Hm, I got ADSL here as part of an early adapter special. They tossed the modem in for free. 99$ for installation. Now that the cable-modem people are pushing their way into my town, the prices have actually gone down a bit for monthly fee, and my available bandwidth has tripled. I never seem to be able to use it all though. I rarely get above 40kps. My average is around 30.
Later Erik Z
BTW, forcing people to rent the modems is very weenie. But if you don't like it, you can always NOT GET DSL.
That reminds me, I overslept last Sunday (coding all night) and missed mass. Can we have a second mass at a later time? Don't forget people that we're holding a bake sale next Tuesday and the money will go to the EFF.:-)
According to my networking teacher, IBM pretty much stopped looking for maximum bandwidth with fiberoptic because their equipment became the bottleneck. In other words, if you can build a machine that can transmit 163 Terabits in one second and a machine that can recieve 163 terabits in one second, then you can do the full test.
This is a serious value multiplier. They don't need to add any more fiber where there is already a line. Why aren't I excited? You think Bell Labs is going to share this tech with ANYONE? Hell no.
Close, that's 200% efficiency. The book "Indistinguishable from Magic" by Robert L. Forward has quite a bit on matter-antimatter engines, first chapter even.
Now, even though it's great efficiency, I have a hard time believing that an plant designed to create antimatter would be allowed on the planet.
>I do not see anyone here ranting about the US Postal Service or other government institutions that >have monopoly power.
Er, that's because they are owned by the people. If they start acting like an abusive monopoly, the public can easily get involved and fix it. Also note, the power company WAS a monopoly. Government controlled private industry. That has been changed. This is why I don't rant about government monopoly, they get replaced when it's feasible to do so. Until then, the government is filling it's function of providing services that we can't easily provide on our own.
Also, Bill Gates is spewing out money in an insane fashion. If were him, I'd make sure my 'foundation' could use smaller amounts of money effectively first. As it is, he's just making sure more people can use Windows. I would be surprised to see him fund something for the general good that has nothing to do with computers.
>So basically if you don't want to use Windows, you have to bring back your entire computer for a refund?
They just want to make sure you're holding up your end of the agreement. The only way they have to give you a refund on your OS is if Win(x) hasn't gotten past the legal agreement.
BTW: All large organizations are out of wack with reality.
>And damn, imagine the escalation in fly-by shootings...
Yeah, if these things get out, the gang-related fly-by shootings will be greater than ZERO! Not too often do you hear some reporter talking about the infinite increase in crime.:-)
I understand that that monitor is build to prevent Van-Eck video interception. But the last time I used a monochrome monitor was a TSR-80. Hey people, does anyone know how hard it is to pick up signals from an LCD monitor? I figured they are low-powered and would require completely different equipment to pick up an any signals it could put out. But I don't believe it puts out any signals. Thoughts?
Hmm. Apartently we've been overlooking the little buggers. I wonder if it's possible to cluster and network a bunch of playstations to run nuclear simulations?
When I was younger, I had no money and tons of time. I could sit in front of a TV for hours because there was nothing to do. I never needed the VCR because I could be ready when the show came on. It drove me crazy. Now I almost never watch TV. I have money. I can work on building a new bookshelf for my books. Upgrade my system, work on my plan for the 'Ultimate Game'.
Replay and TIVO are interesting. I think they will be hacked after they come out to the marketplace. (Note: they ARE available. Aparently you can buy one though 'Specialized sales on the internet.') The machines currently do not allow users to build librarys of shows. I'd love to have a complete set of 'Max Headroom' I can also see another hack to allow the replication of VCR tapes.
>Still, Ancier conceded that many of the machine's implications "scare the heck out of me." Tom Freston, the chairman of Viacom's MTV Networks, said: "I hate to think about Replay and Tivo. We kind of like the world the way it is now."
Heh. Spoken like a true dinosaur.
Hmm, the place I work for has full cable. If I get this I can get a copy of al the shows I miss on the weekend!
>Research scientists need funds to do their work and the only way you get money is to produce results from your lab. If you spread the work around the entire population of scientists, which lab get's funded?
The lab with the reputation of getting the best results the quickest?
I also enjoy solving problems by myself. Science has very little of that. It's mostly generating vast amounts of datain the most boring fashion possible, and then drawing a theory out of all the data. Then Testing your theory over and over again in every possible way in the most boring fashion possible. Ever have to clean out a thousand test tubes by hand?
