...I've got crappy credit, and I'm buying a one-way ticket to Vegas at the last minute with cash to go have a weekend with some blackjack dealer I met who was vacationing near me? (hey, it COULD happen!)
So...I get flagged red. Now what, they won't let me board? No free peanuts? What exactly will this do TO me (not FOR me, I think we already know that answer).
"Not all of them are the newest and swankiest on the block (some are actually quite dated), but we wanted to at least include analysis of cards from all the major players in this industry"
Good to see this...I hate only seeing reviews of the latest $300+ cards, since I'm not THAT rich
"Furthermore, we will hit you with a smorgasbord of benchmarks on both a dual Athlon MP system and a dual Xeon workstation."
And here, they lost me. How about some AVERAGE systems to go along with the average cards... I don't know how much of a difference 2x processing will make in most games, and I'm certainly not likely to even consider that route for a gaming system.
I live in California! Think the settlement (assuming it goes class action) will be enough for me to retire on?:P
I like the idea of getting the software manufaturers and distributers to change the licensing, but does anyone really believe that the settlement will be anything worth reporting? Or is it just another way to keep the lawyers getting paid?
"At this point, I think the technical approach has more promise than the legal one," said Sorkin. "Filters have done more to block unsolicited e-mail than any piece of legislation."
I hate to see conclusions like that. I mean, if we all wore bullet-proof vests, would we need laws against shooting people? It's this kind of thinking that gets us into situations like having to deal with the 2.3 billion spams per day. And, no mention of what that's doing to the world's bandwidth....
"Eventually, the company hopes that this technology can be used for study aids, advertisements, museum guides, or digital comic books..."
If they market the thing along those lines, I bet we'll be looking back next year saying 'What was that stupid game boy trick they were trying to pass off on us last year...?'
Computer evolution is starting to look like biological evolution (sorry to all the Creationists...)
Back when computers were akin to our old 1-cell relatives, it didn't take much to have a serious jump in usefulness. But now that they (and we) are vastly more complicated, significant improvements in individual aspects of the technology don't seem to affect the whole system as much, so they seem so much less exciting.
As I see it, progress is going to be coming more and more in small steps, taking much longer to affect a huge change.
But please, feel free to prove me wrong, I'd love to see the kind of jumps in usefulness that compters experienced back in the 80's.
It's one thing to rebuild the Statue of Liberty, I can see how that might be accomplished (albeit at quite a cost).
What I dont' get is...why Mt. Rushmore? They're going to have one hell of a time re-carving that thing back into the mountain, expecially after being demolished by something...well, big enough to blow something like that up.
Used to be launch.com, but they got taken over by Yahoo. You need to go through a hoop or two to set it up well, but then you can get similar or 'recommended' songs.
It's not bad, there are a few ads, and the player is proprietary (and I can't vouch for Mac support), but it's been pretty good to me.
OK, while I can certainly go along with watching second-rate actors in bad make-up and cute actresses, throwing around a few equations that no one is likely to examine, and one confusing graph...and earning (possibly) a PhD in the process, what really got my attention was the line:
"And to be fair, I'll tell you that my first order guesses, while probably not too far off, were chosen at least partly to obtain a reasonable result on our first try."
Wasn't it more like "charging customers to include bundled software in an operating system that they were required to pay for when buying a computer whether they intended to use either"?
I mean...what true geek woudn't feel proud to have a backup system in his house with a real potential to spontaneously explode (even if the chances are nil).
Lets model this after the bottle/can recycling effort, with a little twist...
Lets say...add on $100 to the cost of any PC, printer, and monitor (adjust the list as needed). When you return the item to a proper recycling location, you get the $100 back. (pre-made PCs only, home-built ones we'll let the lawyers deal with).
But...to let the $$ influence things a bit, make it so that the $100 can be adjusted down if the PC is made with more recyclable products, based on certain parts or technologies.
Maybe it would take more than $100, but...that seems to solve a couple of the inherent problems.
Doesn't it seem....
on
Immobile Robots
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
...like this is just another stab at A.I.? It's hardly a robot of any type according to most standards, but rather a program that has some limited self-awareness?
Even so, the examples don't really seem to indicate self-awareness, as much as a somewhat more robust error diagnosis. BFD. Nice if you can get it, but it's nothing new.
Personally, when I read the headline, I thought of 'robots that don't walk around', which to me describes most real robotics systems...so maybe I was jaded before I read the article.
