The Kill-A-Watt is nice, but I wish it had some more significant figures. The lowest resolution on the thing is 1 watt, which makes it difficult to measure exactly how much power those wallwarts, things in standby mode, and other low power devices are drawing.
A lot of us here who have a whole lot of computers are actually helping the environment, as a lot of the hardware we have we rescued from going into the landfill. It's not like we are consuming excess amounts of resources to manufacture all these PCs so we can have our test networks if all of the computers came out of the trash heap (though those that leave dozens of PCs running 24/7 are not really helping things, my computers are off if they aren't being used for something).
I don't disagree about going into Afganistan at all. It was justified, it was right, and the world was on our side. On the other hand, we should have wrapped up in Afganistan years ago. Why are we still fighting there? Could it be that the politicians seem more concerned about looking like they are doing something and handing out money to contractors instead of actually getting stuff done? If we can't get some real change in how things are run over there, it's time to cut off support.
The fact that Apple has had consistently better design can maybe be supported by these 2 facts: 1) Microsoft copied Apple UI;
LOL. Because Microsoft copied it, it must be good? You Apple Fanboys can also be hilarous.
Even so, while Microsoft may have copied the basic look and the concept of overlapping Windows, Microsoft's operating systems have always had a different look and feel to them than the Mac.
2) For years, the HI guidelines at Gnome were just a blatant copy of the Mac HI guidelines (in fact, IIRC, they even mentioned that) - are you aware of that? Or are you a recent Linux fanboy?
Weren't you just making fun of Linux? Well anyway, same argument applies, because Gnome copies it, it must be good? Besides, I've always felt that most Linux GUIs tend to behave more like Windows than the Mac anyway (which would make Windows good, right?), though admittedly Gnome did steal quite a bit from Mac OS Classic, but also a whole lot from Windows.
Now, the OP claimed UI design was just pulling ideas out of one's ass, and that no objective measure could be done. Which clearly showed we were dealing with an ignorant fuck, a lumpenproletariat of the mind, a vagabond of objective evidence, a punk drifter in the road of numbers. That's the point.
You keep saying this. So how is usuability objectively measured then? How are some things not subjective, unless you can show using science why the scrollbars should be a certain shade of light aqua blue with rounded edges (ala OSX) for the greatest usability and not light grey with square edges (ala Windows 2000). Maybe I want them to light purple with pointy ends. Does that make me a Linux using heathen? Until then, you are just talking right out of your ass.
You Apple fanboys are infuriating. Apple didn't write the book on GUI design*, and good GUI design isn't defined as exactly what Apple is doing at the moment either. There are multiple ways to build a GUI, and a whole lot of it is subjective. Yes, it is a science, but so is engineering. Is every bridge you come accross built the same way? Of course not. Just because you prefer something doesn't mean it's better for everyone else.
*Actually, Apple does have their HID guidelines, which Apple themselves can't be bothered to even follow consistently.
Re:Worthless without a cooling fan...
on
Lap Desks
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· Score: 1
Are you kidding? He wants laptop that doesn't overheat, not one that you have to buy an "iLap" so it doesn't burn your legs. Perhaps he should research models from companies that actually know how to apply heatsink compound.
I would get a Thinkpad. Not sure why he had problems with his previous one (though there werne P4-based Thinkpads, perhaps that's what he had, there is no way a P4 based laptop won't get hot). My 14" R60 with the 2Ghz Core 2 Duo gets warm, but not hot and even under full load the fan is still quiet. I can use it on my lap wearing shorts without it being uncomfortable.
The Macbook Pro has the same problem as every other laptop out there. The problem is that screen is attached to the keyboard, so the screen sits too low. Thus, you have to hunch over to look at the screen of the laptop when it's on a desk or on your lap. Or if you put the screen at eye level, then the keyboard and mouse is way too high to use comfortably. Neither way is ergonomical.
My situation will probably be resulting in a lawsuit as it's pretty much illegal for them to pull this stunt in the first place- you can't pull the "you have to sign" thing after you've let me work for you any length of time (magic deal there...).
Admittedly, I don't know about where you are working, but I'm in an at-will employment state. From my understanding, in an at-will state they can pretty much terminate you for any non-illegal reason, and this doesn't seem like it would be illegal to me.
Given what Apple probably pays to make an iPod, $50 is probably an addition of 25-50% to the cost. Given that kind of money, I think my changes are perfectly reasonable for $50.
Besides, in theory the current iPod can last forever anyway, given an infinite supply of replacement parts.
I would love to see the data which makes you believe the iPod could be made to last forever by adding a mere $50 to the cost of manufacture.
