One thing that does concern me with the assumption that with greater "power" we'll simply want\need\use greater capabilities is the cost to develop. Right now art costs for bigger and bigger and better games have got to be nutz. Want the resolution to be twice as good, the AI to be much better, and the rag doll effects? Spend ALOT more time building it and then not be able to sell it for more than $50 a pop. I'm sure that tools will also get better but I fear that at some point it will be too much. And honestly, does it have to be photorealistic? Spotted a clip from an upcoming game today - didn't get a chance to watch it at work but the gist of the story was "do we really need it this realistic?". The clip was of a "headshot" in a FPS and was apparently pretty gorey - ewwww! I think I like my games a little bit cartoony:-O
Obviously games aren't the only market but it's a big one for pushing hardware. Time will tell where we end up and we could very well find out that we reach the point of "good enough" before we completely use all of the power we get. It should certainly prove interesting and I look forward to it....
It's apparently running Linux of some flavor so I doubt it's "just" as vulnerable as Windows. However it's capable of running code on it's own so if it was ever taken over you might not even know it - depends on how it's setup. For instance does it reload the onboard code at each boot? That would make it harder if that loadable area was protected.
Could it compromise the host? Sure, if the host is downloading executables via that interface then adding a little special sauce to it doesn't seem like it's beyond possible.:-)
As for removing the possibility of corruption or spyware; I want to know how the hardware interfaces with the OS. Might that interface be vulnerable to some exploit? It will probably not get nailed right away since there won't be (as) many of these out there (like OSX) but that doesn't mean it won't have some vulns (also like OSX). That doesn't mean it wouldn't be worth running to get out of the crosshairs though!
I'm not convinced that a CPU core is going to be faster than a dedicated piece of hardware. Take for instance password cracking, dedicated hardware and even GPU are a good bit faster than a single CPU because the instructions are optimized for it. Just as a math coprocessor, video card, physics card, or even an AI card which is also being discussed are optimized for their specific functions.
Yes, I said math coprocessor. As it happens AMD recently beat Intel to the punch and bought the rights to a technology that is supposed to be so fast it outperforms dual core CPU at math functions. Yup both companies were trying for the rights so there must be something to it.
Think about that if you do alot of math crunching. You may even crunch numbers and not realize it, transcoding or MP3 compressing might benefit from this for instance. If there's nothing to this then companies wouldn't be trying to jump on this stuff IMO. It will be VERY interesting to see how this plays out, AMD already has a transport mechanism to interface with external modules. In fact AMD has already released an interface spec for it and has at least one 3rd party PGA card out there.
I do think that additional cores is a good idea but at some point there are diminishing returns - this is known. Perhaps a completely rewritten OS (and apps) with this kind of hardware in mind would do better but sadly most consumers playing games will be saddled with Windows so umm I don't think the cores will be used to their full potential. Argue that if you want but that's where the herd is right now.
I guess we'll see but my belief right now is that just throwing more cores at it isn't going to be as effective as you might like. Sure would be easier on the consumer though!
No worries, just wasn't sure:-) Interesting Journal BTW, one of these days I'll have to consider putting something in mine! (lol) You certainly seem to have gotten around and seen a great many things. I too recall the simpler days but am truly thankful for the fount that is the 'net.
I have to admit to not tracking Karma too closely, you hit a point where it goes nowhere and it simply ceases to seem to matter. I try hard not to let the AC folks get to me as it seems more often as not it's some kid sans clue. Not worth the blood pressure spike...;-)
At what age do children decide to play Doctor? I can recall a female I knew who used to grab me playing around when I was in like 2nd or 3rd grade but I never thought hey let's both start unzipping to see how the parts might fit together. This guy's kid was younger than that, younger enough that he had what he felt was a genuine concern. He didn't go into specifics as to what they were doing but I got that he had some concerns for the boy's health. I also suspect there was a bit of CYA going on. Perhaps he was also worried that someone might point a finger at him, as indeed they did, if the kid continued playing Doctor with others later on. I didn't ask him as that seemed a bit crass.
In any case he felt he had a legit reason to call in social services so that's what he did. They ran a DayCare so perhaps he had some passing familiarity with how that was supposed to work. Yup, he was probably pretty nieve (sp?) to have done so but in the end they said things were "okay". At least they apparently did the first time around, not sure exactly who was running things the second time.
Hell of a way to learn not to trust the authorities isn't it?
"Restricting where someone can live isn't nearly as big a deal as locking them away"?
I think you'll find that in some cases this can be quite restrictive. There are apparently entire communities where these people cannot live because there is a church, school, or other restricted area within the defined confines of the entire town. Supposedly in some metropolitan areas it's bad enough that these guys have to dwell in industrial parts of town.
Now imagine for a moment that you've been accused but not convicted but because of force of personality or who knows what the accuser\police\friend of the court\whatever manages to plant you on one of these lists. Surprise! Time to sell your home because there's a daycare around the corner. Hell, where I live now I'm within blocks of several day care centers, multiple churches, and at least one public school. I'll bet that if many of us looked around we'd find much the same.
That means that if some conniving bitch, some scared kid, or some fate of circumstance were to occur and such a law were in place in the communities where we all live we could be looking for a new place to dwell. Want to bet your employer wouldn't be happy? The State need not even inform them because you can bet your ass the person(s) who put you there would see to it that it was known or some do-gooder would staple a note to the door.
Get on the list and some whacko' is liable to put up little posters around your home to try and drive you out of whatever neighborhood you do manage to hide in. Think the folks throwing bottles at your home and property would bother to ask you the circumstances of your showing up on such a list? I'm pretty sure that the list won't have ratings like "this one not so bad, this one REAL bad, this one we're pretty sure is a problem so he's here just in case". No, it will all say one thing "he molested a kid" and man if there's one thing most sane people can get behind when they want to lynch someone it's taking care of someone who has harmed a child.
You act like the process to get on this list is really stringent and it might be at first but I'll lay odds that pretty quickly it'll get alot easier. I mean after all the only people on such a list are "bad" people right? So who cares if as time goes on we play a little looser, who's watching? We trust the police nto to abuse their powers so if they say someone should be there we'll put them there right? You're not going to stand up for the child molesters are you - what's that make you?
