GPS altitude is not very accurate, (could easily be off by 10+ meters) but that's not the point. If you need to get accurate relative elevations, you need stereo or radar/lidar. Stereo is VERY accurate, but very labor intensive and you get elevations off the tops of trees, not the ground. (makes a big difference when putting up a power line) Radar penetrates, but is very expensive and technically sophisticated to build and process, and you can end up with a LOT of wierd artifacts. LIDAR is VERY ACCURATE, but you still get treetops rather than ground, and it's TRES EXPENSIVE, more suited to a small area than a huge country.
I have something of a hard time seeing the utility of this new system.
Stereo from space is nothing new. The first ever spy satellites all had stereo panoramic cameras. Two cameras mounted on the same platform would not provide sufficient parrallax to get useful stereo, so what is most likely happening is that ALL images are in stereo with images taken forward and behind the sensor. This sounds good in theory, but the utility is somewhat limited, and you probably won't get any good nadir shots.
Your average computer uses about as much power as a 150 watt lightbulb. Sure it adds up, but there are a LOT of lightbulbs out there! Taxing the electric grid doesn't seem to be nearly as big of a problem as things like battery life on laptops.
Do people really think that terrorists don't read slashdot? The washington times? I guarantee that zarquawi or one of his boys is sitting down reading this document right now trying to figure out how they can use it to kill more soldiers. Regardless of your feelings on the war, people getting killed is bad.
Classified documents are classified because they contain interesting information, they are classified because of HOW the information was obtained.
People will most likely die because this document leaked. I Hope the person that publicised this feels like a real hero.
Absolutely, but that doesn't mean it has to reflect current social norms. I have no problem reflecting on terrorism, but they don't have to cheapen the whole thing by "sexing it up." Trek was always about the spirit of adventure, not contrived and gratuitious soft-core porn.
There are many ways to greate 3D images. I think it's a safe assumption that you won't have to buy a new TV to participate in the revolution, so there are limited options as to how this can work.
One way is to interlace offset frames and wear shutter glasses. You lose part of your horizontal FOV and they give people headaches, and is only really practical on CRTs. Another way would be the REAL way that 50's movies worked with an anaglyph. (blue/red seperation) but that usually looks like crap.
You make a good point about appletalk that I hadn't fully researched. I do however think you're overestimating how early firewire got going. Sure you HEARD about it in 93' but USB was working well before that, and beat firewire to market by three years. While they aren't exactly the same thing, firewire uses the same basic communication principles as USB, just in a more elegant packaging.
They can call me a troll, but I stick to my guns. Apple is a company of designers and engineers, not scientists. There's no shame in it, but they shouldn't pass themselves off as some group of great innovators for putting a computer in a small box or integrating the CPU into the monitor.
The more I think aboit it, the more I can't think of anything that apple has ever really contributed. Yes, they do spearhead some new technology, (Gui, firewire, zeroconf, etc) but they are re-engineered, polished existing technology. What have they ever done that wasn't a copy of what someone else has done? Do they even have an R&D dept?
It amazes me that the one limitation with 32-bit that normal people ACTUALLY run in to is the one not addressed. I routinely work with files over the 2gb limit and have to pull them over a network from solaris just to use them in windows. Talk about a hassle. Is this part of the virtual memory increase or not?
Sounds great, but images, special effects and whatnot are staples of the web. Filter them out and you are not only losing a large portion of your content(picture worth a thousand words) but annihilating your ability to use large chunks of the web as imagemaps, flash, etc are far overutilized cop-out web design elements. Besides, the developing world needs pr0n as much as the rest of us.
I can say 100% firsthand that UNIX in government offices does not lower costs to taxpayers. In fact, it can (and has) multiplied them by a factor of up to 10. (that I have seen) Well-meaning unix admins convince directors to go over to things like unix, not realizing that there are a GREAT MANY users that do more on their computer than browse the web and write in word. Running terminal services is not always sufficient, and can be VERY expensive.
What makes a standard viable without the formal blessing of a standards organization?
Here's a better question. What makes a blessed standard viable? A standard is only as good as it's market penetration, and defacto is the only standard that makes a lick of difference. Don't buy it? Go ahead, write your site in SVG, your competitors will use flash and make money while people scratch their heads when they read "plugin needed" on your page.
I must assume that teenagers that lived in pre-gunpowder times would also have gone on psychotic rampages from time-to-time.
