How many times have heard the story that technology X is only a decade away, then another 10 years later Technology X is ust another decade away? In my book, if you an't roll something out within 18 months, it's vapor. Talking about something you think is a decade away is just lip service clearly trying to generate some PR and drve up stock a few cents for the day.
The real difference between 1908 and 2008 ...
on
The City of the Future
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Is unabated pessimism.
In 1908, the sky seemed the limit and the predictions tended to focus on new, marvelous machines and how they would make life better for all.
In 2008, it's not so much about the technology or science but about how so few are wealthy and the general feeling is that we are on the edge of a long hard decline. The only upshot beeing that we'll somehow continue to have cutting edge tech.
Is it just me or are people genuinely very worried, frightened and so deeply unhappy with world affairs to the point that they think it's just crap from here on out and we should welcome an age of mechanized oppression?
To say no US Citizen would be able to afford to live in NYC while Oil Barons owned entire burroughs is complete and utter BS in my book. It reeks of weakness and apathy. The same weakness and apathy that brings us all the people who whine and cry about Bush and his administration yet fail to do anything about it. The same weakness and apathy that has Americans crying about Global Warming, but they all shut their faces about it when they go home to waste several hundred kilowatts watching Survivor and American Idol.
This was supposed to be a dreamy piece, about "what if" and where "anything" could happen. What do we get? Hit over the head with "FAIL FAIL FAIL" again and again throughout the article. Not one prediciton was positive, each was somehow foreseeing a darker future where we are all worse off except the monied elite. From these predictions, it seems people have given up and the future they are grateful to accept is one where Asia leads and we just consume their tech and get whatever kind of living they give us.
Based on what you just said, it's possible that many would qualify for unemployment. Which is the associated cost of layoffs you're alluding to.
Though not specifically stated as cause for collecting unemployment, the only bar to meet is if "any reasonable person in the same circumstance would quit". While they do cite reduction in pay/hours, change of work location and hours would be considered reasonable.
So yes, it's possible AT&T could wind up paying for thousands of unemployment claims because of this.
Personally, I've stopped using Goog-411 for now. Mainly because it sucks balls and I don't care if it's free if I find it frustrating and gladly pay $1.50 for the information I need quickly without hassle.
But I while I was drinking some espresso trying to use Goog-411 to get a specific cab company that is one of the major providers here in sf and getting listings for every other major cab company, and even smaller ones, but not the one I specifically asked for and then telling it to go back, try again etc etc over and over... after 5 minutes, I found the little bippity-boop voice to be almost grating enough to chuck my iPhone against a wall.. almost. That voice makes it seem very unprofessional, like a couple highschool kids put it together. And from the results I've had using it, I really think that just might be the case.
So I said fuck it, dailed the regular 411 and got connected to Desoto Cab right away.
I'll check back with GOOG-411 in a year or two. For now, they aren't worth free, they are a waste of time.
"The employees seem to be treated very well, because they are almost always happy, giddy even."
Yeah, well one of the perks of being a Southwest Airlines employee is you get all the Kool-Aid you can drink. Seriously, how'd you like a job where your feet swelled up like balloons and you had to put up with screaming children and nagging, grumpy customers? You'd be drinking the Kool-Aid by the pint too.
Just checked out modo again, haven't touched it since V1, seems they added a renderer and animation abilities now. And at $900.00, it's an affordable solution for the amateur or hobbyist but goood enough for pros. Download Blender and download Modo, I'm sure you'll be shelling out money for Modo and ditching Blender right away if you start getting serious.
Now, if the Blender team could ever pull theierr head out of their ass and bring in a UI developer and stay out of the way... they might have something. But it's been ears coming and I doubt we'll ever see Blender become usable.
I've always thought Blender to be a solid but completely useless application because for whatever reason, the developers created the most heinous god aweful UI known to man. It's a freakin eyebleeding headache that leaves one happily shelling out the hundreds or thousands of Dollars for a modelor with a usable GUI.
It's a shame. Because Blender could be a contender, but since the developers live in their own little world with the attitidude that their app is made for a "certain group of people and not everyone", the application is basically a sick joke. If you're looking for a free 3D package and don't care how painful it is to use it, Blender might be for you. Otherwise, go with Maya or Lightwave. Also, Modo is a good modeler with a great UI, if you just want to model and not animate/render.
