Posts by Marcelo Rodrigues
174 posts • joined Friday 10th August 2007 16:25 GMT
"The last thing I want to do is get off the sofa and fiddle plugging my phone in with a cable! And then I either need a long cable trailing the living room, or have to get up everytime to change the video or volume! And what if I want to use my phone whilst I'm watching TV?"
You don't have to. HDMI provides this functionality, built in the standard. Panasonic calls it "Viera Link". Sony says it is "BRAVIA Link" or "BRAVIA Sync" - and so on. I used it with my Sony mobile and Panasonic TV. I could play/pause and stop. Didn't check much more, but...
(I)Relevant link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdmi#CEC
"...Smart TVs => dying species."
I'm not sure about it. The reasoning is sound, but...
Wouldn't it means smart TVs with more processor/memory? All in all, smart TVs are more expensive - hence, more profitable.
Re: 'tis an ill wind
I believe he is using another set of nerves to control the movement. So he is like a baby - still learning how to move his arm.
But is extremely cool! To think about all the people that will have a new life out of this tech...
Posted in Review: Sony Xperia SP
Re: Battery
"My HTC phone is on its fourth, maybe fifth, battery. OK, it's three years old. Maybe batteries have improved in that time, but I don't suppose they've become immortal."
What do you do with your batteries? I have a Nokia E66, and its (first) battery is still good. My "old" Xperia Arc is dead (corrosion), but its (18 month and first) battery was just fine. No noticeable drop on capacity whatsoever.
My girlfriend’s Galaxy S2 (about 18 months too, and first battery) works just fine.
Posted in Review: Sony Xperia SP
Re: @johnnytruant
Probably O2. The Xperia SP is listed as unlockable (does this word exists?).
Here the link:
http://unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com/supported-devices
Re: Concert spending
No! No! Never! Since is a "rational decision", "freetard" will be, henceforth, known as "freesmart"!
Re: Seems counterproductive...
I remember this. But, at the time, I got the idea they were doing it WITH the consent of the authors - or with books on public domain. Is it not the case?
Re: Seems counterproductive...
Well, they are complaining about Google. Is there another presence of Google than the Internet one?
Where would Google show a book (whole or part of) that wouldn't be the web?
Well, there's Android. But last time i checked it wasn't showing books others than returned by a Google search...
Re: Seems counterproductive...
robots.txt is your friend.
Last time I checked, Google's crawler honored this little bugger.
Don't want your book indexed? Fine, restrict it with robots.txt.
Re: 3x performance
Well, I can't say if his numbers are right - but I agree with the feeling.
You see, it's marketing. You (marketing guy) are paid to make the product look good. How do You do it?
1) Take an average measure of your opponent.
2) Craft a test where Your product excels
3) Compare them.
It's not just Intel that does it. All business are guilty of this kind of thing. If it was reverse - and were a press release from ARM - I would think the same thing. Just reversed.
But there ARE uses for this!
This one isn't pretty - but it's a prototype.
Even ugly as it is now, I can think of one general use to it: using augmented reality to help in some jobs. Think a warehouse, with 2D barcodes on the creates. The glass could overlay significant information to the worker.
Another (more controversial) use would be to sales people. A customer gets in. The glass does a facial recognition, and brings up the client's preferences/order. I know, I know. There are a lot of people who wouldn't want/like/accept this. I'm just showing practical uses to the tech.
If we stop and think a little, there ARE professional activities wich could be enhanced by this.
Re: "It was hoped that the X-51A would break Mach 6"
True, it could have got past MACH6. But if it had, they would advertize it as "greater than MACH6". By the same logic, it could have got faster than MACH 10 (it IS faster than MACH5). But they would say it, don't You think?
Re: Failure
Is it really this bad? I have been using Seagates on the desktops (about 20 of them, with a service life of 3 years) for the last... six years, I'd say. I believe ONE of them failed me - and was a SMART alert, not a suddenly dead disk.
Maybe I'm lucky... :D
Re: Good news
"You must have missed the last paragraph of the article. Microsoft will take their pound of flesh, whether by 'innovating' or by lawyers."
Up to a point, no? Think about it. If (and only if) the OEMs are going to sell something without Windows installed, is only a matter of time before they start selling something WITHOUT an OS installed! Microsoft is stalling this, saying it is all about piracy - but we know that is not true.
Google OS is Linux. Well, Linux kernel, and (to my argument) all that matters. Why? Because the drivers (sorry, modules) come WITH the kernel! A hardware that runs a Google OS will, probably, run on a standard distro!
A dream coming true... :D
Re: Overreaction?