I'm not sure that's a good assumption. While psychotic behavior is far from a recent phenomenon, and 24-hour news means that we actually hear about these things, "teenagers" have in the past been treated with the respect and responsibilities afforded to adults. This is perhaps part of the equation that we need to examine more closely. Teenagers fill the role that society makes for them. By not expecting adult behavior from teenagers in the interest of "letting them enjoy their youth" we let them develop adult behavior by themselves, rather than imposing it on them as in times gone by.
A side effect of this paradigm shift in parenting is that violent or psychotic behavior can flourish and take over, resulting in the kind of violence we see today. I can absolutely guarantee that this type of thing doesn't happen in Kuwait, vietnam, or north korea. As with all other aspects of society we have placed freedom over security, and violent outbursts are one aspect of it that we need to deal with.
"We must protest and make a fuss before somebody thinks of blaming us"
It never ceases to amaze me how reactionary people are to things like this. All the stakeholders get into their little defensive postures ready to strike down the pointing fingers from those that want to look proactive, and nothing ever happens.
Not to disrespect the OSS developer, but I have serious concerns about the level of professional financial management that these projects have. I don't want my tax-dollars going to buy a foosball table for an OSS company that will go out of business before their product is delivered. No offense, but follow-through has been a serious problem for OSS. Look at how many projects in freshmeat are at at version 0.5 and haven't been touched in a year.
They've got the apple philospohy down cold. Take existing technology, clean up the interface, make it a fashion statement, and call yourself an innovator.
Asking slashdotters a drm question is about as likely to get you a representative response as asking about Artic drilling on a greenpeace board. The market has spoken, loudly. It has said in no uncertain terms that
1)DRM is OK as long as they're not Nazi's about your use (like burning CDs from iTMS) 2)If you don't do MP3, you have nothing. (sony) 3)Nobody gives a crap about OGG.
I know these things are painful to hear, but that's what HAS happened. I know some people think of creative work as the common property of all mankind, but [sarcasm] "high quality" [/sarcasm] media production costs big bucks, and they need to recoup that investment. The options to do so are
1)DRM (sorta works) 2)Prevent all digital distribution (didn't work) 3)rethink your business model. (record companies know they are obsolete, this wont happen)
If you haven't used Groove, it's about the best use for a LAN that I've ever seen. Something tells me that MS will try to go client-server with it and screw it all up, but it's a GREAT product. It might be a compelling reason for people to upgrade from Office 2000. (XP and 2003 certaily werent.)
A trip to H&R Block will pay for itself, so long as you identify the pitbull of the office. There is always one person, usually a woman, who will really hammer away with personal zeal at getting you a big return. your $175 investment could easily pay for itself if not pocket you some phat cash.
Geography is a functional area in which you can make EXTREMELY good use of CS skills, applying them to solving sophisticated complex problems rather than just punching out code. Geospatially aware software is a huge and growing market, and it can pay VERY VERY well. Take for instance that the #2 software provider (next to MS) to the federal government is ESRI, a GIS company.
Slashdot Mirror
How is 300 Meters sharper than the 15m NaturalVue data set from earthsat?
I would suggest that gaming is not the only use for a video card. I routinely run out of 256mb video RAM with (a "href=http://www.esri.com">ArcGlobe.
I have something of a hard time seeing the utility of this new system.
Stereo from space is nothing new. The first ever spy satellites all had stereo panoramic cameras. Two cameras mounted on the same platform would not provide sufficient parrallax to get useful stereo, so what is most likely happening is that ALL images are in stereo with images taken forward and behind the sensor. This sounds good in theory, but the utility is somewhat limited, and you probably won't get any good nadir shots.
Your average computer uses about as much power as a 150 watt lightbulb. Sure it adds up, but there are a LOT of lightbulbs out there! Taxing the electric grid doesn't seem to be nearly as big of a problem as things like battery life on laptops.
Classified documents are classified because they contain interesting information, they are classified because of HOW the information was obtained.
People will most likely die because this document leaked. I Hope the person that publicised this feels like a real hero.
Absolutely, but that doesn't mean it has to reflect current social norms. I have no problem reflecting on terrorism, but they don't have to cheapen the whole thing by "sexing it up." Trek was always about the spirit of adventure, not contrived and gratuitious soft-core porn.
One way is to interlace offset frames and wear shutter glasses. You lose part of your horizontal FOV and they give people headaches, and is only really practical on CRTs. Another way would be the REAL way that 50's movies worked with an anaglyph. (blue/red seperation) but that usually looks like crap.
That all said, Call me a skeptic.
The revolution will not be televised!
Well, at least not like normal.