I love overkill. I had heard a little bit about the new standard. I thought they were just going to add another 8 bit address to the end. I thought "Sure, and 20 years from now, when people are hooking up their lazy-boy chair and their furnance and their microwave to the internet, we'll run out of IP addresses." Now, I can't even imagine what it would take to use up all these IP addresses. By the way, hex is annoying. Fast for hardware, but annoying.
Uh, figure that you collect largish MP3s at 5 meg each. That would be 43 THOUSAND mp3 files, not 43 HUNDRED. That's 5 months of 24/7 music before you hear a repeat. Hmm, W2k will take up about 600 meg. Figure the next version will take up an order of magnitude of more space as MS adds AI to the little paperclip. So 6 gig for the OS, still plenty of room. We are reaching the limit of magnetic-platter tech. The first work around I see is going back to 5 1/2 inch drives. Add more platters. Then they will have to stop using Magnetics to save information. Unless they figure out a way to write to a platter in layers like a DVD.
Ok, seriously, the backbone MAY benifit. Who really benifits is Ma bell. Don't think she's going to give this tech to other companies. It can push FOUR times the data though exsiting lines. This means less stations need to be built and maintained. More profit gained by selling the same amount of bandwith for the same price. Now they have all this extra bandwidth, they can undercut their competitors by quite a bit.
Geez, all that bandwidth, if I get one for the home, I may have enough room to try teleportation. All my new friends would be short and skinny, less transmission time.
From what I remember, the theory was that around element 116 to 118 there will be a completely stable atom. Like, you can make siding out of it and not worry about gamma radiation. Milliseconds might be more stable than those guys are used to, but it definitly is NOT stable. It merely doesn't decay fast enough to count as an explosion. Hmmm, it's not an atomic explosion, it's merely Uranium decaying very very fast.
I get mad because from day two (I wasn't there on day one) the people who are running the Seti@home project have been talking to the general public as little as possible. The best they've done is ask for people to help program the client. You'll note that the homepage doesn't even mention any of this. Joining distributed.net made me feel like I was joining a team, joining Seti@home makes me feel like a tool.
For some strange reason I get the feeling that these guys went to the Microsoft school of management and public relations.
>Of course if the hypernova are a factor of 10,000 times as energetic as a supernova we would be cooked. Though since it probably won't happen in the next millenium or so gives us plenty of time to advance and prevent this kind of thing from wiping us out.
PFFT! (Spews drink) Like what?!? Switching back to lead based paint?
This is interesting though. I never considered that there is probably no intellegent life near the core of our galaxy because exploding stars would wipe out any life nearby.
Well, from what I've read here so far, about half of these posts could have been avoided if any of those posters realized that mineral oil is MUCH Heavier than water. How do I know? I've tried to make a Lava lamp from the instructions of a 'Maxim' Magazine. No, it didn't work. 2/3 filled with mineral oil, 1/3 with water and a dab of oil paint. (Which went though the layer of water and sat on the bottom like a big red well lit turd.) I've mixed that sucked pretty hard, and short of placing the whole mess in a blender (Hey....) it wouldn't mix. I had to resort to mixing the paint and with paint thinner on the side and then adding it to the whole mess. Finally I added enough paint for the colored water to sink to the bottom, and there it sits. Above it is a layer of oil and above that is a layer of paint thinner.
To sum, by immersing the air conditioning coils in the oil and minimizing the turbulence, the only parts the water will touch is the parts rising out of the oil.
Slashdot Mirror
Hm, I got ADSL here as part of an early adapter special. They tossed the modem in for free. 99$ for installation.
Now that the cable-modem people are pushing their way into my town, the prices have actually gone down a bit for monthly fee, and my available bandwidth has tripled. I never seem to be able to use it all though. I rarely get above 40kps. My average is around 30.
Later
Erik Z
BTW, forcing people to rent the modems is very weenie. But if you don't like it, you can always NOT GET DSL.
>I don't treat it like some sort of religion.
:-)
That reminds me, I overslept last Sunday (coding all night) and missed mass. Can we have a second mass at a later time? Don't forget people that we're holding a bake sale next Tuesday and the money will go to the EFF.
