"Who would dare to predict what a "computer" will look like in 10 years time?"
I envision computers of the future to be able to communicate with the user telepathically.
The obvious advantage to this interface is being able to "punish" your system on-the-fly while it's crashing and burning. "You piece of @#$@!, you're lucky I don't shove this dongle in your @#$# port!"
This will automatically register your complaint, error code and type, system specs, the users brain activity, and heart rate to the software vendor.
I'm going to take a step back and look at this purely from a consumers standpoint. I'm already paying comcast my $45+ a month to have a "blazing fast" connection so I can stream music and videos. Most news and video providing sites offer their streaming services for free, charging only for higher quality content. I fear if these sites must pay a premium to offer the same service they are currently providing free, that they cost will be passed down to the consumer.
This will undoubtedly usher in a wide variety of subscriber fee based sites and services. I'm not looking forward to shelling out another $20+ a month to view streaming content on the handful of sites I like to visit.
On a side thought, how would this affect Internet2?
"The war game drew in 115 agencies from the FBI and CIA to the Red Cross, the Department of Homeland Security said."
"IT companies and state and foreign governments also played a role in responding to the mock attacks."
These "simulated" attacks are all well and good, but they are being performed by entities meant to keep the system secure. Isn't that only attacking from one angle? Did these groups attack the systems like scriptkiddies would? Like seasoned professionals not skewed or influenced by "standard corporate security measures"? Did they take into account social engineering and attacks from the inside?
No, no, no, you all are missing what truly is going on! This is the ole smoke and mirrors bait and switch tactic. M$ has commissioned Bungie to take over the Vista project! So now when booting windows you will see a Halo 2 loading screen and your mouse curser will be replaced with crosshairs. You know that feeling of wanting to blowup your computer with a rocket launcher after it crashes/glitches?? Well the answer to your dreams isn't too far off.
And of course your bouncing text screensaver will be replaced with the famed Red vs. Blue team videos.
I like most techheads love to have the latest and greatest {insert electronic device here} but many often overlook the value of holding on to these so called "obsolete" devices. Take for example my second generation 20GB iPod. Yes it is big, heavy and sports a full size firewire port (which serves as both the data and charging port), but it's running linux (why? because it can) and I use it as a very portable and versatile external HDD. The only reason I got the fourth generation iPod was the ability to plug directly into my Alpine car deck (which provides full control from the head unit).
So the moral of the story is,.. umm.. send me your old iPods when you upgrade every 3 months.:D
I agree with Antifuse,.. the Dreamcast was a great console. If being innovative equates to "too much" then consoles wouldn't have evolved much over the years.
Quick reminder why Dreamcast was a great system:
Compact design: It wasn't much larger than Gamecube
Unique controller: Comfortable, great button layout. Don't forget the VMU (Visual Memory Unit) which not only displayed vital in-game info but also allowed gamers to view private data hidden from others.
VGA display option: Owners were able to connect the Dreamcast to a monitor to achieve a 640x480 VGA high-res, non-interlaced picture, which was a large improvement over the current-day consoles.
These Dreamcast features are not what I'd consider overkill or too much.
As afore mentioned, the ultimate demise of the console was lack of titles and advertising. The PS2 was hyped so much that it's release was ingrained in the back of the consumers mind when shopping for a console they ended up ignoring the Dreamcast.
How many people actually jump on the "bandwagon" and switch search engines just because some one says it's "new and fresh"?
I gave a9 a try, I like the interface and some of the new features like the search history and the multiple search panes. But shortly after I found myself using google again. Even though a9 uses google, and the results are almost identical, I didn't find anything compelling enough to make me switch.
Does anyone else feel they might be missing some results if they were to use another search engine?
What must a new search engine provide to "steal" users from google?
You find yourself in a dark cave surrounded by nerd-zombies.
>hit zombies with stick Your attempt to ward of the nerd-zombies fails. You should have drawn a picture of Kournikova on the wall to distract the zombies while you fled on your segway.
>
"Then his neighbors dropped-by, saw what Andrew had done, and they cancelled their telephone and cable TV services, too, many of them without having a wired broadband connection of their own. They get their service from Andrew, who added an inline amplifier and put a better antenna in his attic. Now most of Andrew's neighborhood is watching digital TV with full PVR capability, making unmetered VoIP telephone calls, and downloading data at prodigious rates thanks to shared bandwidth."
Andrew Greig should force his neighbors to contribute to the network by at least sharing their disk space for serving even more tv shows. Perhaps if the neighbors were up to the challenge (and didn't cancel their cable) they could even grab episodes of their favorite shows to share.
I'm not sure how big Andrew's pipe is, but I'm sure he won't be able to support the entire neighborhood.
I would consider setting up something similar but my neighborhood is infested with senior citizens who's VCR's are probably all blinking "12:00 PM".
