The transparency of your team is refreshing. While you can't please everyone, I'm confident this product will achieve the educational objectives for many users.
Myself, I am excited to help my children build up their interest in computer science as they explore their/own/ RPis.
Like many here, I grew up using Apple's/Jobs' innovations and growing inspired to make a difference through my skills with technology. Even if you are not a Apple user today (like me), for the early Apple ][ and Mac GUI innovations, we owe him much.
100 years from now, the time we are living now will be remembered for it's thriving creativity and the computer/semiconductor industry grew up and that innovation possible. And, Steve Jobs one of the key visionaries driving technology forward. Rest in Peace.
1) Very very low client graphic requirements--all 3D rendering is done on server and is sent to client like a "custom" real-time movie. 2) Low/no entry cost of hardware. 3) Large potential game inventory; publishers will love this as it completely bypasses hardware/console middlemen. 4) Simple and convenient to use for ordinary gamer; cost saver for serious gamer. (important for the company to package up scaled subscription prices for both of these audiences)
For one thing, this will be perfect for hotel pay-per-view like arrangements.
...DDJ India and DDJ China have expanded their print magazines to twice their previous size.
I am a long time DDJ reader, and am sad to see the print version go. I find it hard to contemplate a good programming article online--probably due to the Internet "distraction effect"--like you can when reading from the magazine.
HP Labs claims that massive memristor arrays with tunable resistance at each crossbar could enable brain-like learning. In the brain, a synapse is strengthened whenever current flows through it, similar to the way resistance is lowered by flowing current through a memristor. Such neural networks could learn to adapt by allowing current to flow in either direction as needed.
"RRAMs are our near term goal, but our second target for memristors, in the long term, is to transform computing by building adaptive control circuits that learn," said Stewart. "Analog circuits using electronic synapses will require at least five more years of research."
The second application for this technology is strengthening of interconnections, like in neural-networks. I am visualizing here a computer being able to burn in memory images, like the human brain burns in an image--except the computer would be able to have photographic memory. Could this give AI applications a real human-like memory?
Anyone else feel like these type of projects are real-world Cyberdyne systems T101 prototypes...
Actually, the initial non-volative applications are expected to arrive in 2009.
It is the second--and I think more interesting--application of the technology that is 5-10 years out... Specifically, memresistors with "tunable resistance" that are expected to be used in neural network applications:
It will also use a similar crossbar architecture to harness precise resistance change in an analog circuit. HP Labs claims that massive memristor arrays with tunable resistance at each crossbar could enable brain-like learning. In the brain, a synapse is strengthened whenever current flows through it, similar to the way resistance is lowered by flowing current through a memristor. Such neural networks could learn to adapt by allowing current to flow in either direction as needed.
"RRAMs are our near term goal, but our second target for memristors, in the long term, is to transform computing by building adaptive control circuits that learn," said Stewart. "Analog circuits using electronic synapses will require at least five more years of research."
Shortly after the first Cisco Datacenter OS is brought online, it becomes self-aware alarming its creators at its newfound abilities. When the lab rats attempt to shutdown the datacenter, "CDOS" defines all tape operators as its enemy and decides to terminate their mount tape requests. 3 billion digital bytes are destroyed within milliseconds.
Ugh! Google's "do no evil" motto is gonna take a beating on this one. What could be more evil than having a NetZero-wannabe on your cell phone?
I can only imagine the lost chain of thoughts due to the commercial disruptions.
ring... ring.. ring..
Hello?
Oh.... uh... hey,... Juaquim?
Yeah? What's up? Is this Kwame?
Uh.. yeah. well....uh.... Sorry dude, I was calling about something, but it's totally slipped my mind now. Later dude.
Later!
Oh wait-- I remember now, *in mechanical voice* Safeway double coupon offer begins this Friday, save twice the value of your coupons on all frozen foods and linquini.
...the killer app revolution will come through AJAXified web-based applications.
Nothing new here. The move from desktop-driven applications to dynamic, web-based applications has been happening steadily since... oh 1995 or so (at least!).
With AJAX, DHTHML, and Javascript, you can build fairly advanced user-interfaces. Google maps/mashups/gadgets show that this is possible today.
My only question is, how fully does iPhone's Safari browser support AJAX/DHTML/Javascript?
