I wish I had mod points and a good -1 (Moron) for this post.
GPS signals have enough trouble going through trees. How do you propose that his GPS handset gets a signal through the roof of his hosting center? Do you really thing that ANY hosting provider is going to let someone run an antenna cable or serial cable to the outside roof?
I agree with everyone else on the solution in your case - Get a new ISP.
But to rephrase your question a bit and make it more applicable:
I'm behind a corporate firewall that only allows outgoing HTTP(S) via proxy. Any solutions for NTP from within my company?
Thanks for the clarification. I was trying to remember the site I read the description of the/6 history at, and I think it was either yours or somewhere linked to from yours.:)
As to 604 derivatives and ATF+3 - Even with ATF+3 (And the successor ATF+4, reccomended for all 4-speed automatics) they're not too hot. I know quite a few people who have had 604s barf on them even though they always used ATF+3. If you change the transmission fluid every 15-30k miles you should be fine and it'll last forever, but most transmissions don't need fluid changes that often. Of course, I agree on the problem of people putting in the wrong fluids - Even a small amount of Dexron or Mercon will destroy a 604 in not too long. That's why my family's Chryslers only go to a Five-Star Dodge dealer with an excellent reputation whom we trust for transmission work, or we do it ourselves. (You can't even trust all Chrysler dealers to do it right... But we have a local dealer that is *excellent*)
If you're in the US or any other country that does CDMA, you should try getting a Kyocera. I know many people with Kyos and they're not only cheap phones but reliable. My old 2035a lasted through 2-3 years of rough use without a single problem. Only reason I replaced it was because I wanted a 6035 (Integrated PalmOS PDA and phone) - The 6035 also has a reputation for being very rugged. People have dropped them down stairs onto concrete witho no problems whatsoever. Except for StarTACs, I've heard good things about Motorola phones also. Their low end v120c is basic, all plastic, but it's tough plastic and the phone is pretty sturdy.
If you're stuck in Europe with GSM - Well, sorry, can't help you.
I thought Packard Smell went out of business because their machines sucked so badly?
As to quality/reliability - Compaq has always been one of the worst. Was second worst in the Packard Smell days (with Packard Smell being the worst), worst now if PS is gone - I haven't seen them in ages.
Hmm... Packard Bell's site shows them as a division of NEC now. Interestingly enough, they do not appear to have any US presence, www.packardbell.com has no choice for North America. Probably because their name is so badly tarnished.
H-P before the Compaq merger was interesting - They had some excellent machines. But their "consumer-level" machines were Compaq-grade crap. Now after the merger... ugh.
eMachines used to actually be pretty good - I reccommended an eMachines box to a friend back in the PIII-500 days and it's still running wonderfully. Dunno about now.
If you want pre-built, go with the more well-known manufacturers. Dell and Gateway come to mind first. Dunno if Quantex is still in business - They were less-known, but had good prices on great systems. Alienware is excellent quality, but not worth the exorbitant price.
Back in the 1960s ot 70s, Chrysler began designing a new engine, the Slant 6 - Originally, the engine was designed to be made of aluminum for weight reasons.
At some point, management decided that aluminum was too expensive, and moved to cast iron for the engine. But they used the aluminum-based design unmodified. Now, while aluminum is much lighter than iron, it's not nearly as strong, and as a result the Slant 6 was one of the most reliable engines ever made, because all of its parts were designed around a weaker material than what was used. Yes, fuel economy suffered, but reliability was amazing.
Same goes for their transmissions - Older Chrysler transmissions (And even recent 3-speed automatics, which have a heritage dating back to the old Torqueflites) were heavy, inefficient, but practically bulletproof. Their 4-speed electronically controlled automatic should theoretically be more reliable - Modern design, electronic monitoring and control, etc. Unfortunately, because it's lighter and more complex, the A604 is nicknamed the sick-oh-four. Actually, the sick-oh-four is probably a good example of your comment in action.
