I can see the benefit of this in terms of comfort from the surgeons point of view during lengthy operations, and in reducing incision sizes, therefore reducing patient recovery times.
But, as this is still a device controlled by a human, are patients still susceptible to human error? For example, what happens if the surgeon slips and knocks the joystick while the robot arm is holding a scalpel? I haven't read the whole Da Vinci website so maybe I missed something, but are there any kind of built-in mechanisms to prevent sudden/eratic movements as opposed to slow/controlled movements?
This could pose a problem if surgeons are dealing with smaller incisions as there could be less margin for error.
If you ever use one, try selecting some files as if you were going to drag and drop them, then lift the mouse off the surface of your desk/mouse pad. If you're not holding onto the little 'tabs' (for want of a better word) at each side of the mouse, you will drop the files.
This has caused me endless grief when dragging and dropping files, as they dissappear inside some directory or another when they're accidentally dropped.
Again with Apple, design seems to take precedence over practicality.
Before we get all the boring 'one button mouse jokes' again, remember that Macs do have USB these days so there are plenty of alternatives - e.g.
I fitted the mod chip in my PSX no problem after finding detailed instructions on the web. I managed to press a couple of buttons on my DVD's remote to make it region-free.
Worst case scenario would be fitting a chip in the TV and if I void my warranty then so be it.
...what kind of person seriously goes to a coffee shop with a view to getting their laptop out and doing a bit of surfing? (actually, come to think of it, the same sort of person who would drink "frappucino"(?), and want to embed video in a Word doc.)
I personally prefer the relative comfort of my desk @ work or my home (in both of these places I can also drink coffee, and it doesn't cost $4 a cup).
The only coffee shop I want to spend time in is the kind they have in Amsterdam;-)
Correct. 2Step is *another* musical (term used very loosely) genre, not an artist.
However, in London it's only popular with Boy Racers and their ilk, or pre-pubescent boy-band worshippers.
I think it's popularity is due to the reluctance of the above music buying public to let go of the dance music culture that started in the late 80's in London.
Pirate radio stations! You must have them in the US, I used to DJ on a pirate radio station in the UK.
They're pretty easy to set up if you know a bit about transmitters. We used to have a few microwave links between us and the transmitter as well just incase the DTI found the transmitter while we were on air. This would give us time to get our records and decks out of there before they could catch us!
I 'd buy a cheap DVD player for now and wait. The technology is still relatively new and there are bound to be improvements, possibly rendering your newly purchased machine out of date.
For example, George Lucas says he won't release his Star Wars films on DVD until the new "Blue Lazer" technology has been introduced (allows a lot more data to be stored on one disc).
The feature I am waiting to become standard is recordability. I want to be able to record from the TV just like I do with my VHS machine. This will happen eventually, so for now I will make do with my Samsung DVD 709.
I'd just like to point out to our international friends that England has not been turned into a 'virtual police state' (as Mr Hayes knows very well, being, as he is, an Englishman).
In fact, since the current government have come into power, the level of policing in the UK has diminished to the same sort of levels recorded back in the 1970's.
I for one (living in south east London) would feel a lot safer if there were more police cameras.
Counting the days, eh?......more like counting the years....
I have been waiting for some sort of broad(ish)band connection in the UK for over three years now. There are still no products that can offer me the features I want for the price I am willing to pay.
This is all down to BT.
BT are Scum. Because of BT, the whole of the UK is being left behind the rest of the 'developed' world to such an extent that we may never catch up.
OFTEL are not helping matters, this is the company that is supposed to govern telco's in the UK. They do a shit job to put it mildly. The way things are going, we're gonna need a governing body to govern the governing body that is OFTEL.
The affordable (less than or equal to £40/month) products available at the moment are laughable: 512Kbps with a 50:1 contention ratio all sitting on a NAT!? I'll stick with my modem thanks.
The products that can offer you static IP and a decent speed / contention ratio are ridiculously priced and aimed towards businesses. This, again, is BT trying to jam as many pound notes into it's fat pockets as it can before it loses it's monopoly on the Local Loop.
Until the time when BT do lose their Local Loop monopoly, we will not see any competetively priced products, and even when this time comes it's gonna take a while before other companys get their products out.
I'm not holding my breath.
BT are really taking the piss out of UK residents. If this annoys you, please email Iain Vallance (CEO of BT) and give him a piece of your mind.
Slashdot Mirror
[...] it's seeing certain phenomena that might indicate the presence of a black hole [...]
Consideringt this is only supposed to be evidence of a black hole, what other explanations can you offer for this phenomena?
----------------------------
I can see the benefit of this in terms of comfort from the surgeons point of view during lengthy operations, and in reducing incision sizes, therefore reducing patient recovery times.
But, as this is still a device controlled by a human, are patients still susceptible to human error? For example, what happens if the surgeon slips and knocks the joystick while the robot arm is holding a scalpel? I haven't read the whole Da Vinci website so maybe I missed something, but are there any kind of built-in mechanisms to prevent sudden/eratic movements as opposed to slow/controlled movements?
This could pose a problem if surgeons are dealing with smaller incisions as there could be less margin for error.
----------------------------
I agree, Mac OS does not come with the built-in utilities that it should.
.
But, there are plenty of freeware utilities, including telnet, ssh and ping utilities, available to download from the web.
Do a search on Version Tracker to find them
----------------------------
And there's the new PowerBook G4 coming soon too.
----------------------------
It looks cool, but it's crap if you ask me.
If you ever use one, try selecting some files as if you were going to drag and drop them, then lift the mouse off the surface of your desk/mouse pad. If you're not holding onto the little 'tabs' (for want of a better word) at each side of the mouse, you will drop the files.
