With cars, wheels come in several bolt patterns. In the US, 4.5" x 5 was a popular pattern. In Japan, 100mm x 5 was popular. But soon, we started seeing Japan switch to 114.3mm x 5. People started paying a premium for these "special" wheels.
That is, until everyone realized that 114.3mm is simply 4.5". Basically, the Japanese realized that there was an economy of scale to using the 4.5" bolt pattern. Obviously, they could not adopt the non-metric system of measurement so the 114.3mm x 5 pattern was borne.
Which is why the mileage measurement needs to be dropped in favor of a "fuel efficiency" number. They could use the same freakin' test but just put the car on a scale of 0 to 100 instead (make a 100 rating something absurdly hard to get to... like an equivalent 500mpg). Everybody drives differently and I have found that it takes a very light foot to coax rated numbers out of any car.
I'm waiting for the day when someone figures out the hydrogen storage problem. If we could get enough pure hydrogen (by weight) stored into a small enough volume, then we could simply change the car's battery "every 3000 miles" like we change oil now. 'Tis only a matter of time. I hope that I live to see it (hydrogen production arguments aside).
I'd like to get a small camera with a belt clip. I have no reason to take crappy quality camera-phone clips but I would like something that is ready when I need it. Perhaps something with a switch on the clip that automagically powers up the camera when I pull it out. I know that there are small cameras out there but I haven't seen one with a plastic, non-zippered belt clip out there.
I know that most slashdotters can't help me but this is just something for that someone who may be in the right place at a camera manufacturer.
Is there a solution that will update itself and run automatically? I've been using Ad Aware and it works fine if people would bother to run the update and scan. It can't be configured to do this so most people call me up and then I have to walk them through the clicking.
If people knew how to click on a few things (or not click, as the case would be), this wouldn't be a problem. We need something that will update and run itself when the screensaver comes on. It should NOT prompt the user for a damn thing. Perhaps we could even have a spyware-like installation so that users don't even know that they've got it.
It is only a matter of time before someone starts harvesting keystrokes with spyware (some of it already does, just no maliciously) for bank accounts and other important stuff.
So... What's the deal with Moore's law? It appears that heat density vs. pricing trends are now causing microprocessors to compete with charcoal (very hot, very cheap).
Is this the end? Or is Intel just trying to squeeze every last drop of cost out of a deal with IBM on their silicon-on-insulator patents?
What is drastically needed is a portable and secure linux distribution for these people. IT departments can't control what goes on with personal home PCs and it would be nice to leverage that existing hardware. So what ends up happening is that a laptop is supplied for these people and then there is an additional level of complexity for the telecommuter.
If a Knoppix-like, bootable linux distro came with a robust VPN client, antivirus, etc... I could see a big market. Heck, I'm even afraid to simply check things like my bank account from PCs that aren't my own, anymore. If I could carry a secured, bootable OS, then I'd be a little happier.
Copyright 2004 Exxon Mobile. All rights reserved. This material may be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The reality:
ChevronTexaco is an investor in ECD Ovonics - the company that owns the popular NiMH battery technology that is popular in hybrid autos. Toyota gets their NiMH batteries from Matsushita/Panasonic, who are conveniently not paying the 3 percent royalty. So, the two companies have been tied up in the courts for years now battling this out. Last year, they moved into arbitration and that will be released this month. Although it was wrong for Matsushita to steal the technology, it is going to look bad when Toyota hybrids are banned from importation due to a lawsuit coming from a ChevronTexaco joint-venture.
I agree with your point but I wouldn't want to let someone walk away from slashdot thinking that AMD was now the number one desktop processor supplier. That'd make them look REAL stupid.
But I am happy to see this. I've never used anything but AMD and Cyrix in my own home systems. Intel really has a problem with the 64-bit Pandora's box: they could write off Itanic, creating tens of billions in losses... or they could stick with x86-32 on the desktop (which is what they are planning) and risk losing Dell to AMD.
The next year will be very interesting to say the least. Go AMD!
If any human can create it, any human can break it.
Which begs the question that I ask of everything Microsoft:
The company has BILLIONS in free cash so why don't they pre-release the software for the sake of having an open hacking competition with LARGE FUCKING REWARDS for those that find the holes BEFORE the spec is finalized?
I'll tell you why: because Microsoft could give a damn. They're a monopoly. They don't need to do this because creating a better product won't affect their profit.
