Keyboards are likely to remain in use for a very long time, but mice are simply a pointing device... and we all come with a natural built-in pointer (our fingers).
Yes, but pointing with this device requires the arm and shoulder.
I recently switched to a trackball. Now I truly only use my finger (and love it).
I don't think it is ultimately entirely practical. Though it would be neat if you simply had access to that as an additional possibility.
Have you noticed how hard the IRS is pushing online tax filing? Have you noticed that the DMV would like you to renew your license online instead of in person? Have you noticed that some states are experimenting with online voting?
Alright, fine -- Internet service might not be a public utility right at this moment. However, in a very short time -- maybe 5 years, or 10 at the max -- Internet access is going to be pretty much required to function as a citizen. People who "can't afford it" have no excuse, you know, because of free access at public libraries and/or free city-wide WiFi.
In five years, which will be more important: Internet service or POTS service? Hell, which is more important now? I say Internet!
Even if Internet service isn't a public utility, it damn well should be!
1) I use paper and pencil when voting, at the DMV, and when filing my taxes. Are we going to make those public services as well?
2) You will not see the demise of DMV lines, manual taxes, and definitely booth voting in your lifetimes.
Yes, we can expect citizens to bring a bit to the table. Everything does not need to be a public service.
Using this technique, I made 45% profit on my stocks in the last 2 years.
Remember, better than 10% yearly return beats the market, and most people can't do that. Not even the so called "experts".
Also remember that sic transit gloria.
I also have been able to beat "average" and "average investor" returns.
But 45% for two years is either an aberration, pure speculation, or both... a knowledgeable investor would not brag about them.
The third alternative is that in a couple decades you will hold all the world's money yourself. Which in that case may I be the first to say I knew you could do it all along, Sir.
Oh, and anyone else amused by the fact that they have apparently been working on this keyboard for over three years now, but yet it's STILL going to take them another 6 months to get it into peoples hands! If they were that far behind with the keyboard, just imagine where they are with the rest of the system:)
I heard there was a big flap over where to put the "Any" key. Changed positions at the last mintue... manufacturing delays... that sort of thing.
Have you ever used a trackball for gaming? I haven't, but I don't imagine it would be very effective.
Part of what caused the original shoulder problem was my marathon Battlefield 2 sessions!
I don't think it has affected my game in the slightest. I don't even think about it anymore. The trackman above uses a fingertip to roll the cursor, the mouse requires your entire hand. Which is going to be more sensitive? At first I really hated lining up sniper shots, but just forced myself until I could.
Another spot it is wondrous is flipping 180 degrees. I no longer dread having to turn the turret on an APC or fixed missile launcher. I can flip any turret around as fast as the game will let me. And when hoofing it, I can check six and be facing forward again in an instant.
And finally, right hand to keyboard and back to trackman operations are no longer terrifying as everything stays in the same place is therefore a lot easier.
I'm sure there are better gaming specific interfaces and that I'm also slightly biased by my recent conversion to the faith, but I'd have to say it is as least as good as a mouse, if not better.
In fact, the most irritating thing about the trackball is work. Where whenever anyone needs to sit at my desk to debug something it is tortorous for them. Wait, maybe that's a good thing? I actually have a spare mouse I swap in and out for exactly that reason.
It is a shame that the mouse hit the tipping point and took over.
I used a mouse since the first Macintosh. Earlier this year my right shoulder started to have some serious problems... pain that wouldn't go away for months. I switched to the trackman.
Pain gone. I now find mice a bit clumsy. I mean, I have to move my whole arm?? Crazy.
Everything is a chemical reaction and in my mind addiction is not something to be scared of.
The clinical definition of addiction is something that impairs job or social functioning.
ie:
If I jerk off every single day before I go to sleep, great. If I jerk off ten times a day and my frequent restroom breaks interfere with job performance then I may be addicted.
When black apears white or pigs appear to have sprouted wings, there's usually politics behind it, that's where Critical Thinking separates the herd.
Translation: When my underlying assumptions are questioned, I can get pretty creative when it comes to dismissing any alternative ideas.
