A 13 centimeter wafer that can hold 1.25 gigabyte of data? That's not impressive.
That's probably why they call it a prototype. A fragile wood-and-fabric contraption that can carry only one man and fly less than 100 feet? That's not impressive.
What is impressive about it is that it is non-volatile and faster than flash memory. If the storage density can be upped by two orders of magnitude, it will be a serious competitor for platter-based hard drives. I have long felt that the distinction between "temporary" storage (RAM) and "permanent" storage (HDD) will eventually be wiped away. Maybe this is the first step in that direction.
Now they're seen using walking sticks. Perhaps we'll find that apes use the sticks in different styles, and that some styles are learned by watching other apes. What would we look for to discover that some of that learning is derived from the marks made by the sticks, rather than watching a stick-using ape "in person"? If we found those records, would we have discovered "ape fashion magazines"?
"Oh... My... God. Did you even SEE that gnarly branch that Og was carrying around yesterday? And he calls that a walking stick? What-EVER. I so can't believe that I almost copulated with him last mating season. I only hope the primatologists weren't watching. I would NEVER be able to live with myself..."
Cost? Ability to get large objects into space is about nil right now. And even when it is possible, cost is astronomical (sad pun intended). I believe in the order of $20,000 per pound (156,800 british pounds per stone for those of you on the other side of the pond).
On Wednesday, we'll be asking for questions to give to the Civilization IV development team.
As a long-time addict, I am pleased that I will finally be able to get Civilization intravenously, but how does the team plan to prevent users from sharing needles?
Hate to discontinue the comedy thread in this article, but dolphins don't have breasts. The females do have two or four mammary slits either side of their genital slit, on the ventral side of their tail.
Keep it up. That sort of talk will get you on a DoJ watch list.
Usually when I get to the point where I feel like naming the worm, I'm already near the end of the bottle so I'm not likely to remember what name I come up with.
That's backwards. The US government now proves itself a wholly owned subsidiary of entertainment cartels. Future historians will have a field day with our era, endlessly arguing, picking apart and tracing precisely where and how it was decided to relinquish fundamental rights for the benefit of a tiny minority of business interests specializing in trivialities.
Not that this is really terribly new. Read up on the history of the United Fruit Company and Latin America.
And as far as I'm concerned, workers need to get used to the jargon or take a hike. Measurements and particular jargon abound in all walks of life. If you're making cookies, for example, you need to understand a cup, teaspoon, pint, etc. (or liter and the like if you're not American).
Whatever. Here's my cookie recipe:
Some milk
A lot of flour
A little bit of baking powder
A lot of sugar
A lot of chocolate chips
Some butter
A few eggs
Mix it all together and put lumps of the batter on a sheet. Turn the oven on and bake for a while. If it doesn't work, try again.
Maybe if they'd stop bragging about the depth of their market penetration and focus more on the quality of their work, they'd be able to truly satisfy their customers.
The others report to the CEO (Ballmer). Sounds to me as though the next CEO will be Rudder or Ozzie, but I'm on the record suggesting Ballmer was never the right person for the CEO spot in the first place. Maybe the Vista delays were the final straw for the board, so the directors are setting up for the inevitable succession.
ObJonStewartLine: "Ballmer stated that he wants to spend more time compromising his family's security."
Believe it or not, we do know what that particular cliche means; the long-winded explanation using some TV program wasn't necessary.
Except that it's almost always said the wrong way. I never used to understand the point of this saying, until someone pointed out to me that it was originally "Eat your cake and have it too". That captures the meaning much better. "Having your cake and eating it too" makes perfect sense; you have to have it before you can eat it, after all. Unless, of course, it belongs to someone else and you eat it without their permission.
The Center of Gravity of the satelite will continue to move in the same orbit it always had. However, as you let the tether drop, the satelite will have to move up to balance the tether's mass. Then, if the tether gets low enough that there's noticable atmospheric drag, it won't be able to remain straight up and down.
I don't think so. Even though the satellite is moving up, the CG of the whole system is staying in geosynchronous orbit as you said. Therefore, it will be moving at the same angular velocity as the earth's surface and atmosphere and there won't be any atmospheric drag.
Well, there will be winds, of course. And those will be pretty strong at high altitudes. But they will probably impart very little acceleration on the entire system -- certainly enough to be easily handled with maneuvering thrusters.
As a poor college student, I avoid recurring costs as much as possible. Rechargeable batteries may suck in terms of energy density compared to this cartidge/fuel cell combination, but the cost of electricity is relatively cheap to the point of being free. Does anyone really want to run out and buy catridges constantly if they want to use their mp3 player every day?
I'm sure that the replacement cartridges will be dirt-cheap -- they'll have to be to make the technology marketable.
