Fun, but no one bets the Ebola Monkey Man at baiting and punishing 419 scammers. Don't believe me -- check the link. He has pics of 419 scammers holding signs ("Mr. Bukkake", "Father Will U. Touchme") -- comedy gold, I tell ya.
I'm with you on the yuckiness of public-shared computers. But when you say:
I don't see why anyone would want to do this. I like my laptop and the way I've configured it and customized it. PersonaIization is what makes a lot of peoples' machines what they are. don't want to have to resort to using some random public terminal somewhere.
...you seem to have missed the point. From what I gather, this system would allow you to enjoy all those customizations (software, at least) wherever you are. You'd also be able to roll-back your system to any of an array of pre-saved states.
Maybe you have PC at work, and a PC at home, and a laptop you rarely use in the car. Wherever you are, grab one (non-yucky, I hope), plug in, and get your environment exactly as you left it. I do this with screen and sometimes citrix, and it's handy.
I, for one, don't like carrying a laptop (or much of anything, for that matter.)
A lot of posts seem to be comparing this idea to SunRay thinclients, GoToMyPC remote PC software, or even old dumb xterms. Those comparisons aren't very valid -- please read the article.
It's more like WindowsXP System Restore -- you dump the complete state of the system to storage on the net, and you can reload that state anytime, from anywhere. Of course, this is much better than system restore in that your system doesn't have to be running at all to use it. In the example in the article, the guy deleted some exe's that make windows fail to find NTLDR -- so no boot is possible to get to where you can run system restore. But the system restores anyway, from the net, and is fine.
It's a very good idea. Of course, assuming there's some software involved in this (not just a hardware device like those things used in some public kiosks that automatically re-image a drive on boot if changed), the question is what happens when a virus or corruption gets into the restore code. I guess they can have another one to save/restore the save/restore code, and so on . . .:)
The best bit, though is this odd quote:
Despite their outward sameness, most computers are so personalized with desktop preferences and software that borrowing someone's computer can seem as creepy as borrowing their underwear.
If you have a transformer mounted on your motherboard, you might want to consider an upgrade:)
I was kidding around, so lighten up. If you want to be a pedant, you might want to note that "toroid" and "toroidal" each have only one "r" and the unit is a "Henry." And a transformer has two sets of windings -- usually with a lot more than one "winding" each.
A "coil" and an "inductor" are both "coils" and both have non-negligible "inductance" so I don't buy your distinction. But whatever . . .
You see those donut-shaped components with thick coils of copper wire wrapped around them? Can you name what that is?
I guess you were looking for inductor, but you might want to re-phrase the question to be a little more difficult, since coil is a perfectly acceptable name also:)
No doubt. Moreover, during the lulls in fixing that which was broken by morons, we can just keep thinking up dumb "modz" to sell the lunkheads:
I also love the see-through door. I'll never, ever own a case without one again. I like being able to peek in and check up on my components. I can check what's going on without the bother of having to remove the door.
Check what's going on?! Not much, unless you are awed by fans spinning and semiconunductors sitting motionless on immobile printer circuit boards. What a stupid thing to say. But then again, I suppose if one is in the habit of ignoring "thingys" that one knocks off of one's mobo, that glass window might show some interesting firewroks.
...in the next 10 years. Digital recorders will make it easier to capture just the shows you are interested in (hopefully with a nice feature to automatically eleminate any ads).
Seriously -- personally, I expect the concept of "channel" in general to wane. People want shows. Not channels, "line-ups," or must-see crapfests where several crappy shows try to slide in on the coattails of the decent one.
Note the popularity of downloading specific show episodes (suprnova is a great example, and there are dozens more with amazing levels of specialization.)
Why should anyone care about the channels themselves, much less the count? It's the shows we watch, not the channels.
How will small businesses and internationals compete against US businesses when all international products are up for review.
A more interesting question is:
How will US businesses compete when they must adhere to patent laws from which small businesses and internationals are exempt?
Or better yet:
Why would US businesses spend money on research and development to innovate when small businesses and internationals can reverse-engineer the product and sell the same implemetation at a lower cost because of their lack of R&D expenses?
