you are right; game consoles do use RDRAM. But in the end, RDRAM is not killed because it's bad technology, but because othere stuff.
first on the tech. (REALLY quick brief)
1) RDRAM has a faster interface (duh) 2) and it has a much more narrow bus 3) but to make chips drive at such a high frequency ON THE CIRCUIT BOARD, the bus interface for RDRAM is totally wacky
explanation: RDRAM is serially connected, *kinda* like... SCSI, or COAX ethernet back in the days. and it's heavily terminated. and because the signal goes so damn fast (remember, circuit board made of FR4 here - not cache->CPU interconnects), the routing of the signal traces, while sparse (something they tout - and it's true, DDR has like 2-4 time the wire density as RDRAM on the board), has very small tolerance for length difference. furthermore because the high speed, the chips must have a very strict output impedance (which is why mem-makers got shitty yields at the beginning and the RDRAM price were so high).
performance wise / practically speaking, since it's the signal routing / RIMM detection and delay adjustment (remember no trace length differences etc) that's difficult and causes trouble - in game consoles where you will never add memory, RDRAM is actually better (easier to work with / better performance - better perf because you don't incur additional delays in the trace by adding more modules, everything is fixed). Same time on PCs, when you do it right, RDRAM still offers better bandwidth than DDR; DDR-2 i am not so sure, but that won't be in massive production for a while so don't wait for it yet. depending on architecture (P4 is, have to say, on the side of "optimized for RDRAM"), you would get better performance out of RDRAM for a little while longer.
now the non-tech side:
RAMBUS charges royalty. 2% i think? now - memory business is not high-margin business (or else there won't be only like 4-5 memory makers left!), so when 2% is actually like 40% from the margin - if you can do away with RAMBUS (even at a performance hit), it would enable you to survive, or make more money - depending on the company.
so... the moral of the story? RDRAM is not bad technology (i.e. has its uses - like in consoles), but it's not GREAT technology, and certainly not good enough to warrent the margin cut and the headaches in engineering (output impedence - and these days they are going to 32/64 bit so the sparse signal lines is less and less of a advertisable benefit). But I expect that it will maintain it's little niche and won't just die off suddenly one day. i mean, heck - even if they only supplied for the game consoles, (especially with the large chunck of change intel gave to RAMBUS) they can survive for quite a while. RAMBUS as a company I think will eventually fail if they continue this path of IP-only, though - for other reasons. but this is getting long already.
They used to have one (actually still do, methinks) airbag where it inflates via a string attached to your bike.
In the other words, when you are flung off, the string pulls, and you puff up like Kirby before hitting a tree / pavement / alien mothership.
Only, of course, people would forget to detach the string before getting off the bike, so you'd stand up, wave "hi" to the hot chick who's checking out your ride, and dismount to greet her - and all the sudder "pop - BOOM - pffffff" and you will be the laughingstock for the entire hemisphere.
anyway - the airbag vest thingy aforementioned was supposed to be re-fillable / re-packable / re-chargable / whatever, because the makers forsee (or maybe had personal experience during trial stages?) this kind of stuff, though.
so is a battery backup - Okay maybe it's a little more noisy but I have been next to huge APCs and they are completely drowned out by server hum and cannot be heard anyhow. My personal UPS does not make a single sound.
> Air Pollution-Free Operation By-products are heat and water vapor Renewable Energy Powered by two of the most abundant elements -- hydrogen and oxygen -- in the universe
No arguing, but soooo? (more later)
> Clean Energy Perfect sine wave electricity to protect sensitive electronics
okay, so is a UPS, again.
> Indoor Use No carbon monoxide emissions
I am tired of typing "okay so is UPS"
> Non-Stop Power Continuous electricity generated as long as hydrogen is supplied.
I should hope!
now onto the blab:
Yes yes I know for a lot of trouble, this makes a good portable generator (maybe). But they are saying this will be a good power-backup too? my ass.
1) UPS has battery that runs out. This has hydrogen that runs out. same deal.
2) UPS can be re-charged when the power comes back - this I have to buy more hydrogen tube thingys
3) I am guessing that this uses the ROOM oxygen? like, the one we need to breath with?
4) where exactly is the water (byproduct) going? I remember that fuel cells has a high temperature - I assume vapor? as in bumping up the humidity to some insane levels in the server room? Even if it does not - I would think there need to be new pipework / whatever to carry away the condensation.
