Where's your logic? Why ask a bunch of rhetorical questions when you could look up the answers yourself in five minutes? Maybe because you don't really want to hear the answers. . .
Coal is the dirtiest and most lethal power source by many measures. Yes, we've introduced a lot of environment and safety regulations on coal mining. Yes, we've put scrubbers in the smokestacks and largely gotten rid of acid rain. Coal is much better than it used to be -- but it's still the worst, by far, when compared with any other energy source in widespread use. And we still haven't gotten CO2 sequestration proven and deployed. THAT is why they want to get rid of coal power plants.
A generational ship would have to be huge, and therefore insanely costly to build and push across interstellar space, and SLOW. Which means that your crew's distant descendants, when they arrived, would find their destination already long since colonized by AIs who got there much more quickly and easily, and probably any earth-like worlds already colonized by humans who were faxed across and synthesized by the AIs.
A generation ship is one of those things that might be technically possible if there were no other way, but there are other ways, and they are so very much superior.
His position is very sensible, and I honestly don't understand all the massive backlash against it.
I guess I can understand some resentment from people who've grown up on Star Trek, at being told it isn't going to play out that way. But seriously now. . . Star Trek was never even hard SF. It was a 1930s pulp sci-fi concept resurrected into a 1960s TV show, and it was fantasy from the beginning. Slashdot is supposed to be news for nerds. Nerds should know this. We should be smarter.
I also wonder how many of you read TFA? Let me help you out: "Some find this to be negative—an absolute statement of limits and thus of giving up. My job here is to prove the opposite: humans exploring the universe with nanotechnology robotics, bio-molecular engineering, and artificial intelligence is something that is exciting and positive, and is based on an optimistic view of the future."
He's not saying we can't explore space with human crews and colonies. He's saying it won't make sense to, because we'll have much better options. Human beings are very costly to keep alive in space, much more than machines -- so we'll send the machines. With uploading, we may *be* the machines.
In fact, I'll go further. I think we should *explore* Mars with manned missions -- because today's robotics technology is too limited, it would take centuries to explore Mars with robots at the pace we're going. But I think we should *settle* Mars with robots. In this case Futurama is probably a better guide than Star Trek. . .
Fry: So let me get this straight. This planet is completely uninhabited? Bender: No, it's inhabited by robots. Fry: Oh, kinda like how a warehouse is inhabited by boxes.
or else. . . Put the required backdoor in the software for UK customers, then every time they start to use it pop up a warning: "As required by law, this device is not secure! Do not enter any message that you don't wish to be read by the UK government, the USA, China, or the Russian mob."
OK, correct me if I'm wrong here, but. . . Won't a lithium-air battery (or an aluminum-air battery, which is also discussed from time to time) actually increase in mass as it discharges? It's pulling oxygen from the air and then binding it into oxides which then have to be carried around until the battery is recharged, right?
This is why I don't believe most national governments, "green" activist groups or political parties are serious about tackling global warming. If they were, we would be spending serious money on nuclear fusion research -- beyond just ITER, I mean. We need a Manhattan Project for fusion, an Apollo Program for fusion. But we don't have one. The only reason I can figure is that the people in charge don't really want to solve the problem. That would derail their gravy train. Why spend $200 million on a research reactor that might solve global warming once and for all when you could instead ship $10,000 million in "aid" to island nations that are about to sink? The latter plays much better at the UN!
I firmly believe we could have had nuclear fusion power plants up and running by the year 2000 if the effort had been funded appropriately. We didn't put the funding into this in the 1970s or in the 1980s or in the 1990s -- and surprise, surprise, nothing happened! The only thing we've put money into has been ITER, where they squandered many years just arguing over where to build it, and the design is already looking outdated. If we managed the Apollo Program the way we have ITER, people today would be laughing at the idea of space travel. "A moon landing? That's 40 years away -- and always will be! Haha!!"
