Who gives a flying rats arse about how the box looks like as long as it is quiet and doesn't accumulate dust. The big problem with today's PC design is that they think I want to interact with the box. As a result they put user periferals in the box which is stupid because now I have to place the box where it is accessible and thus visible.
My design would place the DVD drive in a keyboard with a single multi function cable (Audio, USB, SATA, power control, and various indicators like PWR and HD) running to an invisible box hidden well out of view and if possible on the other side of the wall in the toilet or above the ceiling.
The key to a good PC design is not in the box! It's in the keyboard (pun intended) Single USB/Multi card reader socket at the top for your flash drive and so on, USB hub at the read and a DVD slot on on the right side.
I have both Delphi 2006 (VS style IDE) and Delphi 6 at work. I wrote test applications in Delphi using win api, Delphi using.net and Visual Studio.net. Of those Visual Studio was an absolute shocker in terms of application GUI refresh speeds and responsiveness. But I must admit I seem the only one around here who took offence to that but then again I am the only one here that actually cares how well a GUI works for our customers). Delphi.net fared much better but it could not get close to the smooth seamless responsiveness I get out of a Delphi Win api application.
Wouldn't you think that I would accept working sharp chainsaw instead of a blunt old had saw to cut down the tree? The fact is, the chainsaw has no petrol in it and I can handle the old hand saw just fine.
Yes, I have heard your arguments many times before. In fact about 7 or 8 years ago everyone jumpend on the Java bandwagon. Even Borland released a Java development environment. I refused and saw the same old mistake all over again. Cross platform compatible code. Trying to build a language that runs on anything and as a result running poorly on everything.
Jave came and Java went. Man Java even killed some big software products that shifted to Java. In the past they tried it also with home computers. In the early days of home computing (Before PC clones became popular) Phillips and some Japanese companies decided on a computing standard MSX or something like that. "Lowest common denominator" so it sucked.
Now we do it again with.net. I may be proven wrong if Windows Vista comes out (Don't even dare to say "when") but as things stand now.net is slow too.
IDE is a pure matter of preference. Many people cringe seeing the many windows I have open but on my dual monitor dev platform but it works wonders for me. I do a lot of custom VCL's stuff to build new UI controls and the ability to see the program painting on one form while having full access to debugging the source is brilliant and impossible on those new fangled IDE's
Oh god yeah, I didn't even get started about Delphi 2006. My boss kept suggesting we should "upgrade". As the senior developer (And apperently supposed to be keen for new toys) I finally caved in and let them buy it. Delphi 2006 is now sitting unused in my desk. I tried it. It's IDE is stupid and slow (Like Visula Studio's) because it doesn't let me easily use my multiple monitors. Besides it doesn't offer anything that I want to use.
The context sensitive help is not so sensitive (Nor sensible) anymore. The old Delphi 6 Help gets right to the point without any fluff or crap. This stupid CHM help is just so slow to load!
They also made the IDE too "smart" because it thinks it knows what you want to look at which unfortunately is not always what I think I want to see. Did I mention IDE crashes?
I am still apprehensive about this Turbo delphi though. Hopefully they stick with the old delphi IDE.
Thing is, why would a skilled carpenter swap his razor sharp old hardened steel chissel for a new fancy unproven one with plastic handle? When you know your skill and tools you can't be beaten.
I don't get it. Why does everyone want new tools all the time. Windows is still windows, A button is still a button and the communication protocols are supported accross the development platforms.
I have been working with Delphi since version 3 and still tackle new projects today with Delphi 6 (Don't want the newer and slower Visual Studio lookalike IDE).
Here at work I am cracking up lauging these days. Most of the dev team have moved to gadget-land using Visual Studio and C#. As a result they need to upgrade all the dev machines (Again) and find out that the resources sucked up by the bloatware.net platform leaves them with very little working power. There all stressed and tearing their hair out when a server spits blood because they can't see inside!
In the mean time our old and trusty properly hand coded applications keep scaling up on ever more powerful hardware showing there is many more years of use in the old and proven.
I believe I am more productive using Delphi today than a whole line up of fancy Microsoft fanboy developers because I have access to absolutely amazing free library source code build and refined by users over the years. A massive Delphi and Windows API knowledge base indexed by Google newsgroups, a solid grounded knowledge of my tools and libraries and last but not least a very supportive Delphi user base.
