This will only work if they have roaming agreements with the customers' providers. But if they do, passive roaming is a neat trick to cash off. I bet the psychological barrier for picking up the phone is much lower than for swiping a credit card through the phone terminal and placing a call. However, I do not have any estimate of whether the cost of administration of the system (roaming agreements, interfacing, etc.) would make the project financially feasible. Maybe they'll use the existing technology.
Sure, today's cars are more efficient than yesterday's, but I think there's a far greater potential for reduction. Also, remember that plastics are also made from oil.
I remember reading something about the maximum possible speed for CD-ROM drives. Basically, if one would spin the CD at like 50-70x, it would disintegrate, destroying everything around it.
hmmm... I suppose that if the navy uses Windows XP, they don't need to activate it.
My comment was meant to highlight the fact that a lot of businesses and agencies depend on M$ products. If M$ discontinued the sale and support of Windows (like they once threatened?) this would be a huge problem for a lot of people. Think of migrating a couple of million PCs with proprietary software to Linux!
Surely then, Microsoft will trigger a little function so that all hard drives on government computers running windows will be formatted. Of course, the Navy won't care.
The mini PC market is a niche market as a whole, but this model does not cater to the entirety of the niche market, but rather to a niche of the niche market.
It cannot be used to replace a video recorder (as it is too loud), neither can it be used for gaming at LAN parties, because it's not expandable, for many professional applications, there is either no need for a small PC at all or the larger versions would be more favorable as one could add and exchange components at one's liking.
Naturally, it seems to be very suitable for environments where space is really critical, like caravans - but I'm sure a laptop would do a much nicer job there! Basically, if someone has enough space for a 17" display on his/her desk, he/she will in 98% of all cases be able to squeeze in a minitower as well.
That said, I think the Jadetec device is just another silly gadget for people who have too much money to spend (and don't really think about what they're spending it for).
Flying cars are possible, but not a good idea
on
The Coming Air Age
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
Every now and then, some popular technology magazine writes an article about some former aircraft designer (etc.) who built a flying car that operates on gasoline.
The problem is that while one can reasonably well observe what happens in 2D, this is hardly possible in 3D. I would suggest that there is an evolutional reason for us to be moreless focused onto what lies ahead and on the ground rather than looking up into the air. Even with 2D driving, there are a lot of fatal traffic accidents. I wouldn't want to imagine what happens if I run out of gas 100 yards above the streets of Manhattan/a lake/someone's house etc..
Flying cars would only really make sense if one could fly not just around roads, but also cross-country, which would probably cause privacy and safety concerns and raise noise levels.
The irony is, that people who'd spend 3000-4000$ on such a system could very well afford new processors whenever they think it's necessary.
I think this system is most suitable for boasting.
A friend of mine once had one... at least six or seven years ago. It consisted of a wireless sender of the size of a peanut (including shell) and of an antenna that had to be fixed to the screen. The sender, which had two mouse buttons on it, was to be attached to the index finger. The antenna consisted of three ultrasonic microphones (I guess?) and was fixed to one corner of the screen. One microphone sat right in the corner, the other microphones were located a couple of centimeters away from the corner on the screen's top and left edge.
Basically, the sender constantly transmitted ultrasonic signals. The antenna setup made it possible to calculate the mouse's position along the two axes parallel to the screen from the signal's delay between the three detectors. Concerning the third axis, there are two possibilities:
a) Assuming that the signals are sent out at a given interval, movement to and from the screen results in different delays between the individual signals.
b) Assuming that the mouse is calibrated regularly to compensate for the loss of battery power, the distance can be calculated from the signal strength.
As I said, I saw this mouse at least six or seven years ago. I was pretty impressed by the device, which functioned properly and exactly. However, this was the time of Windows 3.1, and I thought it was pretty useless. I remember that there was a game where one had to throw rings onto a stick-apparently this was distributed with the "mouse". One or perhaps two years later, I saw one (just one) of these mice on sale at a local store, in bad condition, for only a few bucks.
In conclusion, this device was invented waaay before it's time.
Re:Maybe not in English
on
Tiny Boxen
·
· Score: 1
well, "Box" and "Boxen" is also used in German. However, "Boxen" means both boxes and boxing.
I would suggest calling them "Schachteln" (means boxes).
The advantage I see is that the advertiser has an exact idea of who'll see his ads-the café's customers. For local stores, it would be a waste of money to advertise on the internet even if they can choose the region in a quite exact matter. On a WLAN, advertising would make sense because a higher percentage of viewers would possibly be interested in the ads' contents, leading to a higher response. I imagine the PC store on the next block advertising his latest offers...
Another reason for CDs being waaay to expensive. I mean, if the record company can afford sending entire CD players to possibly hundreds of critics every time they release a mayor CD, why couldn't they make CDs a few bucks cheaper?
