Ok, silly question: How does it get the traffic updates? If I'm not mistaken, local traffic conditions aren't included in GPS datasets, are they?
You're not mistaken, but it does sound like you haven't come across TMC (Traffic Message Channel) before. Traffic information is transmitted digitally using FM-RDS over the regular FM radio band or even DAB or satellite radio. A number of GPS devices have FM receivers built in but you can also buy after-market TMC receivers that plug into the appropriate socket on TomTom, Garmin, etc., devices.
Of course maybe if people just used their cruise control, that wouldn't be a problem either.
In my experience cruise control is quite variable. I've driven a number of CC-equipped vehicles over the years and they're all great on the straight-and-level roads but get to a corner or a hill and a lot of them can't cope.
Good CC systems (eg: Mercedes, Honda CRVs) can power up a hill, or through a corner, and back off appropriately as they crest or exit. Bad CC systems (eg: VW Jetta) apply the power too late and then surge over the crest or exiting the corner.
Cruise control is a relatively simple subsystem. If a lot of manufacturers can't even get that right, what hope is there for driverless technology?
GP is right about Ubuntu - go install 9.10 somewhere, which is only one major version behind, and see how many security updates have been supplied for it lately. In the Ubuntu PPC case, though, you're going to have to switch distros because there won't be any more PPC support from Canonical.
The only differences between Microsoft and Canonical here is that Ubuntu is free to download and install, and the upgrade process is generally less painful. The practice is just as evil, but it's more tolerable because it's not mugging your wallet.
Mike Capps, president of Gears of War developer Epic Games, said, 'If there's anything that's killing us [in the traditional games business] it's dollar apps.
I thought if there was anything killing you it was piracy. That's what you guys have been sprooking about for years on end, anyway.
Now if you have no evidence to falsify AGW and no alternative hypothesis to explain the warming, I have to accept the one hypothesis we do have evidence for.
Unfortunately you'll never see a competing hypothesis coming from the IPCC. Their charter and document submission guidelines prevent them from looking at any evidence contradicting human-induced climate change. You'll also note in their charter and document submission guidelines that they also conveniently define Climate Change as anything beyond normal climate variability attributable to human activities. I'm not making this up, you can go read it for yourself.
It's not just the American telecoms. In Australia you have Telstra charging "only" 25c/MB ($250/GB) on their Freedom Connect mobile plans, but if you're on one of their regular mobile plans they're gouging you for $2/MB ($2,000/GB).
Take HMV for a moment. Clearly, in the internet age a retail group selling CDs through its HMV stores, and books through its Waterstone’s shops, might look to be on a losing wicket.
Don't know about other countries, but over here the HMV stores charge about 20-30% more for the same CDs and DVDs compared with other retailers. If they go bankrupt and die it will be because of their uncompetitive pricing, not because Google stole their wares.
"exhaust data", "quantitatively asses"... I think these guys need smarter spell checkers. Perhaps they could also remove e-mail addresses from their example screen shots.
Anyone instantly worried that installing this software in your own machine might also make any data on that machine available for stalking?
It somehow doesnt seem like a good idea to me to trust a programmer proficient at this kind of this without a very very thorough code review first
Knock yourself out. The source code is available from the project page:
I guess a lot of it is in the background things that Windows does for you such as checking for a CD by sending an ATA command every second (that's why the old-style CD-ROM's blink their activity led when running Windows) instead of trusting the machine to tell the OS that something changed
Windows isn't the only thing guilty of this. Mac OS used to poll the Smartport (floppies, etc.) and SCSI devices for media changes every second even though there was hardware support for interrupts. And in something more recent: USB requires the host to regularly poll all of the connected devices to find out if they have an "interrupt" pending - go figure.
It's probably not a question of who may see it, but how much it cost. The gov't (and therefore we) pay a small fortune for every one of these innovative new devices deployed. It's definitely worth while for the gov't to want to go collect a stolen unit, rather than just ordering a new one. According to the USAF, that item cost approximately $173,000
That's a single system cost with bulk discounts. An individual aircraft is much cheaper (?) at only $35,000. That's still far too much considering what's in them - your government could make substantial savings if they hung out on diydrones.com and built their own drones.
A single Raven costs about $35,000 and the total system costs $250,000. The RQ-11B Raven UAV weighs about 1.9 kg (4.2 lb), has a flight endurance of 60–90 minutes and an effective operational radius of approximately 10 km (6.2 miles).
Also, You have to wait *gasp* THREE WHOLE DAYS longer than Johnny over in the USA before you can play your game? Poor kid. Sometimes life just isn't fair.
Indeed. There are people dying from malnutrition, war and persecution by their own government. And these selfish little shits are complaining about having to wait a day or three to play a computer game. FFS!
