9,000,000 law-suits from "I hit that other car when I was using the auto park!"
Actually manuevering the car IS an issue for most people who have an issue w/ parallel parking, but probably of equal concern is knowing when to stop (or when to keep going).
Also, how long until someone mod's their Prius to be driven by remote control? Between cruise control, ABS and now this auto-park, every bit of the control is now available to the computer. Forget T-1000's, Skynet is just gonna run us all down w/ our Toyota's.
To those who believe their livelihood depends on copyright and patent, I call shens. I've written two books that are "freely" copyable. In both I request $20 to acquire my official version and help motivate me to write more. Guess what? I get the money. Often. With the web, it is even easier to make money this way.
Very well... you the little guy produce something quite nice. I'm a big company, or maybe just a smarter little guy... I'm going to take what you did, and market it myself for $20 versions.
If my version of your work is better, I will get more $20 payments then you.
Point is, patents/copyrights are USEFUL. They PROTECT. If the world was ideal, and everyone was nice, I'd agree--dump all the restrictions... But the reality is that these mechanisms protect people from getting their ideas/concepts/etc stolen.
The very fact that individuals/companies are abusing the patent system shows why we need it!!
...it would also make it fairly difficult to run your ship if no one could hear while being bombarded... 150dB is quite loud, so chances are that the ear protection would be very bulky.
the solution to this of course is to counter-act that sound using a highly directional microphone, some off the shelf PC/DSP equipment, and a big ass amp & speaker
It's not 100% effective, and there are clearly ways to couteract, but at least it will be keeping the Somali's off the cruise ships backs for a while.
Let's also not forget that there are MANY MANY more factors in a decision about where to live.
Aside from the obvious, which is that it may be too expensive to live near where I work-- Maybe I could move closer to MY job, but what about my spouse? And our kids?
Or maybe I work in an area with a lousy public school system, it makes sense for me to drive 45 minutes to work each day if it means that my kids are getting a better education. Private school may be an option for some, but for others on a shoe string budget it's not.
/drives a VW that gets 30mpg //can't afford to live closer to work ///2hr+ public commute involving at least 2 transfers and some serious walking at each end ////30 minute drive
I think Municipalities could probably find ways to offer free wireless internet in their communities if they are creative.
Municipalities could offer any service, like water/power/etc for "free" if they get creative... but most prefer not to. There are required "free" services like police, fire, etc, and there are "frivilous" free services, like street lights, water fountains, parks, etc...
In the case of the parks/water/lights make the area more user-friendly. They/might/ consider offering Wi-Fi in parks and other recreational-type areas, but I doubt it would be anything serious, there are too many details when you start up a project like this.
And don't forget--most municipalities already offer free internet access in the form of internet terminals found in public libraries--Back in the late 90s the library-system of the town that I lived in experimented w/ letting people access the internet via "free" dial-up, I knew one of the admins and he said that after about 6-12 months they discontinued the program because they found that the service was far too often abused, it cost too much to run and administer, and there was a heck of a lot of users walking into the library expecting tech support. In this case you "applied" for an account, which consisted of little more then letting them photocopy your drivers license, and were given a username/password, so there was some expectation that they could track what you were doing. Hopefully any attempts at free Wi-Fi would use something similar (a trivial application process), otherwise it will just go crazy w/ abuse from people doing illegal things via their "anonymous" connection.
PC's are very close to having TV-like user simplicity, but not quite. I'd expect that within 5-10 years we'll be able to see free-over-the-air access to the internet that lets you visit certain types of sites, but right now too many people would complain and it would be too difficult to prevent abuse.
don't laugh... but I own a 98 Saturn SW2 (yeah, the wagon)...
it's computer has a nasty habit of deciding to rev the engine for no good reason...
it's definately the computer responding to some signal that it thinks it's getting... because often I'll be sitting at a light and the engine will start revving in "steps"... 700rpm is normal... then 1100... then 1400... then 1800... then 2200... and it'll usualy stop about 2200... once a blue-moon I get lucky and it will spontaneously drop back to 700, but usually I have to do my little trick:
When this happens, whether i'm stopped or moving (it's a stick shift) if I turn the key to OFF briefly then back to RUN it will "reboot" the computer, makes all the indicator lights flash back on, etc, etc... the engine hasn't stopped spinning completely when the key moves back to RUN so it doesn't require a re-start... I wait about 4 seconds for the engine speed to normalize at idle (700rpm) and either wait for my light to go green, or put it back in gear and continue...
