Interesting thing about "proximity detector" loops...there's more to them than meets the eye
It's obvious why they are present at signaled intersections, but...
Ever wonder why there are such loops in non-signaled or remote places like the highway/freeway out in the middle of the boonies?
They are there to read the RFID tags which are embedded in most car tires manufactured in the last several years.
These tags are not quite the microscopic version currently being considered by WalMart ? Gilette etc, but based upon the design used on railroad cars (that rectangular box about the size of a dollar bill mounted on the side of virtually every rail car)
In most cases, the original tires delivered from the factory are flashed with the VIN of the vehicle they are installed on.
When you buy new tires, look at your purchase receipt and/or warranty sheet. You will see there is a unique serial number for each tire.
Unless altered (purposely programmed) this is the RFID code for the tire and it is indexed to the buyer just as effectively as a firearm is indexed to the buyer by its serial number.
Basically, the government has a means to know where you have been and when.
Patriot Act provisions essentially legalize these methods, where in the past, investigators credited their miraculous leaps of investigative progress to "intuition".
Instead of shutting them off, how about redirecting all internet activity of the victim/perpetrator to a static web page they must repeatedly click to bypass?
For most users this would be adequate notification and encouragement to fix the problem.
If the State of New Hampshire used Diebold, it would be interesting to file suit there.
The Constitution of NH includes as Article 10:
[Art.] 10. [Right of Revolution.] Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance ag ainst arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
This is one of the most clearly delineated passages anywhere in American law pertaining to the ultimate rights and, more importantly, RESPONSIBILITIES of citizens.
For every positive prediction, there is an equal negative one.
Some cycles are routine enough to be usable any time.
The simple fact that there is a growing population as well as a growing government in the US indicates there will be at least some sort of spending to accomodate these people.
Further, the growth of government and associated functions (e.g. financial, medical, personal records accessable for Patriot Act requires more technology) indicates added spending.
The backbreaker is how to make predictions which show growth in one venue (business IT spending) when, on the other hand, so much is being exported overseas, resulting in fewer workers earning higher salaries and fewer total workers contributing proportionally to the tax base.
Bottom line?
Just because some companies are buying more stuff does not necessarily extrapolate to a better life for the worker bees.
In fact, evidence would suggest the typical worker in a civilized country is at greater risk of financial ruin and more likely to be unemployed or underemployed in order for the companies to internalize profit by pillaging the world.
Nobody is arguing that Linux is not extensible, nor that it is inferior. Only that the fervor surrounding many efforts is far out of scale with the utility of the effort.
With reference to the XBox, there is the constant irritant of having to look over your shoulder to see if some change has been made that causes all the mods to be for naught. All the sudden, some game won't run, or some generic update crashes the mods. Just buy a PC for PC use and an XBox for gaming.
It seems that many of the stereotypical, antisocial, or at least socially retarded, moms-basement-dwelling unix geeks just fail to accept the rest of the world out there is perfectly happy with M$ et.al.
Yet M$ is driven as much or more by MARKETING as by genuine programming/innovation.
Perhaps a bit of this mindset applied to Open Source's world would help these efforts emerge from "geeky", arcane, and suspect to not only acceptable, but sought out by the common user.
Isn't that what you want? Or is the stigma of social rejection being worn as some sort of perverse robe of martyrdom?
Though the portability of Linux is cook, one must ask why is there such an effort to install Linux on every possible device?
Especially since virtually all such efforts result in a device less flexible, less reliable and harder to use than the original. (XBox?)
Perhaps combining these various pools of skill (which I do not minimalize or trivialize for a moment) and supporting some real helpful and Linux-promoting projects would be a better use of resources?
For instance, if Linux is to be a real competitor to Windows, how about using these skills to build simple distros and simple methods of installing and uninstalling apps on them that do not require arcane command line utilities and other tasks. Just insert the CD or click on the download and be done.
Usability based on installability is the achilles heel of Linux for the masses.
Until folks realize this and redirect their efforts to more useful pursuits, installing Linux by destroying a perfectly good AP is no more useful than installing it on a stapler.
Right now, a typical PC user without Linux is like an Astronaut without an accordian.
Bittorrent is a distributed filesharing app/client.
