I'm using vim, and I couldn't get any of my whitespace programs to run. I realized it was because I'd set the "expandtab" variable: it expands all tabs to spaces.
There's a list here.
I guess the most famous of them is the IP over avian carriers thing. On the subject of avians, google came out with a cool pigeonrank joke last year.
Slashdot needs a "Shameless Plug" tag to put on articles like this. Look at the submitters address.
Hey, the submitter is not claiming to be a third party.
I thought you would be interested in our new Platform Services product direction (emphasis mine)
Besides, this is Ian Murdock of Debian. Since he's a big name in the free software community, I have no problem with a shameless plug from him. If I guy who's gained a reputation by doing a lot of work uses his status to get some hits and some revenue, well its a nice way of rewarding him.
This has nothing to do with encryption, nothing to do with RSA, nothing to do with practical applications at all. Factoring and cryptography is only a small part of the ocean that is number theory. Please don't automatically assume that anyting about number theory or prime is related to encryption and practical applications. This one certainly isn't. This is about twin primes: the authors have proven that the gaps between consecutive primes are small, asymptotically smaller than the logarithm of the number. This *might* lead to attacks on the twin prime conjecture. Nothing is known yet. This is highly theoretical work.
Appreciate pure mathematics, with its beauty, for its own sake.
Just when it becomes illegal to "conceal the existence or place of origin or destination of any telecommunications service", we are saved by a service that allows us to seamlessly track the caller's location!!!
Singularity
on
AI in Sci-Fi
·
· Score: 4, Informative
The thesis of the singularity is that this question can not be answered.
The idea goes as follows: If a self-aware "real AI" ever existed, one capable of self-understanding and self-modification (called the seed AI), it would be in a much better position to create AI than its original creators. So would begin a chain of self-refinement and the creation of progressively smarter intelligences with decreasing time gaps between stages. Eventually a point is reached, called the singularity: nothing about the future past the singularity can be predicted by humans who live in the pre-singularity world.
A common interpretation is that the chain of AIs would become more intelligent without bound, leading to a verticality.
The singulaity was first popularized by Vernor Vinge.
I've been doing a lot of reading on the singularity lately, and I've become more and more convinced that it is certain to happen.
More singularity links:
The singularity institute - A nonprofit working to hasten the singularity
Extensive writings by Eliezer Yudkowsky.
I've myself written a bit on singularity and AI related topics.
Distro Release: First Look At SuSE Linux 8.2 (Posted on Friday, March 28 @ 20:13:51 EST )
Once again I find myself checking out the newest SuSE release, and to tell you the truth, I really enjoy it. My personal computer is running Slackware (yes, I upgraded to 9.0 immediately), and I wouldn't trade it for any other distribution in the world, but I've got to say is that SuSE is still at the top of their game. When you look at all the desktop distros out there such as Mandrake, Lycoris, and Red Hat, they all really have their endearing factors, but they all are lacking in one way or another.
This is not to say that SuSE is perfect, because it's not. It has it's irritations just like any other OS, but they are minimal. More on that later... let's get on with it.
Joe Eckert at SuSE, as always, rushed a copy of their newest release to us. I finished up my work, brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and sat down with our new found treasure. It was just like Christmas. No other distro really gets me this excited, except for maybe Slackware:) Hey, I'm the first guy to check out all the new toys, and I don't miss a chance to play.
The test machine used is a clone we built with the following specs:
* Abit KG7-RAID mainboard
* AMD Athlon XP 1600+ CPU
* 512MB RAM
* LG 40x CD/RW
* SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1 w/ Live!Drive
* 3Com 905C NIC
* 60GB HDD
* 128MB MSI NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 AGP Video
* 256MB USB Pen Drive
The nice part about a machine like this is that we usually don't run into too many compatibility issues. In a way I prefer this, but it would be nice to have some really interesting parts to test with, but our budget doesn't permit it at this time. Donations are welcome:)
Installation
If you've ever installed SuSE Linux before, the installation routine has not changed much at all. If you haven't, let me explain the procedure briefly for you. SuSE has always had a great installer, though it can be a bit cumbersome due to the amount of user input it requires... compared to other distros in its class. For instance, Ark Linux requires the end user to answer only a few questions before proceding. Red Hat and Mandrake ask a few more. Slackware asks more, but is for a more experienced user. SuSE stops at every step of the way and asks about configuration. I'm not really saying this is bad, because it isn't, but it's not for the impatient. The nice part about it is that when setup is complete, you will have a running system that really doesn't require any more setup. Once the OS is up and running, you can immediately begin working (or playing, depending on the situation).
