Combine such a high-resolution image sensor with some very high-quality optics. Add a sattellite platform and some high-speed data communications and voila - Big Brother is watching;->
In the article it mentions that this will help reduce the need for improved air conditioning in the server room (or something like that), but I can't help but wonder how they expect to achieve efficient cooling if all you are doing is moving the same air arround. After all, any air cooling simply moves the heat from one place to another, so when the room's ambient temperature increases as a result of more rapid heat tranfer from the hotter and more dense collection of processors and other heat sources then you no loger have cool air intake for these advanced ducted fans to use.
Not only that but I think I will be investing in companies that make earplugs; Look out construction industry, the IT department's demand will bring your supply to it's knees:)
Tech: "Please press the button in the lower-left corner"
User: "Nothing happened. Wait, I'll do it again. Nope still nothing"
Tech: "Nothing on the screen changed at all? Nothing new happened?"
User: "Nope. It's still the same. Why is that button labeled CTRL anyway?"
Pretty pictures, transparency, 3D effects. Oooooooh. But how useful, and more importanly, how easy will it be for someone, or someones grandparents, to actually use. The first thing I noticed was the lack of a 'START' button. It seems to have been replaced by a picture. Now I've been in tech support for over 10 years, and it's already dificult enough to get someone to follow simple directions over the telephone. I can just immagine the phone calls now:
Tech: "O.k., please open the start menu and go to the control pannel"
User: "Menu, uhm o.k. What menu? I don't see that."
Tech: "The sart menu. Just click on the button that says 'start' in the bottom-left corner of your screen".
User: "uhm, I don't see that. Hmmm. Start. Start. Nope, I don't see that anywhere"
Tech: "O.K. Please tell me what you do see on your screen."
User: "There are some pretty pictures. I really like the fish, but I want a shark in there."
Tech: "O.K. Is this Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 or something else?"
User: "My grandson gave it to me. I don't know what it is. I think he said it was Microsoft."
Tech: "O.K. So there is no 'start' word on the left side of the task bar at the bottom of your screen. What is at the bottom-left cornet of your screen?"
User: "There's a nice little circle with some colors in it"
Tech: "O.K. You are using Windows Vista. That circle is your 'start' menu. Please click on it to open it." -- BEEP -- Your 5 minutes of free product support are now finished. Please enter your credit card number to continue speaking to a technical support representative. This call will be charged at $2.95 per minute. Please enter your credit card number now.
Just the thing to increase productivity. Re-education needed yet again.
We've seen stories like this before (although not quite this - um - real) with other alternate fuel or technology vehicles from unlikely sources. The problem is getting it from concept and prototype to a mass-produced, supportable, permitted, useable product. How soon before the technology is purchased by some big company (in the oil industry perhaps), patented, and then filed under 'do not use'? Oh, and how many lawsuits are going to come out siting 'patent infringement' with the final effect being to bancrupt whatever company tries to develop this? And then there's the fuel. Just how many soybeans need to be grown and processed to fill a tank of gas. Now multiply that by the billions of people who will want one of these.
It's a great idea, and even better that a functional prototype exists, but there's still a LONG way to go before I can have mine.
I have dealt with the public every single day for the last 10 years. And not just end-users, but their parents and granparents. Just when I think I've heared it all, someone says something else that surprises me. So here are some things I want people to understand:
1) The 'hard drive' is a part inside the computer, it is NOT the whole computer. 2) The 'Computer' does not include a printer and a monitor, those are part of the 'computer system'. 3) The 'monitor' is not the 'computer'. It is only one part of the 'computer system'. 4) 'Windows' is NOT the 'computer'. It is an 'operating system', and it's not your only option. 5) The 'operating system' is special command and control software that makes your computer actually do something like allowing you to use 'application software'. It is the FIRST and MOST COMPLICATED software to be installed on your computer, and can not be un-installed without affecting every other software that is installed on top of the 'operating system'. 6) Windows does not know about every piece of computer hardware in existance, and can not possibly know about hardware that will be made in the future. That's what 'device drivers' are for. 7) 'Plug-and-Play' does NOT mean that it just works. It means that it can identify itself to the 'operating system' so that the correct 'device driver' software can be chosen by the 'operating system' without you needing to know any technical details. 8) Printed manuals are not common. Electronic informaiton is common. 'readme.txt' should not be ignored. 9) You did not buy 'Microsoft'. You did not buy 'Microsoft Windows' or 'Microsoft Office'. You bought a 'license' to use 'Microsoft Windows' or 'Microsoft Office' under specific conditions. 10) No, I can not just give you a copy of your favorite commercial software. 11) Yes, free software does exist. 12) No, a DVD burner does not mean that you can easily copy your lastest commercial movie rental. 13) If you choose not to READ what's on your screen before you click 'yes' or 'next' then don't complain if something bad happens. 14) When asking for help, DETAILS are very important. A history of the activities that led to the problem, or information about how to recreate the problem are VERY IMPORTANT. 15) If you see an error message, don't just ignore it, WRITE IT ALL DOWN. Simply saying 'There's something wrong' is not very helpful, and can waste a lot of expensive service time. 16) 'Microsoft Internet Explorer' is NOT the internet. It is a web brower that allows you to view web pages which may be located somewhere on the internet. 17) 'Microsoft' is NOT your e-mail retrieval program. 'Microsoft Internet Explorer' is NOT your e-mail retrieval program. 18) Your ability to access information which may be located somewhere on the internet is restricted by the weakest link in the chain of other computers between your computer and the computer from which the information is available. 19) Your local computer service professional does not need to know that your chemically dependant, recently divorced pregnant cousin's computer is working fine when your computer is the one being serviced.
