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User: pcjunky

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  1. Re:Apollo 18 ??? on Sealed Cache of Moon Rocks To Be Opened By NASA (nydailynews.com) · · Score: 1

    I watched the last Apollo mission launch from Titusville. That was Apollo 17.

  2. My Imagination was not even close up to reality on Ask Slashdot: Is Today's Technology As Cool As You'd Predicted When You Were Young? · · Score: 1

    Back in my Apple II days I would daydream about a computer with more RAM and a faster microprocessor. I remember reading about the 68000 microprocessor. I remember thinking how cool it would be to have a computer with a 12MHz 68000 and 250K of RAM and something like 640X480 resolution (and 16 colors). My wildest imaginings couldn't see a computer capable of rendering in real time the what our modern machines do. Reality has WAY out stripped my imagination.

  3. Why? It's built! Nice tactile feedback and loads of quality most modern keyboards just don't have. Built like a battleship.

  4. Re:mmWave is very line of sight. on Qualcomm Unveils First mmWave 5G Antennas For Smartphones (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    It should be noted these frequencies are much higher than of those used by satellite TV services like Directv (around 12GHz) that already have rain fade problems and suffer much more from rain fade.

  5. mmWave is very line of sight. on Qualcomm Unveils First mmWave 5G Antennas For Smartphones (theverge.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The spectrum they are using is very line of sight. Even a sheet of cardboard will significantly attenuate the signal. Trees and even tinted windows will 99% block these signals. These frequencies (like the 38GHz that Verizon bought Straight Path to get) have been used for point to point links very sparingly over the last few decades due to the extreme short range and rain fade problems that make it very difficult to use beyond 1/2 mile. A couple years ago Straight Path gave us two Cerigon FiberAir radios to use at 38GHz because no one in SW Florida was using 38GHz and the FCC was threatening to revoke their license. We were only only ones using the spectrum (they told us so) and even with trying to give away the radios (about $10k for the pair) they couldn't find anyone to use in in the counties just to the north of us. We used them for a 1000 foot (300 meter) link (we will still be operating this link until Sept when the license expires). This was with 1 foot dishes on each end. Rain fade does effect the link when the rain gets heavy, but due to the very short distance it still operates. I just can't see them using these frequencies on devices like cell phones to much effect. I predict this will be an epic fail.

  6. One thing running an ISP with a small data center has taught me is that it's not just the power used by your servers, it's also about the heat they generate. You need to remove it. So if you have a server than consumes 300 watts of power (typical for a Poweredge server with 6 SAS drives), you are going to use about 300 watts more on your AC removing the heat.

  7. Re:Even terrestrial wireless... on Can We Get Global Broadband From Low-Earth Orbit Satellites? (blogspot.com) · · Score: 1

    Clearly your not on a properly designed wireless network. We run one here in Florida. I have both a Comcast connection and one of our wireless connection at my house. The Comcast connection will do 12 down a 2 up. The wireless connection does over 20 down and 8 up. Latencies are better to most sites on the Internet too by about 15ms. We have hundreds of satisfied customers (seriously, about the only time we lose one is if they move out of our coverage area).

  8. Dell Precision on Ask Slashdot: Which Laptop Has The Best Keyboard? · · Score: 1

    I love my Precisions keyboard. Some come with full numeric keypads.

    On a side note: Sheldon on Big Bang Theory was for years using an Alienware laptop. This season he is using a Dell Precision.

  9. Nickel not required on We May Not Have Enough Minerals To Even Meet Electric Car Demand (jalopnik.com) · · Score: 2

    Nickel is not required for many Li-Ion formulations. It makes batteries that have the highest power density however it's not the most durable formulation.

    Lithium Iron Phosphate ("LFP", LiFePO4) is the formulation used in the Segway. Note the complete absence of Nickel.

    Lithium Manganese Oxide ("LMO", LiMn2O4) is another used for electric vehicles that has no Nickel.

    I have seen sponsored posts on FB for companies trying to sell investments in Nickel with this same threat that it's needed for electric vehicle market. It's not. Scam.

  10. Manufacturing flaw? on Apple's Tim Cook Shares What He Learned From Steve Jobs (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 2

    The manufacturing flaw he was referring to was the complete absence of any cooling fans. The cracks were the result of the high heat. As far as learning from his mistakes Jobs wasn't very good at that as he made the same mistake years earlier with the Apple ///. His stubborn opposition to cooling fans doomed both.

  11. Re:I played the demo on Ask Slashdot: What Modern PC Games Would You Recommend For An Old School Gamer? · · Score: 3, Informative

    For those who reflexes are too slow for twitch shooters there is Mech Warrior online.

    BTW: Your reflexes will return pretty quickly if you give a little time. I am 57 and still play Counter Strike.

