Step in the right direction, but...
on
Solar Power Play
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Photovoltaic systems still have a long way to go to become economical enough to compete with more conventional methods.
You get about 100 watts of solar radiation per square foot (perpendicular to the sun's rays). Current commercial PV cells are, at best, 15% efficient.. so now you have 15 watts of electricity per square foot.
A conventional powerplants generate roughly 500-1000 Megawatts each. Doing the math, you'ld need well over 32 million square feet of collection area to match that... roughly 765 acres of active surface. PV arrays can't be packed together either, because they would cast shadows on eachother... so the actual real-estate required would be 4 or 5 times that!
Even if the PV cells were *free*, the cost of installation, service, and the land itself would be astronomical! There's no way a solar farm could pay for itself.
Nobody is going to stop burning coal and oil anytime soon (unless they run out!)
Not to say PV cells don't have their uses, of course. Cheap PV panels can certaintly help ease the energy budget! =Smidge=
I also thought that the neanderthal/modern man relation had been resolved awhile ago... though I also know that a lot of people still think the neanderthals are our 'ancestors'.
Then again, I know a few people who think heavier objects 'fall faster' than lighter objects... so I guess you can't take knowledge for granted.
Oh well. I suppose this is just purely scientific confirmation of what archeologists/paleontologists had figured out from physical evidence. Chalk up another victory for science!
The problem with melting is that it takes a LOT of energy. The surface of Europa is 130K (-143C, -225F). That means to need to heat the Ice to 0C, then supply enough energy to melt it...
Keep in mind that the rest of the ice in the area is still going to be at -143C. (or very near -143C, if it's immediately adjactent to the driller) So you have to supply enough heat to make up for conduction losses in order to raise the temperature.
As a home experiment, try piercing an ice cube with a soldering iron. Takes longer than you thought, doesn't it? Now imagine the ice cube to be the size of the moon, and the temperature of the ice and surrounding air was come 170 degrees colder.
The heat generated from the friction of cutting blades would be absolutely negligable at -143C. As another home experiment, try drilling through an ice cube. It's not going to melt all that much (if at all). Now imagine the ice cube to be the size of the moon, and the temperature of the ice and surrounding air was come 170 degrees colder.
Melting may be 'simpler' in that it mas no moving parts, but drilling is by far more practical.
Anyone care to offer an estimation on the dimentions of the probe? I'll gladly work out the actual power required to melt the ice and maintain a liquid barrier around it at these temperatures. =Smidge=
...and what they're looking for. Obviously a site that is impossible to navigate is't going to be very popular, but the savvy user who knows what he/she is looking for will certaintly be more focused on content than presentation.
Of course, the 'internet surfer', who is typically not looking for anything specific, is more likely to be captivated by 'shiney things'. Given the nature of the study's methods, I'm thinking that was the case.
Since there was no guarantee that the person in question had any interest whatsoever in what they were showed, how could they honestly judge the page based on *content*? =Smidge=
Also note that practically nobody uses an SUV for the kinds of things an SUV is capable of. I know Landrover owners you *freak* if they get mud on it... wtf did they buy a Landrover for, then?
As for betting from A to B... who would use this for a daily vehicle? Recreation, definately, but recreational vehicles aren't genarally used for 'A to B' travel.
You get an even better score by whapping the guy upside the head at a sharp angle. (The simulation runs slow as hell on my P133, but I swear it was the most entertaining 15 minutes of my week so far!) The jazzy music goes well with the crunching and grunting sound effects!
May as well make this into the official high-scrore thread. No cheating guys!
Re:Enter: The rudder
on
Ultimate Sleds?
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Rudder? That better be some wicked-soft snow!
I remember having a "trike" some time ago. It was basically three skis with the front, middle one mounted on bycicle type handlebars. The undersides of the rails were ribbed to grab the snow and ice just a little bit and turn you.
This works extreamely well. You don't want to use any kind of "anchor" to stop, since you'll probably be going quite fast... and the jerk from the anchor rope will be just as bad (or worse!) than hitting the trees!
Another brake design I've seen is a triangle-shaped plate with SMALL spikes on it, hinged at the point opposite the spikes and held up under the sled with a light spring.stomping on the plate pushed the spikes into the snow and slowed you down safely.
