Comment Re:Augh. (Score 1) 132
Agreed. Big pictures are good. Hence: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-gram/
Comment Increase in consumer ingenuity (Score 1) 712
Maybe the "revolutionary" kind of technological progress has slowed down over the recent time, but I'd argue that end-user ingenuity has increased.
From a technologistical viewpoint, maybe we've only seen incremental increases in technical progress (maybe due to a more systematic education and application of science, rather than the glorified free-thinkers of the past? They still exist by the way), but from a sociological perspective I think we've evolved. We see better and more refined and indeed, revolutionary ways in using our more and more powerful tools. We've seen computers and derivative technologies used for actually solving problems better, and finding solutions to new and unfound problems.
And as for revolutionary tech, maybe we're just not noticing it? R&D takes time for a consumer to notice, and in the past, a lot of tech came about from needs and times of depression. We still see ideas being materialized, albeit in a more controlled way.
Comment Non-conformity and emphasis on character (Score 1) 614
Rather than a focus on developing intelligence, I believe the degree of conformity and a fortification of the character, the individual, plays an important role in the childhood process, and realising this as a parent contributes to the same cause of "raising a smart kid", only much more efficiently.
I'm 17 years old, and my parents have always been very open-minded while raising me. Indirectly I have been encouraged to a way of autodidaction and philosophical reflection. While this may be a difficult thing to achieve, I think it's better to be slightly more subtle when trying to raise an "intelligent kid" as opposed to the dichotomy suggested in the summary - between the theory of a fixed intelligence and a mastery-oriented attitude, I think there's much more. More about the actual encouragement of free thought and individual reason. Having said that, it's naturally also important to motivate children, inspire them - both for the purpose of encouraging self-learning and the purpose of helping them find their interests and character. For example, introduce them to your interests, like computers or science. If they show interest themselves, further it by teaching them more, but also give them an overview of a wider array of hobbies and suchlike.
OpenBSD Foundation Announced 151
OpenBDSfan writes "KernelTrap is reporting on the creation of the OpenBSD Foundation, a Canadian not-for-profit corporation intended to support OpenBSD and related projects, including OpenSSH, OpenBGPD, OpenNTPD, and OpenCVS. The announcement explains, "the OpenBSD Foundation will initially concentrate on facilitating larger donations of equipment, funds, documentation and resources. Small scale donations should continue to be submitted through the existing mechanisms.""
The 10 "Inconvienient Truths" of File Sharing 587
54mc writes "The IFPI, an international recording industry organization, has released a list of Ten "Inconvenient Truths" of file sharing. Though the group has a vested interest, it's still an interesting read as it tears apart some of the most common arguments in favor of file sharing. Ars Technica follows up with a more thorough explanation of some of the points. 'Point five is an attempt to turn the "innovation" argument on its head. For years, pundits outside the music industry have accused labels of pandering to teens through boy bands and "manufactured" celebrities instead of being concerned with finding, producing, and releasing art. The IFPI suggests that the labels could (and would) be doing exactly that if file-swapping went away. And then there's point seven, which isn't an "inconvenient truth" at all but more of a rant against those who prefer giving copyright holders less than absolute control over reproduction rights. An "anti-copyright movement" does exist, but most of the critical voices in the debate recognize the value of copyright--and actually produce copyrighted works themselves (Lawrence Lessig, etc.).'"
New Laws of Robotics Proposed for US Kill-Bots 373
jakosc writes "The Register has a short commentary about a proposed new set of laws of robotics for war robots by John S Canning of the Naval Surface Warfare Centre. Unlike Asimov's three laws of robotics Canning proposes (pdf) that we should 'Let machines target other machines and let men target men.' Although this sounds OK in principle, 'a robot could decide under Mr Canning's rules, to target a weapon system such as an AK47 for destruction on its own initiative, requiring no permission from a human. If the person holding it was thereby killed, that would be collateral damage and the killer droid would be in the clear.'"
Capacitors to Replace Batteries? 499
An anonymous reader writes "MIT's Joel Schindall plans to use old technology in a new way with nanotubes.
'We made the connection that perhaps we could take an old product, a capacitor, and use a new technology, nanotechnology, to make that old product in a new way.'
Capacitors contain energy as an electric field of charged particles created by two metal electrodes, and capacitors charge faster and last longer than normal batteries, but the problem is that storage capacity is proportional to the surface area of the battery's electrodes.
MIT researchers solved this by covering the electrodes with millions of nanotubes.
'It's better for the environment, because it allows the user to not worry about replacing his battery,' he says. 'It can be discharged and charged hundreds of thousands of times, essentially lasting longer than the life of the equipment with which it is associated.'"
The Future of Telecom is in Wales 125
An anonymous reader wrote to mention a CNN Money story about the future of U.K. telecommunications. British Telecom is planning on rolling out an $18 Billion new system in 2010, and the first location to get the hook up is Cardiff, in Wales. From the article: "What's really cool about what will happen in Cardiff - and eventually the rest of the U.K. - is that BT is creating an open, standards-based platform for which anyone can develop new applications. In other words, the phone has the potential to become more like the Internet with its proliferation of cool new Web sites, tools and services."
Negroponte says Linux too 'Fat' 839
Cadef writes "According to a story on CNet News.com, Nicholas Negroponte says that Linux has gotten too fat, and will have to be slimmed down before it will be practical for the $100 laptop project. From the article: 'Suddenly it's like a very fat person [who] uses most of the energy to move the fat. And Linux is no exception. Linux has gotten fat, too.'"
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