulated as a telephone company. ***
"How are these system supposed to scribble in the margins and tell you your ideas don't fit together?"
They can't. But on a standardized test, you don't get any feedback anyway.
"In order for these students to get that feedback someone has to read it, and since they're reading it anyway, why not just grade it then?"
Because it takes too long.
"Are there really so many papers to mark you need a machine to do it?"
Yes. Human graders for standardized tests get about 1-3 minutes per paper. Human graders don't have time to really read your essay, so they grade you on the same kinds of criteria as this software does (grammar, spelling, a clear layout, etc.). Thus, it's not hard to create a computerized system which performs the same tasks as well as human graders.
"How do they judge the content? What if you submit an excellent paper on middle ages history but the assignment was on socialism?"
As I said, human graders don't have time to evaluate this anyway. The computer systems actually tend to be better at this.
Look, this system can and should not be used to relpace English teachers grading papers. A good English teacher will spend at least 30-60 minutes on a paper, and will write lots of comments.
What this system *is* good for is standardized tests. When everyone takes a test, you have (in many cases) a million tests to grade. This system can blast through the data and can actually perform better than an underpaid, overworked employee who has 1-2 minutes to grade a paper (and who grades hundreds of papers per day).
"Real needs our support, not our scorn."
Any company which develops software that spies on its users and interferes with the operation of their computer deserves our scorn.
RealPlayer (on Windows):
- Runs on login
- Displays ads in the "messege center" (even when you are not running RealPlayer)
- Sends the URLs of the websites and clips you view back to Real
- Sends a unique ID so Real can track your habits
- Takes over file exensions
- Resets the auto-run-at-login registry key if you delete it
- Displays advertisements all over the interface
- Misleads individuals into purchasing subscriptions
- Attempts to conceal the fact that they offer a free player
- Displays advertisments in the player after 30 seconds of inactivity
- Requires personal information and an internet connection to "activate" it
Why would a company which produces such crapware deserve anything *but* our scorn.
Real has been doing this crap for *years*. Their software was the first major product to contain spyware, and it set a benchmark for scum matched only recently by Gator and friends.
Being polite isn't going to get anything done. Real's product is crap and their policies are crap.
My problem with their business model is that they are a bunch of con-artists. I had to spend TWO HOURS on the phone with them after my grandmother accidentally signed herself up for a subscription to their "SuperPass". Real lured her in with a big sign that said "free" and small text that described what she was really doing (signing up for a 14-day "free trial" which auto-bills after 14 days and can only be canceled by calling Real).
Not to mention the advertisements for "full screen high quality video". Yeah, that will work great over my Grandmom's 56K modem. Yet the disclamer ("Broadband required") was in 6 point type at the bottom of the page.
Oh, and the advertisement she got to upgrade to the "Free!" RealOne player (actually just a free trial that auto-billed) was in her older version of RealPlayer - integrated into the plugin, so it looked like a part of the NPR page.
I WILL NEVER USE ANOTHER REAL PRODUCT EVER AGAIN. OPEN SOURCE, CLOSED SOURCE, FREE OR PAID, EVEN IF THEY CORRECT ALL OF THE ISSUES IN THEIR SOFTWARE, I CANNOT AND WILL NOT USE PRODUCTS FROM A COMPANY WHICH ENGAGES IN SUCH MORALLY REPREHENSABLE PRACTICES.
"CPU#0 -> MMU#0 -> HyperTransport -> Memory"
Not quite.
MC = Memory Controller
Think CPU0 > FSB0 > MC0 > DDR
This is the same path as any system with a northbridge, except that the FSB runs at the same clock as the CPU, and is physically much shorter.
Connecting to another CPU is as follows:
MC = Memory/HyperTransport Controller
HT = HyperTransport
CPU0 > FSB0 > MC0 > HT > MC1 > DDR
Not as low-latency as a typical northbridge arrangement, but not bad.
Remember that memory bandwidth scales as you add more CPUs in an Opteron system. The HyperTransport link will eventually become a limiting factor, so it is critical to have an OS that knows the difference between "near" and "far" memory.
"Its worse than you think."
No, it's better than you think.
It's nowhere near as fast as a real Mac, but it's quite usable. Windows drag smoothly, menus are pretty smooth, etc.
Remember that practically everything but the CPU runs at a fast speed (remember, a typical PC has more memory bandwidth than every Mac except the G5).
It's not bad at all. My panther install is going well right now.
Athlon XP 2600+ (256K L2, 2.1GHz), 1GB PC3200 DDR (NForce2) / 333FSB, MSI GeForce FX 5900XT.