Yes, he's saying he's only found one vendor that makes them,
BUT HE'S ASKING IF ANYONE KNOWS OF ANY OTHERS!!!
That's NOT advertising. Now if the article were a review of these Forever Lights, it would be a Slashvertisement. But he has pointed out the one vendor he's found, but is asking if anyone knows of other sources. (Some pages, such as the LED Museum, mention, "inferior" lights, but give no details on where to find such lights if you WANT LED lights with a transformer at the base.)
As to the Ask Google trolls - I've asked Google and 90% of the links are pages that happen to have LED, Christmas, and light on the same page but do NOT have any content related to LED Christmas lights. The only Google links that came up in my search that were actually relevant were the links posted at the beginning of the article.
If it's not running, then almost surely if it were running it wouldn't provide trustworthy data.
In short: If the user has the option of turning it on or off, the service can't be trusted. The ident data is nice to have in the case that it might actually be true, but it's too easy to fake.
First, I wonder why this is in "Ask Slashdot" - It's more of an announcement, it belongs in the general category (heck, belongs front-page). Still, I'm glad it made it to Slashdot in whatever form.:)
So far, I've brewed one very small (1 gallon) and one "normal" 5 gallon homebrew batch.
I got lucky - Both batches are drinkable. Not the best, but drinkable, and I know exactly how to fix the problems. (Too much priming sugar in the second batch, it's overcarbonated, tastes much better if you let it sit for a while and lose some of the excess carbonation. Yes, I've had 1-2 bottles go boom in storage.) Both batches were primarily fermented with bakers' yeast, which is normally a no-no, but the kits I made these with weren't exactly fresh...
That said - If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Most people consider it to be extremely good luck if your first 1-2 batches are drinkable, but you learn from your mistakes. I fully intend to brew myself a weizen of some form when I finish drinking through my current batch. (I'm not a big drinker, so a batch of 48 bottles lasts quite some time)
The process can be fun, and it's very rewarding when you get something drinkable, and after a few tries, better than what you can buy in the store. (Even my "weird" batch is still far better than the likes of Coors, Bud, etc.)
Economy-wise - You will probably save money, as long as you don't compare prices to the economy beers like Coors, Bud, etc. You might be spending a bit more, but after a few tries, there is no comparison as far as quality - Homebrew is much better. (Competing with microbreweries is a different story - Most of them are VERY skilled, but they also tend to be quite expensive.)
As I mentioned in another post, phase-change heat transfer in heat pipes is old hat. So is using a wick to allow for the heat pipe to work without an elevation difference. For an example of the latter, see the aforementioned Dell Inspiron 8200. Has no problem working with the laptop level, or even with the laptop tilted backwards (i.e. evaporator above condenser)
Existing heat pipes already use capillary action. I remember a while ago looking at info on heat pipes out of curiosity, and I saw a number of descriptions of various wicks that were in use, and this doesn't appear to be anything new, except thay maybe they've made slightly more efficient wicks.
Even these new heat pipes almost surely use a phase change - It's most likely possible to do it without a phase change, but far less effective/efficient. Current heat pipes use a phase change combined with capillary action - Gas vaporizes on heat source, condenses at radiator, and is wicked back. Heat pipes can be made without wicks, but they are orientation-sensitive - i.e. the condenser must be above the evaporator so gravity will bring the condensed medium back to the heat source. The Shuttle may not use a wick since the condenser is higher than the CPU, but in Dell laptops they are even, I'm positive that laptop heatpipes already use wicks.
I live in central NJ (Bridgewater/Martinsville) and I'm perfectly happpy with my cell service with Verizon.
If you're using T-Mobile or Sprint, maybe you should just get a decent provider. If you look at their coverage maps, the edge of both of their coverage areas is just a few miles west of where I live... That's PITIFUL that neither carrier can fully cover the most densely populated state in the US.
cdmaOne (2G) -> CDMA2000 1xRTT (2.5G) -> CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (3G) - Seamless upgrade path, CDMA2000 handsets work with cdmaOne networks and vice versa.
