We want all the global warming we can get as fast as we can get it to help reduce the massive human die off in the coming ice age. Yes the ice age will come, no we cannot warm the planet significantly with CO2 due to the fact we have plants everywhere which convert it back to oxygen.
We will want to do even more like figuring out how to release massive amounts of methane and figure out how to lengthen its half life in the atmosphere beyond 7 years.
Soon all of Canada and half of the US will be covered in a half mile thick sheet of ice and there will be water to grow crops that is not locked in ice.
OR
You can do absolutely nothing but waste your own time by lowering your carbon foot print?
You decide.
I find it appalling my university licenses spell check software. After all it is simply a list of words. Why can't all the universities around the country form a consortium and design things like free spell checkers for a good place to start.
A whitepaper defense to the RIAA litigation machine. Finally a lawyer/judge worthy of pulling from the bottom of the sea;)
I am surprised the EFF is not doing this type of thing or even more. This is a good start. I feel we need to make a whole multitude of this type of information available and even make a kit available on the Internet for lawyers unfamiliar with this type of case law. Of course realizing it will also be used by the RIAA for it's closing arguements:)
Working together we can at least have a day in court instead of just shelling out thousands of dollars in the name of fear which is so anti-US.
I am thinking when Microsoft teaches you something it is more of a brain washing than a lesson. I would be very shocked if the words "Fair Use" are even mentioned in the "lessons"
If kids need education about copyright I suggest they visit http://www.eff.org/ , this is the website for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They are fairly unbiased and have a slant toward fair use and away from things like DRM. Microsoft's view on IP is grossly slanted away from fair use and toward DRM. Anyone that lets their kid get an IP lesson from Microsoft must be sick in the head.
Remember that we must build upon past knowledge to move forward, the 90 Year copyright and reduced fair use is retarding our progress and giving a huge advantage to China.
Its time to put Mickey Mouse into the public domain and start supporting fair use before we end up with tape over our mouth.
I think people are missing the point of your question. The answer I have is to host in a country where the people coming to your site are NOT from. International take down orders are far more rare than domestic ones.
The main concern you had was FBI requests for logs. This is common for website operators with content such as anonymous phone numbers or mail. Your request was for user submissions, which is free speech. America is good for free speech but your constraint of being outside the jurisdiction of the FBI data log request subpoenas rules out the US. One small note, if you are a US citizen and you try to avoid a data request by locating assets outside the US, you might land yourself in trouble. US citizens are required by law to cooperate with the FBI and not elude their investigations. Please check your local laws and consult a lawyer.
As a general rule of thumb I would recommend Antigua and Barbuda. They have good privacy laws, but like any other country you cannot violate their laws.
A nice tool might be to have a site restriction forbidding Antigua and Barbuda citizens from using the site.
Good luck, I wish I had more information because there are a lot a variables here!!! Belize, Panama and Argentina also have good privacy laws as long as you don't violate their laws. Again restrict the site so the hosting countries' citizens cannot use it. I would even firewall it so that the IP addresses allocated to the hosting country cannot get to the site.
Des Moines University www.dmu.edu students are now being trained in Wiki writing also. It looks like Wikis are here to stay and universities everywhere are beginning to train in Wiki writing. The fact that Des Moines University is a medical university is even more interesting. Wikis have become an important tool in the online world and will continue to be an important tool in the future of everything from medicine to engineering.
As stupid as to believe a PC battery will last 24 hours, that's how stupid!
Gateway claims their batteries last 8 hours.
Evidently they do these tests when the PC is in standby.:)
Thank God some company is taking a stand to end this socialist not for profit manufacturing campaign.
Socialist (open source) software has some logic, but if you think we would have the technology we have today if the real companies like Intel and AMD were trying to make multi-billion dollar wafer fab plants from a socialist movement, look no further than North Korea. Yes NK could produce great open source software, 100 year old nuclear technology, but they could NEVER make a multi-billion dollar wafer fab plant without the free market to fund it.
OLPC=socialism, e.g. not for profit manufacturing e.g to take away market share from people that took the risk to create the market.
And just what is the point of this project??? Maybe to put laptop manufacturers out of business through a process of socialized not for profit manufacturing?
Can you say Communism?
Let 20 kids play with them and in about 10 minutes both your machines would be toast.
