These are flooding the market now and there appear to be many different manufacturers using the same basic design. See the following link for a sample.
http://www.sheldonshobbies.com/listing/tinycars. ht ml
I've had a Z-car for a few months and my one year old daughter loves chasing it around the kitchen floor. A friend of mine bought a BIT CHAR-G for twice the price and we compared the two.
Nearly identical car design. Z-car has a much faster gear ratio out of the box. My friend had to buy a gear mod to get the same speed. Z-car has a red led that lights up during radio reception which is nice. Bit Char-G has a stronger electromagnet for slightly better steering. Bit Char-G has a better radio & charger. My Z-Car doesn't fit into the charger very well. Have to hold it in place usually. both have about a 40 second charge time.
Same range. Same amount of fun.
We also test drove some of the infra-red/C cars with two motor steering (one for each wheel) instead of an electromagnet but found them to be hard to control.
He didn't respond to mine concerning the aforementioned quote. (http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=40548&thr eshold=1&commentsort=0&tid=141&mode=thread&cid=431 6924)
"Well, that there is no such thing as free music. If a carpenter made a chair and then someone went into his workshop and took it without his permission, that's not free, that's stealing. I think that the Napsters of this world only encourage that."
-Elvis Costello, 2002
The man plainly does not get it.
(http://www.dotmusic.com/interviews/April2002/in te rviews24611.asp)
I picked up one of these http://www.mikeshardware.com/section_pcprojects/de ltapc/ for $99. Added a 1Ghz Celeron, 512MB RAM and a 20 gig laptop drive. (less than $200) It's small enough (about SpaceWalker size) to fit into my stereo cabinet has has an SVHS output for the TV. Add a small wireless keyboard with integrated mouse (http://www.spec-research.com/project/items.htm - the FK-730) for another $80.
And there you go. Not exactly an audiophile's wet dream but perfectly adequate. Plays MP3's through my Technics receiver and Klipsch speakers and they sound great. While it doesn't have a DVD drive it plays DIVX rips flawlessly. Nobody can tell the difference. I can always add a DVD drive but I don't buy DVDs so why? It plays all my MAME games wonderfully. It even runs GTA3 but the on board video can't really handle 3d graphics that well (ATI Rage). Big deal I've got a real computer for that.
Opera running in full screen mode is perfectly readable. You can zoom in and out easily. As for recording video, TIVO is far superior to software PVRs so I'm not going there yet, but I suppose I could add a USB vid cap device.
All in all, most of the functionality for 1/4 the price. A great little MP3 jukebox, DIVX player, and Classic Video Game machine.
Anyone who drops $1900 for an all in one stereo component box at this stage will be disappointed simply because the software to integrate all that functionality doesn't exist yet. And if big media has their way, it never will legally exist.
How about a client that actually displays the email address of the sender with out forcing you to jump through hoops Microsoft? I am not an idiot and you are just confusing my mother because I have several email addresses.
I must admit, though I wish it wasn't so, Outlook Express (security and usability issues aside) is the most stable IMAP client I've used on a windows box. Outlook 2k definitely isn't stable and I havn't tried Outlook 2002.
I'll be swtiching to Mozilla (for email) when 1.0 is released and we'll see how that goes. Anxiously waiting for IMAP support in Opera.
Pegasus has some promise but is quirky. Eudora is broken. Any other recommendations for windows IMAP clients?
MicroCenter was selling these
http://www.deltanetworks.com.tw/products/SYSTEM/sy stem_barebone_detail.htm
for $99.00 about a month ago. Can't beat it. I suspect they were mispriced. The Santa Clara store sold out in a day or two. It's about the same size as the SpaceWalker ($250 at Fry's) but not so cubic.
It makes an awesome MP3/DIVX/MAME machine. Fits right in my stereo cabinet (ok, closet). My only complaint is that it could be a little quieter but that's mainly due the the hard drive I installed.
Speaking as a serious FPS gamer...
3D sound is overrated, is not supported (or weakly supported) by some of the best games, and it is a pain in the ass to tweak and maintain balance settings among different games. It it is 'neat' when it works but is completely unnecessary.
Re:Stay away from Creative Products: full of bugs
on
Testing the Audigy
·
· Score: 1
The AWE64 is/was pretty stable. ISA only though.
