If they can pull this off, it'll definately have an impact at that price. We paid ~$500 EACH for our 18 Sharp 165W panels( 3'x5' ) and expect about 10 years for payback. That's 1.6KW for ~10'x14' of panels but at a cost of ~$5000.
A 10x reduction in cost would be great but there is still the problem of roof space. An increase in power density would make this a no-brainer and somewhere, there's a group who said they can get 50% efficiency out of their solar tech and are working on effective manufacturing techniques. THAT will be the bubble bursting move IMO. If it happens.
I'm all for an online subscription system for HQ video. As I mentioned in another thread, our cable company will not sell individual channels even when all we want is Discovery and SciFi. They want way too much for the bulk worthless junk that comes with it.
Getting the feed directly from the provider would be great as long as they didn't force MS DRM or some other viewing restrictions.
I looked at the resulting stream and it looks like it's not THE stream since it's just a repeating section. Or atleast that's what it looked like in vi.
I've not been able to get either RealPlayer or HelixPlayer to play the original URL even after installing both just now. Their website says rtps is supported in Helix but not Real.
BTW, it really pisses me off we can't purchase channels from the cable monopolies. Paying $25/mon for 2 watchable channels is a rip off IMO.
Good point. And that's IF they guess correctly at how China and India will factor into the world fuel consumption picture.
I hope I make it to the 2030's. It'll be an "interesting" time with that asteroid due to "just miss us" and oil reserves depleting one at a time( they/we hope ).
1: They are, and we don't. If we were all willing to pay the price, sometime over the last five years we'd have had more than just four hybrid cars in America.
There are many "Americans" who will only purchase "American made" vehicles and it wasn't until 2005 that one "American" car company came out with a hybrid. That is the Ford Escape SUV hybrid. Though I've not heard reviews of this, it's milage improvements were lacking but its emissions were notable. MPG is what's going to help sell these days IMO.
2: GM (yes, THAT GM) has hybrid city busses that they're trying to sell. Albany's CDTA has one that is subbing for the #11, still with all the ads from the 04 conventions. (And, really, they're a great, GREAT idea.)
Wow, where can I purchase one of those? They are really going for the big bang with THAT kind of investment. NOT. Interesting how in the US, it's hybrids for SUVs, trucks, and buses and hydrogen and fuelcells for the masses. IMO, this is obviously sidestepping the road to the future. Which, IMO, is more likely a hybrid hydrogen/electric vehicle if not some other form of fuel. But the electric part is more likely to be part of the picture than not.
Just wait til gasoline in the US levels off at over $2.50/gal. The scrambling for efficiency will begin and most of the money will flow to Japan for quite a few years.
Excellent posting. You might want to check on how Bush killed the hybrid project when he took office and created/funded the hydrogen project. Well, actually, he moved the hybrid project under an umbrella organization with the hydrogen project before killing it.
I think it's a scam alright, but its origin is the Bush administration and not the commerical sector.
Too bad I already burned up my mod points today...
That's a good one. I was just going to suggest he put a couple of switched LEDs or lights over the CNG sticker on the back of his car so he can flash his lights back the those "morons" and "dumb" cops.
Well, how am I to create this H2 and store it in my "converted" vehicle so I can go further than the corner store? From what I've read, storage is very expensive and not yet able to store quantities sufficient for more than 200 miles trips( 160 miles rings a bell ).
Unfortunately, we're only 100% solar powered and don't have excess for generating H2....
> Bright idea, that. "Yeah, we'll have one station for filling up, and ask people to use the least > fuel-efficient vehicle available, so they'll have minimal range on a tank of hydrogen."
That's because it's a marketing project funded by the Bush administration. You know, the people with all the ties to the oil industry and also happen to be running the US government.:-/
Too bad all this hydrogen stuff is smoke and mirror effects designed to delay the adoption of hybrid systems. If you check the press reports from the late 2000 period( 1st 6mon of US Toyota hybrid shipments ) to the mid 2001 timeframe, you'll find that all of Detroit had the hybrid flag held high. Then, Bush got his hands on the government and killed its almost complete hybrid programs and cranked up the funding for hydrogen. All of Detroit then held up the hydrogen flag and, lead by GM, dis'ed the hybrid builders anytime they could. You will also notice that Detroit has not produced much in the fuel economy area in the 4+ years since Toyota and Honda released thier hybrids. That means fuel usage has not gone down. Kinda like the hydrogen bandwagon is all about NOT changing the fuel purchasing habits, NOT changing oil industry profits, NOT changing US world oil purchases.
