Oh Get over it! They clearly state that both NT and LINUX have many services turned on by default, and any administrator trying to operate a secure server should have these features turned off. This is not biased, no matter how much you want to think it is.
This article talked nothing about delivering TV channels via the Internet. Can you imagine the bandwidth that would take? Cable systems have at most the bandwidth to carry 100-200 traditional channels. At least 100 of these would be taken up with traditional channels. The rest are available for services such as voice over IP and broadband Internet. Remember that broadband cable Internet works by assigning a group of households a cable channel to communicate over so share the bandwidth that a channel provides. What this means is that there is nowhere near the bandwidth available for TV on demand which would require an entire channel per viewer. For TV on demand to work there would have to be the bandwidth of an equivalent of 5,000 channels available (assuming 5% of a city of 100,000 want to watch on demand TV). Cable will never have this kind of bandwidth.
Hidden API's are not going to make their Windows Media player any better. It is all about the compression and streaming technology they use. Microsoft's current Media Player is good because they purchased all the best players in the streaming world, and utilized their technology to produce a superior product. While you can argue that this isn't fair, it is a different problem than them having superiour access to Window's source code. Hell, the product is even available on the Macintosh, and they DO NOT have access to Apple's source code.
The common myth that the QWERTY layout was designed to slow down the average typist is blatantly false. Because early typewriters were susceptible to jamming, the QWERTY layout was designed so that when typing common English words, the letters that make up an average word would be separated from each other. This design doesn't slow down the average typist, it just causes he or she to have to constantly use all five fingers on both hands in order to type efficiently. The QWERTY layout allowed early typewriters to jam less frequently without causing us to have to artificially slow down the speed in which we type. Its design goal was not to slow typist down, just to spread out the keys that are pressed.
If people are forced to recompile, why do you need to emulate the instructions of another processor? The goal of emulating another processor is so that recompilation isn't necessary. Perhaps the compiler teams are writing their own compilers so that if vendors want to achieve maximum speed, they can recompile, otherwise they will be running in emulation mode. This is how the MacOS deals with 68k code and how the upcoming Merced processor will work.
I started experiencing pain in my wrist about a year ago. I think it was the result of absolutely TERRIBLE ergonomics at a summer job I was at. Being a junior CS major, I was naturally very worried when I couldn't seem to get the pain to go away. I tried many different solutions from ergonomic keyboard trays to special mouse pads, but nothing seemed to work. However, I eventually came up with two things that probably saved my wrists:
The FLEXTEND system. The system consists of a device that fits on your hand and a set of exercises, which allows you to exercise the little used muscles in the wrist. These muscles, found on the opposite side of the carpal tunnel from the muscles that do most of the typing, are very week on an average hand. Because the strength of the muscles on both sides of the carpal tunnel are not balanced, this causes the carpal tunnel to experience pressure, and leads to the pain you are experiencing. The proscribed exercises using the device worked very well for me, and whenever I feel pain, a few days of exercise usually eliminates it. I highly recommend this product.
The second thing I did was to flatten the keyboard (meaning that I put the legs on the back of the keyboard down), and placed an opened book in front of it. By resting my wrists on the book while typing on the flat keybard, I elminated the incredible amount of stress that is put on the wrist if the keyboard is slanted up and the wrists are on the desk. Also, my shoulders are not forced to hold my wrists up while typing (something suggested by a previous poster).
This has done wonders for me, and I would strongly suggest that you at least try these methods before doing the extreme step of undergoing painful and costly surgery.
A service like this is much more plausible in the bay area compared with other parts of the country due to the ricochet modem service. Ricochet's service is a flat unlimited use rate, and the speed is reasonably fast. To cover the entire bay area, Ricochet actually puts their transmitters in street lamps, so they eliminate the huge towers cellular service has to deal with. So, I think Roblimo and other taxi drives will have to wait a while before Internet rides are feasible in other parts of the country.
I saw this report on a Los Angeles evening news, and at the end of the report, they added that a while back similar lawsuits were attempted on Baseball card manufactures citing the same reasoning. Those suits were thrown out, and most likely this one will to.
Are you kidding me??? I bet you didn't even read the article. I believe that the story was a very fair piece. EMachines IS being sued by Apple and Compaq, and even eMachines admits that its business plan does not have any chance of profitability for the foreseeable future. This is even without fierce competition from such industry stalwarts such as Compaq, Dell, and the like. The only reason why they are doing well in the market place is that their Asian partners largely subsidize their machines. Ask yourself, "what does this company have that Dell and the like don't have?" Not much, and definitely not enough to make a successful company. So, no, I don't think that this piece was,"anything other than a seething cesspool of bias, anything more than a classic covert market slant..." thanks!
Also, watch how quickly CNET will turn on Microsoft or Intel when they start having poor quarters. It is just very hard for any mainstream media outlet to question the business plan of hugely successful companies such as Intel and M$. No one is ready to short M$, nor question the validity of their business plan. Obviously, the prevailing sentiment on Slashdot is that Microsoft's business model is doomed to failure, but even the most jaded observer of Microsoft has to see that its business plan has been successful and, should not be even mentioned in the same breath eMachines' prospects. This is why you don't see,"any sort of negative view towards Microsoft along the lines of negativity that's been painted over eMachines right now." -EJ
In New Mexico the age of consent is 17, not 13. Also, since this guy crossed state lines, he can be charged with a Federal crime, not simply a state crime. So, even if this "13 year-old" had been from New Mexico, he still would have been in big trouble.