Why yes, he must most definitely be utterly full of BS. And by that logic, so is Newton. He was nutty enough to actually engage in personal undertakings in alchemy and numerology. What a crack-pot psuedo scientist, whose entire body of work should be thrown out as BS.
You sir have shown a remarkable skill in exposing your utter lack of understanding the workings of the creative mind. Perhaps, because you are completely lacking this thing known as "creativity".
I just signed up for Comcast Internet as a Business Class Customer for an 8mb connection with 5 IP's. And it seems that Comcast would really piss some business customers off by damaging BitTorrent access as there are some businesses that have been using BitTorrent to store large diskimages as a means of low cost backup redundancy.
So if this is the case for Business Class as well, I could definitely see a backlash against Comcast for such an action.
I would lke to say that I was utterly impressed that Comcast haad my data line up and running within 24 hours of my initial phone call to sails. That is the fastest service installation I have ever seen. So it sucks to read something like this so soon after my install. But I guess any large ISP will make bad decisions from time to time, however, those decisions usually target residential customers.
I'm firmly convinced that we haven't had the Democracy we were promised in America since 1963. While JFK and those before him were not perfect men, at least they tried to uphold the principals of this nation for the greater good of all Americans.
With this administration so blatent with it's lies and contempt for the rule of law and the Constitution and with FOX pundits who often say they wish they could imprison or even kill Democrats or "lefties", I am convinced this nation is under the control of anarchists who wish to push this nation to civil war. And it's not Repubilicans vs Democrat... because the Democrats are hardly a better choice, but a division vbetween those who believe in the Constitution and individual rights, and those who want a Statist system where there is no longer any accountability.
And I hope they keep pushing. Because I'm begining to believe that the time for the ballor box is nearing it's end and all we'll be left with is teh ammo box for casting our votes. The people will only be able to abide by so many offenses. If this blatent lawlessness continues to prevail, the people will sooner or later stand up, and some of those people will be Generals and Admirals within our military.
Does this view sound extreme? Yes. But I hardly think it's far fetched. I'm sure there are a lot of people whose frustration is turning to anger and disgust.
Yes, becuz perfkt spelling is importnat onm de internet. And like, if u cant spel, then it meanz u r stoopid.
Or maybe it just means that I type fast and don't spell check, because I have other things to do with my life than treat an online forum like some fucking elite social club. So go stuff it, spelling nazi, you aand others like you are pathetic.
We are ready! In fact, it would finally get us to disband NASA and finally start getting a real space program for real uses, not just tests and robots surveyers. If there is one thing that can make an American get off his fat lazy ass, drop his Doritos and go do something hard and really work for it, it's seeing someone else have something he doesn't.
Joe Sixpack will not abide Xexloi-3 from Alpha Centauri cruising around in a shiny FTL saucer craft while he's stuck with payments on his Earth-bound SUV.
"As much as I want to believe aliens are among us, it just doesn't make sense that a civilization advanced enough to cross interstellar space would crash in New Mexico. And the chances of aliens being humanoid in appearance are close to zero."
Could your mind be anymore closed? What you try to pass of as "objective" thinking is actually a stunning demonstration of your complete lack of those very reasoning faculties you wish to try to convince us you possess. You are nothing more than a caged animal, unable to understand that there is more here than just the confines of your cage. And as such, if the door were to one day fly open, you would merely poke your head out yet remain fastly inside, quite content.
Maybe I stand alone on this, but when I first read about the Safari 3 launch for Windows, my 1st thought was "Cool, finally Windows based web developers can test against Safari". It never once crossed my mind that it would be something that would woo Joe Sixpack or even get much attention at all from the mainstream Windows user base.
Considering the only times I have issues with having Safari as my primary browser is with heavy AJAX stuff, getting the browser in front of developers seems a logical step to improve the existing Safari users experience.
Perhaps we can finally see an AJAX HTML/TEXT editor that works in Safari with version 3's new features and Windows support.
So hey Ars, Safaris appearance on the Windows platform has a definite value. Just not in the obvious ways you're thinking of.
well...FTFA: "He and the group realized that most paper manufacturers already inject fluorescent brightening agents in paper to enchance its "whiteness," so they worked to create certain combinations of toner that would allow the paper's fluorescence to shine through when exposed to ultraviolet light, Eschbach said.
