This is all operating on a basic assumption that people are honest.
People are not honest.
You'd get some people expecting a free ride (high maintenance ladies) who have zero class. You'd get lesbian markers over girls who know it turns alot of guys on. You'd get stupid guys wearing Von Dutch hats with 'enjoys reading Keats' bubbles. Deception between the sexes is almost a part of the bargain.
Then again, if you could tag people's bubble with your own assessment of them, THEN it would be useful. Tag someone with 'angry drunk- avoid' or 'good conversationalist after two shots' for your own records.
Take it one step further and allow others to wiki-ize your notes, adding or subtracting comments leading to a ratings system. Eventually you could have whole data files on people and funny anecdotal stories. Imagine meeting someone for the first time and knowing alot about them. Sure, it would take alot of the fun out of it, but by browsing a few stories, you could decide for yourself whether or not they're interesting or useful to you. That'd add a whole new dimension.
A 'bare minimum' computer is called an abacus. Simple to build, cheap, easy to learn, and you can calculate very quickly and accurately once you get it down.
Every sysadmin (including myself) I've ever talked to has never used a mouse on unix (who needs it. nothing beats a keyboard and cmd line; nothing)
Maybe every single one of you need to get familiar with gpm. It's a nice console mouse daemon that lets you put your mouse to use in the console or cli. Works well with Ncurses-based apps, and lets you get all of that nasty copying and pasting done in seconds by using the mouse to highlight text blocks rather than using cryptic emacs/vi commands.
Personally, I've never met an admin that didn't use gpm and a mouse on Unix.
Most of the time a dog isn't a concern. I installed cable modems before, and 90% of the homes I went to had the cable and telephone boxes within public reach on the side of the house, not buried in the back yard next to Cujo's doghouse.
It's much, much easier than splicing into someone's line.
Ever hear of an inductive amplifier? About $20 gets you one of these treats. You can walk up to someone's house and push the button on it once you find the phone line going into their home. Most phone lines are exposed on the exterior for at least a few feet. Anyone that's ever 'toned a line' knows what to do and how easy this is.
Furthermore, with a lineman's test handset, you open a pedestal in the neighborhood and clip your alligator clips on your pair of choice. Make, take, or listen in on calls that way.
The POTS phone system is by far the easiest thing to 'hack', ever. Physical access is all you need and depending on your bravery, you've got it all over the place.
You're right about economic viability of large families. The first world is shooting itself in the foot worldwide. Look at Europe's declining populations. The main reason for the US's population explosion is the nonstop flood of illegals from our wide open southern border. NAFTA has alot to do with this.
You're also right about density. The fact that the US is so spread out and mostly farm land is also one of the problems with our fuel consumption. We tend to not localize when it comes to shipping and manufacturing, thereby exacerbating fuel costs and usage. Hell, people usually live in the suburbs but make that ~30 minute commute back and forth to work everyday.
Capital..well that's another story entirely. Regardless of who holds the wealth, someone has to hold it unless we're talking Communism, and in that case it's just the government holding it instead of crusty old white guys. What's the difference ultimately? Practically none. There will always be those who hold the reins of power and control wealth. History has millions of examples.
And just about every PC case that's lockable ships with the exact same crappy key as your particle board computer desk does. Pick it in 5 seconds or less with a screwdriver or a paper clip.
Just face it, any computer which an intruder has physical access to should be considered compromised. It's been proven time and time again at Defcon and other venues.
There's an old saying in Tennessee. I know there is in Texas, probably in Tennessee, that says: "Fool me once..." [pause] "... shame on..." [pause] "Shame on you..." [pause] "Fool me twice..........." [sound of crickets] "Well, you can't fool me again."
And yes, George W actually said this live in a speech he was giving. He redefines 'speech' though.
You do pretty well to listen to your body also. If you have alot of lower back pain but aren't fat, try drinking water ONLY for a few weeks. If you constantly crave a certain type of food, whatever is in it may be lacking in your body. Your body is generally wiser than you are when it comes to picking food as long as you're not gorging yourself on McDonalds and Cheez Whiz all day.