The real issue, as you point out, is not cost but convenience. This is something that I call "The Coffee Filter Principle" (though I suppose it can be considered a subset of Murphy's Law). Some coffee-makers use disposable paper filters and others use a metal mesh filter that is reusable. I prefer the latter, not because of the cost of buying replacement filters (that's utterly negligible, even to this poor grad student) but because it's one more thing I need to remember to keep stocked up -- and because I will inevitably run out at the worst possible time (2 in the morning before an assignment is due, when all the stores are closed and I need coffee to keep me going).
The same issue will arise when people start replacing rechargeable batteries with fuel cells. True, you can run 3 times as long with the fuel cells, but nothing beats the convenience of just plugging my laptop into the wall and knowing that it will be fully charged and ready to go when I leave home the next day. If my device is powered by a fuel cell, I have to keep tabs on how many refills I have and take the time to buy replacements -- and I have to decide how much I want to stretch out a dying cartridge before I throw away the remaining charge. And even then, sooner or later I will inevitably run out at the worst possible time.
I'll take the hit in battery life, thank you very much, until fuel cells are based on reversible reactions and rechargeable from wall current.
I work at a DoE National Lab, and many of the people there (including myself) have a laptop as their primary work machine. These machines are generally set up to give us full administrative access -- i.e., we can do whatever we want with them. Furthermore, we are allowed to take these machines home with us when we leave the office, and many of us (again, including myself) do so. I often work from home, and if I ever went on business trips I'm sure I would make frequent use of network access in hotels or other locations -- many other employees do this on a regular basis.
In spite of all of these facts, which I am sure are enough to curdle the blood of many IT managers, our site has had very few cases of intrusion by malicious software. And when it has happened, it has been dealt with swiftly.
I'm not sure how the IT guys here run their shop -- that's not my specialty. But clearly they're doing something right, and they would seem to disprove any claim that strict lockdowns on company laptops are necessary to keep the network secure.
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A 13 centimeter wafer that can hold 1.25 gigabyte of data? That's not impressive.
That's probably why they call it a prototype. A fragile wood-and-fabric contraption that can carry only one man and fly less than 100 feet? That's not impressive.
What is impressive about it is that it is non-volatile and faster than flash memory. If the storage density can be upped by two orders of magnitude, it will be a serious competitor for platter-based hard drives. I have long felt that the distinction between "temporary" storage (RAM) and "permanent" storage (HDD) will eventually be wiped away. Maybe this is the first step in that direction.
The "analog loophole" will persist until there are digital ports direct to the human brain's sensor cortex.
I really wish you hadn't said that.
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=1+stone+in+po unds&btnG=Google+Search
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=humor
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=smart-ass
Now they're seen using walking sticks. Perhaps we'll find that apes use the sticks in different styles, and that some styles are learned by watching other apes. What would we look for to discover that some of that learning is derived from the marks made by the sticks, rather than watching a stick-using ape "in person"? If we found those records, would we have discovered "ape fashion magazines"?
"Oh... My... God. Did you even SEE that gnarly branch that Og was carrying around yesterday? And he calls that a walking stick? What-EVER. I so can't believe that I almost copulated with him last mating season. I only hope the primatologists weren't watching. I would NEVER be able to live with myself..."
Cost? Ability to get large objects into space is about nil right now. And even when it is possible, cost is astronomical (sad pun intended). I believe in the order of $20,000 per pound (156,800 british pounds per stone for those of you on the other side of the pond).
Wouldn't that depend on the size of the stone?
Really, people. Think before you hit "submit".
Here's why we need to keep the ISP free of local, state and federal bondage.
Well, at least you can count on help from the FBI in that regard.
On Wednesday, we'll be asking for questions to give to the Civilization IV development team.
As a long-time addict, I am pleased that I will finally be able to get Civilization intravenously, but how does the team plan to prevent users from sharing needles?
Hate to discontinue the comedy thread in this article, but dolphins don't have breasts. The females do have two or four mammary slits either side of their genital slit, on the ventral side of their tail.
Keep it up. That sort of talk will get you on a DoJ watch list.
This is just in the nick of time, because Crazy Ivan's Space Capsule Clearance House announced a sale for next week.
"Won't somebody please think of the AAAARTISTS?"
A slippery slop
See, that's exactly the kind of thing they're cracking down on.
Usually when I get to the point where I feel like naming the worm, I'm already near the end of the bottle so I'm not likely to remember what name I come up with.
One-sided posts are all my feeble mind can handle!
Judging from the results of the last election, you're in good company.
That's backwards. The US government now proves itself a wholly owned subsidiary of entertainment cartels. Future historians will have a field day with our era, endlessly arguing, picking apart and tracing precisely where and how it was decided to relinquish fundamental rights for the benefit of a tiny minority of business interests specializing in trivialities.
Not that this is really terribly new. Read up on the history of the United Fruit Company and Latin America.
