And why would you say that as if it were a joke? All we've been hearing lately here on/. is news about the "next big thing" being the entertainment center *doohicky* that allows gaming, television and full net access.Dangit if that isn't exactly where Sony is headed and that much sooner by adding TiVo capabilities to their next PS - the one with the onboard storage.
But does 6 (!) hours make sense? Surely there must be a typo somewhere, since we know that a full laptop with the average OS and running applications all day can go around that long. And if this part is true
By tinkering with Linux, IBM has reduced the amount of memory required to run the OS. In turn, this has helped increase the battery life to six hours. IBM has predicted all-day battery life will appear in a year or so.
then how in the world?!?!
keeping track of ops..?
on
Apocalypse 3
·
· Score: 2
Perl gets around some of these problems by keeping track of whether it is expecting an operator or a term. As it happens, a unary operator is simply one that occurs when Perl is expecting a term. So Perl could keep track of a unary = operator, even if the human programmer might be confused.
This seems to be a seriously smart way to do sytax checking. Is this drawn from an existing implementation in a different language or is it a new development that he thought up?
Speaking from my own experience as a non-developer coder, I'd love to see more of this kind of "artificial" intelligence in programming languages. I really love the power of languages such as c/c++ but keeping track of every possible way I can fsk stuff up is just impossible. I definately think having more checks in place (within reasonable limits) would certainly make for better code all around.
Emitting only heat and water as byproducts of power generation, the NexaTM power module allows OEM...
With heat and water as the byproducts, would it be possible to use the heat to boil the water thereby powering a steam generator of some kind? Now take it one step further, couldn't the water byproduct be used to refuel the device. I've read that it's fairly simple to split water from being H20 into it's components (supposed to be in use in prototype alternative-fuel automobiles). Send the hydrogen back into the system; this could be the first true infinity-machine, resulting byproduct then becomes just oxygen. That would take care of a host of environmental and social ailments at one fell swoop .
Imagine if physicists were to take the arrogant attitude of today's security developers and say, "If I can build it, I should and also tell everyone else how to do it!"
And what exactly would you consider the supercollider (and more exotic) infrastructure in use by educational instititions then, if not exactly that. I mean really, smashing atoms and (trying to create) black holes certainly seem to meet the criteria for arrogance. And it has to be those physicists you mentioned since no one else has the expertise to even dream that stuff up much less implement it technologically. But to "tell everyone else how to do it" is exactly what peer-review is all about; the idea is a very fundamental one for safe science, no?
But - would I put a stop to it if I could? No, because the potential benefits to humanity and me personally far outweigh the inherent dangers. I would like to see more control on these types of *things* but definately do not wish an end to them. As someone who considers himself a hacker of the classic definition - I wholeheartedly believe in that old adage. Paraphrasing I think it went something like "you go to school for an education, but to learn you need first-hand experience".
Sounds like that could be the real use of this type of project. Rather than spend $200+ on one of those firewall/router devices (such as those from Linksys) just buy a Dreamcast at the $49 firesale price and then run a real operating system on it. It would make for a superior device that can be admin/maintained and updated as necessary..
Since the NYC tragedy I've found that the media has gone berzerk; losing all ability to provide rational and impartial coverage of the situation. Despite lacking confirmation from official sources that encryption played a pivotal role and (more worrisome!) despite lacking proof, it seems that the collective mind of the media has fixated on encryption as the reason the terrorists were successfull.
Obviously without the airplane this tragedy could never have happened, yet nobody blames the Wright brothers. Why do you think a double standard is being applied to your work and encryption tools in general- when (like the airplane) the potential for good *far* *far* outweighs any potential for bad?
... but now the basking of big buisness in all the cash and exemptions they need to further maul the little guy into oblivion.
Need? Hardly the word I'd use - more like want. And they'll likely get it. The real question we should be asking would center on why *Corporate* people don't have to play by the same rules as *REAL* people. If I were to make the same demands I expect the roar of laughter to see me out of the building. So why is business allowed to act immorally, and even expected to..?
1) One cheap fares airline has already gone under, the big aitlines are looking to get 15-20 billion dollars in cash, loans, and tax filing delays.