Eh? I guess that's true if your "business" is using the fruits of the research and development of other companies without any permission or compensation. But I'm afraid most business, at least those interested in developing new things, appreciate that they can use patents to help ensure they make some money to pay off that fat R&D bill before everyone else just reverse-engineers a product and puts out a knock-off version for half the price immediately.
How will small businesses and internationals compete against US businesses when all international products are up for review.
The same way they always have -- through innovation, superior products, better service, better prices, etc. You don't have to steal to compete.
Why should you feel dirty for thinking properly and lauding the use of patents in the way they were intended to be used? It's ok to stray away from the herd, you know, especially if the other sheep are being dumb and blindly following the blind sheep at the front of the pack.
Which happens sometimes here on/. of course. But I expect to see mostly posts like yours -- this suit is wholly warranted, Cornice is stealing, patents can and should be used to protect against this sort of thing.
I think most of us realize that inane blanket statements like "patents are bad, mmkay?" are useless and silly. In this case, patents are good. Even if some of the patents are teh 3vil "software patents" related to algorithms in the firmware or some such (I don't know, neither the linked info nor Seagate's website give any details.)
Or maybe you were just joking. If so, I apologize for my lack of a sense of humor -- it's early and I was out late:)
You are exactly correct, IMHO. Please allow me to add just one point from my personal experience on the other side.
I used to run a series of gaming-oriented websites that did, at the peak, 10-20M hits per month, and the $7-12CPM on the ad impressions covered the bandwidth and then some for several years.
We did reviews too, and were in competition with planet*.com and the old gamespot. I received a lot of free promo hardware/software, and lots of offers to imbibe in fanciness (this is all pre-dot-bomb.) I returned everything after reviewing it, usually at my expense, and rejected all payola offers.
We always gave brutally honest reviews. Not Old Man Murray extra-bad-to-be-funny, but real, honest reviews without holding anything back or trying to spin in favor (or against!) the game companies.
And we went out of business after the dot-bomb because we couldn't pay the hosting bills. Well, actually I bailed and sold off to my partner, who isn't doing well today either despite becoming a whore to the gamecos in a last-ditch effort to compete (too little too late.)
That's because we stopped getting soft/hardware to review for free, and were no longer given info or even advance press releases. Our bread and butter was meticulous, detailed, advanced info on cvars and console commands and modding/mapping/modeling info. The death nail was when the gameco tech people were told not to answer our questions about modding/mapping/modeling.
And worse, we lost ad revenue from most of the few remaining internet-advertisers after the bust. We pissed everyone off, and they paid us back. So, because we had to wait for the retail version like everyone else, the bulk of the gaming community went to the whore-sites for the latest hyped preview of wonderfulness and amazing fantabulousness.
And that's why you're left with what you have now for game and (to a lesser extent) hardware review websites. Most of the good ones are gone.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not bitter. I had fun, learned a lot, and made some decent scratch for a few years. But the gaming community, to a large degree, is getting exactly what it asked for and what it deserves.
You must have a magic Parhelia. 70fps is plenty good (assuming it doesn't dip much below 50-60, which I doubt), but frankly I don't believe any Parhelia has ever done 70fps at 2400x600 in UT04, unless maybe you minimize every detail option, stand still, and stare at the ground or a wall.
2400x600 is 1.44Mpixels. That's more than the 1.31Mpixels at 1280x1024, under which conditions the parhelia cant break 40fps in UT03 according to Anandtech's benchmarks.
I can't find any Ut04 benchmarks for the Parhelia (probably because it's been so long since any gamer really cared about a Matrox product), but I can't imagine it gets any better, unless again, of course, you minimize everything and don't move.
Nvidia cards can currently do 2 monitors. Same with ATI. Try playing a modern game on a Parhelia -- even with a single monitor (i.e., low res) it's a slideshow. Forget running all 3 monitors at a decent frame rate.
And any (fast) card can support 2, 3, or 4+ monitors in this configuration.
Finally, if you're waiting for Matrox to do something interesting in the graphics market, you'll most likely be waiting a long, long time. I work with that company occasionally, and have good friends there -- they've given up the fight in the 3d/home market and are focusing on embedded systems and CAD workstations. They've lost most of their design talent too, because that work isn't as fun (or profitable.)
