Airplanes have been able to land on auto pilot for years using the Instrument Landing System (ILS)!!
This is more about remote control of an air plane than automated landing. According to the article, digital commands were uploaded to the 747.
With all this technology already in place, it is certainly possible to develop systems to enable commercial air planes take off on auto-pilot too. But that will require huge costs in new infrastructure to be installed at airports similar to the ILS for landing. Real-time software testing costs will also be enormous. Maybe FedEx mighe be interested in funding this:-)
Features like this have lots of potential to cut down on paperwork by enhancing automation of routine tasks. For example, you might now need to fill out forms to signal that you have done a particular task. Instead, with this RFID reader in the phone, touch some tag and the information in the tag will be automatically sent to some remote database over wireless.
This could lead to opening up new ways to improve a company's operational processes, cutting out steps where digital data is ofen has to be retyped into a different system.
Moreover, vendors are now positioning smartphones more and more as "enterprise" productivity solution. Microsoft has also recently come out with a Location Based Services connector for Excahneg server that enables companies to monitor the location of thei service staff and route them efficiently by sending emails or test messages.
Myth: CAPPS II will track where and when I travel and will store that information.
Fact: For U.S. persons, information will only be kept for a short period after completion of the travel itinerary, and then it will be permanently destroyed. The prescreening process will be conducted anew each time you fly.
I don't think this will be possible at all. Consider the fact that the information that they collect about a person will have to be backed up to other media to provide recovery options in case of system failures in the CAPPPS II system. Then it will be virtually impossible to permanently remove data.
This is the same situation that Google recognized when it said that their GMail service cannot be guarantee that emails will be permanently deleted.
Well obviously google would have thought of all that. I am sure many programmers at Google would have done the exact same thing with iDrive, myfreespace.com etc that flourished during the dot com boom.
To test this out, i tried logging on to GMail using various username/password combinations. Google displays an error message like yahoo in these cases.
The interesting thing is that if you give an existing username and a blank password, then google goes to the next step AND tells me that my password is blank. In the next step, they ask for the content in a dynamically generated image, that is obfuscated enough not to allow image processing. I took a guess that there would ben account named a@gmail.com and struck gold.
Go on, try it out. GMail
Username:a
Leave the password field blank.
Here is how i think this could have a great impact.
Very importantly, Linux running on Windows can be used to train Windows users on migrating to Linux. No messy dual-booting setups required. Just copy Linux and "click to start".
Secondly, this opens up Linux for sampling to many more interested users who are wondering what the hype is all about. I am not talking about the typical Slashdot geek here. Instead normal people with techie inclinations who want to try out things.
Thirdly, it is an easier way for running pilot trials of Linux deployments in a corporate environment. As no extra servers are required, no extra money needs to be sent. Although administration effort will obviously increase, it won't be to the extent of twice the administration effort of the original Windows server on which Linux is running.
One huge barrier to Linux adoption is that management does not want to do a trial deployment at most times due to the cost involved. This will certainly mitigate that.
MS is going about it in a brilliant strategic way. They realize that it is not financially worthwhile for them to do it themselves. Instead they are getting the help of user who might want to use their product.
Right now upper Mongolia doesnt have a customised version of Linux or Windows. There is nothing to stop Upper Mongolia from creating a language pack for KDE. What MS has done is to provide an alternative to that, maybe at a lower cost.
Maybe you should take some time to understand the product before making lame-assed comments.
Groove is a groupware product first and foremost. P2P is just the method by which Grrove users exchange information.
Secondly, it is not like Kazaa where just about anyone has access to your shared files. Instead, users form workgroups to share information (documents and other files). Think peer workgroups.
Thirdly, it is fully encrypted end-to-end. Somebody might hack your machine, but wont be able to read your files. (Well maybe, if they start a distributed decrypting project, and run it for a few years). Means security is seamless and is part of the plumbing.
The power of Groove comes from the fact that you have:
1. Access to the latest versions of all shared documents all the time. (due to background synchronisation)
2. You can work offline. (The whole sharepoint site can be replicated on your laptop and replicated seamlessly in the background)
3. You can work across firewalls
Not surprisingly, Groove's biggest customers are consultancies which have employees who are constantly working from different locations without access to the company intranet. They get all the benfits of an intranet with Groove.
I have a Nokia 6510 that came with a CD containing the Nokia PC Suite. The Nokia PC Suite has an application called Nokia PC Sync that allows synchronisation between the phone and a wide variety of PIM including MS Outlook and Lotus Notes. The synchronisation can be done over infra-red or a COM port.
Nobody ever built a monopoly by being cool. You build a monopoly by being the cheapest out in the market, with a certain threshold quality level. Consistently.