To any company that wants to emphasize "security", I would recommend one of these contests with a "growing jackpot" for those that can find and document issues with security. This is Microsoft's achilles heel but until someone targets it, they'll continue raping consumers left and right. Joe Consumer can't even plug in his new Windows box without having some virus latch onto it within 4 seconds of bootup.
Hey - if someone wants to make a goal for Mozilla, here is a good one:
Create a "drop-in" replacement for Internet Explorer. That is, it has the same layout and "feel" of the IE browser without all that monopoly crap.
I'd use Mozilla if I could shift+click and get a new browser window. But every time that I install it, I end up removing it because of little annoyances that happen from my IE habits. I can't expect to make others use it (I deploy many PCs) if I don't do it myself.
Ethanol is only a smart business because it is subsidized (like oil, but that is another story). The only smart energy business is that in which net positive energy can be attained. That is, the product will produce more energy than it takes to manufacture it. Out of all forms of synthetic energy, wind, hydroelectric and some solar types will produce net positive energy.
We need to use what is left of our non-renewable fossil fuel supplies to build these replacement supplies. Unfortunately, these all generate electricity and there is no current method of storing electricity with the density of current oil-based products. We'll need some of that energy to develop hydrogen and electrical storage.
Water is a remarkable battery if we could manufacture a fuel cell affordably (i.e. - out of non-noble metals like platinum). Just add electricity and you've got H2 and O. Lovely.
Your post is modded as funny but here's what I see happening:
Oil will become too expensive for use in automobiles. Now, companies like GM have faked electric vehicle efforts only to revert back to good ole oil. Because of the Big Company reluctance to supply EVs en masse, clever companies will eventually step in and supply bolt-in EV retrofit kits and you'll be able to plug in that 84 Rabbit instead of gassing it up.
Eventually, the BigMotorCos will have to supply EVs. The EV1 was great in the respect that it required very little maintenance (no oil changes, air filters, spark plugs, head gaskets, transmission, etc). But how can GM make money when owners can rebuild the drivetrain so easily?
Don't worry... most of the bootleg movies out there are done by the projectionist so there isn't much to worry about unless projectionists start reporting themselves.
It has been expressed here previously that the iPod mini has much less bang-for-buck than the regular iPod, which is only a few bucks more but comes with an extra 16GB.
However, if you simply want to buy a Hitachi 4GB mini hard drive, you'll save as much as $150 if you buy the mini and take the drive out over buying the boxed hard drive product.
This would actually be handy for consumers like the bar-code scanner thingy... When you're in the store, just scan the barcode (or RFID chip) and get price comparisons from other stores. Or reviews and user opinions, etc.
I don't think that you are seeing the big picture.
Say, Microsoft finds a bug (either internally or via a good/trusted samaritan who will keep it private). Now, they go ahead and code up a patch for the bug but when do they release it?
Because the patch for blaster required Win2K SP2, many people were not able to protect themselves appropriately as SP2 is over 8 hours on a dial-up connection (more than half of the 'net). Now, if MS can get a "quarterly updates" on CD mailed to all of these people, then they can give everyone a better means of securing their boxen prior to letting the hackers pick apart the actual patch to find out what the hole is and how to exploit it (though blaster isn't a good example of a patch being reverse engineered into an exploit).
This is a HUGE dillemna for corporations. Especially those that have ooldes of laptops with users connecting via dial-up. I'm actually connected, as-we-speak (type?), to windowsupdate.com and have been for the past hour or so... ON BROADBAND...
What I would suggest is the best of both worlds - release patches only as exploits are found in the wild while compiling fixes for deployment en bulk. And you'd think that Microsoft, with billions in free cash, would start putting a bounty on some of this stuff (either reporting the holes themselves or the hackers that exploit them). It just shows how little Microsoft and Billy care about Joe User.
And how about some freakin' color schemes for XP? I mean, really... three whole color schemes?
Slashdot Mirror
Here's something really funny:
With cars, wheels come in several bolt patterns. In the US, 4.5" x 5 was a popular pattern. In Japan, 100mm x 5 was popular. But soon, we started seeing Japan switch to 114.3mm x 5. People started paying a premium for these "special" wheels.
