We need to make good use of this iceberg - quick, somebody build a gigantic unsinkable ship! A 233 sq mile unsinkable ship! And put Leonardo DiCaprio on it! Wheeee!
Competitions of the same type in fuel cells would be difficult to do because (a) fuel cells require tons of research and (b) they're prohivitively expensive. Also, people can basically design their own solar arrays for this type of race, which makes it pretty fun, and it would be hard to find an analogue for fuel cells. So it's not that everyone is interested just in Solar - in fact, lots of people are working on fuel cells as well. Right now, neither solar cells or fuel cells are really usable for full-scale practical use, but wait a few years and some organization will likely humor you with a fuel cell race.
Of course, by that time you'll likely have read an article on portable nuclear power on Sciam earlier that day and wonder why everybody is so interested in fuel cells, when nuclear is clearly the way to go...
Drive by the post office...
You've got mail!
Drive by Harvard University...
Get your PhD degree!
Drive by the bank...
Make $$$ Fast!
Drive by the swimming pool...
Get wet pussy now!
Thanks to OnStar and AOL, my daily commute is finally going to become fun again!
If you want to find a dark spot near where you live, the International Dark Sky Association has a page of tools that estimate the brightness of the night sky. You need to know your latitude and longitude for the Java applet.
... about the Leonid shower is the Armagh observatory site at http://www.arm.ac.uk/leonid, with lots of explanations, pictures, tips and so forth. Everything you need to know.
The only reason this is bad is because they might have mislead people into buying their card because of Quake benchmarks. People base their buying decisions heavily on Quake framerates, whether or not they're going to run Quake all the time. So they look at a review, see ATI runs Quake quickly, buy the card, take it home, try playing UT and wonder why they're not getting the same framerate.
They could have released it as a feature: "ATI drivers especially optimized for Quake!" and people who care a lot about Quake would have been happy to buy it, and perhaps some people who didn't care as much would have bought it as well.
I think it would be a great idea if more graphics card manufacturers tried to specifically optimize their drivers for some of the most popular games out there. After all, if half your clientele is playing the same thing, there's no reason that shouldn't be part of the driver. Except it has to be publicized properly.
You can't turn a crap movie into a good movie just by putting Bruce Lee into it. These people seem to care more about making a good Bruce Lee model than a good movie, and I bet it's going to show in the result.
Pity - Bruce Lee would have kicked anyone's ass who tried to make a replica of him...
You'll also spend an hour in the airlock when you enter or leave
Why would it take the airlock on Mars a full hour to open? Pressure should make little difference, since people are wearing spacesuits. Is it for decontamination? Quarantine? Fun?
In any case, they need to build game consoles into the airlocks, or a DVD player so you can watch movies while you wait for the door to open. Movies are perfect - you watch the first hour on the way out, which will encourage you do work quickly so you can go back in and see the happy ending. Or maybe a pr0nStation. Otherwise people will just take naps in the airlock and not wake up when the door opens.
If you have a month free next summer and you'd like to spend it freezing your ass off, read on.
On the other hand, if you have a week free next winter (and money coming out the wahzoo), and you'd really really like to freeze your ass off, try out the Ice Hotel.
some experts predict that haptics will soon be as familiar a part of the computer desktop as colour graphics and stereo sound are today.
Meaning everyone will have two little needles in a box on their desktop, which they can use to feel the texture of a website? My guess is that successfully bringing haptics to the desktop and making them part of everyday usage will not happen "soon", but will take a great deal more development until the same quality of tactile feedback can be translated to, say, a VR glove, and linked to visuals. Even then, in its initial stages, I see few applications beyond some games and pr0n.
Re:Help for CTS-afflicted people?
on
Virtual Keyboard
·
· Score: 2
Yes, but you don't have the little springs inside a real keyboard that make your fingers bounce back. So any ergonomic benefits would soon be outnumbered by the damage you do to your fingers in another way.
I see this mostly as a tool for note-taking, rather than as a full keyboard replacement. There are many other funky-shaped ergonomic keyboard replacement prototypes out there, and the only advantage that this system has over them is that it's more portable. And has infrared.
Speaking of which, why not just grab an infrared keyboard and strap it to your wrists? That way, you can use any surface at all as a keyboard! Wow!
Make it collapsible and small, and you have a better product with the same tagline. Except that it's stupid.
I wonder how the keyboard "knows" when I'm actually trying to press on a key, versus when I'm just resting my fingers in the home position?
What if I need to grab a drink? What if I briefly wave my hands around? What if I scratch my head because I don't know what to type next?
I'm not sure that the language recognition and "artificial intelligence" they proclaim this thing has would make it comfortably usable, even for short periods of time. Too many little inconveniences, and things you'd have to stop doing while having a keyboard permanently attached to your hands.
I seriously doubt someone with financial knowledge is the solution to "disasters like the Hubble distorted lens, and the Mars lander crash".
