So I think 3D printing is cool and all that, and there's lots of value for some people, but as a 46-year old dad of two kids who is frequently at the supermarket, I struggle to figure out what I would need to 3D print.
I'm Canadian, so not interested in printing a gun, what else is there? What does a typical family need to 3D print these days?
For most "Things", you don't need tons of bandwidth and the extra cost of a WiFi capable microcontroller or expensive daughterboard.
Unless the device is connecting over a home power network, you also need a display and some kind of touchpad to configure wifi. Like my WiFi printer, if I want to connect my coffeepot to my wifi it needs a means to show me a list of SSIDs it can 'see' (and/or a means to key in a hidden one), then a means to enter a password. It also needs to display connectivity state. I suppose you could put a USB port on the coffeepot and then configure it with your laptop, but that gets annoying, fast.
(Almost, but not quite, as annoying as having your coffeepot online in the first place).
Red-light texting still causes problems - I see it all the time -
- Texter is sending OMG hes HOT at red light
- Light turns green
- Texter doesn't notice, keeps texting
- Person in other direction is waiting to turn left, can't figure out why car with right-of-way isn't moving
- Person behind texter honks; texter is startled and starts moving, just as left-turner starts to go
- Everyone slams on brakes, more honking
- Pedestrians retreat back to sidewalk
we've been handing out driver's licences like crackerjack toys for decades, so we've got complete and total morons behind the wheels of cars.
Sure, but if you're going to make it harder to get a license you also need to give people other options for getting around. I live in Vancouver. A few weeks ago I was talking to a woman from Omaha who had moved to suburban Vancouver and she was amazed that she didn't really need a car. She could do everything she needed to do on public transit, with the occasional taxi thrown into the mix. In Omaha that wasn't possible - You simply needed to have a car (or so she said). So if you're going to make it harder to get a license (and by extension take some people off the road) you need to concurrently fund public transit.
I'll give you North Korea - That's something that can keep one up at night. The only saving grace is that the North Korean leadership likes their fast cars, brandy and cigars too much to risk their toys being turned into a glowing slag heap. Pakistan... I dunno. They've had nukes for 25+ years now. So far they've been responsible, for likely the same reasons as North Korea.
...anyone who works in an office environment does.
I have a Surface Pro (NOT RT. Repeat after me NOT RT) tablet at work - and it works like a charm. It's a Core i5 running Metro + Win 8 pro. Runs full MS Office and has access to all network resources. At my desk it has its desktop extended to another monitor (try doing that with an iPad) with attached keyboard & mouse. Away from my desk it's got a detachable proper clicky keyboard and a nifty stylus.
If I'm "tableting" with it and I just want to check something or watch something on the train I tap a metro tile's app and pull it up
If I need to do 'real' work I go to the Windows desktop.
All my colleagues carry two devices (iPad + Note/ultrabook PC) - I carry one. Every time I pull it out at a meeting or at the airport people say "oooh... what's *that*?" The RT noise is distracting people from what is otherwise a very cool machine.
You couldn't pay me to lug a laptop around anymore.
Comparisons between Nortel and Blackberry are unfair. Although the burst of the internet bubble contributed tremendously, the nail in Nortel's coffin was fraudulent accounting and improperly booked revenue which led to the principals being criminally charged. None of this occurred with Blackberry - BB was the victim of bad corporate decisions and management reacting too late to the iPhone and Android effect. Disappointing to the extreme, but very different from the Nortel story.
I'd love to know who is still buying Apple devices when Android gizmos do pretty much the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
I'm no Apple Fanboy (home PCs run Windows & phone is a 4s) but I can see why people stick with what they have. At our house we have 2 iPods, an iPad, and my (company-issued) iPhone. They all seamlessly integrate with our MP3 and MP4 libraries in iTunes, and my under-sixes know how to work them all. Changing ecosystems is a PITA.
Lacking a domestic buyer, a Microsoft or a Lenovo still cannot simply swoop in a buy BlackBerry like they might snap up some other company.
Sure they can, at least now. They'll need regulatory approval but that will just be a rubber stamp at this point. I worked for WebCT when we were acquired by Blackboard. It was straightforward.