And, of course, "Jump the fuck off" is still the most reliable.:) Those round plastic "plates" don't stop for anything... just lean back and plant your ass in the snow!
(Building a berm of leaves at the bottom of the hill before it snows would make a great safety net, too) =Smidge=
The kids will always more adept at using the computer than the teachers. They like to experiment. With that in mind, I think installing software that gives them the most freedom to explore without risk of blowing the computer up would be a good idea. As long as the learning curve isn't too steep, I'm sure the kids will be able to pick up the basics through trial and error.
I would also think that keeping 'internet time wasters' like IRC and Instant Messangers off of these machines would be a plus. There's really no suitable classroom application tat I can think of anyway, besides distraction.
Always keep in mind that the teachers probably won't know what the hell is going on, so make sure the kids can do as little damage as possible. =Smidge=
Sounds like a classic case of SJS (Shitty Job Syndrome) to me. Vacations and alcohol tend to be the most commonly perscribed treatments.
I'm sure another study would easily find that people who are generally dissatisfied with their jobs feel exactly the same way regardless of what they actually do.
And in other news, studies show that eating ice cream increases your risk of being attacked by a shark. (Think about that for a moment...) =Smidge=
After looking around for more background info on this, I came across this year-old article about a similar case. To quote the article:
" Using seven different aliases, Titzer posted 246 messages on Yahoo Internet message boards... Nam Tai argued that at least three of Titzer's messages were false, defamatory and unlawful."
Even in that case, where (if?) the person was making a deliberate attempt to undermine the company using false information, I still see no reason why Yahoo, AOL, or any other middle-man company should be at all obligated to get involved. It reminds me of Napster - They only went after them so hard because it was the only target they had. I suppose some people just have to do something to justify themselves.
Now as much as I despise AOL, I hope they don't give in so easily. Privacy is an all-or-none type of issue. "We must remember the First Amendment which protects any shrill jackass no matter how self-seeking." -FG Withington
"We didn't want to have viruses blowing up systems that we depend on for navigation and monitoring engines and other systems."
It's note-worthy that this is not a military vessle anymore. Unless I'm reading the article wrong, this boat is a glorified private yacht. I fail to see the importance of the whole issue from this perspective.
I can see the ads now...
"My name is Doug Humphrey, and I'm a rich bastard who downsized my company and bought a disused warship-turned-yacht for my own private use!"
Good for him. Worried about your navigation systems? Get a stand-alone GPS unit (Assuming the Royal navy stripped out the navigation equipment that the ship originally had, that is, which I'm sure didn't run Windows!). And I'm sure an engine room in a ship like that still requires a trained engineer and at least one assistant to operate.
The only 'critical system' I can imagine on that ship that could possibly rely on the stablility of an OS is his stock-market update streamer.
Now... if anything, the interesting story here is how they converted his *company* to use Macs, and is supposingly saving the firm a bunch of money on maintainance. That's something to talk about. Now we can have a meaningful discussion on the Mac vs. Windows situation in the business world.
From personal experience in the construction business, I can assure you one thing: 90% of the contractors you get are scum. What do you expect? You choose the guy who will do the job for the least amount of money... which means he's going to make up for it by giving you crap workmanship and materials.
In the private sector, the engineers and project managers oversee every nut, bolt, wire tie and conduit connector that goes into a building. (Or at least they're supposed to). If the contractor bids the job saying he plans on using device X model FOO as manufactured by QUIX Co., then submits cut sheets for some other piece of equipment (or worse, the engineers visit the site and find something else already installed), you can bet they get a hard time about it.
If the engineers and the owners decide that the differnt product is acceptable, then the contractor has to pay the owner back whatever the difference in price is. If the product is no approved, then it gets rejected and the contractor has no choice but to install the equipment originally specified. The contractor doesn't get paid until the owner is satisfied that the job was done correctly and as approved by the designers. (And even then it's a struggle sometimes)
I can't say how NASA operates, but with government funding I wouldn't be surprized that few people really, really check the purchase orders and equipment that closely.
After all, the government doesn't get pissed when you run out of money, they just don't give you any more... a private owner would have his attack lawyers waiting outside your office the next morning!