There is not much sense to anti-radiation pockets for cell phones. The output power of modern GSM phones is determined by the reception quality. The base stations constantly monitor the signal strength of the phones in range and have them raise their output power if the signal is too weak. Every phone's signal strength is monitored by a couple of stations so that the station with the best reception quality handles the calls.
When you carry your phone in an anti-radiation pocket, it will have to raise the output power to stay in contact with the main base station. Thus, the amount of radiation outside the shielding is somewhat comparable to the amount of radiation that would be there without any shielding.
Unless, of course, the shielding is efficient enough to interrupt the connection between the base stations and the phone altogether, in which case no calls can be made or received and the phone is as useful as it would be when turned off, except that the batteries won't last long.
Whatever shielding is in place, the phone will need to raise the output power and thus drain the batteries.
In any way, the radiation levels are highest during phone calls, thus, if a part of our body is going to be microwaved by mobile phones' radiation, it's most likely our brain. Studies and tests have shown that phones with built-in antennas are more likely to produce higher levels of radiation than phones with external antennas. There have also been suggestions to place the antenna in the lower part of the phone, away from the brain. If Levis wants to produce anti-radiation clothes, they should produce anti-radiation baseball caps. A small piece of anti-radiation lining in one pocket is just a marketing gag. And much less effective than carrying the phone away from the sensible parts of the body, in a bag or in a backpack, for example.
By the way, cars do usually act like shielding, which is why the radiation levels inside the car can get quit high. If you're concerned about it, and if you use your phone a lot in a car, think about getting an external antenna.
I guess you're not aware of the fact that there are already some superconducting power lines in use, in Chicago. But I don't think transportation is so much of a problem. As I understand, Canada has a couple of power plants on rivers quite far away from civilization. And in the US, as the power is used in the region around the power plants, it frees capacities in other power plants. Eventually, the electricity arrives at it's destination. In Europe, there is an international power exchange that works the same way. Customers here can by the way choose which company they want to buy their power from - some sell electricity from renewable sources only.
Slashdot Mirror
This will only work if they have roaming agreements with the customers' providers. But if they do, passive roaming is a neat trick to cash off. I bet the psychological barrier for picking up the phone is much lower than for swiping a credit card through the phone terminal and placing a call. However, I do not have any estimate of whether the cost of administration of the system (roaming agreements, interfacing, etc.) would make the project financially feasible. Maybe they'll use the existing technology.
Yes, and that's not even the worst: If you're not into mainstream, you can pay as much as 25 Euros per CD (Austria).
"We're not against the concept of free speech, but it should be limited to politicians." Seems kinda similar.
Sure, today's cars are more efficient than yesterday's, but I think there's a far greater potential for reduction.
Also, remember that plastics are also made from oil.
Global Warming
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with support from
*all names in this posting are to be considered fictitious*
Hey, we're talking 'bout Australia. No DMCA there.
I remember reading something about the maximum possible speed for CD-ROM drives. Basically, if one would spin the CD at like 50-70x, it would disintegrate, destroying everything around it.
hmmm... I suppose that if the navy uses Windows XP, they don't need to activate it.
My comment was meant to highlight the fact that a lot of businesses and agencies depend on M$ products. If M$ discontinued the sale and support of Windows (like they once threatened?) this would be a huge problem for a lot of people. Think of migrating a couple of million PCs with proprietary software to Linux!
Surely then, Microsoft will trigger a little function so that all hard drives on government computers running windows will be formatted.
Of course, the Navy won't care.
...which means that there's a second way to ruin one's eyes.
The mini PC market is a niche market as a whole, but this model does not cater to the entirety of the niche market, but rather to a niche of the niche market.
It cannot be used to replace a video recorder (as it is too loud), neither can it be used for gaming at LAN parties, because it's not expandable, for many professional applications, there is either no need for a small PC at all or the larger versions would be more favorable as one could add and exchange components at one's liking.
Naturally, it seems to be very suitable for environments where space is really critical, like caravans - but I'm sure a laptop would do a much nicer job there! Basically, if someone has enough space for a 17" display on his/her desk, he/she will in 98% of all cases be able to squeeze in a minitower as well.
That said, I think the Jadetec device is just another silly gadget for people who have too much money to spend (and don't really think about what they're spending it for).
Every now and then, some popular technology magazine writes an article about some former aircraft designer (etc.) who built a flying car that operates on gasoline.
The problem is that while one can reasonably well observe what happens in 2D, this is hardly possible in 3D. I would suggest that there is an evolutional reason for us to be moreless focused onto what lies ahead and on the ground rather than looking up into the air.