Thats whats going to be the problem with the Apple. They will continue to have flashy transluscent players, but somebody will soon come up with a better design and supported advertising.
I work in one of the top 5 investment banks in the worls. Here too, we have a team of people evaluating Linux for the desktop - Linux Migration Specialists. Hell, we even have our own customized Linux build.
But the fact is that Linux is not going to be on corporate desktops for the next 5 years at least. By that time, MS would have refined their licensing to make sure it doesn't happen.
The important thing to note here is not if you can save money by moving to Linux, but whether the money you save is worth the loss in productivity arising out of this. Simple user interface issues spoil the day for normal non-techie users.
One thing that Lego could do is to license the LegOS spec to other interested companies. Such companies could then build Mindstrom-like hardware around their own implementation of the OS spec, with their own compilers and IDE's. This might also bring the price down if enough companies get into the act.
The actual toy built around a LegOS need not even be a brick kit like Mindstorms. Instead smaller toy companies could just use the OS to create pre-built sophisticated toys. They needn't go to the trouble of creating their own OS.
I use Lotus Notes V5 at work, and Outlook 2002 to connect to my old university mailbox (graduated, but still have a lifetime MS exchange mailbox:-) )
Basically, all the ideas are already properly implemented in Outlook 2003.
Threaded discussions
Search folders
you name it...
Btw Notes is one of the most clunky programs ever. I dont care about an open API just allow me to read my mail properly!
A group of 5 students (including myslef) did the same thing around 2 years back during our third year in CS - October 2001 - for the Microsoft Asia Student.NET competition. Implemented the Home Automation service as an XML web service that could be consumed by external applications (after authentication of course:) ) to view home status information as well as trigger actions on home devices remotely.
The devices were controlled by a software gateway on a central home computer thru Wi-Fi and the specifications for communication between the gateway and the home device were encapsulated in an XML driver.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2001/n ov01/11-14asia.asp http://it.asia1.com.sg/newsdaily/news003_20011030. html
Slashdot Mirror
Airplanes have been able to land on auto pilot for years using the Instrument Landing System (ILS)!!
:-)
This is more about remote control of an air plane than automated landing. According to the article, digital commands were uploaded to the 747.
With all this technology already in place, it is certainly possible to develop systems to enable commercial air planes take off on auto-pilot too. But that will require huge costs in new infrastructure to be installed at airports similar to the ILS for landing. Real-time software testing costs will also be enormous. Maybe FedEx mighe be interested in funding this
Features like this have lots of potential to cut down on paperwork by enhancing automation of routine tasks. For example, you might now need to fill out forms to signal that you have done a particular task. Instead, with this RFID reader in the phone, touch some tag and the information in the tag will be automatically sent to some remote database over wireless.
This could lead to opening up new ways to improve a company's operational processes, cutting out steps where digital data is ofen has to be retyped into a different system.
Moreover, vendors are now positioning smartphones more and more as "enterprise" productivity solution. Microsoft has also recently come out with a Location Based Services connector for Excahneg server that enables companies to monitor the location of thei service staff and route them efficiently by sending emails or test messages.
Myth: CAPPS II will track where and when I travel and will store that information.
Fact: For U.S. persons, information will only be kept for a short period after completion of the travel itinerary, and then it will be permanently destroyed. The prescreening process will be conducted anew each time you fly.
I don't think this will be possible at all. Consider the fact that the information that they collect about a person will have to be backed up to other media to provide recovery options in case of system failures in the CAPPPS II system. Then it will be virtually impossible to permanently remove data.
This is the same situation that Google recognized when it said that their GMail service cannot be guarantee that emails will be permanently deleted.
Well obviously google would have thought of all that. I am sure many programmers at Google would have done the exact same thing with iDrive, myfreespace.com etc that flourished during the dot com boom.
To test this out, i tried logging on to GMail using various username/password combinations. Google displays an error message like yahoo in these cases.
The interesting thing is that if you give an existing username and a blank password, then google goes to the next step AND tells me that my password is blank. In the next step, they ask for the content in a dynamically generated image, that is obfuscated enough not to allow image processing. I took a guess that there would ben account named a@gmail.com and struck gold.
Go on, try it out.
GMail
Username:a
Leave the password field blank.
Here is how i think this could have a great impact.
Very importantly, Linux running on Windows can be used to train Windows users on migrating to Linux. No messy dual-booting setups required. Just copy Linux and "click to start".
Secondly, this opens up Linux for sampling to many more interested users who are wondering what the hype is all about. I am not talking about the typical Slashdot geek here. Instead normal people with techie inclinations who want to try out things.
Thirdly, it is an easier way for running pilot trials of Linux deployments in a corporate environment. As no extra servers are required, no extra money needs to be sent. Although administration effort will obviously increase, it won't be to the extent of twice the administration effort of the original Windows server on which Linux is running.
