Good point w.r.t the powers of federal government. The Feds have no influence whatsoever on drinking aged and speed limits, but it's amazing the power little green pieces of paper and their electronic brethren have... The reason the legal drinking age is 21 in *every* state in the US is not because the government passed a nationwide law, but because the government withheld highway maintenance funds from all states that didn't comply.
Penalties, etc. for drunk driving vary a lot, but they're getting much stricter very quickly these days. Laws are definately stricter in the Northeast than in the South or Southwest. Most Northeastern states (NY, NJ, PA, etc.) have "open container" laws - There are stiff penalties for even having an open container of alcohol in your vehicle, even if you're not the one drinking. (i.e. you can get heavily fined and jail time is a possibility if your passengers are drinking and you're dead sober.)
On the other hand, according to a friend that went to Rice University in Houston, "open container" laws are a completely alien concept in Texas, where a bunch of college students can sit in the back of a moving pickup (illegal in the Northeast in and of itself) and drink to their heart's content.
I thought that was one of the things that the new regulations after 9/11 got rid of.
Either way, I'm sure those systems have additional encryption a few layers up. No sane persion trusts WEP. Even if the net isn't encrypted at the wireless level, it only matters (and is better) if it's encrypted a few layers up. (IPSec, SSL, or the like.)
The Trimble and other dual-frequency civilian GPS units don't crack the encryption at all.
There are two uses for the P code (encrypted version is the Y code) - For one, it's inherently more precise (higher bitrate, I assume). For another, it's broadcast on two frequencies, which allows for ionospheric delay to be precisely determined (one signal will arrive earlier than another.)
But because the transmitted Y code is EXACTLY the same on both frequencies, you can just correlate them to figure out the time delay. Problem is, because the code isn't known in advance, you must have a high SNR and it takes a while to lock onto each signal. So it's only good for stationary surveying receivers.
To achieve sub-millimeter accuracy, you need to perform calculations using the carrier phase in addition to code ranges. Again, a stationary receiver with long (1+ hours) sampling periods is needed. In all of these cases, the data is post-processed in an advanced form of DGPS.
Exactly... But for a LEO sat with its comm systems in the GHz range, the system could be pretty stealthy... And hard to RDF, if the antenna was designed properly (little to no energy going anywhere but up)
The equipment needed for EME (I know a guy with an antenna half the size of his house and it's not enough) is far more than what would be needed for screwing around with a LEO sat.
5 years is not the case in many satellites... It depends on what the satellite's missin is.
The original submitter of the article indicated scientific satellites... Some science satellites are 10-cm cubes that are designed in a year by part-time work and have a budget of $30k total.
See www.cubesat.org
In this case, the processor is still limited because of the power issue - I'm becoming involved in a CubeSat project at school (Designing the communications hardware), and they're using a standard embedded system board.
Same for me... I slept through the Leonids. (set my alarm, but didn't wake up...)
What surprised me is that my school's ham club advisor watched em' instead of pointing his EME array at em'.:)
Get an antenna and a ham license.
on
Geminid Meteor Shower
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Point your antenna towards the meteors and make some meteor scatter contacts.:)
I'm not joking - it's a common propagation mode for hardcore VHFers. I don't know if it was successful, but a bunch of hams were hoping to use the Leonids to break the terrestrial distance record on 10 GHz.
With the exception of today, we've been having a VERY mild winter here... I've worn a T-shirt and a fleece jacket almost all semester, never need to upgrade to sweatshirts.
I remember my freshman year, the trombone section of the marching band was bone-caroling in shorts and T-shirts. This was during study week. And yes, it was here in Ithaca.:)
I missed the Leonids due to sleep dep. Slept right through my alarm.:(
Such a system can't exist, except for the military, which has ongodly amounts of spectrum allotted to it.
The bandwidth of a connection is proportional to the data rate of said connection. i.e. high speed data links use more spectrum than slow ones.
As you get higher in frequency, you have more spectrum available.
Problem is, once you pass around 30-50 MHz (depends on time of day and solar conditions...), radio waves go through the ionosphere instead of bouncing off it. In general, the legal limit on bandwidth below 50 MHz is only a few kilohertz. (For example, amateur radio operators are only permitted to use FM at 50 MHz and above due to bandwidth restrictions.)