Now, for GSM... GSM (2G) -> GPRS (2.5G) -> dead end scratch -> UMTS (3G)
UMTS and GSM/GPRS are completely different technologies with no relation whatsoever. For a carrier to upgrade to UMTS, they must upgrade their entire network and upgrade all handsets. They need new spectrum too. OUCH. Essentially, they have to start from scratch as if they were a brand new provider. CDMA providers can upgrade as needed. See Verizon's Express Network - They are slowly rolling out CDMA2000 city by city, but they don't have to upgrade everything at once, since CDMA2000 users will still be able to make voice and low-speed data calls even on the old network.
First, 2G digital technologies: D-AMPS, aka TDMA (latter name not good because GSM is also TDMA) - Used by Cingular and AT&T until recently GSM - Used by T-Mobile. Cing and AT&T are rolling out GSM. GSM doesn't seem to handle multiple providers in the same area very well, as numerous T-Mobile customers are complaining about their phones going into "Emergency service only" mode as soon as Cing and AT&T roll out service in their area. Used in Europe by legal mandate. cdmaOne - Qualcomm's original CDMA implementation. Used by Sprint PCS, Verizon, Qwest, Telus Mobility in Canada, and (I believe) Centennial Wireless in Mexico.
2.5G services: GPRS - The GSM high-speed data enhancement. 40ish kilobits/sec CDMA2000 1xRTT - Evolution of cdmaOne, 144 kilobits max in initial versions, later going into the 200s-300s. Backwards compatible with cdmaOne - cdmaOne handsets work with CDMA2000 networks and vice versa, which allows providers to do partial rollouts for market testing/high-demand areas.
3G services: UMTS - The 3G evolution of GSM. The GSM people realized their modulation scheme was inferior, so moved to a CDMA variant. Unfortunately, almost all the companies with CDMA expertise are behind CDMA2000, which means that the UMTS camp is having trouble getting anything to work well, especially handsets. (Most well-known problem right now is battery life - No mention was made about how long the battery used in this test would've lasted.) NTT DoCoMo rolled out UMTS in Japan, their name is now mud. Completely incompatible with GSM/GPRS. Requires new handsets, new base stations, and new spectrum. CDMA2000 1xEV-DO - 3G evolution of Qualcomm's CDMA technology. From what I've heard, like 1xRTT it's backwards-compatible back to cdmaOne. i.e. a provider rolling out 1xEV-DO doesn't have to upgrade their entire network at once. Already in use in Korea and also I believe by KDDI in Japan (KDDI might only be using 1xRTT - Either way they're mopping up DoCoMo because their service actually works.)
I see nothing in this article that distinguishes this "smart" heat pipe from standard heat pipes that have existed for quite some time.
Yes, this technology is significantly better than air being blown over a heatsink on a CPU.
No, it's nothing new. Shuttle small-form-factor PCs anyone? And Dell Inspiron 8x00 series laptops too. Probably other laptop manufacturers are also already using heat pipes.
Actually, even though I have a feeling I could do a much better job (I have an EE degree), I still found it amusing. Even for an EE, it has a lot of base information on dos/donts/gotchas. (Like the balance/weight issues.)
For one - You can step voltages down with just a resistor, but NOT up. The voltage drop across a resistor is, as you said, I*R - If you know the device consumes 100 mA, then you know what value resistor you need to drop 24v to 15v, not vice versa.
That said, such an approach only works for constant-current devices. Other than LEDs, incandescant lights, and trickle battery charging, I can't think of any other apps where simple voltage dropping works. (For trickle charging - Use a large resistor such that the voltage drop between your power supply and the battery voltage results in only a few milliamps of charge current, NiCd and NiMH batteries can take very light constant overcharges if the current is VERY low, like C/16 to C/25 or so. (C being the current needed to charge the battery to full capacity in one hour - i.e. for a 100 mAh battery, C is 100 mA and C/25 would be 4 mA)
And as to your equations...
