If it were my choice, the childish email campaign would just make me more determined to keep the firebird name. Sending offensive messages to people who have nothing to do with the name change is no way to get things done. Maybe AOL can send it's lawyers after IBPhoenix for DoSing them. They can easily show damages in lost developer time deleting the messages and extra load on their mail server.
Yes, but why in the world would anyone buy an iPaq or any winCE piece of crap? PalmOS is far superior both from a usability and programming point of view. I wouldn't trade my Visor Deluxe for 10 iPaqs, except maybe to sell them to suckers on ebay and buy another palm handheld. New palmOS 3.x devices are available for well under $100. If you want colour, even the IIIc can be had for $90 as a new OEM.
I find it funny that you posted that as AC. You're too afraid to have anyone know you recommended an iPaq, and the only reason you did is because it's so over-priced and you're using it as an example of how expensive handhelds are.
For what these things cost, you could buy a cell phone, digital camera, and PDA, all of which will have better specs than the phone. If you skimp a bit on the camera and PDA, you can add an mp3 player too.
Considering that, what is the point of this combo phone? It's huge, I want my cell phone to be tiny so I can have it at the bottom of a pocket and forget about it. Another point, what happens when you want to upgrade one of the parts, with the combo-phone you lose everything and have to re-buy it all.
To top things off, the 3650 is ugly, and why do they put the buttons in a ring around the bottom of the phone? Do they think it's a dial? It will make dialing numbers much harder and typing text on that thing will be a horrible experience.
Linux already is very rubust and stable. Where it's weak is in how difficult it is to set up to do anything; like set up a printer driver, offload pictures from a digital camera, get samba to work right. It seems like anything you want to do takes days of painful work.
I still use linux on my servers, but that's why I switched back to windows after having linux on my desktop for over 2 years. I can install something in 10 minutes and then be enjoying using it for the next few day. The one time I couldn't get a piece of hardware to work in windows, I just had to call up the hardware vendor and they solved the problem in under an hour. If I were trying to get it to work in Linux, there's nobody to call.
What ever happened to the Sony/Matsushita deal for an open-source solution to all this?
You used Sony and open-source in the same sentance? Thanks for the great laugh. Sony makes MS look like a great proponent of open source, and pro-fair use too.
My reaction to the article was that looks great, but too bad it's based on Sony crap. If this were for the xbox or gamecube, it would be worth getting the console and the software just for the set-top divx player.
Re:efficacy versus efficiency
on
LEDs vs. Lightbulbs
·
· Score: 2, Informative
but most do not use any more or any less energy than the equivalent incandescent or incandescent halogen at the same wattage.
That's like saying "what weights more, a pound of feathers or a pound of nails?". Wattage is a measuere of the energy you are using per unit time.
LEDs give off more light for the same power than incandescant bulbs; super-bright LED takes about 15mA at 1.7 volts. That's 25 miliwatts of power. For the same power a 100 watt lightbulb takes, you can power 4,000 super-bright LEDs.
The difference is even more extreme with flashlight bulbs. To get more brightness, the bulbs are run at about 25% higher than the rated voltage. This does make it a lot brighter, but at a bigger penalty for power draw, and cuts the life expectancy down from 1000 to 10 hours.
Oh..Since 1993 or so. I've also been using Linux since 1995. Are you implying that Linux today is no more bloated than it was in 1995? Can I run Linux and a word processer on a 1MHz 6502 CPU? I had the SuperText word processor on my Apple; it had most of the major features a modern word processor has and it would run perfectly on that 6502 under ProDOS.
Yes, but the rest of the processing power is to compensate for the extra OS overhead, so you still get the same snappy feel as you did with the II+.
You seem to be under the impression you need a faster processor so you can get things done faster. The real reason is so you can get things done just as fast without regressing:). It's like swimming upstream against a strong current.
Then you, my friend, are not the target demographic of the american video game industry.
You'll get no arguement from me there, despite the fact that I do buy a few games a year. I also wait about a month after a movie comes out because I prefer as few people as possible in the theatre, and I don't even understand the "get it first" attitude for new DVDs.
What I was commenting on is that taking away choice is not a benefit. If I don't want to buy the game for a few months, why is having the option taken away a perk?