Nobody should find it surprizing that people are exploiting a system that isn't looked after properly. I wonder if NASA does punchlists on their space shuttle repairs! (I can see it now... "O-ring seal on left booster rocket not installed correctly...":)
This 'moon' is 12 miles wide. Earth's moon is roughly 2000 miles wide. The article doesn't say what the radius of the orbit was, but it doesn't really matter. Something roughly 1/1000th the size of our moon at even half the distance would still be all but invisible.
Which begs the question that has been asked many times before... exactly what qualifies something as a 'moon'? Something tells me that the definition makes discoveries like this much less draumatic.
This concept, while being a long time staple of sci-fi, certaintly has a lot of 'if's attached to it. A lot of 'if's that are themselves science fiction. If we can build machines with large enough capacity, and if they are capable of learning and adapting, and if... if if if...
But technical problems aside for amoment, what about the social, economic and spiritual aspects of doing this?
Are you making a copy of your consciousness, or transferring it? Is there going to be a 'real you' and a 'virtual you' wandering around? (Wierd!) If you believe in the 'soul' (in whatever form), what implications does it have on this technology?
Not only that, but some people can't even keep themselves occupied on a rainy sunday afternoon... what the hell are they going to do for the rest of their digital lives?
Even worse, just think of the kinds of people who would be able to afford the process... anyone else getting that Futurama 'head in a jar' image?
Physical immortality is overrated. Half the fun of life is the time limit! =Smidge=
I'm thinking, despite the RIAA doing everything possible to reinforce their crumbling kingdom, isn't it already too late?
Maybe I'm overestimating the intelligence of the public, but if technology exists today that enables people to trade and distribute information freely (music, in this case), and such technology is in use literally everywhere you look, how can you really stop that? Even if you implement some new technology that enables you to stop the exchange, the old systems are still out there.
I don't see how the RIAA can really stop Joe Musician from burning his own CDs and selling them through his webpage. The best they can hope for is to criminalize it, right? Wouldn't it just go 'underground' like software piracy at that point? =Smidge=
The article mentions attachign a magnet to the lever to generate electricity as it moves up and down.
If the movement is caused by electric charges, why not have the lever contact an electrode, and funnel the electric charge off through whatever it is you're powering, and then back to the isotope film? Surely that would be a more efficient way to harness the power...
Or, for that matter, why does the arm have to move at all? =Smidge=
And if they buy the patent, that still shows an inkling of their true intentions for Palladium.
Quite frankly, that's an even better scenario for Lucky. He spends a few thousand bucks to get a patent or two, and is MS does anything he'll still expose them (the main goal) and probably turn a tidy profit.
Sounds like he knows exactly what he's doing, and maybe it's not completely altruistic... =Smidge=
The reason turbine powered cars never really got the attention was, simply, because it wasn't economical at the time.
It is true that a turbine engine can run on just about anything that will burn. (Same with diesel engines, with the right fuel system mods). However, at the time the first turbine cars were developed, the cheapest fuel available was gasoline.
After that, it was just cheaper to buy a regular piston engine car (which you know any garage would be capable of repairing, and could probably fix yourself)
Add in the fact that they tend to be very *thirsty* engines, just like all other rotary designs, and you really have no reason to buy one. Therefore, they didn't make any.
Now, considering how much fuel these trains would burn, it would be a lot more 'earth friendly' to simply fill the tanks with biodiesel which burns cleaner and more efficiently (and is made from veggie oil!), which doesn't require any refitting whatsoever. =Smidge=
It's often asked -- How do you compare apples and oranges?
By nutritional value, of course!
I't hard to really come up with a good, fair way to compare two different chip architectures. Even using the same program written for both doesn't indicate a true comparison between them overall.
So it seems to me that the best way to compare is popularity. I realize that's not a terribly fair method either, but since Apple seems to be putting a lot into the next generation of machines, success comes from improving their market share (I know, 'duh'), and that will only happen if the new machines are really up-to-snuff in the public eye.
So you can argue about how macs are better/worse than IBM machines 'till the cows come home. What it really comes down to is if the new machines will let Apple can break out of it's pseudo-nitche market.
Slashdot Mirror
Photovoltaic systems still have a long way to go to become economical enough to compete with more conventional methods.
You get about 100 watts of solar radiation per square foot (perpendicular to the sun's rays). Current commercial PV cells are, at best, 15% efficient.. so now you have 15 watts of electricity per square foot.