Please tell me we're not talking about chemical rockets here? A nuclear rocket is the most sensible way to get to Mars, as it can reduce the flight time to a third of what's required with chemical fuel. Then everything becomes vastly easier. The life support and other supplies are greatly reduced. The crew's exposure to radiation and microgravity is greatly reduced. We developed nuclear rocket engines in the 1960s. It's time to use them.
Now, if you want to mine thermal reaction mass on the Moon, sure. . . Why not? The Moon would be a great proving ground for equipment and techniques that would be used on the later Mars mission.
Thanks for reminding me that only the moneyed elites can afford a $350 flat screen TV from Wal-Mart and a sofa, or have any space in their hovel for such an extravagant rig. Because I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I forgot that the masses of ordinary people are living in cardboard boxes and subsisting on canned beans. I am ashame.
Minimum or maximum? Valve haven't been very clear about what the 15 X 15 ft specification actually means. I don't believe it means you require 15 X 15 ft clear space to use their headset. I think what they mean is that a 15 X 15 ft space is the largest area the lighthouse system is capable of scanning reliably. I also got the impression that it can be programmed with the location of furniture protruding into the play area (let's say, a dresser up against the wall) and incorporate that into its boundary warning system. (I'm reading between the lines here. But if I am wrong in these understandings, then practically nobody -- including me -- will be able to use the thing without knocking out walls inside their home!)
A lot of people do have "home theater" if you understand home theater to be as little as a 40 inch flat screen TV and a sofa. It doesn't have to be a 65+ inch TV with 7+ surround speakers and an elaborate seating arrangement in order to be home theater. Some people do have that, and that kind of rig is analogous to the 15 X 15 ft space for VR -- but it's not typical and doesn't need to be.
With movies, the content isn't tied to a specific form factor. You can watch movies on the 65+ inch home theater, but you can also watch them on an iPhone and everything in-between. VR may not have that kind of easy scalability at first. But there was a time when TV didn't either. And we do have the Samsung phone VR thing. . . This is the beginning of the journey, not the end.
For whatever it's worth, I'm remodeling a guest bedroom with this exact purpose in mind. I'll get a folding wall bed, so it can still function as a (spartan) guest bedroom, but with the bed folded up there'll be just about 12X12 feet of open space.
I'm thinking of the comment I read somewhere from somebody at Valve. . . I don't remember who, or the exact quote, but basically: "People already routinely set aside space in their houses for a home theater. If VR is compelling enough, they'll make room for it."
We've already been through this with the now-widely-issued Taser, and I should hope some lessons have been learned.
The Taser was originally sold as a non-lethal replacement for the service pistol, as a defensive weapon. Instead we've seen Tasers widely used as compliance devices -- in other words, as a replacement for the billy club. Instead of thumping or choking an uncooperative subject, now you can zap him until he cries uncle! Rather than issue Tasers as a replacement for firearms, it's now common to see a cop with a Taser on one side of his belt and a Glock on the other -- and when they need to actually defend themselves, the Glock is what they reach for.
I find many people will believe just about anything as long as it doesn't impact their lives directly. They'll believe whatever they find amusing to believe -- and I've been there myself when I was young, with UFOs and other Fortean stuff.
When it comes to something that does impact their daily life -- like anything related to money, for example -- they suddenly become die-hard skeptics and want to see proof of everything.
This is like the reverse of what we had with Apollo 13. I watched it with a friend who was *astonished* to learn it was based on a true story. And yet, even I -- somewhat of a space nut myself -- had barely heard of the Apollo 13 mission when I was growing up. Nobody talked about it. There were no documentaries about it. I was vaguely aware that there was one Apollo mission that had some kind of malfunction and was aborted, but that was all. I had no idea there was any sort of *drama* associated with that.
When the Apollo 13 mission happened, I presume it was all over the news. I don't remember because I was four years old. Maybe all these people who think The Martian was real are just assuming it was before their time???
