The US Government is being too direct. They have (relatively) good relations with China. If they got the Chinese to demand the information for them, they'd have it by now.
I'll go take a walk now in the hopes of reducing my Google cynicism...
Carbon materials proposed for the cable are chemicaly active and electricly conductive or semi-conductive. I am trying to imagine the long term conditions for the cable. IANARS, but I believe I read that in near-Earth orbit there are free oxygen ions and solar wind particles floating around in the "vaccuum". Surfaces in long term orbit are corroded by contact with them. In addition, any conductor stretched through the varying magnetic fields will induce significant voltages and potential currents, especialy when exposed to an energetic solar flare.
A completely functional space elevator might degrade and fall apart in a short enough time to make it uneconomical due to short operational life.
That brings up another question -- How do you decommision one of these things? Explosively cut the ribbon near the base and let if fly off into space?
As others have pointed out, the article makes it sound more like a sched tool. But even if it really was a robot lawyer or robot arbiter:
You are talking about a system set up, owned, and run, by the company you are disputing with. Think about that. Your HMO denies your medical treatment and you call to dispute that and get care you really need. You get to use a system built to your HMO's specs to try and dispute your HMO's decision. It's just as bad as contract clauses that require you to use a specified arbiter who is already selected a paid off by the company before you start.
"Support for the online arbitration system originally came from the European Commission's eTEN Programme..."
So this software was designed by one of the many EU Commitees taking money from Microsoft to support software patents... what could possibly go wrong with that?!
Even now a cabal of grossly underpaid lawyers -- Forced to live with only two houses and no private aircraft! -- are researching the class action litigation against the makers of short-wide shot glasses. These alco-terrorists will learn what it means to force Georgians to drink too much!!!
(Keep your bar receipts so you can qualify for one of the $1.07 settlement checks in about five years time.)
I may be missing something obvious, as I never used this list before seeing this article, but I didn't understand the statement:
"...a registered member of the Bluetooth SIG complained about the non-qualified use of Bluetooth products on this page..."
The cynic in me ASSUMES "member" is Microsoft, but my inner cynic is sometimes wrong. My question is what "Bluetooth products" were on that page? To be "on the page" implies text or a list, not a device. Did the BlueZ page copy some table or something from a Bluetooth source? It might have helped if he had posted the whole complaint, not just this statement, but maybe he lawyer-beaten into only posting that much.
"Whether or not you're selling them makes no difference."
Selling what? As I understand it, this was just a compatibility list. What might they have been selling-yet weren't.
"The problem is due to the distribution of them from your Web site."
Again, what are "them" that they are distributing, but not selling?
"Please note that the use and distribution of non-qualified products is a violation of the Bluetooth License Agreement."
Once more, what products? This hints at calling things "Bluetoth" that are not, which would be a trademark issue, I guess. But what product are they talking about?
"As neither of these products have been qualified using Linux it is illegal to make them available for public use."
'Neither' means two 'products' have not been 'qualified' (by Bluetooth SIG, I gather), but what products and how are they illegal? I was looking for something like a claim to be "Bluetooth" without permission, but is that what the BlueZ list did? If so, how does that become a takedown instead of a rewording? For example, if they had said "The following devices are Bluetooth certified on Linux", they could just say "The following devices, which are Bluetooth certified under other operating systems, work under Linux too, though that is not certified by the Bluetooth SIG."
Just what we needed, less competition, shorter waranties, lower MTBF, higher cost... In short, Monopoly. I don't claim this purchase achieves that all by itself, but I don't think this bodes well as part of a trend.:-(
From the "article": "This experiment proves that the kind of ion traps used in Innsbruck are the most promising technology for the realization of large computing matrices."
This is the kind of press release with a primary message of "Dump huge buckets of cash HERE." No harm in that, Innsbruck needs to stump for research money like any University, but where do we find a comparitive check on _other_ technologies for realization of large computing matrices? The minimal description given of the Innsbuck device sounds way to complex and expensive for scaling up to "large computing matrices."
Quote of Rosen from the article: "The first reaction people will have is, "where's the catch?" I don't see anything we can't live with. We can participate in crafting the standard in ECMA, we can read and write Office 2003 files in open source applications, and we don't have to pay royalties to Microsoft to do so. It's a good start." (Emphasis mine.)
As I understand it (imperfectly, for sure) there are legaly significant differences between the XML schema for Office 2003 and the upcoming Office 12.
Isn't this a Microsoft Bait-and-Switch? They make enough changes in terms on the legacy Office 2003 schema to continue their lock-in in Mass., but when the state has to update to Office 12 new patented and licensed "extensions" will lock out any competitive options.
Make no mistake, locking out others and maintaining position as The Monopoly is the business plan here.
...thank you for playing, and there will be some lovely consolation prizes backstage!
