For Graham, it's mainly about two things: nerds (that create tech startups) and rich people (that invest in said startups):
"I think you only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub: rich people and nerds. They're the limiting reagents in the reaction that produces startups, because they're the only ones present when startups get started. Everyone else will move.
Observation bears this out: within the US, towns have become startup hubs if and only if they have both rich people and nerds. Few startups happen in Miami, for example, because although it's full of rich people, it has few nerds. It's not the kind of place nerds like.
Whereas Pittsburgh has the opposite problem: plenty of nerds, but no rich people. The top US Computer Science departments are said to be MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie-Mellon. MIT yielded Route 128. Stanford and Berkeley yielded Silicon Valley. But Carnegie-Mellon? The record skips at that point. Lower down the list, the University of Washington yielded a high-tech community in Seattle, and the University of Texas at Austin yielded one in Austin. But what happened in Pittsburgh? And in Ithaca, home of Cornell, which is also high on the list?"
Sorry, you lost me here with this vacuum cleaner analogy thing. Could somebody explain it to me with one of the good old car analogies that we know and understand?
Sad news... Stephen King, dead at 54
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
I noticed and I don't find it funny at all. And I have been around long enough to recognize the lame and tired meme.
Many Slashdot users looked up to Steve Jobs and came (and more still coming) here to pay a little respect, and to comment about it with fellow nerds and tech-oriented people. I think it's disrespectful to them to present the story that way.
And honestrly, I can't even tell if Soulskill posted this submission on purpose, or if he/she was succesfully trolled, which says a lot about this post-CmdrTaco Slashdot.
Yes, that's what I meant. You came here to pay respect, so I'd expect a respectful headline, not the old and lame 'found dead at his apartment' troll meme. If it's some kind of nerd humor, then I don't get it.
Steve Jobs' death, a big deal news event, something that will make lots of users coming here, and this old and lame troll meme is on homepage? Really? Come on, Soulskill, do you even care about this site?
While I know that you (or anyone else for that matter) won't read this post, because it will be buried between the rest of goodbye and thank you posts, I just had to write it.
Since I found this site, it has been a big part of my life.
I've spent hundreds of hours (many of them from work, I confess) browsing comments from fellow geeks at its discussions. I've learned and read better commentary and analysis here about the tech industry than listening to or reading so-called experts and gurus. Here I have acquired a lot of insight about Linux and the Free / Open Source Movement; and also about many dissimilar topics, many of them not related to tech.
But the most important thing I think, is to have found a place to hang out with other geeks like me. People that think like me and have similar world views and values. A place where I don't feel like an alien because everybody else in The Real World(tm) is so different from me.
So, from the bottom of my heart: Thank you, thank you, thank you; for having created such an awesome place. Not only did you create an amazing news aggregation site with comments. You created the best community ever.
I use a Kindle DX for that purpose. My experience has been positive so far: It will handle almost any paper I throw at it, no conversion required, most are readable in full page in vertical mode ( some papers will have complex diagrams that will make you zoom & pan to be seen). Although most two-column papers are readable in full page in portrait, many times I turn it to landscape mode to have a better view of the column, and pan trough the document to the bottom of the page.
As other posters have pointed, the DX is kind of slow rendering pages, so if you need to go back and forth frequently while reading or reviewing a paper, you will find it annoyingly slow. For me, it has been fine.
In my opinion, to read scientific papers, the Kindle DX is the device to have if an e-ink display is a must. As others have said, an iPad or Android tablet will make easer and faster to navigate trough the paper, and you will be able to read them in full color (every now and then, depending on your field, you will encounter images or diagrams that require a color display). but the active display won't be as gentle to your eyes as an e-ink reader. So, I think it depends on what is more important to you: the e-ink display or the ability to navigate faster trough the paper.
Sony makes Android-based Xperia Smartphones. They would not attack Android, nor let the other members of the consortium doing it, it's against its interest.
No, they don't. They run an embedded real-time OS, just like any decent PLC would do.
However, the software environment to develop applications for them (Step7) does run only on MS Windows, and so does WinCC, their SCADA software (used as UI to the nuclear facility operators to control the process). Both Step7 and WinCC are developed by Siemens and targeted by Stuxnet. Replacing WinCC with other software that can run on any other plattform has its costs but is doable. Replacing Step 7 is not feasible, as it would need a lot of propietary information on Siemens S7 PLCs internals. It's like making Linux drivers for some propieary piece of hardware, but a lot harder.
(While they are at it, why don't they get your emails too...)
Sadly, Facebook could do it and most people wouldn't care. They'd be excited they can see their e-mails in their inbox, without having to go to the GMail website, and be able to post their e-mails on their walls so their friends can 'Like' 'em and post comments about them...
Maybe I just shut up and stop giving them ideas.
Slashdot Mirror
What's next? Cloudy, Rainy and Foggy Cove?
Replaceable batteries : This is a no brainer.
And yet, big Android manufacturers are going the Apple way on this one. First Samsung, now LG. It seems like customers don't really care.
.. So that real horses can take "immediate physical traction" of the vehicle if necessary.
"I don't believe in imaginary property" was a popular anti-IP catchphrase here on Slashdot. It seems like it could apply here too.
http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html
For Graham, it's mainly about two things: nerds (that create tech startups) and rich people (that invest in said startups):
"I think you only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub: rich people and nerds. They're the limiting reagents in the reaction that produces startups, because they're the only ones present when startups get started. Everyone else will move.
