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User: firebat162

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  1. so? on Intel's Per-Chip Cost Averages $40 · · Score: 1

    While I do agree that Intel chips are very expensive, look at the software industry.

    Software CD's cost $0.10 to master in bulk. It's not the CD that's worth the money, it's the development time, research, design, and everything else that goes into it. So while the actual media costs less than a dime to make, it is worth more.

    I guess it's similar for Intel chips. They easily pay millions and millions in research a year.

  2. Re:Just a Giant PDA on Tablet PCs Enter Reality · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I would think a big market for the Tablet PC's are for teaching/educational/demonstration purposes.

    At my university, a lot of the professors are switching to Tablet PC's and writing on their powerpoint slides instead of fiddling with the overheads.

    The professors can save the notes they wrote on the powerpoint slides and make them available to students online. Try doing this with either a PDA or a traditional laptop... it's possible, but difficult.

  3. yoink it! on Banryu, Robot Or Dragon? · · Score: 1

    If i was in japan and i saw that thing and realized it was worth $18,000, I'd just steal THAT instead!

    But honestly, it isn't the most conspicious alarm system I've seen... and it really looks quite ugly.

  4. Re:RealOne on Which Adware and Spyware are the Most Insidious? · · Score: 1

    i thought i would add that for the past 4 years, i have refused computer help or service to anybody who installed real player.

    pretty funny, because it works! No one i know has real player installed because they're afraid of me not helping them with their computer problems.

    The most annoying thing about real player: The last time i saw it at a client's computer, real had literally taken over their download mechanism and everytime they downloaded something this practically full sreen X10 ad would pop up. Crazy, the nerve these people have.

  5. wintin on What is a Good Free MUD Client? · · Score: 1

    wintin is my favorite. the scripting language is very easy to learn (as a result basic) but can still handle many automated functions in a mud. i've tried TF, but it just seems a little too complicated for me to learn if I just want to get on the mud and have some triggers and aliases.

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/wintin

  6. utility of dasher on mac os x? on Dasher Available For Mac OS X · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Back when it was first announced on the PC/pocket pc, I remember it was designed for text input on a palm... something with cheap pointing (using the stylus) but relatively difficult text input.

    Why would desktop/laptop users with full keyboards need to use this? It seems difficult for people with disabilities to use such a system.

    Also, the need to constantly put your attention to the Dasher interface seems like a pain. With typing (or graffiti), text can be entered without looking at the the keyboard or graffiti area, so one can concentrate on what they are typing... but with Dasher, one will always need to concentrate on the input... just by the nature of it.

  7. purpose of keeping humans around? on The Science of the Matrix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The part about the human power plant is making me wonder. Why are they keeping the humans around if they are only using them for "parallel computing" and for managing the power plants? If I understand correctly, humans are pretty inefficient. We need to be fed, and the machines have to create the Matrix and regulate us in it.

    Also, one would assume that a lot of machines can process information faster than a lot of human brains.

    So my question is, why are the machines taking the risk of keeping the humans around? why not just kill us off.

  8. what's the point? on Next-Gen Pop-up Ads · · Score: 5, Insightful

    maybe i missed something, but how will this increase revenue for the advertising companies?

    so their websites get more hits. but since they are hits that are basically forced, or unaware hits, how will this increase sales for the product being advertised?

  9. Re:Thousands dead, freedom buried on One Year After September 11 · · Score: 1

    I don't think anybody is beyond hope. How would you feel if you did a major crime and people told you that you were beyond hope, and it's probably better for you if they killed you anyway (rather than trying to rehabiliatize you)?

  10. As the saying goes, on Microsoft to Hire Xbox Hackers? · · Score: 1

    If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

    It seems like a great idea from MS' point of view... It'd be hard to prosecute them but most people are lured by the aspect of money.

  11. confusing for consumers? on Combined DVD Burners Coming Soon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It sounds awfully confusing for a normal consumer if they buy one of these super combined dvd burners...

    can you imagine? This guy wants to burn a dvd, but when he hits burn, he has 4-5 choices to pick between( DVD-R, DVD+R, etc...). While this is good for more technical people, I can't see this being a feature normal consumers would buy this for.

    I personally think there needs to be one standard.

  12. wrong approach? on A Better Way to Enter Text On a Palmtop · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I downloaded and tried it. It's a neat approach, but I don't think it's the best way to input text... Like this, it requires too much thought. For instance, typing. Once a person gets used to typing, it is pretty much second nature. Not much thinking in terms of how to input letters. But with Dasher, you always have to be looking on the screen to see what letters are coming up. There are patterns but the patterns aren't static (I realize this is one of the strengths). Seems like it takes too much effort on the inputter's point of view to perform such an elementary task of inputting text.

