I tried Blockbuster and Walmart over the last couple months and have had Netflix for over a year.
Netflix has a closer warehouse to me, and more warehouses overall - this usually resulted in my getting a new movie every 3 days vs 5 for BB and 6 for Walmart. Advantage: Netflix
When Netflix received a DVD (and sent me an email), they would send me a new one on the same day, every time. When Blockbuster and Walmart received a DVD (and sent me an email), they often would take another full day before sending out the next one. Walmart was the worse of the three. Advantege: Netflix
The Netflix website is more user friendly imho. I don't have to login everytime ("save my act info" didn't work correctly on BB or Walmart with Firebird at least). In Netflix when I renumber a couple of movies at the end of my queue to 1 and 2, they show up as 1 and 2. In BB, they would show up as 1 and 3 (because the "new" 1 displaced the "old" 1 to 2, and the new "2" was relative to the the old "2" I guess). Netflix search functions where better as well. Advantge: Netflix.
Netflix has a much broader library than either of the others. Lots of movies only found in Netflix. Advantage: Netflix
Netflix has a much deeper library than either of the others. Lots of movies on my BB and Walmart list showed up as "long wait" etc. The same movies on Netflix where "available". Advantage: Netflix.
Summary: I cancelled BB and WalMart and stuck with Netflix. The other two are also-rans at best.
It sounds like your main goal is offsite backup.
Unless you have a very fast network connection, serious multi-gigabyte backups online just don't make sense.
Buy a USB hard drive and periodically backup your data to it, then leave it at a friend's house. If you don't trust your friend, encrypt the data first.
Do the above every month or two and you are set. Catastrophic failures don't occur that often so a low frequency offsite backup solution like this works well and is relatively inexpensive.
Posting interspersed comments like that is a cheap shot at best. Not providing any realistic alternative is even worse.
Sterling is only embarrassing himself by making such a lame posting.
Would probably need to factor in what the person voted as part of the nonce they got. I.e.:
Nonce = hash (person's biomentric data + precinct + how they voted), perhaps signed with the private key of the voting machine.
Probably not a good idea to network that voting machine, because that opens it up to cracking to get that private key - and it isn't really needed. Just have it spit out all the voting info (nonces + how they voted) after the election is done.
Internet voting itself is fraught with all the dangers mentioned by others - but electronic voting (not networked) imo has a lot of plusses.
A locally generated nonce based on biometric ID is traceable only if the vote-gathering apparatus is compromised.
A signed security envelope is traceable only if the vote-gather apparatus is compromised.
Both require some level of trust. Neither is foolproof. But at least with the proposed system it has the advantage of beng able to verify that your vote was properly counted. Today we don't have that at all. Precinct guys are all demos and repubs? Too bad libertarians (or greens, or whatever), your ballots just went into the circular file, and nobody will ever know it.
If it was coopted, and gubmint comes after you for your vote, then things are so far gone that things like "security envelopes" are irrelevant.
Actually it isn't traceable - unless you see that your vote was miscounted.
Or at least, no more traceable than it is today. Today I have to sign my ballot (in a mail-in vote state) or physically show up in the voting center (hello concealed camera identifying me).
Do you really think your vote is secure or anonymous today?
I look forward to the day that electronic voting comes in as long as it provides a some means of of doing verification, because I do not trust my goverment (that includes both the Demopublicans and the Republicrats) enough to trust their vote counting today even without electronic voting coming into it.
Today I drop my ballot in the mailbox (I live in a mail-in ballot state) and just have to trust everything is on the up and up from there.
What I would like instead is to have every voter to get a receipt when they vote, that uniquely identifies their precinct and vote, and shows a unique number for that vote/voter combo. Something like:
Then I'd like those all those numbers published somewhere after every election so that anybody can download it. Note that my vote is still anonymous, nobody knows who vote 54353654354 is because of the nature of one way functions.
Any voter could go look at the published list to see that their vote was counted correctly. If it was counted incorrectly (I.e. the count showed my vote to be for Dopey instead of Mickey Mouse), then I could step forward with my biometric data to prove it. If enough people step forward, the election was clearly bogus and needs to be redone.
Any voter could download the entire list and count the votes for themselves, at least minimizing the chances of large #s of votes appearing out of thin air in any particular precinct, and making counting of votes very clear and open to all to verify.
Is it foolproof? Nope, but it is a lot more transparent process than we have today, where I have no visibility whatsoever into my vote being counted, what the real totals where, etc.
In the good old pre-fiber days cable across floors was common but yes it has electrical considerations as you mention. This is why I suggest letting a professional (with those the 2-3 digit/hour costs) do the work. I didn't recommend fiber due to cost - equipment with fiber is much more expensive - even more than the labor of pulling wire + power (if ground differentials necessitate it).