BTW-power supply rigging would not be acceptable for repair of kids equipment.
Like it or not Slashdot has become the online advertising campaign for the OLPC scam. Now it is a $175 laptop and don't forget we ALREADY had $175 computers, they are called Pocket PCs and already contain many thousands of learning applications like ePocrates.
Lets total that up:
OLPC Laptop: $175
Power Supply: $50
Carrying case: $29
Broadband Connection: $480/yr.
Avg Repairs over 3 years: $58
Extra software that cost money: $100-$500
Music Downloads: $100/yr
Porn/Malware Blockers: $30/yr.
External Hard Disk: $50
Obviously, a regular laptop is actually cheaper:
Recent price at Dell.com $399 with rebate, includes battery, power supply and for $39 a carrying case.
Now here is the real killer: MANY companies are poised ready eat the $200 cost of producing a similar unit in exchange for a monthly service charge like a cell phone for stuff like you know updates, support, repairs, etc. They are just waiting for the market to materialize from the vaporware state.
So exactly how do you turn Slashdot into your personal advertising campaign, I have many ideas I need to sell as well???
elance.com
make some real money working on real projects.
At $100 per unit and $150 worth of hardware required you wont make squat programming for this charity.
Better of signing up for an elance or a rent a coder account for a chance to make some real money for non-charity businesses.
If this was a good idea the Bill and Melinda gates Foundation would be donating to it.
Relax nobody is buying anything yet it was a false news article obviously designed to get publicity.
Any country that would spend $50 on this idea is insane.
Remember that even if they were the most spictacular leaning PC in the world, 50% of people prefer to read and study using BOOKS.
All Einstein had were books.
Most teachers would not be able to find the power button.
No kidding if they think these things are not going to be a huge target for virus writers, they have another thing coming. By the way, to defend off viruses you need a company of 100 people that does not sleep. Somehow this will impact the $100 price tag.
Here are some things they forgot:
Virus Protection software $19.95 (only a fool would go in the buff)
CD/DVD ROM drive $30 (remember the patent fee)
AC Power adaptor $20 (for people WITH electricity)
External Hard disk $50 (for people with a brain)
Windows Lite $35 (for people that actually want to use the damn thing)
Learning Software server $40,000 (need a server to connect to, like Blackboard)
Training ($50/student)
Training ($1000 per teacher)
Internet connection ($20/month, in case your mesh provider get cut off by the telcom)
Reapair budget ($20 = 20% cost of laptop)
Learning software maintenance ($100/year/student)
carrying case ($20)
wow we are WAAAAYYYYY over the $100/unit man, and I have just started thinking about it for 5 minutes.
This idea, as it sits right now, is the most assinine idea I have ever heard of.
The main reason for this is that the Pocket PC can do all of the things this wind up toy PC can do and they sell on Ebay for about $25 cheaper. Yes that is right the OLPC could just use the Pocket PC and save us the headache of trying to help a bunch of non computer using teachers try to figure out Linux and a powerless PC.
If (God help us) one allows the concept of a socialist PC for learning to exsist, the following premise is a requirement: make sure the devices are a standard, either ISO, IANA, etc.
Not just the OS, and the hardware, but all programs licensed to run in the machine as well.
Reason being, that if anything like this gets out (a successful $100 PC retailer) the big laptop companies are going to CRUSH you with a $50 and $25 model that has 2 times the features of yours. Then 1 month after you go bankrupt, they pull the $50 model from the market. Just like the electric car!
Presto the $100/laptop business is out of business.
The way you prevent this is to use a standards based interface and software execution environment.
With all 3, the hardware, software and licensed programs, based on open standards the giant PC makers can't squash you as much. You are set to a standard so that a bunch of bells and wistles, extra, violates the standard. So a $50 unit that does more is no more. This secures the environment somewhat.
Another issue:
By using linux you don't get open source by default.
Use a standard that prevents propriatary software from running on the boxes.
You want a standard open source linux/windows browser environment as your medium to allow the creation of the school lessons independent of the hardware type.
As part of the software license for the environment you forbid creation of commercial software to be run on the device and all software ran on the device needs to be according to a pre-specified open license.
****
After all if the learning software cost $1000 what the hell good does a $100 laptop do ya?
****
I feel Microsoft would be willing to make a $25 lite version of Windows for this box as well if it takes off, and this would open the programming oportunities by a million fold for the device as one could use the visual studio for programs.