It's freaky... the mechanics have all said "you can spend a few hundred and *maybe* track this down, or just keep doing this since it works ok"
I have this down to science, because some mornings I'll have to do it 3-4 times... otherwise I'm sitting in traffic w/ my engine racing at 2200rpm...
I got Verizon's 1.5/384 service for my mom... she gets 400/80 on average, 700/100 on a good day...
I have Comcast at my apartment in a neighborhood full of houses from the 1800s... I get 3Mb/256k everyday...
My dad has Comcast at his condo about 50-mi outside the city... he gets 3Mb/256k everyday...
Sure we pay another $10-15/mo for Comcast vs. Verizon DSL... but if you use the bandwidth it's worth it.
Esp. if you have no telephone line me... saves another $20/mo...
I have 2-3 friends who have Verizon DSL and report similar "1/2 what they were sold" type of speed levels... but of course the ToS Agreement w/ Verizon doesn't say that 1.5Mb is guaranteed... I think that 90kbps is all that's actually required to not breach the contract on their part...
Taxi? yeah right... even small trips are huge money these days... a 15-mi, ~25-30 minute ride from Logan airport to Newton cost me $68...
A 6-mi, 10-15-minute ride between two points that were both over 20+ miles outside Boston cost me $20...
Costs my grandmother $10 for one-way of a 3 mile ride from her senior home to the grocery story... and that's w/ her old-person discount... only plus side is that she knows all the cabbies, so if they don't get a return fare (not uncommon in the suburbs during the day) in the ~30 minutes it takes her to shop they'll drive her back for free
My hugely favorite thing for damping noise and actually getting work done is called a DOOR. If you don't have one, ask your boss for one. If he's smart and able, he'll get one for you. Your productivity will go up
Well heck, why didn't I think of that! It's so simple! I'll just ask my boss for a private office! Great idea, I'm sure he'll be just fine with it, hang on, he sits in the next cube over so I'll go ask him.
My roommate bought it... I've never programmed it, but it works superb w/ our Samsung HDTV, Motorola DCT digital box w/ 2-tuner DVR, Denon receiver and Denon DVD player...
Had 6 programmable buttons that display their current function on a small LCD...
Has lots of "generic" keys that match up w/ current buttons on other remotes, so you're not always pressing random keys to get the functions you want
Is anyone else sick of the thousands of posts with people chiming in with "Try going outside" or [insert some idea for meeting new people here] type posts that people feel compelled to post whenever someone jokes about being a nerd/geek/whatever, and as a result not getting dates?
Parent, didn't mean to single you out, but you popped up in a huge thread that started with someone saying "I'm a geek, so my sperm have dust on them" or whatever...
does anyone have a real world example of the videos taken by these cameras (the cheap Mustek MPEG-4 ones)? Including audio hopefully...
I like that they're ~$100... but I'm worried that the video/audio quality is going to be complete garbage and not worth the effort...
Anyone done a review/comparison of the popular models? Putting it all together from various review sites is limited at best... direct comparison is better.
$65/mo for 500 minutes + unlimited nights/weekends (starting at 7PM)... unlimited SMS, unlimited picture/video mail... unlimited (within an invisible/unwritten "reasonable use" limit) for data... did I mention that the data speeds you get are over 100/100kbps for download/upload when you plug the cable into your PC? There's Mac and PC drivers easily available too (no linux yet)... And those speeds are not just in metro areas like Verizon's mobile office stuff... I get them wherever I have Sprint signal.
