All of those chips, mods, "performance tunes" are illegal unless they have been approved by the EPA or CARB such that they do not increase the car's emissions.
Yes.. and.. ? They still exist and are installed by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Clearly the owners are willing to chance it.
It is actually a big selling point for aftermarket performance parts if they have such approvals.
For sure. But for every such part, there's another guy who has his catalytic convertor set up so he route past it with a straight pipe between emissions tests...
And as for "its OK if you can game the test" - that's the same excuse as "whatever I do is OK if I don't get caught" -- when you do get caught that defense doesn't hold up.
No. They were full on violating the rules, and got caught.
The test-gaming i was referring to was stuff like taping the doors shut, and leaving the removable SUV back seat out, along with any other detachable bit of trim, floor mats, etc... for the mileage test.
VW got caught -- there's another saying which applies now, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".
Agreed. But they their penalty isn't going to be $18B; that's just news-porn for bad journalists. VW would have to play its cards pretty spectacularly badly to be fined the maximum penalty per vehicle... its just not going to happen. And journalistic masturbating over the maximum theoretical penalty of every regulartory infraction is just pointless clickbait.
You seem to contradict yourself. If you're fine with proprietary software (I am as well), then why are you against "trusted path" in the kernel - in what way proprietary kernel is different from a proprietary user application?
The kernel decides what applications will run and what they are allowed to do. An individual program only controls itself. I am fine with running a program on my system that I don't necessarily have the ability to modify. But I still control the operating system, and the permissions that program operates under.
Trusted path strips me of that.
Just install untrusted Linux kernel and forfeit your ability to access paid content.
Today its forfeight paid content. Tomorrow, its just forfeit content.
if the button told the truth and said "markedly reduced engine life" would people still be pushing it?
Cite for that? Retuning for emissions vs torque or mileage doesn't automatically imply reduced engine life.
Engine life is more determined by things that determine bearing wear... oil quality; seals maintenance, etc... these days, failures in the electronics/accessories are probably going to render the car scrap long before the engine wears out.
The fan bearings in the air conditioning sieze, the power door locks, trunk release, power windows, and random bits of plastic trim etc... at least that's my experience.
My old 80s 911 only needed regular engine maintenance (which wasn't cheap, but wasn't exorbitant either, and it was all scheduled and regular, along with brakes and tires) and it was clocking 120,000 miles.
The maintenance expense was the all the stupid crap... horn switch, signal lights, power locks, door handle, power mirrors, trunk release, power seat switch, air conditioning, sun roof motor, etc... staying on top of that is what was expensive.
They do not meet the requirements to be on the road and any use should be immediately prohibited
You realize a turn of the PREVIOUS century model T ford a meets the requirements to be on the road, and their idea of emissions control amounted to having the exhaust exit outside the vehicle instead of inside. There is a big difference between 'legal to drive on the street' and 'legal to register as a new vehicle'. And lots of cars that would NEVER EVER EVER pass modern rules for emissions, for safety, for anything are still perfectly legal to operate.
And hundreds of thosuands of vehicle owners have bought a new car, and then promptly had it retuned for performance. (One guess what that gain was at the expense of!) And in jurisidicitons where they need to get it tested periodically they'd even install switches to cut it back over for the test, to make sure they'd pass, then after exitting the test facility flip it back to fast+dirty.
Hell, you can buy aftermarket kits for this. And people 'chipping' their cars... etc, etc...
with VW ordered to repurchase all affected vehicles at original price and to pay all costs for replacement transportation until impacted drivers can obtain a US-legal alternative
Impacted drivers, by and large, probably want their TDI left exactly the way it is. TDI owners buy them for the excellent fuel efficiency and decent performance.
If there was a button in the car where they could push "better mileage, worse emissions" I'd bet most of them would have pushed it.
VW deserves to get slapped hard for this, what they did was brazen and deceptive... but lets not go off the deepend. They aren't gong to be hit for $37,000 per vehicle... at worst they'll settle for buying some extra carbon credits to offset the extra pollution they've caused, plus some punitive damages.
When called on it their response was, "well yes, the test definitions should be improved but it would be unfair to alter the standards without a few year advance notice."
Yup, gaming the testing standards is par for the course in every industry ever. And yes, the onus is on the regulatory body to change the test standards (or clarify them); and yes, a couple years lead time is both normal and the way it should be.
If adding DRM support into Firefox means I get Netflix without the run-around then I feel we have progressed forward.