With $100 laptops and a Nigerian Mesh network, we are sure to see an increase in the amount of Bank of Nigeria SPAM looking for people to help share the $30 million that has to be transfered to your US bank account.
Even with a "Mesh" network, if there are no phones, no internet, what are you going to "Mesh" to? Remember in Nigeria you have to trade your 12 year old daughter for 10 minutes of Internet access.
Peer to peer file sharing will be cool accept the fact that 1 movie will fill your flash drive and no more lessons can fit there. These will make great $100 hacking boxes for Linux hacker geeks.
If you cannot read and write a computer does you no good, what they need is $100 teachers.
Besides that if you live in a straw house with no electricity wouldn't a $100 solar inverter be a better idea or how about $100 running water or $100 sewer.
I agree with Bill Gates on this one, cash in 10 of these for a REAL PC and let 10 kids share.
Why does each kid need one anyway? Each kid does not have their own school, their own teacher, their own playground, so why do they need their own PC? This is not really going to be a computer because it does not have the components a computer needs such as a hard disk and and Windows. It is more like a Leap Frog learning system than a PC, but at least Leap Frog was smart enough to use a battery. But I guess if you have no electricity a battery will not do you any good.
And if they don't run Windows they don't really teach kids the most important computer skill as 90% of desktops run Windows.
Like the phone companies are going to let mesh networks happen. Read your phone company or cable company broadband agreement you cannot resale or share your signal with another house it is a violation of the user agreement. If a free network drives the phone companies out of the Internet business, where will the first of the mesh network node hook to?
If there are no ISPs what are you going to connect to, your neighbor's virus infected PC?
They would be better off buying 50,000 good Dell PC's and making computer labs that all the students can use, this way they can learn Windows, which is what 90% of computers run in the work environment plus the labs can have security so the devices don't end up on eBay.
They would also need the infrastructure to repair and replace these PCs no matter what the pricepoint is. To ship them in for repair may cost $120 to fix the $100 PC, because some guy in a straw hut in Nigeria is not going to be fixing PCs. Laptop failures are quite high ~20% and this is why a Dell computer lab makes a lot more sense than handing out $100 "Palm Pilots" to kids. When that kid's breaks there will not be another one and he will need to share anyway.
Teach them linux and they will be lost when they go to get a real job at a real company.
I like free enterprise and somehow government purchased $100 laptops sounds like a very socialistic almost communist idea. Why don't they just ask Dell or Gateway to make them instead of heading down the non-profit communist road?
These devices will hopefully become the Apple Newtons of the future.
Like the phone companies are going to let that happen.
If there are no ISPs what are you going to connect to, your neighbor's virus infected PC?
Last I heard you have to wind them up, no battery, yep, that will make for a MAJOR distraction in class.
I think they are not going to be like the Apple Newton.
A computer and modem can do this and some already do.
Zetafax has a junk fax filter for their software that blocks thos numbers from being able to transmit the fax.
Others sort calls based on caller ID.
These technologies are obviously available already matching your feature request. So long as the Phone/Fax/PBS/ Answering service are in a computer many systems are available for this.
A device is more tricky becuse the caller ID comes after the first ring, which you may not hear.
So the call is then Routed by mechanical switch to different devices you already have, one to many relationship.
So in this senario from the home demarkation is where this device needs to be located unless you only have one phone or all your devices are plugged into the same hole in the wall.
It would need to have a voicemail chip which is a developed technology that could be licensed.
It would need Caller ID detection and a small database for Caller-ID comparison functions.
Sounds like a good project for an college or high school electronics class, once developed can be mass produced in Taiwan.
Need 4 components to work together.
1-Phone Circuit Relay Function for call routing
2-Caller ID Function
3-Answering Machine
4-Software interface including an import/export database functions (USB Interface)
5-Optional Email/Internet connection to send email alerts on inbound Caller-IDs
I know of nothing that fits these parameters and therefore this may be an invention waiting to happen.
I suggest making a Linux phone answering system and then having someone put it all in a board/box after you get it working.
Don't forget the USB interface and SMTP email/Text Message of SELECTED messages with Caller ID would be nice as well.
Most likely the cause of this is antibiotics and antiseptics reducing the types of bacteria in our bodies not by washing our hands.
