Re: Wasn't it DECtalk?

Sure sounds like it, but here's the scoop, from the "Hawk" himself:

http://www.hawking.org.uk/the-computer.html

"Speech Synthesizers (3 copies):

Manufacturer - Speech Plus (Incorporated 1988, Mountain View, CA)

Model - CallText 5010"

and more, from that unimpeachable source, Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ADECtalk

Re: "Ah. I see."

Live webcams

Paid sunscriptions.

He'll raise the dosh in no time.

Re: '...releases an album of "motivational business music".'

"Ever Onward, IBM!"

(they play it at the Computer History Museum in Silly Valley)

Someone should do a "greatest hits" collection and sell it on late night TV.

//well, I guess there's always YouTube

Re: Shoddy reporting

Sun Sentinal link in the article has the photo

Howard Johnson's and the "old" Bell System logo, for me.

IIRC, Bell changed their logo to the "outlined bell" very shortly thereafter.

//still my favorite movie

Re: Ah yes...

I built a copy of The Internet for my daughter's birthday. She's in IT and a fan. She thought it was brilliant. Only the most refined of her coworkers appreciated it.

Re: Missed marketing angle

Secondary market:

Can you purchase previously used ones from a vending machine?

Re: Hmm...

I'm from the school that says:

"If it works, DON'T FIX IT!"

The UI used on XP has been my interface to Windows for many years. I have grown used to it, and I use it to efficiently do what I need to do on my Windows machine. Now, in the name of "delivering what users want", Microsoft feels they must radically alter the UI I have grown used to. Not once (ribbon), not twice (Win 7), but THREE separate times (Win 8). What was initially an annoyance that could be handled, has become a constant barrage of UI changes, some minor (Win 7 has the "show desktop" button on the far right, as opposed to the far left in XP), some major (the ribbon -- no, I don't like it), but all without the option of going back to what was working fine for me in the first place.

It's enough to make one wonder if Microsoft is TRYING to alienate their customers.

Re: We told you it was shit

The real question is: "Why can't we have both ribbon AND traditional menus?"

Given that there are different types of users and strong feelings on both sides, why do Microsoft (and Canonical -- sadly, Linux isn't free of this silliness either) feel that it must be "their way or the highway"?

And, as long as we're bitching, go ahead and move the "show desktop" button from the far left (XP) to the far right (Win7), if you feel the aesthetics of your new OS demand it, but for heaven's sake, make it so I can move it back to where it has been for the past umpty-ump years I have been using XP, if that's what I want to do!

Honestly, this change of UI for the sake of change, with no possibility of user configuration is beginning to annoy me!

I have a cunning plan...

I think I see a business opportunity for stick-on DVD labels bearing the image of the beloved Leader.

Re: "this shows a basic misunderstanding of how scientific experimentation works."

He's not just a Republican, he's the poster child for the "party of stupid"

There are signs that the Republicans are starting to believe that there might not be an inexhaustable supply of older wealthy white guys. One by one, they are beginning to understand that the conservative wing of the party isn't resonating with the majority of US voters.

But Lamar Smith stands proudly for the old ways.

Re: Have you got the right date?

"The date was for the Unix version but I couldn't find that one easily..."

Funny you should mention that. I went through this same experiment about a year ago, when I found and resurrected an SGI Indigo here at work. It had Netscape Navigator, and my results were pretty much the same as yours: very few sites opened, many caused the browser to go down in (virtual) flames.

Old UNIX systems are cool...this one was being used as a footrest until I spent close to $200 on adapters to allow use of PS2 keyboard and mouse, VGA display and twisted pair Ethernet. The payoff was a classic /etc/passwd file with usernames of people long gone from the company (but who I knew, either personally, or by reputation) and lovely graphics demos. Loads of un for the idle mind.

Re: Not Android

"The FAT file system for one is a native part of Android."

Do you want to know how I know you are completely ignorant of how an operating system works?

No file system is "native" to any OS - they're bolt-on appendages, and Android can support many, of which FAT is but one.

FAT is a file system structure, of which there is a dazzling variety. Android and all other operating systems support FAT simply because it is a defacto standard, having been the original MS-DOS file system. So if you want to read and write files to a storage device, FAT is the "common denominator" format. It is in no way innovative or patentable, as there were many, similar file systems being used at the time it was chosen for MSDOS.

Re: Privacy is orthogonal here.

"And you think your mac isn't already being broadcast over the net? along with your IP address????"

Not necessarily. The MAC address of the transmitter is going out, but that may not be your MAC address (if your transmission is being repeated, for example).

MAC addresses aren't usually passed beyond the first router. So if you're going through some kind of access point, the MAC that goes out is that of the access point, not the one of your computer. Of course, you may own the access point or router, so in that case, it would be "your" MAC address, but it would be lost (actually, replaced) as the packet goes through the cable company's router.

Re: Place your bets

Too many managers, not enough experienced and capable software engineers?

//Mythical Man-Month should be required reading for all

Re: VLF tales

I don't htink you'd want to be any lower...they pump out megawatts at VLF.

Here in the US, we had (have?) a good part of upper Michigan devoted to VLF antennas...