I hope this Turbo initiative will bring more developers to their senses and start coding again instead of playing with shiny black box Microsoft crap.
I just have to share this story with you. Showing my age a little but about 20 odd years ago I worked as a driver for a computer-firm. We were looking after the MAI computers for the Netherlands and Belgium. One day me and my mate went to Brussles in Belgium to pick up a harddrive that was repaired and deliver it back to the customer. Unfortunately the build from which we picked up the drive had a flight of steps leading to the front door. So we needed to carry the drive down the stairs towards the road side.
These drives are build like washing machines with a big heavy chunk of something mounted at the top of them to reduce vibrations. We lifted the drive from the bottom thus creating a rather precarious balancing act with the drive. Well there would not be a story if it didn't go wrong. The drive tipped over forward and we were not able to hold it so it crashed top first into the concrete steps and bounced and slid all the way down right across the pavement passing some surprised pedestrians. The drive came to a halt thanks to a parked Volvo in which the drive put a decent dent.
A very unpleasant phonecall followed.
Anyway, those were pretty rough days. I was promoted to technician (Didn't know shit but the contract said we would be on-site in 4 hours so they send me so that part of the contract was met). I got pretty good.
A customer complained about a beeping Brother daisywheel printer. It printed fine but it beeped. Nothing a pair of side cutters couldn't fix.
The head accountant (In those days they usually filled the role of IT) of a large transport company was in panic because the MAI computer would not boot up and thus could not print out the dispatch lists for the trucks. Harddrives those days were pretty temperature sensitive and this particular cold-room was freezing. So I did my usual. Talk technical and wait for the accountant to piss-off then turn to the computer and with a well aimed kick BOOT it back to live. This procedure could not be performed with a customer present but is was very effective solving 60% of the problems out there. I wonder if Re-booting a computer comes from this practise.
Sometimes the harddrive head needed alignment. This is supposed to be done is a special dust free room. The procedure was simple, you needed a scope and a screwdriver and some doodads. The problem was the availability of a dustfree room. I have adjusted plenty of harddrives on cooperate toilets.
Yep, the good ol' days of computing. Man this was the true IT wild west.
I looked to much forward to the XBox 360 but it simply failed to impress me. Same old same old. Just better graphics apperently but that is lost on me. What is not lost on me are the increased game proces and even worse the huge game load times making me long for the good old Nintendo game cartidges.
As long as companies insist to create artificial business plans they will suffer the consequences. Game consoles are sold below cost just so they can start making money on the games. Therefore you need to be authorised to develop for the particular console and of course only those with deep pockets get the chance to do so.
At the same time console makers build in restrictions to stop small third party developers from creating content since it won't benefit the console maker. Effectively killing the number of titles that can be made available.
At this very point in time, the console maker who is price conscious and sensible about their console will be able to sell it at or above cost is going to be the winner. Simply because they can afford to leave the platform open to third party developers and thus create a very lively user community around it.
Typically this means simpler technology, lower development cost and easier access for new developers. Yeah I know, it sounds like Nintendo Wii doesn't it! Can't wait to start lauging.
This does make sense. However, before all that I imagine we first need to see a CG character getting fameous enough to see it appear in different unrelated productions. I imagine that CG characters would even appear on Oprah eventually, of course the live public would only see the CG actor. mmm who says the public at Oprah is live in the first place? Maybe they are all CG's
I recon mankind simply got scared. Scared to take risks, scared for men in beards waving guns, scared to be wrong. As a result we duck and dive. Were is the pioneering spirit. The "Can do" attitude. If I look at the posts there are a lot of people that already blame management if the mission goes wrong while praising the technology when it goes right.
Space flight is dangerous! So get over it. The astronouts know what they are getting into, their families know so if one goes poof then let's study it and try again. That is how they got to the moon, That is how they build the Empire state building and twin towers. Man has been capable of great things but our generation simply sucks, were bean counters, scared and lack vision and drive.
For god sake, if we would put our mind to it we could be oil independent in a matter of years. But we won't will we, were scared of the consequences, scared of the shareholders, scared to fail so we do....
Civil Defence and army is told to stand down. Sea level fluctuation turns out to be the tide which is a natural occuring phenomena not worth to worry about.
The alarm has been raised. Civil defence has been mobilised. An event of catastrophic proportions is occuring. Highly accurate monitoring stations along the coast have indicated a sea level fluctuation of 3137mm over a period of 6 hours!
