dat's a 2560-bit wide data *bus*, the integer size of the Emotion Engine is 64-bit I believe.
Segway and the microwave oven
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 1
has anyone made the comparison yet?
Yes, I do consider the technology involved (the auto-balancing system) revolutionary in every way. And I think I lot of people write Segway of as a fancy scooter.
Just that it *looks* like a scooter doesn't mean it works like one, or just that it's a transportation device doesn't mean it meant to replace existing ones.
When the microwave oven was introduced, it was expensive, yet it incorporate a new way of heating, one that we never thought possible b4 the microwave oven was introduced and yet so simple we understood the technology immediately.
The microwave oven looked like a traditional oven, and many people rejected it, said that it couldn't replace traditional ovens because it can't roast or broil. We made that comparison solely because of the way it looked. We didn't truely understand the way it'd enhance our every-day lives.
thankfully, the price eventually dropped, consumers adopted, and it changed our lives forever. When was the last time u made popcorn on the stove?
Not only did it changed the way we cook at home and the way we think of heating, it also changed the fast food industry and made them more efficient, it changed packaged food industry so much that there are now aisles of frozen and/or prepackaged food made solely for the microwave. Virtually every household has one now. This revolution took almost a decade.
Stop saying the Segway is too expensive, we all know it is. The PC cost $2000 when it was introduced, and how many of them do u have now? Forget about price, it'll fall without a doubt. Look a little further and think how it can change our lives in the not-so-immediate but forseeable future?
The microwave wasn't the "tablet-to-turkey-dinner" magic oven we envisioned in old SciFi novels. Likewise, even though the Segway isn't the Hoverboard, it might be the closest thing to it by means of how it'll change the way we live.
Would u accept it for what it is and nothing more? Would u allow it to change the way u live?
Hopefully we'll soon see mailmen and officers riding the Segway around our streets, where we can become acquintant to it.
Even if the Segway in its current incarnation doesn't turn out to change the world in the next few years, I can safely assume that the technology behind it will change the way we think about how vehicle operates.
Or maybe it'd go the way of magnetic levitated trains.
I would lik to share my a few of my opinions about the X-Box....
1. memory bandwidth
The whole buzz is around the graphics controller, which is probably similar to GeForce 3 running @ 250MHz, with a system architeture similar to the nForce chipset.
The nForce sounds great, consider that the GPU is basically a GeForce 2 MX, but can TwinBank w/ DDR RAM keep up with a GeForce 3? TwinBank is nothing more than a fancy version of a UMA architeture. The GPU on the X-Box doesn't have dedicated V-RAM, it shares the same DDR memory with the CPU. That sounds like a serious bandwidth issue.
It sounds like the SNES all over agin: a great GPU being limited by the system architeture.
for the record, PS2 uses RDAM and GameCube uese 1T-SRAM.
2. Hard drive
Is a hard drive really desirable on a console? It adds complexity to the system: File management, software installation, physical failures, etc. A console should do nothing bu play games and should do so simply and reliably.
3. CPU
Is a 733 MHz P-III enough? Consider x86's lackluster FPU performance, can it really compete with the MIPS core of PS2 or the PowerPC core of GameCube?
4. The platform
Of course one might argue that having a HD creates new possibility beyond games, and that's what MS is betting on. Whether the X-Box is successful or not, it really is just a launch platform for future MS digital home entertainment strategy. The digital hub is what MS trying to conquer.
5. Future price cuts:
Consider the fact that it uses standard PC parts, and how fast the prices of these parts fall, I'd imagine MS would be able to cut the system price rather aggressively in the near future, something Sony can't really do with the PS2.
Personally I find GameCube a better system: Respectable specs, and it does nothing beside playing games. It amazes me to see how clean the GameCube's sytem board design looks. While it's uncertain how powerful it's GPU really is, if u consider all the problem developers have with the PS2's vector units and the possible system bottlenecks of the X-Box, the GameCube should remain rather competitive.
Realisiticly though, the PS2 would probably continue to take the lead in sales and public mindshare.
Re:browser wars and text editors / IE5
on
All Hail Bloatware
·
· Score: 1
I second that and must confest IE5 is great when compared to Communicator 4.x and IE4.