Let's not forget that it probabbly cost a bundle starting off / maintain too.
Now with that vented - it would be pretty cool to get one to replace one of those noisy generators for a motor-home or something - but THEN, it's designed for indoor use (i think)? wtf? and i have to either carry AirGen cylinders (low pressure) (read: does not last long), or hydrogen cylinders (read: really dangerous) around instead of just getting some gasoline at the station?
erm... I will stick with a portable generator (for power generation) and UPS (for backup) thank you.
I think a brand spanking new SunBlade can be had for like 999 dollars. I mean, not Walmart-Lindows-cheap, but I wouldn't call that expensive.
Especially considering that I think you can attach a "PC on a PCI card" and run a full blown x86 OS side-by-side (for what I don't know, maybe apps dev?).
on the other hand, I don't know what to make of this constant change of GUIs. many people loathed it when Sun went with CDE from OpenWin, so they had to support both, and now switching to GNOME when finally CDE is getting reasonabbly stable and whatever (and I am actually pretty sure there are a handful of CDE zealots out there that's very vocal) so they will probabbly need to support all three from now on.
I mean... while good news and all, just another facet of the sun indecision "Sol9 for x86, not for x86, cost $$, maybe not, go with one GUI, but wait lets change it over later." AFAIK Java has not suffered too much amid these indecisions and the specs havn't swayed that much (somebody correct me if I am bs-ing), which is thankful for.
I think that's what they call these cars (especially the VW concept).
I believe the exhause was made of titanium, and so is the chassis. btw have you SEEN how small the passenger compartment (there is no trunk) is?
I mean... for the same trouble and inconvenience, not mentioning the cost for all the exotic materials and their manufacturing (sorry but steel is about two hundred thirty eight times easier to work with compared to titanium), I would much rather bank on something that sparks the imagination.
It's just like things such as "what makes a great sandwich." Some swears by tomatoes while others can't stand them; the select few will go with anchovys and say that any sandwich without them is no food at all, etc.
Furthermore, you can't really answer this without delving into a question like "what makes a good book." And if all of us had better ideas than you, we'd be making millions selling books instead of posting of/., eh?
Of course, I can give you what I personally like in SciFi - imaginative worlds are always welcome (well described, mind you), and intellectually stimulating is also another plus (social / psychological / whatever problems that arise from these new and imaginative circumstances); beyond that, here and there some action / romance / whatever to help push the story along so I actually look forward to continue reading.
Of course, I have read books that may lack some of these qualities but were still very fun to read. So in the end, your question is still unanswered; but anyways... who posts questions on/. to get them answered, anyhow... It's all about Karma-whoring right?
I know "Empire" because I took a philosophy of art class.
Now, I am probabbly getting a lot of this wrong and my professor will smack me for getting them wrong, but as far as I remembered, one of the mojor reasons why it was so "genius" is because it explored the medium of film and contrasted it to the ideas of stillness.
The idea is that on a static medium (painting / photography), you obviously cannot show movement, as even the best painting is only the capture of a moment (lets not get into Van Gough and the funny square stuff for a second);
Similarly, a moving medium like film can capture motion, but in turn, it REALLY captures something static in a much more "complete" sense than, say, a painting can - case in point, you can see the empire state building, unmoving amongst the birds (there is this famous scene when a seagull flew by), clouds, etc. This contrast of moving (the environment) and the still (the building) is only captureable, and experssed, on film. In turn, the stillness of the building is understood in a way that is unexpressable on a photograph, a painting, or whatever.
Of course, maybe there are some obscure purpose to this stretching of the symphony too? I really don't know - one thing the class taught me was that art is wayyyy over my head.:-)
Wow this is like Andy Warhol's film "Empire", only that it is probabbly not as artistically creative for its time.
for those that don't know - Empire is a film where he (Andy Warhol) put a camera aiming at the empire state building in the morning, started the film, and let it ran EIGHT HOURS....
right up there with watching corn grow and whatever.
silly people that do silly things in the name of art.
What laws were broken by selling stuff to China? the companies are doing what they are there to do - to make a buck; while the moral grounds on which these actions stand may be questionable, so far the story does not provide any evidence whatsoever that these companies are breaking US or Chinese laws.
At the same time, I just want to repeat Lenin's lil phrase "A capitalist will sell the ropes for the hanging of another capitalist".
