hmm... I wonder if Apple's FindMyiPhone feature could be considered an illegal search and a violation of the 4th A. rights of the iPhone thief
If the government did it, possibly. You aren't subject to Fourth Amendment provisions. It may be one of the reasons that police departments don't necessarily go running after stolen phones / laptops when the owner 'finds' them in someone else's hands.
Apple has finally made the computer appliance viable. Before this trend, you did need a 'Geek' or their therapeutic equivalent to help you run the gauntlet of hardware / software choices needed to get a computer running. And for the best experience you needed someone to strip out the shovelware found on anything but the highest end machines. And someone to help maintain it.
Now you don't. You can be a complete Noob, get an iPad, not even hook it in to a 'real' computer to get it to work. You can go to one place to get software and install it by typing in your Apple ID.
Nirvana for the technically declined. For the rest of us, not so much.
I mean, if you're already carrying a £400, 4.3 inch touch screen device in your pocket at all times, why would you want to buy an additional 7 inch touch screen device that does pretty much exactly the same thing, and nothing more?
Because the difference between squinting to read text on a 4.3 inch screen and seeing text on a 1024x768 7 inch screen is enormous. The bigger screen makes working with screen elements much easier.
The iPad (and perhaps other tablets) are an accessory device to both a 'real' computer and a smartphone. Not entirely necessary, but worth the trouble and expense in many situations.
...as long as someone other than AT&T implements it, so those of us who live in the Bay Area or New York City can actually use it.
On a more serious note, if wireless clothing becomes a tool for remotely monitoring medical status, doesn't this open carriers up to potential lawsuits when their network fails and someone dies of treatable maladies as a result?
I would like to see AT&T and whomever do this right - run a decently powered study to see if such monitoring actually helps the patient instead of the company's bottom line. Given it is AT&T and the US healthcare system, I imagine that it will be done exactly backwards from this.
Yeah, the stars are aligning. The stars in the account's heads when then can get every baby and grandma on a monthly data plan.
You raise an interesting point. How exactly do we detect the absence of spacetime? Presumably if it's ripped apart, either there will be gaps, or somehow we'll make more of it.
Oh come on, we know the answer to this. Hellish beings from another Universe will come charging through the gap causing explosions, terror and Micheal Bay movies.
You could go back and revisit all of the Firefly episodes, or you could wait to see what happens. The Chinese are essentially at 1965. It is a bit early to worry about learning Mandarin in in order to be an astronaut.
Do you believe any explanation from Tokyo Electric at this point? They have told enough lies about Fukushima that I now assume they are lying every time they open their mouths. Has this been verified by an independent 3rd party?
I would tend to agree about TEPCO. Anything they say needs to be taken with a healthy dose of Potassium Iodide. Given that, I'm not sure it's been 'verified' - one explanation is that the readings are spurious, but for another, less panicky take on the issue, read this.
... might very well be usable for "meteor" scatter. I wonder if anyone tried it?
Would be kinda hard. You would have to know when then deorbited the Progress craft, what the ephermis was and got all ready ahead of time. Probably would have a good shot in terms of just the ionization potential, though.
The problem is that there exist things that an app can show good need for that are not possible using the machine-readable need-showing mechanism that Apple is set to provide.
It's really just a timing thing. Orthpods have been doing this for years with varying technologies - he 'just' figured out how to massage the data in Osirex to talk to the Shapeways printers. A neat bit of programming but not, in and of itself, much of a business model.
And to everyone who thinks they are actually making bones with the printers, back off on the Mountain Dew for a minute. They are just making plastic models to help visualize prospective surgeries better. It will be a while before Shapeways is making biological frameworks.
In a sense, this is similar to the 'fast neutrino' story. Potentially paradigm shifting research done on hugely complicated machines that even a team of dedicated researchers (not to mention the hoards of armchair scientists here) cannot fully understand.
Nothing wrong with this - the secrets of the Universe won't necessarily fall to some kid in his basement playing with a hacked Wii, just a cautionary tale.
Your point being exactly what? That your half assed undergrad project is analogous to years of research by a professional team? That only research that agrees with the standard view of things should get published?
Do you understand that the point of research and publication is to foster discussion and thinking?
The problem is not mediocre apps that get no sells, it's the extremely good apps that cost a lot of money to make and get no visibility anywhere (its really really hard to make it to a top list), making it a big gamble. Unless your app is exceptional and word of mouth makes you rise, you have a very little chance of getting anywhere near a profit. Not all low-selling apps are crap...
So? How is this different from a non-app store program? You are certainly allowed to advertise your app, market it in any way desired.
There are plenty of excellent programs that have never achieved commercial success. There are no guarantees. You plops your money down and takes your chances.
And don't go whining about the $99 dollars. That's less than you pay for Mountain Dew and Cheetos.
It may look similar but it's not likely to have the fancy internals that the F-22 has. For one thing, it lacks the thrust vectoring nozzles on the engines. That is a significant component of the aircraft's capabilities. You can copy the outside by looking at a recent copy of Aviation Week. It doesn't mean you downloaded the PCBs and code.