A conventional powerplants generate roughly 500-1000 Megawatts each. Doing the math, you'ld need well over 32 million square feet of collection area to match that... roughly 765 acres of active surface. PV arrays can't be packed together either, because they would cast shadows on eachother... so the actual real-estate required would be 4 or 5 times that!
Even if the PV cells were *free*, the cost of installation, service, and the land itself would be astronomical! There's no way a solar farm could pay for itself.
Nobody is going to stop burning coal and oil anytime soon (unless they run out!)
Not to say PV cells don't have their uses, of course. Cheap PV panels can certaintly help ease the energy budget!
=Smidge=
I also thought that the neanderthal/modern man relation had been resolved awhile ago... though I also know that a lot of people still think the neanderthals are our 'ancestors'.
Then again, I know a few people who think heavier objects 'fall faster' than lighter objects... so I guess you can't take knowledge for granted.
Oh well. I suppose this is just purely scientific confirmation of what archeologists/paleontologists had figured out from physical evidence. Chalk up another victory for science!
=Smidge=
No surprizes here.
Kinda reminds me of a certain energy company that disappeared not too long ago.
=Smidge=
"Do these clothes make me look fat?"
"No, your body makes you look fat. The clothes just don't do a very good job of hiding it..."
=Smidge=
I dunno... if they could boost the power output of those IR transmitters to several kilowatts, that would make downsizing a lot easier...
Of course, it may require some extra budget for cleaning crews...
=Smidge=
The problem with melting is that it takes a LOT of energy. The surface of Europa is 130K (-143C, -225F). That means to need to heat the Ice to 0C, then supply enough energy to melt it...
Keep in mind that the rest of the ice in the area is still going to be at -143C. (or very near -143C, if it's immediately adjactent to the driller) So you have to supply enough heat to make up for conduction losses in order to raise the temperature.
As a home experiment, try piercing an ice cube with a soldering iron. Takes longer than you thought, doesn't it? Now imagine the ice cube to be the size of the moon, and the temperature of the ice and surrounding air was come 170 degrees colder.
The heat generated from the friction of cutting blades would be absolutely negligable at -143C.
As another home experiment, try drilling through an ice cube. It's not going to melt all that much (if at all). Now imagine the ice cube to be the size of the moon, and the temperature of the ice and surrounding air was come 170 degrees colder.
Melting may be 'simpler' in that it mas no moving parts, but drilling is by far more practical.
Anyone care to offer an estimation on the dimentions of the probe? I'll gladly work out the actual power required to melt the ice and maintain a liquid barrier around it at these temperatures.
=Smidge=
...and what they're looking for. Obviously a site that is impossible to navigate is't going to be very popular, but the savvy user who knows what he/she is looking for will certaintly be more focused on content than presentation.
Of course, the 'internet surfer', who is typically not looking for anything specific, is more likely to be captivated by 'shiney things'. Given the nature of the study's methods, I'm thinking that was the case.
Since there was no guarantee that the person in question had any interest whatsoever in what they were showed, how could they honestly judge the page based on *content*?
=Smidge=
"Fusion ignition is harder than anyone thought 30 years ago"
Ignition isn't the problem, either. The problem is keeping the reaction under control afterwards!
=Smidge=
Also note that practically nobody uses an SUV for the kinds of things an SUV is capable of. I know Landrover owners you *freak* if they get mud on it... wtf did they buy a Landrover for, then?
As for betting from A to B... who would use this for a daily vehicle? Recreation, definately, but recreational vehicles aren't genarally used for 'A to B' travel.
+4 Neat, +0 Useful
=Smidge=
You get an even better score by whapping the guy upside the head at a sharp angle. (The simulation runs slow as hell on my P133, but I swear it was the most entertaining 15 minutes of my week so far!) The jazzy music goes well with the crunching and grunting sound effects!
May as well make this into the official high-scrore thread. No cheating guys!
Score: 21429
Tries: 1
Method: Head, full force, Heading 339.66, Pitch -30.08
=Smidge=
Rudder? That better be some wicked-soft snow!
:) Those round plastic "plates" don't stop for anything... just lean back and plant your ass in the snow!
I remember having a "trike" some time ago. It was basically three skis with the front, middle one mounted on bycicle type handlebars. The undersides of the rails were ribbed to grab the snow and ice just a little bit and turn you.
