I believe that you're referring to RST's (Radiation Shield Technology) product Demron. It is not a film, it is a fabric, not quite the film that you referred to, but the closest I could find.
Perhaps your definition of "computer" is too narrow. Imagine a driver in the not-too-distant future whose car/truck/motorhome/whatever, wrist timekeeping device, pda, you name it, all are wi-fi capable. The vehicle connects and updates its map to route the driver around that accident 20km up the road. The pda connects and grabs updated calendar info relevent to the driver's destination.
Oh wait, that's not in the future, that was yesterday! Tomorrow, they'll all be integrated into the vehicle. Standard equipment. Millions of vehicles.
Unfortunately, United States cable channels cannot stream their content (at least whole shows) over the web. In almost every case their contracts with the cable provider specifically prohibit cable channels from streaming their content. The few counter examples I know of are local access/peg channels, CSPAN and wholly cable owned news channels like Comcast's NECN. In the case of NECN, it is limited to clips from shows, not entire shows. CSPAN, OTOH, is operated as a public service, paid for by the entire cable industry.
Why the prohibition? Well, for one reason, think about the local advertising inserted into programs by the local cable provider. I assume other reasons involve bandwidth management, at least as far as cable providers who provide cable modem service are concerned.
As far as universal a-la-carte pricing, that would certainly be a revolution in the business. I wonder how many cable channels would survive the transition, how many cable service providers would survive the transistion, and how much more (or less) difficult it would be to launch a new service??? Any media economists out there in need of a juicy doctoral dissertation?
Anecdotes are fun, but I'd guess that what you're really asking is if there is any research out there on the transferability of virtual skills into RL. Folks like Dr. Carrie Heeter - http://tc.msu.edu/people/faculty/8 (and no, I haven't asked her permission to post the URL on slashdot so please be kind to her server) might know. I know she did research into a place called "Fighter Town" a few years ago, but I don't think she was looking into transferability of skills.
Come to think of it, I'd bet that DOD has a bunch of solid, repeatable data on the subject; at least as far as driving/flying/submersible simulations go. Any slashdotters out there working in a simulation lab that can talk about their work without being arrested?;-)
DARPA could make this entire venture revenue neutral (or even generate a profit) by selling coverage of the contest to Discovery Networks. Of course, details of how the winning entry works will have to be, ahem, obscured...
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I believe that you're referring to RST's (Radiation Shield Technology) product Demron. It is not a film, it is a fabric, not quite the film that you referred to, but the closest I could find.
Oh wait, that's not in the future, that was yesterday! Tomorrow, they'll all be integrated into the vehicle. Standard equipment. Millions of vehicles.
Wait, maybe that was yesterday also.
Well, that's 1/2 the point. The other half being that the effort (and all Ascari X-Prize entries) has received no direct government subsidies.
That's what a Bablefish is for. Don't have one stuck in your ear? Just use this.
Would it be legal for someone to come up with a material that only kills Roundup Ready©® plants?
Unfortunately, United States cable channels cannot stream their content (at least whole shows) over the web. In almost every case their contracts with the cable provider specifically prohibit cable channels from streaming their content. The few counter examples I know of are local access/peg channels, CSPAN and wholly cable owned news channels like Comcast's NECN. In the case of NECN, it is limited to clips from shows, not entire shows. CSPAN, OTOH, is operated as a public service, paid for by the entire cable industry.
Why the prohibition? Well, for one reason, think about the local advertising inserted into programs by the local cable provider. I assume other reasons involve bandwidth management, at least as far as cable providers who provide cable modem service are concerned.
As far as universal a-la-carte pricing, that would certainly be a revolution in the business. I wonder how many cable channels would survive the transition, how many cable service providers would survive the transistion, and how much more (or less) difficult it would be to launch a new service??? Any media economists out there in need of a juicy doctoral dissertation?
Anecdotes are fun, but I'd guess that what you're really asking is if there is any research out there on the transferability of virtual skills into RL. Folks like Dr. Carrie Heeter - http://tc.msu.edu/people/faculty/8 (and no, I haven't asked her permission to post the URL on slashdot so please be kind to her server) might know. I know she did research into a place called "Fighter Town" a few years ago, but I don't think she was looking into transferability of skills.
Come to think of it, I'd bet that DOD has a bunch of solid, repeatable data on the subject; at least as far as driving/flying/submersible simulations go. Any slashdotters out there working in a simulation lab that can talk about their work without being arrested? ;-)
DARPA could make this entire venture revenue neutral (or even generate a profit) by selling coverage of the contest to Discovery Networks. Of course, details of how the winning entry works will have to be, ahem, obscured...