I wouldn't be suprised. Although MSN.com has a web standards approach, with Mozilla many MS sites are crippled (spaces.msn.com, www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/) or explicitly IE-only (windowsupdate.microsoft.com).
Google maps doesn't use web standards either but it works beautifully in Mozilla any nearly so in Opera. Including the semi-transparent PNGs. I'd be suprised if Microsoft makes such good support for the other browsers.
I was looking for this too so I guess it's not happening.
At least ageia's physics SDK will help developers multi-thread their games for a system with 3 CPU's.
Yeah, well me either. And even if I did want to see it: calling in sick? Common children, you can't wait a few hours? Your passion has reached fanboy status.
Seriously, this is a case where sharing the network resources of the people who want to see the file makes extremely good sense. And after all, the entire purpose of advertising is to get as many people to see it as possible. Copyright extremism ought not to be the issue here.
Yup. And they need to resurrect a free version of AdCritic.com using bittorrent. I'm assuming it was bandwidth charges (not copyright issues) that brought the site down and made it come back as a pay-site. But they haven't.
There's this interview with Tim Sweeney, the leading developer behind the Unreal 3 engine.
They're working on a multithreaded engine for unreal 3, exciting stuff.
Like you said, AI is a logical chunk of processing that should be on a separate thread. Other logical chunks he mentions are physics, animation updates, the renderer's scene traversal loop, sound updates, and content streaming.
So at least one multi-threaded game engine is in the pipe. This is good because we don't really have a chicken and egg problem.
So I agree games will improve a lot with multi-core.
But for other apps I'm not as excited. I don't know what other apps I use regularly could be sped up with a multi-threaded rewrite. Virus scanning? Searching? Media playback? eMule? SETI? Maybe lots of apps can be sped up, but will any of them do it? In the interview I linked Tim says a multi-threaded system takes 2-3 times longer to write and test.
I don't use most of the apps that have a lot to gain from multi-cores (Media creation apps, server apps). Maybe I'll start doing more things at once. Or maybe run a dual-head system. Maybe.
It seems games are the only resource pig apps I've ever really run, so they're the only apps that will prompt me to upgrade to multi-core. Maybe once dual cores are common non-game developers will start to exploit them. And maybe some app will suprise me but I'm not holding my breath.
Until then a single CPU serves my needs fine. Sometimes I come across situations where I close one app to give another a boost. Such as shutting down apps to make the game faster. With a dual core I could probably run everything, but for now I'll settle for shutting extra stuff down.
In the future when playing a multi-threaded game on a multi-core PC I'll probably still shut down extra apps just to squeeze out the extra fps.
"The probability of such an event striking both Earth and one or more space colonies in quick succession is far lower."
Maybe not so remote.
I am picturing the Mars colony having their own Mars tea party, civil war, independance day, and finally both planets creating IPBM's (Inter-Planetary Ballistic Missiles) ushering in a new era of inter-planetary MAD.
You also have to consider the possibility of Marvin the Marshan finding his Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space modulator or the Cylons attacking.
Another country could Adopt the probe, US just hands off the responsibility. Give the American taxpayer a small break for all the great science they've done. A small plus is the tracking team in new host country and build a little technical expertise.
This Canadian wouldn't be opposed to $4 million/year wasted tracking a probe.
The first application I thought of for one of these flash drives was to speed up the Page File. Comments in a recent slashdot article recommended putting your page file on a separate IDE channel if possible. So why not a dedicated flash drive? It would only have to be about twice the size of your physical memory and could be much faster than a conventional HDD.
I had to dig for some numbers. Bigger drives go faster apparently. At least one company (AdTron) has SATA drives that range in size-speed from 512 MBytes to 8 GBytes - 20 MBytes/sec 28 GBytes to 56 GBytes - 70 to 80 MBytes/sec I can't find prices anywhere. SATA being the interface of choice for home use. Most of these drives seem geared for the server markets.
Regular HDDs can get up to 60 MBBytes/sec sustained apparently, so the flash drives don't look as impressive for speed as I'd hoped. The seek times should be 0 though. StorageReview.com seems to be down today for some odd reason. Too bad because I'd like to look there for more info.
