Comment Re:been done in cyberspace for over a century (Score 1) 87
I was going to point out Facebook's "poke" feature, but I like yours better.
I was going to point out Facebook's "poke" feature, but I like yours better.
The problem is that the USPTO is awarding "piss-patents" and so companies naturally file them. That's the problem that needs to be fixed.
Their old TOS let them do exactly that already. Go read it again. I'll wait.
The change they made now gives them the rights to not only use the image however they need to implement their services, it also gives them the ability to sublicense user images to others.
Who are these others? I can't think of any reason why another USER of instagram would need a licence for the pictures of other users. So, that leaves other companies that instagram works with, such as advertisers. The new language would allow them to sublicense your images to an advertiser, without asking you and without any compensation. That's what got everybody all worked up.
Fortunately, the blog post seems to suggest that this won't be happening, and they'll be removing, or at least changing, that language. Good for them.
My college set up something like that for password resets. Two computing center student employees could type in their own passwords and the username of another student to reset that student's password. If I remember right, it didn't work on faculty accounts and in a few other situations.
You missed a big one. Cosmic rays.
Space-bound hardware needs special protection from radiation (no atmosphere to do that job for you). Without it, random bits of memory will get flipped. Sometimes permanently. Modern hardware is especially susceptible to this problem.
In fact, this exact thing happened to Voyager 2 somewhat recently, and it started talking gibberish to controllers here on Earth. Someone figured out what magical bit was flipped and how to translate back. In that case, I don't think the damage was permanent.
The computer in your pocket is unlikely to survive even a few months in space.
That's not to say that we can't put some incredible processing power into space, it's just that radiation-hardened hardware lacks behind the latest technology.
Completely different markets. The RP is NOT a microcontroller. It is not an Arduino. It is a full ARM computer (albeit a slow one compared to what you have on your desk). It's as if you ripped out the motherboard from your phone or tablet and made it more hacker friendly.
Where you have some overlap is the RP gives pinouts for connecting some hardware, but the way you talk to that hardware is completely different.
And when you talk about the RP having more RAM, I should put that into perspective. The Discovery board has 192kB. The RP has 256MB. These aren't even close to being the same class of device, much less the same market. Read the article
There's plenty of market for the model A. If anything, the model B had taken up a lot of that market (only ten bucks more and you get Ethernet, one more USB, and more RAM).
Openness really doesn't matter to the RP's target market. If you're working on a microcontroller, your goal is to eventually move beyond the prototype stage and make a product. Openness matters in that case. But the RP isn't a prototype board (though it could be used as one). Instead, it's the product, already finished for you (just add a case and power supply). Openness matters a bit when it comes to drivers and access to SPI and whatnot, but the documentation for that is available, and I've yet to hear any complaints.
No. I prefer modern payment methods over either coins or paper. For everything else, there's the occasional paper bill I keep in my wallet.
Since I pay with a debit card for most everything, I almost never receive change of either kind. Thus, I never have to keep a wad of change in my pocket. On the rare occasion that I pay with cash, any change goes to a cup for the occasional ice cream cone or something (which is pretty rare, since I never get change anyway).
So, if I got to pick if I'd rather have the $1 change in paper or coin, I'd choose the paper since I don't carry coins around with me anyway.
Could I deal with a transition away from $1 paper? Of course. It just makes my life that one tiny bit more annoying, and then I'd move on. More ice cream for me, in the end.
Download the source? Check.
Modify it? Check.
Flash it onto your device? Uh
I think that's the rub right now, and it goes right back to the Tivoization debate.
With the exception that a lot of Linux stuff is already written to be rather cross-platform, if you bother recompiling. And if enough people go to ARM, distros will bundle those applications up for you.
And what do you know? That's already happened! Sure, not everything's available for ARM yet, but there's plenty out there already.
Which doesn't have an SD slot. I only have two complaints about the Nexus 7, and that's one of them. (The other is that there's no HDMI port).
That said
All devices that use the 30 pin dock connector pay a licensing fee to Apple for the privilege. They also get to put a "Made for iPhone" (or whatever) sticker on the box.
The cost is rumored to be the greater of 10% or $10. (These prices are subject to NDA and probably change depending on deals made with the accessory manufacturer, so I wouldn't necessarily take the exact number as factual). I believe the cost of the connector component itself is extra.
So, a simple $80 iHome stereo system has $10 going to Apple. A $400 Bose system would be closer to $40. I can only hope that BMW made some sort of arrangement so that it's not 10% of the cost of a new car.
And Apple wants to pay $1 per phone for some very significant patent licenses. What hypocrites!
I generally focus my gaze usually directly into their right eye (just pick one, doesn't really matter that much I don't think)
There's a NOVA episode that showed humans naturally look at the right eye first when seeing a face. (Meaning, we look left at the right eye of the other person). They went on to show that dogs do the same thing, theoretically a behavior that evolved as humans and dogs integrated socially.
However, this is a quick glance, not a stare.
And I've never been on a project that didn't have the oddest mixture of coding styles. And that's not because there was a lack of a style guide. But over the years (decades, sometimes) projects get combined, different styles work their way in over time as opinions change on the best style and as code gets reformatted ten times over.
Consistency is fine and all, but it tends to degrade over time.
On whatever code I'm working on, its always best to match what's there as much as possible.
If there's something I've learned, it's that the exact style doesn't matter, as long as it looks good, doesn't get in the way, and you try to enforce consistency.
Since you're going down to the studs anyway, find some place to put in a simple secret passageway. You know, for the kids and grandkids.
Look for dead spaces in the walls. It can be as simple as going from one closet to another. Try to connect to the crawlspace, maybe.
Software production is assumed to be a line function, but it is run like a staff function. -- Paul Licker