And there's more that the end-user needs to understand, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
Electronic paper is an interesting idea, but what will it cost to use it? If a sheet of electonic paper costs more than a 200 page paper notepad at the local dollar store, then it will never completely replace traditional paper which is made from a renewable resource.
Perhaps that's why the article indicates it's targed use as advertising media. Because current advertising budjets are really quite high. For example, just look at what your local 'yellow pages' telephone directory charges for listing and advertising fees. Or what your local transit company charges for bilboards on your local busses. Many companys spend thousands of dollars every month just on paper-baseed advertising. With this in mind, perhaps the initial, high production and implementation costs may be justified in the advertising market.
As for me, I think it will still be a few years before I can buy a sub $100 computer case coated with digital paper instead of paint. Ahhhh, but when that day comes....
Other than the simple, cheap recording capabilities already commented here, VHS offers another advantage - compatibility. I know you can take your DVD to anyone in the same region and play it, but that's not the compatibility I'm referring to. My parent's TV does not have SVIDEO or RCA inputs, only co-ax cable input. And I know many other people in the same situation. The majority of commercial DVD players only output via SVIDEO or RCA, and don't have any internal RF modulator to connect via the co-ax TV cable.
Of course it was destined to fail. How can anyone expect verry low-income households, no matter where they are located, to purchase something for which they do not have a need? A computer is a luxury, not a need. It's a tool which enables more complex informational tasks. Those with verry low-income households typically only need simple informational tasks such as word-of-mouth, basic telephone communications, and basic news delivery (currently via radio, newspaper, or TV). Other than providing an alternative method for these tasks, what does a simple computer provide?
And what about longevity and stability? Let's face it, a 20 or 30 year old car can still be useful if it works, but a 4 year old computer is almost useless even for today's simplest computing tasks. Just look at how much the computer industry and social utiliziation has changed in the past few years as related to internet access alone; Broadband, VOIP, P2P, streaming video, these things are still in a massive state of fluctuation as they experience 'growing pains'. Until the 'evolution' of the computer and the way it is used matures and stabilises the appeal of it to those with very few resources is almost non-existant.
O.K., so many people have opinions about the quality of the show, or the quality of the cast performances, or the continuity, etc. but that's not what really caused Enterprise to be canceled, it was greed. Greed on the part of the producers, the distibution networks, the cable companies, etc.
Whatever the show may be, if you change it's showtime and date, constantly show repeats when it's still too young for that, only make 20 or so new episodes in a year that has 52 weeks, and interrupt the audience every 5 minutes with a dozen repetitive commercials, then the audience is going to loose interest. After all, the show can be complete crap but if it's always there at the same time and day, with a new episode, and with fewer commercials than the other flotsam on television, then people will still watch it!
So if we save all our e-mails for future legal purposes, the e-mail probably would not be valid evidence anyways. I mean think about it. I get dozens of e-mails per day that come from a phony or 'borrowed' e-mail source address. How would the e-mail be verified as ligitimitate, and not a fake? Come on, If you can't track down all the spammers (or virii) from the hundreds of messages per day in everyone's inbox how can you expect to tell me that CompanyX actually set me that message in my inbox offering me money for free?
- James.
