Yeah, because we've never seen server-side or cloud-based apps break after an update or equipment failure, causing user lock-our or data loss - well, except for Sidekick, Google Mail, Salesforce..etc.
#3043-001 USB White Button Kit........34.99 + Shipping
Ideal for computers not shipped by the manufacturer with a White Button pre-installed.
A White Button is essential for all Windows Users. Upon a system failure, Denial of Service attack or crash, pressing the White Button releases a scientifically-formulated, airborne scent of soothing essential oil fragrances, including: Verbena, Sweet Orange, Roman Camomile and Ylang Ylag.
At the same time, one of a number of pre-programmed actions are triggered while you listen to a random selection of 10 relaxing 'mood music' tracks.
Basic actions include:
1) Reboot 2) Call my IT Support department 3) Call the manufacturer's support department and cancel my evening dinner arrangements 4) Reinstall current OS 5) Reinstall current OS after backing up all user data 6) Wipe and install CentOS 7) Wipe and install Ubuntu 8) Order me a Mac 9) Order me a Big Mac, fries and a Coke
Secondary actions can also be triggered from:
A) Call Microsoft HQ every 'x' minutes and shout 'Fuck it' down the line. B) Post my CV to Linux-only job sites C) Rub my shoulders (Requires optional add-on #RS01) D) Dial local suicide help line
A deluxe version of this item is available (#3043-002, 139.99 + Shipping). This model includes an external 10" LCD panel that can display random pages from a number of Web sites (slashdot.org, fark.com, silicon.com, cloudappreciationsociety.org and todaysbigfail.com)
Extras and consumables:
* #3043-S01 Replacement aromatherapy scent cartridge - pack of 12 * #3043-S02 Replacement mustard gas scent cartridge sold singly, no returns * #3043-M01 Extended play music ROM - an extra 4 hours of music (for Dell Support customers) * #3043-P01 Enlarged White Button with face of Steve Ballmer on top. Comes complete with real wood mini hammer and elastic band-powered mini crossbox with safe-tip(TM) arrows (pack of 12 buttons)
...and in other news: Shares in printer ink manufacturing companies rose significantly tonight, and a spokesperson for local schools' IT said they hoped this development would now give them something to finally replace that picture of the cartoon duck smashing the computer with a large mallet, provided the aged blue tack hadn't fused the original printout from 1998 permanently to the computer room walls.
Keep an eye on local business (call centre) sales or ebay - I picked up a 1m long AAC Corp 'AgentView' call centre display for 25UKP - there's a lot of 'closing down' kit around at the moment.
Currently, the displays is hooked up the BBC news RSS feed in the support room, but the control software can display pretty much anything.
Oh Great! I have just migrated 5 offices from a veterinary management system based around Access 97 onto the new, MS-SQL-based one.
How can I expect to maintain my value to the company if they stick with old, reliable systems instead of moving onto more sophisticated 'solutions' that require a shit-load of tweaking and technical guesswork to keep them running smoothly?
I tried a new machine in the gym the other day, but I had to give it up after 30 minutes as it made me feel sick......I can only eat so many chocolate bars...
"We thought fusion power would save us after the oil ran out in 2023, but no-one predicted the coconut harvest failure of 2029 that threw the World's fusion reactors into darkness...."
I see from another article that Xerox are making great strides with printable electronics so die-hard gamers will have their haptic transducers tattooed all over their body and will live the experience 24/7.
Imagine the possibilities - without the need to leave Mom's basement, you could load up 'MyRealWorld' and get mugged, roughed up by the local bully, groped on the subway (or grope someone else!), knocked in the shin by a supermarket trolley, bitten by a yappy dog in the park or simulate the jostle of a commuter ride to a real workplace without leaving your comfort zone. Couple this with retinal projectors, lie on the floor, arm outstretched and you're free-fall parachuting. Let's see what happens if you don't bother to pull that cord....
With fewer bodies out in the open, maybe we could slow down the effects of global warming.