Included in my $65 is the $5 (I think) that I pay for off network roaming... meaning that I think my phone hooks up w/ Verizon's CDMA network... supposedly they will bitch if more then 50% of your minutes are not on their network... but it's never been an issue for me.
Sprint is good if you use all the features they offer... you might be paying $20-25 more then another service for the same number of voice minutes, but their network "feels" as large as Verizon... even in east nowhere Texas, 100-mi from the nearest town, I had decent Sprint signal... combined w/ the add'l features it's worthwhile.
The downside-- most of their premium services cost up the ass though... want a ring tone? $1.99 for 3 months... vs. $2.99 forever on Verizon... Games are similar, you pay up the ass and often wind up with a time limit.
They also currently have no GPS/locator stuff available... I've been told starting in 2005... but who knows... that "2go" stuff that AT&T has is great... it'll find a resteraunt/gas station/whatever that is close to your physical location... which is great when you're a moron and have no idea where you are (me typically).
Agreed... LCD's are much easier on my eyes... bigger the screen the better off I am too... a 17 or 19" LCD in 1280x1024 w/ big font is perfect... you can see plenty on the screen and the fonts are large and clear. The higher res w/ the bigger fonts makes it equal (in available virtual real estate) to a 1024x768 display.
Digital vs. Analog for my TV and monitors has also been an improvement... fuzzy screens make your eyes keep trying to re-focus... I don't know that that would cause glaucoma though, maybe just eye strain and poor vision in general
Another factor I think is the brightness... I keep the LCD brightness adjusted so that when I look it at it isn't significantly brighter then the rest of the environment... particularly in a dark area. I also generally use a black/dark background w/ pale fonts for writing/programming... Your eyes aren't designed to stare at a light bulb...
Re:Similar problem, and solution
on
WiFi Bridging?
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· Score: 1
Do you live close to a nuclear reactor or something? Maybe under some high-tension power lines?
I believe your story, I don't think flash drives are suitable for long term storage...
However... to add my own $0.02... about 18 months ago I lost a 64MB USB key... couldn't find it for the life of me... it had several documents that I really missed and was mad about losing...
I decided to sell my car... found it jammed against the power-seat rail... the external case was cracked from it being ground against the rail when the seat moved, but otherwise it was in-tact, as were all the files... despite having been in a seeringly hot car in the summer and a ultra cold car in the winter (we had plenty of 0*F days this past winter).
anyway... it's a crap shoot... it might last 5 years, or it might not last 5 months...
I still have >90% of my porn from the very early 90s (91/92)... it arrived via 2400bps modem and survived because IDE has largely been compatible over the years... 40MB HD -> 240MB -> 330MB -> 4GB -> Who knows because I've lost count of the new ones. I just keep copying it to the new disks.
I do see a potential problem if you're the type of person who likes to burn a CD, then keep using that CD, or puts that CD away and deletes duplicate copies.
In that case you best bet is to buy archival quality CDs (do they still sell those?) make 4-5 copies, and then make it a point of refreshing to whatever the latest media is every few years...
I came across 4 CDs from the mid 90s that held a bunch of digital pictures (back when you developed film and could get a CD/floppy of the prints)... I re-burned all 4 to a single DVD disk (actually two disks in case one is damaged/fails)... but I also dumped those pictures onto my HD, since space is waaaaaaaay more cheaper then it was back in the 90s.
Maybe it's not as easy as putting pictures in a shoebox and leaving them in a closet for 60 years, but I think it's simple enough. We also have the ability to distribute huge numbers of copies of these pictures/videos to other people for what is essencially no money... so even if you blow it and die with your encryption passwords, someone else will probably have copies of the files.
Slashdot Mirror
9,000,000 law-suits from "I hit that other car when I was using the auto park!"
