People are *really* confused about the meaning of the term "robot".
Robot does not necessarily mean autonomous--in fact, the word literally means "slave". While there are about 400 semi-autonomous robots bolted to the floor to the right of me, even these robots follow very specific sets of instructions written by people.
Perhaps they should call "devices which do the job of a person where said job is too dangerous or unpleasant for the person to do" something other than "robot".
Because, apparently, "robot" now means "machine that does whatever in the hell it wants to". And it wants to do things. And it has a shotgun.
When you go to court because your gun was used in a shooting, everyone will "know" that you did it, since "no one else can fire the gun." Except we all know that no system is perfect, and someone else could have.
You can remove the quotes from your statement if you'd like.
To paraphrase Bill Cosby, the courts are not interested in justice. The courts are interested in order. As long as everybody agrees (everybody being the courts) that biometrics are perfect as implemented in your gun, a 100% conviction rate is possible.
If there are holes in the technology, they can be plugged in the legislature. "It is a felony to allow someone else access to your biometrically secured firearm.". Problem solved.
That's the thing where it is the legal responsibility of the company to make money for its stockholders.
Subversion of that responsibility in favor of your personal prejudices is not only unethical, but often actionable.
If a man is not a liberal by the time he is twenty years old, he has no heart.
If a man is not a conservative by the time he is forty years old, he has no brain.
Not too surprising; that's exactly what industrial robots are used for.
Well, not pumpkins per se, but for moving a tool (spot welder, MIG welder, grinder, etc.) through a path with a repeatablility of about a mil.
This, on the other hand, scares the crap out of me. I've seen robots get belligerent. You think car bodies are strong? A bad point in the path, and robot shreds car like tissue paper.
Con artists depend on the greed and self-delusion of the mark. It is the ability of the mark to lie to himself in order to steal from and cheat other people that makes a con work.
If I'm a con artist, I would love it if every mark thought he was going to turn the tables on me. Makes my job all the easier.
TANSTAAFL, people. Reality is not nearly as exciting as delusion. But it's a lot more reliable.
The site linked below is farked (sorry slashdotted), so I used alltheweb.
If I have found the correct picture, it's three young athletic people interlocking arms, viewed from above. Representative of both genders and at least 3 races.
I'm not sure what the offence is, 'cause I missed the previous flap. But I'm guessing:
It's young athletic people. Linux geeks thought they were some alien life form and were afraid.
It's too PC. Linux geeks thought it came out of Berkeley, and was therefore FreeBSD, not Linux.
Reminds me of a 16 year old that bolts the entire Summit Racing catalog onto his mustang and thinks now he's a gearhead.
Go invent something. Go build something. Heck, even go break something while learning about it. Join you local tesla coil or ham radio club and learn something. Contribute a patch to an open-source project. build a watercooling system out of parts from Lowe's. Be proud of that.
Go buy something? Something that's largely non-functional, and unreliable? And bolt it on to your computer? Oh, yeah! You da man!
Well, you've given your power requirements, and suggested cost is a concern. But what's your budget?
4A * 250V = 1kVA
So, you need a 1kVA inverter of effeciency "e", a charger, and 8kwh/e bank of batteries. I'd get at least a 1.5kVA rated inverter unless you've already padded your requirements. I don't like to run any equipment at full rated load unless I really trust the vendor. Yeah, it'll work. But it won't last.
Just googling around, I see you can buy a 1.5kVA inverter for £210.60. Another company has a 2kVA continuous inverter for £529.45. I have no idea if these vendors are reliable. The one specifies "power", but I didn't see "peak" (aka "starting") or "continuous" (aka "rated") power. More investigation of this one is indicated prior to purchase. The other seems to be the UK version of our JC Whitney. But I guess you can get some idea of cost here.
So, we've spec'ed the inverter at somewhere between £250 & £550. Oh, yeah--there's a 1kVA inverter on the speedydelivery site for about 1/2 of the 2kVA one.
If their effeciency ratings are to be believed, (85%), you'll need a little under 5kWH of energy from your batteries. That's a little over 200 amp-hours at 24V.
