Graphics are great, but the resolution on my imagination is awesome, and the refresh rate is much better than what you can get today.
I miss Infocom... not only did they have the best games (at the time, and I daresay the games still are more fun than a lot of the flashy color thingys those kids play nowadays), Infocom had the best packaging, bar none.
They knew that people would copy the disks, but they also knew if you threw in some 3d glasses, a small piece of pocket fuzz, and a plastic mask, people would gladly pay them anyway.
I wondered how long the four digit ATM PIN would last. I also realized that with the phone-cameras, it would be fairly simple to snap a shot of someone's PIN over their shoulder.
Could this be the death of the PIN? What's next - biometrics? Will this last only as long as it also cannot be spoofed?
ATM bug-detection should be a profitable area of research for the next few years.
One poorly written anti-Dvorak article has had more press in the last several years than the Dvorak keyboard itself. Written by Stan Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis, it has been published in journals, magazines, and web sites again and again and again -- even though The Dvorak Keyboard author Randy Cassingham debunked it years ago.: http://www.dvorak-keyboard.com/dvorak2.html
"I agree with L&M on another thing: there is a need for good-quality, unbiased studies on Dvorak. The best raw data I have access to at present is from KEYTIME, a Seattle-based company which uses keyboard instructional technologies they developed in house. In the past nine years, they have trained several hundred typists on Dvorak, and several thousand on Qwerty, using the exact same equipment and teaching methodologies. They have "repeatedly found" that after 15 hours of training and practice time, existing Qwerty hunt-and-peck typists can touch type at an average 20 WPM. After 15 hours of training and practice on Dvorak, similarly able (Qwerty) typists consistently average 25-30 WPM touch-typing on Dvorak. Further, KEYTIME reports that the Dvorak typists continue to improve at a higher rate. They have noticed a recent "a change in tide" of students wanting to learn Dvorak over Qwerty. "
I can't believe in 2004 no major keyboard manufacturer offers a DVORAK keyboard!!
As you are probably aware, DVORAK is an alternate key layout that is based on statistical frequency-of-use of each letter. The QWERTY layout is a hold-over from manual typewriter days; its design was meant to SLOW DOWN the typist to prevent the metal hammers from jamming in the original typewriters.
I realize everyone has a huge investment of time and training using QWERTY, but we should certainly teach kids the better DVORAK layout. All major OSes natively support DVORAK, and after three years I can attest to its increased comfort and efficiency. Switching takes committment, but it's so much easier to learn and type.
This site has some info about DVORAK keyboard layouts.
I once worked in a warehouse made out of corrugated aluminum, with no insulation. Not only did it get very hot and very cold (which made humans and machines unhappy), it was located next to Boeing field. Most of the time, it was tolerable, but every once in a while they'd test the ol' jet engines and you couldn't even hear yourself think.
But I can't blame anyone for this: I was one of the owners of the company. Cheap bastard.
The word "playboy" (lower case "p") is an english word.
I guess I'd better start watching which words I use for fear of lawsuits. Come on up to my... ahem... apartment-or-suite-on-the-top-floor and we can discuss it.
Ok, if I agree to let the gubmint watch my every move, do background checks on me, read my email, and follow my tracks online, can I get it in writing that I'm 100% protected from terrorism?
What?! You said NO??
Well, give me liberty or give me death then!
This would not have stopped 9-11. Making me wait in security lines an extra hour at the airport would not have stopped 9-11. Making old ladies take their shoes off before boarding planes would not have stopped 9-11.
I know that my personal files are interesting, but I'd rather keep them private, thankyouverymuch.
When I'm in Vegas, I want to know the odds aren't cheated by the house. I have to trust that some government oversight ensures that the slots haven't been rigged to make me lose more than the odds claim I should.
Similarly, I should know that some standards and enforcement is in place when I vote. Otherwise, I'm putting my trust in someone I don't know and who has interests that are probably different than mine.
Voting should not be about trust, it should be about results. Any third party should be able to verify results, regardless of their interest.
If the USA has the dollars (say, $87 billion) to clean up Iraq, the Hubble is certainly worth repairing for $600 million. This is less than ONE PERCENT of the military's budget JUST FOR IRAQ cleanup. Even in light of newer space telescopes being deployed by 2010, the value to humanity of Hubble is enormous, and unlike our Iraq fiasco, the Hubble benefits Humanity.
