Take a look at this page. Here's an excerpt that relates to your comment:
The main problem of chess programming is the very large number of continuations involved. In an average position there are about 40 legal moves. If you consider every reply to each move you have 40 x 40 = 1600 positions. This means that after two ply (half-moves), which is considered a single move in chess 1600 different positions can arise. After two moves it is 2.5 million positions, after three moves 4.1 billion. The average game lasts 40 moves. The number of potential positions is in the order of 10128 (10 to the power of 128), which is vastly larger that the number of atoms in the known universe (a pitiful 1080 [10 to the power of 80]).
It is clear that no computer or any other machine will solve the game by looking at all possible continuations. But human beings are also imperfect players. It is only a question of what depth of search is required for a machine to match human strategic skill.
I've always thought "Microsoft" sounded like a brand of toilet paper. Their advertising would go along the lines of "our patented microfibre design delivers the softest tissue for maximum pleasure!"
Stick a server in one room, and access it from another room over a network with a dumb terminal or something that doesn't need a fan. Unless you're playing games this should work quite well.
A decent, but simplistic article. Unless you're a fussy audiophile, this analysis should be sufficient for you.
[rant] I wish the author would present his graphs in a more readable way. A screen dump of Photoshop in WinXP is not a professional way to show data. It's ironic that while reviewing lossy audio formats he opts to use a lossy image format (JPEG) for the graphs. I had to double their size on my screen just to make some sense out of them. [/rant]
It's not difficult to gain better-than-CD quality. CDs have been around since the early 1980s, and their main drawback is that they have a low sample rate, 44.1KHz. This is why many sound engineers prefer vinyl. because it's an analogue format, vinyl has a potentially infinite sample frequency range (although it's obviously limited by the recording and playback equipment, and by the physics of the media itself). Apple has used original masters (not CDs) to create much of its song library, so all they have to do is encode at a higher frequency than 44.1KHz. At a guess, they're probably using 48KHz, which is on par with DAT and MiniDisc.
I'm not surprised that Apple is using AAC. For one thing, it is clearly better than the decade-old MP3 format in all respects, and the licensing costs are probably the same or better. Technically, it may not be as good as Ogg, but most people don't even know what Ogg is so it doesn't matter. As long as Apple can say "our format is better than MP3 and CD audio" (the two prevailing formats), they will have the attention of consumers. AAC is a more mature format than Ogg (Ogg isn't bad, but AAC is more tried-and-proven), and is probably more compatible with existing DRM technologies. DRM is important to keep the recording companies happy and to ensure that the files will only play on devices that Apple specifies (like on Macs and iPods).
A major stumbling block for Ogg is that until fairly recently it was necessary to use a floating point processor to play the format. In the arena of portable devices, only PDAs have floating point capability, which is why you can play Ogg files on your Zaurus and not on your iPod. AAC is already supported by many devices, so Apple has a larger potential market (although at present only iPods can play the files).
Is there anything wrong with just placing a tissue (the kind you use to blow your nose) over the fan intake? Of course you'll need to be careful that the tissue is porous enough to allow adequate airflow, but strong enough to catch dust without breaking from the force of the fan.
I've been thinking about doing this for a while, but I'm not sure if it's safe.
Who owns the results once they've been calculated? Who gets paid royalties when a drug is developed from this data? I'm not going to donate my CPU time if SARS sufferers have to pay royalties (either directly or indirectly) to GlaxoSmithcline or the US Government (which IMHO isn't any better than a multinational corporation) for their medication.
Unless the results are released into the public domain or at least licensed under a BSD- or GPL-style license, I'm not touching it.
The article states that the plant needs to be kept at -10 degrees. At a guess, I don't think you could keep solid gas at room temperatures, although it could probably survive at higher than -10 degrees.
With CRTs, the measurement is made from extreme opposite corners (going diagonally) of the tube itself, not just the viewable screen area. For several reasons (one being that CRTs are curved), images become distorted towards the edges. That area can't be used for viewing, so they are blocked off. This blocked part is the difference between the quoted size and the viewable size.
Do they give all the money up front or do they pay later? If the latter, what's stopping DARPA from refusing to pay at the end? They could make up all kinds of reasons, like "they didn't do what we expected them to do", or even "Theo chucked a tantrum and refused to do what we asked". I know that the conditions say they can't order the OpenBSD hackers around, but they'll probably try to anyway.
It's probably an embedded version of Linux, so it is likely that the GNU system has been replaced with something more compact. So no, it wouldn't be "GNU/Data".
Slashdot Mirror
That's funny, seeing how Microsoft is trying to develop a command line version of Windows.
I would've thought it would be the other way around. Megatron has a huge wang, but Optimus Prime have none to speak of.
I've always thought "Microsoft" sounded like a brand of toilet paper. Their advertising would go along the lines of "our patented microfibre design delivers the softest tissue for maximum pleasure!"
Seeing as how New Zealand doesn't have an air force, this could help them a lot!