Make the battery more easily replaceable, reinforce the headphones jack, and make thing out of better plastics so that it doesn't scratch so easily. That would help out the vast majority of them to have a longer service life, and could be done for $50 per unit. Still have the problems of the HDDs going out, but there isn't much that can be done about that (atleast for $50).
I don't know what kind of printer you have, but I found that my inkjet (back when I had one) would waste massive amounts of ink everytime I turned it on with its self-clean cycle. Solution? Don't ever turn it off.
I've heard that up north, some office buildings count on having the lights on to assist in heating the building. Don't know if that's true or not, as electric heating is a lot more expensive than gas heating - but on the other hand, maybe the builders save money by not putting in a large enough gas furnance that can heat the entire building by itself.
That's only the case if you use the hard-off switch found on some PCs, or pull the plug from the wall. Your typical ATX computer will otherwise draw 3-15W or so to watch for the power button being pressed, WOL, and whatever else the computer decides to have powered up while "off" (such as the USB ports on some machines I have).
I think it's great myself. Remember, since it's going on the OLPC, the source code is also available. I would think that the typical kid who's playing around with the OLPC is going to have a much easier time playing around and hacking the original SimCity code and understanding how it works as opposed to any of the later versions which get increasingly more complex. And that's the real benefit I see from this.
I think you are reading too much into what is just a game. The goal is to build a city, which means you build roads, infastructure, zone areas for use, etc. To keep it interesting, they give you a budget so you can only build so much at a time and have to use care with your placement. By tying it to taxes, it also adds a cause-and-effect element to the game, as opposed to a system where you would get an allowance or something to build with no matter what you did. I don't see it as intentionally socialist, but simply designed as a way to make the game interesting while also keeping it as simple as possible and still giving the player the feeling of having control and something to do. Though perhaps to balance things out, they should include Command and Conquer, a game that preaches libertarianism to the point where the armed forces have to directly fund their own operations by harvesting scarce resources out on the front lines:)
Besides, I would like to point out that in atleast the SNES version of Simcity, you did not build schools and hospitals - rather they would pop up on their own on random residental zones, denying you of precious taxes and screwing up your urban planning. So there!:)
Simcity is a simplier game, hopefully the kids will be able to better understand and hack it given that they will have the source code available to play with.
1. Not going to happen. What I find funny is the ">1hr commute both ways." I'm from Arkansas. The average commute of my friends in the Little Rock area is around 20-30 minutes. (one way.) Those that few that I'm aware of that do have hour or more commutes seem to all be from NY or CA and live an insane distance away from where they actually work. I'm amazed that they could afford gas with the wages in this state, but they love living here just because they live so far from where they work. Stupid NY & CA are the problem... I live about 15 minutes away from where I work.
I can see it happening, but the only way I can see it really happening is that the costs of doing it become simply prohibitive for most people. Now, I do realize that gasoline has been going up in cost, but right now it seems to still be at the annoyance stage as opposed to the unaffordable stage in terms of burning 4-10 gallons of fuel to get to work each day.
I don't see that as hard at all for families. Most families I know have the "family car" that's used for trips and hauling the family around (usually a minivan or a SUV, but can be a larger sedan or wagon), then a second vehicle, usually a smaller car or a pick up that one of the parents uses to commute to their job. I don't see a 50-100 mile range vehicle as a very hard sell as a replacement for the second vehicle, especially if an electric commuter becomes cheaper than a gasoline powered one. Once electric vehicles go mainstream in this market, then we can start worrying about how to make an electric vehicle suitable for transporting the family to Uncle Don's 3 states over.
SUVs serve a need; decry SUVs all you like, I'll simply point out that a hybrid or EV SUV is still get better milage than many non-hybrid cars(no, you're not allowed to compare them against sub-compacts), and definitly better than traditionally powered SUVs.
Typical mileage on a traditional mid-sized sedan is about 25MPG or so, which is better than the mileage I've seen on hybrid SUVs which seem to be about 20MPG or so (and no, hybrid crossover "SUVs" don't count).
Both of my "chains" start from the point where you liberate the energy from a useful energy source (e.g. by burning a fossil fuel) and end with it making your wheels go round. They both omit the extraction, refining and transport of the original source. Ok, coal doesn't need much refining but it has lower energy density than gasoline and doesn't pump along pipes too well:-) Anyway, some power stations run on oil or natural gas anyway. Oh, and there's nothing to stop you building more gasoline pipelines to get the tankers off the road.
It's still rather arbitrary. You chose the point where the fossil fuel is burned for heat. You might as well choose the point where the consumer gets it. For gas, it would be a gas station, and for electric it would be a plug in their garage.
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The Kill-A-Watt is nice, but I wish it had some more significant figures. The lowest resolution on the thing is 1 watt, which makes it difficult to measure exactly how much power those wallwarts, things in standby mode, and other low power devices are drawing.