Both parties are two sides of the same coin. It is the equivalent of professional wrestling where they want you to "root for your guy and hate the other guy" so it's all "black or white". They don't care who you root for, as long as you pay admission for the match (ie: don't vote third party).
Sorry, reality is a bit more complicated and takes true critical thinking.
Now imagine there are 4 telcos in your city. Each one will be on their own upgrade and repair schedule. Each one will fight for customers. Each one will be loathe to exchange with other companies' traffic. Each one will tear up streets during upgrade cycles. See the problem here? Telecom is considered important enough for city governments not to fuck with it, just like the power company. A phone, a water pipe, and power to every address is not too much to ask for.
How about, the roads are considered important enough for the govt NOT to fuck with it. How about someone comes up with a better way of hiding cable than tearing up asphalt and concrete every 20 minutes. Because the govt sure isn't... it's a pretty good job shoveling forms around and ensuring monopolies.
I was watching a program on Space (Canada) where the location was written onscreen as an "observitory". It appears that checking for accuracy is way down on the list of priorities these days.
That's the Canadian spelling of observatory. Geez, get a little multi-cultural you neanderthal!
Computer-based interruptions fall into a sort of Heisenbergian uncertainty trap: it is difficult to know whether an e-mail message is worth interrupting your work for unless you open and read it - at which point you have, of course, interrupted yourself.' What could be done to change computing to help mitigate this multitasking?"
There aren't a myriad of new forms. There's:
E-mail
Instant messaging
You could add cell-phone and maybe pager into the list but that's still just a phone, albeit one that is more likely to reach you. The solutions are still the same:
E-mail. Just like snail-mail. Answer at regular times. I enjoy getting home and opening the mail... it helps that I've done the legwork to eliminate most junkmail. Most mail is meaningful and it happens once a day. Same with e-mail, except more often. Open and read every hour, two, or four depending on what works for you. Answer the ones you want, set aside others for later, and delete the rest. Again it's far less of a chore if you do the work to get rid of the spam.
IM. It's just like the phone. You realize you can either set your status as "away" or simply not answer, right? There's a reason all IMs start with something like "You there?" And personally I'd rather click on a little X than listen to the damn phone ring for 30 seconds.
Cell phone/pager. Again, just in case you didn't know, here's a little secret. Don't tell everyone ok... you don't have to answer these either. In fact, my cell-phone has a feature they just introduced where I can even turn the ringer off! I'll get the model number/provider if anyone's interested...
I would say that interruptions like phone calls/IM are less irritating nowadays because you can actually see who the hell it is before you answer. "Private Caller" is lowest on my list... as in perhaps if I'm lost in the desert and trying to distract myself from the wild dogs gnawing at my torso.
My problem is the amount of available information. I can lost looking at interesting but meaningless things (like talking about the amount of information available... ooo how post-modern...). It requires more willpower... but overall life is easier.
I guess the one true irritant is the wife who calls at least twice a day. It requires 5-10 minutes of sub-vocal grunting before it clicks that perhaps I might have actually been doing something when she called besides staring at the phone waiting for her to call (like reading Slashdot damnit). And yet still the calls come... and when you have kids you pretty much will always choose to answer. Or else you might be a bad parent. You wouldn't want to be a bad parent would you? No, I didn't think so. Good for you.
MITCH (V.O.)
I'm talking to you, Kent.
KENT
What?
MITCH (V.O.)
I said I'm talking to you.
KENT
(shaking his head, violently)
No!
MITCH (V.O.)
Yes.
KENT
(slapping himself)
I'm not asleep. I must be overworked.
MITCH (V.O.)
You're not overworked, Kent.
KENT
Well, I'm not insane!
Silence.
KENT (CONT'D)
Am I?
INT. CHRIS AND MITCH'S ROOM
MITCH
That remains to be seen, Kent. But we are having a conversation.
INT. KENT'S ROOM
KENT
I have to metabolize this. Um... who is this?
MITCH (V.O.)
This is Jesus, Kent, and you've been a very naughty boy.
KENT
(cracking up, laughing)
All right! Who is this?! Bodie? Carter?
MITCH (V.O.)