Subsequently, Xerox developed a font that uses that inherent contrast to essentially "write" hidden fluorescent letters and numbers."
So they developed either a new toner formula or leveraged existing applications of toner in combination with a font to exploit the existing properties of paper to create a new printing process.
That is indeed innovation. Just because the solution seems obvious now that it's all be spelled out, it was a stroke of genius to make the connection and take it to practical application. This is the sort of thing patents are made for.
Personally, while many may subscribe to your view, your view is helping to undermine all of our civil liberties. This notion that it's ok to monitor this one group of people for the remainder of their lives seems unconstitutional. They were convicted, sentenced and then served their time. But that's just the beginning... now they will be watched and monitored till they die. Do we do the same for a convicted murderer or armed robber?
I have never seen any homicidal watch lists. Aren't murderers and robbers as well as those convicted of DUI also likely to reoffend? Why don't we watch these people.
Why aren't these people who are at high risk of killing you, those you love and our children being put on watch lists and having their movements tracked?
The Constitution explicitly states that we shall not single any one group or individual out for "special punshment" (not the exact wording, but in the spirit. Also, we shall not have cruel and unusual punishment.
Well, the way this country and others handles crimes of a sexual nature against children flies in the face of these notions of eqaulity and fairness under "civilized law", even being accused of a crime such as this causes such social stigma and outrage against the accused, they are already guilty in the eyes of the public. And then even if exhonerated and found innocent, they will still bear that burden. But being found guilty, they must now do a prison sentence and then forever bear that label, even having to announce that to any community they try to move to. Forever will they be subject to court imposed ridicule, humiliation and be made the target of public anger.
Do we force convicted murderers to undergo the same fate? Must you advertise that you killed a person? If you were convicted of a DUI, would you not think it cruel and unusual punishment to be forever held to that and made to make that public in whatever community you lived till you died?
I'm not trying to diminish or deny the great amount of harm and suffering these people inflict. Personally, I find these people just as sickening as you do. However, this "Think of the children" BS is dangerous and all too often we see people willing to throw away their principals over this charged emotional issue.
And when we start seeing the constitution ignored for the sake of going after something that sickens and terrifies us, what good is that document? For over time, we will allow more and more "bending of the rules" and "blind eyes" to be turned in the name of the children or terrorism.
And we do see more and more excesses being taken and more liberties infringed in a rapidly increasing manner since 9/11. And perhaps you may feel confortable with the infringement upon all our liberties to go after pedophiles, but I think the system would be better off to find more creative solutions that follow both the letter and spirit of the Constitution that all laws are meant to uphold.
The death penalty for pedophiles that Texas is considering is a worthy example. It falls within existing law, does not single out a group, only widens an existing group. And while I am no death penalty advocate, that solution would be effective in insuring that pedophile did no further harm. Perhaps a more "humane" route would be mandatory life imprisonment. More suiting, since no life was taken.
So as you see, the idea here is not to turn a blind eye, or to be more lenient. But to make the sentences and treatment of these offenders both strong and in line with the Constitution.
The Power series was the high end server class, meant for big iron. The PowerPC series was the vastly scaled down little brother intended for the desktop class.
IBM wasn't all the interested in making chips for Apple. And who can blame them? Lower profit margins and less units sold.
Intel is a much better match for Apple, which is a consumer grade CPU manufacturer. And since the switch, Apple has not had the embarrasment of lower performing CPUs and long waits on CPU upgrades that IBM and Freescale saddled Apple with.
If Apple had stayed with IBM, they would have been pushed to the Cell processor. And that would be a bad PR move, running on the same CPU as your game consol runs on. And there would of course be no gaurantee switching to that processor family would result in better product cycles from IBM.
Apple made the right choice, The relationship with IBM was no longer viable.
"maybe if I'd gone to a different school, I'd have a better job, more friends and more money right now..."
Or how about dropping out of highschool, partying for 10 years and then getting into tech with an investment of $150.00 in books from borders? How does that work into your equation?
Let's see... I have no "job" because I'm a self employed IT Consultant for startups and have been for several years. I have parties at my loft every week and know most the bartenders in SF well enough that my tab is usuallly about half of what it should be. Ohhh and I make well into the 6 figure range, working on making that into 7 figures. And I'm 34.