Keep in mind that Linden Labs are working on "Sansar", which is supposed to be a successor to Second Life optimized for VR.
As for Facebook World? I tried to imagine FB doing something like SL, and then I laughed. . . and laughed. There would be massive culture shock, that's for sure. Just imagine Facebook trying to deal with Militant Nudists, Goreans, Voreans, Fatfur Pokemorphs, etc.
SL is what the word "counter-culture" should have really been coined for.
I can't remember ever seeing a Linux game on Steam that didn't also work on the Mac. I think if you use Valve's tool set to create Linux games, Mac compatibility is a "freebie". This has been huge for Mac gamers. Before Steam, Mac gaming was a wasteland. Now it's viable.
If this logic really worked in the marketplace, we'd all be using Kodak digital cameras, playing videogames on Atari consoles, flying Pan-Am and carrying Nokia smartphones in our pockets.
Back in my day, when we all had to walk five miles to school and back, in the snow, uphill both ways. . . All our assignments were written in longhand. Except one. On our senior year, before graduation, we had one assignment in English class that had to be type written.
And then there was panic, because almost nobody knew how to type or had a typewriter! There was much gnashing of teeth, rending of garments, and wailing about the unfairness of such an impossible requirement. There were even stories of students paying enormous sums of money (like say $10) to other students to type up their papers. My parents dragged a portable Sears typewriter, which apparently hadn't been used in about 25 years or so, out of the back of a closet for me, and I completed the heroic task myself.
Today I was tempted to write one of those posts about how a computer shouldn't be needed for High School English class. Good to know others beat me to it. But you know, the world has moved on. I don't know what it's like out there today, and even if a computer isn't strictly necessary these days for teaching English, it certainly seems like a broadly useful thing for students to have. So I'm not going to judge. The question of affordable computers for students is valid to ask.
My feeling is that a Raspberry Pi is about the best option you're going to find. This is what it was designed for, after all.
Yes, you need at least a power supply and a flash card to make it work. Those will cost a few dollars extra. You can live without a case for a while if you're careful with it. The mouse and keyboard are generic items that can usually be scrounged up somewhere. Then use a TV for the monitor, just like we did back in the old Atari and Commodore days.
It's true that the Pi is a "some assembly required" system, but at least every system is the same and there are tutorial manuals available. It's way better than getting J. Random Computer from the flea market and then trying to figure out exactly what it is, what works and what doesn't, what OS it can run, etc. -- multiplied by X number of students!
It would be nice to imagine a super-cheap notebook computer. And technically it's doable, but it just doesn't seem to be viable in the marketplace. It would be so limited in functionality that only truly dirt-poor students would want it, which means it wouldn't sell in large volumes, which means the per-unit price would have to go UP due to lack of economies-of-scale, and then the whole purpose is defeated.
It's called GNUstep, and it has languished for many years because it's not as smexy like the KDE/Gnome wars.
Also. . . If your goal was source compatibility -- or even semi-compatibility -- with Mac OS X, you'd be forever chasing after a rapidly-moving target.
If we really took this problem seriously, we'd be pushing hard on nuclear fusion research. I suspect we could have had fusion plants up and running before 2000 if there had been research funding. Now it's 2015 and we've got lots of fusion research projects limping along on shoestring budgets, plus ITER which is paralyzed by bureaucracy and international politics. (Remember the 20 years they wasted arguing over where to build it?)
If we managed the Apollo Program the way we've managed ITER, people today would still be laughing at the idea of space travel and joking that "A moon landing is thirty years away -- and always will be!"
My car came with an Alpine head unit in a double DIN slot. Out on the highway, road noise makes listening to music no fun. Although it has USB, I've given up trying to get my iPod to work reliably with it. The navigation is lame. There is a backup camera, but I haven't even been bothering with that lately. I've thought about replacing it with a better unit, but really I can't be bothered. When I'm in the car I want to drive, not fiddle with electronic gadgets.
