I'm surprised nobody mentioned this movie - it came out shortly after the Matrix did, and deals with the idea of simulated reality. It's quite interesting, really. I can't say a whole lot about it without spoiling the movie, so I'll just recommend it.
It would be interesting if something like this could take off - disregarding the bandwidth issues, of course.
First of all, how much does it cost to produce a web-film, as opposed to a feature film? We can probably assume that most of the production costs will remain the same (you still have to pay actors, technicians, etc) but the distribution costs may be cheaper - I imagine some good servers cost quite a bit less than printing up enough film to stretch to to moon and back 8 times and then shipping it off to theatres would.
This could end up something akin to mp3.com - a lot of independent artists get featured there, as the cost of entry is so much less. I, for one, would like to see what someone with little more than a digital camcorder and a PC could put together. After all, they budgeted Blair Witch on $35.26 and a piece of string. Sure, it could be crap, but 90% of everything is crap.
Looking forward to lots of movies about people who are trying to get the lenscap off their camcorders,
An earlier poster noted that the article got the gender screwed up on the [cr|h]acker that did the defacing. That's not the only thing that the writers didn't get:
The 2600 Web site, the online home of a hackers' magazine, has the Redmond, Wash., company prominently listed on a page of "Hacked Sites of the Future."
Isn't this the same portion of 2600 that featured not only Microsoft and The White House as future targets, but the 2600 web site itself?
This kind of thing does seem neat, if a bit over the top. I'm wondering: At what point is it cheaper to buy a tree that glows on its own, than to buy a regular tree and normal lights? I don't know offhand how much it costs to light a normal strand of decorations, but I imagine there's a positive tradeoff somewhere. Add to that the benefits of not having to listen to any of those ornaments which play 'Jingle Bells' and won't stop and you have a sure thing!
Personally, before I discovered google, I used Metacrawler exclusively (of course, saying that one uses a meta-search engine exclusively is somewhat of an oxymoron, but you know what I mean). Rather helpful, it even tells you which hits came from which engines.
While it might not seem the easiest thing to start with at first, maybe the command line might help? If the whole window/desktop/menu thing's not working, than I'd reccommend simple bash. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say you should try to make him become an expert unix command-line guru, far from it. It just seems that, rather than trying to get him to accept the abstract concepts of a particular GUI, it might be simpler to just say "Okay, type 'Netscape'".
Ahh, the Nobel Prizes. Now this is an event worthy of seeing. Of course, since I can't attend in person, I won't be able to. It'd be nice if they were televised:
Announcer: "And the Nobel for Physics goes to...." (Cut to shot of nervous hopefuls) Announcer: "Gerardus 't Hooft and Martinus Veltman, for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics!" (The duo look surprised and go up to the stage to claim their prize. The audience cheers happily, though those who were not nominees have no idea what the announcer said) Veltman: "What can I say? This is indeed a proud moment for us both. We'd like to thank everyone in our lab for helping us. And our families, for supporting us morally." Hooft: "And Elvis." (Veltman just gives Hooft an odd look) Announcer: "And there you have it. Coming up next, the nobel prize for Chemistry! Right after this word from our sponsor...."
One of the solutions (Shenk's) in the article was:
...we must "relinquish power back" to authorities, giving politicians, rather than individuals, responsibility for managing our technological advances.
Another commenter pointed out that politicians aren't exactly well suited to deal with technology. If, on the other hand, we have an AI of the type Katz envisioned, you end up with something:
Knowledgeable about technology - we should hope that something created from technology would have a good knowledge of it.
Knowledgeable in general - If the AI is capable of thinking faster than a person, and has access to the sum of human knowledge nearly instantly (or as much of it is as evident on the Internet) than it is much better informed than any politician could even hope to be.
Not self-serving - We more than likely wouldn't be able to forcibly eject a sufficiently advanced AI, once we put it in a position of authority. Logically, then, it doesn't need to look out for itself as its position is secure (as opposed to politicians, who have to worry about getting ousted next election). Why not serve humanity as it was programmed to do?
I'm not saying that the solution is the correct one - don't get me wrong there. I don't like being told what I can view, what gadgets I need, etc. I believe that other posters are correct when they say that people are becoming more sophisticated and can deal with the new information. However, if it became absolutely necessary that something stop our brains from becoming overloaded, I think an AI would be preferable to a group of lawmakers.
