How could a device like a Spellchecker possibly emit enough RF to interfere with avionics dozens of feet away? If the avionics were really that sensitive then planes would be crashing every time solar activity increases or lighting strikes within miles of the plane.
An airport near here in Roanoke requires a landing approach that takes the plane very close to a couple mountains, the tops of which are literally covered with antenna blasting high power RF across the entire radio spectrum. Yet miraculously that doesn't interfere with the avionics.
Just because the problem went away about the same time the passenger turned off their spellchecker does not prove that was the problem.
What concerns me the most is that these hundreds of problems have been chalked up to consumer devices, when it could be legitimate problems internal to the avionics. If the are simply written off to external causes then the real problems will not be corrected.
Sure, just like SmartGuns could stop murder via handguns. Only problem is the millions of "old fashioned" handguns already in circulation.
Let's assume that somehow, somewhere, this new "arrangment" between the car's GPS and the police computer system involved a Windows box. Now instead of just taking out power to a few million people, a future Windows Worm could stop millions of cars in their tracks.
I don't think open source is an issue. How many companies have an army of skilled developers at hand to pore over hundreds of thousands of lines of code for a trojan? If every single application every company requires is open source, then tell me exactly who would do all that software development for free?
Assuming this story has any truth to it, the problem may well be the illegal software markets that thrive in both China and Taiwan. If companies in Taiwan use illegitimate channels to obtain software, then they are providing an open door for trojans, and this espionage is exactly what they deserve.
I assume that is a reference to one of the first successful long range rockets - the Nazi V-1 "buzz" bombs. They were powered by a very simple pulse jet engine, where many small explosions inside a one-way chamber would propel the rocket. Launched from Nazi-controlled France, the V-1s would cross the channel and eventually fall from the sky somewhere in the rough vicinity of their targets in Britain. As long as the buzz of the engine could be heard those on the ground knew they were safe. However if the sound stopped then it was only a brief matter of time before the rocket would fall from the sky and detonate.
Many instruments are networked to Windows devices. However the actual instruments almost exclusively use proprietary hardware and "OS". If the Windows machines go down the instruments will still function and can be monitored in-person.
TenTec's RX-320 is a solid rig, but a bit dated. Newer receivers, such as the Icom PCR1000, outperform the RX-320 in every way (VFO speed, frequency coverage, receive modes, sensitivity, filters, notch, etc). Of course it costs more than twice as much, but you get more than 1 Ghz additional receive coverage (100 kHz - 1.3 GHz), which allows it to be used as a scanner, and not just a SWR.
I took a quick look at the Duke3d sources to determine the feasibility of porting to Pocket PC. There is a substantial amount of x86 assembly code, which would have to be converted to C to allow non-x86 builds.
On a side note, I swore Slashdot had a story on my port of Quake 2 to the Pocket PC platform in December of 2001 (3 days after the source was released). I've searched and searched but can't find any mention of it. I also can't find the story that reported the release the GPL'ed Q2 sources. Odd.
Currently Flash memory in CompactFlash Form-Factor is available up to 4 GB. The article discusses the future of flash memory mainly in regards to Cell Phones. If we can easily fit 4 GB of flash RAM into a cell phone today, and can keep miniaturizing flash technology until at least 2005, then what is the problem? Cell phones will be limited to 12 GB of flash RAM? That's 3,000 4MB MP3s, or at least 24 full-length movies at a cell phone-ish resolution (say 320x240 pixels by 2005).
One thing of interest is that for decades both the storage capacity of computers has grown along with the amount of information we need to store. However we are reaching the threshold where the amount of information we need to store will plateau. A perfect example is audio files. We are now storing audio data at a high enough quality that any additional improvement will not be discernable by a person with normal hearing. Thus in the future the storage required for a typical song will not be any larger. On the contrary, assuming that compression algorithms keep advancing, we may actually need less storage in the future for audio data. We will eventually see video reach a similar plateau, where a high enough resolution will be achieved to satisfy even the most devoted technophiles.
