I've seen the confluence wiki product used in very large corporates, it tracks changes, links in with your corporate sign on data and seems to be pretty robust. We were using the GUI prototyping plugin a lot as well
Speaking of movie special effects.. anyone else see a striking similarity to the ractives in Neal Stephenson's book Diamond Age? The next step is sensors permanently embedded under the skin..
Better yet, hook this technology hooked up to a heart rate monitor. This would be the biggest hit with the trendoids in japan, imagine a large red heart on your chest pulsing in time to your heartbeat - pretty lady walks by, sees your heartbeat increase..
Your running shoes could change colour depending on how far you have run or how fast you are running (similar to the nike/ipod technology) or your basketball shoes could turn bright orange if you have just jumped really high. The list is endless really, the marketing people should have a field day as long as the technology is not overpriced and can't be easily copied in china.
Or you could take the free as in speech thing one step sideways... and brew using Linux - http://nerdbrew.com/ ~ NerdBrew.com Beer through technology through beer through technology through beer through beer through beer.... (shameless plug, sorry:P)
I think it is possible to develop decent front-ends using excel.. you could probably tie it in with a dot net backend however that is nto my specialty.
Excel has a decent enough interface, and the coolest excel thing that i have seen is an excel page opened in-line in the browser linking to a database back-end over the net via remote procedure calls. The end result was that data retreived from a database by the RPC macro was displayed in excel in a browser which on it's own isnt too hard. The cool part was that if you changed the data in excel, the macro sent the changes back to the server, thus updating the database.. w00t excel front-end to a database driven system
Although this was effectively a macro, it proves that excel can be a decent interface for your on-line system/ not sure if it can be used in the real world effectively as it opens you up to a plethora of MS security holes but it is pretty cool
Ah, but will it take more time to acquire and install the service pack than it will to install windows itself, as has been the case with certain windows security packs in the past?
Well actually, assuming every one of these routers made Cisco $450K in pure profit, and given that they have spent $500M in development, they would only need to sell just over 1,100 of these things to cover costs.
Note that the post states that the routers start at $450K and also note that the router itself must cost something to make apart from the R&D costs, so the number of routers that Cisco must sell in order to make a profit is probably somewhere closer to 2,000 or 3,000. Perhaps they do not plan to make a profit initially, believing that the technology that they have now developed will lead to more optical switching products that will make them mega bucks in the future..
Don't forget that the entire worldwide demand for computers was only ever supposed to be a handful..
I'm sure that we will find something to do with multiple 40Gbps routers..
The other thing that is that the "auto adjust" function is really good on the newer LCDs - I spend ages trying to adjust 19" and 21" LCDs at work to get the geometry right, not to mention the colours (although I am not really too fussed about the colour). Pressing the auto button makes my life a hell of a lot easier - perfect, maximum screen size every time. ~
Check out http://www.whirlpool.net.au/ for Australian broadband news and prices;
"Whirlpool is a non-commercial, non-profit, independent community web site devoted to keeping the Australian public informed on the state of broadband internet access in our country."
You will be able to find all Australian broadband prices there for comparison. Currently 1AUD ~= 0.777USD --
It should not be a cost borne by the consumer, but a marketing cost borne by the carrier - if they want to be able to steal other carrier's customers, then supporting mobile number portability is a pretty small price to pay. They systems are already in use around the world, so it is not like they will have to re-invent the wheel and spend billions developing new systems. Here in Australia we have had MNP (mobile number portability) for about 18 months now and it works relatively well. I work in sales for a large telco and about every 3rd "new" customer wants to port their number from whatever carrier to ours. The process can take hours but ususally it takes just 15 mins for the number to come across - i have seen it take 2 mins. Sure sometimes it screws up for whatever reason but it has really opened up the market, now that we have a mature market where most people have a mobile anyway and hence would want to keep their number if switching. Oh yeah, and here as in most other countries you can just get a new sim card for the new telco & keep your phone if you want to - you can even copy the numbers in your phone book across between sim cards. Imagine that - a scary new world where your customers can jump ship & switch carriers if your service is sub-par, keeping their phone number, phone and even phone book! No wonder efficient, competitive markets scare those telcos whose businesses have become woefully inefficient on the back on monopolistic practices. It is not competitive markets that are the problem, but the business practices of the whinging telcos.