It isn't for distributing Linux builds exclusively, but rather is used much like kazaa etc, for all sorts of content.
There is a client for Windows, of course.
I think the original poster was pointing out the fact that various Bittorrent Trackers have been offering OSX Panther for a few weeks now by downloading 3 seperate CD Images.
One might look at the current state of affairs at:
To some point, I agree, however "Brute Force" has the ability to yield results which are trusted based on the complexity of the algorithm and the enormous number of iterations.
This trust in the machine and the associated lack of hands-on computation and evaluation of the intermediate results (instead just wait for a result to pop out)allows faulty logic or programming to gain credibility based upon the mass of the process rather than the accuracy of the result.
If a researcher does not have the skills to perform the computations to conclusion without brute force, does the researcher necessarily have the skills to write a functional and correct algorithm? Does brute force mean the death of innovative and elegant computational innovations?
For instance, a basic calculus student learns simple integrals such as area under a curve and learns to deliver an accurate result based upon an elegant computational tool.
The same problem solved by a computer, even in simplest form, is indeed brute forced by repeated calculation of individual slices under the curve.
If the human were to use the computer's method, the calculations would run pages and pages as each slice is individually processed.
Thus does the present crop of mathmeticians pursue the elegant solution of developing methods which give acurate answers (i.e. integration) or do they look less at the theory and relationship of numbers and simply develop iterative algorithms?
This is roughly analogous to the curent state of auto repair where the technician plugs in a computer diagnostic and then replaces the component module rather than examine the car and use a developed process of logic and intuition to arrive at the result.
Pretty amazing how so much theory of mathematics was developed before electricity!!!
It came with "Microsoft Reader" installed and the included book was Michael Crichton's "Timeline".
I truly enjoyed using it, and found it easy to read, especially indoors or in low light, but impossible outdoors.
I looked for more books at bn.com and few were available in the MSR format. Worse yet, the DRM element made portability not quite impossible, but certainly excruciating.
Availability would be a simple hurdle to overcome; just render the existing source file in the appropriate format.
The DRM is again a GREED-DRIVEN issue. Even though there are many fewer e-Book readers than print book readers, publishers fear sharing and thus limit availability and price the things right up with paper books.
Since paperbacks are now usually $7.99 ($4.49 at Costco-limited selection), I buy fewer than I would like, but for $2.00-$4.00 per downloadable e-Book, or the ability to buy bundles of an author's entire catalog, it would be great.
Also books out of print would be much easier to source in an eBook format.
The devices will continue to evolve, but the major impediment to eBooks remains that the publishing houses are even further behind the music labels when it comes to technology. (fortunately, they appear to be less rabid than RIAA/MPAA too)
Maybe also do some value-added stuff for PURCHASERS who register their book? Collect points toward free books? Win autographed new releases? New reader device with subscription ala Cell Phone revenue model?
GIVE ME PORTABLE, INEXPENSIVE EBOOKS OF CURRENT RELEASES AND I'LL BUY THEM.
This is getting to sound like the story last year where the guy in England burned his crank on a laptop that got hot while he was engrossed in porn.
If people are uncomfortable with a hot phone on their ear, perhaps try a headset?
Maybe also keep your phone somewhere that the terminals don't get shorted out with gum wrappers or whatever.
Would be interesting to sit outside a Coca Cola bottling plant with the equipment necessary to listen for GPS broadcasts.
Likely, the can could not be bottled on the factory line, but rather would be done en-masse offsite and the radio cans distributed to individual bottling plants. Ever note the local/regional labeling of cans?
Sure would be funny to find out the mechanism and put one in a Pepsi can!!! (any Pepsi bottlers interested in this???)
Does this now mean they can't ban the sale of certain items?
It is really quite surprising what is on the eBay "Banned Items List", from which if you sell an item, they will stop your auction and threaten to terminate your account.
But as a Common Carrier, they could not do this, just as your local phone company cannot regulate the contents of your conversation.
I was a doubter of these things because I have several devices to control from several different vendors and the remotes are all unique as are the names of the commands.
I tried a button-based universal and found that I could not remember what particular key did exactly what for which device.
So I figured I'd use an Amazon gift certificate I had to try a Pronto TSU3000. ($248)
First look was a bit frustrating, but I figured out the trick.
