You clearly aren't aware of the titles out there for the Mac. Granted, the PC market is so much larger that developers don't always do a Mac port, but there are still a wide variety. Here's a small sampling:
Reminds me of a Bloom County comic strip where Milo & gang go to the new 3000 theatre mega-cinema or whatever it was called. An announcement comes over the P.A. system: "Due to our recent expansion to 3000 screens, our screen size has shrunk so small it's no longer visible. Please exit to the side."
Unless the device has a different practical use than displaying information (such as playing MP3s or whatever) you're not really going to want something so tiny it's physically unusable. There's something to be said for real buttons that you can press and get positive tactile feedback.
The use of the GIF format can be done currently without any patent issues, as long as you use the less-compressing RLE format. RLE isn't patented, so it's a semi-decent format to use if you absolutely require GIF images.
Aren't humans part of nature? If we are, if we are a product of nature, how can we ever do anything that is outside of what is natural? Then us playing with genes is just anohter part of nature, albeit a new aspect of nature.
Clearly this is a message from Osama bin Ladin to Saddam Hussein (codename "Frank") about where he has hidden Saddam's Weapons of Missing Destruction. It's not heavily encrypted, so you should have no problem figuring out the message. The included chocolate chip peanut butter cookie recipe was especially delicious.
Spam filtering in the kernel? Why would such a thing belong there? If you want to change your spam filter, does this mean you then have to recompile the kernel? Someone please explain the logic behind this.
They already have such a device. I don't know its official name but it's a water gun designed to disrupt bombs without setting them off. It reduces the bomb to small pieces.
Yeah, I saw that at Walmart the other day for $199.95 -- the Super Soaker 6000 Ultra. It was a struggle deciding between that and Lindows.
Boy, they had better get a different acronym for the US market as there are more than a few folks here that want nothing to do with Digital Rights Management.
I'm glad you explicitly pointed out what the acronym stands for. After reading slashdot for quite some time, I had *no* idea what it stood for.
Au contraire. This is the mistake that everybody made in 1999.
Investors pay you to use your knowledge to make them richer. But what you're talking about -- keeping investors in the loop at all times -- is being their employee, their lackey.
No it's not. One of the reasons you use investors is for their money. However, an investor (if they're more than just a fat wallet) usually has experience in various types of businesses. They've seen different industries and can bring insight to the table. Your 1999 statement is way off base. The mistake many companies made in 1999 is NOT listening to the investors. You know, the ones who said "but what about PROFIT?" Granted, there were the short-term investors who only cared about their exit strategy -- namely, a hugely inflated IPO which does multiples on the first day of trading -- but a traditional investor wants long-term sustained profits. Profits which those dot-com busts never even had a plan to produce.
An investor uses the inventor to generate profit. The inventor uses the investor to acquire money *and* to use the investor's experience.
They should recognize that your ideas are different from theirs and treat you as an autonomous agent. You know something about what you're doing, you're the expert in your field. If they don't like what you're doing, they should say, but in the end, they should expect you to follow your instincts before theirs.
Yes, as far as inventing goes. Kamen is a skilled inventor -- nobody would deny that. However, that doesn't necessarily mean his instincts about manufacturing, design, etc. are all on track.
That's what this is about. Dean Kamen knows about transportation, he knows about production. What he didn't know was how to market something of universal appeal. Bezos and Jobs do that very well.
What he knows about transportation is that he built a device which does it. And really -- can you compare Kamen's production experience to that of Bezos and Jobs? Heck, Jobs has been involved in the production of Apple computers (discounting the Pepsi-era at Apple) for 20+ years. Kamen is great at inventing. Let that be his forte and contribution to the product. Jobs' strength is in recognizing design and he clearly has a handle on the production side.
No investor is going to fork over money and say "do what you want with it". If you're seeking funding, an investor should be your advisor and not your boss. Go to him/her with challenges you're facing. If the venture succeeds, you can all celebrate in your joint achievement. If it fails, you know that it did so with everybody having full knowledge of the problems and contributing towards solutions. But guess what -- those investors would likely invest with you again. If you kept them out of the loop, there's no chance in hell that they'll risk their money on you again.
Speaking of Hofstadter, you really need to get your hands on a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. This idea of biology-as-computing is explored in good detail.
This is the idea explored by Arthur C. Clarke in Rendezvous with Rama which you can read online but please do go and buy the book -- it's worth it!
*** Mild spoilers, if you haven't read at least the first two books in the series ***
Rama talks about biots, which is short for biological robots. It's a combination of organic matter with mechanical/electronic parts. The crew captures one and takes it apart to find a combination of biological based batteries (think: electric eel), electronic parts (for recording, visualization, etc.), and other parts. The idea is furthered in the subsequent book, Rama II where the Octospiders manage to engineer biological creatures to do work for them. For example, a dragonfly-type machine can be built to do a videorecording of a scene. When it's done recording, it uploads its data to a central location and, in exchange, is rewarded for doing the assignment correctly by receiving energy or food (or karma points, whatever).
There will be an eventual convergence of biology and computers. And I'm not talking about simulated biology via genetic algorithms/programming Preliminary progress is being made, but I await the day I can plug in a 1 terabyte hard drive into my brain!
Man, this has been done 30 freaking years ago already. Lisp (yeah, remember the parentheses?) has had this from day 1 essentially. walk the Wiki on this.
recycling is good for karma :)
on
Ageism in IT?