So yeah, not so big a deal at all is it? Just a little inconvenience while you're chased out of one neighborhood after another trying to hold a job. Sure hope your job didn't require a professional license... Oh wait the career you desire DOES doesn't it?
P.S. I find it kinda' scary the Church suggested this and that it was approved to sidestep that really awkward FACT that so many of their employees have been diddling children for ages. Wouldn't want to oh have a trial or anything would we? Why we might even find that some of the accusations are unfounded - wouldn't *that* be a hoot?
Wait a sec... they have a law that requires the turnover of a crypto key and you're not worried because so far as you know it's not actually been excercised? Gosh, that's comforting huh? Sure would suck if you were the test case though wouldn't it? Laws aren't generally passed without some sense that might actually be enforced else what's the good? It's not like they pull you aside and tell you "just kidding, we didn't mean it" and let you go. You really that unaware of how things work?
Anonymous Coward is what someone gets when they don't sign their name. It's not all one person appearing that way, if it was that person sure would be busy;)
I agree, it's not a great reason and I'm sorry if I sounded angry with you - I'm just frustrated at the situation is all. In a climate where everyone is suing everyone I guess even a perception that you might get sued is enough to make people doing innovative work think twice. I did notice that the Myth site I've used to get KnopMyth in the past is being given one of these systems and is supporting their effort. If those guys build a distro just for his hardware then I'd be all over it. As it stands now I'm eying an Asus Pundit or some other small box to play with....
Umm, what exactly about Myth breaks copyrights? Does TIVO break copyrights? Does MCE? Does SageTV? ReplayTV? The list goes on and on. so far as I'm concerned the idea that building a tool makes you an accessory somehow is crap. If I build you a ladder and you falloff am I at fault? Is a gun manufacturer? How about I link to deCSS source, am I now a criminal? Yes, I know that has actually been ruled a criminal behaviour in this country during the 2600 court case but frankly I find that ruling disgusting. Myth simply does what any number of commercially sold PVR packages do, that's not a crime in my eyes.
If we cannot prove the person guilty for whatever reason then tough - they go free! Or yeah in this new world we nail them in civil court There's no such thing as "I just *know* he's guilty but I can't prove it". Sorry, that's not cool, not kosher, and should never be allowed.
Yes, this means that some folks who are guilty will walk. We knew that when this system was created. It takes victims coming forward, it takes work on the part of investigators, and it takes community involvement in the trial. Sorry, I don't agree that it's okay to somehow shortcut it. Today it's folks we suspect might be child molestors, next week we go after Communists? Does no one remember Mccarthy? Kripes, just look at the numbers of people on Death Row who have been cleared with DNA evidence. Even in our current system we don't always get it right and now some dumbass wants to create lists for people we suspect but can't prove? Wow, just wow....
I know I know - we're doing it for the children right?
Years ago I ran into a friend of mine I hadn't seen in years. We got to talking and catching up. I'd known he had gone through a bad divorce but didn't know the details. Seems he left his wife at her request, moved in with a best friend during the seperation, and then finally got the divorce - only to be kicked out by his friend and find out that HE was the one she had been sleeping with..
He had a child with that woman, even did a paternity test to be sure it was his after the divorce. Life moved on and he found a good woman who had a daugher from a previous marriage. So far so good, she operated a daycare business out of their new home - he worked for a Govt. agency. One day while they had his son for visitation the new girlfriend came upon the boy and her daugher playing a bit of "doctor". Alarmed that his young child would have such ideas he called in child protective services to have an investigation done. The day after the investigation was over with no wrongdoing found he had an officer visit his doorstep to deliver "papers" in a not so subtle manner. This in front of the folks picking up kids for daycare. The papers? Seems HE was being accused of molesting his son by the ex wife! Within a week the daycare business was toast, no one would dare take a chance with their kid right? An investigation ensued and like the previous investigation nothing was found - tit for tat right?
Guess who is now on a sex offender watch list.. Yup, he was! Apparently not one of those "offical" ones run by the Govt but some other - he had no trouble fidning it online after being told. I'm not sure how they worded it to avoid being nailed for slander but sure enough he couldn't get off of it - heh like an RBL! It didn't matter that he had been cleared, these zealots seemed to be keeping his name "just in case" because after all he's been accused right? Mind you this guy holds a top secret clearance that required a regular polygraph to retain and still retained when we last spoke a few years ago. The wife? Well, he didn't levy a specific accusation like she did, just a concern that was checked out by social services. She and the ex best friend aren't on any lists as a result.
Now I understand that parents today want to protect their kids (as did my parents) and that the serious offenders have a huge recidivism rate but does it make sense to put people on lists like this at the drop of a hat? That simply accusing someone is enough to ruin them? To make them so easily found that you can even find their homes on Google Maps? Ya, some are animals but do we strip them of all rights along with lesser offenders? When it's apparently so easy to get on the list? Some kid plays grab-ass in high school one day and gets branded for life - is that okay?
It used to be that sexual harrassment charges were what you had to worry about killing your career and life but wow this is ALOT worse. It's really scary just how over the edge our society seems to have gone. Where does it end? Have things gotten worse since I was a kid or has society just gotten way more paranoid?
I saw that and couldn't help but wonder. Myth is an open source effort right? What copyright exactly are they worried about? How hard would it have been to build a standardized hardware config, tune it to a T, and distribute an image for it? They imply that this is for Myth use so certainly they must have set it up at some point right? They could have at least explained what the concern was exactly, they certainly seem to have no issues distributing customized Linux distros....
Slap an 80mm fan in the XBOX and use XBMC to regulate the temp such that it slows the fan down. It's not too hard to get the bigger fan in there, cost me $8. Had to snap the bottom ears off of it, gring the air guide, and that was it. I can no longer hear my XBOX, it used to sound like a small jet plane. Perfectly silent? Nah but then neither is my DTIVO actually. I'm okay with that, I just turn up the volume a tad. That's exactly what I'd do with a Myth system. I have an MCE HTPC too, that box sits in the other room with a vid cable and IR receiver in my room with the TV. Lots of ways to skin the noise problem....
