I am certain that there are rappers (and other musicians) out there who do know their tools and probably more, who would better represent a rapper who is a "geek" (or a geek who is a "rapper" - however it turns out).
MC Chris could have at least backed up his assertion of "PCs are lame" with reasoning why they are lame compared to Macs or other platforms (there are tons of technical and non-technical reasons why this could be true). Had he done at least that, he might have a better shot in my eyes (as a geek - not as a musician - I haven't listened to his work, so I don't know if it is good or not).
You are right, though, that he is at least honest with himself - it seems more like those battling for him are being less honest than he is himself (which is very weird, but very human, too).
I posted this comment in the original "Ask/." article, which was modded down as "Troll". I later got an explanation that MC Chris did something called "Nerdcore", and I posted again, thinking that maybe he was a relevant interviewee...
It seems like I was more correct with my original assessment. This interview (if one could really call it that) seems to say "I am MC Chris - I don't really care about you as long as I make money off you...eh, I am bored". I can't really tell from the interview just what kind of person this individual is - he sounds like he is bored, doesn't care much or anything about the technical side of things... Of course, even the questions posed to him by/.'ers seem bland - so maybe he didn't have much to work with.
Maybe it is all blandness, all the way around? Heh - even this post feels bland...
But some of these companies may say to themselves "You know, we have this old ASP system that works OK, but we need more performance - we should migrate it to something else..." - and after looking at (both IT and the developers) Java and PHP - would likely go with PHP over a Java/JSP/Tomcat/Ant solution - simply because PHP offers the performance and scalability while being easier to develop and deploy in. While a Java/JSP solution may scale to a much larger number of clients, there is a level before it starts to beat out PHP, and until that level (as in number of concurrent connected clients) is reached, PHP will likely win out because PHP development and deployment is closer to ASP, than Java/JSP is.
Don't get me wrong - Java/JSP has its place. But for that matter, so do PHP and ASP (ugh, though), as well as.NET (double ugh - I just prefer open solutions). However, I don't think any company that has an established Java infrastructure and coders to support it is going to rip it out and replace it with PHP - unless they save money (ie, fewer developers needed, for example), time (takes less time to roll out new changes), or it give increased performance/security...
Or, what about the idea of "rim motors"? Basically, make the rim a ring of magnets, similar to the rotor on a stepper motor, or the ring magnet in a computer fan. An axle the rim rides on (using ball bearings, of course), a quad or 8-way stator coil pack in the middle. Keep the weight down for everything that doesn't need to be magnetic by using kevlar and/or carbon-fiber with high-strength/temperature epoxy castings. Wrap the rim with a custom tire from Ameritire, and I am certain that unsprung weight would be close or equal that of a regular car tire and rim combination. Make the interior passenger body pan a seperate, but connected to the main unibody (via pancake shock absorbers - which if they don't exist, would need to be invented).
In Waco, Texas is a company who recently announced that all employees must sign a statement (or be terminated) agreeing not to smoke on company time, or during non-work personal hours, either. This agreement was to be retro-active, meaning all current smokers, if they wanted to keep their jobs, had to give up smoking. Furthermore, random (or not, it wasn't made clear) urinanlysis tests were going to be done to enforce the policy.
I can understand a policy forbidding smoking near your place of employment - but forbidding employment because you smoke? How far will this go? To the media and public they say it is for reducing their insurance rates - and on some level, I am sure it is. Call me paranoid, but I sense a greater act of imposed morality being implemented, here. Sure, there are supposedly laws on the books now against discrimination for religion and creed - but just as the USA PATRIOT Act raped our Constitution, what makes you think these laws will stand, either?
It is only a matter of time until where you are or can be employed will be based on your religion (or lack thereof), your political views, your like of operating systems, whether you eat red meat, etc.
Welcome to what the War on (some) Drugs has has ultimately brought (and will continue to bring) you...
Checking out some of the references from those links led me to a page of other references, wherein there was a reference to a paper (in the abstract) linking the use of accupuncture to return the "flicker fusion frequency" back to "normal", where it was noted that this frequency was raised in workers who spent long amounts of time in front of VDTs (video display terminals - ie, monitors).