The amout of bacteria that penetrates the skin is pretty small compared to the mega bio factory of your instestines/mouth.
This is why the bacteria are in the gut, now the only question remains:
What bacteria are we killing off in our guts/food and how can we replenish the supply.
I read a book a while back, "Mining the Sky" It was really good.
Finding water pockets for Hydrogen generation seems to be a key to mining the moon.
Without water it is a lot harder to stay there, work there, or ship stuff out of there.
Seems to me as long as people need to show a Social Security Number to get a Cell phone, rampid identity theft will continue.
You know how many social degenerates work at cell phone stores?
How many geeks like me get called to fix their PC and have access to all those Secial Security Numbers?
Why my State issued ID can get me whiskey and a pistol, but not a cell phone, is a mystery to me.
It is clearly time to outlaw Social Secrity Number usage by businesses like utilities that have no need for it.
They are not withholding my wages for federal taxation so why do they get the number?
They say it is for a credit check but they did not perform one.
Bout time somebody without bazillions has a say. Makes sense why come down hard on the fans. I say just make downloaders pay $50 fines when caught. Like speeding tickets. You can NEVER stop people from speeding or downloading p2p, but you can give them a little fine to make them be more cautious.
Plus paying $50 from time to time is not big deal. It is not what Shawn Fanning had in mind, but it can work. Paying $5000 for a hard disk with a few hundred songs of music is just insane, and makes people like me ready for a full out boycott. I have not purchased a single CD since they shut Napster down. Poor RIAA dudes don't even know there is a boycott going on, they think illegal downloads are the cause for stale sales.
Mostly, I find it ironic and moronic that the record lables laughed in Shawn Fanning's face when he mentioned $5/mo. for unlimmited downloads, and now this is a reality at Yahoo, that's crap. Things like this should not happen. Shawn Fanning was the founder of P2P and he should be as rich as Bill Gates for pioneering a technology, not abused and left out to dry.
The RIAA and all supporters of Nazi DRM deserve whats coming to them.
Best bet is to BOYCOTT, BOTCOTT, BOYCOTT until this "fair use" deal is resolved in a manner that is acceptable to ALL.
Slashdot Mirror
We want all the global warming we can get as fast as we can get it to help reduce the massive human die off in the coming ice age. Yes the ice age will come, no we cannot warm the planet significantly with CO2 due to the fact we have plants everywhere which convert it back to oxygen. We will want to do even more like figuring out how to release massive amounts of methane and figure out how to lengthen its half life in the atmosphere beyond 7 years. Soon all of Canada and half of the US will be covered in a half mile thick sheet of ice and there will be water to grow crops that is not locked in ice. OR You can do absolutely nothing but waste your own time by lowering your carbon foot print? You decide.
I find it appalling my university licenses spell check software. After all it is simply a list of words. Why can't all the universities around the country form a consortium and design things like free spell checkers for a good place to start.
A whitepaper defense to the RIAA litigation machine. Finally a lawyer/judge worthy of pulling from the bottom of the sea ;)
I am surprised the EFF is not doing this type of thing or even more. This is a good start. I feel we need to make a whole multitude of this type of information available and even make a kit available on the Internet for lawyers unfamiliar with this type of case law. Of course realizing it will also be used by the RIAA for it's closing arguements :)
Working together we can at least have a day in court instead of just shelling out thousands of dollars in the name of fear which is so anti-US.
I am thinking when Microsoft teaches you something it is more of a brain washing than a lesson. I would be very shocked if the words "Fair Use" are even mentioned in the "lessons" If kids need education about copyright I suggest they visit http://www.eff.org/ , this is the website for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They are fairly unbiased and have a slant toward fair use and away from things like DRM. Microsoft's view on IP is grossly slanted away from fair use and toward DRM. Anyone that lets their kid get an IP lesson from Microsoft must be sick in the head. Remember that we must build upon past knowledge to move forward, the 90 Year copyright and reduced fair use is retarding our progress and giving a huge advantage to China. Its time to put Mickey Mouse into the public domain and start supporting fair use before we end up with tape over our mouth.
