I did see the code - and the filenames, but the majority of that was header files that are containing definitions that have to be identical for portability reasons.
And the few code snippets that did contain actual functions didn't contain any real and obvious surprises. The working code was hardly something that you can call "advanced" by itself.
And then there is the issue of which way some code actually did go. From Unix to Linux or the opposite way.
THAT depends on which phone company and if the phone do support it and a pile of other things. Not all phones enables the GPS and not all phone networks do support it.
Just because a phone do have the gpsOne chipset doesn't mean that it actually will provide a location. It also depends on software in the phone and if there is a GPS lock. It can take a while before a phone do get GPS lock if it hasn't been in touch with the satellites and/or the locating cache isn't up to date. Especially if the caller moves around.
Header files are public - but they seldom contains any advanced functionality. They are just a definition of the calls available, defined data types and constants.
If the header files didn't contain the same (or very similar) definitions then the API wouldn't work. I expect the same header definitions to reappear in many other operating systems with minor differences - many even in Windows (Which do have a Posix API)
But of course - a lawyer wouldn't understand that, it's just a question of money.
But the 911 service do get the data from the phone company. Cell Location Service is what the phone company provides using triangulation through cell lobe data and signal strength. It's an estimation of location so the precision may vary depending on terrain.
But the phone company doesn't read the GPS - it's not in the phone network data. The GPS is a completely separate unit and is usually offline to save power.
So the phone company still relies on triangulation and estimation of where you are using signal strength and cell data.
And what about those standardized toys that you can buy - Made in China.
Everything today is "tamper proof", so it's not possible to open the devices, and if you are able to do it - there is nothing to learn.
And then - what happens at home is that the kids can't go visit their friends at will - it's far too dangerous to place the kid on a bicycle to meet some friends and then play at a nearby stream without supervision where they can build a small dam or play with small boats that they have made themselves. Going out when it's raining - that won't happen. Every kid needs to be supervised and transported by car to their friends.
And when kids are at home they aren't placed into doing something creative but instead placed in front of the TV or possibly at the computer where they can play some point and shoot game that won't stimulate the creativity. And then the kids today also are fully active in interaction with their friends via SMS and IM which shortens their attention span.
What builds creativity? - That's a good question, but it seems to me that a too short attention span where there is a shortness of true idleness periods and triggering of the imagination is failing. Watching a movie is to consume the imagination of someone else while reading a book leaves room for yourself to develop your imagination triggered by the author. Don't forget that "necessity is the mother of invention", so if there is no need to invent (like when you read a book you need to invent the pictures) the creativity isn't triggered. I'm not saying that you should ban all movies, but rather to limit the volume.
As for books to read - check out adventure books describing the discoveries and travels of other persons (real or imaginary) will be one path. Don't worry if the 9 year old takes a nose dive in some book intended for adults. That's just a new level of challenges and a learning about the world. Worry more if the kid don't touch books at all. And remember - there are no "bad" literature, that's just an invention by some people that want to think that they have a high standard. The important thing is to read.
Kids also learns from trial and error - and if nothing is broken ever and the kid never gets some bruises now and then from failing an idea the is either lacking all initiative or is so over-protected that creativity has been hemmed in.
As long as the kids aren't doing anything criminal there is not much to worry about. Creativity in criminality is what we shall fear most. Creativity in reassembling junk into new things is no problem (except that you will have some junk lying around now and then).
They have tried to get DAB started over here for a decade now and it seems to be a dead end... Only a few people uses it and people in general don't give a crap about it.
And don't forget that in case you force a change to digital radio you will need to upgrade a lot of devices with integrated radios. That will certainly alienate people. Also notice that if you implement a technology that is limited to a region it will not be very interesting. What if there is no radio to listen too when people visits the US from Canada?
And are the small radio stations prepared to invest into the digital system?
And for some users it's not just worth it to step up technology so they may just consider the fact that it may be worth it to just skip the TV and broadband. Sure - hillbillies, but when it starts to feel like the media companies starts to milk you of money and that you need a new TV every two years then it's time to think about it.
At least ordinary radio isn't digitalized and laden with a subscription fee yet.
One may wonder if the Amish are the ones that have the best chance to survive a breakdown in society.
Evidence exists that browser plugins and extensions are providing a lot of leaks and possibilities for intrusions.