Ok, so some folks argue that the speed of the counting is the most important issue. Others say that there should be receipts, etc.
To me, the issue is all about how to make EVERYONE - even those who we disagree with - trust the outcome of the vote as something that fairly reflects the intent of the voters.
Toward this end:
It should be impossible to tamper with vote counts.
The tally of any vote should be able to be counted and verified by any third party, regardless of political leanings.
We should be able to have unbiased voting results, regardless whether we trust the administrators of the system or not.
Right now, electronic touch-screen voting meets none of these criteria. So, it simply should not be used, especially closed-source code. Why is there even a question about it?
Third-party verification should be possible, so that recounts can be done multiple times by different people/parties/agencies.
We should be able to trust the voting system so that we can mistrust administrators and politicians. The voting system has got to reflect the intent of voters, and voters must trust the outcome.
At the risk of being labeled a MS apologist (I try to be rather neutral), there are in fact things that a corporate entity like Microsoft provides that open source may or may not:
- Reasonably consistent consistent APIs across products (at least in recent.NET times)
- Product cohesion across the platform
- Great documentation
- Simple installation (sometimes)
My experience with open source has been that the "bazaar" of Open Source is indeed a noisy, dirty one, and that it takes real effort to separate the wheat from the chaff re: product quality and completeness. Even if you argue that MS products are of lower quality (which is improving because of competition), some customers are willing to accept the quality hit because of the reasons listed above.
The more we avoid other people, the less likely it is that we will be moderate in our opinions or tolerant of others' annoyances. Ever notice that the crazy ones are the "loners" who "keep to themselves"?
Imagine a world of nothing but loners! Can't be good.
I really don't see a big value (to me) in a lot of high-tech on my cart, though.
I think this benefits the store more than it benefits me. I don't want extra "point of purchase" ads as I stroll the grocery store. The coupon dispensers are annoying enough.
The problem is in the word "is". When you say something "is" a product, or "is" a process, or make a black and white distinction between the two, someone will see the flaw. It would be more accurate to say "I consider Linux to be a process" or "I see little value in Linux being considered a product". "Is" makes a dogmatic assertion that causes compiler errors here on/.
Paper ballots are receipts as well as ballots. Electronic voting needs to either provide third-party accountability or stay in the lab. Period.
Luckily, nobody has ever tried to tamper with voting results
Alphasmart's DANA is the perfect college student machine. Only $400, runs palmOS, has a full sized keyboard (DVORAK support), USB, smartmedia (2 slots). Very rugged, 30 hr battery life.
http://www.alphasmart.com
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I miss Infocom... not only did they have the best games (at the time, and I daresay the games still are more fun than a lot of the flashy color thingys those kids play nowadays), Infocom had the best packaging, bar none.
They knew that people would copy the disks, but they also knew if you threw in some 3d glasses, a small piece of pocket fuzz, and a plastic mask, people would gladly pay them anyway.
I agree. Denim is great for rapid comps.
Could this be the death of the PIN? What's next - biometrics? Will this last only as long as it also cannot be spoofed?
ATM bug-detection should be a profitable area of research for the next few years.
Computers don't like it when they get anthropomorphized.
Q: What's the difference between a sheep and a Holden?
A: You wouldn't want to be seen getting out of a Holden.
Oh wait... there IS such a thing!
If the standard is bad, a new standard replaces it. Dvorak IS standard, it's simply not default.
I learned DVORAK on QWERTY-labeled keyboards. No problem... a typist shouldn't be looking at the key faces anyway.