Not sure if you are referring to ALL or just the US ones, but we have the same BS happening here in Canada. Air Canada seems to expect that the taxpayers should bail them out of their own lack of planning. Not to be too sarcastic, but remind me again- who decides on security measure in/around airports and on airplanes..?! Their lack of intelligence in decision making and they expect us to bail them out.. thems some big balls indeed..
This made me wonder if any serious and long term studies have been done on the concept of "cues" in the food chain. The way I understand it, evolution has decided that colour is closely tied into our abilities to determine edibility and such. That's one of the reasons why we know for example, that a ripe tomato is the red one.
Using this example of purple potatoes; I see a real problem with the colour from the health aspect. Most normal potatoes get an off-white blotch when mold sets in and this is a fairly obvious cue that it's gone bad. Other vegetables have similar behaviour signaling their end. Taking this to the logical extreme suggested by this article, what happens when designer-coloured veggies are the norm? Are we going to have to relearn, and relearn again the signs of *bad* for each new vegetable-of-the-day?
It's interesting to see this practical example of FSF in action, and bodes well for the future of GPL -- at least in a small way."
How do you figure? The supposed breach involved someone who is a part of the community. Presumably he shares at least some of the same views as those espoused within the GPL. That means it was a fairly good bet that he would deal with this (in an amicable manner) once it became apparent that he had violated the GPL terms.
Surely a much better test would involve people/companies who don't share the linux view of the world but who wish to leverage the codebase for their own gain..
Looking back to stories and posts about these types of offenders leads me to believe there is a serious double standard around here.
Think back and you'll remember everyone complaining that Kevin Mitnick received too harsh a sentence for his hacking/cracking actitivies. I even recall some posters mentioning that a rape/murder gets less time than Kevin's sentence. That was for an adult - maybe even the adult who is considered the *definitive* hacker's hacker, cracker's cracker and such; but that sentence was perceived as totally out of line.
Now we get this teen ager who is pretty much the poster child definition for the term "script kiddie" and a sentence of 8-9 months in juvie is too light a sentence..
Seems to me that the sentence should fit the crime. What he did is really the equivalent of spray painting the front of the local wal-mart - vandalism for sure but hardly a capital crime; he got a reasonable sentence.
Putting a picture on the web is like walking around in a public place.
If someone takes a picture of me out on the street, i have no right to keep them from publishing it. If i don't want people to take pictures of me doing something, i don't do it in a public place.
I think you might be mistaken here. I believe they call these "slice-of-life" photos, and while generally they don't have any rights issues involved, I have heard of a number of legal cases where the person photographed successfully sued. It had something to do with a failure to attribute the photo *of* the person, *to* the person.
Wish I could remember the details; everyone knows that legal rulings are all about the details so..
Don't proclaim Sklyarov's innocence, because he isn't. Instead, proclaim the injustice of a law that imposes draconian punishments for things that should not be illegal in the first place.
If all that was needed to institute change was people "proclaiming" against immoral unethical laws then you folks in the US of A would still be a colony of the Brits. The fact that actions speak louder than words and that action is often the only way to effect change *was* the whole point of the Boston Tea party I believe..
As I see it, the only unfortunate aspect is that it's a non-US citizen involved; an American in his place would have been a much better symbol of how slippery the slope has become.
Say, since it's well know that any important links in a posted article get "slashdotted", does that mean that we should be expecting slashdot to be slashdotted because of this?
General Software, Inc.'s demonstration of a 0.8sec BIOS boot time led to many observations and questions on the technical forum Slashdot, prompting us to provide more details on this project. We?ll update this page periodically ove..
Re:Because than it's not an "original" creation...
on
Neat IBM 5150 Case Mod
·
· Score: 2
"You have to take into account that when someone mods a case by themselves, it will then be considered unique to them (even if someone else is probably doing something very similar). This is the Slashdot crowd we're talking about, the people who like to compile their own programs. If it's already done for them, what's the point?
Very true and I am not implying that the results are anything less than unique and often very cool. But I would expect the difference between *unique* and *original* to be the very reason reusing or modifying *someone else's design* should be so much less gratifying than an actual original designed from scratch.
