I was born in 1978. My first computer was in 1982 at age 4, an IBM PC with 64K of RAM and BASICA. I used that until 1990, when I got a 386-20 running DOS, and I started using Borland C++. It came with about 100 pounds of manuals, a quarter of which was the Windows 3.1 API. I started learning the Windows 3.1 API, and absolutely hated it. Then, I found a floppy disk image on a local BBS, Linux 0.99. I kept using Linux until around 1996 (when I graduated from high school), when I started to realize, in the "real world", that Linux couldn't run the programs I needed to use. I could submit high school book reports written in LaTeX, but I couldn't run required stuff for college classes. I started using Windows 95, and grew to despise computers. In 1998, I quit the field completely and became a chemistry major. I guess I didn't really think about the reason why I got out of the field until I got my Powerbook in 2005, and when the PS3 came out, hearing people saying how much Sony sucks. As I look back, no matter what Sony does, they haven't completely destroyed something that was the most important thing in my life for almost 20 years. I've since learned to reach an agreeable relationship with computers again, but at this point, I can't really devote any time to them anymore.
Revenue is money in, Profit is money in minus money out. You can make a product for $1000 and sell it for $100. If you sell 1000 of them, you have a revenue of $100,000. However, you have lost $900,000 in terms of profit.
People also fail to account for the 360 having an unconstrained holiday season in 2006, which is responsible for 3 million 360's. I already commented on this on the vgcharts boards, but every console has shown the same pattern after their second holiday season, of which the PS3 and Wii haven't had yet. Until then, sales don't seem to have much bearing on the final outcome. I won't count the PS3 out, or the 360/Wii in, until at least next year because of that.
You're obviously not a programmer... there's nothing new about the GPU compared to the PC, but programming for the Cell is very interesting (if somewhat tedious). I'd still like to see RSX access, but for many applications (e.g. scientific computing), Linux on the PS3 with the Cell alone is extremely cost-effective in terms of price per instruction, power consumption and spatial size.
There's no official word about this, but it's entirely possible that the manufacturing cost of the PS3 has dropped below $599 since the launch, considering how much of the cost was in the laser diode.
I'm getting tired of people comparing the Wii with the PS3/360. It's as apt a comparison as comparing the Nintendo DS to the PS3, or comparing the sales of decks of playing cards to the 360. It's sixth-generation hardware released at the same time as the seventh-generation consoles. There's a reason the Wii is cheaper - it's old technology. The fact that they include a different controller with it doesn't make any difference. Sure, the Wiimote is an innovative idea, but it's just a combination of technologies that have existed since the before the release of the Atari 2600.
IANAL, but there would appear to be an exception to this, all I know is that it is legal to make Grubbs' catalyst and use it for research purposes without paying royalties.
If the FBI/CIA/MI5/Mossad/KGB/Elvis has physically broken into your data center, it really doesn't matter how random your numbers are...
Re:This is also the Pirate Party's stance
on
Patents Don't Pay
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· Score: 1
Pharmaceuticals should be developed by government grants and the IP turned over to Public Domain. A list of the 20 worst ailments that *could* be treated with drugs should be created. Then, funding would go from the Federal Government to Universities willing to work on those problems.
That said, I think your proposal is a good idea, whether the IP ends up in the public domain, or becomes patented by the Government and licensed to manufacturers for a reasonable fee (to at least partially offset the price to the taxpayer). There's no reason a more enlightened country couldn't take this approach and set up some sort of Crown corporation.
In fact, as an example of this, Cuba developed an anti-meningitis vaccine some time ago, and the US saw fit to overlook its little embargo thing to allow its use. Cuba's pharmaceutical industry has been quite successful, especially considering both the embargo and the relative funding to which they have access.
Of course, the original topic of the article was patent concerns, which is why I made my original comment. It's probably not the ideal situation to have untrained individuals manufacturing untested pharmaceuticals in their basements, but the statement was based on the current situation in which both patents and outrageous prices on pharmaceuticals are required to offset their development and regulatory costs.
It is really quite simiilar really, to software - the cost is all in development (although, these costs are much larger in pharmaceuticals), and the manufacturing cost is marginal (although somewhat higher in the case of synthetic pharmaceuticals, or much higher in the case of isolated agents like interferon). However, the type of work covered under software patents (algorithms) usually involves minimal development, the work that requires significant development (complete works) is covered under copyright. If the purpose of patents is to provide sufficient protection for the research to be profitable (and thus justify its occurrence), then it should be limited in scope to provide a reasonable return on investment for the type of patent being issued - perhaps a solution would be to issue patents for different times based on the invention being considered.