Observation bears this out: within the US, towns have become startup hubs if and only if they have both rich people and nerds. Few startups happen in Miami, for example, because although it's full of rich people, it has few nerds. It's not the kind of place nerds like.
Whereas Pittsburgh has the opposite problem: plenty of nerds, but no rich people. The top US Computer Science departments are said to be MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie-Mellon. MIT yielded Route 128. Stanford and Berkeley yielded Silicon Valley. But Carnegie-Mellon? The record skips at that point. Lower down the list, the University of Washington yielded a high-tech community in Seattle, and the University of Texas at Austin yielded one in Austin. But what happened in Pittsburgh? And in Ithaca, home of Cornell, which is also high on the list?"
Does "dear aunt let's set so double the killer delete select all" sound familiar to you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y_Jp6PxsSQ
Sorry, you lost me here with this vacuum cleaner analogy thing. Could somebody explain it to me with one of the good old car analogies that we know and understand?
I think this is more impressing: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cyborg-beetles
I noticed and I don't find it funny at all. And I have been around long enough to recognize the lame and tired meme.
Many Slashdot users looked up to Steve Jobs and came (and more still coming) here to pay a little respect, and to comment about it with fellow nerds and tech-oriented people. I think it's disrespectful to them to present the story that way.
And honestrly, I can't even tell if Soulskill posted this submission on purpose, or if he/she was succesfully trolled, which says a lot about this post-CmdrTaco Slashdot.
Yes, that's what I meant. You came here to pay respect, so I'd expect a respectful headline, not the old and lame 'found dead at his apartment' troll meme. If it's some kind of nerd humor, then I don't get it.
Steve Jobs' death, a big deal news event, something that will make lots of users coming here, and this old and lame troll meme is on homepage? Really? Come on, Soulskill, do you even care about this site?
Only a Message Dialog Box saying 'Hello World' will be suported
While I know that you (or anyone else for that matter) won't read this post, because it will be buried between the rest of goodbye and thank you posts, I just had to write it.
Since I found this site, it has been a big part of my life.
I've spent hundreds of hours (many of them from work, I confess) browsing comments from fellow geeks at its discussions. I've learned and read better commentary and analysis here about the tech industry than listening to or reading so-called experts and gurus. Here I have acquired a lot of insight about Linux and the Free / Open Source Movement; and also about many dissimilar topics, many of them not related to tech.
But the most important thing I think, is to have found a place to hang out with other geeks like me. People that think like me and have similar world views and values. A place where I don't feel like an alien because everybody else in The Real World(tm) is so different from me.
So, from the bottom of my heart: Thank you, thank you, thank you; for having created such an awesome place. Not only did you create an amazing news aggregation site with comments. You created the best community ever.
So long, and thanks for the fish!
I use a Kindle DX for that purpose. My experience has been positive so far: It will handle almost any paper I throw at it, no conversion required, most are readable in full page in vertical mode ( some papers will have complex diagrams that will make you zoom & pan to be seen). Although most two-column papers are readable in full page in portrait, many times I turn it to landscape mode to have a better view of the column, and pan trough the document to the bottom of the page.
As other posters have pointed, the DX is kind of slow rendering pages, so if you need to go back and forth frequently while reading or reviewing a paper, you will find it annoyingly slow. For me, it has been fine.
In my opinion, to read scientific papers, the Kindle DX is the device to have if an e-ink display is a must. As others have said, an iPad or Android tablet will make easer and faster to navigate trough the paper, and you will be able to read them in full color (every now and then, depending on your field, you will encounter images or diagrams that require a color display). but the active display won't be as gentle to your eyes as an e-ink reader. So, I think it depends on what is more important to you: the e-ink display or the ability to navigate faster trough the paper.
Here is your Hawking, sir!
http://helektron.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/stephenhawking.jpg
It will be a hit! Just like the Nexus One was...
Come on, even I have more followers than him!
Sony makes Android-based Xperia Smartphones. They would not attack Android, nor let the other members of the consortium doing it, it's against its interest.
From your comment and username I'm guessing you are a red-headed woman of Costa Rican origins. Am I right?
I'll have to buy the White Album again!
'Telepathy' of child used as evidence in abuse case in Scotland: http://www.scotsman.com/news/39Telepathy39-of-child-used-as.6707586.jp?articlepage=1
doesn't work on my cell phone.
No, they don't. They run an embedded real-time OS, just like any decent PLC would do.
However, the software environment to develop applications for them (Step7) does run only on MS Windows, and so does WinCC, their SCADA software (used as UI to the nuclear facility operators to control the process). Both Step7 and WinCC are developed by Siemens and targeted by Stuxnet. Replacing WinCC with other software that can run on any other plattform has its costs but is doable. Replacing Step 7 is not feasible, as it would need a lot of propietary information on Siemens S7 PLCs internals. It's like making Linux drivers for some propieary piece of hardware, but a lot harder.
(While they are at it, why don't they get your emails too...)
Sadly, Facebook could do it and most people wouldn't care. They'd be excited they can see their e-mails in their inbox, without having to go to the GMail website, and be able to post their e-mails on their walls so their friends can 'Like' 'em and post comments about them... Maybe I just shut up and stop giving them ideas.