On the other hand, I think what you refer to as "NASAs ever increasing budget black hole" is a good place for him to make a difference. Every time someone posts a NASA related story on/. there are hordes of replies about the horridly expensive monkey-wrenches and toilet plungers that NASA spends its money on. I don't know how much of that is true, but there's bound to be some grain of truth to it. So it might not necessarily be this guy's financial knowledge that makes a difference, but simply a commonsense money-saving mindset. Perhaps he can learn from team that built the budget satellite that was posted here a few days ago.
Still, don't forget he is a government official.
In order to use it, the system "will allow its users to download a movie config file". Why would kids go through the trouble of downloading a config file to avoid seeing nudity and cursing?!
The only way to actually implement it is with a password system that allows parents to set the rating, and automatically downloads the correct config file. It would still be a pain, though.
As an alternative, we might see different ratings become a standard feature on DVDs, with password protection built into the player. That way, you wouldn't need a computer to get the protection.
Still, within a few weeks after the release of the player, we'll probably see hacks posted everywhere that mess up the config file so 12-year-old script kiddies can see the nudity. Never underestimate kids in search of pr0n.
So it turns out I am not an Environmental Engineer. This article just tells me that ESA is building a gigantic satellite, at a cost of 2.3 billion Euro. Then it lists some benefits:
we want to retain an overview, for example, of ocean water quality, of greenhouse gases or temperature distribution in the atmosphere, and to be able to establish the extent to which tropical forests are being cut down
I see statistics about this every day in the newspaper. Clearly, we can measure all these things from the ground - what does a satellite give us? Is it just there for the global view?
SCIAMACHY shows the consequences of forest fires, industrial emissions, arctic haze, dust storms and volcanic eruptions.
Whatever gases get released into the atmosphere, stay in the atmosphere. Big news.
Once their presence is identified from space, poisonous algae can be prevented from spreading
Help me understand why anyone cares enough about poisonous algae to send a satellite into space.
So in order to get some answers, I went to the satellite's web page and found myself overwhelmed by the amount of incomprehensible information. The page is basically a sales portal for scientists who want to buy the data, but doesn't give any information comprehensible to a little layman like me.
So, does anyone have a good source that will explain to me why I should care one snippet about this satellite, and not think that ESA just blew E2.3 billion on the world's biggest piece of space debris?
It's so easy to write a book like this now that so many companies have failed because of building stupid web sites. How could they not? Back then nobody told them how to work with the web, because everything was new! In effect, everyone was a guinea-pig for the web and e-commerce, and some got lucky enough to find the right formula. Most didn't, but they couldn't know they were wrong when they started out.
Can we really point at companies that failed and say "they were stupid"? It may be the case for some, but a number of companies run by very smart people failed the same way. They were just experimenting, and now thanks to the companies that failed and those that succeeded, we have a better idea of what works on the web, and what's "stupid".
Isn't this exactly the same story as this one posted two days ago? That story was both about this Pluto mission and the development of the Mars program, but a lot of the issues with Pluto have already been discussed.
This could be a vital step in actually being able to build an assembly-line manufacturing "plant" for nanotube structures. So instead of just building a single nanotube structure using, say, an atomic force microscope, you might be able to build tons of them fairly quickly. These could then be used to make the advanced materials that nanotechnology keeps promising.
It would be just like growing nanotubes the way it's currently done, except you'd end up with still more complex structures rather than just the tubes!
Slashdot Mirror
We need to make good use of this iceberg - quick, somebody build a gigantic unsinkable ship! A 233 sq mile unsinkable ship! And put Leonardo DiCaprio on it! Wheeee!
4:47 am. It's basically over. Now I can get back to coding... what a life!
A gasoline powered car would run out of fuel :-)
Of course, by that time you'll likely have read an article on portable nuclear power on Sciam earlier that day and wonder why everybody is so interested in fuel cells, when nuclear is clearly the way to go...
Bourne a shell, always a shell...
Drive by Harvard University... Get your PhD degree!
Drive by the bank... Make $$$ Fast!
Drive by the swimming pool... Get wet pussy now!
Thanks to OnStar and AOL, my daily commute is finally going to become fun again!
If you want to find a dark spot near where you live, the International Dark Sky Association has a page of tools that estimate the brightness of the night sky. You need to know your latitude and longitude for the Java applet.
Would you be so kind as to parse the preceding for me please?
... about the Leonid shower is the Armagh observatory site at http://www.arm.ac.uk/leonid, with lots of explanations, pictures, tips and so forth. Everything you need to know.
They could have released it as a feature: "ATI drivers especially optimized for Quake!" and people who care a lot about Quake would have been happy to buy it, and perhaps some people who didn't care as much would have bought it as well.
I think it would be a great idea if more graphics card manufacturers tried to specifically optimize their drivers for some of the most popular games out there. After all, if half your clientele is playing the same thing, there's no reason that shouldn't be part of the driver. Except it has to be publicized properly.
You can't turn a crap movie into a good movie just by putting Bruce Lee into it. These people seem to care more about making a good Bruce Lee model than a good movie, and I bet it's going to show in the result.