To a great (and depressing) extent, this is very true. Corporations are not doing things because they are The Right Thing (tm), but because it makes more profits. But then the reason for corporations to exist is always to make profits, so what the hell you guys expect? look at all the company motto and "visionary statement", around and around it circles the "stockholders." Not the hungry kids in wherever, not the mother earth, and sure as heck not the principles of all that's good and right.
So to have a system like this, you gotta live with the consequences, which is that sometimes companies will do morally questionable things, and sometimes illegal things. the illegal we can bust them - but the morally questionable, well...
Lastly, what you guys think if the US government started buying censoring technology, MS, Sun, Cisco, whoever won't jump on it right away? and how exactly is that any better from selling the same technology to China / Cuba / whatever?
It would exactly resemble what SUVs will look like a few decades down the line, given the current trend of "one bigger-ness".
So what we can besically do is wait till Ford re-produce (haha) the Excursion for the 5th time, and launch one, and we can all live lafely within its humongous tires.
so if i wrap this in double-side tape and shape it like a bat, i can go and throw it around on cars and track their location in the name of fighting crime?
(speaking of which, since this stuff was in superhero books for the longest time - was there anything remotely similar before this?)
you are right that we as public cannot buy them yet. but that does not mean it's not there.
moller international has been working on flying cars for a while now and it's very near completion. I would recommend reading more about it here(about middle of page) at zzz.
You can also invest in his company. stock symbol is MLER or something.
Just some observation I have since I am in Japan and everything.
Microsoft (or BSA, anyhow) seem to be spending a lot (i mean a LOT) more money here on "anti-piracy" campains than in the US.
Trains are usually littered with BSA (piracy is crime) posters, and they have a HUGE (like maybe 40 feet across) sign in front of Shinjuku station (you know, downtown tokyo and all).
At the same time, I havn't seen free-software related stuff at all since I have been here. It might be the language barrier, but ancedotally speaking, I don't think I am seeing the same % of shelf space devoted to linux than in the US.
Unless some guy was named "Jennifer," which would explain why he whould be hiding at home spending that much time on legos.
Re:be careful out there - it's a dark world
on
Add-Ons Add Up
·
· Score: 1
FYI:
back when they had the drafts (vietnam, etc) people bitched about the drinking and dying for your country argument and they lowered the limits to 18 (voting, drinking, etc). later everything went back to 21, but the voting age stayed at 18. I hear, though, that if you are in the military on assignment, you can drink while on the base. =)
will some military personnel confirm this?
be careful out there - it's a dark world
on
Add-Ons Add Up
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Rented a Chevy cavalier for two days from LaGuadia (LGA), it was like 78/day with the insane taxes (yeah, really, for a cavalier - but I *had* to, so alright, I will part the 155 dollars).
When I returned it, they charged me 110 dollar *per*day* of "under age fee" because I am under 25. AND they taxed the fscking fee (at the same 17-18% rate which I have no idea where comes from)! is that funny, eh? considering in CA AVIS charges like 10-15 dollars for the same underage deal, I can just smell "bullshit."
If I didn't check the reciept, they'd probabbly just let it slip (I think if you don't file a complaint right away or some such, you waive your rights after a certain time). Eventually it got sorted out and such, but still it took a several phone calls, placed on hold, explanations, transfered, re-explanations, the whole works.
Point is, be careful out there, guys (and gals) - companies will rape you when they have the chance, so check your bills and add things up. And yeah - renting from AVIS in LGA is not a good idea.
well NO SHIT considering the average chinese citizen has a YEARLY purchasing power of 3,000 US dollars. that's 250 dollars per month, and you think people will shell out 15 dollars for a CD?
Of course, similar to the US (90% of the money is controled by 10% of people), chinese economic ladder is skewed too -- so actually the average family subsides on 100-150 dollars per month usually.
hence, all the "oh my god 4.6 billion dollars lost sale" is so bullshit that you can't even begin.
interesting side note: since there are so many people there, even though the average purchasing power is only 3000 (actually comparable to many nations (for example, in africa) that's starving), it still makes china the second largest economic power in the world.
but don't ever, EVER think people there can afford "legit" music, software, and all the crap we buy while taking the disposible income for granted.
not sure if you are trying to be funny - but in case you are not - comdex has several shows throughout the year and one is hosted in chicago. It's not the biggest of the shows amongst comdex, but comparatively it was still probabbly the biggest computer / IT show chicago gets every year.
Not the same anymore
on
The Last Comdex?
