There are some glaring shortcomings on the iphone. It is not usable as a pda.
1. You can't Copy and Paste How could they possibly omit this? How can you copy someone's phone number from an email to a contact? or address? Or resend an old email? or edit an email? 2. You can't search for an email - not even like "find emails by John Doe" 3. You can't create a new folder for Pop email (like "old mail" - only supported by the gmail client) 4. You can't sort emails by sender or subject, only by date 5. You can't delete more than 1 email at a time, nor move them to a new folder (because you can't make any new folders)
In a few months, when everyone has been using these for pop email and has a few thousand emails in their inbox, they're going to realize that they are basically stuck this way for the lifetime of the device. You can't delete them, move them, or sort them. Every time you open email you will get thousands of old messages, growing larger every day. Nightmare.
Not usable as a pda. The Palm client Versamail is far more professional and time tested.
As has been said elsewhere, the average hike is less than a mile. Many people in large cities already walk a mile or more to get to the subway. Remember, a half mile walk is about 10 minutes. Most everyone on the far east side of NYC is a 10 minute walk from the subway. As for heavy goods, this system could be adapted to accomodate some of them. Freight cars could be interspersed with commuter cars. A city like Venice has long adapted to the lack of roads, and still manages to get heavy goods in and out. In fact, the myth that "we need trucks to survive" is perpetrated by the trucking industry. http://www.carfree.com/
Retrofitting a city with bus-only roads is a lot easier and cheaper than retrofitting a city with a subway or elevated train. In addition, the reduced car lanes will encourage people not to drive and to take mass transit. In NYC, the proposed 2nd ave subway line has been debated and stalled for 30 years. It is estimated to cost billions and not be complete for another 20 years. A so-called "Superbus" would greatly reduce congestion on the Lexington Ave line and speed up commutes for those on the far east side. Also, a bus-only road can be used for emergency vehicles, who would not have to stop for lights. I believe the trolley lanes in Downtown Toronto are like this. A superbus would slow down, stop, load, and unload, but as demonstrated by an effecient subway system, that entire process can be achieved in about a minute. In Japan they hire people to stuff people into crowded cars to accelerate this process!
All of these arguments could be made about the NYC subway, which also is vandalized, excreted in, occupied by the homeless, and breaks down. None of these stop people from riding in them. All of the subway cars are now "Vandal-proof", which means graffiti pens don't adhere to their surfaces. Occasionally you'll see scratched glass, but they look a lot better than 15 years ago. Like any public space these cars will need to be regularly patrolled and cleaned. I think NYC subway cars are cleaned every evening, if not twice a day. A fully computerized system will be a lot easier to keep track of which need to be cleaned then the current system. If you get in a dirty car, like the subway, you can change to a different car. Even better, a computerized system can redirect a dirty car to be cleaned right away.
Re:"LilyPond might get there someday"
on
Turn-Key Linux Audio
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I've got to hand it to you guys. I wrote the original comment. I'm a professional typesetter, working with mostly classical music publishers and some jazz. Lilypond has come a long way since I first looked for a music notation program in Linux about two years ago. The printed output is completely usable. However there is much to be said for a "point and click" interface. Music typesetting is rarely just a matter of recopying a completely edited score. Very often we find ourselves doing as much editing as typesetting. While I understand that a text file can be easily parsed, input through Lilypond, and viewed side by side with the text, this method is extremely tedious. If I have a 100 page orchestral score do I have to pass the text file through lilypond just to change one accidental? In addition, nothing beats the simplicity of click and drag for placing musical elements on the page. I understand gui tools exist, but from what I have seen they are not WYSIWYG; the on-screen music looks terrible. From what I recall the program "SCORE" was similar to Lilypond in that a text file was used to generate pages of music. This program, while very powerful and able to create extremely polished scores, has all been replaced in most music publishing ventures. The ease of use that Finale and Sibelius offer outweighs the negligable speed and versatility that only the most experienced "SCORE" user can achieve. So to correct my original statement, I would say that "professional" music notation (and I agree that's loaded) on Linux is mature and robust in the form of Lilypond. However, music notation creation tools are not mature or robust. I only wish I had the computer programming skills to move that project along.