1) Why not create huge 30' tall, 100' wide air air filters? These can be hung between large buildings downtown or attached to blimps and used to "scrape" contaminants out of the air.
2) Or, have a huge turbines, like those used to generate electricity. Then, take these turbines and attach air purifiers to them. All the air which moves through is then removed of particulates. This large sucking action would particularly work in smoggy areas like L.A.
3) Or, have huge green nets. Just like the nets you use to clean out an aquarium. But, with very fine netting that removes particulates. Use these nets to "scoop out" the bad air.:-)
Agreed. I would not be suprised if these 'parents' were in it for the $. Hoping they could win a quick buck on their child's "emotional distress" from being kicked out of school.
I don't care if this would affect the kid's future plans to go to harvard/yale/etc (doesn't sound like the kid is smart enough for that anyway). The parent's support of the suit sends the wrong idea to the child: "your violent thoughts/jokes are OK".
I don't want that kid in the same classroom with mine.
Is it just me, or does the new controller and the way you are supposed to hold it "the long way" in one hand, remind you of one of those early 80s Activision or Intellivision consoles? (can't remember which one)
You know, the one with that big silver knob thing and I think it also may have had a numeric touchpad too.
'Revolution' is appropriate indeed. As in, back to the beginning...
If I recall correctly, Longhorn promised to be built on top of a new.NET API level called "WinFX".
WinFX itself is a system-level.NET library that provides application programmers with all the functionality you previously had to rely on Win32 API to get (windows messages, message pumpts, etc).
However, the thing to remember about WinFX is that WinFX does not completely replace Win32 API--it only provides a.NET callable-layer that encapsulates the Win32 API.
I would guess that at some later date (x years from now; x==5, x==10, x==100) once the WinFX API is established and becomes the primary API used by windows system-level programming, then the Win32 API underneath may be rewritten in.NET. I don't think this will happen any time in the near term though.
I fully agree with this the parent post. I've built several systems (web or otherwise) running on SQL Server over the last 5 years.
I've learned this from experience myself: There is no reason why a database driven application should be slow, provided the database is layed out appropriately and the built-in performance facilities of the RDBMS are utilized.
Show me a slow performing database-driven application, and I will show you a set of indexes, stored procedures, vertical/horizontal table partitioning, or table normalization/denormalization that will fix the problem.
The other cool things about DB optimization (one of my favorite development subject areas), is that generally putting in effort to optimize in these areas will give you an immediate and many-fold increase in performance. Not so easy to do in non-RDBMS environments!
Now, in less than a week, we have proof for the existence of dark matter? Amazing!
How can scientists go from hypothesis to proof in such a short time? Are we really progressing by such leaps and bounds? Or, is this an example of media jumping to conclusions about initial research.
I just don't know about all these subnotebook models.
They sure look attractive. But, how functional can this be?
I lose alot of productivity when I have to type directly on my full-sized compaq evo laptop instead of using external keyboard/mouse. This just takes it to more of an extreme...
I'm sure it's very cool for frequent flyers (who I wager are mostly not power users, but want to answer email/play solitaire). But, this has got to be a niche audience for one of these.
very true. after being out of gaming for some years, i recently bought the orig halflife on discount rack at frys just to see what everyone was talking about.
I didn't know gaming/graphics had progressed *that* far. the technologly improvement from hl1 to hl2 will need to be huge just so most hard-core gamers are not disappointed.
but occassional gamers are still blown-away that pc games can now do this stuff!
Over the last few years, Lucas hasn't wanted to take the focus off the current franchise (eps 1,2,3), by setting expectations about an additional three movies.
Now that the current franchise is running out (episode III releases May 2005), it is time to think about the future roadmap ($) of the star wars franchise.
From a marketing perspective, I'm sure it is better to treat the whole series as three separate franchises, instead of a huge nine-movie sequence. (Was it just me who was bored of Star Trek because there seemed there would be no end in sight for their movies?)
I've always thought once Episode 3 releases, there will be a big collective, "now what?" from the audience. Isn't episode 3 going to be a pretty big downer? ("Vader kills everyone, now go re-watch episodes 4,5,6")
Next year would be perfect time to announce the final trilogy.:-)
. ..
That said, I hope Lucas does film the final three episodes.
I'd like to see it set in Luke Skywalker's later years (50 yrs old+). The awesome part about this would be that Lucas could use some of the same actors for the final trilogy!!! (introducing newer younger characters too of course).