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Heh... you think renting out the entire McCormick Place (Chicago) for a week is cheap?
Anyway - most people who goes there are free-riding; the visitor's pass is "supposed" to be 99 dollars or whatever, but you can get it for free ANYWHERE. in fact you can register for it officially on Comdex website too if you do it early enough. They say it's "limited time only" or some such bs, but that's what it is, bs.
Then again, companies are not showing up to trade shows as much as they used to be, or are renting a smaller booth, becomming a smaller sponsor (i.e. from platinum level down to gold level) or not sponsoring at all. (Sponsoring is when you pay them big bux and they put your logo on the T-shirt / booklets / whatever) - the level of sponsorship determines the size of you logo, where it appears, etc.
An example (not Comdex) on the low-attendence is this year's ITC (International Test Conference), which is one of the most important conference / tradeshow / whatever for the ATE (automated test equipment) manufactures. Teradyne, Credense, NP Test (read: Schlumberger) all decided to not show up at ALL; no booth, no seminar, no salesperson, nothing. These are some of the biggest names in the industry. I think the only two big-names that did show was Advantest and Agilent (I'm not sure about Agilent, actually).
As for real paying visitors, they are dropping even more than the companies - Other conferences actually have REAL SEMINARS where people might pay to see, but Comdex, IIRC, never had anything informational.
Besides, the stupid show went downhill way before the dotcom bubble bursted. Back in 99/00 (i can't remember clearly), they had 1/3 of the floor filled with resellers / distributors that sell cases and powersupplies and such. not even nearly related to "technologically innovative." No new technology, no new information, just a big organized garage sell.
I still got the free passes to go there for a few years even after that, but every year figured that it was not even worth my time since nothing would be interesting there. I do eventually want to go to E3, though - that still have lots of steam and seem to be actually getting bigger.
Slashdot Mirror
you are right; game consoles do use RDRAM. But in the end, RDRAM is not killed because it's bad technology, but because othere stuff.
first on the tech. (REALLY quick brief)
1) RDRAM has a faster interface (duh)
2) and it has a much more narrow bus
3) but to make chips drive at such a high frequency ON THE CIRCUIT BOARD, the bus interface for RDRAM is totally wacky
explanation: RDRAM is serially connected, *kinda* like... SCSI, or COAX ethernet back in the days. and it's heavily terminated. and because the signal goes so damn fast (remember, circuit board made of FR4 here - not cache->CPU interconnects), the routing of the signal traces, while sparse (something they tout - and it's true, DDR has like 2-4 time the wire density as RDRAM on the board), has very small tolerance for length difference. furthermore because the high speed, the chips must have a very strict output impedance (which is why mem-makers got shitty yields at the beginning and the RDRAM price were so high).
performance wise / practically speaking, since it's the signal routing / RIMM detection and delay adjustment (remember no trace length differences etc) that's difficult and causes trouble - in game consoles where you will never add memory, RDRAM is actually better (easier to work with / better performance - better perf because you don't incur additional delays in the trace by adding more modules, everything is fixed). Same time on PCs, when you do it right, RDRAM still offers better bandwidth than DDR; DDR-2 i am not so sure, but that won't be in massive production for a while so don't wait for it yet. depending on architecture (P4 is, have to say, on the side of "optimized for RDRAM"), you would get better performance out of RDRAM for a little while longer.
now the non-tech side:
RAMBUS charges royalty. 2% i think? now - memory business is not high-margin business (or else there won't be only like 4-5 memory makers left!), so when 2% is actually like 40% from the margin - if you can do away with RAMBUS (even at a performance hit), it would enable you to survive, or make more money - depending on the company.
so... the moral of the story? RDRAM is not bad technology (i.e. has its uses - like in consoles), but it's not GREAT technology, and certainly not good enough to warrent the margin cut and the headaches in engineering (output impedence - and these days they are going to 32/64 bit so the sparse signal lines is less and less of a advertisable benefit). But I expect that it will maintain it's little niche and won't just die off suddenly one day. i mean, heck - even if they only supplied for the game consoles, (especially with the large chunck of change intel gave to RAMBUS) they can survive for quite a while. RAMBUS as a company I think will eventually fail if they continue this path of IP-only, though - for other reasons. but this is getting long already.
They used to have one (actually still do, methinks) airbag where it inflates via a string attached to your bike.
In the other words, when you are flung off, the string pulls, and you puff up like Kirby before hitting a tree / pavement / alien mothership.
