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User: CityZen

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  1. PowerVR already in Intel Atom chips on PowerVR To Make Mobile Graphics, GPU Compute a Three-Way Race Again · · Score: 1

    Although I don't know which PC products include CedarView/CedarTrail (Atom D2500/D2700/N2600/N2800) chips, they are there (with SGX545).

  2. Re:Loses to Ivy Bridge on 12-Core ARM Cluster Beats Intel Atom, AMD Fusion · · Score: 1

    No, each board had its own AC adapter.

  3. Re:Loses to Ivy Bridge on 12-Core ARM Cluster Beats Intel Atom, AMD Fusion · · Score: 1

    I also noticed that the combined wattage requirement was less than that of a single system multiplied by the number of units. I'm guessing that their simple meter is not accounting for all the load, since there are transformers in the AC power supplies.

  4. Let's have an exchange program on Ask Slashdot: Reasonable Immigration Policy For Highly-Trained Workers? · · Score: 2

    For any bright person that wants to immigrate here, they should sponsor someone in the US who is currently unemployed to immigrate into their home country.

    Maybe the idea is half-baked: what additional cooking do you suggest?

  5. Re:I am similar.... on The Real-Life Doogie Howser · · Score: 1

    His desire is to "make a great contribution". Presumably, that means to humanity, and not to his bank account.

  6. Re:Smart kid, dumb career move. on The Real-Life Doogie Howser · · Score: 1

    According to the article, he's a medical scientist with an MD. PhD.

  7. The quote I enjoyed the most: on The Real-Life Doogie Howser · · Score: 1

    > Davidson, who was on the same OB-GYN rotation, recalled the teenage Yano's reaction to witnessing his first birth. "He just looked at all of us and said, 'There's got to be a better way.'"

    First I laughed, but later I asked: what, exactly, is "better"? Certainly we can all easily come up with ideas on what is better for the mother and the baby, but what is better for humanity? That is not an easy question.

  8. Re:Like Henry Ford said... on CS Professor Announces Run For VT State Senate On a Platform of Internet Polling · · Score: 1

    I agree. But it's not all or nothing. People should be able to decide on things that don't matter so much (it makes them feel empowered)*.
    For the things that matter, polling is still a good idea, assuming that you limit it to only those people who know what they're talking about.
    So perhaps a good solution is to include a quiz, the results of which provide a weight factor for each poll entry.
    If properly designed, it will help root out the automated entries. Of course, that's a bit of work.
    And of course, corruption is possible by the poll maker as well. Lots of possible pitfalls here.

    * (This is what our two-party system provides: it doesn't really matter, since both pay homage to the corporate money pipe.)

  9. Re:Missing the point on Ask Slashdot: Hobbyist-Ready LCD Touch Panel For Embedded Projects? · · Score: 1

    Get a cheap Android tablet that has a USB host interface. Then attach all your relays and sensors via USB (or USB to serial, if need be).

  10. Re:7 and 8 inchs sizes at LogicSupply on Ask Slashdot: Hobbyist-Ready LCD Touch Panel For Embedded Projects? · · Score: 1

    Similarly, if you want HDMI in, just search Ebay for things like this: hdmi touch lcd monitor
    They start around $150.

  11. Re:Just create accessible web sites on Obama To Agencies: Optimize Web Content For Mobile · · Score: 1

    I agree. I think it's silly to create two different versions of the same website. Higher complexity for both implementers and users benefits nobody. Just make a single version that happens to work well on a big screen or a small screen.

  12. Re:Patents: the nuclear weapon of the corporate wa on ITC Judge Calls For US Xbox Import Ban · · Score: 1

    In general, to foster cooperation, you need some ideals that the great majority agree upon. Your examples are quite the opposite.

    At the same time, though, the majority of people can be real dumb asses. So perhaps things ought to be decided by a majority of people who have enough education to know what they're talking about. Of course, everyone should be able to get educated.

    But as far as what "needs" to be decided - that's where we need to be careful. I'm all for preserving freedoms and such, but as life plainly shows, there are lots of messy issues. Regarding the issue at hand: How should inventors be compensated? Or artists, writers, and other creative folks? How could we encourage people to make *more* use of previous work, rather than less?

    The original systems that were put in place for these things (patents, copyrights, etc) are being co-opted more and more as simply tools for corporations to benefit financially from the public while doing less and less work. They're addicted to their "revenue streams", and they keep going back to the government to make them bigger and last longer. The government set these things up as a balancing act between the creators and the common good, but the balance has been lost (taken).

    I'm doing too much pondering on an empty stomach...

  13. Patents: the nuclear weapon of the corporate wars on ITC Judge Calls For US Xbox Import Ban · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder how long this system will remain viable?

    Reminds me of a story concerning the game "MULE" (an excellent little multi-player economy-based game set around the building of a new colony). I liked this game a lot and often played against my brothers and friends. We'd play very competitively, each trying to maximize our own profits. Then I met a friend at college and happened to mention this game. She said, "Oh, I love that game too. What was the richest colony you made?" Until she asked, it hadn't occurred to me that you could play the game a different way: cooperatively, in order to achieve the best good for the colony as a whole.

    I wonder when humanity will figure that out too.

    (This is not an endorsement of "socialism" or "communism" or anything like that, or even a criticism of competition. It's just a note that we tend to focus too much on little-picture, selfish goals instead of big-picture ones. Compete to make the best thing, rather than compete to kill the competition.)