  13. Re:Power Sources? on Eight Technologies That Will Change the World · · Score: 1

    some wrist watches (seiko) these days use pendulums to collect kenetic energy. While obviously a lot more refinement would be needed to generate more power, it seems like it could work

  14. segway on 1936 Perspective on Television · · Score: 1

    i wonder if this is kind of like the segway... not accepted much when it first came out, but is embraced later on.

    just a thought.

  15. Re:How about... on Hardware Review: Rio Receiver · · Score: 1

    i guess it depends on what you're going for. The way you have suggested it doesn't allow for you to select tracks and thus becomes more of an amplifier that receives its signal through ethernet. Wouldn't it then be cheaper to just have a long speaker cable to your speaker

  16. Re:I gotta agree with Blizzard... on EFF Takes Bnetd Case · · Score: 1

    What it seems like is this the case is that if bnetd servers become popular, Blizzard will lose many users on their standard Battle.net servers and in that way, new players who don't know about bnetd will find it hard to play a game with random people on battle.net.

    Also, Blizzard pays alot of money to the ISP's (exodus, etc..) who host battle.net and if the users aren't there, they will be in a tight situtation.

  17. Re:A taste of the future on ACPI Forced On & Option Disabled in WinXP-Certified Motherboards · · Score: 1

    "Hmm, why don't they let us audit their code? "

    well, because it's their software that you're trying to make hardware for. If you're not happy with their terms then maybe the best way would be to not support Windows. Wouldn't be that be the best way? I'm not trying to troll, but just trying to make a point that Windows is MS' software and if they want to assure quality on peripherals then I think they should have the freedom to do so.

  18. Re:Lousy research on WinInformant Says Windows More Secure Than Linux · · Score: 1

    windows announcements are for the OS itself only? what about IIS? about IE? do those count as 'OS only'? Aren't those where most of the vulnerabilities come from?

    they're talking about the whole system.

  19. virus prone on First (proof-of-concept) .NET virus · · Score: 1

    I hate to say this, but anything as amibitiously wide spread as .NET will be virus prone.

    Isn't it true that one can never claim a piece of software to be 100% bug free or secure? If you something as large as .NET and as widespread as it, I think we should give it some grace and at least let it be released before we start saying it's a bad platform because of it's virus vulnerabilities. (this is of course not taking into account other things like privacy issues and what not)

  20. Re:Sorry on Inside The Nintendo GameCube · · Score: 1

    I can't really comment with what you said about EB going through 10 shipments a day, but I know for certain Xbox being over all the internet is a result of MS's extensive marketing campaign. Do not forget that just a month ago it was reported that micrsoft was spending something like 100 million on marketting throughout North America. You would only begin to think that the web is a place that MS would advertise on.

  21. the last thing on Cable Co's Want More Control Over Your Network · · Score: 1

    The last thing you want to happen is have cable networks (or DSL) start charging per megabyte. THat will be a sad, sad day when that happens. And if people continue to abuse the system then it will.

  22. Re:The Balkanization of the Internet on U.S. Shuts Down Somalia Internet Access · · Score: 1

    In China and Saudi Arabia's case, they are preventing their OWN people from accessing the internet. If that is what the government wants, then there really isn't anything terribly wrong legally.

    But on the other hand, if it is another country shutting off your country's internet then that's another level of injustice in my eyes

  23. US out of hand on U.S. Shuts Down Somalia Internet Access · · Score: 1

    It sickens me that the US is terrorizing so many more people by shutting down and closing key telecommunications companies. In the article, it has stated many times about how the citizens of Somalia desparately need the cash from family members working abroad. If you do not remember, Somalia is a very poor third world country (i remember just a few years ago our churh was sending canned food and things like that to them).

    It is fine that the US wants to capture bin Laden, but it is completely another thing to do this doing 'whatever it takes'. I believe the US should realizes the ramifications of it's decisions and either sets up temporary management for the phone company or reinstates it.

    And from a non american point of view, I can't help but think that the US is taking this too far.

  24. Re:Waitaminnit... on Email Trial In China Begins · · Score: 1

    I'm from Hong Kong and in Hong Kong, even though it's under rule by CHina, it has it's own laws. When the handover happened in 1997, China promised the Hong Kong society 50 years of no social change.

  25. another detector on SuperK Neutrino Detector Severely Damaged. · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the school i'm at (UBC) is co-sponsoring a neutrino detector in sudbury: http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~kutter/