I took every one of my remotes and taught the pronto every single IR code. For instance, on my reciever, the buttons do different things if you are in VCR, DVD, LD, CD, MA, Tuner, Aux, Phono, TV modes, so I taught every possible signal.
Then I did this task for every remote I own.
Put all of these code pages in "hidden devices" so you can link to whatever entry you need.
Then I built an ACTIVITY BASED menu.
I have 2 young kids so simplicity was a must. I set up a home page with a photo of the girls on it. They push this to get to their choices. I reserve control of the Global Power ON and OFF functions because I can maintain sync, which they cannot reliably do.
Now by pressing on the photo icon of TV, DVD, or VCR, they control which media they want to watch and get a very basic set of buttons to push.
For example on TV, they have the graphical logos of Nickelodeon, Cartoon, Disney, Animal Planet and PBS Kids.
Hard buttons perform volume, channel and mute for whichever device is selected.
Other hard buttons toggle back to HOME, back to "KID TV", or to go to "DAD TV" and discrete "Power" pages. Each requires further action to alter anything so the kids rarely mess anything up if they even get out of their menu tree, which is actually far more rare than messing something up with 7-8 different remotes we used previously.
Of course, in the "DAD TV" mode, I have cascading pages built in order of frequently used functions and groups right down the line so every action possible on every remote is available and even labeled with text "help" files.
The ability to link allows you to build a basic DVD page that also lets you toggle the theatre sound mode of the reciever without changing pages.
You can build as many pages as you like and arrange them however you like and use any graphic you like as a button.
Easy or simple. However you like it.
Then I tried RF, which the TSU3000 offers. Now my HTPC can also be controlled by my Pronto. My ATI Remote Wonder is not necessary any more.
This thing can even emulate at least some RF keyboards, and almost certainly any other PC-IR device.
The Pronto Edit app (PENG) uses a USB cable and can actually "test" commands from the Pronto, sending them to the device.
There is a "simulate" mode too, so you can use the PC to preview the look and navigation before downloading to the Pronto.
I expect that eventually the "Simulate" mode will detect if a Pronto is attached to the USB so that "Simulate" will actually allow the remote control of a Pronto from a PC with PENG installed and a USB port.
The complaint about tactile feedback is understandable, but the writer must not have used the TSU3000.
It has 5 assignable hard buttons on the right side, I use them for V+, V-, Mute, Ch+ and CH-.
There are also 4 hard buttons at the bottom of the screen of which 3 are programmable. (well, 2 right now as firmware won't allow the 4th to be programmed...all it does is turn on backlight without sending any command)
Then the bottom front has 4 more programmable access buttons arranged around a large 5-way thumb button.
So if you want tactile, set each device to those frequently used commands and keep your eyes on the screen.
If you want to do more sophisticated actions, the backlight lets you leave the lights off as you go through the menus.
No matter the remote, you're going to need to take your eyes off the TV to do involved tasks. You need to read the buttons. For instance, pick
Re:Encryption of regular phone?
on
Snooping on VOIP
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· Score: 1
Been around for a long time.
I used the STU-III secure phone back in the late 1980s.
http://www.tscm.com/STUIIIhandbook.html
Incremental not revolutionary
on
Dual-headed Laptops
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· Score: 3, Interesting
While I think a working one of these devices would be pretty "cool" to own, and it would certainly be a conversation piece, it still lacks any huge increase in usability.
Handwriting recognition is still slower and requires more QA editing than keyboard typing.
Touchscreen keyboards are marginal at best.
Not all applications are or can be made "pen aware" just because the PC itself is. If you need an example, try chnging your iPaq or Jornada to Landscape mode and watch how certain functions become lost and irrecoverable off the screen.
This solution certainly provides a different and interesting way of getting information OUT of the laptop, but it does so at a sacrifice to the means and ease of getting it IN.
Until there are new and functional means of accessing the user interface such as effective and accurate speech recognition or 3D gesturing ala "Minority Report", these gizmos just don't offer enough outside of a very few niche applications to qualify as revolutionary.
If the chip is half-bad, there are good chances that it has defects in the other half. Usually, it's a problem with the process and not just random quirks.
Not true. All processes are subject to variation.
