"If we can find any living relatives of Columbus, and Caboto, and Verrazzano - wouldn't that be remarkable if we could send them on the first manned rocket to Mars."
Descendants of Columbus?! Oh sure, so we're going to send out another white man to treat the native Martians as slaves. Great idea!
The article claims America's diversity is responsible for it's creativity, but I don't see how diversity inspired the Wright Brothers to invent airplanes. I think innovation comes from the brainpower available, of which growth is not going to be spurred by outsourcing.
[tin foil hat]While this case may be (almost certainly is) good, I think the day is coming when it will get out of hand and we will see the accidental release of some real nasty man made viral stuff into the environment.[/tin foil hat]
It's not like some kid in Germany released AIDS to help his mom's computer shop and is trying to fix the damage.
Because "human auditory capacity" is not fully understood. Sure we can give standard frequency response graph, but most of these codecs take advantage of psycho-accoustic hearing models -- where certain frequencies mask other frequencies in our perception. Since this is a developing field, objective listening tests could really help determine what's working and what's not.
From my understanding of MP3 compression and others, the compression protocols take advantage of this frequency masking, so if humans can't hear it, it removes it. It also obviously takes into account frequency ranges of hearing.
As a side note, I think it might be neat to be able to compress 30-50% better based on your personal hearing characteristics, but it'd stink if you got old and had to not only wear a hearing aid, but also start collecting MP3's all over again.
Perhaps a reason Microsoft is not going out of their way to offer the XBox as the perfect home entertainment center is that it would open up tons more antitrust suits with a whole new variety of companies?
If the Visby really does turn out to be more cost-efficient than a steel ship, some maritime analysts believe that it could be a matter of time before merchant vessels begin to be made from tough plastics.
I've had a little yellow plastic duck toy that has been chewed into fervently by my pet dog for years and years, and the thing STILL stays afloat no problem. I think the Swedes are on the right track here.
Well, while 7 shows at once might initially seem like overkill, what if you're a talk show host or a journalist and you have to do your research on something going on in the news, or perhaps keep track of different sports games, and yeah, I think the Olympics got mentioned here already which is an easy example.
the system will have two processors, with an ARM-9 CPU running at 67MHz and an ARM-7 unit running at 33MHz. Retail DS devices will have 4Mb of main RAM (while debug development units will have double that), with additional chunks of cache and shared RAM for the processors and 656Kb of video RAM.
You know, despite the fact that these specs don't wow the average desktop gamer, after seeing this 96kb first-person shooter, I think the sky's the limit as long as they've got competent programmers. Moore's law supposed to point to resources available, not resources used.
I mean, don't most gamers do all of this already? The only people who might purchase these custom computers would be wannabes, surely? Your average gamer either make does with what he's got or just adapts custom hardware. Besides, there's no fun in a case mod if it comes with the PC.
While this is all true, it's nice once in a while to have a computer under warranty, with the components rigorously tested and certified to work well together. I'd often get add-on components and realize the power supply wasn't able to support new gaming hardware, or the new component turned out to be excessively noisy. There's a lot of gamers out there who would prefer to spend the time playing games rather than mucking about with worrying about such factors with the hardware.
This seems like they're just using a web browser the same way X programs use a remote display. Remember in the old days when everyone had a local machine that was relatively weak, and ran all their *real* applications (you know, besides, xclock) through the lan, on a computer hidden in a server closet somewhere? This sounds very similar, except they'll be using the web as an interface, instead of X-windows.
This might look like IBM is trying to get back some sales from Dell -- the machine sitting on a user's desk can be anything, but the server in the back room will be an IBM, worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Or will the web interface simply download a java application to the person's local machine?
Well, the key is that the application can be run offline. Like some other posters, I'm also betting it's Java-based, because of this, rather than using something like X packet-forwarding or HTML, both of which would be unbearable with any lag.
I mean, gee, in the country that has a major problem with obesity, try walking! Save the motorized mobility for the disabled. What a waste of money, and a safety hazard. I just got ran into 20 times in the supermarket during Mother's Day today.. Picture if they all had Segways n' Megways? Ow. Feet hurt? Try this.