I agree, but that is exactly my point; I can't trust professional reviewers. To get a good, unbiased review, I have to turn to a public forum. So why do the reviewers even exist?
So you're saying the game coming out later has advantages? I can wait until the game has been out for a couple of months if I want. Just because it's on the shelves doesn't mean I have to buy it the first week. If my friends buy it and say it's good, then I can buy it right away and not have to wait a few months for it to be available to me. By waiting those few months and letting your friends get lots of extra practice, you'll always lose at multi-player games.
I've bought enough computer games over the years that had rave reviews and turned out to be total crap that I don't even read reviews anymore.
Black and White is a recent example. The reviews made it sound like the best game ever made. Then when I played it, I found out the UI is horrible, the gameplay is tedious, and the characters treat you (their god) like a child -- If you eat your vegetables, then you can have Ice Cream.
I just take it for granted now that game reviewers are lying when they say a game is good.
Jason ProfQuotes
It's not how much you have have, it's how you use it.
Broadband means it's a communications channel divided into multiple chunks. Each person on a cablemodem connection uses a different freqency range on the same cable, that makes the cable broadband. The opposite of broadband is baseband, that's where the base comes from in 100BaseT.
If you divide a 2400 baud modem among several users in that way, it can be called broadband too even though each user only have a few hundred bps.
That will work in some case. But how do I score out clauses when the document I'm signing says it refers to another document? There's no room to write which clauses I reject. Also, in that case, it was a bank customer service agent I was dealing with. She doesn't have the authority to accept changers or the intelligence to forward it to someone who can. In that case it was a black or white issue; sign as is and get the account or don't sign and don't get it.
The PIC microcontrollers are one line of non-von Neumann controllers I use regularly. They're Harvard architecture. I would assume most MCU's are not Von Neumann for the same reason as the PICs, but I only have experience with PICs.
You're definition of von Neumann architecture is wrong; a von Neumann machine has one data bus for connecting with memory. That means it has to share the bus for program and data memory.
As far as I know, a VLIW chip that uses one memory bus is still von Neumann architecture even though it will process several instructions at once.
I agree with you, and I do read the contracts. When I was applying to access my bank account online, I was supposed to sign a form saying I'd read and agreed to the terms of service on a separate document. When I asked to see that document, the customer service person looked at me like I was nuts. It took her 10 minutes to find a copy and then I sat there and read the 5 page document. There was a clause that said they are not responsible if someone steals from my account even if it's their own employee acting through their negligence. Basically it gives them the right to take my money any time they want. Of course I refused to sign the agreement and from the reactions of the people there that was the first time it had happened.
I was taking an IT law course at the time, so I took a copy of the contract to school and showed it to the lawyer teaching the course. He said if it went to court, a judge would probably throw the clause out, but it would cost so much to fight it, I'd still lose.
I wonder how many people have signed their life's savings over to their bank like that without even knowing it.
Jason ProfQuotes
I use enom.com. I think they charge $30 which is pretty expensive, but my webhost has a deal with them so it's only $10, and then the webhost pays half of that. I haven't seen anywhere that will beat $5:).
I've heard good things about Go Daddy. I'm considering registering a few names with them for future site ideas I'm think of just to make sure I have them if I need them.
You complain about the agreement, but by agreeing to it, you mearly re-enforce that it's okay for them to do it. There are countless registrars out there now. Most will allow you to transfer a domain name for their annual fee and then include a 1 year extension so the transfer is basically free.
By clicking you agree, you're voting with your dollars, and that's all that matters to these companies.
Slashdot Mirror
If it were my choice, the childish email campaign would just make me more determined to keep the firebird name. Sending offensive messages to people who have nothing to do with the name change is no way to get things done. Maybe AOL can send it's lawyers after IBPhoenix for DoSing them. They can easily show damages in lost developer time deleting the messages and extra load on their mail server.
Jason
ProfQuotes
Yes, but why in the world would anyone buy an iPaq or any winCE piece of crap? PalmOS is far superior both from a usability and programming point of view. I wouldn't trade my Visor Deluxe for 10 iPaqs, except maybe to sell them to suckers on ebay and buy another palm handheld. New palmOS 3.x devices are available for well under $100. If you want colour, even the IIIc can be had for $90 as a new OEM.