Using your parrallel to source code; those that can write their own code do so and "publish it" (equivalent to mass manufacturing of cases) while those that can't make use of the existing source and modify it as best as they can (the equivalent of hacking existing equipment). It's all cool, but wouldn't everyone rather *create* rather than *maintain*...?!
"Instead of tricking out something ultra modern w/ lights and windows, this guy modded an IBM 5150,"
Well, why does something that's already "ultra modern" need tricking out?
Ok I can understand some good reasons why it's cool to rehash these old pieces of crap, ranging from "just plain fun" to "save the planet with the three R's". All very cool stuff, this example no less so.
But so far I've seen articles demonstrating dozens of example of modern equipment which has been modded and customized, including some neat stuff using "lights and windows". I've also seen a dozen or so similar articles to this one showing off cool ways to reuse old equipment.
What I'm wondering is why guys who are obviously talented at this type of reengineering don't design new and wicked cases *from the ground up*. So far I've seen only a single example, that completely transparent case (from those guys in Vancouver, BC ?). Sure there are a few mass-produced cases which have a custom look such as the penguin/cat/dog cases and such, and a few manufacturers have made the rare attempt (apple's cube anyone..?)but I'd love to see more.
Why can't we have geometric shapes such as spheres and pyramids? Or if not *that* different how about just a really COOL personal design of some kind that doesn't start with the usual "beige-box" syndrome....
I think that would be a much better question. The reality seems to be that we have a totally disfunctional group running the educational system with little or no effort made to coordinate the various levels together to provide a comprehensive education.
1. Interactive (but not-computer) devices being banned from preschool/Kindergarden/grade school children.
2. Middleschool/Highschools banning HP-type calculators and handheld-type devices.
3. Universities that claim to be intellectual bastions of free-thinking; but then go out of their way to lock students into proprietary and expensive software.
Wasn't the whole promise of the "Information Age" and the digital revolution to begin the process of seeding ideas *before* the kids get set in their ways? It's only when the inventions of the previous generation become the *standards* for the next generation that real breakthrough bubble up.
Refusing to integrate these potentially educationally-rich technologies is a huge failure.
It seems that it's these supposed "educators" who need to learn a thing or two.
...user friendliness is one of those hilarious multi-headed hydras: When you don't have it you can disparage it as being for idiots and dullards, but once you have it it's a wonderful feature.
On a few levels I quite agree with you. The real problem with the whole concept of "user friendliness" is just that, the *user* part. What comes to mind is the SWAT (SAMBA ) interface. It's pretty decent, covering all the essentials that an experienced user might wish to quickly check/alter. The problem is that an unexperienced user would have no idea about most of the settings . Does that mean that this UI is crap? I don't think so.
The real solution is to correctly target your audience with the right level of "help". Don't forget, SWAT (and most *nix apps - correct?) allow for editing the config file with a text editor for all that advanced stuff anyway..
So back to BSD - heck any *nix; the level of computer education is the real problem. Grandma probably shouldn't be using *BSD, and CompSci grads probably should't be using Windows.
Most of the 'into' *nixish books assume a general command line background, if even DOS. Many of the younger geeks have not been exposed to DOS or a command line in general.
But- can you REALLY consider yourself a computer geek if you've never had regular exposure to the command line in some form? Last I checked, the more *geeky* the operating system the more available the command line.
Ah well, anything to help a quality OS become more popular and gain "market" must be a good thing.
``The idea that Linux is open source is very attractive to people in Hollywood, because they're so technically astute,'' said SGI's Greg Estes.
Is this guy sucking up or what? Astute? HTF can they be *so technically astute* when they can't grasp the simple concept that Linux users just want to be able to access their own PAID FOR media??
But wait - it gets even better..
``I've been told by senior executives at virtually every one of the major studios that this transformation will happen,'' IBM's Canepa said. ``They will retool their content creation onto an open platform, and they will adopt Linux.''
Retool onto an open platform? Hmm, sounds like just a lot of BS to me. On the other hand, maybe this is the turning point where those sob's at the RIAA/MPAA/whatever come to realize that Linux is no different from Windows in that it's a tool for an end. And in the case of Linux, the tool belongs to EVERYONE not just those willing to bend over for MS..