When a wafer is produced with hundreds or thousands of discrete die on it, some are always better than others. For instance, in the 5" process where the first Pentiums were fabricated, you could have a yield of 60%-80% good die with those 60%-80% spanning a whole range of marked chip speeds. Same process, same wafer, different mhz. Different price when sold.
If you've ever seen a fab in production, you would also see steps where manual (vacuum wand) handling is needed. Even in the filtered air of a clean room, the open movement of a wafer handled like this often leads to particles becoming affixed to the surface. The smaller the process (e.g..09u vs..9u)the more damage a single particle can do.
Process washings with chemicals or pure water do a good job of assuring no (well, few) particles stay affixed, but even so, some steps of metrology show that all cannot be avoided.
Will a single particle hurt a single die? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on where it lands and at what step in the process.
Once the die are tested for yield and function and sorted by this performance, they are sold in batches.
Not every die is tested completely though, but rather a restrictive set of "tell-tale" measurements are taken on most (at good fabs) and exhaustive testing done only on a small sample. Lots of statistical analysis helps know what to test and how hard to test it.
Move to the final assembler, and all sorts of production glitches can cause bad modules. Primarily though, either minimally qualifying RAM or random sample tested RAM makes it into generic modules. Still, all the other components, the circuit board, connectors and solder itself can contribute to problems.
In any case, the bad part in any chip is likely local because even minimal QA testing will eliminate obvious or widespread failures.
Of course, piss-poor process does yield chips more prone to failure by breakdown of the traces or local thermal failure due to bubbles, impurities, or poor assembly.
Imagine if these "mathematical patterns and structures in music that until now have been hidden" can be extracted and then applied to existing recordings which haven't done as well as the labels hoped or to new recordings in order to enhance their success subliminally.
As an example, what if these secret signals were applied to remaster William Shatner's old recordings?
Considering the marketing dollars spent on consoles (X Box, PS2 etc.), not to mention the rental availability of games for these (but not for PCs) it strikes me as odd that so much effort goes essentially to the PC Gaming field when there must be similarly valuable enhancements geared to home, business, digital video, mobile users etc.
Myself, I toggle between an array of different video adapters via KVM switch, and in general use other than games, cannot visually tell the difference between a Radeon7000 and Radeon9700 (always 1280x1024x32).
There is so much horsepower on these top cards we ought to see (visually observe without benchmark hair-splitting) the results in a wider range of everyday uses.
What I would like to see the video card manufacturers deliver:
1. Easy driver upgrades (Hint ATI...you guys ever let Windows Update update your drivers??? )
2. Wider range of screen sizing/positioning options in driver utility.(Big help for KVM users)
3. Better TV output adjustment options and ability to read the info in the broadcast overscan areas (even the ATI AIW8500DV delivers a poor screen geometry at the edges compared to other signal sources...tuner is great though)
4. Incorporate monitor.inf in driver utility in an editable format to allow closer match than with the typical "Default Monitor" Perhaps "User Settings? Let user set min/max refresh parameters from owners manual or even a series of tested configs such as GAME, PHOTO COLOR, TEXT, SPREADSHEET which can be toggled between.
5. Continuous micro-adjustable refresh rate slide bar to optimize flicker reduction (no Apply necessary until you hit the one you want to keep)
6. Landscape/Portrait/Invert/Rotate/Mirror settings
7. Color calibrator hardware option (Print out a test pic on your color printer, scan corresponding paper and screen areas and make screen reflect what your printer is going to generate)
8. DVD direct-connect mode...ought to be able to watch a skip-free DVD on a $300 card if you can on a $45 Apex DVD player..we already plug the optical drives to the sound cards)
9. A new connector that doesn't stick out so far (Gotta love the size of those DVI-Analog adapters)
10. Temperature monitoring output (either to a front panel display or to an unused chassis fan header on the mobo)
11. Despite all my wishes for more features, I'd love a huge crate of these cards to fall off a truck in front of my house!'
Slashdot Mirror
It's obvious why they are present at signaled intersections, but...
Ever wonder why there are such loops in non-signaled or remote places like the highway/freeway out in the middle of the boonies?
They are there to read the RFID tags which are embedded in most car tires manufactured in the last several years.