People living near the coast are fleeing to higher ground while riots have broken out in many of the local foodstores where panicked citizens tried to stock up on emergency supplies.
sjeesh, leave a hint about Linux support and the Linux zealots stamp it into the ground. "Oh doesn't look nice", "Where is the source", "It doesn't run on my really really exotic Linux distribution", "How can I trust a binary distribution".
Basically people, "beep beeeeep" and get a life. You guys grab any opportunity to tell the world you are "cool" because you use Linux but all you do is complain while playing Windows games in a dark corner when nobody is looking and if you don't like Google Earth....
Stop crying you babies. Ticket Master, RIAA, publishers and artists don't want your business! Don't you get it? They hate your guts. They want you to piss-off and crawl back into that cave you emerged from so shut up, focus on your slave jobs and pay your taxes.
In the mean time RIAA, publishers and artists are rapidly becoming irrelevant because accessible local artists with talent come around to play in your local pub where you realised you had a great time, you buy them a beer and downloaded their free MP3 so you can enjoy the music afterwards as well. Turns out life is good after all.
So what is it going to be people? Do you really want these sharks to pull in their head and see them survive?
There is always someone who thinks they can tell people to "Move along" without understanding the impact of the new technology presented. I even doubt if you read the article in the first place.
If you would have taken the trouble to actually read stuff before you hurry your "move along" reply into slashdot you would have found that this is a very exciting development that will lead to low power camera's with a very high signal to noise ratio. Yes CMOS is done and many other but that doesn't mean it can't be improved on.
I can't see the value of a 8mp camera in a phone using a crap pinhole lens but the chip would do wonders in regular cameras and compact flash based HD Video cameras.
I think Sony really lost plot on the PS3 saga. I imagine that the development of the PS3 was extremely ambitious as Sony tends to be with their technology. This time they simply didn't even get close to being ready for E3. I bet there was a lot of smoke and mirrors going on to make the PS3 look more finished than it really is. Add to that the fact that Blu Ray at this stage is another propriety Sony standard that pushes up the PS3 price to $600 and you have yourself a big loser.
PS3 has lot's of potential but I think Sony should rip out the Blu Ray player today. Drop the price to $450 and keep quiet until they are really ready next year or so. Then make a big bang and show off the awesome power of the PS3 hardware properly.
Sony has shot itself in the foot by showing up at E3 this year and trying to use the PS3 as leverage to get Blu Ray in peoples homes. Don't these clowns learn! As for Sony products, I avoid them because so many times did I see cool Sony products only to find a year later that the product and consumables have vanished from the shelves.
Also I don't trust an electronics manufacturer that is also a media publisher because they are way too motivated to load up their electronics with DRM crap. After all Sony is among those suing their own customers for ripping Snoy CD's using Sony equipment to play on Sony MP3 players. How can you possibly trust a company that does that!
with it's current attitude Sony is going down the gurgler and I love to help helping by not buying any of ther stuff (not even CD's).
I am actually looking forward to the New Nintendo console. So far I have been looking at the first generation XBox and the PS2 and between the two I tend to like the PS2 better. More fun games (Generally less FPS gore on PS2)
PS2 also comes with interesting interfaces. Kareoke, iToy and the new Quiz style push the button thingies. These things all enable a fun gaming element that connects with the virtual worls as well as the real one.
The XBox360 is going completely past me as did the original one. I like FPS games but only on a PC using a mouse. Manipulating the two tiny joysticks is honestly beyond my capability as is car racing with a game controller. I don't enjoy it and give up well before in finally becomes "Fun". I am just not prepared to invest such effort in a game.
I don't care about the high power graphics offered by XBox360 and PS2 as I still think Wolfenstein ET is a cool PC game. I played with some XBox360's in the mall which are demonstrated on HiDef lcd screens but I fail to appreciate the enhanced graphics. I thought the idea was to get involved in your game in which case you would not see the minor flaws in old generation graphics. Hell, I recon the old Playstation 1 is fun to play. To me the gaming element should have the focus. Nintendo may well have a winner on their hands as they focus on fun and like me don't give a hoot about the specs.
This time I may actually seriously consider to buy a game console for the family because it won't turn them in to "a blank-eyed joystick fondler"
If you remain untouched by the game you are playing, then what is the point playing it?
Well said! In my family we have put ourselves on a diet of movies, music and news. It all became way too depressing. Thanks to the internet we can now be very selective about what we want to hear about.
