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Comment Re:DOA.. (Score 5, Informative) 377

Interestingly it appears that Microsoft was quite complementary about the iPad during its presentation.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6385/microsoft-surface-review

  A Different Perspective

A week ago, I sat in an auditorium and listened to Steve Sinofsky talk about the tablet market. He talked about how the iPad was a great device, and a logical extension of the iPhone. Give iOS a bigger screen and all of the sudden you could do some things better on this new device. He talked about Android tablets, and Google’s learning process there, going from a phone OS on a tablet to eventually building Holo and creating a tablet-specific experience. He had nothing but good things to say about both competitors. I couldn’t tell just how sincere he was being, I don’t know Mr. Sinofsky all that well, but his thoughts were genuine, his analysis spot-on. Both Apple and Google tablets were good, in their own ways. What Steve said next didn’t really resonate with me until I had spent a few days with Surface. He called Surface and Windows RT Microsoft’s “perspective” on tablets. I don’t know if he even specifically called it a tablet, what stuck out was his emphasis on perspective.

Comment Re:Captain Obvious (Score 5, Informative) 341

Do the math;
With regard to climate change/CO2 production it matters a great deal where the energy comes from.

Here in central Indiana our electricity comes from coal fired power plants down on the Ohio river. Each kW-h of electricity produces 1.88 libs of CO2 (ref Duke Energy mailings). The EPA rates the Nissan Leaf as using 34 kW-h to go 100 miles (ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Leaf). So, doing the math going 100 miles through the Indiana countryside in the Nissan Leaf produces about 64 pounds of CO2.

How does that compare to burning gasoline? Burning that gallon of gas produces 20 lbs of CO2 (ref http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/co2.shtml), so the 64 lbs of CO2 for the electricity to drive the LEAF 100 miles is equivalent to 3.2 gallons of gasoline. That figures out to 31 miles per gallon.

Nissan LEAF -> 31 miles per gallon.

YMMV

Comment Re:"Savings" (Score 1) 1184

i realize that the law, and so this discussion, needs to use the EPA figures so that we are comparing like to like (apples to apples). I'd just like to say that our new 2012 Prius C substantially beats its EPA city figure of 53 MPG. We've yet to see a tank/substantial trip under 60 MPG. It just points out that a change in the EPA test cycle could make the 2025 goal a lot easier for the automakers to reach.

Of course, we drive prudently so YMMV.

Programming

Submission + - Kids in Programming (imgur.com)

nirgle writes: "I have been wondering lately if there are any kids interested in programming for its own sake anymore. When I was my nephew's age, computers were still fascinating: There wasn't a laptop on every table, facebook wasn't splattered on every screen, and you couldn't get any question answered in just a couple seconds with Google. When I was 10, I would have done anything for a close programming mentor instead of the 5-foot high stack of books that I had to read cover-to-cover on my own. So I was happy when my nephew started asking about learning to do what "Uncle Jay does." Does the responsibility now shift to us to kindle early fires in computer science, or is programming now just another profession for the educational system to manage?"

Comment Re:Hyperbole (Score 1) 672

Actually, one thing they have fixed across the board is rust. Here in the midwest snow and salt on the roads are car killers. I had a 1974 Ford Galaxy what was unsafe with rust by 1980. Compare that with our most recent cars (1986 Subaru and 1987 Jetta - both bought new) that went 12-13 years and 150K miles each without a hint of rust.

Comment Re:Yes! (Score 1) 470

Or, the GUI tools aren't that bad, but the change the goddam things every couple months. The file managers, window behaviors, drag-and-drop behaviorss, where the links are located, the menu layouts...it all changes, even within the same distro, over a time span of years. Compare that to XP which has been the same for 10+ years. So when I use Linux, I use the command line a lot...at least they don't change that (too much).
==
Amen

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