Even with 2D driving, there are a lot of fatal traffic accidents. I wouldn't want to imagine what happens if I run out of gas 100 yards above the streets of Manhattan/a lake/someone's house etc..
Flying cars would only really make sense if one could fly not just around roads, but also cross-country, which would probably cause privacy and safety concerns and raise noise levels.
Yes, but only during solar eclipses.
Perhaps they tried to contact us during the stone age.
What their first message will say: We cannot understand you. (of course, it'll be some alien language)
Ironically, you seemingly still can post comments to these stories.
Anyone looking for a fp?
The irony is, that people who'd spend 3000-4000$ on such a system could very well afford new processors whenever they think it's necessary.
I think this system is most suitable for boasting.
Wow!
A friend of mine once had one... at least six or seven years ago. It consisted of a wireless sender of the size of a peanut (including shell) and of an antenna that had to be fixed to the screen. The sender, which had two mouse buttons on it, was to be attached to the index finger. The antenna consisted of three ultrasonic microphones (I guess?) and was fixed to one corner of the screen. One microphone sat right in the corner, the other microphones were located a couple of centimeters away from the corner on the screen's top and left edge.
Basically, the sender constantly transmitted ultrasonic signals. The antenna setup made it possible to calculate the mouse's position along the two axes parallel to the screen from the signal's delay between the three detectors. Concerning the third axis, there are two possibilities:
a) Assuming that the signals are sent out at a given interval, movement to and from the screen results in different delays between the individual signals.
b) Assuming that the mouse is calibrated regularly to compensate for the loss of battery power, the distance can be calculated from the signal strength.
As I said, I saw this mouse at least six or seven years ago. I was pretty impressed by the device, which functioned properly and exactly. However, this was the time of Windows 3.1, and I thought it was pretty useless. I remember that there was a game where one had to throw rings onto a stick-apparently this was distributed with the "mouse". One or perhaps two years later, I saw one (just one) of these mice on sale at a local store, in bad condition, for only a few bucks.
In conclusion, this device was invented waaay before it's time.
well, "Box" and "Boxen" is also used in German. However, "Boxen" means both boxes and boxing.
I would suggest calling them "Schachteln" (means boxes).
The advantage I see is that the advertiser has an exact idea of who'll see his ads-the café's customers. For local stores, it would be a waste of money to advertise on the internet even if they can choose the region in a quite exact matter. On a WLAN, advertising would make sense because a higher percentage of viewers would possibly be interested in the ads' contents, leading to a higher response. I imagine the PC store on the next block advertising his latest offers...
Another reason for CDs being waaay to expensive. I mean, if the record company can afford sending entire CD players to possibly hundreds of critics every time they release a mayor CD, why couldn't they make CDs a few bucks cheaper?
There is not much sense to anti-radiation pockets for cell phones.
The output power of modern GSM phones is determined by the reception quality. The base stations constantly monitor the signal strength of the phones in range and have them raise their output power if the signal is too weak. Every phone's signal strength is monitored by a couple of stations so that the station with the best reception quality handles the calls.
When you carry your phone in an anti-radiation pocket, it will have to raise the output power to stay in contact with the main base station. Thus, the amount of radiation outside the shielding is somewhat comparable to the amount of radiation that would be there without any shielding.
Unless, of course, the shielding is efficient enough to interrupt the connection between the base stations and the phone altogether, in which case no calls can be made or received and the phone is as useful as it would be when turned off, except that the batteries won't last long.
Whatever shielding is in place, the phone will need to raise the output power and thus drain the batteries.
In any way, the radiation levels are highest during phone calls, thus, if a part of our body is going to be microwaved by mobile phones' radiation, it's most likely our brain. Studies and tests have shown that phones with built-in antennas are more likely to produce higher levels of radiation than phones with external antennas. There have also been suggestions to place the antenna in the lower part of the phone, away from the brain.
If Levis wants to produce anti-radiation clothes, they should produce anti-radiation baseball caps. A small piece of anti-radiation lining in one pocket is just a marketing gag.
And much less effective than carrying the phone away from the sensible parts of the body, in a bag or in a backpack, for example.
By the way, cars do usually act like shielding, which is why the radiation levels inside the car can get quit high. If you're concerned about it, and if you use your phone a lot in a car, think about getting an external antenna.
... then why not just sell lead underwear?
Like this doesn't pose any health risks.
You got a point.
I guess you're not aware of the fact that there are already some superconducting power lines in use, in Chicago.
But I don't think transportation is so much of a problem. As I understand, Canada has a couple of power plants on rivers quite far away from civilization. And in the US, as the power is used in the region around the power plants, it frees capacities in other power plants. Eventually, the electricity arrives at it's destination.
In Europe, there is an international power exchange that works the same way. Customers here can by the way choose which company they want to buy their power from - some sell electricity from renewable sources only.