I've got three letters for you: VNC
Stick a server in one room, and access it from another room over a network with a dumb terminal or something that doesn't need a fan. Unless you're playing games this should work quite well.
What's new pussyca^H^Hrat?
A decent, but simplistic article. Unless you're a fussy audiophile, this analysis should be sufficient for you.
[rant] I wish the author would present his graphs in a more readable way. A screen dump of Photoshop in WinXP is not a professional way to show data. It's ironic that while reviewing lossy audio formats he opts to use a lossy image format (JPEG) for the graphs. I had to double their size on my screen just to make some sense out of them. [/rant]
It's not difficult to gain better-than-CD quality. CDs have been around since the early 1980s, and their main drawback is that they have a low sample rate, 44.1KHz. This is why many sound engineers prefer vinyl. because it's an analogue format, vinyl has a potentially infinite sample frequency range (although it's obviously limited by the recording and playback equipment, and by the physics of the media itself). Apple has used original masters (not CDs) to create much of its song library, so all they have to do is encode at a higher frequency than 44.1KHz. At a guess, they're probably using 48KHz, which is on par with DAT and MiniDisc.
I'm not surprised that Apple is using AAC. For one thing, it is clearly better than the decade-old MP3 format in all respects, and the licensing costs are probably the same or better. Technically, it may not be as good as Ogg, but most people don't even know what Ogg is so it doesn't matter. As long as Apple can say "our format is better than MP3 and CD audio" (the two prevailing formats), they will have the attention of consumers. AAC is a more mature format than Ogg (Ogg isn't bad, but AAC is more tried-and-proven), and is probably more compatible with existing DRM technologies. DRM is important to keep the recording companies happy and to ensure that the files will only play on devices that Apple specifies (like on Macs and iPods).
A major stumbling block for Ogg is that until fairly recently it was necessary to use a floating point processor to play the format. In the arena of portable devices, only PDAs have floating point capability, which is why you can play Ogg files on your Zaurus and not on your iPod. AAC is already supported by many devices, so Apple has a larger potential market (although at present only iPods can play the files).
" For those outside of Australia, Telstra is one of our largest ISPs. "
Telstra is Australia's largest ISP.
I'm not particularly surprised that this happened, seeing as how Telstra was almost blocked from Usenet not long ago. Fortunately for Telstra users, it seems to be trying to do something about it.
Is there anything wrong with just placing a tissue (the kind you use to blow your nose) over the fan intake? Of course you'll need to be careful that the tissue is porous enough to allow adequate airflow, but strong enough to catch dust without breaking from the force of the fan.
I've been thinking about doing this for a while, but I'm not sure if it's safe.
...then they'll enslave us and make chickens grow out of our arses. It's true! It happened to a friend of a friend's uncle's niece!
Who owns the results once they've been calculated? Who gets paid royalties when a drug is developed from this data? I'm not going to donate my CPU time if SARS sufferers have to pay royalties (either directly or indirectly) to GlaxoSmithcline or the US Government (which IMHO isn't any better than a multinational corporation) for their medication.
Unless the results are released into the public domain or at least licensed under a BSD- or GPL-style license, I'm not touching it.
The article states that the plant needs to be kept at -10 degrees. At a guess, I don't think you could keep solid gas at room temperatures, although it could probably survive at higher than -10 degrees.
In Japan, gas is solid.
... ?
In the USA, gas is liquid (i.e. petrol).
In Soviet Russia, gas is
With LCDs, the quoted area is the viewable area.
With CRTs, the measurement is made from extreme opposite corners (going diagonally) of the tube itself, not just the viewable screen area. For several reasons (one being that CRTs are curved), images become distorted towards the edges. That area can't be used for viewing, so they are blocked off. This blocked part is the difference between the quoted size and the viewable size.
Also try these:
FreeSCO - great for routers
tomsrtbt
DemoLinux
RIP Linux Rescue System
SuperRescue CD
Morphix
For Windows software, take a look here
Do they give all the money up front or do they pay later? If the latter, what's stopping DARPA from refusing to pay at the end? They could make up all kinds of reasons, like "they didn't do what we expected them to do", or even "Theo chucked a tantrum and refused to do what we asked". I know that the conditions say they can't order the OpenBSD hackers around, but they'll probably try to anyway.
... that all this time Jupiter has been mooning us 58 times simultaneously. That cheeky devil!
Subaru make telescopes now? I thought they just made cars.
If we all boycotted SCO, this lawsuit would die a quick death.
That sounds like a "Choose your own adventure" story. If there's an (e) Profit!!!, then I'll go with that.
If you have a million monkeys operating a million CD burners, you can (eventually) create anything.
I'm sure the Ninja Turtles would love to get some free cable. They watch a lot of TV, after all. Maybe they can get the April O'Neill channel.
COWABUNGA!
It's probably an embedded version of Linux, so it is likely that the GNU system has been replaced with something more compact. So no, it wouldn't be "GNU/Data".
Doesn't it work in Dosemu, with a DOS like FreeDOS or MS-DOS?