but don't under estimate Microsoft's ability and willingness to pay companies to ship their Windows versions at the expense of others. They paid ISP's to ship Internet Explorer, they paid companies to ship WindowsCE based handhelds, and more recently they paid companies to ship Windows XP based netbooks over Linux based ones. These kinds of direct and marketing based funding efforts have been used to flood the market with Microsoft product and build the brand recognition in the segment and I would expect them to do nothing different this time.
So while Symbian and Windows Mobiles may be surrounded by -nix based devices, billions in $$ has, in the past, been a very good catapult out of what looks like a encircled Microsoft. And remember, the public is _way_ ignorant to how bad their stuff really is since it kinda works. And with Ballmer sticking his head into this segment, you know it is going to get very messy. IMO
It is good to see so many leveraging -nix technology and doing so well with it and it makes sense. Modularity has always been a big part of the UNIX design and having the ability to scale up and down fits most business models well. And it has a history of 'it just works'.
screw AT&T if that is what they think. Same goes for any other company who builds and designs half-assed security measures and publicly, or even privately, blasts those for exposing how much they suck at this. It's like blaming the people who exposed Madoff.
Gates made sales and helped make sure the people who's livelihood relied on selling his products, or products based on his, did not try to make money using anyone elses product(s). So I wonder what moron thinks Albert Einstein and Bill Gates have anything on common other than being male?
Gates is more like the Snake Oil salesman and Albert Einstein is not.
I'm all for using tech to improve efficiencies and reduce our reliance on outside fuels but Bill Gates is not the man to sell this. Anybody who thinks he is is also giving away his/her ignorance. IMO.
but sir, it does not exist unless it exists on Windows to many lemmings out there. I'd demo'ed multi-threading systems to a bunch of Windows developers years ago and they were unimpressed. But, 3+ years later, when Windows got a poor implementation of multi-threading, they were all excited and some even attempted to show me how cool it was. 3D, OOP, etc, etc are the same.
So, if it is not on Windows or by Microsoft, it doesn't exist to these people. Sad but true.
they've been under estimating the leaking oil, telling us things are progressing fine and then telling us they failed, etc etc so I hope this bit about them purchasing search terms is not a surprise. They, like Exxon before them, plan on surviving this and moving on with business of making billions in profit every year from oil sales. They might have to change their name in the US though because the Gulf is not Alaska and it's likely that this could spread up the easter seaboard too. All area which are far more populated than where the Exxon Valdez mess occurred.
I don't think this will be the last bit of spin we'll be seeing from them. I've already noticed that their public relations people are spinning the leak estimation numbers as US government defined estimates. My guess is that if they put a real cap on this and therefore have a measured amount of flow, the numbers will have to be made public. Changing the perception that the under estimated values were government estimates cover there asses when the real numbers come to light. There's more spin to come.
while the front facing camera has been around for awhile, its usefulness has not been defined yet. if it turns out that we all must have video conferences then ok but the jury is still out on that one.
As far as all those other phone manufacturers go, you must know the difference between a smartphone and a not so smartphone. Not all phones are created equal and we are talking about smartphones here.
yes, it is a start and we'll see if dozens of hardware vendors selling Android devices can continue to outsell one hardware vendor with one phone and one carrier.
you're looking at it all wrong. There is a huge base of future school IT people right there in the schools. It might take one guru but that one guru running a single lab would kick start the process when every student in the class gets to take everything home for free and there's more where that came from for free. Out of those kids will come a few who dig this stuff and they could be hired for credits the next semester to help run the lab. Get a few and now you have a few labs and more kids who want to and will learn more.
In 3 years you have graduating seniors who could be hired for 25K to run a lab and help that guru do even more.
With Windows, how are any of the students going to take home Windows Server and all the various server software and dig into it to learn more and more? Not only that, they'll need pretty high end hardware to run it too. Linux and the OSS give the kids a chance to jump out of their parents financial situation while Windows keeps them stuck and needing handouts to get a leg up.