I find it funny that you posted that as AC. You're too afraid to have anyone know you recommended an iPaq, and the only reason you did is because it's so over-priced and you're using it as an example of how expensive handhelds are.
Jason
ProfQuotes
For what these things cost, you could buy a cell phone, digital camera, and PDA, all of which will have better specs than the phone. If you skimp a bit on the camera and PDA, you can add an mp3 player too.
Considering that, what is the point of this combo phone? It's huge, I want my cell phone to be tiny so I can have it at the bottom of a pocket and forget about it. Another point, what happens when you want to upgrade one of the parts, with the combo-phone you lose everything and have to re-buy it all.
To top things off, the 3650 is ugly, and why do they put the buttons in a ring around the bottom of the phone? Do they think it's a dial? It will make dialing numbers much harder and typing text on that thing will be a horrible experience.
Jason
ProfQuotes
Linux already is very rubust and stable. Where it's weak is in how difficult it is to set up to do anything; like set up a printer driver, offload pictures from a digital camera, get samba to work right. It seems like anything you want to do takes days of painful work.
I still use linux on my servers, but that's why I switched back to windows after having linux on my desktop for over 2 years. I can install something in 10 minutes and then be enjoying using it for the next few day. The one time I couldn't get a piece of hardware to work in windows, I just had to call up the hardware vendor and they solved the problem in under an hour. If I were trying to get it to work in Linux, there's nobody to call.
Jason
ProfQuotes
If you don't research these technologies the enemy will, and when they attack you with it, you won't have any idea how to defend yourself.
If you understand the technology, you know its weaknesses so you can build a defense.
Jason
ProfQuotes
What ever happened to the Sony/Matsushita deal for an open-source solution to all this?
You used Sony and open-source in the same sentance? Thanks for the great laugh. Sony makes MS look like a great proponent of open source, and pro-fair use too.
My reaction to the article was that looks great, but too bad it's based on Sony crap. If this were for the xbox or gamecube, it would be worth getting the console and the software just for the set-top divx player.
Jason
ProfQuotes
At least there's the redeeming fact that it's not an MS tablet PC. Of course based on the review, it sounds just as bad.
Jason
ProfQuotes
but most do not use any more or any less energy than the equivalent incandescent or incandescent halogen at the same wattage.
That's like saying "what weights more, a pound of feathers or a pound of nails?". Wattage is a measuere of the energy you are using per unit time.
LEDs give off more light for the same power than incandescant bulbs; super-bright LED takes about 15mA at 1.7 volts. That's 25 miliwatts of power. For the same power a 100 watt lightbulb takes, you can power 4,000 super-bright LEDs.
The difference is even more extreme with flashlight bulbs. To get more brightness, the bulbs are run at about 25% higher than the rated voltage. This does make it a lot brighter, but at a bigger penalty for power draw, and cuts the life expectancy down from 1000 to 10 hours.
Jason
ProfQuotes
And just how long have you been using Windows?
Oh..Since 1993 or so. I've also been using Linux since 1995. Are you implying that Linux today is no more bloated than it was in 1995? Can I run Linux and a word processer on a 1MHz 6502 CPU? I had the SuperText word processor on my Apple; it had most of the major features a modern word processor has and it would run perfectly on that 6502 under ProDOS.
Jason
ProfQuotes
Yes, but the rest of the processing power is to compensate for the extra OS overhead, so you still get the same snappy feel as you did with the II+.
:). It's like swimming upstream against a strong current.
You seem to be under the impression you need a faster processor so you can get things done faster. The real reason is so you can get things done just as fast without regressing
Jason
ProfQuotes
That doesn't really happen. Microchannel and ED floppies were just flukes :).
Jason
ProfQuotes
..to Vialta's piece of crap
Jason
ProfQuotes
Well for some people, it might help them get the job :).
Jason
ProfQuotes
Then you, my friend, are not the target demographic of the american video game industry.
You'll get no arguement from me there, despite the fact that I do buy a few games a year. I also wait about a month after a movie comes out because I prefer as few people as possible in the theatre, and I don't even understand the "get it first" attitude for new DVDs.