Now, at VHF, UHF, and even microwave, there is a phenomenon called tropospheric ducting that allows for long-haul non-LOS propagation. Unfortunately, this is dependent on a temperatur inversion in the atmosphere. (i.e. weather dependent) It cannot be relied upon for communications.
traceroute to cuinfob.cit.cornell.edu (132.236.218.13), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 darthnixon (192.168.0.1) 0.440 ms 0.345 ms 0.335 ms
2 10.17.16.1 (10.17.16.1) 20.747 ms 14.013 ms 20.106 ms
3 syr-ith-7507-1.nyroc.rr.com (24.92.227.57) 26.025 ms 40.027 ms 53.671 ms
4 ith-rtr-mcr2.nyroc.rr.com (24.92.225.149) 20.961 ms 10.138 ms 10.061 ms
5 24.92.225.201 (24.92.225.201) 13.996 ms 11.272 ms 11.920 ms
6 roc-mth-gsr-spp-gsr.nyroc.rr.com (24.92.224.6) 17.750 ms 15.407 ms 16.339 ms
7 12.124.179.33 (12.124.179.33) 22.251 ms 22.191 ms 22.083 ms
8 gbr6-p80.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.1.206) 23.629 ms 24.732 ms 37.005 ms
9 ar2-p380.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.1.141) 32.146 ms 54.067 ms 25.307 ms
10 gbr2-a30s3.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.127.5.150) 26.722 ms 54.764 ms 24.293 ms
11 gar1-p370.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.1.133) 25.471 ms 26.778 ms 23.528 ms
12 12.125.51.210 (12.125.51.210) 28.825 ms 29.871 ms 26.805 ms
13 at-gsr1-nyc-1-0-OC12.appliedtheory.net (169.130.3.30) 35.940 ms 36.067 ms 95.215 ms
14 at-gsr1-syr-3-0-OC12.appliedtheory.net (169.130.3.42) 36.802 ms 38.673 ms 54.242 ms
15 at-gsr2-syr-1-2-cornelluniv-1.appliedtheory.net (169.130.253.6) 61.247 ms 37.135 ms 43.602 ms
16 rhodes1-8540-vl7.cit.cornell.edu (128.253.222.135) 48.555 ms 38.662 ms 41.014 ms
17 cuinfob.cit.cornell.edu (132.236.218.13) 51.246 ms * 30.896 ms
That's from my home machine via an IP Masq firewall to my school's webserver. Hopping from Ithaca, NY to NYC, and all the way back.
PING 128.84.240.250 (128.84.240.250) from 128.84.240.129 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=89.879 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=114.872 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=35.780 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=60.567 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=85.152 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=107.716 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=30.185 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=53.987 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=77.156 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=101.429 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=24.926 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=47.711 msec
--- 128.84.240.250 ping statistics ---
12 packets transmitted, 12 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/mdev = 24.926/69.113/114.872/29.890 ms
That is pinging my Symbol AP from my laptop, with a D-Link DWL-650. No other users on the AP, and it is 5 feet away.
PING 128.84.240.250 (128.84.240.250) from 128.84.240.129 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=89.879 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=114.872 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=35.780 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=60.567 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=85.152 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=107.716 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=30.185 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=53.987 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=77.156 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=101.429 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=24.926 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=47.711 msec
--- 128.84.240.250 ping statistics ---
12 packets transmitted, 12 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/mdev = 24.926/69.113/114.872/29.890 ms
PCs are exempt from the AHRA, which means you can burn audio to a "data-grade" (read: cheap and untaxed) CD.
The ONLY difference between "music" CD-Rs and "data" CD-Rs is a bit pre-burned into the CD somewhere. (I don't know where this flag is set - but those "music" CD-Rs are only needed for standalone CD-R deck equipment, which will refuse to record to "data" CD-Rs.)
In fact, I wonder if the standalone recorder decks are affected by this copy-protection, or if they do error correction before copying.
So you're saying that they are intentionally introducing errors on the CD to create this copy-protection scheme.
So, that means that because there are already errors, it takes less physical damage or other cause of data loss before the error correction capabilities are exceeded.