This works extreamely well. You don't want to use any kind of "anchor" to stop, since you'll probably be going quite fast... and the jerk from the anchor rope will be just as bad (or worse!) than hitting the trees!
Another brake design I've seen is a triangle-shaped plate with SMALL spikes on it, hinged at the point opposite the spikes and held up under the sled with a light spring.stomping on the plate pushed the spikes into the snow and slowed you down safely.
And, of course, "Jump the fuck off" is still the most reliable.
(Building a berm of leaves at the bottom of the hill before it snows would make a great safety net, too)
=Smidge=
Some people are way ahead of you. ;)
Ironically, I think their forcasts are more accurate than our local guys.
=Smidge=
The kids will always more adept at using the computer than the teachers. They like to experiment. With that in mind, I think installing software that gives them the most freedom to explore without risk of blowing the computer up would be a good idea. As long as the learning curve isn't too steep, I'm sure the kids will be able to pick up the basics through trial and error.
I would also think that keeping 'internet time wasters' like IRC and Instant Messangers off of these machines would be a plus. There's really no suitable classroom application tat I can think of anyway, besides distraction.
Always keep in mind that the teachers probably won't know what the hell is going on, so make sure the kids can do as little damage as possible.
=Smidge=
Sounds like a classic case of SJS (Shitty Job Syndrome) to me. Vacations and alcohol tend to be the most commonly perscribed treatments.
I'm sure another study would easily find that people who are generally dissatisfied with their jobs feel exactly the same way regardless of what they actually do.
And in other news, studies show that eating ice cream increases your risk of being attacked by a shark. (Think about that for a moment...)
=Smidge=
Even in that case, where (if?) the person was making a deliberate attempt to undermine the company using false information, I still see no reason why Yahoo, AOL, or any other middle-man company should be at all obligated to get involved. It reminds me of Napster - They only went after them so hard because it was the only target they had. I suppose some people just have to do something to justify themselves.
Now as much as I despise AOL, I hope they don't give in so easily. Privacy is an all-or-none type of issue. "We must remember the First Amendment which protects any shrill jackass no matter how self-seeking." -FG Withington
=Smidge=
"We didn't want to have viruses blowing up systems that we depend on for navigation and monitoring engines and other systems."
It's note-worthy that this is not a military vessle anymore. Unless I'm reading the article wrong, this boat is a glorified private yacht. I fail to see the importance of the whole issue from this perspective.
I can see the ads now...
"My name is Doug Humphrey, and I'm a rich bastard who downsized my company and bought a disused warship-turned-yacht for my own private use!"
Good for him. Worried about your navigation systems? Get a stand-alone GPS unit (Assuming the Royal navy stripped out the navigation equipment that the ship originally had, that is, which I'm sure didn't run Windows!). And I'm sure an engine room in a ship like that still requires a trained engineer and at least one assistant to operate.
The only 'critical system' I can imagine on that ship that could possibly rely on the stablility of an OS is his stock-market update streamer.
Now... if anything, the interesting story here is how they converted his *company* to use Macs, and is supposingly saving the firm a bunch of money on maintainance. That's something to talk about. Now we can have a meaningful discussion on the Mac vs. Windows situation in the business world.
=Smidge=
From personal experience in the construction business, I can assure you one thing: 90% of the contractors you get are scum. What do you expect? You choose the guy who will do the job for the least amount of money... which means he's going to make up for it by giving you crap workmanship and materials.
:)
In the private sector, the engineers and project managers oversee every nut, bolt, wire tie and conduit connector that goes into a building. (Or at least they're supposed to). If the contractor bids the job saying he plans on using device X model FOO as manufactured by QUIX Co., then submits cut sheets for some other piece of equipment (or worse, the engineers visit the site and find something else already installed), you can bet they get a hard time about it.
If the engineers and the owners decide that the differnt product is acceptable, then the contractor has to pay the owner back whatever the difference in price is. If the product is no approved, then it gets rejected and the contractor has no choice but to install the equipment originally specified. The contractor doesn't get paid until the owner is satisfied that the job was done correctly and as approved by the designers. (And even then it's a struggle sometimes)
I can't say how NASA operates, but with government funding I wouldn't be surprized that few people really, really check the purchase orders and equipment that closely.
After all, the government doesn't get pissed when you run out of money, they just don't give you any more... a private owner would have his attack lawyers waiting outside your office the next morning!