What I was commenting on is that taking away choice is not a benefit. If I don't want to buy the game for a few months, why is having the option taken away a perk?
Jason
ProfQuotes
I agree, but that is exactly my point; I can't trust professional reviewers. To get a good, unbiased review, I have to turn to a public forum. So why do the reviewers even exist?
Jason
ProfQuotes
So you're saying the game coming out later has advantages? I can wait until the game has been out for a couple of months if I want. Just because it's on the shelves doesn't mean I have to buy it the first week. If my friends buy it and say it's good, then I can buy it right away and not have to wait a few months for it to be available to me. By waiting those few months and letting your friends get lots of extra practice, you'll always lose at multi-player games.
Jason
ProfQuotes
I've bought enough computer games over the years that had rave reviews and turned out to be total crap that I don't even read reviews anymore.
Black and White is a recent example. The reviews made it sound like the best game ever made. Then when I played it, I found out the UI is horrible, the gameplay is tedious, and the characters treat you (their god) like a child -- If you eat your vegetables, then you can have Ice Cream.
I just take it for granted now that game reviewers are lying when they say a game is good. Jason
ProfQuotes
And I suppose size doesn't matter either...
That's exactly the joke I was making.
Jason
ProfQuotes
The technical definition of broadband is going the way of the technical definition of 'hacker'.
So, what are you saying? That we should just let it happen because it's going to anyway? That it's wrong to correct people?
Jason
ProfQuotes
It's not how much you have have, it's how you use it.
Broadband means it's a communications channel divided into multiple chunks. Each person on a cablemodem connection uses a different freqency range on the same cable, that makes the cable broadband. The opposite of broadband is baseband, that's where the base comes from in 100BaseT.
If you divide a 2400 baud modem among several users in that way, it can be called broadband too even though each user only have a few hundred bps.
Jason
ProfQuotes
That will work in some case. But how do I score out clauses when the document I'm signing says it refers to another document? There's no room to write which clauses I reject. Also, in that case, it was a bank customer service agent I was dealing with. She doesn't have the authority to accept changers or the intelligence to forward it to someone who can. In that case it was a black or white issue; sign as is and get the account or don't sign and don't get it.
Jason
ProfQuotes
The PIC microcontrollers are one line of non-von Neumann controllers I use regularly. They're Harvard architecture. I would assume most MCU's are not Von Neumann for the same reason as the PICs, but I only have experience with PICs.
You're definition of von Neumann architecture is wrong; a von Neumann machine has one data bus for connecting with memory. That means it has to share the bus for program and data memory.
As far as I know, a VLIW chip that uses one memory bus is still von Neumann architecture even though it will process several instructions at once.
Jason
ProfQuotes
I agree with you, and I do read the contracts. When I was applying to access my bank account online, I was supposed to sign a form saying I'd read and agreed to the terms of service on a separate document. When I asked to see that document, the customer service person looked at me like I was nuts. It took her 10 minutes to find a copy and then I sat there and read the 5 page document. There was a clause that said they are not responsible if someone steals from my account even if it's their own employee acting through their negligence. Basically it gives them the right to take my money any time they want. Of course I refused to sign the agreement and from the reactions of the people there that was the first time it had happened.
I was taking an IT law course at the time, so I took a copy of the contract to school and showed it to the lawyer teaching the course. He said if it went to court, a judge would probably throw the clause out, but it would cost so much to fight it, I'd still lose.
I wonder how many people have signed their life's savings over to their bank like that without even knowing it. Jason
ProfQuotes
I use enom.com. I think they charge $30 which is pretty expensive, but my webhost has a deal with them so it's only $10, and then the webhost pays half of that. I haven't seen anywhere that will beat $5 :).
I've heard good things about Go Daddy. I'm considering registering a few names with them for future site ideas I'm think of just to make sure I have them if I need them.
Jason
ProfQuotes
You complain about the agreement, but by agreeing to it, you mearly re-enforce that it's okay for them to do it. There are countless registrars out there now. Most will allow you to transfer a domain name for their annual fee and then include a 1 year extension so the transfer is basically free.
By clicking you agree, you're voting with your dollars, and that's all that matters to these companies.
Jason
ProfQuotes