And I thought I was the only one......and that picture is amazing. The child looks like a bodybuilder.
One interesting question: Assuming he doesn't get massive medical complications, would he be allowed to take part in athletic competitions? After all, he is naturally born, but is still vitally different from others. (I recall that even nowadays some skiers may have trouble getting past doping tests because they have naturally high levels of hemoglobin.)
Giving something back implies that they took something from the users (?) and are now paying back. So, what did they take? Is there F/OSS code in their code?
Just before anybody starts screaming code theft (and I'm not saying you did - it's just easy to get that picture from the above comment), it would be totally legal for Google to use any GPL code in their search system without publishing it. The GPL requires you to make the source available to anybody they distribute the program to. As they don't distribute their search engine code (I'm not counting things like the Search Appliance), they have no obligation to publish the modifications, either.
This is the whole point of the GPL - you're allowed to do anything you wish with the program, but if you distribute a modified program, you must give the receiver the same rights.
Does this mean they might finally break that 7-qubit barrier that quantum computers up until this point had seemed to have been limited to?
There are many ways in which to perform quantum computing. The "7-qubit barrier" probably refers the factorization of 15 using 7 qubits. This was done using NMR-qubits (nuclear magnetic resonance). NMR-computing uses the nuclear spin of atoms in some molecule to represent the qubits. This is relatively easy to achieve, as the atoms are bound close together by the molecule, but it doesn't scale well, because there is a limit to the complexity of the molecule. NMR-qubits are therefore ideal for a proof-of-consept and the research with them is invaluable in the development of quantum computers, but they probably won't have any practical applications. (Of course, it's always possible that some breakthrough comes along...)
The next big thing will probably be trapped ion qubits, where ions trapped with a magnetic and/or electrical field are used to represent the qubits. This allows a much larger number of qubits, but it, too, has its practical limits. There are also other methods (eg. holding particles on a liquid-helium surface), which are not currently practical, but show great potential for the future.
In any development there often seems to be some barriers which cannot be broken, until someone does. This will probably be the case of quantum computers, too.
Even if quantum computers provided a liner growth curve in processing power to qubits, we could expect a greater throughput in it (due to above stated factors).
See my post a little below. Quantum computers can make some problems blazingly fast to solve, while not giving any advantage to others. Considering that classical computers have been developing for some 30 years, it'll be a very long time before quantum computers can come even close to matching classical ones for problems not specifically suited for quantum computing.
My guess is that when quantum processors become commercial, they will for a long time be number-crunchers controlled by normal computers, and later (when/if they become mainstream) as an add-on to normal computers, just like the FPU's were in the 80's and 90's. I really don't expect to see a quantum-computer driven desktop in my lifetime.
Comparing the speed of a quantum computer and classical computer is comparing apples and oranges. Quantum computers work with a totally new set of rules, which allows some applications to make use of quantum properties.
The main property that classical computers lack is that of superposition of states. One can understand this as calculating some result starting with all possible numbers at once, instead of testing each starting value as its own. (In reality it's more complicated than this, of course.)
Some applications, eg. codebreaking, number crunching and database applications could get a vast boost out of quantum computing. Other applications may not. The most probable places for quantum computers (at first) will probably be number crunching, networking applications (quantum cryptography etc) and database applications.
For a comparison, searching an unsorted database is classically an O(N) operation, but a quantum computer can do this in time O(sqrt(N)). The best known classical algorithm for factoring a number is exponential, while Shor's algorithm does it in time O((log N)^3) (allowing polynomial-time breaking of RSA).
Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key
on
Is Caps Lock Dead?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I guess a rather large number of Linux users have mapped their Caps Lock to some other function, the most common probably being Control or Esc.
I've mapped it to Enter instead, for a purely ergonomic reason: On the Finnish keyboard, the keys have been rearranged to allow for the letters ä, ö and å, and there are two keys between my right little finger and the enter key (from my right hand: j, k, l, ö, ä, ', Enter). When I started using IRC more, my right little finger started getting really sore from hitting enter. I added the Caps Lock enter, and the hurting stopped immediately. Now I'm not even sure which one I use more - it just comes naturally.