And as far as I'm concerned, workers need to get used to the jargon or take a hike. Measurements and particular jargon abound in all walks of life. If you're making cookies, for example, you need to understand a cup, teaspoon, pint, etc. (or liter and the like if you're not American).
Whatever. Here's my cookie recipe:
Mix it all together and put lumps of the batter on a sheet. Turn the oven on and bake for a while. If it doesn't work, try again.
Maybe if they'd stop bragging about the depth of their market penetration and focus more on the quality of their work, they'd be able to truly satisfy their customers.
The RIAA is also pushing for a mandatory surcharge whenever vocal cords are created, since they can be used to violate RIAA's existing copyrights.
Fortunately, existing laws will make such charges illegal, except in certain parts of Nevada.
The others report to the CEO (Ballmer). Sounds to me as though the next CEO will be Rudder or Ozzie, but I'm on the record suggesting Ballmer was never the right person for the CEO spot in the first place. Maybe the Vista delays were the final straw for the board, so the directors are setting up for the inevitable succession.
ObJonStewartLine: "Ballmer stated that he wants to spend more time compromising his family's security."
Did anyone else read that headline as "Wikipedia's New Archimedes"?
Believe it or not, we do know what that particular cliche means; the long-winded explanation using some TV program wasn't necessary.
Except that it's almost always said the wrong way. I never used to understand the point of this saying, until someone pointed out to me that it was originally "Eat your cake and have it too". That captures the meaning much better. "Having your cake and eating it too" makes perfect sense; you have to have it before you can eat it, after all. Unless, of course, it belongs to someone else and you eat it without their permission.
The Center of Gravity of the satelite will continue to move in the same orbit it always had. However, as you let the tether drop, the satelite will have to move up to balance the tether's mass. Then, if the tether gets low enough that there's noticable atmospheric drag, it won't be able to remain straight up and down.
I don't think so. Even though the satellite is moving up, the CG of the whole system is staying in geosynchronous orbit as you said. Therefore, it will be moving at the same angular velocity as the earth's surface and atmosphere and there won't be any atmospheric drag.
Well, there will be winds, of course. And those will be pretty strong at high altitudes. But they will probably impart very little acceleration on the entire system -- certainly enough to be easily handled with maneuvering thrusters.
As a poor college student, I avoid recurring costs as much as possible. Rechargeable batteries may suck in terms of energy density compared to this cartidge/fuel cell combination, but the cost of electricity is relatively cheap to the point of being free. Does anyone really want to run out and buy catridges constantly if they want to use their mp3 player every day?
I'm sure that the replacement cartridges will be dirt-cheap -- they'll have to be to make the technology marketable.
The real issue, as you point out, is not cost but convenience. This is something that I call "The Coffee Filter Principle" (though I suppose it can be considered a subset of Murphy's Law). Some coffee-makers use disposable paper filters and others use a metal mesh filter that is reusable. I prefer the latter, not because of the cost of buying replacement filters (that's utterly negligible, even to this poor grad student) but because it's one more thing I need to remember to keep stocked up -- and because I will inevitably run out at the worst possible time (2 in the morning before an assignment is due, when all the stores are closed and I need coffee to keep me going).
The same issue will arise when people start replacing rechargeable batteries with fuel cells. True, you can run 3 times as long with the fuel cells, but nothing beats the convenience of just plugging my laptop into the wall and knowing that it will be fully charged and ready to go when I leave home the next day. If my device is powered by a fuel cell, I have to keep tabs on how many refills I have and take the time to buy replacements -- and I have to decide how much I want to stretch out a dying cartridge before I throw away the remaining charge. And even then, sooner or later I will inevitably run out at the worst possible time.
I'll take the hit in battery life, thank you very much, until fuel cells are based on reversible reactions and rechargeable from wall current.
Looks like somebody needs to read a few essays by Paul Graham.
If you limited your idea about Open Source to the stereotypical smelly hacker in his basement, sure, this article may have merit.
Not necessarily. Smelly hackers repel women, which gives them a lot more time to devote to software development.
I work at a DoE National Lab, and many of the people there (including myself) have a laptop as their primary work machine. These machines are generally set up to give us full administrative access -- i.e., we can do whatever we want with them. Furthermore, we are allowed to take these machines home with us when we leave the office, and many of us (again, including myself) do so. I often work from home, and if I ever went on business trips I'm sure I would make frequent use of network access in hotels or other locations -- many other employees do this on a regular basis.
In spite of all of these facts, which I am sure are enough to curdle the blood of many IT managers, our site has had very few cases of intrusion by malicious software. And when it has happened, it has been dealt with swiftly.
I'm not sure how the IT guys here run their shop -- that's not my specialty. But clearly they're doing something right, and they would seem to disprove any claim that strict lockdowns on company laptops are necessary to keep the network secure.