I am known by many names. I am the One. Turn to me and be saved.
KENT
Oh, Sure.
MITCH (V.O.)
Cut the crap, Kent, you've built a weapon.
KENT
How did you know that?
MITCH (V.O.)
I know everything.
KENT
Oh. God.
INT. CHRIS AND MITCH'S ROOM
MITCH
That's right, Kent. Where is the laser now?
INT. KENT'S ROOM
KENT
I can't tell you.
MITCH (V.O.)
How would you like to burn for the rest of time?
KENT
(panicking)
No, they're testing it on the twenty-seventh but I don't know where. It's classified.
MITCH (V.O.)
Oh.
KENT
What?
MITCH (V.O.)
Nothing. I want you to think about what you've done and repent, and from now on, stop playing with yourself.
KENT
I don't...okay
ZDNet reports that Current Communications Group has received investment money from Google, Hearst, and Goldman Sachs for theirinternet over broadband ventures.
Internet over broadband. I never would have thought of that. They never cease to amaze me.
$180 billion buys a lot of research and infrastructure to get us off of foreign oil. To introduce efficiencies, reduce consumption and research better methods of generation. Which would do a hell of a lot more to reduce terrorism (by slowing if not stopping the flow of money to the Saudis who fund a lot of these groups) than what has turned out to be an expensively optional war. It's possible that Iraq will end up better than it was under Saddam---I certainly hope it does---but the money could have been better spent elsewhere.
This bears repeating.
I don't care whether you think the war was justified or not.
I don't care why you think Al-Queda wants to blow us up.
I don't care if you think that George Bush is a monkey or that Bill Clinton is whatever an is is.
If we just stop feeding the beast it will go away. When they have to start being more interested in managing their dwindling money supply than how to spend the spigot of cash we keep sending them they will go away. When we don't need to station troops in Middle Eastern sandpits because of oil (right or wrong), they will go away.
We need to focus on alternatives, and not just because oil is a non-renewable resource.
I have met lots of people that say they love Mac hardware and design but hate the operating system. I would think Apple would probably try to appeal to them.
Really? That's almost exactly the opposite of what most people say... "Oh, I love the UI and OS, but I'm sure not paying an extra [$100 / $500 / $1000] for their hardware!"
"lots of people he has met" and "most people" are not necessarily intersecting sets.
For example, a lot of people are in mensa (random example). Most people are not.
Therefore it is entirely possible lots of people will pay extra for hardware, expanding Apple's hardware base. You disprove your own argument here:
So, would someone pay an extra hardware fee just to have a funky looking hardware design that runs Windows (gamerz not withstanding; I guess they've demonstrated that people will, but we're talking mainstream here.)
No, no we're not talking mainstream. We're talking people that like Mac hardware but want to run Windows, much like the gaming community. If that is ten people then that is ten more sales. Apple is not planning on chucking OSX so that is irrelevant.
You are right, without OSX and all the doo-dads it is just a pretty looking box. Do not underestimate the capacity some people have to pay extra for a prettylookingbox.
In summary: small percentage != small number, and expanding the pool of potential consumers is a good thing.
"... nanotechnology, which develops advanced materials and devices in extremely small dimensions."
Huh, so that's what that is!
Re:Stopped reading it when it got so political...
on
The Onion in 2056
·
· Score: 1
Here's an idea: Anything read/eaten/seen too often gets boring. If you don't read the Onion too often you're more likely to get a chuckle, and less likely to get your widdle feewings hurt.
I would also agree with this. I found it pretty amusing when I checked out the link today and read the whole thing. Reminded me of old times. It just kind of died out of the immediate memory pool getting replaced by Penny Arcade and unfortunately, informational things.
Though I never said I got my feelings hurt... except for that Area Man article. After all, I'm an Area Man.
Slashdot Mirror
Keyboards are likely to remain in use for a very long time, but mice are simply a pointing device... and we all come with a natural built-in pointer (our fingers).
Yes, but pointing with this device requires the arm and shoulder.
I recently switched to a trackball. Now I truly only use my finger (and love it).
I don't think it is ultimately entirely practical. Though it would be neat if you simply had access to that as an additional possibility.