There's probably some kind of feature to work "hands free" with my phone, but I haven't really looked into it. Not worth the effort.
The car's interior is spartan. It doesn't even have power steering, and I like it just fine that way. I guess I'm just living in the past.
What can I say? I had fun playing Dactyl Nightmare -- which was actually powered by an Amiga 3000T, if I recall right. It wasn't "realistic 3-D", but nobody expected games with photo-realistic graphics.
I'm tempted to blame the Virtual Boy for strangling the first wave of VR development in its cradle.
The problem. . . Virtual Reality is being researched around the world. VR is being hyped in the media. Everyone is excited. Then a major, high-profile game company releases, with much fanfare, a game machine with "virtual" in the name -- but it isn't actually Virtual Reality. At all. People look at it and shake their heads. "That's it? Wow, what a let down! I thought VR was going to be something cool." And then everything just dies. Coincidence?
For what it's worth, I played Dactyl Nightmare in the arcade around that time. It was crude, but it was, in fact, virtual reality, and it was fun (at least to me). But it was something like $4 per game, at a time when most kids were balking at shelling out $0.50 per game instead of the traditional quarter. Maybe that had a hand in killing off enthusiasm for VR too.
quote: "Most power in the US is generated by burning coal..."
Coal dropped below 50% several years ago and is falling rapidly. Alpha Natural Resources -- one of the giants of the American coal industry -- has filed for bankruptcy. They're sitting on $3 billion in debt while coal prices have plummeted as a result of utilities switching over to natural gas.
As for the whole DC power thing... If you have rooftop solar, and you are generating your own DC power, then converting it to AC and then back to DC again (which most appliances actually use) is not efficient. As rooftop solar continues to spread, I suspect we'll see more appliances designed to bypass the AC grid.
Slashdot Mirror
Where's your logic? Why ask a bunch of rhetorical questions when you could look up the answers yourself in five minutes? Maybe because you don't really want to hear the answers. . .
Coal is the dirtiest and most lethal power source by many measures. Yes, we've introduced a lot of environment and safety regulations on coal mining. Yes, we've put scrubbers in the smokestacks and largely gotten rid of acid rain. Coal is much better than it used to be -- but it's still the worst, by far, when compared with any other energy source in widespread use. And we still haven't gotten CO2 sequestration proven and deployed. THAT is why they want to get rid of coal power plants.
A generational ship would have to be huge, and therefore insanely costly to build and push across interstellar space, and SLOW. Which means that your crew's distant descendants, when they arrived, would find their destination already long since colonized by AIs who got there much more quickly and easily, and probably any earth-like worlds already colonized by humans who were faxed across and synthesized by the AIs.
A generation ship is one of those things that might be technically possible if there were no other way, but there are other ways, and they are so very much superior.
His position is very sensible, and I honestly don't understand all the massive backlash against it.
I guess I can understand some resentment from people who've grown up on Star Trek, at being told it isn't going to play out that way. But seriously now. . . Star Trek was never even hard SF. It was a 1930s pulp sci-fi concept resurrected into a 1960s TV show, and it was fantasy from the beginning. Slashdot is supposed to be news for nerds. Nerds should know this. We should be smarter.
I also wonder how many of you read TFA? Let me help you out: "Some find this to be negative—an absolute statement of limits and thus of giving up. My job here is to prove the opposite: humans exploring the universe with nanotechnology robotics, bio-molecular engineering, and artificial intelligence is something that is exciting and positive, and is based on an optimistic view of the future."
He's not saying we can't explore space with human crews and colonies. He's saying it won't make sense to, because we'll have much better options. Human beings are very costly to keep alive in space, much more than machines -- so we'll send the machines. With uploading, we may *be* the machines.
