It's interesting to think that the university is attempting to use 800 processor cores to simulate galaxies, when IBM uses 147,456 processors to do a neuron-by-neuron simulation of the human brain.
Aren't these home signal booster things just repeaters? If so, what happens to mobile bandwidth when a lot of these repeaters are used instead of actual basestations?
I think an interesting followup question to that is whether all of these femtocells will increase mobile bandwidth but will decrease the bandwidth available from your internet connection overall. The ISPs are complaining already about streaming video and power-users downloading too much. Imagine if the ISPs also had to absorb a chunk of cell phone traffic as well.
“Instant messaging and Exchange are the worst offenders,” claiming that a smartphone with “always on” applications like Exchange - while doing very little - can produce the same signalling load on the network as a device making 1000 voice calls per day.
I'm not trying to be facetious, but how does a phone with Exchange produce the same amount of load on a network as a device that's constantly making voice calls? I realize that the phone will be signaling to a server to keep data synced, but how does it produce that much load?
I've love to see the Boxee Box succeed, but its price point is pretty high compared to its competitors. The WD TV Live set-top is half the price, and the Roku HD player is even less. A netflix/youtube enabled BluRay player is comparable in price, but includes the BluRay functionalities. Ditto for a PS3. I realize that the Boxee may have other functionalities that set it apart from the others, but I'm not sure if the average user will realize that.
That's not it. If you go down further under Offensive Content, you can see:
"You may not publish, transmit or store on or via Rackspace's network and equipment any content or links to any content that Rackspace reasonably believes:
* is excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech;"
There is a difference between discriminating based on creed (e.g. "Hey, those guys are Christians! I'm not going to host their webpage!") and withholding service on the basis of an one party performing an act that two parties voluntarily agreed to not do.
Simple. Don't take this analogy too literally (yes, you can nitpick at the specific details, but that's not my point), but think about this:
Suppose you decide to build an extension on your house that blocks my view of some scenery. I go and tell you that if you build the extension, I'd burn your house down. You stop building the extension on your house. I don't burn down your house.
Is that a compromise?
See the problem is that the provocative act (burning Korans or the threat of burning down your house) isn't made because the provocative party WANTS to do it. The provocative act is done to induce the other party to do something (stop building the extension on the house, or stop building at the Park51 location). So by bowing down to the threat of the provocative act, what you do is that you reinforce in the provocateurs that if you make a big enough threat, people are going to cave and bow to your demands. Not a good precedent to have.
How is this a matter of hate speech laws? There's no law involved here, only the Acceptable Use Policy of Rackspace. It's not a matter of whether people have the right to dislike other groups of people. It's a matter of whether you can be punished for breaking a contractual obligation not to host stuff that violates the acceptable use policy.
Maybe I'm just a Luddite, but half the appeal of learning from a book (especially for a subject like math) was the ability to quickly flip between half a dozen pages to get to the right charts, reference sheets, and examples, and being able to scribble my illegible notes in the margins. I guess you could do it with an iPad with bookmarks and annotations, but I can't imagine it being anywhere near as natural or as easy as you can with a regular old textbook.
It's never been really about protecting intellectual content on the PS3. It's always been about how much money Sony can squeeze out of a customer, even after they've already paid for the console. Remember the OtherOS option? Since Sony makes their money from games, a PS3 with Linux installed (whether by an individual owner or as part of some sort of cluster) wouldn't make any money for Sony, so they took away the option, even if the owner bought it just for the OtherOS option.
Same thing with the jailbreaking now. PS3s with homebrew content isn't going to make any money for Sony, so they'll close that option, too. God forbid if Sony ever decides that we don't pay enough for games and starts charging us a dime for every minute we play.
Maybe, but it'll cost a lot more to build a charger plate than it would be to buy a simple cable. For example, I've got 3 chargers for my phone - one in my office, one at my home computer, and one in my car. Each of those chargers are fairly cheap - 10-20 bucks max, because they're just a simple USB cable. If I had to switch to induction charger plates, I bet you that I'd have to shell out at least $50-100 bucks per charger.
I'm not really sure what the overall benefit of the "wireless" electromagnetic induction chargers are. You're still left with a wire (from the wall to your induction charger plate) and now, you're left with the added problem of having to hunt around for the induction charger plate whenever you need to charge your device. Plus, I'm betting those chargers will cost you a lot more than, say, a USB mini cable. It just seems like the technology's desperately looking for an audience.
My problem with this is that I don't see how this could possibly a viable mouse that one can use for any length of time. INstead of having the mouse buttons in a line that corresponds to your fingers, you need to shape your hands to specifically handle it. Or, you have to turn the controller so that you have a big chunk in the way of where your thumbs rest.
It's a cool mod, but it's not practical in the least. Maybe if they turn it into a Joystick for flight sims, perhaps?
Would this also be subject to security concerns like Google's Desktop search, or would it work just like standard Windows Search? Let's hope it's the latter.
Slashdot Mirror
It's interesting to think that the university is attempting to use 800 processor cores to simulate galaxies, when IBM uses 147,456 processors to do a neuron-by-neuron simulation of the human brain.
Aren't these home signal booster things just repeaters? If so, what happens to mobile bandwidth when a lot of these repeaters are used instead of actual basestations?
I think an interesting followup question to that is whether all of these femtocells will increase mobile bandwidth but will decrease the bandwidth available from your internet connection overall. The ISPs are complaining already about streaming video and power-users downloading too much. Imagine if the ISPs also had to absorb a chunk of cell phone traffic as well.