I still use one in my single ISA slot.
But yeah.... I agree with the parent. I can verify his SMP problems with the SBLive. Single proc. support wasn't so hot either. Creative has completely failed to reliably support NT/Win2k/XP in their SBLive line and they've had plenty of time to try.
My unconditioned garage works just fine.
on
Home Server Rooms?
·
· Score: 1
No heat, no air, no insulation.
At least 3 computers (usually more), 2 switches, 1 router, a laser printer, and micellaneous other electronics (amps, lights, etc..) on 24/7/365. Santa Cruz, CA.
Never had a heat failure, ever.
I really don't think you need to worry too much unless you're are talking about hundreds of pieces of equipment in an insulated room.
It feels almost the same only with incredible graphics. This could be a good thing because DOD was the best thing since CounterStrike until Wolfenstein came along.
Deathmatch sucks though. Even team deathmatch sucks. At the very least they need to have a DOD type (capture and hold) teamplay mode. If not, Wolfenstein wins. I'm really starting to enjoy multiplayer Wolfenstein.
Oh... And they REALLY need to make crouch in Medal of Honor momentary and not toggle!!!!! (at least give us the option)
And guess what? It dual boots to Linux. There is a switch on the right side, Set it to A and it boots Windows (2k I think) set it to B and it boots a very stripped down Linux that only runs Winamp. (for obvious reasons)
Mine is somewhat flakey on low batteries also....(It is one of the first hardware revs) It also sometimes says "USB Active" and then powers off for no apparent reason. But it plays MP3s very well most of the time, is pretty much flawless as a USB hard drive and was more affordable than anything else at the time. (Still is, I think).
I've abused my too.. I broke the backlight when I installed a 20gig drive and I can't even count how many times I've dropped it, usually on the concrete while getting out of my car.
I still love it though! I would like a more stable version of essentially the same thing. Wish they sold them cheaper, without the drives. They could also use a redesign so it's easier to get the batteries in and out. Oh.. and of course fire wire would be great! Not so sure I want to watch video on it though.
Why? If I write a book or record a song it can be just a valid/artistic/enjoyable/valuable in 20 years time as it is now. Eg. Lord of the Rings, To Kill A Mocking Bird , all the Beatles songs etc, etc. Ok you may not agree with my taste ( who does ) but I'm sure you have read some old books and listened to some old music. Why should you get it for free ( as in beer )?
No... the question is "Why should you KEEP GETTING PAID FOR IT?"
Why? Again, they have put the work into it, that's their living. It is nothing like an electrician changing a light switch, it is a creative process. If the author didn't create it, it would not exist - simple as that. So again, why shouldn't they benefit from it?
How can you honestly say that creating (often trivial) IP is somehow instrinsicly more valuable than say, growing food or building houses or healing sick people, or any of the thousands of other things people do? How many times should the IP creator be compensated?
No, there would be less books, novels, songs, records etc, etc because the effort to create such works ( and yes it is effort ) would not be worth it.
It strikes me as utterly sad and cynical that the foundation of your argument is the belief that the only reason people create anything is for monetary compensation. How depressing. You are probably right that there would be fewer books, songs, etc... but I guarantee you the quality would improve. I don't see that as such a bad thing.
"I think it's idiotic that someone can come up with a song or book or program and profit off it for the rest of their lives, and for the lives of their great grandchildren, as seemingly happens with the copyright system today."
AMEN! Mod this up!
I use a similar setup, but much of the stuff I listen to is part of a continous mix and the songs really need to be played with NO pauses in between. I've been unable to get rid of pauses using Winamp on a Win2k box over a 802.11b wireless network. (Mounting drives from a Win2k server)
I've tried various crossfading plugins that work wonderfully on a local hard drive or over 100baseT but I still get long pauses over 802.11b.
Have you experienced this and have you found a solution?
Money is not only incentive we humans have. Medicine is discovered and developed by actual, individual PEOPLE who actually GIVE A SHIT and HAVE A PASSION for what they are doing.
What needs to be done will eventually get done with or without giant, multinational pharmaceuticals.
To imply that nothing would get ever done without the incentive of making obscene amounts of money is to be a greedy, cheap, cynical, amoral, capitalist bastard.