Funny how GM has been helping to pass around the idea the HYBRID vehicles are more expensive than conventional vehicles and people won't pay the price. But GM is VERY VERY pro hydrogen...
There needs to be a number of BREAK-THROUGHS in they hydrogen system before vehicles are anywhere near the current price of fuel and gas or hybrid vehicles.
So for now, it's all about putting on a show that's being financed by the Bush administration. And it's likely to be a 25+ year show so don't get your hopes up.
have you checked the weather recently? Another "feature" of hybrids is the much lower polution load they put on the environment. Combined with the MPG and environmental/polution load, one has to ask: Why , after 6 months( 2000/2001 ) of saying hybrids were great, Detroit and Washington then went whole hog for hydrogen/fuel cells?
hint: Check what the Bush administration did to the government sponsored hybrid project as soon as they took office.
This is just pie-in-the-sky stuff right now. Sure they can put up expensive refueling stations for million dollar vehicles but who thought they couldn't.
The question should be asked, why are they doing it? It has no practical purpose other than to PROMOTE the dream of a hydrogen economy. It's still very much a R&D project but the Bush Administration keeps promoting it like it's going to happen this decade...
IMO, it so current fuel efficient technology( hybrids ) uptake is slowed down. We can't have slowed oil industry profits now can we.
Bout time? Sorry, but you're still waiting unless you've got the $$ and contacts to get one of these prototype vehicles. Hey, it's cheaper to get a ride up to the space station and visit the fuel cells up there.
What better way to hook almost every MS Windows user right back to microsoft.com? Not to mention, this would probably mean a weekly or even daily fix( as in drug addict ).
I'll bet that this mechanism will be used for system and application patching too. They already said they were considering a fee based security patching system.
After all, did Bill say the software AND SERVICE were going to be free? I recall only hearing that the software would be free....
None of this is good for McAffee or Symantec investors or employees. Nice knowing you.
Good point and as others have mentioned, it's probably why they want GPS and why they WILL be tracking/datalogging your movement.
Here's a better solution. Put vehicle scales at every filling station and have the taxes/gal adjust based on the weight of the vehicle. Obviously, a Hummer is going to put more wear/tear on the road than a Metro. It'll force people out of the car while filling too so there's an exercise component to it too.;-)
I hope they will differentiate between miles driven on private roads, public roads, indian reservations( for those CA gamblers out there, and federally funded roads.
Then, I wonder how many GPS antenna blocking devices will start showing up on the market?
I find it interesting that they think it'll generate more income if they put millions and millions of new devices and electronics on each vehicle as opposed to collecting funds/taxes from the far fewer filling stations. It reminds me of the friend who just purchased a new car because gasoline for his SUV was getting too expensive. HE DIDN'T SELL THE SUV! He just bought another vehicle. Bush economics in action...;-/
you really should read the post again since I never even mentioned any specific Microsoft technology. History seems to show my point quite clearly.
"pro-Google bias"? You've got to be kidding.
BTW, making a technology decision includes considering those which lock in customers and users and reduce/eliminate choice of a robust underlying operating system. They also include considerations for reliability, security, and ownership at the application layer.
Picking Microsoft is always a 'me too', and 'nobody got fired for....' thing to do. Otherwise, Microsoft would not have had to spend $100's of Millions advertising Windows 95 and again advertising Windows NT. They would not have had to spend/lose about $1 Billion per year pushing Windows CE. They wouldn't have to have sites like their "Get the Facts" web site or have to pay companies to reprint their marketing data in funded "research" papers.
yup, I realize there is alot of copying going on at the APPLICATION level already and I don't really like that either but it's what we got. But when the copying is at the API level, that's another story and a long one at that. The story goes something like this. Microsoft has a monopoly in operating systems. It uses that monopoly to control the APIs used in the dominant operating system and thus direct/control developers. This control also allows them to keep the competition behing Microsoft since Microsoft developers have inside information and more timely information on those APIs.
So, do you really think its a good idea building a development platform which puts OSS developers in the position of following Windows developers who are following Microsoft developers?
Not to even mention that the OSS apps are likely to be copies of Windows apps but copies without full access to the patented APIs of.net. So there would be no real reason for them to be used on Windows and they'll only be a partial copy on Linux or whatever platform Mono is running.
Bridging with open formats is a far better way to go. Sometimes copying the LookAndFeel can help the timid move but like I said, it's UI no API copying. Bridging by copying MSFT APIs have NEVER been the way to go if you expect any long term progress. They'll shoot you down sooner than later.