It seems to be a running meme with Steve Jobs that the more he denies something, the more likely it is to happen.
They've been saying they'll never go Intel for over a decade, and yet, here we are, with DRM and market realities (plus speed) to thank for their switch. Personally I never liked anything beyond the 9500 hardware-wise, probably due to IDE and other crap that got added.
With the switch to Intel we'll get to see Apples with SATA and SATA Raid, dual core chips, higher bus speeds, PCI-X, etc. I think overall it'll be a good thing. Lucky for Apple that OSX is fairly easy to port compared to OS9 and it's predecessors.
The video iPod may not be the killer app they want it to be, but you know it'll be 'the coolest thing out there' and people will buy them by the thousands regardless. I can see the kiddies buying them up then paying $2 instead of $1 per song on iTunes to get the videos with the songs. You can listen to the latest Ja Rule and see what a krunk party looks like, G.
I just thought of another use for this thing. Typing tutor or piano tutor, that lights the keys in sequence to teach you how to play. For the iTunes thing, I could see it running visualizations that are spanned across the keys (like Goom or Iris3d).
Now that you mention Macs, I can imagine Apple pulling an OEM coup de gras with something like this. Their keyboard is very similar to this one, and to have pictures on the keys? Ownage.
All it needs is Bluetooth and Apple can once again reap the benefits of premium, sexy hardware.
"...ads will be IN the show, not between segments (example, someone picks up a Coke and drinks it instead of a 30sec commercial on how good Coke is)"
They have done this in movies for years. In Asia, it's common to have this same type of pervasive advertising. Also, the credits at the end of serial shows generally has alot of advertising info.
The show 24 is a prime example of this as well. All of the special phones they're using are Cisco VOIP phones and video VOIP phones. Nearly all the vehicles they use are GM (or Ford, I can't tell, you see one SUV you've seen them all). Remember the special Nokia phone used in the Matrix? Same type of deal.
Personally I'd rather see people in television shows using branded products and not have to put up with commercials, but commercials add flexibility. Joe Bob's Howdy Boot Shop can still run local spots between shows on local stations, but it wouldn't translate to a nationwide audience.
You ever notice how, even in Star Trek, people have to WARP to every place they want to go? This implies that space is like the United States. Between where you are and where you want to be there's alot of nothing. I.e. a drive from New York to LA gets you about 3 major cities and an assload of desolate countryside.
So to summarize, there are habitable planets out there, but none of them are close to us or close to each other.
I'm picturing this keyboard being VERY useful to programmers as well.
Picture a linux noob with this keyboard. He opens VI for the first time and all the shortcuts to edit, save and exit the file are all remapped to the keyboard and change depending on what he's doing.
If this thing was application and context-sensitive, I could see alot of people becoming more proficient with alot of apps over time.
Spoken like a true Apple zealot. Do a little research with Adobe, Macromedia, or any other 'creativity software' maker and ask them what percentage of sales are for Windows or Mac. That'll shatter whatever antiquated perceptions you currently hold.
Apple used to be faster at tasks like this. You know, when the software developers actually gave a damn about optimizing code.
Adobe and heaps of others just kinda gave up on Mac software years ago, and as a response, Apple was forced to make faster (read: dual processor) machines. When the Mac market started to wane and alot of design firms moved to PCs, Adobe et. al discovered that instead of selling 1000 copies of Photoshop a year they could sell 100,000 copies.
With that in mind, if you were Adobe, which OS/architecture would you spend more time optimizing your software for? It's not too hard to decide.
Slashdot Mirror
In Soviet Russia, computers turn YOU off!
If Doom3 would have been better, perhaps he would have more funding.
;)
Oh wait, there's always Quake4.
This is all operating on a basic assumption that people are honest.
People are not honest.
You'd get some people expecting a free ride (high maintenance ladies) who have zero class. You'd get lesbian markers over girls who know it turns alot of guys on. You'd get stupid guys wearing Von Dutch hats with 'enjoys reading Keats' bubbles. Deception between the sexes is almost a part of the bargain.