But you're right... I lay awake crying at night because if only I'd gone to MIT I could have spent over $100,000.00 for a piece of paper, have some 9-5 job at some boring tech company and make about half of what I make and all my friends would be super cool programmers who'd bring on the babes with their slick urban style.
But yes, I am an exception to the rule. Because I make my own rules.
I've always viewed hybrid as a sick joke that has been propogated as the only "workable solution" by the collusion of auto manufacturers, big oil and the US Gov't.
Take a look at ZapCar (pops) The claimed performance statistics are a total of 644bhp from four in-wheel electric motors, a 350-mile single charge range, 155 mph top speed, 0-60 mph acceleration in 4.6 seconds and a 10 minute recharge time....ohh and the Zap-X is designed by Lotus, so it actually looks like a car you want to drive.
No word on when this car will come out, but the tech it's using is currently available, so it should be within the year. Much sooner than this year 2020 BS. I can only hope ZapCar makes an impact so that this oil centric cabal will stop lying and start making electric cars a reality. Because they are lying, lying through their teeth.
They are going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from oil, which is why we will see years of Biodiesel and hybrid nonsense to come. And one way to drag them kicking and screaming is generating strong consumer demand for more cars like the Zap-X.
He's gone from mere milking the franchise to raping it. There's little doubt now (in my mind at least) that he has no new ideas, can't be bothered to push himself to come up with something new, so he's gonna fuck his legacy in the ass till it's seen as nothing more than some cheap little whore.
And there's nothing anyone can do to stop it, because it wont matter how bad it sucks (and it WILL suck), it will make mountains of money.
Microsoft is anti everything the internet stands for.
The Internet is for open, platform neutral communcation. Microsoft if for closed source mono-culture.
The internet is for the creation of new tools, paradigms and technology by anyone for anyone. Microsoft is all about where they think you want to go today.
Fact is, Microsoft has made it their mission to break everything they possibly can, whether it be standard, language or platform. If it's not from microsoft, they want to kill it.
So any developer that sincerely uses MS in anything but their server-side stack is a user hating pro-MS pundit that wants to try to force their user base to use Windows and Windows related products. And personally, has no business whatsoever calling themselves a web developer. Anti-web developer is more like it.
So I don't care what MS does. A psychopathic culture can not be changed. And MS has always been and always will be a psychopathic culture, feigning to be "nice" if it thinks it there is something in it for them.
Adobe has been quite sincere and has done some great things with Flex, Apollo and will also be creating some nifty webservices. Buying Macromedia was a great move and wise to insure that technologies such as Flash, Flex and Director lived on and became more prominant. Microsoft on the other hand is reviled and dying a public death in the online marketplace. MSN and it's related services are a joke. Online music? maps? Online calender? Search? MS will tie their apps to Vista Servers and.Net stacks and the dotcoms will laugh and fart in their general direction.
I am happy to see MS blowing wads of money on what is bound to be yet another failure.
What it comes down to, is that net neutrality makes the internet a network of thousands of toll bridges where every ISP and backbone provider can dip into the pockets of monied dotcoms and extort money from them to play ona level field on their block of the internet.
This is double dipping. It should be their customers who pay for the Bandwidtdh and QoS they get, not the sites the user frequents. If the user wants to watch streaming video all day and talk to all his buddies on skype with fast bitrates, then let him pay for it.
The issue here is simple. Create tiered internet packages for different types of users and MARKET those packages to your current users. I decided to get rid of AT&T and found that speakeasy et al offer many more types of packages with different levels of QoS. Funny how AT&T can't be bothered to do what the little guys do and instead want to lobby the hell out of Congress to essentially force Google ad others to pay them exorbanant fees.
The bottom line is double dipping for a single service is wrong and lobbying congress to force lage dotcoms is anti-competitive and flies in the face of free markets. If it costs too much to provide broadband service to your nusiness and residential customers, then increase the rates. Let the market decide if it wants that service or not.
Slashdot Mirror
How many times have heard the story that technology X is only a decade away, then another 10 years later Technology X is ust another decade away?
In my book, if you an't roll something out within 18 months, it's vapor. Talking about something you think is a decade away is just lip service clearly trying to generate some PR and drve up stock a few cents for the day.
Is unabated pessimism.