This guy has a lead acid battery page, discussing some issues pertinent to your application. If he's to be trusted (haven't confirmed his recommendations; spend some time with Google before you buy...), you want:
Deep Cycle Batteries
Only discharge down to 1/2 capacity
Keep discharge current as low as possible
Which means to buy about 400A*H of 24V deep cycle (marine) lead acid batteries. Or 12V pairs in series. Buy 800A*H if you use 12V. I have no idea what batteries cost in the UK. Wire your 24V batteries in parallel. If you put 12V batteries together in series, call that a 24V battery, and forget that it's 2 boxes. If you don't understand this, talk to somebody who does. Boiling sulfuric acid solution and battery shrapnel are dangerous.
I did find a price over here for an "interstate" (a well known US battery mfr) USRM-8D. Each of these has about 189A*H capacity at 25A or 132A*H capacity at 75A. They're 12V, so you'll want 800AH.
Running your system at 1kVA and 85% effeciency, you'll be drawing just under 50A from your battery bank. Wiring 2 (series) sets of 2 batteries in parallel, each battery will see 25A draw. It's up to you if you want 2 or 3 sets of batteries. You're a little short of 800A*H, but we've already doubled the size of the battery bank to increase battery life. I would only buy 4 of these. Over here, you're looking at $189.95 ea. If the only difference is currency conversion, you're looking at about £400, or £200 if you don't care about battery life and are willing to lose power a little earlier than 8 hours.
These guys have a charger for about £60. That seems kind of high to me, but I don't live in the UK, so ???
Alright...So, the battery solution is now looking something like £500 to £1000, depending on the decisions you make above (big vs little inverter; big vs little battery bank). +VAT, but that's a wash, since you haven't specified budget.
Generator: Again, we're looking at only 1kW. The smallest generator I can find (ignoring cutesy satchel-types that cost 10* as much) is 5kw. I looked for UK generator prices and found none. Best I can do is give you some typical prices from Amazon. I recently did a whole lot of research on these units (read last paragraph). There are basically 4 classes of generators I've seen:
What is the fascination with microwave attacks on RFID chips?
They're silicon potted in epoxy or plastic. And some sort of antenna--either a wire or printed conductor. The big balogh tags used in industry are pretty tough. But anything thin enough to hide in a passport, driver's license, or the like can be easily destroyed by impact.
And it's a lot harder for someone to prove you deliberately damaged their RFID chip with a hammer than with a microwave oven. (That's right, their chip.) Most identifying documents (DLs, Admission passes, gate tags, etc.) remain the property of the issuer. They're not legally yours to destroy, so if you are found to have done so, you can be held liable.
My wife uses a computer. It's a tool to her, not a hobby, and not a toy. She's used Windows. She's used GNU/Linux. That's not what she wants. Wife: "I want a computer that you just plug it in and it works." Me: "Sweetie, you want it; you got it!" So, we go to the apple store. Oooohhh....Shiny...I want that one. Hmmm...streetprices...deja...Mac Geek at work... Crap. I guess the price is the price. Might as well buy it from Apple for full price.
Unless Sony rigidly controls the prices of their products (like Apple, Bose, etc.), the brick and mortar Sony store will not be a profit center. A B&M Sony store would be a GREAT marketing tool--whether it's worth the cost is up to the bean counters to determine. You could handle the products and ask questions without having to deal with Beast Buy et. al.
For example, when I'm working at LTF in Ohio in Summer, my office consists of either a spool or a picnic table. My chair is either another spool or a parts bin. And it's about 110-120 in the plant.
Now, when working at MBUSI, my office is still a picnic table. But it's in a cage in an air-conditioned plant. About 70 degrees in the Alabama Summer.
And the sweat doesn't make my trackball all slippery. And my safety glasses don't fog up when I try to squint at the screen.
I promise you, I work more "effeciently" in the cooler environment. "Effeciently" in quotes because effeciency is about as consistent in definition as TCO.
IT budgets typically cover hardware, software, and (sometimes) services.
