Yeah, I'm a graybeard sysadmin from Teh Oldz. But a standard issue browser that grabs a quarter GIG of memory just to start up and present a blank window strikes me as criminally inefficient by at least one, and probably two orders of magnitude. You can likely sub out your favorite application for "browser" in the above.
Being an old 55-ish jaded longtime sysadmin: I think that the primary issue is that if you're walking around wearing GG, probably 80% of the people you encounter are going to think that you're an idiot hipster, even if they don't know what it is and the latent privacy issues. Nobody needs to be THAT connected. Pretty sure that simple social ridicule is the biggest barrier to entry for that product, no matter how good.
The whole thing has the reek of Executives poking at Newtons in the early nineties. Buy it; dork with it for a couple of months; put it on the shelf and never mention it again.
The organization representing Amateur Radio Operators has been nervous about this for quite some time; PLC systems have the potential to be vast antenna arrays generating white noise in the frequency ranges below 30 mHz - right where the ham community does their long range communications. Japan has already slowed deployment for this reason.
Here's an excerpt from the ARRL January 24th newsletter (http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/03/0124/):
* FCC says power line communications technology shows promise: According to an Associated Press report, the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology has found that power line communications (PLC), which can enable high-speed Internet access over electric power lines, shows promise. The OET has said that PLC is "beginning to look like a viable alternative to cable and DSL connections to the Internet," AP reported. At present, no regulations prevent the use of electric power lines to provide Internet connections. The FCC wants to ensure that the technology does not cause interference problems with other services, however. Some PLC devices use digital signals that occupy spectrum into the upper HF range. These signals can be radiated efficiently by some electrical wiring, so there can be a significant potential impact on Amateur Radio. ARRL Lab Supervisor Ed Hare, W1RFI, chairs an IEEE C63 "RFI" ad hoc working group on the topic. "The problem with PLC is that if a company wants to supply Internet service via PLC, it's going to happen at HF, and it will radiate," Hare said. Last fall, the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Administrative Council noted the growing use of PLC for high-speed data and expressed concerns that PLC radiation could interfere with Amateur Radio reception. As a result of strong opposition from the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL), Japan's government said last summer that it was too soon to allow PLC devices in that country between 2 MHz and 30 MHz, due to its interference potential to other HF users. AP says two utilities, PPL of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Ameren of St Louis, Missouri, are working with consumers to test Internet access over power lines. PLC devices use overhead power lines and/or residential electrical wiring to communicate digital signals--for networking within a home or to provide Internet services to entire neighborhoods.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, I'm a graybeard sysadmin from Teh Oldz. But a standard issue browser that grabs a quarter GIG of memory just to start up and present a blank window strikes me as criminally inefficient by at least one, and probably two orders of magnitude. You can likely sub out your favorite application for "browser" in the above.
Being an old 55-ish jaded longtime sysadmin: I think that the primary issue is that if you're walking around wearing GG, probably 80% of the people you encounter are going to think that you're an idiot hipster, even if they don't know what it is and the latent privacy issues. Nobody needs to be THAT connected. Pretty sure that simple social ridicule is the biggest barrier to entry for that product, no matter how good. The whole thing has the reek of Executives poking at Newtons in the early nineties. Buy it; dork with it for a couple of months; put it on the shelf and never mention it again.
TechJanitor
Another stinker: Contact. The movie of Sagan's book discarded the most interesting theme, that of God/Science and where they meet.
(In the book, she proves intelligent design of the universe. In the movie, she gets a goverment grant and a boyfriend. Hooray for Hollywood.)
The organization representing Amateur Radio Operators has been nervous about this for quite some time; PLC systems have the potential to be vast antenna arrays generating white noise in the frequency ranges below 30 mHz - right where the ham community does their long range communications. Japan has already slowed deployment for this reason.
Here's an excerpt from the ARRL January 24th newsletter (http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/03/0124/):
* FCC says power line communications technology shows promise: According
to an Associated Press report, the FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology has found that power line communications (PLC), which can
enable high-speed Internet access over electric power lines, shows
promise. The OET has said that PLC is "beginning to look like a viable
alternative to cable and DSL connections to the Internet," AP reported. At
present, no regulations prevent the use of electric power lines to provide
Internet connections. The FCC wants to ensure that the technology does not
cause interference problems with other services, however. Some PLC devices
use digital signals that occupy spectrum into the upper HF range. These
signals can be radiated efficiently by some electrical wiring, so there
can be a significant potential impact on Amateur Radio. ARRL Lab
Supervisor Ed Hare, W1RFI, chairs an IEEE C63 "RFI" ad hoc working group
on the topic. "The problem with PLC is that if a company wants to supply
Internet service via PLC, it's going to happen at HF, and it will
radiate," Hare said. Last fall, the International Amateur Radio Union
(IARU) Administrative Council noted the growing use of PLC for high-speed
data and expressed concerns that PLC radiation could interfere with
Amateur Radio reception. As a result of strong opposition from the Japan
Amateur Radio League (JARL), Japan's government said last summer that it
was too soon to allow PLC devices in that country between 2 MHz and 30
MHz, due to its interference potential to other HF users. AP says two
utilities, PPL of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Ameren of St Louis,
Missouri, are working with consumers to test Internet access over power
lines. PLC devices use overhead power lines and/or residential electrical
wiring to communicate digital signals--for networking within a home or to
provide Internet services to entire neighborhoods.