In 1908, the sky seemed the limit and the predictions tended to focus on new, marvelous machines and how they would make life better for all.
In 2008, it's not so much about the technology or science but about how so few are wealthy and the general feeling is that we are on the edge of a long hard decline. The only upshot beeing that we'll somehow continue to have cutting edge tech.
Is it just me or are people genuinely very worried, frightened and so deeply unhappy with world affairs to the point that they think it's just crap from here on out and we should welcome an age of mechanized oppression?
To say no US Citizen would be able to afford to live in NYC while Oil Barons owned entire burroughs is complete and utter BS in my book.
It reeks of weakness and apathy. The same weakness and apathy that brings us all the people who whine and cry about Bush and his administration yet fail to do anything about it. The same weakness and apathy that has Americans crying about Global Warming, but they all shut their faces about it when they go home to waste several hundred kilowatts watching Survivor and American Idol.
This was supposed to be a dreamy piece, about "what if" and where "anything" could happen. What do we get? Hit over the head with "FAIL FAIL FAIL" again and again throughout the article. Not one prediciton was positive, each was somehow foreseeing a darker future where we are all worse off except the monied elite. From these predictions, it seems people have given up and the future they are grateful to accept is one where Asia leads and we just consume their tech and get whatever kind of living they give us.
Pretty sad if you ask me.
Based on what you just said, it's possible that many would qualify for unemployment.
Which is the associated cost of layoffs you're alluding to.
Though not specifically stated as cause for collecting unemployment, the only bar to meet is if "any reasonable person in the same circumstance would quit". While they do cite reduction in pay/hours, change of work location and hours would be considered reasonable.
So yes, it's possible AT&T could wind up paying for thousands of unemployment claims because of this.
Personally, I've stopped using Goog-411 for now.
... after 5 minutes, I found the little bippity-boop voice to be almost grating enough to chuck my iPhone against a wall.. almost. That voice makes it seem very unprofessional, like a couple highschool kids put it together. And from the results I've had using it, I really think that just might be the case.
Mainly because it sucks balls and I don't care if it's free if I find it frustrating and gladly pay $1.50 for the information I need quickly without hassle.
But I while I was drinking some espresso trying to use Goog-411 to get a specific cab company that is one of the major providers here in sf and getting listings for every other major cab company, and even smaller ones, but not the one I specifically asked for and then telling it to go back, try again etc etc over and over
So I said fuck it, dailed the regular 411 and got connected to Desoto Cab right away.
I'll check back with GOOG-411 in a year or two.
For now, they aren't worth free, they are a waste of time.
"The employees seem to be treated very well, because they are almost always happy, giddy even."
Yeah, well one of the perks of being a Southwest Airlines employee is you get all the Kool-Aid you can drink.
Seriously, how'd you like a job where your feet swelled up like balloons and you had to put up with screaming children and nagging, grumpy customers?
You'd be drinking the Kool-Aid by the pint too.
Soon you'll be able to feel me stabbing you in the face in the next vi/emacs flamewar.
HAHAHAHAHHA!!!!
...ohhh my gut hurts
wait....
let me try it again...
The USA is a shining bastion of freedom and does not engage in torture!
HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAA
Just checked out modo again, haven't touched it since V1, seems they added a renderer and animation abilities now.
And at $900.00, it's an affordable solution for the amateur or hobbyist but goood enough for pros.
Download Blender and download Modo, I'm sure you'll be shelling out money for Modo and ditching Blender right away if you start getting serious.
Now, if the Blender team could ever pull theierr head out of their ass and bring in a UI developer and stay out of the way... they might have something.
But it's been ears coming and I doubt we'll ever see Blender become usable.
I've always thought Blender to be a solid but completely useless application because for whatever reason, the developers created the most heinous god aweful UI known to man. It's a freakin eyebleeding headache that leaves one happily shelling out the hundreds or thousands of Dollars for a modelor with a usable GUI.
It's a shame. Because Blender could be a contender, but since the developers live in their own little world with the attitidude that their app is made for a "certain group of people and not everyone", the application is basically a sick joke. If you're looking for a free 3D package and don't care how painful it is to use it, Blender might be for you. Otherwise, go with Maya or Lightwave. Also, Modo is a good modeler with a great UI, if you just want to model and not animate/render.
