That is because of how the brain works. A computer can only simulate the power and algorithms used, but until we can create a changing "organic" brain, I don't think we will ever create a computer that could match wits completely with a human.
Just as the article started to pique my interests, it was over. That sucks!
Yet another technology article written without any real information. I realize in writing you are supposed to write to the common reader, but sometimes it seems like they would be better off not writing about it at all if they didn't intend on clueing us in on any of the facts.
Re:Viro when did you lose your way?
on
As the Spam Turns
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Speaking of this, I have an account at Silicon Investor, for which I created an email address known only to them and never revealed on the message boards. I've lately started getting spam sent to that address. Clearly those bastards sold my address. Guess the tech crash has made sellouts of a lot of desperate businesses.
Personal information has become a cash commodity. Company's are doing whatever they can (legally, illegally, and pseudo-legally) to stay afloat. This just proves how bad capitalism really is if left unrestrained.
Re:Viro when did you lose your way?
on
As the Spam Turns
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
EXACTLY. Verio used to have something like 10+ hosting facilities in the US. They are now down to 2, with one "POP/colo room" connected to their NTT America office in NYC. (Verio is owned by NTT, the Japanese telephone giant, for those not in the know.)
They have 1 center on the west coast, and another on the east in Virginia (in the tech corridor near DC). I've been to the one in Virginia and to the one in NYC, since my employer provides services to them.
About 2/3rds of the Spam I receive at home is from Verio or Exodus. Both are VERY cash strapped, although expect to see Verio doing a little better since they consolidated their hosting faclities. Although 99% of my spam is now cleanly filtered out before I read my Inbox, I know it must be taking a toll on my provider. Twice in the last week the mail server has ran out of disk space and quit accepting mail.
The major problem with these "opt-in" marketing programs is that you might agree to signing up to one list, and then they automatically sell your information to illegal spammers, who pound you with email and won't quit. I think its pretty obvious that tradional advertising doesn't work, but instead of laying off for a while, they either go the illegal route, or pervasive route. (ok, both are pretty pervasive) Advertising works to a degree, but at what point do you stop? Is there no means that a company will not go to market a product? This is obvious fodder for a discussion in ethics in business.
No, conventional widsom says that 1) You can't make a profit giving things away for free. 2) When a free service starts charging for access, yet remains worthless, they won't make a profit.
Just because there is value to a service which is free does not mean it will retain its value after no longer being free.
Apparently Yahoo's email service has proved to be worth paying for. What they've done is made it value added, so you are actually paying for something slightly better than the free option. That's good business sense. Maybe other businesses can learn from Yahoo instead of the "bait and switch" ploy that most places seem to be going with.
There is no wonder in my mind why people like the Unabomber, etc, have sprung up in America. He saw what was wrong with how technology is being used (and abused) and our out of control government organizations. Let me stress one thing: Violence is not the answer. I do not agree with his methods. Violence begets more violence. Self defence is one thing, but when you become the agressor it only illuminates your attack, not your reason for doing so.
Seriously.. I don't think anyone here on Slashdot (except maybe the government spooks monitoring our conversations) actually believes that our governmental process works the way it's supposed to.
I predict that if we the people do not stop the runaway train that is the "US Government", this will be marked as the beggining of the end for America. As an American citizen, the current reality we live in is scary. I'm much more afraid of what is being done to undermine what makes the USA special than what Al-Queida is doing. It is no wonder why two thirds of the world hates American's. Our government has been in a downward spiral for a while, but they are quickly eroding the final freedoms we have left in the name of fighting terrorism and protecting corporations. As an individual, you are NOTHING anymore. You are are revenue stream to fund the whims of out of touch politicians.
Nearly all nutritionists? What, you mean all the back alley "teach yourself nutrition in 24 hours" ones? Oh yeah, in that case, nearly all those will say such crap.
Eating "less" meat is definatley better than no moderation at all, but to say that fish, turkey, chicken, etc, are better alternatives is a bunch of crap. Poultry are pumped full of the same crap they administer to cows. The FDA still recommends that you don't eat fish more than once a week, because of mercury levels.
And besides that, even doctors who say eating meat isn't all that bad, still agree that a proper vegetarian diet is better.
Never have I said donating cpu time or a few dollars of power consumption is a bad thing. I merely wished to demonstrate the view from the person who "pays the bills".