GAWD, here we go again. Microsoft forced companies to NOT sell or build software for OS/2 and that is fact( see the DOJ docs ). I was at the 1994 COMDEX where HP didn not show any OS/2 systems running. That is because they were all pulled off the show floor the night before opening day after Microsoft made a couple of phone calls to HP execs.
Saying OS/2 failed because IBM couldn't market it is being ignorant of what went on. You anonymous coward you.
Now, the original post about following Microsoft by chasing its APIs is valid IMO and the OS/2 reference is valid also. 20+ years of history shows that Microsoft can and will use its APIs to keep everyone following them right off the cliff. Only Microsoft is the only one with the parachute called a monopoly protecting them....
> I bet if Google was behind Mono it would be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
You'd lose the bet.
Google would not be Google if they used Microsoft technology. They could not have grown to the size they are on Microsoft tech nor with the profits they've had.
So, if Google were behind Mono, Google would not be Google and nobody would think that Mono was the greatest thing since sliced bread. IMO.
oh that's a good way to look at it. If you've got a few million bucks in the bank to pay for the court case that Microsoft files. RIAA anyone?
It is obvious that Microsoft intends to use the US court system and its patents( fake or otherwise ) to shutdown open source software. And this has been obvious for a few of years. The fact that the ECMA allows patented materials in its "accepted" "standards" is obviously why Microsoft used THAT organization.
Come on, open your eyes. For how long did they hold up the XML flag before joining it with their XML format patent flag?
Why Miguel insists on copying Microsofts technologies in his projects is beyond me... It has always been the wrong path and a quick look at Microsofts history will show you that. IMHO
that really does not have anything to do with it. those "settlements" have never had any effect on how Microsoft conducts its business or what technology it uses. They typically are payoffs to companies who's products/ideas where stolen or crushed and who's financials tanked because of how Microsoft "conducts business".
with $40+ billion in CASH, Microsoft can and does do what ever it pleases with other commercial products/companies. Though the smartest company to ever go to court with Microsoft was Stack. They took the ~$150 million and changed the market they were in. Everyone else were on sinking ships when they settled, and then just continued on the ride to the bottom.
Slashdot Mirror
If they can pull this off, it'll definately have an impact at that price. We paid ~$500 EACH for our 18 Sharp 165W panels( 3'x5' ) and expect about 10 years for payback. That's 1.6KW for ~10'x14' of panels but at a cost of ~$5000.
A 10x reduction in cost would be great but there is still the problem of roof space. An increase in power density would make this a no-brainer and somewhere, there's a group who said they can get 50% efficiency out of their solar tech and are working on effective manufacturing techniques. THAT will be the bubble bursting move IMO. If it happens.
LoB
I'm all for an online subscription system for HQ video. As I mentioned in another thread, our cable company will not sell individual channels even when all we want is Discovery and SciFi. They want way too much for the bulk worthless junk that comes with it.
Getting the feed directly from the provider would be great as long as they didn't force MS DRM or some other viewing restrictions.
LoB
I looked at the resulting stream and it looks like it's not THE stream since it's just a repeating section. Or atleast that's what it looked like in vi.
I've not been able to get either RealPlayer or HelixPlayer to play the original URL even after installing both just now. Their website says rtps is supported in Helix but not Real.
BTW, it really pisses me off we can't purchase channels from the cable monopolies. Paying $25/mon for 2 watchable channels is a rip off IMO.
LoB
Good point. And that's IF they guess correctly at how China and India will factor into the world fuel consumption picture.
I hope I make it to the 2030's. It'll be an "interesting" time with that asteroid due to "just miss us" and oil reserves depleting one at a time( they/we hope ).
LoB
There are many "Americans" who will only purchase "American made" vehicles and it wasn't until 2005 that one "American" car company came out with a hybrid. That is the Ford Escape SUV hybrid. Though I've not heard reviews of this, it's milage improvements were lacking but its emissions were notable. MPG is what's going to help sell these days IMO.
2: GM (yes, THAT GM) has hybrid city busses that they're trying to sell. Albany's CDTA has one that is subbing for the #11, still with all the ads from the 04 conventions. (And, really, they're a great, GREAT idea.)
Wow, where can I purchase one of those? They are really going for the big bang with THAT kind of investment. NOT.
Interesting how in the US, it's hybrids for SUVs, trucks, and buses and hydrogen and fuelcells for the masses. IMO, this is obviously sidestepping the road to the future. Which, IMO, is more likely a hybrid hydrogen/electric vehicle if not some other form of fuel. But the electric part is more likely to be part of the picture than not.
Just wait til gasoline in the US levels off at over $2.50/gal. The scrambling for efficiency will begin and most of the money will flow to Japan for quite a few years.