Except that nothing in the alleged infringements is Android-specific. Microsoft could just as easily go after Apple, or even the authors of Windows applications but instead they're currently trying to cast FUD on Android so as to get people to use Windows Phone. From Micorsoft's blog entry on the legal actions:
The Microsoft-created features protected by the patents infringed by the Nook and Nook Color tablet are core to the user experience. For example, the patents we asserted today protect innovations that:
Give people easy ways to navigate through information provided by their device apps via a separate control window with tabs;
Enable display of a webpage's content before the background image is received, allowing users to interact with the page faster;
Allow apps to superimpose download status on top of the downloading content;
Permit users to easily select text in a document and adjust that selection; and
Provide users the ability to annotate text without changing the underlying document.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, silly question: How does it get the traffic updates? If I'm not mistaken, local traffic conditions aren't included in GPS datasets, are they?
You're not mistaken, but it does sound like you haven't come across TMC (Traffic Message Channel) before. Traffic information is transmitted digitally using FM-RDS over the regular FM radio band or even DAB or satellite radio. A number of GPS devices have FM receivers built in but you can also buy after-market TMC receivers that plug into the appropriate socket on TomTom, Garmin, etc., devices.
Of course maybe if people just used their cruise control, that wouldn't be a problem either.
In my experience cruise control is quite variable. I've driven a number of CC-equipped vehicles over the years and they're all great on the straight-and-level roads but get to a corner or a hill and a lot of them can't cope.
Good CC systems (eg: Mercedes, Honda CRVs) can power up a hill, or through a corner, and back off appropriately as they crest or exit. Bad CC systems (eg: VW Jetta) apply the power too late and then surge over the crest or exiting the corner.
Cruise control is a relatively simple subsystem. If a lot of manufacturers can't even get that right, what hope is there for driverless technology?
I thought that was all a labotomy dream, like Sucker Punch.
GP is right about Ubuntu - go install 9.10 somewhere, which is only one major version behind, and see how many security updates have been supplied for it lately. In the Ubuntu PPC case, though, you're going to have to switch distros because there won't be any more PPC support from Canonical.
The only differences between Microsoft and Canonical here is that Ubuntu is free to download and install, and the upgrade process is generally less painful. The practice is just as evil, but it's more tolerable because it's not mugging your wallet.
Mike Capps, president of Gears of War developer Epic Games, said, 'If there's anything that's killing us [in the traditional games business] it's dollar apps.
I thought if there was anything killing you it was piracy. That's what you guys have been sprooking about for years on end, anyway.
Unfortunately you'll never see a competing hypothesis coming from the IPCC. Their charter and document submission guidelines prevent them from looking at any evidence contradicting human-induced climate change. You'll also note in their charter and document submission guidelines that they also conveniently define Climate Change as anything beyond normal climate variability attributable to human activities. I'm not making this up, you can go read it for yourself.
Thanks. That irked me immediately too. Someone posting on a news site needs to know at least SOME common English words.
This is /., they only know American words like color and honor.
It's not just the American telecoms. In Australia you have Telstra charging "only" 25c/MB ($250/GB) on their Freedom Connect mobile plans, but if you're on one of their regular mobile plans they're gouging you for $2/MB ($2,000/GB).
Don't know about other countries, but over here the HMV stores charge about 20-30% more for the same CDs and DVDs compared with other retailers. If they go bankrupt and die it will be because of their uncompetitive pricing, not because Google stole their wares.
"exhaust data", "quantitatively asses"... I think these guys need smarter spell checkers. Perhaps they could also remove e-mail addresses from their example screen shots.
A much better article about this issue is here: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.ecrans.fr/Google-Dailymotion-et-Facebook,12429.html
/sarcasm: I love to see current news like this on Slashdot and CNN.
The interview video on the CNN page was only posted to YouTube nearly two years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xp4KNfBZ3w
Knock yourself out. The source code is available from the project page:
So you missed all of the Total Power Consumption graphs then - their Y axes ranged from 10 to 15-26 watts.
Windows isn't the only thing guilty of this. Mac OS used to poll the Smartport (floppies, etc.) and SCSI devices for media changes every second even though there was hardware support for interrupts. And in something more recent: USB requires the host to regularly poll all of the connected devices to find out if they have an "interrupt" pending - go figure.
What type of memory are they using in a useful working computer system that only draws 0.257 watts?
Don't worry, we'll have a service pack for the Mayan calendar before then.
That's a single system cost with bulk discounts. An individual aircraft is much cheaper (?) at only $35,000. That's still far too much considering what's in them - your government could make substantial savings if they hung out on diydrones.com and built their own drones.
I had RTFA. I stand by my position.
Indeed. There are people dying from malnutrition, war and persecution by their own government. And these selfish little shits are complaining about having to wait a day or three to play a computer game. FFS!
The game is published by Electronic Arts, though. Hence the ass-hattery.
With all these firms loosing money I wish they'd loose some my way.
You forgot: "... who likes punching aliens in the balls."
Except that nothing in the alleged infringements is Android-specific. Microsoft could just as easily go after Apple, or even the authors of Windows applications but instead they're currently trying to cast FUD on Android so as to get people to use Windows Phone. From Micorsoft's blog entry on the legal actions:
Everything is bloody awesome, but doesn't it only search file names?