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eric3579 (Member Profile)

World's First $9 Computer

AeroMechanical says...

Yeah, but that isn't the purpose of these. They tried that with OLPC and it was a good design but there were much more helpful ways to spend money to help third world children and it didn't really work out for a variety of reasons. These are, at best like the Raspberry Pi, intended for poor and middle-class western kids, to give them a 'hackable' platform that encouraged learning about how computers work (like the Commodore 64s and BBC Micros of old). Ideally, they would be distributed to public school students. Cheap is important, but not if it means you forgo the 'hackable'-ness.

But also my advice was really more intended for those here, who would be buying something like this to mess around with for DIY stuff.

Sniper007 said:

Education for someone in a third world country isn't necessarily re-writing the assembly code. It is just enjoying using the computer. Learning to type. Learning how a mouse works. Making something beautiful. Writing a paper for school. From there, curiosity and fun will do the rest.

Quantum Computing Explained

dannym3141 says...

This is no good explanation at all. The only explanation about quantum computing that he gives is that we can have bits that are in a) multiple states at the same time and b) more than just two states. I accept that some people didn't know that so it might be new information, but it doesn't tell us anything about how quantum computing works.

It explains the quantum, but doesn't even begin to explain the computing.

DNS Issue Today (Sift Talk Post)

critical_d says...

A little background info on the stuff discussed in this post. Not everyone is fluent or comfortable with tech talk and that's ok. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any questions.

Q - What is DNS?
A - Humans work well with names and computer work well with numbers. Think of the Domain Name System as the official translator between the two. The time it takes for a DNS "lookup" to happen is VERY fast and unless it's broken...the process is seamless.

Q - What is a hosts file?
A - The hosts file works much like DNS. BUT... instead of relying on another computer to translate videosift.com into 216.18.199.34, you are overriding that step with specific instructions.

More Info:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/dec/03/dns-ip-ddos-explained

http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

Flynn enters the ENCOM network

Penn Says: Agnostic vs. Atheist

dgandhi says...

>> ^joedirt: Wow.. just wow. Let's just say you shouldn't have started with the electron as an example of deterministic or comparison to Newtonian physics.

Electrons are not quarks, and yes Heisenberg does put serious limits on our ability to catalog their movement, but supercolliders and electronics work because electrons function deterministically. Electrons don't just "decide" what to do, and when to do it. I may not know exactly where they are, or how they are moving, but they produce effects consistent with doing so in an orderly fashion.

The fact that the smallest detectable structures in our universe are chaotic in no way implies that structures made of them are chaotic, there are a number of technological examples of determinism derived from chaos.

For example your computer works deterministically, I can put a scope on it and show you all the noise and interference running through it. I can, through subtle measurement, measure the chaos in the system, but the system is still deterministic, as evidenced by the fact the you are reading this right now.

Evian Roller Babies - International version

Evian Roller Babies - International version

What is a browser?

Deano says...

>> ^pipp3355:
>> ^Skeeve:
Not surprising at all. Too many people use technology without understanding it. Just in the last two weeks I have had 3 people call me to help them disinfect their computer because a pop-up advertisement told them they had an infection... one of them even downloaded a virus by following that pop-up's instructions.
The vast majority of computer users are completely clueless.

yeah i worked as a tech support (2nd level) for 2 huge companies. basically, i think its a profound apathy. most people just don't care about why or how a computer works - they just want it to do what they expect it to do and get angry when it doesn't.


I'm sure we know many people who fit that profile and your last point is so true.

I have a mate like that and while people like him enjoy the web and find it useful they get frustrated so quickly.

It's still early days for the web and I imagine the future web in 5-10 years will be the one their kind will actually embrace and understand - in the sense that alot of complexity will be encapsulated and obscured for them, not to mention they'll receive lots of virtual hand-holding.

Where *are* those autonomous AI agents anyway?

What is a browser?

pipp3355 says...