Keep progressing forwards until we've reached the place we started: proprietary software.
The MPAA wants 'trusted path' to play blu ray for example. That means all the drivers, kernel, and software; basically anything that touches the video stream, and anything that controls the software that touches the video stream, they want to sign it so you can't modify it.
Do you welcome a linux kernel and video drivers you can't modify to play blu-ray? Does that represent a "step forward"? If you can't modify the kernel or the drivers, its not an open system anymore.
DRM in firefox is a bit of a wedge issue. Next they require signed video drivers from the MPAA to play video. You still want your netflix to work, switch to their signed drivers. Another step forward?
Next they require a signed kernel.
Next they want telemetry. Game over.
You might as well be running windows. Because the MPAA will only a sign a kernel with their telmetry in it.
Oh, fine, you'll just run their OS in a VM. Might as well be running windows in a VM. And that still won't satisfy " trusted path " -- you'll need an MPAA signed hypervisor...
Frankly, I'm perfectly fine with proprietary code.But I don't like to see it embedded in free software. Netflix can release a proprietary linux netflix app, and stay the hell away from firefox. (Hell they can take the firefox source and use it for all I care as the base (assuming the Mozilla Public License allows it?? No idea. But if not... write their own app from scratch in Qt or something; I don't care.)
I already use the Windows Netflix app on my HTPC... I haven't used netflix in a browser in ages.
The bigger issue isn't DRM in firefox to play netflix, is the MPAA turning the screws to bring trusted path to linux. At which point... its not really what the community thinks of linux anymore, except for a familiar CLI and GUI.
To me, freedom in software is about choice - including the choice to emulate Windows, run binaries, have DOSBox, run VM's, etc
Who has actually said you can't do that?
The second someone says to me "But it's an open system, you can't do that", it's no longer a open system.
You CAN do that, but the second you put proprietary software into it its not an open system anymore. If the goal is to have an open system, running closed software is self defeating.
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds.
It is known there are an infinite number of integers. However, not every one of them is a prime number. There for there must be a finite number of prime numbers.
Frankly, I think the solution is that it needs to be community based. Develop your antimalware kit, develop 'removal' tools for pretty much everything.
Maintain an obvious malware list internally, where there is no debate.
Then let communities develop lists of their own lists, and allow users to subscribe to one or more of those lists. Stuff like ask.com and mcafee security scan, and other borderline stuff will be added to the community lists.
The decision making process is then shifted to the people the decisions affect. If a manufacturer doesn't like the fact that its listed on a popular community list... tough shit... its on that list because the community that uses that list doesn't want that software. If you don't like it, make software they want.
For one thing, this is Nintendo catching up to where Sony was years ago with LittleBigPlanet
N may be playing catchup, but that doesn't take away from the fact that there were probably more people making game levels this last weekend than ever before. LBP was good, but I don't think it had the launch Mario Maker did.
For another, around the launch of Super Mario Maker, Nintendo went on a DMCA takedown streak on YouTube, handing out copyright strikes to uploaders of TAS and Kaizo videos.
It just points to N trying to steer any interest in making mario levels towards its new game. Its a dick move, but not surprising, especially for N.
The assertion seems to be that since code will be ubiquitous, then everyone will learn to code is provably silly.
Silly yes. Provably silly? I don't know about provably.
But even if they TAUGHT everyone to code in school they still wouldn't know how. How many adults can still do high school math?
Cars have become universal, yet the ability to fix them decreases with every generation.
Decent example. But I'd have just pointed at pants. Those are ubiquitous too. How many people do you know that could make a pair? Or even repair them? Hem them? Replace a button?
I think the average persons ability to write code will be on par with their expertise with clothing. They'll be able to get dressed, and that's about it.
Literacy is nearly universal now, would anyone assert that people write better now than they did 100 years ago?
Um. Bad example. I'd say that is an unqualified: 'yes'.
it just takes to much time/effort for hobbyists to make something comparably decent that doesn't look like crap compared to professionally produced levels.
Well... Mario Maker launched last week.... I'd say the number of average people designing game levels has quite possibly spiked to an all time high.;)
I watched it. So do I get a credit for that one or lose credit now?
(Actually its the first one I've watched... I'd cynically assumed TED was just pop-sci/fluff pieces until now. Looks like i was more or less right...) at least according to this guy.
If I paid a company to host my photos and they lost most of them and sold the others without my permission and pocketed the money, they would be liable to criminal charges.