P.S. The XBOX is an awesome front-end with XBMC. It can't record which is unfortunate but wow is it EASY to setup...
I looked at this system not too long ago after having seen some other Myth type article - think it was on Engadget, might have been Digg - cannot find it now. Anyway while digging I found more than one post or scrap of info on the Pundit box from folks complaining that they were having some issues configuring it for Linux. For those of us who aren't really adept at Linux this might be a bit of a bargain if it held a ready to go image of Myth and skipped those issues.
However reading the article it looks like it comes with drivers and NO Myth at all... Even the "fully" configured one from http://www.lixsystems.net/lix/index.htm doesn't appear to come with Myth installed. They do make the software they've configured available so that's a start. A shame they couldn't have gone just a bit further and made it pretty much complete..
XBMC doesn't record either. Despite his tone he is basicly correct - XBMC is a front-end for video recorded elsewhere.
As it happens I run it myself, it's currently undergoing a ton of bug fixes building to a 2.0 release so it's updated nearly weekly. Highly recommended if you want a SIMPLE way to play video from various share flavors, 'net radio, XBOX games, emulators, and alot more. But no, it's not going to record content for you...
Ball Lightning? Actually.... I'm aware of a firm who's building took a power surge. the first surge simply caused a little smoke from some light fixtures which set off smoke detectors. Since they had had a rash of false alarms the previous couple of weeks the alarms weren't taken too seriously - until people smelled smoke. Even then, no panic but my SO had decided to bail just to be safe despite being told not to worry. Later we learned that they took yet another hit, this one big enough to shoot FLAMES out of electrical items like the aforementioned light fixtures - it drove one woman out of an office screaming apparently, she claims a ball of flame chased her out. The whole building bailed at this point and the guys with hoses came in to ruin the party. Quite a bit of stuff was ruined, alot of it due to the water. Strangely the servers seemed to have survived but they lost cooling to their data center so services have been hampered to say the least. Perhaps an UPS saved the servers but from th esounds of it I don't know how - if they were lucky it was on a different power feed maybe. The place is a total mess and the two floors they occupy are having to be completely gutted\redone and the company relocated for awhile. Talk about a serious PITA! Disaster plans do sometimes come in handy it seems, bet they have updated their's now:-)
Interestingly - the electric company claims they had nothing to do with this. That all systems were just fine and are pointing to the building guys. It's still not clear what EXACTLY occured but I cannot imagine what it must have been like being chased out of an office by flames shooting out of something above my desk. that employee is apparently traumatized enough that they refuse to set foot into the building and I'm not sure I blame them.
So yeah- ball lightning seems to be occuring these days:-P
Well, you're being just a bit vague, here. Was this AFTER a 15 mile trip, or near the beginning of the trip?
If you're using the A/C (as you mention later) that could account for the difference as well. Otherwise, I can't account for that, more than to say you've got an unusually ineffecient engine at idling.
I was nearly at the end of my trip when I came to a stop and watched trip average vs realtime MPG. This was after about 12miles or so. I had the A/C off for the entire trip trying to bump overall average up - I "game" the MFD to see how high I can get the trip average:-)
Sounds like the lowest gear in your transmission isn't nearly low enough. Most diesels (in fact most cars I believe) don't get a 10x performance penalty when accelerating.
Of course, both of these issues could be easilly dismissed if your MPG computer is simply buggy or incorrect in certain specific senarios.
The 1st gear in this trans (DSG) is quite low and it shifts before 10MPH. there's no hydraulic coupling in this trans either and during an average accel it won't get above 2K RPMs. Yes, gas vehicles see a drop like this too, perhaps even worse. Accel fueling in a gas engine is something I've tuned a few zillion times on standalone EFI systems. It goes fairly rich if you want it smooth. Low MPG makes sense when you consider the RPMs vs speed. By the time I hit 70MPH though it's in the sweet spot for RPM vs wind resistance. Oh and this MPG computer *is* slightly wacky - it reads about 13% optomistic:-( I suspect it's because they want it to be close when it breakes in. I will be modifying it to correct this after I can get a good reading over multiple tanks. The last one was 36.9MPG in mostly city bumper to bumper (figured by hand vs the computer). Our other TDI was the EXACT same way but is slowly getting a little better. Once adjusted it's fairly accurate by our figuring.
...and initial expense, and added maintenance costs, and added repair costs, etc. Hybrids like the Prius already take a long time before they come out cheaper than their conventional counterparts.
It's not all about costs. I'm willing to pay a reasonable premium to conserve for the greater good - especially on something that would allow us to relieve some our dependance on unstable countries who don't wish us well. Repairs and whatnot don't scare me off - I do my own work 99% of the time and I'd certainly take advantage of a warranty.
See above. I never said there were no gains.
Besides, car companies claim nonsense in their "tests" all the time. It is all hype, to be taken with a grain of salt.
Even if they get that in the real world, that would (apparently) mean only half the improvements you see with gasoline hybrids, according to the numbers in the beginning of that same story.
You may not have stated it outright but you implied there were no worthwhile gains, that it was an endeavor not worth pursuing. Yes, companies sometimes make exaggerated statements in their press releases, such is life. For what reason would they do this in this case? You seem to argue against a diesel hybrid and when I show you evidence that it's worthwhile and being developed you want to talk about OEM's overstating? Wow...
Not sure what numbers you're reading but they claim 15-50% gains in distance travelled on a tank over a gas engine in a Gas/Electric hybrid. They next claim 25% MPG gains with a Diesel/Electric hybrid over a comparable diesel vehicle. Diesel vehicles already get better MPG than a gas vehicle, 25-30% over gas according to that article. A diesel hybrid would stack those gains it seems which is\was my point...
Current unmodified hybrids aren't plug-ins right now so far as I know. They also seem to switch to gas too quickly. Modified for both plug-in and more electric usage MPG goes up a good bit fr
The used power would be charged from the diesel while cruising, it's not "free". Case in point - idling at a light yesterday I watched my average MPG for that trip drop 1.5MPG just from the 2minute idle. This on a 15mile trip. That was from 47MPG downwards BTW so it's not like I was running around stomping on it. I'd imagine that idling overnight uses more fuel than you realize since idling in traffic is knocking my MPG down a noticable amount on a more effecient engine. I'd bet that if I turned the engine off at each light and then cranked it up to leave I'd add noticable MPG - yes recharging my cranking battery from the engine. As an aside - the A/C knocks off about 5MPG it seems, still testing.