Only, of course, people would forget to detach the string before getting off the bike, so you'd stand up, wave "hi" to the hot chick who's checking out your ride, and dismount to greet her - and all the sudder "pop - BOOM - pffffff" and you will be the laughingstock for the entire hemisphere.
anyway - the airbag vest thingy aforementioned was supposed to be re-fillable / re-packable / re-chargable / whatever, because the makers forsee (or maybe had personal experience during trial stages?) this kind of stuff, though.
from their "benefits" page:
> Quiet Very low noise operation
so is a battery backup - Okay maybe it's a little more noisy but I have been next to huge APCs and they are completely drowned out by server hum and cannot be heard anyhow. My personal UPS does not make a single sound.
> Air Pollution-Free Operation By-products are heat and water vapor Renewable Energy Powered by two of the most abundant elements -- hydrogen and oxygen -- in the universe
No arguing, but soooo? (more later)
> Clean Energy Perfect sine wave electricity to protect sensitive electronics
okay, so is a UPS, again.
> Indoor Use No carbon monoxide emissions
I am tired of typing "okay so is UPS"
> Non-Stop Power Continuous electricity generated as long as hydrogen is supplied.
I should hope!
now onto the blab:
Yes yes I know for a lot of trouble, this makes a good portable generator (maybe). But they are saying this will be a good power-backup too? my ass.
1) UPS has battery that runs out. This has hydrogen that runs out. same deal.
2) UPS can be re-charged when the power comes back - this I have to buy more hydrogen tube thingys
3) I am guessing that this uses the ROOM oxygen? like, the one we need to breath with?
4) where exactly is the water (byproduct) going? I remember that fuel cells has a high temperature - I assume vapor? as in bumping up the humidity to some insane levels in the server room? Even if it does not - I would think there need to be new pipework / whatever to carry away the condensation.
Let's not forget that it probabbly cost a bundle starting off / maintain too.
Now with that vented - it would be pretty cool to get one to replace one of those noisy generators for a motor-home or something - but THEN, it's designed for indoor use (i think)? wtf? and i have to either carry AirGen cylinders (low pressure) (read: does not last long), or hydrogen cylinders (read: really dangerous) around instead of just getting some gasoline at the station?
erm... I will stick with a portable generator (for power generation) and UPS (for backup) thank you.
I think a brand spanking new SunBlade can be had for like 999 dollars. I mean, not Walmart-Lindows-cheap, but I wouldn't call that expensive.
Especially considering that I think you can attach a "PC on a PCI card" and run a full blown x86 OS side-by-side (for what I don't know, maybe apps dev?).
on the other hand, I don't know what to make of this constant change of GUIs. many people loathed it when Sun went with CDE from OpenWin, so they had to support both, and now switching to GNOME when finally CDE is getting reasonabbly stable and whatever (and I am actually pretty sure there are a handful of CDE zealots out there that's very vocal) so they will probabbly need to support all three from now on.
I mean... while good news and all, just another facet of the sun indecision "Sol9 for x86, not for x86, cost $$, maybe not, go with one GUI, but wait lets change it over later." AFAIK Java has not suffered too much amid these indecisions and the specs havn't swayed that much (somebody correct me if I am bs-ing), which is thankful for.
1) VW unobtanium (toward about 25% of the page)
2) SkyCar. (again, about 25% the way down)
I believe the exhause was made of titanium, and so is the chassis. btw have you SEEN how small the passenger compartment (there is no trunk) is?
I mean... for the same trouble and inconvenience, not mentioning the cost for all the exotic materials and their manufacturing (sorry but steel is about two hundred thirty eight times easier to work with compared to titanium), I would much rather bank on something that sparks the imagination.
It's just like things such as "what makes a great sandwich." Some swears by tomatoes while others can't stand them; the select few will go with anchovys and say that any sandwich without them is no food at all, etc.
/., eh?
/. to get them answered, anyhow... It's all about Karma-whoring right?
Furthermore, you can't really answer this without delving into a question like "what makes a good book." And if all of us had better ideas than you, we'd be making millions selling books instead of posting of
Of course, I can give you what I personally like in SciFi - imaginative worlds are always welcome (well described, mind you), and intellectually stimulating is also another plus (social / psychological / whatever problems that arise from these new and imaginative circumstances); beyond that, here and there some action / romance / whatever to help push the story along so I actually look forward to continue reading.