//there's a design for one directional antenna array floating around on the web that spanned a valley somewhere

Re: This morning's idle thoughts

New keyboard here also, please.

"...may we count on your vast historical experience in South East Asia,"

//why? we ignored their advice the first time it was given...

Re: Thinking Machines

"It was a lot easier to get on with than the CDC-6600 (aka Cyber 74) on which I did my first computer practicals."

My (required) assembly language course would normally have been on PDP-11s in the Computer Science lab. As EE students, we were guests, which meant we would get secondary access (i.e.: early morning) to the machines. But the semester I was to take the course, we had a one-time opportunity to use the newly installed Cyber-74. The course was taught by a guest lecturer, a CDC software engineer we got as part of the machine purchase (actually, I think we go it used when someone else upgraded).

Anyhow, I learned assembly programming on a machine with a 60 bit word, hardware floating point and was introduced to the "count bits" instruction. Totally useless to me in my future career, but fun, nonetheless. As was watching the vector graphics operator's console and distributing the contents of the card punch chad box among the underwear of a particularly obnoxious neighbour in my residence hall.

As a graduate student, I was able to take the PDP-11 assembly language course during a summer job at Digital, so I didn't miss out.

Re: Wot no SGI?

Have a working Indigo on my desk.

Had been used as a footrest for 10 yrs before I resurrected it.

//adapters for VGA, Ethernet and PC keyboard/mouse

//missing the disk bay door, though

Re: Hmmmmm 3 or 4 hours in my workshop....

On the other hand, the guy who paid $250k for it could probably afford it, and that's money he won't be spending on hookers or blow...

//job creator

Re: Air Power

And just wait till they see their first Wal-Mart.

Re: You'd be surprised

"Plus, he must know where Dior hand bags for his wifey are coming from..."

China, natch!

Re: Oh dear

Well, just barely distinguishable as...

...not Pong,

...not Snake,

but Space Invaders!

//have played it a bit...running on a DG Dasher D200 terminal.

Re: Great.

Worse....the GPS automatically detects your location and transmits anything interesting you see straight to the People's Committee for Industrial Espionage in Beijing. No more having to send "students" who get caught trying to board planes with one-way tickets and briefcases full of documents.

Re: Only in America

Would it even be *possible* to spoof caller ID. Seems like it should be under the control of the carrier to whose network you are connected.

//missing option: "press 3 to deliver a lethal shock to the caller"

Re: Obligatory

The whole sciencemadness library seems to be full of books about things you (and your neighbors) would be better off not trying...

//thumbs up, or explosion???

//shame we can't have both

Re: Obligatory

Max Gergel: Excuse Me, Sir, Would You Like To Buy a Kilo of Isopropyl Bromide?

http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/gergel_isopropyl_bromide.pdf

Re: Obligatory

This looks like a good read.

There is another, similar book. I have a PDF at home and will post the details. The author was somewhat of a "cowboy chemist". He started a chemical company when there were no regulations and left behind him a trail of Superfund sites. It's an interesting and exciting read...you come away from it wondering how he lived long enough to write the book.

Dell refurbs

I recommend to my "clients" that they go to geeks.com or someplace like that, and buy a refurb Dell office machine (but NOT the ultra-small form factor ones!). When they say something about the Dell Inspiron they saw on sale at Best Buy for only $399, I bring up the page with Latitude laptops for $250 and tell them they're older but they will have far fewer problems with them. No complaints yet.

Re: what's swedish for bollocks ?

We have the Pythons to thank for that misconception.

//the people responsible for the tiles have been sacked

Re: Competant Staff

"To say Polish or Nigerian programmers are the best in the World would also be incorrect."

Now, Nigerian fiction writers, on the other hand, *that* is a different story altogether...

Re: There is a simple explanation

Word *used* to be fine. A fully featured word processor. This was back in '97 or so. Soon, everyone who needed one had a copy, and Microsoft's revenue stream from Office was drying up. THIS is when the troubles began.

Yearly releases were decreed...incompatible file formats were mandated and frivolous "features" were added. And the "ribbon" was born! A time-tested UI, with which every user was familiar and comfortable, was replaced with something that took up more room and required more clicks to use. Because it's so big and special, you have to have tabs. And, of course, there's no going back to the clean, simple, functional menu interface that you were familiar with, because Microsoft just KNOWS you're going to LOVE the ribbon, if only you'll give it a chance!

Such mind-boggling stupidity does not deserve to be rewarded.

Re: Red-rag Last Paragraph

Let's not forget the mechanical geeks:

http://www.clockmakers.org/museum-and-library/museum/

Re: More proof...

And...if Microsoft thinks the Enterprise market is going to sign on to the "completely new and different UI every two years" bandwagon, they're in for an unpleasant shock.

Re: Telling if a number is a cell?

You can't tell from the number alone, but the phone company knows, and those autodiallers are supposed to pay for access to that data, so they don't call cells or business numbers.

If you're running a robocall operation, you want to make as much money as possible before you're shut down, so you don't bother checking said database...or, needless to say, the Do-Not-Call list.

Re: LOHAN II

As usual, the SPB is ahead of the curve!

//I stand corrected, thanks