15 = I * R "You can substitute R = 0" 15 = I * 0... OOPS. That comes out to I = 15/0. DOH.
The +/- voltage issue is easy to fix with a rectifier (Simplest form = diode)- You'd need a variant of a full-wave rectifier for this, which would require 4 diodes.
It's interesting, I remember seeing a TV show about homes being built by volunteers on a Native American reservation...
Using *straw bales* as the primary building component. The straw was (of course) stuccoed to provide strength.
A quick Google search returns the following: http://www.strawhomes.com/ http://www .balewatch.com/
These seem a bit higher-end than the homes built on the reservation, but an example of how straw (a very cheap building material) can be used as a building material. One of the big advantages of using straw is that it provides extreme levels of insulation, in addition to its low cost.
I also passed by a homebuilder's expo a year or so ago, and a number of vendors were advertising a construction technique for making building walls that involved erecting a styrofoam mold and then filling the mold with concrete. That would probably also be a pretty cheap approach, although it would be hard-pressed to compete with cinderblocks.
Straw-filled cinderblocks might work quite well...
Recently I stopped clearing out my "Spam" mailbox, as I want to run an analysis of which of my spam rules are hit the most and which are obsolete and can be deleted.
Last deletion (i.e. the first message in the box) is dated November 14
It's Dec. 3 - I have 748 messages in the box.
So after 30 days time the number should be around 1500 plus/minus a few hundred. But it's definately going to go over 1000.
Yes, I got election spam from rnc.org, encouraging me to vote Republican.
I usually voted Democrat, except in rare cases (If someone like Rudy Giuliani ran in an election I was involved with, I would've voted for him.) Now, I will NEVER vote Republican, no matter how sleazy or scummy the Democratic candidate is. (i.e. Bob Torricelli)
All you have to do is look at the data services offered by cellular providers - Spam could easily double or triple (maybe even more) your monthly cost with such services due to the bandwidth it consumes.
As a result of spam, I can't check email from my phone. My phone (Kyocera 6035, integrated PDA/phone) is more than capable of reading mail, but the 14.4 per-minute connection (And even the unlimited Vision connection if I sacrificed coverage and got a Treo 300 on Sprint) just can't handle the 50 or so messages I get a day, 95%+ of which are spam.
I have the mental capacity to filter spam, thank you very much. I have a procmail blocklist that is over 1000 lines now (I prefer single-domain blocks, plus a VERY small number of "content" rules like dropping HTML without a charset, due to false positives)
Normally, I read my mail on a machine with good filtering on a cable modem connection.
Problem is, I'm not always reading my mail at home. Sometimes I'm mobile, and often using my cell phone as a modem. That's a 14.4 connection that I pay per-minute. Eventually I could upgrade to a 1xRTT solution, but even with something like the Sprint "Unlimited Vision" plans, those only average 40-50 kilobits/sec. Thanks to spam, I cannot afford to check my email from my phone, and even if I could, it would take a half hour to download all the shit in my mailbox.
There are also plenty of dialup users in this country. It's not an issue of not wanting broadband or not being able to afford it, it's an issue of simply NOT BEING ABLE TO GET IT EVEN IF THEY WANT IT. This was my case until last February or so.
Simply put, these people PAY to receive spam. Even over a cablemodem, you pay in the form of increased ISP rates to offset their bandwidth/server disk space costs due to spam.
In short, client-side filtering is NOT the answer.
Slashdot Mirror
I wish I had mod points and a good -1 (Moron) for this post.
GPS signals have enough trouble going through trees. How do you propose that his GPS handset gets a signal through the roof of his hosting center? Do you really thing that ANY hosting provider is going to let someone run an antenna cable or serial cable to the outside roof?
I agree with everyone else on the solution in your case - Get a new ISP.
But to rephrase your question a bit and make it more applicable:
I'm behind a corporate firewall that only allows outgoing HTTP(S) via proxy. Any solutions for NTP from within my company?