These tags are not quite the microscopic version currently being considered by WalMart ? Gilette etc, but based upon the design used on railroad cars (that rectangular box about the size of a dollar bill mounted on the side of virtually every rail car)
In most cases, the original tires delivered from the factory are flashed with the VIN of the vehicle they are installed on.
When you buy new tires, look at your purchase receipt and/or warranty sheet. You will see there is a unique serial number for each tire.
Unless altered (purposely programmed) this is the RFID code for the tire and it is indexed to the buyer just as effectively as a firearm is indexed to the buyer by its serial number.
Basically, the government has a means to know where you have been and when.
Patriot Act provisions essentially legalize these methods, where in the past, investigators credited their miraculous leaps of investigative progress to "intuition".
There is a system for transit: Opticom has two levels of preemption. Low for Transit / DOT vehicles etc. High for Emergency.
For most users this would be adequate notification and encouragement to fix the problem.
It's not an earthshaking loss to give up the Intellectual Property claim on one days work, or even a few days on a small project.
But to lose all possibility of future profit from a major project because as soon as you are done, it essentially becomes public domain is insanity.
How many Linux titles (apps, not OS) do you see on sale at your friendly neighborhood computer store?
None. Because everything ends up free to download.
Now imagine the entire software industry if this were the case. Heck, even the hardware companies would be screwed if their code was GPLd.
Profit is not evil, nor is protection of IP.
But when I see something as useful as this, I have to hand it to the developers.
Now a whole family of contemporary laptops have been rendered fully functional under Linux.
Fully functional DESPITE THE INTENTIONAL NEGLECT BY THE CORE VENDORS.
One must wonder why OEM support for Linux is so fragmented; sometimes superb, sometimes completely absent.
Could it be that the financial aspects of Linux make it less appealing somehow? After all, it would be crazy for Intel et.al. to omit Windows support.
Good work guys!
The Constitution of NH includes as Article 10:
[Art.] 10. [Right of Revolution.] Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance ag ainst arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
This is one of the most clearly delineated passages anywhere in American law pertaining to the ultimate rights and, more importantly, RESPONSIBILITIES of citizens.
Some cycles are routine enough to be usable any time.
The simple fact that there is a growing population as well as a growing government in the US indicates there will be at least some sort of spending to accomodate these people.
Further, the growth of government and associated functions (e.g. financial, medical, personal records accessable for Patriot Act requires more technology) indicates added spending.
The backbreaker is how to make predictions which show growth in one venue (business IT spending) when, on the other hand, so much is being exported overseas, resulting in fewer workers earning higher salaries and fewer total workers contributing proportionally to the tax base.
Bottom line?
Just because some companies are buying more stuff does not necessarily extrapolate to a better life for the worker bees.
In fact, evidence would suggest the typical worker in a civilized country is at greater risk of financial ruin and more likely to be unemployed or underemployed in order for the companies to internalize profit by pillaging the world.
Cynical? You bet!
Your spelling errors outnumber mine.
Nobody is arguing that Linux is not extensible, nor that it is inferior. Only that the fervor surrounding many efforts is far out of scale with the utility of the effort.
With reference to the XBox, there is the constant irritant of having to look over your shoulder to see if some change has been made that causes all the mods to be for naught. All the sudden, some game won't run, or some generic update crashes the mods. Just buy a PC for PC use and an XBox for gaming.
It seems that many of the stereotypical, antisocial, or at least socially retarded, moms-basement-dwelling unix geeks just fail to accept the rest of the world out there is perfectly happy with M$ et.al.
Yet M$ is driven as much or more by MARKETING as by genuine programming/innovation.
Perhaps a bit of this mindset applied to Open Source's world would help these efforts emerge from "geeky", arcane, and suspect to not only acceptable, but sought out by the common user.
Isn't that what you want? Or is the stigma of social rejection being worn as some sort of perverse robe of martyrdom?
Basically, Twitter, grow up.
Especially since virtually all such efforts result in a device less flexible, less reliable and harder to use than the original. (XBox?)
Perhaps combining these various pools of skill (which I do not minimalize or trivialize for a moment) and supporting some real helpful and Linux-promoting projects would be a better use of resources?