Actually manuevering the car IS an issue for most people who have an issue w/ parallel parking, but probably of equal concern is knowing when to stop (or when to keep going).
Also, how long until someone mod's their Prius to be driven by remote control? Between cruise control, ABS and now this auto-park, every bit of the control is now available to the computer. Forget T-1000's, Skynet is just gonna run us all down w/ our Toyota's.
we are.
screw you.
To those who believe their livelihood depends on copyright and patent, I call shens. I've written two books that are "freely" copyable. In both I request $20 to acquire my official version and help motivate me to write more. Guess what? I get the money. Often. With the web, it is even easier to make money this way.
Very well... you the little guy produce something quite nice. I'm a big company, or maybe just a smarter little guy... I'm going to take what you did, and market it myself for $20 versions.
If my version of your work is better, I will get more $20 payments then you.
Point is, patents/copyrights are USEFUL. They PROTECT. If the world was ideal, and everyone was nice, I'd agree--dump all the restrictions... But the reality is that these mechanisms protect people from getting their ideas/concepts/etc stolen.
The very fact that individuals/companies are abusing the patent system shows why we need it!!
...it would also make it fairly difficult to run your ship if no one could hear while being bombarded... 150dB is quite loud, so chances are that the ear protection would be very bulky.
the solution to this of course is to counter-act that sound using a highly directional microphone, some off the shelf PC/DSP equipment, and a big ass amp & speaker
It's not 100% effective, and there are clearly ways to couteract, but at least it will be keeping the Somali's off the cruise ships backs for a while.
me too...
Mod parent up!
/drives a VW that gets 30mpg
//can't afford to live closer to work
///2hr+ public commute involving at least 2 transfers and some serious walking at each end
////30 minute drive
Let's also not forget that there are MANY MANY more factors in a decision about where to live.
Aside from the obvious, which is that it may be too expensive to live near where I work-- Maybe I could move closer to MY job, but what about my spouse? And our kids?
Or maybe I work in an area with a lousy public school system, it makes sense for me to drive 45 minutes to work each day if it means that my kids are getting a better education. Private school may be an option for some, but for others on a shoe string budget it's not.
I think Municipalities could probably find ways to offer free wireless internet in their communities if they are creative.
/might/ consider offering Wi-Fi in parks and other recreational-type areas, but I doubt it would be anything serious, there are too many details when you start up a project like this.
Municipalities could offer any service, like water/power/etc for "free" if they get creative... but most prefer not to. There are required "free" services like police, fire, etc, and there are "frivilous" free services, like street lights, water fountains, parks, etc...
In the case of the parks/water/lights make the area more user-friendly. They
And don't forget--most municipalities already offer free internet access in the form of internet terminals found in public libraries--Back in the late 90s the library-system of the town that I lived in experimented w/ letting people access the internet via "free" dial-up, I knew one of the admins and he said that after about 6-12 months they discontinued the program because they found that the service was far too often abused, it cost too much to run and administer, and there was a heck of a lot of users walking into the library expecting tech support. In this case you "applied" for an account, which consisted of little more then letting them photocopy your drivers license, and were given a username/password, so there was some expectation that they could track what you were doing. Hopefully any attempts at free Wi-Fi would use something similar (a trivial application process), otherwise it will just go crazy w/ abuse from people doing illegal things via their "anonymous" connection.
PC's are very close to having TV-like user simplicity, but not quite. I'd expect that within 5-10 years we'll be able to see free-over-the-air access to the internet that lets you visit certain types of sites, but right now too many people would complain and it would be too difficult to prevent abuse.
n/t
now that deserves a funny mod...
cough... 2000 ford taurus has a "mechanical" speedometer...
don't laugh... but I own a 98 Saturn SW2 (yeah, the wagon)...
it's computer has a nasty habit of deciding to rev the engine for no good reason...
it's definately the computer responding to some signal that it thinks it's getting... because often I'll be sitting at a light and the engine will start revving in "steps"... 700rpm is normal... then 1100... then 1400... then 1800... then 2200... and it'll usualy stop about 2200... once a blue-moon I get lucky and it will spontaneously drop back to 700, but usually I have to do my little trick:
When this happens, whether i'm stopped or moving (it's a stick shift) if I turn the key to OFF briefly then back to RUN it will "reboot" the computer, makes all the indicator lights flash back on, etc, etc... the engine hasn't stopped spinning completely when the key moves back to RUN so it doesn't require a re-start... I wait about 4 seconds for the engine speed to normalize at idle (700rpm) and either wait for my light to go green, or put it back in gear and continue...