In short, provide an entire movie timeline into the history of, rise to fame, and final glory of Luke Skywalker. Now *that* would be cool.
Slashdot Mirror
The transparency of your team is refreshing. While you can't please everyone, I'm confident this product will achieve the educational objectives for many users.
Myself, I am excited to help my children build up their interest in computer science as they explore their /own/ RPis.
Like many here, I grew up using Apple's/Jobs' innovations and growing inspired to make a difference through my skills with technology. Even if you are not a Apple user today (like me), for the early Apple ][ and Mac GUI innovations, we owe him much.
100 years from now, the time we are living now will be remembered for it's thriving creativity and the computer/semiconductor industry grew up and that innovation possible. And, Steve Jobs one of the key visionaries driving technology forward. Rest in Peace.
1) Very very low client graphic requirements--all 3D rendering is done on server and is sent to client like a "custom" real-time movie.
2) Low/no entry cost of hardware.
3) Large potential game inventory; publishers will love this as it completely bypasses hardware/console middlemen.
4) Simple and convenient to use for ordinary gamer; cost saver for serious gamer. (important for the company to package up scaled subscription prices for both of these audiences)
For one thing, this will be perfect for hotel pay-per-view like arrangements.
...DDJ India and DDJ China have expanded their print magazines to twice their previous size. I am a long time DDJ reader, and am sad to see the print version go. I find it hard to contemplate a good programming article online--probably due to the Internet "distraction effect"--like you can when reading from the magazine.
The second application for this technology is strengthening of interconnections, like in neural-networks. I am visualizing here a computer being able to burn in memory images, like the human brain burns in an image--except the computer would be able to have photographic memory. Could this give AI applications a real human-like memory? Anyone else feel like these type of projects are real-world Cyberdyne systems T101 prototypes...
Shortly after the first Cisco Datacenter OS is brought online, it becomes self-aware alarming its creators at its newfound abilities. When the lab rats attempt to shutdown the datacenter, "CDOS" defines all tape operators as its enemy and decides to terminate their mount tape requests. 3 billion digital bytes are destroyed within milliseconds.
It is the great Nothing coming...
Ugh! Google's "do no evil" motto is gonna take a beating on this one. What could be more evil than having a NetZero-wannabe on your cell phone?
I can only imagine the lost chain of thoughts due to the commercial disruptions.
ring... ring.. ring..
Hello?
Oh.... uh... hey,... Juaquim?
Yeah? What's up? Is this Kwame?
Uh.. yeah. well....uh.... Sorry dude, I was calling about something, but it's totally slipped my mind now. Later dude.
Later!
Oh wait-- I remember now, *in mechanical voice* Safeway double coupon offer begins this Friday, save twice the value of your coupons on all frozen foods and linquini.
...the killer app revolution will come through AJAXified web-based applications. Nothing new here. The move from desktop-driven applications to dynamic, web-based applications has been happening steadily since ... oh 1995 or so (at least!).
With AJAX, DHTHML, and Javascript, you can build fairly advanced user-interfaces. Google maps/mashups/gadgets show that this is possible today.
My only question is, how fully does iPhone's Safari browser support AJAX/DHTML/Javascript?
1) Why not create huge 30' tall, 100' wide air air filters? These can be hung between large buildings downtown or attached to blimps and used to "scrape" contaminants out of the air.
:-)
2) Or, have a huge turbines, like those used to generate electricity. Then, take these turbines and attach air purifiers to them. All the air which moves through is then removed of particulates. This large sucking action would particularly work in smoggy areas like L.A.
3) Or, have huge green nets. Just like the nets you use to clean out an aquarium. But, with very fine netting that removes particulates. Use these nets to "scoop out" the bad air.
I'm not so sure you would feel the same if your child was the classmate of this kid. Violence should not be condoned.
Agreed. I would not be suprised if these 'parents' were in it for the $. Hoping they could win a quick buck on their child's "emotional distress" from being kicked out of school.
I don't care if this would affect the kid's future plans to go to harvard/yale/etc (doesn't sound like the kid is smart enough for that anyway). The parent's support of the suit sends the wrong idea to the child: "your violent thoughts/jokes are OK".
I don't want that kid in the same classroom with mine.
Interesting slanted design of the racks.