I think people are missing the point of your question. The answer I have is to host in a country where the people coming to your site are NOT from. International take down orders are far more rare than domestic ones. The main concern you had was FBI requests for logs. This is common for website operators with content such as anonymous phone numbers or mail. Your request was for user submissions, which is free speech. America is good for free speech but your constraint of being outside the jurisdiction of the FBI data log request subpoenas rules out the US. One small note, if you are a US citizen and you try to avoid a data request by locating assets outside the US, you might land yourself in trouble. US citizens are required by law to cooperate with the FBI and not elude their investigations. Please check your local laws and consult a lawyer. As a general rule of thumb I would recommend Antigua and Barbuda. They have good privacy laws, but like any other country you cannot violate their laws. A nice tool might be to have a site restriction forbidding Antigua and Barbuda citizens from using the site. Good luck, I wish I had more information because there are a lot a variables here!!! Belize, Panama and Argentina also have good privacy laws as long as you don't violate their laws. Again restrict the site so the hosting countries' citizens cannot use it. I would even firewall it so that the IP addresses allocated to the hosting country cannot get to the site.
Des Moines University www.dmu.edu students are now being trained in Wiki writing also. It looks like Wikis are here to stay and universities everywhere are beginning to train in Wiki writing. The fact that Des Moines University is a medical university is even more interesting. Wikis have become an important tool in the online world and will continue to be an important tool in the future of everything from medicine to engineering.
As stupid as to believe a PC battery will last 24 hours, that's how stupid! Gateway claims their batteries last 8 hours. Evidently they do these tests when the PC is in standby. :)
Thank God some company is taking a stand to end this socialist not for profit manufacturing campaign. Socialist (open source) software has some logic, but if you think we would have the technology we have today if the real companies like Intel and AMD were trying to make multi-billion dollar wafer fab plants from a socialist movement, look no further than North Korea. Yes NK could produce great open source software, 100 year old nuclear technology, but they could NEVER make a multi-billion dollar wafer fab plant without the free market to fund it. OLPC=socialism, e.g. not for profit manufacturing e.g to take away market share from people that took the risk to create the market.
And just what is the point of this project??? Maybe to put laptop manufacturers out of business through a process of socialized not for profit manufacturing? Can you say Communism?
Let 20 kids play with them and in about 10 minutes both your machines would be toast. BTW-power supply rigging would not be acceptable for repair of kids equipment.
Like it or not Slashdot has become the online advertising campaign for the OLPC scam. Now it is a $175 laptop and don't forget we ALREADY had $175 computers, they are called Pocket PCs and already contain many thousands of learning applications like ePocrates. Lets total that up: OLPC Laptop: $175 Power Supply: $50 Carrying case: $29 Broadband Connection: $480/yr. Avg Repairs over 3 years: $58 Extra software that cost money: $100-$500 Music Downloads: $100/yr Porn/Malware Blockers: $30/yr. External Hard Disk: $50 Obviously, a regular laptop is actually cheaper: Recent price at Dell.com $399 with rebate, includes battery, power supply and for $39 a carrying case. Now here is the real killer: MANY companies are poised ready eat the $200 cost of producing a similar unit in exchange for a monthly service charge like a cell phone for stuff like you know updates, support, repairs, etc. They are just waiting for the market to materialize from the vaporware state. So exactly how do you turn Slashdot into your personal advertising campaign, I have many ideas I need to sell as well???
The few hackers that get created is the only good coming out of this project you retard.
elance.com make some real money working on real projects. At $100 per unit and $150 worth of hardware required you wont make squat programming for this charity. Better of signing up for an elance or a rent a coder account for a chance to make some real money for non-charity businesses. If this was a good idea the Bill and Melinda gates Foundation would be donating to it.
Relax nobody is buying anything yet it was a false news article obviously designed to get publicity. Any country that would spend $50 on this idea is insane. Remember that even if they were the most spictacular leaning PC in the world, 50% of people prefer to read and study using BOOKS. All Einstein had were books. Most teachers would not be able to find the power button.
$10 says the first site the pull up is sex.com!
If you need donate a 1GB flash drive to make it work correctly then I guess it is NOT a $100 laptop. It is more like a $100 food stamp.
