OK, this 90 day thing sounds nice on paper, but I don't think it's possible. I seem to remember reading an article a few years back (Sorry, it would take me days to dig it up) that even if we COULD travel that fast, the acceleration/decceleration would kill whoever was in that spacecraft.
The article that I read said that if we accelerated subjecting the occupant to a force of 1 G, then decelerated at that same rate once we reached the halfway point it would still take 3 years to reach Mars at the shortest distance. I know someone here will check the math, and maybe I'm wrong, but 90 days seems like an impossible dream without inertial dampeners.
Yeah, but you have to ask yourself, which company is more successful right now, JVC or Sony? What JVC did was better for the format, but what Sony did was probably better for the company. They may have lost the battle, but they clearly won the war.
Please forgive my ignorance, but would I have to buy a seperate version for Linux, or does my serial number for the Windows version somehow allow me to download the Linux binary?
Not that this question isn't entirely academic, because my Linux box isn't capable of running Doom 3 anyways, but I am just curious how they are handling this.
Lord... The PalmOne crowd will never be happy...
Frankly, I an kinda tired of reading people bashing P1 for this unit. Sure, it's not revolutionary, but it's an improvement, especially on battery life. I don't really think the T3 needed a whole lot of improvement, (again, battery life) and I don't think this was intended to "unseat" the T3. I'm in the (seeming) minority of people who don't need WiFi, don't want WiFi and frankly could care less if P1 ever makes a WiFi radio on their devices. I get along just fine with Bluetooth and my Motorola v710. I can browse the Internet, get my email, and do everything I want Internet-wise. I've never been sitting in an airport or coffee-house and said "Damn... if I only had WiFi! Now I'm ruined!"
I'm willing to admit that Dell devices still may have higher tech specs, but honestly, until they can run PalmOS, I'm not the slightest bit interested. PPC sucks. It's not stable, it's a resource hog. It has more moving parts, and having supported both PPC and POS, can say without hesitation that in my opinion, POS is still far superior.
In conclusion to my rant, I'm not going to say "Way to go PalmOne!" They made some mistakes. (Plastic case? Oops!) On the other hand, I don't think this is a miserable failure. It's an evolutionary device that is slightly better than the T3. I think that everyone's expectations were simply too high, and mostly unreasonable. If P1 had come out with a device with WiFi, people would complain about battery life. If it had a voice recorder, people would complain that it turned the device on in their pockets. I don't think that Palm could have satisfied people after having such a long break since their last release. And to those of you wondering, I don't work for Palm. Let's just hope that the long-term reliability of this unit is an improvement, because that's where P1 could go horribly wrong. My T3 had far too many hardware problems, and if the T5 exhibits the same problems, then P1 could really be in trouble.
You know, if you really want to expose the root of the problem, it's not a problem with the law, lawyers judges or juries. That's just blaming the real problem on the people paid to enforce the status quo. The real problem is unscrupulous people that value money over ethics. Companies that want to get money for something that they did not create. And if one company does it, another says "look, they did it, so that means I should do it." People in this society don't think for themselves, and unfortunately we can't rely on common sense to help out on the interpretation of laws.
I'm not a bible-beater or anything, and I'm not preaching the ten commandments here, but we really only need a handful of laws, along with common sense, to live in a great society.
More or less in this order.
1. Don't kill people.
2. Don't steal (This includes all forms of stealing, cheating, scamming, manipulating or otherwise defrauding.)
3. Don't lie.
4. Make every effort to contribute to society in a positive way. (Don't be stupid, you know the difference between right and wrong.)
5. Above all, treat other people how you would want to be treated.
The reason that this wouldn't really work is that some people are born without ethics. They need to be told exactly what they can and can't do. By and large, those people grow up to be lawyers. (OK, seriously, I KNOW that not all lawyers are bad. I'm using an overly broad and unfair generalization to make a point.) We shouldn't live in a society where the average person isn't qualified to defend himself against accusations because the laws are so complicated that it requires post-graduate schooling in order to interpret. That's why Lawyers can use phrases like "Well, it's not exactly illegal." and "Well, technically, you can't prove that [insert CEO of Fortune 500 company here] knew about the accounting scandal, so technically he didn't do anything wrong."