Finally, all aspects of networking are improving (wireless, broadband home internet access, etc). The greater the bandwidth and connectivity, the less information required to be cached on the device ahead of time. Think about it - the carriers would much rather you have a cell phone with limited storage capacity if it means you have to consume more bandwidth accessing information from the network.
How is this different than the existing host of streaming protocols? The only thing to be determined is how the set-top box will find the available "channels", and a a billing system for PPV / subscription channels. I'm sure all the components are available and already in use - a massive amount of commerce already occurs over the internet, and every news site of worth provides streaming video.
Freedom of Speech is a right granted to US Citizens while they are in the US. It has nothing to do with allowing foreigners - be it individuals, governments, or media entities - to have any voice whatsoever in our country.
The Right to Freedom of Speech does NOT provide...
Equal distribution of information through mass media channels.
The inclusion of all possible dissenting opinions.
That anyone actually has to listen.
The purpose of the Media in the US is to report the information that people are interested in hearing. That is the only way they can be a viable commercial business, which requires attracting viewers so there are people to consume advertisements. Their purpose is NOT to groom us into better world citizens with a sympathetic ear to the hundreds of 3rd world countries and religions.
Dan East
Re:ABC cuts gore from injured child's Iraq war pho
on
4l-j4z333ra 0wn3d
·
· Score: 1
ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, etc, would never show the mangled legs of anyone hanging off the side of a bed, even if they were those of bin Laden's. The networks never display anything remotely gruesome.
Very interesting. I can certainly see the parallels. The bizarre mormon religion would explain some of the off the wall overtones seen in the show.
Compared to its predecessors (Star Trek and Star Wars), BSG mixes in a lot more mythological, spiritual mumbo-jumbo. Even compared to the latest Star Wars episodes, which tries to explain exactly what the Force is and some of the history of the Jedi, BSG was many times more complex and, well, unbelievable. They should have just stuck with Cylons and the "just trying to get home" theme. There were some episodes that seemed to just come completely out of the blue ("uh, why are my clothes all white?"). I guess the writers took on the same fictitious embellishment Joseph Smith dosed in liberally when he wrote his own "bible".
Does this mean the Sci-Fi channel will start playing reruns of the original BSG again?
There were some things I enjoyed about the series, but sometimes it was a little too off the wall. Hopefully the new series won't have to reuse the same space battle scenes in every single episode.
I am an Amateur Radio operator, and a very important part of the license is that ham bands may not be used for anything commercial. While the internet itself is not a commercial entity, it is a conduit for commercial activity. So my interpretation is that it would be illegal to broadcast internet traffic over ham bands.
This is very similar to how the existing anti-theft system found at most retailers works (you know, those little flat rectangular stickers on higher-value merchandise).
The sensors at the store's exits transmit a weak radio signal. The devices attached to the product contain a very simple circuit designed to receive on that frequency. It converts the energy from that frequency radio wave to electricity used to broadcast a new signal at another frequency. When the sensors detect a transmission at that output frequency they sound the alarm.
The devices at the cash registers that disable the security system do so simply by transmitting at the same frequency as the sensors by the exits, except at a much greater power. This overloads the circuit in the security tag, and basically burns it up so it no longer functions.
All this article refers to is the same system, except that it sends additional information such as an ID. I would imagine that it would be prone to the same input overload, so that if you transmitted a very strong signal at the input frequency it would damage the device so it would no longer function.
Also, we are talking about extremely weak output from this device. It would be extremely easy to jam this signal with a simple transmitter.
Finally, the logistics of such a system would greatly limit its use. Imagine broadcasting a signal to power the devices, and getting back a response from the several thousand items closest to you in Wal Mart. It would be raw static. The only usefulness of such a system at non-trivial ranges would be to track a handful of objects.
For the exact same price you can buy a Casio BE-300 Windows CE 3.0 device with a full 65k color 240x320 pixel touch screen dispay, 166mhz MIPS processor, 16 MB ram, a CF slot and USB connectivity. Now that would make a nice dedicated display unit.