FTA:
“Instant messaging and Exchange are the worst offenders,” claiming that a smartphone with “always on” applications like Exchange - while doing very little - can produce the same signalling load on the network as a device making 1000 voice calls per day.
I'm not trying to be facetious, but how does a phone with Exchange produce the same amount of load on a network as a device that's constantly making voice calls? I realize that the phone will be signaling to a server to keep data synced, but how does it produce that much load?
If this was about Obama, you'd probably be one of the loudest voices criticizing him.
How do I know? Because this article isn't about Obama, but you managed to bring him up anyway.
I don't care if a politician was caught watching internet porn. A lot of people (if not most) do it and politicians are no exception.
I do care if a politician was caught paying for internet porn. That tells me a lot about whether he's able to spend money wisely.
I've love to see the Boxee Box succeed, but its price point is pretty high compared to its competitors. The WD TV Live set-top is half the price, and the Roku HD player is even less. A netflix/youtube enabled BluRay player is comparable in price, but includes the BluRay functionalities. Ditto for a PS3. I realize that the Boxee may have other functionalities that set it apart from the others, but I'm not sure if the average user will realize that.
The corollary to Mr. Carr's assertion is clear: In order to become smarter, we must write terrible software.
That's not it. If you go down further under Offensive Content, you can see:
"You may not publish, transmit or store on or via Rackspace's network and equipment any content or links to any content that Rackspace reasonably believes:
* is excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech;"
There is a difference between discriminating based on creed (e.g. "Hey, those guys are Christians! I'm not going to host their webpage!") and withholding service on the basis of an one party performing an act that two parties voluntarily agreed to not do.
Simple. Don't take this analogy too literally (yes, you can nitpick at the specific details, but that's not my point), but think about this:
Suppose you decide to build an extension on your house that blocks my view of some scenery. I go and tell you that if you build the extension, I'd burn your house down. You stop building the extension on your house. I don't burn down your house.
Is that a compromise?
See the problem is that the provocative act (burning Korans or the threat of burning down your house) isn't made because the provocative party WANTS to do it. The provocative act is done to induce the other party to do something (stop building the extension on the house, or stop building at the Park51 location). So by bowing down to the threat of the provocative act, what you do is that you reinforce in the provocateurs that if you make a big enough threat, people are going to cave and bow to your demands. Not a good precedent to have.
The worst thing about this is that Rev. Terry Jones has sullied the good name of Terry Jones, the ex-Python member.
I don't agree. Instead of a compromise, isn't this more like encouraging people to take more provocative actions so they'd get their way?
How is this a matter of hate speech laws? There's no law involved here, only the Acceptable Use Policy of Rackspace. It's not a matter of whether people have the right to dislike other groups of people. It's a matter of whether you can be punished for breaking a contractual obligation not to host stuff that violates the acceptable use policy.
to be fair, it does let you use your finger.....
you can write with it, erase with it, etc all just like a pen.
It just doesn't feel natural to me. Rather than feeling like writing with a pen, it feels like I'm writing with finger paints.
Maybe I'm just a Luddite, but half the appeal of learning from a book (especially for a subject like math) was the ability to quickly flip between half a dozen pages to get to the right charts, reference sheets, and examples, and being able to scribble my illegible notes in the margins. I guess you could do it with an iPad with bookmarks and annotations, but I can't imagine it being anywhere near as natural or as easy as you can with a regular old textbook.
Let's hope all terrorists/insurgents are as gullible or as stupid as these guys.
Actually, I own a PS3 and not an XBox 360.
It's never been really about protecting intellectual content on the PS3. It's always been about how much money Sony can squeeze out of a customer, even after they've already paid for the console. Remember the OtherOS option? Since Sony makes their money from games, a PS3 with Linux installed (whether by an individual owner or as part of some sort of cluster) wouldn't make any money for Sony, so they took away the option, even if the owner bought it just for the OtherOS option.
Same thing with the jailbreaking now. PS3s with homebrew content isn't going to make any money for Sony, so they'll close that option, too. God forbid if Sony ever decides that we don't pay enough for games and starts charging us a dime for every minute we play.
Maybe, but it'll cost a lot more to build a charger plate than it would be to buy a simple cable. For example, I've got 3 chargers for my phone - one in my office, one at my home computer, and one in my car. Each of those chargers are fairly cheap - 10-20 bucks max, because they're just a simple USB cable. If I had to switch to induction charger plates, I bet you that I'd have to shell out at least $50-100 bucks per charger.
I'm not really sure what the overall benefit of the "wireless" electromagnetic induction chargers are. You're still left with a wire (from the wall to your induction charger plate) and now, you're left with the added problem of having to hunt around for the induction charger plate whenever you need to charge your device. Plus, I'm betting those chargers will cost you a lot more than, say, a USB mini cable. It just seems like the technology's desperately looking for an audience.
Plus, if forum is burdensome to one party, they can move to have the venue changed.
Maybe TheDirt.com should sue Sarah Jones for libel for making false and damaging defamatory statements about them to the courts and to the press.
Well, it's another development in our war to eradicate biological agents in our war on terror.
If you locate a hazardous bacterial sample, simply find a British soldier and drop it down his pants.
My problem with this is that I don't see how this could possibly a viable mouse that one can use for any length of time. INstead of having the mouse buttons in a line that corresponds to your fingers, you need to shape your hands to specifically handle it. Or, you have to turn the controller so that you have a big chunk in the way of where your thumbs rest.
It's a cool mod, but it's not practical in the least. Maybe if they turn it into a Joystick for flight sims, perhaps?
Would this also be subject to security concerns like Google's Desktop search, or would it work just like standard Windows Search? Let's hope it's the latter.