Anyway, nice troll, and good luck with that wait:)
Well, the mods can't, so I'll answer your question (which, BTW, is also a troll, or at least flamebait):
Aren't we to the point where CPU and (single) GPU power is high enough for just about any game without needing a SLI solution?
No, we aren't, and you're being a troll for suggesting that any advancement is "not needed." Maybe it's not desirable for you, but it is for someone.
Seems to me this SLI bit is only to induce a boner in the geekiest of geeks, and at a high price to boot.
And here you discover that, indeed, this is useful, even if only for the "geekiest of geeks." But then your lame boner reference and "high price to boot" jab reinforces the trollness of your comment. Note that no price is too high for some.
Just doens't make much sense to me.
Classic troll hallmark. No one cares whether you like this or not. If you don't have something interesting, informative, or useful to say, then STFU.
If there's a game my Boxx FX53 + X800 won't play well, then it's probably not worth playing.
Ding! Trolling grand prize. That, I bet, is the asshat comment that sealed it.
A sonic boom is heard onboard a supersonic craft . . .
Sorry, wrong -- the only way to finish that sentence correctly is "never," or "when another supersonic plane passes by as it breaks the sound barrier."
And that's why one of your +1 Informative mods just got m2'd unfair. Stay tuned, I might get to negate another one in 8-12 hours:)
Slashdot Mirror
This, friends, is comedy gold -- not flamebait.
Gaaaaack! Gah! Oof! I can't pay attention because no one can spell rIdiculous!!!!!!
Help!
911!
Funny? Funny?! No, it's not. It's true. Whoever modded that post funny is an imbecile.
And I'm still waiting an answer to my (valid) question.
Fuckwitted paranoid knee-jerkers.
I call bullshit
Duly noted and thoroughly refuted. See here.
Welcome to my list of those who call bullshit and are subsequently 0wned. It's a long list, so fret not young skeptic.
Fun, but no one bets the Ebola Monkey Man at baiting and punishing 419 scammers. Don't believe me -- check the link. He has pics of 419 scammers holding signs ("Mr. Bukkake", "Father Will U. Touchme") -- comedy gold, I tell ya.
Here you go. http://www.eetimes.com/article/printableArticle.jh tml?articleID=12803964&url_prefix=story&sub_taxono myID=2251
Maybe this will delay RFID rollouts untill some of the privacy issues are fixed?
Which ones would those be? All consumer-product RFID tags have self-destruct codes, so you can disable them. What's the problem again?
I'm with you on the yuckiness of public-shared computers. But when you say:
...you seem to have missed the point. From what I gather, this system would allow you to enjoy all those customizations (software, at least) wherever you are. You'd also be able to roll-back your system to any of an array of pre-saved states.
I don't see why anyone would want to do this. I like my laptop and the way I've configured it and customized it. PersonaIization is what makes a lot of peoples' machines what they are. don't want to have to resort to using some random public terminal somewhere.
Maybe you have PC at work, and a PC at home, and a laptop you rarely use in the car. Wherever you are, grab one (non-yucky, I hope), plug in, and get your environment exactly as you left it. I do this with screen and sometimes citrix, and it's handy.
I, for one, don't like carrying a laptop (or much of anything, for that matter.)
A lot of posts seem to be comparing this idea to SunRay thinclients, GoToMyPC remote PC software, or even old dumb xterms. Those comparisons aren't very valid -- please read the article.
:)
It's more like WindowsXP System Restore -- you dump the complete state of the system to storage on the net, and you can reload that state anytime, from anywhere. Of course, this is much better than system restore in that your system doesn't have to be running at all to use it. In the example in the article, the guy deleted some exe's that make windows fail to find NTLDR -- so no boot is possible to get to where you can run system restore. But the system restores anyway, from the net, and is fine.
It's a very good idea. Of course, assuming there's some software involved in this (not just a hardware device like those things used in some public kiosks that automatically re-image a drive on boot if changed), the question is what happens when a virus or corruption gets into the restore code. I guess they can have another one to save/restore the save/restore code, and so on . . .