Of course, my big brother complains about this every time he uses my computer (not very often). He has his Caps Lock mapped to Control, and every time he tries to cancel some command using Ctrl-C, something awful happens...;)
Not exactly on the point of copy-paste, but I'd like to know who the fscking idiot concieved of drag-n-drop for text and implemented it? Lately I've increasingly often been frustrated by trying to remove/copy/select a piece of a URL, for instance. If I accidentally select too much/too little, I instinctively start to select the correct region. Then I notice that instead of selecting the new part it has drag-dropped the selected text somewhere else! How this can be called a 'feature' (especially in text-entries such as the URL bar) I can't understand.
The only place I can possibly concieve this being useful would be in word processing, eg. selecting a paragraph and drag-dropping it to another place, but this is exactly what copy-paste is for. Copy-paste is so simple that there doesn't need to be another way to do it. Definately not such an irritating way as drag-and-drop!
A great example of, "less is more". No, not pagers.
Am I really the only one to think that Google took it a step too minimalist? I hate Altavista and the other "portal" search engines just as much as the next slashdotter, but there's nothing wrong with separating pieces of the page with a simple background color. The light background colors just help you find things, but don't distract in any way. Especially separating the ads with a light colorful background was nice.
The new page looks like some page where the stylesheet has been disabled, very default-ish and barren. To my eye the old Google was more pleasing to look at, and none the more crufty.
I'll probably try to buy a manufactored PC for the first time in 10 years simply to support the principle of having a choice.
The Slashdot story was, unsurprisingly, misleading.
In the article (or this press release) I've seen absolutely no mention that they'd be selling the PC's to the masses, only to enterprise customers.
A few snippets from the press release (emphasis mine):
"HP is now the first major technology vendor to offer
enterprise customers a single, proven Linux solution from desktop to datacenter," said Martin Fink...
...across its portfolio of
business desktop and notebook PCs...
It seemed almost too good to be true... and so it probably was.
The network administrators......should be fired. Why was the safety monitoring system on a nuclear power plant exposed, even indirectly, to the internet?
From the Register article:
But at least one expert says the case illustrates a growing cybersecurity problem in the nuclear power industry, where interconnection between plant and corporate networks is becoming more common, and is permitted by federal safety regulations.
What the fscking hell?? The writers of those regulations should be fired! The mission-critical systems should be totally unlinked to any other systems, period. (Data transfer from the critical system to another one is ok, but make it physically impossible to do the reverse. If some operation needs to be done, call the 24h surveillance personnel.)
I'm just glad I live over 10000 km away, in a country where things like nuclear plants are very strictly controlled and overviewed by government institutions. (Yes, I trust the nuclear power stations here. I no longer trust the ones in the US.)
What, like what these guys have been doing for years?
Could you be a bit more specific? I couldn't easily find any info on such a thing on the site. According to the other reply, they use water, so it's not so much of a walk-through screen.
Both definitely have their applications (with water you can probably make larger screens and use them outdoors more easily), but they are distinctly different.
Even with the light pollution of torches and flashlights from the 1100 campers around me, you could still easily just stare up at the sky and see the band of the milky way stretched across.
Actually nearby lights don't matter way as much as light pollution does. I was astounded when I went on a weekend to a camp some way from any cities a few years ago. The gravel yard of the house was very brightly lit by several halogen lights, and even in the middle of the yard you could glance upwards and have the Milky Way flowing through the sky. It didn't require letting your eyes get used to the darkness or anything - it just was there!
If you really want to strech the limits, try to spot the Andromeda galaxy with your bare eyes. That requires *very* dark conditions, but is still possible (it should be relatively easy to see with binoculars, though). I think I was just able to glimpse it at the camp when I tried. But when you see it, you are looking at light that has been travelling in void for two million years!