So avoid installation of unnecessary problems by not installing anything else than really necessary extensions for your browser activities. What browser manufacturers needs to consider is how to improve security related to extensions and plugins. One way is to make sure that the plugins and extensions run in isolated subprocesses with lowest necessary privileges.
I suspect that the question wasn't about how to design a database engine, but rather how to model the data that is stored in a database for best consistency and performance.
It's not easy to do a "perfect" model because one solution may be best for some use cases while another is better for other use cases.
It's often a trade-off between versatility and performance. Databases also have a tendency to grow over time. But I think that the most critical part is to have a thorough understanding of what your application does and how it is used. Where is immediate response expected/needed versus when can the user wait for the data. Normalization of a database may mean that instead of one table with a lot of data you may also get support tables so that the main table has references to the support tables. This may or may not be good for the particular case.
Unfortunately patents are given on a loose ground as long as what's written is complex enough for the patent reviewer to have a hard time to grasp it fully. And the patent reviewer won't admit that he can't understand what's written so he passes the patent.
I didn't have a clue that Shazam existed, and not that someone had made this description - until it was posted here. So now Shazam has caused some real marketing for this page and some badwill for themselves.
Note that the link now ends up into a fallback site due to high traffic so there is a graph missing for the moment.
The power supply is a good start. Just hope that they also can take a bite at the batteries which are incredibly expensive related to what they actually contain.
Slashdot Mirror
I did see the code - and the filenames, but the majority of that was header files that are containing definitions that have to be identical for portability reasons.
And the few code snippets that did contain actual functions didn't contain any real and obvious surprises. The working code was hardly something that you can call "advanced" by itself.
And then there is the issue of which way some code actually did go. From Unix to Linux or the opposite way.
THAT depends on which phone company and if the phone do support it and a pile of other things. Not all phones enables the GPS and not all phone networks do support it.
Just because a phone do have the gpsOne chipset doesn't mean that it actually will provide a location. It also depends on software in the phone and if there is a GPS lock. It can take a while before a phone do get GPS lock if it hasn't been in touch with the satellites and/or the locating cache isn't up to date. Especially if the caller moves around.
Header files are public - but they seldom contains any advanced functionality. They are just a definition of the calls available, defined data types and constants.
If the header files didn't contain the same (or very similar) definitions then the API wouldn't work. I expect the same header definitions to reappear in many other operating systems with minor differences - many even in Windows (Which do have a Posix API)
But of course - a lawyer wouldn't understand that, it's just a question of money.
But the 911 service do get the data from the phone company. Cell Location Service is what the phone company provides using triangulation through cell lobe data and signal strength. It's an estimation of location so the precision may vary depending on terrain.
But the phone company doesn't read the GPS - it's not in the phone network data. The GPS is a completely separate unit and is usually offline to save power.
So the phone company still relies on triangulation and estimation of where you are using signal strength and cell data.
And what about those standardized toys that you can buy - Made in China.
Everything today is "tamper proof", so it's not possible to open the devices, and if you are able to do it - there is nothing to learn.
And then - what happens at home is that the kids can't go visit their friends at will - it's far too dangerous to place the kid on a bicycle to meet some friends and then play at a nearby stream without supervision where they can build a small dam or play with small boats that they have made themselves. Going out when it's raining - that won't happen. Every kid needs to be supervised and transported by car to their friends.
And when kids are at home they aren't placed into doing something creative but instead placed in front of the TV or possibly at the computer where they can play some point and shoot game that won't stimulate the creativity. And then the kids today also are fully active in interaction with their friends via SMS and IM which shortens their attention span.
What builds creativity? - That's a good question, but it seems to me that a too short attention span where there is a shortness of true idleness periods and triggering of the imagination is failing. Watching a movie is to consume the imagination of someone else while reading a book leaves room for yourself to develop your imagination triggered by the author. Don't forget that "necessity is the mother of invention", so if there is no need to invent (like when you read a book you need to invent the pictures) the creativity isn't triggered. I'm not saying that you should ban all movies, but rather to limit the volume.
As for books to read - check out adventure books describing the discoveries and travels of other persons (real or imaginary) will be one path. Don't worry if the 9 year old takes a nose dive in some book intended for adults. That's just a new level of challenges and a learning about the world. Worry more if the kid don't touch books at all. And remember - there are no "bad" literature, that's just an invention by some people that want to think that they have a high standard. The important thing is to read.
