No, not compared to CD players, but compared to their original design.
Ipods are designed to use rechargeable batteries that last 10-20 hours (or whatever they're up to now). After that, you're supposed to recharge them. If you switch to non-rechargeable batteries, then you get perhaps about 3-5 hours (just a guess - alkaline batteries hold much less energy than Li-ion ones), and then you need new batteries.
USB 1.1/2.0 was bidirectional (ie, half duplex). The same wires were used to transmit and receive. USB 3.0 looks to be unidirectional (ie, full duplex), in that different sets of wires are used to transmit vs. receive. This avoids something known as "bus turn-around time", therefore allowing for faster communication.
Electrically, they appear to be implementing a whole new bus in parallel with the existing one. I guess they want the savings in connector space and software infrastructure (vs. creating a whole new separate bus).
The thing that stands out to me regarding the connector design is that the new socket has more exposed contacts. I wonder if they're likely to be zapped by static electricity from fingers & such?
I've come across several cables made for USB 1.1 that definitely do not work with USB 2.0. Some were just ribbon cables, essentially. USB 2.0 requires twisted pairs for the data lines and shielding around the whole cable.
It's likely that the bad 1.1 cables were not designed to spec, but worked okay with 1.1. They are definitely not designed to the USB 2.0 spec (which you can download from usb.org).
Btw, there is a different spec for low-speed USB cabling vs. full/high-speed (section 6.6).
One question is whether these apps require sighting the two points or not. They can also get the rotation data from the accelerometer. Can you experiment with covering up one end of the sensor bar to see if those things still work?
Oh, and another way to track an object in 3D with IR is to track multiple points (at least 3) whose relative position is known. This what the TrackIR does.
Yes, that is how most IR-based motion tracking systems work.
Each point in each sensor corresponds to a known ray in space. To find the point, you need to know which points correspond to each other from the different views (this is easy if there's only one point in each view), and then you calculate the midpoint of the line that's perpendicular to both rays.
There's lots of research on this topic. For really good results, you might want to investigate the Kalman filter. It's a predictor-corrector algorithm that accounts for the various sources of noise in the system (as well as timing differences).
The problem with being too close is not that the bar is too big, but rather that the field of view of the camera in the Wiimote is too small.
Imagine a cone growing out from the front of the Wiimote. The further you are away from the sensor, the more likely that the sensor is seen within this cone. The closer you get, the more likely the sensor is outside of the cone.
For most pointing applications, the Wiimote only needs to see one end of the bar or another. Some applications might use the sightings of the two ends to calculate how far away you are from the TV, or what the rotation of the Wiimote is with respect to the bar, but I'd imagine these are rare.
Perhaps what you need is "glasses" for the Wiimote to increase the field of view of its camera.
What do you mean by "unnecessary"? Is any kind of recycling or conservation necessary?
They want to recycle the wafers which are imprinted with their designs that they want to keep secret. We can argue about whether or not keeping these secrets is "necessary", but that's irrelevant, because obviously IBM (and presumably other chip makers) thinks it is.
In addition, the article mentions that the "cleaned" wafers can be reused internally a number of times before being shipped out to the solar cell makers. That represents an energy savings.
Saving energy is clearly not "necessary" in the sense that they've been surviving without doing this before. But it may be "necessary" in the sense that too much combined energy waste will kill us all.
Aren't we talking about carbon dioxide, not carbon?
I don't know; it does make me nervous to think about tons of deadly gas (in concentration) being pumped into the ground with the only assurances of safety being that "Oh, nothing bad has happened _yet_".
Actually, DC to DC voltage conversion is cheap and small (and efficient) these days, thanks to IC switching PSU controllers. Only big part left is just the coil (which is still fairly small).
With regard to the article, it looks like the new Powered USB spec is a designed-by-committee mess, trying to do too many different things. I think they should just put a stake in ground for a single power output spec (and single plug) that supports most applications and not worry about the rest (high powered items). This will provide an incentive to invent lower-power designs for those currently high-powered gadgets. How many people need a USB-powered hairdryer anyway?
This lens has exactly a second mirror blocking the center of the main lens itself. Did you not look at the diagram? The thing blocking the aperture is the second mirror. The "zone reflectors" are the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc. mirrors.