Get the P800 instead - bluetooth, tri-band so it will work in the states (u guys just have to be different), massive screen for a phone, bluetooth, built in camera & speakerphone & you can d/l more apps for it (java support included). It takes the new memory stick duo mini memory stick & runs the same o/s as Nokia's 9210 communicator (Symbian v7). It's got gprs for fast net access, polyphonic ringtones, touch screen, handwriting recognition, web & wap browser, mms support, mp3 & video player & even comes with 3 styli. About the only thing I haven't been able to do is work out how to switch it from portrait to landscape mode & it doesn't do faxes (but who does anymore). This baby is the bomb.
Some background for those non-aussies. In Australia, after attracting customers with 'unlimited' internet, Telstra then switched all users over to 'capped' plans. I say 'capped' as they are not really capped, you just pay an arm and a leg if you go over your limit. It didn't take long after SingTel's takeover of Telstra's main competitor, Optus, before they too introduced capped plans (these are actually capped).
So it looks like the U.S. will soon follow....then what? Will this become the new standard business model for broadband providers? Telstra was able to do it in Australia as they have a virtual monopoly on broadband infrastructure. Don't let this happen in your neck of cyber-space, it really sucks as the charges aren't even realistic, they are highway robbery.
The design is very similar to the old HP Journada, before HP swallowed Compaq & ditched the Jornada in favour of the much more shiny and sexy iPaq. Having said that it is relatively cheap, I guess you pay more for sexy shiny things these days.
When I got my first 386 in the early-mid 90s it came with a 3.5 inch disk drive - there was no 5.25 drive in sight! So the 5.25" drive that I subsequently bought sat unused when the old 386 became obsolete until I dug it up last year and put it in my PII300 (it is still here). It works great although I do admit that I really only used it once or twice to back up all my old 5.25" floppies on to cd
Ah Timothy. dont make comments like th@ when you are obviously just trolling for blind M$ hating comments. Dont get me wrong - i'm no fan of M$ but.doc is just a standard. Comments accompanying stories should probably be slightly more impartial & subjective.
But on a more cheerful note, this is a gr8 move by the UK government and i hope that it will prove to be an example that other governments will follow, but i wont keep my fingers crossed here in Australia where the current government seems to have its head in the sand.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
After looking for ages for a shareware solution, i discovered that nokia released their own software (Nokia Mobile Internet kit) that i got online in OZ from dick smith for around A$60 - thats $30 for u americans - it is just software that you install via hotsync to your palm & it lets me mail, sms & surf the web from my palmIII via an infrared connection with a (Nokia of course) 6210 or 7110 (not sure what other models are supported - prolly 8810 is) - it is a lot better than trying to surf on a mobile phone screen via WAP and it does work on some non-infrared phones by buying a cable.
I got this a while ago when it was first released here so ive forgotten the exact details but all you need to know is up on the nokia web site www.nokia.com
Hope this helps - btw: it is a pain trying to type out mail on the palm, and it can make for a costly mobile phone bill as this connection is only 9600 bps & it can take a while if some1 has sent u mail with a large attachment
You say that this new feature will allow millions to finally venture out into the web as a whole, and increase connectivity massively
And you also say that you are against 'closed sites,' yet these new links could direct the user to a collection of sites owned by M$ (they control the new links) which is in essence a larger, M$, closed site.
There is also a major flaw in your argument about copyright.. Ads are a part of a web page that have no relevance and just sap bandwidth, so removing them adds to the experience of the web page. However adding material that may or may not be relevant to a web page is changing the original material & hence abusing copyright.
Slightly off-topic, ad removing progs dont reduce revenue for web masters as the users removing ads wouldnt have clicked on them anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
I've seen the confluence wiki product used in very large corporates, it tracks changes, links in with your corporate sign on data and seems to be pretty robust. We were using the GUI prototyping plugin a lot as well
Hence "from the let-the-ractives-begin dept" d'oh
Speaking of movie special effects.. anyone else see a striking similarity to the ractives in Neal Stephenson's book Diamond Age? The next step is sensors permanently embedded under the skin..