Then again, if you could tag people's bubble with your own assessment of them, THEN it would be useful. Tag someone with 'angry drunk- avoid' or 'good conversationalist after two shots' for your own records.
Take it one step further and allow others to wiki-ize your notes, adding or subtracting comments leading to a ratings system. Eventually you could have whole data files on people and funny anecdotal stories. Imagine meeting someone for the first time and knowing alot about them. Sure, it would take alot of the fun out of it, but by browsing a few stories, you could decide for yourself whether or not they're interesting or useful to you. That'd add a whole new dimension.
l
Yeah, maybe if you lived in the 8th century.
A 'bare minimum' computer is called an abacus. Simple to build, cheap, easy to learn, and you can calculate very quickly and accurately once you get it down.
Soon to be H3? I've seen people driving them in Dallas already. Conspicuous consumption town.
Every sysadmin (including myself) I've ever talked to has never used a mouse on unix (who needs it. nothing beats a keyboard and cmd line; nothing)
Maybe every single one of you need to get familiar with gpm. It's a nice console mouse daemon that lets you put your mouse to use in the console or cli. Works well with Ncurses-based apps, and lets you get all of that nasty copying and pasting done in seconds by using the mouse to highlight text blocks rather than using cryptic emacs/vi commands.
Personally, I've never met an admin that didn't use gpm and a mouse on Unix.
They did have it for a week but the dupes pissed them off. They can only handle so much Slashdotting in a week.
Most of the time a dog isn't a concern. I installed cable modems before, and 90% of the homes I went to had the cable and telephone boxes within public reach on the side of the house, not buried in the back yard next to Cujo's doghouse.
It's much, much easier than splicing into someone's line.
Ever hear of an inductive amplifier? About $20 gets you one of these treats. You can walk up to someone's house and push the button on it once you find the phone line going into their home. Most phone lines are exposed on the exterior for at least a few feet. Anyone that's ever 'toned a line' knows what to do and how easy this is.
Furthermore, with a lineman's test handset, you open a pedestal in the neighborhood and clip your alligator clips on your pair of choice. Make, take, or listen in on calls that way.
The POTS phone system is by far the easiest thing to 'hack', ever. Physical access is all you need and depending on your bravery, you've got it all over the place.
You're right about economic viability of large families. The first world is shooting itself in the foot worldwide. Look at Europe's declining populations. The main reason for the US's population explosion is the nonstop flood of illegals from our wide open southern border. NAFTA has alot to do with this.
You're also right about density. The fact that the US is so spread out and mostly farm land is also one of the problems with our fuel consumption. We tend to not localize when it comes to shipping and manufacturing, thereby exacerbating fuel costs and usage. Hell, people usually live in the suburbs but make that ~30 minute commute back and forth to work everyday.
Capital..well that's another story entirely. Regardless of who holds the wealth, someone has to hold it unless we're talking Communism, and in that case it's just the government holding it instead of crusty old white guys. What's the difference ultimately? Practically none. There will always be those who hold the reins of power and control wealth. History has millions of examples.
And just about every PC case that's lockable ships with the exact same crappy key as your particle board computer desk does. Pick it in 5 seconds or less with a screwdriver or a paper clip.
Just face it, any computer which an intruder has physical access to should be considered compromised. It's been proven time and time again at Defcon and other venues.
Actually the quote goes more like this:
There's an old saying in Tennessee. I know there is in Texas, probably in Tennessee, that says: "Fool me once..."
[pause]
"... shame on..."
[pause]
"Shame on you..."
[pause]
"Fool me twice..........."
[sound of crickets]
"Well, you can't fool me again."
And yes, George W actually said this live in a speech he was giving. He redefines 'speech' though.
My right to not get internally cooked by what amounts to a giant focused microwave oven is getting trampled upon.
Right up until this morning, I didn't even know I had that right!
You do pretty well to listen to your body also. If you have alot of lower back pain but aren't fat, try drinking water ONLY for a few weeks. If you constantly crave a certain type of food, whatever is in it may be lacking in your body. Your body is generally wiser than you are when it comes to picking food as long as you're not gorging yourself on McDonalds and Cheez Whiz all day.