Re:Where do I sign up?!?
on
Assembly '03
·
· Score: 1
I bet there's gonna be tons of hot chicks at the nerd fest! I better get some push-ups in, it's gonna be a hot night at the Hartwall arena!
The CNN article (as some others I found using Google News) point out a few important facts that were omitted from the Yahoo story. A few important quotes:
Linux was certified as providing only "low to moderate" security, compared with the same group's certification as "moderate to high" last year of the security of Microsoft's Windows 2000 software. Supporters said Linux software, whose popular mascot is a penguin, was under testing for better-security ratings.
So it isn't yet certified at the same level as Windows.
The approval, being announced Tuesday, involves only one version of Linux, from SuSE Linux AG, a vendor based in Nuremberg, Germany, when the software is installed on a particular line of IBM's server computers. IBM, which paid roughly $500,000 for the testing, and SuSE were announcing the certification jointly.
So if anybody else wants to be selling Linux to the US government, they have to shell out those hundreds of thousands of dollars themselves.
So maybe not much use for the overall community, but certainly a landmark in the history of Linux, and it shows that it certainly can be done!
Hmm... I doubt it'll be allowed in exams or tests if it's got infra-red capabilities.
AFAIK, the port has been deliberately rendered useless for long-distance communication. The calculator has a reasonably powerful transmitter, so it can be used as a remote control, but the receiver is so weak that the two calculators have to be almost touching each other for transmission. Still you don't have to carry any cords around for data transmission or a quick game.
Of course, the calculators probably will still be banned or required to have the IR port taped just as a precaution. (I believe it's not very complex to mod the calculator for a stronger reception.)
850 km/h is 236 m/s, so the average acceleration relative to the rocket (assuming 2 seconds from breaking to impact) should have been 118m/s^2, or 12 G:s. When you take into fact that the rocket itself is accelerating at some 5-10 G:s (which will be subtracted from the foam's deceleration), that it well feasable for a piece of fluff in an airstream.
(For something to compare at, glue fins on an A8-3 model rocket motor. It weighs something like 20 grams, and at 8 newtons of thrust it accelerates at around 40 G:s when not taking air resistance into account. So even though 118 m/s^2 sound huge, it really isn't *that* much.)
Well, it isn't just European bombs that could be guided by the European satellite system, but anyone's bombs
I somehow doubt that the ultimate motivation for the system is for guiding bombs. Yes, of course it's a factor, but Europeans seem to be culturally more opposed to war than the US.
So, if the U.S. is in the middle of combat, and turns off public GPS to thwart emeny guided bombs, I can imagine a bunch of European beaurocrats sitting in Brussels trying to decide whether or not they should do the same.
Well, perhaps this will make the US think twice before going off to wage war that most of the rest of the world opposes. If Europe should choose to go to war (not very likely), I think that the decision would be made easily (if it will be possible to achieve at all).
Is it somehow better to have absolute power in the hands of some kid trying to play dad?
Dear lord... Armed officers in schools? Reading threads like this makes me feel glad as hell that I live in a sane country (Finland, in my case), where nobody would even dream of arming teachers or putting armed officers (or metal detectors or anything!) in schools. We simply don't have the problem. We can go to school without the hassle, without the extra protection, and without fear of getting shot during the day.
It's left as an excercise to the reader to wonder why guns aren't a problem here.
So I guess the next thing we can expect to see from M$ is a heavily encrypted version of the WMA format. However, I'd wager that people will not be likely to use such a version since encryption will undoubtedly put a hit on both performance and file size.
Unfortunately not. AFAIK, many encryption systems don't make the data larger, and nowadays computers are so fast that a little decryption will have no effect whatsoever. Perhaps todays low-end machines won't be able to play the videos anymore, but when has that been an issue to Microsoft?
Slashdot Mirror
And I thought I was the only one... ...and that picture is amazing. The child looks like a bodybuilder.