Considering we are all just about to be landed with a 50p/month 'broadband tax' (per analogue line) to fund the roll-out of faster services, this wireless tax seems all the more just like an opportunistic grab for more cash.
Some sad individual must sit in a room all day dreaming up even more pathetic ways to tax the rest of humanity - we are already being assessed for the aesthetic view out of our Windows and how many local amenities we have nearby. Hey - I live at the end of a short section of road that leads to a gate onto fields and our last 30m 'round the bend' doesn't even have a street light and at harvest/sowing time we have farm vehicles dropping mud all over the road so can I have a discount!?
"...if the instruction set isn't any standard type..."
No problem; use the processor for a 'speak and spell'-type toy, a drug store reusable digital camera or a scientific calculator and someone will hack a decent Linux kernel onto it over a weekend.
One of my customers had their on-site facilities guys build them a small computer room from a section of open office space. The guys fixed it so the lights in the new room operated independently of the rest of the floor using a pull cord - but they also managed to put the 'big red off button' on the wall behind the cord so it was a common occurrence for someone to open the door, grope for the light cord, hit the red button and power off the room! The fix was a perspex dome over the red button.
On another site, the whole building was new from scratch, but the architect (or builders) got the plans wrong and the under-floor void in the computer room was 4 feet deep instead of 4 inches - you can imagine the room with no floor fitted; the door was half way up the wall! The fitting company had to have extra-long floor columns made to hold up the floor panels and you had to be careful not to disappear into the void and break your neck in the process if someone had a panel lifted! Bonus - room under the floor for some additional server gear, but you needed a flashlight to go work on it.
Final one: I had a computer room built to house a large Vax 11/750, a broadcast editing suite and some specialist, large format film processing gear - we had no end of fun here...
1) The electrician fitted the room stat on a pillar near the windows and there was enough heat radiation hitting it on sunny days to convince the stat that the room was still warm so the aircon used to deep freeze the room - and vice, versa on cold days! We had the stat moved
2) Early in the build, we couldn't actually keep the room cool enough and we had a stream of aircon technicians looking at the HVAC gear, replacing things, calculating heat loads etc. and scratching their heads. Turned out that the room builders had sealed the radiators into the new dry-lining walls - but hadn't actually turned them off so we had hot-panel walls!
While I was looking at aircon stuff for our small room, I came across a company that sold floor-to-ceiling panels and door units that allowed you to 'box in' your racks and then divert your aircon into the construction rather than cooling the whole room. Seems like a sensible solution for smaller data centres or IT rooms with 1 or 2 racks in the corner of an otherwise normal office.
Interestingly enough, I recently submitted an 'Ask Slashdot' (Pending) about this as my IT room is also the building's server room (just one rack and 5 servers) and we normally just keep the windows open during the day and turn on the aircon when we close up for the night, but sometimes we forget and the room's a bit warm when we come in the next day! We could just leave the aircon on all the time but that's not very eco-friendly.
I was asking for advice on USB/LAN-based temp sensors and also USB/LAN-based learning IR transmitters so we could have some code that sensed temperature and then signalled to the aircon to turn on by mimicking the remote control. Google turns up a wide range of kit from bareboard projects to 'professional' HVAC temperature modules costing stupid money so I was wondering if anyone had some practical experience of marrying the two requirements (temp sensor and IR transmitter) with sensibly-priced, off-the-shelf (in the UK) kit.
Slashdot Mirror
"Zero User Maintenance"
Yeah, because we've never seen server-side or cloud-based apps break after an update or equipment failure, causing user lock-our or data loss - well, except for Sidekick, Google Mail, Salesforce..etc.
Yahoo! Is! that! you!?
Message from Taco: This story will be reposted every week until you turn off Adblock Plus.
Click OK to Agree.
#3043-001 USB White Button Kit........34.99 + Shipping
Ideal for computers not shipped by the manufacturer with a White Button pre-installed.
A White Button is essential for all Windows Users. Upon a system failure, Denial of Service attack or crash, pressing the White Button releases a scientifically-formulated, airborne scent of soothing essential oil fragrances, including: Verbena, Sweet Orange, Roman Camomile and Ylang Ylag.