IE5 loads pages in a breeze (as fast as Navigator 3,0x, which I used to use for speed and IE4 for features). CSS/DHML has always been cleaner in IE and DOM is still nothing more than promise from Mozilla. OpenType sucks but IE can support TrueDoc via a transparent download of an ActiveX control.
Most importantly, IE5's history no longer hogs my system resources. IE4 used to eat up more resources as I followed more hyperlinks, and I'd have to close it to recover the resources. Now I can open 3 IE5 windows and browse all day with no problems.
Microsoft has always have a smaller, tighter Office -- Microsoft Works.
I do very much agree that most ppl upgrade just to be able to read/edit the current file formats which their work uses. File formats incompatibility has always been the driving force of the MS Office upgrades.
I heard Office 2000's native file formats are backward compatible with Office 97 though I haven't confirmed it from real users. If that's the case, WordPerfect and Lotus SmartSuite may be able to compete with Office 2000 on a more level ground.
I'd have to disagree about HTML mail, however. Most messages double in size *only* if they're relatively short. Longer HTML messages usually contain enough HTML tags and embedded images that the the size of the plain text version become insinificant in comparsion. And such overhead is only required for compatibilty -- a very good reason.
More importantly, I'm hoping HTML mail will emerge as the standard rich text format (or document container format for that matter) -- like PDF, but editable; like OpenDoc/OLE, but it actually exists and usable. Sure it doesn't provide acurate reproduction but it's the second most common file format in use today (next to plain text of course). It sure beats upgrading Word even 2 years just so you can read your boss' memo just because he/she wants a bold header in it.
Here are a few things that really bug me:
1. Neophytes always blame you if they send you a file and you can't read it. I mean, if they have Office 2000 they'll write a *plain text* memo in Word and bitch at you if you can read it. Which brings me to....
2. Neophytes don't care about file formats. They never ask "What file format would you like that in?" and save/export their files accordingly. Macs users are the worst. I say that not because I hate Macs (I love them actually), but because it's a lot easier to save PC-format files on the Mac than to read Mac-format files on the PC. In many occasions they could've saved me hours if only they spent a couple mins to export.
Slashdot Mirror
dat's a 2560-bit wide data *bus*, the integer size of the Emotion Engine is 64-bit I believe.
has anyone made the comparison yet?
Yes, I do consider the technology involved (the auto-balancing system) revolutionary in every way. And I think I lot of people write Segway of as a fancy scooter.
Just that it *looks* like a scooter doesn't mean it works like one, or just that it's a transportation device doesn't mean it meant to replace existing ones.
When the microwave oven was introduced, it was expensive, yet it incorporate a new way of heating, one that we never thought possible b4 the microwave oven was introduced and yet so simple we understood the technology immediately.
The microwave oven looked like a traditional oven, and many people rejected it, said that it couldn't replace traditional ovens because it can't roast or broil. We made that comparison solely because of the way it looked. We didn't truely understand the way it'd enhance our every-day lives.
thankfully, the price eventually dropped, consumers adopted, and it changed our lives forever. When was the last time u made popcorn on the stove?
Not only did it changed the way we cook at home and the way we think of heating, it also changed the fast food industry and made them more efficient, it changed packaged food industry so much that there are now aisles of frozen and/or prepackaged food made solely for the microwave. Virtually every household has one now. This revolution took almost a decade.
Stop saying the Segway is too expensive, we all know it is. The PC cost $2000 when it was introduced, and how many of them do u have now? Forget about price, it'll fall without a doubt. Look a little further and think how it can change our lives in the not-so-immediate but forseeable future?
The microwave wasn't the "tablet-to-turkey-dinner" magic oven we envisioned in old SciFi novels. Likewise, even though the Segway isn't the Hoverboard, it might be the closest thing to it by means of how it'll change the way we live.
Would u accept it for what it is and nothing more? Would u allow it to change the way u live?
Hopefully we'll soon see mailmen and officers riding the Segway around our streets, where we can become acquintant to it.
Even if the Segway in its current incarnation doesn't turn out to change the world in the next few years, I can safely assume that the technology behind it will change the way we think about how vehicle operates.
Or maybe it'd go the way of magnetic levitated trains.