As long as Linux application developers continue to copy Microsoft, in a vain attempt to be "compatible," Microsoft will always have the edge. They will always set the pace for others to follow.
I disagree. First off, being able to read Excel files compatibly in Linux is something Microsoft can't provide. You get an available market share that way, and even add to it. Also, the demo on the web site seems to demonstrate reading in Excel files and displaying them.
While I'm betting they want to be able to support outward compatibility, they should be in no way restricted to it. Just like going from Excel to OpenOffice, you can implement extra features in PlanMaker, let's say, and then save files that won't be perfect but will be good enough for Excel. Just like MS's business strategy, there'll perhaps be some nifty PlanMaker-specific features to make a company want to in time convert to PlanMaker-only.
Nothing's wrong with supporting the most popular format out there though. Otherwise, you're expecting users to take too far a leap.
I'm not joking when I say that the "roboporn" industry is likely to be a significant driving force when it comes to creating cheap, lifelike robots.
Porn innovates technology in a lot of ways. Just look at how much spamming technology has prospered. Soon enough we'll have Marilyn Monroe robots singing Happy Birthday to every guy in front of every quickie-mart.
Now, I'm thinking fundamentals here, but an operating system's main purpose is to let you access your hardware, run applications, and manage data. Now, I can see these specs being accurate for the games and multimedia applications of the future, but an average of 4-6Ghz CPUs and a terabyte of HD space just to use the operating system efficiently?! Give me a break. I'd rather Microsoft outsource their development to Russia, where they know how to make use of every bit of the 286's they're still using.
Maggies sucking noise was only reorded once, just like road runner's beep beep.;)
I wonder if they use some sort of compression algorithm, where they look at the script and reuse some words said by the voice actors for peak efficiency, where it wouldn't hurt the natural flow of speech significantly.
Slashdot Mirror
So if I upload a picture of my ass, do they match it to Darl McBride?
yes poets, management consultants, hairdressers, telephone sanitisers. Send the lot of em.
Ummm, leave it to generally disgruntled slashdotters to miss a reference. See the movie "Contact".
"If we can find any living relatives of Columbus, and Caboto, and Verrazzano - wouldn't that be remarkable if we could send them on the first manned rocket to Mars."
Descendants of Columbus?! Oh sure, so we're going to send out another white man to treat the native Martians as slaves. Great idea!
Well, if we do send someone on a deep space exploration mission, let's make sure it's a poet this time.
I wonder if historians 2 billion years from now will come to a similar conclusion when they find the 125 mile-wide crater in Redmond.
The article claims America's diversity is responsible for it's creativity, but I don't see how diversity inspired the Wright Brothers to invent airplanes. I think innovation comes from the brainpower available, of which growth is not going to be spurred by outsourcing.
I wonder if it's feasible to add solar-powered refrigeration to a cooler? Now THAT'D be a really useful invention. This keg thing is nice too though.
[tin foil hat]While this case may be (almost certainly is) good, I think the day is coming when it will get out of hand and we will see the accidental release of some real nasty man made viral stuff into the environment.[/tin foil hat]
It's not like some kid in Germany released AIDS to help his mom's computer shop and is trying to fix the damage.
Because "human auditory capacity" is not fully understood. Sure we can give standard frequency response graph, but most of these codecs take advantage of psycho-accoustic hearing models -- where certain frequencies mask other frequencies in our perception. Since this is a developing field, objective listening tests could really help determine what's working and what's not.
From my understanding of MP3 compression and others, the compression protocols take advantage of this frequency masking, so if humans can't hear it, it removes it. It also obviously takes into account frequency ranges of hearing. As a side note, I think it might be neat to be able to compress 30-50% better based on your personal hearing characteristics, but it'd stink if you got old and had to not only wear a hearing aid, but also start collecting MP3's all over again.
Perhaps a reason Microsoft is not going out of their way to offer the XBox as the perfect home entertainment center is that it would open up tons more antitrust suits with a whole new variety of companies?