The first thing I noticed when the installer started was that it was using antialiased fonts and the Keramik theme. Nice touch! Compared to their previous versions, this is a welcome change. Most people view this as purely eye candy, but I tend to think of it differently. I see it as less of a strain on your eyes to read the text presented to you. It also looks more appealing to new users. Those of us who have used Linux extensively have grown somewhat used to looking at jagged fonts over the years, but to a new user (coming from Windows or Mac), this is an immediate turn off. My hat's off to SuSE for realizing the importance of first impressions.
The next thing that stood out, other than flawless hardware detection and my timezone was actually correct, was that GNOME was not selected by default in the software list. Well, what about all my apps that require the GNOME/GTK libraries? No problem. I did a search on some of the libraries necessary for operation of traditional GNOME/GTK apps and they were all preselected. Nice touch. This goes a long way with me. For the diehard GNOME users out there, it is still an option. Don't worry. I used to be a GNOME user, but tried KDE 3.1 when it came out and was immediately a convert. SuSE has always placed more emphasis on the KDE environment
I had a look through the comments attached to the announcement in your link.
I'll happily point out that forum to anyone who thinks slashdot is the place with the least signal-to-noise ratio on the 'net;-)
I mostly agree with you, with some reservations. My argument has nothing to do with god or divinity. The issue here is entirely different from, say, cloning. We have to be extra careful here than with most other new technology. The same way people building nukes and people controlling them had to be more careful than with any other technology in human history. In a way we are fortunate that nukes are available only to governments. In this case it's worse. If this takes off as expected we're going to have a rush of private entrepreneurs racing to create new genomes. The problem is that we don't have any expericence in handling what we will create. The article mentions that they'll be put to use in tightly controlled conditions etc. How feasible do you think it is to ensure that? Sooner or later we'll have artificial organisms freely reproducing in the wild, and we'll have to get used to them and combat them.
There are many technologies that give us a lot of benefits without commensurate dangers. But this one isn't one of them. That doesn't mean we shouldn't work on it; just be more careful and forearmed.
Hmmm.... the article addresses questions similar to yours:
Not only does designing genomes from scratch allow researchers to engineer new organisms with extreme precision, Venter says, it also allows them to strip the cells of a host of natural functions needed to survive and reproduce in the wild. As a result, synthetic organisms would function only under tightly controlled or rarified conditions such as those inside a biological pollution filter on the smokestack of a fossil-fuel-burning power plant.
A lot like what they tried to do in jurassic park but failed. Yeah, sorta scary. What if the "bad guys" got hold of some of the organisms and enabled them to reproduce in the wild?
Rather than provide identical chairs and desks for the whole team, why not give each programmer a budget with which they can buy their own chair and desk?
Grrreat idea! Now your office is going to have skinnable chairs and themable desks with a configurable number of legs:)
For original ideas to come about, you have to let them percolate under the level of consciousness, in a place where we have no way to make them obey our own desires or our own direction. So they find their way, [through] random combinations that are driven by forces we don't know about. It's through this recombination that something new may come up--not when we try to push them directly.
I think there is a single, simple, well-understood word for that: intuition.