I would lik to share my a few of my opinions about the X-Box....
1. memory bandwidth
The whole buzz is around the graphics controller, which is probably similar to GeForce 3 running @ 250MHz, with a system architeture similar to the nForce chipset.
The nForce sounds great, consider that the GPU is basically a GeForce 2 MX, but can TwinBank w/ DDR RAM keep up with a GeForce 3? TwinBank is nothing more than a fancy version of a UMA architeture. The GPU on the X-Box doesn't have dedicated V-RAM, it shares the same DDR memory with the CPU. That sounds like a serious bandwidth issue.
It sounds like the SNES all over agin: a great GPU being limited by the system architeture.
for the record, PS2 uses RDAM and GameCube uese 1T-SRAM.
2. Hard drive
Is a hard drive really desirable on a console? It adds complexity to the system: File management, software installation, physical failures, etc. A console should do nothing bu play games and should do so simply and reliably.
3. CPU
Is a 733 MHz P-III enough? Consider x86's lackluster FPU performance, can it really compete with the MIPS core of PS2 or the PowerPC core of GameCube?
4. The platform
Of course one might argue that having a HD creates new possibility beyond games, and that's what MS is betting on. Whether the X-Box is successful or not, it really is just a launch platform for future MS digital home entertainment strategy. The digital hub is what MS trying to conquer.
5. Future price cuts:
Consider the fact that it uses standard PC parts, and how fast the prices of these parts fall, I'd imagine MS would be able to cut the system price rather aggressively in the near future, something Sony can't really do with the PS2.
Personally I find GameCube a better system: Respectable specs, and it does nothing beside playing games. It amazes me to see how clean the GameCube's sytem board design looks. While it's uncertain how powerful it's GPU really is, if u consider all the problem developers have with the PS2's vector units and the possible system bottlenecks of the X-Box, the GameCube should remain rather competitive.
Realisiticly though, the PS2 would probably continue to take the lead in sales and public mindshare.
I second that and must confest IE5 is great when compared to Communicator 4.x and IE4.
IE5 loads pages in a breeze (as fast as Navigator 3,0x, which I used to use for speed and IE4 for features). CSS/DHML has always been cleaner in IE and DOM is still nothing more than promise from Mozilla. OpenType sucks but IE can support TrueDoc via a transparent download of an ActiveX control.
Most importantly, IE5's history no longer hogs my system resources. IE4 used to eat up more resources as I followed more hyperlinks, and I'd have to close it to recover the resources. Now I can open 3 IE5 windows and browse all day with no problems.
I can see the flame mail flooding in alreay....
Microsoft has always have a smaller, tighter Office -- Microsoft Works.
I do very much agree that most ppl upgrade just to be able to read/edit the current file formats which their work uses. File formats incompatibility has always been the driving force of the MS Office upgrades.
I heard Office 2000's native file formats are backward compatible with Office 97 though I haven't confirmed it from real users. If that's the case, WordPerfect and Lotus SmartSuite may be able to compete with Office 2000 on a more level ground.
I'd have to disagree about HTML mail, however. Most messages double in size *only* if they're relatively short. Longer HTML messages usually contain enough HTML tags and embedded images that the the size of the plain text version become insinificant in comparsion. And such overhead is only required for compatibilty -- a very good reason.
More importantly, I'm hoping HTML mail will emerge as the standard rich text format (or document container format for that matter) -- like PDF, but editable; like OpenDoc/OLE, but it actually exists and usable. Sure it doesn't provide acurate reproduction but it's the second most common file format in use today (next to plain text of course). It sure beats upgrading Word even 2 years just so you can read your boss' memo just because he/she wants a bold header in it.
Here are a few things that really bug me:
1. Neophytes always blame you if they send you a file and you can't read it. I mean, if they have Office 2000 they'll write a *plain text* memo in Word and bitch at you if you can read it. Which brings me to....
2. Neophytes don't care about file formats. They never ask "What file format would you like that in?" and save/export their files accordingly. Macs users are the worst. I say that not because I hate Macs (I love them actually), but because it's a lot easier to save PC-format files on the Mac than to read Mac-format files on the PC. In many occasions they could've saved me hours if only they spent a couple mins to export.