Comment Silliest Equation Ever (Score 1) 220
The Drake equation is the silliest equation ever. It is little more than a statement of how much we don't know.
Comment Re:How soon we forget (Score 1) 493
"The killer app soon followed, Lotus 1-2-3. One showing of this app to anyone in business made DOS so valuable that pc's became as ubiquitous as water."
Sure businesses were buying PC's by the truckload for the spreadsheet apps. But where was the productivity? I remember hearing this refrain for almost a decade in the late 80's and early 90's on CNBC: "where is the productivity increase from all these PC's?"
That refrain stopped with the advent of the World Wide Web. The web was where the productivity turned out to be.
Back then, Sun and Netscape had a vision for the web that is still relevant today. Their vision got stomped on by MS. Hard.
MS couldn't stop the tide from coming in however, but they sure made a mess down by the shoreline.
Submission + - Interplanetary Internet: Node One (newscientist.com)
arjay-tea writes: "The interplanetary internet now has its first permanent node in space, aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
While the Earth-bound internet uses a protocol called TCP/IP to allow distant machines to communicate over cables, the ISS payload uses delay-tolerant networking (DTN), which is being developed to cope with the patchy coverage in space that arises when spacecraft pass behind planets or suffer power outages."
While the Earth-bound internet uses a protocol called TCP/IP to allow distant machines to communicate over cables, the ISS payload uses delay-tolerant networking (DTN), which is being developed to cope with the patchy coverage in space that arises when spacecraft pass behind planets or suffer power outages."
Comment Internet as a Utility (Score 1) 252
I have long advocated community provision of local internet service as a public utility, like city streets and county roads. This posting leads me to believe that other people are starting to see the benefits of going in this direction too.
Comment Re:Food for thought (Score 1) 384
"If anything they could use it to spin some lingerie for the female astronauts to help with those lonely space nights."
Or to offer to the green women.