Notice the absence of music notation programs
on
Turn-Key Linux Audio
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Linux has nothing to compare to Finale, Sibelius, or Score. This is the gaping hole in Linux audio software, and the reason most musicians cannot switch completely to Linux. Lilypad, etc. are not professional quality notation tools. WINE has trouble with non-text fonts like Maestro which Finale uses.
It would appear he wrote these answers before he received the questions. He then randomly applied these essays to the questions. After all, his theory of question and answer is that human conversations are banal and predictable and that creating a reasonable response is elementary programming.
PD allows you to create any type of audio program or even video program using a graphic programming interface. Steep learning curve. Music Construction Set for Adults.
Pure Data is a real time sound-manipulation program that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac Os X. You'll be able to design any kind of sound processing algorithms you like but be warned: only Linux gives you input-output latency as low as 3 milliseconds. In Windows you'll have to settle for 300 ms unless you buy some fancy audiophile soundcard that supports Steinberg's ASIO.
Actually, NASA is already experimenting with contemporary vegan cuisine. This article describes the project. Another example of how space research creates technology fit for every day use: they're working on an automatic tofu-making machine.
Re:Bikes Are Dangerous
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 1
Actually, coward, I am a pedestrian in NYC as well as a cyclist in NYC and I can tell you first hand that pedestrians are their own worst enemy. The worst offenders are midtown jaywalkers who assume that since everyone else is crossing on the red that they don't have to look both ways and can cross whenever they please. Transportation Alternatives has a slew of information on bike accident statistics in the city. I'm not going to quote there site except to say that in 1992 in NYC pedestrians were 50 times more likely to be hit by a car than by a bike.
I think if you were truly to examine the danger that a bike poses to a pedestrian, you would look at reckless pedestrians first, reckless cycling second, and the stealth with which bikes noiselessly move third. Incidentally, the lack of noise is going to be a huge problem when, in 10 or 15 years, electric vehicles become commonplace. Pedestrians and cyclists rely on our ears more than we realize.
Re:Does this make sense???
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
A few additions:
IT=$3000, Used Bike=$100
IT top speed=12mph, Bike top speed=30+mph
IT weight=60+lbs, Bike weight=20-25 lbs
IT parts=specialized, only 1 manufacturer, unavailable overseas
Bike parts=available everywhere(even Afghanistan), mass-produced, ridiculously cheap
IT repair=send it back to the factory
Bike repair=send it down the block or do it yourself (even Afghanistan)
IT infrastructure=requires significant restructuring of sidewalk laws for motor vehicles, new "etiquette" to avoid collisions with pedestrians, too slow even for a bike lane
Bike infrastructure=all states and nations already have laws pertaining to bikes, most civilized countries have bike lanes in place in major cities (except for most of the US), significant lobbying groups already exist throughout the world dedicated to increasing the use of bicycles
Most importantly, bicycles are not dangerous. Bicycles are considered dangerous because of the proliferation of automobiles who make biking conditions unsafe. With proper bike lanes(shielded from traffic by planters and no parking on the curb) and increased usage, bike usage could be much more safe and common (see Amsterdam or China).
Problems of balance for the elderly and inexperienced are easily solved by tricycles (yes!) and low-to-the-ground recumbent vehicles. Problems of hills are easily solved by low cost electric motors like those on Lee Iacocca's ebike.
If Dean Kamen really wanted to solve the transportation crisis, he would have spent $100 million on lobbying to increase legislation to make cities more bike friendly. Cities need bike lanes, bike paths, bike parking, bike rooms at work, showers at work, and a multitude of other things. Thousands of people have been working on this problem for the past 150 years, only to have their work ignored by lazy, ignorant consumers, rich, powerful oil and auto industries, incompetent politicians, and over-hyped entrepreneurs.