First of all, congrats to Jon on the Linux system! The experiences he describes in the article remind me of when I was playing around with my very first computer (A TI99/4A - they just don't make them like they used to). The learning curve was high (well, BASIC's a high learning curve when you're that young) but it left one with a great feeling of accomplishment. Later, when I learned assembly for my Commodore 64, I got that feeling again. And then I didn't get it for the longest time. Years later, I installed Linux on my PC, and the memories came back - I think (IMHO) that this is how a lot of us here got started with programming, just by playing around, getting something to work, and feeling that sense of accomplishment. There's nothing more rewarding than getting X to work after hours of messing with your XF86Config file. Sure, it's only 320x200 with 256 colors, but it works, and that's what keept me going.
I took an online class about a year ago - it was an introductory level telecommunications class. At the college I attend, every purely online class (and there are several) falls under the juristiction of the "virtual university", which has created a bunch of CGI 'widgets' (the maintainance of which is my lovely job - lucky me) for profs to use. Included are the standard fun things like class lists, online quiz administration, etc. I never had to deal with excessive e-mail, as there was an online forum (not threaded, for some reason that escapes both me and the creators of the program) and a chat room for people to go with their problems.
Overall, the approach worked very well, but I think that it would fail if it were for a more advanced class (ie, one that would generate a lot of discussion) due to the lack of a threaded conversation area, as well as the (relative) inability to monopolize your professor's time through office hours & after-class discussion.
The advantages of on online class are obvious - flexible times (I took the class because the non-virtual version wouldn't fit into my schedule), and larger classes due to self-correcting online tests (the quality of said tests are a different issue) being some, but I can also see the disadvantages. People can miss out a great deal if they don't have someone there in person to view. I was lucky to have RealAudio feed of the lectures so I could catch such subtleties as text tends to leave out, but RealAudio is not a standard part of most Virtual University classes.
I think online classes are a good concept, but it's important to know their limits before the classes are fully implemented.
"...NCR sells hardware, including cash registers and scanners, and software for the retail and financial services industries..."
and
NCR's claim that "NCR has suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable injury from Netscape's infringement"
Don't seem to add up to me.... For one, Netscape's been around for quite a while now, it doesn't seem as though they just woke up and noticed that the technology was similar.
Also, has NCR really seen a loss in sales because people have picked up Netscape instead?
Slashdot Mirror
I'm surprised nobody mentioned this movie - it came out shortly after the Matrix did, and deals with the idea of simulated reality. It's quite interesting, really. I can't say a whole lot about it without spoiling the movie, so I'll just recommend it.
What, with the possibility of Gateway somehow ending up with Amiga's patents, why couldn't we see AmigaOS?
It would be interesting if something like this could take off - disregarding the bandwidth issues, of course.
First of all, how much does it cost to produce a web-film, as opposed to a feature film? We can probably assume that most of the production costs will remain the same (you still have to pay actors, technicians, etc) but the distribution costs may be cheaper - I imagine some good servers cost quite a bit less than printing up enough film to stretch to to moon and back 8 times and then shipping it off to theatres would.
This could end up something akin to mp3.com - a lot of independent artists get featured there, as the cost of entry is so much less. I, for one, would like to see what someone with little more than a digital camcorder and a PC could put together. After all, they budgeted Blair Witch on $35.26 and a piece of string. Sure, it could be crap, but 90% of everything is crap.
Looking forward to lots of movies about people who are trying to get the lenscap off their camcorders,
- The 2600 Web site, the online home of a hackers' magazine, has the Redmond, Wash., company prominently listed on a page of "Hacked Sites of the Future."
Isn't this the same portion of 2600 that featured not only Microsoft and The White House as future targets, but the 2600 web site itself?This kind of thing does seem neat, if a bit over the top. I'm wondering: At what point is it cheaper to buy a tree that glows on its own, than to buy a regular tree and normal lights? I don't know offhand how much it costs to light a normal strand of decorations, but I imagine there's a positive tradeoff somewhere. Add to that the benefits of not having to listen to any of those ornaments which play 'Jingle Bells' and won't stop and you have a sure thing!