  14. Re:I dont think they were standard until about 199 on Inventor of the TV Remote Control Dies · · Score: 1

    The next turning point was when there were more buttons on the remote than on the TV. I was somewhat taken aback at some point to learn that a remote was no longer an accessory, but in fact a required item because you could not set up your TV (or VCR or whatever) properly without it. (And "universal" remotes often lacked the necessary functions as well.) But these days, I watch so little TV, I hardly care anymore.

  15. Re:Reversion to mean? on Wozniak's Original System Description of the Apple ][ · · Score: 1

    That only worked on the Apple II+ and successors. The games that did that would just lock up on my Apple II. On one game, I searched for that wait loop and NOPed it out. Of course, then it ran way too fast. I think I gave up at that point.

  16. Re:6502 was awesome! on Wozniak's Original System Description of the Apple ][ · · Score: 1

    I'd read somewhere that the Z8000 was one of the last "hardwired" CPUs (where complex operations are handled by dedicated logic); all others had switched over to micro-coding (where a simple base machine is implemented in logic gates, and then a ROM "microcode" table is used to implement complex operations), since it was much easier to implement. There was mention of various wiring bugs in the Z8000 that delayed it, and that even the final product still had some bugs.

  17. Re:Price whats interesting to note on Wozniak's Original System Description of the Apple ][ · · Score: 1

    What store are you looking at? You can get an entry-level iPad 2 for $399, or a "new" iPad for $499.

  18. Re:Almost got it! on Wozniak's Original System Description of the Apple ][ · · Score: 1

    Well, the original Apple II, as described in the article, had only 4 colors for hires graphics (the 8th bit was unused). Woz published a later article in Byte describing a circuit modification for the Apple II that could increase the palette to 6 colors by utilizing the 8th bit (to implement a half-bit shift for the given byte's pixels). This was later incorporated into the Apple II+ and its successors. I did that modification on my Apple II, though my handiwork wasn't the greatest, and it led to a bit of instability until I redid it later on. (And yes, we can all moan about the whole colors vs. resolution issue...)

    Going back to the topic of the address mapping to screen coordinates, Woz mentioned in some interview that he saved a couple of IC's by doing it his way, but also if he'd known how successful the machine was going to be, he'd have put in those two IC's in order to have a straightforward mapping.

  19. Re:Almost, Apple... on Wozniak's Original System Description of the Apple ][ · · Score: 4, Informative

    You should look at oldcomputers.net for this info.

    Radio Shack TRS-80:
    basic unit with 4K RAM and B/W video monitor: $600
    basic unit with 16K RAM and Level II basic, monitor: $1000
    ($300 Expansion Interface required to add more than 16K memory)
    basic unit with 16K RAM, Level II, Expansion Interface, monitor: $1300
    5.25" disk drive (requires 16K, Level II, Expansion Interface): $500

    Commodore PET:
    PET 2001 (4K RAM, built-in B/W monitor): $800
    (not especially upgradeable memory-wise)
    PET 4032 (in 1980; 32K RAM, built-in B/W monitor): $1300
    CBM 8050 dual floppy drive (in 1980): $1700

    Apple II: (in 1977)
    Basic unit with 4K: $1300
    Basic unit with 16K: $1700
    Disk II floppy drive with controller card (1978): $600

    Atari 800: (in 1979)
    Basic unit with 8K: $1000
    (includes slots for 3 optional 16K RAM cartridges)
    810 floppy drive: $600

    Exidy Sorcerer: (1980)
    basic unit with 8K RAM: $900
    basic unit with 16K RAM: $1150
    S100 Expansion Unit: $420
    Video Disk unit (B/W monitor + 2 floppy drives): $3000

    Note that prices came down over time, especially due to decreases in RAM prices.

    So, I'd say that there was something of an "Apple tax" even back then, but it wasn't really so much. When you considered how much expansion capability you got with the basic unit (which for other systems was either an add-on or simply not possible), it was actually a good deal.

  20. Anyone else misread the title on Student Makes Real-Life Portal Turret · · Score: 1

    and, skipping over the last word, was hoping that someone had made the Portal "gun" that shoots out working portals?

  21. Re:First World Problem on Ask Slashdot: Skype Setup For Toddler's Room? · · Score: 1

    You mean where hundreds of solutions exist for a niche problem, but the poster can't afford them?

  22. Re:Cheap Android tablet on Ask Slashdot: Skype Setup For Toddler's Room? · · Score: 1

    Yes on the cheap Android tablet, no on the iPad 1 (no camera).

  23. Re:E*TRADE on Ask Slashdot: Skype Setup For Toddler's Room? · · Score: 1

    Why not? The kid would have as good odds on filling out his college fund as anyone. (Just don't set up a margin account.)

  24. Re:And the moral of the Story is... on The Wretched State of GPU Transcoding · · Score: 1

    No, the moral is that having new hardware is worthless without good software. Just because someone writes some new code that uses the new hardware doesn't make that code any better than the polished code that runs on the old hardware. This applies to much more than just transcoding on PCs.

  25. Humans cannot understand "infinity" on Is Extraterrestrial Life More Whimsical Than Plausible? · · Score: 1

    or really big numbers, for that matter. So expecting them to understand a fraction like infinity/infinity is really stretching things.