One interesting question: Assuming he doesn't get massive medical complications, would he be allowed to take part in athletic competitions? After all, he is naturally born, but is still vitally different from others. (I recall that even nowadays some skiers may have trouble getting past doping tests because they have naturally high levels of hemoglobin.)
Giving something back implies that they took something from the users (?) and are now paying back. So, what did they take? Is there F/OSS code in their code?
Just before anybody starts screaming code theft (and I'm not saying you did - it's just easy to get that picture from the above comment), it would be totally legal for Google to use any GPL code in their search system without publishing it. The GPL requires you to make the source available to anybody they distribute the program to. As they don't distribute their search engine code (I'm not counting things like the Search Appliance), they have no obligation to publish the modifications, either.
This is the whole point of the GPL - you're allowed to do anything you wish with the program, but if you distribute a modified program, you must give the receiver the same rights.
Does this mean they might finally break that 7-qubit barrier that quantum computers up until this point had seemed to have been limited to?
There are many ways in which to perform quantum computing. The "7-qubit barrier" probably refers the factorization of 15 using 7 qubits. This was done using NMR-qubits (nuclear magnetic resonance). NMR-computing uses the nuclear spin of atoms in some molecule to represent the qubits. This is relatively easy to achieve, as the atoms are bound close together by the molecule, but it doesn't scale well, because there is a limit to the complexity of the molecule. NMR-qubits are therefore ideal for a proof-of-consept and the research with them is invaluable in the development of quantum computers, but they probably won't have any practical applications. (Of course, it's always possible that some breakthrough comes along...)
The next big thing will probably be trapped ion qubits, where ions trapped with a magnetic and/or electrical field are used to represent the qubits. This allows a much larger number of qubits, but it, too, has its practical limits. There are also other methods (eg. holding particles on a liquid-helium surface), which are not currently practical, but show great potential for the future.
In any development there often seems to be some barriers which cannot be broken, until someone does. This will probably be the case of quantum computers, too.
Even if quantum computers provided a liner growth curve in processing power to qubits, we could expect a greater throughput in it (due to above stated factors).
See my post a little below. Quantum computers can make some problems blazingly fast to solve, while not giving any advantage to others. Considering that classical computers have been developing for some 30 years, it'll be a very long time before quantum computers can come even close to matching classical ones for problems not specifically suited for quantum computing.
My guess is that when quantum processors become commercial, they will for a long time be number-crunchers controlled by normal computers, and later (when/if they become mainstream) as an add-on to normal computers, just like the FPU's were in the 80's and 90's. I really don't expect to see a quantum-computer driven desktop in my lifetime.
Comparing the speed of a quantum computer and classical computer is comparing apples and oranges. Quantum computers work with a totally new set of rules, which allows some applications to make use of quantum properties.
The main property that classical computers lack is that of superposition of states. One can understand this as calculating some result starting with all possible numbers at once, instead of testing each starting value as its own. (In reality it's more complicated than this, of course.)
Some applications, eg. codebreaking, number crunching and database applications could get a vast boost out of quantum computing. Other applications may not. The most probable places for quantum computers (at first) will probably be number crunching, networking applications (quantum cryptography etc) and database applications.
For a comparison, searching an unsorted database is classically an O(N) operation, but a quantum computer can do this in time O(sqrt(N)). The best known classical algorithm for factoring a number is exponential, while Shor's algorithm does it in time O((log N)^3) (allowing polynomial-time breaking of RSA).
I guess a rather large number of Linux users have mapped their Caps Lock to some other function, the most common probably being Control or Esc.
;)
I've mapped it to Enter instead, for a purely ergonomic reason: On the Finnish keyboard, the keys have been rearranged to allow for the letters ä, ö and å, and there are two keys between my right little finger and the enter key (from my right hand: j, k, l, ö, ä, ', Enter). When I started using IRC more, my right little finger started getting really sore from hitting enter. I added the Caps Lock enter, and the hurting stopped immediately. Now I'm not even sure which one I use more - it just comes naturally.