In other words, the paper seems to suggest that being able to see the flicker on a monitor is the result of eye fatigue from long use of computer monitors, and that continued use will only increase the problem. It would be interesting to know if there is an "upper limit" (ie, you can see 60Hz now, but not 75Hz - but will exposure over long periods to 75Hz make it so you eventually see 75Hz and have to move it up another notch?). Now - if all of this is true, think about those "mad gamers" who crank the frequency of their system up several notches...
Now - I am not calling the kettle here - I have used a computer since I was 10 years old and my monitor was a 19 inch TV less than a foot from my face (which might -maybe- be a reason for my myopia - heh) - so I too can see the flicker of a 60Hz display, so I knock it up a bit, especially on higher-res output (ie, I find a 640x480 or 800x600 60Hz screen acceptable - but anything greater and the Hz goes up for me).
Incidentally, some people here mentioned the Amiga and its flicker. I own a couple of Amigas, and a lot of gear - and one of the items I purchased (because at the time a true multi-sync/multi-scan monitor was hella expensive to buy - anyone know where I could get one today?) was a "flicker-fixer" filter - basically a piece of smoked-color plexiglass (which I paid waaay to much for) velcroed over the screen - which eliminated or reduced the flicker on the screen...
So, I wonder if something of a similar nature could be used on a 60Hz display? Or - perhaps wear a pair of sunglasses (which Amigan's also did back in the day)? Basically, I think the reason this worked is similar to what is known as the "Pulfrich Effect". So, perhaps two of these filters (or one large filter covering the screen) would simply delay the flickering of the image, forcing you to see a steady image, which is why this works?
I smell a new research paper here: "Theraputic Application of the Pulfrich Effect in the Reduction of Flicker Fusion Frequency" - just remember to give me a mention in a footnote or something, will ya?
It is possible to build an "active" tracker in a hydraulic-like configuration - IIRC, it was featured in an old issue of Mother Earth News - basically, it consisted of cylinders which had a liquid in them, heated by the sun, with "shading" plates strategically placed so that as the cylinder heated up (and heated the liquid inside), it would shift the liquid to the other cylinder, changing the angle of the dish (I believe it was used on a solar furnace, or a solar oven of some sort) by shifting the liquid. It would auto-reset at night, and it did all of this without any electricity usage...
Raytracing actually 'traces' the 'rays' coming out of the light source
Minor nitpick - actually, raytracing software traces the rays from each pixel on the screen back to the light source. This has always (AFAIK) been the way it has been done - doing it from the light source to the view plane would involve an infinite number of rays to be cast out from *each* light source, with most of them never reaching the view plane. Going the "backwards" route you might still have rays that never get back to the light source (thus, a black pixel), but at least you minimize the number of rays cast to the number of pixels on-screen (which is what is cool about ray tracing - absolutely perfect object occlusion, with no need for object/plane depth sorting, etc - like is needed for regular rendering).
...is not to owe money to the feds, nor have them owe you money - basically, you should be able to file your return, and get a zero on the bottom line. In pratice, this is very difficult (and possibly in some cases impossible) to achieve.
Something that is comparitively easy to acheive, though, is not paying into your taxes from your paycheck throughout the year - no, I am not suggesting dodging your taxes (though my personal view is that the whole income tax thing is unconstitutional, that it was never properly ratified, etc).
What you do is this: Don't have *any* taxes taken out of your paycheck, and instead estimate what you will owe at the end of the year. Each month, take out an equivalent amount (ie, the amount you figure divided by 12) and put it into a high-interest bearing account (if you can figure out a way to put the whole lump sum in, even better). Now - throughout the year until tax time, that money which is rightfully yours is earning interest for you, instead of being deducted from your paycheck, given to the g-men, who in turn put it into their own interest bearing account.
When tax time rolls around, and you have to pay the piper - pull the lump amount out (ie, write a check or something) and send it to the IRS. The interest you have earned is yours to keep (though you will have to pay taxes on it, of course, since it is income - they just love to screw ya!). If you want to take it a step further, invest the amount into an off-shore tax-free haven account (tough to come by these days) - then you won't owe money on the interest, even...
Ok, I admit, I haven't read the article, nor have I looked at the "Replica I" schematic - but I do have a copy of the Apple IIe manual with a copy of the schematic (not that same, I know - but it must be close, and likely simpler, than the Apple I schematic)...