Better yet, hook this technology hooked up to a heart rate monitor. This would be the biggest hit with the trendoids in japan, imagine a large red heart on your chest pulsing in time to your heartbeat - pretty lady walks by, sees your heartbeat increase..
Your running shoes could change colour depending on how far you have run or how fast you are running (similar to the nike/ipod technology) or your basketball shoes could turn bright orange if you have just jumped really high. The list is endless really, the marketing people should have a field day as long as the technology is not overpriced and can't be easily copied in china.
Or you could take the free as in speech thing one step sideways... and brew using Linux - http://nerdbrew.com/ .... (shameless plug, sorry :P)
~
NerdBrew.com
Beer through technology through beer through technology through beer through beer through beer
I think it is possible to develop decent front-ends using excel.. you could probably tie it in with a dot net backend however that is nto my specialty.
Excel has a decent enough interface, and the coolest excel thing that i have seen is an excel page opened in-line in the browser linking to a database back-end over the net via remote procedure calls.
The end result was that data retreived from a database by the RPC macro was displayed in excel in a browser which on it's own isnt too hard. The cool part was that if you changed the data in excel, the macro sent the changes back to the server, thus updating the database.. w00t excel front-end to a database driven system
Although this was effectively a macro, it proves that excel can be a decent interface for your on-line system/ not sure if it can be used in the real world effectively as it opens you up to a plethora of MS security holes but it is pretty cool
Ah, but will it take more time to acquire and install the service pack than it will to install windows itself, as has been the case with certain windows security packs in the past?
Well actually, assuming every one of these routers made Cisco $450K in pure profit, and given that they have spent $500M in development, they would only need to sell just over 1,100 of these things to cover costs.
Note that the post states that the routers start at $450K and also note that the router itself must cost something to make apart from the R&D costs, so the number of routers that Cisco must sell in order to make a profit is probably somewhere closer to 2,000 or 3,000. Perhaps they do not plan to make a profit initially, believing that the technology that they have now developed will lead to more optical switching products that will make them mega bucks in the future..
Don't forget that the entire worldwide demand for computers was only ever supposed to be a handful..
I'm sure that we will find something to do with multiple 40Gbps routers..
Multi-player Network video Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME deathmatch anyone?
Sorry, had to be said.
The other thing that is that the "auto adjust" function is really good on the newer LCDs - I spend ages trying to adjust 19" and 21" LCDs at work to get the geometry right, not to mention the colours (although I am not really too fussed about the colour). Pressing the auto button makes my life a hell of a lot easier - perfect, maximum screen size every time.
~
Check out http://www.whirlpool.net.au/ for Australian broadband news and prices;
"Whirlpool is a non-commercial, non-profit, independent community web site devoted to keeping the Australian public informed on the state of broadband internet access in our country."
You will be able to find all Australian broadband prices there for comparison. Currently 1AUD ~= 0.777USD
--
It should not be a cost borne by the consumer, but a marketing cost borne by the carrier - if they want to be able to steal other carrier's customers, then supporting mobile number portability is a pretty small price to pay. They systems are already in use around the world, so it is not like they will have to re-invent the wheel and spend billions developing new systems.
Here in Australia we have had MNP (mobile number portability) for about 18 months now and it works relatively well. I work in sales for a large telco and about every 3rd "new" customer wants to port their number from whatever carrier to ours. The process can take hours but ususally it takes just 15 mins for the number to come across - i have seen it take 2 mins. Sure sometimes it screws up for whatever reason but it has really opened up the market, now that we have a mature market where most people have a mobile anyway and hence would want to keep their number if switching. Oh yeah, and here as in most other countries you can just get a new sim card for the new telco & keep your phone if you want to - you can even copy the numbers in your phone book across between sim cards.
Imagine that - a scary new world where your customers can jump ship & switch carriers if your service is sub-par, keeping their phone number, phone and even phone book!
No wonder efficient, competitive markets scare those telcos whose businesses have become woefully inefficient on the back on monopolistic practices. It is not competitive markets that are the problem, but the business practices of the whinging telcos.
