Just imagine: virtual hand-washing dishes, virtual weed pulling, virtual pebble sorting.
The video-game possibilities are endless!

> A 100MHz ARM core with enough flash and RAM on die to run a full operating system is about $1.

What operating system? What supplier and part number do you have in mind, exactly?

Let's not and say we did.

If my math is right, Planck's length as your resolution limit gives you 6.187x10^34 possible marking positions per meter of stick, which means you can encode about 115 bits with one mark on a 1m Planck-grade stick.

I like the technological aspect of networked sensors and remote management, I intend to put sensors in my own home, but I can't get over how annoying this article is.

An article full of hand-waving is topped with this:
"And this is what Urban OS is providing, this kind of solution to analyse mass data, enter it in a context and perform magical actions."

The cutesy use of computing terms is grating:
"To support the myriad of different devices in a city the firm has developed an extensive set of application services that will run Urban OS, dubbed PlaceApps - the urban environment equivalent of apps on a smartphone."

"The OS completely bypasses humans to manage communication between sensors and devices such as traffic lights, air conditioning or water pumps that influence the quality of city life."
What previous problem is solved by having the city "OS" manage my air conditioning? Do I use too much? Should I put sensors in my house so UrbanOS can tell if nobody's home, then shut it off for me?

Frankly I'm not comfortable with the degree of centralization implied in this article. The folks who run infrastructure already have or are installing ever more networked sensors to ease maintenance, administration, and lower maintenance costs.

I get the feeling the article writer and McLaren Electronic Systems have very different things in mind.

I don't care that it's Microsoft. I would feel exactly same way if the writer said the same about anything else. I have never developed using the .NET platform, so I'm not about to defend a position I don't hold regarding .NET superiority or inferiority.

> A man states his opinion and is immediately vilified.
Yes, there is the danger that when one speaks his opinion someone else will express theirs in kind.

I just tell potential employers that I ascended Nethack multiple times.

Dear Slashdot,

Thank you for propagating this non-news publicity stunt in true Slashbot form. You never disappoint.

Love, Expensify

Femtoseconds are so last microsecond. This just in: Trading geeks have started to talk about attoseconds!

~17% of russian roulette players later admitted to regretting it.

See Texas Memory Systems for multi-terabyte solutions. Unless you were actually looking for standard form factors.

From their FAQ:
Q: I really want to make my home computer faster, can you help?
A: Have you considered a home equity line of credit?

Facebook, 4chan, digg, slashdot, reddit, and redtube make their sites accessible by ipv6 only (and not through v4 to v6 tunnels.)
They take a hit in traffic for a little while, two weeks later, every ISP is giving out ipv6 addresses and every ancient router and pc is upgraded. :)

There are those who are geeks-on-the-outside, and geeks-on-the-inside.
May this thread contain many posts about what ways we outgeek our fellows and grumble about the dilution of obscure skills and subjects by bringing them to larger audiences.

I'll start: grumble, kids these days and their Arduinos. I'd better use a DSP or FPGA in my next project. And kids these days think FFVII is the pinnacle of classic gaming. Grumble, grumble. *gets fed a mutton chop by Link*

Thank you for the "scare quotes." I wasn't sure what slant I should have "read into" this "summary."

I'd use 1 to 3 high powered electrodeless fluorescent lighting tubes at the center of an empty ball, and have the skin of the sphere be made from some sort of light-diffusing glass or plastic. Electrodeless fluorescent lighting is very efficient and long-lasting.

Actually, come to think of it, since it used one day a year, so what if the light source has 100,000 hours of useful runtime? Damn this fixation on longevity and efficiency!

I would make each vertex of the geodesic sphere a tungsten electrode (cooled if necessary) and have fairly high powered plasma arcs flowing across the ball's surface, switching directions, forming patterns, and suchlike. The viewers should avoid staring too long.