So is that guru really that expensive? The savings from having to purchase anti-virus software for the systems is probably enough to help cover some of the extra costs.
except that they really didn't put the bar up very high with this. The Nexus One has ~250 ppi display and Apple even said that 300 ppi is the most the eye can see. The Nexus One already has a a camera but the iPhone has a front facing one too. ok. Multi-tasking - Android/Nexus One already has that. 802.11n - Nexus One already has that. The new iPhone has a gyro, so it's got that going for it.
If anything, they really mostly joined the latest Android hardware and software with only a few Apple nicities thrown in via software apps.
The tap-to-focus is nice and the movie editing might be good for little things. A good upgrade but not a game changer so Android should continue to do quite well in month to month sales. Which by the way has already started beating out Apple iPhone sales. With iOS v4 going out for free to most of the previous iPhone models and a good upgrade in hardware it should keep Apple very relevant in this space. Where is that Microsoft these days?
multi-seat is like virtual machines in that 90% of the population know only Windows or Mac and they just don't understand this stuff. I even showed a multi-seat laptop to an IT guy to show how they could reduce the number of computers used in their kiosk filled showroom but he still didn't get it. I had proposed running the multi-seat Linux to reduce the number of PCs and then where they needed to run Windows, the multi-seat system could run either one or two virtual machine instances of Windows.
So, if you think it's difficult to get people to understand what Linux is, try to get their little brains around one computer with 12 displays and 12 users all using the same computer. I'd bet they won't get it that each user, display, kbd, mouse are able to do anything a normal computer user can do.
If our schools and libraries had people who could understand this stuff, Linux and OSS would be the savior from the school systems budget cuts. IMO
I still have one of those on one of our old bikes and it gets used a few times a year without problems and it works well. So before you publish that something doesn't work, you might want to check if you have one of the many models which just aren't made well.
A current example of this are the crank up flashlights. We recently lost a nice one we've had for a few years and started looking for a new one. Let me tell you, that are _not_ all the same. I now see so many which just have a little DC motor inside while the one we had was nicely geared and used rare earth magnets and a weighted flywheel. The same goes for most everything out there so don't blast something unless you did the research and got the best on the market or know what you got is well designed and well made.
The only thing I can come up with is what while the wind is blowing the vehicle forward, the surface area of the propeller/sail is fixed at the area of the circle made by the propeller. When you start using the propeller to blow back on driving wind, the forces back extend outside the area of the circle because of the angle on the blades and present a larger sail area. So the vehicle is now looking like it has a larger sail area and the energy from this added area is what provides the added energy to the system.
I now get it that they convert some energy from the motion(via the wheels) into a opposing wind(via propeller ) which is like replacing a static sail with a sail which is pushing back on the wind. What I don't get is where the extra energy comes from to overcome the mechanical losses of the system. Does the opposing wind( prop generated ) induce an larger effective sail area and that's where the added energy comes from to sustain a faster than the wind speed? Intriguing.
And radio controlled gliders( airplanes ) are going over 400 MPH with about 60MPH winds using a technique called DS'ing. But I suspect most people don't know these things so calling it a debate sounds more inviting.
wow, they REALLY screwed up the drilling of that well in the Gulf of Mexico! They're letting all the 'stuff' out of the creamy filling of the planet and look what's happening.;-) nice round hole if I don't say so myself.
They just need to create a department, call it Windows Lab and then hire some big shot Windows guy to run it. Have him tell everyone it's about interoperability and being friends with proprietary software.
<p>The lowest-margin blow-it-out-on-ebay tablets worth using (128MB RAM, 600MHz ARM) are $130 with a boring old trite WVGA LCD. There's no. fucking. way. this tablet will actually release under $100. With that said, the original was supposed to come in at $100 and was $300. If this one follows the same pricing schedule it will be $225 and I might buy one anyway.</p></quote>
in early 2009, it was said that the OLPC cost was down to $180. While this was still not $100, it surely is not $300. It will be less than $225.
I agree, the $100 was not obtainable and even the $75 sound like a dream for a reasonably functioning device. IIRC, they were at around $185 without volume pricing. With the new all-in-one design of the tablet, they should be closer to the $100 or $125 mark.