Ah so bit coins are intellectual property? And you have copyright on them? So we can charge him with copyright infringement with respect to your bitcoins for selling them without your permission?
And for losing some? Do you have a contract with them that shows they have to compensate you in any way if they 'lose' any of your 'bitcoins'? That would certainly be unusual in any hosting agreement I've ever seen - I know dropbox and facebook and spideroak and crashplan make no such promises, but maybe you have such an agreement?
If drop box loses the only copies of my photos I have, then that's on me not them. That's not criminal. If dropbox resells any photos i have stored... well that's copyright infringement.
You really think that's appropriate here? No?... maybe its nothing like photos after all!
You still pay for windows, and you still run windows. You still have windows updates. You still have windows malware to contend with. You have all the advantages and disadvantages of windows.
I was more thinking red light district in Amsterdam.
honesty doubtless exists in the field, but should be seen as the exception
Depends where you are, more than anything. But sure, in America, I'd be pretty suspicious. Hell, a lot of 'legitimate stripper joints' are pretty shady.
It wasn't a pocket heater. TFA is clear on that. So what was it? TFA made some handwavy claim that it was part of the usual collaborative correspondence that universities encourage... which is fine too.
But I at least, am curious to know what it actually was.
So, current-gen MacBook Pros have 2 out of 3 of those, only missing the Ethernet.
Yep... they gave us HDMI which was missing last round and then fucked the ethernet. I still bought one, its a good laptop...but this is still a shortcoming with with, one that feel is significant.
I honestly think that the ship has sailed on Ethernet on laptops.
I honestly think that is miles away. wifi is dog slow compared to eithernet. I want my next laptop a few years out to have 10gig ethernet...my next gen laptops CPU and SSDs can keep up with that...
Full-size VGA? Sorry, the world got rid of those at the same time as HD-DVD drives. VGA sucks sucks sucks and deserves to die.
I'd like to agree, but I do not. Every single new monitor comes with VGA. If I'm anywhere, and someone hands me a monitor, I don't know what it will have on it (DVI? HDMI? Displayport? some of the above?) but I know it will at least have VGA.
Helll here is a BRAND NEW monitor that you can buy today that only has VGA:
Is it crap? Yes. Is it likely being bought for point-of-sale, receptionists, telemarketing pools, and help desks and so forth the world over? And anywhere else someone needed a lot of monitors and wanted them cheap? You bet.
The brand new $15,000 server I received this week... is equipped with VGA and only VGA. The brand new surveillance camera systems I just received... internet enabled of course, but the boxes had a VGA port (and only VGA) as well if you wanted to plug in a monitor to interact with it directly.
(Granted these latter 2 examples have nothing to do with ever being connected to my laptop, but it illustrates my point that to suggest that the "world got rid of VGA" is simply bullshit.)
I've never been to a conference or even a conference/room/ that didn't have proper cables for modern video.
Try a small business boardroom. Gear is often 5-10 years old. If it works, they don't mess with it. Especially if they've had it professionally installed, and the projector is ceiling mounted, and the cabling is run through the walls and then under the floor and up through the meeting table or something. Even if they bought a new projector last month, they just plug the existing 30' VGA cable that's in the wall into it.
Not quite, he's saying there's lots left to discover. There just might not be anything left for the LHC to discover.
I suspect even that is false, that there will be all kinds of science to be done with it. But it may be true we don't discover any new particles with it by smashing things together, which is the thing it was built for.
Slashdot Mirror
All of those chips, mods, "performance tunes" are illegal unless they have been approved by the EPA or CARB such that they do not increase the car's emissions.
Yes.. and.. ? They still exist and are installed by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Clearly the owners are willing to chance it.
It is actually a big selling point for aftermarket performance parts if they have such approvals.
For sure. But for every such part, there's another guy who has his catalytic convertor set up so he route past it with a straight pipe between emissions tests...
And as for "its OK if you can game the test" - that's the same excuse as "whatever I do is OK if I don't get caught" -- when you do get caught that defense doesn't hold up.
No. They were full on violating the rules, and got caught.
The test-gaming i was referring to was stuff like taping the doors shut, and leaving the removable SUV back seat out, along with any other detachable bit of trim, floor mats, etc... for the mileage test.
VW got caught -- there's another saying which applies now, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".
Agreed. But they their penalty isn't going to be $18B; that's just news-porn for bad journalists. VW would have to play its cards pretty spectacularly badly to be fined the maximum penalty per vehicle... its just not going to happen. And journalistic masturbating over the maximum theoretical penalty of every regulartory infraction is just pointless clickbait.