This appears to be standard Microsoft operating practice. Whenever Microsoft wants to invade another business, they first look around and see who they can "partner" up with. They ask the potential partner to show them everything they know about the business. Once the trowsers have been dropped, Microsoft is no longer interested in playing nice.
They did this with Nintendo to gain knowledge about the video game business (hmm, Sony did this to Nintendo also). I sort of doubt they ever had any honest intent to partner up with Apple.
For the Mac Plus, there was a SCSIethernet box you could get. Pretty straightforward installation.
For the TRS-80, your best bet may be running SLIP or PPP over a serial or parallel interface. Of course, viewing web pages in 128x64 block graphics might be something of a challenge.
Yes, I'm hoping that the US eventually catches up with Europe on this point. In Europe, satellite broadcasters use standard DVB boxes, and you can choose any standard DVB receiver to work with any provider. For security, you just plug in the appropriate CAM module from the provider, just like CableCard.
Dish Network already uses DVB, but they have their own security system, and they wouldn't let you subscribe your own receiver even if you did have a CAM that would work with it. With a standard DVB receiver, you can receiver the (very few) unencrypted Dish channels (such as NASA and the preview channels).
DirecTV doesn't use DVB (unless they've changed something recently.) With the changeover to MPEG4, it would make sense if their new boxes were DVB-capable, but I don't know if they would do this. (Although I guess DVB is strictly MPEG2 at the moment, huh?)
Slashdot Mirror
I was just thinking that professors should apply copyleft or perhaps GPL to their lectures.
After all, if he or she is a REAL professor, he or she will want the knowledge to be spread & shared as much as possible.
No, not compared to CD players, but compared to their original design.
Ipods are designed to use rechargeable batteries that last 10-20 hours (or whatever they're up to now). After that, you're supposed to recharge them. If you switch to non-rechargeable batteries, then you get perhaps about 3-5 hours (just a guess - alkaline batteries hold much less energy than Li-ion ones), and then you need new batteries.
But I heard that the blue oxygen is better for you than the red oxygen.
Too much of the red stuff and your mind starts to close, so they say.
That was my first thought.
USB 1.1/2.0 was bidirectional (ie, half duplex). The same wires were used to transmit and receive.
USB 3.0 looks to be unidirectional (ie, full duplex), in that different sets of wires are used to transmit vs. receive.
This avoids something known as "bus turn-around time", therefore allowing for faster communication.
Electrically, they appear to be implementing a whole new bus in parallel with the existing one.
I guess they want the savings in connector space and software infrastructure (vs. creating a
whole new separate bus).
The thing that stands out to me regarding the connector design is that the new socket has more exposed contacts.
I wonder if they're likely to be zapped by static electricity from fingers & such?
I've come across several cables made for USB 1.1 that definitely do not work with USB 2.0.
Some were just ribbon cables, essentially. USB 2.0 requires twisted pairs for the data lines
and shielding around the whole cable.
It's likely that the bad 1.1 cables were not designed to spec, but worked okay with 1.1.
They are definitely not designed to the USB 2.0 spec (which you can download from usb.org).
Btw, there is a different spec for low-speed USB cabling vs. full/high-speed (section 6.6).
That's interesting.
One question is whether these apps require sighting the two points or not.
They can also get the rotation data from the accelerometer.
Can you experiment with covering up one end of the sensor bar to see if those things still work?
Oh, and another way to track an object in 3D with IR is to track multiple points (at least 3)
whose relative position is known. This what the TrackIR does.
Yes, that is how most IR-based motion tracking systems work.
Each point in each sensor corresponds to a known ray in space.
To find the point, you need to know which points correspond to
each other from the different views (this is easy if there's
only one point in each view), and then you calculate the midpoint
of the line that's perpendicular to both rays.
There's lots of research on this topic. For really good results,
you might want to investigate the Kalman filter. It's a
predictor-corrector algorithm that accounts for the various
sources of noise in the system (as well as timing differences).
The problem with being too close is not that the bar is too big, but rather that the field of view of the camera in the Wiimote is too small.
Imagine a cone growing out from the front of the Wiimote. The further you are away from the sensor, the more likely that the sensor is seen within this cone. The closer you get, the more likely the sensor is outside of the cone.
