An excellent point. After all, a virus, BY ITSELF, can't do anything. Unless at least a portion of a host organism's cellular machinery is simulated, I don't see how this is more than a protien-folding simulation. It's an interesting idea, but I don't think we're at the "breakthrough" point just yet.
I'm really trying to figure out how "sore thumbs" counts as a "public health problem".
By my definition, a health problem is something that you need medication or a doctor's appointment for. If your thumbs hurt you, taking a break from texting is all you really need. An alternative would be to try holding the phone in your hand a different way- after all, a repetitive strain injury is a repetitive strain injury.
Whatever console has the best games will come out on top. Hardware alone will not win this war.
Personally, I hope that the new power of Next-gen consoles will let game developers explore new ideas in games, an area mostly limited to PCs due to processing power and licensing issues, such as the groundbreaking Garry's Mod, a physics-based sandbox in which you can build mechanical contraptions, vehicles, etc, and make them really work. Hopefully the revamped systems should give game makers room to forge new genres.
Halo was supposed to be an RTS that I could play on my mac. Personally, I think the only reason it really took off was the fact that it was the only passable FPS for the Xbox when it came out. MS is continuing their usual pattern of buying a company that makes good products, continuing the old lines for a short while, slowly allowing it to stagnate, and then killing it entirely.
The old Bungie made mac games so amazing that they blew away all of the competition. It makes me sad as a Macintosh user to have lost their talents to a company like MS.
"iHand or iBooklet"? I'd think more along the lines of "iPad".:)
Seriously, though, I've been dying for an Apple pen-based device for years now. I really don't care if they decide to make the iPod into a real PDA, make a tablet ibook, or design another Newton-esque paperback-sized device, but I think the product category is just screaming to exist. How many Slashdotters would be interested in a device like this?
On an unrelated note, researchers working on the project have announced that they plan to attach artificially intelligent robotic arms to the spine of a technician to enable him to handle the dangerous substances involved.
"We've thought about it for a few minutes, and we're pretty sure that this is the easiest way to do it. We're superglueing the AI controller chip in place, just to be on the safe side. Trust us- we're professionals!"
How about making use of decentralized computing systems? I'm aware that not all instruments could be "backed-up" with this method, but by distributing a cluster of computers around the vehicle that could assume new functions on-the-fly, you could theoretically absorb a great deal of damage.
Google is hitting their website from 'the same IP addresses
prescisely. It would certainly be fascinating if AIT were to release these IP addresses. If they don't put that information out in the open, I don't see their case having any basis to stand on.
oxymoron
n. pl. oxymora (-môr, -mr) or oxymorons
A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.
"..Some say Small Firms Could Be Shut Out of Market Championed by BellSouth Officer.."
Well, if consumers are aware that the internet they are provided with is weighted or influenced, a lack of such "modifications" could be attractive. I'd say if word of something like this got out, small ISP's would *benefit* from the wave of customers leaving the big corporations. How many Slashdotters would change ISP's if something like this went into effect?
My point was that Cray supercomputers have a superior achitecture to a "modern PC" for what they were used for. Crays had a lot going for them, unrelated to their clockspeed. It's a far too common mistake to equate clockspeed with performance.
and computing power. Before I get on a rant about the megahertz myth and why I love PowerPC's, the real reason Crays were powerful was their massive parallelism and the use of path optimization (premeasured cables and careful curcuit designs that made the distance electrons had to travel equal between parts of the machine) was the real reason they were a Cray.
Just because your machine is *faster* doesn't mean it's anywhere near as powerful! How many CPU cores does your machine have? I bet the cray had more. Clockspeed means *nothing*. The reason those applications don't exist is because they would take an order of magnitude as long to calculate on your "old computer".
"Supercomputers traditionally gained their speed over conventional computers through the use of innovative designs that allow them to perform many tasks in parallel, as well as complex detail engineering. They tend to be specialized for certain types of computation, usually numerical calculations, and perform poorly at more general computing tasks. Their memory hierarchy is very carefully designed to ensure the processor is kept fed with data and instructions at all times--in fact, much of the performance difference between slower computers and supercomputers is due to the memory hierarchy design and componentry. Their I/O systems tend to be designed to support high bandwidth, with latency less of an issue, because supercomputers are not used for transaction processing."
It's called a "thin-client", and the idea has been bandied about the industry for some time. Personally, I see the idea as a huge security risk- you think DRM is bad now? Imagine if content "providers" didn't just have access to your player application when you're online, they had physical access to your machine?
"Sorry, the content of your account has been deemed illegal, and your access has been revoked. The Police are being informed. Have a nice day!"
I could see the AOL crowd going for the idea, though... not that Microsoft's letting it happen if they complete the buyout.
Incidentally, this touches on one of the main arguments I have for gaming as a form of entertainment.
What we should be comparing video games to is not music, but television. Think about it- on the one hand you could sit on the couch and simply experience TV, or you could mentally engage yourself with a game, developing strategic skills, improving rection time, etc.
Granted, there are some games that aren't exactly mentally taxing, but compared to the trancelike state of TV viewing, I'd say almost any game is an improvement.
I'd really like to see more commercial games that require some real thought- Corewars anyone?
Slashdot Mirror
what, you mean like a "PIEserver" ?