What is interesting, at least just from quickly glancing over the schematic - is that it seems like the Apple IIe was nothing more than the 6502 and a ton of 74xx and 74LSxx glue logic (plus the ROMs and RAM chips). Both the video and keyboard appear to come off of similar logic, or at least 74xx TTL video driver chips or whatnot.
So - are they using the uCU's to emulate this glue logic and/or interface logic/chips? Seems like that may be the case. I also tend to wonder if Apple would sue their pants off if they used something similar to the original schematic layout for the replica system...
Seems like it would have made more sense just to use high speed Atmel or similar uCU and emulate the hardware...
Actually, if your device needs 6-9 volts, you can probably get away with 7 volts by using the 5V line as "ground" with the 12V line - remember, in DC voltage terms, "ground" is just a 0V reference point, so if you set the reference by using the 5V line (as ground) with the 12V line (as positive), then 12VDC - 5VDC = 7VDC. This is actually a common way to drive larger 12VDC fans at a slower speed in a PC case for cooling without having them sound like a jet taking off.
Actually, you sometimes do see solar cells mounted on heatsinks, so your idea isn't as outlandish as some would think. Generally, these cells are mounted this way only when used with an active sun tracking system and a lens concentrator in front of them (generally a fresnel) to collect more light and focus it on the cell. Since you are concentrating the light, heat becomes a real problem (think burning ants), so it needs to be dumped somehow, and this is typically accomplished via alluminum heatsinks. They tend to be passively cooled (that is, no fans or anything), but if there was enough heat to collect, might as well harness the extra energy, right?
And this is what I was looking for - an explanation. Nerdcore, hmm. If that is the case, then he is relevant. It might have been nice if such an explanation that he was involved in "Nerdcore" (along with a link or such regarding that) was included in the article posting, to make it relevant, then I wouldn't have a care regarding it.
I can't say I like or dislike him, I have never heard of him before now. I do know it has been the very rare exception that I have heard recent rap music that competes effectively with various artists I remember from the 80's (especially, ie - pre-gangsta rap). It seems like everytime I hear a piece of new rap music today, the lyrics seem to be abused imperfect rhymes, or two many syllables (sp?) crammed into a single beat, or something else fairly bent. It just makes for a poor presentation. But every now and again, I hear something that makes me think "wow - he (or they) is good!"...
It has been my experience that in the realm of vertical market applications (ie, non-shrinkwrapped, generally b2b), in many cases the companies and the software started out via outright code theft. An employee of Company A, most generally a manager or VP (sometimes a programmer) gets fed up, takes a copy of the code, leaves and forks the codebase into a new product. In some cases, they take the client list too, market the new fork to them, and if they got lucky, are able to make a few sales. The really lucky ones continue long enough and well enough to either get all of the clients of the original company (thus driving the company out of business), or they are successful enough to buy the original company. At other times, they get bought or merge back with the original company. In some cases, a lawsuit occurs, but sometimes even a payout (ahem, settlement) is done.
This was really rampant in the 1980's and early-1990's - but there isn't any reason whatsoever to think it isn't still going on...
The truth of the matter is that you could do all of those things, and not one of those auto makers could do a damn thing about it if you actually sold products that did just that (ie, match parts from one vehicle to another). It isn't very common, but there companies that do business by making adaptors and such to do just what you are asking with automobiles (though most of the time to mount engines/transmissions/diffs, etc - not hoods and such). Then there is the whole "kit car" market (retrofitting a 3rd party body onto a pre-bought chassis).
Unfortunately, selling software or hardware (that essentially does the same thing) in the world of computers brings out all sorts of lawyers, in many cases - especially if perceived profit is being lost...
Dear MC Chris...
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Besides your involvement with Cartoon Network, what other qualifications do you have that merits an interview via "Ask/."?
Jeez - it seems like/. has sunk to an all-time low - this has nothing to do with "News for Nerds" - and I am not sure it is "Stuff that Matters", either. I can't understand how this made it as a post? MC Chris may be the best rapper on the planet (doubt it, but possible) - but even after reading that Wikipedia article, I for one cannot understand what he has to do with anything involving geeks, nerds, technology, science, etc - aside from the fact that he has worked with Cartoon Network, and some geeks watch CN, and others may have listened to his music.
Can anyone enlighten me? Is he a closet geek? Did he create some kind of custom digital video scratching mixer or something from a busted APEX DVD player and an iPod? Well...?