I disslike Sony for hindering the use of their products with anything besides other Sony products.
Sony's "NW-HD2" music player only accepts their proprietary ATRAC* audio format. What about all my mp3's?
More often than not, in order to achieve a Sony product's "full potential" you must have a Sony Computer or at least a Memory Stick reader for your pc, or a Sony TV with memory stick built in.
While Sony innovates in some categories, digital cameras, televisions etc. Their design team dropped the ball on the PS2. The PS2 is simply two PS1 cpu's in one box. They didn't improve the controller design, nor did they include a hdd or network connection. Those must be purchased separately. And for kickers, they placed they power switch on the back of the system making it difficult to turn on/off in a media center. This awkward switch position placement allows Sony to make a few extra bucks selling an adapter which "moves" the switch to the front of the machine, where it belonged in the first place.
"...but there is also the risk of important aspects being missed, or errors creeping in unchecked, as highlighted in a previous slashdot story."
The article is discouraging if you wish to use the information found for research.
I believe a "known fact" system would help prevent issues like this.
When a statement, date, name, etc. is accepted as fact, it is marked as such. When it is changed a flag would be assigned suggesting the reader to look at the wiki's history and decide if the change was valid or not.
A system similar to this would help editors and readers alike find errors or inaccuracies much quicker.
"When I was working for a software company, one day I got a call from a customer
wondering if we had WordPerfect for the Gameboy. I said "No, but I'll call you
when it comes in." Sometimes it's better to go along with the customer and not
ask any questions.:)" - Dumb Users
"Huh? Since when do these three criteria determine if something is alive? As far as I remember from high school the criteria were: locomotion, respiration, ingestion, self-reproduction."
I believe you are missing the point the creator is trying to make. Spam imitates a living organism by adapting to it's surroundings in order to survive. Why does spam do this? Because it is sent by HUMANS which learn to "mutate" and change there message to bypass current spam filters in order for them to survive.
I think this is a very interesting approach and may help serve as an affective spam blocking tool while an improved mail protocol is accepted.
Hit refresh a few times, and you'll see "The Lycos 50 Muppet Characters". Elmo takes first billing. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Elmo belong to the Sesame Street Clan?
Perhaps the Lycos Dog needs to be re-trained.
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." ~ Mark Twain
Slashdot Mirror
"Who would dare to predict what a "computer" will look like in 10 years time?"
I envision computers of the future to be able to communicate with the user telepathically.
The obvious advantage to this interface is being able to "punish" your system on-the-fly while it's crashing and burning. "You piece of @#$@!, you're lucky I don't shove this dongle in your @#$# port!"
This will automatically register your complaint, error code and type, system specs, the users brain activity, and heart rate to the software vendor.
I'm going to take a step back and look at this purely from a consumers standpoint. I'm already paying comcast my $45+ a month to have a "blazing fast" connection so I can stream music and videos. Most news and video providing sites offer their streaming services for free, charging only for higher quality content. I fear if these sites must pay a premium to offer the same service they are currently providing free, that they cost will be passed down to the consumer.
This will undoubtedly usher in a wide variety of subscriber fee based sites and services. I'm not looking forward to shelling out another $20+ a month to view streaming content on the handful of sites I like to visit.
On a side thought, how would this affect Internet2?
"The war game drew in 115 agencies from the FBI and CIA to the Red Cross, the Department of Homeland Security said."
"IT companies and state and foreign governments also played a role in responding to the mock attacks."
These "simulated" attacks are all well and good, but they are being performed by entities meant to keep the system secure. Isn't that only attacking from one angle? Did these groups attack the systems like scriptkiddies would? Like seasoned professionals not skewed or influenced by "standard corporate security measures"? Did they take into account social engineering and attacks from the inside?
No, no, no, you all are missing what truly is going on! This is the ole smoke and mirrors bait and switch tactic. M$ has commissioned Bungie to take over the Vista project! So now when booting windows you will see a Halo 2 loading screen and your mouse curser will be replaced with crosshairs. You know that feeling of wanting to blowup your computer with a rocket launcher after it crashes/glitches?? Well the answer to your dreams isn't too far off.
And of course your bouncing text screensaver will be replaced with the famed Red vs. Blue team videos.
I like most techheads love to have the latest and greatest {insert electronic device here} but many often overlook the value of holding on to these so called "obsolete" devices. Take for example my second generation 20GB iPod. Yes it is big, heavy and sports a full size firewire port (which serves as both the data and charging port), but it's running linux (why? because it can) and I use it as a very portable and versatile external HDD. The only reason I got the fourth generation iPod was the ability to plug directly into my Alpine car deck (which provides full control from the head unit).
:D
So the moral of the story is,.. umm.. send me your old iPods when you upgrade every 3 months.
Quick reminder why Dreamcast was a great system:
These Dreamcast features are not what I'd consider overkill or too much.
