So are they planning to completely ignore that, use a different kind of technology (which I think would still probably be not-quite-right by the spirit of that court ruling), or just haven't realized how blatantly stupid it is yet?
Obviously, I can't answer that question directly.
But, people looking to put up 24hr surveillance of everyone likely aren't too worried about your Fourth Amendment rights.:-P
Privacy aside, couldn't they at least use a platform that's better suited to long-term surveillance, such as a small (drone-sized), unmanned airship?
From TFA...
At first, Rutan looked into deploying the camera on an unmanned aircraft to patrol the city's skies, but that proved to be too expensive and faced too many difficulties with Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
Using a conventional small plane "solves all kinds of problems," Rutan said. "It's a lot cheaper to have a pilot on board than a drone."
I bought an Asus X233H 23" widescreen monitor that runs natively at 1920x1080 about 2 months ago for $219 CDN. It's also got a contrast of 40000:1 and a 5ms response time.
It's a really sweet monitor -- the screen size is huge. It also freed up 2-3 square feet of desk space in comparison to my 19" Samsung multi-sync monitor.
Maybe not quite as small as the OP was asking for, but I highly recommend this monitor. The best LCD display I've ever seen.
The real killer for the standalone car GPS will surely be in-dash nav which is bound to become a standard factory option on lots of cars in the very near future.
Actually, I question that.
My girlfriend has a car with an in-dash navigation system (Pontiac Vibe). At the time (model year '03 I think) it was a $2600 option on the vehicle. It runs off a DVD, which we suspect would cost several hundred dollars to buy a new one from GM (we haven't looked into it).
Given that you can buy an external unit for fairly cheap now, I wonder if in-car systems won't end up being comparatively more expensive, with fewer features, and less upgrade capability.
Some kinds of technology when built into a car can fall behind what's readily available at Best Buy. Technology changes quickly, building it into your car might just leave you with dead-end technology.
The lack of a an "autohelm" interface is probably the most difficult to correct issue that the GP mentions, since that would require an outside hardware manufacturer to make it work.
If you really need features like autohelm or a truly ruggedized unit, no amount of cases, upgrades, and what have you are going to make the iPhone a suitable replacement.
At some point, a specialized device is far better at what it does than trying to make the iPhone do things it's not really built for. If you want a marine autopilot/GPS combo, buy something which is built for the task -- the stakes are way too high.
Now, for many people, a smartphone might be good enough most of the time. But, I just don't see dedicated devices going away any time soon.
(Or, if you live outside the US, TomTom - TomTom Navigator is no longer sold to US customers starting with Navigator 7.)
I gotta say, that's too bad.
I'm really a fan on my Tom Tom XL One. Nice big widescreen, had maps of Canada and the US pre-loaded into it, and does a really good job of giving driving directions. I can look up anything by zip/postal code, street address, store a bunch of favorites, etc. So far I've found it has pretty good coverage even of rural roads.
I've found having it mounted on my windshield lets me see my map view while still looking ahead at the road, and it shows the map from the look-down perspective so streets on the map are oriented the same as my field of view. Which is really nice while you're driving but not 100% sure of where you're going or never been there.
I just don't think I'd be nearly as happy with a smart phone that had a smaller screen, or that I had to pay $$ to access the useful features. Most roads don't change very often, but in another 6 months to a year I might pay for the map upgrade just to be up to date.
The only thing it dosen't do is give you real time directions, or have cached maps. Real time directions would be nice, but I think you'd still be screwed with the phone company's version if you go out of cell range.
Real time directions aren't just nice, they're exactly why I bought a dedicated GPS unit -- the 3d look-down view which actually shows you the perspective and upcoming roads. I was in a cab once and had only ever seen the standard 2d map view before -- I was blown away, as he turned onto streets the view changed to match the perspective of looking forward; the second street on the right is actually the second street on the right.
IMO, having a 4.3" widescreen Tom Tom mounted on my windshield in such a way as I can see the road and it at the same time, knowing I've got maps for essentially all of North America already in the device, and that really useful 3d look-down is the best parts of a dedicated GPS. I can read upcoming street names off the GPS mounted on my windshield before I can even see the street sign in many cases. If you miss a turn or there's construction, it re-calculates routes as you go. In some ways, it's like having a Heads Up Display of the roads.
Google maps is nice for looking things up when you're not moving, but while driving a view which shows the roads from your current perspective means you can visualize where you're going and see it at the same time.
I don't see dedicated GPS devices going anywhere. I wouldn't carry a phone as large as my Tom Tom, and a GPS the size of my cell phone would be too damned tiny. For my money, the $200 or so I spent on my Tom Tom was worth every penny. My mother bought one for my father this Christmas, and once he figured out how to use it, he's really come to see the value in it.