The âoeresource curseâ - the phenomenon wherein poor counties with the greatest natural resources end up with the most corrupt and repressive governments. The money earned from selling the natural resources props up these harsh regimes and funds violence against their citizens and neighbors
They're not angry because you're buying minerals, they're angry because their life is hellish, and ripe to to moulded into terrorists. If they had a better life then they'd go home to their families and watch TV, not listen to anti-US rants.
i dont know about some tree hugging morons, but i dont really give a shit about the conditions in which minerals are attained. if it makes my product cheaper, it isnt my problem
You're probably a troll, but what the hell, I'll bite.
It becomes your problem when those 'conditions' lead to people who start to hate the west. People who start to listen to so-called leaders who are willing to turn those people into weapons. It becomes your problem when those people blow themselves up at rush hour at your local subway station. The world is a lot smaller than you think it is, and desperation causes people to strike out at their perceived agressors - Like the nation full of dickheads who think they needs a 5s when their 4ses are working perfectly well.
For little kids, 4 and 5 ish, I'm not sure that TV today and TV in 1986 are much different
Very different in one regard: I have a 3 and a 5 year old. The 'on demand' services from our 'cablevision' provider (actually the phone company) means that on any TV in the house they can watch any kid's show they want at any time (provided mum and dad will let them, of course). Want to watch "Tickety Toc" at 4:45 AM? No problem. Now certainly in 1986 a parent might have had a small library of VHS tapes (although my parents didn't get a VCR until 1989), but kids certainly didn't have the options they have today. Most of them watched Seseame Street when it aired, and that was that.
...and then there's pausing live TV, which is a whole other topic.
Years of reading Slashdot posts gives one a pretty good sense of who the 'typical' Slashdot poster is. Threads about kids give particularly good insight.
Now YOU control the destiny of DELL, as it should be (like Microsoft &/or Ford Motor Inc. - they're examples of companies where the ownership NEVER LOST CONTROL, because THEIR NAMES WAS ON IT
Hey Anonymous Coward, what the hell are you talking about? Microsoft and Ford are publicly-traded companies. Ford's CEO is Alan Mulally - Best known for creating the 777 for Boeing.
I work for a company that makes a Software-as-a-Service product. Our main sales channel is via OEMs like Dell. With hardware margins in the toilet the OEMs are all trying to realign themselves as 'service vendors' but they're not having much luck. It's my experience that it's very difficult to realign a sales team used to asking "Would you like a case and an SSD drive upgrade?" to one that sells high-margin services. The type of salesperson you need is much more expensive & sophisticated. You need to invest millions in training, marketing and support. Can be done of course (witness IBM) but it's a long, expensive process.
I don't understand why I wouldn't just use a full-featured, full-power laptop...
I have a Surface Pro (NOT RT. Repeat after me NOT RT) tablet at work - and it works like a charm. It's a Core i5 running Metro + Win 8 pro. Runs full Office and has access to all network resources. At my desk it has its desktop extended to another monitor (try doing that with an iPad) with attached keyboard & mouse. Away from my desk it's got a detachable proper clicky keyboard and a nifty stylus.
If I'm "tableting" with it and I just want to check something I tap a metro tile's app and pull it up
If I need to do 'real' work I go to the Windows desktop.
All my colleagues carry two devices (iPad + Notebook) - I carry one. Every time I pull it out at a meeting or at the airport people say "oooh... what's *that*?" The RT noise is distracting people from what is otherwise a very cool machine.
You couldn't pay me to lug a laptop around anymore.
Slashdot Mirror
So I think 3D printing is cool and all that, and there's lots of value for some people, but as a 46-year old dad of two kids who is frequently at the supermarket, I struggle to figure out what I would need to 3D print.
I'm Canadian, so not interested in printing a gun, what else is there? What does a typical family need to 3D print these days?
For most "Things", you don't need tons of bandwidth and the extra cost of a WiFi capable microcontroller or expensive daughterboard.
Unless the device is connecting over a home power network, you also need a display and some kind of touchpad to configure wifi. Like my WiFi printer, if I want to connect my coffeepot to my wifi it needs a means to show me a list of SSIDs it can 'see' (and/or a means to key in a hidden one), then a means to enter a password. It also needs to display connectivity state. I suppose you could put a USB port on the coffeepot and then configure it with your laptop, but that gets annoying, fast.