Maybe there is some promise here after all...Once Linux is in use by techs AND the content people, how much longer could it be before it's the corporate platform waving Windows out the door? At that point it's doubtfull that any Exec could deny the need for fully supporting Linux users.
such a bloody problem? First off wasn't the whole point of the internet that infomation could be shared - easily? And again, this was in a day and age where BIG IRON ruled. Now with commodity equipment it should be no problem to host this stuff on university, personal, WHEREVER sites. And as far as "publishing", I do believe that was the reason for SGML and heirs, no?
And if it's dead-tree format that's the problem, I'm sure the same folks who convenienly print paper format of "personal poetry" would be just as willing to accept bucks from the sci community to print dead-tree copies of whatever "thesis/theory-of-the-day" is desired.
This could have the desired effect of cutting out those useless publishers- I'm hoping so anyway..
From the article - "built a transistor from only a single molecule one nanometer wide...The tiny device can be toggled on and off using a single electron... "
It's been some time since I did any real electronics but I thought I remembered that a transistors' function is to amplify signal. And I also thought that the whole basis for the binary machine (aka computer)was that logic gate on/off process, hence the "digital" concept. Does this mean that nanotech actually allows us to reduce complexity at the same time as we increase the capability of this "circuit"..?
So true. What this really means then is that the OSS community needs to come up with it's own OPEN standard version of this concept as opposed to a compatible OSS version of the actual ".net". Don't play Microsoft's game, rather beat them to the punch by releasing something REAL, SOONER that is OPEN. It's far more likely that institutions would make use of this if it allowed them to leverage the internet in the same manner but at a fraction of the cost. I think the best example is SAMBA, but without the MS part..
point of view these production houses have. Rather than actually use their brains and those huge production budgets to come up with something new and *cool* they'd rather re-release old *Crap*.
Oh yeah, I used to love ALL those shows, but every generation needs something new, something which is the sci-fi hallmark of itself. Heck, Paramount may be making a vague effort in the form of the new "Star Trek: Enterprise", but you'd think that by now those supposed "entertainment genuises" could have come up with something other and more interesting than "Lothario in Space".. geeze!
Must be the same disease that made them re-make "Planet of the Apes" with Wahlberg as the star.. Heaven knows that the only thing worse is that I probably will end up wanting to see it because of cool clips and previews then end up finding out that all the cool scenes were in those clips.
Slashdot Mirror
And why would you say that as if it were a joke? All we've been hearing lately here on /. is news about the "next big thing" being the entertainment center *doohicky* that allows gaming, television and full net access.Dangit if that isn't exactly where Sony is headed and that much sooner by adding TiVo capabilities to their next PS - the one with the onboard storage.
But does 6 (!) hours make sense? Surely there must be a typo somewhere, since we know that a full laptop with the average OS and running applications all day can go around that long. And if this part is true
By tinkering with Linux, IBM has reduced the amount of memory required to run the OS. In turn, this has helped increase the battery life to six hours. IBM has predicted all-day battery life will appear in a year or so.
then how in the world?!?!
Perl gets around some of these problems by keeping track of whether it is expecting an operator or a term. As it happens, a unary operator is simply one that occurs when Perl is expecting a term. So Perl could keep track of a unary = operator, even if the human programmer might be confused.
This seems to be a seriously smart way to do sytax checking. Is this drawn from an existing implementation in a different language or is it a new development that he thought up?
Speaking from my own experience as a non-developer coder, I'd love to see more of this kind of "artificial" intelligence in programming languages. I really love the power of languages such as c/c++ but keeping track of every possible way I can fsk stuff up is just impossible. I definately think having more checks in place (within reasonable limits) would certainly make for better code all around.
Emitting only heat and water as byproducts of power generation, the NexaTM power module allows OEM...
With heat and water as the byproducts, would it be possible to use the heat to boil the water thereby powering a steam generator of some kind?
Now take it one step further, couldn't the water byproduct be used to refuel the device. I've read that it's fairly simple to split water from being H20 into it's components (supposed to be in use in prototype alternative-fuel automobiles). Send the hydrogen back into the system; this could be the first true infinity-machine, resulting byproduct then becomes just oxygen.
That would take care of a host of environmental and social ailments at one fell swoop .
Imagine if physicists were to take the arrogant attitude of today's security developers and say, "If I can build it, I should and also tell everyone else how to do it!"