I applaud your logic!
Why yes, he must most definitely be utterly full of BS.
And by that logic, so is Newton. He was nutty enough to actually engage in personal undertakings in alchemy and numerology.
What a crack-pot psuedo scientist, whose entire body of work should be thrown out as BS.
You sir have shown a remarkable skill in exposing your utter lack of understanding the workings of the creative mind.
Perhaps, because you are completely lacking this thing known as "creativity".
I just signed up for Comcast Internet as a Business Class Customer for an 8mb connection with 5 IP's. And it seems that Comcast would really piss some business customers off by damaging BitTorrent access as there are some businesses that have been using BitTorrent to store large diskimages as a means of low cost backup redundancy.
So if this is the case for Business Class as well, I could definitely see a backlash against Comcast for such an action.
I would lke to say that I was utterly impressed that Comcast haad my data line up and running within 24 hours of my initial phone call to sails.
That is the fastest service installation I have ever seen. So it sucks to read something like this so soon after my install. But I guess any large ISP will make bad decisions from time to time, however, those decisions usually target residential customers.
I'm firmly convinced that we haven't had the Democracy we were promised in America since 1963.
While JFK and those before him were not perfect men, at least they tried to uphold the principals of this nation for the greater good of all Americans.
With this administration so blatent with it's lies and contempt for the rule of law and the Constitution and with FOX pundits who often say they wish they could imprison or even kill Democrats or "lefties", I am convinced this nation is under the control of anarchists who wish to push this nation to civil war. And it's not Repubilicans vs Democrat... because the Democrats are hardly a better choice, but a division vbetween those who believe in the Constitution and individual rights, and those who want a Statist system where there is no longer any accountability.
And I hope they keep pushing. Because I'm begining to believe that the time for the ballor box is nearing it's end and all we'll be left with is teh ammo box for casting our votes. The people will only be able to abide by so many offenses. If this blatent lawlessness continues to prevail, the people will sooner or later stand up, and some of those people will be Generals and Admirals within our military.
Does this view sound extreme? Yes.
But I hardly think it's far fetched.
I'm sure there are a lot of people whose frustration is turning to anger and disgust.
Yes, becuz perfkt spelling is importnat onm de internet.
And like, if u cant spel, then it meanz u r stoopid.
Or maybe it just means that I type fast and don't spell check, because I have other things to do with my life than treat an online forum like some fucking elite social club. So go stuff it, spelling nazi, you aand others like you are pathetic.
"Ultimately why would a space craft be built out material resembling tin foil. "
Because it's powered by hats?
We are ready! In fact, it would finally get us to disband NASA and finally start getting a real space program for real uses, not just tests and robots surveyers.
If there is one thing that can make an American get off his fat lazy ass, drop his Doritos and go do something hard and really work for it, it's seeing someone else have something he doesn't.
Joe Sixpack will not abide Xexloi-3 from Alpha Centauri cruising around in a shiny FTL saucer craft while he's stuck with payments on his Earth-bound SUV.
"As much as I want to believe aliens are among us, it just doesn't make sense that a civilization advanced enough to cross interstellar space would crash in New Mexico. And the chances of aliens being humanoid in appearance are close to zero."
Could your mind be anymore closed?
What you try to pass of as "objective" thinking is actually a stunning demonstration of your complete lack of those very reasoning faculties you wish to try to convince us you possess. You are nothing more than a caged animal, unable to understand that there is more here than just the confines of your cage. And as such, if the door were to one day fly open, you would merely poke your head out yet remain fastly inside, quite content.
Ars is being rather presumptious here.
Maybe I stand alone on this, but when I first read about the Safari 3 launch for Windows, my 1st thought was "Cool, finally Windows based web developers can test against Safari". It never once crossed my mind that it would be something that would woo Joe Sixpack or even get much attention at all from the mainstream Windows user base.
Considering the only times I have issues with having Safari as my primary browser is with heavy AJAX stuff, getting the browser in front of developers seems a logical step to improve the existing Safari users experience.
Perhaps we can finally see an AJAX HTML/TEXT editor that works in Safari with version 3's new features and Windows support.