Do not sell: lease it, with a buying option at the end of the contract. Problem solved, and no one would get annoyed.
With the right values, it would cost the same 1500 at the end of the projected beta period.
Re: If you don't know who the sucker is...
Yes, if someone loses the wallet, the bitcoins are gone.
Yes, bitcoins will be more valuable over time, due to the above problem.
I don't know if the value will grow massively, or at a fast speed. But your idea is, basically, correct.
Re: Gold is mined out of the ground.
Not quite. To mining bitcoins the ATI hardware is much better. Much better as to be about 6 times faster than NVidia hardware.
It doesn't mean one is better/more evolved than other. It is, rather, a byproduct of the architecture of the silicon.
NVidia, on the other hand, is faster to folding proteins - or so I've been told.
Re: Obscure, vague and I wonder; more expensive?
You can buy two kinds of "disks" at AWS: a cheaper one - with no guarantees of IOPs - and a more expensive one - with a base level of IOPs.
If they honor the IOPs I can't say, but the concept exists.
Re: FMS routing changes
True. Now, think about this:
1) The autopilot will do the landing. I don't know how common it is, but it's not rare.
2) Send the wrong altitude, off by 2 or 3 meters.
3) Enjoy.
Or I got this wrong, and the system in question is not linked to the autopilot?
Re: I don't get it
I didn't know that! We learn something new every day... :D
Re: Similarities with Ponzi, similarities with property, new stat-ups, tech...
"There is one clear similarity with a Ponzi scheme. Mining for bitcoins gets harder as time goes on, to enforce scarcity. When it first kicked off, you wouldn't have to spend so much money on electricity and hardware to get a higher amount of bitcoin out."
Wrong. For starters:
1) No one said You would receive an "X" value/product. You have the bitcoins You bought/received/mined - and that's it. If there is no delivery promess, there is no Ponzi
2) Mining for bitcoins does not get harder as times goes by. It gets harder/easier based on the number of bitcoins mined on a given period. Really. Check it out. The difficulty is adjusted in order to keep the mining of about "Y" bitcoins/day. If, for some reason, the number of mining machines goes down, the difficulty level follows.
3) There is a finite number of bitcoins to be mined. By design, and since day one. There is, also, a timeframe for this to happen - hence the changes of difficulty. It is weird, but we can have a rough idea of how many bitcoins will be mined each day.
I can't comment on the affirmative of the difficulty of early days. But I can say that it IS feasible to a new player (a new miner) begin today, and make some money. You don't have to be an old player, because You CAN mine for yourself - and the mining isn't affected by the number of bitcoins You already have.
Re: Every so often a market develops around something improbable
True, we can't be sure of this.
OTOH, a site could charge in bitcoins to avoid dealing with (an example) credit cards and its costs. It would receive the bitcoins and ship the product.
As soon as the (bitcoin) transaction is confirmed, it could sell the bitcoins in a local exchange - turning it in "hard" money, and avoiding this problem.
Re: I don't get it
It is a reaction engine: You accelerate something, and the reaction pushes the ship forward.
The thing being accelerated gets up to 30 km/s (if I got it right). So, this is your maximum speed: 30 km/s. I believe that, after 3 days, the spaceship would be at that speed - or close enough to make no difference.
That would be why You turn off the engine after 3 days - would make no difference.
Re: Perhaps ablative coatings would be more effective protection?
Don't forget the good old rotation. A missile is computer guided (duh), so it has no problems with rotation.
Put it at, say, 30RPM, and all the heat will be spread over its diameter. Not enough to grant immunity - but perhaps enough to hit the target...
I'm lazy - ain't You?
The algorithm is simple:
until ($purchase easier_than $pirating)
{
piracy;
}
When the publishers understand that, piracy will (almost) vanish. It will never be zero, but given the right conditions it will be turned down into background noise.
Re: Cal me thick, but...
No, no. I didn't think about something this big. I may have underestimated the dimensions My idea was a subterranean box, yes. But it would be a little more than a box on the pavement, and you would open the top and work from the street level.
I know the boxes are said to be 1,5 meters high. Here in Brazil we have some of them, to telephone/DSL. The size is about 1,5 meter high, 80 - 100 centimeters from side to side and a depth of about... 50 centimeters.
Put it on its side, and we are talking about a mere digging of just 60 cm of depth.
More expensive than a simple box, but surely much cheaper than a mini-basement. :D
Re: Cal me thick, but...
Wouldn't overheating be an issue even for the above ground boxes? Yes, they would have a little better dissipation, due to the surface expose to air. But they would also get warmer, due to surface exposed to the sun.
