I'm not sure where, but recently I read about how in a few years we'll also be able to operate heavy machinery while we drive. It sounded really cool! I think it said that we'll be able to control the speed and orientation of several tons of potentially lethal metals at speeds up to 80 MPH around defenseless people while we surf, chat, and listen to the radio on the road. It sounds fun but I hope I can spare the attention for it.
It doesn't work that way -- it has nothing to do with hard drive companies holding out. There are serious technical reasons why this trend can't continue until new, radically different data storage technologies pick up steam.
As data gets more and more tightly packed onto the platters, the energy that holds the magnetic spin on each bit (determining whether it's a 0 or a 1) gets less and less significant, and now it is so close to the ambient thermal energy that bits are randomly flipping and corrupting data.
So they're looking at a lot of different techniques, but instead of my trying to explain them, let me just show you the Scientific American article where this is all coming from.
Oops, I forgot to put in real subject line. Should have read something that grabs you, entices you, but also makes you laugh. It should have also been subtle and very moving. I'm open to suggestion.:)
strong 1960s-style psychedelic graphics -- a heart and a peace symbol along with Tux -- to appeal to ex-hippie baby boomers, whom IBM hopes will find the idea of a free, community-developed operating system appealing,
I wonder: the analogy to the 1960s may work, but should ex-hippies really be the target audience? Are they the ones running all the servers nowadays?
This isn't me, but I've found that for every passing interest you have, there's some one online for which it's a complete obsession. Often a web ring too.
Bradley M. Kuhn later added that only in America, the Land of Opportunity, could he have tried out the open-source gnoQuake 6.8 on a city of his choice today.
This whole idea is based on the notion that the effectiveness of an ad is somehow proportional to its size. I, personally, don't choose to not click on an ad because it is small and goes by unnoticed. I choose to not click on an ad because I'm not interested it what it's selling.
They say in the article that they want more size to make things more "emotional." If this refers to the content of the ad, make the fonts smaller. If it refers to the impact of the ad on the page, I am decidedly less likely to click on an obnoxious ad, just like when I hang up on telemarketers.
I think most posters so far have been overly harsh; this isn't a catastrophic failure on the level of the Mars projects. There's nothing in the article that says the balloon can't be patched, reinforced, and reinflated. If it had popped into a million pieces, that would be something else (Tripping the Rift comes to mind).
+1 bonus to whoever identifies the subject first. (Just kidding about the +1 part.)
How does the 20 - scale work anyway? Is there a maximum (20/0)? Is it linear or logarithmic with respect to the quality of your vision? Is the denominator just a measurement? Why 20, is it just normalized to average vision? Any opthimologists in the peanut gallery?
Page 70 (really page 73) quotes a letter from Hansenn to the Russians:
One of the commercial products currently available is the Palm VII organizer. I have a Palm III, which is actually a fairly capable computer. The VII version comes with wireless internet capability built in. It can allow the rapid transmission of encrypted messages, which if used on an infrequent basis, could be quite effective in preventing confusions if the existance [sic] of the accounts could be appropriately hidden as well as the existance [sic] of the devices themselves. Such a device might even serve for rapid transmittal of substantial material in digital form.
This is...
1) Ingenious product placement in a Palm-Hansenn deal;
2) Asking them to call him "Hanssen. Philip Hanssen. Robert Philip Hanssen.";
3) An excuse to try 2-player PocketChess;
4) About to see Microsoft blame Palm for all espionage;
5) All of the above.
I for one can't wait to read whether they installed Time Traveler for him...
The thing I didn't like about Voyager was how technology got in the way of character. Episode after episode seems like the writers had a three step process:
1) What really cool thing can we show the audience (e.g. a 29th century Borg, Harry Kim is actually an alien, etc)
2) What technobabble do we need to get INTO this situation
3) What technobabble do we need to get OUT of this situation
There are of course exceptions, but the malfunction of technology got more character than any of the characters. Especially holograms - in the Star Trek world, when computers malfunction, they don't crash -- they become sentient!
Hopefully, a show set before the invention of all this technology will give us more Roddenberrean plots, where human frailties are the focus instead of technological ones. But I'm not holding my breath because it's been this way for so long -- and, given a writers' strike, it's surely easier to make up enough technobabble to get from plot point A to plot point B.
People are already selling their privacy, in the form of Giant food cards (and department store cards too I think). In exchange for discounts, you allow them to track what you buy and when, which is valuable demographic info. What do YOU buy at the same time as condoms?
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not sure where, but recently I read about how in a few years we'll also be able to operate heavy machinery while we drive. It sounded really cool! I think it said that we'll be able to control the speed and orientation of several tons of potentially lethal metals at speeds up to 80 MPH around defenseless people while we surf, chat, and listen to the radio on the road. It sounds fun but I hope I can spare the attention for it.
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They invented a transistor that does the same things as today's transistors, but is only three atoms thick?
That's really transparent aluminum!
Now is this comment worth something, or should I punch up the clear?
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It doesn't work that way -- it has nothing to do with hard drive companies holding out. There are serious technical reasons why this trend can't continue until new, radically different data storage technologies pick up steam.