I'm not responsible for all the misery in the world. Don't expect me to do something about it, especially if its going to hurt me in some way.
As i've stated many times before... by all means, run it if you want, but don't demand or expect everybody else to run it just because its done for a good reason.
Overheating is a well known problem. Its not so much that its running at 100% that's at issue, its sustained running at high temps. If you have better/best cooling possible, then I don't see much reason to be concerned. But most budget and "business" computers aren't designed to deal with the high temps that you'd get from say, running a gaming box.
You run risk of burning the CPU out, or at least making it flaky. (Assuming its getting too hot)
Good point... didn't even think of it from that angle.
On my Windows 2000 box, I know my CPU is consuming more power when I run the client(s) because my CPU temp goes up when I run it, and down when I stop it. I know that windows has a lot more cruft than a Linux box, but overall it won't sit at max power while "idle".
In many parts of the US, electricity rates are becoming sky high.
1 60 watt light bulb might not be a whole lot, and no it won't break *my bank*, but every little bit helps. As an individual, I'm worried about living more or less "paycheck to paycheck". I could better use that money to through in the bank and save for *my* future. I'm not saying you SHOULDN'T run these clients, and by all means, please continue running them if you so choose.
As for businesses, if a large number of people start running these apps, then the power bill will be signafically bigger than 1 extra light bulb. If the powers that be decide they don't mind spending that extra money for charity, good for them.
Bottom line, don't expect/demand people to run these applications. Once its a demand, it no longer becomes a charitable cause. It becomes socialism.
True, I use electricity to heat up my home as well. However, I spend more money on cooling. Maybe if I lived in the polar regions, it wouldn't be so bad.
CPU's are "obselete" before you get them home from the computer store. Side note: Don't buy the latest and greatest computer for regular use. It's a waste of money.
Most businesses buy "average" computer systems. They aren't designed to withstand being run 24/7 at max load. All the large scale businesses will usually replace their systems every 3 years. But small and many medium sized companies will not replace systems unless absolutely required. My dad runs a company of about 10 employee's. Everybody either has a computer or a terminal hooked up to a mini. I don't think he's bought a "new" PC for his office in the last 5 to 10 years. What he has does what he needs. He buys refurbished computers if he needs to add on. Not only is that good business sense, but its also good environmentally speaking.
Since most of these types of apps rely on "spare" CPU cycles, they basically keep the machine running at 100% cpu at all times. This causes the system to pull more power. Not only does this increase the electric bill, but it also keeps the temperature high all the time. This could have an impact on AC cooling costs as well, not to mention CPU life.
To me, that's the biggest deterrant from using it. I had been running the UnitedDevices client on my home computer. Since my computer ran all the time, I figured what the heck. But lately I've been trying to cut back on my power consumption. By leaving the UD client running 24/7, its like leaving an extra light bulb on, power wise.
I'm always pondering how to defeat electronic systems such as these proposed devices.
Seems reasonable that one could create a drone plane to search for the signal of these devices (it wouldn't even have to decode it, just home in on it) and then drop anti-sensor devices in the relative area. These anti-sensors could generate short bursts of false data (unlikely to work, if the designers of the sensors do it right, a good design would require some sort of authentication), or could create false magnetic "images" using electromagnetics.
You could drop a load of anti-sensors that generated a magnetic field that looks like a group of foot soldiers and a tank or two. A recon drone would be sent in to check it out, most likely, but given enough deployments, I'm sure it would confuse or overwhelm whomever was deploying the sensors.
If you read the article, they have a clause that says the service can not be used to "serve" files. They have asked those who do use P2P to stop using the upload feature. Seems fair enough, really.
Read thru all of my comment. In the end, I really don't see them negatively impacted. Simply limiting uploads won't help them out either, bandwidth wise. You still have them downloading.
This seems to be more of a ploy for legal reasons, than bandwidth. By disabling uploads, they won't have to deal with requests to shut down accounts of those offering files.
Slashdot Mirror
That is because of how the brain works. A computer can only simulate the power and algorithms used, but until we can create a changing "organic" brain, I don't think we will ever create a computer that could match wits completely with a human.
Just as the article started to pique my interests, it was over. That sucks!