The real issue with Fukushima is that the reactors survived the earthquake and tsunami. What caused the meltdown was loss of electrical power to reactors that required active pumped water cooling and valve control.
Not really. The REAL issue is that multiple risk factors where known to TEPCO and the Japanese government and they failed to mitigate those risks. Risks spanning decades of time.
The main reason for same: Economics.
That's the real lesson. Nuclear Power can be engineered safely. Whether or not it is depends on a host of factors. As I mentioned before, there are a number of first generation nuclear plants with these and other risks that continue to be run because of economic and political pressures.
Well, considering that Chernobyl was the only catastrophic nuclear power plant accident in human history until Fukishima, hopefully forever.
For varying degrees of 'catastrophe' sure. If I were a shareholder in the utility that ran Three Mile Island, I might use that word.
And, unfortunately, it is very unlikely that this is the last major nuclear plant disaster. For fun, look to see how many generation 1 nuc plants sit in a geologically active zone.
And how few generation 2 or 3 nuc plants are being built....
And how many generation 1 plants are running well past their design lives.
How about blaming poor design decisions? ALL of the generators in the BASEMENT next to the OCEAN. Sounds like a good plan to exactly whom?
How about the FAILURE of TEPCO to change out the electrically activated hydrogen filters for passive ones, like some their engineers and a bunch of outside consultants suggested years ago?
How about FAILURE of TEPCO and the Japanese Government to update their geologic risk assessment despite recommendations from internal and external staff on multiple occasions.
Yep, other than that, an act of God.
The failure of the systems was only a symptom
Yep, the symptoms of systems failure in design and planning. Hey, one out of three isn't bad....
If this is the best that a major industrial country can do with nuclear power, perhaps we're not ready to play in the big leagues just yet.
I may be wrong about this, but as I read it, the term "operating systems" (plural) seems to refer to the systems that actually operate the nuclear plant. Your question would make sense to me if the original article had read, "operating system" (singular).
Slashdot Mirror
In fact I'm surprised no one has blamed this quake on it yet.
Because the real culprit is right in front of our tentacles.
Wriggle in fear, miserable humanoids!
hmm... I wonder if Apple's FindMyiPhone feature could be considered an illegal search and a violation of the 4th A. rights of the iPhone thief
If the government did it, possibly. You aren't subject to Fourth Amendment provisions. It may be one of the reasons that police departments don't necessarily go running after stolen phones / laptops when the owner 'finds' them in someone else's hands.
Apple has finally made the computer appliance viable. Before this trend, you did need a 'Geek' or their therapeutic equivalent to help you run the gauntlet of hardware / software choices needed to get a computer running. And for the best experience you needed someone to strip out the shovelware found on anything but the highest end machines. And someone to help maintain it.
Now you don't. You can be a complete Noob, get an iPad, not even hook it in to a 'real' computer to get it to work. You can go to one place to get software and install it by typing in your Apple ID.
Nirvana for the technically declined. For the rest of us, not so much.
Although to be fair, trying to use Starbucks in the context of "not a fad" seems a bit, well, horribly ironic.
I mean, if you're already carrying a £400, 4.3 inch touch screen device in your pocket at all times, why would you want to buy an additional 7 inch touch screen device that does pretty much exactly the same thing, and nothing more?
Because the difference between squinting to read text on a 4.3 inch screen and seeing text on a 1024x768 7 inch screen is enormous. The bigger screen makes working with screen elements much easier.
The iPad (and perhaps other tablets) are an accessory device to both a 'real' computer and a smartphone. Not entirely necessary, but worth the trouble and expense in many situations.
Not all of us are 20 years old with tiny fingers.
...as long as someone other than AT&T implements it, so those of us who live in the Bay Area or New York City can actually use it.
On a more serious note, if wireless clothing becomes a tool for remotely monitoring medical status, doesn't this open carriers up to potential lawsuits when their network fails and someone dies of treatable maladies as a result?
I would like to see AT&T and whomever do this right - run a decently powered study to see if such monitoring actually helps the patient instead of the company's bottom line. Given it is AT&T and the US healthcare system, I imagine that it will be done exactly backwards from this.
Yeah, the stars are aligning. The stars in the account's heads when then can get every baby and grandma on a monthly data plan.
You raise an interesting point. How exactly do we detect the absence of spacetime? Presumably if it's ripped apart, either there will be gaps, or somehow we'll make more of it.
Oh come on, we know the answer to this. Hellish beings from another Universe will come charging through the gap causing explosions, terror and Micheal Bay movies.
I take it that mutant Sea Bass are still OK?
Before you wander off into the future, you might want to see if it makes it into the present.
Pinning your hopes on something that has yet to be done on a commercial scale seems a bit premature.
You could go back and revisit all of the Firefly episodes, or you could wait to see what happens. The Chinese are essentially at 1965. It is a bit early to worry about learning Mandarin in in order to be an astronaut.
Do you believe any explanation from Tokyo Electric at this point? They have told enough lies about Fukushima that I now assume they are lying every time they open their mouths. Has this been verified by an independent 3rd party?