Dead right. Often when I'm coding (mostly at home, being still a student) someone interrupts me with a question. I look at their face and stare blankly for a full 10 seconds. That's how long it takes me to get off my train of thought. And they often think I'm doing it on purpose, to irritate them:(
This isn't about removing features. They are talking about removing those parts of the mozilla code from minotaur that it doesn't make use of at all. End users won't notice anything (except the smaller size of course). Minotaur is just a mail client. So obviously it won't need the navigator/irc etc. parts of mozilla. Besides there would be some libraries that are not used by the mailnews component. So those can go too. Get it? BTW, You can learn more about how mozilla is organized here.
You can disable automatic type-ahead find and trigger it with a single quote instead. And you can use '/' for searching normal text on the page.
Very cool how fast open source responds to user feedback:)
All the www's a stage, And all the web designers and database admins merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one programmer in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the n00b, Drooling and clicking on his brother's comp. And then the whining freshman, with his pirated WinXP And shining new imac, lugging his laptop Unwillingly to class. And then the coder, Cursing like furnace, with a woeful sigh On the night of the deadline. Then a hacker, Full of strange perl scripts and bearded like RMS, Jealous in GNU/honor, sudden and quick in attacking M$, Seeking the wizard reputation Even in the economic downturn. And then the guru, In fair round belly with long flowing hair, With eyes severe and beard uncut, Full of wise one-liners and modern programming paradigms; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful PDP11 code, well saved, now obsolete On his rusting i686; and his quick nerdy keystrokes, Falling again toward newbie typing speeds, null pointers And unmatched parentheses in his code. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans keyboard, sans monitor, sans processor, sans everything.
I was probably not the only one to wonder what this mad hatter thing is. Seems to be their own desktop-oriented linux distro that comes bundled with the (PC) hardware. Still in vaporware, promised sometime later this year. I vaguely remember hearing that the pricing model would be a monthly subscription. Moreinfohere
From your fake username, url and sig, I assume you are trolling. However, might as well clear up a point.
From the speex website:
Position regarding patents
The goal of Speex is to provide a codec that is open-source (released under the LGPL) and that can be used in open-source software. This implies that it also has to be free from patent restrictions. Unfortunately, the field of speech coding known to be a real patent minefield and to make the matter worse, each country has its own patent laws and list of granted patents so tracking them all would be next to impossible. This is why we cannot provide an absolute warranty that Speex is indeed completely patent-free.
That being said, we are doing our best to keep away from known patents and we do not patent the algorithms we use. That's about all we can do about it. If you are aware of a patent issue with Speex, please let us know.
Normally there shouldn't be any problem when you use Speex. However for the reasons explained above, if you are thinking about using Speex commercially, we strongly suggest that you have a closer look at patent issues with respect to your country. Note that this is not specific to Speex, since many "standardized" codecs have an unclear patent status (like MP3, GSM and probably others), not to mention the risks of a previously unknown patent holder claiming rights on a standardized codec long after standardization (GIF, JPEG).
Strangely I got a 404 on their website, but got the above info through the google cache.
People are really letting their imagination run riot, aren't they? I mean, only yesterday we discussed Microsoft going open source, and now Apple switching to Intel. What's next? Sun embracing C#?;-)
Slashdot Mirror
Unfortunately, I'm unable to post the source code here because of slashdot's lameness filter :(
Back to the RFCs: the list above doesn't seem exhaustive. I found some more: 12 networking truths RFC, telnet randomly lose option and Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol
Hey, the submitter is not claiming to be a third party.
I thought you would be interested in our new Platform Services product direction (emphasis mine)
Besides, this is Ian Murdock of Debian. Since he's a big name in the free software community, I have no problem with a shameless plug from him. If I guy who's gained a reputation by doing a lot of work uses his status to get some hits and some revenue, well its a nice way of rewarding him.
This has nothing to do with encryption, nothing to do with RSA, nothing to do with practical applications at all. Factoring and cryptography is only a small part of the ocean that is number theory. Please don't automatically assume that anyting about number theory or prime is related to encryption and practical applications. This one certainly isn't. This is about twin primes: the authors have proven that the gaps between consecutive primes are small, asymptotically smaller than the logarithm of the number. This *might* lead to attacks on the twin prime conjecture. Nothing is known yet. This is highly theoretical work. Appreciate pure mathematics, with its beauty, for its own sake.