I was referring to EMTs pluging their little computers into the cars involved in the MVA in order to figure out how they're supposed to treat their patients. That is what is absurd and unrealistic.
Notifying the authorities of the fact that an MVA occurred, which is what you are questioning me about, is very seldom an issue. In this day and age most everyone carries cell phones, and MVAs are usually reported many times by different people within seconds of the accident. Of course there is always the rare case of a person out in the wilderness that gets in a car wreck and no-one is around to call for help. So I guess in that case the system could be useful. But, the extremely high cost involved in placing diagnostic instruments capable of accurately detecting a wreck into the vehicle, including the GPS, radio transmitted, and a computer to tie it all together, is a pretty high insurance premium to pay for the rest of us that don't drive already in the wilderness where no one can see us wreck.
On the flip side, what about false alarms and truly non-significant MVAs that signal rescue and fire personell to the scene that would not have occurred otherwise? What if that pulls resources away from other true emergencies, or an EMS vehicle is involved in its own MVA because it is trying to respond quickly?
Again, the primary purpose of the system would be for law enforcement / insurance companies. The actual benefit to consumers would be much less.
By universal precautions I'm referring to the packaging and treatment of the patient. Our protocols state that the patient's spine is to be fully immobilized, regardless of the damage we perceive to the vehicle. The same holds true whether or not the patient was restrained at the time of the accident, whether or not their airbag deployed, and regardless of the speed of the vehicle at impact. If the exact Gs the vehicle experienced was known, it would have no impact on the treatment either.
We are taught that there are 3 collisions that occur in an MVA. The first is when the vehicle strikes something, be it the guardrail, another vehicle, etc. This is what the instrumentation the article refers to would measure. The second collision is when the patient either impacts the interior of the vehicle when unrestrained, or is suddenly decelerated by the seatbelt / airbag. The third is the internal organs (particularly the brain) impacting against the body cavities that house them. The latter two types of collisions are undoubtedly the most critical, and are largely independent of the stress the vehicle itself may have encountered. The vehicle can be brought to a relatively gently deceleration (ie "crumple zones", guardrails that absorb impact, etc), yet the patient can still strike against the dash and windshield with a much more abrupt deceleration.
You make mention of what is referred to as Triaging. Triaging is the categorization of a patient's priority based on their condition, as determined by the medic doing the triaging. This is a very crucial stage of handling a Mass Causality Incident. This assessment is based on the patient's current condition - not what could have potentially have happened to the patient. Perhaps patient A's vehicle did not experience nearly as many Gs as patient B's vehicle during the MVA. Now say patient B is walking around, denies any pain or discomfort, and is talking on his cell phone to his insurance company, while patient A is still strapped in their car complaining of neck pain with numbness and tingling in their legs. That is a real-world situation, and the treatment priority is very obvious.
I guess I wrap this up with an MVA I responded to a few years ago. One patient had obvious deformity and pain in her leg - she had broken her femur. Her husband was standing by the guardrail with no obvious injury. Guess who died at the scene of that wreck? The husband - of a heart attack. The factors that determine who is injured in an MVA and how badly are almost infinite. Have you heard of people who have survived skydiving when their parachute did not open? Why did they not receive an injury that killed them? What about a jetliner that crashes with 200 passengers on board and only a handful survive? This article is talking about using a couple very basic measurements, like the Gs the vehicle as a whole encountered, and applying that to individual patients. I'm saying that of the vast amount of information available to the healthcare provider, that would be extremely low on the list priority-wise.
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How could a device like a Spellchecker possibly emit enough RF to interfere with avionics dozens of feet away? If the avionics were really that sensitive then planes would be crashing every time solar activity increases or lighting strikes within miles of the plane.
An airport near here in Roanoke requires a landing approach that takes the plane very close to a couple mountains, the tops of which are literally covered with antenna blasting high power RF across the entire radio spectrum. Yet miraculously that doesn't interfere with the avionics.