Accelerating from a light is where the diesel is LEAST effecient (just like gas), even doing it slowly it's not unusual to see single digit MPG until you're up to at least 15-25MPH. Now, suppose that the car was powered by electric up to a reasonable cruising speed and *then* the diesel kicked in - just as it does today with gas engines. To think there would be no MPG gain is silly, Diesels may be more effecient than gas engines but that doesn't mean there are no ineffeciencies to be overcome. Manufacturers are already looking into diesel hybrids and I'll bet we see them so argue against them all you want but there are gains to be had despite the added weight. One of the reasons it's not already here is the perception that diesels are smelly and if you've ever visited a pump to fill one you can understand why not everyone might want it in their driveway. http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,66949,00 .html Hrm, 20%+ more effecient than a comparable diesel in OEM testing, still think there are *no* gains to be had?? I told you earlier the OEMs were looking at it and more than one is.... http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid /27514/story.htm
As for plugging in, sure why not? Prius owners are already modifying their cars to allow this and I'd be willing to do so too. A drive to work for me could almost be done fully electric in a modified car except for some sprints at highway speeds where a diesel could kick in at it's most effecient. Probably not a high powered fun ride but for commuting I wouldn't care. As it is I came close to purchasing a hybrid but went diesel for the added room\comfort and MPG that was somewhat close city and often better highway. Getting the best of both worlds would be fine by me!
Yeah, those locks can be defeated that way. Did it with a "floppy lock" while doing a penetration test - they thought they would be cute by using a floppy lock and a padlock on the back of the case. We returned it software broken and floppy lock locked to the back of the case thanks to a Bic Pen top and a paperclip:)
As it happens - I found one of the OLD Kryptonite locks in my garage this past weekend. Need to test it out!
P.S. At DEFCON they also had a professional device for unlocking barrel locks for $150 at two different vendors. I too was unlocking a few locks in the skybox, great fun! Brought home a pick set too:-D
For the most part I agree and yes I understand what you said before you explained it, I'm not new to automotive mechanicals.
That said - electric to augment the diesel at speed might not be a net loss. Even a small amount of additional help could yield gains - yes at the expense of drawing down the batteries. For instance look at the steam generation system Mercedes or BMW ios\was looking at to gain small amounts of power from the heat of the exhaust. That thing makes VERY little power but is supposed to yield gains large enough to be worthwhile. I think in the end that system will be a mess but if the car had electric already a small boost might not be ineffecient. I'd also point out that for passing the added push from an electric would be pretty welcome if the primary motivator is a 3banger slug. Having seen a hybrid or two stomp on it in rush hour traffic at highway speeds I can tell you that they certainly seem to have some impressive acceleration - electrics are good for that.
Hard to start - yes I understand that higher compression will be harder to crank and draw some additional juice over and above a gas motor. I still believe it might be worthwhile and since some manufacturers are looking at it perhaps there's some gains to be had. I believe there will be but until it's actually produced I cannot be 100% sure. I do think an electric for around town with a diesel for the highway is a good way to go even if you do use some added juice in town for starts. It need not be the same battery pack providing power to everything..
As for weight - yes I'm aware that the engine needs to be robust. In fact I mentioned in another post that diesels weigh more and aren't made from aluminum due to the stresses involved. However I'd argue that the added highway effeciency could offset the weight penalty. Currently hybrids perform great in town and somewhat crappy on the highway, having the best of both worls sounds like a good idea to me. It remains to be seen if it will sell however so I guess we'll have to just wait and see...
Umm, I was under the impression that while VAG-COM is an excellent troubleshooting tool and tweaker for things like the alarm\MFI etc. it couldn't be used to adjust fueling or timing of the fueling - no? I have a 2006 TDI with the latest VAG-COM and nothing I've seen in the software has indicated that I could change anything. I'm quite familier with standalone EFI so if there's something in there for this by all means elaborate as I'd be interested in checking it out:-) I've been tempted to chip mine but it has less than 1K on it so far (we have two actually) and I don't know that want to muck with it just yet. Seems to me if you could modify fueling via VAG-COM you could add the fuel without a "chip" or other tweak...
Lean of Stoich smokes or Rich of Stoich? I would expect that it would be rich rather than lean. Stoich is chemically "perfect combustion" (usually not peak power) so if there are additional fuel particles left causing smoke I'd think it would be from being too rich not too lean...?
In the case of this speed record I know they explicitly tried to make sure the vehicle didn't smoke. I'm not sure exactly why other than it wouldn't have been peak power - perhaps to try and promote the idea that not all diesels smoke like chimneys?:-) Pics of a vehcile doing 300+ streaming black would've been pretty ugly...
So far no I've not seen smoke. I'll grant that I'm also not nailing the gas very often - I'm trying to see how high I can get the MPG:-P I expect I'll see smoke, maybe lots of it, on a cold start for sure. It woul also make sense in a situation where you cause it to go rich, nailing the gas and then letting up just as the turbo has spooled up will create smoke for sure as the mix goes rich - I know folks who do this to tailgaters (lol). As a normal course of business smoke isn't billowing out the back....
I disagree. Hybrids are currently no better at highway speeds because they use the gasoline engine at those speeds. How about we use a diesel instead? The VW Lupo was supposedly getting 85MPG and Jetta TDI can get as high as 50MPG in highway settings. Now augment that with a little electric at speed and see where you end up. In stop and go a diesel vs a gas hybrid won't see much advantage but on the highway it certainly would. Combine the strengths of the two drivetrains - diesel for highway electric for city.
Diesel idle effeciently, yes, however no motor running vs any motor running is going to be an easy call. Diesel engines also aren't any harder to start than a gas powered model - I know because I am DRIVING one now. Starts right up with no glow plug issues etc. Yeah, on a cold day it will take longer when cold but the electric could already be moving on it's electric motor while the diesel motor was warmed\fired. I don't see "hard starting" as an issue.