I thought we already had this technology, and it was called "flat screen" technology. I swear I'm not a crotchety old man, but I can't stand flat screen monitors/TV's/laptops. All of them have this same effect, when compared to the bright, clear, viewable-from-any-direction CRT's.
Try some newer models.
I'm sitting in front of an Acer 23" LCD with a contrast of 40000:1, with 160 degree horizontal and 160 degree vertical viewing angles, and a 5ms response time.
It's a pretty sweet monitor, and doesn't suffer from much of what you decry. It also runs natively at 1920x1080.
Acer X233H is the model number. Absolutely the best flat panel I've ever seen.
Your post says that VASIMR combines high-thrust with high-specific-impulse.
But the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VASIMR_Engine [wikipedia.org] says instead that VASIMR operates in either high-thrust low-specific impulse mode, or in low-thrust high-specific-impulse mode.
I would put a lot of thought into flying on a plane that was fixed by some guy voluntarily.
If it was just some random guy, sure, then you should worry.
Don't forget, this guy was a real, licensed aircraft mechanic who was qualified to work on this type of aircraft, and would have had a decent chance of working on that specific aircraft given that they had reciprocal maintenance agreements.
This isn't the same as having the fat guy with 10,000 hours in type on Microsoft Flight Simulator fly you in when the pilots have all died. This is what he does for his day job.
Investment is different from speculation which is different from mere gambling.
The way investment and speculation have been handled over the last decade or so, it's really hard to see how it's different from mere gambling -- or, as the GP said, one big legalized ponzi scheme.
Back in the middle of the.COM era, if you had a web-site and a company name, your stock could trade at a value which would be 100 years income. Certainly Enron and lots of other examples tell us that the people who we're supposed to trust are doing not much more than kiting cheques on a grand scale.
The "Slashdot School of Finance" is a bunch of people who have been around long enough (and burned enough in some cases) to have a very cynical view that it really is a fairly shaky foundation with a lot of mumbo-jumbo even the so-called experts can't navigate. Many of us have had options, and been in the markets -- quite a few of us are probably fairly savvy about investments.
Things which are supposed to be investments are totally devalued because their value became tied up in all of those stupid asset-backed paper commodities or whatever they were. Modern "investment" strategy seems to be buy a high flyer, expect it to go up 15% year over year, and sell it before the price drops out so some other poor schlep is stuck with it when it becomes worthless -- which, is what the stock market has always been.
Other than sneering, and not actually making any points or stating any facts, why don't you tell us how the statement
The real problem is that stocks are a legalized ponzi sceheme and should be done away with entirely, it's basically a ponzi scheme through abstraction using machiens so you don't see the other people trying to fuck one another over for personal gain.
is inaccurate, and in what ways the markets are truly valid ways of doing business in which someone isn't trying to fuck over everyone else to get a piece of the pie? Because, quite frankly, I'm inclined to agree with the GP -- it's hard not to look at the state of the stock market and think it's not a big legalized Ponzi scheme.
If you actualy read the article, he admits he doesnt know what was trying to change the default search provider, or what it was being set to. All he knows is his google toolbar said a change was being made.
Also, if you look at the timestamps, the Search shows up at 7:41:27.
The oddly named "gupdate1c99e2ec" below it (as in "Google Update" maybe?) fired off at 7:41:26 -- precisely one second before it.
Maybe he should be looking at items before that "gupdate" item to see what happened before that.
(Now, I've had MS change my default browser before -- I'm just not convinced that what he's got shown matches what he saw.)
Are we talking about the game where you had a little ship and you blew up computerized rocks? This would be the game with absolutely no back story, no plot, no "end game"....
On second thought, this sounds exactly like a Hollywood classic.
Well, then it'll be a perfect gig for Uwe Boll to do then.:-P
Second, it's a load of crap. Fuel consumption is roughly inversely proportional to weight, so on average, less fuel consumption means lighter vehicles.
Surely you mean that it's roughly proportional to weight. As in, the more your vehicle weighs, the more fuel it costs to operate.
Inversely proportional would probably violate several of Newton's laws -- by the time you had infinite mass it would require zero energy to move it, and a tiny mass would require an astronomical amount of energy.:-P
I work for the DoD. There are those of us that work on "black" projects that have covert everything, including travel. It would be absolutely intolerable to have a record of where a car has been, either personal or rental, for an enemy agent to exploit.
You know, for the rest of us, having the government knowing everywhere you've ever been would be completely intolerable.