Why bother trying to harvest energy from humans when you could harvest energy from horses, pit-bulls, cheetahs, anacondas, kangaroos, dairy cows, or houseflies? Fill an square mile of Nevada with houseflies wired to a generator and feed them sewage. How many small towns would that power? PETA would have a conniption fit, but most people have no sympathy for this easily enslaved species. Through this logic, the Matrix can be seen as a metaphor for human domination over farm animals.
Am I the only one who misses the audio input on these things? We haven't had a new portable digital recording device superior to the DAT walkman in 15 years! Why don't they just put 1 $15 analog mic input in this thing or the iPod and give musicians, audio engineers and reporters a fantastic new toy.
I know, minidisc does it already, but minidisc players don't have digital output for PC post-production work and actually doesn't sound as good as plain old WAV files.
If this had a mic input, you could burn directly to MP3 and have 6 hours of digital recording - 6 times that of a minidisc.
If the iPod had a mic input, you could burn 10 hours of uncompressed audio or 100 hours of MP3s. Portable 2 track recording studio!
This seems like a great product, surely designed to steal Palm's market share. The determing factor for success is going to be the price, which, if Apple stays true to form, is sure to be exorbitant.
In just a few short years, digital cameras knocked 'em down.
Actually, if you read yesterday's nytimes article, the company had been headed down at least since 1988, (before digital cameras) when they were first in debt. Their demise is attributed not just to a failure to keep up with digital, but to a string of bad business decisions.
Besides, even before digital cameras they had to compete against disposables and the general drop in camera prices and features.
A nytimes article over the summer stated that safety experts are baffled by new data: although bike helmet use is up, injuries to the head are also up. Some speculated that this was due to an unrealistic sense of security the helmet affords which leads to greater risk-taking while others attributed the rise in accidents to unsafe motorists.
Most people avoid riding bicycles in street traffic because of safety concerns. This is where HPV's come in. A recumbent tricycle is extremely hard to tip over compared to an upright. The lower the trike, the more stable it is. While the problem with hills persists, this design is absolutely ideal for children, not to mention seniors, beginners, and anyone who just doesn't feel that comfortable teetering around 3 feet in the air on two wheels.
Where I live, New York City, there are few hills. The main inclines are on bridges and are only about 3/4 mile long (you could walk it in 10 minutes). Most recumbent riders say they have no problem attracting the attention of motorists, although many add flags for visibility.
I agree, however, that power assist is the answer. The Varna Diablo is, as far as I know, an unusually heavy bike for these kinds of competitions; most of the other bikes weigh about 30 lbs less. This proves that the substantial additional weight of batteries and a motor doesn't prohibit the vehicle from high speeds. More research and development is needed. Maybe if gas becomes unattainable in the near future people will reconsider cycling as transportation.
Yeah, on second thought, I was thinking of GT (an equally unlikely company but one that still makes road bikes). You get my point though.
BTW, I'm not convinced a recumbent needs to sprint. It was my impression that they demolish uprights on flat roads. But yes, the tour would be radically altered. It's probably best to leave it alone. I only wish the cycling community would realize that they were being held back by the UCI's antiquated ruling instead of taking for granted the ubiquity of upright cycles.
Say he eats it on the high mountains by a lot. Doesn't he still have enough of an advantage on the remaining 16 stages to carry the race?
Really, I could care less which one of these is faster in the Alps. I just want the market to be flooded with recumbents. Then I'll pick one up at my local used bike shop for $75 and ride to work at 35mph. Is that so wrong?
First of all, with due respect to Sam Wittingham et al, there are no world class "olympic" cyclists who take recumbents seriously enough to train on them 24/7 the way someone like Armstrong does on an upright. Even so, the world hour record for an hpv is 50 miles. Imagine what someone like Lance could do.