One huge barrier to Linux adoption is that management does not want to do a trial deployment at most times due to the cost involved. This will certainly mitigate that.
Well, Gentoo begins with a G, anyway
Wow!! Great reason dude... Shall we all start programming in Lisp?
Dude
Did you check the date on that Economist article.
Yeah. And what will you do. Hack the source code??
Jeez, 99% of these fanatics dont even have the aptitude to understand OS code. There are not more than 100 regular contributors to the Linux kernel.
Just another example of twisted OSS thinking.
MS is going about it in a brilliant strategic way. They realize that it is not financially worthwhile for them to do it themselves. Instead they are getting the help of user who might want to use their product.
Right now upper Mongolia doesnt have a customised version of Linux or Windows. There is nothing to stop Upper Mongolia from creating a language pack for KDE. What MS has done is to provide an alternative to that, maybe at a lower cost.
Maybe you should take some time to understand the product before making lame-assed comments. Groove is a groupware product first and foremost. P2P is just the method by which Grrove users exchange information. Secondly, it is not like Kazaa where just about anyone has access to your shared files. Instead, users form workgroups to share information (documents and other files). Think peer workgroups. Thirdly, it is fully encrypted end-to-end. Somebody might hack your machine, but wont be able to read your files. (Well maybe, if they start a distributed decrypting project, and run it for a few years). Means security is seamless and is part of the plumbing. The power of Groove comes from the fact that you have:
1. Access to the latest versions of all shared documents all the time. (due to background synchronisation)
2. You can work offline. (The whole sharepoint site can be replicated on your laptop and replicated seamlessly in the background)
3. You can work across firewalls
Not surprisingly, Groove's biggest customers are consultancies which have employees who are constantly working from different locations without access to the company intranet. They get all the benfits of an intranet with Groove.
I have a Nokia 6510 that came with a CD containing the Nokia PC Suite. The Nokia PC Suite has an application called Nokia PC Sync that allows synchronisation between the phone and a wide variety of PIM including MS Outlook and Lotus Notes. The synchronisation can be done over infra-red or a COM port.
Each Nokia phone has its own verson of PC suite.
PC Suite for 6510
To quote from a proverb,
"A hundred fools together cannot beat a single wise man"
thats called a virus
OneWordJavaNamingConvention
then how does it work?
I dont understand.. Why do they need a Mars watch?? When it is time to leave work by your earth watch, just leave!
It shouldn't matter if the rover is following Martian time.
Nobody ever built a monopoly by being cool. You build a monopoly by being the cheapest out in the market, with a certain threshold quality level. Consistently.
Thats whats going to be the problem with the Apple. They will continue to have flashy transluscent players, but somebody will soon come up with a better design and supported advertising.
I work in one of the top 5 investment banks in the worls. Here too, we have a team of people evaluating Linux for the desktop - Linux Migration Specialists. Hell, we even have our own customized Linux build. But the fact is that Linux is not going to be on corporate desktops for the next 5 years at least. By that time, MS would have refined their licensing to make sure it doesn't happen.
The important thing to note here is not if you can save money by moving to Linux, but whether the money you save is worth the loss in productivity arising out of this. Simple user interface issues spoil the day for normal non-techie users.
Such a shame that Mindstorms are to be retired.
One thing that Lego could do is to license the LegOS spec to other interested companies. Such companies could then build Mindstrom-like hardware around their own implementation of the OS spec, with their own compilers and IDE's. This might also bring the price down if enough companies get into the act.
The actual toy built around a LegOS need not even be a brick kit like Mindstorms. Instead smaller toy companies could just use the OS to create pre-built sophisticated toys. They needn't go to the trouble of creating their own OS.
End result ==> Another revenue stream for Lego.
I use Lotus Notes V5 at work, and Outlook 2002 to connect to my old university mailbox (graduated, but still have a lifetime MS exchange mailbox :-) )
Basically, all the ideas are already properly implemented in Outlook 2003.
Threaded discussions
Search folders
you name it...
Btw Notes is one of the most clunky programs ever. I dont care about an open API just allow me to read my mail properly!
A group of 5 students (including myslef) did the same thing around 2 years back during our third year in CS - October 2001 - for the Microsoft Asia Student .NET competition. Implemented the Home Automation service as an XML web service that could be consumed by external applications (after authentication of course :) ) to view home status information as well as trigger actions on home devices remotely.
n ov01/11-14asia.asp
. html
The devices were controlled by a software gateway on a central home computer thru Wi-Fi and the specifications for communication between the gateway and the home device were encapsulated in an XML driver.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2001/
http://it.asia1.com.sg/newsdaily/news003_20011030