Yet another technology article written without any real information. I realize in writing you are supposed to write to the common reader, but sometimes it seems like they would be better off not writing about it at all if they didn't intend on clueing us in on any of the facts.
Speaking of this, I have an account at Silicon Investor, for which I created an email address known only to them and never revealed on the message boards. I've lately started getting spam sent to that address. Clearly those bastards sold my address. Guess the tech crash has made sellouts of a lot of desperate businesses.
Personal information has become a cash commodity. Company's are doing whatever they can (legally, illegally, and pseudo-legally) to stay afloat. This just proves how bad capitalism really is if left unrestrained.
EXACTLY. Verio used to have something like 10+ hosting facilities in the US. They are now down to 2, with one "POP/colo room" connected to their NTT America office in NYC. (Verio is owned by NTT, the Japanese telephone giant, for those not in the know.)
They have 1 center on the west coast, and another on the east in Virginia (in the tech corridor near DC). I've been to the one in Virginia and to the one in NYC, since my employer provides services to them.
About 2/3rds of the Spam I receive at home is from Verio or Exodus. Both are VERY cash strapped, although expect to see Verio doing a little better since they consolidated their hosting faclities. Although 99% of my spam is now cleanly filtered out before I read my Inbox, I know it must be taking a toll on my provider. Twice in the last week the mail server has ran out of disk space and quit accepting mail.
The major problem with these "opt-in" marketing programs is that you might agree to signing up to one list, and then they automatically sell your information to illegal spammers, who pound you with email and won't quit. I think its pretty obvious that tradional advertising doesn't work, but instead of laying off for a while, they either go the illegal route, or pervasive route. (ok, both are pretty pervasive) Advertising works to a degree, but at what point do you stop? Is there no means that a company will not go to market a product? This is obvious fodder for a discussion in ethics in business.
Basically this product is nothing new, in my opinion. Its just a combination of neat packaging and an unhealthy dose of Microsoft marketing.
Not to say this product is worthless, but realize this is more microsoft hype than revolutionary device.
No, conventional widsom says that 1) You can't make a profit giving things away for free. 2) When a free service starts charging for access, yet remains worthless, they won't make a profit.
Just because there is value to a service which is free does not mean it will retain its value after no longer being free.
Apparently Yahoo's email service has proved to be worth paying for. What they've done is made it value added, so you are actually paying for something slightly better than the free option. That's good business sense. Maybe other businesses can learn from Yahoo instead of the "bait and switch" ploy that most places seem to be going with.
And let me add one thing....
There is no wonder in my mind why people like the Unabomber, etc, have sprung up in America. He saw what was wrong with how technology is being used (and abused) and our out of control government organizations. Let me stress one thing: Violence is not the answer. I do not agree with his methods. Violence begets more violence. Self defence is one thing, but when you become the agressor it only illuminates your attack, not your reason for doing so.
Seriously.. I don't think anyone here on Slashdot (except maybe the government spooks monitoring our conversations) actually believes that our governmental process works the way it's supposed to.
I predict that if we the people do not stop the runaway train that is the "US Government", this will be marked as the beggining of the end for America. As an American citizen, the current reality we live in is scary. I'm much more afraid of what is being done to undermine what makes the USA special than what Al-Queida is doing. It is no wonder why two thirds of the world hates American's. Our government has been in a downward spiral for a while, but they are quickly eroding the final freedoms we have left in the name of fighting terrorism and protecting corporations. As an individual, you are NOTHING anymore. You are are revenue stream to fund the whims of out of touch politicians.
Nearly all nutritionists? What, you mean all the back alley "teach yourself nutrition in 24 hours" ones? Oh yeah, in that case, nearly all those will say such crap.
Eating "less" meat is definatley better than no moderation at all, but to say that fish, turkey, chicken, etc, are better alternatives is a bunch of crap. Poultry are pumped full of the same crap they administer to cows. The FDA still recommends that you don't eat fish more than once a week, because of mercury levels.
And besides that, even doctors who say eating meat isn't all that bad, still agree that a proper vegetarian diet is better.
Never have I said donating cpu time or a few dollars of power consumption is a bad thing. I merely wished to demonstrate the view from the person who "pays the bills".
I'm not responsible for all the misery in the world. Don't expect me to do something about it, especially if its going to hurt me in some way.
As i've stated many times before... by all means, run it if you want, but don't demand or expect everybody else to run it just because its done for a good reason.