Second of all, so-called "aero" bikes, used for velodrome competition in the olympics, are produced by the big bike companies (huffy, trek, etc.) using the most cutting edge techniques and materials. No expense is spared and the bikes cost about $100,000. Matt Weaver, who is currently second in the world in hpv racing, says his homemade bike cost him only $10,000. "Aero" bikes go about 45mph on the track. Hpv's now go 80mph on the straight-away.
Now imagine Lance if he not only devoted his life to recumbent racing but had $100,000 recumbent equipment sponsored by Wheaties or whatever.
Time trials would average 55 mph instead of 30. Assuming a balance between uphills, straights, and downhills in le Tour, they would be 10 mph slower, 25 mph faster, and as much as 50 mph faster respectively. The gains outweigh the losses.
Le Tour has always been a proving ground for new technology - quick release wheels, deraillours, light weight frames, etc. What will eventually happen is the HPV'ers will set up a renegade tour to prove their mettle. They will adjust the course for less hills (again, they won't have the advantage of world class athletes, equipment, and sponsorship) but they will concoct something as challenging as le Tour. Maybe then they can attract enough attention to be taken seriously.
Re:Why no recumbents in Tour de France?
on
Biking @ 80 MPH
·
· Score: 1
In 1933, Francis Faure set a new world record for an hour race on a recumbent bicycle designed by Charles Mochet. United Cyclists International, which governs the rules for cycling records and races, was and is a conservative organization dedicated (like many sports organizations) to maintaining a tradition they regarded as being absolute. Not only did they disallow Faure's record, they banned recumbents from all cycling competitions.
These type of Draconian regulations continue to plague cycling to this day. Cyclists are limited to an upright position, may not use fairing or windshields, and even must have unconventional handlebars approved by a committee. While I see the value of levelling a playing field, allowing cyclists to compete rather than cycle makers, these regulations have kept recumbents at the fringe. They have never caught on in popularity and are only now started to be mass produced by major manufacturers (Trek and soon Cannondale).
The truth is a fully faired recumbent would devastate the Tour de France. They are terrible for hill climbing but going downhill they could easily go twice as fast as the pack of upright cyclists.
If human running speed is 20 mph and human biking speed is 80 mph, then horse running speed is 45 mph and horse biking speed is 180 mph. It runs on oats and hay! This will change the world!
Remember that he is completely inclosed in a fiber shell. Remember he has no windows in order to reduce drag. Remember that the temperatures in Battle Mountain this time of year are about 80 F. He has a fan hooked up to his drive train that sucks air out of the back of the vehicle. He's got an enormous chain ring about 3 times the size of one from a street bike. He's going to need a lot of air.
The system requirements for Shockwave playback are for a Pentium processor, with a Pentium II recommended. Most schools (especially those too poor to buy Windows licences) rely on old, donated computers - even 486's. They won't be able to use Shockwave without difficulty under Windows or Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
There are some glaring shortcomings on the iphone. It is not usable as a pda.
1. You can't Copy and Paste
How could they possibly omit this? How can you copy someone's phone number from an email to a contact? or address? Or resend an old email? or edit an email?
2. You can't search for an email - not even like "find emails by John Doe"
3. You can't create a new folder for Pop email (like "old mail" - only supported by the gmail client)
4. You can't sort emails by sender or subject, only by date
5. You can't delete more than 1 email at a time, nor move them to a new folder (because you can't make any new folders)
In a few months, when everyone has been using these for pop email and has a few thousand emails in their inbox, they're going to realize that they are basically stuck this way for the lifetime of the device. You can't delete them, move them, or sort them. Every time you open email you will get thousands of old messages, growing larger every day. Nightmare.
Not usable as a pda. The Palm client Versamail is far more professional and time tested.
As has been said elsewhere, the average hike is less than a mile. Many people in large cities already walk a mile or more to get to the subway. Remember, a half mile walk is about 10 minutes. Most everyone on the far east side of NYC is a 10 minute walk from the subway.