>> ^Skeeve:
Not surprising at all. Too many people use technology without understanding it. Just in the last two weeks I have had 3 people call me to help them disinfect their computer because a pop-up advertisement told them they had an infection... one of them even downloaded a virus by following that pop-up's instructions.
The vast majority of computer users are completely clueless.


yeah i worked as a tech support (2nd level) for 2 huge companies. basically, i think its a profound apathy. most people just don't care about why or how a computer works - they just want it to do what they expect it to do and get angry when it doesn't.

Help me with my purchase of an HDTV, please (1sttube Talk Post)

14087 says...

Sorry I'm late to this party, but I do have some relevant information. First, it sounds like you are only interested in Standard Definition (SD) content (no HD on NetFlix), in that case go no higher than 720p. However, if you are still curious about that 1080i/p stuff you've been hearing about (game consoles, HDTV over the air or from cable/sat, blu-ray), I worked out some numbers a couple of years ago (when 1080p was very expensive). I'm too lazy to double check the numbers.

the thing you have to keep in mind is the maximum angular resolution of the human eye. I'll spare you the details, which you can look up yourself, but for a person with 20/20 vision (corrected, in my case), assuming a 16:9 aspect ratio screen and 1080 by 1920 picture size (resolution is a misnomer) you need to be 1.5 diagonals OR CLOSER to resolve the difference between pixels.


This makes sense if you think about movie screens or IMAX screens, or a graphic artist computer work station. Most TV viewers don't think about (being that close to a screen) | (having a screen that big).

That means if you have a 32 inch TV and you are 6 feet away, you will not see all the detail on a 1080p TV, so you can save a few bucks with a 720p.

Now that the price of 40"+ LCD TVs has dropped dramatically, you should consider a 1080p screen, but keep in mind you viewing distance.

In my case I could resolve 1080p for videogames since I sit up close for that, but I haven't upgraded because we sit way back on the couch for movies. I wouldn't be able to see the detail of a 1080p blu-ray without a 42 inch (or larger) TV. Or if I pushed to couch up.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Sifters (Sift Talk Post)

A Dissection of Doc_M (Parody Talk Post)

gorgonheap says...

Here is Doc_M's response to his roast questions. Use it for ammunition.

1. What do you do when you are not at the computer?
Work... usually in the lab. Otherwise, music, tae kwon do, golf, etc.

2. What is your favorite of your posted videos?
I think, either the HBO intro from the 80's for nostalgia or of course this for the shear "holy crap" effect.

3. How many avatars have you had since being a member? What were (are) they?
I might be the only one who can say this, but 1, you're looking at it.

4. What non-self-involved site do you visit most often?
Neatorama.com and Gizmodo.com... I'm easily entertained... and a geek.

5. If you had a time machine, would you go to the future or the past? And why?
Past... very... as in millions of years.

6. What is your ratio of pairs of shoes to underwear?
3:30 or something like that.

7. Is that underwear boxer, brief, or birthday?
A little from column A, a little from column B.

8. Do you run a Mac OS, Windows, or Linux?
Vista. Oh, I'm gonna get grief for this one...

9. Would you most prefer to be involved in a monumental one-of-a-kind hiking expedition, working on a breakthrough cure for a debilitating illness , or presenting the discovery of a revolutionary new way to parse data?
How about finding a breakthrough cure for a debilitating illness while on a monumental one-of-a-kind hiking expedition? Heck, Ventnor is all about that kinda stuff... granted, he's kinda on the rich side.

10. What is your favorite ice cream topping?
Peanuts

Favorite (non-ice-cream-related) spice?
Rosemary or perhaps turmeric.

11. Are you a breast, butt, or legs man?
Face, but a perky rack is a nice bonus.

12. What kind of pet(s) do you have? Include name(s).
I used to have fish. They never told me their names.

13. What scares you most about Rosie O'donell?
The open threat of Kooshballs of mass destruction. That and she's nuckin' futs.

14. What is your favorite kind of soup?
French Onion... hands down.

15. What is your most frequented source of news?
Drudge hehe... I'm gonna suffer for that one too.

16. What is your beverage of choice?
Starbucks stuff when I'm feeling less poor, Coke when I'm feeling more poor, Rob Roys when I'm out on the town.

