Spam free may be fading from the cell phone text messaging sector. Recently (past 2 months or so) I have recieved 2 different advertisements in the form of unsolicited text messages over my LG Sprint cell phone. Although 2 over the span of 2 months is nothing to worry about, there was a time when spam over email was that low too.
In case anyone was curious, the ads were for some stupid diet pills or something like that.
That would require each box to have its password set to a specific setting before it is shipped. Perhaps a better method is to simply copy game developers. Every piece of software that I have seen from then uses a cd key. This is actually a password in its essence, just based on some simple structure and mathematical rules in the background. This would require every box to have a validate function to validate the given cd-key, then just make a printed label for each box generated by the same rules. This wouldn't be hacker proof, but its a lot better than every router in existance having a password like admin.
You have a good point, but you have to remember a fundamental difference between architects and software designers. When an architect designs and builds a building, it has to work only as itself and for itself. When a software designer creates a piece of software, it is expected to be compatible with a wide arrangement of computers, each with their own custom settings, conflicting software, user introduced problems, secuity issues, and condition. Its the rough equivalent of sueing a vending machine maker for faulty design because the machine ate your dollar after someone ran it over with a Mack Truck. Being a software engineer myself, I'm not saying that there isn't room for improvement in the industry, I'm just saying that there is a lot more going on with software development as far as testing goes than when an achitect designs a building.
I'm from the US and I've configured a few different routers, and from what I've seen, the majority of those come with an automagical cd that does not enable WEP, it just configures the network with the default SSID and the default username/password/port settings. One router specifically was by network everywhere, which you plugged in and attached to a modem and it was broadcast wirelessly, no setup, no cd, no nothing. You could just plug it in and let your wireless card detect the network. It was configurable, but Joe user wouldn't have the first clue as to how. Hope this helps.
Excellent point. However, its good that you mentioned computers like this. Computers were a new technology. We didn't have them, then we did. But what we also didn't have was the consequences of computers. Things like the internet and digital media, and all the consequences of those. Of course I don't mean that all consequences are good, digital media and the internet alone have been causing a great many problems as a result of their capabilities: P2P, CD Burning, Hacking, Identity Theft, the list can go on for miles. (exaggeration, I'm sure) The point is however that unexpected, unanticipated, and possibly problematic consequences go with new technology, though you are correct in that these aren't what makes it new, just merely part of the newness of it. (Is newness a word?) Bottom-line: I have trouble thinking about what the world would be like without computers today, and can only think that new technologies now will be viewed pretty much the same as computers a couple decades down the road.
I personally don't think that humanity in general is responsible or ready to handle this technology - but who knows.
This comment has been made before, many times in fact. We weren't ready for nuclear processes. We weren't ready for combustion engines. We weren't ready for genetic engineering. Quite honestly, I hate this argument, for one short and simple truth: By definition any new technology is going to have unexpected factors and consequences, thats the part that makes it new... Throughout human history we have not been ready for things, I've even read some opionions that said humans went wrong when we discovered fire before we were ready for it. The only problem with looking at things from this perspective is, how do you know/become ready for a technology you know nothing about, because once you know about it, whether you're ready for it or not, it's coming.
Bank of America has recently converted from reliable OS/2 atms to new crash prone touchscreen windows machines with brilliant blue backgrounds. (probably so you can't tell whether it has crashed until after you go up to it) I promptly changed banks.:)
Similar idea, different purpose. Just in the last few days, I heard over the local radio about a company (I have forgotten the name at the moment) that is marketting GPS locating Cell Phones and Car add ons for parents to give to their teenagers. This would then allow the parents to look up their children's location. Its being advertised as a way for the parents to make sure their kids aren't getting into trouble by saying their going to the library when they are really going to a party to get wasted. Though I can't see these things being used willingly by teenagers, maybe this thing has some potential if they can make it apply to other objects so you can track stolen items, as you said.
Thats not really the issue that china will be addressing. Whether or not their people can afford DVDs in their current state is secondary to the fact that a large amount (I'd say more than 80%) of the labor that goes into the manufacturing of the electronics for everyone else is done in and around China. With them creating their own standards, the bigger issue may be if they will still produce the equipment for the rest of the world's standards or just their own. If they revert to only their own, a large portion of the elctronic toys that we like playing with may need to find new manufacturers, which could very easily drive the prices up considerably.
