Comment Whose old? (Score 1) 61
Has Mr. Gilmoure been around as long as me???
Nope
Stevew
Comment Thinner and lighter (Score 1) 25
One-third the cost of an iPhone Duo.
Also probably foldable.
Once.
Comment Sounds like ISAC (Score 2) 39
This is something folks are working on for 6g -- integrated sensing and communication.
https://www.qualcomm.com/resea...
Basically, hey, you've got all these devices pumping out signals everywhere at all kinds of wavelengths; if you receive and process them you can pretty much build a 3-D scene.
Comment Re:Huh? (Score 1) 20
Maybe this info needs to be stored in some kind of encrypted escrow format. The database, instead of having an address, would have a blob that decrypts to the address in the shipper's system. And maybe not the full address, but only just enough information for routing - when the shipper picks it up, if its local they get the full address, if its across the country they just get enough to get the nearest distribution center, which has a key to decrypt the recipient's distribution center, and so on. at each stage only enough information so that it doesn't prevent routing optimization.
Comment Littleton(TM)? (Score 1) 32
I had no idea that the good people of Littleton, Massachusetts had trademarked the name of their town.
I look forward to their lawsuit against those imposters over in Colorado.
Ask Slashdot: What are the Costs of Switching Between Windows, MacOS, and Chrome? 66
UI changes, lost productivity, untransferrable knowledge... Long-time Slashdot reader theodp notes the folly of switching to an unfamiliar new environment to be "more productive"...
Champions of the switch often insist workers will be able to hit the ground running and get the same or even more work done from the get-go in the new unfamiliar environment because it's 'more productive', a conclusion often shaped by conventional wisdom or their 'gut' feeling. Decision makers may also mistake their own 'light-user experience' for universal experience and believe all platforms are fungible.
And while it's one thing for a business to delay their delivery dates and increase costs of by introducing a switch in computing environments that's of unquantified and possibly dubious value, how about when a switch in computing environments is made that affects schoolchildren's ability to learn for a period of time?
While a MacBook Neo is indeed cute, what might be the possible consequences of a decision to move 25,000 students off Windows and onto MacBook Neos...? Or even the impact on a single kid who moves from a MacBook school to a Windows or Chrome school (or whose home computing environment isn't aligned with their school). Or students whose teachers decide learning in their classrooms should now additionally require an understanding of the Minecraft computing platform/UI (used in over 40,000 school systems.). Learning Management Systems and now various AI Edtech tools used by schoolkids are also subject to change.
"Even if students and schools eventually benefit from a new platform, one wonders how much learning is lost during the switch," theodp asks, "and what the financial and educational ROI and payback period look like." Are there bigger problems than we realize? Share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.
What are the costs of switching between Windows, MacOS, and Chrome?
And while it's one thing for a business to delay their delivery dates and increase costs of by introducing a switch in computing environments that's of unquantified and possibly dubious value, how about when a switch in computing environments is made that affects schoolchildren's ability to learn for a period of time?
While a MacBook Neo is indeed cute, what might be the possible consequences of a decision to move 25,000 students off Windows and onto MacBook Neos...? Or even the impact on a single kid who moves from a MacBook school to a Windows or Chrome school (or whose home computing environment isn't aligned with their school). Or students whose teachers decide learning in their classrooms should now additionally require an understanding of the Minecraft computing platform/UI (used in over 40,000 school systems.). Learning Management Systems and now various AI Edtech tools used by schoolkids are also subject to change.
"Even if students and schools eventually benefit from a new platform, one wonders how much learning is lost during the switch," theodp asks, "and what the financial and educational ROI and payback period look like." Are there bigger problems than we realize? Share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.
What are the costs of switching between Windows, MacOS, and Chrome?
Comment Old books, you say? (Score 1) 114
My parents built up a pretty decent collection of Horatio Alger's highly formulaic rags-to-riches "dime novels" from around 1868-1910. Perhaps AI would like to ingest many, many stories of plucky and hard-working young men who wind up making it big?
Non-Invasive Stimulation of the Brain Ended Opioid Addiction, Cigarette Craving (jpost.com) 37
The Jerusalem Post reports that doctors at Haifa's Rambam Health Care Campus "have successfully treated their first Israeli opioid addiction patient using an experimental noninvasive brain technology, easing him through withdrawal in just 20 minutes..."