Wait, wouldn't that lead to people farming for ... farmers?
I'm so confused...
An excellent point. After all, a virus, BY ITSELF, can't do anything. Unless at least a portion of a host organism's cellular machinery is simulated, I don't see how this is more than a protien-folding simulation. It's an interesting idea, but I don't think we're at the "breakthrough" point just yet.
By my definition, a health problem is something that you need medication or a doctor's appointment for. If your thumbs hurt you, taking a break from texting is all you really need. An alternative would be to try holding the phone in your hand a different way- after all, a repetitive strain injury is a repetitive strain injury.
Personally, I hope that the new power of Next-gen consoles will let game developers explore new ideas in games, an area mostly limited to PCs due to processing power and licensing issues, such as the groundbreaking Garry's Mod, a physics-based sandbox in which you can build mechanical contraptions, vehicles, etc, and make them really work. Hopefully the revamped systems should give game makers room to forge new genres.
Halo was supposed to be an RTS that I could play on my mac. Personally, I think the only reason it really took off was the fact that it was the only passable FPS for the Xbox when it came out. MS is continuing their usual pattern of buying a company that makes good products, continuing the old lines for a short while, slowly allowing it to stagnate, and then killing it entirely.
The old Bungie made mac games so amazing that they blew away all of the competition. It makes me sad as a Macintosh user to have lost their talents to a company like MS.
"iHand or iBooklet"? I'd think more along the lines of "iPad". :)
Seriously, though, I've been dying for an Apple pen-based device for years now. I really don't care if they decide to make the iPod into a real PDA, make a tablet ibook, or design another Newton-esque paperback-sized device, but I think the product category is just screaming to exist. How many Slashdotters would be interested in a device like this?
On an unrelated note, researchers working on the project have announced that they plan to attach artificially intelligent robotic arms to the spine of a technician to enable him to handle the dangerous substances involved. "We've thought about it for a few minutes, and we're pretty sure that this is the easiest way to do it. We're superglueing the AI controller chip in place, just to be on the safe side. Trust us- we're professionals!"
How about making use of decentralized computing systems? I'm aware that not all instruments could be "backed-up" with this method, but by distributing a cluster of computers around the vehicle that could assume new functions on-the-fly, you could theoretically absorb a great deal of damage.
prescisely. It would certainly be fascinating if AIT were to release these IP addresses. If they don't put that information out in the open, I don't see their case having any basis to stand on.
oxymoron n. pl. oxymora (-môr, -mr) or oxymorons A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.
"..Some say Small Firms Could Be Shut Out of Market Championed by BellSouth Officer.." Well, if consumers are aware that the internet they are provided with is weighted or influenced, a lack of such "modifications" could be attractive. I'd say if word of something like this got out, small ISP's would *benefit* from the wave of customers leaving the big corporations. How many Slashdotters would change ISP's if something like this went into effect?
My point was that Cray supercomputers have a superior achitecture to a "modern PC" for what they were used for. Crays had a lot going for them, unrelated to their clockspeed. It's a far too common mistake to equate clockspeed with performance.
and computing power. Before I get on a rant about the megahertz myth and why I love PowerPC's, the real reason Crays were powerful was their massive parallelism and the use of path optimization (premeasured cables and careful curcuit designs that made the distance electrons had to travel equal between parts of the machine) was the real reason they were a Cray.
c omputing
Just because your machine is *faster* doesn't mean it's anywhere near as powerful! How many CPU cores does your machine have? I bet the cray had more. Clockspeed means *nothing*. The reason those applications don't exist is because they would take an order of magnitude as long to calculate on your "old computer".
I recommend you do some reading on supercomputing-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super
"Supercomputers traditionally gained their speed over conventional computers through the use of innovative designs that allow them to perform many tasks in parallel, as well as complex detail engineering. They tend to be specialized for certain types of computation, usually numerical calculations, and perform poorly at more general computing tasks. Their memory hierarchy is very carefully designed to ensure the processor is kept fed with data and instructions at all times--in fact, much of the performance difference between slower computers and supercomputers is due to the memory hierarchy design and componentry. Their I/O systems tend to be designed to support high bandwidth, with latency less of an issue, because supercomputers are not used for transaction processing."
It's called a "thin-client", and the idea has been bandied about the industry for some time. Personally, I see the idea as a huge security risk- you think DRM is bad now? Imagine if content "providers" didn't just have access to your player application when you're online, they had physical access to your machine?
"Sorry, the content of your account has been deemed illegal, and your access has been revoked. The Police are being informed. Have a nice day!"
I could see the AOL crowd going for the idea, though... not that Microsoft's letting it happen if they complete the buyout.
So, does this indicate that Google is in fact moving into the realm of thin-clients? Sounds a bit like dashboard widgets to me.
Incidentally, this touches on one of the main arguments I have for gaming as a form of entertainment.
What we should be comparing video games to is not music, but television. Think about it- on the one hand you could sit on the couch and simply experience TV, or you could mentally engage yourself with a game, developing strategic skills, improving rection time, etc.
Granted, there are some games that aren't exactly mentally taxing, but compared to the trancelike state of TV viewing, I'd say almost any game is an improvement.
I'd really like to see more commercial games that require some real thought- Corewars anyone?