As data gets more and more tightly packed onto the platters, the energy that holds the magnetic spin on each bit (determining whether it's a 0 or a 1) gets less and less significant, and now it is so close to the ambient thermal energy that bits are randomly flipping and corrupting data.
So they're looking at a lot of different techniques, but instead of my trying to explain them, let me just show you the Scientific American article where this is all coming from.
--------------------------------
Oops, I forgot to put in real subject line. Should have read something that grabs you, entices you, but also makes you laugh. It should have also been subtle and very moving. I'm open to suggestion. :)
--------------------------------
"Sex, drugs, and Linux: Pick two"
--------------------------------
With ads that feature
strong 1960s-style psychedelic graphics -- a heart and a peace symbol along with Tux -- to appeal to ex-hippie baby boomers, whom IBM hopes will find the idea of a free, community-developed operating system appealing,
I wonder: the analogy to the 1960s may work, but should ex-hippies really be the target audience? Are they the ones running all the servers nowadays?
--------------------------------
Correct!
This isn't me, but I've found that for every passing interest you have, there's some one online for which it's a complete obsession. Often a web ring too.
All About Torgo (thanks for the link Jer)
--------------------------------
Thanks- I enjoy having one that a few people get and like, rather than an "all your base"ish one that everyone is sick of.
--------------------------------
Bradley M. Kuhn later added that only in America, the Land of Opportunity, could he have tried out the open-source gnoQuake 6.8 on a city of his choice today.
--------------------------------
This whole idea is based on the notion that the effectiveness of an ad is somehow proportional to its size. I, personally, don't choose to not click on an ad because it is small and goes by unnoticed. I choose to not click on an ad because I'm not interested it what it's selling.
They say in the article that they want more size to make things more "emotional." If this refers to the content of the ad, make the fonts smaller. If it refers to the impact of the ad on the page, I am decidedly less likely to click on an obnoxious ad, just like when I hang up on telemarketers.
--------------------------------
I think most posters so far have been overly harsh; this isn't a catastrophic failure on the level of the Mars projects. There's nothing in the article that says the balloon can't be patched, reinforced, and reinflated. If it had popped into a million pieces, that would be something else (Tripping the Rift comes to mind).
+1 bonus to whoever identifies the subject first. (Just kidding about the +1 part.)
--------------------------------
How does the 20 - scale work anyway? Is there a maximum (20/0)? Is it linear or logarithmic with respect to the quality of your vision? Is the denominator just a measurement? Why 20, is it just normalized to average vision? Any opthimologists in the peanut gallery?
--------------------------------
Seemingly slick slashdotter said scarcely simple subject string, sporting seven similarly started subdivisons; Salieri somehow synthesizes something superior.
An appropriately awesome alliteration assembles an acrimonious and astounding array. Moderators: maybe manage me many marks, making my morning?
--------------------------------
Page 70 (really page 73) quotes a letter from Hansenn to the Russians:
One of the commercial products currently available is the Palm VII organizer. I have a Palm III, which is actually a fairly capable computer. The VII version comes with wireless internet capability built in. It can allow the rapid transmission of encrypted messages, which if used on an infrequent basis, could be quite effective in preventing confusions if the existance [sic] of the accounts could be appropriately hidden as well as the existance [sic] of the devices themselves. Such a device might even serve for rapid transmittal of substantial material in digital form.
This is...
1) Ingenious product placement in a Palm-Hansenn deal;
2) Asking them to call him "Hanssen. Philip Hanssen. Robert Philip Hanssen.";
3) An excuse to try 2-player PocketChess;
4) About to see Microsoft blame Palm for all espionage;
5) All of the above.
I for one can't wait to read whether they installed Time Traveler for him...
--------------------------------
The thing I didn't like about Voyager was how technology got in the way of character. Episode after episode seems like the writers had a three step process :
1) What really cool thing can we show the audience (e.g. a 29th century Borg, Harry Kim is actually an alien, etc)
2) What technobabble do we need to get INTO this situation
3) What technobabble do we need to get OUT of this situation
There are of course exceptions, but the malfunction of technology got more character than any of the characters. Especially holograms - in the Star Trek world, when computers malfunction, they don't crash -- they become sentient!
Hopefully, a show set before the invention of all this technology will give us more Roddenberrean plots, where human frailties are the focus instead of technological ones. But I'm not holding my breath because it's been this way for so long -- and, given a writers' strike, it's surely easier to make up enough technobabble to get from plot point A to plot point B.
--------------------------------
True, open source isn't the same as free, but this is an interesting read.
-----------------------------------------
People are already selling their privacy, in the form of Giant food cards (and department store cards too I think). In exchange for discounts, you allow them to track what you buy and when, which is valuable demographic info. What do YOU buy at the same time as condoms?
According to Moore, Star Wars episode 2 will also play like an amateur porno flick because it is shot in DV.
Um, I think I'll hand the Natalie Portman jokes to the trolls.
Just because this is shot in 35mm, that doesn't mean it looks good (or even OK), especially if he did everything himself without maxing out his Visa.
Now the FBI is going to take writing samples along with our fingerprints.