And... just to throw in the obligatory reference... Just ask Linus!
Slashdot Mirror
A most excellent movie.
These are flooding the market now and there appear to be many different manufacturers using the same basic design. See the following link for a sample.
. ht ml
http://www.sheldonshobbies.com/listing/tinycars
I've had a Z-car for a few months and my one year old daughter loves chasing it around the kitchen floor. A friend of mine bought a BIT CHAR-G for twice the price and we compared the two.
Nearly identical car design. Z-car has a much faster gear ratio out of the box. My friend had to buy a gear mod to get the same speed. Z-car has a red led that lights up during radio reception which is nice. Bit Char-G has a stronger electromagnet for slightly better steering. Bit Char-G has a better radio & charger. My Z-Car doesn't fit into the charger very well. Have to hold it in place usually. both have about a 40 second charge time.
Same range. Same amount of fun.
We also test drove some of the infra-red/C cars with two motor steering (one for each wheel) instead of an electromagnet but found them to be hard to control.
He didn't respond to mine concerning his stance on Napster and it's like.
He didn't respond to mine concerning the aforementioned quote. (http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=40548&thr eshold=1&commentsort=0&tid=141&mode=thread&cid=431 6924)
"Well, that there is no such thing as free music. If a carpenter made a chair and then someone went into his workshop and took it without his permission, that's not free, that's stealing. I think that the Napsters of this world only encourage that."
n te rviews24611.asp)
-Elvis Costello, 2002
The man plainly does not get it.
(http://www.dotmusic.com/interviews/April2002/i
Still plenty of clear traffic in the 800s.
"And what's with the heat comment? Any laptop you buy dissipates the heat it generates. They are DESIGNED to work with the components they contain."
I've seen the keyboard melt and keytops literally fall off certain 'desktop replacements'.
I would love to see what happens to this laptop after running it at MAX performance for 6-10 hours.
It wasn't there! I swear.
Why is it not surprising nobody has mentioned this yet?
I picked up one of these http://www.mikeshardware.com/section_pcprojects/d
And there you go. Not exactly an audiophile's wet dream but perfectly adequate. Plays MP3's through my Technics receiver and Klipsch speakers and they sound great. While it doesn't have a DVD drive it plays DIVX rips flawlessly. Nobody can tell the difference. I can always add a DVD drive but I don't buy DVDs so why? It plays all my MAME games wonderfully. It even runs GTA3 but the on board video can't really handle 3d graphics that well (ATI Rage). Big deal I've got a real computer for that.
Opera running in full screen mode is perfectly readable. You can zoom in and out easily. As for recording video, TIVO is far superior to software PVRs so I'm not going there yet, but I suppose I could add a USB vid cap device.
All in all, most of the functionality for 1/4 the price. A great little MP3 jukebox, DIVX player, and Classic Video Game machine.
Anyone who drops $1900 for an all in one stereo component box at this stage will be disappointed simply because the software to integrate all that functionality doesn't exist yet. And if big media has their way, it never will legally exist.
Probably nothing.... just hate keeping up with weekly releases.
How about a client that actually displays the email address of the sender with out forcing you to jump through hoops Microsoft? I am not an idiot and you are just confusing my mother because I have several email addresses. I must admit, though I wish it wasn't so, Outlook Express (security and usability issues aside) is the most stable IMAP client I've used on a windows box. Outlook 2k definitely isn't stable and I havn't tried Outlook 2002. I'll be swtiching to Mozilla (for email) when 1.0 is released and we'll see how that goes. Anxiously waiting for IMAP support in Opera. Pegasus has some promise but is quirky. Eudora is broken. Any other recommendations for windows IMAP clients?
MicroCenter was selling these http://www.deltanetworks.com.tw/products/SYSTEM/sy stem_barebone_detail.htm
for $99.00 about a month ago. Can't beat it. I suspect they were mispriced. The Santa Clara store sold out in a day or two. It's about the same size as the SpaceWalker ($250 at Fry's) but not so cubic.
It makes an awesome MP3/DIVX/MAME machine. Fits right in my stereo cabinet (ok, closet). My only complaint is that it could be a little quieter but that's mainly due the the hard drive I installed.