No kidding if they think these things are not going to be a huge target for virus writers, they have another thing coming. By the way, to defend off viruses you need a company of 100 people that does not sleep. Somehow this will impact the $100 price tag. Here are some things they forgot: Virus Protection software $19.95 (only a fool would go in the buff) CD/DVD ROM drive $30 (remember the patent fee) AC Power adaptor $20 (for people WITH electricity) External Hard disk $50 (for people with a brain) Windows Lite $35 (for people that actually want to use the damn thing) Learning Software server $40,000 (need a server to connect to, like Blackboard) Training ($50/student) Training ($1000 per teacher) Internet connection ($20/month, in case your mesh provider get cut off by the telcom) Reapair budget ($20 = 20% cost of laptop) Learning software maintenance ($100/year/student) carrying case ($20) wow we are WAAAAYYYYY over the $100/unit man, and I have just started thinking about it for 5 minutes. This idea, as it sits right now, is the most assinine idea I have ever heard of. The main reason for this is that the Pocket PC can do all of the things this wind up toy PC can do and they sell on Ebay for about $25 cheaper. Yes that is right the OLPC could just use the Pocket PC and save us the headache of trying to help a bunch of non computer using teachers try to figure out Linux and a powerless PC.
If (God help us) one allows the concept of a socialist PC for learning to exsist, the following premise is a requirement: make sure the devices are a standard, either ISO, IANA, etc. Not just the OS, and the hardware, but all programs licensed to run in the machine as well. Reason being, that if anything like this gets out (a successful $100 PC retailer) the big laptop companies are going to CRUSH you with a $50 and $25 model that has 2 times the features of yours. Then 1 month after you go bankrupt, they pull the $50 model from the market. Just like the electric car! Presto the $100/laptop business is out of business. The way you prevent this is to use a standards based interface and software execution environment. With all 3, the hardware, software and licensed programs, based on open standards the giant PC makers can't squash you as much. You are set to a standard so that a bunch of bells and wistles, extra, violates the standard. So a $50 unit that does more is no more. This secures the environment somewhat. Another issue: By using linux you don't get open source by default. Use a standard that prevents propriatary software from running on the boxes. You want a standard open source linux/windows browser environment as your medium to allow the creation of the school lessons independent of the hardware type. As part of the software license for the environment you forbid creation of commercial software to be run on the device and all software ran on the device needs to be according to a pre-specified open license. **** After all if the learning software cost $1000 what the hell good does a $100 laptop do ya? **** I feel Microsoft would be willing to make a $25 lite version of Windows for this box as well if it takes off, and this would open the programming oportunities by a million fold for the device as one could use the visual studio for programs.
With $100 laptops and a Nigerian Mesh network, we are sure to see an increase in the amount of Bank of Nigeria SPAM looking for people to help share the $30 million that has to be transfered to your US bank account. Even with a "Mesh" network, if there are no phones, no internet, what are you going to "Mesh" to? Remember in Nigeria you have to trade your 12 year old daughter for 10 minutes of Internet access. Peer to peer file sharing will be cool accept the fact that 1 movie will fill your flash drive and no more lessons can fit there. These will make great $100 hacking boxes for Linux hacker geeks. If you cannot read and write a computer does you no good, what they need is $100 teachers. Besides that if you live in a straw house with no electricity wouldn't a $100 solar inverter be a better idea or how about $100 running water or $100 sewer. I agree with Bill Gates on this one, cash in 10 of these for a REAL PC and let 10 kids share. Why does each kid need one anyway? Each kid does not have their own school, their own teacher, their own playground, so why do they need their own PC? This is not really going to be a computer because it does not have the components a computer needs such as a hard disk and and Windows. It is more like a Leap Frog learning system than a PC, but at least Leap Frog was smart enough to use a battery. But I guess if you have no electricity a battery will not do you any good. And if they don't run Windows they don't really teach kids the most important computer skill as 90% of desktops run Windows. Like the phone companies are going to let mesh networks happen. Read your phone company or cable company broadband agreement you cannot resale or share your signal with another house it is a violation of the user agreement. If a free network drives the phone companies out of the Internet business, where will the first of the mesh network node hook to? If there are no ISPs what are you going to connect to, your neighbor's virus infected PC? They would be better off buying 50,000 good Dell PC's and making computer labs that all the students can use, this way they can learn Windows, which is what 90% of computers run in the work environment plus the labs can have security so the devices don't end up on eBay. They would also need the infrastructure to repair and replace these PCs no matter what the pricepoint is. To ship them in for repair may cost $120 to fix the $100 PC, because some guy in a straw hut in Nigeria is not going to be fixing PCs. Laptop failures are quite high ~20% and this is why a Dell computer lab makes a lot more sense than handing out $100 "Palm Pilots" to kids. When that kid's breaks there will not be another one and he will need to share anyway. Teach them linux and they will be lost when they go to get a real job at a real company. I like free enterprise and somehow government purchased $100 laptops sounds like a very socialistic almost communist idea. Why don't they just ask Dell or Gateway to make them instead of heading down the non-profit communist road? These devices will hopefully become the Apple Newtons of the future.