In fact, I'll go further. I think we should *explore* Mars with manned missions -- because today's robotics technology is too limited, it would take centuries to explore Mars with robots at the pace we're going. But I think we should *settle* Mars with robots. In this case Futurama is probably a better guide than Star Trek. . .
Fry: So let me get this straight. This planet is completely uninhabited?
Bender: No, it's inhabited by robots.
Fry: Oh, kinda like how a warehouse is inhabited by boxes.
Yes. That's Mars.
or else. . . Put the required backdoor in the software for UK customers, then every time they start to use it pop up a warning: "As required by law, this device is not secure! Do not enter any message that you don't wish to be read by the UK government, the USA, China, or the Russian mob."
Let's see how that goes over.
OK, correct me if I'm wrong here, but. . . Won't a lithium-air battery (or an aluminum-air battery, which is also discussed from time to time) actually increase in mass as it discharges? It's pulling oxygen from the air and then binding it into oxides which then have to be carried around until the battery is recharged, right?
This is why I don't believe most national governments, "green" activist groups or political parties are serious about tackling global warming. If they were, we would be spending serious money on nuclear fusion research -- beyond just ITER, I mean. We need a Manhattan Project for fusion, an Apollo Program for fusion. But we don't have one. The only reason I can figure is that the people in charge don't really want to solve the problem. That would derail their gravy train. Why spend $200 million on a research reactor that might solve global warming once and for all when you could instead ship $10,000 million in "aid" to island nations that are about to sink? The latter plays much better at the UN!
I firmly believe we could have had nuclear fusion power plants up and running by the year 2000 if the effort had been funded appropriately. We didn't put the funding into this in the 1970s or in the 1980s or in the 1990s -- and surprise, surprise, nothing happened! The only thing we've put money into has been ITER, where they squandered many years just arguing over where to build it, and the design is already looking outdated. If we managed the Apollo Program the way we have ITER, people today would be laughing at the idea of space travel. "A moon landing? That's 40 years away -- and always will be! Haha!!"
Please tell me we're not talking about chemical rockets here? A nuclear rocket is the most sensible way to get to Mars, as it can reduce the flight time to a third of what's required with chemical fuel. Then everything becomes vastly easier. The life support and other supplies are greatly reduced. The crew's exposure to radiation and microgravity is greatly reduced. We developed nuclear rocket engines in the 1960s. It's time to use them.
Now, if you want to mine thermal reaction mass on the Moon, sure. . . Why not? The Moon would be a great proving ground for equipment and techniques that would be used on the later Mars mission.
Thanks for reminding me that only the moneyed elites can afford a $350 flat screen TV from Wal-Mart and a sofa, or have any space in their hovel for such an extravagant rig. Because I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I forgot that the masses of ordinary people are living in cardboard boxes and subsisting on canned beans. I am ashame.
Well, let's do some thinking about this. . . .
Minimum or maximum? Valve haven't been very clear about what the 15 X 15 ft specification actually means. I don't believe it means you require 15 X 15 ft clear space to use their headset. I think what they mean is that a 15 X 15 ft space is the largest area the lighthouse system is capable of scanning reliably. I also got the impression that it can be programmed with the location of furniture protruding into the play area (let's say, a dresser up against the wall) and incorporate that into its boundary warning system. (I'm reading between the lines here. But if I am wrong in these understandings, then practically nobody -- including me -- will be able to use the thing without knocking out walls inside their home!)
A lot of people do have "home theater" if you understand home theater to be as little as a 40 inch flat screen TV and a sofa. It doesn't have to be a 65+ inch TV with 7+ surround speakers and an elaborate seating arrangement in order to be home theater. Some people do have that, and that kind of rig is analogous to the 15 X 15 ft space for VR -- but it's not typical and doesn't need to be.
With movies, the content isn't tied to a specific form factor. You can watch movies on the 65+ inch home theater, but you can also watch them on an iPhone and everything in-between. VR may not have that kind of easy scalability at first. But there was a time when TV didn't either. And we do have the Samsung phone VR thing. . . This is the beginning of the journey, not the end.