Slashdot Mirror
Combine such a high-resolution image sensor with some very high-quality optics. Add a sattellite platform and some high-speed data communications and voila - Big Brother is watching ;->
In the article it mentions that this will help reduce the need for improved air conditioning in the server room (or something like that), but I can't help but wonder how they expect to achieve efficient cooling if all you are doing is moving the same air arround. After all, any air cooling simply moves the heat from one place to another, so when the room's ambient temperature increases as a result of more rapid heat tranfer from the hotter and more dense collection of processors and other heat sources then you no loger have cool air intake for these advanced ducted fans to use.
:)
Not only that but I think I will be investing in companies that make earplugs; Look out construction industry, the IT department's demand will bring your supply to it's knees
Tech: "Please press the button in the lower-left corner"
User: "Nothing happened. Wait, I'll do it again. Nope still nothing"
Tech: "Nothing on the screen changed at all? Nothing new happened?"
User: "Nope. It's still the same. Why is that button labeled CTRL anyway?"
Pretty pictures, transparency, 3D effects. Oooooooh. But how useful, and more importanly, how easy will it be for someone, or someones grandparents, to actually use. The first thing I noticed was the lack of a 'START' button. It seems to have been replaced by a picture. Now I've been in tech support for over 10 years, and it's already dificult enough to get someone to follow simple directions over the telephone. I can just immagine the phone calls now:
Tech: "O.k., please open the start menu and go to the control pannel"
User: "Menu, uhm o.k. What menu? I don't see that."
Tech: "The sart menu. Just click on the button that says 'start' in the bottom-left corner of your screen".
User: "uhm, I don't see that. Hmmm. Start. Start. Nope, I don't see that anywhere"
Tech: "O.K. Please tell me what you do see on your screen."
User: "There are some pretty pictures. I really like the fish, but I want a shark in there."
Tech: "O.K. Is this Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 or something else?"
User: "My grandson gave it to me. I don't know what it is. I think he said it was Microsoft."
Tech: "O.K. So there is no 'start' word on the left side of the task bar at the bottom of your screen. What is at the bottom-left cornet of your screen?"
User: "There's a nice little circle with some colors in it"
Tech: "O.K. You are using Windows Vista. That circle is your 'start' menu. Please click on it to open it."
-- BEEP --
Your 5 minutes of free product support are now finished. Please enter your credit card number to continue speaking to a technical support representative. This call will be charged at $2.95 per minute. Please enter your credit card number now.
Just the thing to increase productivity. Re-education needed yet again.
Quote: "You could keep all your pr0n on it!"
I was not aware that they made USB flash memory drives with a large enough capacity for that.
We've seen stories like this before (although not quite this - um - real) with other alternate fuel or technology vehicles from unlikely sources. The problem is getting it from concept and prototype to a mass-produced, supportable, permitted, useable product. How soon before the technology is purchased by some big company (in the oil industry perhaps), patented, and then filed under 'do not use'? Oh, and how many lawsuits are going to come out siting 'patent infringement' with the final effect being to bancrupt whatever company tries to develop this? And then there's the fuel. Just how many soybeans need to be grown and processed to fill a tank of gas. Now multiply that by the billions of people who will want one of these. It's a great idea, and even better that a functional prototype exists, but there's still a LONG way to go before I can have mine.
I have dealt with the public every single day for the last 10 years. And not just end-users, but their parents and granparents. Just when I think I've heared it all, someone says something else that surprises me. So here are some things I want people to understand:
1) The 'hard drive' is a part inside the computer, it is NOT the whole computer.
2) The 'Computer' does not include a printer and a monitor, those are part of the 'computer system'.
3) The 'monitor' is not the 'computer'. It is only one part of the 'computer system'.
4) 'Windows' is NOT the 'computer'. It is an 'operating system', and it's not your only option.
5) The 'operating system' is special command and control software that makes your computer actually do something like allowing you to use 'application software'. It is the FIRST and MOST COMPLICATED software to be installed on your computer, and can not be un-installed without affecting every other software that is installed on top of the 'operating system'.
6) Windows does not know about every piece of computer hardware in existance, and can not possibly know about hardware that will be made in the future. That's what 'device drivers' are for.
7) 'Plug-and-Play' does NOT mean that it just works. It means that it can identify itself to the 'operating system' so that the correct 'device driver' software can be chosen by the 'operating system' without you needing to know any technical details.
8) Printed manuals are not common. Electronic informaiton is common. 'readme.txt' should not be ignored.
