Seems like putting a small self install guide in all the dorm rooms might be a start. At least the more tech savvy users could be up and running on their own if you give them the vital info (router, dns, etc). That's one less user you have to deal with yourself.
It looks like the info-war will soon resemble the drug war.
So the government will spend billions filling our prisons with pastey faced geeks, while military-grade crypto and mp3 cd-r's will be available for $5 on any street corner? Good plan...
The greatest mystery to me is that people pay for this kind of flawed research. I mean, I can't even remember one which wasn't flawed/biased in one way or another.
I think that's exactly the reason people pay for it. That's why these studies are almost always so flawed.
Game Industry Exec: "Here is a $300,000. We'd like a study exploring how video games make kids smarter, and, umm... improve sexual performance among adults. Oh, and I believe you might find that they reduce cholesterol too. Check that out. Thanks!"
I think the bigger problem is individuals at the workplace plugging in a base station so that they can use their laptops around the office OR even just plugging in their wireless-enabled laptop into the office ethernet, if that laptop is set to act like a base station. Very hard to track down and control (that *is* the market for this new device afterall), and most people who would do it wouldn't even think of the security issues ("it's just like a cordless phone, right?").
make your numbers 100% useless for any kind of comparison
Well, it does tell us how long it takes him to build a "standard" kernal on a PPC machine vs. on an Intel machine. So it's a TINY bit useful (most benchmarks are 97% useless, while this is 99%).
Especially with software that you have source for (and that has a gazillion compilation options) almost ALL benchmarks have very little relation to the real world use of a machine. It is entirely likely that with just a compile or config option or two you could DOUBLE (or more) the speed of an app like MySQL or GCC. And these options usually have different results for different platforms / processors / configurations / test scripts, so you have to decide if you want to use the same set of options for both (more "scientific"), or use whichever works best on each setup (more "real world").
"Really. The hatchling feels good. Here, have one. Really, I insist."
Re:Where were the robots from?
on
Review: A.I.
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· Score: 2
through a sort of peaceful and very gradual transition
Or maybe a quick and violent transition, with the robots wiping out all traces of the humans. Then, a thousand years later, they are embarassed by what their forefathers (umm... forerobots?) have done, and with no real humans around they start to idolize them, and believe that humans (as their original Creators) must have all the answers they seek about the meaning of existence.
it seemed to me that the whole point of the article was to prevent people from being freaked out by Genome research (hmm, and why would the "Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute" want that?) so he first gave a happy (if somewhat conflicting) answer to those who see science as the one true answer, and then made sure he didn't upset religious folks by including thier viewpoint too.
i was really annoyed at how easily they glossed over the very real dangers in using genetic information. the scenario they mention where you could find out what illnesses you are pre-disposed for is a great example: what happens when your insurance company, employer, or potential spouse finds out about this info? even if there are laws against it, i'm sure doing these kind of checks will be common if the technology is readily available.
not that i think we shouldn't continue genome research -- i just think those involved need to be honest with the public about what we are getting into.
Bill Gates himself said that it isn't possible for commercial companies to use GPL code.
Well, they ARE only making $600,000 compared to M$'s billions, and Gates does have a point: closed source software makes MORE money. From a software developer's standpoint this is a pretty strong agruement.
But then I think some of the best open source products come from people who are not doing it for the money anyway. It's either a labor of love or something that helps them get their "real" job done easier.
but by 1965, the idea of a domain name had become a commodity
Umm, 1965?
www.slashdot.org, (31 characters) or 64.28.67.150 (10 characters).
I count 8 significant characters, or 11 if you include the "org". More importantly it parses into two words (slash-dot), which is how the human memory works (we don't store strings of characters -- witness the miserable spelling on this site). AND those two words are somewhat related to the content of the site (brain already had some connections from "geeky stuff" to "slash dot"). Compared to 10 numbers (and there are actually only 9 in that IP address anyway, but a max of 12) 2 words are WAY easier to remember.
but that means no simpsons!!! argh!!! if you don't count the simpsons, then i don't watch any tv. =) but the simpsons are on three times a day, so that does add up...
i gotta say that a Tivo or ReplayTV is a GREAT way to watch good tv and not have cable. There are plenty of shows you are interested in being broadcast, they just aren't usally on when you want to watch them. with a PVR, there is always something good on (mine is filled with JUST simpsons, and the occaisional Titus -- but whatever floats your boat). i can watch more good tv, but spend less time doing it (no commercials -- instant 30 second jump button).