Aside from the fact that if there is no Hydrogen fuel for the fusion process there would be no water on Earth (which is a slightly bigger problem than running out of fuel for our reactors) Using Helium and heavier elements in a fusion reaction requires even more energy than hydrogen going in, thats why stars die. When the few stars that can go supernova, eventually go supernova, they are composed of mostly iron, even the most massive stars cannot fuse all of its mass into iron.
However, I believe the eventual (distant future) method of nuclear energy reactants will be hybrid (borrowing the term for the moment) reactors, where the fuel for the fusion reactor and the energy required to power it comes from a fission reaction that is easier to maintain. But this is just my belief
The only possible reason I would see for having this experimental reactor placed in France over Japan is that France happens to be in close proximity with the majority of the electricity demanding world. (I'm referring to Europe) France also has already converted largely (if not in full, I'm not sure about this) over to nuclear power for their electrical needs. As much as I hate the french, (not because I'm the typical American who listens to the news too much, but because I've been to Paris and I speak French, I just don't like their rude behavior towards Americans in general) because of their experience with nuclear power, they might be some of the best qualified to handle this. I realize that fission and fusion are vastly different, but in essence they have a lot in common. In both, you are dealing with a highly unstable reaction when under manageable amounts, such as in the case of reactors. In both, you are constantly trying to maintain the exact conditions conducive to energy production while at the same time avoiding negative side effects. And in both, the main goal is to produce energy efficiently. If France has been successful in powering a large amount of their country's demand for electricity by nuclear means, then they probably have a good understanding of nuclear processes and energy efficiency in nuclear reactors. In this case, France makes the most sense.
However, Japan is not to be overlooked. For the majority of the technical world as far as electronics goes, Japan is highly regarded as the experts when it comes to efficiency. If you want an efficient circuit design, its made in Japan. Why not see what they can do with fusion reactors? Regardless of where this thing ends up, the point is that everyone is going to be involved in its development, and hopefully its furthered use throughout the world.
That may be, but the day will never come when the world compares things monetarily to the looney.
Spam free may be fading from the cell phone text messaging sector. Recently (past 2 months or so) I have recieved 2 different advertisements in the form of unsolicited text messages over my LG Sprint cell phone. Although 2 over the span of 2 months is nothing to worry about, there was a time when spam over email was that low too.
In case anyone was curious, the ads were for some stupid diet pills or something like that.
That would require each box to have its password set to a specific setting before it is shipped. Perhaps a better method is to simply copy game developers. Every piece of software that I have seen from then uses a cd key. This is actually a password in its essence, just based on some simple structure and mathematical rules in the background. This would require every box to have a validate function to validate the given cd-key, then just make a printed label for each box generated by the same rules. This wouldn't be hacker proof, but its a lot better than every router in existance having a password like admin.
You have a good point, but you have to remember a fundamental difference between architects and software designers. When an architect designs and builds a building, it has to work only as itself and for itself. When a software designer creates a piece of software, it is expected to be compatible with a wide arrangement of computers, each with their own custom settings, conflicting software, user introduced problems, secuity issues, and condition. Its the rough equivalent of sueing a vending machine maker for faulty design because the machine ate your dollar after someone ran it over with a Mack Truck. Being a software engineer myself, I'm not saying that there isn't room for improvement in the industry, I'm just saying that there is a lot more going on with software development as far as testing goes than when an achitect designs a building.
I'm from the US and I've configured a few different routers, and from what I've seen, the majority of those come with an automagical cd that does not enable WEP, it just configures the network with the default SSID and the default username/password/port settings. One router specifically was by network everywhere, which you plugged in and attached to a modem and it was broadcast wirelessly, no setup, no cd, no nothing. You could just plug it in and let your wireless card detect the network. It was configurable, but Joe user wouldn't have the first clue as to how. Hope this helps.