For whatever it's worth, I'm remodeling a guest bedroom with this exact purpose in mind. I'll get a folding wall bed, so it can still function as a (spartan) guest bedroom, but with the bed folded up there'll be just about 12X12 feet of open space.
I'm thinking of the comment I read somewhere from somebody at Valve. . . I don't remember who, or the exact quote, but basically: "People already routinely set aside space in their houses for a home theater. If VR is compelling enough, they'll make room for it."
We've already been through this with the now-widely-issued Taser, and I should hope some lessons have been learned.
The Taser was originally sold as a non-lethal replacement for the service pistol, as a defensive weapon. Instead we've seen Tasers widely used as compliance devices -- in other words, as a replacement for the billy club. Instead of thumping or choking an uncooperative subject, now you can zap him until he cries uncle! Rather than issue Tasers as a replacement for firearms, it's now common to see a cop with a Taser on one side of his belt and a Glock on the other -- and when they need to actually defend themselves, the Glock is what they reach for.
I find many people will believe just about anything as long as it doesn't impact their lives directly. They'll believe whatever they find amusing to believe -- and I've been there myself when I was young, with UFOs and other Fortean stuff.
When it comes to something that does impact their daily life -- like anything related to money, for example -- they suddenly become die-hard skeptics and want to see proof of everything.
This is like the reverse of what we had with Apollo 13. I watched it with a friend who was *astonished* to learn it was based on a true story. And yet, even I -- somewhat of a space nut myself -- had barely heard of the Apollo 13 mission when I was growing up. Nobody talked about it. There were no documentaries about it. I was vaguely aware that there was one Apollo mission that had some kind of malfunction and was aborted, but that was all. I had no idea there was any sort of *drama* associated with that.
When the Apollo 13 mission happened, I presume it was all over the news. I don't remember because I was four years old. Maybe all these people who think The Martian was real are just assuming it was before their time???
Keep in mind that Linden Labs are working on "Sansar", which is supposed to be a successor to Second Life optimized for VR.
As for Facebook World? I tried to imagine FB doing something like SL, and then I laughed. . . and laughed. There would be massive culture shock, that's for sure. Just imagine Facebook trying to deal with Militant Nudists, Goreans, Voreans, Fatfur Pokemorphs, etc.
SL is what the word "counter-culture" should have really been coined for.
I can't remember ever seeing a Linux game on Steam that didn't also work on the Mac. I think if you use Valve's tool set to create Linux games, Mac compatibility is a "freebie". This has been huge for Mac gamers. Before Steam, Mac gaming was a wasteland. Now it's viable.
If this logic really worked in the marketplace, we'd all be using Kodak digital cameras, playing videogames on Atari consoles, flying Pan-Am and carrying Nokia smartphones in our pockets.
Zune: you make it you
Back in my day, when we all had to walk five miles to school and back, in the snow, uphill both ways. . . All our assignments were written in longhand. Except one. On our senior year, before graduation, we had one assignment in English class that had to be type written.
And then there was panic, because almost nobody knew how to type or had a typewriter! There was much gnashing of teeth, rending of garments, and wailing about the unfairness of such an impossible requirement. There were even stories of students paying enormous sums of money (like say $10) to other students to type up their papers. My parents dragged a portable Sears typewriter, which apparently hadn't been used in about 25 years or so, out of the back of a closet for me, and I completed the heroic task myself.
Today I was tempted to write one of those posts about how a computer shouldn't be needed for High School English class. Good to know others beat me to it. But you know, the world has moved on. I don't know what it's like out there today, and even if a computer isn't strictly necessary these days for teaching English, it certainly seems like a broadly useful thing for students to have. So I'm not going to judge. The question of affordable computers for students is valid to ask.
My feeling is that a Raspberry Pi is about the best option you're going to find. This is what it was designed for, after all.