Hence, manufacturers are putting out an intentionally flawed (more susceptible to scratches/skipping) product without notifying consumers. I smell a lawsuit.
Stick with your cable modem.
WLAN latency is BAD. 80+ milliseconds just to the AP.
As opposed to 30 or so to any reasonable endpoint with a good cable modem.
Dunno about alternatives, other than maybe some custom stuff...
Biggest problem with x10 for me is the horribly outdated housecode system... 16 housecodes with 16 devices doesn't cut it - I have a shload more than 16 things I want to control in my house! x10's biggest disadvantage is address space.
And some of the wireless x10 recievers (that take the signal from a PalmPad, etc. and put it onto the line) have this evil tendency to take a commend and repeat it in a loop for a minute or two. (i.e. hit "dim" once, and it'll dim all the way down, and stay off for a while.)
I wasn't saying that the Newton was a bad piece of hardware. It just wasn't suitable to the PDA market, where it got destroyed by the significantly smaller and battery-saving Palms. Some people may have grown an attachment to it. But the majority (such as myself) did not, which is why it died. (Yes, I had a Newton - I hardly ever used it. It was slow, ate batteries, and HUGE.)
Having a huge load of features on a PDA is useless if it doubles or triples the price of the unit and >90% of the target market doesn't really want it.
Yeah, these look cool to geeks like us. But the primary market for these devices are businessmen to whom geek-factor such as "Cool, I can play MP3s, too!" is useless. An 8M PalmOS-based device is enough to more than satisfy the needs of most execs who need a PDA.
2M PalmOS-based devices are more than enough for a college or HS student who wants a bit of help getting organized. And unlike the iPaq, etc, Palms are affordable for the majority of college and HS students - I have lots of non-geek friends with Palms who use them regularly. They would NEVER think of getting anything more expensive, because they don't even use their Palms to their full potential.
The above two markets are what really make money, not the small geek minority.
8 hours? That's it? That's pitiful. Palm V's have internal batteries that get a day or two of continuous use, and a LOT more standby time. And they're 2/3 the thickness of previous Palms or less, which are (as others have admitted) significantly smaller than almost any CE device.
And yes, I guessed it might have an internal battery. But even with Li-Ion or Li-Poly, there's still a limit on how much power you can store before the thing gets huge. As I said - PC cards cause noticeable drain on laptops, where the batteries themselves have 3-4 (or more) times the volume of an entire iPaq, let alone its batteries.
And even if this PCMCIA sleeve had its own battery, it would have to be HUGE to supply a decent amount of power (see above).
My WorkPad fits in my pocket easily with no effort. It carries full maps of my own town and two others, carries movie listings at all times, and all of the usual addresses, etc. All in only 2M of memory. (I do wish I had more - but 8M would be more than I'd ever need. That could store an obscene number of maps...)
Browsing from a PDA would be the most painful experience I can imagine... Screen is way too small.
If you REALLY need that obscene kind of power, buy a nice, cheap Palm, and a used laptop. You'll spend about the same price as these super-CE devices, and have a LOT more functionality. Until there's the wireless bandwidth available for videoconferencing (available on WLANs, but not in general), there's absolutely no need for these PDAs on steriods, they're a waste of money.
I see these super-handhelds going the way of the Newton.
The Newton was the same as the iPaq - the handheld that tried to do too much. And look at it's fate.
Palm, OTOH, keeps things simple. This results in devices that are:
a) Much less expensive
b) Smaller (Size was one of the main factors in the Newton's death. And all of these CE devices are larger than even Palm's largest.)
c) Power-conserving. Batteries in a Palm last forever. How often do you have to change the batteries in one of these iPaqs?
As to power consumption: For one, more memory = more power consumed. 8MB Palms have higher current draw than 2MB ones. Not by too much... But 64 megs?
PCMCIA - PCMCIA cards can cause a noticeable drop in battery life in a laptop with a huge Li-Ion battery, what do you think they're going to do to a handheld on AAAs? (Even AAs - But as soon as you move to AAs, your handheld is losing any size advantage it might have had.)