Just use forced circulation - it is the same problem with the electrical grid.
Yes, flooding would be a problem. I am not sure what would be the best way to seal the cables entrances.
I did no think about a box this big. Maybe I misunderstood the size of the thing, but I thought it would be possible to just open the top, and work from the street level. Certainly i was not thinking about a subterranean box 2 meters high.
Cal me thick, but...
Why don't bury the whole thing?
Just like the electrical grid, with transformers, cables and whatnot.
Sure, it would cost more. But would make much difference? I mean, this things are full of (expensive) electronics.
Re: Its the people, not the computer
Just as I don't have to know how to re-wire my house or strip an engine down to rebuild it or fix a leaking pipe I can call on the expertise of someone who can.
No, You surely don't have to - nor should. BUT
Having an rough idea about the thing makes You able to use it better - and safer.
Consider Your house wiring. No, You don't have to know to re-wire your house. But by knowing that a thicker wire can transport more energy, that it gets hotter in the process - and that is how a fuse works - You stand a better chance of not overloading the system.
You don't have to know how to strip an engine. But knowing the basic makes You a safer driver. You will know not to exceed the maximum RPM (and why), will not forget to change the oil, and will understand the benefits and limitations of engine braking.
Re: Education - Closed Source Priorietary systems ARE evil
But it IS useless to teach Windows too! Let me explain.
We teach Windows (let's say) today. 2013. This kid will get a job in... 10 years? 7? 7 years ago, 2006, we were using Windows XP. Microsoft Office did no have the ribbon, Windows had a start menu, and so on.
I believe it would be much easier to teach Windows 8 to a total newbie than to a skilled Windows XP user. It is SO different that You got lost. And I used Windows, from 3.1 onwards. Even Millenium (ugh).
People will be exposed to Windows. I doubt they run anything else at home. We should teach "COMPUTER", not "OS".
Re: High dissatisfaction
I was talking about the system, not the apps.
I don't have a Samsung handy here, so cannot get into specifics. But (from memory) the navigation was quite different - and (again, from memory) with a Nexus I felt quite at home.
Hence, Sony must have fiddled less.
Another point: The Xperia Arc is (was, at the time) the first Android Sony sold with minimal changing. I remember that older models had an interface completely different from everything else - and it was one of the (given) reasons to the delay of the updates.
I don't know if it was true - but my 2.3.0 Arc was upgraded (by Sony) to 2.3.4 and 4.0.4.
Re: You missed the
Won't You miss her?
We have an app for this!
Joking. ICS already does this.
At least the 4.0.4 in my Xperia.
1) Open the screen with the apps (the icons)
2) Select "options"
3) Choose "order by most used"
Ta - da! :D
Two reasons:
1) It is, for practical purposes, quad core. At least, if I understood it right. We have 4 weak (and economical) cores. And we have 4 strong (and battery suckers) cores. For simple tasks, use the weak ones. For heavy lifting, switch to the strong ones. Of course, this is done without intervention.
2) The reasoning behind multi-cores is: a simpler core will (given the same tech) use less battery. A single mighty core will use more battery than a single slower one, when idle. With 4 cores we can turn off 2 or 3 of them, and keep using only one to basic system functions. When the user starts browsing the system uses more cores. This way we have power when needed, and save battery when we can.
Re: High dissatisfaction
He may have used the wrong words - but I agree with the gist of it.
Let me explain.
The Android used by Samsung is (were?) heavily customized. It is Android, all right. But it IS different.
I have an Xperia Arc, and looks to me that Sony fiddled much less with the OS. Looked to a Nexus of a friend, and my Xperia is almost the same. My girlfriend's Galaxy SII was quite different.
Re: Swappability
I believe You will find out that he doesn't want the lemons. He didn't order them! What would he do with them?
A potato, on the other hand, would provide 1,2V - with should be enough, if he keeps calm.
Re: Questionable assumptions...
Well, not so much. Take an x86 as an example.
A quad core I5 has multiple floating point units. It, also, has more than one cache. Well, not more than one L2, no. But Intel can, an do, disable some of it - to make an I3. So, yes. We could route around these (eventually) defective parts.
No, it wouldn't survive a (real live) laser blast - but would keep ticking even with half L2 and/or one less floating point unit.
Could be handy in servers and hardware in hard to get places...
Re: Silverlight
Weird. My television is a Panasonic, and runs Linux. Well, a Linux kernel. One of the applets is Netflix.
Don't know if Panasonic made something specially for it - or if Netflix can use something else...