17. Have you ever been arrested?
Nay, but I once killed a man with my bare hands ... ok, that's not true, but if it were, that'd be far more interesting.

18. What’s your go-to move for making a good first impression?
Good old fashioned confidence is a powerful thing.

19. How would you describe your coif: bangs, balding or rug?
Mop on even months, spiky on odd months.

20. Is your face clean-shaven or do you have a beard, a goatee or a mustache?
Clean.

21. List your five most cherished possessions.
I really don't value "stuff" too much, but I guess I could say the "stuff" I would not like to lose any time soon includes:
My PC
My Lancer
My crate of vinyl
My piano
My WoW character <.< >.> <.<
22. What religion, if any, did you practice as a child?
Christian

23. What about now?
Same

24. What is your favorite memory?
Sitting in my dorm window after my last final in college. It was one of those perfect moments.

25. What was your favorite childhood television show?
Fraggle Rock!

26. How would you describe your personal style/sense of fashion/taste for life/artistic flair?
Hoodies, more or less trendy T-shirts, and jeans.

27. What is a reason not to go to Burning Man?
I was at Flaming Woman that day.

28. Who is your favorite Sift Hero?
QuantumMushroom. Isn't he everyone's hero?

29. Do you have any image(s) of yourself online that you're willing to share?
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e194/GenGradPSU/Me.jpg

30. What goal to you have while a Videosift member?
Inform/entertain/rock the boat a bit.

31. Do you upvote comments more for their originality, sense of humor, or self-deprecation?
Humor for sure. Also information, insight, and stuff I particularly agree with.

IRAQ,a genocide that threatens to outstrip the horrors of Rwanda in the numbers killed and displaced (Blog Entry by eric3579)

choggie says...

So obvious to most this play by play with color, (from your hand eric3579 ?), is yet another statement of true, false, or meaningless, as it relates to the current paradigm. What changes the hind-brained nature of mankind from epoch to epoch and gives the planet Utopian pockets of clear light, that flourish and or disappear, only to bring the world back to a point of critical mass?? Who knows. Go ask an Atlantean or Lemurian. One thing that can take an individual outside of him or herself, to accomplish selfless goals or manifestations, is a near-death experience, or personal epiphany. Some folks are imprinted that way, others born that way.

Any event that would solidify the world's population outside of some deprived and limited interpretation of some scripture or grimore, is always welcome, be it alien invasion, or suitcase nukes.....How about free energy tomorrow, allowing the world to abandon artificial apparatii?? It's all good. You can not know joy, without suffering-funny thing, most of the people who have the luxury of opinion, education, and creature comforts, would know shit about true suffering, or true joy.....I find that the most ineffectual creatures, are people bound by their own limitations, and obligations......The world is a slave to disinformation, and to her keepers, fellow humans in high towers.
Drag the motherfuckers out, and destroy them, or play according to the rules you allow them to impose, and enforce, or shut the fuck up.

A truly free agent, will be the person who can sit in the center of the shit-storm, and take care of ten other people apart from him/her self.....if you can't do this now American...Brit...Aussie.....then you spend too much goddamn time masturbating on the computer, working to pay yer credit card bills, or some other time-honored, head-up-the-ass endeavor.

If everyone volunteered their services to the less fortunate, or to public service, for one day out of the year, and on that same day spent no money whatsoever, but instead offered a service to a fellow man for free, the world would be changed.....it's all about power and money, and what you choose to follow-

Pretty soon, the planet will be able to blame China for all its fuck-ups-and the folks who made it happen??? They will still have their empires....some never die.

Ancient Egyptian Mathematics

jmzero says...

Meh - the multiplication trick looks less impressive if you're working with both numbers in binary to begin with. When you double the number, you're just shifting it one place to the left - if you write this down, it looks like this:

100
*11
---
100
1000
----
1100

That should look familiar. You end up doing it exactly like a regular third grader would do multiplication - just in binary. So saying that computers work this way is a bit misleading. And, yes, there is implicit multiplication tables involved. It just might not seem that way because the binary multiplication table is (naturally) very short.



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