Too much power for PDAs & Phones
on
USB Going Wireless
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· Score: 1, Insightful
The article claims a 300 mW power target for WUSB implementations - this is about the same as a WiFi implementation on a PDA, which is already a lot. WUSB simply *cannot* take over as a super-low-power wireless technology based on that number. Bluetooth implementations use 10x less power. For example, WUSB can't possibly replace bluetooth hands-free microphones for cellular. WUSB isn't going to connect PDAs to cellphones for internet connections. WUSB isn't going to succeed in a battery-powered wireless mouse. The list goes on... Bluetooth, for all of its failed promises, is truly becoming entrenched in these types of applications. WUSB can only complete if it has a low-speed, low-power "peripheral mode" ala USB 1.1 vs. USB 2.0.
A complete injunction on microsoft products would backlash because microsoft products run the world. Whether you love or hate microsoft, a vast majority of corporations and individuals depend greatly on microsoft products and it will be very costly to switch to alternatives, e.g. MacOS or linux, even if this is good in the long term. The short-term effect will be companies that go around the injunction and buy products in different countries. Then, when the injunction starts hurting the bottom line, companies will pressure legislators to remove the injunction. The fact is that a big-time injunction of microsoft products would probably hurt the (european or otherwise) economy more than the benefits of forcibly removing the microsoft monopoly. This is similar to forcing everyone in the USA to give up gasoline and switch to hydrogen powered electric vehicles. If it's ever going to happen, it will be a slow process.
If the system is continuously backed up with disk-based storage, you can expect the reload rate to far exceed 20 megabytes/sec. At the very least, your standard 250GB 7200RPM drive can sustain 50-80 megabytes/sec. Add multiple parallel paths in a RAID configuration, there is nothing that prevents 500+ megabytes/sec, which is just over an hour to repopulate.
While I applaud this article and agree that realplayer is mostly evil, I find it amusing that people are "duped" into "accidentally shelling out their hard-earned dineros" for realplayer. I don't know about you, but I've never "accidently" entered my credit card number and bought something on the web, ever =).
Off topic I know, but people (e.g. in california) love to claim "Frys" as the best, most popular one-stop electronics store that everyone in the world frequents. Yet, they BARELY have a presence outside of california. Hell, I'm even in the SF bay area (east bay), and the closest frys is nearly 1 hour away! Plus, of the 11 stores they have outside of CA, 6 are in texas and 2 are in AZ! People, in these situations, use Best Buy or Circuit City for your examples =).
Just my $0.02
The PXA255 is Intel's integrated processor found in a huge number of current PDAs. Take *any* PDA based on this, and then take away the battery and LCD, port linux to it, and you have what this guy built. And for those who want to build their own, Intel's reference schematics for the PXA255 probably include all the basic subcircuits to design your own. Next big thing? Uhh, can we have some new news?
There are countless numbers of tiny, single-PCB computers that run linux. Even though this is cool in some ways, the only "innovation" here is the notion that it can fit under your collar.
All other issues aside, I've found that I can physically handle small/thin laptops with more care than larger 5+ pound laptops. In my padded shoulder-strap case, I never had a problem handling my 3lb toshiba portege. But with my 5 pound IBM T41, it tends to "swing around" more, with more momentum, when I walk. This means that I accidently bang the case into counters and doors a lot more often, swearing as I do it. I don't consider myself clumsey, it's just that a 5-7 pound laptop tends to come with a 1 pound AC adaptor, 1 pound of other junk, and a 1.5-3 pound case (weight it... many cases are heavy!). This is a lot of weight strapped to a shoulder, and it wants to move in other directions than you.
I think this was the cause of my recent hard drive failure -- I left my T41 laptop powered-up in the case and I think I accidently hit the case on something. Bye bye hard drive. This never happened in 6 years with my various ultralights.
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The article claims a 300 mW power target for WUSB implementations - this is about the same as a WiFi implementation on a PDA, which is already a lot. WUSB simply *cannot* take over as a super-low-power wireless technology based on that number. Bluetooth implementations use 10x less power. For example, WUSB can't possibly replace bluetooth hands-free microphones for cellular. WUSB isn't going to connect PDAs to cellphones for internet connections. WUSB isn't going to succeed in a battery-powered wireless mouse. The list goes on... Bluetooth, for all of its failed promises, is truly becoming entrenched in these types of applications. WUSB can only complete if it has a low-speed, low-power "peripheral mode" ala USB 1.1 vs. USB 2.0.
But people depend on microsoft.
A complete injunction on microsoft products would backlash because microsoft products run the world. Whether you love or hate microsoft, a vast majority of corporations and individuals depend greatly on microsoft products and it will be very costly to switch to alternatives, e.g. MacOS or linux, even if this is good in the long term. The short-term effect will be companies that go around the injunction and buy products in different countries. Then, when the injunction starts hurting the bottom line, companies will pressure legislators to remove the injunction. The fact is that a big-time injunction of microsoft products would probably hurt the (european or otherwise) economy more than the benefits of forcibly removing the microsoft monopoly. This is similar to forcing everyone in the USA to give up gasoline and switch to hydrogen powered electric vehicles. If it's ever going to happen, it will be a slow process.
If the system is continuously backed up with disk-based storage, you can expect the reload rate to far exceed 20 megabytes/sec. At the very least, your standard 250GB 7200RPM drive can sustain 50-80 megabytes/sec. Add multiple parallel paths in a RAID configuration, there is nothing that prevents 500+ megabytes/sec, which is just over an hour to repopulate.
While I applaud this article and agree that realplayer is mostly evil, I find it amusing that people are "duped" into "accidentally shelling out their hard-earned dineros" for realplayer. I don't know about you, but I've never "accidently" entered my credit card number and bought something on the web, ever =).
Off topic I know, but people (e.g. in california) love to claim "Frys" as the best, most popular one-stop electronics store that everyone in the world frequents. Yet, they BARELY have a presence outside of california. Hell, I'm even in the SF bay area (east bay), and the closest frys is nearly 1 hour away! Plus, of the 11 stores they have outside of CA, 6 are in texas and 2 are in AZ! People, in these situations, use Best Buy or Circuit City for your examples =). Just my $0.02
The PXA255 is Intel's integrated processor found in a huge number of current PDAs. Take *any* PDA based on this, and then take away the battery and LCD, port linux to it, and you have what this guy built. And for those who want to build their own, Intel's reference schematics for the PXA255 probably include all the basic subcircuits to design your own. Next big thing? Uhh, can we have some new news?
There are countless numbers of tiny, single-PCB computers that run linux. Even though this is cool in some ways, the only "innovation" here is the notion that it can fit under your collar.
I think this was the cause of my recent hard drive failure -- I left my T41 laptop powered-up in the case and I think I accidently hit the case on something. Bye bye hard drive. This never happened in 6 years with my various ultralights.
The bigger it is, the harder it falls!