This article has Hitachi forcasting the density at 230GB/square inch which allows for a 1TB drive or 20GB 1 inch drive. They're field testing drives with 80GB/square inch and plan on producing drives with 120GB/square inch soon.
It's probably one of the things NASA's PBMA (Process Based Mission Assurance) is supposed to address. But it might not be within the scope, I don't work there. ARES Corp PBMA
I just wanted to highlight 2 extra costs many people might not consider. This is on top of the obvious disadvantages of MIRs.
I don't feel like dismissing the $4 just because it's small. It's still a hidden cost and I don't like it.
I already acknowledged sales tax is probably lower for US residents.
The 50 cents interest @ %3 is modest. I'm just trying to quantify the cost of loaning money. Would you rather have $50 now or $50.50 4 months from now? Best Buy would know how to extract a higher return while they hold the $50.
And it could be worth a lot more to you. If you have a credit card balance @ %18 you could put $50 on that and save $3 over 4 months. Now the extra cost on your $50 hard disk is $6.50. You're paying over %10 more than if they'd just sell it for $50 in-store. For irony's sake imagine it was a Best Buy credit card you have the balance on. Then you're actually paying them $3 for the privilage of holding your $50.
The point is the great prices listed with MIRs are lower than the real cost.
There are two hidden costs to mail-in rebates: 1. Extra sales tax 2. Lost interest on the rebate
#1 Sales tax gets charged on the pre-rebated price. It's probably not a big deal in the states where sales taxes are usually lower. Where I live (Ontario if you must) sales tax is %15. From your example this gets charged on the $99. $7.50 more than if it were charged on the $49.99.
#2 While you wait for your $50 back any interest you could earn on it is lost. Those rebates can take months to come back. %3 cumulative interest on $50 over 4 months (which you can easily earn with a decent savings account) comes to $0.50
So the cost of the drive from Best Buy comes to $99.99 * 1.15 - 50 + 0.50 = $65.49 Plus a stamp/envelope/photocopy and the risk of being slimed.
The extra cost of buying online is shipping charges.
From my last experience buying a hard disk the same model was at Best Buy and some tiny pc shop nearby. I don't have the exact numbers but the tiny shop had a slightly higher price but no mail-in rebate.
Currently the Canadian Best Buy flyer has a 120GB Maxtor for: $169.99 - $24 instant rebate (applied post tax, can't confirm) - $26 Mail-in Rebate --------------- $119 ($145.49 after tax) ---------------
The neighborhood hole-in-the-wall shop (Laurier Computer, Ottawa): --------------- $109 ($125.35 after tax) ---------------
Same specs on both: 120GB 7200RPM ATA-133 8MB by Maxtor. So it's probably the same model.
I'm probably underestimating the complexity of implementation, but triggers aren't much more than stored procs called automatically on insert, update, delete.
If you look at the acronym from the other side, the content provider's it makes more sense. Letting this group dictate how the content is used gives them "Management" power. And you can think of "Rights" not as your fair use rights but as their copyright. The term "Digital Rights Management" makes perfect sense as is. But still a lie if they try to sell it as a good thing.
Perhaps copy protection is not as good a term here because you're allowed to copy these files all you want. But the Right to playback is restricted/managed. Trying to stop users from backing up their cds is a slightly different technology.
Anyway, does it really make a big difference if they call it DRM or Care Bear Stare Protection? Lots of things with a stigma attached have been renamed in an attempt to shake the stigma. Sanitary Engineer(garbage man), mentally challenged(retarded), visually impared(blind), previously owned(used). Eventually the public finds out what it means and treats it accordingly.
If too many people get sucked in and burned by DRM it's stigma will grow accordingly.
It's not fair to consider this a black mark on Microsoft's anti-spyware app. It's not an expliot with their anti-spyware, just another trojan that happens to target it. If anything it's a good thing for their app because it shows spyware authors are pissed. Maybe(probably) trogans are easier to fall for on windows, but that's a separate issue/discussion.