Nobody should find it surprizing that people are exploiting a system that isn't looked after properly. I wonder if NASA does punchlists on their space shuttle repairs! (I can see it now... "O-ring seal on left booster rocket not installed correctly..."
=Smidge=
"significant" ?
This 'moon' is 12 miles wide. Earth's moon is roughly 2000 miles wide. The article doesn't say what the radius of the orbit was, but it doesn't really matter. Something roughly 1/1000th the size of our moon at even half the distance would still be all but invisible.
Which begs the question that has been asked many times before... exactly what qualifies something as a 'moon'? Something tells me that the definition makes discoveries like this much less draumatic.
=Smidge=
So that's what David Burke has been up to! I thought that logo looked familiar!
=Smidge=
This concept, while being a long time staple of sci-fi, certaintly has a lot of 'if's attached to it. A lot of 'if's that are themselves science fiction. If we can build machines with large enough capacity, and if they are capable of learning and adapting, and if... if if if...
But technical problems aside for amoment, what about the social, economic and spiritual aspects of doing this?
Are you making a copy of your consciousness, or transferring it? Is there going to be a 'real you' and a 'virtual you' wandering around? (Wierd!) If you believe in the 'soul' (in whatever form), what implications does it have on this technology?
Not only that, but some people can't even keep themselves occupied on a rainy sunday afternoon... what the hell are they going to do for the rest of their digital lives?
Even worse, just think of the kinds of people who would be able to afford the process... anyone else getting that Futurama 'head in a jar' image?
Physical immortality is overrated. Half the fun of life is the time limit!
=Smidge=
I'm thinking, despite the RIAA doing everything possible to reinforce their crumbling kingdom, isn't it already too late?
Maybe I'm overestimating the intelligence of the public, but if technology exists today that enables people to trade and distribute information freely (music, in this case), and such technology is in use literally everywhere you look, how can you really stop that? Even if you implement some new technology that enables you to stop the exchange, the old systems are still out there.
I don't see how the RIAA can really stop Joe Musician from burning his own CDs and selling them through his webpage. The best they can hope for is to criminalize it, right? Wouldn't it just go 'underground' like software piracy at that point?
=Smidge=
The article mentions attachign a magnet to the lever to generate electricity as it moves up and down.
If the movement is caused by electric charges, why not have the lever contact an electrode, and funnel the electric charge off through whatever it is you're powering, and then back to the isotope film? Surely that would be a more efficient way to harness the power...
Or, for that matter, why does the arm have to move at all?
=Smidge=
And if they buy the patent, that still shows an inkling of their true intentions for Palladium.
Quite frankly, that's an even better scenario for Lucky. He spends a few thousand bucks to get a patent or two, and is MS does anything he'll still expose them (the main goal) and probably turn a tidy profit.
Sounds like he knows exactly what he's doing, and maybe it's not completely altruistic...
=Smidge=
The reason turbine powered cars never really got the attention was, simply, because it wasn't economical at the time.
It is true that a turbine engine can run on just about anything that will burn. (Same with diesel engines, with the right fuel system mods). However, at the time the first turbine cars were developed, the cheapest fuel available was gasoline.
After that, it was just cheaper to buy a regular piston engine car (which you know any garage would be capable of repairing, and could probably fix yourself)
Add in the fact that they tend to be very *thirsty* engines, just like all other rotary designs, and you really have no reason to buy one. Therefore, they didn't make any.
Now, considering how much fuel these trains would burn, it would be a lot more 'earth friendly' to simply fill the tanks with biodiesel which burns cleaner and more efficiently (and is made from veggie oil!), which doesn't require any refitting whatsoever.
=Smidge=
It's often asked -- How do you compare apples and oranges?
By nutritional value, of course!
I't hard to really come up with a good, fair way to compare two different chip architectures. Even using the same program written for both doesn't indicate a true comparison between them overall.
So it seems to me that the best way to compare is popularity. I realize that's not a terribly fair method either, but since Apple seems to be putting a lot into the next generation of machines, success comes from improving their market share (I know, 'duh'), and that will only happen if the new machines are really up-to-snuff in the public eye.
So you can argue about how macs are better/worse than IBM machines 'till the cows come home. What it really comes down to is if the new machines will let Apple can break out of it's pseudo-nitche market.
=Smidge=