Kids also learns from trial and error - and if nothing is broken ever and the kid never gets some bruises now and then from failing an idea the is either lacking all initiative or is so over-protected that creativity has been hemmed in.
As long as the kids aren't doing anything criminal there is not much to worry about. Creativity in criminality is what we shall fear most. Creativity in reassembling junk into new things is no problem (except that you will have some junk lying around now and then).
They have tried to get DAB started over here for a decade now and it seems to be a dead end... Only a few people uses it and people in general don't give a crap about it.
And don't forget that in case you force a change to digital radio you will need to upgrade a lot of devices with integrated radios. That will certainly alienate people. Also notice that if you implement a technology that is limited to a region it will not be very interesting. What if there is no radio to listen too when people visits the US from Canada?
And are the small radio stations prepared to invest into the digital system?
It will eventually end up in the free to view channels loaded with commercials.
And I canceled my cable subscription so only the free channels remains and those are sufficient. Only pay channel I miss is Discovery.
Some pre-release leaks are marketing stunts.
Falls under the last section "The rest - mediocre at best".
Then people will pay for it.
If it's half-good it may still be worth listening to/watching, but not necessarily worth to pay for. (I'll wait until it comes on TV)
And then there is the rest - that's mediocre at best. Downloaded, test listened and then scrapped.
And for some users it's not just worth it to step up technology so they may just consider the fact that it may be worth it to just skip the TV and broadband. Sure - hillbillies, but when it starts to feel like the media companies starts to milk you of money and that you need a new TV every two years then it's time to think about it.
At least ordinary radio isn't digitalized and laden with a subscription fee yet.
One may wonder if the Amish are the ones that have the best chance to survive a breakdown in society.
Evidence exists that browser plugins and extensions are providing a lot of leaks and possibilities for intrusions.
So avoid installation of unnecessary problems by not installing anything else than really necessary extensions for your browser activities. What browser manufacturers needs to consider is how to improve security related to extensions and plugins. One way is to make sure that the plugins and extensions run in isolated subprocesses with lowest necessary privileges.
You mean "Crash Mail" (Fidonet Term)?
I suspect that the question wasn't about how to design a database engine, but rather how to model the data that is stored in a database for best consistency and performance.
It's not easy to do a "perfect" model because one solution may be best for some use cases while another is better for other use cases.
It's often a trade-off between versatility and performance. Databases also have a tendency to grow over time. But I think that the most critical part is to have a thorough understanding of what your application does and how it is used. Where is immediate response expected/needed versus when can the user wait for the data. Normalization of a database may mean that instead of one table with a lot of data you may also get support tables so that the main table has references to the support tables. This may or may not be good for the particular case.
Unfortunately patents are given on a loose ground as long as what's written is complex enough for the patent reviewer to have a hard time to grasp it fully. And the patent reviewer won't admit that he can't understand what's written so he passes the patent.
Then it's up to a court to invalidate the patent.
I didn't have a clue that Shazam existed, and not that someone had made this description - until it was posted here. So now Shazam has caused some real marketing for this page and some badwill for themselves.
Note that the link now ends up into a fallback site due to high traffic so there is a graph missing for the moment.
Was Ambassador Mollari among them?
It will probably come and go in waves - forcing customers to upgrade all the time.
Customers are like cows - but milked for money in any conceivable way. Soon there will be copyright infringement suits on dices too.
Then use four boxes to convert to analog and then amplify the signal into your own analog network.
The alternative is to just flip them the bird and forget about having TV at all on the premises and stick to using radio channels. NPR would do fine.
Life still goes on without TV.
Why do we need Hella (which is a company name) - we already have Googol.(10^100) and googolplex (10^googol) to represent fairly large numbers.
It's even possible that Hella will take legal action against this.
I thought it was Diet Coke and Mentos.
Confirmed - and in Sweden it was renamed to Månbas Alpha - Moonbase Alpha.
Adds some extra fun to the article.
The power supply is a good start. Just hope that they also can take a bite at the batteries which are incredibly expensive related to what they actually contain.
In addition to that - disable the autorun feature in the kiosks - that's probably the most likely reason why they are infected.
U3 is also a culprit here.