And not a moment too soon. At their stores I've been to their selection sucks and service is worse. There was once almost a riot when the line went to the back of the store and the manager didn't put more people on the registers.
An example about their selection - a friend once tried to rent some movie and was told they didn't stock it because it had a black/white love scene. And it's not like we're in the Bible Belt, either - this was on the Upper West Side in New York City.
Fortunately there are still a few alternatives near me, but at least two other stores in the neighborhood have shut down in the last few years - presumably the B'buster competition hurt quite a bit.
My g/f and I have talked about NetFlix but haven't gotten around to it yet.
It has become her all consuming hobby to track these folks down and allocate whatever government resources she can muster to prosecute intruders into her systems. Woe be unto those that intrude into one of Melissa's systems.
She sounds like a chick I'd like to meet! Bet I'd impress her by writing a virus and naming it after her.
there was still a bit of power being drawn by the tube and accompanying electronics.
I was given an iMac with what turned out to be a busted flyback transformer. I was able to get some use out of it by removing the bottom panel and connecting an external PC monitor via a Mac-video-to-vga converter. I'm pretty sure you can also remove the power to the analog board, which would address your concern.
I like the iMac case - it's like a 3-D puzzle trying to get it apart and back together.
I once invented a game with Mapquest when I was very bored. It should be easy to adapt to Google maps. How boring the game is itself should give you some idea of how bored I was:
Think of an address or intersection - e.g. your house, or a landmark you've visited.
Try to get to a fully zoomed-in view of the location you thought of in as few clicks as possible, just using the zoom control and the map itself. I.e. don't go back and type the location into the search field;)
Nice one. I thought it was cool that the shadows of the towers of the George Washington Bridge (New York City) were pointing in different directions. (Sorry I couldn't get a URL, so you'll have to search for it yourself. Try "178th and Broadway New York City" then scroll left a little.)
The ZipIt might be more what you're looking for. It's a wifi-enabled, Linux-powered, IM client that some folks have figured out how to get a custom filesystem onto. There's already lots of interest in ssh and web clients, but one limiting factor is how much memory it has.
If I'm at the bus stop, I can look at the sign and printed there it tells me that the bus will arrive at 9:53 am. I check my watch and at precisely 9:53, the bus pulls up. Every time.... Here in Tokyo...
Ah, that's it. I was going to ask you what's it like in Mussolini's Italy.
These guys sell what seems to be pretty much what you're describing.
I see that the Dell one weighs 3.4 lbs, which is about as much as my laptop, and gets "up to 3 hours" run time. I guess that's not too shabby, considering I get about 2 hours now. Combined with the built-in battery, that could make it usable for a cross-country flight, say, where I didn't have a power source.
For a more DIY solution, they also list Li-ion 3.6v cells putting out as much as 2400 mAh. But I have a much older laptop I'd experiment with first. I have lots of things around the house that seem to run off of AA cells, so I might experiment with a bunch of NiMH cells clipped together with things like these first since I've already got quite a few of those cells and chargers lying around.
... a mirrored wine bottle sitting on top of a abstract-looking canvas. When viewed at the right angle, you could see a very not-abstract image of a man or a woman
I read recently that PDA sales are declining, with the presumption that cell phones are taking over at least the address-book functionality of a PDA. (Sorry I don't have a reference.)
I also saw something comparing sales of digital cameras to cell phones with cameras and I think it said the phones were outselling the cameras.
So what's the point? For one, many of us geeks are not representative of the rest of the users of technology. (For example, I don't even have a cell phone and rarely leave home without my Palm III.)
Do you think IT will become just another commodity like electricity or water?
Funny that water, probably the ultimate commodity here on Earth, is being branded and costs more per gallon than gasoline.
I'm no economist, but to respond to your question, I think the answer is yes and no: yes there could be a commodity aspect to it, but no, it won't be a commodity the same way electricity and water are.
From the point of view of the rent-a-supercomputer customer, it's just like any other new system: I assume we're still a long way from having programs for super-computers that can compile (let alone run) right off the bat on any other super-computer. (I doubt anybody writes their super-duper non-parallel, non-linear modeling software in Java.) So to me, that doesn't really make it a commodity.
At the consumer level, the way computing is getting to be a commodity is in how for many people a computer means "the internet" which means a web browser. Pretty much any personal computer can provide a browser that can access any web site nowadays. So for the web-only crowd, that's a pretty good approximation of a commodity.
By that interpretation, if you've ever visited a web cafe or public library, etc. that provided internet access, you've used commodity computing.
Same goes for public WiFi hotspots. In many places, the ability to get online (bring your own hardware) is a commodity thanks to all the hotspots. Note that "commodity" doesn't have to mean "no cost."
My guess is that they are taking advantage of their expertise in getting stuff into space by pointing some orbiting sensors towards the earth (not at the heavens like Hubble) in order to provide us with information about climate change, among other earthly issues.
i dont know if you hop into a starbucks, how many macs do you see compared to linux boxes?
That reminds me of the time I was in a Starbucks or the like and something didn't look "normal" on someone's laptop screen - turned out she was running Gnome. Cool.