Hmm.... wonder why TV uses 25 fps and film 24 fps then.
That's the minimum speed, below which we lose the impression of continous motion and start to see seperate images (actually, 18fps is roughly the min -- film was sped up to 24fps so that a soundtrack could be run on the edge of the same piece of film without sounding too crappy). The maximum fps we can discern is much higher (somewhere between 70fps and 150fps, depending on who you ask) -- beyond which point most people could not tell the difference caused by additonal frames per second.
Douglas Trumbull did a lot of research into this area, and created a process called Showscan that uses 70mm film projected at 60fps, which is supposed to look incredible!
Just look away from your TV or computer screen, look out the window and watch the real world, and see how crappy our screens look in comparision. They could be (and will be) a lot better.
The programs are editing jpegs, bmps, tiffs, etc., it doesn't really matter which one they use
Photoshop and illustrator have their own native file formats that do extra stuff (lot's of layer options, colorspace settings, etc). If another tool is gonna compete with Adobe tools, it *has* to be able to seamlessly work with their file formats.
In both programs, it's point and click so the learning curve is like NULL. What, they'll have to spend 10 minutes-1 time to figure out everything.
Heh, yeah right. I don't know about the GIMP, but Photoshop is an incredibly deep program (with a very shallow learning curve), so while you CAN open it up and start doing something interesting the first time you use it, you can also still be learning new useful things about it years later (I still am, and I've been a heavy PS user for over 6 years). Unless GIMP works the same way as Photoshop, I'd have to spend alot of time to learn it's tricks and become productive with it.
The original OS X and 9.1 CDs can get a fair sum, too.
Just so you know, unless you are planning to ONLY run linux on this machine (and remove MacOS 9 and X from the hard drive) selling the cd's that came with it would be piracy. MacOS9+X currently go for $130 in retail stores. If you ARE going to only run linux, then sell away!
Chances are the people who make the Flash content don't know the slightest bit of programming
Umm... Isn't that the point of this new book? =) I know the flash designers at my work are excited about it, because they WANT to be able to do all the nifty programming stuff, but they don't know how too (I've looked at the manuals and the flash books they have already, and they suck at explaining how to use actionscript -- I hope this book is better). Any mildly intelligent person can learn how to progam well. Just takes effort (and ideally a good teacher/book/friend to help you over the rough bits).
Re:Does it also work for FedEX vehicles?
on
Flywheel UPS
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· Score: 2
Heh, that was my first thought too. Flywheels WOULD make a lot of sense for delivery trucks though, with their constant stops. Flywheel brakes transfer energy to a flywheel to stop the vehicle, instead of just creating waste heat through friction. The energy in the spinning flywheel can then be used to accelerate again.
By your logic, because America 'invented' the internet, you will rule it.
Not at all. We control.com names, which is completely different from controlling the Internet.
Grouping everything under.com is stupid. Why does a British-based company need a.com address instead of a.co.uk? The U.S. uses.com because at the time it was created, we were the only ones using the Internet! It was funded by the United States Department of Defense. So as other countries join the network, what is wrong with asking them to get their own address spaces? Every country has it's own phone dialing codes. Do you complain that you can't use U.S. 800-prefix phone numbers? (Which in the U.S. are kind of like domain names, in that getting a good one can help your business.)
The only reason.com addresses seem like such a big deal is because people treat them like they are a big deal. If there were lot's of non-.com addresses around, people would get used to them and having name.com wouldn't be considered any better than name.whatever.
Personally I think we should stop giving out new com, edu, net, and org addresses, and put everything under a country code. So US companies would be.co.us, and UK companies would be.co.uk.
Slashdot Mirror
Seems like putting a small self install guide in all the dorm rooms might be a start. At least the more tech savvy users could be up and running on their own if you give them the vital info (router, dns, etc). That's one less user you have to deal with yourself.
It looks like the info-war will soon resemble the drug war.
So the government will spend billions filling our prisons with pastey faced geeks, while military-grade crypto and mp3 cd-r's will be available for $5 on any street corner? Good plan...
