Let's be honest. Right now, this stuff doesn't give us anything of real benefit. We don't need an internet connected thermostat. Or lights. Or fridges. Or toaster oven. Or whatever next comes up. Our skateboards reporting how many meters they've covered to some site or another. Useless! The utility of such things are near zero.
Nifty? Yes. Neat? Yes. Useful? Not in the least. And certainly not outside the developed world.
It's a distraction. A bad one. And if the recent mega-botnet attacks are any indication it's not good for the health of the internet either. So let's get rid of them before someone in a position of abusable power decides that they're evil and gets rid of them for us. With us doing it, it at least leaves the door open for getting it right next time. Not so certain that others would give the tinkerers a second chance on something like this. I've already had to deal with parents panicking over their children's laptop cameras.
That wasn't a fun conversation in the least.
Just because YOU don't see a need doesn't mean it isn't useful. In fact, you omitted the most useful IoT devices out there, interestingly enough.
IP cameras and DVRs. These have real uses and real benefits to users - checking up on the house or business. Often times we'd get an alert from the alarm company and instead of having to driving down to the office to check it out, we can look at the surveillance video OVER THE INTERNET, and see it was just an employee working late who used the wrong door. Heck, most good sysadmins have remote access to their environmental monitors in the data center and can remotely check stuff out for the same reason
Oh, and you know what devices were most vulnerable in the DYN attack? IP cameras and DVRs.
Internet controlled thermostats are nifty, and it's nice to be able to go on vacation, turn the A/C to just keep it from broiling, and then on the return, turn on the A/C to bring it back from desert day to human comfort. (Same goes with heat, too). Sure it's not a necessity, but it's a nicety
Then there's the door minders that let you know when someone is at the door when you're at the office, and you can let them put your packages in the garage rather than sitting on the front stoop inviting theft.
He should put his money where his mouth is and not do it. Hell, Ireland should say since it's not real, he doesn't need the wall. It's either real, and it's in his economic best interest to protect his properties, or it's not real as he claims, in which case he doesn't need the walls.
They didn't fail. They did exactly what they were paid for. Companies elsewhere generally (there are exceptions) won't take on contracts to produce goods that of such shit quality they harm the user. Chinese companies are.
China is the extreme example of "you get what you pay more". More money into the product = more safety and quality. Less money = lower quality and less safety. All the way down to building a non-working 5 cent USB power adapter that the prongs fall out of (which weren't connected to anything internally to start with), and all the way up to building a $20 USB power adapter of the quality that Apple ordered that won't fall apart without being attacked by power tools, that actually works, for years on end.
Stop thinking you can get $20 of quality for 5 cents and this problem will go away.
It's also why Chinese consumers are heading away from Chinese brands and buying Western brands. Basically they too are fed up of the fakes and knockoffs and poor quality, and they're wanting brands that police their brand. Sure they pay more, but they would rather get something that works than kills them.
Plus, the laws in the west generally protect the legitimate products so there's a perception there as well.
Those endurance numbers seem pretty low to me. I seem to remember older SATA models surviving endurance tests close to a petabyte of writes. I think the drives themselves weren't rated for that, but they were also older MLC technology, too.
I have 4 850 Pro SATA drives used in two separate systems which use Server 2012r2 tiered storage and they're about 18 months old and have around 40 TB written to them now.
I wonder if the reduced endurance is just due to simply less underprovisioning at the flash level or if its the result of a process change to the flash construction that makes it weaker.
I was kind of hoping the MLC endurance had kind of passed some threshold where endurance wasn't really a factor anymore for all but the most intensive write applications.
No, the numbers are right. Those are guaranteed numbers that Samsung to warrant the drive for. Once you hit that, you're on your own. And it turns out most drives get way more out of that (petabytes, even) - 10 times the guaranteed endurance isn't unusual. The practical upshot is a typical user will NOT wear out the drive over the expected lifespan of a few years, and even more extreme users will likely still be able to use it for years to come.
Older SSDs have similar numbers spec'ed out, but wear testing reveals they can last far longer, just like these will too under test.
The question is, I suppose, how much running the engine at 75% power compared to 30% power affects the wear. I have no idea! Might be interesting to look in Germany since with their Autobahn, there are going to be cars cruiding much closer to their maximum power non redline power than most other places.
Quite a bit, actually. The modern car engine is way overpowered for what it's used for - cruising down the highway is actually not very taxing on the engine at all - it's just got to put in as much power as is lost through friction and air resistance, which isn't a lot at all. Plus your transmission would be in a gear that puts it in a very efficient running mode (probably an overdrive gear).
You need the power when you want to change. Those horses are used if you're trying to measure 0-100 times, for example and you are flooring the engine and keeping it in the high-torque range.
Dyno testing replicates this by having the user floor the accellerator while the dyno puts on resistance and measures how much work is being done.
