Or consider the decline of the secretarial profession. Thirty years ago every junior executive on up had his or her own secretary. Now all they get is a laptop. It takes much more energy to feed a secretary than a loptop (although the secretary potentially offers greater sexual gratification).
Instead of spending so much to cool them down, we could set up efficient cooling arrays, or even use the heat to store energy in biomass or fuel cells instead.
The problem is that we are unwilling to revisit the basic design concepts.
Why should a "desktop" computer crank out so much heat? My son's Mac Mini doesn't. His next computer won't either.
There are better ways to do this.
Besides, most of our energy use is for: lights (could use LED lighting for 1/20 the energy), washers (heating up all that water), and dryers (if we only got rid of those covenants that didn't let people line dry clothes), and machines that aren't even being used - look at that printer in the office, it's on 24/7 but after office hours, who is printing to it?
For that matter, why are our gigapop Internet networks running 24/7 in most places? Couldn't we have master switches and routers with key servers that were on 24/7, and have the "desktops" turn OFF their monitors and even computers when no one was using it? Turn off LAN segments that aren't in use automagically.
You try carrying an extra 10 kg of equipment on top of the 70 kg you carry - weapon (60 year old design), ammo, etc - and see how effective that will make you in 130 F weather.
Have to agree. I had a ClassMates account (or whatever that thing is) and let it lapse when I found out how pushy they were.
I also technically "moderate" three tribes on Tribe.net but don't use it to post much. MySpace is sometimes way too noisy.
But on Facebook I've been hanging out with my classmates from the small town in BC that I used to live with, some friends who are over in Singapore, a former colleague whose doing TB trials in Zambia, and local film, arts, politics, and general friends who are near. It just feels better.
Plus, when I add a friend from Trail BC, another friend from Trail BC notices and says "oh wow! there she is!" and it's really groovy.
Then they could use a virtual world from StreetView in Google where they (to meet Canadian privacy and EU privacy restrictions) removed the images of people from the streets?
But only if the advertising peoplebot avatars have Mute features on them - both individual ("Hi, I have Kotex, I feel fresh as a daisy!") and corporate ("I'm from Sony and...")...
or infringed a patent or other IP - they tend to pay off by buying shares - when you have a small firm "potentially" worth billions, it's hard to get cash sometimes.
I bought a sweet 47" 1080p LCD TV about a month ago.
I'm waiting until more than half of the TV sets are using HDTV - by that point the set you mention should retail around $400. And, if Sony is serious, the Blu-Ray player called the PS3 will sell for about $200.
They are a for-profit firm (or series of firms) with near-monopoly status in each city.
Just look at the price of Windows Vista and the new Office - price went up. They dropped the price in China because people there refused to pay, but raised it here.
SciFi geeks usually have money. Why not rip them off and give NASCAR fans a cheaper rate? Since it would be deregulated, there's nothing to stop them.
Often find that the ROI for it is far far less than they ever believed.
For one thing, the concept that one is safe is a pleasant, but untrue, myth.
For another, one's rights given away are difficult to wrest back.
And we always believe such intrusive actions will stop people, when in point of fact it's the likelihood of not just apprehension, but trial, sentencing, and jail term that is processed by those who do criminal activities.
Hoodies are easy to wear. Spanners fit in one's briefcase. Spray paint can be fit into various innocuous devices. And some people know they have less than a 0.001 percent chance of ever serving a day in jail for a crime anyway. Or they just don't care.
For example, even though I block all the Sports channels and Buy Online channels (HSN) and Religious channels (why they don't have Flying Spaghetti Monster religious channels is another question), previous behavior of cable companies worldwide leads me to believe that a la carte cable would end up costing me more.
It's not that I don't trust them, it's that I've invested in them before (as stocks) and the annual reports lead me to believe they would find some way to rip off most of the customers with any a la carte option, especially if it was NOT regulated.
For example, maybe the SciFi channel would cost $20 a month to "add". Right now it's part of expanded channels. They know we geeks need our fix of hot sexy aliens and they're quite willing to make money off of us.
Well, actually, right now it's mostly used to mine for minerals like Bacon and Cake and to grow Skulls and Ghosts on trees while my family plays My Sims on it.
Look, worst case scenario, go buy Madden 2008 or something. The PS3 is fairly good for a number of sports games, and if you have HDTV, they are designed to utilize that. For general games overall, sure, it's kind of a desert on the PS3, but if you want FPS or sports the PS3 is fairly well situated.
Probably easier to get xBox360 versions, of course.
Slashdot Mirror
And I just don't have any more pine resin to fill it with.
...
All the best scientists use wooden slide rules, not those fancy plastic ones.
Or consider the decline of the secretarial profession. Thirty years ago every junior executive on up had his or her own secretary. Now all they get is a laptop. It takes much more energy to feed a secretary than a loptop (although the secretary potentially offers greater sexual gratification).
This is why I hire supermodels.
They don't eat.
Sometimes turning them off gets rid of the cruft, however.
Big Brother watches vids of you, instead of you watching vids of Big Brother!
What will Apple do to keep having record sales?
...
...
Think about all those Linux desktops that people are buying since they can't get a reasonable WinVista set up
I mean - seriously - without WinVista both Apple and the Open Source Linux domains might actually have some competition
WiMAX is patented and they get a constant revenue stream for the providers out of it.