So hey Ars, Safaris appearance on the Windows platform has a definite value. Just not in the obvious ways you're thinking of.
well...FTFA:
"He and the group realized that most paper manufacturers already inject fluorescent brightening agents in paper to enchance its "whiteness," so they worked to create certain combinations of toner that would allow the paper's fluorescence to shine through when exposed to ultraviolet light, Eschbach said.
Subsequently, Xerox developed a font that uses that inherent contrast to essentially "write" hidden fluorescent letters and numbers."
So they developed either a new toner formula or leveraged existing applications of toner in combination with a font to exploit the existing properties of paper to create a new printing process.
That is indeed innovation. Just because the solution seems obvious now that it's all be spelled out, it was a stroke of genius to make the connection and take it to practical application. This is the sort of thing patents are made for.
Touchy subject.
Personally, while many may subscribe to your view, your view is helping to undermine all of our civil liberties.
This notion that it's ok to monitor this one group of people for the remainder of their lives seems unconstitutional.
They were convicted, sentenced and then served their time. But that's just the beginning... now they will be watched and monitored till they die.
Do we do the same for a convicted murderer or armed robber?
I have never seen any homicidal watch lists.
Aren't murderers and robbers as well as those convicted of DUI also likely to reoffend?
Why don't we watch these people.
Why aren't these people who are at high risk of killing you, those you love and our children being put on watch lists and having their movements tracked?
The Constitution explicitly states that we shall not single any one group or individual out for "special punshment" (not the exact wording, but in the spirit. Also, we shall not have cruel and unusual punishment.
Well, the way this country and others handles crimes of a sexual nature against children flies in the face of these notions of eqaulity and fairness under "civilized law", even being accused of a crime such as this causes such social stigma and outrage against the accused, they are already guilty in the eyes of the public. And then even if exhonerated and found innocent, they will still bear that burden. But being found guilty, they must now do a prison sentence and then forever bear that label, even having to announce that to any community they try to move to. Forever will they be subject to court imposed ridicule, humiliation and be made the target of public anger.
Do we force convicted murderers to undergo the same fate? Must you advertise that you killed a person?
If you were convicted of a DUI, would you not think it cruel and unusual punishment to be forever held to that and made to make that public in whatever community you lived till you died?
I'm not trying to diminish or deny the great amount of harm and suffering these people inflict. Personally, I find these people just as sickening as you do. However, this "Think of the children" BS is dangerous and all too often we see people willing to throw away their principals over this charged emotional issue.
And when we start seeing the constitution ignored for the sake of going after something that sickens and terrifies us, what good is that document? For over time, we will allow more and more "bending of the rules" and "blind eyes" to be turned in the name of the children or terrorism.
And we do see more and more excesses being taken and more liberties infringed in a rapidly increasing manner since 9/11.
And perhaps you may feel confortable with the infringement upon all our liberties to go after pedophiles, but I think the system would be better off to find more creative solutions that follow both the letter and spirit of the Constitution that all laws are meant to uphold.
The death penalty for pedophiles that Texas is considering is a worthy example. It falls within existing law, does not single out a group, only widens an existing group. And while I am no death penalty advocate, that solution would be effective in insuring that pedophile did no further harm. Perhaps a more "humane" route would be mandatory life imprisonment. More suiting, since no life was taken.
So as you see, the idea here is not to turn a blind eye, or to be more lenient. But to make the sentences and treatment of these offenders both strong and in line with the Constitution.
"Did Apple make a mistake?"
No. Not at all.
The Power series was the high end server class, meant for big iron.
The PowerPC series was the vastly scaled down little brother intended for the desktop class.
IBM wasn't all the interested in making chips for Apple.
And who can blame them? Lower profit margins and less units sold.
Intel is a much better match for Apple, which is a consumer grade CPU manufacturer. And since the switch, Apple has not had the embarrasment of lower performing CPUs and long waits on CPU upgrades that IBM and Freescale saddled Apple with.
If Apple had stayed with IBM, they would have been pushed to the Cell processor. And that would be a bad PR move, running on the same CPU as your game consol runs on. And there would of course be no gaurantee switching to that processor family would result in better product cycles from IBM.
Apple made the right choice, The relationship with IBM was no longer viable.
"maybe if I'd gone to a different school, I'd have a better job, more friends and more money right now..."
Or how about dropping out of highschool, partying for 10 years and then getting into tech with an investment of $150.00 in books from borders?
How does that work into your equation?