On tenews th otherday I spotted a normal rocket taking off (titan? arianne? - The sound wasoff). Why cant his be launched on one of these?
s pace-ariane-dc)
Hmm... Was is this recent launch? (http://news.excite.com/news/r/010807/09/science-
Might not be your best bet for getting a something safely into orbit. =)
Stem Cell Pie? ewwww....
I think you need a better analogy. =)
The greatest mystery to me is that people pay for this kind of flawed research. I mean, I can't even remember one which wasn't flawed/biased in one way or another.
I think that's exactly the reason people pay for it. That's why these studies are almost always so flawed.
Game Industry Exec: "Here is a $300,000. We'd like a study exploring how video games make kids smarter, and, umm... improve sexual performance among adults. Oh, and I believe you might find that they reduce cholesterol too. Check that out. Thanks!"
- Isaac =)
maybe they meant LAN parties... Then this is the right site.
I think the bigger problem is individuals at the workplace plugging in a base station so that they can use their laptops around the office OR even just plugging in their wireless-enabled laptop into the office ethernet, if that laptop is set to act like a base station. Very hard to track down and control (that *is* the market for this new device afterall), and most people who would do it wouldn't even think of the security issues ("it's just like a cordless phone, right?").
I think that 1TB should hold us for a while
Don't you know saying things like that will come back to haunt you? =)
Future person: "1TB? Ha! That's less than half the space I use just for Win2007, much less all my holovids!"
make your numbers 100% useless for any kind of comparison
Well, it does tell us how long it takes him to build a "standard" kernal on a PPC machine vs. on an Intel machine. So it's a TINY bit useful (most benchmarks are 97% useless, while this is 99%).
Especially with software that you have source for (and that has a gazillion compilation options) almost ALL benchmarks have very little relation to the real world use of a machine. It is entirely likely that with just a compile or config option or two you could DOUBLE (or more) the speed of an app like MySQL or GCC. And these options usually have different results for different platforms / processors / configurations / test scripts, so you have to decide if you want to use the same set of options for both (more "scientific"), or use whichever works best on each setup (more "real world").
....what'll that guy be saying then?!
"Really. The hatchling feels good. Here, have one. Really, I insist."
through a sort of peaceful and very gradual transition
Or maybe a quick and violent transition, with the robots wiping out all traces of the humans. Then, a thousand years later, they are embarassed by what their forefathers (umm... forerobots?) have done, and with no real humans around they start to idolize them, and believe that humans (as their original Creators) must have all the answers they seek about the meaning of existence.
If my drive-in science education is to be believed, all the hot babes are on MARS, not the moon. The moon is good on crackers though...
it seemed to me that the whole point of the article was to prevent people from being freaked out by Genome research (hmm, and why would the "Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute" want that?) so he first gave a happy (if somewhat conflicting) answer to those who see science as the one true answer, and then made sure he didn't upset religious folks by including thier viewpoint too.
i was really annoyed at how easily they glossed over the very real dangers in using genetic information. the scenario they mention where you could find out what illnesses you are pre-disposed for is a great example: what happens when your insurance company, employer, or potential spouse finds out about this info? even if there are laws against it, i'm sure doing these kind of checks will be common if the technology is readily available.
not that i think we shouldn't continue genome research -- i just think those involved need to be honest with the public about what we are getting into.
Bill Gates himself said that it isn't possible for commercial companies to use GPL code.
Well, they ARE only making $600,000 compared to M$'s billions, and Gates does have a point: closed source software makes MORE money. From a software developer's standpoint this is a pretty strong agruement.
But then I think some of the best open source products come from people who are not doing it for the money anyway. It's either a labor of love or something that helps them get their "real" job done easier.
but by 1965, the idea of a domain name had become a commodity
Umm, 1965?
www.slashdot.org, (31 characters) or 64.28.67.150 (10 characters).
I count 8 significant characters, or 11 if you include the "org". More importantly it parses into two words (slash-dot), which is how the human memory works (we don't store strings of characters -- witness the miserable spelling on this site). AND those two words are somewhat related to the content of the site (brain already had some connections from "geeky stuff" to "slash dot"). Compared to 10 numbers (and there are actually only 9 in that IP address anyway, but a max of 12) 2 words are WAY easier to remember.
And it gets even MORE fun with IPv6...