Services are not much of an issue since that typically comes from staffing. It's a lot easier to shift capital money from HW to SW purchases than to shift expensed money from staffing to purchases.
MS doesn't sell hardware. Well, they brand keyboards, mice and xboxes. But that ain't where they make their nut.
Therefore, it is desirable that the entire IT budget be allocated to software. Hardware has to go.
Hardware has to go. QED.
Ideally, MS would prefer that IT budgets are spent entirely on software licenses, and no hardware at all. Without actually installing the software or even opening the boxes, there would no concerns about tech support, liability, or piracy for that matter.
They have to be. If you don't believe it, it's hard to sell it.
I speak from experience: One summer during college, I worked as a direct-marketer for a knife company. It was the classic high-pressure scam. The "training" they gave us was essentially indoctrination that marketing/sales were the driving forces of society. Without going into detail, I will say it was rather cultish.
And, yes, I did sell the hell out of those knives. Until my bullshit sensors finally couldn't take it anymore and I could no longer maintain the delusions from training. Still worked hard, went out, tried to sell those knives: 8-12 hours a day. But once I quit believing in the bullshit, I never made another sale.
My wife and I still have the knives I used for the demos. They're actually fairly decent products; we still use them. Worth nowhere near the "six-eleven" (never "dollars" when you're selling--that's money!) that I used to get for a set.
If you ever get the opportunity to do this sort of job (direct marketing, Best Buy sales, used car salesman) for a summer or as a side job , I strongly suggest that you take it. You may find that you get a real insight into the attitudes and methods of the marketers whose job it is to manipulate your perceptions.
The subject just about says it all. But read on if you care to waste a moment.
I've written lots of UIs--mostly industrial, and I can tell you that blaming the user does NOT solve the problem.
Blaming the user generally means a crappy programmer, not a stupid user.
As much as we like to point the finger, users are actually NOT stupid. They are often ignorant of the conventions of your particular UI design.
If the user has a choice whether to use the system in question, you can reasonably expect him to educate himself in the quirks of the UI. Or choose not to use that system.
Even this, does not excuse sloppy design. It simply makes the penalty for such poor work a loss of profits (or geek points if you're giving the SW away)--rather than a violation of the user's constitutional rights.
In this case, however, the user (voter, taxpayer, and ultimately EMPLOYER of the government) will soon NOT have a choice whether to use this particular UI. It is the responsibility of the UI designer to come to the voter.
Remember the most recent failure of a voting system UI--the famous "butterfly ballot". Lots of folks said "users are stupid". Lots of other folks said "the ballot is misleading". Given that the confusion produced by the ballot allegedly produced systematic errors in voting, lots of folks put on your TFH and said lots of other things.
Remember that line about the user (voter) being the employer of the government? Lots of folks are going to get fired over this.
There's no excuse for crappy design. It's a poor designer who blames his users for the failure of his design.
Of course, you see right through this. You're far too intelligent to be fooled by these techniques. But, if you choose to, you can use them to manipulate your own mind. And, your customers, of course, will be completely taken in! Our new high-tech mental marketing tools have shiny new MRI technology. Not at all the same as that other new agey junk--nosiree! To sell your product, you MUST buy ours!
The same set of rules is available for all competitors to read, understand, and apply to their designs.
Whining about whether an innovative strategy is "fair" is merely demonstrates the loser's desire to bring the winner down to his own level of incompetence. Rather than to improve his own game.
If the rules allow it, it's legal. Fair has nothing to do with it.
The players acted within the rules.
Some of them won the game; others lost. That's why it's called a competition.
Some losers didn't understand the rules as well as the winners did.
That's why they're losers. They didn't win.
Sucks to lose, doesn't it? Now, go home and apply what you learned. Maybe next time you can win.
Just to satisfy your apparent desire to derive social and perhaps even moral implications from this competition, I suggest you read some of the other comments to the article. You will note that in this case, we can apply lessons from the simulation to everyday life. The concept here is called "taking one for the team".