As if (we) geeks didn't have enough reason to have no appreciable social life to begin with, now they're programming a 24/7 online version of life that will keep us from every having to socialize outside of our screens.
Then again, maybe the bar scene will be a little less diluted with brave geeks, now that they have another place to hang...
The Delta rockets have a pretty good (98%+?) success rate. I have a tendancy to get them confused with the larger Titan 4 series that seemed to want to blow up a little more frequently. I believe the Titan 4 has a failure rate under 10% now...not that that's a good number, but it's better than it used to be.
I was working for a company that did work on both, and I remember the huge disappointment when one of the Titan 4's exploded at launch...it seemed like the program would be declining rather quickly after that. Job security and all. The Delta program always seemed much more reliable in comarison.
As much as I hate to admit it, I'm torn between my hatred for the heavy-handed M$ action, and the proported resoning that it will help prevent cheating in their online games.
Nothing destroys a game community faster than the proliferation of cheaters. And, the Xbox stands to profit nicely if it can develop those communities (it's certainly not profiting without them). If I pay my hard-earned money every month to play an online game, the last think I want is to have no chance to fairly compete.
On the other hand...is that what's happening, or is this just another excuse to enable the control freaks at M$ to continue their reign?
People seem to assume that ANY piece that hits the earth will be the end. If you break a moderate-sized asteroid into small pieces, OF COURSE some will hit. And, possibly all the little pieces that hit will burn up in the atmosphere. Of the pieces that do hit, the damage would be MUCH more tolerable.
It all depends on the situation. If something the size of the moon were to suddenly aim itself at the earth, no amount of nukes would help. But a 1km piece of rock travelling at 25km/sec (which would probably poke a nice hole in the Earth's crust and kill us all) could be blown into 1000 pieces, 10% of which would hit the earth and take out a city block if it hit a city, I'll still vote for the nukes.
Then again, maybe it's like choosing between being shot with a big rifle or a shotgun. There's only one way to know for sure...and I'll take a pass, thank you very much.
Slashdot Mirror
Does that put it above or below most of M$'s product returns? (excluding Windows and Office naturally)
-Thalen
...I've got crappy credit, and I'm buying a one-way ticket to Vegas at the last minute with cash to go have a weekend with some blackjack dealer I met who was vacationing near me? (hey, it COULD happen!)
So...I get flagged red. Now what, they won't let me board? No free peanuts? What exactly will this do TO me (not FOR me, I think we already know that answer).
"Not all of them are the newest and swankiest on the block (some are actually quite dated), but we wanted to at least include analysis of cards from all the major players in this industry"
Good to see this...I hate only seeing reviews of the latest $300+ cards, since I'm not THAT rich
"Furthermore, we will hit you with a smorgasbord of benchmarks on both a dual Athlon MP system and a dual Xeon workstation."
And here, they lost me. How about some AVERAGE systems to go along with the average cards... I don't know how much of a difference 2x processing will make in most games, and I'm certainly not likely to even consider that route for a gaming system.
I live in California! Think the settlement (assuming it goes class action) will be enough for me to retire on? :P
I like the idea of getting the software manufaturers and distributers to change the licensing, but does anyone really believe that the settlement will be anything worth reporting? Or is it just another way to keep the lawyers getting paid?
Another counter-productive idea. I mean, I have enough trouble trying to convince myself to do my laundry...
"At this point, I think the technical approach has more promise than the legal one," said Sorkin. "Filters have done more to block unsolicited e-mail than any piece of legislation."
I hate to see conclusions like that. I mean, if we all wore bullet-proof vests, would we need laws against shooting people? It's this kind of thinking that gets us into situations like having to deal with the 2.3 billion spams per day. And, no mention of what that's doing to the world's bandwidth....
"Eventually, the company hopes that this technology can be used for study aids, advertisements, museum guides, or digital comic books..."
If they market the thing along those lines, I bet we'll be looking back next year saying 'What was that stupid game boy trick they were trying to pass off on us last year...?'
Computer evolution is starting to look like biological evolution (sorry to all the Creationists...)
Back when computers were akin to our old 1-cell relatives, it didn't take much to have a serious jump in usefulness. But now that they (and we) are vastly more complicated, significant improvements in individual aspects of the technology don't seem to affect the whole system as much, so they seem so much less exciting.
As I see it, progress is going to be coming more and more in small steps, taking much longer to affect a huge change.
But please, feel free to prove me wrong, I'd love to see the kind of jumps in usefulness that compters experienced back in the 80's.