These handhelds are "cool", but I don't see them as anything more than that. My WorkPad (Palm III) suits me just fine, the only thing I wish I had was 8MB of memory, not 2. But 64 is ridiculous. (Eventually, I may solder in some bigger chips...:)
While GSM may be the standard in Europe, GSM is rare in the US. Even at the maximum possible rollout (All GSM providers support the thing), that still isn't much coverage.
CDMA is the way to go. Either in the old 900 MHz cell band or the 1900 MHz band.
The pdQ's main drawbacks were price and the fact that it's single-band, single-mode. I wouldn't be surprised if its successor, the Kyocera QCP-6035, is much better.
Oh, just checked Kyocera's site: http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/showroom/showcase/ coming_soon_6000.htm
It IS better. 8M memory, dual-band/trimode. Digital in both bands, and analog fallback for the phone part. This will work with many providers. (Well, actually at this point I think Verizon encompasses all of the non-Sprint CDMA providers. So it'll work with Verizon and Sprint.) Highly unlikely it'll ever work with any provider that uses TDMA anytime soon - Kyocera's wireless division was just bought from Qualcomm, which means CDMA only for a while at least.)
I've been a user on NO since it started, and a SysOp there for quite some time.
Nerfonline is not Hasbro's official Nerf website. That's nerf.com, and it sucks. In general, Hasbro is a bunch of idiots that keep on discontinuing good guns and keeping the bad ones around. (I'm gonna miss the SuperMaxx 1500)
Slashdot Mirror
Good point w.r.t the powers of federal government. The Feds have no influence whatsoever on drinking aged and speed limits, but it's amazing the power little green pieces of paper and their electronic brethren have... The reason the legal drinking age is 21 in *every* state in the US is not because the government passed a nationwide law, but because the government withheld highway maintenance funds from all states that didn't comply.
Penalties, etc. for drunk driving vary a lot, but they're getting much stricter very quickly these days. Laws are definately stricter in the Northeast than in the South or Southwest. Most Northeastern states (NY, NJ, PA, etc.) have "open container" laws - There are stiff penalties for even having an open container of alcohol in your vehicle, even if you're not the one drinking. (i.e. you can get heavily fined and jail time is a possibility if your passengers are drinking and you're dead sober.)
On the other hand, according to a friend that went to Rice University in Houston, "open container" laws are a completely alien concept in Texas, where a bunch of college students can sit in the back of a moving pickup (illegal in the Northeast in and of itself) and drink to their heart's content.
I thought that was one of the things that the new regulations after 9/11 got rid of.
Either way, I'm sure those systems have additional encryption a few layers up. No sane persion trusts WEP. Even if the net isn't encrypted at the wireless level, it only matters (and is better) if it's encrypted a few layers up. (IPSec, SSL, or the like.)
Agreed.
If they just have purchased the right to use (at the stated sum of $62.5 million, sounds like a Right to Use purchase to me.)
Right to Enforce or full ownership... That's a different story and is Bad News.
Yes, it is possible (I didn't realize this until recently) for someone to grant someone else the right to enforce a patent but retain ownership.
The Trimble and other dual-frequency civilian GPS units don't crack the encryption at all.
There are two uses for the P code (encrypted version is the Y code) - For one, it's inherently more precise (higher bitrate, I assume). For another, it's broadcast on two frequencies, which allows for ionospheric delay to be precisely determined (one signal will arrive earlier than another.)
But because the transmitted Y code is EXACTLY the same on both frequencies, you can just correlate them to figure out the time delay. Problem is, because the code isn't known in advance, you must have a high SNR and it takes a while to lock onto each signal. So it's only good for stationary surveying receivers.
To achieve sub-millimeter accuracy, you need to perform calculations using the carrier phase in addition to code ranges. Again, a stationary receiver with long (1+ hours) sampling periods is needed. In all of these cases, the data is post-processed in an advanced form of DGPS.
Exactly... But for a LEO sat with its comm systems in the GHz range, the system could be pretty stealthy... And hard to RDF, if the antenna was designed properly (little to no energy going anywhere but up)
The equipment needed for EME (I know a guy with an antenna half the size of his house and it's not enough) is far more than what would be needed for screwing around with a LEO sat.
5 years is not the case in many satellites... It depends on what the satellite's missin is.