At one time, you could get SLA cells in 'D' and 'C' size form factors...
Re:The first out of the gate almost always loses
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XEROX PARC was always "ahead of the curve", but they couldn't market things worth beans. One "product" they had in the late 1980's or so, which we see echos of today was a concept they called "tabs, pads, and boards"...
In this office system, boards were essentially "electronic whiteboards" - large video monitors with special "pens" that could "draw" on the display. A group could sit around this display with their "pads" (which were about the size of PDA, maybe a bit larger) - and all could participate in the presentation wirelessly! What one person drew on a pad showed up on the board, and on other's pads - and what was drawn on the board would show up on the pads as well. It was implied that the data was stored on a server somewhere for later recall. Lastly, the "tabs" were "smart badges" - little badges with small LCD displays and other electronics that could allow the system to do such things as sense where a wearer was in the office, and if the phone was ringing for him, the nearest phone would ring in a custom "ring tone" for that user. Also, the workstations would "auto config" for the user in front of them based on the wearer's tab badge.
The echos of all this we see today, but not in a cohesive, well thought out whole as in the PARC system: electronic whiteboards can be purchased, but they are closer to large dry-erase touch tablets than anything else, and very expensive (some companies *do* make large "whiteboard" like video monitor systems for such distance colaboration as well). PDAs have become the "pads" of the system - if they have wireless capability and the software to auto-sync (which is probably something custom and varies from PDA to PDA, as well as among electronic whiteboard manufacturers). Tabs are still dormant, though RFID comes close, and some people have built simple LCD-type name badges for hobby projects - a combo would come close. Even so, with all of this - the integration of the PARC system isn't there...
Someday, it may be - it will probably be a while, though. I also seriously think that virtual reality technology is going to follow the same pattern. It is almost begging to be born again - we have cheap rendering engines for both video and 3D spatialized sound, what is lacking is high-res, high field-of-view, cheap head mounted displays (HMDs) - I expect the OLEDs might prove a popular technology for this once the price comes down more. There is still an issue on the input device (most glove technology is locked up in patent issues still) - but a simple 6DOF 3D tracked pistol-style joystick would suffice for most entertainment as well as other applications where deep interaction isn't needed...
Re:The first out of the gate almost always loses
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Oh - I wasn't meaning to imply that your point wasn't valid, just that Xerox did market a computer with a GUI long before Apple's Lisa.
No, it wasn't marketed to consumers, like the Lisa and later the Mac was - it was a b2b marketing, because only a business at the time could afford one. But just because it is b2b, doesn't mean it wasn't marketed.
Furthermore, I know for a fact a few were bought, because a couple were donated to the San Diego Computer Museum and are on display (can't remember if they are running or not, I don't think they are)...
Even with all this, though, first guy (and nearly second guy - the Lisa bombed, too!) out lost...
Re:The first out of the gate almost always loses
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Gee, I don't remember Xerox ever selling a computer with their GUI. It's kind of hard to succeed in the market place when you don't sell a product.
I was wondering the same thing: how was he going to get 20 Watts of power out of each chip when he was only supply 5 Volts at 1 Amp (ie, 5 Watts) - of course, that would only be for a single chip, with the parallel implementation he built it is much less than that.
This has to be a "joke" - while in theory it would work if everything was connected properly, in actuality I bet it does nothing (just hooking up voltage isn't going to heat it up very much anyhow - you have to actually do something with the processor, like processing, to really get the heat out of it)...
This past weekend I was shopping at a Goodwill (you wouldn't believe the crazy and cheap stuff you can find - and most of it works!), and one of the workers brought out an HP LaserJet 5MP. Not a fast printer, but seeing the "P" said to me "Postscript SIMM" and I prayed it was still in place. A quick check of the printer revealed not only was the SIMM in place, but that 32 meg of RAM was also installed, along with paper and a toner cartridge. It also had an Appletalk adaptor connected. All of the cords, and all of the covers. It was in perfect condition.
I picked it up, took it over to the electrical testing outlet (each store has one or two for this purpose), plugged it in, turned it on, and hit the test print - beautiful output! A little slow, but nice. No streaks, just crisp 600 dpi black and white. I then had it print the diagnostics page - no probs there, either - and it came up with a page count of approximately 43,000! Just a young'un!