As for heavy goods, this system could be adapted to accomodate some of them. Freight cars could be interspersed with commuter cars. A city like Venice has long adapted to the lack of roads, and still manages to get heavy goods in and out. In fact, the myth that "we need trucks to survive" is perpetrated by the trucking industry. http://www.carfree.com/
Retrofitting a city with bus-only roads is a lot easier and cheaper than retrofitting a city with a subway or elevated train. In addition, the reduced car lanes will encourage people not to drive and to take mass transit.
In NYC, the proposed 2nd ave subway line has been debated and stalled for 30 years. It is estimated to cost billions and not be complete for another 20 years. A so-called "Superbus" would greatly reduce congestion on the Lexington Ave line and speed up commutes for those on the far east side.
Also, a bus-only road can be used for emergency vehicles, who would not have to stop for lights. I believe the trolley lanes in Downtown Toronto are like this.
A superbus would slow down, stop, load, and unload, but as demonstrated by an effecient subway system, that entire process can be achieved in about a minute. In Japan they hire people to stuff people into crowded cars to accelerate this process!
All of these arguments could be made about the NYC subway, which also is vandalized, excreted in, occupied by the homeless, and breaks down. None of these stop people from riding in them.
All of the subway cars are now "Vandal-proof", which means graffiti pens don't adhere to their surfaces. Occasionally you'll see scratched glass, but they look a lot better than 15 years ago.
Like any public space these cars will need to be regularly patrolled and cleaned. I think NYC subway cars are cleaned every evening, if not twice a day. A fully computerized system will be a lot easier to keep track of which need to be cleaned then the current system.
If you get in a dirty car, like the subway, you can change to a different car. Even better, a computerized system can redirect a dirty car to be cleaned right away.
I've got to hand it to you guys. I wrote the original comment. I'm a professional typesetter, working with mostly classical music publishers and some jazz.
Lilypond has come a long way since I first looked for a music notation program in Linux about two years ago. The printed output is completely usable.
However there is much to be said for a "point and click" interface. Music typesetting is rarely just a matter of recopying a completely edited score. Very often we find ourselves doing as much editing as typesetting. While I understand that a text file can be easily parsed, input through Lilypond, and viewed side by side with the text, this method is extremely tedious. If I have a 100 page orchestral score do I have to pass the text file through lilypond just to change one accidental?
In addition, nothing beats the simplicity of click and drag for placing musical elements on the page. I understand gui tools exist, but from what I have seen they are not WYSIWYG; the on-screen music looks terrible.
From what I recall the program "SCORE" was similar to Lilypond in that a text file was used to generate pages of music. This program, while very powerful and able to create extremely polished scores, has all been replaced in most music publishing ventures. The ease of use that Finale and Sibelius offer outweighs the negligable speed and versatility that only the most experienced "SCORE" user can achieve.
So to correct my original statement, I would say that "professional" music notation (and I agree that's loaded) on Linux is mature and robust in the form of Lilypond. However, music notation creation tools are not mature or robust. I only wish I had the computer programming skills to move that project along.
Linux has nothing to compare to Finale, Sibelius, or Score. This is the gaping hole in Linux audio software, and the reason most musicians cannot switch completely to Linux.
Lilypad, etc. are not professional quality notation tools.
WINE has trouble with non-text fonts like Maestro which Finale uses.
It would appear he wrote these answers before he received the questions. He then randomly applied these essays to the questions. After all, his theory of question and answer is that human conversations are banal and predictable and that creating a reasonable response is elementary programming.
PD allows you to create any type of audio program or even video program using a graphic programming interface. Steep learning curve. Music Construction Set for Adults.
Check this out.
Robot saxophonist and trumpeter from Japan.
Pure Data is a real time sound-manipulation program that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac Os X. You'll be able to design any kind of sound processing algorithms you like but be warned: only Linux gives you input-output latency as low as 3 milliseconds. In Windows you'll have to settle for 300 ms unless you buy some fancy audiophile soundcard that supports Steinberg's ASIO.
Actually, NASA is already experimenting with contemporary vegan cuisine. This article describes the project. Another example of how space research creates technology fit for every day use: they're working on an automatic tofu-making machine.