For instance, if Linux is to be a real competitor to Windows, how about using these skills to build simple distros and simple methods of installing and uninstalling apps on them that do not require arcane command line utilities and other tasks. Just insert the CD or click on the download and be done.
Usability based on installability is the achilles heel of Linux for the masses.
Until folks realize this and redirect their efforts to more useful pursuits, installing Linux by destroying a perfectly good AP is no more useful than installing it on a stapler.
Right now, a typical PC user without Linux is like an Astronaut without an accordian.
It isn't for distributing Linux builds exclusively, but rather is used much like kazaa etc, for all sorts of content.
There is a client for Windows, of course.
I think the original poster was pointing out the fact that various Bittorrent Trackers have been offering OSX Panther for a few weeks now by downloading 3 seperate CD Images.
One might look at the current state of affairs at:
http://forums.torrentskickass.com/macboard/viewtop ic.php?t=4390
Interestingly, the easiest way to download is a Windows PC, but the image format is easiest to burn on a Mac.
This trust in the machine and the associated lack of hands-on computation and evaluation of the intermediate results (instead just wait for a result to pop out)allows faulty logic or programming to gain credibility based upon the mass of the process rather than the accuracy of the result.
If a researcher does not have the skills to perform the computations to conclusion without brute force, does the researcher necessarily have the skills to write a functional and correct algorithm? Does brute force mean the death of innovative and elegant computational innovations?
For instance, a basic calculus student learns simple integrals such as area under a curve and learns to deliver an accurate result based upon an elegant computational tool.
The same problem solved by a computer, even in simplest form, is indeed brute forced by repeated calculation of individual slices under the curve.
If the human were to use the computer's method, the calculations would run pages and pages as each slice is individually processed.
Thus does the present crop of mathmeticians pursue the elegant solution of developing methods which give acurate answers (i.e. integration) or do they look less at the theory and relationship of numbers and simply develop iterative algorithms?
This is roughly analogous to the curent state of auto repair where the technician plugs in a computer diagnostic and then replaces the component module rather than examine the car and use a developed process of logic and intuition to arrive at the result.
Pretty amazing how so much theory of mathematics was developed before electricity!!!
http://www.equalccw.com/dieboldtestnotes.html
Interesting how companies with close ties to the DOD came up with advanced integrated circuits so soon afterwards. When was Intel founded?
It came with "Microsoft Reader" installed and the included book was Michael Crichton's "Timeline".
I truly enjoyed using it, and found it easy to read, especially indoors or in low light, but impossible outdoors.
I looked for more books at bn.com and few were available in the MSR format. Worse yet, the DRM element made portability not quite impossible, but certainly excruciating.
Availability would be a simple hurdle to overcome; just render the existing source file in the appropriate format.
The DRM is again a GREED-DRIVEN issue. Even though there are many fewer e-Book readers than print book readers, publishers fear sharing and thus limit availability and price the things right up with paper books.
Since paperbacks are now usually $7.99 ($4.49 at Costco-limited selection), I buy fewer than I would like, but for $2.00-$4.00 per downloadable e-Book, or the ability to buy bundles of an author's entire catalog, it would be great.
Also books out of print would be much easier to source in an eBook format.
The devices will continue to evolve, but the major impediment to eBooks remains that the publishing houses are even further behind the music labels when it comes to technology. (fortunately, they appear to be less rabid than RIAA/MPAA too)
Maybe also do some value-added stuff for PURCHASERS who register their book? Collect points toward free books? Win autographed new releases? New reader device with subscription ala Cell Phone revenue model?
GIVE ME PORTABLE, INEXPENSIVE EBOOKS OF CURRENT RELEASES AND I'LL BUY THEM.
This is getting to sound like the story last year where the guy in England burned his crank on a laptop that got hot while he was engrossed in porn.
If people are uncomfortable with a hot phone on their ear, perhaps try a headset?
Maybe also keep your phone somewhere that the terminals don't get shorted out with gum wrappers or whatever.
Would be interesting to sit outside a Coca Cola bottling plant with the equipment necessary to listen for GPS broadcasts. Likely, the can could not be bottled on the factory line, but rather would be done en-masse offsite and the radio cans distributed to individual bottling plants. Ever note the local/regional labeling of cans? Sure would be funny to find out the mechanism and put one in a Pepsi can!!! (any Pepsi bottlers interested in this???)