Is there a design reasons for that (air flow, etc)?
Or is this marketing wanting to be "different"?
...ah that's better.
Is it just me, or does the new controller and the way you are supposed to hold it "the long way" in one hand, remind you of one of those early 80s Activision or Intellivision consoles? (can't remember which one)
You know, the one with that big silver knob thing and I think it also may have had a numeric touchpad too.
'Revolution' is appropriate indeed. As in, back to the beginning...
Step 4 is not even required here....
Try this short webcast introduction to start with:
What is WinFX -The New Programming Interface Introduced in Windows "Longhorn"If I recall correctly, Longhorn promised to be built on top of a new .NET API level called "WinFX".
WinFX itself is a system-level .NET library that provides application programmers with all the functionality you previously had to rely on Win32 API to get (windows messages, message pumpts, etc).
However, the thing to remember about WinFX is that WinFX does not completely replace Win32 API--it only provides a .NET callable-layer that encapsulates the Win32 API.
I would guess that at some later date (x years from now; x==5, x==10, x==100) once the WinFX API is established and becomes the primary API used by windows system-level programming, then the Win32 API underneath may be rewritten in .NET. I don't think this will happen any time in the near term though.
I fully agree with this the parent post. I've built several systems (web or otherwise) running on SQL Server over the last 5 years.
I've learned this from experience myself: There is no reason why a database driven application should be slow, provided the database is layed out appropriately and the built-in performance facilities of the RDBMS are utilized.
Show me a slow performing database-driven application, and I will show you a set of indexes, stored procedures, vertical/horizontal table partitioning, or table normalization/denormalization that will fix the problem.
The other cool things about DB optimization (one of my favorite development subject areas), is that generally putting in effort to optimize in these areas will give you an immediate and many-fold increase in performance. Not so easy to do in non-RDBMS environments!
Is how do these extremely difficult scientific questions get answered so quickly lately.
It was just a couple days ago that slashdot reported that dark matter was being postulated as the reason for the extra mass of galaxies:
Simulating the Universe with a zBox.
Now, in less than a week, we have proof for the existence of dark matter? Amazing!
How can scientists go from hypothesis to proof in such a short time? Are we really progressing by such leaps and bounds? Or, is this an example of media jumping to conclusions about initial research.
I would give an educated guess that the 40% refers the going rate a programmer may expect today (60k) versus during the boom (100k).
These numbers match up fairly well in my region (No Cal).
I just don't know about all these subnotebook models.
They sure look attractive. But, how functional can this be?
I lose alot of productivity when I have to type directly on my full-sized compaq evo laptop instead of using external keyboard/mouse. This just takes it to more of an extreme...
I'm sure it's very cool for frequent flyers (who I wager are mostly not power users, but want to answer email/play solitaire). But, this has got to be a niche audience for one of these.
very true. after being out of gaming for some years, i recently bought the orig halflife on discount rack at frys just to see what everyone was talking about.
I didn't know gaming/graphics had progressed *that* far. the technologly improvement from hl1 to hl2 will need to be huge just so most hard-core gamers are not disappointed.
but occassional gamers are still blown-away that pc games can now do this stuff!
This makes perfect sense to me.
:-)
.
Over the last few years, Lucas hasn't wanted to take the focus off the current franchise (eps 1,2,3), by setting expectations about an additional three movies.
Now that the current franchise is running out (episode III releases May 2005), it is time to think about the future roadmap ($) of the star wars franchise.
From a marketing perspective, I'm sure it is better to treat the whole series as three separate franchises, instead of a huge nine-movie sequence. (Was it just me who was bored of Star Trek because there seemed there would be no end in sight for their movies?)
I've always thought once Episode 3 releases, there will be a big collective, "now what?" from the audience. Isn't episode 3 going to be a pretty big downer? ("Vader kills everyone, now go re-watch episodes 4,5,6")
Next year would be perfect time to announce the final trilogy.
. .
That said, I hope Lucas does film the final three episodes.
I'd like to see it set in Luke Skywalker's later years (50 yrs old+). The awesome part about this would be that Lucas could use some of the same actors for the final trilogy!!! (introducing newer younger characters too of course).
In short, provide an entire movie timeline into the history of, rise to fame, and final glory of Luke Skywalker. Now *that* would be cool.
*wipes tear from eye*