That is, until everyone realized that 114.3mm is simply 4.5". Basically, the Japanese realized that there was an economy of scale to using the 4.5" bolt pattern. Obviously, they could not adopt the non-metric system of measurement so the 114.3mm x 5 pattern was borne.
PC Load Letter!? WTF does that mean?!
Mmmm... unprocessed gasoline...
Exactly...
Which is why the mileage measurement needs to be dropped in favor of a "fuel efficiency" number. They could use the same freakin' test but just put the car on a scale of 0 to 100 instead (make a 100 rating something absurdly hard to get to... like an equivalent 500mpg). Everybody drives differently and I have found that it takes a very light foot to coax rated numbers out of any car.
I'm waiting for the day when someone figures out the hydrogen storage problem. If we could get enough pure hydrogen (by weight) stored into a small enough volume, then we could simply change the car's battery "every 3000 miles" like we change oil now. 'Tis only a matter of time. I hope that I live to see it (hydrogen production arguments aside).
I'd like to get a small camera with a belt clip. I have no reason to take crappy quality camera-phone clips but I would like something that is ready when I need it. Perhaps something with a switch on the clip that automagically powers up the camera when I pull it out. I know that there are small cameras out there but I haven't seen one with a plastic, non-zippered belt clip out there.
I know that most slashdotters can't help me but this is just something for that someone who may be in the right place at a camera manufacturer.
Is there a solution that will update itself and run automatically? I've been using Ad Aware and it works fine if people would bother to run the update and scan. It can't be configured to do this so most people call me up and then I have to walk them through the clicking.
If people knew how to click on a few things (or not click, as the case would be), this wouldn't be a problem. We need something that will update and run itself when the screensaver comes on. It should NOT prompt the user for a damn thing. Perhaps we could even have a spyware-like installation so that users don't even know that they've got it.
It is only a matter of time before someone starts harvesting keystrokes with spyware (some of it already does, just no maliciously) for bank accounts and other important stuff.
So... What's the deal with Moore's law? It appears that heat density vs. pricing trends are now causing microprocessors to compete with charcoal (very hot, very cheap).
Is this the end? Or is Intel just trying to squeeze every last drop of cost out of a deal with IBM on their silicon-on-insulator patents?
What is drastically needed is a portable and secure linux distribution for these people. IT departments can't control what goes on with personal home PCs and it would be nice to leverage that existing hardware. So what ends up happening is that a laptop is supplied for these people and then there is an additional level of complexity for the telecommuter.
If a Knoppix-like, bootable linux distro came with a robust VPN client, antivirus, etc... I could see a big market. Heck, I'm even afraid to simply check things like my bank account from PCs that aren't my own, anymore. If I could carry a secured, bootable OS, then I'd be a little happier.
Copyright 2004 Exxon Mobile. All rights reserved. This material may be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The reality:
ChevronTexaco is an investor in ECD Ovonics - the company that owns the popular NiMH battery technology that is popular in hybrid autos. Toyota gets their NiMH batteries from Matsushita/Panasonic, who are conveniently not paying the 3 percent royalty. So, the two companies have been tied up in the courts for years now battling this out. Last year, they moved into arbitration and that will be released this month. Although it was wrong for Matsushita to steal the technology, it is going to look bad when Toyota hybrids are banned from importation due to a lawsuit coming from a ChevronTexaco joint-venture.
I agree with your point but I wouldn't want to let someone walk away from slashdot thinking that AMD was now the number one desktop processor supplier. That'd make them look REAL stupid.
But I am happy to see this. I've never used anything but AMD and Cyrix in my own home systems. Intel really has a problem with the 64-bit Pandora's box: they could write off Itanic, creating tens of billions in losses... or they could stick with x86-32 on the desktop (which is what they are planning) and risk losing Dell to AMD.
The next year will be very interesting to say the least. Go AMD!
Just a clarification for the editor who missed something HUGE:
AMD outsold Intel in RETAIL desktop sales. Dell is obviously not retail. Here's a better read.
This one has pictures.
If any human can create it, any human can break it.
Which begs the question that I ask of everything Microsoft:
The company has BILLIONS in free cash so why don't they pre-release the software for the sake of having an open hacking competition with LARGE FUCKING REWARDS for those that find the holes BEFORE the spec is finalized?
I'll tell you why: because Microsoft could give a damn. They're a monopoly. They don't need to do this because creating a better product won't affect their profit.