I just live without TV.
but that means no simpsons!!! argh!!! if you don't count the simpsons, then i don't watch any tv. =) but the simpsons are on three times a day, so that does add up...
i gotta say that a Tivo or ReplayTV is a GREAT way to watch good tv and not have cable. There are plenty of shows you are interested in being broadcast, they just aren't usally on when you want to watch them. with a PVR, there is always something good on (mine is filled with JUST simpsons, and the occaisional Titus -- but whatever floats your boat). i can watch more good tv, but spend less time doing it (no commercials -- instant 30 second jump button).
Hmm.... wonder why TV uses 25 fps and film 24 fps then.
That's the minimum speed, below which we lose the impression of continous motion and start to see seperate images (actually, 18fps is roughly the min -- film was sped up to 24fps so that a soundtrack could be run on the edge of the same piece of film without sounding too crappy). The maximum fps we can discern is much higher (somewhere between 70fps and 150fps, depending on who you ask) -- beyond which point most people could not tell the difference caused by additonal frames per second.
Douglas Trumbull did a lot of research into this area, and created a process called Showscan that uses 70mm film projected at 60fps, which is supposed to look incredible!
Just look away from your TV or computer screen, look out the window and watch the real world, and see how crappy our screens look in comparision. They could be (and will be) a lot better.
Can I sue you for threatening to sue me for threatening to sue you? I'm confused...
(btw I'm going to sue you for mental anguish caused by this terrible confusion)
The programs are editing jpegs, bmps, tiffs, etc., it doesn't really matter which one they use
Photoshop and illustrator have their own native file formats that do extra stuff (lot's of layer options, colorspace settings, etc). If another tool is gonna compete with Adobe tools, it *has* to be able to seamlessly work with their file formats.
In both programs, it's point and click so the learning curve is like NULL. What, they'll have to spend 10 minutes-1 time to figure out everything.
Heh, yeah right. I don't know about the GIMP, but Photoshop is an incredibly deep program (with a very shallow learning curve), so while you CAN open it up and start doing something interesting the first time you use it, you can also still be learning new useful things about it years later (I still am, and I've been a heavy PS user for over 6 years). Unless GIMP works the same way as Photoshop, I'd have to spend alot of time to learn it's tricks and become productive with it.
wow, that was MUCH better than katz's lame post. maybe this kid should be slashdot's USA topic editor... =)
The original OS X and 9.1 CDs can get a fair sum, too.
Just so you know, unless you are planning to ONLY run linux on this machine (and remove MacOS 9 and X from the hard drive) selling the cd's that came with it would be piracy. MacOS9+X currently go for $130 in retail stores. If you ARE going to only run linux, then sell away!
Chances are the people who make the Flash content don't know the slightest bit of programming
Umm... Isn't that the point of this new book? =) I know the flash designers at my work are excited about it, because they WANT to be able to do all the nifty programming stuff, but they don't know how too (I've looked at the manuals and the flash books they have already, and they suck at explaining how to use actionscript -- I hope this book is better). Any mildly intelligent person can learn how to progam well. Just takes effort (and ideally a good teacher/book/friend to help you over the rough bits).
Heh, that was my first thought too. Flywheels WOULD make a lot of sense for delivery trucks though, with their constant stops. Flywheel brakes transfer energy to a flywheel to stop the vehicle, instead of just creating waste heat through friction. The energy in the spinning flywheel can then be used to accelerate again.
By your logic, because America 'invented' the internet, you will rule it.
.com names, which is completely different from controlling the Internet.
.com is stupid. Why does a British-based company need a .com address instead of a .co.uk? The U.S. uses .com because at the time it was created, we were the only ones using the Internet! It was funded by the United States Department of Defense. So as other countries join the network, what is wrong with asking them to get their own address spaces? Every country has it's own phone dialing codes. Do you complain that you can't use U.S. 800-prefix phone numbers? (Which in the U.S. are kind of like domain names, in that getting a good one can help your business.)
.com addresses seem like such a big deal is because people treat them like they are a big deal. If there were lot's of non-.com addresses around, people would get used to them and having name.com wouldn't be considered any better than name.whatever.
.co.us, and UK companies would be .co.uk.
Not at all. We control
Grouping everything under
The only reason
Personally I think we should stop giving out new com, edu, net, and org addresses, and put everything under a country code. So US companies would be
You get FOUR Simpsons episodes a night??!!! My local FOX station in San Francisco only shows three... =(