Of course, my big brother complains about this every time he uses my computer (not very often). He has his Caps Lock mapped to Control, and every time he tries to cancel some command using Ctrl-C, something awful happens...
Not exactly on the point of copy-paste, but I'd like to know who the fscking idiot concieved of drag-n-drop for text and implemented it? Lately I've increasingly often been frustrated by trying to remove/copy/select a piece of a URL, for instance. If I accidentally select too much/too little, I instinctively start to select the correct region. Then I notice that instead of selecting the new part it has drag-dropped the selected text somewhere else! How this can be called a 'feature' (especially in text-entries such as the URL bar) I can't understand.
The only place I can possibly concieve this being useful would be in word processing, eg. selecting a paragraph and drag-dropping it to another place, but this is exactly what copy-paste is for. Copy-paste is so simple that there doesn't need to be another way to do it. Definately not such an irritating way as drag-and-drop!
A great example of, "less is more". No, not pagers.
Am I really the only one to think that Google took it a step too minimalist? I hate Altavista and the other "portal" search engines just as much as the next slashdotter, but there's nothing wrong with separating pieces of the page with a simple background color. The light background colors just help you find things, but don't distract in any way. Especially separating the ads with a light colorful background was nice.
The new page looks like some page where the stylesheet has been disabled, very default-ish and barren. To my eye the old Google was more pleasing to look at, and none the more crufty.
OK, to correct myself, no other mention except the following quite ambiguous line:
So maybe it's coming along, but not quite yet.
The Slashdot story was, unsurprisingly, misleading.
In the article (or this press release) I've seen absolutely no mention that they'd be selling the PC's to the masses, only to enterprise customers.
A few snippets from the press release (emphasis mine):
It seemed almost too good to be true... and so it probably was.
Give credit where credit is due, coward!
I guess you overlooked the link at the bottom of the message...
Imagine a hacker gaining access to Microsoft code.
I guess we no longer need to imagine...
A few more interesting ones:
l ib /i b/p glib 6a/
k /private/shell/docs/leak.txt/ shdocvw/ofbugs.txti z/todo
e /shell/ext/viruschk/mcafee/
win2k/bsc/.glimpse_filenames_index
etc.
Huh? What's with the "."? Are they using Unix?
win2k/private/inet/mshtml/src/site/download/png
win2k/private/inet/mshtml/src/site/download/zl
win2k/private/inet/mshtml/src/site/download/j
win2k/private/inet/urlmon/compress/gzip/
(AFAIK nothing illegal in using these, but interesting to know. Maybe the gnumakefiles are for these and similar?)
win2k/private/ntos/rtl/boot/i386/cv - vered mazafi.eml
win2k/private/shell/wontfix.txt
win2
win2k/private/shell
win2k/private/shell/cpls/appw
Interesting...
win2k/private/shell/ext/viruschk/
win2k/privat
Wha?
At least that list looks pretty damn convincing... If that list is a hoax its a pretty damn well made one.
From the Register article:
What the fscking hell?? The writers of those regulations should be fired! The mission-critical systems should be totally unlinked to any other systems, period. (Data transfer from the critical system to another one is ok, but make it physically impossible to do the reverse. If some operation needs to be done, call the 24h surveillance personnel.)
I'm just glad I live over 10000 km away, in a country where things like nuclear plants are very strictly controlled and overviewed by government institutions. (Yes, I trust the nuclear power stations here. I no longer trust the ones in the US.)
What, like what these guys have been doing for years?
Could you be a bit more specific? I couldn't easily find any info on such a thing on the site. According to the other reply, they use water, so it's not so much of a walk-through screen.
Both definitely have their applications (with water you can probably make larger screens and use them outdoors more easily), but they are distinctly different.
Even with the light pollution of torches and flashlights from the 1100 campers around me, you could still easily just stare up at the sky and see the band of the milky way stretched across.