At the same time, one of a number of pre-programmed actions are triggered while you listen to a random selection of 10 relaxing 'mood music' tracks.
Basic actions include:
1) Reboot
2) Call my IT Support department
3) Call the manufacturer's support department and cancel my evening dinner arrangements
4) Reinstall current OS
5) Reinstall current OS after backing up all user data
6) Wipe and install CentOS
7) Wipe and install Ubuntu
8) Order me a Mac
9) Order me a Big Mac, fries and a Coke
Secondary actions can also be triggered from:
A) Call Microsoft HQ every 'x' minutes and shout 'Fuck it' down the line.
B) Post my CV to Linux-only job sites
C) Rub my shoulders (Requires optional add-on #RS01)
D) Dial local suicide help line
A deluxe version of this item is available (#3043-002, 139.99 + Shipping). This model includes an external 10" LCD panel that can display random pages from a number of Web sites (slashdot.org, fark.com, silicon.com, cloudappreciationsociety.org and todaysbigfail.com)
Extras and consumables:
* #3043-S01 Replacement aromatherapy scent cartridge - pack of 12
* #3043-S02 Replacement mustard gas scent cartridge sold singly, no returns
* #3043-M01 Extended play music ROM - an extra 4 hours of music (for Dell Support customers)
* #3043-P01 Enlarged White Button with face of Steve Ballmer on top. Comes complete with real wood mini hammer and elastic band-powered mini crossbox with safe-tip(TM) arrows (pack of 12 buttons)
...and in other news: Shares in printer ink manufacturing companies rose significantly tonight, and a spokesperson for local schools' IT said they hoped this development would now give them something to finally replace that picture of the cartoon duck smashing the computer with a large mallet, provided the aged blue tack hadn't fused the original printout from 1998 permanently to the computer room walls.
Keep an eye on local business (call centre) sales or ebay - I picked up a 1m long AAC Corp 'AgentView' call centre display for 25UKP - there's a lot of 'closing down' kit around at the moment.
Currently, the displays is hooked up the BBC news RSS feed in the support room, but the control software can display pretty much anything.
..reverse tachyon beams...oh, and more cowbell.
Oh Great! I have just migrated 5 offices from a veterinary management system based around Access 97 onto the new, MS-SQL-based one.
How can I expect to maintain my value to the company if they stick with old, reliable systems instead of moving onto more sophisticated 'solutions' that require a shit-load of tweaking and technical guesswork to keep them running smoothly?
I tried a new machine in the gym the other day, but I had to give it up after 30 minutes as it made me feel sick... ...I can only eat so many chocolate bars...
Prison inmates and their visitors have been using cell phones as proctology instruments for many years.
I was chatting to a British Telecom (BT) engineer a few years back and I believe they have Toughbooks.
He told me he used his closed laptop as a 'level' under his ladder when working up a pole on a sloping steets!
There was a bit missing....
"..connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden VIA A SECOND PATHWAY"
A kind of Spanning-Sea protocol
As I understand it, your quote only requires one car analogy per 1/200,000 Library of Congress equivalent
"We thought fusion power would save us after the oil ran out in 2023, but no-one predicted the coconut harvest failure of 2029 that threw the World's fusion reactors into darkness...."
Draped over the shoulder...? Pah!
I see from another article that Xerox are making great strides with printable electronics so die-hard gamers will have their haptic transducers tattooed all over their body and will live the experience 24/7.
Imagine the possibilities - without the need to leave Mom's basement, you could load up 'MyRealWorld' and get mugged, roughed up by the local bully, groped on the subway (or grope someone else!), knocked in the shin by a supermarket trolley, bitten by a yappy dog in the park or simulate the jostle of a commuter ride to a real workplace without leaving your comfort zone. Couple this with retinal projectors, lie on the floor, arm outstretched and you're free-fall parachuting. Let's see what happens if you don't bother to pull that cord....