He seems agrees with the parent post but with a much longer explanation. The public has an emotional attachment to Hubble, but it costs too much, stares at the earth 50% of the time, has some communication problems, can only use one of it's instruments at a time and requires multiple billion dollar shuttle rescue/maintenance missions.
He even speculates that space telescopes could have been built for the price of Hubble.
As a Canadian I love looking at the pretty pictures you guys paid for. But the machine looks too much like a Stanley cup for my comfort.
Seems like flamebait but I'll bite.
How many BASIC compilers have you written in 2 months without touching the target hardware before you were 20?
some bio page
As the parent notes the story isn't really about doodles by Bill Gates, but about doodles that aren't by Tony Blair. And the ensuing BS because people assumed they were. The only thing remarkable about Gate's involvement is that he's such a clear proof that the graphology is crap. Him being a genius and all.
It's like when 2 students pass in the exact same assignment and get 2 vastly different marks.
It's interesting but why does slashdot care about some doodles? I'm sure most of us don't. It has nothing to do with tech or tech-related news. If, however, there was an improved version of quick sort hidden in the doodles we should all sit up. Is there a way to mod the original articles down?
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=node/view/3749 # How much does the ad cost? What kind of other "launch expenses" will this pay for? How do I know that people aren't pocketing my money?
All donations go directly to the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization that is subject to financial controls. It is hard to give specific numbers for the cost of the ad and the other launch-related expenses. For example, we are negotiating a discount rate for the ad itself and it is not clear that we are at liberty to publicly announce that rate. A portion of the proceeds from this campaign will be used for public relations-related expenses. We cannot just disclose how much we pay our PR firm, especially since they are providing a significant amount of "pro bono" (free of charge) services. We do plan to disclose the total amount of funds raised through this campaign and how the funds were used. Rest assured that your donation will be used entirely to fund the launch of Firefox 1.0!
The first suggestion that comes to my mind is the PO could put the patent to the public to submit proir art BEFORE it is granted. Then the PO could examine use any submissions against the patent. That would have to be a cheaper way of doing research.
Slashdot Mirror
I wouldn't be suprised.
Although MSN.com has a web standards approach, with Mozilla many MS sites are crippled (spaces.msn.com, www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/) or explicitly IE-only (windowsupdate.microsoft.com).
Google maps doesn't use web standards either but it works beautifully in Mozilla any nearly so in Opera. Including the semi-transparent PNGs. I'd be suprised if Microsoft makes such good support for the other browsers.
I was looking for this too so I guess it's not happening. At least ageia's physics SDK will help developers multi-thread their games for a system with 3 CPU's.
Yeah, well me either. And even if I did want to see it: calling in sick? Common children, you can't wait a few hours? Your passion has reached fanboy status.
There's this interview with Tim Sweeney, the leading developer behind the Unreal 3 engine.
They're working on a multithreaded engine for unreal 3, exciting stuff.
Like you said, AI is a logical chunk of processing that should be on a separate thread. Other logical chunks he mentions are physics, animation updates, the renderer's scene traversal loop, sound updates, and content streaming.
So at least one multi-threaded game engine is in the pipe. This is good because we don't really have a chicken and egg problem.
So I agree games will improve a lot with multi-core.
But for other apps I'm not as excited. I don't know what other apps I use regularly could be sped up with a multi-threaded rewrite. Virus scanning? Searching? Media playback? eMule? SETI? Maybe lots of apps can be sped up, but will any of them do it? In the interview I linked Tim says a multi-threaded system takes 2-3 times longer to write and test.
I don't use most of the apps that have a lot to gain from multi-cores (Media creation apps, server apps). Maybe I'll start doing more things at once. Or maybe run a dual-head system. Maybe.
It seems games are the only resource pig apps I've ever really run, so they're the only apps that will prompt me to upgrade to multi-core. Maybe once dual cores are common non-game developers will start to exploit them. And maybe some app will suprise me but I'm not holding my breath.
Until then a single CPU serves my needs fine. Sometimes I come across situations where I close one app to give another a boost. Such as shutting down apps to make the game faster. With a dual core I could probably run everything, but for now I'll settle for shutting extra stuff down.