WiFi is a lot cheaper and they get close to zilch revenue stream if people use it.
They just want to sell hardware.
Instead of spending so much to cool them down, we could set up efficient cooling arrays, or even use the heat to store energy in biomass or fuel cells instead.
The problem is that we are unwilling to revisit the basic design concepts.
Why should a "desktop" computer crank out so much heat? My son's Mac Mini doesn't. His next computer won't either.
There are better ways to do this.
Besides, most of our energy use is for: lights (could use LED lighting for 1/20 the energy), washers (heating up all that water), and dryers (if we only got rid of those covenants that didn't let people line dry clothes), and machines that aren't even being used - look at that printer in the office, it's on 24/7 but after office hours, who is printing to it?
For that matter, why are our gigapop Internet networks running 24/7 in most places? Couldn't we have master switches and routers with key servers that were on 24/7, and have the "desktops" turn OFF their monitors and even computers when no one was using it? Turn off LAN segments that aren't in use automagically.
You try carrying an extra 10 kg of equipment on top of the 70 kg you carry - weapon (60 year old design), ammo, etc - and see how effective that will make you in 130 F weather.
targetted on certain neighborhoods, crime actually increased.
Beware of unintended consequences.
Have to agree. I had a ClassMates account (or whatever that thing is) and let it lapse when I found out how pushy they were.
I also technically "moderate" three tribes on Tribe.net but don't use it to post much. MySpace is sometimes way too noisy.
But on Facebook I've been hanging out with my classmates from the small town in BC that I used to live with, some friends who are over in Singapore, a former colleague whose doing TB trials in Zambia, and local film, arts, politics, and general friends who are near. It just feels better.
Plus, when I add a friend from Trail BC, another friend from Trail BC notices and says "oh wow! there she is!" and it's really groovy.
Then they could use a virtual world from StreetView in Google where they (to meet Canadian privacy and EU privacy restrictions) removed the images of people from the streets?
...") ...
But only if the advertising peoplebot avatars have Mute features on them - both individual ("Hi, I have Kotex, I feel fresh as a daisy!") and corporate ("I'm from Sony and
This would be far more fun.
or infringed a patent or other IP - they tend to pay off by buying shares - when you have a small firm "potentially" worth billions, it's hard to get cash sometimes.
Remember Borland and other such "investments"?
Well, yes, but wouldn't it be more awesome if the tripod robots used three-legged canes to help them walk?
Now that would be a sight!
...
But seriously, flipping 180 degrees with each step? That reduces the useful applications
I bought a sweet 47" 1080p LCD TV about a month ago.
I'm waiting until more than half of the TV sets are using HDTV - by that point the set you mention should retail around $400. And, if Sony is serious, the Blu-Ray player called the PS3 will sell for about $200.
The reason the PS2 did so well was it was cheaper than most DVD/CD players out at the time.
So cut the price to $199 and you might be able to sell the PS3.
yes, but the firm (e.g. NBC) is not the one that charges you (e.g. Comcast).
The former have an incentive to make it cheaper.
The latter have an incentive to get what they can out of you.
How do you know it won't be that expensive?
They are a for-profit firm (or series of firms) with near-monopoly status in each city.
Just look at the price of Windows Vista and the new Office - price went up. They dropped the price in China because people there refused to pay, but raised it here.
SciFi geeks usually have money. Why not rip them off and give NASCAR fans a cheaper rate? Since it would be deregulated, there's nothing to stop them.
I like to have my mouse run on my keyboard and play tunes sometimes.
Often find that the ROI for it is far far less than they ever believed.
For one thing, the concept that one is safe is a pleasant, but untrue, myth.
For another, one's rights given away are difficult to wrest back.
And we always believe such intrusive actions will stop people, when in point of fact it's the likelihood of not just apprehension, but trial, sentencing, and jail term that is processed by those who do criminal activities.
Hoodies are easy to wear. Spanners fit in one's briefcase. Spray paint can be fit into various innocuous devices. And some people know they have less than a 0.001 percent chance of ever serving a day in jail for a crime anyway. Or they just don't care.
For example, even though I block all the Sports channels and Buy Online channels (HSN) and Religious channels (why they don't have Flying Spaghetti Monster religious channels is another question), previous behavior of cable companies worldwide leads me to believe that a la carte cable would end up costing me more.
It's not that I don't trust them, it's that I've invested in them before (as stocks) and the annual reports lead me to believe they would find some way to rip off most of the customers with any a la carte option, especially if it was NOT regulated.
For example, maybe the SciFi channel would cost $20 a month to "add". Right now it's part of expanded channels. They know we geeks need our fix of hot sexy aliens and they're quite willing to make money off of us.
As opposed to your WII shooting proteins?:P
Well, actually, right now it's mostly used to mine for minerals like Bacon and Cake and to grow Skulls and Ghosts on trees while my family plays My Sims on it.
We have choices, and WinVista is as wise as choice as WinME was.
Electricity in BC and WA is around 7 cents a kWh actually. So it's cheaper for us.
...
If you're already leaving it on anyway
There are other games too.
Look, worst case scenario, go buy Madden 2008 or something. The PS3 is fairly good for a number of sports games, and if you have HDTV, they are designed to utilize that. For general games overall, sure, it's kind of a desert on the PS3, but if you want FPS or sports the PS3 is fairly well situated.
Probably easier to get xBox360 versions, of course.