Thanks for the clarification. I was trying to remember the site I read the description of the /6 history at, and I think it was either yours or somewhere linked to from yours. :)
As to 604 derivatives and ATF+3 - Even with ATF+3 (And the successor ATF+4, reccomended for all 4-speed automatics) they're not too hot. I know quite a few people who have had 604s barf on them even though they always used ATF+3. If you change the transmission fluid every 15-30k miles you should be fine and it'll last forever, but most transmissions don't need fluid changes that often. Of course, I agree on the problem of people putting in the wrong fluids - Even a small amount of Dexron or Mercon will destroy a 604 in not too long. That's why my family's Chryslers only go to a Five-Star Dodge dealer with an excellent reputation whom we trust for transmission work, or we do it ourselves. (You can't even trust all Chrysler dealers to do it right... But we have a local dealer that is *excellent*)
If you're in the US or any other country that does CDMA, you should try getting a Kyocera. I know many people with Kyos and they're not only cheap phones but reliable. My old 2035a lasted through 2-3 years of rough use without a single problem. Only reason I replaced it was because I wanted a 6035 (Integrated PalmOS PDA and phone) - The 6035 also has a reputation for being very rugged. People have dropped them down stairs onto concrete witho no problems whatsoever. Except for StarTACs, I've heard good things about Motorola phones also. Their low end v120c is basic, all plastic, but it's tough plastic and the phone is pretty sturdy.
If you're stuck in Europe with GSM - Well, sorry, can't help you.
I thought Packard Smell went out of business because their machines sucked so badly?
As to quality/reliability - Compaq has always been one of the worst. Was second worst in the Packard Smell days (with Packard Smell being the worst), worst now if PS is gone - I haven't seen them in ages.
Hmm... Packard Bell's site shows them as a division of NEC now. Interestingly enough, they do not appear to have any US presence, www.packardbell.com has no choice for North America. Probably because their name is so badly tarnished.
H-P before the Compaq merger was interesting - They had some excellent machines. But their "consumer-level" machines were Compaq-grade crap. Now after the merger... ugh.
eMachines used to actually be pretty good - I reccommended an eMachines box to a friend back in the PIII-500 days and it's still running wonderfully. Dunno about now.
If you want pre-built, go with the more well-known manufacturers. Dell and Gateway come to mind first. Dunno if Quantex is still in business - They were less-known, but had good prices on great systems. Alienware is excellent quality, but not worth the exorbitant price.
Back in the 1960s ot 70s, Chrysler began designing a new engine, the Slant 6 - Originally, the engine was designed to be made of aluminum for weight reasons.
At some point, management decided that aluminum was too expensive, and moved to cast iron for the engine. But they used the aluminum-based design unmodified. Now, while aluminum is much lighter than iron, it's not nearly as strong, and as a result the Slant 6 was one of the most reliable engines ever made, because all of its parts were designed around a weaker material than what was used. Yes, fuel economy suffered, but reliability was amazing.
Same goes for their transmissions - Older Chrysler transmissions (And even recent 3-speed automatics, which have a heritage dating back to the old Torqueflites) were heavy, inefficient, but practically bulletproof. Their 4-speed electronically controlled automatic should theoretically be more reliable - Modern design, electronic monitoring and control, etc. Unfortunately, because it's lighter and more complex, the A604 is nicknamed the sick-oh-four. Actually, the sick-oh-four is probably a good example of your comment in action.
Bought one two months ago.
I had purchased an 80 gig HD to replace my failing SCSI drives (Bus was flaking out.) around that time.
Guess what I just bought this week? Another 120 gig HD with an external Firewire/USB 2.0 enclosure.
Two congratulations in order:
:)
Good luck Rob and Kathleen!
Second:
I think this is the first time I've seen a post containing a non-obscured Goatse link get +5. But it was a well deserved +5.
Yes, he's saying he's only found one vendor that makes them,
BUT HE'S ASKING IF ANYONE KNOWS OF ANY OTHERS!!!