Now we watch selected shows on free to air TV (although increasingly we tend to walk away in the middle of the show getting tired of the commercials). We Rent the odd DVD (And rip it so we don't have to sit through 15 min of commercials) and listen to free to air radio entertainment at times. Stopped buying CD's years ago (and ban my son from buying them due to virus risks) and never started buying DVD's.
There's the odd time we go to the cinema but these days we choose other activities instead. Minigolf, mountain biking and swimming. These plonkers think we depend on them but as a result I believe people in general are turning away from these media moguls leaving their air castle deflated.
In out life we have gained a lot. More fun, more activity, more time on our hands and less depressed because we don't hear the hyped up "news" crap anymore.
I can't believe people actually make an issue of some freon foam on the space shuttle and dare to take unnesseary risks by changing the foam. Although the XPrize tried to suggest that space is safe and open for tourists, I don't believe that.
Amazing that after 40 years we still struggle to get people in orbit safely. Yes Nasa is stupid and all that but I believe that the problems associated with space travel are not that easy to solve.
Why whine about some foam while the rocket engines put piles of pollutants in the atmosphere anyway. So what! We are still taking wobbly babysteps into space and can do without the environmental baggage at this point. Besides whats one shuttle flight compared to millions of cars and dumb fat consumers buring up energy faster than they can lay their hands on it.
Of course the whole thing changes when we all have a space shuttle in our back yard.
Ok, your way then.
Let's have a breakthrough: This unit uses a Pentium consuming 0 watts. Let's make it even better! The power used to charge the 7 kwh batteries is free in offpeak hours!
So now you save 100% of the stored energy at $1.40 (peak price of $0.20/kwh) per day! WOW now were talking! That is $500 per annum in savings. Glad I took your comments at heart, this makes quite a difference because with the majority of the $10000 spend on batteries I can look forward to spend that same amount again in (let's be very optimistic) 5 years time. So let's see.... $2000 per annum write off on batteries and $500 per annum saved. Net result $1500 per annum loss. Wow you are clever, you should join the board at gridlock!
The simple fact is that power storage in battieries is expensive. There is no way you can use batteries to save money in power. With realistic calculations this $10000 unit should cost $1000 and you just might break even.
The gridlock calculation (Oops sorry, Gridpoint) is based on the fact that the batteries are fully cycled (Charged and discharged) every day. Good batteries can handle this only about 2000 times and lose capacity over that time. Under normal use they last between 1 to 5 years depending on the environment in which they are stored. At the end of that period you can expect about 60% of their starting capacity.
The calculation I made assumes the batteries never wear out and the investment will never be written off!
My calculation also ignored the fact that the build in pentium computer uses power and thus reduces the amount of "savings" by 20 to 25%
Basically if these guys want to save their face they need to remove all references regarding cost savings from their marketing plans and start selling this thing as a boxed solution for solar power installations or as a UPS.
There is no way anyone can save money with this device.
What a stupid way to sell a big UPS. As they already comment you need a power bill in the thousands $ before you save money but the specs tell me that this thing can only supply 1KW for 7 - 10 hours. Therefore it is only capable to run 2 PC's (oh make that one because it already has one itself) and a few lights. I consider that nothing compared to what you normally use if you have a thousand + power bill.
Let's run some numbers:
Say you save 50% on a power unit (1 unit = 1Kwh).
Assume a unit costs $0.20
The unit can store 7 Kwh which is worth in savings a massive $0.70 per day.
I am going to be generous and allow these savings to run through the weekend thus saving $4.90 per week or $255 per year.
Based on $10000 that is a return on investment of 2.5% per annum
CNN Money reported: "The company features an all-star board of advisors, including tech guru Esther Dyson and Bill Bradley, the former presidential candidate and longtime member of the Senate Energy Committee."
Whoooaaaaa ha ha ha ha, these clowns can't even count. Yeah, I'll have the stainless steel door upgrade. Ha ha ha, this thing is a stupid investment that will have no practical benefit unless you want a UPS or solar power solution in which case there are much better and cheaper alternatives.
No wonder sensible USA energy policies are non existent. What a morons.