Speaking as a serious FPS gamer... 3D sound is overrated, is not supported (or weakly supported) by some of the best games, and it is a pain in the ass to tweak and maintain balance settings among different games. It it is 'neat' when it works but is completely unnecessary.
The AWE64 is/was pretty stable. ISA only though. I still use one in my single ISA slot. But yeah.... I agree with the parent. I can verify his SMP problems with the SBLive. Single proc. support wasn't so hot either. Creative has completely failed to reliably support NT/Win2k/XP in their SBLive line and they've had plenty of time to try.
No heat, no air, no insulation. At least 3 computers (usually more), 2 switches, 1 router, a laser printer, and micellaneous other electronics (amps, lights, etc..) on 24/7/365. Santa Cruz, CA. Never had a heat failure, ever. I really don't think you need to worry too much unless you're are talking about hundreds of pieces of equipment in an insulated room.
It feels almost the same only with incredible graphics. This could be a good thing because DOD was the best thing since CounterStrike until Wolfenstein came along. Deathmatch sucks though. Even team deathmatch sucks. At the very least they need to have a DOD type (capture and hold) teamplay mode. If not, Wolfenstein wins. I'm really starting to enjoy multiplayer Wolfenstein. Oh... And they REALLY need to make crouch in Medal of Honor momentary and not toggle!!!!! (at least give us the option)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/2/17055.html
It's got Crusoe processor in it.
And guess what? It dual boots to Linux. There is a switch on the right side, Set it to A and it boots Windows (2k I think) set it to B and it boots a very stripped down Linux that only runs Winamp. (for obvious reasons)
Mine is somewhat flakey on low batteries also....(It is one of the first hardware revs) It also sometimes says "USB Active" and then powers off for no apparent reason. But it plays MP3s very well most of the time, is pretty much flawless as a USB hard drive and was more affordable than anything else at the time. (Still is, I think). I've abused my too.. I broke the backlight when I installed a 20gig drive and I can't even count how many times I've dropped it, usually on the concrete while getting out of my car. I still love it though! I would like a more stable version of essentially the same thing. Wish they sold them cheaper, without the drives. They could also use a redesign so it's easier to get the batteries in and out. Oh.. and of course fire wire would be great! Not so sure I want to watch video on it though.
Mod This UP! I swear there's an anti-Archos media ban. (I'm just a happy customer)
No... the question is "Why should you KEEP GETTING PAID FOR IT?"
Why? Again, they have put the work into it, that's their living. It is nothing like an electrician changing a light switch, it is a creative process. If the author didn't create it, it would not exist - simple as that. So again, why shouldn't they benefit from it?
How can you honestly say that creating (often trivial) IP is somehow instrinsicly more valuable than say, growing food or building houses or healing sick people, or any of the thousands of other things people do? How many times should the IP creator be compensated?
No, there would be less books, novels, songs, records etc, etc because the effort to create such works ( and yes it is effort ) would not be worth it.
It strikes me as utterly sad and cynical that the foundation of your argument is the belief that the only reason people create anything is for monetary compensation. How depressing. You are probably right that there would be fewer books, songs, etc... but I guarantee you the quality would improve. I don't see that as such a bad thing.
"I think it's idiotic that someone can come up with a song or book or program and profit off it for the rest of their lives, and for the lives of their great grandchildren, as seemingly happens with the copyright system today." AMEN! Mod this up!
I use a similar setup, but much of the stuff I listen to is part of a continous mix and the songs really need to be played with NO pauses in between. I've been unable to get rid of pauses using Winamp on a Win2k box over a 802.11b wireless network. (Mounting drives from a Win2k server) I've tried various crossfading plugins that work wonderfully on a local hard drive or over 100baseT but I still get long pauses over 802.11b. Have you experienced this and have you found a solution?
This is what happens when people get Tivos. Get used to it.
Rubbish.
Money is not only incentive we humans have. Medicine is discovered and developed by actual, individual PEOPLE who actually GIVE A SHIT and HAVE A PASSION for what they are doing.
What needs to be done will eventually get done with or without giant, multinational pharmaceuticals.
To imply that nothing would get ever done without the incentive of making obscene amounts of money is to be a greedy, cheap, cynical, amoral, capitalist bastard.
And... just to throw in the obligatory reference... Just ask Linus!