Lastly, why would a diesel hybrid be significantly heavier? Yes, the diesel would likely be all iron but in a small displacement 3cylinder I don't see that being too much of an issue.
Hrm, I also wonder about a diesel driving a generator ala hybrid electric locomotive. Dunno' how that would be any better but am curious.
Slashdot Mirror
Awww, you beat me to it! :-)
:-O
One thing that does concern me with the assumption that with greater "power" we'll simply want\need\use greater capabilities is the cost to develop. Right now art costs for bigger and bigger and better games have got to be nutz. Want the resolution to be twice as good, the AI to be much better, and the rag doll effects? Spend ALOT more time building it and then not be able to sell it for more than $50 a pop. I'm sure that tools will also get better but I fear that at some point it will be too much. And honestly, does it have to be photorealistic? Spotted a clip from an upcoming game today - didn't get a chance to watch it at work but the gist of the story was "do we really need it this realistic?". The clip was of a "headshot" in a FPS and was apparently pretty gorey - ewwww! I think I like my games a little bit cartoony
Obviously games aren't the only market but it's a big one for pushing hardware. Time will tell where we end up and we could very well find out that we reach the point of "good enough" before we completely use all of the power we get. It should certainly prove interesting and I look forward to it....
It's apparently running Linux of some flavor so I doubt it's "just" as vulnerable as Windows. However it's capable of running code on it's own so if it was ever taken over you might not even know it - depends on how it's setup. For instance does it reload the onboard code at each boot? That would make it harder if that loadable area was protected.
:-)
Could it compromise the host? Sure, if the host is downloading executables via that interface then adding a little special sauce to it doesn't seem like it's beyond possible.
As for removing the possibility of corruption or spyware; I want to know how the hardware interfaces with the OS. Might that interface be vulnerable to some exploit? It will probably not get nailed right away since there won't be (as) many of these out there (like OSX) but that doesn't mean it won't have some vulns (also like OSX). That doesn't mean it wouldn't be worth running to get out of the crosshairs though!
I'm not convinced that a CPU core is going to be faster than a dedicated piece of hardware. Take for instance password cracking, dedicated hardware and even GPU are a good bit faster than a single CPU because the instructions are optimized for it. Just as a math coprocessor, video card, physics card, or even an AI card which is also being discussed are optimized for their specific functions.
Yes, I said math coprocessor. As it happens AMD recently beat Intel to the punch and bought the rights to a technology that is supposed to be so fast it outperforms dual core CPU at math functions. Yup both companies were trying for the rights so there must be something to it.
Think about that if you do alot of math crunching. You may even crunch numbers and not realize it, transcoding or MP3 compressing might benefit from this for instance. If there's nothing to this then companies wouldn't be trying to jump on this stuff IMO. It will be VERY interesting to see how this plays out, AMD already has a transport mechanism to interface with external modules. In fact AMD has already released an interface spec for it and has at least one 3rd party PGA card out there.
I do think that additional cores is a good idea but at some point there are diminishing returns - this is known. Perhaps a completely rewritten OS (and apps) with this kind of hardware in mind would do better but sadly most consumers playing games will be saddled with Windows so umm I don't think the cores will be used to their full potential. Argue that if you want but that's where the herd is right now.
I guess we'll see but my belief right now is that just throwing more cores at it isn't going to be as effective as you might like. Sure would be easier on the consumer though!
No worries, just wasn't sure :-) Interesting Journal BTW, one of these days I'll have to consider putting something in mine! (lol) You certainly seem to have gotten around and seen a great many things. I too recall the simpler days but am truly thankful for the fount that is the 'net.
;-)
I have to admit to not tracking Karma too closely, you hit a point where it goes nowhere and it simply ceases to seem to matter. I try hard not to let the AC folks get to me as it seems more often as not it's some kid sans clue. Not worth the blood pressure spike...
Take care!
At what age do children decide to play Doctor? I can recall a female I knew who used to grab me playing around when I was in like 2nd or 3rd grade but I never thought hey let's both start unzipping to see how the parts might fit together. This guy's kid was younger than that, younger enough that he had what he felt was a genuine concern. He didn't go into specifics as to what they were doing but I got that he had some concerns for the boy's health. I also suspect there was a bit of CYA going on. Perhaps he was also worried that someone might point a finger at him, as indeed they did, if the kid continued playing Doctor with others later on. I didn't ask him as that seemed a bit crass.
In any case he felt he had a legit reason to call in social services so that's what he did. They ran a DayCare so perhaps he had some passing familiarity with how that was supposed to work. Yup, he was probably pretty nieve (sp?) to have done so but in the end they said things were "okay". At least they apparently did the first time around, not sure exactly who was running things the second time.
Hell of a way to learn not to trust the authorities isn't it?
"Restricting where someone can live isn't nearly as big a deal as locking them away"?
I think you'll find that in some cases this can be quite restrictive. There are apparently entire communities where these people cannot live because there is a church, school, or other restricted area within the defined confines of the entire town. Supposedly in some metropolitan areas it's bad enough that these guys have to dwell in industrial parts of town.
Now imagine for a moment that you've been accused but not convicted but because of force of personality or who knows what the accuser\police\friend of the court\whatever manages to plant you on one of these lists. Surprise! Time to sell your home because there's a daycare around the corner. Hell, where I live now I'm within blocks of several day care centers, multiple churches, and at least one public school. I'll bet that if many of us looked around we'd find much the same.
That means that if some conniving bitch, some scared kid, or some fate of circumstance were to occur and such a law were in place in the communities where we all live we could be looking for a new place to dwell. Want to bet your employer wouldn't be happy? The State need not even inform them because you can bet your ass the person(s) who put you there would see to it that it was known or some do-gooder would staple a note to the door.
Get on the list and some whacko' is liable to put up little posters around your home to try and drive you out of whatever neighborhood you do manage to hide in. Think the folks throwing bottles at your home and property would bother to ask you the circumstances of your showing up on such a list? I'm pretty sure that the list won't have ratings like "this one not so bad, this one REAL bad, this one we're pretty sure is a problem so he's here just in case". No, it will all say one thing "he molested a kid" and man if there's one thing most sane people can get behind when they want to lynch someone it's taking care of someone who has harmed a child.