To any company that wants to emphasize "security", I would recommend one of these contests with a "growing jackpot" for those that can find and document issues with security. This is Microsoft's achilles heel but until someone targets it, they'll continue raping consumers left and right. Joe Consumer can't even plug in his new Windows box without having some virus latch onto it within 4 seconds of bootup.
Hey - if someone wants to make a goal for Mozilla, here is a good one:
Create a "drop-in" replacement for Internet Explorer. That is, it has the same layout and "feel" of the IE browser without all that monopoly crap.
I'd use Mozilla if I could shift+click and get a new browser window. But every time that I install it, I end up removing it because of little annoyances that happen from my IE habits. I can't expect to make others use it (I deploy many PCs) if I don't do it myself.
It's smart business.
Ethanol is only a smart business because it is subsidized (like oil, but that is another story). The only smart energy business is that in which net positive energy can be attained. That is, the product will produce more energy than it takes to manufacture it. Out of all forms of synthetic energy, wind, hydroelectric and some solar types will produce net positive energy.
We need to use what is left of our non-renewable fossil fuel supplies to build these replacement supplies. Unfortunately, these all generate electricity and there is no current method of storing electricity with the density of current oil-based products. We'll need some of that energy to develop hydrogen and electrical storage.
Water is a remarkable battery if we could manufacture a fuel cell affordably (i.e. - out of non-noble metals like platinum). Just add electricity and you've got H2 and O. Lovely.
Your post is modded as funny but here's what I see happening:
Oil will become too expensive for use in automobiles. Now, companies like GM have faked electric vehicle efforts only to revert back to good ole oil. Because of the Big Company reluctance to supply EVs en masse, clever companies will eventually step in and supply bolt-in EV retrofit kits and you'll be able to plug in that 84 Rabbit instead of gassing it up.
Eventually, the BigMotorCos will have to supply EVs. The EV1 was great in the respect that it required very little maintenance (no oil changes, air filters, spark plugs, head gaskets, transmission, etc). But how can GM make money when owners can rebuild the drivetrain so easily?
Is anyone reminded of asinine when reading A9? I think that we should officially coin the term and use it until asinine changes their name.
Did anyone read the headline any differently?
Bandwidth...
For example, if you wanted a wireless USB network cable, you'd have a higher transfer rate than if you were using a bluetooth network cable.
Oh.. wait...
Don't worry... most of the bootleg movies out there are done by the projectionist so there isn't much to worry about unless projectionists start reporting themselves.
When he's underwater does he get wet or does the water get him instead? Nobody knows, particle man!
It has been expressed here previously that the iPod mini has much less bang-for-buck than the regular iPod, which is only a few bucks more but comes with an extra 16GB.
However, if you simply want to buy a Hitachi 4GB mini hard drive, you'll save as much as $150 if you buy the mini and take the drive out over buying the boxed hard drive product.
This would actually be handy for consumers like the bar-code scanner thingy... When you're in the store, just scan the barcode (or RFID chip) and get price comparisons from other stores. Or reviews and user opinions, etc.
I don't think that you are seeing the big picture.
Say, Microsoft finds a bug (either internally or via a good/trusted samaritan who will keep it private). Now, they go ahead and code up a patch for the bug but when do they release it?
Because the patch for blaster required Win2K SP2, many people were not able to protect themselves appropriately as SP2 is over 8 hours on a dial-up connection (more than half of the 'net). Now, if MS can get a "quarterly updates" on CD mailed to all of these people, then they can give everyone a better means of securing their boxen prior to letting the hackers pick apart the actual patch to find out what the hole is and how to exploit it (though blaster isn't a good example of a patch being reverse engineered into an exploit).
This is a HUGE dillemna for corporations. Especially those that have ooldes of laptops with users connecting via dial-up. I'm actually connected, as-we-speak (type?), to windowsupdate.com and have been for the past hour or so... ON BROADBAND...
What I would suggest is the best of both worlds - release patches only as exploits are found in the wild while compiling fixes for deployment en bulk. And you'd think that Microsoft, with billions in free cash, would start putting a bounty on some of this stuff (either reporting the holes themselves or the hackers that exploit them). It just shows how little Microsoft and Billy care about Joe User.
And how about some freakin' color schemes for XP? I mean, really... three whole color schemes?
I know that I will never buy a car with RFID tracking capabilities built into it!
The car might not, but the tires will always have them.