It's freaky... the mechanics have all said "you can spend a few hundred and *maybe* track this down, or just keep doing this since it works ok"
I have this down to science, because some mornings I'll have to do it 3-4 times... otherwise I'm sitting in traffic w/ my engine racing at 2200rpm...
It's just you
I got Verizon's 1.5/384 service for my mom... she gets 400/80 on average, 700/100 on a good day...
I have Comcast at my apartment in a neighborhood full of houses from the 1800s... I get 3Mb/256k everyday...
My dad has Comcast at his condo about 50-mi outside the city... he gets 3Mb/256k everyday...
Sure we pay another $10-15/mo for Comcast vs. Verizon DSL... but if you use the bandwidth it's worth it.
Esp. if you have no telephone line me... saves another $20/mo...
I have 2-3 friends who have Verizon DSL and report similar "1/2 what they were sold" type of speed levels... but of course the ToS Agreement w/ Verizon doesn't say that 1.5Mb is guaranteed... I think that 90kbps is all that's actually required to not breach the contract on their part...
Taxi? yeah right... even small trips are huge money these days... a 15-mi, ~25-30 minute ride from Logan airport to Newton cost me $68...
A 6-mi, 10-15-minute ride between two points that were both over 20+ miles outside Boston cost me $20...
Costs my grandmother $10 for one-way of a 3 mile ride from her senior home to the grocery story... and that's w/ her old-person discount... only plus side is that she knows all the cabbies, so if they don't get a return fare (not uncommon in the suburbs during the day) in the ~30 minutes it takes her to shop they'll drive her back for free
My hugely favorite thing for damping noise and actually getting work done is called a DOOR. If you don't have one, ask your boss for one. If he's smart and able, he'll get one for you. Your productivity will go up
Well heck, why didn't I think of that! It's so simple! I'll just ask my boss for a private office! Great idea, I'm sure he'll be just fine with it, hang on, he sits in the next cube over so I'll go ask him.
They were talking about when someone owns stock and options are given out...
So in this case the person who is losing value is the owner of stock... the person who is gaining is whoever is getting the option...
My roommate bought it... I've never programmed it, but it works superb w/ our Samsung HDTV, Motorola DCT digital box w/ 2-tuner DVR, Denon receiver and Denon DVD player...
Had 6 programmable buttons that display their current function on a small LCD...
Has lots of "generic" keys that match up w/ current buttons on other remotes, so you're not always pressing random keys to get the functions you want
Is anyone else sick of the thousands of posts with people chiming in with "Try going outside" or [insert some idea for meeting new people here] type posts that people feel compelled to post whenever someone jokes about being a nerd/geek/whatever, and as a result not getting dates?
Parent, didn't mean to single you out, but you popped up in a huge thread that started with someone saying "I'm a geek, so my sperm have dust on them" or whatever...
does anyone have a real world example of the videos taken by these cameras (the cheap Mustek MPEG-4 ones)? Including audio hopefully...
I like that they're ~$100... but I'm worried that the video/audio quality is going to be complete garbage and not worth the effort...
Anyone done a review/comparison of the popular models? Putting it all together from various review sites is limited at best... direct comparison is better.