Actually, coward, I am a pedestrian in NYC as well as a cyclist in NYC and I can tell you first hand that pedestrians are their own worst enemy. The worst offenders are midtown jaywalkers who assume that since everyone else is crossing on the red that they don't have to look both ways and can cross whenever they please.
Transportation Alternatives has a slew of information on bike accident statistics in the city. I'm not going to quote there site except to say that in 1992 in NYC pedestrians were 50 times more likely to be hit by a car than by a bike.
I think if you were truly to examine the danger that a bike poses to a pedestrian, you would look at reckless pedestrians first, reckless cycling second, and the stealth with which bikes noiselessly move third. Incidentally, the lack of noise is going to be a huge problem when, in 10 or 15 years, electric vehicles become commonplace. Pedestrians and cyclists rely on our ears more than we realize.
A few additions:
IT=$3000, Used Bike=$100
IT top speed=12mph, Bike top speed=30+mph
IT weight=60+lbs, Bike weight=20-25 lbs
IT parts=specialized, only 1 manufacturer, unavailable overseas
Bike parts=available everywhere(even Afghanistan), mass-produced, ridiculously cheap
IT repair=send it back to the factory
Bike repair=send it down the block or do it yourself (even Afghanistan)
IT infrastructure=requires significant restructuring of sidewalk laws for motor vehicles, new "etiquette" to avoid collisions with pedestrians, too slow even for a bike lane
Bike infrastructure=all states and nations already have laws pertaining to bikes, most civilized countries have bike lanes in place in major cities (except for most of the US), significant lobbying groups already exist throughout the world dedicated to increasing the use of bicycles
Most importantly, bicycles are not dangerous. Bicycles are considered dangerous because of the proliferation of automobiles who make biking conditions unsafe. With proper bike lanes(shielded from traffic by planters and no parking on the curb) and increased usage, bike usage could be much more safe and common (see Amsterdam or China).
Problems of balance for the elderly and inexperienced are easily solved by tricycles (yes!) and low-to-the-ground recumbent vehicles. Problems of hills are easily solved by low cost electric motors like those on Lee Iacocca's ebike.
If Dean Kamen really wanted to solve the transportation crisis, he would have spent $100 million on lobbying to increase legislation to make cities more bike friendly. Cities need bike lanes, bike paths, bike parking, bike rooms at work, showers at work, and a multitude of other things. Thousands of people have been working on this problem for the past 150 years, only to have their work ignored by lazy, ignorant consumers, rich, powerful oil and auto industries, incompetent politicians, and over-hyped entrepreneurs.
Why bother trying to harvest energy from humans when you could harvest energy from horses, pit-bulls, cheetahs, anacondas, kangaroos, dairy cows, or houseflies? Fill an square mile of Nevada with houseflies wired to a generator and feed them sewage. How many small towns would that power? PETA would have a conniption fit, but most people have no sympathy for this easily enslaved species.
Through this logic, the Matrix can be seen as a metaphor for human domination over farm animals.
I know, minidisc does it already, but minidisc players don't have digital output for PC post-production work and actually doesn't sound as good as plain old WAV files.
If this had a mic input, you could burn directly to MP3 and have 6 hours of digital recording - 6 times that of a minidisc.
If the iPod had a mic input, you could burn 10 hours of uncompressed audio or 100 hours of MP3s. Portable 2 track recording studio!
I'm guessing $699.
Actually, if you read yesterday's nytimes article, the company had been headed down at least since 1988, (before digital cameras) when they were first in debt. Their demise is attributed not just to a failure to keep up with digital, but to a string of bad business decisions.
Besides, even before digital cameras they had to compete against disposables and the general drop in camera prices and features.
Most people avoid riding bicycles in street traffic because of safety concerns. This is where HPV's come in. A recumbent tricycle is extremely hard to tip over compared to an upright. The lower the trike, the more stable it is. While the problem with hills persists, this design is absolutely ideal for children, not to mention seniors, beginners, and anyone who just doesn't feel that comfortable teetering around 3 feet in the air on two wheels.