I powered it off with a crazy grin on my face, seeing the price tag of $9.99, and knowing I had a wallet full of 20% off coupons...
One sawbuck later and two dollars in change back I was the proud owner of a working Postscript laser printer, perfect for my *nix needs!
Please note - it is not an uncommon occurrance to see HP Laserjets at Goodwill, though this is the first time I have seen a 5MP - most of the time I run across III's and 1100's, occasionally a 6, and never a 4 (yet) - I also once found a color laser printer (don't remember the brand) for $50.00 - but I didn't take it because I remember one of employers purchasing the same machine and spending close to $200.00/ea for the three color toner cartridges (cyan/yellow/magenta), though the black cartridge was fairly cheap...
I believe that this book is one part of a whole toward a successful AI. I have wrote many times here on/. about the books I have read, and what I believe can come from reading them, understanding them, and relating them to each other. So, look at my past comments, do some searching on/. for the books (ie, things like AKNOS, Linked, Out of Control, etc)...
800x600 resolution HMDs have been around for quite a while - for example, I own a CyberEye CE-200M HMD which uses 800x600 LCDs - very crisp output I might add (though the FOV isn't great). In fact, a ton of money will get you XGA and beyond HMDs. Most consumer and prosumer level HMDs have been *maximum* 640x480, often with very crappy FOVs.
I think the real nice thing is that this is a recent instance of an HMD using OLEDs instead of LCD or CRT devices. That is the real story on it...
This is what I find most disturbing today - that it seems like virtually no one, especially those within our government and to an extent (getting larger everyday) those within the DOD - has any true idea or concept of just what a nuclear bomb can DO, nor any rough idea of correllation between yield and amount of damage.
I shudder when I think about the *smallest* weapons in our missle arsenal. I cringe when I think about books I have read showing bomb patterns around large cities (from the Soviet Union), cities targetted with 6-8 warheads, each with a yield of a few MEGAtons. I weep when I think about the idea of "Tsar Bomba" - the fact that they dialed it back in yield and it still was way bigger than they expected.
Who are we? Why do we think we should exist as a species? Because we can destroy the planet?
To make me pissed off even more, our government (and others worldwide) seeks and gets, and others nod thier heads to the tune - to restrict/ban human cloning, on the ostentatious reasoning that "human life is sacred". What HYPOCRISY! If human life were truely sacred, I might think differently, but as long as we continue in our warmongering ways, such words and lies will always make me shake my head in sadness.
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MC Chris could have at least backed up his assertion of "PCs are lame" with reasoning why they are lame compared to Macs or other platforms (there are tons of technical and non-technical reasons why this could be true). Had he done at least that, he might have a better shot in my eyes (as a geek - not as a musician - I haven't listened to his work, so I don't know if it is good or not).
You are right, though, that he is at least honest with himself - it seems more like those battling for him are being less honest than he is himself (which is very weird, but very human, too).
It seems like I was more correct with my original assessment. This interview (if one could really call it that) seems to say "I am MC Chris - I don't really care about you as long as I make money off you...eh, I am bored". I can't really tell from the interview just what kind of person this individual is - he sounds like he is bored, doesn't care much or anything about the technical side of things... Of course, even the questions posed to him by /.'ers seem bland - so maybe he didn't have much to work with.
Maybe it is all blandness, all the way around? Heh - even this post feels bland...
Don't get me wrong - Java/JSP has its place. But for that matter, so do PHP and ASP (ugh, though), as well as .NET (double ugh - I just prefer open solutions). However, I don't think any company that has an established Java infrastructure and coders to support it is going to rip it out and replace it with PHP - unless they save money (ie, fewer developers needed, for example), time (takes less time to roll out new changes), or it give increased performance/security...
Or, what about the idea of "rim motors"? Basically, make the rim a ring of magnets, similar to the rotor on a stepper motor, or the ring magnet in a computer fan. An axle the rim rides on (using ball bearings, of course), a quad or 8-way stator coil pack in the middle. Keep the weight down for everything that doesn't need to be magnetic by using kevlar and/or carbon-fiber with high-strength/temperature epoxy castings. Wrap the rim with a custom tire from Ameritire, and I am certain that unsprung weight would be close or equal that of a regular car tire and rim combination. Make the interior passenger body pan a seperate, but connected to the main unibody (via pancake shock absorbers - which if they don't exist, would need to be invented).