(Almost, but not quite, as annoying as having your coffeepot online in the first place).
Red-light texting still causes problems - I see it all the time -
- Texter is sending OMG hes HOT at red light
- Light turns green
- Texter doesn't notice, keeps texting
- Person in other direction is waiting to turn left, can't figure out why car with right-of-way isn't moving
- Person behind texter honks; texter is startled and starts moving, just as left-turner starts to go
- Everyone slams on brakes, more honking
- Pedestrians retreat back to sidewalk
we've been handing out driver's licences like crackerjack toys for decades, so we've got complete and total morons behind the wheels of cars.
Sure, but if you're going to make it harder to get a license you also need to give people other options for getting around. I live in Vancouver. A few weeks ago I was talking to a woman from Omaha who had moved to suburban Vancouver and she was amazed that she didn't really need a car. She could do everything she needed to do on public transit, with the occasional taxi thrown into the mix. In Omaha that wasn't possible - You simply needed to have a car (or so she said). So if you're going to make it harder to get a license (and by extension take some people off the road) you need to concurrently fund public transit.
I'll give you North Korea - That's something that can keep one up at night. The only saving grace is that the North Korean leadership likes their fast cars, brandy and cigars too much to risk their toys being turned into a glowing slag heap. Pakistan... I dunno. They've had nukes for 25+ years now. So far they've been responsible, for likely the same reasons as North Korea.
Because the countries that have nukes have demonstrated they are responsible with them - Even Pakistan and India.
I have no such faith in the misogynistic pedophile theocrats leaders of other nations of the world who are clamoring desperately for them.
People don't want Microsoft on their tablet.
I have a Surface Pro (NOT RT. Repeat after me NOT RT) tablet at work - and it works like a charm. It's a Core i5 running Metro + Win 8 pro. Runs full MS Office and has access to all network resources. At my desk it has its desktop extended to another monitor (try doing that with an iPad) with attached keyboard & mouse. Away from my desk it's got a detachable proper clicky keyboard and a nifty stylus.
If I'm "tableting" with it and I just want to check something or watch something on the train I tap a metro tile's app and pull it up
If I need to do 'real' work I go to the Windows desktop.
All my colleagues carry two devices (iPad + Note/ultrabook PC) - I carry one. Every time I pull it out at a meeting or at the airport people say "oooh... what's *that*?" The RT noise is distracting people from what is otherwise a very cool machine.
You couldn't pay me to lug a laptop around anymore.
Comparisons between Nortel and Blackberry are unfair. Although the burst of the internet bubble contributed tremendously, the nail in Nortel's coffin was fraudulent accounting and improperly booked revenue which led to the principals being criminally charged. None of this occurred with Blackberry - BB was the victim of bad corporate decisions and management reacting too late to the iPhone and Android effect. Disappointing to the extreme, but very different from the Nortel story.
I'd love to know who is still buying Apple devices when Android gizmos do pretty much the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
I'm no Apple Fanboy (home PCs run Windows & phone is a 4s) but I can see why people stick with what they have. At our house we have 2 iPods, an iPad, and my (company-issued) iPhone. They all seamlessly integrate with our MP3 and MP4 libraries in iTunes, and my under-sixes know how to work them all. Changing ecosystems is a PITA.
3. Detach shuttle with remote control. 4. Boost into higher orbit with remote control. 5. Send crew back on something Russian.
Oh yeah, and learn your SpaceGeek. You're not 'detaching the Shuttle.' You're detaching the Orbiter.
This is a Space Shuttle:
http://harvardpolitics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/space-shuttle-discovery1.jpg
This is an Orbiter:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/STS-121-DiscoveryEnhanced.jpg
There was no reason to bring the shuttles back once we knew they weren't going to be used again
And what about the little matter of the crews on board the Orbiters? We weren't bringing the Orbiters back, we were bringing the CREWS back.
Lacking a domestic buyer, a Microsoft or a Lenovo still cannot simply swoop in a buy BlackBerry like they might snap up some other company.