So, I have to concede. It's not lawyers that are broken. It's society. Lawyers are just an outward symptom of the cancer that's eating away at the world that we know today. Politicians are another example. So what's the solution? I don't know. I'm only paid to bitch and moan. I'm not smart enough to come up with any real solutions.
This comes across as more of a litigation problem, not really a patent problem. If I invent something, I don't think it's out of like for me to expect to be compensated for it. The problem is, there are too many damn lawyers. We are a litigious society, and that's really the root of the problem here. Why else would there be a warning on the Windex bottle warning me not to spray it in my eyes?
Wow... this move is a really surprising one for Microsoft. I mean, charging for something that used to be free? It's so out of character for them.
I think it is nice for them to look out for the little people. I mean, without them to protect us from spammers, what would we do? OK, so they make a little money in the process, but I know that they don't really care about the money. Trust me, I know Microsoft, and the decision only to let paying members use Outlook and OE for access to their Hotmail accounts has NOTHING to do with money. They are just trying to make the Internet a safe and happy place for everyone.
GO MICROSOFT!!!
Oh, and I was being sarcastic.
We have been fantisizing about flying cars...
on
A Flying Leap for Cars?
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· Score: 5, Insightful
We have been fantisizing about flying cars for generations, but in reality, are they ever going to be practical? Sure, you can go faster without all the resistance from the tires, but it takes a hell of a lot of energy to keep such a heavy object in the air. In the Jetsons, we had this notion that somehow we'd be able to overcome gravity and the cars would just float, but to date there's no evidence for such technology. For now, we have to blow a bunch of air down and the corresponding reaction is that the car stays up. Not very efficient for travelling.
I hate to be the skeptic, because I would love to be able to fly to work, but I don't see it being practical in our lifetimes.
Since my post contained nothing remotely close to anything contained to Godwin's Law, I deem you a complete troll. Actually, it looks more like you are trying to invoke Freiler's Maxim and I am calling you out.
Someone's mention of Ashcroft brought up an interesting question in my mind. Is there any chance that this holy quest to bring down all filesharing activity would be any different if Kerry were elected? Personally, I wish there was a viable third party candidate, but since it's not going to happen in this election, I'm considering voting for Kerry solely on the fact that it will get Bush out of office. This website kind of sums up my thoughts on the election.
OK, I hate defending Microsoft, but let's put this in proper perspective. Cars in the 1950's weren't required to have seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones, etc. These innovations happened well after the 50's. You can still drive around proudly in a 1956 Belaire Convertible, but God help you if you hit a moped or a grounhog going 25MPH, because you will probably die a horrible, painful death. Nobody is asking Chevy to provide free retrofitted seatblets, airbags, etc., to increase public safety. Although these cars are not fit to drive by today's safety standards, they were considered safe when they were manufactured. If I were so motivated, I could probably take that '56 Belaire, weld some seatbelts to the frame, make some body modifications and if I was really good, maybe even retrofit some airbags in that puppy. It would be much safer, but considering the amount of time and skill required for such modifications, it would probably be a fraction of the cost to go out and buy a new car.
As much as I feel for the poor woman stuck with Windows '98, I can't really agree that it's Microsoft's fault. When Windows 98 was invented, it was reasonably secure. Since then, there have been many innovations, and things have changed. It is severely outdated, but as long as you know what you're doing, you can keep it running, but in the hands of a novice, it can be dangerous. No different than an old car.
The 84 degree thing is no big deal. Think of it this way: If you have 2 or 3 pane glass, the air in between the outer two panes is going to reach 84 degrees long before the temperature inside the house reaches 70 degrees. Since the air between the panes isn't being serviced directly by the A/C of the house, it's ambient temperature will be much higher than the inside of the house. This means the windows will kick in when the sun gets bright, and will be less affected by ambient temperatures inside the house.
"This issue is of extreme importance to the future of America. What kind of message would we be sending to our children if we allowed this kind of
wanton hacking activity to go on unchecked? I ask all politicians who value protecting our intellectual property laws to join me in support of this legislation." - italics added for emphasis
wanton - Audio pronunciation of "wanton" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (wntn)
adj.