Re:This is also the Pirate Party's stance
on
Patents Don't Pay
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· Score: 1
Yeah, I sometimes forget about that. The fact is that an explosion is just an uncontrolled exothermic reaction, so there are millions of things that can be made to explode. However, that being the case, it's literally impossible to prevent access to explosives, there are too many common items which can be made into explosives - hell, electrolysis of molten table salt can give you sodium metal and chlorine gas, which provides both the toxic substance and explosive force behind a chemical weapon - just add water.
Well, obviously, since as I said in the original post that all the drug laws would have to be revoked for it to even be possible to buy chemicals and equipment in the first place. It's pretty ridiculous in the current situation. As an example, I can buy a kilogram of salicylic acid for $15, while a bottle of Denorex containing 3% salicylic acid (about five grams) costs $7. I just buy generic shampoo, and mix in the 8 cents worth of salicylic acid myself.
The fact remains that unless you are legitimately employed in a chemical laboratory, you can't just call up a chemical supplier and order a kilogram of salicylic acid, even though it doesn't have any (as far as I know) useful application in the manufacture of any illegal drug or explosive. Chemical suppliers just don't sell to individuals, at all. This of course, was not always the case, and I think that the inability of individuals to participate in chemistry as a hobby has done significant damage to the field. However, that said, it is probably the major reason I chose it as a major over computer science - I could still pursue my interest in computers as a hobby, since (at least for now), it's still legal for the general public to possess general computing hardware. Who knows where the window may shift on that. (Nobody would have thought it wouldn't be possible for the general public to buy chemicals in the 1950's)
Yes, which is why I specifically noted that the beer I drink is corn-free. AFAIK, the only ultra-macrobrew American lager that doesn't use corn is Budweiser (it uses rice instead)
I used to work in a drink factory that used HFCS, we had huge tanks of it. Anyway, I thought it would be clever to stop putting sugar in my coffee and instead using the free HFCS that was on tap from the tank. HFCS has a definite, distinctive, horrible taste. Unfortunately, due to this experiment, I can taste the HFCS in any drink that has it, and it makes me gag. It's the same taste as cheap American beer.
I just started drinking a can of soda as an alternative to morning coffee.. the caffeine is lower, but all the sugar seems to balance it out. Plus, I don't have to figure out how to assemble the coffeemaker while still asleep.
I drink corn-free beer almost exclusively, and it hasn't helped my weight at all.
Re:This is also the Pirate Party's stance
on
Patents Don't Pay
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
What about pharmaceuticals (mentioned in the article)? That is actually my line of work - any commercially viable synthetic pharmaceutical can be made by a trained chemist in a couple weeks. All of the actual cost is in deciding what molecule to make, not in making the molecule itself. It may be feasible in the Libertarian circumstance where (1) chemical intermediates are available to the general public and (2) drugs are not subject to regulatory approval.
Hell, even if the general public were allowed to buy chemicals and lab equipment, they could make their own pharmaceuticals, since patents only apply to commercial use. Another "good" (bad) reason for the war on drugs.
The amount of radioactive material in a moisture density sensor is negligible, and the price is quite high. You'd get more radioactive material per dollar by going around and stockpiling smoke detectors or camping lantern mantles. And, assuming the "terrorists" are arabs, we've HANDED them the material for making a dirty bomb - the easiest way to get material would be to mine a battlefield in Afghanistan or Iraq for depleted uranium shells. Or, they could steal a counterweight from an oil drill or a jet. This is stupid.
If you happen to have an iPod (don't know about which versions are like this), it comes with a wall charger that has a USB power port, so you don't have to run anything at all. It seems kind of dumb that the PS3 can't charge a controller while it's off, especially considering they only give you a 2 foot cable.
Yeah, it's the movies. Considering the size of the movies, you can't fit too many on the 360's disk. I do have a sufficient TV to make bluray worth it.
I certainly didn't get a 1080p set so I could watch DVD's (although, they are fine for non-visual movies)
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A combination of the speed and stability of Firefox with the app and hardware support of Linux.
Well, here's my story.
I was born in 1978.
My first computer was in 1982 at age 4, an IBM PC with 64K of RAM and BASICA.