One poorly written anti-Dvorak article has had more press in the last several years than the Dvorak keyboard itself. Written by Stan Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis, it has been published in journals, magazines, and web sites again and again and again -- even though The Dvorak Keyboard author Randy Cassingham debunked it years ago.:
http://www.dvorak-keyboard.com/dvorak2.html
"I agree with L&M on another thing: there is a need for good-quality, unbiased studies on Dvorak. The best raw data I have access to at present is from KEYTIME, a Seattle-based company which uses keyboard instructional technologies they developed in house. In the past nine years, they have trained several hundred typists on Dvorak, and several thousand on Qwerty, using the exact same equipment and teaching methodologies. They have "repeatedly found" that after 15 hours of training and practice time, existing Qwerty hunt-and-peck typists can touch type at an average 20 WPM. After 15 hours of training and practice on Dvorak, similarly able (Qwerty) typists consistently average 25-30 WPM touch-typing on Dvorak. Further, KEYTIME reports that the Dvorak typists continue to improve at a higher rate. They have noticed a recent "a change in tide" of students wanting to learn Dvorak over Qwerty. "
As you are probably aware, DVORAK is an alternate key layout that is based on statistical frequency-of-use of each letter. The QWERTY layout is a hold-over from manual typewriter days; its design was meant to SLOW DOWN the typist to prevent the metal hammers from jamming in the original typewriters.
I realize everyone has a huge investment of time and training using QWERTY, but we should certainly teach kids the better DVORAK layout. All major OSes natively support DVORAK, and after three years I can attest to its increased comfort and efficiency. Switching takes committment, but it's so much easier to learn and type.
This site has some info about DVORAK keyboard layouts.
But I can't blame anyone for this: I was one of the owners of the company. Cheap bastard.
I guess I'd better start watching which words I use for fear of lawsuits. Come on up to my... ahem... apartment-or-suite-on-the-top-floor and we can discuss it.
What?! You said NO??
Well, give me liberty or give me death then!
This would not have stopped 9-11. Making me wait in security lines an extra hour at the airport would not have stopped 9-11. Making old ladies take their shoes off before boarding planes would not have stopped 9-11.
I know that my personal files are interesting, but I'd rather keep them private, thankyouverymuch.
Similarly, I should know that some standards and enforcement is in place when I vote. Otherwise, I'm putting my trust in someone I don't know and who has interests that are probably different than mine.
Voting should not be about trust, it should be about results. Any third party should be able to verify results, regardless of their interest.
This article sums up the scientific value of Hubble so far: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3115159. stm
To me, the issue is all about how to make EVERYONE - even those who we disagree with - trust the outcome of the vote as something that fairly reflects the intent of the voters.
Toward this end:
Right now, electronic touch-screen voting meets none of these criteria. So, it simply should not be used, especially closed-source code. Why is there even a question about it?
Third-party verification should be possible, so that recounts can be done multiple times by different people/parties/agencies.
We should be able to trust the voting system so that we can mistrust administrators and politicians. The voting system has got to reflect the intent of voters, and voters must trust the outcome.
At the risk of being labeled a MS apologist (I try to be rather neutral), there are in fact things that a corporate entity like Microsoft provides that open source may or may not: - Reasonably consistent consistent APIs across products (at least in recent .NET times)
- Product cohesion across the platform
- Great documentation
- Simple installation (sometimes)
My experience with open source has been that the "bazaar" of Open Source is indeed a noisy, dirty one, and that it takes real effort to separate the wheat from the chaff re: product quality and completeness. Even if you argue that MS products are of lower quality (which is improving because of competition), some customers are willing to accept the quality hit because of the reasons listed above.
The more we avoid other people, the less likely it is that we will be moderate in our opinions or tolerant of others' annoyances. Ever notice that the crazy ones are the "loners" who "keep to themselves"? Imagine a world of nothing but loners! Can't be good.
I really don't see a big value (to me) in a lot of high-tech on my cart, though. I think this benefits the store more than it benefits me. I don't want extra "point of purchase" ads as I stroll the grocery store. The coupon dispensers are annoying enough.
Had a bad day, yes?
What will archaeologists of the future think of this when they unearth its remains?
The problem is in the word "is". When you say something "is" a product, or "is" a process, or make a black and white distinction between the two, someone will see the flaw. It would be more accurate to say "I consider Linux to be a process" or "I see little value in Linux being considered a product". "Is" makes a dogmatic assertion that causes compiler errors here on /.
Paper ballots are receipts as well as ballots. Electronic voting needs to either provide third-party accountability or stay in the lab. Period. Luckily, nobody has ever tried to tamper with voting results
Alphasmart's DANA is the perfect college student machine. Only $400, runs palmOS, has a full sized keyboard (DVORAK support), USB, smartmedia (2 slots). Very rugged, 30 hr battery life. http://www.alphasmart.com
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