Just because the problem went away about the same time the passenger turned off their spellchecker does not prove that was the problem.
What concerns me the most is that these hundreds of problems have been chalked up to consumer devices, when it could be legitimate problems internal to the avionics. If the are simply written off to external causes then the real problems will not be corrected.
Dan East
Sure, just like SmartGuns could stop murder via handguns. Only problem is the millions of "old fashioned" handguns already in circulation.
Let's assume that somehow, somewhere, this new "arrangment" between the car's GPS and the police computer system involved a Windows box. Now instead of just taking out power to a few million people, a future Windows Worm could stop millions of cars in their tracks.
Dan East
I don't think open source is an issue. How many companies have an army of skilled developers at hand to pore over hundreds of thousands of lines of code for a trojan? If every single application every company requires is open source, then tell me exactly who would do all that software development for free?
Assuming this story has any truth to it, the problem may well be the illegal software markets that thrive in both China and Taiwan. If companies in Taiwan use illegitimate channels to obtain software, then they are providing an open door for trojans, and this espionage is exactly what they deserve.
Dan
I assume that is a reference to one of the first successful long range rockets - the Nazi V-1 "buzz" bombs. They were powered by a very simple pulse jet engine, where many small explosions inside a one-way chamber would propel the rocket. Launched from Nazi-controlled France, the V-1s would cross the channel and eventually fall from the sky somewhere in the rough vicinity of their targets in Britain. As long as the buzz of the engine could be heard those on the ground knew they were safe. However if the sound stopped then it was only a brief matter of time before the rocket would fall from the sky and detonate.
Dan East
Don't get too exited, it's not that type of jiggling frontal nudity...
Many instruments are networked to Windows devices. However the actual instruments almost exclusively use proprietary hardware and "OS". If the Windows machines go down the instruments will still function and can be monitored in-person.
Dan East
TenTec's RX-320 is a solid rig, but a bit dated. Newer receivers, such as the Icom PCR1000, outperform the RX-320 in every way (VFO speed, frequency coverage, receive modes, sensitivity, filters, notch, etc). Of course it costs more than twice as much, but you get more than 1 Ghz additional receive coverage (100 kHz - 1.3 GHz), which allows it to be used as a scanner, and not just a SWR.
Dan East
HP emulators are available for almost every platform you can imagine.
Dan East
I took a quick look at the Duke3d sources to determine the feasibility of porting to Pocket PC. There is a substantial amount of x86 assembly code, which would have to be converted to C to allow non-x86 builds.
On a side note, I swore Slashdot had a story on my port of Quake 2 to the Pocket PC platform in December of 2001 (3 days after the source was released). I've searched and searched but can't find any mention of it. I also can't find the story that reported the release the GPL'ed Q2 sources. Odd.
Dan East
Currently Flash memory in CompactFlash Form-Factor is available up to 4 GB. The article discusses the future of flash memory mainly in regards to Cell Phones. If we can easily fit 4 GB of flash RAM into a cell phone today, and can keep miniaturizing flash technology until at least 2005, then what is the problem? Cell phones will be limited to 12 GB of flash RAM? That's 3,000 4MB MP3s, or at least 24 full-length movies at a cell phone-ish resolution (say 320x240 pixels by 2005).
One thing of interest is that for decades both the storage capacity of computers has grown along with the amount of information we need to store. However we are reaching the threshold where the amount of information we need to store will plateau. A perfect example is audio files. We are now storing audio data at a high enough quality that any additional improvement will not be discernable by a person with normal hearing. Thus in the future the storage required for a typical song will not be any larger. On the contrary, assuming that compression algorithms keep advancing, we may actually need less storage in the future for audio data. We will eventually see video reach a similar plateau, where a high enough resolution will be achieved to satisfy even the most devoted technophiles.
Finally, all aspects of networking are improving (wireless, broadband home internet access, etc). The greater the bandwidth and connectivity, the less information required to be cached on the device ahead of time. Think about it - the carriers would much rather you have a cell phone with limited storage capacity if it means you have to consume more bandwidth accessing information from the network.