I loved Compute! Damn I miss my old commodore!
That could be helpful. I know that the United Devices client allows you to set "times of operation", but I haven't played with it much.
Overheating is a well known problem. Its not so much that its running at 100% that's at issue, its sustained running at high temps. If you have better/best cooling possible, then I don't see much reason to be concerned. But most budget and "business" computers aren't designed to deal with the high temps that you'd get from say, running a gaming box.
You run risk of burning the CPU out, or at least making it flaky. (Assuming its getting too hot)
This is a risk, not a definite issue.
Good point... didn't even think of it from that angle.
On my Windows 2000 box, I know my CPU is consuming more power when I run the client(s) because my CPU temp goes up when I run it, and down when I stop it. I know that windows has a lot more cruft than a Linux box, but overall it won't sit at max power while "idle".
In many parts of the US, electricity rates are becoming sky high.
1 60 watt light bulb might not be a whole lot, and no it won't break *my bank*, but every little bit helps. As an individual, I'm worried about living more or less "paycheck to paycheck". I could better use that money to through in the bank and save for *my* future. I'm not saying you SHOULDN'T run these clients, and by all means, please continue running them if you so choose.
As for businesses, if a large number of people start running these apps, then the power bill will be signafically bigger than 1 extra light bulb. If the powers that be decide they don't mind spending that extra money for charity, good for them.
Bottom line, don't expect/demand people to run these applications. Once its a demand, it no longer becomes a charitable cause. It becomes socialism.
True, I use electricity to heat up my home as well. However, I spend more money on cooling. Maybe if I lived in the polar regions, it wouldn't be so bad.
CPU's are "obselete" before you get them home from the computer store. Side note: Don't buy the latest and greatest computer for regular use. It's a waste of money.
Most businesses buy "average" computer systems. They aren't designed to withstand being run 24/7 at max load. All the large scale businesses will usually replace their systems every 3 years. But small and many medium sized companies will not replace systems unless absolutely required. My dad runs a company of about 10 employee's. Everybody either has a computer or a terminal hooked up to a mini. I don't think he's bought a "new" PC for his office in the last 5 to 10 years. What he has does what he needs. He buys refurbished computers if he needs to add on. Not only is that good business sense, but its also good environmentally speaking.
Most computer geeks who have been geeking for a while usually tend to have a large collection of old computer gear.
:(
Unless of course your wife makes you throw them away.
Since most of these types of apps rely on "spare" CPU cycles, they basically keep the machine running at 100% cpu at all times. This causes the system to pull more power. Not only does this increase the electric bill, but it also keeps the temperature high all the time. This could have an impact on AC cooling costs as well, not to mention CPU life.
To me, that's the biggest deterrant from using it. I had been running the UnitedDevices client on my home computer. Since my computer ran all the time, I figured what the heck. But lately I've been trying to cut back on my power consumption. By leaving the UD client running 24/7, its like leaving an extra light bulb on, power wise.
I'm always pondering how to defeat electronic systems such as these proposed devices.
Seems reasonable that one could create a drone plane to search for the signal of these devices (it wouldn't even have to decode it, just home in on it) and then drop anti-sensor devices in the relative area. These anti-sensors could generate short bursts of false data (unlikely to work, if the designers of the sensors do it right, a good design would require some sort of authentication), or could create false magnetic "images" using electromagnetics.
You could drop a load of anti-sensors that generated a magnetic field that looks like a group of foot soldiers and a tank or two. A recon drone would be sent in to check it out, most likely, but given enough deployments, I'm sure it would confuse or overwhelm whomever was deploying the sensors.
What about max connections? I have Kazaa (Lite) and have 10 download and 2 upload concurrent.
How does enforcing a policy you agreed to when signing up, translate to cutting ports at "random"?
I don't use Limewire, but I know in other app's you can limit the available bandwidth and max users.
If you read the article, they have a clause that says the service can not be used to "serve" files. They have asked those who do use P2P to stop using the upload feature. Seems fair enough, really.
Read thru all of my comment. In the end, I really don't see them negatively impacted. Simply limiting uploads won't help them out either, bandwidth wise. You still have them downloading.
This seems to be more of a ploy for legal reasons, than bandwidth. By disabling uploads, they won't have to deal with requests to shut down accounts of those offering files.