According to my networking teacher, IBM pretty much stopped looking for maximum bandwidth with fiberoptic because their equipment became the bottleneck. In other words, if you can build a machine that can transmit 163 Terabits in one second and a machine that can recieve 163 terabits in one second, then you can do the full test.
This is a serious value multiplier. They don't need to add any more fiber where there is already a line. Why aren't I excited? You think Bell Labs is going to share this tech with ANYONE? Hell no.
Later
Erik Z
Close, that's 200% efficiency.
The book "Indistinguishable from Magic" by Robert L. Forward has quite a bit on matter-antimatter engines, first chapter even.
Now, even though it's great efficiency, I have a hard time believing that an plant designed to create antimatter would be allowed on the planet.
Neat, but impractical.
Later
Erik Z
>The general rule is that military tech is at least 10 years ahead of what the public has access to.
I've been in the military, I think that should be rephrased to
'10 years ahead of what the GENERAL public has access to.'
Erik Z
Own the moon? Man, think of the land tax on that!
Later
Erik Z
>I do not see anyone here ranting about the US Postal Service or other government institutions that >have monopoly power.
Er, that's because they are owned by the people. If they start acting like an abusive monopoly, the public can easily get involved and fix it. Also note, the power company WAS a monopoly. Government controlled private industry. That has been changed. This is why I don't rant about government monopoly, they get replaced when it's feasible to do so. Until then, the government is filling it's function of providing services that we can't easily provide on our own.
Also, Bill Gates is spewing out money in an insane fashion. If were him, I'd make sure my 'foundation' could use smaller amounts of money effectively first. As it is, he's just making sure more people can use Windows. I would be surprised to see him fund something for the general good that has nothing to do with computers.
Later
Erik Z
>Bring his computer back?
>So basically if you don't want to use Windows, you have to bring back your entire computer for a refund?
They just want to make sure you're holding up your end of the agreement. The only way they have to give you a refund on your OS is if Win(x) hasn't gotten past the legal agreement.
BTW: All large organizations are out of wack with reality.
>And damn, imagine the escalation in fly-by shootings...
:-)
Yeah, if these things get out, the gang-related fly-by shootings will be greater than ZERO!
Not too often do you hear some reporter talking about the infinite increase in crime.
Well, at least not where I live.
Later
Erik Z
I understand that that monitor is build to prevent Van-Eck video interception. But the last time I used a monochrome monitor was a TSR-80.
Hey people, does anyone know how hard it is to pick up signals from an LCD monitor? I figured they are low-powered and would require completely different equipment to pick up an any signals it could put out. But I don't believe it puts out any signals. Thoughts?
Later
Erik Z
Hmm. Apartently we've been overlooking the little buggers.
I wonder if it's possible to cluster and network a bunch of playstations to run nuclear simulations?
Now THAT would be cool.
Later
Erik Z.
When I was younger, I had no money and tons of time. I could sit in front of a TV for hours because there was nothing to do. I never needed the VCR because I could be ready when the show came on.
It drove me crazy.
Now I almost never watch TV. I have money. I can work on building a new bookshelf for my books. Upgrade my system, work on my plan for the 'Ultimate Game'.
Replay and TIVO are interesting. I think they will be hacked after they come out to the marketplace. (Note: they ARE available. Aparently you can buy one though 'Specialized sales on the internet.') The machines currently do not allow users to build librarys of shows. I'd love to have a complete set of 'Max Headroom'
I can also see another hack to allow the replication of VCR tapes.
>Still, Ancier conceded that many of the machine's implications "scare the heck out of me." Tom Freston, the chairman of Viacom's MTV Networks, said: "I hate to think about Replay and Tivo. We kind of like the world the way it is now."
Heh. Spoken like a true dinosaur.
Hmm, the place I work for has full cable. If I get this I can get a copy of al the shows I miss on the weekend!
Later
Erik Z
>Research scientists need funds to do their work and the only way you get money is to produce results from your lab. If you spread the work around the entire population of scientists, which lab get's funded?
The lab with the reputation of getting the best results the quickest?
Later
ErikZ
I also enjoy solving problems by myself. Science has very little of that. It's mostly generating vast amounts of datain the most boring fashion possible, and then drawing a theory out of all the data. Then Testing your theory over and over again in every possible way in the most boring fashion possible.
Ever have to clean out a thousand test tubes by hand?
Later
Erik Z
I love overkill.