I can understand a policy forbidding smoking near your place of employment - but forbidding employment because you smoke? How far will this go? To the media and public they say it is for reducing their insurance rates - and on some level, I am sure it is. Call me paranoid, but I sense a greater act of imposed morality being implemented, here. Sure, there are supposedly laws on the books now against discrimination for religion and creed - but just as the USA PATRIOT Act raped our Constitution, what makes you think these laws will stand, either?
It is only a matter of time until where you are or can be employed will be based on your religion (or lack thereof), your political views, your like of operating systems, whether you eat red meat, etc.
Welcome to what the War on (some) Drugs has has ultimately brought (and will continue to bring) you...
In other words, the paper seems to suggest that being able to see the flicker on a monitor is the result of eye fatigue from long use of computer monitors, and that continued use will only increase the problem. It would be interesting to know if there is an "upper limit" (ie, you can see 60Hz now, but not 75Hz - but will exposure over long periods to 75Hz make it so you eventually see 75Hz and have to move it up another notch?). Now - if all of this is true, think about those "mad gamers" who crank the frequency of their system up several notches...
Now - I am not calling the kettle here - I have used a computer since I was 10 years old and my monitor was a 19 inch TV less than a foot from my face (which might -maybe- be a reason for my myopia - heh) - so I too can see the flicker of a 60Hz display, so I knock it up a bit, especially on higher-res output (ie, I find a 640x480 or 800x600 60Hz screen acceptable - but anything greater and the Hz goes up for me).
Incidentally, some people here mentioned the Amiga and its flicker. I own a couple of Amigas, and a lot of gear - and one of the items I purchased (because at the time a true multi-sync/multi-scan monitor was hella expensive to buy - anyone know where I could get one today?) was a "flicker-fixer" filter - basically a piece of smoked-color plexiglass (which I paid waaay to much for) velcroed over the screen - which eliminated or reduced the flicker on the screen...
So, I wonder if something of a similar nature could be used on a 60Hz display? Or - perhaps wear a pair of sunglasses (which Amigan's also did back in the day)? Basically, I think the reason this worked is similar to what is known as the "Pulfrich Effect". So, perhaps two of these filters (or one large filter covering the screen) would simply delay the flickering of the image, forcing you to see a steady image, which is why this works?
I smell a new research paper here: "Theraputic Application of the Pulfrich Effect in the Reduction of Flicker Fusion Frequency" - just remember to give me a mention in a footnote or something, will ya?
It is possible to build an "active" tracker in a hydraulic-like configuration - IIRC, it was featured in an old issue of Mother Earth News - basically, it consisted of cylinders which had a liquid in them, heated by the sun, with "shading" plates strategically placed so that as the cylinder heated up (and heated the liquid inside), it would shift the liquid to the other cylinder, changing the angle of the dish (I believe it was used on a solar furnace, or a solar oven of some sort) by shifting the liquid. It would auto-reset at night, and it did all of this without any electricity usage...
Minor nitpick - actually, raytracing software traces the rays from each pixel on the screen back to the light source. This has always (AFAIK) been the way it has been done - doing it from the light source to the view plane would involve an infinite number of rays to be cast out from *each* light source, with most of them never reaching the view plane. Going the "backwards" route you might still have rays that never get back to the light source (thus, a black pixel), but at least you minimize the number of rays cast to the number of pixels on-screen (which is what is cool about ray tracing - absolutely perfect object occlusion, with no need for object/plane depth sorting, etc - like is needed for regular rendering).
Something that is comparitively easy to acheive, though, is not paying into your taxes from your paycheck throughout the year - no, I am not suggesting dodging your taxes (though my personal view is that the whole income tax thing is unconstitutional, that it was never properly ratified, etc).
What you do is this: Don't have *any* taxes taken out of your paycheck, and instead estimate what you will owe at the end of the year. Each month, take out an equivalent amount (ie, the amount you figure divided by 12) and put it into a high-interest bearing account (if you can figure out a way to put the whole lump sum in, even better). Now - throughout the year until tax time, that money which is rightfully yours is earning interest for you, instead of being deducted from your paycheck, given to the g-men, who in turn put it into their own interest bearing account.