I still hear people calling it the $100 laptop project. He did pretty good selling that part of the project.
probably correct now that I've heard they'd stopped pumping mud early last night and hadn't restarted til sometime this afternoon or so. All that stuff spewing out late last night and all through the morning was oil. So for what ever reason they stopped the mud, they probably started pumping in dispersant as a bandaid.
what a mess and why on earth are we leaving it up to BP to fix this when they are not keeping open with what they are doing and why.
you forgot to mention how Gates and Ballmer went globe-trotting around the world to all the countries who knew what the OLPC was and required and still signed MOU's. Just look for the timing of a deal with Egypt and how they welcomed Negroponte when he came back knocking on their door. Hint: They asked 'does it run Windows' while they held a big fat check behind their back for millions of dollars and having Microsoft's signature on it.
I won't go into how much did or didn't have to do with a constructionist philosophy of education. From what I've seen of initial deployments, teachers were very much a part of it all but some where afraid the kids would learn more about the devices and software than the teachers. It's a sad world when educator are fearful of devices because the children will learn more about them than the adult educators.
And anyone tied to education who thinks that education must be tied to MS Windows and MS Office is lacking in his/her own education. Even Microsoft exec's will tell you 'it's the applications stupid'.
what I didn't get the first time was that he said it would be first for the _developed_ world and that means he's not going to restrict its sale like they did with the XO-1. This should mean they are going to have some kind of distribution and sales channels setup. If it means they are still restricting it to bulk purchases then that'll be a problem just like how the bulk buys were for the the original XO.
Besides getting the mesh networking firmware and display firmware working with an ARM processor, we should be seeing more than a prototype at CES 2011. Doing an ARM tablet is not that unique but doing it with all the low power controls the original XO had means lots of firmware work.
Slashdot Mirror
but don't under estimate Microsoft's ability and willingness to pay companies to ship their Windows versions at the expense of others. They paid ISP's to ship Internet Explorer, they paid companies to ship WindowsCE based handhelds, and more recently they paid companies to ship Windows XP based netbooks over Linux based ones. These kinds of direct and marketing based funding efforts have been used to flood the market with Microsoft product and build the brand recognition in the segment and I would expect them to do nothing different this time.
So while Symbian and Windows Mobiles may be surrounded by -nix based devices, billions in $$ has, in the past, been a very good catapult out of what looks like a encircled Microsoft. And remember, the public is _way_ ignorant to how bad their stuff really is since it kinda works. And with Ballmer sticking his head into this segment, you know it is going to get very messy. IMO
It is good to see so many leveraging -nix technology and doing so well with it and it makes sense. Modularity has always been a big part of the UNIX design and having the ability to scale up and down fits most business models well. And it has a history of 'it just works'.
LoB
screw AT&T if that is what they think. Same goes for any other company who builds and designs half-assed security measures and publicly, or even privately, blasts those for exposing how much they suck at this. It's like blaming the people who exposed Madoff.
LoB
Gates made sales and helped make sure the people who's livelihood relied on selling his products, or products based on his, did not try to make money using anyone elses product(s). So I wonder what moron thinks Albert Einstein and Bill Gates have anything on common other than being male?
Gates is more like the Snake Oil salesman and Albert Einstein is not.
I'm all for using tech to improve efficiencies and reduce our reliance on outside fuels but Bill Gates is not the man to sell this. Anybody who thinks he is is also giving away his/her ignorance. IMO.
LoB
wrong
LoB
but sir, it does not exist unless it exists on Windows to many lemmings out there. I'd demo'ed multi-threading systems to a bunch of Windows developers years ago and they were unimpressed. But, 3+ years later, when Windows got a poor implementation of multi-threading, they were all excited and some even attempted to show me how cool it was. 3D, OOP, etc, etc are the same.
So, if it is not on Windows or by Microsoft, it doesn't exist to these people. Sad but true.
LoB
good one!