You seem to contradict yourself. If you're fine with proprietary software (I am as well), then why are you against "trusted path" in the kernel - in what way proprietary kernel is different from a proprietary user application?
The kernel decides what applications will run and what they are allowed to do. An individual program only controls itself. I am fine with running a program on my system that I don't necessarily have the ability to modify. But I still control the operating system, and the permissions that program operates under.
Trusted path strips me of that.
Just install untrusted Linux kernel and forfeit your ability to access paid content.
Today its forfeight paid content. Tomorrow, its just forfeit content.
if the button told the truth and said "markedly reduced engine life" would people still be pushing it?
Cite for that? Retuning for emissions vs torque or mileage doesn't automatically imply reduced engine life.
Engine life is more determined by things that determine bearing wear... oil quality; seals maintenance, etc... these days, failures in the electronics/accessories are probably going to render the car scrap long before the engine wears out.
The fan bearings in the air conditioning sieze, the power door locks, trunk release, power windows, and random bits of plastic trim etc... at least that's my experience.
My old 80s 911 only needed regular engine maintenance (which wasn't cheap, but wasn't exorbitant either, and it was all scheduled and regular, along with brakes and tires) and it was clocking 120,000 miles.
The maintenance expense was the all the stupid crap ... horn switch, signal lights, power locks, door handle, power mirrors, trunk release, power seat switch, air conditioning, sun roof motor, etc... staying on top of that is what was expensive.
Here, a 10 year old TDI (2005/2006) with 150,000km sells for more than the average 2011/2012 Fiesta with less than half that on the odometer.
My TDI has cost me almost $15k in repairs the past two years.
No idea, I'm sure it happens, but that's pretty atypical.
They do not meet the requirements to be on the road and any use should be immediately prohibited
You realize a turn of the PREVIOUS century model T ford a meets the requirements to be on the road, and their idea of emissions control amounted to having the exhaust exit outside the vehicle instead of inside. There is a big difference between 'legal to drive on the street' and 'legal to register as a new vehicle'. And lots of cars that would NEVER EVER EVER pass modern rules for emissions, for safety, for anything are still perfectly legal to operate.
And hundreds of thosuands of vehicle owners have bought a new car, and then promptly had it retuned for performance. (One guess what that gain was at the expense of!) And in jurisidicitons where they need to get it tested periodically they'd even install switches to cut it back over for the test, to make sure they'd pass, then after exitting the test facility flip it back to fast+dirty.
Hell, you can buy aftermarket kits for this. And people 'chipping' their cars... etc, etc...
with VW ordered to repurchase all affected vehicles at original price and to pay all costs for replacement transportation until impacted drivers can obtain a US-legal alternative
Impacted drivers, by and large, probably want their TDI left exactly the way it is. TDI owners buy them for the excellent fuel efficiency and decent performance.
If there was a button in the car where they could push "better mileage, worse emissions" I'd bet most of them would have pushed it.
VW deserves to get slapped hard for this, what they did was brazen and deceptive... but lets not go off the deepend. They aren't gong to be hit for $37,000 per vehicle... at worst they'll settle for buying some extra carbon credits to offset the extra pollution they've caused, plus some punitive damages.
When called on it their response was, "well yes, the test definitions should be improved but it would be unfair to alter the standards without a few year advance notice."
Yup, gaming the testing standards is par for the course in every industry ever. And yes, the onus is on the regulatory body to change the test standards (or clarify them); and yes, a couple years lead time is both normal and the way it should be.
Jetta TDI vs Fiesta? Yeah, you probably ended up with the much better car regardless of the outcome of this issue.
For example: I welcome the DRM system in Firefox
I don't. Because now firefox isn't really open.
If adding DRM support into Firefox means I get Netflix without the run-around then I feel we have progressed forward.
Keep progressing forwards until we've reached the place we started: proprietary software.
The MPAA wants 'trusted path' to play blu ray for example. That means all the drivers, kernel, and software; basically anything that touches the video stream, and anything that controls the software that touches the video stream, they want to sign it so you can't modify it.
Do you welcome a linux kernel and video drivers you can't modify to play blu-ray? Does that represent a "step forward"? If you can't modify the kernel or the drivers, its not an open system anymore.
DRM in firefox is a bit of a wedge issue. Next they require signed video drivers from the MPAA to play video. You still want your netflix to work, switch to their signed drivers. Another step forward?