Of course, I have read books that may lack some of these qualities but were still very fun to read. So in the end, your question is still unanswered; but anyways... who posts questions on
I know "Empire" because I took a philosophy of art class.
:-)
Now, I am probabbly getting a lot of this wrong and my professor will smack me for getting them wrong, but as far as I remembered, one of the mojor reasons why it was so "genius" is because it explored the medium of film and contrasted it to the ideas of stillness.
The idea is that on a static medium (painting / photography), you obviously cannot show movement, as even the best painting is only the capture of a moment (lets not get into Van Gough and the funny square stuff for a second);
Similarly, a moving medium like film can capture motion, but in turn, it REALLY captures something static in a much more "complete" sense than, say, a painting can - case in point, you can see the empire state building, unmoving amongst the birds (there is this famous scene when a seagull flew by), clouds, etc. This contrast of moving (the environment) and the still (the building) is only captureable, and experssed, on film. In turn, the stillness of the building is understood in a way that is unexpressable on a photograph, a painting, or whatever.
Of course, maybe there are some obscure purpose to this stretching of the symphony too? I really don't know - one thing the class taught me was that art is wayyyy over my head.
Wow this is like Andy Warhol's film "Empire", only that it is probabbly not as artistically creative for its time.
...
for those that don't know - Empire is a film where he (Andy Warhol) put a camera aiming at the empire state building in the morning, started the film, and let it ran EIGHT HOURS.
right up there with watching corn grow and whatever.
silly people that do silly things in the name of art.
What laws were broken by selling stuff to China? the companies are doing what they are there to do - to make a buck; while the moral grounds on which these actions stand may be questionable, so far the story does not provide any evidence whatsoever that these companies are breaking US or Chinese laws.
At the same time, I just want to repeat Lenin's lil phrase "A capitalist will sell the ropes for the hanging of another capitalist".
To a great (and depressing) extent, this is very true. Corporations are not doing things because they are The Right Thing (tm), but because it makes more profits. But then the reason for corporations to exist is always to make profits, so what the hell you guys expect? look at all the company motto and "visionary statement", around and around it circles the "stockholders." Not the hungry kids in wherever, not the mother earth, and sure as heck not the principles of all that's good and right.
So to have a system like this, you gotta live with the consequences, which is that sometimes companies will do morally questionable things, and sometimes illegal things. the illegal we can bust them - but the morally questionable, well...
Lastly, what you guys think if the US government started buying censoring technology, MS, Sun, Cisco, whoever won't jump on it right away? and how exactly is that any better from selling the same technology to China / Cuba / whatever?
It would exactly resemble what SUVs will look like a few decades down the line, given the current trend of "one bigger-ness".
So what we can besically do is wait till Ford re-produce (haha) the Excursion for the 5th time, and launch one, and we can all live lafely within its humongous tires.
so if i wrap this in double-side tape and shape it like a bat, i can go and throw it around on cars and track their location in the name of fighting crime?
(speaking of which, since this stuff was in superhero books for the longest time - was there anything remotely similar before this?)
you are right that we as public cannot buy them yet. but that does not mean it's not there.
moller international has been working on flying cars for a while now and it's very near completion. I would recommend reading more about it here(about middle of page) at zzz.
You can also invest in his company. stock symbol is MLER or something.
Just some observation I have since I am in Japan and everything.
Microsoft (or BSA, anyhow) seem to be spending a lot (i mean a LOT) more money here on "anti-piracy" campains than in the US.
Trains are usually littered with BSA (piracy is crime) posters, and they have a HUGE (like maybe 40 feet across) sign in front of Shinjuku station (you know, downtown tokyo and all).
At the same time, I havn't seen free-software related stuff at all since I have been here. It might be the language barrier, but ancedotally speaking, I don't think I am seeing the same % of shelf space devoted to linux than in the US.
Unless some guy was named "Jennifer," which would explain why he whould be hiding at home spending that much time on legos.
FYI:
back when they had the drafts (vietnam, etc) people bitched about the drinking and dying for your country argument and they lowered the limits to 18 (voting, drinking, etc). later everything went back to 21, but the voting age stayed at 18. I hear, though, that if you are in the military on assignment, you can drink while on the base. =)
will some military personnel confirm this?
Rented a Chevy cavalier for two days from LaGuadia (LGA), it was like 78/day with the insane taxes (yeah, really, for a cavalier - but I *had* to, so alright, I will part the 155 dollars).