Sure they can, at least now. They'll need regulatory approval but that will just be a rubber stamp at this point. I worked for WebCT when we were acquired by Blackboard. It was straightforward.
From TFA:
The âoeresource curseâ - the phenomenon wherein poor counties with the greatest natural resources end up with the most corrupt and repressive governments. The money earned from selling the natural resources props up these harsh regimes and funds violence against their citizens and neighbors
They're not angry because you're buying minerals, they're angry because their life is hellish, and ripe to to moulded into terrorists. If they had a better life then they'd go home to their families and watch TV, not listen to anti-US rants.
i dont know about some tree hugging morons, but i dont really give a shit about the conditions in which minerals are attained. if it makes my product cheaper, it isnt my problem
You're probably a troll, but what the hell, I'll bite.
It becomes your problem when those 'conditions' lead to people who start to hate the west. People who start to listen to so-called leaders who are willing to turn those people into weapons. It becomes your problem when those people blow themselves up at rush hour at your local subway station. The world is a lot smaller than you think it is, and desperation causes people to strike out at their perceived agressors - Like the nation full of dickheads who think they needs a 5s when their 4ses are working perfectly well.
Which versions of Windows can you upgrade between without re-installing then?
Pretty much all of them post-NT. It ain't pretty, but it works.
For little kids, 4 and 5 ish, I'm not sure that TV today and TV in 1986 are much different
Very different in one regard: I have a 3 and a 5 year old. The 'on demand' services from our 'cablevision' provider (actually the phone company) means that on any TV in the house they can watch any kid's show they want at any time (provided mum and dad will let them, of course). Want to watch "Tickety Toc" at 4:45 AM? No problem. Now certainly in 1986 a parent might have had a small library of VHS tapes (although my parents didn't get a VCR until 1989), but kids certainly didn't have the options they have today. Most of them watched Seseame Street when it aired, and that was that.
...and then there's pausing live TV, which is a whole other topic.
-1 Flamebait? Shame on you moderator!
Thanks. Some people just can't take a joke.
Remember the scene with the "blue" belt?
No, but then again I don't have a vagina either.
This Anonymous Coward gets quite uppity, doesn't he?
...How?
Years of reading Slashdot posts gives one a pretty good sense of who the 'typical' Slashdot poster is. Threads about kids give particularly good insight.
oops, somehow the link got busted up. Try this:
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/consulting/
It's not migrating Exchange - Think MUCH bigger. It's things like this:
http://www-35.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/consulting/
Now YOU control the destiny of DELL, as it should be (like Microsoft &/or Ford Motor Inc. - they're examples of companies where the ownership NEVER LOST CONTROL, because THEIR NAMES WAS ON IT
Hey Anonymous Coward, what the hell are you talking about? Microsoft and Ford are publicly-traded companies. Ford's CEO is Alan Mulally - Best known for creating the 777 for Boeing.
I work for a company that makes a Software-as-a-Service product. Our main sales channel is via OEMs like Dell. With hardware margins in the toilet the OEMs are all trying to realign themselves as 'service vendors' but they're not having much luck. It's my experience that it's very difficult to realign a sales team used to asking "Would you like a case and an SSD drive upgrade?" to one that sells high-margin services. The type of salesperson you need is much more expensive & sophisticated. You need to invest millions in training, marketing and support. Can be done of course (witness IBM) but it's a long, expensive process.
I don't understand why I wouldn't just use a full-featured, full-power laptop...
I have a Surface Pro (NOT RT. Repeat after me NOT RT) tablet at work - and it works like a charm. It's a Core i5 running Metro + Win 8 pro. Runs full Office and has access to all network resources. At my desk it has its desktop extended to another monitor (try doing that with an iPad) with attached keyboard & mouse. Away from my desk it's got a detachable proper clicky keyboard and a nifty stylus.
If I'm "tableting" with it and I just want to check something I tap a metro tile's app and pull it up
If I need to do 'real' work I go to the Windows desktop.
All my colleagues carry two devices (iPad + Notebook) - I carry one. Every time I pull it out at a meeting or at the airport people say "oooh... what's *that*?" The RT noise is distracting people from what is otherwise a very cool machine.
You couldn't pay me to lug a laptop around anymore.