I had heard a little bit about the new standard. I thought they were just going to add another 8 bit address to the end.
I thought "Sure, and 20 years from now, when people are hooking up their lazy-boy chair and their furnance and their microwave to the internet, we'll run out of IP addresses."
Now, I can't even imagine what it would take to use up all these IP addresses.
By the way, hex is annoying. Fast for hardware, but annoying.
Later
Erik Z
A few cups of coffee put me on edge.
:-)
Imagine getting a shot equivlent to 100 cups of coffee. Do they give you anything to stop the convulsions?
Now imagine you and a couple hundred other people in a small underground bunker in the same condition waiting for 'The Big One' to hit.
Now imagine you're in charge of corordinating the nations defense.
I would never use a cable modem for non-secure
transmissions, even if they offered the service
free. Your neighbors can see every packet.
My neighbors can barely tell the difference between a toaster oven and a computer. I'm not worried.
Later
Erik Z
Uh, figure that you collect largish MP3s at 5 meg each. That would be 43 THOUSAND mp3 files, not 43 HUNDRED.
That's 5 months of 24/7 music before you hear a repeat.
Hmm, W2k will take up about 600 meg. Figure the next version will take up an order of magnitude of more space as MS adds AI to the little paperclip. So 6 gig for the OS, still plenty of room.
We are reaching the limit of magnetic-platter tech. The first work around I see is going back to 5 1/2 inch drives. Add more platters. Then they will have to stop using Magnetics to save information. Unless they figure out a way to write to a platter in layers like a DVD.
Later
Erik Z
(Whiney geek voice)
But I waaaannnt one!
Ok, seriously, the backbone MAY benifit. Who really benifits is Ma bell. Don't think she's going to give this tech to other companies. It can push FOUR times the data though exsiting lines. This means less stations need to be built and maintained. More profit gained by selling the same amount of bandwith for the same price. Now they have all this extra bandwidth, they can undercut their competitors by quite a bit.
Geez, all that bandwidth, if I get one for the home, I may have enough room to try teleportation.
All my new friends would be short and skinny, less transmission time.
Later
Erik Z
>Does anyone know the theoretical maximum bitrate of fiber?
Hemp or Bran?
Later
Erik Z
From what I remember, the theory was that around element 116 to 118 there will be a completely stable atom. Like, you can make siding out of it and not worry about gamma radiation. Milliseconds might be more stable than those guys are used to, but it definitly is NOT stable.
It merely doesn't decay fast enough to count as an explosion.
Hmmm, it's not an atomic explosion, it's merely Uranium decaying very very fast.
Later
Erik Z
I get mad because from day two (I wasn't there on day one) the people who are running the Seti@home project have been talking to the general public as little as possible. The best they've done is ask for people to help program the client.
You'll note that the homepage doesn't even mention any of this. Joining distributed.net made me feel like I was joining a team, joining Seti@home makes me feel like a tool.
For some strange reason I get the feeling that these guys went to the Microsoft school of management and public relations.
Later,
Erik Z
>Of course if the hypernova are a factor of 10,000 times as energetic as a supernova we would be cooked. Though since it probably won't happen in the next millenium or so gives us plenty of time to advance and prevent this kind of thing from wiping us out.
PFFT! (Spews drink)
Like what?!? Switching back to lead based paint?
This is interesting though. I never considered that there is probably no intellegent life near the core of our galaxy because exploding stars would wipe out any life nearby.
Later
Erik Z
Hihi
Well, from what I've read here so far, about half of these posts could have been avoided if any of those posters realized that mineral oil is MUCH Heavier than water.
How do I know?
I've tried to make a Lava lamp from the instructions of a 'Maxim' Magazine. No, it didn't work. 2/3 filled with mineral oil, 1/3 with water and a dab of oil paint. (Which went though the layer of water and sat on the bottom like a big red well lit turd.)
I've mixed that sucked pretty hard, and short of placing the whole mess in a blender (Hey....) it wouldn't mix. I had to resort to mixing the paint and with paint thinner on the side and then adding it to the whole mess. Finally I added enough paint for the colored water to sink to the bottom, and there it sits. Above it is a layer of oil and above that is a layer of paint thinner.
To sum, by immersing the air conditioning coils in the oil and minimizing the turbulence, the only parts the water will touch is the parts rising out of the oil.
Later
Erik Z