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Comment Lower costs for end users? (Score 1) 87

I used to think this was double dipping by the ISPs. On reflection, however:

- Regardless of where they get the money, the remaining cost will get passed down to the consumer, regardless. Either by higher Netflix subscription costs or by higher connection fees to cover the network load.

- It costs more to transit traffic than it does to dump it directly to a peer. Netflix has the ability to stream movies from a node directly next to the ISP's peering connection. This means the ISP has the full burden of carrying the traffic cross-country even though it benefits Netflix's business.

- By allowing the ISP to charge for the traffic being dumped on them, it can enable peering agreements where Netflix is encouraged to peer at more points closer to the end customers. For example: Netflix could set up a streaming datacenter in Incheon to directly service the 3M+ people living there. That would save the ISP from having to transit from e.g. Seoul, so they might be willing to have a smaller contract with Netflix. If we assume the end user ends up paying regardless, this could result in lower costs for them because the system as a whole would be more efficient.

Comment Re:Java, all you need. (Score 1) 286

And with its great collection of garbage you can be sure Java will utilize all of your memory proving it's the best.

Also with the great lengths of it's CLASSPATH you can be sure your PATH has a whole lot of CLASS! like 20k worth. Please, LD_LIBRARY_PATH? That's for luuuuzers. Winners know you should specify the whole location of every individual library used EVERY SINGLE TIME you call a "binary" so as not to get confused.

Comment Re:hp48 (Score 1) 289

"me too".

The documentation bites huge donkey balls. Even the "advanced" guides could use some help. It's a good command reference, but it doesn't help much if you don't know the command to do specific things.

The hp48 guides were light years better.

for example, enter in polar coordinates:

( 6 40 )

the (angle) is right shift alpha 6. Not labeled on the keyboard. ARGH!

Too many ARGH moments with the 50. Where's the ROT key? buried in some menu.

I'll probably like it more after I figure out how to customize the crap out of it.

Comment Re:hp48 (Score 2, Informative) 289

I am taking a circuits class with 20 other students, all of whom are using ti-89s.

doing AC steady state circuit analysis is loads faster with the hp.

for example, find the parallel equivalent for a 20, 30, and 40 ohm resistor:

HP:
20 inv 30 inv 40 inv ++ inv

ti:
1/(1/20+1/30+1/40))

11 keypresses vs. 19

When you get to complex numbers (inductors and capacitors) it's not even close. I finish calculations in well less than half the time it takes the TI users. And not because I'm some sort of superwhiz with the calculator- it just works better.

The TI is a good calculator, but you can't really appreciate the speed of RPN until you've taken the time to get practiced with it.

The HP also has an algebraic mode, fwiw, if you want the "how it looks on paper" effect. It can be helpful if you are working with a complex equation and want to make sure you have done it correctly.

So.. RPN isn't god's gift to calculation for everything, but it can be very handy in many situations.

Comment Re:hp48 (Score 1) 289

The previous version of the "post-48" series was the hp49g+.

Absolutely godawful keys. Really horrible and also not great.

The hp50 is _much_ better, and I agree with other posters (on other forums) that it is the first calculator to be "better" than the hp48gx.

But it's not much better, and some things are less intuitive.

If you get one the bible (aka advanced user/programmers guide) from hpcalc.org is mandatory.

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