LoB
Excellent posting. You might want to check on how Bush killed the hybrid project when he took office and created/funded the hydrogen project. Well, actually, he moved the hybrid project under an umbrella organization with the hydrogen project before killing it.
I think it's a scam alright, but its origin is the Bush administration and not the commerical sector.
Too bad I already burned up my mod points today...
LoB
That's a good one. I was just going to suggest he put a couple of switched LEDs or lights over the CNG sticker on the back of his car so he can flash his lights back the those "morons" and "dumb" cops.
LoB
Well, how am I to create this H2 and store it in my "converted" vehicle so I can go further than the corner store? From what I've read, storage is very expensive and not yet able to store quantities sufficient for more than 200 miles trips( 160 miles rings a bell ).
Unfortunately, we're only 100% solar powered and don't have excess for generating H2....
LoB
> Bright idea, that. "Yeah, we'll have one station for filling up, and ask people to use the least
:-/
> fuel-efficient vehicle available, so they'll have minimal range on a tank of hydrogen."
That's because it's a marketing project funded by the Bush administration. You know, the people with all the ties to the oil industry and also happen to be running the US government.
LoB
Too bad all this hydrogen stuff is smoke and mirror effects designed to delay the adoption of hybrid systems. If you check the press reports from the late 2000 period( 1st 6mon of US Toyota hybrid shipments ) to the mid 2001 timeframe, you'll find that all of Detroit had the hybrid flag held high. Then, Bush got his hands on the government and killed its almost complete hybrid programs and cranked up the funding for hydrogen. All of Detroit then held up the hydrogen flag and, lead by GM, dis'ed the hybrid builders anytime they could. You will also notice that Detroit has not produced much in the fuel economy area in the 4+ years since Toyota and Honda released thier hybrids. That means fuel usage has not gone down. Kinda like the hydrogen bandwagon is all about NOT changing the fuel purchasing habits, NOT changing oil industry profits, NOT changing US world oil purchases.
LoB
Funny how GM has been helping to pass around the idea the HYBRID vehicles are more expensive than conventional vehicles and people won't pay the price. But GM is VERY VERY pro hydrogen...
There needs to be a number of BREAK-THROUGHS in they hydrogen system before vehicles are anywhere near the current price of fuel and gas or hybrid vehicles.
So for now, it's all about putting on a show that's being financed by the Bush administration. And it's likely to be a 25+ year show so don't get your hopes up.
LoB
have you checked the weather recently? Another "feature" of hybrids is the much lower polution load they put on the environment. Combined with the MPG and environmental/polution load, one has to ask: Why , after 6 months( 2000/2001 ) of saying hybrids were great, Detroit and Washington then went whole hog for hydrogen/fuel cells?
hint: Check what the Bush administration did to the government sponsored hybrid project as soon as they took office.
LoB
This is just pie-in-the-sky stuff right now. Sure they can put up expensive refueling stations for million dollar vehicles but who thought they couldn't.
The question should be asked, why are they doing it? It has no practical purpose other than to PROMOTE the dream of a hydrogen economy. It's still very much a R&D project but the Bush Administration keeps promoting it like it's going to happen this decade...
IMO, it so current fuel efficient technology( hybrids ) uptake is slowed down. We can't have slowed oil industry profits now can we.
Bout time? Sorry, but you're still waiting unless you've got the $$ and contacts to get one of these prototype vehicles. Hey, it's cheaper to get a ride up to the space station and visit the fuel cells up there.
LoB
LoB
What better way to hook almost every MS Windows user right back to microsoft.com? Not to mention, this would probably mean a weekly or even daily fix( as in drug addict ).
I'll bet that this mechanism will be used for system and application patching too. They already said they were considering a fee based security patching system.
After all, did Bill say the software AND SERVICE were going to be free? I recall only hearing that the software would be free....
None of this is good for McAffee or Symantec investors or employees. Nice knowing you.
LoB
Good point and as others have mentioned, it's probably why they want GPS and why they WILL be tracking/datalogging your movement.
;-)
Here's a better solution. Put vehicle scales at every filling station and have the taxes/gal adjust based on the weight of the vehicle. Obviously, a Hummer is going to put more wear/tear on the road than a Metro. It'll force people out of the car while filling too so there's an exercise component to it too.
LoB
I hope they will differentiate between miles driven on private roads, public roads, indian reservations( for those CA gamblers out there, and federally funded roads.
;-/
Then, I wonder how many GPS antenna blocking devices will start showing up on the market?