When I returned it, they charged me 110 dollar *per*day* of "under age fee" because I am under 25. AND they taxed the fscking fee (at the same 17-18% rate which I have no idea where comes from)! is that funny, eh? considering in CA AVIS charges like 10-15 dollars for the same underage deal, I can just smell "bullshit."
If I didn't check the reciept, they'd probabbly just let it slip (I think if you don't file a complaint right away or some such, you waive your rights after a certain time). Eventually it got sorted out and such, but still it took a several phone calls, placed on hold, explanations, transfered, re-explanations, the whole works.
Point is, be careful out there, guys (and gals) - companies will rape you when they have the chance, so check your bills and add things up. And yeah - renting from AVIS in LGA is not a good idea.
playing chess?
I mean... and they let that chinese dude (who stole nuclear secrets and whatnot) get away with it?
at least target people who can remotely have access to important stuff, man.
fp, btw, maybe
over 90% of CDs sold in China is pirated
well NO SHIT considering the average chinese citizen has a YEARLY purchasing power of 3,000 US dollars. that's 250 dollars per month, and you think people will shell out 15 dollars for a CD?
Of course, similar to the US (90% of the money is controled by 10% of people), chinese economic ladder is skewed too -- so actually the average family subsides on 100-150 dollars per month usually.
hence, all the "oh my god 4.6 billion dollars lost sale" is so bullshit that you can't even begin.
interesting side note: since there are so many people there, even though the average purchasing power is only 3000 (actually comparable to many nations (for example, in africa) that's starving), it still makes china the second largest economic power in the world.
but don't ever, EVER think people there can afford "legit" music, software, and all the crap we buy while taking the disposible income for granted.
not sure if you are trying to be funny - but in case you are not - comdex has several shows throughout the year and one is hosted in chicago. It's not the biggest of the shows amongst comdex, but comparatively it was still probabbly the biggest computer / IT show chicago gets every year.
Heh... you think renting out the entire McCormick Place (Chicago) for a week is cheap?
Anyway - most people who goes there are free-riding; the visitor's pass is "supposed" to be 99 dollars or whatever, but you can get it for free ANYWHERE. in fact you can register for it officially on Comdex website too if you do it early enough. They say it's "limited time only" or some such bs, but that's what it is, bs.
Then again, companies are not showing up to trade shows as much as they used to be, or are renting a smaller booth, becomming a smaller sponsor (i.e. from platinum level down to gold level) or not sponsoring at all. (Sponsoring is when you pay them big bux and they put your logo on the T-shirt / booklets / whatever) - the level of sponsorship determines the size of you logo, where it appears, etc.
An example (not Comdex) on the low-attendence is this year's ITC (International Test Conference), which is one of the most important conference / tradeshow / whatever for the ATE (automated test equipment) manufactures. Teradyne, Credense, NP Test (read: Schlumberger) all decided to not show up at ALL; no booth, no seminar, no salesperson, nothing. These are some of the biggest names in the industry. I think the only two big-names that did show was Advantest and Agilent (I'm not sure about Agilent, actually).
As for real paying visitors, they are dropping even more than the companies - Other conferences actually have REAL SEMINARS where people might pay to see, but Comdex, IIRC, never had anything informational.
Besides, the stupid show went downhill way before the dotcom bubble bursted. Back in 99/00 (i can't remember clearly), they had 1/3 of the floor filled with resellers / distributors that sell cases and powersupplies and such. not even nearly related to "technologically innovative." No new technology, no new information, just a big organized garage sell.
I still got the free passes to go there for a few years even after that, but every year figured that it was not even worth my time since nothing would be interesting there. I do eventually want to go to E3, though - that still have lots of steam and seem to be actually getting bigger.
real-time video feed from kite
sure is a lot cheaper than a remote control helicopter. =)
i grant you that, but - erm - it's not like they havn't already made bipedal robots that can walk around (MIT labs) and do better than this.
speaking of which, why DO they make this quadruped anyhow? biological stuff can't use wheel/tracks but that doesn't prevent robots from using them.
wtf? that's like saying I can't step over gaps of 1 feet.
screw THAT.
as much as this (middle of page) is unethical, i think it will do better.
and it's SANYO, not SHARP. get it straight, yall.
p.s. the link is april fools joke. don't flame me.
Is it me or the tablet PC concept from MS (see the flash demo) and the Sharp Zauru have almost exact same design beside the size?
well, and the linux...