That's NOT advertising. Now if the article were a review of these Forever Lights, it would be a Slashvertisement. But he has pointed out the one vendor he's found, but is asking if anyone knows of other sources. (Some pages, such as the LED Museum, mention, "inferior" lights, but give no details on where to find such lights if you WANT LED lights with a transformer at the base.)
As to the Ask Google trolls - I've asked Google and 90% of the links are pages that happen to have LED, Christmas, and light on the same page but do NOT have any content related to LED Christmas lights. The only Google links that came up in my search that were actually relevant were the links posted at the beginning of the article.
Why is identd *REQUIRED*?
If it's running, then it may provide useful data.
If it's not running, then almost surely if it were running it wouldn't provide trustworthy data.
In short: If the user has the option of turning it on or off, the service can't be trusted. The ident data is nice to have in the case that it might actually be true, but it's too easy to fake.
First, I wonder why this is in "Ask Slashdot" - It's more of an announcement, it belongs in the general category (heck, belongs front-page). Still, I'm glad it made it to Slashdot in whatever form. :)
So far, I've brewed one very small (1 gallon) and one "normal" 5 gallon homebrew batch.
I got lucky - Both batches are drinkable. Not the best, but drinkable, and I know exactly how to fix the problems. (Too much priming sugar in the second batch, it's overcarbonated, tastes much better if you let it sit for a while and lose some of the excess carbonation. Yes, I've had 1-2 bottles go boom in storage.) Both batches were primarily fermented with bakers' yeast, which is normally a no-no, but the kits I made these with weren't exactly fresh...
That said - If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Most people consider it to be extremely good luck if your first 1-2 batches are drinkable, but you learn from your mistakes. I fully intend to brew myself a weizen of some form when I finish drinking through my current batch. (I'm not a big drinker, so a batch of 48 bottles lasts quite some time)
The process can be fun, and it's very rewarding when you get something drinkable, and after a few tries, better than what you can buy in the store. (Even my "weird" batch is still far better than the likes of Coors, Bud, etc.)
Economy-wise - You will probably save money, as long as you don't compare prices to the economy beers like Coors, Bud, etc. You might be spending a bit more, but after a few tries, there is no comparison as far as quality - Homebrew is much better. (Competing with microbreweries is a different story - Most of them are VERY skilled, but they also tend to be quite expensive.)
As I mentioned in another post, phase-change heat transfer in heat pipes is old hat. So is using a wick to allow for the heat pipe to work without an elevation difference. For an example of the latter, see the aforementioned Dell Inspiron 8200. Has no problem working with the laptop level, or even with the laptop tilted backwards (i.e. evaporator above condenser)
Existing heat pipes already use capillary action. I remember a while ago looking at info on heat pipes out of curiosity, and I saw a number of descriptions of various wicks that were in use, and this doesn't appear to be anything new, except thay maybe they've made slightly more efficient wicks.
Even these new heat pipes almost surely use a phase change - It's most likely possible to do it without a phase change, but far less effective/efficient. Current heat pipes use a phase change combined with capillary action - Gas vaporizes on heat source, condenses at radiator, and is wicked back. Heat pipes can be made without wicks, but they are orientation-sensitive - i.e. the condenser must be above the evaporator so gravity will bring the condensed medium back to the heat source. The Shuttle may not use a wick since the condenser is higher than the CPU, but in Dell laptops they are even, I'm positive that laptop heatpipes already use wicks.
I live in central NJ (Bridgewater/Martinsville) and I'm perfectly happpy with my cell service with Verizon.
If you're using T-Mobile or Sprint, maybe you should just get a decent provider. If you look at their coverage maps, the edge of both of their coverage areas is just a few miles west of where I live... That's PITIFUL that neither carrier can fully cover the most densely populated state in the US.
cdmaOne (2G) -> CDMA2000 1xRTT (2.5G) -> CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (3G) - Seamless upgrade path, CDMA2000 handsets work with cdmaOne networks and vice versa.
