I don't know how many people use it, but in Canada there's a service offered by Canada Post that does something like this. You log into an https site and securely view and pay bills that are aggregated from various companies. The companies themselves interface with epost (in a secure manner, I'm assuming), so this is actually far more secure than having someone scan in mail manually.
Also, it's free (I'm assuming the various companies pay for it, since they'll no longer have to pay the costs of paper mail)
Well, if in parts of the country (i.e., not cities) one can find mobile phones while in other parts one cannot, (assuming all else in these areas is equal), then I think we've found the test and control groups.
These "few high current DC transmission lines" presumably supply an AC power grid, one which powers all sorts of devices. How do we presently overcome the limitations of inverters?
Are (rather inefficient) rotary inverters used? Or is the latest batch of these not-sine-but-not-square wave inverters Good Enough for most purposes (when diluted by the rest of the grid)?
I'm wondering why an outgoing SMTP server is even needed though. I can telnet straight to my mail recipient and clank out a manual message - no outgoing server required.
This is probably for simplicity in designing+implementing the email client (which is the webmail server in this case). By using SMTP, the client does not need to perform an MX lookup; try to send the message to the remote host; retry based on failure, including trying lower priority MX hosts (and keeping the message in a queue); handle other errors connecting; etc.
Plus, SMTP servers came first, and it's far easier to plug into existing components.
CD-Rs degrade over time just like any other media. If you "compress" the data on it (i.e., use less of the media surface for each individual bit), it's more likely that a bit will become unreadable over time.
Suppose you're squeezing an extra 30% of data on the disc. I'd expect it's at least that much more likely that a scratch, excessive heat, time, or whatever would turn your backup into a coaster.
This is a bit different than the increase in HD platter density. With HDs, where the product includes both the rw mechanism and the media, the manufacturers had to implement stricter quality controls and test their media to tighter specs as they squeezed more data on the same amount of surface area. (And even still, reliability of IDE drives is poorer). In the case of these "compressed cds", the media is the same, and the manufacturers haven't tested its reliability when used with higher-density pits.
Maybe over time we'll see CD-R media that's been tested/certified for this standard (just like we now have media that's certified for various burn speeds). But until then I certainly wouldn't trust a compressed CD-R with any important data. (Or, I'd at least trust it far less than I do an uncompressed one)
Yeah, terminal velocity's about 190km/h when you're on your belly (your body is in an arch with your belly forward and your arms and legs slightly back to maintain control, kind of like a badminton birdie).
If you go head-down, you become more aerodynamic and fall at 290km/h.
But with this device, because the force only acts on your hands and feet (which are on the conveyor and holding the handrails) rather than on your whole body (as does gravity in skydiving), I doubt you'll reach anywhere near those speeds.
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I don't know how many people use it, but in Canada there's a service offered by Canada Post that does something like this. You log into an https site and securely view and pay bills that are aggregated from various companies. The companies themselves interface with epost (in a secure manner, I'm assuming), so this is actually far more secure than having someone scan in mail manually.
Also, it's free (I'm assuming the various companies pay for it, since they'll no longer have to pay the costs of paper mail)
epost.ca
Well, if in parts of the country (i.e., not cities) one can find mobile phones while in other parts one cannot, (assuming all else in these areas is equal), then I think we've found the test and control groups.
These "few high current DC transmission lines" presumably supply an AC power grid, one which powers all sorts of devices. How do we presently overcome the limitations of inverters?
Are (rather inefficient) rotary inverters used? Or is the latest batch of these not-sine-but-not-square wave inverters Good Enough for most purposes (when diluted by the rest of the grid)?
I'm wondering why an outgoing SMTP server is even needed though. I can telnet straight to my mail recipient and clank out a manual message - no outgoing server required.
This is probably for simplicity in designing+implementing the email client (which is the webmail server in this case). By using SMTP, the client does not need to perform an MX lookup; try to send the message to the remote host; retry based on failure, including trying lower priority MX hosts (and keeping the message in a queue); handle other errors connecting; etc.
Plus, SMTP servers came first, and it's far easier to plug into existing components.
CD-Rs degrade over time just like any other media. If you "compress" the data on it (i.e., use less of the media surface for each individual bit), it's more likely that a bit will become unreadable over time.
Suppose you're squeezing an extra 30% of data on the disc. I'd expect it's at least that much more likely that a scratch, excessive heat, time, or whatever would turn your backup into a coaster.
This is a bit different than the increase in HD platter density. With HDs, where the product includes both the rw mechanism and the media, the manufacturers had to implement stricter quality controls and test their media to tighter specs as they squeezed more data on the same amount of surface area. (And even still, reliability of IDE drives is poorer). In the case of these "compressed cds", the media is the same, and the manufacturers haven't tested its reliability when used with higher-density pits.
Maybe over time we'll see CD-R media that's been tested/certified for this standard (just like we now have media that's certified for various burn speeds). But until then I certainly wouldn't trust a compressed CD-R with any important data. (Or, I'd at least trust it far less than I do an uncompressed one)
Yeah, terminal velocity's about 190km/h when you're on your belly (your body is in an arch with your belly forward and your arms and legs slightly back to maintain control, kind of like a badminton birdie).
If you go head-down, you become more aerodynamic and fall at 290km/h.
But with this device, because the force only acts on your hands and feet (which are on the conveyor and holding the handrails) rather than on your whole body (as does gravity in skydiving), I doubt you'll reach anywhere near those speeds.