As to other posters' suggestions of using wireless all through the building - a 4 story multi-tenant building running completely wirelessly for multiplayer gaming is possible, but performance will really depend on building construction, client density, and a host of other factors. It is a lot harder than it sounds. Using hi gain antennae (what footprint? most omnis are actually in a single plane), hacks to boost AP power, etc., may help but can also quickly put you afoul of the law.
Before you spend any of that money, check if you owe taxes on it.
With whatever is left, plan on spending a lot of the $$ on labor.
You will need access hardware from/for your ISP (e.g. cable modem, DSL modem, etc. Usually
Most likely you will need at least one wireless AP for each floor. Depending on the thickness of walls and size of the building, multiple APs might be necessary. Budget around $100 (rough number) per AP for consumer grade equipment, which is all you probably need. Don't forget to put each AP on a different wireless channel - and stagger the channels to minimize frequency overlap (e.g. Floor 1: Channel 1, Floor 2: Channel 9, Floor 3: Channel 4, Floor 4: Channel 11).
You probably need a NAT since you will have many people needing IP addresses, unless you want to get a subnet prefix from your ISP (at $7k that isn't likely). So at least one NAT box is needed.
If you are comfortable with Linux networking, take a look at a Linksys WR54G as described here - one of these on each floor would allow you to have a cheap AP + detailed control of banwidth (i.e. make sure that no one guy hogs all your Internet connection).
At the access point you will need to put that NAT mentioned above, plus a switch for between floors. The Linksys could act as both and is a cheap solution. If Linux isn't your bag, then a decent low end (SOHO router) such as a D-Link DFL-300 would be a good thing (with built-in firewall to boot, which would help).
In terms of wiring, get at least CAT 5 cable run ("CAT 6" is even better) to every floor. A separate wire to every floor, all culminating in the basement (or wherever your Internet access is) gives a measure of reliability in case of a wire fault or router fault on one floor. A patch panel at the termination point of all the wires is a good idea.
Expect to spend a large amount of the money on the labor for getting the wiring done. Professional cable pullers can charge high 2 digits to 3 digits/hour. If you hire a professional company to do the whole thing including picking equipment, setting it up, etc., then $7k isn't near enough.
Microsoft didn't port their OS to Apple PCs because Apple was selling a complete HW/SW system with an already superior operating system to Windows. Who in their right mind would pay a lot of money for an Apple box then throw away the superior MacOS and spend even more money and run Windows?
Some of the posters here have such an extreme dislike for Wintel that they see the Wintel bogeyman everywhere.
Did "a company" also provide all the necessary updated tools for lithography, validation, packaging, layout, design, etc.?
The wafer is one tiny ingredient in the whole overall process. No company, not even one as rich as Intel, can simply change over to an entirely new substrate just because one single component is improved.
While the 1st amendment aspects of this decision suck, what really jumped out at me was the claim that gang bangers are using cyber cafes.
What's next, the crips and the bloods being replaced by the opt(eron)s and the xeons?
Will new rap songs brag about "dual 64s" instead of dual 9mms?
Step 1: Adam Davidston (sp), who has DSL gets a 802.11b ap. Maybe sent to him by a generous slashdotter.
Step 2: Ashraf Tariq and Hasanen Nawfal get 802.11 NICs and external antennae components, perhaps via the same method.
Step 3: All three buy Pringles cans and enjoy tasty chips while browsing consume.net website and other community wireless websites.
Step 4: Using pringles+components+NICs+Linux, beginning of a community wireless network is setup.
Step 5: Repeat the above, using bandwidth controls built into freely available software, various routing schemes such as AODV, and more pringles cans, until lots of the iLUG people are sharing the few DSL connections.
The above is pretty obvious, perhaps you are just nitpicking because you think being a cynic makes you look more informed or something.
The community network connects to each other in a mesh, with those few people who have the DSL lines serving as the uplink to the Internet - or perhaps even the ISP might consider offering wireless Internet access.
There is a university project on the east coast of the USA (can't remember which U:( )that has used omnidirectional antennae + 802.11b nics to create a mesh that works precisely in this fashion, forwarding packets across each node until they hit a node connected to the Internet.
I wonder what the country-wide network infrastructure is like? Having guerillas cut the fiber line (as mentioned in the article) in Baghdad doesn't sound promising.
Given that many middle class families have generators but land lines are flaky (and DSL coverage sounds pretty low), maybe the iLUG should look into setting up an 802.11b community network?
Pringles cans can be used for directional attenae, generator power to support the nodes, Linux is a good OS to build it on, seems like it would be a nice fit to me!
Bochs isn't meant to be a high performance virtualization, as other posters have already clarified.
