I'll tell you what bothered me most about this trial. There's a reason that Zimmerman went free immediately, and no charges were pressed. The evidence backed his story. It was obvious to all those investigating and the DA, etc, that it was a case of self defense. It wasn't because of a bunch of racist law enforcement officers or prosecutors that tried to sweep it under the rug or somehow distort the facts that Zimmerman wasn't charged. The media and politicians decided to make it into something else. Pictures of a smiling 12 year old Martin were shown continuously by the media. Obama said it "could have been my son" that was killed. Special prosecutors were brought in to try and make something happen. When these prosecutors rested their case, then tried to get anything to stick (homicide, even "child abuse") the underlying desperation and total lack of a case was made even more apparent.
It ticks me off that Martin was exploited by news organizations and politicians to make some sort of cause to rally behind or push agendas.
MS is trying to follow in the mistakes made by Sony. I wouldn't buy Sony DVD players for many years. Why not? Because they wouldn't play VCD or DivX. And why wouldn't they? Because the division of Sony that produces films made sure that wouldn't happen, as VCD and DivX were often used for piracy. Thus the hardware was crippled as a result of the overarching strategy of the company as a whole. They compromised in one area with the theory that somehow the other part of the company would profit more (which is of course incorrect in this case).
The more a diverse company attempts to function as a single entity, the less flexibility the divisions have to compete on a level playing field with companies that aren't so encumbered. It's clear that Sony is finally waking up a little, as they have been quick to point out how the new PS3 allows offline gaming and resaleability of used titles. It's very, very rare for Sony to come across as an advocate for consumers' rights, so that was quite a big change for them.
So in other words, I think this philosophy is going to hurt MS in the long run.
I guess it is indeed a warning sign when a reviewer spends more time talking about the physical attributes of a book than the contents of the book itself.
No you don't. Devices have existed for decades which reflect a laser beam off of a glass window to pick up vibrations. Basically a window acts like a giant microphone diagram and vibrates as sound waves inside the room strike it
I remember reading a slashdot story years ago where researchers were able to determine which keys on a computer keyboard were pressed just by the sound they produced mechanically. I would think it would be even easier to use this technique against a typewriter.
If it's used against "us" then the likelihood of it being detected and disclosed is too high. They can't utilize these exploits carte blanche, but would have to save them only for specific targets, and still they face the risk of compromising an exploit every time it's used. Any evidence collected in this manner is not usable in court either, so it's really only useful for the spy game against high value foreign targets.
According to the story it is Indiana University, not Indian University.
I wonder if scheme was in some way necessary or conducive to running on the gpu, or if that was an arbitrary choice. I still have nightmares of car and cdr from way back when.
The thing I was most curious about was the total wattage the solar panels can produce: 93,500 watts. It takes 2 days to charge the lithium batteries even at 93.5 kW.
The article is light on details, but it doesn't seem possible to always swap out with brand new batteries. Each battery pack keeps track of the exact number of charges and discharges, temperature levels, etc. So essentially the "age" of the battery is known. I would think Tesla would pro-rate the exchanges and charge based on how much newer the replacement battery is. The real question is whether customers swapping the other way (getting an older battery for their newer one) will be paid by Tesla for that difference as well.
Yes, thank you. Playing that game 20+ years ago taught me the futility of playing certain kinds of games against a computer. Eventually I could beat the hardest player (on occasion), but at that point it was very obvious that was only because the computer AI was purposefully imperfect. If I could hit a dozen or more perfect hits then eventually the computer would allow one to score.
With this robot player the entire difficulty is overcoming whatever physical limitations exist in the hardware. It would have to account for lag and speed constraints in the mechanism it controls, but beyond that, I would fully expect it to be able to be nearly impossible for a human to score against it. I had enough trouble against a 7MHz Amiga in 1990, so I can only imagine what a modern quad core is capable of.
VHS tapes were pretty handy back in the day. They had two problems: 1) like other tapes, they tended to jam and become totally useless, and 2) the fidelity was really poor, something like half of NTSC in each dimension which wasn't very good in the first place. So watching a VHS tape wasn't a great viewing experience.