But the modern car engine isn't really designed for long term high power output - 0-100 times are done in a few seconds, while accellerating to max speed is really under a minute before the computer backs off the power. I'd be surprised if beyond that daily commutes get anywhere close to 70% max power.
Anyhow, plane engines also have to work for a while - if a car breaks down, you pull over and that's the end of that. If a plane engine dies, well, in a single engine plane you're going down. So they're designed for reliability as well, which meant they often have stuff that's irritating, like magnetos.
And leaded fuel is heading out. The engine manufacturers are all searching for alternative unleaded fuels. The writing's on the wall and the end of leaded gasoline is close. Handling leaded gasoline is expensive (and requires separate processing equipment, so your choice of refineries is limited), plus the demand isn't there - to produce the worldwide supply of avgas for a year, a refinery only needs to work for one day. That's it. And in the meantime you need to maintain all the leaded gasoline handling equipment.
Plus, there's only one source for the tetraethyl lead, and it's in the UK.
You forget, Internet access, cell phones, cable TV are all considered basic necessities these days. I truly do not understand how my entire generation and those before ours managed to survive without those things.
Well, cellphones replaced landlines, but phone service is considered a necessity, landline or cell. And it was even for your generation where people called other people and everyone was expected to be reachable at a phone number. Heck, it was so essential that they made landlines for public access (aka "payphones") so people could make a phone call. Cellphones have displaced these payphones. If you need to make a phone call and your cell battery is dead, it's almost impossible to find a phone you can use.
These days, Internet access is also a necessity as many things can only be done online. In the past, you could do it over the phone or in person, but the latter is not available as offices close and get consolidated so you can no longer visit for support. If you're lucky, phone support might be available, but it's often farmed out to some call center in India handling dozens of companies. This leaves the only option as internet support - for downloadng materials, contacting support for many companies, applying for jobs. Hell, companies are even doing e-Billing where they send you bills by email, no more paper bills.
In the past, we had many options. And they send bills through the mail, which many companies stopped doing as it's cheaper by email. So yes, in the past we survived because companies still gave options. They took then away with the Internet making it cheaper and faster to connect with people, thus leaving the old methods in the dust. Hell, getting a paper bill is often a chore because they can't even do it.
Ha! That's like when Italy wanted to put those geologists on trial for not predicting the earthquake a few years back... if the polling says 86% by stats than that's that. Just because it ended up wrong doesn't make it a lie. She did win the popular vote, after all. The margins she lost in the right states to lose the electoral college were well within the precision of the polls.
Actually, the geologists weren't predicting the earthquake, they were DENYING the earthquake. The region was undergoing a fair bit more seismic activity than normal, and the population was getting worried - did all these recent small earthquakess point to a potentially larger earthquake in the future?
So the population was concerned that a big earthquake was on the way. The geologists basically told the population to not worry - there is no earthquake on the way, and to resume your normal lives. So instead of potentially preparing for an earthquake, the people believed the geologists and resumed their lives, and that's when the big one struck.
The geologists were charged because of that, not because they failed to predict the earthquake. Whether or not they studied the ground to see if there was an increased likelihood, the fact that they said no earthquake was coming was the real issue.
Perhaps they needed to study it a bit more and maybe end up saying something more like "while the concern is valid, in general only 10% of the time this leads to a bigger earthquake. So prepare yourself in case it's the 10%, but also go about your day."
Multi-stream transport over Thunderbolt. Basicallly split the screen in half, so each stream is under the maximum bandwidth.
Each stream = 1 display.
But I'm having trouble believing this thing can do TWO 5k displays simultaneously at 60Hz. According to the review on Ars Technica, the first Thunderbolt controller has four lanes of PCIe, while the second Thunderbolt controller only has 2 lanes of PCIE 3.0 = 16Gbps max bandwidth.
4k @ 60Hz requires 14Gbps, and 5k at 60Hz is 80% more pixels, so around 25Gbps. That will be closer to 30Hz on the slower controller, unless you know something I don't?
Ah, but a DisplayPort doesn't consume PCIe bandwidth. Thunderbolt 3 gives you a combined bandwidth of 40Gbps total.
So every port can do 40Gbps, and running 5K consumes what, 25Gbps, leaving 15Gbps for PCIe. So even though the other two ports only have PCIe x2, that leaves more bandwidth for DisplayPort. So an ideal high bandwidth configuration would be to plug both 5K displays on that port, so you're not really losing too much bandwidth over PCIe.
Tizen offers precisely nothing that Android doesn't already have, apart from lock-in to Samsung's eco system, with it's also-ran alternatives to things Google/Android already does far better (S-Voice is garbage, for instance).
Tizen is also a nightmare to program for.
Tizen is just an OS, but the underlying foundation is E! (Enlightenment, if you're not up to date on your old fancy X window managers), or more correctly, the E Foundation Libraries (similar to ones like QT and GNOME).