The hell with National Security -- tracking everyone at all times is National Broken. Unless, you're of the belief that the rest of the citizens should have to give up our privacy but you get a pass -- in which case, you should be fed to a herd of lemmings because you're part of the problem.
This is a shitty idea from a whole bunch of perspectives. Identifying an example as silly as being worried about "black" projects is completely missing the point. Invasive monitoring of your citizenry is not OK -- and this will only get progressively more abused to the point of requiring everyone to have a GPS implant to allow for constant tracking.
Slashdot Mirror
Obviously, I can't answer that question directly.
But, people looking to put up 24hr surveillance of everyone likely aren't too worried about your Fourth Amendment rights. :-P
Cheers
You and I want different things out of a car.
I hope I never find myself confronted with the option of buying computer applications for my fucking car, least of all something for Windows. :-P
Cheers
From TFA ...
Cheers
Oh, I'm betting these cameras will be using FLIR. I believe an umbrella would be completely transparent to that.
In TFA it indicates that they spotted a traffic accident based on the heat of the vehicles and then focused in on the picture.
Your brolly might as well be saran wrap.
Cheers
I bought an Asus X233H 23" widescreen monitor that runs natively at 1920x1080 about 2 months ago for $219 CDN. It's also got a contrast of 40000:1 and a 5ms response time.
It's a really sweet monitor -- the screen size is huge. It also freed up 2-3 square feet of desk space in comparison to my 19" Samsung multi-sync monitor.
Maybe not quite as small as the OP was asking for, but I highly recommend this monitor. The best LCD display I've ever seen.
Cheers
Actually, I question that.
My girlfriend has a car with an in-dash navigation system (Pontiac Vibe). At the time (model year '03 I think) it was a $2600 option on the vehicle. It runs off a DVD, which we suspect would cost several hundred dollars to buy a new one from GM (we haven't looked into it).
Given that you can buy an external unit for fairly cheap now, I wonder if in-car systems won't end up being comparatively more expensive, with fewer features, and less upgrade capability.
Some kinds of technology when built into a car can fall behind what's readily available at Best Buy. Technology changes quickly, building it into your car might just leave you with dead-end technology.
Me, I'll stick with my Tom Tom.
Cheers
If you really need features like autohelm or a truly ruggedized unit, no amount of cases, upgrades, and what have you are going to make the iPhone a suitable replacement.
At some point, a specialized device is far better at what it does than trying to make the iPhone do things it's not really built for. If you want a marine autopilot/GPS combo, buy something which is built for the task -- the stakes are way too high.
Now, for many people, a smartphone might be good enough most of the time. But, I just don't see dedicated devices going away any time soon.
Cheers
I gotta say, that's too bad.
I'm really a fan on my Tom Tom XL One. Nice big widescreen, had maps of Canada and the US pre-loaded into it, and does a really good job of giving driving directions. I can look up anything by zip/postal code, street address, store a bunch of favorites, etc. So far I've found it has pretty good coverage even of rural roads.
I've found having it mounted on my windshield lets me see my map view while still looking ahead at the road, and it shows the map from the look-down perspective so streets on the map are oriented the same as my field of view. Which is really nice while you're driving but not 100% sure of where you're going or never been there.
I just don't think I'd be nearly as happy with a smart phone that had a smaller screen, or that I had to pay $$ to access the useful features. Most roads don't change very often, but in another 6 months to a year I might pay for the map upgrade just to be up to date.
It really is a nice device to have in my opinion.
Cheers
Real time directions aren't just nice, they're exactly why I bought a dedicated GPS unit -- the 3d look-down view which actually shows you the perspective and upcoming roads. I was in a cab once and had only ever seen the standard 2d map view before -- I was blown away, as he turned onto streets the view changed to match the perspective of looking forward; the second street on the right is actually the second street on the right.
IMO, having a 4.3" widescreen Tom Tom mounted on my windshield in such a way as I can see the road and it at the same time, knowing I've got maps for essentially all of North America already in the device, and that really useful 3d look-down is the best parts of a dedicated GPS. I can read upcoming street names off the GPS mounted on my windshield before I can even see the street sign in many cases. If you miss a turn or there's construction, it re-calculates routes as you go. In some ways, it's like having a Heads Up Display of the roads.
Google maps is nice for looking things up when you're not moving, but while driving a view which shows the roads from your current perspective means you can visualize where you're going and see it at the same time.
I don't see dedicated GPS devices going anywhere. I wouldn't carry a phone as large as my Tom Tom, and a GPS the size of my cell phone would be too damned tiny. For my money, the $200 or so I spent on my Tom Tom was worth every penny. My mother bought one for my father this Christmas, and once he figured out how to use it, he's really come to see the value in it.