The best bit, though is this odd quote:
Despite their outward sameness, most computers are so personalized with desktop preferences and software that borrowing someone's computer can seem as creepy as borrowing their underwear.
If you have a transformer mounted on your motherboard, you might want to consider an upgrade :)
I was kidding around, so lighten up. If you want to be a pedant, you might want to note that "toroid" and "toroidal" each have only one "r" and the unit is a "Henry." And a transformer has two sets of windings -- usually with a lot more than one "winding" each.
A "coil" and an "inductor" are both "coils" and both have non-negligible "inductance" so I don't buy your distinction. But whatever . . .
Bullshit. No Japanese has ever been that rude. Ever. Somehow, you're mistaken, or there's more to the story.
No, it can't.
This thread is scary dumb.
You see those donut-shaped components with thick coils of copper wire wrapped around them? Can you name what that is?
:)
I guess you were looking for inductor, but you might want to re-phrase the question to be a little more difficult, since coil is a perfectly acceptable name also
No doubt. Moreover, during the lulls in fixing that which was broken by morons, we can just keep thinking up dumb "modz" to sell the lunkheads:
I also love the see-through door. I'll never, ever own a case without one again. I like being able to peek in and check up on my components. I can check what's going on without the bother of having to remove the door.
Check what's going on?! Not much, unless you are awed by fans spinning and semiconunductors sitting motionless on immobile printer circuit boards. What a stupid thing to say. But then again, I suppose if one is in the habit of ignoring "thingys" that one knocks off of one's mobo, that glass window might show some interesting firewroks.
Dolt, that author is.
You're right. I fixed it.
...in the next 10 years. Digital recorders will make it easier to capture just the shows you are interested in (hopefully with a nice feature to automatically eleminate any ads).
ReplayTV already does this.
Too many.
:)
Or not enough.
Depending on your habits.
Seriously -- personally, I expect the concept of "channel" in general to wane. People want shows. Not channels, "line-ups," or must-see crapfests where several crappy shows try to slide in on the coattails of the decent one.
Note the popularity of downloading specific show episodes (suprnova is a great example, and there are dozens more with amazing levels of specialization.)
Why should anyone care about the channels themselves, much less the count? It's the shows we watch, not the channels.
Think about it.
How will small businesses and internationals compete against US businesses when all international products are up for review.
A more interesting question is:
How will US businesses compete when they must adhere to patent laws from which small businesses and internationals are exempt?
Or better yet:
Why would US businesses spend money on research and development to innovate when small businesses and internationals can reverse-engineer the product and sell the same implemetation at a lower cost because of their lack of R&D expenses?
I mean the patent laws are anti-business
Eh? I guess that's true if your "business" is using the fruits of the research and development of other companies without any permission or compensation. But I'm afraid most business, at least those interested in developing new things, appreciate that they can use patents to help ensure they make some money to pay off that fat R&D bill before everyone else just reverse-engineers a product and puts out a knock-off version for half the price immediately.
How will small businesses and internationals compete against US businesses when all international products are up for review.
The same way they always have -- through innovation, superior products, better service, better prices, etc. You don't have to steal to compete.
Why should you feel dirty for thinking properly and lauding the use of patents in the way they were intended to be used? It's ok to stray away from the herd, you know, especially if the other sheep are being dumb and blindly following the blind sheep at the front of the pack.
/. of course. But I expect to see mostly posts like yours -- this suit is wholly warranted, Cornice is stealing, patents can and should be used to protect against this sort of thing.
:)
Which happens sometimes here on
I think most of us realize that inane blanket statements like "patents are bad, mmkay?" are useless and silly. In this case, patents are good. Even if some of the patents are teh 3vil "software patents" related to algorithms in the firmware or some such (I don't know, neither the linked info nor Seagate's website give any details.)
Or maybe you were just joking. If so, I apologize for my lack of a sense of humor -- it's early and I was out late
You are exactly correct, IMHO. Please allow me to add just one point from my personal experience on the other side.
I used to run a series of gaming-oriented websites that did, at the peak, 10-20M hits per month, and the $7-12CPM on the ad impressions covered the bandwidth and then some for several years.
