"Display Wall in a Box"... 40 projectors by the time they're finished. Too expensive for my blood.
They're running the projectors at 1024x768, which explains why it's compared at "20 times a typical system"; most projectors I've come across in a sane price range can't do more than this.
Actually, in normal matter he estimates about 10^40 operations per second. Right now we're at
approximately 10^9 (1 GHz), so that gives us a factor of 10^31 to increase. That's about 2^103,
which Moore's law (x2 = 18 mo) equates to about 155 years.
I don't know about you, but I'm planning on still being alive at that time! I don't like the idea that I'm not going to be able to upgrade my neural implants any further when I'm 182.
The only problem with this statement (can't patent prior art) as it applies here is that Steve Scherf is an author of the original CDDB software and a founder of Gracenote. So I don't think it's really "prior art" in the sense that it's work that someone else did, but it's *his* prior art, so it should be OK for his company to consider it "their" IP. Although there were *two* original authors, according to Gracenote...
So maybe it shouldn't be OK? Roxio claims that Gracenote's patents are invalid (probably not), that their trademark and copyright attempts are bogus (probably yes) and that they are antitrusting public information (iffy). But what's really interesting is that xmcd, the original app to implement this stuff (as far as I can find), is GPL'ed. Now GPL'ed software should be patentable (bizarrely enough) as much as any other software, but can Gracenote hold a patent to the technology, given the status of xmcd (*not* a Gracenote app!)?
Re:Not really important
on
Space Blimps
·
· Score: 4
Actually, Titan is one of the few places in the solar system that is a really good candidate for supporting life natively. It has a nitrogen and hydrocarbon atmosphere, with plenty of the required building blocks for amino acids. It's bigger than Mercury or Pluto; the atmosphere is only about 60% higher pressure than Earth's... I think there's a Clarke novel about Titan. Anyone?
http://www.to-scorpio.com/titanfacts.htm
Unfortunately, it's damn cold, but a human presence should start creating some global lunar warming right away;)
But I think that's what's happening here; the
general population is mostly indifferent to anonymity, and ZK has acknowledged that. So, they are going to focus on their target market, which is not the general population, but probably businesses. Businesses that either have something to hide, or don't want to expose their (e.g. executives') internet activities to the prying eyes of potential competitors or lawsuit claimants, will not be indifferent to this kind of service.
Apparently, those businesses' systems are running Windows at the desktop. Anyone still surprised?
Slashdot Mirror
Reminds me of an answer I read once, attributed to Torvalds:
Other than the fact Linux has a cool name, could someone explain why I should use Linux over BSD?
No. That's it. The cool name, that is.
Zac"Display Wall in a Box" ... 40 projectors by the time they're finished. Too expensive for my blood.
They're running the projectors at 1024x768, which explains why it's compared at "20 times a typical system"; most projectors I've come across in a sane price range can't do more than this.
Actually, in normal matter he estimates about 10^40 operations per second. Right now we're at approximately 10^9 (1 GHz), so that gives us a factor of 10^31 to increase. That's about 2^103, which Moore's law (x2 = 18 mo) equates to about 155 years.
I don't know about you, but I'm planning on still being alive at that time! I don't like the idea that I'm not going to be able to upgrade my neural implants any further when I'm 182.
The only problem with this statement (can't patent prior art) as it applies here is that Steve Scherf is an author of the original CDDB software and a founder of Gracenote. So I don't think it's really "prior art" in the sense that it's work that someone else did, but it's *his* prior art, so it should be OK for his company to consider it "their" IP. Although there were *two* original authors, according to Gracenote...
Original Gracenote open letter link (not a mirror)
So maybe it shouldn't be OK? Roxio claims that Gracenote's patents are invalid (probably not), that their trademark and copyright attempts are bogus (probably yes) and that they are antitrusting public information (iffy). But what's really interesting is that xmcd, the original app to implement this stuff (as far as I can find), is GPL'ed. Now GPL'ed software should be patentable (bizarrely enough) as much as any other software, but can Gracenote hold a patent to the technology, given the status of xmcd (*not* a Gracenote app!)?
Unfortunately, it's damn cold, but a human presence should start creating some global lunar warming right away ;)
Apparently, those businesses' systems are running Windows at the desktop. Anyone still surprised?