And what exactly would you consider the supercollider (and more exotic) infrastructure in use by educational instititions then, if not exactly that.
I mean really, smashing atoms and (trying to create) black holes certainly seem to meet the criteria for arrogance. And it has to be those physicists you mentioned since no one else has the expertise to even dream that stuff up much less implement it technologically. But to "tell everyone else how to do it" is exactly what peer-review is all about; the idea is a very fundamental one for safe science, no?
But - would I put a stop to it if I could? No, because the potential benefits to humanity and me personally far outweigh the inherent dangers. I would like to see more control on these types of *things* but definately do not wish an end to them. As someone who considers himself a hacker of the classic definition - I wholeheartedly believe in that old adage. Paraphrasing I think it went something like "you go to school for an education, but to learn you need first-hand experience".
Sounds like that could be the real use of this type of project. Rather than spend $200+ on one of those firewall/router devices (such as those from Linksys) just buy a Dreamcast at the $49 firesale price and then run a real operating system on it. It would make for a superior device that can be admin/maintained and updated as necessary..
Since the NYC tragedy I've found that the media has gone berzerk; losing all ability to provide rational and impartial coverage of the situation.
Despite lacking confirmation from official sources that encryption played a pivotal role and (more worrisome!) despite lacking proof, it seems that the collective mind of the media has fixated on encryption as the reason the terrorists were successfull.
Obviously without the airplane this tragedy could never have happened, yet nobody blames the Wright brothers. Why do you think a double standard is being applied to your work and encryption tools in general- when (like the airplane) the potential for good *far* *far* outweighs any potential for bad?
Need? Hardly the word I'd use - more like want. And they'll likely get it. The real question we should be asking would center on why *Corporate* people don't have to play by the same rules as *REAL* people. If I were to make the same demands I expect the roar of laughter to see me out of the building. So why is business allowed to act immorally, and even expected to..?
1) One cheap fares airline has already gone under, the big aitlines are looking to get 15-20 billion dollars in cash, loans, and tax filing delays.
Not sure if you are referring to ALL or just the US ones, but we have the same BS happening here in Canada. Air Canada seems to expect that the taxpayers should bail them out of their own lack of planning. Not to be too sarcastic, but remind me again- who decides on security measure in/around airports and on airplanes..?! Their lack of intelligence in decision making and they expect us to bail them out.. thems some big balls indeed..
This made me wonder if any serious and long term studies have been done on the concept of "cues" in the food chain. The way I understand it, evolution has decided that colour is closely tied into our abilities to determine edibility and such. That's one of the reasons why we know for example, that a ripe tomato is the red one.
Using this example of purple potatoes; I see a real problem with the colour from the health aspect. Most normal potatoes get an off-white blotch when mold sets in and this is a fairly obvious cue that it's gone bad. Other vegetables have similar behaviour signaling their end. Taking this to the logical extreme suggested by this article, what happens when designer-coloured veggies are the norm? Are we going to have to relearn, and relearn again the signs of *bad* for each new vegetable-of-the-day?
It's interesting to see this practical example of FSF in action, and bodes well for the future of GPL -- at least in a small way."
How do you figure? The supposed breach involved someone who is a part of the community. Presumably he shares at least some of the same views as those espoused within the GPL. That means it was a fairly good bet that he would deal with this (in an amicable manner) once it became apparent that he had violated the GPL terms.
Surely a much better test would involve people/companies who don't share the linux view of the world but who wish to leverage the codebase for their own gain..
Looking back to stories and posts about these types of offenders leads me to believe there is a serious double standard around here.
Think back and you'll remember everyone complaining that Kevin Mitnick received too harsh a sentence for his hacking/cracking actitivies. I even recall some posters mentioning that a rape/murder gets less time than Kevin's sentence. That was for an adult - maybe even the adult who is considered the *definitive* hacker's hacker, cracker's cracker and such; but that sentence was perceived as totally out of line.
Now we get this teen ager who is pretty much the poster child definition for the term "script kiddie" and a sentence of 8-9 months in juvie is too light a sentence..
Seems to me that the sentence should fit the crime. What he did is really the equivalent of spray painting the front of the local wal-mart - vandalism for sure but hardly a capital crime; he got a reasonable sentence.