The original submitter of the article indicated scientific satellites... Some science satellites are 10-cm cubes that are designed in a year by part-time work and have a budget of $30k total.
See www.cubesat.org
In this case, the processor is still limited because of the power issue - I'm becoming involved in a CubeSat project at school (Designing the communications hardware), and they're using a standard embedded system board.
Not in this case... As you'd have to be NORAD to figure out with enough detail what the results of a given command are.
Same for me... I slept through the Leonids. (set my alarm, but didn't wake up...)
:)
What surprised me is that my school's ham club advisor watched em' instead of pointing his EME array at em'.
Point your antenna towards the meteors and make some meteor scatter contacts. :)
I'm not joking - it's a common propagation mode for hardcore VHFers. I don't know if it was successful, but a bunch of hams were hoping to use the Leonids to break the terrestrial distance record on 10 GHz.
"freeze if you stand out that long"
:)
:(
With the exception of today, we've been having a VERY mild winter here... I've worn a T-shirt and a fleece jacket almost all semester, never need to upgrade to sweatshirts.
I remember my freshman year, the trombone section of the marching band was bone-caroling in shorts and T-shirts. This was during study week. And yes, it was here in Ithaca.
I missed the Leonids due to sleep dep. Slept right through my alarm.
Such a system can't exist, except for the military, which has ongodly amounts of spectrum allotted to it.
The bandwidth of a connection is proportional to the data rate of said connection. i.e. high speed data links use more spectrum than slow ones.
As you get higher in frequency, you have more spectrum available.
Problem is, once you pass around 30-50 MHz (depends on time of day and solar conditions...), radio waves go through the ionosphere instead of bouncing off it. In general, the legal limit on bandwidth below 50 MHz is only a few kilohertz. (For example, amateur radio operators are only permitted to use FM at 50 MHz and above due to bandwidth restrictions.)
Now, at VHF, UHF, and even microwave, there is a phenomenon called tropospheric ducting that allows for long-haul non-LOS propagation. Unfortunately, this is dependent on a temperatur inversion in the atmosphere. (i.e. weather dependent) It cannot be relied upon for communications.
traceroute to cuinfob.cit.cornell.edu (132.236.218.13), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 darthnixon (192.168.0.1) 0.440 ms 0.345 ms 0.335 ms
2 10.17.16.1 (10.17.16.1) 20.747 ms 14.013 ms 20.106 ms
3 syr-ith-7507-1.nyroc.rr.com (24.92.227.57) 26.025 ms 40.027 ms 53.671 ms
4 ith-rtr-mcr2.nyroc.rr.com (24.92.225.149) 20.961 ms 10.138 ms 10.061 ms
5 24.92.225.201 (24.92.225.201) 13.996 ms 11.272 ms 11.920 ms
6 roc-mth-gsr-spp-gsr.nyroc.rr.com (24.92.224.6) 17.750 ms 15.407 ms 16.339 ms
7 12.124.179.33 (12.124.179.33) 22.251 ms 22.191 ms 22.083 ms
8 gbr6-p80.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.1.206) 23.629 ms 24.732 ms 37.005 ms
9 ar2-p380.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.1.141) 32.146 ms 54.067 ms 25.307 ms
10 gbr2-a30s3.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.127.5.150) 26.722 ms 54.764 ms 24.293 ms
11 gar1-p370.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.1.133) 25.471 ms 26.778 ms 23.528 ms
12 12.125.51.210 (12.125.51.210) 28.825 ms 29.871 ms 26.805 ms
13 at-gsr1-nyc-1-0-OC12.appliedtheory.net (169.130.3.30) 35.940 ms 36.067 ms 95.215 ms
14 at-gsr1-syr-3-0-OC12.appliedtheory.net (169.130.3.42) 36.802 ms 38.673 ms 54.242 ms
15 at-gsr2-syr-1-2-cornelluniv-1.appliedtheory.net (169.130.253.6) 61.247 ms 37.135 ms 43.602 ms
16 rhodes1-8540-vl7.cit.cornell.edu (128.253.222.135) 48.555 ms 38.662 ms 41.014 ms
17 cuinfob.cit.cornell.edu (132.236.218.13) 51.246 ms * 30.896 ms
That's from my home machine via an IP Masq firewall to my school's webserver. Hopping from Ithaca, NY to NYC, and all the way back.