At the ISAS web site they have a scorecard for measuring mission success. They seem to have achieved a score of 750 out of a possible 1950. I understand they got some excellent close up photos of the Itokawa asteroid, but the collection and return was where the really big points lay.
Better luck next time, and please do play again!:-)
I remember a SciAm article about cosmic matter (protons) actually going FASTER than light. The trick was that nothing goes faster than light in a vaccuum, but what about in air? When cosmic rays going.99c hit the interface of the upper atmosphere there are conditions where the refracted speed of light is less than the speed of those particles.
I graduated from Moanaloa High School, Honolulu in the 70's. The only computer on the whole campus (besides calculators the size of paperback books with red LED displays and fixed decimal points) was an ASR-33 teletype with a 300bd modem that could talk to a UoH computer. The math teacher would demo some real simple COBOL-looking stuff and cover basic boolean. I remember being very under-whelmed and wondering what anybody outside of NASA wanted with one of those things.
It must be tough to remain a decent, likable guy among the swirling mass of egos in the entertainment industry. Scotty managed it. I took my kids to the Virginia Air and Space Museum and was surprised to see Scotty standing around talking to the staff as they set up a table for autographs. I shook his hand and spoke with him for just a moment, introducing him to the kids (who had no clue what I was so excited about). We didn't have any deep thoughts to share, but Scotty was plesent and friendly with me and my kids. I don't meet many famous people, but got the impression that Scotty was the type I would like to have over for a visit and to get to know better. The stuff about Scotty's service in WWII was new to me and makes me think that much more of him.
Scotty,
Thank you for the smiles and fun over all those years on small and big screens. But especially, thank you for your selfless service and the way you treated others. You will be missed and well remembered.
You may be right about his current condition, but Hawking didn't start suffering symptoms untill he was in college. He knows what "normal" felt like, and is married to boot.
Slashdot Mirror
The US Government is being too direct. They have (relatively) good relations with China. If they got the Chinese to demand the information for them, they'd have it by now.
I'll go take a walk now in the hopes of reducing my Google cynicism...
Carbon materials proposed for the cable are chemicaly active and electricly conductive or semi-conductive. I am trying to imagine the long term conditions for the cable. IANARS, but I believe I read that in near-Earth orbit there are free oxygen ions and solar wind particles floating around in the "vaccuum". Surfaces in long term orbit are corroded by contact with them. In addition, any conductor stretched through the varying magnetic fields will induce significant voltages and potential currents, especialy when exposed to an energetic solar flare.
A completely functional space elevator might degrade and fall apart in a short enough time to make it uneconomical due to short operational life.
That brings up another question -- How do you decommision one of these things? Explosively cut the ribbon near the base and let if fly off into space?
As others have pointed out, the article makes it sound more like a sched tool. But even if it really was a robot lawyer or robot arbiter:
You are talking about a system set up, owned, and run, by the company you are disputing with. Think about that. Your HMO denies your medical treatment and you call to dispute that and get care you really need. You get to use a system built to your HMO's specs to try and dispute your HMO's decision. It's just as bad as contract clauses that require you to use a specified arbiter who is already selected a paid off by the company before you start.
"Support for the online arbitration system originally came from the European Commission's eTEN Programme..."
So this software was designed by one of the many EU Commitees taking money from Microsoft to support software patents... what could possibly go wrong with that?!
Even now a cabal of grossly underpaid lawyers -- Forced to live with only two houses and no private aircraft! -- are researching the class action litigation against the makers of short-wide shot glasses. These alco-terrorists will learn what it means to force Georgians to drink too much!!!
(Keep your bar receipts so you can qualify for one of the $1.07 settlement checks in about five years time.)
The fox wants to play with the chickens! That's so cute! How come we never let the cute fuzzy fox in the henhouse to play with them, Daddy? How come?
I may be missing something obvious, as I never used this list before seeing this article, but I didn't understand the statement:
"...a registered member of the Bluetooth SIG complained about the non-qualified use of Bluetooth products on this page..."
The cynic in me ASSUMES "member" is Microsoft, but my inner cynic is sometimes wrong. My question is what "Bluetooth products" were on that page? To be "on the page" implies text or a list, not a device. Did the BlueZ page copy some table or something from a Bluetooth source? It might have helped if he had posted the whole complaint, not just this statement, but maybe he lawyer-beaten into only posting that much.
"Whether or not you're selling them makes no difference."
Selling what? As I understand it, this was just a compatibility list. What might they have been selling-yet weren't.
"The problem is due to the distribution of them from your Web site."
Again, what are "them" that they are distributing, but not selling?
"Please note that the use and distribution of non-qualified products is a violation of the Bluetooth License Agreement."
Once more, what products? This hints at calling things "Bluetoth" that are not, which would be a trademark issue, I guess. But what product are they talking about?
"As neither of these products have been qualified using Linux it is illegal to make them available for public use."