Let's see... I have no "job" because I'm a self employed IT Consultant for startups and have been for several years.
I have parties at my loft every week and know most the bartenders in SF well enough that my tab is usuallly about half of what it should be.
Ohhh and I make well into the 6 figure range, working on making that into 7 figures.
And I'm 34.
But you're right... I lay awake crying at night because if only I'd gone to MIT I could have spent over $100,000.00 for a piece of paper, have some 9-5 job at some boring tech company and make about half of what I make and all my friends would be super cool programmers who'd bring on the babes with their slick urban style.
But yes, I am an exception to the rule.
Because I make my own rules.
I've always viewed hybrid as a sick joke that has been propogated as the only "workable solution" by the collusion of auto manufacturers, big oil and the US Gov't.
...ohh and the Zap-X is designed by Lotus, so it actually looks like a car you want to drive.
Take a look at ZapCar (pops)
The claimed performance statistics are a total of 644bhp from four in-wheel electric motors, a 350-mile single charge range, 155 mph top speed, 0-60 mph acceleration in 4.6 seconds and a 10 minute recharge time.
No word on when this car will come out, but the tech it's using is currently available, so it should be within the year.
Much sooner than this year 2020 BS. I can only hope ZapCar makes an impact so that this oil centric cabal will stop lying and start making electric cars a reality. Because they are lying, lying through their teeth.
They are going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from oil, which is why we will see years of Biodiesel and hybrid nonsense to come. And one way to drag them kicking and screaming is generating strong consumer demand for more cars like the Zap-X.
He's gone from mere milking the franchise to raping it. There's little doubt now (in my mind at least) that he has no new ideas, can't be bothered to push himself to come up with something new, so he's gonna fuck his legacy in the ass till it's seen as nothing more than some cheap little whore.
And there's nothing anyone can do to stop it, because it wont matter how bad it sucks (and it WILL suck), it will make mountains of money.
Microsoft is anti everything the internet stands for.
.Net stacks and the dotcoms will laugh and fart in their general direction.
The Internet is for open, platform neutral communcation.
Microsoft if for closed source mono-culture.
The internet is for the creation of new tools, paradigms and technology by anyone for anyone.
Microsoft is all about where they think you want to go today.
Fact is, Microsoft has made it their mission to break everything they possibly can, whether it be standard, language or platform.
If it's not from microsoft, they want to kill it.
So any developer that sincerely uses MS in anything but their server-side stack is a user hating pro-MS pundit that wants to try to force their user base to use Windows and Windows related products. And personally, has no business whatsoever calling themselves a web developer. Anti-web developer is more like it.
So I don't care what MS does. A psychopathic culture can not be changed.
And MS has always been and always will be a psychopathic culture, feigning to be "nice" if it thinks it there is something in it for them.
Adobe has been quite sincere and has done some great things with Flex, Apollo and will also be creating some nifty webservices.
Buying Macromedia was a great move and wise to insure that technologies such as Flash, Flex and Director lived on and became more prominant.
Microsoft on the other hand is reviled and dying a public death in the online marketplace.
MSN and it's related services are a joke. Online music? maps? Online calender? Search?
MS will tie their apps to Vista Servers and
I am happy to see MS blowing wads of money on what is bound to be yet another failure.
Edison-Net my ass.
What it comes down to, is that net neutrality makes the internet a network of thousands of toll bridges where every ISP and backbone provider can dip into the pockets of monied dotcoms and extort money from them to play ona level field on their block of the internet.
This is double dipping. It should be their customers who pay for the Bandwidtdh and QoS they get, not the sites the user frequents.
If the user wants to watch streaming video all day and talk to all his buddies on skype with fast bitrates, then let him pay for it.
The issue here is simple. Create tiered internet packages for different types of users and MARKET those packages to your current users.
I decided to get rid of AT&T and found that speakeasy et al offer many more types of packages with different levels of QoS.
Funny how AT&T can't be bothered to do what the little guys do and instead want to lobby the hell out of Congress to essentially force Google ad others to pay them exorbanant fees.
The bottom line is double dipping for a single service is wrong and lobbying congress to force lage dotcoms is anti-competitive and flies in the face of free markets. If it costs too much to provide broadband service to your nusiness and residential customers, then increase the rates.
Let the market decide if it wants that service or not.