Slashdot Mirror
Robot does not necessarily mean autonomous--in fact, the word literally means "slave". While there are about 400 semi-autonomous robots bolted to the floor to the right of me, even these robots follow very specific sets of instructions written by people.
Perhaps they should call "devices which do the job of a person where said job is too dangerous or unpleasant for the person to do" something other than "robot".
Because, apparently, "robot" now means "machine that does whatever in the hell it wants to". And it wants to do things. And it has a shotgun.
You can remove the quotes from your statement if you'd like.
To paraphrase Bill Cosby, the courts are not interested in justice. The courts are interested in order. As long as everybody agrees (everybody being the courts) that biometrics are perfect as implemented in your gun, a 100% conviction rate is possible.
If there are holes in the technology, they can be plugged in the legislature. "It is a felony to allow someone else access to your biometrically secured firearm.". Problem solved.
Happens all the time.
But, really, it's just snobbery.
That said, I'm still reading the article (gotta love livin' in the counry and that great 28.8 connection!). And snickering
Have fun, y'all.
That's the thing where it is the legal responsibility of the company to make money for its stockholders.
Subversion of that responsibility in favor of your personal prejudices is not only unethical, but often actionable.
If a man is not a liberal by the time he is twenty years old, he has no heart. If a man is not a conservative by the time he is forty years old, he has no brain.
Well, not pumpkins per se, but for moving a tool (spot welder, MIG welder, grinder, etc.) through a path with a repeatablility of about a mil.
This, on the other hand, scares the crap out of me. I've seen robots get belligerent. You think car bodies are strong? A bad point in the path, and robot shreds car like tissue paper.
If I'm a con artist, I would love it if every mark thought he was going to turn the tables on me. Makes my job all the easier.
TANSTAAFL, people. Reality is not nearly as exciting as delusion. But it's a lot more reliable.
Hey, maw--ah found out where all that thar intarweb porn is a-coming from. They make it overseas in Ubuntu.
If I have found the correct picture, it's three young athletic people interlocking arms, viewed from above. Representative of both genders and at least 3 races.
I'm not sure what the offence is, 'cause I missed the previous flap. But I'm guessing:
It's young athletic people. Linux geeks thought they were some alien life form and were afraid.
It's too PC. Linux geeks thought it came out of Berkeley, and was therefore FreeBSD, not Linux.
It's 1 guy and 2 girls. He's doin' both chicks!
People must *really* be bored.
Go invent something. Go build something. Heck, even go break something while learning about it. Join you local tesla coil or ham radio club and learn something. Contribute a patch to an open-source project. build a watercooling system out of parts from Lowe's. Be proud of that.
Go buy something? Something that's largely non-functional, and unreliable? And bolt it on to your computer? Oh, yeah! You da man!
4A * 250V = 1kVA
So, you need a 1kVA inverter of effeciency "e", a charger, and 8kwh/e bank of batteries. I'd get at least a 1.5kVA rated inverter unless you've already padded your requirements. I don't like to run any equipment at full rated load unless I really trust the vendor. Yeah, it'll work. But it won't last.
Just googling around, I see you can buy a 1.5kVA inverter for £210.60.
Another company has a 2kVA continuous inverter for £529.45. I have no idea if these vendors are reliable. The one specifies "power", but I didn't see "peak" (aka "starting") or "continuous" (aka "rated") power. More investigation of this one is indicated prior to purchase. The other seems to be the UK version of our JC Whitney. But I guess you can get some idea of cost here.
So, we've spec'ed the inverter at somewhere between £250 & £550. Oh, yeah--there's a 1kVA inverter on the speedydelivery site for about 1/2 of the 2kVA one.
If their effeciency ratings are to be believed, (85%), you'll need a little under 5kWH of energy from your batteries. That's a little over 200 amp-hours at 24V.
