I concur. I have a PEG-NR70, and the 320x480 screen resolution is fairly good for texts. I love the scroll wheel, because then I can hold the PDA with one hand and just twitch my thumb whenever I want to change the page. Battery (rechargable) tends to last me approx. 6-8 hours or reading. Built-in MP3 player lets me listen to music while reading, too.
Thanks for the support. Not that I particularly mind people disagreeing with me. I'd never learn new things if people always agreed with me. I do, however, take any disagreements on slashdot with a huge spoonful of salt. I know I post spontaneously, and so my arguments are seldom as thought out as they could be.
Perhaps I was a bit general. I will be specific in that I will say what I personally deal with:
I do R&D in microelectronics. Most of the projects I work in involve an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars, of equipment and manpower. When the final product comes out our profits are figured not only on production costs, but those development costs. If we did not have a patent for our devices, a week after we come out with a new product, another company would be able to sell the same product at a lower cost because they did not have to spend the money to do the development work. Hence anything they make over production costs will already be profit.
Thus at least in my own specific experience (and yes, in my self interest, since I'd be out of a job) cutting edge technology would not be able to exist as it is today. There is no way we can just make small changes, because every little change we make means we have to retool at least some of the fab line. So when we turn out a new product, it has to be a significant step above what we previously had, to justify the expense of the changeover.
I respect your idealism, but as someone who is in the middle of it, I don't see it as a matter of being agile or innovative enough. From my standpoint, developmental costs are simply too great to be ignored, and so the first person to make something would always lose out.
This is not to say that all research and development is necessarily expensive. But If you want to look at it abstractly, The person who makes a product first has to set their price according to production costs and development costs. The second person to make that same product can set their price based solely on production costs (and perhaps the cost of buying 10 or so items from the person who first made it to take apart). Thus the second person will be able to out-compete the first person. If the development costs are fairly neglegible (like with a candle) then the market is still competitive between the two sellers. But if development costs are high like in microelectronics, even selling at a loss the person who developed the device would still be selling for a higher price then the person who copies them.
This is not to say patents cannot be abused. One example I can think of is patenting gene sequences and the like. The purpose of a patent is to give whoever develops something a grace period within which to recoup the costs of doing the development.
I am not playing. This is my livihood we're talking about here. If we were not able to patent our products, I would not be able to go to my boss and say "I have a new idea, but we'll need to order this $300,000 PECVD to fabricated it in our lab to work out all the details." I suppose I could try to make a new device within the constraints of what we already have the capability of making. But in the competitive world that I live in, if we already have the capability to make it, chances are someone else has already done it.
Without the possibility of a patent to let a company make some money off of a new invention for a bit, very few companies would be willing to spend money on research and development. Yes, patents can be misused. But without patents you'd have a "free-rider" problem where everyone wants everyone else to put up the time, money, and resources to develop new things, so that they could then simply copy it. In such an environment, almost nobody will be willing to innovate.
The businesses that will die will be the ones who put money into R&D. That includes those who fund university research. I sincerely doubt in the environment you seem to want we would be able to innovate or create anything. However, since our forefathers got along fine with whale oil and candles, I guess we don't actually need too many of the innovations since then.
Next thing you know they'll have a room at science conferences where people leave their laptops when they're not presenting so that protein folding or whatnot gets worked out on-the-spot.
But if it weren't for the French, we'd still be part of Great Britain. Arguments like this are pointless, because the two countries have helped each other out numerous times.
Yeah, I got my 30G deskstar 4 years ago precisely because it was a glass platter and so (in my opinion, this isn't really backed up by much more then my physical intuition, which could very well be wrong) perhaps a bit less prone to thermal problems.
Warranty:
While RealNetworks endeavors to provide you with the highest quality products and services, we cannot guarantee and do not warrant that the operation of any RealNetworks product will be error-free, uninterrupted or secure. See your original license agreement for details of our limited warranty or warranty disclaimer.
Essentially, we don't guarantee our product works, but you should still pay us for it. Seems to be the philosophy of many software companies...
Great idea except for one thing: in order to make sure the sequence gets there correctly you probably have to space out the port accesses. Which means your datarate will be horrible. And if you're on a high-bandwidth line with the computer you're sending data to, then measures like this probably are redundant anyways.
I work in an experimental microdevice lab. My degree is in Applied physics, but we have ME, EE, MS, and all other sorts working here. Problem with making new devices is that you never know what skills you'll need until you need them.
Other then touring big chip fabs, I don't know that much about the industrial side of things. I make a device a week or so....