The worst tapes for jamming were the blank ones that could fit 8 hours (160 minutes standard speed) on one tape. The tape was extra thin so more could fit on the spool, and that thinness made it much more prone the jamming up in cheap VCRs (which were basically ALL VCRs manufactured once DVD had gained a foothold). VHS tapes from the studios (movies) were typically very good, and there wasn't a problem with them jamming because they didn't need to fit 8 hours on one tape.
Regardless of the quality issues with VHS, it was such a game changer when it became prolific that I can only look back on it in a positive light. Before that pretty much the only option was watching what was broadcast live, or going to the movie theater. Either way, we did not have any control over what we watched and when. (Yes, I'm ignoring laserdisc or using a film projector at home, because both were read-only, expensive, and only limited titles were available in those formats).
'It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States.'
So what has happened is someone talked a judge into interpreting this to mean it's okay for any amount of data to flow through the NSA, as an implementation requirement, as long as they don't store the data they aren't supposed to. But in order to know what data they are allowed to access they have to look at it first, and some judge ruled that's okay as long as the NSA doesn't act on data they aren't allowed to access.
When I was 10 I had a Ti-99/4A and subscribed to Compute! magazine. I'd type the BASIC programs in each month, and through the process of typing in thousands of lines of code, and then wanting to make modifications to the games (adding more lives, etc), I simply began to understand how the software controlled the behavior of the computer.
Getting the youth interested is key. This brings it mainstream and demonstrates to the youth that it isn't just the elders being old and stodgy and reminiscent, but is something current and recognized outside of their own community.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll tell you what bothered me most about this trial. There's a reason that Zimmerman went free immediately, and no charges were pressed. The evidence backed his story. It was obvious to all those investigating and the DA, etc, that it was a case of self defense. It wasn't because of a bunch of racist law enforcement officers or prosecutors that tried to sweep it under the rug or somehow distort the facts that Zimmerman wasn't charged. The media and politicians decided to make it into something else. Pictures of a smiling 12 year old Martin were shown continuously by the media. Obama said it "could have been my son" that was killed. Special prosecutors were brought in to try and make something happen. When these prosecutors rested their case, then tried to get anything to stick (homicide, even "child abuse") the underlying desperation and total lack of a case was made even more apparent.
It ticks me off that Martin was exploited by news organizations and politicians to make some sort of cause to rally behind or push agendas.
MS is trying to follow in the mistakes made by Sony. I wouldn't buy Sony DVD players for many years. Why not? Because they wouldn't play VCD or DivX. And why wouldn't they? Because the division of Sony that produces films made sure that wouldn't happen, as VCD and DivX were often used for piracy. Thus the hardware was crippled as a result of the overarching strategy of the company as a whole. They compromised in one area with the theory that somehow the other part of the company would profit more (which is of course incorrect in this case).
The more a diverse company attempts to function as a single entity, the less flexibility the divisions have to compete on a level playing field with companies that aren't so encumbered. It's clear that Sony is finally waking up a little, as they have been quick to point out how the new PS3 allows offline gaming and resaleability of used titles. It's very, very rare for Sony to come across as an advocate for consumers' rights, so that was quite a big change for them.
So in other words, I think this philosophy is going to hurt MS in the long run.
Finally someone here at Slashdot is recognizing my true genius.
I guess it is indeed a warning sign when a reviewer spends more time talking about the physical attributes of a book than the contents of the book itself.
Your post was highly insightful and on-topic, until you got to the part where you asked more than one question in a single post.
As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one question per post.
No you don't. Devices have existed for decades which reflect a laser beam off of a glass window to pick up vibrations. Basically a window acts like a giant microphone diagram and vibrates as sound waves inside the room strike it
Wow, I'm citing 8 year old Slashdot stories.
http://it.slashdot.org/story/05/09/13/1644259/keyboard-sound-aids-password-cracking
I remember reading a slashdot story years ago where researchers were able to determine which keys on a computer keyboard were pressed just by the sound they produced mechanically. I would think it would be even easier to use this technique against a typewriter.
While other atomic clocks are better than that, researchers suspect the optical lattice is better still and could one day replace the standard.
So A is better than B, but B is still better than A. Makes sense.