You act like the process to get on this list is really stringent and it might be at first but I'll lay odds that pretty quickly it'll get alot easier. I mean after all the only people on such a list are "bad" people right? So who cares if as time goes on we play a little looser, who's watching? We trust the police nto to abuse their powers so if they say someone should be there we'll put them there right? You're not going to stand up for the child molesters are you - what's that make you?
So yeah, not so big a deal at all is it? Just a little inconvenience while you're chased out of one neighborhood after another trying to hold a job. Sure hope your job didn't require a professional license... Oh wait the career you desire DOES doesn't it?
P.S. I find it kinda' scary the Church suggested this and that it was approved to sidestep that really awkward FACT that so many of their employees have been diddling children for ages. Wouldn't want to oh have a trial or anything would we? Why we might even find that some of the accusations are unfounded - wouldn't *that* be a hoot?
Wait a sec... they have a law that requires the turnover of a crypto key and you're not worried because so far as you know it's not actually been excercised? Gosh, that's comforting huh? Sure would suck if you were the test case though wouldn't it? Laws aren't generally passed without some sense that might actually be enforced else what's the good? It's not like they pull you aside and tell you "just kidding, we didn't mean it" and let you go. You really that unaware of how things work?
Anonymous Coward is what someone gets when they don't sign their name. It's not all one person appearing that way, if it was that person sure would be busy ;)
I agree, it's not a great reason and I'm sorry if I sounded angry with you - I'm just frustrated at the situation is all. In a climate where everyone is suing everyone I guess even a perception that you might get sued is enough to make people doing innovative work think twice. I did notice that the Myth site I've used to get KnopMyth in the past is being given one of these systems and is supporting their effort. If those guys build a distro just for his hardware then I'd be all over it. As it stands now I'm eying an Asus Pundit or some other small box to play with....
Umm, what exactly about Myth breaks copyrights? Does TIVO break copyrights? Does MCE? Does SageTV? ReplayTV? The list goes on and on. so far as I'm concerned the idea that building a tool makes you an accessory somehow is crap. If I build you a ladder and you falloff am I at fault? Is a gun manufacturer? How about I link to deCSS source, am I now a criminal? Yes, I know that has actually been ruled a criminal behaviour in this country during the 2600 court case but frankly I find that ruling disgusting. Myth simply does what any number of commercially sold PVR packages do, that's not a crime in my eyes.
If we cannot prove the person guilty for whatever reason then tough - they go free! Or yeah in this new world we nail them in civil court There's no such thing as "I just *know* he's guilty but I can't prove it". Sorry, that's not cool, not kosher, and should never be allowed.
Yes, this means that some folks who are guilty will walk. We knew that when this system was created. It takes victims coming forward, it takes work on the part of investigators, and it takes community involvement in the trial. Sorry, I don't agree that it's okay to somehow shortcut it. Today it's folks we suspect might be child molestors, next week we go after Communists? Does no one remember Mccarthy? Kripes, just look at the numbers of people on Death Row who have been cleared with DNA evidence. Even in our current system we don't always get it right and now some dumbass wants to create lists for people we suspect but can't prove? Wow, just wow....
I know I know - we're doing it for the children right?
Years ago I ran into a friend of mine I hadn't seen in years. We got to talking and catching up. I'd known he had gone through a bad divorce but didn't know the details. Seems he left his wife at her request, moved in with a best friend during the seperation, and then finally got the divorce - only to be kicked out by his friend and find out that HE was the one she had been sleeping with..
He had a child with that woman, even did a paternity test to be sure it was his after the divorce. Life moved on and he found a good woman who had a daugher from a previous marriage. So far so good, she operated a daycare business out of their new home - he worked for a Govt. agency. One day while they had his son for visitation the new girlfriend came upon the boy and her daugher playing a bit of "doctor". Alarmed that his young child would have such ideas he called in child protective services to have an investigation done. The day after the investigation was over with no wrongdoing found he had an officer visit his doorstep to deliver "papers" in a not so subtle manner. This in front of the folks picking up kids for daycare. The papers? Seems HE was being accused of molesting his son by the ex wife! Within a week the daycare business was toast, no one would dare take a chance with their kid right? An investigation ensued and like the previous investigation nothing was found - tit for tat right?
Guess who is now on a sex offender watch list.. Yup, he was! Apparently not one of those "offical" ones run by the Govt but some other - he had no trouble fidning it online after being told. I'm not sure how they worded it to avoid being nailed for slander but sure enough he couldn't get off of it - heh like an RBL! It didn't matter that he had been cleared, these zealots seemed to be keeping his name "just in case" because after all he's been accused right? Mind you this guy holds a top secret clearance that required a regular polygraph to retain and still retained when we last spoke a few years ago. The wife? Well, he didn't levy a specific accusation like she did, just a concern that was checked out by social services. She and the ex best friend aren't on any lists as a result.
Now I understand that parents today want to protect their kids (as did my parents) and that the serious offenders have a huge recidivism rate but does it make sense to put people on lists like this at the drop of a hat? That simply accusing someone is enough to ruin them? To make them so easily found that you can even find their homes on Google Maps? Ya, some are animals but do we strip them of all rights along with lesser offenders? When it's apparently so easy to get on the list? Some kid plays grab-ass in high school one day and gets branded for life - is that okay?
It used to be that sexual harrassment charges were what you had to worry about killing your career and life but wow this is ALOT worse. It's really scary just how over the edge our society seems to have gone. Where does it end? Have things gotten worse since I was a kid or has society just gotten way more paranoid?
I saw that and couldn't help but wonder. Myth is an open source effort right? What copyright exactly are they worried about? How hard would it have been to build a standardized hardware config, tune it to a T, and distribute an image for it? They imply that this is for Myth use so certainly they must have set it up at some point right? They could have at least explained what the concern was exactly, they certainly seem to have no issues distributing customized Linux distros....