I used that until 1990, when I got a 386-20 running DOS, and I started using Borland C++. It came with about 100 pounds of manuals, a quarter of which was the Windows 3.1 API.
I started learning the Windows 3.1 API, and absolutely hated it. Then, I found a floppy disk image on a local BBS, Linux 0.99.
I kept using Linux until around 1996 (when I graduated from high school), when I started to realize, in the "real world", that Linux couldn't run the programs I needed to use. I could submit high school book reports written in LaTeX, but I couldn't run required stuff for college classes.
I started using Windows 95, and grew to despise computers.
In 1998, I quit the field completely and became a chemistry major.
I guess I didn't really think about the reason why I got out of the field until I got my Powerbook in 2005, and when the PS3 came out, hearing people saying how much Sony sucks. As I look back, no matter what Sony does, they haven't completely destroyed something that was the most important thing in my life for almost 20 years. I've since learned to reach an agreeable relationship with computers again, but at this point, I can't really devote any time to them anymore.
Revenue is money in, Profit is money in minus money out. You can make a product for $1000 and sell it for $100. If you sell 1000 of them, you have a revenue of $100,000. However, you have lost $900,000 in terms of profit.
People also fail to account for the 360 having an unconstrained holiday season in 2006, which is responsible for 3 million 360's. I already commented on this on the vgcharts boards, but every console has shown the same pattern after their second holiday season, of which the PS3 and Wii haven't had yet. Until then, sales don't seem to have much bearing on the final outcome. I won't count the PS3 out, or the 360/Wii in, until at least next year because of that.
You're obviously not a programmer... there's nothing new about the GPU compared to the PC, but programming for the Cell is very interesting (if somewhat tedious). I'd still like to see RSX access, but for many applications (e.g. scientific computing), Linux on the PS3 with the Cell alone is extremely cost-effective in terms of price per instruction, power consumption and spatial size.
There's no official word about this, but it's entirely possible that the manufacturing cost of the PS3 has dropped below $599 since the launch, considering how much of the cost was in the laser diode.
I'm getting tired of people comparing the Wii with the PS3/360. It's as apt a comparison as comparing the Nintendo DS to the PS3, or comparing the sales of decks of playing cards to the 360. It's sixth-generation hardware released at the same time as the seventh-generation consoles. There's a reason the Wii is cheaper - it's old technology. The fact that they include a different controller with it doesn't make any difference. Sure, the Wiimote is an innovative idea, but it's just a combination of technologies that have existed since the before the release of the Atari 2600.
IANAL, but there would appear to be an exception to this, all I know is that it is legal to make Grubbs' catalyst and use it for research purposes without paying royalties.
If the FBI/CIA/MI5/Mossad/KGB/Elvis has physically broken into your data center, it really doesn't matter how random your numbers are...
Pharmaceuticals should be developed by government grants and the IP turned over to Public Domain. A list of the 20 worst ailments that *could* be treated with drugs should be created. Then, funding would go from the Federal Government to Universities willing to work on those problems.
This is already done to some extent. Universities receive grants from the NIH (as well as quite a bit from pharmaceutical companies) for basic research. However, this IP doesn't typically end up in the public domain. Also, there's the Orphan Drug Act in which the government funds pay for the development of drugs for unprofitable ailments (although, again, the IP doesn't end up in the public domain).
That said, I think your proposal is a good idea, whether the IP ends up in the public domain, or becomes patented by the Government and licensed to manufacturers for a reasonable fee (to at least partially offset the price to the taxpayer). There's no reason a more enlightened country couldn't take this approach and set up some sort of Crown corporation.
In fact, as an example of this, Cuba developed an anti-meningitis vaccine some time ago, and the US saw fit to overlook its little embargo thing to allow its use. Cuba's pharmaceutical industry has been quite successful, especially considering both the embargo and the relative funding to which they have access.
Of course, the original topic of the article was patent concerns, which is why I made my original comment. It's probably not the ideal situation to have untrained individuals manufacturing untested pharmaceuticals in their basements, but the statement was based on the current situation in which both patents and outrageous prices on pharmaceuticals are required to offset their development and regulatory costs.
It is really quite simiilar really, to software - the cost is all in development (although, these costs are much larger in pharmaceuticals), and the manufacturing cost is marginal (although somewhat higher in the case of synthetic pharmaceuticals, or much higher in the case of isolated agents like interferon). However, the type of work covered under software patents (algorithms) usually involves minimal development, the work that requires significant development (complete works) is covered under copyright. If the purpose of patents is to provide sufficient protection for the research to be profitable (and thus justify its occurrence), then it should be limited in scope to provide a reasonable return on investment for the type of patent being issued - perhaps a solution would be to issue patents for different times based on the invention being considered.