If it's used against "us" then the likelihood of it being detected and disclosed is too high. They can't utilize these exploits carte blanche, but would have to save them only for specific targets, and still they face the risk of compromising an exploit every time it's used. Any evidence collected in this manner is not usable in court either, so it's really only useful for the spy game against high value foreign targets.
According to the story it is Indiana University, not Indian University.
I wonder if scheme was in some way necessary or conducive to running on the gpu, or if that was an arbitrary choice. I still have nightmares of car and cdr from way back when.
Oh come on, guys, again? It's not like this is rocket scie... oh, wait, yes it is.
That joke has not gotten ol... oh wait, yes it has.
Your capacity estimate of the batteries must be way too high. They state it takes 2 days to charge the lithium batters.
The thing I was most curious about was the total wattage the solar panels can produce: 93,500 watts. It takes 2 days to charge the lithium batteries even at 93.5 kW.
The article is light on details, but it doesn't seem possible to always swap out with brand new batteries. Each battery pack keeps track of the exact number of charges and discharges, temperature levels, etc. So essentially the "age" of the battery is known. I would think Tesla would pro-rate the exchanges and charge based on how much newer the replacement battery is. The real question is whether customers swapping the other way (getting an older battery for their newer one) will be paid by Tesla for that difference as well.
A battery pack swap will cost between $60 and $80, about the same as filling up a 15-gallon gas tank,
It costs $47.25 to fill up a 15 gallon tank here. However this isn't California, thank God.
Yes, thank you. Playing that game 20+ years ago taught me the futility of playing certain kinds of games against a computer. Eventually I could beat the hardest player (on occasion), but at that point it was very obvious that was only because the computer AI was purposefully imperfect. If I could hit a dozen or more perfect hits then eventually the computer would allow one to score.
With this robot player the entire difficulty is overcoming whatever physical limitations exist in the hardware. It would have to account for lag and speed constraints in the mechanism it controls, but beyond that, I would fully expect it to be able to be nearly impossible for a human to score against it. I had enough trouble against a 7MHz Amiga in 1990, so I can only imagine what a modern quad core is capable of.
VHS tapes were pretty handy back in the day. They had two problems: 1) like other tapes, they tended to jam and become totally useless, and 2) the fidelity was really poor, something like half of NTSC in each dimension which wasn't very good in the first place. So watching a VHS tape wasn't a great viewing experience.
The worst tapes for jamming were the blank ones that could fit 8 hours (160 minutes standard speed) on one tape. The tape was extra thin so more could fit on the spool, and that thinness made it much more prone the jamming up in cheap VCRs (which were basically ALL VCRs manufactured once DVD had gained a foothold). VHS tapes from the studios (movies) were typically very good, and there wasn't a problem with them jamming because they didn't need to fit 8 hours on one tape.
Regardless of the quality issues with VHS, it was such a game changer when it became prolific that I can only look back on it in a positive light. Before that pretty much the only option was watching what was broadcast live, or going to the movie theater. Either way, we did not have any control over what we watched and when. (Yes, I'm ignoring laserdisc or using a film projector at home, because both were read-only, expensive, and only limited titles were available in those formats).
'It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States.'
So what has happened is someone talked a judge into interpreting this to mean it's okay for any amount of data to flow through the NSA, as an implementation requirement, as long as they don't store the data they aren't supposed to. But in order to know what data they are allowed to access they have to look at it first, and some judge ruled that's okay as long as the NSA doesn't act on data they aren't allowed to access.
I feel like a rebel, reading this story on my iPad 2 while in the USA. Quite exhilarating actually.
how it's possible to create a game in Unity without actually writing code
Kinda like how you can build a car out of legos without doing any engineering.
Amazing, because that's exactly how I envisioned the HIV capsid would look, except in red and blue.
Dig a hole in space?
The results, based on Curiosity's 253-day, 348-million-mile cruise to Mars
When I was 10 I had a Ti-99/4A and subscribed to Compute! magazine. I'd type the BASIC programs in each month, and through the process of typing in thousands of lines of code, and then wanting to make modifications to the games (adding more lives, etc), I simply began to understand how the software controlled the behavior of the computer.
Getting the youth interested is key. This brings it mainstream and demonstrates to the youth that it isn't just the elders being old and stodgy and reminiscent, but is something current and recognized outside of their own community.