When tax time rolls around, and you have to pay the piper - pull the lump amount out (ie, write a check or something) and send it to the IRS. The interest you have earned is yours to keep (though you will have to pay taxes on it, of course, since it is income - they just love to screw ya!). If you want to take it a step further, invest the amount into an off-shore tax-free haven account (tough to come by these days) - then you won't owe money on the interest, even...
What is interesting, at least just from quickly glancing over the schematic - is that it seems like the Apple IIe was nothing more than the 6502 and a ton of 74xx and 74LSxx glue logic (plus the ROMs and RAM chips). Both the video and keyboard appear to come off of similar logic, or at least 74xx TTL video driver chips or whatnot.
So - are they using the uCU's to emulate this glue logic and/or interface logic/chips? Seems like that may be the case. I also tend to wonder if Apple would sue their pants off if they used something similar to the original schematic layout for the replica system...
Seems like it would have made more sense just to use high speed Atmel or similar uCU and emulate the hardware...
Actually, if your device needs 6-9 volts, you can probably get away with 7 volts by using the 5V line as "ground" with the 12V line - remember, in DC voltage terms, "ground" is just a 0V reference point, so if you set the reference by using the 5V line (as ground) with the 12V line (as positive), then 12VDC - 5VDC = 7VDC. This is actually a common way to drive larger 12VDC fans at a slower speed in a PC case for cooling without having them sound like a jet taking off.
Actually, you sometimes do see solar cells mounted on heatsinks, so your idea isn't as outlandish as some would think. Generally, these cells are mounted this way only when used with an active sun tracking system and a lens concentrator in front of them (generally a fresnel) to collect more light and focus it on the cell. Since you are concentrating the light, heat becomes a real problem (think burning ants), so it needs to be dumped somehow, and this is typically accomplished via alluminum heatsinks. They tend to be passively cooled (that is, no fans or anything), but if there was enough heat to collect, might as well harness the extra energy, right?
I can't say I like or dislike him, I have never heard of him before now. I do know it has been the very rare exception that I have heard recent rap music that competes effectively with various artists I remember from the 80's (especially, ie - pre-gangsta rap). It seems like everytime I hear a piece of new rap music today, the lyrics seem to be abused imperfect rhymes, or two many syllables (sp?) crammed into a single beat, or something else fairly bent. It just makes for a poor presentation. But every now and again, I hear something that makes me think "wow - he (or they) is good!"...
This was really rampant in the 1980's and early-1990's - but there isn't any reason whatsoever to think it isn't still going on...
Unfortunately, selling software or hardware (that essentially does the same thing) in the world of computers brings out all sorts of lawyers, in many cases - especially if perceived profit is being lost...
Jeez - it seems like /. has sunk to an all-time low - this has nothing to do with "News for Nerds" - and I am not sure it is "Stuff that Matters", either. I can't understand how this made it as a post? MC Chris may be the best rapper on the planet (doubt it, but possible) - but even after reading that Wikipedia article, I for one cannot understand what he has to do with anything involving geeks, nerds, technology, science, etc - aside from the fact that he has worked with Cartoon Network, and some geeks watch CN, and others may have listened to his music.
Can anyone enlighten me? Is he a closet geek? Did he create some kind of custom digital video scratching mixer or something from a busted APEX DVD player and an iPod? Well...?
At one time, you could get SLA cells in 'D' and 'C' size form factors...
In this office system, boards were essentially "electronic whiteboards" - large video monitors with special "pens" that could "draw" on the display. A group could sit around this display with their "pads" (which were about the size of PDA, maybe a bit larger) - and all could participate in the presentation wirelessly! What one person drew on a pad showed up on the board, and on other's pads - and what was drawn on the board would show up on the pads as well. It was implied that the data was stored on a server somewhere for later recall. Lastly, the "tabs" were "smart badges" - little badges with small LCD displays and other electronics that could allow the system to do such things as sense where a wearer was in the office, and if the phone was ringing for him, the nearest phone would ring in a custom "ring tone" for that user. Also, the workstations would "auto config" for the user in front of them based on the wearer's tab badge.