Slap an 80mm fan in the XBOX and use XBMC to regulate the temp such that it slows the fan down. It's not too hard to get the bigger fan in there, cost me $8. Had to snap the bottom ears off of it, gring the air guide, and that was it. I can no longer hear my XBOX, it used to sound like a small jet plane. Perfectly silent? Nah but then neither is my DTIVO actually. I'm okay with that, I just turn up the volume a tad. That's exactly what I'd do with a Myth system. I have an MCE HTPC too, that box sits in the other room with a vid cable and IR receiver in my room with the TV. Lots of ways to skin the noise problem....
P.S. The XBOX is an awesome front-end with XBMC. It can't record which is unfortunate but wow is it EASY to setup...
I looked at this system not too long ago after having seen some other Myth type article - think it was on Engadget, might have been Digg - cannot find it now. Anyway while digging I found more than one post or scrap of info on the Pundit box from folks complaining that they were having some issues configuring it for Linux. For those of us who aren't really adept at Linux this might be a bit of a bargain if it held a ready to go image of Myth and skipped those issues.
However reading the article it looks like it comes with drivers and NO Myth at all... Even the "fully" configured one from http://www.lixsystems.net/lix/index.htm doesn't appear to come with Myth installed. They do make the software they've configured available so that's a start. A shame they couldn't have gone just a bit further and made it pretty much complete..
XBMC doesn't record either. Despite his tone he is basicly correct - XBMC is a front-end for video recorded elsewhere.
As it happens I run it myself, it's currently undergoing a ton of bug fixes building to a 2.0 release so it's updated nearly weekly. Highly recommended if you want a SIMPLE way to play video from various share flavors, 'net radio, XBOX games, emulators, and alot more. But no, it's not going to record content for you...
Ball Lightning? Actually.... I'm aware of a firm who's building took a power surge. the first surge simply caused a little smoke from some light fixtures which set off smoke detectors. Since they had had a rash of false alarms the previous couple of weeks the alarms weren't taken too seriously - until people smelled smoke. Even then, no panic but my SO had decided to bail just to be safe despite being told not to worry. Later we learned that they took yet another hit, this one big enough to shoot FLAMES out of electrical items like the aforementioned light fixtures - it drove one woman out of an office screaming apparently, she claims a ball of flame chased her out. The whole building bailed at this point and the guys with hoses came in to ruin the party. Quite a bit of stuff was ruined, alot of it due to the water. Strangely the servers seemed to have survived but they lost cooling to their data center so services have been hampered to say the least. Perhaps an UPS saved the servers but from th esounds of it I don't know how - if they were lucky it was on a different power feed maybe. The place is a total mess and the two floors they occupy are having to be completely gutted\redone and the company relocated for awhile. Talk about a serious PITA! Disaster plans do sometimes come in handy it seems, bet they have updated their's now :-)
:-P
Interestingly - the electric company claims they had nothing to do with this. That all systems were just fine and are pointing to the building guys. It's still not clear what EXACTLY occured but I cannot imagine what it must have been like being chased out of an office by flames shooting out of something above my desk. that employee is apparently traumatized enough that they refuse to set foot into the building and I'm not sure I blame them.
So yeah- ball lightning seems to be occuring these days
I was nearly at the end of my trip when I came to a stop and watched trip average vs realtime MPG. This was after about 12miles or so. I had the A/C off for the entire trip trying to bump overall average up - I "game" the MFD to see how high I can get the trip average :-)
The 1st gear in this trans (DSG) is quite low and it shifts before 10MPH. there's no hydraulic coupling in this trans either and during an average accel it won't get above 2K RPMs. Yes, gas vehicles see a drop like this too, perhaps even worse. Accel fueling in a gas engine is something I've tuned a few zillion times on standalone EFI systems. It goes fairly rich if you want it smooth. Low MPG makes sense when you consider the RPMs vs speed. By the time I hit 70MPH though it's in the sweet spot for RPM vs wind resistance. Oh and this MPG computer *is* slightly wacky - it reads about 13% optomistic :-( I suspect it's because they want it to be close when it breakes in. I will be modifying it to correct this after I can get a good reading over multiple tanks. The last one was 36.9MPG in mostly city bumper to bumper (figured by hand vs the computer). Our other TDI was the EXACT same way but is slowly getting a little better. Once adjusted it's fairly accurate by our figuring.
It's not all about costs. I'm willing to pay a reasonable premium to conserve for the greater good - especially on something that would allow us to relieve some our dependance on unstable countries who don't wish us well. Repairs and whatnot don't scare me off - I do my own work 99% of the time and I'd certainly take advantage of a warranty.
You may not have stated it outright but you implied there were no worthwhile gains, that it was an endeavor not worth pursuing. Yes, companies sometimes make exaggerated statements in their press releases, such is life. For what reason would they do this in this case? You seem to argue against a diesel hybrid and when I show you evidence that it's worthwhile and being developed you want to talk about OEM's overstating? Wow...
Not sure what numbers you're reading but they claim 15-50% gains in distance travelled on a tank over a gas engine in a Gas/Electric hybrid. They next claim 25% MPG gains with a Diesel/Electric hybrid over a comparable diesel vehicle. Diesel vehicles already get better MPG than a gas vehicle, 25-30% over gas according to that article. A diesel hybrid would stack those gains it seems which is\was my point...
Current unmodified hybrids aren't plug-ins right now so far as I know. They also seem to switch to gas too quickly. Modified for both plug-in and more electric usage MPG goes up a good bit fr
The used power would be charged from the diesel while cruising, it's not "free". Case in point - idling at a light yesterday I watched my average MPG for that trip drop 1.5MPG just from the 2minute idle. This on a 15mile trip. That was from 47MPG downwards BTW so it's not like I was running around stomping on it. I'd imagine that idling overnight uses more fuel than you realize since idling in traffic is knocking my MPG down a noticable amount on a more effecient engine. I'd bet that if I turned the engine off at each light and then cranked it up to leave I'd add noticable MPG - yes recharging my cranking battery from the engine. As an aside - the A/C knocks off about 5MPG it seems, still testing.