LoB
they've been under estimating the leaking oil, telling us things are progressing fine and then telling us they failed, etc etc so I hope this bit about them purchasing search terms is not a surprise. They, like Exxon before them, plan on surviving this and moving on with business of making billions in profit every year from oil sales. They might have to change their name in the US though because the Gulf is not Alaska and it's likely that this could spread up the easter seaboard too. All area which are far more populated than where the Exxon Valdez mess occurred.
I don't think this will be the last bit of spin we'll be seeing from them. I've already noticed that their public relations people are spinning the leak estimation numbers as US government defined estimates. My guess is that if they put a real cap on this and therefore have a measured amount of flow, the numbers will have to be made public. Changing the perception that the under estimated values were government estimates cover there asses when the real numbers come to light. There's more spin to come.
LoB
while the front facing camera has been around for awhile, its usefulness has not been defined yet. if it turns out that we all must have video conferences then ok but the jury is still out on that one.
As far as all those other phone manufacturers go, you must know the difference between a smartphone and a not so smartphone. Not all phones are created equal and we are talking about smartphones here.
LoB
yes, it is a start and we'll see if dozens of hardware vendors selling Android devices can continue to outsell one hardware vendor with one phone and one carrier.
time will tell but yes, it is a start.
LoB
you're looking at it all wrong. There is a huge base of future school IT people right there in the schools. It might take one guru but that one guru running a single lab would kick start the process when every student in the class gets to take everything home for free and there's more where that came from for free. Out of those kids will come a few who dig this stuff and they could be hired for credits the next semester to help run the lab. Get a few and now you have a few labs and more kids who want to and will learn more.
In 3 years you have graduating seniors who could be hired for 25K to run a lab and help that guru do even more.
With Windows, how are any of the students going to take home Windows Server and all the various server software and dig into it to learn more and more? Not only that, they'll need pretty high end hardware to run it too. Linux and the OSS give the kids a chance to jump out of their parents financial situation while Windows keeps them stuck and needing handouts to get a leg up.
So is that guru really that expensive? The savings from having to purchase anti-virus software for the systems is probably enough to help cover some of the extra costs.
LoB
except that they really didn't put the bar up very high with this. The Nexus One has ~250 ppi display and Apple even said that 300 ppi is the most the eye can see. The Nexus One already has a a camera but the iPhone has a front facing one too. ok. Multi-tasking - Android/Nexus One already has that. 802.11n - Nexus One already has that. The new iPhone has a gyro, so it's got that going for it.
If anything, they really mostly joined the latest Android hardware and software with only a few Apple nicities thrown in via software apps.
The tap-to-focus is nice and the movie editing might be good for little things. A good upgrade but not a game changer so Android should continue to do quite well in month to month sales. Which by the way has already started beating out Apple iPhone sales. With iOS v4 going out for free to most of the previous iPhone models and a good upgrade in hardware it should keep Apple very relevant in this space. Where is that Microsoft these days?
LoB
multi-seat is like virtual machines in that 90% of the population know only Windows or Mac and they just don't understand this stuff. I even showed a multi-seat laptop to an IT guy to show how they could reduce the number of computers used in their kiosk filled showroom but he still didn't get it. I had proposed running the multi-seat Linux to reduce the number of PCs and then where they needed to run Windows, the multi-seat system could run either one or two virtual machine instances of Windows.
So, if you think it's difficult to get people to understand what Linux is, try to get their little brains around one computer with 12 displays and 12 users all using the same computer. I'd bet they won't get it that each user, display, kbd, mouse are able to do anything a normal computer user can do.
If our schools and libraries had people who could understand this stuff, Linux and OSS would be the savior from the school systems budget cuts. IMO
LoB
I still have one of those on one of our old bikes and it gets used a few times a year without problems and it works well. So before you publish that something doesn't work, you might want to check if you have one of the many models which just aren't made well.
A current example of this are the crank up flashlights. We recently lost a nice one we've had for a few years and started looking for a new one. Let me tell you, that are _not_ all the same. I now see so many which just have a little DC motor inside while the one we had was nicely geared and used rare earth magnets and a weighted flywheel. The same goes for most everything out there so don't blast something unless you did the research and got the best on the market or know what you got is well designed and well made.