Have you noticed how hard the IRS is pushing online tax filing? Have you noticed that the DMV would like you to renew your license online instead of in person? Have you noticed that some states are experimenting with online voting?
Alright, fine -- Internet service might not be a public utility right at this moment. However, in a very short time -- maybe 5 years, or 10 at the max -- Internet access is going to be pretty much required to function as a citizen. People who "can't afford it" have no excuse, you know, because of free access at public libraries and/or free city-wide WiFi.
In five years, which will be more important: Internet service or POTS service? Hell, which is more important now? I say Internet!
Even if Internet service isn't a public utility, it damn well should be!
1) I use paper and pencil when voting, at the DMV, and when filing my taxes. Are we going to make those public services as well?
2) You will not see the demise of DMV lines, manual taxes, and definitely booth voting in your lifetimes.
Yes, we can expect citizens to bring a bit to the table. Everything does not need to be a public service.
Using this technique, I made 45% profit on my stocks in the last 2 years.
Remember, better than 10% yearly return beats the market, and most people can't do that. Not even the so called "experts".
Also remember that sic transit gloria.
I also have been able to beat "average" and "average investor" returns.
But 45% for two years is either an aberration, pure speculation, or both... a knowledgeable investor would not brag about them.
The third alternative is that in a couple decades you will hold all the world's money yourself. Which in that case may I be the first to say I knew you could do it all along, Sir.
Good luck...
Oh, and anyone else amused by the fact that they have apparently been working on this keyboard for over three years now, but yet it's STILL going to take them another 6 months to get it into peoples hands! If they were that far behind with the keyboard, just imagine where they are with the rest of the system :)
I heard there was a big flap over where to put the "Any" key. Changed positions at the last mintue... manufacturing delays... that sort of thing.
Have you ever used a trackball for gaming? I haven't, but I don't imagine it would be very effective.
Part of what caused the original shoulder problem was my marathon Battlefield 2 sessions!
I don't think it has affected my game in the slightest. I don't even think about it anymore. The trackman above uses a fingertip to roll the cursor, the mouse requires your entire hand. Which is going to be more sensitive? At first I really hated lining up sniper shots, but just forced myself until I could.
Another spot it is wondrous is flipping 180 degrees. I no longer dread having to turn the turret on an APC or fixed missile launcher. I can flip any turret around as fast as the game will let me. And when hoofing it, I can check six and be facing forward again in an instant.
And finally, right hand to keyboard and back to trackman operations are no longer terrifying as everything stays in the same place is therefore a lot easier.
I'm sure there are better gaming specific interfaces and that I'm also slightly biased by my recent conversion to the faith, but I'd have to say it is as least as good as a mouse, if not better.
In fact, the most irritating thing about the trackball is work. Where whenever anyone needs to sit at my desk to debug something it is tortorous for them. Wait, maybe that's a good thing? I actually have a spare mouse I swap in and out for exactly that reason.
God's gift to mouse users.
It is a shame that the mouse hit the tipping point and took over.
I used a mouse since the first Macintosh. Earlier this year my right shoulder started to have some serious problems... pain that wouldn't go away for months. I switched to the trackman.
Pain gone. I now find mice a bit clumsy. I mean, I have to move my whole arm?? Crazy.
It's nice to see that graduates of the Bob Saget School of Comedy are still finding time to expand on their art form.
Man, that should be a new rating: -1 Saget
Everything is a chemical reaction and in my mind addiction is not something to be scared of.
The clinical definition of addiction is something that impairs job or social functioning.
ie:
If I jerk off every single day before I go to sleep, great. If I jerk off ten times a day and my frequent restroom breaks interfere with job performance then I may be addicted.
When black apears white or pigs appear to have sprouted wings, there's usually politics behind it, that's where Critical Thinking separates the herd.
Translation: When my underlying assumptions are questioned, I can get pretty creative when it comes to dismissing any alternative ideas.
Both parties are two sides of the same coin. It is the equivalent of professional wrestling where they want you to "root for your guy and hate the other guy" so it's all "black or white". They don't care who you root for, as long as you pay admission for the match (ie: don't vote third party).