Dan East
How is this different than the existing host of streaming protocols? The only thing to be determined is how the set-top box will find the available "channels", and a a billing system for PPV / subscription channels. I'm sure all the components are available and already in use - a massive amount of commerce already occurs over the internet, and every news site of worth provides streaming video.
Dan East
Freedom of Speech is a right granted to US Citizens while they are in the US. It has nothing to do with allowing foreigners - be it individuals, governments, or media entities - to have any voice whatsoever in our country.
The Right to Freedom of Speech does NOT provide...
Equal distribution of information through mass media channels.
The inclusion of all possible dissenting opinions.
That anyone actually has to listen.
The purpose of the Media in the US is to report the information that people are interested in hearing. That is the only way they can be a viable commercial business, which requires attracting viewers so there are people to consume advertisements. Their purpose is NOT to groom us into better world citizens with a sympathetic ear to the hundreds of 3rd world countries and religions.
Dan East
ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, etc, would never show the mangled legs of anyone hanging off the side of a bed, even if they were those of bin Laden's. The networks never display anything remotely gruesome.
Dan East
without the country and state borders superimposed you can't tell what the heck is going on.
Dan East
Wouldn't you rather type in thousands of lines of raw numbers, like we used to back in the days of COMPUTE! magazine?
Dan East
Or it could just be running under an NES emulator. That's probably how it was developed and debugged.
Dan East
In fact, Larson got in trouble with the church elders for "revealing secrets" in BG
Wow, you mean that the BSG personnel had official long underwear too, emblazoned with various cryptic symbols?
Dan East
Then what explains the corrections and other modifications have been made to the book of mormon over the years?
Dan East
Very interesting. I can certainly see the parallels. The bizarre mormon religion would explain some of the off the wall overtones seen in the show.
Compared to its predecessors (Star Trek and Star Wars), BSG mixes in a lot more mythological, spiritual mumbo-jumbo. Even compared to the latest Star Wars episodes, which tries to explain exactly what the Force is and some of the history of the Jedi, BSG was many times more complex and, well, unbelievable. They should have just stuck with Cylons and the "just trying to get home" theme. There were some episodes that seemed to just come completely out of the blue ("uh, why are my clothes all white?"). I guess the writers took on the same fictitious embellishment Joseph Smith dosed in liberally when he wrote his own "bible".
Dan East
Does this mean the Sci-Fi channel will start playing reruns of the original BSG again?
There were some things I enjoyed about the series, but sometimes it was a little too off the wall. Hopefully the new series won't have to reuse the same space battle scenes in every single episode.
Dan East
I am an Amateur Radio operator, and a very important part of the license is that ham bands may not be used for anything commercial. While the internet itself is not a commercial entity, it is a conduit for commercial activity. So my interpretation is that it would be illegal to broadcast internet traffic over ham bands.
Dan East
This is very similar to how the existing anti-theft system found at most retailers works (you know, those little flat rectangular stickers on higher-value merchandise).
The sensors at the store's exits transmit a weak radio signal. The devices attached to the product contain a very simple circuit designed to receive on that frequency. It converts the energy from that frequency radio wave to electricity used to broadcast a new signal at another frequency. When the sensors detect a transmission at that output frequency they sound the alarm.
The devices at the cash registers that disable the security system do so simply by transmitting at the same frequency as the sensors by the exits, except at a much greater power. This overloads the circuit in the security tag, and basically burns it up so it no longer functions.
All this article refers to is the same system, except that it sends additional information such as an ID. I would imagine that it would be prone to the same input overload, so that if you transmitted a very strong signal at the input frequency it would damage the device so it would no longer function.
Also, we are talking about extremely weak output from this device. It would be extremely easy to jam this signal with a simple transmitter.