Re: road tax for bikes
"cyclists should be required to pass a driving test before being allowed on the road" - even if they're children?"
Why not? Last I heard it was mandatory in Germany. A friend of mine, at the time aged 12, had just got her license. To ride a bicycle on public.
Re: Wrong, but not ridiculous?
The wind created by the cars passing you.
In a road with decent flow a wind is created, by the passing cars - and this can be a big help.
I'm not sure about the eyestrain. You see, it is perfectly doable to focus the glass input on the infinite. The HUDs on figthers do just the same: they display the info projected on the windshield - but.focus it on the infinite. This way the pilot can read it without losing sight of the combat.
Re: " likely to be injurious...
BOOBS!
*drool*
BOOBS!
*drool*
You owe me a new keyboard, sir!
Re: Re - Dana W
There's no pleasing some people...
I am (almost) in the same boat as You. With one difference: I would LOVE to have a party like this!
I wouldn't think they were mocking me! Why should I? A great gift - and live! YAY!
Re: CoS
A teeny .PNG with a dead pixel! THAT will teach them!
Re: OpenSuSE
Sad, but true. Never had problems with KMail. That's it, not before KDE 4.x. Using Thunderbird now - but really liked the old KMail...
Ah, well...
Re: Am I just thick-skinned?
I agree. Every time I had to ask something the community answered with good will. Granted, I asked a question - I didn't demanded a solution. There is a big difference, and it is not forgiven.
So:
"My computer doesn't work! Whats wrong?" Will trow You in a (digital) world of hurt.
But:
"I am using OpenSuse 12.2, and don't know how to play a video. What should I do?" Will, most likely, result in a polite and useful answer.
Re: .. and then there were 2
Weirdly enough - no. Suse is a Slackware derivative! Not much is left, but it is true. Weird, huh?
See it here:
http://futurist.se/gldt/
Re: "Comfortable with the terminal"
OpenSuse. From... 10 onwards?
1) Install as usual.
2) Login.
3) Open Yast (the graphical one)
4) Choose "Add Repository"
5) Select "Community Repositories"
6) Choose "Nvidia" or "ATI"
7) Open the software manager.
8) Install the driver.
No a single look at the command line. And (not so) newer versions of the X doesn't need a config file anymore. They detect the settings on the fly.
Re: Look at our new v9...I mean v10 model!
"Here's the issue: How does someone with basic computer knowledge know which mouse-and-keyboard Linux UI might be best for them?"
Someone doesn't. How does someone with basic linux computer knowledge knows which interface (Microsoft or Apple) is better for him? One doesn't know until it tries. Would be great if we could know it beforehand, but...
"Do they rely solely on the recommendation of a friend?"
What's wrong with recommendation? We do it everyday! When I want to buy something in an area that I'm not familiar with, I ask around! Don't you?
"How can you communicate the options simply to those you wish to attract to Linux? If they start using 'My First Linux GUI', how do you later manage the transition to something more advanced? Is being simple mutually exclusive to being powerful?"
A new user to Linux is, usually, a Windows/Mac user. It is extremely uncommon to "virgin user" sinking his teeth on Linux first. So, I (personally) believe that KDE 4 would be the better option. It is (finally!) mature - the transition from 3 to 4 was awful. It is powerful, it is reasonably pretty and works close enough to Windows.
Case in point: My girlfriend. She is alright using computers - but it isn't his area of expertise, let's say. My computer runs OpenSuse and KDE4.
She is using it, no problems. Little questions, like "What is the text editor?", or "Where do I change the wallpaper?". And that's it.
So, no. I don't think something more advanced has to be more complicated. Usually the minimalists GUIs are aiming at the underpowered machines - and trade power for speed. Yes, yes. You can do a lot with them. Yes, yes. They are great, and can be a wise choice too. But, no. You will not tell me that XFCE has all the options and possibilities of KDE. To each its own.
Linux already felled in the trap of being familiar to Windows users. I don't think it should be different for being different - but they are going overboard.
And, no. An Android interface would be different. Thank <deity>! The desktop is quite different from the mobile. I would hate to use one interface on the other...
Re: Look at our new v9...I mean v10 model!
This is really scary. I remmember am user, who called me with a problem.
User: "I don't know how to save a document with this new version!"
I: "But it is exactly the same! File menu, and the option is there!"
User: "No! It's not! Help me!"
There I go, to see what was going on.
The (brazilian) Microsoft Word had changed the file menu: From "gravar" (record) to "salvar" (save).
User: "See? There's no "gravar" anymore! How can I save this?"
True story
*sigh*