Slashdot Mirror
Who gives a flying rats arse about how the box looks like as long as it is quiet and doesn't accumulate dust. The big problem with today's PC design is that they think I want to interact with the box. As a result they put user periferals in the box which is stupid because now I have to place the box where it is accessible and thus visible. My design would place the DVD drive in a keyboard with a single multi function cable (Audio, USB, SATA, power control, and various indicators like PWR and HD) running to an invisible box hidden well out of view and if possible on the other side of the wall in the toilet or above the ceiling. The key to a good PC design is not in the box! It's in the keyboard (pun intended) Single USB/Multi card reader socket at the top for your flash drive and so on, USB hub at the read and a DVD slot on on the right side.
I have both Delphi 2006 (VS style IDE) and Delphi 6 at work. I wrote test applications in Delphi using win api, Delphi using .net and Visual Studio .net. Of those Visual Studio was an absolute shocker in terms of application GUI refresh speeds and responsiveness. But I must admit I seem the only one around here who took offence to that but then again I am the only one here that actually cares how well a GUI works for our customers). Delphi .net fared much better but it could not get close to the smooth seamless responsiveness I get out of a Delphi Win api application.
Wouldn't you think that I would accept working sharp chainsaw instead of a blunt old had saw to cut down the tree? The fact is, the chainsaw has no petrol in it and I can handle the old hand saw just fine.
Yes, I have heard your arguments many times before. In fact about 7 or 8 years ago everyone jumpend on the Java bandwagon. Even Borland released a Java development environment. I refused and saw the same old mistake all over again. Cross platform compatible code. Trying to build a language that runs on anything and as a result running poorly on everything.
.net. I may be proven wrong if Windows Vista comes out (Don't even dare to say "when") but as things stand now .net is slow too.
Jave came and Java went. Man Java even killed some big software products that shifted to Java. In the past they tried it also with home computers. In the early days of home computing (Before PC clones became popular) Phillips and some Japanese companies decided on a computing standard MSX or something like that. "Lowest common denominator" so it sucked.
Now we do it again with
IDE is a pure matter of preference. Many people cringe seeing the many windows I have open but on my dual monitor dev platform but it works wonders for me. I do a lot of custom VCL's stuff to build new UI controls and the ability to see the program painting on one form while having full access to debugging the source is brilliant and impossible on those new fangled IDE's
Oh god yeah, I didn't even get started about Delphi 2006. My boss kept suggesting we should "upgrade". As the senior developer (And apperently supposed to be keen for new toys) I finally caved in and let them buy it. Delphi 2006 is now sitting unused in my desk. I tried it. It's IDE is stupid and slow (Like Visula Studio's) because it doesn't let me easily use my multiple monitors. Besides it doesn't offer anything that I want to use.
The context sensitive help is not so sensitive (Nor sensible) anymore. The old Delphi 6 Help gets right to the point without any fluff or crap. This stupid CHM help is just so slow to load!
They also made the IDE too "smart" because it thinks it knows what you want to look at which unfortunately is not always what I think I want to see. Did I mention IDE crashes?
I am still apprehensive about this Turbo delphi though. Hopefully they stick with the old delphi IDE.
Thing is, why would a skilled carpenter swap his razor sharp old hardened steel chissel for a new fancy unproven one with plastic handle? When you know your skill and tools you can't be beaten.
I don't get it. Why does everyone want new tools all the time. Windows is still windows, A button is still a button and the communication protocols are supported accross the development platforms.
.net platform leaves them with very little working power. There all stressed and tearing their hair out when a server spits blood because they can't see inside!
I have been working with Delphi since version 3 and still tackle new projects today with Delphi 6 (Don't want the newer and slower Visual Studio lookalike IDE).
Here at work I am cracking up lauging these days. Most of the dev team have moved to gadget-land using Visual Studio and C#. As a result they need to upgrade all the dev machines (Again) and find out that the resources sucked up by the bloatware
In the mean time our old and trusty properly hand coded applications keep scaling up on ever more powerful hardware showing there is many more years of use in the old and proven.
I believe I am more productive using Delphi today than a whole line up of fancy Microsoft fanboy developers because I have access to absolutely amazing free library source code build and refined by users over the years. A massive Delphi and Windows API knowledge base indexed by Google newsgroups, a solid grounded knowledge of my tools and libraries and last but not least a very supportive Delphi user base.
I hope this Turbo initiative will bring more developers to their senses and start coding again instead of playing with shiny black box Microsoft crap.
Given enough sensitivity in the instruments you probably could detect gravity changes when I fart.