Finally, the logistics of such a system would greatly limit its use. Imagine broadcasting a signal to power the devices, and getting back a response from the several thousand items closest to you in Wal Mart. It would be raw static. The only usefulness of such a system at non-trivial ranges would be to track a handful of objects.
Dan East
For the exact same price you can buy a Casio BE-300 Windows CE 3.0 device with a full 65k color 240x320 pixel touch screen dispay, 166mhz MIPS processor, 16 MB ram, a CF slot and USB connectivity. Now that would make a nice dedicated display unit.
Dan East
I was referring to EMTs pluging their little computers into the cars involved in the MVA in order to figure out how they're supposed to treat their patients. That is what is absurd and unrealistic.
Notifying the authorities of the fact that an MVA occurred, which is what you are questioning me about, is very seldom an issue. In this day and age most everyone carries cell phones, and MVAs are usually reported many times by different people within seconds of the accident. Of course there is always the rare case of a person out in the wilderness that gets in a car wreck and no-one is around to call for help. So I guess in that case the system could be useful. But, the extremely high cost involved in placing diagnostic instruments capable of accurately detecting a wreck into the vehicle, including the GPS, radio transmitted, and a computer to tie it all together, is a pretty high insurance premium to pay for the rest of us that don't drive already in the wilderness where no one can see us wreck.
On the flip side, what about false alarms and truly non-significant MVAs that signal rescue and fire personell to the scene that would not have occurred otherwise? What if that pulls resources away from other true emergencies, or an EMS vehicle is involved in its own MVA because it is trying to respond quickly?
Again, the primary purpose of the system would be for law enforcement / insurance companies. The actual benefit to consumers would be much less.
Dan East
By universal precautions I'm referring to the packaging and treatment of the patient. Our protocols state that the patient's spine is to be fully immobilized, regardless of the damage we perceive to the vehicle. The same holds true whether or not the patient was restrained at the time of the accident, whether or not their airbag deployed, and regardless of the speed of the vehicle at impact. If the exact Gs the vehicle experienced was known, it would have no impact on the treatment either.
We are taught that there are 3 collisions that occur in an MVA. The first is when the vehicle strikes something, be it the guardrail, another vehicle, etc. This is what the instrumentation the article refers to would measure. The second collision is when the patient either impacts the interior of the vehicle when unrestrained, or is suddenly decelerated by the seatbelt / airbag. The third is the internal organs (particularly the brain) impacting against the body cavities that house them. The latter two types of collisions are undoubtedly the most critical, and are largely independent of the stress the vehicle itself may have encountered. The vehicle can be brought to a relatively gently deceleration (ie "crumple zones", guardrails that absorb impact, etc), yet the patient can still strike against the dash and windshield with a much more abrupt deceleration.
You make mention of what is referred to as Triaging. Triaging is the categorization of a patient's priority based on their condition, as determined by the medic doing the triaging. This is a very crucial stage of handling a Mass Causality Incident. This assessment is based on the patient's current condition - not what could have potentially have happened to the patient. Perhaps patient A's vehicle did not experience nearly as many Gs as patient B's vehicle during the MVA. Now say patient B is walking around, denies any pain or discomfort, and is talking on his cell phone to his insurance company, while patient A is still strapped in their car complaining of neck pain with numbness and tingling in their legs. That is a real-world situation, and the treatment priority is very obvious.
I guess I wrap this up with an MVA I responded to a few years ago. One patient had obvious deformity and pain in her leg - she had broken her femur. Her husband was standing by the guardrail with no obvious injury. Guess who died at the scene of that wreck? The husband - of a heart attack. The factors that determine who is injured in an MVA and how badly are almost infinite. Have you heard of people who have survived skydiving when their parachute did not open? Why did they not receive an injury that killed them? What about a jetliner that crashes with 200 passengers on board and only a handful survive? This article is talking about using a couple very basic measurements, like the Gs the vehicle as a whole encountered, and applying that to individual patients. I'm saying that of the vast amount of information available to the healthcare provider, that would be extremely low on the list priority-wise.
Dan East