Just like Cringely's download fee schedule, I think!!!
It is really quite surprising what is on the eBay "Banned Items List", from which if you sell an item, they will stop your auction and threaten to terminate your account.
But as a Common Carrier, they could not do this, just as your local phone company cannot regulate the contents of your conversation.
Any attorney out there want to tackle this one?
I tried a button-based universal and found that I could not remember what particular key did exactly what for which device.
So I figured I'd use an Amazon gift certificate I had to try a Pronto TSU3000. ($248)
First look was a bit frustrating, but I figured out the trick.
I took every one of my remotes and taught the pronto every single IR code. For instance, on my reciever, the buttons do different things if you are in VCR, DVD, LD, CD, MA, Tuner, Aux, Phono, TV modes, so I taught every possible signal. Then I did this task for every remote I own.
Put all of these code pages in "hidden devices" so you can link to whatever entry you need.
Then I built an ACTIVITY BASED menu.
I have 2 young kids so simplicity was a must. I set up a home page with a photo of the girls on it. They push this to get to their choices. I reserve control of the Global Power ON and OFF functions because I can maintain sync, which they cannot reliably do.
Now by pressing on the photo icon of TV, DVD, or VCR, they control which media they want to watch and get a very basic set of buttons to push.
For example on TV, they have the graphical logos of Nickelodeon, Cartoon, Disney, Animal Planet and PBS Kids.
Hard buttons perform volume, channel and mute for whichever device is selected.
Other hard buttons toggle back to HOME, back to "KID TV", or to go to "DAD TV" and discrete "Power" pages. Each requires further action to alter anything so the kids rarely mess anything up if they even get out of their menu tree, which is actually far more rare than messing something up with 7-8 different remotes we used previously.
Of course, in the "DAD TV" mode, I have cascading pages built in order of frequently used functions and groups right down the line so every action possible on every remote is available and even labeled with text "help" files.
The ability to link allows you to build a basic DVD page that also lets you toggle the theatre sound mode of the reciever without changing pages.
You can build as many pages as you like and arrange them however you like and use any graphic you like as a button.
Easy or simple. However you like it.
Then I tried RF, which the TSU3000 offers. Now my HTPC can also be controlled by my Pronto. My ATI Remote Wonder is not necessary any more.
This thing can even emulate at least some RF keyboards, and almost certainly any other PC-IR device.
The Pronto Edit app (PENG) uses a USB cable and can actually "test" commands from the Pronto, sending them to the device.
There is a "simulate" mode too, so you can use the PC to preview the look and navigation before downloading to the Pronto.
I expect that eventually the "Simulate" mode will detect if a Pronto is attached to the USB so that "Simulate" will actually allow the remote control of a Pronto from a PC with PENG installed and a USB port.
The complaint about tactile feedback is understandable, but the writer must not have used the TSU3000. It has 5 assignable hard buttons on the right side, I use them for V+, V-, Mute, Ch+ and CH-.
There are also 4 hard buttons at the bottom of the screen of which 3 are programmable. (well, 2 right now as firmware won't allow the 4th to be programmed...all it does is turn on backlight without sending any command)
Then the bottom front has 4 more programmable access buttons arranged around a large 5-way thumb button.
So if you want tactile, set each device to those frequently used commands and keep your eyes on the screen.
If you want to do more sophisticated actions, the backlight lets you leave the lights off as you go through the menus.
No matter the remote, you're going to need to take your eyes off the TV to do involved tasks. You need to read the buttons. For instance, pick
Been around for a long time. I used the STU-III secure phone back in the late 1980s. http://www.tscm.com/STUIIIhandbook.html
Handwriting recognition is still slower and requires more QA editing than keyboard typing.
Touchscreen keyboards are marginal at best.
Not all applications are or can be made "pen aware" just because the PC itself is. If you need an example, try chnging your iPaq or Jornada to Landscape mode and watch how certain functions become lost and irrecoverable off the screen.
This solution certainly provides a different and interesting way of getting information OUT of the laptop, but it does so at a sacrifice to the means and ease of getting it IN.