And if you've never done E!, well, someone more eloquent has stated the numerous issues with it.
Stupid shit like this happens a lot more then people think. While not on the same level, it reminds me of the case that went through the courts a few years ago where a couple of people stole a ATM from a bank. So what did they do? They went to their local rent-all store, rented a small CAT tractor. Then pulled the ATM out of a bank after ramming it repeatedly and dragging it away. The kicker? They didn't cover up the company rental name, the rent-all's serial number on the side, and were actually dumbfounded when the police caught them. I believe it was something like "I don't understand how we were caught" when they were arrested.
It was absolutely hilarious watching the court case. Especially when their defense attorney tried to claim that it really wasn't them, even though they did this all with their faces uncovered. I heartily recommend people spend some time at court watching court cases from time-to-time(if they have the time off). Some of the stupid shit is amazing, some if it's just down right depressing like family court. And you see things like a father turned down for custody, even though the mother has a long history of abusing the kids, is a drug addict, and the house she's living in is an actual druggie flop house.
The police catch two kinds of criminals. The stupid (as in this case) and the idiotic braggarts. The stupid leave a paper trail behind (ranging from their name plastered on their hard hat, or uniform, to tracing VINs on exploded vehicles). The braggarts are even easier as they usually broadcast their exploits on social media, seeing that a takedown of a website is useless if no one claims it, for example.
Most professional game developers I know (who work on PC and console games) also despise the freemium-style games as the exploitive crapware that they are. And it's certainly not relegated to mobile games, but it does seem endemic there, as well as with online-only games (Facebook, MMOs, etc). But unfortunately, that model has proven to be financially successful, and so it continues. People are reluctant to pay up front for a games, which is understandable when there's a lot of garbage out there, but these games thrive on finding and exploiting addictive personalities who often pay enormous amounts of money for ridiculously overpriced in-game items.
Still, it's not hard to find games you can buy once and play forever, as you claim. Look for games with an up-front cost and no in-app purchases. There are a gazillion of them. Plenty of developers still prefer that nice, straightforward financial model. But unless people support that nice, straightforward financial model, you'll continue to get a lot of freemium play-to-play crap. Flag as Inappropriate
It depends.
Say you get a high level in a game, then something happens. Do you want to grind for another 100 hours to get back to where you were, or are you going to say "F-it, I'll pay $5 to get back to where I was"?
Sure on PC it's a bit distorted because most of these grinding games are online where a backup exists in the cloud, but there are games that are played offline where levelling up does take some grinding (Fallout 4, say). And there have been more than a few bugs related to savegames getting corrupted (either by say, Sony on the PS4, or in the game itself (I don't think Fallout 4, but others)).
There are plenty of "freemium" games that are truly free and non-exploitative. They also happen to be a lot of the games people play consistently because they do demand a bit of a grind (Jetpack Joyride comes to mind, and I paid for it when it was non-freemium in the beginning).
Then there is the crap that is flooded the market.
I use a metric called "Time to first money". Basically it's how long you can play before a demand for money comes up. Lousy games typically get you within 10 minutes or less, but usually within an hour. Good games almost never demand money - they will encourage you to spend money, but they won't demand it of you. And the best games simply don't even ask for it at all - you will stumble on their "buy gold, etc" page, but they certainly don't make a big deal whether or not you do anything there. And the very best don't even limit you during play - you can play forever without wearing out batteries or draining energy or whatever - you can play forever as many times as you want, for free.
The "singles" bit refers to all the 1s in the date, not being single. A lot of this stuff was probably gifts, in fact. They sell a lot of clothes, jewellery, gadgets etc. People stock up for new year and, sickeningly, Christmas.
No, it means single as in unattached. The "1"s bit in 11/11 just reinforces the "single" bit and that's why that (unfortunate) date was chosen. Given Alibaba made it up, that's their interpretation.
Basically it's a day for the singles to celebrate, just like Valentine's day celebrates couples.
Given China's distorted male-female population balance, there is a huge excess of males so they will likely always be single.
DnD saved my fucking life. Educationally and socially. An environment that is safe for kids, teens, adults to fail in? Games like that should be taught and promoted at a young age. IMO of course.
Or more correctly, social activities should be promoted at a young age.
There's nothing special about a D&D group playing than say, a group of kids playing football. They both are playing, and interacting with each other in a social setting. Just because the D&D players aren't making friends with the whole neighbourhood or having big parties doesn't mean the group together isn't interacting socially and being perfectly human.
The only reason we treat it as special is because we don't see it as the same sort of socializing that extroverts do. But it is - you're interacting with other human beings and enjoying the experience.
But in the end, it really isn't. What we should be promoting is the fact that getting a bunch of kids together to play D&D or other indoor introverted activity is just as healthy as getting a bunch of extroverts together playing sports or a party. Introverts don't interact socially the same way as extroverts, but they still have socializing needs, and they choose to express it differently - quiet play for example.