Now, for GSM...
GSM (2G) -> GPRS (2.5G) -> dead end
scratch -> UMTS (3G)
UMTS and GSM/GPRS are completely different technologies with no relation whatsoever. For a carrier to upgrade to UMTS, they must upgrade their entire network and upgrade all handsets. They need new spectrum too. OUCH. Essentially, they have to start from scratch as if they were a brand new provider. CDMA providers can upgrade as needed. See Verizon's Express Network - They are slowly rolling out CDMA2000 city by city, but they don't have to upgrade everything at once, since CDMA2000 users will still be able to make voice and low-speed data calls even on the old network.
First, 2G digital technologies:
D-AMPS, aka TDMA (latter name not good because GSM is also TDMA) - Used by Cingular and AT&T until recently
GSM - Used by T-Mobile. Cing and AT&T are rolling out GSM. GSM doesn't seem to handle multiple providers in the same area very well, as numerous T-Mobile customers are complaining about their phones going into "Emergency service only" mode as soon as Cing and AT&T roll out service in their area. Used in Europe by legal mandate.
cdmaOne - Qualcomm's original CDMA implementation. Used by Sprint PCS, Verizon, Qwest, Telus Mobility in Canada, and (I believe) Centennial Wireless in Mexico.
2.5G services:
GPRS - The GSM high-speed data enhancement. 40ish kilobits/sec
CDMA2000 1xRTT - Evolution of cdmaOne, 144 kilobits max in initial versions, later going into the 200s-300s. Backwards compatible with cdmaOne - cdmaOne handsets work with CDMA2000 networks and vice versa, which allows providers to do partial rollouts for market testing/high-demand areas.
3G services:
UMTS - The 3G evolution of GSM. The GSM people realized their modulation scheme was inferior, so moved to a CDMA variant. Unfortunately, almost all the companies with CDMA expertise are behind CDMA2000, which means that the UMTS camp is having trouble getting anything to work well, especially handsets. (Most well-known problem right now is battery life - No mention was made about how long the battery used in this test would've lasted.) NTT DoCoMo rolled out UMTS in Japan, their name is now mud. Completely incompatible with GSM/GPRS. Requires new handsets, new base stations, and new spectrum.
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO - 3G evolution of Qualcomm's CDMA technology. From what I've heard, like 1xRTT it's backwards-compatible back to cdmaOne. i.e. a provider rolling out 1xEV-DO doesn't have to upgrade their entire network at once. Already in use in Korea and also I believe by KDDI in Japan (KDDI might only be using 1xRTT - Either way they're mopping up DoCoMo because their service actually works.)
I see nothing in this article that distinguishes this "smart" heat pipe from standard heat pipes that have existed for quite some time.
Yes, this technology is significantly better than air being blown over a heatsink on a CPU.
No, it's nothing new. Shuttle small-form-factor PCs anyone? And Dell Inspiron 8x00 series laptops too. Probably other laptop manufacturers are also already using heat pipes.
Yup, you're thinking of real genius.
But no, no oddball tricks with sound occurred in that movie. Definately nothing with ultrasonics.
You're probably thinking of the scene where they hid a small radio in Kurt's mouth, and then speaking to him claiming to be God.
"And Kurt... STOP PLAYING WITH YOURSELF!"
"It really is God..."
Yes? :)
Actually, even though I have a feeling I could do a much better job (I have an EE degree), I still found it amusing. Even for an EE, it has a lot of base information on dos/donts/gotchas. (Like the balance/weight issues.)
Where are my mod points when I need them!
For one - You can step voltages down with just a resistor, but NOT up. The voltage drop across a resistor is, as you said, I*R - If you know the device consumes 100 mA, then you know what value resistor you need to drop 24v to 15v, not vice versa.