Next they require a signed kernel.
Next they want telemetry. Game over.
You might as well be running windows. Because the MPAA will only a sign a kernel with their telmetry in it.
Oh, fine, you'll just run their OS in a VM. Might as well be running windows in a VM. And that still won't satisfy " trusted path " -- you'll need an MPAA signed hypervisor...
Frankly, I'm perfectly fine with proprietary code.But I don't like to see it embedded in free software. Netflix can release a proprietary linux netflix app, and stay the hell away from firefox. (Hell they can take the firefox source and use it for all I care as the base (assuming the Mozilla Public License allows it?? No idea. But if not... write their own app from scratch in Qt or something; I don't care.)
I already use the Windows Netflix app on my HTPC... I haven't used netflix in a browser in ages.
The bigger issue isn't DRM in firefox to play netflix, is the MPAA turning the screws to bring trusted path to linux. At which point... its not really what the community thinks of linux anymore, except for a familiar CLI and GUI.
To me, freedom in software is about choice - including the choice to emulate Windows, run binaries, have DOSBox, run VM's, etc
Who has actually said you can't do that?
The second someone says to me "But it's an open system, you can't do that", it's no longer a open system.
You CAN do that, but the second you put proprietary software into it its not an open system anymore. If the goal is to have an open system, running closed software is self defeating.
Do you really think Apple or Android users looking to switch to iOS care about the reviews or ratings?
Yes. If I thought it would move all my photos, contacts, videos, notes, whatever else...
I'd probably consider a 5-star app, on the presumption that it's easy to use, efficient, and does what I'd expect it to do well.
I wouldn't bother with a 1-star app, on the presumption that it would be a complete waste of time.
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds.
It is known there are an infinite number of integers. However, not every one of them is a prime number. There for there must be a finite number of prime numbers.
Do you see any problems with that?
Frankly, I think the solution is that it needs to be community based. Develop your antimalware kit, develop 'removal' tools for pretty much everything.
Maintain an obvious malware list internally, where there is no debate.
Then let communities develop lists of their own lists, and allow users to subscribe to one or more of those lists. Stuff like ask.com and mcafee security scan, and other borderline stuff will be added to the community lists.
The decision making process is then shifted to the people the decisions affect. If a manufacturer doesn't like the fact that its listed on a popular community list... tough shit... its on that list because the community that uses that list doesn't want that software. If you don't like it, make software they want.
Then I guess I must be in a minority.
Yes. You can't possibly think you are not?!
For one thing, this is Nintendo catching up to where Sony was years ago with LittleBigPlanet
N may be playing catchup, but that doesn't take away from the fact that there were probably more people making game levels this last weekend than ever before. LBP was good, but I don't think it had the launch Mario Maker did.
For another, around the launch of Super Mario Maker, Nintendo went on a DMCA takedown streak on YouTube, handing out copyright strikes to uploaders of TAS and Kaizo videos.
It just points to N trying to steer any interest in making mario levels towards its new game. Its a dick move, but not surprising, especially for N.
The assertion seems to be that since code will be ubiquitous, then everyone will learn to code is provably silly.
Silly yes. Provably silly? I don't know about provably.
But even if they TAUGHT everyone to code in school they still wouldn't know how. How many adults can still do high school math?
Cars have become universal, yet the ability to fix them decreases with every generation.
Decent example. But I'd have just pointed at pants. Those are ubiquitous too. How many people do you know that could make a pair? Or even repair them? Hem them? Replace a button?
I think the average persons ability to write code will be on par with their expertise with clothing. They'll be able to get dressed, and that's about it.
Literacy is nearly universal now, would anyone assert that people write better now than they did 100 years ago?
Um. Bad example. I'd say that is an unqualified: 'yes'.
it just takes to much time/effort for hobbyists to make something comparably decent that doesn't look like crap compared to professionally produced levels.
Well... Mario Maker launched last week.... I'd say the number of average people designing game levels has quite possibly spiked to an all time high. ;)
http://supermariomaker.nintend...
But for the cost of a high end rebuild on a 356 engine, you can convert them to electric
Rather entirely missing the point of owning a 365 and completely ruining it, in my opinion.
Potato Jesus all over again. :)
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/...
Also, I thought the 918 Spyder was electric?
As others have replied, its a hybrid.
Yes, the 918 is hybrid and it definitely was designed to , but it can run on all-electric only... at least for 20 miles. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
So meta.