OK, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but how does this type of activity merit the use of the word wanton. Genghis Kahn merits that kind of description, but not a bunch of people who want to make the hard drives bigger on their TiVos. Exactly how are women and children being slaughtered by this activity? How can Orrin Hatch say something stupid like that and face no backlash from the mainstream media? This pisses me off to no end! These people are demonizing those of us that just want to upgrade the TiVos that WE OWN. I BOUGHT THE TiVo, I PAY THE SUBSCRIPTION FEE, I ABIDE BY THE LAW. WHY CAN'T I OPEN IT UP AND PUT IN A BIGGER HARD DRIVE IF I WANT TO?
They [Qwest] had more fiber capacity crossing the country than all the other major U.S. providers put together.
Not sure where you got your info, but MCI (Worldcom) is by far the largest holder of backbone bandwidth in the US. Back when I worked there, they had as much bandwidth as the next 20 compeditors combined (including Qwest.) It all came from the old UUNET backbone, which Worldcom purchased in the late '90's. Granted, with their spectacular implosion, (which I am proud to say I avoided by 3 months) I'm sure they have sold some of that bandwidth off, but they had a lot to sell off. That's the primary reason they are still in business today. They had a TON of assets.
Not one to talk without some measure of exidence, you can click here to see an interactive map of all commercial backbones. This is the all public data, but it hasn't been updated in a while. Nonetheless, I have friends that still work at MCI, and they haven't sold off that much bandwidth. They prefer to lease it to customers. Much more profitable.
It's just like how the book 2001 predicted we'd have space travel, and land on the moon, then we did, way before 2001. It's nice when technology moves faster than fiction.
Ok, maybe I'm biting on some intentionally laid flamebait here, but they were much more technologically advanced in the book (and the movie) than we were in 2001. Also, they went to Jupiter in 2010. If we HAD to get a manned mission to the moons of Jupiter by 2010, we wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
Never been a fan of the VoIP
on
VoIP Questioned
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I've never been a big fan of the VoIP. Seems like a solution in search of a problem to me. I understand with large companies out there that run thousands of lines out a building, but for residential use, it just doesn't make sense. Am I missing something?
My boss asked me if we should implement a VoIP solution for our (15-person) company, and my reaction has always been why? We already get dirt cheap (practically free) unlimited long distance, local calls, plus we have an analog phone switch that works fine. I have been seeking enlightenment in this issue since the idea first came out. My theory is that it involves people with too much time on their hands...
Slashdot Mirror
OK, this 90 day thing sounds nice on paper, but I don't think it's possible. I seem to remember reading an article a few years back (Sorry, it would take me days to dig it up) that even if we COULD travel that fast, the acceleration/decceleration would kill whoever was in that spacecraft.
The article that I read said that if we accelerated subjecting the occupant to a force of 1 G, then decelerated at that same rate once we reached the halfway point it would still take 3 years to reach Mars at the shortest distance. I know someone here will check the math, and maybe I'm wrong, but 90 days seems like an impossible dream without inertial dampeners.
Yeah, but you have to ask yourself, which company is more successful right now, JVC or Sony? What JVC did was better for the format, but what Sony did was probably better for the company. They may have lost the battle, but they clearly won the war.
Please forgive my ignorance, but would I have to buy a seperate version for Linux, or does my serial number for the Windows version somehow allow me to download the Linux binary?
Not that this question isn't entirely academic, because my Linux box isn't capable of running Doom 3 anyways, but I am just curious how they are handling this.
Lord... The PalmOne crowd will never be happy... Frankly, I an kinda tired of reading people bashing P1 for this unit. Sure, it's not revolutionary, but it's an improvement, especially on battery life. I don't really think the T3 needed a whole lot of improvement, (again, battery life) and I don't think this was intended to "unseat" the T3. I'm in the (seeming) minority of people who don't need WiFi, don't want WiFi and frankly could care less if P1 ever makes a WiFi radio on their devices. I get along just fine with Bluetooth and my Motorola v710. I can browse the Internet, get my email, and do everything I want Internet-wise. I've never been sitting in an airport or coffee-house and said "Damn... if I only had WiFi! Now I'm ruined!"