Excellent point. However, its good that you mentioned computers like this. Computers were a new technology. We didn't have them, then we did. But what we also didn't have was the consequences of computers. Things like the internet and digital media, and all the consequences of those. Of course I don't mean that all consequences are good, digital media and the internet alone have been causing a great many problems as a result of their capabilities: P2P, CD Burning, Hacking, Identity Theft, the list can go on for miles. (exaggeration, I'm sure) The point is however that unexpected, unanticipated, and possibly problematic consequences go with new technology, though you are correct in that these aren't what makes it new, just merely part of the newness of it. (Is newness a word?) Bottom-line: I have trouble thinking about what the world would be like without computers today, and can only think that new technologies now will be viewed pretty much the same as computers a couple decades down the road.
I personally don't think that humanity in general is responsible or ready to handle this technology - but who knows.
This comment has been made before, many times in fact. We weren't ready for nuclear processes. We weren't ready for combustion engines. We weren't ready for genetic engineering. Quite honestly, I hate this argument, for one short and simple truth: By definition any new technology is going to have unexpected factors and consequences, thats the part that makes it new... Throughout human history we have not been ready for things, I've even read some opionions that said humans went wrong when we discovered fire before we were ready for it. The only problem with looking at things from this perspective is, how do you know/become ready for a technology you know nothing about, because once you know about it, whether you're ready for it or not, it's coming.
Bank of America has recently converted from reliable OS/2 atms to new crash prone touchscreen windows machines with brilliant blue backgrounds. (probably so you can't tell whether it has crashed until after you go up to it) I promptly changed banks. :)
Similar idea, different purpose. Just in the last few days, I heard over the local radio about a company (I have forgotten the name at the moment) that is marketting GPS locating Cell Phones and Car add ons for parents to give to their teenagers. This would then allow the parents to look up their children's location. Its being advertised as a way for the parents to make sure their kids aren't getting into trouble by saying their going to the library when they are really going to a party to get wasted. Though I can't see these things being used willingly by teenagers, maybe this thing has some potential if they can make it apply to other objects so you can track stolen items, as you said.
Thats not really the issue that china will be addressing. Whether or not their people can afford DVDs in their current state is secondary to the fact that a large amount (I'd say more than 80%) of the labor that goes into the manufacturing of the electronics for everyone else is done in and around China. With them creating their own standards, the bigger issue may be if they will still produce the equipment for the rest of the world's standards or just their own. If they revert to only their own, a large portion of the elctronic toys that we like playing with may need to find new manufacturers, which could very easily drive the prices up considerably.
Aside from the fact that if there is no Hydrogen fuel for the fusion process there would be no water on Earth (which is a slightly bigger problem than running out of fuel for our reactors) Using Helium and heavier elements in a fusion reaction requires even more energy than hydrogen going in, thats why stars die. When the few stars that can go supernova, eventually go supernova, they are composed of mostly iron, even the most massive stars cannot fuse all of its mass into iron.
However, I believe the eventual (distant future) method of nuclear energy reactants will be hybrid (borrowing the term for the moment) reactors, where the fuel for the fusion reactor and the energy required to power it comes from a fission reaction that is easier to maintain. But this is just my belief
The only possible reason I would see for having this experimental reactor placed in France over Japan is that France happens to be in close proximity with the majority of the electricity demanding world. (I'm referring to Europe) France also has already converted largely (if not in full, I'm not sure about this) over to nuclear power for their electrical needs. As much as I hate the french, (not because I'm the typical American who listens to the news too much, but because I've been to Paris and I speak French, I just don't like their rude behavior towards Americans in general) because of their experience with nuclear power, they might be some of the best qualified to handle this. I realize that fission and fusion are vastly different, but in essence they have a lot in common. In both, you are dealing with a highly unstable reaction when under manageable amounts, such as in the case of reactors. In both, you are constantly trying to maintain the exact conditions conducive to energy production while at the same time avoiding negative side effects. And in both, the main goal is to produce energy efficiently. If France has been successful in powering a large amount of their country's demand for electricity by nuclear means, then they probably have a good understanding of nuclear processes and energy efficiency in nuclear reactors. In this case, France makes the most sense.
However, Japan is not to be overlooked. For the majority of the technical world as far as electronics goes, Japan is highly regarded as the experts when it comes to efficiency. If you want an efficient circuit design, its made in Japan. Why not see what they can do with fusion reactors? Regardless of where this thing ends up, the point is that everyone is going to be involved in its development, and hopefully its furthered use throughout the world.