So promote the fact that introverts do like to get together and socialize, and that the form of socialization is different and will always be different. But just because they like to play indoors in small groups doesn't mean it isn't necessary nor are they lacking social benefit. D&D, a board game with friends, etc., are all activities that if you're getting them together, is the introvert equivalent of throwing a big social event publicly.
Networks aren't deterministic, so any protocol has to handle lost and delayed frames anyway. There is very little benefit to the complexity of low level traffic management, compared to using a simpler design and just adding more bandwidth. The internet is a "dumb network, smart edge" design, and it left "smarter" network designs in the dust for a reason.
The problem is you can't just add more bandwidth.Cheap networking is 1Gbit now, but if your streaming needs are starting to chew up a significant proportion of that, it's no longer an option. This is especially so when your devices may be embedded and can't actually handle full Gbit networking.
So you may be able to do a couple of 100Mbit streams (not hard - Blu-Ray disc streams average 25-40Mbps and peak to 100Mbps, UHD Blu-Ray is closer to twice that). But if your device can only do day, 300Mbps then you can do one stream, two streams is pushing it. And if you have extra traffic on the network then your hardware no longer can process the video stream it's supposed to because it's now busy handling the other traffic, so what you end up with is a stuttery mess.
And yes, it has happened, the only solution being to VLAN or isolate the affected network components
And this happens because the device has to process every packet.
How does it benefit the user to let websites push "visited" URLs into a browsers history? I expect my browser's history to only include sites I've actually visited.
Easy - if you click a link on a page and it does an AJAX thing and load up the destination without actually changing the page URL. You see this in webmail - you click your mailbox and the URL doesn't change, but the email opens. Now, you may know to click the X that they put up to close ir, or a back button to go back to the index, but if you click the real browser Back button, what happens? If you're unlucky, it goes to the previous page you visited (or blank tab page).
Using this function lets you pre-load the page into the Back button so if you use the back button, it does the Right Thing and actually goes back to the index as you expect.
The best example of this is GMail - where you have 3 ways of getting back to the index from a message view - you click the arrow, you click the mailbox, OR you click the browser back button. (And the back button may not be physically clicking the button, but using a mapped keyboard or mouse button)
It's because a lot of sites do AJAXy stuff that would otherwise break Back button functionality
Problem is a lot of doors are shareware still. Even worse, since they haven't been updated in ages, it's hard to tell which ones are actually still register-able. And even then it's still the old send in a form by mail instead of the more modern online e-commerce thing.
Though some of them at least have official web pages, but again, the owners still refuse to make it easy to buy, insisting on you sending in a form by the mail instead of taking payments online through any means
Then there's the ones that DO take online payment, kinda sorta if you're willing to western union it (or credit card by mail).
I think the holy grail ones do take credit card online to register
And then there's the pricing - sure asking $100 might not have been too bad back in the day where a small BBS could ask its users for a donation, but these days the BBS subculture is rather small and run by die-hard fans with an even smaller user base,
And it used to be we complained how Apple development was expensive, running a BBS can be more so as prices and everything else are as sky high as ever.
Does this Amazon like company matter to those in the west? Just want to know. How much of this billion dollars was because of activity from the west?
How many of people in the west even know about Alibaba?
Well, very little in the west, but it's quite important as everything is on there. A lot of suppliers are, so if you're needing some random item from China, chances are you can order it online via Alibaba.
If you need a source of cheap cables, Alibaba would be where you wanted to go to get dozens of oddball cables for $5 shipped.
If you want to sell to Chinese, you would be wise to open an Alibaba storefront as well.
Android is the most open Operating System, except for maybe Linux - and with the push to force SystemD down everyone's throat,I'd say Android is more open than Linux. It's not that difficult to replace android components - almost all of the major device manufacturers do: Samsung, Xiaomi, etc.
Yes, Android is open.
However, if you want to ship Google's stuff, you have to agree to a bunch of terms and conditions. This includes having Google apps be the default, and accessible within 1 click from the Home screen.
So if you want to ship an alternate map provider, you cannot - Google Maps must be the default and must be more easily accessed than your alternate Maps. Ditto for all the other apps you want to replace.
And why would you do this? Because if you want the Google Play Store, well, you have to get everything else along with it. Even if you decided you wanted to write your own set of replacement apps - they must be buried and harder to access than Google's apps.
Android is open, yes, but if you want to ship a useful Android device, well, it's a lot harder to.
So Google will flag Google, and for 30 days and 30 nights, a plague upon their own house? Awesome. You do have a good point about cleaning your own house before going hunting for other sites.
More like Google will flag Alphabet, because all the ad companies don't fall under Google anymore, but the Alphabet group of companies.