Like the phone companies are going to let that happen. If there are no ISPs what are you going to connect to, your neighbor's virus infected PC? Last I heard you have to wind them up, no battery, yep, that will make for a MAJOR distraction in class. I think they are not going to be like the Apple Newton.
A computer and modem can do this and some already do. Zetafax has a junk fax filter for their software that blocks thos numbers from being able to transmit the fax. Others sort calls based on caller ID. These technologies are obviously available already matching your feature request. So long as the Phone/Fax/PBS/ Answering service are in a computer many systems are available for this. A device is more tricky becuse the caller ID comes after the first ring, which you may not hear. So the call is then Routed by mechanical switch to different devices you already have, one to many relationship. So in this senario from the home demarkation is where this device needs to be located unless you only have one phone or all your devices are plugged into the same hole in the wall. It would need to have a voicemail chip which is a developed technology that could be licensed. It would need Caller ID detection and a small database for Caller-ID comparison functions. Sounds like a good project for an college or high school electronics class, once developed can be mass produced in Taiwan. Need 4 components to work together. 1-Phone Circuit Relay Function for call routing 2-Caller ID Function 3-Answering Machine 4-Software interface including an import/export database functions (USB Interface) 5-Optional Email/Internet connection to send email alerts on inbound Caller-IDs I know of nothing that fits these parameters and therefore this may be an invention waiting to happen. I suggest making a Linux phone answering system and then having someone put it all in a board/box after you get it working. Don't forget the USB interface and SMTP email/Text Message of SELECTED messages with Caller ID would be nice as well.
Most likely the cause of this is antibiotics and antiseptics reducing the types of bacteria in our bodies not by washing our hands. The amout of bacteria that penetrates the skin is pretty small compared to the mega bio factory of your instestines/mouth. This is why the bacteria are in the gut, now the only question remains: What bacteria are we killing off in our guts/food and how can we replenish the supply.
I read a book a while back, "Mining the Sky" It was really good. Finding water pockets for Hydrogen generation seems to be a key to mining the moon. Without water it is a lot harder to stay there, work there, or ship stuff out of there.
Seems to me as long as people need to show a Social Security Number to get a Cell phone, rampid identity theft will continue. You know how many social degenerates work at cell phone stores? How many geeks like me get called to fix their PC and have access to all those Secial Security Numbers? Why my State issued ID can get me whiskey and a pistol, but not a cell phone, is a mystery to me. It is clearly time to outlaw Social Secrity Number usage by businesses like utilities that have no need for it. They are not withholding my wages for federal taxation so why do they get the number? They say it is for a credit check but they did not perform one.
Bout time somebody without bazillions has a say. Makes sense why come down hard on the fans. I say just make downloaders pay $50 fines when caught. Like speeding tickets. You can NEVER stop people from speeding or downloading p2p, but you can give them a little fine to make them be more cautious. Plus paying $50 from time to time is not big deal. It is not what Shawn Fanning had in mind, but it can work. Paying $5000 for a hard disk with a few hundred songs of music is just insane, and makes people like me ready for a full out boycott. I have not purchased a single CD since they shut Napster down. Poor RIAA dudes don't even know there is a boycott going on, they think illegal downloads are the cause for stale sales. Mostly, I find it ironic and moronic that the record lables laughed in Shawn Fanning's face when he mentioned $5/mo. for unlimmited downloads, and now this is a reality at Yahoo, that's crap. Things like this should not happen. Shawn Fanning was the founder of P2P and he should be as rich as Bill Gates for pioneering a technology, not abused and left out to dry. The RIAA and all supporters of Nazi DRM deserve whats coming to them. Best bet is to BOYCOTT, BOTCOTT, BOYCOTT until this "fair use" deal is resolved in a manner that is acceptable to ALL.