Sorry, reality is a bit more complicated and takes true critical thinking.
Now imagine there are 4 telcos in your city. Each one will be on their own upgrade and repair schedule. Each one will fight for customers. Each one will be loathe to exchange with other companies' traffic. Each one will tear up streets during upgrade cycles. See the problem here? Telecom is considered important enough for city governments not to fuck with it, just like the power company. A phone, a water pipe, and power to every address is not too much to ask for.
How about, the roads are considered important enough for the govt NOT to fuck with it. How about someone comes up with a better way of hiding cable than tearing up asphalt and concrete every 20 minutes. Because the govt sure isn't... it's a pretty good job shoveling forms around and ensuring monopolies.
I'm holding my breath here.
When will they wake up and stop releasing buggy software.
I will not have any of their software on my computer. I ONLY use Microsoft products.
Obviously, executives were immune to these measures. They were permitted to be as distracted and distractive as they always have been.
You misspelled destructive.
I was watching a program on Space (Canada) where the location was written onscreen as an "observitory". It appears that checking for accuracy is way down on the list of priorities these days.
That's the Canadian spelling of observatory. Geez, get a little multi-cultural you neanderthal!
There aren't a myriad of new forms. There's:
You could add cell-phone and maybe pager into the list but that's still just a phone, albeit one that is more likely to reach you. The solutions are still the same:
E-mail. Just like snail-mail. Answer at regular times. I enjoy getting home and opening the mail... it helps that I've done the legwork to eliminate most junkmail. Most mail is meaningful and it happens once a day. Same with e-mail, except more often. Open and read every hour, two, or four depending on what works for you. Answer the ones you want, set aside others for later, and delete the rest. Again it's far less of a chore if you do the work to get rid of the spam.
IM. It's just like the phone. You realize you can either set your status as "away" or simply not answer, right? There's a reason all IMs start with something like "You there?" And personally I'd rather click on a little X than listen to the damn phone ring for 30 seconds.
Cell phone/pager. Again, just in case you didn't know, here's a little secret. Don't tell everyone ok... you don't have to answer these either. In fact, my cell-phone has a feature they just introduced where I can even turn the ringer off! I'll get the model number/provider if anyone's interested...
I would say that interruptions like phone calls/IM are less irritating nowadays because you can actually see who the hell it is before you answer. "Private Caller" is lowest on my list... as in perhaps if I'm lost in the desert and trying to distract myself from the wild dogs gnawing at my torso.
My problem is the amount of available information. I can lost looking at interesting but meaningless things (like talking about the amount of information available... ooo how post-modern...). It requires more willpower... but overall life is easier.
I guess the one true irritant is the wife who calls at least twice a day. It requires 5-10 minutes of sub-vocal grunting before it clicks that perhaps I might have actually been doing something when she called besides staring at the phone waiting for her to call (like reading Slashdot damnit). And yet still the calls come... and when you have kids you pretty much will always choose to answer. Or else you might be a bad parent. You wouldn't want to be a bad parent would you? No, I didn't think so. Good for you.
We could even run a company based on this idea. I propse we name the company Lojack
Don't you see? It's just a corporation! And corporations are bad! Because they only care about the bottom line!
Instead we should have people with guns FORCE us to use the product THEY choose. Then we would be safer.
"The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) released a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism and extremism last week"
So that would be a religious ruling against religious rule?