The echos of all this we see today, but not in a cohesive, well thought out whole as in the PARC system: electronic whiteboards can be purchased, but they are closer to large dry-erase touch tablets than anything else, and very expensive (some companies *do* make large "whiteboard" like video monitor systems for such distance colaboration as well). PDAs have become the "pads" of the system - if they have wireless capability and the software to auto-sync (which is probably something custom and varies from PDA to PDA, as well as among electronic whiteboard manufacturers). Tabs are still dormant, though RFID comes close, and some people have built simple LCD-type name badges for hobby projects - a combo would come close. Even so, with all of this - the integration of the PARC system isn't there...
Someday, it may be - it will probably be a while, though. I also seriously think that virtual reality technology is going to follow the same pattern. It is almost begging to be born again - we have cheap rendering engines for both video and 3D spatialized sound, what is lacking is high-res, high field-of-view, cheap head mounted displays (HMDs) - I expect the OLEDs might prove a popular technology for this once the price comes down more. There is still an issue on the input device (most glove technology is locked up in patent issues still) - but a simple 6DOF 3D tracked pistol-style joystick would suffice for most entertainment as well as other applications where deep interaction isn't needed...
No, it wasn't marketed to consumers, like the Lisa and later the Mac was - it was a b2b marketing, because only a business at the time could afford one. But just because it is b2b, doesn't mean it wasn't marketed.
Furthermore, I know for a fact a few were bought, because a couple were donated to the San Diego Computer Museum and are on display (can't remember if they are running or not, I don't think they are)...
Even with all this, though, first guy (and nearly second guy - the Lisa bombed, too!) out lost...
Then, you obviously don't remember the Xerox Star
Other links to information via Google...
This has to be a "joke" - while in theory it would work if everything was connected properly, in actuality I bet it does nothing (just hooking up voltage isn't going to heat it up very much anyhow - you have to actually do something with the processor, like processing, to really get the heat out of it)...
This past weekend I was shopping at a Goodwill (you wouldn't believe the crazy and cheap stuff you can find - and most of it works!), and one of the workers brought out an HP LaserJet 5MP. Not a fast printer, but seeing the "P" said to me "Postscript SIMM" and I prayed it was still in place. A quick check of the printer revealed not only was the SIMM in place, but that 32 meg of RAM was also installed, along with paper and a toner cartridge. It also had an Appletalk adaptor connected. All of the cords, and all of the covers. It was in perfect condition.
I picked it up, took it over to the electrical testing outlet (each store has one or two for this purpose), plugged it in, turned it on, and hit the test print - beautiful output! A little slow, but nice. No streaks, just crisp 600 dpi black and white. I then had it print the diagnostics page - no probs there, either - and it came up with a page count of approximately 43,000! Just a young'un!
I powered it off with a crazy grin on my face, seeing the price tag of $9.99, and knowing I had a wallet full of 20% off coupons...
One sawbuck later and two dollars in change back I was the proud owner of a working Postscript laser printer, perfect for my *nix needs!
Please note - it is not an uncommon occurrance to see HP Laserjets at Goodwill, though this is the first time I have seen a 5MP - most of the time I run across III's and 1100's, occasionally a 6, and never a 4 (yet) - I also once found a color laser printer (don't remember the brand) for $50.00 - but I didn't take it because I remember one of employers purchasing the same machine and spending close to $200.00/ea for the three color toner cartridges (cyan/yellow/magenta), though the black cartridge was fairly cheap...
I believe that this book is one part of a whole toward a successful AI. I have wrote many times here on /. about the books I have read, and what I believe can come from reading them, understanding them, and relating them to each other. So, look at my past comments, do some searching on /. for the books (ie, things like AKNOS, Linked, Out of Control, etc)...
I think the real nice thing is that this is a recent instance of an HMD using OLEDs instead of LCD or CRT devices. That is the real story on it...
I shudder when I think about the *smallest* weapons in our missle arsenal. I cringe when I think about books I have read showing bomb patterns around large cities (from the Soviet Union), cities targetted with 6-8 warheads, each with a yield of a few MEGAtons. I weep when I think about the idea of "Tsar Bomba" - the fact that they dialed it back in yield and it still was way bigger than they expected.
Who are we? Why do we think we should exist as a species? Because we can destroy the planet?
To make me pissed off even more, our government (and others worldwide) seeks and gets, and others nod thier heads to the tune - to restrict/ban human cloning, on the ostentatious reasoning that "human life is sacred". What HYPOCRISY! If human life were truely sacred, I might think differently, but as long as we continue in our warmongering ways, such words and lies will always make me shake my head in sadness.