I would tend to agree about TEPCO. Anything they say needs to be taken with a healthy dose of Potassium Iodide. Given that, I'm not sure it's been 'verified' - one explanation is that the readings are spurious, but for another, less panicky take on the issue, read this.
Stuff that mattered last week
Well, if you are so jaded, go to the Gateway to Astronaut Photography and look at all the cool time lapse pictures of earth.
If that doesn't impress, well, sucks to be you.
... might very well be usable for "meteor" scatter. I wonder if anyone tried it?
Would be kinda hard. You would have to know when then deorbited the Progress craft, what the ephermis was and got all ready ahead of time. Probably would have a good shot in terms of just the ionization potential, though.
The long-term residents of Space already view us 'terrestrials' with disdain. To them, Earth has become nothing more than a dump!
And how is that different from the rest of mankind?
The problem is that there exist things that an app can show good need for that are not possible using the machine-readable need-showing mechanism that Apple is set to provide.
That's OK, they can let Siri do it.
It's really just a timing thing. Orthpods have been doing this for years with varying technologies - he 'just' figured out how to massage the data in Osirex to talk to the Shapeways printers. A neat bit of programming but not, in and of itself, much of a business model.
And to everyone who thinks they are actually making bones with the printers, back off on the Mountain Dew for a minute. They are just making plastic models to help visualize prospective surgeries better. It will be a while before Shapeways is making biological frameworks.
In a sense, this is similar to the 'fast neutrino' story. Potentially paradigm shifting research done on hugely complicated machines that even a team of dedicated researchers (not to mention the hoards of armchair scientists here) cannot fully understand.
Nothing wrong with this - the secrets of the Universe won't necessarily fall to some kid in his basement playing with a hacked Wii, just a cautionary tale.
Your point being exactly what? That your half assed undergrad project is analogous to years of research by a professional team? That only research that agrees with the standard view of things should get published?
Do you understand that the point of research and publication is to foster discussion and thinking?
Sounds like your teacher had you pegged.
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Then go move to Washington, DC.
The problem is not mediocre apps that get no sells, it's the extremely good apps that cost a lot of money to make and get no visibility anywhere (its really really hard to make it to a top list), making it a big gamble. Unless your app is exceptional and word of mouth makes you rise, you have a very little chance of getting anywhere near a profit. Not all low-selling apps are crap...
So? How is this different from a non-app store program? You are certainly allowed to advertise your app, market it in any way desired.
There are plenty of excellent programs that have never achieved commercial success. There are no guarantees. You plops your money down and takes your chances.
And don't go whining about the $99 dollars. That's less than you pay for Mountain Dew and Cheetos.
It may look similar but it's not likely to have the fancy internals that the F-22 has. For one thing, it lacks the thrust vectoring nozzles on the engines. That is a significant component of the aircraft's capabilities. You can copy the outside by looking at a recent copy of Aviation Week. It doesn't mean you downloaded the PCBs and code.
The real issue with Fukushima is that the reactors survived the earthquake and tsunami. What caused the meltdown was loss of electrical power to reactors that required active pumped water cooling and valve control.
Not really. The REAL issue is that multiple risk factors where known to TEPCO and the Japanese government and they failed to mitigate those risks. Risks spanning decades of time.
The main reason for same: Economics.
That's the real lesson. Nuclear Power can be engineered safely. Whether or not it is depends on a host of factors. As I mentioned before, there are a number of first generation nuclear plants with these and other risks that continue to be run because of economic and political pressures.
Well, considering that Chernobyl was the only catastrophic nuclear power plant accident in human history until Fukishima, hopefully forever.
For varying degrees of 'catastrophe' sure. If I were a shareholder in the utility that ran Three Mile Island, I might use that word.
And, unfortunately, it is very unlikely that this is the last major nuclear plant disaster. For fun, look to see how many generation 1 nuc plants sit in a geologically active zone.
And how few generation 2 or 3 nuc plants are being built....
And how many generation 1 plants are running well past their design lives.
How about blaming poor design decisions? ALL of the generators in the BASEMENT next to the OCEAN. Sounds like a good plan to exactly whom?
How about the FAILURE of TEPCO to change out the electrically activated hydrogen filters for passive ones, like some their engineers and a bunch of outside consultants suggested years ago?
How about FAILURE of TEPCO and the Japanese Government to update their geologic risk assessment despite recommendations from internal and external staff on multiple occasions.
Yep, other than that, an act of God.
The failure of the systems was only a symptom
Yep, the symptoms of systems failure in design and planning. Hey, one out of three isn't bad....
If this is the best that a major industrial country can do with nuclear power, perhaps we're not ready to play in the big leagues just yet.
I may be wrong about this, but as I read it, the term "operating systems" (plural) seems to refer to the systems that actually operate the nuclear plant. Your question would make sense to me if the original article had read, "operating system" (singular).
Having said all that, I would guess Windows.
You've been atomically WHOOSHED!
(It WAS a joke son, laugh)