Of course, this will also mean every single web page will have the warning, since they all are repeat offenders....
In India, Apple only replaces iphones with a new one, they've recently started some basic repairs for broken screen though. What their stores do not tell is that the iphones are refurbished. Pretty much their staff always says new. And having done this atleast twice, I can tell you its not worth the nominal price difference of 100 bucks they are offering. There is always some or the other quality issue. Maybe they do better in US.
No, Apple always replaces a phone under warranty with a refurbished unit. There are even lawsuits about it because the person wanted a "like new" one.
Though, an Apple refurb unit has several advantages over other refurbs sold elsewhere. First, Apple generally replaces the outer casing with a new one, so it FEELS new to you. Second, Apple gives you a full year warranty on refurb units - not 90 days or even 30 days at other places. It's the same warranty as a new unit. And of course, it's eligible for AppleCare+ and the like to full term.
The only thing is that it's not new anymore by definition, so it's slightly cheaper, but for most users, it feels like new. Other places it's open box, so you can get a unit's that's been beaten up and dirty. Of course, you will save a few more dollars this way than Apple.
But I'd go with Apple refurbs because they're practically like-new.
Precisely! All that Android Auto or CarPlay or whatever it is Microsoft does needs to do should be to recognize any GPS unit on your car, as well as any display, and figure out how to project its map there and then use the GPS antenna to get signals. I don't need it to browse my music or contacts or anything else. If I get a call, I answer via the navigation system using the buttons on the steering wheel. And if I can project Google Maps on the navigation display in my car, nothing like it. Anything beyond that is a distraction while driving, unrelated to driving (unlike maps) and something I don't need
It's funny, because one of CarPlay's (Apple) complaints is that it's hard to use by tapping the screen - it was designed purely around Siri and voice recognition, with less thought towards tapping using the touch screen. Of course, I thought it was smart - the screen is there for feedback, and it's nice and low-density of text enabling quick glances. And it's not supposed to be interactive - you shouldn't be tapping on the screen, you should be talking to Siri and having it do what you want.
Alas, UI friendliness was given to Android Auto because it was touch-screen capable. CarPlay was designed to be hands-free and eyes-free - interact with your voice, not your hands and eyes which are busy controlling the car and looking at the road ahead.
China pretty much invented tea. Or at least certainly mastered it, centuries ago. They have their own ways of preparing it and drinking it which have NOTHING to do with American concepts of tea, except water is nominally involved. They do not need Starbucks to have tea. They don't want American tea.
China and India, actually. And Marco Polo. And the Silk Road bringing it to Europe and the Middle East where tea is popular.
And American Tea is really a derivation of English Tea, from the New World days. (Remember the East India Tea Company? Hint: India was part of the British Empire). Of course, then a bunch of people in Boston decided to dump an entire ship's worth of tea in the harbour for some odd reason or other...
It's on its way to get canceled. The company doesn't sell much in the way of physical goods. They simply don't need a drone project. They spun it up for PR, but now that PR dividend is dwindling, they're probably looking to wrap it up. I'll give it another year or so.
Or perhaps this is the reason:
Alphabet was in advanced talks with Starbucks and had tested delivery with the coffee-chain operator, according to two people familiar with the plans. Those plans were nixed, largely over disagreements about the access to customer data that Alphabet wanted, according to a former X employee.
Basically, the only reason Google was in it was to get at juicy customer data - knowing who they're delivering coffee for is something they can add to their little profile on you.
So the drones themselves were more a vehicle to get information about the customer - knowing you get Chipotle every day, and Starbucks in the mornings, lunch, afternoon, etc., is valuable customer data they wanted.
Of course, the companies themselves probably just wanted to give Google a name and a location, which is just poor quality information since they're non-unique. Maybe if Google snapped a photo for recognition purposes...
Slashdot Mirror
Just because YOU don't see a need doesn't mean it isn't useful. In fact, you omitted the most useful IoT devices out there, interestingly enough.
IP cameras and DVRs. These have real uses and real benefits to users - checking up on the house or business. Often times we'd get an alert from the alarm company and instead of having to driving down to the office to check it out, we can look at the surveillance video OVER THE INTERNET, and see it was just an employee working late who used the wrong door. Heck, most good sysadmins have remote access to their environmental monitors in the data center and can remotely check stuff out for the same reason
Oh, and you know what devices were most vulnerable in the DYN attack? IP cameras and DVRs.
Internet controlled thermostats are nifty, and it's nice to be able to go on vacation, turn the A/C to just keep it from broiling, and then on the return, turn on the A/C to bring it back from desert day to human comfort. (Same goes with heat, too). Sure it's not a necessity, but it's a nicety
Then there's the door minders that let you know when someone is at the door when you're at the office, and you can let them put your packages in the garage rather than sitting on the front stoop inviting theft.