Yes, you need at least a power supply and a flash card to make it work. Those will cost a few dollars extra. You can live without a case for a while if you're careful with it. The mouse and keyboard are generic items that can usually be scrounged up somewhere. Then use a TV for the monitor, just like we did back in the old Atari and Commodore days.
It's true that the Pi is a "some assembly required" system, but at least every system is the same and there are tutorial manuals available. It's way better than getting J. Random Computer from the flea market and then trying to figure out exactly what it is, what works and what doesn't, what OS it can run, etc. -- multiplied by X number of students!
It would be nice to imagine a super-cheap notebook computer. And technically it's doable, but it just doesn't seem to be viable in the marketplace. It would be so limited in functionality that only truly dirt-poor students would want it, which means it wouldn't sell in large volumes, which means the per-unit price would have to go UP due to lack of economies-of-scale, and then the whole purpose is defeated.
It's called GNUstep, and it has languished for many years because it's not as smexy like the KDE/Gnome wars.
Also. . . If your goal was source compatibility -- or even semi-compatibility -- with Mac OS X, you'd be forever chasing after a rapidly-moving target.
If we really took this problem seriously, we'd be pushing hard on nuclear fusion research. I suspect we could have had fusion plants up and running before 2000 if there had been research funding. Now it's 2015 and we've got lots of fusion research projects limping along on shoestring budgets, plus ITER which is paralyzed by bureaucracy and international politics. (Remember the 20 years they wasted arguing over where to build it?)
If we managed the Apollo Program the way we've managed ITER, people today would still be laughing at the idea of space travel and joking that "A moon landing is thirty years away -- and always will be!"
Check this: http://www.greencarreports.com...
My car came with an Alpine head unit in a double DIN slot. Out on the highway, road noise makes listening to music no fun. Although it has USB, I've given up trying to get my iPod to work reliably with it. The navigation is lame. There is a backup camera, but I haven't even been bothering with that lately. I've thought about replacing it with a better unit, but really I can't be bothered. When I'm in the car I want to drive, not fiddle with electronic gadgets.
There's probably some kind of feature to work "hands free" with my phone, but I haven't really looked into it. Not worth the effort.
The car's interior is spartan. It doesn't even have power steering, and I like it just fine that way. I guess I'm just living in the past.
The car. . . A 2011 year model Tesla Roadster.
What can I say? I had fun playing Dactyl Nightmare -- which was actually powered by an Amiga 3000T, if I recall right. It wasn't "realistic 3-D", but nobody expected games with photo-realistic graphics.
I'm tempted to blame the Virtual Boy for strangling the first wave of VR development in its cradle.
The problem. . . Virtual Reality is being researched around the world. VR is being hyped in the media. Everyone is excited. Then a major, high-profile game company releases, with much fanfare, a game machine with "virtual" in the name -- but it isn't actually Virtual Reality. At all. People look at it and shake their heads. "That's it? Wow, what a let down! I thought VR was going to be something cool." And then everything just dies. Coincidence?
For what it's worth, I played Dactyl Nightmare in the arcade around that time. It was crude, but it was, in fact, virtual reality, and it was fun (at least to me). But it was something like $4 per game, at a time when most kids were balking at shelling out $0.50 per game instead of the traditional quarter. Maybe that had a hand in killing off enthusiasm for VR too.
quote: "Most power in the US is generated by burning coal..."
Coal dropped below 50% several years ago and is falling rapidly. Alpha Natural Resources -- one of the giants of the American coal industry -- has filed for bankruptcy. They're sitting on $3 billion in debt while coal prices have plummeted as a result of utilities switching over to natural gas.
As for the whole DC power thing... If you have rooftop solar, and you are generating your own DC power, then converting it to AC and then back to DC again (which most appliances actually use) is not efficient. As rooftop solar continues to spread, I suspect we'll see more appliances designed to bypass the AC grid.