$65/mo for 500 minutes + unlimited nights/weekends (starting at 7PM)... unlimited SMS, unlimited picture/video mail... unlimited (within an invisible/unwritten "reasonable use" limit) for data... did I mention that the data speeds you get are over 100/100kbps for download/upload when you plug the cable into your PC? There's Mac and PC drivers easily available too (no linux yet)... And those speeds are not just in metro areas like Verizon's mobile office stuff... I get them wherever I have Sprint signal.
Included in my $65 is the $5 (I think) that I pay for off network roaming... meaning that I think my phone hooks up w/ Verizon's CDMA network... supposedly they will bitch if more then 50% of your minutes are not on their network... but it's never been an issue for me.
Sprint is good if you use all the features they offer... you might be paying $20-25 more then another service for the same number of voice minutes, but their network "feels" as large as Verizon... even in east nowhere Texas, 100-mi from the nearest town, I had decent Sprint signal... combined w/ the add'l features it's worthwhile.
The downside-- most of their premium services cost up the ass though... want a ring tone? $1.99 for 3 months... vs. $2.99 forever on Verizon... Games are similar, you pay up the ass and often wind up with a time limit.
They also currently have no GPS/locator stuff available... I've been told starting in 2005... but who knows... that "2go" stuff that AT&T has is great... it'll find a resteraunt/gas station/whatever that is close to your physical location... which is great when you're a moron and have no idea where you are (me typically).
I didn't RTFA...
Agreed... LCD's are much easier on my eyes... bigger the screen the better off I am too... a 17 or 19" LCD in 1280x1024 w/ big font is perfect... you can see plenty on the screen and the fonts are large and clear. The higher res w/ the bigger fonts makes it equal (in available virtual real estate) to a 1024x768 display.
Digital vs. Analog for my TV and monitors has also been an improvement... fuzzy screens make your eyes keep trying to re-focus... I don't know that that would cause glaucoma though, maybe just eye strain and poor vision in general
Another factor I think is the brightness... I keep the LCD brightness adjusted so that when I look it at it isn't significantly brighter then the rest of the environment... particularly in a dark area. I also generally use a black/dark background w/ pale fonts for writing/programming... Your eyes aren't designed to stare at a light bulb...
It's across the street.
how are you measuring the signal strength?
Do you live close to a nuclear reactor or something? Maybe under some high-tension power lines?
I believe your story, I don't think flash drives are suitable for long term storage...
However... to add my own $0.02... about 18 months ago I lost a 64MB USB key... couldn't find it for the life of me... it had several documents that I really missed and was mad about losing...
I decided to sell my car... found it jammed against the power-seat rail... the external case was cracked from it being ground against the rail when the seat moved, but otherwise it was in-tact, as were all the files... despite having been in a seeringly hot car in the summer and a ultra cold car in the winter (we had plenty of 0*F days this past winter).
anyway... it's a crap shoot... it might last 5 years, or it might not last 5 months...
I still have >90% of my porn from the very early 90s (91/92)... it arrived via 2400bps modem and survived because IDE has largely been compatible over the years... 40MB HD -> 240MB -> 330MB -> 4GB -> Who knows because I've lost count of the new ones. I just keep copying it to the new disks.
I do see a potential problem if you're the type of person who likes to burn a CD, then keep using that CD, or puts that CD away and deletes duplicate copies.
In that case you best bet is to buy archival quality CDs (do they still sell those?) make 4-5 copies, and then make it a point of refreshing to whatever the latest media is every few years...
I came across 4 CDs from the mid 90s that held a bunch of digital pictures (back when you developed film and could get a CD/floppy of the prints)... I re-burned all 4 to a single DVD disk (actually two disks in case one is damaged/fails)... but I also dumped those pictures onto my HD, since space is waaaaaaaay more cheaper then it was back in the 90s.
Maybe it's not as easy as putting pictures in a shoebox and leaving them in a closet for 60 years, but I think it's simple enough. We also have the ability to distribute huge numbers of copies of these pictures/videos to other people for what is essencially no money... so even if you blow it and die with your encryption passwords, someone else will probably have copies of the files.