In the future when playing a multi-threaded game on a multi-core PC I'll probably still shut down extra apps just to squeeze out the extra fps.
I am picturing the Mars colony having their own Mars tea party, civil war, independance day, and finally both planets creating IPBM's (Inter-Planetary Ballistic Missiles) ushering in a new era of inter-planetary MAD.
You also have to consider the possibility of Marvin the Marshan finding his Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space modulator or the Cylons attacking.
What's the approximate population if Britian?
Another country could Adopt the probe, US just hands off the responsibility. Give the American taxpayer a small break for all the great science they've done. A small plus is the tracking team in new host country and build a little technical expertise.
This Canadian wouldn't be opposed to $4 million/year wasted tracking a probe.
The first application I thought of for one of these flash drives was to speed up the Page File. Comments in a recent slashdot article recommended putting your page file on a separate IDE channel if possible. So why not a dedicated flash drive? It would only have to be about twice the size of your physical memory and could be much faster than a conventional HDD.
I had to dig for some numbers. Bigger drives go faster apparently. At least one company (AdTron) has SATA drives that range in size-speed from
512 MBytes to 8 GBytes - 20 MBytes/sec
28 GBytes to 56 GBytes - 70 to 80 MBytes/sec
I can't find prices anywhere. SATA being the interface of choice for home use. Most of these drives seem geared for the server markets.
Regular HDDs can get up to 60 MBBytes/sec sustained apparently, so the flash drives don't look as impressive for speed as I'd hoped. The seek times should be 0 though. StorageReview.com seems to be down today for some odd reason. Too bad because I'd like to look there for more info.
This article has Hitachi forcasting the density at 230GB/square inch which allows for a 1TB drive or 20GB 1 inch drive. They're field testing drives with 80GB/square inch and plan on producing drives with 120GB/square inch soon.
It's probably one of the things NASA's PBMA (Process Based Mission Assurance) is supposed to address. But it might not be within the scope, I don't work there. ARES Corp PBMA
Probably not retail. That would explain the undercut, which suprised me I admit.
I just wanted to highlight 2 extra costs many people might not consider. This is on top of the obvious disadvantages of MIRs.
I don't feel like dismissing the $4 just because it's small. It's still a hidden cost and I don't like it.
I already acknowledged sales tax is probably lower for US residents.
The 50 cents interest @ %3 is modest. I'm just trying to quantify the cost of loaning money. Would you rather have $50 now or $50.50 4 months from now? Best Buy would know how to extract a higher return while they hold the $50.
And it could be worth a lot more to you. If you have a credit card balance @ %18 you could put $50 on that and save $3 over 4 months. Now the extra cost on your $50 hard disk is $6.50. You're paying over %10 more than if they'd just sell it for $50 in-store. For irony's sake imagine it was a Best Buy credit card you have the balance on. Then you're actually paying them $3 for the privilage of holding your $50.
The point is the great prices listed with MIRs are lower than the real cost.
There are two hidden costs to mail-in rebates:
1. Extra sales tax
2. Lost interest on the rebate
#1 Sales tax gets charged on the pre-rebated price. It's probably not a big deal in the states where sales taxes are usually lower. Where I live (Ontario if you must) sales tax is %15. From your example this gets charged on the $99. $7.50 more than if it were charged on the $49.99.
#2 While you wait for your $50 back any interest you could earn on it is lost. Those rebates can take months to come back. %3 cumulative interest on $50 over 4 months (which you can easily earn with a decent savings account) comes to $0.50
So the cost of the drive from Best Buy comes to $99.99 * 1.15 - 50 + 0.50 = $65.49
Plus a stamp/envelope/photocopy and the risk of being slimed.
The extra cost of buying online is shipping charges.
From my last experience buying a hard disk the same model was at Best Buy and some tiny pc shop nearby. I don't have the exact numbers but the tiny shop had a slightly higher price but no mail-in rebate.