Putting a picture on the web is like walking around in a public place.
If someone takes a picture of me out on the street, i have no right to keep them from publishing it. If i don't want people to take pictures of me doing something, i don't do it in a public place.
I think you might be mistaken here. I believe they call these "slice-of-life" photos, and while generally they don't have any rights issues involved, I have heard of a number of legal cases where the person photographed successfully sued. It had something to do with a failure to attribute the photo *of* the person, *to* the person.
Wish I could remember the details; everyone knows that legal rulings are all about the details so..
Don't proclaim Sklyarov's innocence, because he isn't. Instead, proclaim the injustice of a law that imposes draconian punishments for things that should not be illegal in the first place.
If all that was needed to institute change was people "proclaiming" against immoral unethical laws then you folks in the US of A would still be a colony of the Brits. The fact that actions speak louder than words and that action is often the only way to effect change *was* the whole point of the Boston Tea party I believe..
As I see it, the only unfortunate aspect is that it's a non-US citizen involved; an American in his place would have been a much better symbol of how slippery the slope has become.
Say, since it's well know that any important links in a posted article get "slashdotted", does that mean that we should be expecting slashdot to be slashdotted because of this?
..
General Software, Inc.'s demonstration of a 0.8sec BIOS boot time led to many observations and questions on the technical forum Slashdot, prompting us to provide more details on this project. We?ll update this page periodically ove
"You have to take into account that when someone mods a case by themselves, it will then be considered unique to them (even if someone else is probably doing something very similar). This is the Slashdot crowd we're talking about, the people who like to compile their own programs. If it's already done for them, what's the point?
Very true and I am not implying that the results are anything less than unique and often very cool. But I would expect the difference between *unique* and *original* to be the very reason reusing or modifying *someone else's design* should be so much less gratifying than an actual original designed from scratch.
Using your parrallel to source code; those that can write their own code do so and "publish it" (equivalent to mass manufacturing of cases) while those that can't make use of the existing source and modify it as best as they can (the equivalent of hacking existing equipment).
It's all cool, but wouldn't everyone rather *create* rather than *maintain*...?!
" Instead of tricking out something ultra modern w/ lights and windows, this guy modded an IBM 5150,"
Well, why does something that's already "ultra modern" need tricking out?
Ok I can understand some good reasons why it's cool to rehash these old pieces of crap, ranging from "just plain fun" to "save the planet with the three R's". All very cool stuff, this example no less so.
But so far I've seen articles demonstrating dozens of example of modern equipment which has been modded and customized, including some neat stuff using "lights and windows". I've also seen a dozen or so similar articles to this one showing off cool ways to reuse old equipment.
What I'm wondering is why guys who are obviously talented at this type of reengineering don't design new and wicked cases *from the ground up*. So far I've seen only a single example, that completely transparent case (from those guys in Vancouver, BC ?). Sure there are a few mass-produced cases which have a custom look such as the penguin/cat/dog cases and such, and a few manufacturers have made the rare attempt (apple's cube anyone..?)but I'd love to see more.
Why can't we have geometric shapes such as spheres and pyramids? Or if not *that* different how about just a really COOL personal design of some kind that doesn't start with the usual "beige-box" syndrome....
I think that would be a much better question. The reality seems to be that we have a totally disfunctional group running the educational system with little or no effort made to coordinate the various levels together to provide a comprehensive education.
1. Interactive (but not-computer) devices being banned from preschool/Kindergarden/grade school children.
2. Middleschool/Highschools banning HP-type calculators and handheld-type devices.
3. Universities that claim to be intellectual bastions of free-thinking; but then go out of their way to lock students into proprietary and expensive software.
Wasn't the whole promise of the "Information Age" and the digital revolution to begin the process of seeding ideas *before* the kids get set in their ways? It's only when the inventions of the previous generation become the *standards* for the next generation that real breakthrough bubble up.
Refusing to integrate these potentially educationally-rich technologies is a huge failure.
It seems that it's these supposed "educators" who need to learn a thing or two.