[T]he team of specialists at the Haifa medical center intervened in the electrical activity of an area of the patient's brain called the nucleus accumbens, the core of the brain system responsible for feelings of satisfaction, pleasure, and reward. The treatment, based on technology from the Israeli company Insightec, is similar to the one used to treat symptoms of essential tremor and Parkinsonian tremor, under MRI control. In this case, the treatment was carried out with the help of a new technology that performs noninvasive neuromodulation, without heating or burning tissue, and allows stimulation in the same area of the brain to increase or suppress activity...
"Tests carried out a week later produced negative results for opioids and other substances," [said Dr. Lior Lev-Tov, director of the functional neurosurgery unit in Rambam's neurosurgery division and the one leading the new study at the medical center.] "The patient himself reported a craving score of zero out of 10 for using the drug, and even another side effect, a drastic drop in the desire for cigarettes, from three packs a day to just a few cigarettes, and with no urge to use alcohol. In other words, in a treatment that lasted about 20 minutes net, our patient was completely freed from an extreme dependence that had accompanied him every day for years. This is nothing less than a medical and therapeutic revolution."
Dr. Lev-Tov added that "This experience opens doors for us to treat a wide range of very serious illnesses such as PTSD, OCD, eating disorders, other addictions, severe depression, severe pain disorders, and I hope we will also be able to reach cognitive areas and treat attention deficit disorders, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and more."
Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the article.
"Tests carried out a week later produced negative results for opioids and other substances," [said Dr. Lior Lev-Tov, director of the functional neurosurgery unit in Rambam's neurosurgery division and the one leading the new study at the medical center.] "The patient himself reported a craving score of zero out of 10 for using the drug, and even another side effect, a drastic drop in the desire for cigarettes, from three packs a day to just a few cigarettes, and with no urge to use alcohol. In other words, in a treatment that lasted about 20 minutes net, our patient was completely freed from an extreme dependence that had accompanied him every day for years. This is nothing less than a medical and therapeutic revolution."
Dr. Lev-Tov added that "This experience opens doors for us to treat a wide range of very serious illnesses such as PTSD, OCD, eating disorders, other addictions, severe depression, severe pain disorders, and I hope we will also be able to reach cognitive areas and treat attention deficit disorders, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and more."
Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the article.
Comment Similar stuff on other sites too (Score 1) 44
There have been a lot of model-poisoning spam over on Quora too. Notably in service of pump-and-dump manipulation of stocks belonging to companies that are basically circling the drain (off the top of my head, seen NXXT, RIME, MYNZ->QUCY, DVLT, NRED and maybe one other I'm forgetting). When you can create tons of accounts, post tons of AI-generated slop that just occasionally casually mentions whatever "fact" you want the models to ingest, and so on, all for "free" or so close as to make no difference, I guess this is what you get.
Blue Origin Rocket Exploded Thursday Night During Hot-Fire Test (cbsnews.com) 73
Spaceflight Now shared their video of the explosion, which the Orlando Sentinel describes as showing Blue Origin's rocket "become engulfed in flames. The fireball expands out and covers the entire launch pad as the fuselage of the rocket can be seen crumbling into the flames."
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said on X.com "It's too early to know the root cause but we're already working to find it. Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it." (SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted "Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly.")
It's unclear how this will impact future launches. "The rocket was destroyed," reports CBS News, "and as the smoke cleared, there was no sign of the erector-gantry used to move the New Glenn from its hangar to the pad and to raise it from horizontal to vertical. Likewise, one of two tall lightning towers was no longer visible." It was the first such on-pad explosion at the Cape since a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blew up on nearby pad 40 on Sept. 1, 2016... Blue Origin only has one New Glenn pad, the one that was damaged in the Thursday test. The New Glenn, which has launched three times, is a heavy lift rocket designed to compete head-to-head with SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. During New Glenn's most recent flight in April, an upper stage malfunction prevented a commercial internet satellite from reaching its planned orbit...
The New Glenn destroyed Thursday was to send 48 Leo internet satellites owned by Amazon into space [which were not on board for the hot-fire test]
Blue Origin posted on X.com that "Debris from our recent hotfire anomaly may wash ashore in the coming days/weeks. If you encounter any debris, do not touch or approach it for your safety."
"Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult..." NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman posted on X.com. "âWe will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader symbolset for sharing the news.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said on X.com "It's too early to know the root cause but we're already working to find it. Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it." (SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted "Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly.")
It's unclear how this will impact future launches. "The rocket was destroyed," reports CBS News, "and as the smoke cleared, there was no sign of the erector-gantry used to move the New Glenn from its hangar to the pad and to raise it from horizontal to vertical. Likewise, one of two tall lightning towers was no longer visible." It was the first such on-pad explosion at the Cape since a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blew up on nearby pad 40 on Sept. 1, 2016... Blue Origin only has one New Glenn pad, the one that was damaged in the Thursday test. The New Glenn, which has launched three times, is a heavy lift rocket designed to compete head-to-head with SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. During New Glenn's most recent flight in April, an upper stage malfunction prevented a commercial internet satellite from reaching its planned orbit...
The New Glenn destroyed Thursday was to send 48 Leo internet satellites owned by Amazon into space [which were not on board for the hot-fire test]
Blue Origin posted on X.com that "Debris from our recent hotfire anomaly may wash ashore in the coming days/weeks. If you encounter any debris, do not touch or approach it for your safety."
"Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult..." NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman posted on X.com. "âWe will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader symbolset for sharing the news.
Comment Even if it doesn't scale up... (Score 1) 77
If it's as effective against stovetop fires as the KMPH video indicates, some kitchen manufacturer should license this tech and build it into their vent hoods. Some sizable percentage of house fire start on stovetops, so killing them off early would be a good thing.
Comment Re: ...not that you should be speeding on public r (Score 1) 200
If you set it to "85th percentile of observed traffic" you are selecting 15% to be targets of fines. Why 15 and not 20, or 10?
States with "reasonable and prudent" rather than "explicit speed limits" do a more logically consistent job here. Reasonable and prudent is what we're really looking for - everyone choose a speed that is safe for the conditions of the road, the vehicle, and the surrounding traffic.
The problem is that it's difficult to fine people for that, because it is partly subjective and different for every driver and weather conditions. It's much easier to set an explicit speed limit and then measure speeds. Explicit speed limits exist for the convenience of the courts, with safety of the road users as a distant secondary objective.
If you want to improve safety, then look into "traffic calming" measures. In particular those that cause drivers to perceive higher risk (and research into conditions where drivers falsely perceive lower risk). Even just drawing the lines narrower on a wide street can have an effect. If you design the road right, drivers will naturally choose the right speed for the environment without any need for a road nanny.
Comment targeted growth-oriented investments yadda yada (Score 2) 7
"Targeted growth-oriented investments aligned with the 6 strategic areas of focus," eh?
How will this help them leverage their core competencies in order to holistically administrate exceptional synergy? Will they still be able to distill their identify through client-centric solutions? And proactively oversee day-to-day operations, services and deliverables with cross-platform innovation?
Comment I read tons, just not on paper. (Score 2) 73
I don't even know where I could even get a hardcopy version of Moses T. Runnels' two-volume History of Sanbornton, New Hampshire, totaling around 1,700 pages or so and published in 1882. But I frequently consult the PDF version I downloaded from one of the numerous web sites that has it available. Then there's my OverDrive Libby account, which gives me access to the holdings of something like eight library networks covering virtually all of a state, plus a university library or two. I voraciously consume news from a variety of sources, including through aggregators like Slashdot and Fark. Plus various academic journals related to my work and other interests, through one of the aforementioned university libraries.
In short, if I'm not asleep or driving, I'm likely reading something. I just use a lot less shelf space and forests than I used to.
Scientists Found a Way To Cool Quantum Computers Using Noise (sciencedaily.com) 7
Slashdot reader alternative_right writes: Quantum computers need extreme cold to work, but the very systems that keep them cold also create noise that can destroy fragile quantum information. Scientists in Sweden have now flipped that problem on its head by building a tiny quantum refrigerator that actually uses noise to drive cooling instead of fighting it. By carefully steering heat at unimaginably small scales, the device can act as a refrigerator, heat engine, or energy amplifier inside quantum circuits.