I will agree that to baby-sit a machine probably all that's needed is a high-school diploma - it's all automated so you just press a button to start the thing and it does everything else itself. The expertise that's required is in designing devices and coming up with fabrication processes. Mask design is an art in and of itself because you want to use the fewest masks possible so often each mask will serve many purposes at once.
But I deviate... How did I get my start? I took a summer internship at JPL doing microdevice fabrication (in my case, with thermoelectric materials).
While informative on what it touches on, this doesn't describe what goes into making a chip. It describes how a chip is patterned. Then follows many many diffusion, oxidation, etch, and metallization steps that go between each photoresist mask step.
I suppose it makes a good read for someone who wants just a general overview. But it makes it sound like making a chip is just a glorified film development process. I do microfab work, and the lithography steps are the steps we take for granted (mostly -- they still do take effort to get right, but are in general easier then what follows).
When I was a freshman I worked over the summer doing research at JPL.
Since I was doing research, I got a desk. The desk wasn't actually in an "office", per se. It was actually out in the hallway. In the basement (the JPL researchers had their offices in the second floor). And about 2 feet away was the door to the radiation test lab. I had a wonderful view of the big red "Radiation source on" light beside the door. Between the lack of a computer and my work being experimental in nature, I did not spend much time at my desk.
I got an emachine PII-500 about 4 years ago. It was wonderful. It was actually cheaper then if I had built it myself, and had everything I wanted (along with the usual batch of extra useless software those things come with). To this day, it is still the primary computer at use at home. [my parents are its only users now, since I'm at college - so it's only in use about an hour a day or so] Only upgrade I've done to it was add more RAM before I upgraded to windows XP, and adding a CD-RW drive. Other then that, it's all original equipment and has not had any problems.
Yes, I was a bit skeptical when I bought it. But I decided to take the risk and try it, since it would be cheaper even then building one myself (and I didn't have very much money around, and really needed an upgrade from the Packard Bell P100 which was dying in a very ugly way)
Personally, I really like emachines.
I'm not sure how it happened, but when I was away once my sister called me telling me the hard drive had caught on fire (I have the tendency to leave the cover off of the case). To this day there's still scorch marks inside the case. It was an old western digital 4gig that caught fire. So yes, it is possible, although I don't really know what exactly caused it.
They're did at least mention they're using Carver amps. While they didn't specify which variety, in general Carver makes very good amps. Sure, the wattage is what most people see, but at least to someone who really enjoys sound systems (and probably has spent way too much money on one) the name of the amp maker is probably more important.
I disagree with the article
on
Real Security?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Too much security isn't the issue here at all. It's improperly implemented security. Yes, more passwords can be more secure. But only if the passwords themselves are secure. Which is why it's usually good at some level to let users set their own passwords, so that they might actually remember them. Of course, some will set simple passwords. It's up to you how to filter that. But simply assigning strange passwords to people is not the answer. And not having the secure passwords at all is definitely not the answer.
I know the local print shop here can do large-sized poster prints. It's rather expensive, though (~$500 for 3'x5'). I imagine the technology is readily available. Unfortunately I forgot the exact name of the shop I'm thinking of; if I'm motivated enough I might try to look it up.
The duo of Dawn and Dusk are pretty darn good. nVidia did an awesome job of setting them up, and you can even run it at home (if you sprung for their top-of-the-line graphics cards).
I worked at JPL for the power group, so I can actually say something about this. All of the deep-space probes run on radiothermal generators. What this is basically a radioactive source surrounded by thermoelectric generators and alpha particle absorbers. Thus, both the thermal gradient established between the radioactive material and space (via heat pipes and radiators) and the alpha particles emitted by the radioactive material are able to generate power.
There are two limitations on the lifetime of these generators - the lifetime of the radioactive isotope, and the durability of the thermoelectrics and alpha particle absorbers. I don't know too much about the particle absorbers, but I worked with the thermoelectrics, and there are durability runs of several years. However, Voyager is far older then any test we could ever do. My feeling in this is that barring high-heat conditions, the thermoelectrics should be able to last nearly indefinitely.
On a side note, it makes microsoft look pretty desperate since they were bragging about working on technology to defeat google just the other day. Apparently it must be a much more monumental task than they originally envisioned...
I didn't believe it back when Microsoft first announced it, and I still don't believe it. I personally think that google has way too much of a head start for Microsoft to easily come out with a competing technology. Perhaps if there was another company which is similar enough to google for Microsoft to buy out, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. And that's almost as important here - google has the name recognition for being THE search engine to use.