LoB
The only thing I can come up with is what while the wind is blowing the vehicle forward, the surface area of the propeller/sail is fixed at the area of the circle made by the propeller. When you start using the propeller to blow back on driving wind, the forces back extend outside the area of the circle because of the angle on the blades and present a larger sail area. So the vehicle is now looking like it has a larger sail area and the energy from this added area is what provides the added energy to the system.
LoB
never mind, "downwind" was the key word I missed.
I now get it that they convert some energy from the motion(via the wheels) into a opposing wind(via propeller ) which is like replacing a static sail with a sail which is pushing back on the wind. What I don't get is where the extra energy comes from to overcome the mechanical losses of the system. Does the opposing wind( prop generated ) induce an larger effective sail area and that's where the added energy comes from to sustain a faster than the wind speed? Intriguing.
LoB
never mind, "down wind" is the key phrase I missed.
LoB
And radio controlled gliders( airplanes ) are going over 400 MPH with about 60MPH winds using a technique called DS'ing.
But I suspect most people don't know these things so calling it a debate sounds more inviting.
LoB
wow, they REALLY screwed up the drilling of that well in the Gulf of Mexico! They're letting all the 'stuff' out of the creamy filling of the planet and look what's happening. ;-) nice round hole if I don't say so myself.
LoB
They just need to create a department, call it Windows Lab and then hire some big shot Windows guy to run it. Have him tell everyone it's about interoperability and being friends with proprietary software.
LoB
Stay on target...
It's the security stuff they are and are not feeling good about.
LoB
<p>The lowest-margin blow-it-out-on-ebay tablets worth using (128MB RAM, 600MHz ARM) are $130 with a boring old trite WVGA LCD. There's no. fucking. way. this tablet will actually release under $100. With that said, the original was supposed to come in at $100 and was $300. If this one follows the same pricing schedule it will be $225 and I might buy one anyway.</p></quote>
in early 2009, it was said that the OLPC cost was down to $180. While this was still not $100, it surely is not $300. It will be less than $225.
LoB
I agree, the $100 was not obtainable and even the $75 sound like a dream for a reasonably functioning device. IIRC, they were at around $185 without volume pricing. With the new all-in-one design of the tablet, they should be closer to the $100 or $125 mark.
I still hear people calling it the $100 laptop project. He did pretty good selling that part of the project.
LoB
probably correct now that I've heard they'd stopped pumping mud early last night and hadn't restarted til sometime this afternoon or so. All that stuff spewing out late last night and all through the morning was oil. So for what ever reason they stopped the mud, they probably started pumping in dispersant as a bandaid.
what a mess and why on earth are we leaving it up to BP to fix this when they are not keeping open with what they are doing and why.
LoB
you forgot to mention how Gates and Ballmer went globe-trotting around the world to all the countries who knew what the OLPC was and required and still signed MOU's. Just look for the timing of a deal with Egypt and how they welcomed Negroponte when he came back knocking on their door. Hint: They asked 'does it run Windows' while they held a big fat check behind their back for millions of dollars and having Microsoft's signature on it.
I won't go into how much did or didn't have to do with a constructionist philosophy of education. From what I've seen of initial deployments, teachers were very much a part of it all but some where afraid the kids would learn more about the devices and software than the teachers. It's a sad world when educator are fearful of devices because the children will learn more about them than the adult educators.
And anyone tied to education who thinks that education must be tied to MS Windows and MS Office is lacking in his/her own education. Even Microsoft exec's will tell you 'it's the applications stupid'.
LoB
what I didn't get the first time was that he said it would be first for the _developed_ world and that means he's not going to restrict its sale like they did with the XO-1. This should mean they are going to have some kind of distribution and sales channels setup. If it means they are still restricting it to bulk purchases then that'll be a problem just like how the bulk buys were for the the original XO.
Besides getting the mesh networking firmware and display firmware working with an ARM processor, we should be seeing more than a prototype at CES 2011. Doing an ARM tablet is not that unique but doing it with all the low power controls the original XO had means lots of firmware work.
LoB