Currently the Canadian Best Buy flyer has a 120GB Maxtor for:
$169.99
- $24 instant rebate (applied post tax, can't confirm)
- $26 Mail-in Rebate
---------------
$119 ($145.49 after tax)
---------------
The neighborhood hole-in-the-wall shop (Laurier Computer, Ottawa):
---------------
$109 ($125.35 after tax)
---------------
Same specs on both: 120GB 7200RPM ATA-133 8MB by Maxtor. So it's probably the same model.
I'm probably underestimating the complexity of implementation, but triggers aren't much more than stored procs called automatically on insert, update, delete.
If you look at the acronym from the other side, the content provider's it makes more sense. Letting this group dictate how the content is used gives them "Management" power. And you can think of "Rights" not as your fair use rights but as their copyright. The term "Digital Rights Management" makes perfect sense as is. But still a lie if they try to sell it as a good thing.
Perhaps copy protection is not as good a term here because you're allowed to copy these files all you want. But the Right to playback is restricted/managed. Trying to stop users from backing up their cds is a slightly different technology.
Anyway, does it really make a big difference if they call it DRM or Care Bear Stare Protection? Lots of things with a stigma attached have been renamed in an attempt to shake the stigma. Sanitary Engineer(garbage man), mentally challenged(retarded), visually impared(blind), previously owned(used). Eventually the public finds out what it means and treats it accordingly.
If too many people get sucked in and burned by DRM it's stigma will grow accordingly.
It's not fair to consider this a black mark on Microsoft's anti-spyware app. It's not an expliot with their anti-spyware, just another trojan that happens to target it.
If anything it's a good thing for their app because it shows spyware authors are pissed.
Maybe(probably) trogans are easier to fall for on windows, but that's a separate issue/discussion.
I was reading an informative article about the mistakes of Hubble yesterday.
It's time for Hubble-2 [google cache cause site down]
He seems agrees with the parent post but with a much longer explanation. The public has an emotional attachment to Hubble, but it costs too much, stares at the earth 50% of the time, has some communication problems, can only use one of it's instruments at a time and requires multiple billion dollar shuttle rescue/maintenance missions.
He even speculates that space telescopes could have been built for the price of Hubble.
As a Canadian I love looking at the pretty pictures you guys paid for. But the machine looks too much like a Stanley cup for my comfort.
Seems like flamebait but I'll bite. How many BASIC compilers have you written in 2 months without touching the target hardware before you were 20? some bio page
As the parent notes the story isn't really about doodles by Bill Gates, but about doodles that aren't by Tony Blair. And the ensuing BS because people assumed they were. The only thing remarkable about Gate's involvement is that he's such a clear proof that the graphology is crap. Him being a genius and all.
It's like when 2 students pass in the exact same assignment and get 2 vastly different marks.
It's interesting but why does slashdot care about some doodles? I'm sure most of us don't. It has nothing to do with tech or tech-related news. If, however, there was an improved version of quick sort hidden in the doodles we should all sit up. Is there a way to mod the original articles down?
"Can't trademark a number IIRC"
Well then that would explain why google is spelled wrong.
At the bottom they had a link to Pigeon Rank which I find very funny. I don't know how recent it is but it's new to me.
Google is great for the occasional joke like this.
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=node/view/3749
# How much does the ad cost? What kind of other "launch expenses" will this pay for? How do I know that people aren't pocketing my money?
All donations go directly to the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization that is subject to financial controls. It is hard to give specific numbers for the cost of the ad and the other launch-related expenses. For example, we are negotiating a discount rate for the ad itself and it is not clear that we are at liberty to publicly announce that rate. A portion of the proceeds from this campaign will be used for public relations-related expenses. We cannot just disclose how much we pay our PR firm, especially since they are providing a significant amount of "pro bono" (free of charge) services. We do plan to disclose the total amount of funds raised through this campaign and how the funds were used. Rest assured that your donation will be used entirely to fund the launch of Firefox 1.0!
They can't patent it, I have prior art here!
Yes, the first thing I thought of when looking at these images was ROBOTECH. Eespecially with the car engine.
I've never used a newsgroup aren't they all porn?
Wait... 3D-PORN!?