If the Visby really does turn out to be more cost-efficient than a steel ship, some maritime analysts believe that it could be a matter of time before merchant vessels begin to be made from tough plastics.
I've had a little yellow plastic duck toy that has been chewed into fervently by my pet dog for years and years, and the thing STILL stays afloat no problem. I think the Swedes are on the right track here.
Exhaust smells like french fries!
If there's anything that's gonna sell Americans on biodiesel, it's gonna be the smell of fast food.
I bet they bribed the judge with a penis enlargement pill.
Jack said "They let prisoners out only every other day for 3 hours. I do not know how people can stay in prison for years."
Umm, most of the people reading /. get away from their computers far less than 3 hours every other day. They're spoiling him.
If you're a talk show host you have a staff to do that for you.
Perhaps, but what's cheaper, a staff, or one DVR?
Well, while 7 shows at once might initially seem like overkill, what if you're a talk show host or a journalist and you have to do your research on something going on in the news, or perhaps keep track of different sports games, and yeah, I think the Olympics got mentioned here already which is an easy example.
You know, despite the fact that these specs don't wow the average desktop gamer, after seeing this 96kb first-person shooter, I think the sky's the limit as long as they've got competent programmers. Moore's law supposed to point to resources available, not resources used.
While this is all true, it's nice once in a while to have a computer under warranty, with the components rigorously tested and certified to work well together. I'd often get add-on components and realize the power supply wasn't able to support new gaming hardware, or the new component turned out to be excessively noisy. There's a lot of gamers out there who would prefer to spend the time playing games rather than mucking about with worrying about such factors with the hardware.
Well, the key is that the application can be run offline. Like some other posters, I'm also betting it's Java-based, because of this, rather than using something like X packet-forwarding or HTML, both of which would be unbearable with any lag.
I find it hard to believe that Google's going to open up their service without an address book that at least remotely compares to Yahoo's.
I mean, gee, in the country that has a major problem with obesity, try walking! Save the motorized mobility for the disabled. What a waste of money, and a safety hazard. I just got ran into 20 times in the supermarket during Mother's Day today.. Picture if they all had Segways n' Megways? Ow. Feet hurt? Try this.
As long as Linux application developers continue to copy Microsoft, in a vain attempt to be "compatible," Microsoft will always have the edge. They will always set the pace for others to follow.
I disagree. First off, being able to read Excel files compatibly in Linux is something Microsoft can't provide. You get an available market share that way, and even add to it. Also, the demo on the web site seems to demonstrate reading in Excel files and displaying them.
While I'm betting they want to be able to support outward compatibility, they should be in no way restricted to it. Just like going from Excel to OpenOffice, you can implement extra features in PlanMaker, let's say, and then save files that won't be perfect but will be good enough for Excel. Just like MS's business strategy, there'll perhaps be some nifty PlanMaker-specific features to make a company want to in time convert to PlanMaker-only.
Nothing's wrong with supporting the most popular format out there though. Otherwise, you're expecting users to take too far a leap.
I'm not joking when I say that the "roboporn" industry is likely to be a significant driving force when it comes to creating cheap, lifelike robots.
Porn innovates technology in a lot of ways. Just look at how much spamming technology has prospered. Soon enough we'll have Marilyn Monroe robots singing Happy Birthday to every guy in front of every quickie-mart.
Now, I'm thinking fundamentals here, but an operating system's main purpose is to let you access your hardware, run applications, and manage data. Now, I can see these specs being accurate for the games and multimedia applications of the future, but an average of 4-6Ghz CPUs and a terabyte of HD space just to use the operating system efficiently?! Give me a break. I'd rather Microsoft outsource their development to Russia, where they know how to make use of every bit of the 286's they're still using.
Maggies sucking noise was only reorded once, just like road runner's beep beep. ;)
I wonder if they use some sort of compression algorithm, where they look at the script and reuse some words said by the voice actors for peak efficiency, where it wouldn't hurt the natural flow of speech significantly.