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Comment Will be difficult to bring back... (Score 2) 198

Even if Google doesn't "need" new ideas right now and execution is more important, once they get rid of 20% time and it disappears from the corporate culture, it will be VERY difficult to bring back. I worked at a place where they tried to promote 20%. It never gained traction because of management's inability to reallocate the 20% from pre-existing tasks. Some day when Google is in need of brilliant ideas, they will probably regret this move.

Comment Re:States really need revenue (Score 1) 364

Why would anyone want to move to a place where their taxes would get swallowed up by pre-existing debts rather than being spent on something of benefit to that person? I know this is unfair, but people act based on their self-interest, and their self-interest should tell them to stay the hell away from Detroit.

Comment Re:This thought crosses my mind a lot. (Score 2) 808

All this does is redefine programmer. Originally, you had to code your own machine code, but very soon you had assemblers, so you could just use mnemonics. Then you had compilers, which wrote the assembly code for you: all you had to do was write C code. Thus, we already have programs that write programs. Still, we have to describe what program it is that we want. And that is still considered programming. If in the future we do this using a flow chart, then that simply means we use a visual programming language (Although I'm very skepitcal about flowcharts making programming any easier. Flowcharts were popular in the 80s and fell out of favour as a way of describing tasks. As a task gets complex, the flowchart becomes unwieldy very quickly. Far easier to use a high-level language like Python.)

Comment Spartacus (Score 1) 307

It just occurred to me that if you make sure each proxy only downloads/uploads a tiny portion of the file, then it'll be harder to sue any individual proxy for the whole amount of damages, and they'll have to pursue a large number of defendents for a small amount each. This could help unite people against unreasonable RIAA actions.

Music

Japan's Latest Rockstar Is a 3D Hologram 305

kkleiner writes "Hatsune Miku is a Japanese pop diva who's just started to play massive stadium concerts to sold out crowds. Her hair is blue, she dresses like Sailor Moon, and she'll only appear in concerts via a 3D 'hologram.' Oh, and did I forget to mention that she's completely fictional? Created by Crypton Future Media, Hatsune Miku and her virtual colleagues have gone on limited tours in Japan."
NASA

Orion Spacecraft On the Path To Future Flight 135

gilgsn writes "Preparations for Orion's first mission in 2013 are well under way as a Lockheed Martin-led crew begins lean assembly pathfinding operations for the spacecraft. The crew is conducting simulated manufacturing and assembly operations with a full-scale Orion mockup to verify the tools, processes and spacecraft integration procedures work as expected."

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