I just have to share this story with you. Showing my age a little but about 20 odd years ago I worked as a driver for a computer-firm. We were looking after the MAI computers for the Netherlands and Belgium. One day me and my mate went to Brussles in Belgium to pick up a harddrive that was repaired and deliver it back to the customer. Unfortunately the build from which we picked up the drive had a flight of steps leading to the front door. So we needed to carry the drive down the stairs towards the road side.
These drives are build like washing machines with a big heavy chunk of something mounted at the top of them to reduce vibrations. We lifted the drive from the bottom thus creating a rather precarious balancing act with the drive. Well there would not be a story if it didn't go wrong. The drive tipped over forward and we were not able to hold it so it crashed top first into the concrete steps and bounced and slid all the way down right across the pavement passing some surprised pedestrians. The drive came to a halt thanks to a parked Volvo in which the drive put a decent dent.
A very unpleasant phonecall followed.
Anyway, those were pretty rough days. I was promoted to technician (Didn't know shit but the contract said we would be on-site in 4 hours so they send me so that part of the contract was met). I got pretty good.
A customer complained about a beeping Brother daisywheel printer. It printed fine but it beeped. Nothing a pair of side cutters couldn't fix.
The head accountant (In those days they usually filled the role of IT) of a large transport company was in panic because the MAI computer would not boot up and thus could not print out the dispatch lists for the trucks. Harddrives those days were pretty temperature sensitive and this particular cold-room was freezing. So I did my usual. Talk technical and wait for the accountant to piss-off then turn to the computer and with a well aimed kick BOOT it back to live. This procedure could not be performed with a customer present but is was very effective solving 60% of the problems out there. I wonder if Re-booting a computer comes from this practise.
Sometimes the harddrive head needed alignment. This is supposed to be done is a special dust free room. The procedure was simple, you needed a scope and a screwdriver and some doodads. The problem was the availability of a dustfree room. I have adjusted plenty of harddrives on cooperate toilets.
Yep, the good ol' days of computing. Man this was the true IT wild west.
I looked to much forward to the XBox 360 but it simply failed to impress me. Same old same old. Just better graphics apperently but that is lost on me. What is not lost on me are the increased game proces and even worse the huge game load times making me long for the good old Nintendo game cartidges.
As long as companies insist to create artificial business plans they will suffer the consequences. Game consoles are sold below cost just so they can start making money on the games. Therefore you need to be authorised to develop for the particular console and of course only those with deep pockets get the chance to do so.
At the same time console makers build in restrictions to stop small third party developers from creating content since it won't benefit the console maker. Effectively killing the number of titles that can be made available.
At this very point in time, the console maker who is price conscious and sensible about their console will be able to sell it at or above cost is going to be the winner. Simply because they can afford to leave the platform open to third party developers and thus create a very lively user community around it.
Typically this means simpler technology, lower development cost and easier access for new developers. Yeah I know, it sounds like Nintendo Wii doesn't it! Can't wait to start lauging.
This does make sense. However, before all that I imagine we first need to see a CG character getting fameous enough to see it appear in different unrelated productions. I imagine that CG characters would even appear on Oprah eventually, of course the live public would only see the CG actor. mmm who says the public at Oprah is live in the first place? Maybe they are all CG's
Gotcha
and you didn't pick up on my incorrect spelling of "astronouts". Come on mate surely you got better things to do. Go and find "News that matters"
I recon mankind simply got scared. Scared to take risks, scared for men in beards waving guns, scared to be wrong. As a result we duck and dive. Were is the pioneering spirit. The "Can do" attitude. If I look at the posts there are a lot of people that already blame management if the mission goes wrong while praising the technology when it goes right.
Space flight is dangerous! So get over it. The astronouts know what they are getting into, their families know so if one goes poof then let's study it and try again. That is how they got to the moon, That is how they build the Empire state building and twin towers. Man has been capable of great things but our generation simply sucks, were bean counters, scared and lack vision and drive.
For god sake, if we would put our mind to it we could be oil independent in a matter of years. But we won't will we, were scared of the consequences, scared of the shareholders, scared to fail so we do....
NOTHING.
10:13 AM 16 June 2006 - West coast of New Zealand
Civil Defence and army is told to stand down. Sea level fluctuation turns out to be the tide which is a natural occuring phenomena not worth to worry about.
06:43 AM 16 June 2006 - West coast of New Zealand
The alarm has been raised. Civil defence has been mobilised. An event of catastrophic proportions is occuring. Highly accurate monitoring stations along the coast have indicated a sea level fluctuation of 3137mm over a period of 6 hours!