'Neither' means two 'products' have not been 'qualified' (by Bluetooth SIG, I gather), but what products and how are they illegal? I was looking for something like a claim to be "Bluetooth" without permission, but is that what the BlueZ list did? If so, how does that become a takedown instead of a rewording? For example, if they had said "The following devices are Bluetooth certified on Linux", they could just say "The following devices, which are Bluetooth certified under other operating systems, work under Linux too, though that is not certified by the Bluetooth SIG."
Just what we needed, less competition, shorter waranties, lower MTBF, higher cost... In short, Monopoly. I don't claim this purchase achieves that all by itself, but I don't think this bodes well as part of a trend. :-(
From the "article": "This experiment proves that the kind of ion traps used in Innsbruck are the most promising technology for the realization of large computing matrices."
This is the kind of press release with a primary message of "Dump huge buckets of cash HERE." No harm in that, Innsbruck needs to stump for research money like any University, but where do we find a comparitive check on _other_ technologies for realization of large computing matrices? The minimal description given of the Innsbuck device sounds way to complex and expensive for scaling up to "large computing matrices."
Anyone got nice links on other methods?
Quote of Rosen from the article: "The first reaction people will have is, "where's the catch?" I don't see anything we can't live with. We can participate in crafting the standard in ECMA, we can read and write Office 2003 files in open source applications, and we don't have to pay royalties to Microsoft to do so. It's a good start." (Emphasis mine.)
As I understand it (imperfectly, for sure) there are legaly significant differences between the XML schema for Office 2003 and the upcoming Office 12.
Isn't this a Microsoft Bait-and-Switch? They make enough changes in terms on the legacy Office 2003 schema to continue their lock-in in Mass., but when the state has to update to Office 12 new patented and licensed "extensions" will lock out any competitive options.
Make no mistake, locking out others and maintaining position as The Monopoly is the business plan here.
Time rent Gattaca again...for a creepy "1984-like" vision a world with perfect identity tracking.
You have to with the all-time classic...
Oh, sorry, I thought you said "spaced".
Never mind...
...and get some good Japa... oh, wait...
...thank you for playing, and there will be some lovely consolation prizes backstage!
:-)
At the ISAS web site they have a scorecard for measuring mission success. They seem to have achieved a score of 750 out of a possible 1950. I understand they got some excellent close up photos of the Itokawa asteroid, but the collection and return was where the really big points lay.
Better luck next time, and please do play again!
...about their forthcoming press release?
From the article: "First, though, there are a lot of data to analyze. Stay tuned."
They did! The whole press release was to tell us they haven't analyzed the data yet, and to stay tuned for the next press release...
...I for one welcome our new animated Overlord!
How hard would the migration be from a LAMPS stack (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP/SSL) to a LAPPS stack with PostgreSQL instead?
Good Link to nice, clear summaries. Thanks.
I remember a SciAm article about cosmic matter (protons) actually going FASTER than light. The trick was that nothing goes faster than light in a vaccuum, but what about in air? When cosmic rays going .99c hit the interface of the upper atmosphere there are conditions where the refracted speed of light is less than the speed of those particles.
I graduated from Moanaloa High School, Honolulu in the 70's. The only computer on the whole campus (besides calculators the size of paperback books with red LED displays and fixed decimal points) was an ASR-33 teletype with a 300bd modem that could talk to a UoH computer. The math teacher would demo some real simple COBOL-looking stuff and cover basic boolean. I remember being very under-whelmed and wondering what anybody outside of NASA wanted with one of those things.
It must be tough to remain a decent, likable guy among the swirling mass of egos in the entertainment industry. Scotty managed it. I took my kids to the Virginia Air and Space Museum and was surprised to see Scotty standing around talking to the staff as they set up a table for autographs. I shook his hand and spoke with him for just a moment, introducing him to the kids (who had no clue what I was so excited about). We didn't have any deep thoughts to share, but Scotty was plesent and friendly with me and my kids. I don't meet many famous people, but got the impression that Scotty was the type I would like to have over for a visit and to get to know better. The stuff about Scotty's service in WWII was new to me and makes me think that much more of him.
:-)
Scotty,
Thank you for the smiles and fun over all those years on small and big screens. But especially, thank you for your selfless service and the way you treated others. You will be missed and well remembered.
Do you suppose he reads slashdot?
How do I sign up for the Federal Do Not Assassinate List? I need to know NOW!
You may be right about his current condition, but Hawking didn't start suffering symptoms untill he was in college. He knows what "normal" felt like, and is married to boot.
"...arguably the best laptop display currently on the market," said Rob Enderle, an independent industry analyst with The Enderle Group.
This thing has GOT to suck now, if Enderle likes it! Some Enderle-isms:
"I have a hard time seeing the Linux Zealots as any different from terrorists"
"The biggest myths about Microsoft are that its desktop products are overpriced, it doesn't respect its customers, and reliability and security are poor"
"So I called SCO and personally found that they did have evidence."
Gotcha covered!
:-D
Just trying to help!