Plex86 (and Xen, VMware, and Connectix, and Ensim, and others) are the things people should look at if they want fast virtualization of x86. The trouble all these technologies run into is that IO has to go through the "host" OS (the one actually running on the metal) - often popping into userspace to do it (read: context & ring switches --> slow!). This is necessary in order to allow multiple virtualized OS's to share the IO devices. This causes stuff that is IO intensive (games, compilers, databases, etc.) take a fairly serious performance hit.
Interestingly enough, Intel is working on building this sort of capability in the chips directly - check out Vanderpool for instance. I don't know if AMD is doing anything similar, anybody heard anything?
A very large portion of the overall mass (and price) of current space transport is just the fuel to get out of the atmosphere.
A scramjet could be used as part of a reusable ground -> high atmosphere lift system, where a separable high atmoshphere -> orbit/the moon/whatever system could detach and proceed from there.
Slashdot Mirror
Netflix has a closer warehouse to me, and more warehouses overall - this usually resulted in my getting a new movie every 3 days vs 5 for BB and 6 for Walmart. Advantage: Netflix
When Netflix received a DVD (and sent me an email), they would send me a new one on the same day, every time. When Blockbuster and Walmart received a DVD (and sent me an email), they often would take another full day before sending out the next one. Walmart was the worse of the three. Advantege: Netflix
The Netflix website is more user friendly imho. I don't have to login everytime ("save my act info" didn't work correctly on BB or Walmart with Firebird at least). In Netflix when I renumber a couple of movies at the end of my queue to 1 and 2, they show up as 1 and 2. In BB, they would show up as 1 and 3 (because the "new" 1 displaced the "old" 1 to 2, and the new "2" was relative to the the old "2" I guess). Netflix search functions where better as well. Advantge: Netflix.
Netflix has a much broader library than either of the others. Lots of movies only found in Netflix. Advantage: Netflix
Netflix has a much deeper library than either of the others. Lots of movies on my BB and Walmart list showed up as "long wait" etc. The same movies on Netflix where "available". Advantage: Netflix.
Summary: I cancelled BB and WalMart and stuck with Netflix. The other two are also-rans at best.
It sounds like your main goal is offsite backup. Unless you have a very fast network connection, serious multi-gigabyte backups online just don't make sense. Buy a USB hard drive and periodically backup your data to it, then leave it at a friend's house. If you don't trust your friend, encrypt the data first. Do the above every month or two and you are set. Catastrophic failures don't occur that often so a low frequency offsite backup solution like this works well and is relatively inexpensive.
Posting interspersed comments like that is a cheap shot at best. Not providing any realistic alternative is even worse. Sterling is only embarrassing himself by making such a lame posting.
My girlfriend already told me to start packing my things :(
Would probably need to factor in what the person voted as part of the nonce they got. I.e.:
Nonce = hash (person's biomentric data + precinct + how they voted), perhaps signed with the private key of the voting machine.
Probably not a good idea to network that voting machine, because that opens it up to cracking to get that private key - and it isn't really needed. Just have it spit out all the voting info (nonces + how they voted) after the election is done.
Internet voting itself is fraught with all the dangers mentioned by others - but electronic voting (not networked) imo has a lot of plusses.
A signed security envelope is traceable only if the vote-gather apparatus is compromised.
Both require some level of trust. Neither is foolproof. But at least with the proposed system it has the advantage of beng able to verify that your vote was properly counted. Today we don't have that at all. Precinct guys are all demos and repubs? Too bad libertarians (or greens, or whatever), your ballots just went into the circular file, and nobody will ever know it.
If it was coopted, and gubmint comes after you for your vote, then things are so far gone that things like "security envelopes" are irrelevant.
Or at least, no more traceable than it is today. Today I have to sign my ballot (in a mail-in vote state) or physically show up in the voting center (hello concealed camera identifying me).
Do you really think your vote is secure or anonymous today?
Today I drop my ballot in the mailbox (I live in a mail-in ballot state) and just have to trust everything is on the up and up from there.
What I would like instead is to have every voter to get a receipt when they vote, that uniquely identifies their precinct and vote, and shows a unique number for that vote/voter combo. Something like:
Vote #: 54353654354 Precinct: 58 Voted for: Mickey Mouse (or whoever)
Then I'd like those all those numbers published somewhere after every election so that anybody can download it. Note that my vote is still anonymous, nobody knows who vote 54353654354 is because of the nature of one way functions.
Any voter could go look at the published list to see that their vote was counted correctly. If it was counted incorrectly (I.e. the count showed my vote to be for Dopey instead of Mickey Mouse), then I could step forward with my biometric data to prove it. If enough people step forward, the election was clearly bogus and needs to be redone.
Any voter could download the entire list and count the votes for themselves, at least minimizing the chances of large #s of votes appearing out of thin air in any particular precinct, and making counting of votes very clear and open to all to verify.
Is it foolproof? Nope, but it is a lot more transparent process than we have today, where I have no visibility whatsoever into my vote being counted, what the real totals where, etc.