It seems to be a running meme with Steve Jobs that the more he denies something, the more likely it is to happen.
They've been saying they'll never go Intel for over a decade, and yet, here we are, with DRM and market realities (plus speed) to thank for their switch. Personally I never liked anything beyond the 9500 hardware-wise, probably due to IDE and other crap that got added.
With the switch to Intel we'll get to see Apples with SATA and SATA Raid, dual core chips, higher bus speeds, PCI-X, etc. I think overall it'll be a good thing. Lucky for Apple that OSX is fairly easy to port compared to OS9 and it's predecessors.
The video iPod may not be the killer app they want it to be, but you know it'll be 'the coolest thing out there' and people will buy them by the thousands regardless. I can see the kiddies buying them up then paying $2 instead of $1 per song on iTunes to get the videos with the songs. You can listen to the latest Ja Rule and see what a krunk party looks like, G.
I just thought of another use for this thing. Typing tutor or piano tutor, that lights the keys in sequence to teach you how to play. For the iTunes thing, I could see it running visualizations that are spanned across the keys (like Goom or Iris3d).
Now that you mention Macs, I can imagine Apple pulling an OEM coup de gras with something like this. Their keyboard is very similar to this one, and to have pictures on the keys? Ownage.
All it needs is Bluetooth and Apple can once again reap the benefits of premium, sexy hardware.
Evolving too fast? We've seen the same damn iPod for what, 4 or 5 years now? Where's the evolution?
Now, gaining popularity and/or critical mass, I can see that.
Yeah, she's probably way smarter than you anyway. Old or not, she's hot and extremely intelligent. Kinda like the ideal sugar momma.
"...ads will be IN the show, not between segments (example, someone picks up a Coke and drinks it instead of a 30sec commercial on how good Coke is)"
They have done this in movies for years. In Asia, it's common to have this same type of pervasive advertising. Also, the credits at the end of serial shows generally has alot of advertising info.
The show 24 is a prime example of this as well. All of the special phones they're using are Cisco VOIP phones and video VOIP phones. Nearly all the vehicles they use are GM (or Ford, I can't tell, you see one SUV you've seen them all). Remember the special Nokia phone used in the Matrix? Same type of deal.
Personally I'd rather see people in television shows using branded products and not have to put up with commercials, but commercials add flexibility. Joe Bob's Howdy Boot Shop can still run local spots between shows on local stations, but it wouldn't translate to a nationwide audience.
That's 'anally retentive'. Anally obsessive is more descriptive of rainbow flaggers.
You ever notice how, even in Star Trek, people have to WARP to every place they want to go? This implies that space is like the United States. Between where you are and where you want to be there's alot of nothing. I.e. a drive from New York to LA gets you about 3 major cities and an assload of desolate countryside.
So to summarize, there are habitable planets out there, but none of them are close to us or close to each other.
I'm picturing this keyboard being VERY useful to programmers as well.
Picture a linux noob with this keyboard. He opens VI for the first time and all the shortcuts to edit, save and exit the file are all remapped to the keyboard and change depending on what he's doing.
If this thing was application and context-sensitive, I could see alot of people becoming more proficient with alot of apps over time.
Spoken like a true Apple zealot. Do a little research with Adobe, Macromedia, or any other 'creativity software' maker and ask them what percentage of sales are for Windows or Mac. That'll shatter whatever antiquated perceptions you currently hold.
Apple used to be faster at tasks like this. You know, when the software developers actually gave a damn about optimizing code.
Adobe and heaps of others just kinda gave up on Mac software years ago, and as a response, Apple was forced to make faster (read: dual processor) machines. When the Mac market started to wane and alot of design firms moved to PCs, Adobe et. al discovered that instead of selling 1000 copies of Photoshop a year they could sell 100,000 copies.
With that in mind, if you were Adobe, which OS/architecture would you spend more time optimizing your software for? It's not too hard to decide.