Where I live, New York City, there are few hills. The main inclines are on bridges and are only about 3/4 mile long (you could walk it in 10 minutes). Most recumbent riders say they have no problem attracting the attention of motorists, although many add flags for visibility.
I agree, however, that power assist is the answer. The Varna Diablo is, as far as I know, an unusually heavy bike for these kinds of competitions; most of the other bikes weigh about 30 lbs less. This proves that the substantial additional weight of batteries and a motor doesn't prohibit the vehicle from high speeds. More research and development is needed. Maybe if gas becomes unattainable in the near future people will reconsider cycling as transportation.
BTW, I'm not convinced a recumbent needs to sprint. It was my impression that they demolish uprights on flat roads. But yes, the tour would be radically altered. It's probably best to leave it alone. I only wish the cycling community would realize that they were being held back by the UCI's antiquated ruling instead of taking for granted the ubiquity of upright cycles.
20 stages :
- 10 flat stages
- 3 medium mountain stages
- 4 high mountain stages
- 2 individual time-trial stages
- 1 team time-trial stage
Say he eats it on the high mountains by a lot. Doesn't he still have enough of an advantage on the remaining 16 stages to carry the race?
Really, I could care less which one of these is faster in the Alps. I just want the market to be flooded with recumbents. Then I'll pick one up at my local used bike shop for $75 and ride to work at 35mph. Is that so wrong?
Second of all, so-called "aero" bikes, used for velodrome competition in the olympics, are produced by the big bike companies (huffy, trek, etc.) using the most cutting edge techniques and materials. No expense is spared and the bikes cost about $100,000. Matt Weaver, who is currently second in the world in hpv racing, says his homemade bike cost him only $10,000. "Aero" bikes go about 45mph on the track. Hpv's now go 80mph on the straight-away.
Now imagine Lance if he not only devoted his life to recumbent racing but had $100,000 recumbent equipment sponsored by Wheaties or whatever.
Time trials would average 55 mph instead of 30. Assuming a balance between uphills, straights, and downhills in le Tour, they would be 10 mph slower, 25 mph faster, and as much as 50 mph faster respectively. The gains outweigh the losses.
Le Tour has always been a proving ground for new technology - quick release wheels, deraillours, light weight frames, etc. What will eventually happen is the HPV'ers will set up a renegade tour to prove their mettle. They will adjust the course for less hills (again, they won't have the advantage of world class athletes, equipment, and sponsorship) but they will concoct something as challenging as le Tour. Maybe then they can attract enough attention to be taken seriously.
These type of Draconian regulations continue to plague cycling to this day. Cyclists are limited to an upright position, may not use fairing or windshields, and even must have unconventional handlebars approved by a committee. While I see the value of levelling a playing field, allowing cyclists to compete rather than cycle makers, these regulations have kept recumbents at the fringe. They have never caught on in popularity and are only now started to be mass produced by major manufacturers (Trek and soon Cannondale).
The truth is a fully faired recumbent would devastate the Tour de France. They are terrible for hill climbing but going downhill they could easily go twice as fast as the pack of upright cyclists.
If human running speed is 20 mph and human biking speed is 80 mph, then horse running speed is 45 mph and horse biking speed is 180 mph. It runs on oats and hay! This will change the world!
Remember that he is completely inclosed in a fiber shell. Remember he has no windows in order to reduce drag. Remember that the temperatures in Battle Mountain this time of year are about 80 F. He has a fan hooked up to his drive train that sucks air out of the back of the vehicle. He's got an enormous chain ring about 3 times the size of one from a street bike. He's going to need a lot of air.
The system requirements for Shockwave playback are for a Pentium processor, with a Pentium II recommended. Most schools (especially those too poor to buy Windows licences) rely on old, donated computers - even 486's. They won't be able to use Shockwave without difficulty under Windows or Linux.