If Trump really believes climate change isn't real, then why is he building walls around his golf courses? (to be correct, he wants it around Ireland).
He should put his money where his mouth is and not do it. Hell, Ireland should say since it's not real, he doesn't need the wall. It's either real, and it's in his economic best interest to protect his properties, or it's not real as he claims, in which case he doesn't need the walls.
It's also why Chinese consumers are heading away from Chinese brands and buying Western brands. Basically they too are fed up of the fakes and knockoffs and poor quality, and they're wanting brands that police their brand. Sure they pay more, but they would rather get something that works than kills them.
Plus, the laws in the west generally protect the legitimate products so there's a perception there as well.
No, the numbers are right. Those are guaranteed numbers that Samsung to warrant the drive for. Once you hit that, you're on your own. And it turns out most drives get way more out of that (petabytes, even) - 10 times the guaranteed endurance isn't unusual. The practical upshot is a typical user will NOT wear out the drive over the expected lifespan of a few years, and even more extreme users will likely still be able to use it for years to come.
Older SSDs have similar numbers spec'ed out, but wear testing reveals they can last far longer, just like these will too under test.
Quite a bit, actually. The modern car engine is way overpowered for what it's used for - cruising down the highway is actually not very taxing on the engine at all - it's just got to put in as much power as is lost through friction and air resistance, which isn't a lot at all. Plus your transmission would be in a gear that puts it in a very efficient running mode (probably an overdrive gear).
You need the power when you want to change. Those horses are used if you're trying to measure 0-100 times, for example and you are flooring the engine and keeping it in the high-torque range.
Dyno testing replicates this by having the user floor the accellerator while the dyno puts on resistance and measures how much work is being done.
But the modern car engine isn't really designed for long term high power output - 0-100 times are done in a few seconds, while accellerating to max speed is really under a minute before the computer backs off the power. I'd be surprised if beyond that daily commutes get anywhere close to 70% max power.
Anyhow, plane engines also have to work for a while - if a car breaks down, you pull over and that's the end of that. If a plane engine dies, well, in a single engine plane you're going down. So they're designed for reliability as well, which meant they often have stuff that's irritating, like magnetos.
And leaded fuel is heading out. The engine manufacturers are all searching for alternative unleaded fuels. The writing's on the wall and the end of leaded gasoline is close. Handling leaded gasoline is expensive (and requires separate processing equipment, so your choice of refineries is limited), plus the demand isn't there - to produce the worldwide supply of avgas for a year, a refinery only needs to work for one day. That's it. And in the meantime you need to maintain all the leaded gasoline handling equipment.
Plus, there's only one source for the tetraethyl lead, and it's in the UK.
Well, cellphones replaced landlines, but phone service is considered a necessity, landline or cell. And it was even for your generation where people called other people and everyone was expected to be reachable at a phone number. Heck, it was so essential that they made landlines for public access (aka "payphones") so people could make a phone call. Cellphones have displaced these payphones. If you need to make a phone call and your cell battery is dead, it's almost impossible to find a phone you can use.
These days, Internet access is also a necessity as many things can only be done online. In the past, you could do it over the phone or in person, but the latter is not available as offices close and get consolidated so you can no longer visit for support. If you're lucky, phone support might be available, but it's often farmed out to some call center in India handling dozens of companies. This leaves the only option as internet support - for downloadng materials, contacting support for many companies, applying for jobs. Hell, companies are even doing e-Billing where they send you bills by email, no more paper bills.
In the past, we had many options. And they send bills through the mail, which many companies stopped doing as it's cheaper by email. So yes, in the past we survived because companies still gave options. They took then away with the Internet making it cheaper and faster to connect with people, thus leaving the old methods in the dust. Hell, getting a paper bill is often a chore because they can't even do it.
Instagram is owned by Facebook. Snapchat looks like it's not owned by Facebook or Twitter, yet, but who knows in a week's time.
So in the end, they all use Twitter and Facebook, or whatever trendy social network service is owned by them.
Actually, the geologists weren't predicting the earthquake, they were DENYING the earthquake. The region was undergoing a fair bit more seismic activity than normal, and the population was getting worried - did all these recent small earthquakess point to a potentially larger earthquake in the future?
So the population was concerned that a big earthquake was on the way. The geologists basically told the population to not worry - there is no earthquake on the way, and to resume your normal lives. So instead of potentially preparing for an earthquake, the people believed the geologists and resumed their lives, and that's when the big one struck.
The geologists were charged because of that, not because they failed to predict the earthquake. Whether or not they studied the ground to see if there was an increased likelihood, the fact that they said no earthquake was coming was the real issue.
Perhaps they needed to study it a bit more and maybe end up saying something more like "while the concern is valid, in general only 10% of the time this leads to a bigger earthquake. So prepare yourself in case it's the 10%, but also go about your day."