This guy has a lead acid battery page, discussing some issues pertinent to your application. If he's to be trusted (haven't confirmed his recommendations; spend some time with Google before you buy...), you want:
Deep Cycle Batteries
Only discharge down to 1/2 capacity
Keep discharge current as low as possible
Which means to buy about 400A*H of 24V deep cycle (marine) lead acid batteries. Or 12V pairs in series. Buy 800A*H if you use 12V. I have no idea what batteries cost in the UK. Wire your 24V batteries in parallel. If you put 12V batteries together in series, call that a 24V battery, and forget that it's 2 boxes. If you don't understand this, talk to somebody who does. Boiling sulfuric acid solution and battery shrapnel are dangerous.
I did find a price over here for an "interstate" (a well known US battery mfr) USRM-8D. Each of these has about 189A*H capacity at 25A or 132A*H capacity at 75A. They're 12V, so you'll want 800AH.
Running your system at 1kVA and 85% effeciency, you'll be drawing just under 50A from your battery bank. Wiring 2 (series) sets of 2 batteries in parallel, each battery will see 25A draw. It's up to you if you want 2 or 3 sets of batteries. You're a little short of 800A*H, but we've already doubled the size of the battery bank to increase battery life. I would only buy 4 of these. Over here, you're looking at $189.95 ea. If the only difference is currency conversion, you're looking at about £400, or £200 if you don't care about battery life and are willing to lose power a little earlier than 8 hours.
These guys have a charger for about £60. That seems kind of high to me, but I don't live in the UK, so ???
Alright...So, the battery solution is now looking something like £500 to £1000, depending on the decisions you make above (big vs little inverter; big vs little battery bank). +VAT, but that's a wash, since you haven't specified budget.
Generator: Again, we're looking at only 1kW. The smallest generator I can find (ignoring cutesy satchel-types that cost 10* as much) is 5kw. I looked for UK generator prices and found none. Best I can do is give you some typical prices from Amazon. I recently did a whole lot of research on these units (read last paragraph). There are basically 4 classes of generators I've seen:
Cheapest one you can buy a
Don't mod the comment "funny". If you have to explain the joke, it's NOT funny.
If it's not Scottish^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Linux, it's CRAP.
When will this day end? In about 30 minutes.
They're silicon potted in epoxy or plastic. And some sort of antenna--either a wire or printed conductor. The big balogh tags used in industry are pretty tough. But anything thin enough to hide in a passport, driver's license, or the like can be easily destroyed by impact.
And it's a lot harder for someone to prove you deliberately damaged their RFID chip with a hammer than with a microwave oven. (That's right, their chip.) Most identifying documents (DLs, Admission passes, gate tags, etc.) remain the property of the issuer. They're not legally yours to destroy, so if you are found to have done so, you can be held liable.
My wife uses a computer. It's a tool to her, not a hobby, and not a toy. She's used Windows. She's used GNU/Linux. That's not what she wants. Wife: "I want a computer that you just plug it in and it works." Me: "Sweetie, you want it; you got it!" So, we go to the apple store. Oooohhh....Shiny...I want that one. Hmmm...streetprices...deja...Mac Geek at work... Crap. I guess the price is the price. Might as well buy it from Apple for full price.
Unless Sony rigidly controls the prices of their products (like Apple, Bose, etc.), the brick and mortar Sony store will not be a profit center. A B&M Sony store would be a GREAT marketing tool--whether it's worth the cost is up to the bean counters to determine. You could handle the products and ask questions without having to deal with Beast Buy et. al.
Thank you.
I would really, really not like to be driving a car that relies on Windows.
Further locking out the owner of the vehicle from access to his own property is the ONLY advantage I see of installing Windows in a car.
And that's not an advantage for the owner.
For example, when I'm working at LTF in Ohio in Summer, my office consists of either a spool or a picnic table. My chair is either another spool or a parts bin. And it's about 110-120 in the plant.
Now, when working at MBUSI, my office is still a picnic table. But it's in a cage in an air-conditioned plant. About 70 degrees in the Alabama Summer.
And the sweat doesn't make my trackball all slippery. And my safety glasses don't fog up when I try to squint at the screen.
I promise you, I work more "effeciently" in the cooler environment. "Effeciently" in quotes because effeciency is about as consistent in definition as TCO.