MITCH (V.O.) I'm talking to you, Kent. KENT What? MITCH (V.O.) I said I'm talking to you. KENT (shaking his head, violently) No! MITCH (V.O.) Yes. KENT (slapping himself) I'm not asleep. I must be overworked. MITCH (V.O.) You're not overworked, Kent. KENT Well, I'm not insane! Silence. KENT (CONT'D) Am I? INT. CHRIS AND MITCH'S ROOM MITCH That remains to be seen, Kent. But we are having a conversation. INT. KENT'S ROOM KENT I have to metabolize this. Um... who is this? MITCH (V.O.) This is Jesus, Kent, and you've been a very naughty boy. KENT (cracking up, laughing) All right! Who is this?! Bodie? Carter? MITCH (V.O.) I am known by many names. I am the One. Turn to me and be saved. KENT Oh, Sure. MITCH (V.O.) Cut the crap, Kent, you've built a weapon. KENT How did you know that? MITCH (V.O.) I know everything. KENT Oh. God. INT. CHRIS AND MITCH'S ROOM MITCH That's right, Kent. Where is the laser now? INT. KENT'S ROOM KENT I can't tell you. MITCH (V.O.) How would you like to burn for the rest of time? KENT (panicking) No, they're testing it on the twenty-seventh but I don't know where. It's classified. MITCH (V.O.) Oh. KENT What? MITCH (V.O.) Nothing. I want you to think about what you've done and repent, and from now on, stop playing with yourself. KENT I don't...okay
Beware of using IM at a company. Beware of using IM if you work for the government, or state. Beware of using IM at home.
Phew. Well, I guess that just leaves my private network of Apple IIe computers in my RV in the middle of the Nevada desert.
ZDNet reports that Current Communications Group has received investment money from Google, Hearst, and Goldman Sachs for theirinternet over broadband ventures.
Internet over broadband. I never would have thought of that. They never cease to amaze me.
who never once threatened or attacked any US citizen outside of their own country
Assassination plot against former President George Bush.
Not that I supported the War in Iraq, but not having your facts straight really doesn't help your argument.
$180 billion buys a lot of research and infrastructure to get us off of foreign oil. To introduce efficiencies, reduce consumption and research better methods of generation. Which would do a hell of a lot more to reduce terrorism (by slowing if not stopping the flow of money to the Saudis who fund a lot of these groups) than what has turned out to be an expensively optional war. It's possible that Iraq will end up better than it was under Saddam---I certainly hope it does---but the money could have been better spent elsewhere.
This bears repeating.
I don't care whether you think the war was justified or not.
I don't care why you think Al-Queda wants to blow us up.
I don't care if you think that George Bush is a monkey or that Bill Clinton is whatever an is is.
If we just stop feeding the beast it will go away. When they have to start being more interested in managing their dwindling money supply than how to spend the spigot of cash we keep sending them they will go away. When we don't need to station troops in Middle Eastern sandpits because of oil (right or wrong), they will go away.
We need to focus on alternatives, and not just because oil is a non-renewable resource.
Could I be programmed not to know the difference?
I have met lots of people that say they love Mac hardware and design but hate the operating system. I would think Apple would probably try to appeal to them.
Really? That's almost exactly the opposite of what most people say... "Oh, I love the UI and OS, but I'm sure not paying an extra [$100 / $500 / $1000] for their hardware!"
"lots of people he has met" and "most people" are not necessarily intersecting sets.
For example, a lot of people are in mensa (random example). Most people are not.
Therefore it is entirely possible lots of people will pay extra for hardware, expanding Apple's hardware base. You disprove your own argument here:
So, would someone pay an extra hardware fee just to have a funky looking hardware design that runs Windows (gamerz not withstanding; I guess they've demonstrated that people will, but we're talking mainstream here.)
No, no we're not talking mainstream. We're talking people that like Mac hardware but want to run Windows, much like the gaming community. If that is ten people then that is ten more sales. Apple is not planning on chucking OSX so that is irrelevant.
You are right, without OSX and all the doo-dads it is just a pretty looking box. Do not underestimate the capacity some people have to pay extra for a pretty looking box.
In summary: small percentage != small number, and expanding the pool of potential consumers is a good thing.
"... nanotechnology, which develops advanced materials and devices in extremely small dimensions."
Huh, so that's what that is!
Here's an idea: Anything read/eaten/seen too often gets boring. If you don't read the Onion too often you're more likely to get a chuckle, and less likely to get your widdle feewings hurt.
I would also agree with this. I found it pretty amusing when I checked out the link today and read the whole thing. Reminded me of old times. It just kind of died out of the immediate memory pool getting replaced by Penny Arcade and unfortunately, informational things.
Though I never said I got my feelings hurt... except for that Area Man article. After all, I'm an Area Man.