With fewer bodies out in the open, maybe we could slow down the effects of global warming.
Considering we are all just about to be landed with a 50p/month 'broadband tax' (per analogue line) to fund the roll-out of faster services, this wireless tax seems all the more just like an opportunistic grab for more cash.
Some sad individual must sit in a room all day dreaming up even more pathetic ways to tax the rest of humanity - we are already being assessed for the aesthetic view out of our Windows and how many local amenities we have nearby. Hey - I live at the end of a short section of road that leads to a gate onto fields and our last 30m 'round the bend' doesn't even have a street light and at harvest/sowing time we have farm vehicles dropping mud all over the road so can I have a discount!?
Yes, must kill these networks as they are mainly used by terrorists...
Later in the original article, they call this a "Wireless Window Tax*" so the solution's simple - just switch to Linux!
L3K
*Yeah, yeah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_tax
"...if the instruction set isn't any standard type..."
No problem; use the processor for a 'speak and spell'-type toy, a drug store reusable digital camera or a scientific calculator and someone will hack a decent Linux kernel onto it over a weekend.
..and pretty much most, if not all, HTC models produced in the last 4+ years.
OP is very wrong.
Store the data on your Sidekick device?
One of my customers had their on-site facilities guys build them a small computer room from a section of open office space. The guys fixed it so the lights in the new room operated independently of the rest of the floor using a pull cord - but they also managed to put the 'big red off button' on the wall behind the cord so it was a common occurrence for someone to open the door, grope for the light cord, hit the red button and power off the room! The fix was a perspex dome over the red button.
On another site, the whole building was new from scratch, but the architect (or builders) got the plans wrong and the under-floor void in the computer room was 4 feet deep instead of 4 inches - you can imagine the room with no floor fitted; the door was half way up the wall! The fitting company had to have extra-long floor columns made to hold up the floor panels and you had to be careful not to disappear into the void and break your neck in the process if someone had a panel lifted! Bonus - room under the floor for some additional server gear, but you needed a flashlight to go work on it.
Final one: I had a computer room built to house a large Vax 11/750, a broadcast editing suite and some specialist, large format film processing gear - we had no end of fun here...
1) The electrician fitted the room stat on a pillar near the windows and there was enough heat radiation hitting it on sunny days to convince the stat that the room was still warm so the aircon used to deep freeze the room - and vice, versa on cold days! We had the stat moved
2) Early in the build, we couldn't actually keep the room cool enough and we had a stream of aircon technicians looking at the HVAC gear, replacing things, calculating heat loads etc. and scratching their heads. Turned out that the room builders had sealed the radiators into the new dry-lining walls - but hadn't actually turned them off so we had hot-panel walls!
Cheers - my start point for pricing was a USB-based IR transmitter that only costs 67UKP
http://www.redrat.co.uk/products/index.html
Anyone used this for a similar temp control project?
While I was looking at aircon stuff for our small room, I came across a company that sold floor-to-ceiling panels and door units that allowed you to 'box in' your racks and then divert your aircon into the construction rather than cooling the whole room. Seems like a sensible solution for smaller data centres or IT rooms with 1 or 2 racks in the corner of an otherwise normal office.
Interestingly enough, I recently submitted an 'Ask Slashdot' (Pending) about this as my IT room is also the building's server room (just one rack and 5 servers) and we normally just keep the windows open during the day and turn on the aircon when we close up for the night, but sometimes we forget and the room's a bit warm when we come in the next day! We could just leave the aircon on all the time but that's not very eco-friendly.
I was asking for advice on USB/LAN-based temp sensors and also USB/LAN-based learning IR transmitters so we could have some code that sensed temperature and then signalled to the aircon to turn on by mimicking the remote control. Google turns up a wide range of kit from bareboard projects to 'professional' HVAC temperature modules costing stupid money so I was wondering if anyone had some practical experience of marrying the two requirements (temp sensor and IR transmitter) with sensibly-priced, off-the-shelf (in the UK) kit.
Anyone?