IT budgets are finite .
IT budgets typically cover hardware, software, and (sometimes) services.
Services are not much of an issue since that typically comes from staffing. It's a lot easier to shift capital money from HW to SW purchases than to shift expensed money from staffing to purchases.
MS doesn't sell hardware. Well, they brand keyboards, mice and xboxes. But that ain't where they make their nut.
Therefore, it is desirable that the entire IT budget be allocated to software. Hardware has to go.
Hardware has to go. QED.
Ideally, MS would prefer that IT budgets are spent entirely on software licenses, and no hardware at all. Without actually installing the software or even opening the boxes, there would no concerns about tech support, liability, or piracy for that matter.
I speak from experience: One summer during college, I worked as a direct-marketer for a knife company. It was the classic high-pressure scam. The "training" they gave us was essentially indoctrination that marketing/sales were the driving forces of society. Without going into detail, I will say it was rather cultish.
And, yes, I did sell the hell out of those knives. Until my bullshit sensors finally couldn't take it anymore and I could no longer maintain the delusions from training. Still worked hard, went out, tried to sell those knives: 8-12 hours a day. But once I quit believing in the bullshit, I never made another sale.
My wife and I still have the knives I used for the demos. They're actually fairly decent products; we still use them. Worth nowhere near the "six-eleven" (never "dollars" when you're selling--that's money!) that I used to get for a set.
If you ever get the opportunity to do this sort of job (direct marketing, Best Buy sales, used car salesman) for a summer or as a side job , I strongly suggest that you take it. You may find that you get a real insight into the attitudes and methods of the marketers whose job it is to manipulate your perceptions.
Gives you a nice warm fuzzy feeling, too.
I've written lots of UIs--mostly industrial, and I can tell you that blaming the user does NOT solve the problem.
Blaming the user generally means a crappy programmer, not a stupid user.
As much as we like to point the finger, users are actually NOT stupid. They are often ignorant of the conventions of your particular UI design.
If the user has a choice whether to use the system in question, you can reasonably expect him to educate himself in the quirks of the UI. Or choose not to use that system.
Even this, does not excuse sloppy design. It simply makes the penalty for such poor work a loss of profits (or geek points if you're giving the SW away)--rather than a violation of the user's constitutional rights.
In this case, however, the user (voter, taxpayer, and ultimately EMPLOYER of the government) will soon NOT have a choice whether to use this particular UI. It is the responsibility of the UI designer to come to the voter.
Remember the most recent failure of a voting system UI--the famous "butterfly ballot". Lots of folks said "users are stupid". Lots of other folks said "the ballot is misleading". Given that the confusion produced by the ballot allegedly produced systematic errors in voting, lots of folks put on your TFH and said lots of other things.
Remember that line about the user (voter) being the employer of the government? Lots of folks are going to get fired over this.
There's no excuse for crappy design. It's a poor designer who blames his users for the failure of his design.
(2 more to go)
Of course, you see right through this. You're far too intelligent to be fooled by these techniques. But, if you choose to, you can use them to manipulate your own mind. And, your customers, of course, will be completely taken in! Our new high-tech mental marketing tools have shiny new MRI technology. Not at all the same as that other new agey junk--nosiree! To sell your product, you MUST buy ours!
Wanna buy a lure?
Wanna laugh at the fishermen?
Rexx
Lexx
Whining about whether an innovative strategy is "fair" is merely demonstrates the loser's desire to bring the winner down to his own level of incompetence. Rather than to improve his own game.
If the rules allow it, it's legal. Fair has nothing to do with it.
The players acted within the rules.
Some of them won the game; others lost. That's why it's called a competition.
Some losers didn't understand the rules as well as the winners did.
That's why they're losers. They didn't win.
Sucks to lose, doesn't it? Now, go home and apply what you learned. Maybe next time you can win.
Just to satisfy your apparent desire to derive social and perhaps even moral implications from this competition, I suggest you read some of the other comments to the article. You will note that in this case, we can apply lessons from the simulation to everyday life. The concept here is called "taking one for the team".