0 .html Hrm, 20%+ more effecient than a comparable diesel in OEM testing, still think there are *no* gains to be had?? I told you earlier the OEMs were looking at it and more than one is.... http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid /27514/story.htm
Accelerating from a light is where the diesel is LEAST effecient (just like gas), even doing it slowly it's not unusual to see single digit MPG until you're up to at least 15-25MPH. Now, suppose that the car was powered by electric up to a reasonable cruising speed and *then* the diesel kicked in - just as it does today with gas engines. To think there would be no MPG gain is silly, Diesels may be more effecient than gas engines but that doesn't mean there are no ineffeciencies to be overcome. Manufacturers are already looking into diesel hybrids and I'll bet we see them so argue against them all you want but there are gains to be had despite the added weight. One of the reasons it's not already here is the perception that diesels are smelly and if you've ever visited a pump to fill one you can understand why not everyone might want it in their driveway. http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,66949,0
As for plugging in, sure why not? Prius owners are already modifying their cars to allow this and I'd be willing to do so too. A drive to work for me could almost be done fully electric in a modified car except for some sprints at highway speeds where a diesel could kick in at it's most effecient. Probably not a high powered fun ride but for commuting I wouldn't care. As it is I came close to purchasing a hybrid but went diesel for the added room\comfort and MPG that was somewhat close city and often better highway. Getting the best of both worlds would be fine by me!
Yeah, those locks can be defeated that way. Did it with a "floppy lock" while doing a penetration test - they thought they would be cute by using a floppy lock and a padlock on the back of the case. We returned it software broken and floppy lock locked to the back of the case thanks to a Bic Pen top and a paperclip :)
:-D
As it happens - I found one of the OLD Kryptonite locks in my garage this past weekend. Need to test it out!
P.S. At DEFCON they also had a professional device for unlocking barrel locks for $150 at two different vendors. I too was unlocking a few locks in the skybox, great fun! Brought home a pick set too
For the most part I agree and yes I understand what you said before you explained it, I'm not new to automotive mechanicals.
That said - electric to augment the diesel at speed might not be a net loss. Even a small amount of additional help could yield gains - yes at the expense of drawing down the batteries. For instance look at the steam generation system Mercedes or BMW ios\was looking at to gain small amounts of power from the heat of the exhaust. That thing makes VERY little power but is supposed to yield gains large enough to be worthwhile. I think in the end that system will be a mess but if the car had electric already a small boost might not be ineffecient. I'd also point out that for passing the added push from an electric would be pretty welcome if the primary motivator is a 3banger slug. Having seen a hybrid or two stomp on it in rush hour traffic at highway speeds I can tell you that they certainly seem to have some impressive acceleration - electrics are good for that.
Hard to start - yes I understand that higher compression will be harder to crank and draw some additional juice over and above a gas motor. I still believe it might be worthwhile and since some manufacturers are looking at it perhaps there's some gains to be had. I believe there will be but until it's actually produced I cannot be 100% sure. I do think an electric for around town with a diesel for the highway is a good way to go even if you do use some added juice in town for starts. It need not be the same battery pack providing power to everything..
As for weight - yes I'm aware that the engine needs to be robust. In fact I mentioned in another post that diesels weigh more and aren't made from aluminum due to the stresses involved. However I'd argue that the added highway effeciency could offset the weight penalty. Currently hybrids perform great in town and somewhat crappy on the highway, having the best of both worls sounds like a good idea to me. It remains to be seen if it will sell however so I guess we'll have to just wait and see...
Umm, I was under the impression that while VAG-COM is an excellent troubleshooting tool and tweaker for things like the alarm\MFI etc. it couldn't be used to adjust fueling or timing of the fueling - no? I have a 2006 TDI with the latest VAG-COM and nothing I've seen in the software has indicated that I could change anything. I'm quite familier with standalone EFI so if there's something in there for this by all means elaborate as I'd be interested in checking it out :-) I've been tempted to chip mine but it has less than 1K on it so far (we have two actually) and I don't know that want to muck with it just yet. Seems to me if you could modify fueling via VAG-COM you could add the fuel without a "chip" or other tweak...
Lean of Stoich smokes or Rich of Stoich? I would expect that it would be rich rather than lean. Stoich is chemically "perfect combustion" (usually not peak power) so if there are additional fuel particles left causing smoke I'd think it would be from being too rich not too lean...?
:-) Pics of a vehcile doing 300+ streaming black would've been pretty ugly...
In the case of this speed record I know they explicitly tried to make sure the vehicle didn't smoke. I'm not sure exactly why other than it wouldn't have been peak power - perhaps to try and promote the idea that not all diesels smoke like chimneys?
So far no I've not seen smoke. I'll grant that I'm also not nailing the gas very often - I'm trying to see how high I can get the MPG :-P I expect I'll see smoke, maybe lots of it, on a cold start for sure. It woul also make sense in a situation where you cause it to go rich, nailing the gas and then letting up just as the turbo has spooled up will create smoke for sure as the mix goes rich - I know folks who do this to tailgaters (lol). As a normal course of business smoke isn't billowing out the back....
I disagree. Hybrids are currently no better at highway speeds because they use the gasoline engine at those speeds. How about we use a diesel instead? The VW Lupo was supposedly getting 85MPG and Jetta TDI can get as high as 50MPG in highway settings. Now augment that with a little electric at speed and see where you end up. In stop and go a diesel vs a gas hybrid won't see much advantage but on the highway it certainly would. Combine the strengths of the two drivetrains - diesel for highway electric for city.
Diesel idle effeciently, yes, however no motor running vs any motor running is going to be an easy call. Diesel engines also aren't any harder to start than a gas powered model - I know because I am DRIVING one now. Starts right up with no glow plug issues etc. Yeah, on a cold day it will take longer when cold but the electric could already be moving on it's electric motor while the diesel motor was warmed\fired. I don't see "hard starting" as an issue.
Lastly, why would a diesel hybrid be significantly heavier? Yes, the diesel would likely be all iron but in a small displacement 3cylinder I don't see that being too much of an issue.
Hrm, I also wonder about a diesel driving a generator ala hybrid electric locomotive. Dunno' how that would be any better but am curious.