I'm willing to admit that Dell devices still may have higher tech specs, but honestly, until they can run PalmOS, I'm not the slightest bit interested. PPC sucks. It's not stable, it's a resource hog. It has more moving parts, and having supported both PPC and POS, can say without hesitation that in my opinion, POS is still far superior.
In conclusion to my rant, I'm not going to say "Way to go PalmOne!" They made some mistakes. (Plastic case? Oops!) On the other hand, I don't think this is a miserable failure. It's an evolutionary device that is slightly better than the T3. I think that everyone's expectations were simply too high, and mostly unreasonable. If P1 had come out with a device with WiFi, people would complain about battery life. If it had a voice recorder, people would complain that it turned the device on in their pockets. I don't think that Palm could have satisfied people after having such a long break since their last release. And to those of you wondering, I don't work for Palm. Let's just hope that the long-term reliability of this unit is an improvement, because that's where P1 could go horribly wrong. My T3 had far too many hardware problems, and if the T5 exhibits the same problems, then P1 could really be in trouble.
"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh."
- George Bernard Shaw
I'm not defending morons, just trying to lighten the heavy mood.
You know, if you really want to expose the root of the problem, it's not a problem with the law, lawyers judges or juries. That's just blaming the real problem on the people paid to enforce the status quo. The real problem is unscrupulous people that value money over ethics. Companies that want to get money for something that they did not create. And if one company does it, another says "look, they did it, so that means I should do it." People in this society don't think for themselves, and unfortunately we can't rely on common sense to help out on the interpretation of laws.
I'm not a bible-beater or anything, and I'm not preaching the ten commandments here, but we really only need a handful of laws, along with common sense, to live in a great society.
More or less in this order.
1. Don't kill people.
2. Don't steal (This includes all forms of stealing, cheating, scamming, manipulating or otherwise defrauding.)
3. Don't lie.
4. Make every effort to contribute to society in a positive way. (Don't be stupid, you know the difference between right and wrong.)
5. Above all, treat other people how you would want to be treated.
The reason that this wouldn't really work is that some people are born without ethics. They need to be told exactly what they can and can't do. By and large, those people grow up to be lawyers. (OK, seriously, I KNOW that not all lawyers are bad. I'm using an overly broad and unfair generalization to make a point.) We shouldn't live in a society where the average person isn't qualified to defend himself against accusations because the laws are so complicated that it requires post-graduate schooling in order to interpret. That's why Lawyers can use phrases like "Well, it's not exactly illegal." and "Well, technically, you can't prove that [insert CEO of Fortune 500 company here] knew about the accounting scandal, so technically he didn't do anything wrong."
So, I have to concede. It's not lawyers that are broken. It's society. Lawyers are just an outward symptom of the cancer that's eating away at the world that we know today. Politicians are another example. So what's the solution? I don't know. I'm only paid to bitch and moan. I'm not smart enough to come up with any real solutions.
This comes across as more of a litigation problem, not really a patent problem. If I invent something, I don't think it's out of like for me to expect to be compensated for it. The problem is, there are too many damn lawyers. We are a litigious society, and that's really the root of the problem here. Why else would there be a warning on the Windex bottle warning me not to spray it in my eyes?
Wow... this move is a really surprising one for Microsoft. I mean, charging for something that used to be free? It's so out of character for them.
I think it is nice for them to look out for the little people. I mean, without them to protect us from spammers, what would we do? OK, so they make a little money in the process, but I know that they don't really care about the money. Trust me, I know Microsoft, and the decision only to let paying members use Outlook and OE for access to their Hotmail accounts has NOTHING to do with money. They are just trying to make the Internet a safe and happy place for everyone.
GO MICROSOFT!!!
Oh, and I was being sarcastic.
We have been fantisizing about flying cars for generations, but in reality, are they ever going to be practical? Sure, you can go faster without all the resistance from the tires, but it takes a hell of a lot of energy to keep such a heavy object in the air. In the Jetsons, we had this notion that somehow we'd be able to overcome gravity and the cars would just float, but to date there's no evidence for such technology. For now, we have to blow a bunch of air down and the corresponding reaction is that the car stays up. Not very efficient for travelling.