Since I'm sure it'll be asked (or at least thought): No, I didn't talk to her. She was with a guy and I was probably with my girlfriend;)
There is much evidence to suggest the impact windmills have upon migratory bird populations can be devastating.... I'm not saying wind power isn't advantageous; it is renewable.
Slashdot Mirror
And not a moment too soon. At their stores I've been to their selection sucks and service is worse. There was once almost a riot when the line went to the back of the store and the manager didn't put more people on the registers.
An example about their selection - a friend once tried to rent some movie and was told they didn't stock it because it had a black/white love scene. And it's not like we're in the Bible Belt, either - this was on the Upper West Side in New York City.
Fortunately there are still a few alternatives near me, but at least two other stores in the neighborhood have shut down in the last few years - presumably the B'buster competition hurt quite a bit.
My g/f and I have talked about NetFlix but haven't gotten around to it yet.
She sounds like a chick I'd like to meet! Bet I'd impress her by writing a virus and naming it after her.
I was given an iMac with what turned out to be a busted flyback transformer. I was able to get some use out of it by removing the bottom panel and connecting an external PC monitor via a Mac-video-to-vga converter. I'm pretty sure you can also remove the power to the analog board, which would address your concern.
I like the iMac case - it's like a 3-D puzzle trying to get it apart and back together.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've had just about enough of these pedantic posts. I swear I'm about to loose my shit on someone!
Nice one. I thought it was cool that the shadows of the towers of the George Washington Bridge (New York City) were pointing in different directions. (Sorry I couldn't get a URL, so you'll have to search for it yourself. Try "178th and Broadway New York City" then scroll left a little.)
But US$100 sounds pretty nifty.
Yeah, that's what the Snopes link I posted says.
Ah, that's it. I was going to ask you what's it like in Mussolini's Italy.
I see that the Dell one weighs 3.4 lbs, which is about as much as my laptop, and gets "up to 3 hours" run time. I guess that's not too shabby, considering I get about 2 hours now. Combined with the built-in battery, that could make it usable for a cross-country flight, say, where I didn't have a power source.
For a more DIY solution, they also list Li-ion 3.6v cells putting out as much as 2400 mAh. But I have a much older laptop I'd experiment with first. I have lots of things around the house that seem to run off of AA cells, so I might experiment with a bunch of NiMH cells clipped together with things like these first since I've already got quite a few of those cells and chargers lying around.
Sounds like anamophosis. Cool stuff.
I also saw something comparing sales of digital cameras to cell phones with cameras and I think it said the phones were outselling the cameras.
So what's the point? For one, many of us geeks are not representative of the rest of the users of technology. (For example, I don't even have a cell phone and rarely leave home without my Palm III.)
You got that right - it was being thrown from a horse as I recall. Or, for the pedants (this is Slashdot), it was the landing.
You don't have to; if you implement the TCP/IP filesystem, it will already be fscked.
Funny that water, probably the ultimate commodity here on Earth, is being branded and costs more per gallon than gasoline.
I'm no economist, but to respond to your question, I think the answer is yes and no: yes there could be a commodity aspect to it, but no, it won't be a commodity the same way electricity and water are.
From the point of view of the rent-a-supercomputer customer, it's just like any other new system: I assume we're still a long way from having programs for super-computers that can compile (let alone run) right off the bat on any other super-computer. (I doubt anybody writes their super-duper non-parallel, non-linear modeling software in Java.) So to me, that doesn't really make it a commodity.
At the consumer level, the way computing is getting to be a commodity is in how for many people a computer means "the internet" which means a web browser. Pretty much any personal computer can provide a browser that can access any web site nowadays. So for the web-only crowd, that's a pretty good approximation of a commodity.
By that interpretation, if you've ever visited a web cafe or public library, etc. that provided internet access, you've used commodity computing.
Same goes for public WiFi hotspots. In many places, the ability to get online (bring your own hardware) is a commodity thanks to all the hotspots. Note that "commodity" doesn't have to mean "no cost."
My guess is that they are taking advantage of their expertise in getting stuff into space by pointing some orbiting sensors towards the earth (not at the heavens like Hubble) in order to provide us with information about climate change, among other earthly issues.
Today's world of computing? Give the kid an EULA from Microsoft, a C&D from Disney, and a subpoena from the FBI. I'm not completely joking, either.
That reminds me of the time I was in a Starbucks or the like and something didn't look "normal" on someone's laptop screen - turned out she was running Gnome. Cool.
Since I'm sure it'll be asked (or at least thought): No, I didn't talk to her. She was with a guy and I was probably with my girlfriend ;)
YYoouu''rree rriigghhtt.. II mmaadee mmyy oowwnn KKVVMM sswwiittcchh oouutt ooff ssppaarree ppaarrttss aanndd II ddoonn''tt sseeee aannyy gghhoossttiinngg aatt aallll..
I was happy as a pig in ssh-it when I learned about nohup(1) for dealing with a similar issue.
- Take a picture of your iPod *
- Scale appropriately and replace whatever built-in picture you like.
- Take a picture of this picture on your iPod *
- Go to step 2.
* If you like, include a cat looking at your iPod.So are birds. ;)
Or a bad pixel on your LCD monitor. ;)
Below the waist, I'd guess he was totally nuts.