Ah, but a DisplayPort doesn't consume PCIe bandwidth. Thunderbolt 3 gives you a combined bandwidth of 40Gbps total.
So every port can do 40Gbps, and running 5K consumes what, 25Gbps, leaving 15Gbps for PCIe. So even though the other two ports only have PCIe x2, that leaves more bandwidth for DisplayPort. So an ideal high bandwidth configuration would be to plug both 5K displays on that port, so you're not really losing too much bandwidth over PCIe.
Tizen is also a nightmare to program for.
Tizen is just an OS, but the underlying foundation is E! (Enlightenment, if you're not up to date on your old fancy X window managers), or more correctly, the E Foundation Libraries (similar to ones like QT and GNOME).
And if you've never done E!, well, someone more eloquent has stated the numerous issues with it.
https://what.thedailywtf.com/t...
The police catch two kinds of criminals. The stupid (as in this case) and the idiotic braggarts. The stupid leave a paper trail behind (ranging from their name plastered on their hard hat, or uniform, to tracing VINs on exploded vehicles). The braggarts are even easier as they usually broadcast their exploits on social media, seeing that a takedown of a website is useless if no one claims it, for example.
It depends.
Say you get a high level in a game, then something happens. Do you want to grind for another 100 hours to get back to where you were, or are you going to say "F-it, I'll pay $5 to get back to where I was"?
Sure on PC it's a bit distorted because most of these grinding games are online where a backup exists in the cloud, but there are games that are played offline where levelling up does take some grinding (Fallout 4, say). And there have been more than a few bugs related to savegames getting corrupted (either by say, Sony on the PS4, or in the game itself (I don't think Fallout 4, but others)).
There are plenty of "freemium" games that are truly free and non-exploitative. They also happen to be a lot of the games people play consistently because they do demand a bit of a grind (Jetpack Joyride comes to mind, and I paid for it when it was non-freemium in the beginning).
Then there is the crap that is flooded the market.
I use a metric called "Time to first money". Basically it's how long you can play before a demand for money comes up. Lousy games typically get you within 10 minutes or less, but usually within an hour. Good games almost never demand money - they will encourage you to spend money, but they won't demand it of you. And the best games simply don't even ask for it at all - you will stumble on their "buy gold, etc" page, but they certainly don't make a big deal whether or not you do anything there. And the very best don't even limit you during play - you can play forever without wearing out batteries or draining energy or whatever - you can play forever as many times as you want, for free.
It's a very effective metric.
No, it means single as in unattached. The "1"s bit in 11/11 just reinforces the "single" bit and that's why that (unfortunate) date was chosen. Given Alibaba made it up, that's their interpretation.
Basically it's a day for the singles to celebrate, just like Valentine's day celebrates couples.
Given China's distorted male-female population balance, there is a huge excess of males so they will likely always be single.
Or more correctly, social activities should be promoted at a young age.
There's nothing special about a D&D group playing than say, a group of kids playing football. They both are playing, and interacting with each other in a social setting. Just because the D&D players aren't making friends with the whole neighbourhood or having big parties doesn't mean the group together isn't interacting socially and being perfectly human.
The only reason we treat it as special is because we don't see it as the same sort of socializing that extroverts do. But it is - you're interacting with other human beings and enjoying the experience.
But in the end, it really isn't. What we should be promoting is the fact that getting a bunch of kids together to play D&D or other indoor introverted activity is just as healthy as getting a bunch of extroverts together playing sports or a party. Introverts don't interact socially the same way as extroverts, but they still have socializing needs, and they choose to express it differently - quiet play for example.
So promote the fact that introverts do like to get together and socialize, and that the form of socialization is different and will always be different. But just because they like to play indoors in small groups doesn't mean it isn't necessary nor are they lacking social benefit. D&D, a board game with friends, etc., are all activities that if you're getting them together, is the introvert equivalent of throwing a big social event publicly.
The problem is you can't just add more bandwidth.Cheap networking is 1Gbit now, but if your streaming needs are starting to chew up a significant proportion of that, it's no longer an option. This is especially so when your devices may be embedded and can't actually handle full Gbit networking.
So you may be able to do a couple of 100Mbit streams (not hard - Blu-Ray disc streams average 25-40Mbps and peak to 100Mbps, UHD Blu-Ray is closer to twice that). But if your device can only do day, 300Mbps then you can do one stream, two streams is pushing it. And if you have extra traffic on the network then your hardware no longer can process the video stream it's supposed to because it's now busy handling the other traffic, so what you end up with is a stuttery mess.
And yes, it has happened, the only solution being to VLAN or isolate the affected network components
And this happens because the device has to process every packet.
Easy - if you click a link on a page and it does an AJAX thing and load up the destination without actually changing the page URL. You see this in webmail - you click your mailbox and the URL doesn't change, but the email opens. Now, you may know to click the X that they put up to close ir, or a back button to go back to the index, but if you click the real browser Back button, what happens? If you're unlucky, it goes to the previous page you visited (or blank tab page).