Just when it becomes illegal to "conceal the existence or place of origin or destination of any telecommunications service", we are saved by a service that allows us to seamlessly track the caller's location!!!
The idea goes as follows: If a self-aware "real AI" ever existed, one capable of self-understanding and self-modification (called the seed AI), it would be in a much better position to create AI than its original creators. So would begin a chain of self-refinement and the creation of progressively smarter intelligences with decreasing time gaps between stages. Eventually a point is reached, called the singularity: nothing about the future past the singularity can be predicted by humans who live in the pre-singularity world. A common interpretation is that the chain of AIs would become more intelligent without bound, leading to a verticality.
The singulaity was first popularized by Vernor Vinge.
I've been doing a lot of reading on the singularity lately, and I've become more and more convinced that it is certain to happen.
More singularity links:
The singularity institute - A nonprofit working to hasten the singularity
Extensive writings by Eliezer Yudkowsky.
I've myself written a bit on singularity and AI related topics.
Distro Release: First Look At SuSE Linux 8.2
:) Hey, I'm the first guy to check out all the new toys, and I don't miss a chance to play.
:)
(Posted on Friday, March 28 @ 20:13:51 EST )
Once again I find myself checking out the newest SuSE release, and to tell you the truth, I really enjoy it. My personal computer is running Slackware (yes, I upgraded to 9.0 immediately), and I wouldn't trade it for any other distribution in the world, but I've got to say is that SuSE is still at the top of their game. When you look at all the desktop distros out there such as Mandrake, Lycoris, and Red Hat, they all really have their endearing factors, but they all are lacking in one way or another.
This is not to say that SuSE is perfect, because it's not. It has it's irritations just like any other OS, but they are minimal. More on that later... let's get on with it.
Joe Eckert at SuSE, as always, rushed a copy of their newest release to us. I finished up my work, brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and sat down with our new found treasure. It was just like Christmas. No other distro really gets me this excited, except for maybe Slackware
The test machine used is a clone we built with the following specs:
* Abit KG7-RAID mainboard
* AMD Athlon XP 1600+ CPU
* 512MB RAM
* LG 40x CD/RW
* SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1 w/ Live!Drive
* 3Com 905C NIC
* 60GB HDD
* 128MB MSI NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 AGP Video
* 256MB USB Pen Drive
The nice part about a machine like this is that we usually don't run into too many compatibility issues. In a way I prefer this, but it would be nice to have some really interesting parts to test with, but our budget doesn't permit it at this time. Donations are welcome
Installation
If you've ever installed SuSE Linux before, the installation routine has not changed much at all. If you haven't, let me explain the procedure briefly for you. SuSE has always had a great installer, though it can be a bit cumbersome due to the amount of user input it requires... compared to other distros in its class. For instance, Ark Linux requires the end user to answer only a few questions before proceding. Red Hat and Mandrake ask a few more. Slackware asks more, but is for a more experienced user. SuSE stops at every step of the way and asks about configuration. I'm not really saying this is bad, because it isn't, but it's not for the impatient. The nice part about it is that when setup is complete, you will have a running system that really doesn't require any more setup. Once the OS is up and running, you can immediately begin working (or playing, depending on the situation).
The first thing I noticed when the installer started was that it was using antialiased fonts and the Keramik theme. Nice touch! Compared to their previous versions, this is a welcome change. Most people view this as purely eye candy, but I tend to think of it differently. I see it as less of a strain on your eyes to read the text presented to you. It also looks more appealing to new users. Those of us who have used Linux extensively have grown somewhat used to looking at jagged fonts over the years, but to a new user (coming from Windows or Mac), this is an immediate turn off. My hat's off to SuSE for realizing the importance of first impressions.