That said, such an approach only works for constant-current devices. Other than LEDs, incandescant lights, and trickle battery charging, I can't think of any other apps where simple voltage dropping works. (For trickle charging - Use a large resistor such that the voltage drop between your power supply and the battery voltage results in only a few milliamps of charge current, NiCd and NiMH batteries can take very light constant overcharges if the current is VERY low, like C/16 to C/25 or so. (C being the current needed to charge the battery to full capacity in one hour - i.e. for a 100 mAh battery, C is 100 mA and C/25 would be 4 mA)
And as to your equations...
15 = I * R
"You can substitute R = 0"
15 = I * 0... OOPS. That comes out to I = 15/0. DOH.
The +/- voltage issue is easy to fix with a rectifier (Simplest form = diode)- You'd need a variant of a full-wave rectifier for this, which would require 4 diodes.
Simple. Demand for land is high in such places, and as a result, land is extremely expensive.
It's interesting, I remember seeing a TV show about homes being built by volunteers on a Native American reservation...
w .balewatch.com/
Using *straw bales* as the primary building component. The straw was (of course) stuccoed to provide strength.
A quick Google search returns the following:
http://www.strawhomes.com/
http://ww
These seem a bit higher-end than the homes built on the reservation, but an example of how straw (a very cheap building material) can be used as a building material. One of the big advantages of using straw is that it provides extreme levels of insulation, in addition to its low cost.
I also passed by a homebuilder's expo a year or so ago, and a number of vendors were advertising a construction technique for making building walls that involved erecting a styrofoam mold and then filling the mold with concrete. That would probably also be a pretty cheap approach, although it would be hard-pressed to compete with cinderblocks.
Straw-filled cinderblocks might work quite well...
Recently I stopped clearing out my "Spam" mailbox, as I want to run an analysis of which of my spam rules are hit the most and which are obsolete and can be deleted.
Last deletion (i.e. the first message in the box) is dated November 14
It's Dec. 3 - I have 748 messages in the box.
So after 30 days time the number should be around 1500 plus/minus a few hundred. But it's definately going to go over 1000.
Try the Republican National Committee
Yes, I got election spam from rnc.org, encouraging me to vote Republican.
I usually voted Democrat, except in rare cases (If someone like Rudy Giuliani ran in an election I was involved with, I would've voted for him.) Now, I will NEVER vote Republican, no matter how sleazy or scummy the Democratic candidate is. (i.e. Bob Torricelli)
Direct client-side bandwidth costs are too.
All you have to do is look at the data services offered by cellular providers - Spam could easily double or triple (maybe even more) your monthly cost with such services due to the bandwidth it consumes.
As a result of spam, I can't check email from my phone. My phone (Kyocera 6035, integrated PDA/phone) is more than capable of reading mail, but the 14.4 per-minute connection (And even the unlimited Vision connection if I sacrificed coverage and got a Treo 300 on Sprint) just can't handle the 50 or so messages I get a day, 95%+ of which are spam.
I have the mental capacity to filter spam, thank you very much. I have a procmail blocklist that is over 1000 lines now (I prefer single-domain blocks, plus a VERY small number of "content" rules like dropping HTML without a charset, due to false positives)
Normally, I read my mail on a machine with good filtering on a cable modem connection.
Problem is, I'm not always reading my mail at home. Sometimes I'm mobile, and often using my cell phone as a modem. That's a 14.4 connection that I pay per-minute. Eventually I could upgrade to a 1xRTT solution, but even with something like the Sprint "Unlimited Vision" plans, those only average 40-50 kilobits/sec. Thanks to spam, I cannot afford to check my email from my phone, and even if I could, it would take a half hour to download all the shit in my mailbox.
There are also plenty of dialup users in this country. It's not an issue of not wanting broadband or not being able to afford it, it's an issue of simply NOT BEING ABLE TO GET IT EVEN IF THEY WANT IT. This was my case until last February or so.
Simply put, these people PAY to receive spam. Even over a cablemodem, you pay in the form of increased ISP rates to offset their bandwidth/server disk space costs due to spam.
In short, client-side filtering is NOT the answer.