On my laptop the dns for google seems to have been overwritten. Don't know what did it, but it always redirects me to this other search engine (forgot what its name is already). I've tried resetting the DNS tables with no luck. Now, whnever I want to use google, I have to just type in the IP address. I haven't been able to fix the problem - if anyone else has come across this, I'd really appreciate it if you could post how to fix the problem.
Slashdot Mirror
I concur. I have a PEG-NR70, and the 320x480 screen resolution is fairly good for texts. I love the scroll wheel, because then I can hold the PDA with one hand and just twitch my thumb whenever I want to change the page. Battery (rechargable) tends to last me approx. 6-8 hours or reading. Built-in MP3 player lets me listen to music while reading, too.
Thanks for the support. Not that I particularly mind people disagreeing with me. I'd never learn new things if people always agreed with me. I do, however, take any disagreements on slashdot with a huge spoonful of salt. I know I post spontaneously, and so my arguments are seldom as thought out as they could be.
*sigh* here we go again.
Perhaps I was a bit general. I will be specific in that I will say what I personally deal with:
I do R&D in microelectronics. Most of the projects I work in involve an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars, of equipment and manpower. When the final product comes out our profits are figured not only on production costs, but those development costs. If we did not have a patent for our devices, a week after we come out with a new product, another company would be able to sell the same product at a lower cost because they did not have to spend the money to do the development work. Hence anything they make over production costs will already be profit.
Thus at least in my own specific experience (and yes, in my self interest, since I'd be out of a job) cutting edge technology would not be able to exist as it is today. There is no way we can just make small changes, because every little change we make means we have to retool at least some of the fab line. So when we turn out a new product, it has to be a significant step above what we previously had, to justify the expense of the changeover.
I respect your idealism, but as someone who is in the middle of it, I don't see it as a matter of being agile or innovative enough. From my standpoint, developmental costs are simply too great to be ignored, and so the first person to make something would always lose out.
This is not to say that all research and development is necessarily expensive. But If you want to look at it abstractly, The person who makes a product first has to set their price according to production costs and development costs. The second person to make that same product can set their price based solely on production costs (and perhaps the cost of buying 10 or so items from the person who first made it to take apart). Thus the second person will be able to out-compete the first person. If the development costs are fairly neglegible (like with a candle) then the market is still competitive between the two sellers. But if development costs are high like in microelectronics, even selling at a loss the person who developed the device would still be selling for a higher price then the person who copies them.
This is not to say patents cannot be abused. One example I can think of is patenting gene sequences and the like. The purpose of a patent is to give whoever develops something a grace period within which to recoup the costs of doing the development.
I am not playing. This is my livihood we're talking about here. If we were not able to patent our products, I would not be able to go to my boss and say "I have a new idea, but we'll need to order this $300,000 PECVD to fabricated it in our lab to work out all the details." I suppose I could try to make a new device within the constraints of what we already have the capability of making. But in the competitive world that I live in, if we already have the capability to make it, chances are someone else has already done it.
Without the possibility of a patent to let a company make some money off of a new invention for a bit, very few companies would be willing to spend money on research and development. Yes, patents can be misused. But without patents you'd have a "free-rider" problem where everyone wants everyone else to put up the time, money, and resources to develop new things, so that they could then simply copy it. In such an environment, almost nobody will be willing to innovate.
The businesses that will die will be the ones who put money into R&D. That includes those who fund university research. I sincerely doubt in the environment you seem to want we would be able to innovate or create anything. However, since our forefathers got along fine with whale oil and candles, I guess we don't actually need too many of the innovations since then.
Next thing you know they'll have a room at science conferences where people leave their laptops when they're not presenting so that protein folding or whatnot gets worked out on-the-spot.
But if it weren't for the French, we'd still be part of Great Britain. Arguments like this are pointless, because the two countries have helped each other out numerous times.
Yeah, I got my 30G deskstar 4 years ago precisely because it was a glass platter and so (in my opinion, this isn't really backed up by much more then my physical intuition, which could very well be wrong) perhaps a bit less prone to thermal problems.
Great idea except for one thing: in order to make sure the sequence gets there correctly you probably have to space out the port accesses. Which means your datarate will be horrible. And if you're on a high-bandwidth line with the computer you're sending data to, then measures like this probably are redundant anyways.
I work in an experimental microdevice lab. My degree is in Applied physics, but we have ME, EE, MS, and all other sorts working here. Problem with making new devices is that you never know what skills you'll need until you need them.
Other then touring big chip fabs, I don't know that much about the industrial side of things. I make a device a week or so....