Cheers
No, but feel free to make yourself a Cone of Shame. :-P
Cheers
You have 10 seconds to comply ... :-P
Cheers
Try some newer models.
I'm sitting in front of an Acer 23" LCD with a contrast of 40000:1, with 160 degree horizontal and 160 degree vertical viewing angles, and a 5ms response time.
It's a pretty sweet monitor, and doesn't suffer from much of what you decry. It also runs natively at 1920x1080.
Acer X233H is the model number. Absolutely the best flat panel I've ever seen.
Cheers
Or, you're Smilin' Bob -- though, not smiling quite so much these days. :-P
Cheers
It's adjustable. That makes it good. :-P
Cheers
If it was just some random guy, sure, then you should worry.
Don't forget, this guy was a real, licensed aircraft mechanic who was qualified to work on this type of aircraft, and would have had a decent chance of working on that specific aircraft given that they had reciprocal maintenance agreements.
This isn't the same as having the fat guy with 10,000 hours in type on Microsoft Flight Simulator fly you in when the pilots have all died. This is what he does for his day job.
Cheers
The way investment and speculation have been handled over the last decade or so, it's really hard to see how it's different from mere gambling -- or, as the GP said, one big legalized ponzi scheme.
Back in the middle of the .COM era, if you had a web-site and a company name, your stock could trade at a value which would be 100 years income. Certainly Enron and lots of other examples tell us that the people who we're supposed to trust are doing not much more than kiting cheques on a grand scale.
The "Slashdot School of Finance" is a bunch of people who have been around long enough (and burned enough in some cases) to have a very cynical view that it really is a fairly shaky foundation with a lot of mumbo-jumbo even the so-called experts can't navigate. Many of us have had options, and been in the markets -- quite a few of us are probably fairly savvy about investments.
Things which are supposed to be investments are totally devalued because their value became tied up in all of those stupid asset-backed paper commodities or whatever they were. Modern "investment" strategy seems to be buy a high flyer, expect it to go up 15% year over year, and sell it before the price drops out so some other poor schlep is stuck with it when it becomes worthless -- which, is what the stock market has always been.
Other than sneering, and not actually making any points or stating any facts, why don't you tell us how the statement
is inaccurate, and in what ways the markets are truly valid ways of doing business in which someone isn't trying to fuck over everyone else to get a piece of the pie? Because, quite frankly, I'm inclined to agree with the GP -- it's hard not to look at the state of the stock market and think it's not a big legalized Ponzi scheme.
Cheers
That would be rule 34. ;-)
Cheers
Cheap is relative. I know people who have spent $500 on a video card.
To someone, likely here, they're going holy crap, I need one!
People spend crazy money on their toys, especially when the price comes down by as much as an order of magnitude!
Cheers
Also, if you look at the timestamps, the Search shows up at 7:41:27.
The oddly named "gupdate1c99e2ec" below it (as in "Google Update" maybe?) fired off at 7:41:26 -- precisely one second before it.
Maybe he should be looking at items before that "gupdate" item to see what happened before that.
(Now, I've had MS change my default browser before -- I'm just not convinced that what he's got shown matches what he saw.)
Cheers
Well, then it'll be a perfect gig for Uwe Boll to do then. :-P
Cheers
Surely you mean that it's roughly proportional to weight. As in, the more your vehicle weighs, the more fuel it costs to operate.
Inversely proportional would probably violate several of Newton's laws -- by the time you had infinite mass it would require zero energy to move it, and a tiny mass would require an astronomical amount of energy. :-P
It just can't be inversely proportional.
Cheers
You know, for the rest of us, having the government knowing everywhere you've ever been would be completely intolerable.
The hell with National Security -- tracking everyone at all times is National Broken. Unless, you're of the belief that the rest of the citizens should have to give up our privacy but you get a pass -- in which case, you should be fed to a herd of lemmings because you're part of the problem.
This is a shitty idea from a whole bunch of perspectives. Identifying an example as silly as being worried about "black" projects is completely missing the point. Invasive monitoring of your citizenry is not OK -- and this will only get progressively more abused to the point of requiring everyone to have a GPS implant to allow for constant tracking.
Cheers
Whirrs? I want a machine that goes ping. ;-)
Cheers
From Apples perspective, I don't see this as entirely unreasonable.
They want to manage customer experience by controlling the environment. An app which can host arbitrary code could lead to exploits or other badness.
Code from the original ROMs is pretty well bounded and not going to do anything unexpected or malicious.
Now, that doesn't mean a bunch of people won't howl about this. But, for the average person buying a iPhone, I doubt they'll care.
Cheers
*laugh* A pedant on Slashdot? Say it isn't so? ;-)
Cheers