I find it interesting that they think it'll generate more income if they put millions and millions of new devices and electronics on each vehicle as opposed to collecting funds/taxes from the far fewer filling stations. It reminds me of the friend who just purchased a new car because gasoline for his SUV was getting too expensive. HE DIDN'T SELL THE SUV! He just bought another vehicle. Bush economics in action...
LoB
you really should read the post again since I never even mentioned any specific Microsoft technology. History seems to show my point quite clearly.
....' thing to do. Otherwise, Microsoft would not have had to spend $100's of Millions advertising Windows 95 and again advertising Windows NT. They would not have had to spend/lose about $1 Billion per year pushing Windows CE. They wouldn't have to have sites like their "Get the Facts" web site or have to pay companies to reprint their marketing data in funded "research" papers.
"pro-Google bias"? You've got to be kidding.
BTW, making a technology decision includes considering those which lock in customers and users and reduce/eliminate choice of a robust underlying operating system. They also include considerations for reliability, security, and ownership at the application layer.
Picking Microsoft is always a 'me too', and 'nobody got fired for
nuf said.
LoB
Messing with an already deadly and tough virus is dangerous. Isn't there recent news of a new strain of HIV spreading now?
It does sound promising for the fight on cancer but very dangerous too.
LoB
yup, I realize there is alot of copying going on at the APPLICATION level already and I don't really like that either but it's what we got. But when the copying is at the API level, that's another story and a long one at that. The story goes something like this. Microsoft has a monopoly in operating systems. It uses that monopoly to control the APIs used in the dominant operating system and thus direct/control developers. This control also allows them to keep the competition behing Microsoft since Microsoft developers have inside information and more timely information on those APIs.
.net. So there would be no real reason for them to be used on Windows and they'll only be a partial copy on Linux or whatever platform Mono is running.
So, do you really think its a good idea building a development platform which puts OSS developers in the position of following Windows developers who are following Microsoft developers?
Not to even mention that the OSS apps are likely to be copies of Windows apps but copies without full access to the patented APIs of
Bridging with open formats is a far better way to go. Sometimes copying the LookAndFeel can help the timid move but like I said, it's UI no API copying. Bridging by copying MSFT APIs have NEVER been the way to go if you expect any long term progress. They'll shoot you down sooner than later.
LoB
not to mention that there are so many just copying MS Windows apps anyways, why use a Mono built copy of something on Windows?
Thank goodness the Chandler folks are NOT using Mono.
Though I do wonder if and when Novell figures out Mono is not a good play for them.
LoB
GAWD, here we go again. Microsoft forced companies to NOT sell or build software for OS/2 and that is fact( see the DOJ docs ). I was at the 1994 COMDEX where HP didn not show any OS/2 systems running. That is because they were all pulled off the show floor the night before opening day after Microsoft made a couple of phone calls to HP execs.
Saying OS/2 failed because IBM couldn't market it is being ignorant of what went on. You anonymous coward you.
Now, the original post about following Microsoft by chasing its APIs is valid IMO and the OS/2 reference is valid also. 20+ years of history shows that Microsoft can and will use its APIs to keep everyone following them right off the cliff. Only Microsoft is the only one with the parachute called a monopoly protecting them....
LoB
> I bet if Google was behind Mono it would be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
You'd lose the bet.
Google would not be Google if they used Microsoft technology. They could not have grown to the size they are on Microsoft tech nor with the profits they've had.
So, if Google were behind Mono, Google would not be Google and nobody would think that Mono was the greatest thing since sliced bread. IMO.
LoB
oh that's a good way to look at it. If you've got a few million bucks in the bank to pay for the court case that Microsoft files. RIAA anyone?
It is obvious that Microsoft intends to use the US court system and its patents( fake or otherwise ) to shutdown open source software. And this has been obvious for a few of years. The fact that the ECMA allows patented materials in its "accepted" "standards" is obviously why Microsoft used THAT organization.
Come on, open your eyes. For how long did they hold up the XML flag before joining it with their XML format patent flag?
Why Miguel insists on copying Microsofts technologies in his projects is beyond me... It has always been the wrong path and a quick look at Microsofts history will show you that. IMHO
LoB
that really does not have anything to do with it. those "settlements" have never had any effect on how Microsoft conducts its business or what technology it uses. They typically are payoffs to companies who's products/ideas where stolen or crushed and who's financials tanked because of how Microsoft "conducts business".
with $40+ billion in CASH, Microsoft can and does do what ever it pleases with other commercial products/companies. Though the smartest company to ever go to court with Microsoft was Stack. They took the ~$150 million and changed the market they were in. Everyone else were on sinking ships when they settled, and then just continued on the ride to the bottom.
LoB