PING 128.84.240.250 (128.84.240.250) from 128.84.240.129 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=89.879 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=114.872 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=35.780 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=60.567 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=85.152 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=107.716 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=30.185 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=53.987 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=77.156 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=101.429 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=24.926 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=47.711 msec
--- 128.84.240.250 ping statistics ---
12 packets transmitted, 12 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/mdev = 24.926/69.113/114.872/29.890 ms
That is pinging my Symbol AP from my laptop, with a D-Link DWL-650. No other users on the AP, and it is 5 feet away.
PING 128.84.240.250 (128.84.240.250) from 128.84.240.129 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=89.879 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=114.872 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=35.780 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=60.567 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=85.152 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=107.716 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=30.185 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=53.987 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=77.156 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=101.429 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=24.926 msec
64 bytes from 128.84.240.250: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=47.711 msec
--- 128.84.240.250 ping statistics ---
12 packets transmitted, 12 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/mdev = 24.926/69.113/114.872/29.890 ms
Only blank CDs with the "taxed as audio" bit set.
PCs are exempt from the AHRA, which means you can burn audio to a "data-grade" (read: cheap and untaxed) CD.
The ONLY difference between "music" CD-Rs and "data" CD-Rs is a bit pre-burned into the CD somewhere. (I don't know where this flag is set - but those "music" CD-Rs are only needed for standalone CD-R deck equipment, which will refuse to record to "data" CD-Rs.)
In fact, I wonder if the standalone recorder decks are affected by this copy-protection, or if they do error correction before copying.
So you're saying that they are intentionally introducing errors on the CD to create this copy-protection scheme. So, that means that because there are already errors, it takes less physical damage or other cause of data loss before the error correction capabilities are exceeded. Hence, manufacturers are putting out an intentionally flawed (more susceptible to scratches/skipping) product without notifying consumers. I smell a lawsuit.
Stick with your cable modem. WLAN latency is BAD. 80+ milliseconds just to the AP. As opposed to 30 or so to any reasonable endpoint with a good cable modem.
Hmm... Well, the claims differ depending on whether you're counting total losses, or just USAF losses.
The Mirage was definately not USAF, and the Harrier may have been British...
Which of the "open" quake versions was this made from?
:(
The source download only includes the changed files - Was this a recent OpenQuake, or one of the older original iD releases?
I'd like to compile this under Linux, but it's kinda hard w/o knowing which Quake source distro those files are from.
Dunno about alternatives, other than maybe some custom stuff...
Biggest problem with x10 for me is the horribly outdated housecode system... 16 housecodes with 16 devices doesn't cut it - I have a shload more than 16 things I want to control in my house! x10's biggest disadvantage is address space.
And some of the wireless x10 recievers (that take the signal from a PalmPad, etc. and put it onto the line) have this evil tendency to take a commend and repeat it in a loop for a minute or two. (i.e. hit "dim" once, and it'll dim all the way down, and stay off for a while.)
No, don't buy a Neo 25.
:)
Buy an MP3 CD player, and a CD burner.
It will be more portable, and with the extra $100+, you can get (worst-case if you're REALLY lazy about shopping) 65 gigs of storage.
Solid-state MP3 is a waste of money, and will be for a long time to come.
I wasn't saying that the Newton was a bad piece of hardware. It just wasn't suitable to the PDA market, where it got destroyed by the significantly smaller and battery-saving Palms. Some people may have grown an attachment to it. But the majority (such as myself) did not, which is why it died. (Yes, I had a Newton - I hardly ever used it. It was slow, ate batteries, and HUGE.)
Having a huge load of features on a PDA is useless if it doubles or triples the price of the unit and >90% of the target market doesn't really want it.
Yeah, these look cool to geeks like us. But the primary market for these devices are businessmen to whom geek-factor such as "Cool, I can play MP3s, too!" is useless. An 8M PalmOS-based device is enough to more than satisfy the needs of most execs who need a PDA.