On a few levels I quite agree with you. The real problem with the whole concept of "user friendliness" is just that, the *user* part. What comes to mind is the SWAT (SAMBA ) interface. It's pretty decent, covering all the essentials that an experienced user might wish to quickly check/alter. The problem is that an unexperienced user would have no idea about most of the settings . Does that mean that this UI is crap? I don't think so. The real solution is to correctly target your audience with the right level of "help". Don't forget, SWAT (and most *nix apps - correct?) allow for editing the config file with a text editor for all that advanced stuff anyway..
So back to BSD - heck any *nix; the level of computer education is the real problem. Grandma probably shouldn't be using *BSD, and CompSci grads probably should't be using Windows.
Most of the 'into' *nixish books assume a general command line background, if even DOS. Many of the younger geeks have not been exposed to DOS or a command line in general.
But- can you REALLY consider yourself a computer geek if you've never had regular exposure to the command line in some form? Last I checked, the more *geeky* the operating system the more available the command line.
Ah well, anything to help a quality OS become more popular and gain "market" must be a good thing.
``The idea that Linux is open source is very attractive to people in Hollywood, because they're so technically astute,'' said SGI's Greg Estes.
Is this guy sucking up or what? Astute? HTF can they be *so technically astute* when they can't grasp the simple concept that Linux users just want to be able to access their own PAID FOR media??
But wait - it gets even better..
``I've been told by senior executives at virtually every one of the major studios that this transformation will happen,'' IBM's Canepa said. ``They will retool their content creation onto an open platform, and they will adopt Linux.''
Retool onto an open platform? Hmm, sounds like just a lot of BS to me. On the other hand, maybe this is the turning point where those sob's at the RIAA/MPAA/whatever come to realize that Linux is no different from Windows in that it's a tool for an end. And in the case of Linux, the tool belongs to EVERYONE not just those willing to bend over for MS.. Maybe there is some promise here after all...Once Linux is in use by techs AND the content people, how much longer could it be before it's the corporate platform waving Windows out the door? At that point it's doubtfull that any Exec could deny the need for fully supporting Linux users.
such a bloody problem? First off wasn't the whole point of the internet that infomation could be shared - easily? And again, this was in a day and age where BIG IRON ruled. Now with commodity equipment it should be no problem to host this stuff on university, personal, WHEREVER sites. And as far as "publishing", I do believe that was the reason for SGML and heirs, no?
And if it's dead-tree format that's the problem, I'm sure the same folks who convenienly print paper format of "personal poetry" would be just as willing to accept bucks from the sci community to print dead-tree copies of whatever "thesis/theory-of-the-day" is desired.
This could have the desired effect of cutting out those useless publishers- I'm hoping so anyway..
From the article - " built a transistor from only a single molecule one nanometer wide ...The tiny device can be toggled on and off using a single electron... "
..?
It's been some time since I did any real electronics but I thought I remembered that a transistors' function is to amplify signal. And I also thought that the whole basis for the binary machine (aka computer)was that logic gate on/off process, hence the "digital" concept. Does this mean that nanotech actually allows us to reduce complexity at the same time as we increase the capability of this "circuit"
That announcement link also indicates that a USB mouse and keyboard would be available. Doesn't that imply that the HD is definatively USB?
If so, why is it not possible to plug one in right now?
So true. What this really means then is that the OSS community needs to come up with it's own OPEN standard version of this concept as opposed to a compatible OSS version of the actual ".net". Don't play Microsoft's game, rather beat them to the punch by releasing something REAL, SOONER that is OPEN. It's far more likely that institutions would make use of this if it allowed them to leverage the internet in the same manner but at a fraction of the cost. I think the best example is SAMBA, but without the MS part..
point of view these production houses have. Rather than actually use their brains and those huge production budgets to come up with something new and *cool* they'd rather re-release old *Crap*.
Oh yeah, I used to love ALL those shows, but every generation needs something new, something which is the sci-fi hallmark of itself. Heck, Paramount may be making a vague effort in the form of the new "Star Trek: Enterprise", but you'd think that by now those supposed "entertainment genuises" could have come up with something other and more interesting than "Lothario in Space".. geeze!
Must be the same disease that made them re-make "Planet of the Apes" with Wahlberg as the star..
Heaven knows that the only thing worse is that I probably will end up wanting to see it because of cool clips and previews then end up finding out that all the cool scenes were in those clips.