I watched it. So do I get a credit for that one or lose credit now?
(Actually its the first one I've watched... I'd cynically assumed TED was just pop-sci/fluff pieces until now. Looks like i was more or less right...) at least according to this guy.
If I paid a company to host my photos and they lost most of them and sold the others without my permission and pocketed the money, they would be liable to criminal charges.
Ah so bit coins are intellectual property? And you have copyright on them? So we can charge him with copyright infringement with respect to your bitcoins for selling them without your permission?
And for losing some? Do you have a contract with them that shows they have to compensate you in any way if they 'lose' any of your 'bitcoins'? That would certainly be unusual in any hosting agreement I've ever seen - I know dropbox and facebook and spideroak and crashplan make no such promises, but maybe you have such an agreement?
If drop box loses the only copies of my photos I have, then that's on me not them. That's not criminal. If dropbox resells any photos i have stored... well that's copyright infringement.
You really think that's appropriate here? No?... maybe its nothing like photos after all!
If the software doesn't need net access
True, but that's a pretty big "if".
VMWare solves all this for me.
What problem exactly does it solve?
You still pay for windows, and you still run windows. You still have windows updates. You still have windows malware to contend with. You have all the advantages and disadvantages of windows.
What do you gain. Support for linux only apps?
So please, don't assume that a brothel is honest.
I was more thinking red light district in Amsterdam.
honesty doubtless exists in the field, but should be seen as the exception
Depends where you are, more than anything. But sure, in America, I'd be pretty suspicious. Hell, a lot of 'legitimate stripper joints' are pretty shady.
Seriously, it's only a half-step above running a brothel.
A brothel is at least an honest business.
So what were the blueprints he sent over?
It wasn't a pocket heater. TFA is clear on that. So what was it? TFA made some handwavy claim that it was part of the usual collaborative correspondence that universities encourage ... which is fine too.
But I at least, am curious to know what it actually was.
Will that mean the car will brake and leave me permanently perched on that driveway.
1) Automatic emergency braking has been around for a few years already. If that was going to be an issue, we'd have already heard about it.
2) IIRC the emergency braking is disengaged below a threshold speed. How fast due you hit the street off your driveway?
So, current-gen MacBook Pros have 2 out of 3 of those, only missing the Ethernet.
Yep... they gave us HDMI which was missing last round and then fucked the ethernet. I still bought one, its a good laptop...but this is still a shortcoming with with, one that feel is significant.
I honestly think that the ship has sailed on Ethernet on laptops.
I honestly think that is miles away. wifi is dog slow compared to eithernet. I want my next laptop a few years out to have 10gig ethernet...my next gen laptops CPU and SSDs can keep up with that...
Full-size VGA? Sorry, the world got rid of those at the same time as HD-DVD drives. VGA sucks sucks sucks and deserves to die.
I'd like to agree, but I do not. Every single new monitor comes with VGA. If I'm anywhere, and someone hands me a monitor, I don't know what it will have on it (DVI? HDMI? Displayport? some of the above?) but I know it will at least have VGA.
Helll here is a BRAND NEW monitor that you can buy today that only has VGA:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...
Is it crap? Yes. Is it likely being bought for point-of-sale, receptionists, telemarketing pools, and help desks and so forth the world over? And anywhere else someone needed a lot of monitors and wanted them cheap? You bet.
The brand new $15,000 server I received this week... is equipped with VGA and only VGA. The brand new surveillance camera systems I just received... internet enabled of course, but the boxes had a VGA port (and only VGA) as well if you wanted to plug in a monitor to interact with it directly.
(Granted these latter 2 examples have nothing to do with ever being connected to my laptop, but it illustrates my point that to suggest that the "world got rid of VGA" is simply bullshit.)
I've never been to a conference or even a conference /room/ that didn't have proper cables for modern video.
Try a small business boardroom. Gear is often 5-10 years old. If it works, they don't mess with it. Especially if they've had it professionally installed, and the projector is ceiling mounted, and the cabling is run through the walls and then under the floor and up through the meeting table or something. Even if they bought a new projector last month, they just plug the existing 30' VGA cable that's in the wall into it.
I was in a VGA equipped boardroom just last week.
Not quite, he's saying there's lots left to discover. There just might not be anything left for the LHC to discover.
I suspect even that is false, that there will be all kinds of science to be done with it. But it may be true we don't discover any new particles with it by smashing things together, which is the thing it was built for.