Pity - Bruce Lee would have kicked anyone's ass who tried to make a replica of him...
Why would it take the airlock on Mars a full hour to open? Pressure should make little difference, since people are wearing spacesuits. Is it for decontamination? Quarantine? Fun?
In any case, they need to build game consoles into the airlocks, or a DVD player so you can watch movies while you wait for the door to open. Movies are perfect - you watch the first hour on the way out, which will encourage you do work quickly so you can go back in and see the happy ending. Or maybe a pr0nStation. Otherwise people will just take naps in the airlock and not wake up when the door opens.
If you have a month free next summer and you'd like to spend it freezing your ass off, read on.
On the other hand, if you have a week free next winter (and money coming out the wahzoo), and you'd really really like to freeze your ass off, try out the Ice Hotel.
Meaning everyone will have two little needles in a box on their desktop, which they can use to feel the texture of a website? My guess is that successfully bringing haptics to the desktop and making them part of everyday usage will not happen "soon", but will take a great deal more development until the same quality of tactile feedback can be translated to, say, a VR glove, and linked to visuals. Even then, in its initial stages, I see few applications beyond some games and pr0n.
Yes, but you don't have the little springs inside a real keyboard that make your fingers bounce back. So any ergonomic benefits would soon be outnumbered by the damage you do to your fingers in another way.
I see this mostly as a tool for note-taking, rather than as a full keyboard replacement. There are many other funky-shaped ergonomic keyboard replacement prototypes out there, and the only advantage that this system has over them is that it's more portable. And has infrared.
Speaking of which, why not just grab an infrared keyboard and strap it to your wrists? That way, you can use any surface at all as a keyboard! Wow!
Make it collapsible and small, and you have a better product with the same tagline. Except that it's stupid.
What if I need to grab a drink? What if I briefly wave my hands around? What if I scratch my head because I don't know what to type next?
I'm not sure that the language recognition and "artificial intelligence" they proclaim this thing has would make it comfortably usable, even for short periods of time. Too many little inconveniences, and things you'd have to stop doing while having a keyboard permanently attached to your hands.
On the other hand, I think what you refer to as "NASAs ever increasing budget black hole" is a good place for him to make a difference. Every time someone posts a NASA related story on /. there are hordes of replies about the horridly expensive monkey-wrenches and toilet plungers that NASA spends its money on. I don't know how much of that is true, but there's bound to be some grain of truth to it. So it might not necessarily be this guy's financial knowledge that makes a difference, but simply a commonsense money-saving mindset. Perhaps he can learn from team that built the budget satellite that was posted here a few days ago.
Still, don't forget he is a government official.
In order to use it, the system "will allow its users to download a movie config file". Why would kids go through the trouble of downloading a config file to avoid seeing nudity and cursing?!
The only way to actually implement it is with a password system that allows parents to set the rating, and automatically downloads the correct config file. It would still be a pain, though.
As an alternative, we might see different ratings become a standard feature on DVDs, with password protection built into the player. That way, you wouldn't need a computer to get the protection.
Still, within a few weeks after the release of the player, we'll probably see hacks posted everywhere that mess up the config file so 12-year-old script kiddies can see the nudity. Never underestimate kids in search of pr0n.
we want to retain an overview, for example, of ocean water quality, of greenhouse gases or temperature distribution in the atmosphere, and to be able to establish the extent to which tropical forests are being cut down
I see statistics about this every day in the newspaper. Clearly, we can measure all these things from the ground - what does a satellite give us? Is it just there for the global view?
SCIAMACHY shows the consequences of forest fires, industrial emissions, arctic haze, dust storms and volcanic eruptions.
Whatever gases get released into the atmosphere, stay in the atmosphere. Big news.
Once their presence is identified from space, poisonous algae can be prevented from spreading
Help me understand why anyone cares enough about poisonous algae to send a satellite into space.
So in order to get some answers, I went to the satellite's web page and found myself overwhelmed by the amount of incomprehensible information. The page is basically a sales portal for scientists who want to buy the data, but doesn't give any information comprehensible to a little layman like me.
So, does anyone have a good source that will explain to me why I should care one snippet about this satellite, and not think that ESA just blew E2.3 billion on the world's biggest piece of space debris?
Can we really point at companies that failed and say "they were stupid"? It may be the case for some, but a number of companies run by very smart people failed the same way. They were just experimenting, and now thanks to the companies that failed and those that succeeded, we have a better idea of what works on the web, and what's "stupid".
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Isn't this exactly the same story as this one posted two days ago? That story was both about this Pluto mission and the development of the Mars program, but a lot of the issues with Pluto have already been discussed.
This could be a vital step in actually being able to build an assembly-line manufacturing "plant" for nanotube structures. So instead of just building a single nanotube structure using, say, an atomic force microscope, you might be able to build tons of them fairly quickly. These could then be used to make the advanced materials that nanotechnology keeps promising.
It would be just like growing nanotubes the way it's currently done, except you'd end up with still more complex structures rather than just the tubes!
Nice idea, but how do you turn it all back on? ;-)