Well this contest seems silly to me. If you read the link provided by an earlier comment, you'll see that the creator of Brutus.1 already believes his machine will loose. The author states: ...It seems pretty clear that computers will never best human storytellers in even a short story competition. It is clear from our work that to tell a truly compelling story, a machine would need to understand the "inner lives" of his or her characters.... For example, a person can think experientially about a trip to Europe as a kid, remember what it was like to be in Paris on a sunny day with an older brother, smash a drive down a fairway, feel a lover's touch, ski on the edge, or need a good night's sleep. But any such example, I claim, will demand capabilities no machine will ever have. I too believe that before a computer can create an acceptable story with believable human characters, you'll need a computer capable of mimicking human characteristics. You can't have believable human characters without a computer capable of being a believable human. Computer Science is a long way away from this, and Brutus, while interesting, is no closer to this holy grail of AI.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh Get over it! They clearly state that both NT and LINUX have many services turned on by default, and any administrator trying to operate a secure server should have these features turned off. This is not biased, no matter how much you want to think it is.
This article talked nothing about delivering TV channels via the Internet. Can you imagine the bandwidth that would take? Cable systems have at most the bandwidth to carry 100-200 traditional channels. At least 100 of these would be taken up with traditional channels. The rest are available for services such as voice over IP and broadband Internet. Remember that broadband cable Internet works by assigning a group of households a cable channel to communicate over so share the bandwidth that a channel provides. What this means is that there is nowhere near the bandwidth available for TV on demand which would require an entire channel per viewer. For TV on demand to work there would have to be the bandwidth of an equivalent of 5,000 channels available (assuming 5% of a city of 100,000 want to watch on demand TV). Cable will never have this kind of bandwidth.
Hidden API's are not going to make their Windows Media player any better. It is all about the compression and streaming technology they use. Microsoft's current Media Player is good because they purchased all the best players in the streaming world, and utilized their technology to produce a superior product. While you can argue that this isn't fair, it is a different problem than them having superiour access to Window's source code. Hell, the product is even available on the Macintosh, and they DO NOT have access to Apple's source code.
The common myth that the QWERTY layout was designed to slow down the average typist is blatantly false. Because early typewriters were susceptible to jamming, the QWERTY layout was designed so that when typing common English words, the letters that make up an average word would be separated from each other. This design doesn't slow down the average typist, it just causes he or she to have to constantly use all five fingers on both hands in order to type efficiently. The QWERTY layout allowed early typewriters to jam less frequently without causing us to have to artificially slow down the speed in which we type. Its design goal was not to slow typist down, just to spread out the keys that are pressed.
If people are forced to recompile, why do you need to emulate the instructions of another processor? The goal of emulating another processor is so that recompilation isn't necessary.
Perhaps the compiler teams are writing their own compilers so that if vendors want to achieve maximum speed, they can recompile, otherwise they will be running in emulation mode. This is how the MacOS deals with 68k code and how the upcoming Merced processor will work.
This has done wonders for me, and I would strongly suggest that you at least try these methods before doing the extreme step of undergoing painful and costly surgery.
The interception happens above our atmosphere, so I'm not sure how much you'll actaully see.
A service like this is much more plausible in the bay area compared with other parts of the country due to the ricochet modem service. Ricochet's service is a flat unlimited use rate, and the speed is reasonably fast. To cover the entire bay area, Ricochet actually puts their transmitters in street lamps, so they eliminate the huge towers cellular service has to deal with. So, I think Roblimo and other taxi drives will have to wait a while before Internet rides are feasible in other parts of the country.
I saw this report on a Los Angeles evening news, and at the end of the report, they added that a while back similar lawsuits were attempted on Baseball card manufactures citing the same reasoning. Those suits were thrown out, and most likely this one will to.
Are you kidding me??? I bet you didn't even read the article. I believe that the story was a very fair piece. EMachines IS being sued by Apple and Compaq, and even eMachines admits that its business plan does not have any chance of profitability for the foreseeable future. This is even without fierce competition from such industry stalwarts such as Compaq, Dell, and the like. The only reason why they are doing well in the market place is that their Asian partners largely subsidize their machines. Ask yourself, "what does this company have that Dell and the like don't have?" Not much, and definitely not enough to make a successful company. So, no, I don't think that this piece was,"anything other than a seething cesspool of bias, anything more than a classic covert market slant..." thanks!
Also, watch how quickly CNET will turn on Microsoft or Intel when they start having poor quarters. It is just very hard for any mainstream media outlet to question the business plan of hugely successful companies such as Intel and M$. No one is ready to short M$, nor question the validity of their business plan. Obviously, the prevailing sentiment on Slashdot is that Microsoft's business model is doomed to failure, but even the most jaded observer of Microsoft has to see that its business plan has been successful and, should not be even mentioned in the same breath eMachines' prospects. This is why you don't see,"any sort of negative view towards Microsoft along the lines of negativity that's been painted over eMachines right now."
-EJ
In New Mexico the age of consent is 17, not 13. Also, since this guy crossed state lines, he can be charged with a Federal crime, not simply a state crime. So, even if this "13 year-old" had been from New Mexico, he still would have been in big trouble.
Well this contest seems silly to me. If you read the link provided by an earlier comment, you'll see that the creator of Brutus.1 already believes his machine will loose. The author states:
...It seems pretty clear that computers will never best human storytellers in even a short story competition. It is clear from our work that to tell a truly compelling story, a machine would need to understand the "inner lives" of his or her characters.... For example, a person can think experientially about a trip to Europe as a kid, remember what it was like to be in Paris on a sunny day with an older brother, smash a drive down a fairway, feel a lover's touch, ski on the edge, or need a good night's sleep. But any such example, I claim, will demand capabilities no machine will ever have.
I too believe that before a computer can create an acceptable story with believable human characters, you'll need a computer capable of mimicking human characteristics. You can't have believable human characters without a computer capable of being a believable human. Computer Science is a long way away from this, and Brutus, while interesting, is no closer to this holy grail of AI.