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Comment Share the strategy (Score 4, Interesting) 124

I would like to know how you managed to convince Intel and Samsung to build yet another mobile framework on a technology that has been really difficult to use, and has a very small share of the UI framework "market?" Is it that Enlightenment is providing UIs of the future, or is everything better encumbered by their ownership or stakeholders?

Comment Not insulting, just delusional (Score 1) 1152

I find this argument as delusional and dangerous, but not insulting. I think Mr Dawkins obfuscates the issues by creating a false belief that those with different views are insulted by his beliefs. I think that is far from the truth.

From my perspective, the main issue lies with the dilution of the education system and not anyone's individual feelings. Teaching creationism is a subject separate from science. Science has a clear method of repetitive observation, hypothesis, evidence, and theory. It is meant to be objective and discourages personal bias. That doesn't mean it discourages opposing views, but those views must also following the scientific method.

Creationism is part of a belief system. It should be taught in the context of that belief system. This is very similar to other "cultural" education (e.g. my wife is from Russia and my daughter attends Russian school.) If fundamentalist Christians are threatened by Science, then it is their problem, not those of the general population.

In the context of an increasingly technical world where jobs are requiring a higher level of skill, replacing technical skills with a cultural belief system is somewhat irresponsible. To put things in Dr Dawkin's words, his ignorance of Baseball will not ill prepare his for the world. It is a cultural knowledge. His ignorance of scientific method will likely stunt his abilities to compete in an increasingly science oriented world.

Comment My prediction (Score 2) 687

The alarm clock will still be on my wife's side of the bed and will probably be a cheap Timex battery powered unit with buttons that are hard to press and a crappy display and annoying beep for an alarm. She will still the voice that pulls me from my sleep,

We will have the same shower with maybe an upgrade to the shower head. I don't see a need to upgrade our Thermosol shower control as it seems to do a fine job at at temperature control. We will still live on the east coast where water is not so much a valued commodity. We tend to take short showers, so this shouldn't be an issue.

I will still have a phone and a computer. My computer might look more like a tablet and syncing will be faster and easier, but I won't be plopping my phone into a docking station at my office. Dropbox or Google sync seems to give me that functionality today.

I expect to be swiping and typing. I don't think I will be gesturing into the air which seems to require to much energy. I still expect no more than a 30 inch display on my desk, although the screen and tablet computer might be flexible and thin. I doubt the metric system will take hole in the U.S. I will still be driving at 75MPH on roads with a 65MPH speed limit. My car might have more voice controls and a heads up display, but I suspect it will be a hybrid that runs on electricity and natural gas rather than gasoline.

I will still expect a paper or card menu at the restaurant and a live waiter. The card menu could possibly be a flexible computer, but it will have to look and feel like a menu card to be acceptable.
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My kitchen appliances will be very high tech with touch displays, but their function will likely be the same. We might have some unforeseen replacements for microwave ovens, but I doubt it.

In essence, I don't expect things to change dramatically. I expect I will have multiple devices that are all synced together (I have that now, so why would it be different 15 years from now). Siri might actually work and be useful by then, but I will still only use it in the car. I won't want to be shouting out my preferences or requests in public for all to hear.

Comment Where you live is what you get. (Score 1) 375

I can't speak for the entire U.S. It seems that carriers focus on different regions of the country. I traveled quite a bit over the past 7 years and here is my experience.

I have the best coverage with Verizon. Speeds were consistent and good. In the New England area, I get 4 or 5 bars where ever I go.

In New England, AT&T just sucks. It sucks on speed and coverage. Drive two miles of the freeway in New Hampshire or Vermont, and signals are spotty. In the metro Boston area, I can't drive 5 miles on the freeway without dropping calls a few times. There was an AT&T billboard in Brighton (part of Boston) that said "More bar in more areas" I think they were describing the taverns and not their coverage.

Sprint was really good in New England. I had a plan that would allow me to roam on the Verizon network outside of Boston. I don't know if they still do that, but I always have coverage. In the 7 years of using a Sprint phone, I never experience a dropped call on my commute from the North West suburbs (Burlington) into Brookline (4 miles from Downtown).

I was getting free phones from Nokia and Microsoft and none of them got more than 2G data speeds on T-Mobile. I understand they offer 3G in the 800Mhz band. None of my phones could use the 3G. If you buy one of their special phones, it works. From what I understand they are rolling out HSPA on more frequencies and are also building out their 4G LTE network.

Comment not just for linux (Score 2) 320

I am not convinced that this is just a linux problem. I have a laptop with a Intel HD Graphics adapter (8086:01116) running Window 7 pro, that experiences similar behavior when coming out of suspend. Some times the screen freezes and the mouse moves, other times the mouse freezes but the screen continues to update (for instance alt-tab navigates windows that still respond to the keyboard).

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Comment ideology is ideology (Score 2) 771

The operative word is ideology which is "the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, etc." Once you subscribe to an ideology, you tend to be close minded to alternatives. Contrast that against the scientific process that uses hypothesis, evidence, and theory to drive belief and action. A true scientist would constantly test existing theories against new evidence and reformulate new hypotheses and theories to support the new evidence.

The free market is one of those funny ideas. Free markets are good at reconciling supply and demand. Unfortunately, free markets can form into oligopolies and cartels which are sub optimal at resolving supply and demand. There is a difference between supporting free markets and having a free market ideology. I support a free market and expect government regulations to keep the market free. I also expect the government to solve social issues that the free market is unable or unwilling to solve.

It's kind of like Darwinism. Scientific evidence supports the theory of natural selection and evolution. I can go in my back yard watch animals behaving in a Darwinian manner. I subscribe to Darwinian theory, but I am not a Darwinian ideologist. I don't believe people have to behave that way. I believe as a society we can do better than that.

Not that scientists don't fall into ideologies around a particular sciences. It sometimes takes a crafty politician (and scientist) to convince a scientific body accept a new theory.

Comment Re:Question (Score 1) 30

No. It means an algorithm which mutates based on the data inputs.

  I thought it was a branch of computer scientific concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, This does not imply that the algorithm mutates, though that is one way of allowing the computer to evolve.

Submission + - Nokia feeds the patent trolls? (zdnet.com)

glebovitz writes: "In case anyone missed the other Nokia news, on the same day they announced the sale of Qt to Digia, they also sold 500 patents to Vringo. Vringo, the video ring tone company, recently merged with patent portfolio company Innovate/project which includes Donald Stout, the founder of NTP on its board. Forbes refers to Stout as "a patent troll which milked Research In Motion for $612.5 million in a patent infringement settlement reached in 2006." As Forbes staff writer Eric Savitz writes in his article "Vringo decided to basically turn itself into a patent troll.""

Comment Re:The numbers (Score 2) 172

I am in Brookline MA and we share Comcast infrastructure with Boston. I have 22MBs according to my tests, and Comcast promises me even greater speed if I upgrade to a DOCSYS 3 modem. My brother reports the same in New Jersey, and my other brother is getting 12 to 15 MBS from his provider in San Diego. A year ago, my connection was at 7 - 9 MBs, so things have improved greatly. My data bill has stayed the same.

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