9) You did not buy 'Microsoft'. You did not buy 'Microsoft Windows' or 'Microsoft Office'. You bought a 'license' to use 'Microsoft Windows' or 'Microsoft Office' under specific conditions.
10) No, I can not just give you a copy of your favorite commercial software.
11) Yes, free software does exist.
12) No, a DVD burner does not mean that you can easily copy your lastest commercial movie rental.
13) If you choose not to READ what's on your screen before you click 'yes' or 'next' then don't complain if something bad happens.
14) When asking for help, DETAILS are very important. A history of the activities that led to the problem, or information about how to recreate the problem are VERY IMPORTANT.
15) If you see an error message, don't just ignore it, WRITE IT ALL DOWN. Simply saying 'There's something wrong' is not very helpful, and can waste a lot of expensive service time.
16) 'Microsoft Internet Explorer' is NOT the internet. It is a web brower that allows you to view web pages which may be located somewhere on the internet.
17) 'Microsoft' is NOT your e-mail retrieval program. 'Microsoft Internet Explorer' is NOT your e-mail retrieval program.
18) Your ability to access information which may be located somewhere on the internet is restricted by the weakest link in the chain of other computers between your computer and the computer from which the information is available.
19) Your local computer service professional does not need to know that your chemically dependant, recently divorced pregnant cousin's computer is working fine when your computer is the one being serviced.
And there's more that the end-user needs to understand, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
- James.
Electronic paper is an interesting idea, but what will it cost to use it? If a sheet of electonic paper costs more than a 200 page paper notepad at the local dollar store, then it will never completely replace traditional paper which is made from a renewable resource.
Perhaps that's why the article indicates it's targed use as advertising media. Because current advertising budjets are really quite high. For example, just look at what your local 'yellow pages' telephone directory charges for listing and advertising fees. Or what your local transit company charges for bilboards on your local busses. Many companys spend thousands of dollars every month just on paper-baseed advertising. With this in mind, perhaps the initial, high production and implementation costs may be justified in the advertising market.
As for me, I think it will still be a few years before I can buy a sub $100 computer case coated with digital paper instead of paint. Ahhhh, but when that day comes....
Other than the simple, cheap recording capabilities already commented here, VHS offers another advantage - compatibility. I know you can take your DVD to anyone in the same region and play it, but that's not the compatibility I'm referring to. My parent's TV does not have SVIDEO or RCA inputs, only co-ax cable input. And I know many other people in the same situation. The majority of commercial DVD players only output via SVIDEO or RCA, and don't have any internal RF modulator to connect via the co-ax TV cable.
Of course it was destined to fail. How can anyone expect verry low-income households, no matter where they are located, to purchase something for which they do not have a need? A computer is a luxury, not a need. It's a tool which enables more complex informational tasks. Those with verry low-income households typically only need simple informational tasks such as word-of-mouth, basic telephone communications, and basic news delivery (currently via radio, newspaper, or TV). Other than providing an alternative method for these tasks, what does a simple computer provide?
And what about longevity and stability? Let's face it, a 20 or 30 year old car can still be useful if it works, but a 4 year old computer is almost useless even for today's simplest computing tasks. Just look at how much the computer industry and social utiliziation has changed in the past few years as related to internet access alone; Broadband, VOIP, P2P, streaming video, these things are still in a massive state of fluctuation as they experience 'growing pains'. Until the 'evolution' of the computer and the way it is used matures and stabilises the appeal of it to those with very few resources is almost non-existant.
O.K., so many people have opinions about the quality of the show, or the quality of the cast performances, or the continuity, etc. but that's not what really caused Enterprise to be canceled, it was greed. Greed on the part of the producers, the distibution networks, the cable companies, etc. Whatever the show may be, if you change it's showtime and date, constantly show repeats when it's still too young for that, only make 20 or so new episodes in a year that has 52 weeks, and interrupt the audience every 5 minutes with a dozen repetitive commercials, then the audience is going to loose interest. After all, the show can be complete crap but if it's always there at the same time and day, with a new episode, and with fewer commercials than the other flotsam on television, then people will still watch it!
So if we save all our e-mails for future legal purposes, the e-mail probably would not be valid evidence anyways. I mean think about it. I get dozens of e-mails per day that come from a phony or 'borrowed' e-mail source address. How would the e-mail be verified as ligitimitate, and not a fake? Come on, If you can't track down all the spammers (or virii) from the hundreds of messages per day in everyone's inbox how can you expect to tell me that CompanyX actually set me that message in my inbox offering me money for free? - James.