We did reviews too, and were in competition with planet*.com and the old gamespot. I received a lot of free promo hardware/software, and lots of offers to imbibe in fanciness (this is all pre-dot-bomb.) I returned everything after reviewing it, usually at my expense, and rejected all payola offers.
We always gave brutally honest reviews. Not Old Man Murray extra-bad-to-be-funny, but real, honest reviews without holding anything back or trying to spin in favor (or against!) the game companies.
And we went out of business after the dot-bomb because we couldn't pay the hosting bills. Well, actually I bailed and sold off to my partner, who isn't doing well today either despite becoming a whore to the gamecos in a last-ditch effort to compete (too little too late.)
That's because we stopped getting soft/hardware to review for free, and were no longer given info or even advance press releases. Our bread and butter was meticulous, detailed, advanced info on cvars and console commands and modding/mapping/modeling info. The death nail was when the gameco tech people were told not to answer our questions about modding/mapping/modeling.
And worse, we lost ad revenue from most of the few remaining internet-advertisers after the bust. We pissed everyone off, and they paid us back. So, because we had to wait for the retail version like everyone else, the bulk of the gaming community went to the whore-sites for the latest hyped preview of wonderfulness and amazing fantabulousness.
And that's why you're left with what you have now for game and (to a lesser extent) hardware review websites. Most of the good ones are gone.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not bitter. I had fun, learned a lot, and made some decent scratch for a few years. But the gaming community, to a large degree, is getting exactly what it asked for and what it deserves.
You must have a magic Parhelia. 70fps is plenty good (assuming it doesn't dip much below 50-60, which I doubt), but frankly I don't believe any Parhelia has ever done 70fps at 2400x600 in UT04, unless maybe you minimize every detail option, stand still, and stare at the ground or a wall.
2400x600 is 1.44Mpixels. That's more than the 1.31Mpixels at 1280x1024, under which conditions the parhelia cant break 40fps in UT03 according to Anandtech's benchmarks.
I can't find any Ut04 benchmarks for the Parhelia (probably because it's been so long since any gamer really cared about a Matrox product), but I can't imagine it gets any better, unless again, of course, you minimize everything and don't move.
Nvidia cards can currently do 2 monitors. Same with ATI. Try playing a modern game on a Parhelia -- even with a single monitor (i.e., low res) it's a slideshow. Forget running all 3 monitors at a decent frame rate.
:)
And any (fast) card can support 2, 3, or 4+ monitors in this configuration.
Finally, if you're waiting for Matrox to do something interesting in the graphics market, you'll most likely be waiting a long, long time. I work with that company occasionally, and have good friends there -- they've given up the fight in the 3d/home market and are focusing on embedded systems and CAD workstations. They've lost most of their design talent too, because that work isn't as fun (or profitable.)
Anyway, nice troll, and good luck with that wait
Well, the mods can't, so I'll answer your question (which, BTW, is also a troll, or at least flamebait):
Aren't we to the point where CPU and (single) GPU power is high enough for just about any game without needing a SLI solution?
No, we aren't, and you're being a troll for suggesting that any advancement is "not needed." Maybe it's not desirable for you, but it is for someone.
Seems to me this SLI bit is only to induce a boner in the geekiest of geeks, and at a high price to boot.
And here you discover that, indeed, this is useful, even if only for the "geekiest of geeks." But then your lame boner reference and "high price to boot" jab reinforces the trollness of your comment. Note that no price is too high for some.
Just doens't make much sense to me.
Classic troll hallmark. No one cares whether you like this or not. If you don't have something interesting, informative, or useful to say, then STFU.
If there's a game my Boxx FX53 + X800 won't play well, then it's probably not worth playing.
Ding! Trolling grand prize. That, I bet, is the asshat comment that sealed it.
Hope that helps!
A sonic boom is heard onboard a supersonic craft . . .
:)
Sorry, wrong -- the only way to finish that sentence correctly is "never," or "when another supersonic plane passes by as it breaks the sound barrier."
And that's why one of your +1 Informative mods just got m2'd unfair. Stay tuned, I might get to negate another one in 8-12 hours