Yeah, I sometimes forget about that. The fact is that an explosion is just an uncontrolled exothermic reaction, so there are millions of things that can be made to explode. However, that being the case, it's literally impossible to prevent access to explosives, there are too many common items which can be made into explosives - hell, electrolysis of molten table salt can give you sodium metal and chlorine gas, which provides both the toxic substance and explosive force behind a chemical weapon - just add water.
Well, obviously, since as I said in the original post that all the drug laws would have to be revoked for it to even be possible to buy chemicals and equipment in the first place. It's pretty ridiculous in the current situation. As an example, I can buy a kilogram of salicylic acid for $15, while a bottle of Denorex containing 3% salicylic acid (about five grams) costs $7. I just buy generic shampoo, and mix in the 8 cents worth of salicylic acid myself.
The fact remains that unless you are legitimately employed in a chemical laboratory, you can't just call up a chemical supplier and order a kilogram of salicylic acid, even though it doesn't have any (as far as I know) useful application in the manufacture of any illegal drug or explosive. Chemical suppliers just don't sell to individuals, at all. This of course, was not always the case, and I think that the inability of individuals to participate in chemistry as a hobby has done significant damage to the field. However, that said, it is probably the major reason I chose it as a major over computer science - I could still pursue my interest in computers as a hobby, since (at least for now), it's still legal for the general public to possess general computing hardware. Who knows where the window may shift on that. (Nobody would have thought it wouldn't be possible for the general public to buy chemicals in the 1950's)
Yes, which is why I specifically noted that the beer I drink is corn-free. AFAIK, the only ultra-macrobrew American lager that doesn't use corn is Budweiser (it uses rice instead)
Again, as the parent said: "Should have thought about that before building a city there."
I used to work in a drink factory that used HFCS, we had huge tanks of it. Anyway, I thought it would be clever to stop putting sugar in my coffee and instead using the free HFCS that was on tap from the tank. HFCS has a definite, distinctive, horrible taste. Unfortunately, due to this experiment, I can taste the HFCS in any drink that has it, and it makes me gag. It's the same taste as cheap American beer.
I just started drinking a can of soda as an alternative to morning coffee.. the caffeine is lower, but all the sugar seems to balance it out. Plus, I don't have to figure out how to assemble the coffeemaker while still asleep.
As a person with a high metabolism who isn't obese, knowing how to get the most calories per dollar is a useful thing.
I drink corn-free beer almost exclusively, and it hasn't helped my weight at all.
What about pharmaceuticals (mentioned in the article)? That is actually my line of work - any commercially viable synthetic pharmaceutical can be made by a trained chemist in a couple weeks. All of the actual cost is in deciding what molecule to make, not in making the molecule itself. It may be feasible in the Libertarian circumstance where (1) chemical intermediates are available to the general public and (2) drugs are not subject to regulatory approval.
Hell, even if the general public were allowed to buy chemicals and lab equipment, they could make their own pharmaceuticals, since patents only apply to commercial use. Another "good" (bad) reason for the war on drugs.
The worst console in history was the Atari 5200.
moot
All this talk about Tron and CGI and no mention of the machine it was done with? The story of the Foonly F1 is quite interesting in itself.
The amount of radioactive material in a moisture density sensor is negligible, and the price is quite high. You'd get more radioactive material per dollar by going around and stockpiling smoke detectors or camping lantern mantles. And, assuming the "terrorists" are arabs, we've HANDED them the material for making a dirty bomb - the easiest way to get material would be to mine a battlefield in Afghanistan or Iraq for depleted uranium shells. Or, they could steal a counterweight from an oil drill or a jet. This is stupid.
If you happen to have an iPod (don't know about which versions are like this), it comes with a wall charger that has a USB power port, so you don't have to run anything at all. It seems kind of dumb that the PS3 can't charge a controller while it's off, especially considering they only give you a 2 foot cable.
Yeah, it's the movies. Considering the size of the movies, you can't fit too many on the 360's disk. I do have a sufficient TV to make bluray worth it.
I certainly didn't get a 1080p set so I could watch DVD's (although, they are fine for non-visual movies)