I will agree that to baby-sit a machine probably all that's needed is a high-school diploma - it's all automated so you just press a button to start the thing and it does everything else itself. The expertise that's required is in designing devices and coming up with fabrication processes. Mask design is an art in and of itself because you want to use the fewest masks possible so often each mask will serve many purposes at once.
But I deviate... How did I get my start? I took a summer internship at JPL doing microdevice fabrication (in my case, with thermoelectric materials).
While informative on what it touches on, this doesn't describe what goes into making a chip. It describes how a chip is patterned. Then follows many many diffusion, oxidation, etch, and metallization steps that go between each photoresist mask step. I suppose it makes a good read for someone who wants just a general overview. But it makes it sound like making a chip is just a glorified film development process. I do microfab work, and the lithography steps are the steps we take for granted (mostly -- they still do take effort to get right, but are in general easier then what follows).
When I was a freshman I worked over the summer doing research at JPL. Since I was doing research, I got a desk. The desk wasn't actually in an "office", per se. It was actually out in the hallway. In the basement (the JPL researchers had their offices in the second floor). And about 2 feet away was the door to the radiation test lab. I had a wonderful view of the big red "Radiation source on" light beside the door. Between the lack of a computer and my work being experimental in nature, I did not spend much time at my desk.
I got an emachine PII-500 about 4 years ago. It was wonderful. It was actually cheaper then if I had built it myself, and had everything I wanted (along with the usual batch of extra useless software those things come with). To this day, it is still the primary computer at use at home. [my parents are its only users now, since I'm at college - so it's only in use about an hour a day or so] Only upgrade I've done to it was add more RAM before I upgraded to windows XP, and adding a CD-RW drive. Other then that, it's all original equipment and has not had any problems. Yes, I was a bit skeptical when I bought it. But I decided to take the risk and try it, since it would be cheaper even then building one myself (and I didn't have very much money around, and really needed an upgrade from the Packard Bell P100 which was dying in a very ugly way) Personally, I really like emachines.
I'm not sure how it happened, but when I was away once my sister called me telling me the hard drive had caught on fire (I have the tendency to leave the cover off of the case). To this day there's still scorch marks inside the case. It was an old western digital 4gig that caught fire. So yes, it is possible, although I don't really know what exactly caused it.
They're did at least mention they're using Carver amps. While they didn't specify which variety, in general Carver makes very good amps. Sure, the wattage is what most people see, but at least to someone who really enjoys sound systems (and probably has spent way too much money on one) the name of the amp maker is probably more important.
Too much security isn't the issue here at all. It's improperly implemented security. Yes, more passwords can be more secure. But only if the passwords themselves are secure. Which is why it's usually good at some level to let users set their own passwords, so that they might actually remember them. Of course, some will set simple passwords. It's up to you how to filter that. But simply assigning strange passwords to people is not the answer. And not having the secure passwords at all is definitely not the answer.
I know the local print shop here can do large-sized poster prints. It's rather expensive, though (~$500 for 3'x5'). I imagine the technology is readily available. Unfortunately I forgot the exact name of the shop I'm thinking of; if I'm motivated enough I might try to look it up.
OMG they also have popup scripts. Ones they claim will work even when browser is closed etc etc. Just how sleazy can you get?
The duo of Dawn and Dusk are pretty darn good. nVidia did an awesome job of setting them up, and you can even run it at home (if you sprung for their top-of-the-line graphics cards).
I worked at JPL for the power group, so I can actually say something about this. All of the deep-space probes run on radiothermal generators. What this is basically a radioactive source surrounded by thermoelectric generators and alpha particle absorbers. Thus, both the thermal gradient established between the radioactive material and space (via heat pipes and radiators) and the alpha particles emitted by the radioactive material are able to generate power. There are two limitations on the lifetime of these generators - the lifetime of the radioactive isotope, and the durability of the thermoelectrics and alpha particle absorbers. I don't know too much about the particle absorbers, but I worked with the thermoelectrics, and there are durability runs of several years. However, Voyager is far older then any test we could ever do. My feeling in this is that barring high-heat conditions, the thermoelectrics should be able to last nearly indefinitely.
Using pirated software in a commercial setting is a good way to lose lots of money. You go right ahead.
Laptop came with XP, and I'm not about to pay money to buy yet another version of windows.
I forgot to mention that the laptop is running windows XP pro. [I have to, to interface with the computers at work :(]
On my laptop the dns for google seems to have been overwritten. Don't know what did it, but it always redirects me to this other search engine (forgot what its name is already). I've tried resetting the DNS tables with no luck. Now, whnever I want to use google, I have to just type in the IP address. I haven't been able to fix the problem - if anyone else has come across this, I'd really appreciate it if you could post how to fix the problem.