As to other posters' suggestions of using wireless all through the building - a 4 story multi-tenant building running completely wirelessly for multiplayer gaming is possible, but performance will really depend on building construction, client density, and a host of other factors. It is a lot harder than it sounds. Using hi gain antennae (what footprint? most omnis are actually in a single plane), hacks to boost AP power, etc., may help but can also quickly put you afoul of the law.
All in all I agree with the other posters. Save your $$ and let your neighbors buy their own access!
You will need access hardware from/for your ISP (e.g. cable modem, DSL modem, etc. Usually Most likely you will need at least one wireless AP for each floor. Depending on the thickness of walls and size of the building, multiple APs might be necessary. Budget around $100 (rough number) per AP for consumer grade equipment, which is all you probably need. Don't forget to put each AP on a different wireless channel - and stagger the channels to minimize frequency overlap (e.g. Floor 1: Channel 1, Floor 2: Channel 9, Floor 3: Channel 4, Floor 4: Channel 11).
You probably need a NAT since you will have many people needing IP addresses, unless you want to get a subnet prefix from your ISP (at $7k that isn't likely). So at least one NAT box is needed.
If you are comfortable with Linux networking, take a look at a Linksys WR54G as described here - one of these on each floor would allow you to have a cheap AP + detailed control of banwidth (i.e. make sure that no one guy hogs all your Internet connection).
At the access point you will need to put that NAT mentioned above, plus a switch for between floors. The Linksys could act as both and is a cheap solution. If Linux isn't your bag, then a decent low end (SOHO router) such as a D-Link DFL-300 would be a good thing (with built-in firewall to boot, which would help).
In terms of wiring, get at least CAT 5 cable run ("CAT 6" is even better) to every floor. A separate wire to every floor, all culminating in the basement (or wherever your Internet access is) gives a measure of reliability in case of a wire fault or router fault on one floor. A patch panel at the termination point of all the wires is a good idea.
Expect to spend a large amount of the money on the labor for getting the wiring done. Professional cable pullers can charge high 2 digits to 3 digits/hour. If you hire a professional company to do the whole thing including picking equipment, setting it up, etc., then $7k isn't near enough.
Some of the posters here have such an extreme dislike for Wintel that they see the Wintel bogeyman everywhere.
Did "a company" also provide all the necessary updated tools for lithography, validation, packaging, layout, design, etc.? The wafer is one tiny ingredient in the whole overall process. No company, not even one as rich as Intel, can simply change over to an entirely new substrate just because one single component is improved.
If MS & Intel where in league, wouldn't MS not release this until Intel had an x86-64 chip out?
While the 1st amendment aspects of this decision suck, what really jumped out at me was the claim that gang bangers are using cyber cafes. What's next, the crips and the bloods being replaced by the opt(eron)s and the xeons? Will new rap songs brag about "dual 64s" instead of dual 9mms?
Step 2: Ashraf Tariq and Hasanen Nawfal get 802.11 NICs and external antennae components, perhaps via the same method.
Step 3: All three buy Pringles cans and enjoy tasty chips while browsing consume.net website and other community wireless websites.
Step 4: Using pringles+components+NICs+Linux, beginning of a community wireless network is setup.
Step 5: Repeat the above, using bandwidth controls built into freely available software, various routing schemes such as AODV, and more pringles cans, until lots of the iLUG people are sharing the few DSL connections.
The above is pretty obvious, perhaps you are just nitpicking because you think being a cynic makes you look more informed or something.
There is a university project on the east coast of the USA (can't remember which U :( )that has used omnidirectional antennae + 802.11b nics to create a mesh that works precisely in this fashion, forwarding packets across each node until they hit a node connected to the Internet.
Given that many middle class families have generators but land lines are flaky (and DSL coverage sounds pretty low), maybe the iLUG should look into setting up an 802.11b community network?
Pringles cans can be used for directional attenae, generator power to support the nodes, Linux is a good OS to build it on, seems like it would be a nice fit to me!
Plex86 (and Xen, VMware, and Connectix, and Ensim, and others) are the things people should look at if they want fast virtualization of x86. The trouble all these technologies run into is that IO has to go through the "host" OS (the one actually running on the metal) - often popping into userspace to do it (read: context & ring switches --> slow!). This is necessary in order to allow multiple virtualized OS's to share the IO devices. This causes stuff that is IO intensive (games, compilers, databases, etc.) take a fairly serious performance hit. Interestingly enough, Intel is working on building this sort of capability in the chips directly - check out Vanderpool for instance. I don't know if AMD is doing anything similar, anybody heard anything?
A very large portion of the overall mass (and price) of current space transport is just the fuel to get out of the atmosphere. A scramjet could be used as part of a reusable ground -> high atmosphere lift system, where a separable high atmoshphere -> orbit/the moon/whatever system could detach and proceed from there.