People living near the coast are fleeing to higher ground while riots have broken out in many of the local foodstores where panicked citizens tried to stock up on emergency supplies.
We will report more as events unfold.
Ha ha ha, that my friend, is the best response I have had to my complain about complaining comment. Cheers, I'd mod you up for that ;-)
sjeesh, leave a hint about Linux support and the Linux zealots stamp it into the ground. "Oh doesn't look nice", "Where is the source", "It doesn't run on my really really exotic Linux distribution", "How can I trust a binary distribution".
Basically people, "beep beeeeep" and get a life. You guys grab any opportunity to tell the world you are "cool" because you use Linux but all you do is complain while playing Windows games in a dark corner when nobody is looking and if you don't like Google Earth....
DON'T BLOODY USE IT!
Stop crying you babies. Ticket Master, RIAA, publishers and artists don't want your business! Don't you get it? They hate your guts. They want you to piss-off and crawl back into that cave you emerged from so shut up, focus on your slave jobs and pay your taxes. In the mean time RIAA, publishers and artists are rapidly becoming irrelevant because accessible local artists with talent come around to play in your local pub where you realised you had a great time, you buy them a beer and downloaded their free MP3 so you can enjoy the music afterwards as well. Turns out life is good after all. So what is it going to be people? Do you really want these sharks to pull in their head and see them survive?
There is always someone who thinks they can tell people to "Move along" without understanding the impact of the new technology presented. I even doubt if you read the article in the first place.
If you would have taken the trouble to actually read stuff before you hurry your "move along" reply into slashdot you would have found that this is a very exciting development that will lead to low power camera's with a very high signal to noise ratio. Yes CMOS is done and many other but that doesn't mean it can't be improved on.
I can't see the value of a 8mp camera in a phone using a crap pinhole lens but the chip would do wonders in regular cameras and compact flash based HD Video cameras.
I think Sony really lost plot on the PS3 saga. I imagine that the development of the PS3 was extremely ambitious as Sony tends to be with their technology. This time they simply didn't even get close to being ready for E3. I bet there was a lot of smoke and mirrors going on to make the PS3 look more finished than it really is. Add to that the fact that Blu Ray at this stage is another propriety Sony standard that pushes up the PS3 price to $600 and you have yourself a big loser.
PS3 has lot's of potential but I think Sony should rip out the Blu Ray player today. Drop the price to $450 and keep quiet until they are really ready next year or so. Then make a big bang and show off the awesome power of the PS3 hardware properly.
Sony has shot itself in the foot by showing up at E3 this year and trying to use the PS3 as leverage to get Blu Ray in peoples homes. Don't these clowns learn! As for Sony products, I avoid them because so many times did I see cool Sony products only to find a year later that the product and consumables have vanished from the shelves.
Also I don't trust an electronics manufacturer that is also a media publisher because they are way too motivated to load up their electronics with DRM crap. After all Sony is among those suing their own customers for ripping Snoy CD's using Sony equipment to play on Sony MP3 players. How can you possibly trust a company that does that!
with it's current attitude Sony is going down the gurgler and I love to help helping by not buying any of ther stuff (not even CD's).
Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii
I am actually looking forward to the New Nintendo console. So far I have been looking at the first generation XBox and the PS2 and between the two I tend to like the PS2 better. More fun games (Generally less FPS gore on PS2)
PS2 also comes with interesting interfaces. Kareoke, iToy and the new Quiz style push the button thingies. These things all enable a fun gaming element that connects with the virtual worls as well as the real one.
The XBox360 is going completely past me as did the original one. I like FPS games but only on a PC using a mouse. Manipulating the two tiny joysticks is honestly beyond my capability as is car racing with a game controller. I don't enjoy it and give up well before in finally becomes "Fun". I am just not prepared to invest such effort in a game.
I don't care about the high power graphics offered by XBox360 and PS2 as I still think Wolfenstein ET is a cool PC game. I played with some XBox360's in the mall which are demonstrated on HiDef lcd screens but I fail to appreciate the enhanced graphics. I thought the idea was to get involved in your game in which case you would not see the minor flaws in old generation graphics. Hell, I recon the old Playstation 1 is fun to play. To me the gaming element should have the focus. Nintendo may well have a winner on their hands as they focus on fun and like me don't give a hoot about the specs.