A lot of us here who have a whole lot of computers are actually helping the environment, as a lot of the hardware we have we rescued from going into the landfill. It's not like we are consuming excess amounts of resources to manufacture all these PCs so we can have our test networks if all of the computers came out of the trash heap (though those that leave dozens of PCs running 24/7 are not really helping things, my computers are off if they aren't being used for something).
If Guiliani gets the nomination in the Republican party (it's still plausible), would you be so sure?
I don't disagree about going into Afganistan at all. It was justified, it was right, and the world was on our side. On the other hand, we should have wrapped up in Afganistan years ago. Why are we still fighting there? Could it be that the politicians seem more concerned about looking like they are doing something and handing out money to contractors instead of actually getting stuff done? If we can't get some real change in how things are run over there, it's time to cut off support.
The fact that Apple has had consistently better design can maybe be supported by these 2 facts: 1) Microsoft copied Apple UI;
LOL. Because Microsoft copied it, it must be good? You Apple Fanboys can also be hilarous.
Even so, while Microsoft may have copied the basic look and the concept of overlapping Windows, Microsoft's operating systems have always had a different look and feel to them than the Mac.
2) For years, the HI guidelines at Gnome were just a blatant copy of the Mac HI guidelines (in fact, IIRC, they even mentioned that) - are you aware of that? Or are you a recent Linux fanboy?
Weren't you just making fun of Linux? Well anyway, same argument applies, because Gnome copies it, it must be good? Besides, I've always felt that most Linux GUIs tend to behave more like Windows than the Mac anyway (which would make Windows good, right?), though admittedly Gnome did steal quite a bit from Mac OS Classic, but also a whole lot from Windows.
Now, the OP claimed UI design was just pulling ideas out of one's ass, and that no objective measure could be done. Which clearly showed we were dealing with an ignorant fuck, a lumpenproletariat of the mind, a vagabond of objective evidence, a punk drifter in the road of numbers. That's the point.
You keep saying this. So how is usuability objectively measured then? How are some things not subjective, unless you can show using science why the scrollbars should be a certain shade of light aqua blue with rounded edges (ala OSX) for the greatest usability and not light grey with square edges (ala Windows 2000). Maybe I want them to light purple with pointy ends. Does that make me a Linux using heathen? Until then, you are just talking right out of your ass.
You Apple fanboys are infuriating. Apple didn't write the book on GUI design*, and good GUI design isn't defined as exactly what Apple is doing at the moment either. There are multiple ways to build a GUI, and a whole lot of it is subjective. Yes, it is a science, but so is engineering. Is every bridge you come accross built the same way? Of course not. Just because you prefer something doesn't mean it's better for everyone else.
*Actually, Apple does have their HID guidelines, which Apple themselves can't be bothered to even follow consistently.
Are you kidding? He wants laptop that doesn't overheat, not one that you have to buy an "iLap" so it doesn't burn your legs. Perhaps he should research models from companies that actually know how to apply heatsink compound.
I would get a Thinkpad. Not sure why he had problems with his previous one (though there werne P4-based Thinkpads, perhaps that's what he had, there is no way a P4 based laptop won't get hot). My 14" R60 with the 2Ghz Core 2 Duo gets warm, but not hot and even under full load the fan is still quiet. I can use it on my lap wearing shorts without it being uncomfortable.
The Macbook Pro has the same problem as every other laptop out there. The problem is that screen is attached to the keyboard, so the screen sits too low. Thus, you have to hunch over to look at the screen of the laptop when it's on a desk or on your lap. Or if you put the screen at eye level, then the keyboard and mouse is way too high to use comfortably. Neither way is ergonomical.
You wouldn't hear the song when you're sitting at a dead stop.
My situation will probably be resulting in a lawsuit as it's pretty much illegal for them to pull this stunt in the first place- you can't pull the "you have to sign" thing after you've let me work for you any length of time (magic deal there...).
Admittedly, I don't know about where you are working, but I'm in an at-will employment state. From my understanding, in an at-will state they can pretty much terminate you for any non-illegal reason, and this doesn't seem like it would be illegal to me.
I'm getting around to it, but I'm still going through the massive cache of porn I found. Strangely, I can't access it on my laptop for some reason.
Given what Apple probably pays to make an iPod, $50 is probably an addition of 25-50% to the cost. Given that kind of money, I think my changes are perfectly reasonable for $50.
Besides, in theory the current iPod can last forever anyway, given an infinite supply of replacement parts.
I would love to see the data which makes you believe the iPod could be made to last forever by adding a mere $50 to the cost of manufacture.
Make the battery more easily replaceable, reinforce the headphones jack, and make thing out of better plastics so that it doesn't scratch so easily. That would help out the vast majority of them to have a longer service life, and could be done for $50 per unit. Still have the problems of the HDDs going out, but there isn't much that can be done about that (atleast for $50).