....to those of us who are reading /. instead of being out at a themed party *cough* might be the "Disneyland Memorial Orgy" link.
(yeah, I'm one of the above mentioned too...go figure)
It's one thing to rebuild the Statue of Liberty, I can see how that might be accomplished (albeit at quite a cost).
What I dont' get is...why Mt. Rushmore? They're going to have one hell of a time re-carving that thing back into the mountain, expecially after being demolished by something...well, big enough to blow something like that up.
Cool idea, all in all though.
launch.yahoo.com
Used to be launch.com, but they got taken over by Yahoo. You need to go through a hoop or two to set it up well, but then you can get similar or 'recommended' songs.
It's not bad, there are a few ads, and the player is proprietary (and I can't vouch for Mac support), but it's been pretty good to me.
Video someone before the trial, edit the tape, and play that back in court...and with no intention of letting him stand up and defend himself?
Sounds like someing you'd hear about in a _really_ backwards country somewhere...
OK, while I can certainly go along with watching second-rate actors in bad make-up and cute actresses, throwing around a few equations that no one is likely to examine, and one confusing graph...and earning (possibly) a PhD in the process, what really got my attention was the line:
"And to be fair, I'll tell you that my first order guesses, while probably not too far off, were chosen at least partly to obtain a reasonable result on our first try."
Now THAT is my idea of effort!
Wasn't it more like "charging customers to include bundled software in an operating system that they were required to pay for when buying a computer whether they intended to use either"?
I mean...what true geek woudn't feel proud to have a backup system in his house with a real potential to spontaneously explode (even if the chances are nil).
Lets model this after the bottle/can recycling effort, with a little twist...
Lets say...add on $100 to the cost of any PC, printer, and monitor (adjust the list as needed). When you return the item to a proper recycling location, you get the $100 back. (pre-made PCs only, home-built ones we'll let the lawyers deal with).
But...to let the $$ influence things a bit, make it so that the $100 can be adjusted down if the PC is made with more recyclable products, based on certain parts or technologies.
Maybe it would take more than $100, but...that seems to solve a couple of the inherent problems.
...like this is just another stab at A.I.? It's hardly a robot of any type according to most standards, but rather a program that has some limited self-awareness?
Even so, the examples don't really seem to indicate self-awareness, as much as a somewhat more robust error diagnosis. BFD. Nice if you can get it, but it's nothing new.
Personally, when I read the headline, I thought of 'robots that don't walk around', which to me describes most real robotics systems...so maybe I was jaded before I read the article.
As if (we) geeks didn't have enough reason to have no appreciable social life to begin with, now they're programming a 24/7 online version of life that will keep us from every having to socialize outside of our screens.
Then again, maybe the bar scene will be a little less diluted with brave geeks, now that they have another place to hang...
The Delta rockets have a pretty good (98%+?) success rate. I have a tendancy to get them confused with the larger Titan 4 series that seemed to want to blow up a little more frequently. I believe the Titan 4 has a failure rate under 10% now...not that that's a good number, but it's better than it used to be.
I was working for a company that did work on both, and I remember the huge disappointment when one of the Titan 4's exploded at launch...it seemed like the program would be declining rather quickly after that. Job security and all. The Delta program always seemed much more reliable in comarison.
As much as I hate to admit it, I'm torn between my hatred for the heavy-handed M$ action, and the proported resoning that it will help prevent cheating in their online games.
Nothing destroys a game community faster than the proliferation of cheaters. And, the Xbox stands to profit nicely if it can develop those communities (it's certainly not profiting without them). If I pay my hard-earned money every month to play an online game, the last think I want is to have no chance to fairly compete.
On the other hand...is that what's happening, or is this just another excuse to enable the control freaks at M$ to continue their reign?
People seem to assume that ANY piece that hits the earth will be the end. If you break a moderate-sized asteroid into small pieces, OF COURSE some will hit. And, possibly all the little pieces that hit will burn up in the atmosphere. Of the pieces that do hit, the damage would be MUCH more tolerable.
It all depends on the situation. If something the size of the moon were to suddenly aim itself at the earth, no amount of nukes would help. But a 1km piece of rock travelling at 25km/sec (which would probably poke a nice hole in the Earth's crust and kill us all) could be blown into 1000 pieces, 10% of which would hit the earth and take out a city block if it hit a city, I'll still vote for the nukes.
Then again, maybe it's like choosing between being shot with a big rifle or a shotgun. There's only one way to know for sure...and I'll take a pass, thank you very much.