This has caused me endless grief when dragging and dropping files, as they dissappear inside some directory or another when they're accidentally dropped.
Again with Apple, design seems to take precedence over practicality.
Before we get all the boring 'one button mouse jokes' again, remember that Macs do have USB these days so there are plenty of alternatives - e.g.
----------------------------
Most /. readers aren't average Joes.
I fitted the mod chip in my PSX no problem after finding detailed instructions on the web. I managed to press a couple of buttons on my DVD's remote to make it region-free.
Worst case scenario would be fitting a chip in the TV and if I void my warranty then so be it.
----------------------------
Yeah, right, like all the people languishing in jail who use PSX mod-chips and DVD region-free...
----------------------------
...someone will crack it sooner or later like they did with PSX, DVD regions, SMS (macrovision on DAT), etc.
----------------------------
...what kind of person seriously goes to a coffee shop with a view to getting their laptop out and doing a bit of surfing? (actually, come to think of it, the same sort of person who would drink "frappucino"(?), and want to embed video in a Word doc.)
;-)
I personally prefer the relative comfort of my desk @ work or my home (in both of these places I can also drink coffee, and it doesn't cost $4 a cup).
The only coffee shop I want to spend time in is the kind they have in Amsterdam
----------------------------
Correct. 2Step is *another* musical (term used very loosely) genre, not an artist.
However, in London it's only popular with Boy Racers and their ilk, or pre-pubescent boy-band worshippers.
I think it's popularity is due to the reluctance of the above music buying public to let go of the dance music culture that started in the late 80's in London.
IMO, Enough already!
----------------------------
..."Phonics Cat" have pioneered releasing their material straight to the public via Napster, with dire consequences!
----------------------------
....it doesn't matter if M$ diss Linux, because we have conclusive proof that Linux is better!
----------------------------
hehe
----------------------------
Still not made it to version 2.4 of the kernel
C'mon! Everyone knows this is the fault of Microsoft's army of evil monkeys!
----------------------------
....hmmmm, damned apostrophies! Proper link here
----------------------------
...apparently Linux will also increase your intellectual superiority!
----------------------------
Pirate radio stations! You must have them in the US, I used to DJ on a pirate radio station in the UK.
They're pretty easy to set up if you know a bit about transmitters. We used to have a few microwave links between us and the transmitter as well just incase the DTI found the transmitter while we were on air. This would give us time to get our records and decks out of there before they could catch us!
----------------------------
Hmmmm....didn't know about the encryption. Nasty!
Sony dreamed up something similar when DAT came out, I think it was called SMS (?), to prevent multiple recordings of the same original.
It proved to be very easy to bypass though.
----------------------------
I totally agree.
But my perception of a 'Police State' is one of enforced curfews, Big Brother style red tape, etc. The UK is definitely not that bad.......yet
----------------------------
I've had the 709 for just over a year and have had absolutely no problems with it.
The only thing I dislike about it is the fact that it won't play any copied CDRW audio CD's, it will only play normal audio CD's.
----------------------------
I 'd buy a cheap DVD player for now and wait. The technology is still relatively new and there are bound to be improvements, possibly rendering your newly purchased machine out of date.
For example, George Lucas says he won't release his Star Wars films on DVD until the new "Blue Lazer" technology has been introduced (allows a lot more data to be stored on one disc).
The feature I am waiting to become standard is recordability. I want to be able to record from the TV just like I do with my VHS machine. This will happen eventually, so for now I will make do with my Samsung DVD 709.
----------------------------
I'd just like to point out to our international friends that England has not been turned into a 'virtual police state' (as Mr Hayes knows very well, being, as he is, an Englishman).
In fact, since the current government have come into power, the level of policing in the UK has diminished to the same sort of levels recorded back in the 1970's.
I for one (living in south east London) would feel a lot safer if there were more police cameras.
----------------------------
Speak for yourself.
I'm English and I have no reason to hate the French, so I don't hate the French.
I couldn't give a shit about anything that has happened in the past because it's HISTORY!
People need to 'Live In The Now' a bit more. Why should I hate a nation of people just because of some event that happened before I was born?
Quite frankly, I think all this pseudo-racism is totally boring, let's all grow up and act like adults, eh?
----------------------------
Counting the days, eh?......more like counting the years....
I have been waiting for some sort of broad(ish)band connection in the UK for over three years now. There are still no products that can offer me the features I want for the price I am willing to pay.
This is all down to BT.
BT are Scum. Because of BT, the whole of the UK is being left behind the rest of the 'developed' world to such an extent that we may never catch up.
OFTEL are not helping matters, this is the company that is supposed to govern telco's in the UK. They do a shit job to put it mildly. The way things are going, we're gonna need a governing body to govern the governing body that is OFTEL.
The affordable (less than or equal to £40/month) products available at the moment are laughable: 512Kbps with a 50:1 contention ratio all sitting on a NAT!? I'll stick with my modem thanks.
The products that can offer you static IP and a decent speed / contention ratio are ridiculously priced and aimed towards businesses. This, again, is BT trying to jam as many pound notes into it's fat pockets as it can before it loses it's monopoly on the Local Loop.
Until the time when BT do lose their Local Loop monopoly, we will not see any competetively priced products, and even when this time comes it's gonna take a while before other companys get their products out.
I'm not holding my breath.
BT are really taking the piss out of UK residents. If this annoys you, please email Iain Vallance (CEO of BT) and give him a piece of your mind.
NT Swerver
----------------------------
"...run-over by an 18 wheel semi-truck..."
WTF is an 18 wheel semi-truck? Is it, like, half a truck or something? Why didn't they just use a 9 wheel truck?
----------------------------