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User: dethb0y

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  1. Re:Interesting... on IBM Files Patent For Bullet-Dodging Bionic Armor · · Score: 1

    from the patent, the "detection" system is actually separate from the armor itself, and uses a variety of techniques.

    Radars regularly detect things that are very "small" in consideration to their coverage area. There's no reason you couldn't have many of them, to. You could also use visual sensors, as a back up.

    The actual system could be quite modest in size. A few wires, some attachment pads, and a power pack/control system the size of a cell phone would do it.

    There's ways to defeat it, but there's ways to defeat absolutely any defensive system ever devised. I could see definite uses and applicability for this for stuff like (say) the inauguration or public speaking events.

    FWIW, they also DO mention using it on soldiers or a group of soldiers, to protect them from sniper fire, most likely in situations where they'd not normally be expecting it (ie, a field hospital or a depot or such).

  2. Re:Google 411 didn't work so well for me on The Economics of Free · · Score: 2, Informative

    Google SMS is much better, almost as good as having an active internet connection.

  3. Re:Just like RIAA vs. File traders on Electric Armor Tested For Light Armored Vehicles · · Score: 1

    weapons technology (much like biology) doesn't evolve at all without a need. Basically the goals of any type of weapons program are to make smaller, more effective, more efficent weapons that either are more accurate, more damaging, or more usable.

    I think the easy solution to this electronic armor is also the most logical for the type of weapons used: increase the size, or give it some kind of multiple shot capability. With an increase in size, you have your typical arms race: bigger weapons, which are harder to move around, to hit ever more heavy armor (which is also harder to move around). With multiple shots you have a weapon that's much heavier, but that would also be (i'm guessing) quite effective. The first hit drains the system, the second hit blows through the inner (weaker) armor.

    But when it's all said and done i can't imagine a way to do this type of armor that will:

    1. Not be hugely heavy
    2. Not be a risk to the crew (short circuit, anyone?)
    3. Be able to be used without a complete overhaul every time it's activated
    4. Be economical (big capacitors are expensive, heavy, and dangerous - you'd have to train people to work with them).

    Now, putting electrified rails on the outside to act as a human wave deterrent? that could work well. Have it dial from "tazer" to "high voltage", and you'd be even more golden.

    Another viable option is to look for something like a phalnax system for tanks, that could intercept the incoming projectile before impact (although this woudln't work at very short ranges).

  4. I somewhat disagree with him on Drexler Clarifies Grey Goo Scenario · · Score: 1

    I don't think that you could make a true "grey goo" that would literally convert everything on earth to itself - that's ludicrous, as you would have to have a machine capable of co-opting any type of molecule (even huge ones) to itself, and this just isn't plausible.

    However, i do think that there is a potential for the weaponization of a sort of "lesser grey goo" - something that worked on steel and oxygen, say, or on flesh or any number of other things.

    That all said, "It's inefficent" is not a fundamentally good way to say something won't happen. Hostile nations, curious professors, engineering tinkerers - these people will design such things out of curiosity, to solve a problem, or to use as a weapon. While everyone might have thier own nano-factory in thier house, some people will no doubt use it to produce things like this.

  5. I could see uses for this on Do You Really Want to Meet People on the Web? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It could be interseting to meet people who are all, say, hanging out at a site for a given game or something along those lines. Or who are hanging out at a specific message board.

    But i also don't see any real serious potential for this to "change" anything. Take for example users of a given product like a printer. How many people "hang out" at the printer's website? How many people just browse around for hours at adobe's site, for example?

    The biggest advantage this brings is that it can tighten community based web sites a little bit, but that's about it, i would think, save in relatively rare cases like when a product's site has a very active forumn.

  6. Re:Killed by the society he saved. on Marking 50 Years Since Alan Turing's Death · · Score: 1

    Our genetics are nothing but a kludge. A good comparason is that our genetics are a chess game played one move at a time rather then with an over-riding strategy. It looks complicated, because it's been going on for billions of years - but in truth it's very simple, with lots of small, simplistic "tactical" mutations taking place to help us deal with this or that.

    We were just fortunate enough to have one of those give us big brains; otherwise we'd be eating ants off of grass blades and such.

  7. Way Ahead of Him.. on McCaw's Wireless ISP Begins Trial Run This Summer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    These Guys in East Palestine, Ohio (of all places) are way ahead of him. thier using Motorola Canopy gear as i recollect.

    Since i'm in thier coverage area (as is my mother) i had them come and check us out. the results were pretty interesting. They installed something that looked like the reciever part of a Dish Network dish (that rounded-square thing on the front), which they then pointed line-of-sight at the tower.

    This wasn't flawless as stuff in the way can easily block it; i imagine a house would totally block it, and the system they were using at the time was having trouble with trees. I was also suprised to discover they were "hopping" the signal all over the place - big long 15 mile jumps from tower to tower.

    The throughput at mothers (i coudln't get it due to the trees) is around 50k/s most of the time, spiking way up to around 100k or higher at slack times. There isn't any appreciable lag that i can tell, and it seems a steady throughput.

    I have my doubts as to how well it'll scale, though; i'm not sure it could really handle serious traffic. As well, the area i live in (replete with hills and valleys) isn't very good for this sort of technology - cellphones won't even work in some areas, let alone this.

    The cost is a smidge over 40$ a month if i'm remembering right, with around 80$ for installation. Considering there are literally no other highbandwidth options in a good part of the serving area, this is actually not unreasonable. I can't see it working in an area with cable/dsl though.