2M PalmOS-based devices are more than enough for a college or HS student who wants a bit of help getting organized. And unlike the iPaq, etc, Palms are affordable for the majority of college and HS students - I have lots of non-geek friends with Palms who use them regularly. They would NEVER think of getting anything more expensive, because they don't even use their Palms to their full potential.
The above two markets are what really make money, not the small geek minority.
8 hours? That's it? That's pitiful. Palm V's have internal batteries that get a day or two of continuous use, and a LOT more standby time. And they're 2/3 the thickness of previous Palms or less, which are (as others have admitted) significantly smaller than almost any CE device.
And yes, I guessed it might have an internal battery. But even with Li-Ion or Li-Poly, there's still a limit on how much power you can store before the thing gets huge. As I said - PC cards cause noticeable drain on laptops, where the batteries themselves have 3-4 (or more) times the volume of an entire iPaq, let alone its batteries.
And even if this PCMCIA sleeve had its own battery, it would have to be HUGE to supply a decent amount of power (see above).
My WorkPad fits in my pocket easily with no effort. It carries full maps of my own town and two others, carries movie listings at all times, and all of the usual addresses, etc. All in only 2M of memory. (I do wish I had more - but 8M would be more than I'd ever need. That could store an obscene number of maps...)
Browsing from a PDA would be the most painful experience I can imagine... Screen is way too small.
If you REALLY need that obscene kind of power, buy a nice, cheap Palm, and a used laptop. You'll spend about the same price as these super-CE devices, and have a LOT more functionality. Until there's the wireless bandwidth available for videoconferencing (available on WLANs, but not in general), there's absolutely no need for these PDAs on steriods, they're a waste of money.
I see these super-handhelds going the way of the Newton.
:)
The Newton was the same as the iPaq - the handheld that tried to do too much. And look at it's fate.
Palm, OTOH, keeps things simple. This results in devices that are:
a) Much less expensive
b) Smaller (Size was one of the main factors in the Newton's death. And all of these CE devices are larger than even Palm's largest.)
c) Power-conserving. Batteries in a Palm last forever. How often do you have to change the batteries in one of these iPaqs?
As to power consumption: For one, more memory = more power consumed. 8MB Palms have higher current draw than 2MB ones. Not by too much... But 64 megs?
PCMCIA - PCMCIA cards can cause a noticeable drop in battery life in a laptop with a huge Li-Ion battery, what do you think they're going to do to a handheld on AAAs? (Even AAs - But as soon as you move to AAs, your handheld is losing any size advantage it might have had.)
These handhelds are "cool", but I don't see them as anything more than that. My WorkPad (Palm III) suits me just fine, the only thing I wish I had was 8MB of memory, not 2. But 64 is ridiculous. (Eventually, I may solder in some bigger chips...
Where the hell are you getting this ESA stuff from?
All they did was sell space on their rocket - The launch itself went perfectly. No evidence of government screwups there.
The satellite was designed, built, and the launch paid for with private funding. AMSAT is non-profit, but non-profit != government!
While GSM may be the standard in Europe, GSM is rare in the US. Even at the maximum possible rollout (All GSM providers support the thing), that still isn't much coverage.
/ coming_soon_6000.htm
CDMA is the way to go. Either in the old 900 MHz cell band or the 1900 MHz band.
The pdQ's main drawbacks were price and the fact that it's single-band, single-mode. I wouldn't be surprised if its successor, the Kyocera QCP-6035, is much better.
Oh, just checked Kyocera's site: http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/showroom/showcase
It IS better. 8M memory, dual-band/trimode. Digital in both bands, and analog fallback for the phone part. This will work with many providers. (Well, actually at this point I think Verizon encompasses all of the non-Sprint CDMA providers. So it'll work with Verizon and Sprint.) Highly unlikely it'll ever work with any provider that uses TDMA anytime soon - Kyocera's wireless division was just bought from Qualcomm, which means CDMA only for a while at least.)
I've been a user on NO since it started, and a SysOp there for quite some time.
Nerfonline is not Hasbro's official Nerf website. That's nerf.com, and it sucks. In general, Hasbro is a bunch of idiots that keep on discontinuing good guns and keeping the bad ones around. (I'm gonna miss the SuperMaxx 1500)