  12. Lots of new things to try on Ask Slashdot: What Modern PC Games Would You Recommend For An Old School Gamer? · · Score: 1

    Starseige Tribes is still going. Mech warrior online is a new take on an old classic. Counterstrike (various incarnations). Team Fortress 2 (or just TF2 to those who play it, it's probably the closest to Quake World).

  13. Audacious on What Happened To Winamp? (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Audacious does most of the things winamp did. Can even be made to look almost exactly like it. Even has plugins like winamp.

  14. CorelDraw! on Ask Slashdot: What Would You Pay To See Open Sourced? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Should be easy as they ported to Linux several years ago.

  15. They would last only about 2 to 3 years on Australian Scientists Figure Out How Zinc-Air Batteries Can Replace Lithium-Ion Batteries (gizmodo.com.au) · · Score: 1

    If they lose 10% in 60 cycles, they would be near useless after 500 cycles. Lithium Ion batteries are at least twice as long lived. I have cell phone batteries that still are above 90% after two years.

  16. Ye oldy tech wins on Cyber Threats Prompt Return of Radio For Ship Navigation (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Time to dust off the old Sextant?

  17. There has been a scam going around social media regarding Cobalt and Lithium-Ion batteries. There exist many Lithium-Ion batteries chemistries that don't use Cobalt. Cobalt formulations produce the highest capacity batteries but not the most durable. These batteries could be made to function for over 1200 charge/discharge cycles and had the capacity and cost of current Alkaline batteries than they could be made viable for vehicles. Lower voltage per cell (1.5v vs 3.7v) would make them harder to use in call phones and laptops.

  18. DRM and related thigs like UEFI on Ask Slashdot: What Software (Or Hardware) Glitch Makes You Angry? · · Score: 1

    I recently acquired a modernish Dell laptop (Inspiron 7537) that will not boot to anything but a pure mechanical hard drive in legacy mode. I've tried two different brands of SSD and two different SSHD drives. None will boot. The 640 Gig mechanical boots just fine. Either a bios bug or something deliberate to prevent you from running newer drives in anything but UEFI/Secure boot mode.

  19. Thanks to it's core protocols it's mostly decentralized now. BGP routing protocol that keeps your IP addresses routable across the global Internet does not have any center. Nor do any of the thousands of routers have any central requirements to operate. Really only DNS requires centralized servers.

  20. Why not Seymour Cray did it back in 1976. on Ask Slashdot: What Would Happen If You Were To Put a Computer Inside a Fridge? · · Score: 1

    While not precisely the same, the concept of using a refrigerant was.

    "The high-performance ECL circuitry generated considerable heat, and Cray's designers spent as much effort on the design of the refrigeration system as they did on the rest of the mechanical design. In this case, each circuit board was paired with a second, placed back to back with a sheet of copper between them. The copper sheet conducted heat to the edges of the cage, where liquid Freon running in stainless steel pipes drew it away to the cooling unit below the machine."

  21. Nice movie plot but.... on Malware Uses Router LEDs To Steal Data From Secure Networks (bleepingcomputer.com) · · Score: 2

    While this might be used as a plot device on Mr. Robot, I don't expect much to come of this.

  22. The Raspberry PI would seem to meet your criteria. Battery powering one is as simple as a two cell Li-Ion battery and voltage regulator to bring the 7.4 volts down to 5.

  23. Interesting we are the only 39GHz user in our area on Verizon Outbids AT&T For Nationwide 5G Wireless Spectrum (theverge.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    About a year ago we got approached by Straight-Path with a deal. They would give us a pair of 39GHz radios if we would deploy them in this area. Seems no one in this area was using any of their licensed 39GHz spectrum and they were at risk of losing their license due to non-use. It is spectrum that is rather hard to utilize in any area that gets much rain. Links over 1 mile with even 2 foot dishes would drop in even moderate rain (too much absorption), and a wet leaf would almost completely block the signal. This is the reason almost no one in Florida uses this spectrum. I can't imagine what Verizon thinks they can do with it as it's seems useless for providing any kind of cell service. Even if used to back haul point to point links it's range is extremely limited.

    We did in the end enter the deal and deploy them on a 300 meter link that has perfect line of sight. At that range they work pretty well.

  24. These are possible on Wired Founding Editor Now Challenges 'The Myth of A Superhuman AI' (backchannel.com) · · Score: 1

    The things he lists are not impossible. It's not inevitable of course, just not by any means beyond the realm of possibility.

  25. More space junk on ARCA Plans 2018 Launch For Revolutionary Single-Stage Rocket (newatlas.com) · · Score: 1

    The one down side to this is the booster gets into orbit along with the payload. Unlike the SpaceX boosters that come back down and land to be re-used. These boosters will remain in orbit for a very long time unless you leave enough fuel to de-orbit them. Since this would cost more and the boosters would simply burn up in re-entry and potentially have pieces hit things on the ground I don't think they will want to do this.