Get the P800 instead - bluetooth, tri-band so it will work in the states (u guys just have to be different), massive screen for a phone, bluetooth, built in camera & speakerphone & you can d/l more apps for it (java support included). It takes the new memory stick duo mini memory stick & runs the same o/s as Nokia's 9210 communicator (Symbian v7). It's got gprs for fast net access, polyphonic ringtones, touch screen, handwriting recognition, web & wap browser, mms support, mp3 & video player & even comes with 3 styli. About the only thing I haven't been able to do is work out how to switch it from portrait to landscape mode & it doesn't do faxes (but who does anymore). This baby is the bomb.
check out http://www.sonyericsson.com/ (no i am not an employee)
Some background for those non-aussies.
In Australia, after attracting customers with 'unlimited' internet, Telstra then switched all users over to 'capped' plans. I say 'capped' as they are not really capped, you just pay an arm and a leg if you go over your limit. It didn't take long after SingTel's takeover of Telstra's main competitor, Optus, before they too introduced capped plans (these are actually capped).
So it looks like the U.S. will soon follow....then what? Will this become the new standard business model for broadband providers?
Telstra was able to do it in Australia as they have a virtual monopoly on broadband infrastructure. Don't let this happen in your neck of cyber-space, it really sucks as the charges aren't even realistic, they are highway robbery.
For more information on Telstra screwing broadband customers, see The Australian Broadband User Community site.
Now you can surf your porn collection on the big screen!
The design is very similar to the old HP Journada, before HP swallowed Compaq & ditched the Jornada in favour of the much more shiny and sexy iPaq.
Having said that it is relatively cheap, I guess you pay more for sexy shiny things these days.
This one sounds good, but the thing I'm waiting for is an all-in-one pda, phone, camera, wristwatch. Should be here any day now ;)
When I got my first 386 in the early-mid 90s it came with a 3.5 inch disk drive - there was no 5.25 drive in sight! So the 5.25" drive that I subsequently bought sat unused when the old 386 became obsolete until I dug it up last year and put it in my PII300 (it is still here). It works great although I do admit that I really only used it once or twice to back up all my old 5.25" floppies on to cd
Ah Timothy. dont make comments like th@ when you are obviously just trolling for blind M$ hating comments. Dont get me wrong - i'm no fan of M$ but .doc is just a standard. Comments accompanying stories should probably be slightly more impartial & subjective.
But on a more cheerful note, this is a gr8 move by the UK government and i hope that it will prove to be an example that other governments will follow, but i wont keep my fingers crossed here in Australia where the current government seems to have its head in the sand.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
hehehe
but that is freaky -- 112 is also the international standard mobile phone emergency number
After looking for ages for a shareware solution, i discovered that nokia released their own software (Nokia Mobile Internet kit) that i got online in OZ from dick smith for around A$60 - thats $30 for u americans - it is just software that you install via hotsync to your palm & it lets me mail, sms & surf the web from my palmIII via an infrared connection with a (Nokia of course) 6210 or 7110 (not sure what other models are supported - prolly 8810 is) - it is a lot better than trying to surf on a mobile phone screen via WAP and it does work on some non-infrared phones by buying a cable.
I got this a while ago when it was first released here so ive forgotten the exact details but all you need to know is up on the nokia web site www.nokia.com
Hope this helps - btw: it is a pain trying to type out mail on the palm, and it can make for a costly mobile phone bill as this connection is only 9600 bps & it can take a while if some1 has sent u mail with a large attachment
You say that this new feature will
allow millions to finally venture out into the web as a whole, and increase connectivity massively
And you also say that you are against 'closed sites,' yet these new links could direct the user to a collection of sites owned by M$ (they control the new links) which is in essence a larger, M$, closed site.
There is also a major flaw in your argument about copyright.. Ads are a part of a web page that have no relevance and just sap bandwidth, so removing them adds to the experience of the web page. However adding material that may or may not be relevant to a web page is changing the original material & hence abusing copyright.
Slightly off-topic, ad removing progs dont reduce revenue for web masters as the users removing ads wouldnt have clicked on them anyway.