That sounds about right. Actually, LEDs and those super-cool bluish neon tube thingies. Not nixies, the little ones. What the hell were they called? Probably early vacuum fluorescent displays (VFD). I built a digital clock kit back in the '70s using them, they came as individual 7 segment displays packaged in what looked like small vacuum tubes with long solder leads.
The tones which the GP cited were the in-band signaling tones sent between exchanges, and were the tones used by blue boxes. These are different than those used by a DTMF dialer. IIRC, the way blue boxing worked was:
Dial up a toll-free number - this gets you on the trunk
Generate 2600 hz tone - the foreign exchange hears this and thinks you've disconnected so it disconnects the toll-free number, but the local exchange leaves you connected to the trunk
Use blue box to generate routing tones for new destination
Well, last time I looked, it was one-click only and no gift cards. It looks like they now support paying with gift cards, but:
If you've redeemed an Amazon Gift Card, Gift Certificate, or Promotional Certificate to your Amazon.com account, any available balance will be used for your digital orders before your credit or debit card is charged. Your Amazon.com account must list a valid 1-Click payment method even if you intend to pay for your purchase with a Gift Card balance.
This still doesn't address my concerns, unfortunately.
Biggest problem I have with Amazon's mp3 service is that they only take one-click payment. Amazon really needs gift cards on display next to the itunes and emusic cards at Target. I have several teenagers on my gift-giving lists who might have gotten gift cards, but it would be insane to give them a direct line into my credit card for anything at amazon.com.
Anybody study the effect of mercury contained in those CFL bulbs? I know many people that use CFLs, half seem to know about the lead, less than half of those properly pay to dispose of them properly. IIRC, they contain about 1/5 the mercury that is released by burning the extra coal required to power the equivalent incandescent bulb. Furthermore, because mercury is gaseous at flue temperatures it is extremely difficult to capture at the power plant, and properly recycling CFs only takes a modest amount of effort.
Back in the day I organized my LPs by color and I found it much easer to locate albums, too. Plus, due to the large size of the LP jackets it actually looked pretty cool as well.
Try reading an entire novel on your PDA I have and do, both on an IPAQ h2200 at 240x320 (an OK Experience) and more recently on an IPAQ hx4700 with a 4" screen at 480x640. The hx4700 is ideal for book reading, you just don't get a page at a time. It depends a lot on the software. Plucker and Mobipocket are pretty good. I read most of Stephenson's Baroque Cycle with mobipocket on a Palm T|X. OTOH, Acrobat for palmos sucks rubber donkey lungs.
Mobi's DRM is a lot less intrusive than Acrobat's as well. I get ebooks from my public library, so I regard DRM as a necessary evil in this case. Interestingly, even though Amazon owns Mobipocket, the kindle doesn't support mobi's DRM, so it won't work with library downloads. That was the deal-breaker for me right there.
A bigger screen would be nice, but then I wouldn't have it in my pocket all of the time, so I'd likely read less.
Personally, my tastes (and needs for a laptop) are really different from yours, as I still am in love with my Sharp MMC20- think the size of a Playboy magazine, and quite light to boot. I'm visualizing a display which folds out of the middle of the laptop, with a staple through the navel.
I think he has a point- 14.1" laptop screens are cramped enough even with my thinkpad's 1400x1050 resolution.. I positively shudder to think what it would feel like to read slashdot on a 3 inch screen at a fifth of that resolution. The design of the browser can make a big difference. I've found on my 1400x1050 laptop that Opera does a waaay better job at zooming the text and images than either FF or IE. On my Palm TX Opera Mini is a lot more usable than Blazer. Even on a Wii connected to a crappy old TV Opera is quite usable.
I hate to sound like a Opera fanboy but one thing they do really well with is oddball screens.
I'm pretty sure that the anesthetic is diethyl ether. It does have the same kind of sicky-sweet odor that starting fluid has. This based upon my memory of lab courses in school and years of driving crappy cars which needed a lot of starting fluid. Those memories are fading, probably due to some kind of chemical vapors....
Automotive starting fluid is petroleum ether which is not really an ether but a mixture of light alkanes. Just to add to the confusion, petroleum ether is sometimes referred to as benzine, not to be confused with benzene, which is definitely not something to be used as an anesthetic!
Furthermore, if they stopped supporting analog signals now, everyone currently watching "cable-ready" TVs would have the opportunity to rent those boxes for the meager sum of $12.95/month/set...