This time I may actually seriously consider to buy a game console for the family because it won't turn them in to "a blank-eyed joystick fondler"
If you remain untouched by the game you are playing, then what is the point playing it?
Well said! In my family we have put ourselves on a diet of movies, music and news. It all became way too depressing. Thanks to the internet we can now be very selective about what we want to hear about.
Now we watch selected shows on free to air TV (although increasingly we tend to walk away in the middle of the show getting tired of the commercials). We Rent the odd DVD (And rip it so we don't have to sit through 15 min of commercials) and listen to free to air radio entertainment at times. Stopped buying CD's years ago (and ban my son from buying them due to virus risks) and never started buying DVD's.
There's the odd time we go to the cinema but these days we choose other activities instead. Minigolf, mountain biking and swimming. These plonkers think we depend on them but as a result I believe people in general are turning away from these media moguls leaving their air castle deflated.
In out life we have gained a lot. More fun, more activity, more time on our hands and less depressed because we don't hear the hyped up "news" crap anymore.
Life is good this way.
I can't believe people actually make an issue of some freon foam on the space shuttle and dare to take unnesseary risks by changing the foam. Although the XPrize tried to suggest that space is safe and open for tourists, I don't believe that.
Amazing that after 40 years we still struggle to get people in orbit safely. Yes Nasa is stupid and all that but I believe that the problems associated with space travel are not that easy to solve.
Why whine about some foam while the rocket engines put piles of pollutants in the atmosphere anyway. So what! We are still taking wobbly babysteps into space and can do without the environmental baggage at this point. Besides whats one shuttle flight compared to millions of cars and dumb fat consumers buring up energy faster than they can lay their hands on it.
Of course the whole thing changes when we all have a space shuttle in our back yard.
Ok, your way then. Let's have a breakthrough: This unit uses a Pentium consuming 0 watts. Let's make it even better! The power used to charge the 7 kwh batteries is free in offpeak hours! So now you save 100% of the stored energy at $1.40 (peak price of $0.20/kwh) per day! WOW now were talking! That is $500 per annum in savings. Glad I took your comments at heart, this makes quite a difference because with the majority of the $10000 spend on batteries I can look forward to spend that same amount again in (let's be very optimistic) 5 years time. So let's see.... $2000 per annum write off on batteries and $500 per annum saved. Net result $1500 per annum loss. Wow you are clever, you should join the board at gridlock! The simple fact is that power storage in battieries is expensive. There is no way you can use batteries to save money in power. With realistic calculations this $10000 unit should cost $1000 and you just might break even.
The gridlock calculation (Oops sorry, Gridpoint) is based on the fact that the batteries are fully cycled (Charged and discharged) every day. Good batteries can handle this only about 2000 times and lose capacity over that time. Under normal use they last between 1 to 5 years depending on the environment in which they are stored. At the end of that period you can expect about 60% of their starting capacity. The calculation I made assumes the batteries never wear out and the investment will never be written off! My calculation also ignored the fact that the build in pentium computer uses power and thus reduces the amount of "savings" by 20 to 25% Basically if these guys want to save their face they need to remove all references regarding cost savings from their marketing plans and start selling this thing as a boxed solution for solar power installations or as a UPS. There is no way anyone can save money with this device.
What a stupid way to sell a big UPS. As they already comment you need a power bill in the thousands $ before you save money but the specs tell me that this thing can only supply 1KW for 7 - 10 hours. Therefore it is only capable to run 2 PC's (oh make that one because it already has one itself) and a few lights. I consider that nothing compared to what you normally use if you have a thousand + power bill.
Let's run some numbers:
Say you save 50% on a power unit (1 unit = 1Kwh). Assume a unit costs $0.20
The unit can store 7 Kwh which is worth in savings a massive $0.70 per day.
I am going to be generous and allow these savings to run through the weekend thus saving $4.90 per week or $255 per year.
Based on $10000 that is a return on investment of 2.5% per annum
CNN Money reported: "The company features an all-star board of advisors, including tech guru Esther Dyson and Bill Bradley, the former presidential candidate and longtime member of the Senate Energy Committee."
Whoooaaaaa ha ha ha ha, these clowns can't even count. Yeah, I'll have the stainless steel door upgrade. Ha ha ha, this thing is a stupid investment that will have no practical benefit unless you want a UPS or solar power solution in which case there are much better and cheaper alternatives.
No wonder sensible USA energy policies are non existent. What a morons.