I don't know what kind of printer you have, but I found that my inkjet (back when I had one) would waste massive amounts of ink everytime I turned it on with its self-clean cycle. Solution? Don't ever turn it off.
I've heard that up north, some office buildings count on having the lights on to assist in heating the building. Don't know if that's true or not, as electric heating is a lot more expensive than gas heating - but on the other hand, maybe the builders save money by not putting in a large enough gas furnance that can heat the entire building by itself.
That's only the case if you use the hard-off switch found on some PCs, or pull the plug from the wall. Your typical ATX computer will otherwise draw 3-15W or so to watch for the power button being pressed, WOL, and whatever else the computer decides to have powered up while "off" (such as the USB ports on some machines I have).
I think it's great myself. Remember, since it's going on the OLPC, the source code is also available. I would think that the typical kid who's playing around with the OLPC is going to have a much easier time playing around and hacking the original SimCity code and understanding how it works as opposed to any of the later versions which get increasingly more complex. And that's the real benefit I see from this.
I think you are reading too much into what is just a game. The goal is to build a city, which means you build roads, infastructure, zone areas for use, etc. To keep it interesting, they give you a budget so you can only build so much at a time and have to use care with your placement. By tying it to taxes, it also adds a cause-and-effect element to the game, as opposed to a system where you would get an allowance or something to build with no matter what you did. I don't see it as intentionally socialist, but simply designed as a way to make the game interesting while also keeping it as simple as possible and still giving the player the feeling of having control and something to do. Though perhaps to balance things out, they should include Command and Conquer, a game that preaches libertarianism to the point where the armed forces have to directly fund their own operations by harvesting scarce resources out on the front lines :)
:)
Besides, I would like to point out that in atleast the SNES version of Simcity, you did not build schools and hospitals - rather they would pop up on their own on random residental zones, denying you of precious taxes and screwing up your urban planning. So there!
Simcity is a simplier game, hopefully the kids will be able to better understand and hack it given that they will have the source code available to play with.
1. Not going to happen. What I find funny is the ">1hr commute both ways." I'm from Arkansas. The average commute of my friends in the Little Rock area is around 20-30 minutes. (one way.) Those that few that I'm aware of that do have hour or more commutes seem to all be from NY or CA and live an insane distance away from where they actually work. I'm amazed that they could afford gas with the wages in this state, but they love living here just because they live so far from where they work. Stupid NY & CA are the problem... I live about 15 minutes away from where I work.
I can see it happening, but the only way I can see it really happening is that the costs of doing it become simply prohibitive for most people. Now, I do realize that gasoline has been going up in cost, but right now it seems to still be at the annoyance stage as opposed to the unaffordable stage in terms of burning 4-10 gallons of fuel to get to work each day.
If you had a TVs that switched themselves off if nothing is on that's worth watching, you'd never be able to turn them on!
I suggest taking it one step further in that case, and not expending the energy to build them in the first place.
I don't see that as hard at all for families. Most families I know have the "family car" that's used for trips and hauling the family around (usually a minivan or a SUV, but can be a larger sedan or wagon), then a second vehicle, usually a smaller car or a pick up that one of the parents uses to commute to their job. I don't see a 50-100 mile range vehicle as a very hard sell as a replacement for the second vehicle, especially if an electric commuter becomes cheaper than a gasoline powered one. Once electric vehicles go mainstream in this market, then we can start worrying about how to make an electric vehicle suitable for transporting the family to Uncle Don's 3 states over.
SUVs serve a need; decry SUVs all you like, I'll simply point out that a hybrid or EV SUV is still get better milage than many non-hybrid cars(no, you're not allowed to compare them against sub-compacts), and definitly better than traditionally powered SUVs.
Typical mileage on a traditional mid-sized sedan is about 25MPG or so, which is better than the mileage I've seen on hybrid SUVs which seem to be about 20MPG or so (and no, hybrid crossover "SUVs" don't count).
Both of my "chains" start from the point where you liberate the energy from a useful energy source (e.g. by burning a fossil fuel) and end with it making your wheels go round. They both omit the extraction, refining and transport of the original source. Ok, coal doesn't need much refining but it has lower energy density than gasoline and doesn't pump along pipes too well :-) Anyway, some power stations run on oil or natural gas anyway. Oh, and there's nothing to stop you building more gasoline pipelines to get the tankers off the road.
It's still rather arbitrary. You chose the point where the fossil fuel is burned for heat. You might as well choose the point where the consumer gets it. For gas, it would be a gas station, and for electric it would be a plug in their garage.
Don't forget that we have to import a lot of oil, but we are sitting on top of huge coal reserves.