Using this function lets you pre-load the page into the Back button so if you use the back button, it does the Right Thing and actually goes back to the index as you expect.
The best example of this is GMail - where you have 3 ways of getting back to the index from a message view - you click the arrow, you click the mailbox, OR you click the browser back button. (And the back button may not be physically clicking the button, but using a mapped keyboard or mouse button)
It's because a lot of sites do AJAXy stuff that would otherwise break Back button functionality
Problem is a lot of doors are shareware still. Even worse, since they haven't been updated in ages, it's hard to tell which ones are actually still register-able. And even then it's still the old send in a form by mail instead of the more modern online e-commerce thing.
Though some of them at least have official web pages, but again, the owners still refuse to make it easy to buy, insisting on you sending in a form by the mail instead of taking payments online through any means
Then there's the ones that DO take online payment, kinda sorta if you're willing to western union it (or credit card by mail).
I think the holy grail ones do take credit card online to register
And then there's the pricing - sure asking $100 might not have been too bad back in the day where a small BBS could ask its users for a donation, but these days the BBS subculture is rather small and run by die-hard fans with an even smaller user base,
And it used to be we complained how Apple development was expensive, running a BBS can be more so as prices and everything else are as sky high as ever.
Well, very little in the west, but it's quite important as everything is on there. A lot of suppliers are, so if you're needing some random item from China, chances are you can order it online via Alibaba.
If you need a source of cheap cables, Alibaba would be where you wanted to go to get dozens of oddball cables for $5 shipped.
If you want to sell to Chinese, you would be wise to open an Alibaba storefront as well.
Yes, Android is open.
However, if you want to ship Google's stuff, you have to agree to a bunch of terms and conditions. This includes having Google apps be the default, and accessible within 1 click from the Home screen.
So if you want to ship an alternate map provider, you cannot - Google Maps must be the default and must be more easily accessed than your alternate Maps. Ditto for all the other apps you want to replace.
And why would you do this? Because if you want the Google Play Store, well, you have to get everything else along with it. Even if you decided you wanted to write your own set of replacement apps - they must be buried and harder to access than Google's apps.
Android is open, yes, but if you want to ship a useful Android device, well, it's a lot harder to.
'Nuff said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
More like Google will flag Alphabet, because all the ad companies don't fall under Google anymore, but the Alphabet group of companies.
Of course, this will also mean every single web page will have the warning, since they all are repeat offenders....
Heck, even Google's own AdSense distributed malware for Android phones.
Of course, one could argue Alphabet is the largest malware distributor...
No, Apple always replaces a phone under warranty with a refurbished unit. There are even lawsuits about it because the person wanted a "like new" one.
Though, an Apple refurb unit has several advantages over other refurbs sold elsewhere. First, Apple generally replaces the outer casing with a new one, so it FEELS new to you. Second, Apple gives you a full year warranty on refurb units - not 90 days or even 30 days at other places. It's the same warranty as a new unit. And of course, it's eligible for AppleCare+ and the like to full term.
The only thing is that it's not new anymore by definition, so it's slightly cheaper, but for most users, it feels like new. Other places it's open box, so you can get a unit's that's been beaten up and dirty. Of course, you will save a few more dollars this way than Apple.
But I'd go with Apple refurbs because they're practically like-new.
It's funny, because one of CarPlay's (Apple) complaints is that it's hard to use by tapping the screen - it was designed purely around Siri and voice recognition, with less thought towards tapping using the touch screen. Of course, I thought it was smart - the screen is there for feedback, and it's nice and low-density of text enabling quick glances. And it's not supposed to be interactive - you shouldn't be tapping on the screen, you should be talking to Siri and having it do what you want.
Alas, UI friendliness was given to Android Auto because it was touch-screen capable. CarPlay was designed to be hands-free and eyes-free - interact with your voice, not your hands and eyes which are busy controlling the car and looking at the road ahead.
China and India, actually. And Marco Polo. And the Silk Road bringing it to Europe and the Middle East where tea is popular.
And American Tea is really a derivation of English Tea, from the New World days. (Remember the East India Tea Company? Hint: India was part of the British Empire). Of course, then a bunch of people in Boston decided to dump an entire ship's worth of tea in the harbour for some odd reason or other...
Or perhaps this is the reason:
Basically, the only reason Google was in it was to get at juicy customer data - knowing who they're delivering coffee for is something they can add to their little profile on you.
So the drones themselves were more a vehicle to get information about the customer - knowing you get Chipotle every day, and Starbucks in the mornings, lunch, afternoon, etc., is valuable customer data they wanted.
Of course, the companies themselves probably just wanted to give Google a name and a location, which is just poor quality information since they're non-unique. Maybe if Google snapped a photo for recognition purposes ...