I hate to be the skeptic, because I would love to be able to fly to work, but I don't see it being practical in our lifetimes.
Since my post contained nothing remotely close to anything contained to Godwin's Law, I deem you a complete troll. Actually, it looks more like you are trying to invoke Freiler's Maxim and I am calling you out.
Someone's mention of Ashcroft brought up an interesting question in my mind. Is there any chance that this holy quest to bring down all filesharing activity would be any different if Kerry were elected? Personally, I wish there was a viable third party candidate, but since it's not going to happen in this election, I'm considering voting for Kerry solely on the fact that it will get Bush out of office. This website kind of sums up my thoughts on the election.
How do we know he didn't invent the stuff in the first place?
OK, I hate defending Microsoft, but let's put this in proper perspective. Cars in the 1950's weren't required to have seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones, etc. These innovations happened well after the 50's. You can still drive around proudly in a 1956 Belaire Convertible, but God help you if you hit a moped or a grounhog going 25MPH, because you will probably die a horrible, painful death. Nobody is asking Chevy to provide free retrofitted seatblets, airbags, etc., to increase public safety. Although these cars are not fit to drive by today's safety standards, they were considered safe when they were manufactured. If I were so motivated, I could probably take that '56 Belaire, weld some seatbelts to the frame, make some body modifications and if I was really good, maybe even retrofit some airbags in that puppy. It would be much safer, but considering the amount of time and skill required for such modifications, it would probably be a fraction of the cost to go out and buy a new car.
As much as I feel for the poor woman stuck with Windows '98, I can't really agree that it's Microsoft's fault. When Windows 98 was invented, it was reasonably secure. Since then, there have been many innovations, and things have changed. It is severely outdated, but as long as you know what you're doing, you can keep it running, but in the hands of a novice, it can be dangerous. No different than an old car.
The 84 degree thing is no big deal. Think of it this way: If you have 2 or 3 pane glass, the air in between the outer two panes is going to reach 84 degrees long before the temperature inside the house reaches 70 degrees. Since the air between the panes isn't being serviced directly by the A/C of the house, it's ambient temperature will be much higher than the inside of the house. This means the windows will kick in when the sun gets bright, and will be less affected by ambient temperatures inside the house.
1. Gratuitously cruel; merciless.
2. Marked by unprovoked, gratuitous maliciousness; capricious and unjust: wanton destruction.
3. Unrestrainedly excessive: wanton extravagance; wanton depletion of oil reserves.
4. Luxuriant; overabundant: wanton tresses.
5. Frolicsome; playful.
6. Undisciplined; spoiled.
7. Obsolete. Rebellious; refractory.
OK, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but how does this type of activity merit the use of the word wanton. Genghis Kahn merits that kind of description, but not a bunch of people who want to make the hard drives bigger on their TiVos. Exactly how are women and children being slaughtered by this activity? How can Orrin Hatch say something stupid like that and face no backlash from the mainstream media? This pisses me off to no end! These people are demonizing those of us that just want to upgrade the TiVos that WE OWN.
I BOUGHT THE TiVo, I PAY THE SUBSCRIPTION FEE, I ABIDE BY THE LAW. WHY CAN'T I OPEN IT UP AND PUT IN A BIGGER HARD DRIVE IF I WANT TO?
Sorry for the yelling. This makes my blood boil.
Not one to talk without some measure of exidence, you can click here to see an interactive map of all commercial backbones. This is the all public data, but it hasn't been updated in a while. Nonetheless, I have friends that still work at MCI, and they haven't sold off that much bandwidth. They prefer to lease it to customers. Much more profitable.
I've never been a big fan of the VoIP. Seems like a solution in search of a problem to me. I understand with large companies out there that run thousands of lines out a building, but for residential use, it just doesn't make sense. Am I missing something? My boss asked me if we should implement a VoIP solution for our (15-person) company, and my reaction has always been why? We already get dirt cheap (practically free) unlimited long distance, local calls, plus we have an analog phone switch that works fine. I have been seeking enlightenment in this issue since the idea first came out. My theory is that it involves people with too much time on their hands...
Doesn't that screw up your alphabet song?