You can do a no-porn search on altavista:
# of results for search "+girl": about 6,889,657
# of results for search "+girl -xxx -porn": about 3,774,758
Speeds things right up!
Personally, before I discovered google, I used Metacrawler exclusively (of course, saying that one uses a meta-search engine exclusively is somewhat of an oxymoron, but you know what I mean). Rather helpful, it even tells you which hits came from which engines.
While it might not seem the easiest thing to start with at first, maybe the command line might help?
If the whole window/desktop/menu thing's not working, than I'd reccommend simple bash. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say you should try to make him become an expert unix command-line guru, far from it. It just seems that, rather than trying to get him to accept the abstract concepts of a particular GUI, it might be simpler to just say "Okay, type 'Netscape'".
Ahh, the Nobel Prizes. Now this is an event worthy of seeing. Of course, since I can't attend in person, I won't be able to. It'd be nice if they were televised:
Announcer: "And the Nobel for Physics goes to...."
(Cut to shot of nervous hopefuls)
Announcer: "Gerardus 't Hooft and Martinus Veltman, for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interactions in physics!"
(The duo look surprised and go up to the stage to claim their prize. The audience cheers happily, though those who were not nominees have no idea what the announcer said)
Veltman: "What can I say? This is indeed a proud moment for us both. We'd like to thank everyone in our lab for helping us. And our families, for supporting us morally."
Hooft: "And Elvis."
(Veltman just gives Hooft an odd look)
Announcer: "And there you have it. Coming up next, the nobel prize for Chemistry! Right after this word from our sponsor...."
I'm not saying that the solution is the correct one - don't get me wrong there. I don't like being told what I can view, what gadgets I need, etc. I believe that other posters are correct when they say that people are becoming more sophisticated and can deal with the new information. However, if it became absolutely necessary that something stop our brains from becoming overloaded, I think an AI would be preferable to a group of lawmakers.
First of all, congrats to Jon on the Linux system!
The experiences he describes in the article remind me of when I was playing around with my very first computer (A TI99/4A - they just don't make them like they used to). The learning curve was high (well, BASIC's a high learning curve when you're that young) but it left one with a great feeling of accomplishment. Later, when I learned assembly for my Commodore 64, I got that feeling again. And then I didn't get it for the longest time.
Years later, I installed Linux on my PC, and the memories came back - I think (IMHO) that this is how a lot of us here got started with programming, just by playing around, getting something to work, and feeling that sense of accomplishment. There's nothing more rewarding than getting X to work after hours of messing with your XF86Config file. Sure, it's only 320x200 with 256 colors, but it works, and that's what keept me going.
There's a typo in the link, it should lead to:
http://news.excite.com/news/zd/ 990929/10/jesux-hoax
I took an online class about a year ago - it was an introductory level telecommunications class. At the college I attend, every purely online class (and there are several) falls under the juristiction of the "virtual university", which has created a bunch of CGI 'widgets' (the maintainance of which is my lovely job - lucky me) for profs to use. Included are the standard fun things like class lists, online quiz administration, etc. I never had to deal with excessive e-mail, as there was an online forum (not threaded, for some reason that escapes both me and the creators of the program) and a chat room for people to go with their problems.
Overall, the approach worked very well, but I think that it would fail if it were for a more advanced class (ie, one that would generate a lot of discussion) due to the lack of a threaded conversation area, as well as the (relative) inability to monopolize your professor's time through office hours & after-class discussion.
The advantages of on online class are obvious - flexible times (I took the class because the non-virtual version wouldn't fit into my schedule), and larger classes due to self-correcting online tests (the quality of said tests are a different issue) being some, but I can also see the disadvantages. People can miss out a great deal if they don't have someone there in person to view. I was lucky to have RealAudio feed of the lectures so I could catch such subtleties as text tends to leave out, but RealAudio is not a standard part of most Virtual University classes.
I think online classes are a good concept, but it's important to know their limits before the classes are fully implemented.
"...NCR sells hardware, including cash registers and scanners, and software for the retail and financial services industries..."
and
NCR's claim that "NCR has suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable injury from Netscape's infringement"
Don't seem to add up to me.... For one, Netscape's been around for quite a while now, it doesn't seem as though they just woke up and noticed that the technology was similar.
Also, has NCR really seen a loss in sales because people have picked up Netscape instead?