They can call me a troll, but I stick to my guns. Apple is a company of designers and engineers, not scientists. There's no shame in it, but they shouldn't pass themselves off as some group of great innovators for putting a computer in a small box or integrating the CPU into the monitor.
how many libraries of congress per hour is that?
The more I think aboit it, the more I can't think of anything that apple has ever really contributed. Yes, they do spearhead some new technology, (Gui, firewire, zeroconf, etc) but they are re-engineered, polished existing technology. What have they ever done that wasn't a copy of what someone else has done? Do they even have an R&D dept?
It amazes me that the one limitation with 32-bit that normal people ACTUALLY run in to is the one not addressed. I routinely work with files over the 2gb limit and have to pull them over a network from solaris just to use them in windows. Talk about a hassle. Is this part of the virtual memory increase or not?
You know, they have enough of a sense of humor that this could be exactly what revolution means. I never even thought of that.
Sounds great, but images, special effects and whatnot are staples of the web. Filter them out and you are not only losing a large portion of your content(picture worth a thousand words) but annihilating your ability to use large chunks of the web as imagemaps, flash, etc are far overutilized cop-out web design elements. Besides, the developing world needs pr0n as much as the rest of us.
I can say 100% firsthand that UNIX in government offices does not lower costs to taxpayers. In fact, it can (and has) multiplied them by a factor of up to 10. (that I have seen) Well-meaning unix admins convince directors to go over to things like unix, not realizing that there are a GREAT MANY users that do more on their computer than browse the web and write in word. Running terminal services is not always sufficient, and can be VERY expensive.
Here's a better question. What makes a blessed standard viable? A standard is only as good as it's market penetration, and defacto is the only standard that makes a lick of difference. Don't buy it? Go ahead, write your site in SVG, your competitors will use flash and make money while people scratch their heads when they read "plugin needed" on your page.
I'm not sure that's a good assumption. While psychotic behavior is far from a recent phenomenon, and 24-hour news means that we actually hear about these things, "teenagers" have in the past been treated with the respect and responsibilities afforded to adults. This is perhaps part of the equation that we need to examine more closely. Teenagers fill the role that society makes for them. By not expecting adult behavior from teenagers in the interest of "letting them enjoy their youth" we let them develop adult behavior by themselves, rather than imposing it on them as in times gone by.
A side effect of this paradigm shift in parenting is that violent or psychotic behavior can flourish and take over, resulting in the kind of violence we see today. I can absolutely guarantee that this type of thing doesn't happen in Kuwait, vietnam, or north korea. As with all other aspects of society we have placed freedom over security, and violent outbursts are one aspect of it that we need to deal with.
It never ceases to amaze me how reactionary people are to things like this. All the stakeholders get into their little defensive postures ready to strike down the pointing fingers from those that want to look proactive, and nothing ever happens.
Not to disrespect the OSS developer, but I have serious concerns about the level of professional financial management that these projects have. I don't want my tax-dollars going to buy a foosball table for an OSS company that will go out of business before their product is delivered. No offense, but follow-through has been a serious problem for OSS. Look at how many projects in freshmeat are at at version 0.5 and haven't been touched in a year.
They've got the apple philospohy down cold. Take existing technology, clean up the interface, make it a fashion statement, and call yourself an innovator.
1)DRM is OK as long as they're not Nazi's about your use (like burning CDs from iTMS)
2)If you don't do MP3, you have nothing. (sony)
3)Nobody gives a crap about OGG.
I know these things are painful to hear, but that's what HAS happened. I know some people think of creative work as the common property of all mankind, but [sarcasm] "high quality" [/sarcasm] media production costs big bucks, and they need to recoup that investment. The options to do so are
1)DRM (sorta works)
2)Prevent all digital distribution (didn't work)
3)rethink your business model. (record companies know they are obsolete, this wont happen)
If you haven't used Groove, it's about the best use for a LAN that I've ever seen. Something tells me that MS will try to go client-server with it and screw it all up, but it's a GREAT product. It might be a compelling reason for people to upgrade from Office 2000. (XP and 2003 certaily werent.)
A trip to H&R Block will pay for itself, so long as you identify the pitbull of the office. There is always one person, usually a woman, who will really hammer away with personal zeal at getting you a big return. your $175 investment could easily pay for itself if not pocket you some phat cash.
Geography is a functional area in which you can make EXTREMELY good use of CS skills, applying them to solving sophisticated complex problems rather than just punching out code. Geospatially aware software is a huge and growing market, and it can pay VERY VERY well. Take for instance that the #2 software provider (next to MS) to the federal government is ESRI, a GIS company.
plus, geography chicks are HOT.