The next thing that stood out, other than flawless hardware detection and my timezone was actually correct, was that GNOME was not selected by default in the software list. Well, what about all my apps that require the GNOME/GTK libraries? No problem. I did a search on some of the libraries necessary for operation of traditional GNOME/GTK apps and they were all preselected. Nice touch. This goes a long way with me. For the diehard GNOME users out there, it is still an option. Don't worry. I used to be a GNOME user, but tried KDE 3.1 when it came out and was immediately a convert. SuSE has always placed more emphasis on the KDE environment
I had a look through the comments attached to the announcement in your link. I'll happily point out that forum to anyone who thinks slashdot is the place with the least signal-to-noise ratio on the 'net
What you're missing is that the playground bullies will have upgraded to remote controlled SUVs ;^)
There are many technologies that give us a lot of benefits without commensurate dangers. But this one isn't one of them. That doesn't mean we shouldn't work on it; just be more careful and forearmed.
Not only does designing genomes from scratch allow researchers to engineer new organisms with extreme precision, Venter says, it also allows them to strip the cells of a host of natural functions needed to survive and reproduce in the wild. As a result, synthetic organisms would function only under tightly controlled or rarified conditions such as those inside a biological pollution filter on the smokestack of a fossil-fuel-burning power plant.
A lot like what they tried to do in jurassic park but failed. Yeah, sorta scary. What if the "bad guys" got hold of some of the organisms and enabled them to reproduce in the wild?
Grrreat idea! Now your office is going to have skinnable chairs and themable desks with a configurable number of legs :)
I think there is a single, simple, well-understood word for that: intuition.
Dead right. Often when I'm coding (mostly at home, being still a student) someone interrupts me with a question. I look at their face and stare blankly for a full 10 seconds. That's how long it takes me to get off my train of thought. And they often think I'm doing it on purpose, to irritate them :(
Fun? The article repeatedly made the point that fighting spam is no fun at all.
Isn't that exactly what IMAP is for?
This isn't about removing features. They are talking about removing those parts of the mozilla code from minotaur that it doesn't make use of at all. End users won't notice anything (except the smaller size of course). Minotaur is just a mail client. So obviously it won't need the navigator/irc etc. parts of mozilla. Besides there would be some libraries that are not used by the mailnews component. So those can go too. Get it? BTW, You can learn more about how mozilla is organized here.
The last time we ran this story, Intel said they were "in no hurry". So I'm not surprised they haven't changed their mind exactly one month later ;-)
You can disable automatic type-ahead find and trigger it with a single quote instead. And you can use '/' for searching normal text on the page. Very cool how fast open source responds to user feedback :)
All the www's a stage,
And all the web designers and database admins merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one programmer in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the n00b,
Drooling and clicking on his brother's comp.
And then the whining freshman, with his pirated WinXP
And shining new imac, lugging his laptop
Unwillingly to class. And then the coder,
Cursing like furnace, with a woeful sigh
On the night of the deadline. Then a hacker,
Full of strange perl scripts and bearded like RMS,
Jealous in GNU/honor, sudden and quick in attacking M$,
Seeking the wizard reputation
Even in the economic downturn. And then the guru,
In fair round belly with long flowing hair,
With eyes severe and beard uncut,
Full of wise one-liners and modern programming paradigms;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful PDP11 code, well saved, now obsolete
On his rusting i686; and his quick nerdy keystrokes,
Falling again toward newbie typing speeds, null pointers
And unmatched parentheses in his code. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans keyboard, sans monitor, sans processor, sans everything.
Didn't get it? Read Shakespeare's original
I was probably not the only one to wonder what this mad hatter thing is. Seems to be their own desktop-oriented linux distro that comes bundled with the (PC) hardware. Still in vaporware, promised sometime later this year. I vaguely remember hearing that the pricing model would be a monthly subscription. More info here
From the speex website:
Strangely I got a 404 on their website, but got the above info through the google cache.If someone patented popups, and enforced it, then I'll be cheering :)
People are really letting their imagination run riot, aren't they? I mean, only yesterday we discussed Microsoft going open source, and now Apple switching to Intel. What's next? Sun embracing C#? ;-)