For most pointing applications, the Wiimote only needs to see one end of the bar or another. Some applications might use the sightings of the two ends to calculate how far away you are from the TV, or what the rotation of the Wiimote is with respect to the bar, but I'd imagine these are rare.
Perhaps what you need is "glasses" for the Wiimote to increase the field of view of its camera.
Okay, I got my keyboard, I'm ready to fight.
Where do I go to fight this? Write my representatives/senators? Or what?
What do you mean by "unnecessary"? Is any kind of recycling or conservation necessary?
They want to recycle the wafers which are imprinted with their designs that they want to keep secret. We can argue about whether or not keeping these secrets is "necessary", but that's irrelevant, because obviously IBM (and presumably other chip makers) thinks it is.
In addition, the article mentions that the "cleaned" wafers can be reused internally a number of times before being shipped out to the solar cell makers. That represents an energy savings.
Saving energy is clearly not "necessary" in the sense that they've been surviving without doing this before. But it may be "necessary" in the sense that too much combined energy waste will kill us all.
Because if you can't relate everything you learn to Star Trek, then does it really exist?
Actually, an HDMI input card is only $249.
t y/
See: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensi
I goofed.
Windows XP = 5.5?
Windows Vista = 6?
It seems they stopped putting the version number in My Computer's Properties.
It's probably still in the registry somewhere.
Right-click on My Computer, click on Properties, check the version number.
Windows NT4 = 4
Windows 2000 = 5
Windows XP = 6
the next one = 7
Aren't we talking about carbon dioxide, not carbon?
I don't know; it does make me nervous to think about tons of deadly gas (in concentration) being pumped into the ground with the only assurances of safety being that "Oh, nothing bad has happened _yet_".
Actually, DC to DC voltage conversion is cheap and small (and efficient) these days, thanks to IC switching PSU controllers. Only big part left is just the coil (which is still fairly small).
With regard to the article, it looks like the new Powered USB spec is a designed-by-committee mess, trying to do too many different things. I think they should just put a stake in ground for a single power output spec (and single plug) that supports most applications and not worry about the rest (high powered items). This will provide an incentive to invent lower-power designs for those currently high-powered gadgets. How many people need a USB-powered hairdryer anyway?
They did a special on this in their January issue.
I think they do this every year or so.
Either sign on at consumerreports.org, or check it out at the library.
Alternate versions:
-We're going to make them an offer they can't refuse.
-Once you join the family, you can never leave.
This lens has exactly a second mirror blocking the center of the main lens itself.
Did you not look at the diagram? The thing blocking the aperture is the second mirror.
The "zone reflectors" are the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc. mirrors.
Maybe CowboyNeal's trying to prove he has a denser memory.
This appears to be standard Microsoft operating practice. Whenever Microsoft wants to invade another business, they first look around and see who they can "partner" up with. They ask the potential partner to show them everything they know about the business. Once the trowsers have been dropped, Microsoft is no longer interested in playing nice.
They did this with Nintendo to gain knowledge about the video game business (hmm, Sony did this to Nintendo also). I sort of doubt they ever had any honest intent to partner up with Apple.
For the Mac Plus, there was a SCSIethernet box you could get. Pretty straightforward installation.
For the TRS-80, your best bet may be running SLIP or PPP over a serial or parallel interface. Of course, viewing web pages in 128x64 block graphics might be something of a challenge.
Fortunately, Commodore 64/128's have an ethernet solution available. See http://www.dunkels.com/adam/tfe/
Yes, I'm hoping that the US eventually catches up with Europe on this point. In Europe, satellite broadcasters use standard DVB boxes, and you can choose any standard DVB receiver to work with any provider. For security, you just plug in the appropriate CAM module from the provider, just like CableCard.
Dish Network already uses DVB, but they have their own security system, and they wouldn't let you subscribe your own receiver even if you did have a CAM that would work with it. With a standard DVB receiver, you can receiver the (very few) unencrypted Dish channels (such as NASA and the preview channels).
DirecTV doesn't use DVB (unless they've changed something recently.) With the changeover to MPEG4, it would make sense if their new boxes were DVB-capable, but I don't know if they would do this. (Although I guess DVB is strictly MPEG2 at the moment, huh?)