·
· Score: 1
So it's the same author, and on topic, but here's the original post which'll give you a sense of deja vu:
Slashdot Mirror
I mean if it had been a mistake, surely the entire Pacific Coast should have been able to hear Steve Jobs screaming for blood?
I don't know about the screaming bit, but I swear I distinctly heard the sound of Steve Jobs shitting his pants.
You clearly aren't aware of the titles out there for the Mac. Granted, the PC market is so much larger that developers don't always do a Mac port, but there are still a wide variety. Here's a small sampling:
http://www.macsoftgames.com/
"When computer get too small for buttons..."
Reminds me of a Bloom County comic strip where Milo & gang go to the new 3000 theatre mega-cinema or whatever it was called. An announcement comes over the P.A. system: "Due to our recent expansion to 3000 screens, our screen size has shrunk so small it's no longer visible. Please exit to the side."
Unless the device has a different practical use than displaying information (such as playing MP3s or whatever) you're not really going to want something so tiny it's physically unusable. There's something to be said for real buttons that you can press and get positive tactile feedback.
The use of the GIF format can be done currently without any patent issues, as long as you use the less-compressing RLE format. RLE isn't patented, so it's a semi-decent format to use if you absolutely require GIF images.
More information, with an interesting Unisys story as well, can be found at http://www.serverobjects.com/lzw.html.
Didn't Hitler say something similar?
They're planning to add this feature -- only it takes you to a porn site instead of the first result.
First it was video tapes, now the internet. Count on the porn industry to make anything profitable.
Whoah, deja vu.
What was it? What did you see?
There was this article on Slashdot, and then another just like it.
Was it the same article?
Could be, I don't know.
The following is a summary of the next 200 postings:
..." ..."
38% "... and SCO sues for
29% "... but (Amazon/Bezos) patents
20% on-topic
13% KDE bashing
Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the thread.
Clearly this is a message from Osama bin Ladin to Saddam Hussein (codename "Frank") about where he has hidden Saddam's Weapons of Missing Destruction. It's not heavily encrypted, so you should have no problem figuring out the message. The included chocolate chip peanut butter cookie recipe was especially delicious.
Just like Honda monopolizes the Honda car brand. What?!? You want to buy refurbished Honda parts and then market it as a Honda-compatible iCar?
s/Honda/(any other car manufacturer)/
Spam filtering in the kernel? Why would such a thing belong there? If you want to change your spam filter, does this mean you then have to recompile the kernel? Someone please explain the logic behind this.
You missed a couple steps:
1. Get cream
2. Add liquid nitrogen, which freezes the cream then evaporates
3. You've got ice cream.
4. ???
5. PROFIT!
Freeze the dog in liquid nitrogen. Run it through a bandsaw. [Meeeoooowww!]
Yeah, I saw that at Walmart the other day for $199.95 -- the Super Soaker 6000 Ultra. It was a struggle deciding between that and Lindows.
This is eventually followed up by overused /. meme #584:
"I think (Bezos/Amazon) already has the patent on this method."
+5, Freaking Obvious
An investor uses the inventor to generate profit. The inventor uses the investor to acquire money *and* to use the investor's experience.
Yes, as far as inventing goes. Kamen is a skilled inventor -- nobody would deny that. However, that doesn't necessarily mean his instincts about manufacturing, design, etc. are all on track. What he knows about transportation is that he built a device which does it. And really -- can you compare Kamen's production experience to that of Bezos and Jobs? Heck, Jobs has been involved in the production of Apple computers (discounting the Pepsi-era at Apple) for 20+ years. Kamen is great at inventing. Let that be his forte and contribution to the product. Jobs' strength is in recognizing design and he clearly has a handle on the production side.No investor is going to fork over money and say "do what you want with it". If you're seeking funding, an investor should be your advisor and not your boss. Go to him/her with challenges you're facing. If the venture succeeds, you can all celebrate in your joint achievement. If it fails, you know that it did so with everybody having full knowledge of the problems and contributing towards solutions. But guess what -- those investors would likely invest with you again. If you kept them out of the loop, there's no chance in hell that they'll risk their money on you again.
Speaking of Hofstadter, you really need to get your hands on a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. This idea of biology-as-computing is explored in good detail.
*** Mild spoilers, if you haven't read at least the first two books in the series ***
Rama talks about biots, which is short for biological robots. It's a combination of organic matter with mechanical/electronic parts. The crew captures one and takes it apart to find a combination of biological based batteries (think: electric eel), electronic parts (for recording, visualization, etc.), and other parts. The idea is furthered in the subsequent book, Rama II where the Octospiders manage to engineer biological creatures to do work for them. For example, a dragonfly-type machine can be built to do a videorecording of a scene. When it's done recording, it uploads its data to a central location and, in exchange, is rewarded for doing the assignment correctly by receiving energy or food (or karma points, whatever).
There will be an eventual convergence of biology and computers. And I'm not talking about simulated biology via genetic algorithms/programming Preliminary progress is being made, but I await the day I can plug in a 1 terabyte hard drive into my brain!
Now someone's going to have to invent a nanofart for it.
Man, this has been done 30 freaking years ago already. Lisp (yeah, remember the parentheses?) has had this from day 1 essentially. walk the Wiki on this.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=63702&cid=5923 358