As afore mentioned, the ultimate demise of the console was lack of titles and advertising. The PS2 was hyped so much that it's release was ingrained in the back of the consumers mind when shopping for a console they ended up ignoring the Dreamcast.
How many people actually jump on the "bandwagon" and switch search engines just because some one says it's "new and fresh"?
I gave a9 a try, I like the interface and some of the new features like the search history and the multiple search panes. But shortly after I found myself using google again. Even though a9 uses google, and the results are almost identical, I didn't find anything compelling enough to make me switch.
Does anyone else feel they might be missing some results if they were to use another search engine?
What must a new search engine provide to "steal" users from google?
Free iPods? Sure!
You find yourself in a dark cave surrounded by nerd-zombies.
>hit zombies with stick
Your attempt to ward of the nerd-zombies fails.
You should have drawn a picture of Kournikova on the wall to distract the zombies while you fled on your segway.
>
Free iPods? Sure.
"Then his neighbors dropped-by, saw what Andrew had done, and they cancelled their telephone and cable TV services, too, many of them without having a wired broadband connection of their own. They get their service from Andrew, who added an inline amplifier and put a better antenna in his attic. Now most of Andrew's neighborhood is watching digital TV with full PVR capability, making unmetered VoIP telephone calls, and downloading data at prodigious rates thanks to shared bandwidth."
Andrew Greig should force his neighbors to contribute to the network by at least sharing their disk space for serving even more tv shows. Perhaps if the neighbors were up to the challenge (and didn't cancel their cable) they could even grab episodes of their favorite shows to share.
I'm not sure how big Andrew's pipe is, but I'm sure he won't be able to support the entire neighborhood.
I would consider setting up something similar but my neighborhood is infested with senior citizens who's VCR's are probably all blinking "12:00 PM".
I'm 2 invites away from my free iPod.
I disslike Sony for hindering the use of their products with anything besides other Sony products.
Sony's "NW-HD2" music player only accepts their proprietary ATRAC* audio format. What about all my mp3's?
More often than not, in order to achieve a Sony product's "full potential" you must have a Sony Computer or at least a Memory Stick reader for your pc, or a Sony TV with memory stick built in.
While Sony innovates in some categories, digital cameras, televisions etc. Their design team dropped the ball on the PS2. The PS2 is simply two PS1 cpu's in one box. They didn't improve the controller design, nor did they include a hdd or network connection. Those must be purchased separately. And for kickers, they placed they power switch on the back of the system making it difficult to turn on/off in a media center. This awkward switch position placement allows Sony to make a few extra bucks selling an adapter which "moves" the switch to the front of the machine, where it belonged in the first place.
*Takes deep breath* I feel better now.
Free iPods? Sure.
"...but there is also the risk of important aspects being missed, or errors creeping in unchecked, as highlighted in a previous slashdot story."
The article is discouraging if you wish to use the information found for research.
I believe a "known fact" system would help prevent issues like this.
When a statement, date, name, etc. is accepted as fact, it is marked as such. When it is changed a flag would be assigned suggesting the reader to look at the wiki's history and decide if the change was valid or not.
A system similar to this would help editors and readers alike find errors or inaccuracies much quicker.
Free iPods? Sure.
"When I was working for a software company, one day I got a call from a customer wondering if we had WordPerfect for the Gameboy. I said "No, but I'll call you when it comes in." Sometimes it's better to go along with the customer and not ask any questions. :)" - Dumb Users
Perhaps he was just "ahead of his time".
Free iPods? Sure. freeipods.com
Texturizer.net has a nice collection of extensions you may not find on mozilla's dev site.
Some extensions I'm currently using:
Flat Bookmark Editing
Add Bookmark Here
CuteMenus
Paste and Go
Gmail Notifier(Still works)
Free iPods? Sure. freeipods.com
I first thought changing themes would be sufficient to trick the "trickster", but I soon found out it called the current theme's images.
Spoof Stick is a plugin which allows you to see the real address of the website you are currently viewing.
All in all that spoof is very impressive from a web developers standpoint.
"Huh? Since when do these three criteria determine if something is alive? As far as I remember from high school the criteria were: locomotion, respiration, ingestion, self-reproduction."
I believe you are missing the point the creator is trying to make. Spam imitates a living organism by adapting to it's surroundings in order to survive. Why does spam do this? Because it is sent by HUMANS which learn to "mutate" and change there message to bypass current spam filters in order for them to survive.
I think this is a very interesting approach and may help serve as an affective spam blocking tool while an improved mail protocol is accepted.
I know this is not feasible for this project, but technology similar to that used by StopSaw would be very helpful in making a "safe mower".
Hit refresh a few times, and you'll see "The Lycos 50 Muppet Characters". Elmo takes first billing. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Elmo belong to the Sesame Street Clan?
Perhaps the Lycos Dog needs to be re-trained.
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." ~ Mark Twain