The big advantage you get with sugarcane is that the remaining cane material, bagasse, can be burned to provide heat for the distillation process. Beets have a comparable yield to cane in terms of amount of sugar per acre, but require an external energy source to distill the ethanol, so the overall energy yield is much lower.
A membrane separation method would be a big boon here.
I think it's the ISP's fault, or more exactly their problem. The only way you will get Joe Sixpack to install and update an AntiVirus program is if it's free and automatic. Comcast, at least, provides security software for its subscribers. They still have to take the initiative to go download it, however...
If my memory serves me right the fastest ones are able to do 56kb. Its hardly blazingly fast but its double what you currently have. 56k only works if you have a straight analog connection to the CO. If there's a SLC on the line, the telco is doing its own digital conversion (usually to add additional lines to an area), and you'll never get better than 26.4. This isn't just a rural phenomenon, I live in Denver city limits, and our analog lines max out at 26.4.
digital cable boxes can do alacarte Tv channels right now.
Not true. Cable companies offer packages of channels... What you say about bundling is true, but I believe that the GP was making the point that there's no technical reason they couldn't do a la carte. Of course, those of us with cable-ready TVs and PVRs would be forced to rent STBs, so I'm not sure that a la carte would be that great for a basic cable subscriber.
2) If publishers are really contributing nothing to academic publishing, and just charge high prices and force you to sign away your rights (which I think is a fair characterization), here's a crazy idea: stop publishing through them! Set up your own journals With Blackjack... And Hookers!
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, LEDs and those super-cool bluish neon tube thingies. Not nixies, the little ones. What the hell were they called? Probably early vacuum fluorescent displays (VFD). I built a digital clock kit back in the '70s using them, they came as individual 7 segment displays packaged in what looked like small vacuum tubes with long solder leads.
This still doesn't address my concerns, unfortunately.
Biggest problem I have with Amazon's mp3 service is that they only take one-click payment. Amazon really needs gift cards on display next to the itunes and emusic cards at Target. I have several teenagers on my gift-giving lists who might have gotten gift cards, but it would be insane to give them a direct line into my credit card for anything at amazon.com.
Back in the day I organized my LPs by color and I found it much easer to locate albums, too. Plus, due to the large size of the LP jackets it actually looked pretty cool as well.
Mobi's DRM is a lot less intrusive than Acrobat's as well. I get ebooks from my public library, so I regard DRM as a necessary evil in this case. Interestingly, even though Amazon owns Mobipocket, the kindle doesn't support mobi's DRM, so it won't work with library downloads. That was the deal-breaker for me right there.
A bigger screen would be nice, but then I wouldn't have it in my pocket all of the time, so I'd likely read less.
I hate to sound like a Opera fanboy but one thing they do really well with is oddball screens.
I'm pretty sure that the anesthetic is diethyl ether. It does have the same kind of sicky-sweet odor that starting fluid has. This based upon my memory of lab courses in school and years of driving crappy cars which needed a lot of starting fluid. Those memories are fading, probably due to some kind of chemical vapors....
Automotive starting fluid is petroleum ether which is not really an ether but a mixture of light alkanes. Just to add to the confusion, petroleum ether is sometimes referred to as benzine, not to be confused with benzene, which is definitely not something to be used as an anesthetic!
They'll torment you with uptempo singing and dancing!
Furthermore, if they stopped supporting analog signals now, everyone currently watching "cable-ready" TVs would have the opportunity to rent those boxes for the meager sum of $12.95/month/set...
The big advantage you get with sugarcane is that the remaining cane material, bagasse, can be burned to provide heat for the distillation process. Beets have a comparable yield to cane in terms of amount of sugar per acre, but require an external energy source to distill the ethanol, so the overall energy yield is much lower.
A membrane separation method would be a big boon here.
Somebody should compensate me for having to listen to the idiotic station that the jerk in the next cubicle listens to!
Is it 47?
Well, finish the job:
Maths are a really really powerful tool.
Not true. Cable companies offer packages of channels... What you say about bundling is true, but I believe that the GP was making the point that there's no technical reason they couldn't do a la carte. Of course, those of us with cable-ready TVs and PVRs would be forced to rent STBs, so I'm not sure that a la carte would be that great for a basic cable subscriber.
I'm only one skull short of a Mouseketeer reunion!
Apple couldn't fit the 124-page manual into the compact iPhone box, but you can download it as a PDF.
It's probably on the part of Apple's website that has a sign that says "Beware of the Leopard".