Actually nearby lights don't matter way as much as light pollution does. I was astounded when I went on a weekend to a camp some way from any cities a few years ago. The gravel yard of the house was very brightly lit by several halogen lights, and even in the middle of the yard you could glance upwards and have the Milky Way flowing through the sky. It didn't require letting your eyes get used to the darkness or anything - it just was there!
If you really want to strech the limits, try to spot the Andromeda galaxy with your bare eyes. That requires *very* dark conditions, but is still possible (it should be relatively easy to see with binoculars, though). I think I was just able to glimpse it at the camp when I tried. But when you see it, you are looking at light that has been travelling in void for two million years!
I bet there's gonna be tons of hot chicks at the nerd fest! I better get some push-ups in, it's gonna be a hot night at the Hartwall arena!
Well, how about this entry in the game compo?
(Warning: Windows only, workplace/girlfriend-unsafe.)
So it isn't yet certified at the same level as Windows.
So if anybody else wants to be selling Linux to the US government, they have to shell out those hundreds of thousands of dollars themselves.
So maybe not much use for the overall community, but certainly a landmark in the history of Linux, and it shows that it certainly can be done!
Hmm... I doubt it'll be allowed in exams or tests if it's got infra-red capabilities.
AFAIK, the port has been deliberately rendered useless for long-distance communication. The calculator has a reasonably powerful transmitter, so it can be used as a remote control, but the receiver is so weak that the two calculators have to be almost touching each other for transmission. Still you don't have to carry any cords around for data transmission or a quick game.
Of course, the calculators probably will still be banned or required to have the IR port taped just as a precaution. (I believe it's not very complex to mod the calculator for a stronger reception.)
850 km/h is 236 m/s, so the average acceleration relative to the rocket (assuming 2 seconds from breaking to impact) should have been 118m/s^2, or 12 G:s. When you take into fact that the rocket itself is accelerating at some 5-10 G:s (which will be subtracted from the foam's deceleration), that it well feasable for a piece of fluff in an airstream.
(For something to compare at, glue fins on an A8-3 model rocket motor. It weighs something like 20 grams, and at 8 newtons of thrust it accelerates at around 40 G:s when not taking air resistance into account. So even though 118 m/s^2 sound huge, it really isn't *that* much.)
You know, believe it or not, P2P software has some legitimate uses... :)
Like backing up all my stuff on random stranger's computers.
"Only wimps use tape backup: real men just upload their important stuff on FTP, and let the rest of the world mirror it."
-- Linus Torvalds
Well, it isn't just European bombs that could be guided by the European satellite system, but anyone's bombs
I somehow doubt that the ultimate motivation for the system is for guiding bombs. Yes, of course it's a factor, but Europeans seem to be culturally more opposed to war than the US.
So, if the U.S. is in the middle of combat, and turns off public GPS to thwart emeny guided bombs, I can imagine a bunch of European beaurocrats sitting in Brussels trying to decide whether or not they should do the same.
Well, perhaps this will make the US think twice before going off to wage war that most of the rest of the world opposes. If Europe should choose to go to war (not very likely), I think that the decision would be made easily (if it will be possible to achieve at all).
Is it somehow better to have absolute power in the hands of some kid trying to play dad?
Dear lord... Armed officers in schools? Reading threads like this makes me feel glad as hell that I live in a sane country (Finland, in my case), where nobody would even dream of arming teachers or putting armed officers (or metal detectors or anything!) in schools. We simply don't have the problem. We can go to school without the hassle, without the extra protection, and without fear of getting shot during the day.
It's left as an excercise to the reader to wonder why guns aren't a problem here.
And nobody mentioning that the thing runs on Linux??
So I guess the next thing we can expect to see from M$ is a heavily encrypted version of the WMA format. However, I'd wager that people will not be likely to use such a version since encryption will undoubtedly put a hit on both performance and file size.
Unfortunately not. AFAIK, many encryption systems don't make the data larger, and nowadays computers are so fast that a little decryption will have no effect whatsoever. Perhaps todays low-end machines won't be able to play the videos anymore, but when has that been an issue to Microsoft?