Until there are new and functional means of accessing the user interface such as effective and accurate speech recognition or 3D gesturing ala "Minority Report", these gizmos just don't offer enough outside of a very few niche applications to qualify as revolutionary.
Not true. All processes are subject to variation.
When a wafer is produced with hundreds or thousands of discrete die on it, some are always better than others. For instance, in the 5" process where the first Pentiums were fabricated, you could have a yield of 60%-80% good die with those 60%-80% spanning a whole range of marked chip speeds. Same process, same wafer, different mhz. Different price when sold.
If you've ever seen a fab in production, you would also see steps where manual (vacuum wand) handling is needed. Even in the filtered air of a clean room, the open movement of a wafer handled like this often leads to particles becoming affixed to the surface. The smaller the process (e.g. .09u vs..9u)the more damage a single particle can do.
Process washings with chemicals or pure water do a good job of assuring no (well, few) particles stay affixed, but even so, some steps of metrology show that all cannot be avoided.
Will a single particle hurt a single die? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on where it lands and at what step in the process.
Once the die are tested for yield and function and sorted by this performance, they are sold in batches.
Not every die is tested completely though, but rather a restrictive set of "tell-tale" measurements are taken on most (at good fabs) and exhaustive testing done only on a small sample. Lots of statistical analysis helps know what to test and how hard to test it.
Move to the final assembler, and all sorts of production glitches can cause bad modules. Primarily though, either minimally qualifying RAM or random sample tested RAM makes it into generic modules. Still, all the other components, the circuit board, connectors and solder itself can contribute to problems.
In any case, the bad part in any chip is likely local because even minimal QA testing will eliminate obvious or widespread failures.
Of course, piss-poor process does yield chips more prone to failure by breakdown of the traces or local thermal failure due to bubbles, impurities, or poor assembly.
It all depends upon the features you order the lines with. Less features, less cost. Beyond that, your PBX can be programmed in numerous ways.
Imagine if these "mathematical patterns and structures in music that until now have been hidden" can be extracted and then applied to existing recordings which haven't done as well as the labels hoped or to new recordings in order to enhance their success subliminally. As an example, what if these secret signals were applied to remaster William Shatner's old recordings?
Considering the marketing dollars spent on consoles (X Box, PS2 etc.), not to mention the rental availability of games for these (but not for PCs) it strikes me as odd that so much effort goes essentially to the PC Gaming field when there must be similarly valuable enhancements geared to home, business, digital video, mobile users etc. Myself, I toggle between an array of different video adapters via KVM switch, and in general use other than games, cannot visually tell the difference between a Radeon7000 and Radeon9700 (always 1280x1024x32). There is so much horsepower on these top cards we ought to see (visually observe without benchmark hair-splitting) the results in a wider range of everyday uses. What I would like to see the video card manufacturers deliver: 1. Easy driver upgrades (Hint ATI...you guys ever let Windows Update update your drivers??? ) 2. Wider range of screen sizing/positioning options in driver utility.(Big help for KVM users) 3. Better TV output adjustment options and ability to read the info in the broadcast overscan areas (even the ATI AIW8500DV delivers a poor screen geometry at the edges compared to other signal sources...tuner is great though) 4. Incorporate monitor .inf in driver utility in an editable format to allow closer match than with the typical "Default Monitor" Perhaps "User Settings? Let user set min/max refresh parameters from owners manual or even a series of tested configs such as GAME, PHOTO COLOR, TEXT, SPREADSHEET which can be toggled between.
5. Continuous micro-adjustable refresh rate slide bar to optimize flicker reduction (no Apply necessary until you hit the one you want to keep)
6. Landscape/Portrait/Invert/Rotate/Mirror settings
7. Color calibrator hardware option (Print out a test pic on your color printer, scan corresponding paper and screen areas and make screen reflect what your printer is going to generate)
8. DVD direct-connect mode...ought to be able to watch a skip-free DVD on a $300 card if you can on a $45 Apex DVD player..we already plug the optical drives to the sound cards)
9. A new connector that doesn't stick out so far (Gotta love the size of those DVI-Analog adapters)
10. Temperature monitoring output (either to a front panel display or to an unused chassis fan header on the mobo)
11. Despite all my wishes for more features, I'd love a huge crate of these cards to fall off a truck in front of my house!'