* Posts by Mark Pipes

15 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Nov 2007

Microsoft seeks patent for blade server chassis

Mark Pipes

Re: Prior work/Art...

Then IBM has had blades for years, both Intel and Power systems. They just introduced a new generation of blade technology. This patent *REALLY* needs to be eliminated, there are scads and scads of prior art out there.

Pandora boss urges 85% pay cut for musicians

Mark Pipes

pandora is not a lot different than radio

Pandora is like a custom radio. I can not ask it to play a given song, all I do is give it a list of what I do and do not like. It then plays music it thinks i will like at random. Whenever a selection plays, I have the option to like or dislike the selection. That information is used to modify the search criterion.

Given that, the playing field needs to be level. Pandora should pay the same as Sirius/XM, or ,insert radio station here>.com

Given that I pay nothing here in the US to listen to radio over the air, I should not have to pay to listen online. That is what advertising is for. Having said that, I do pay for Sirius/XM, but, and this is a BIG *BUT*, Sirius/XM has no advertising.

Cable-cutting vandals disconnect Silicon Valley

Mark Pipes

diversity?

In the old days of copper, there was path diversity. More than one route from point a to point b. This seems to be no longer the case. One thing that people forget is that the cell phones are always the first to go down. They need to insure path diversity, and media redundancy for critical systems (911, etc). Perhape back up fiber with microwave, for example. In this case, it was evildoers that cut the lines, but earthquakes can be just as effective. Having a redundant line in the same trench does you no good when the whole thing snaps. Whoever engineered away the diversity should be prosecuted as well.

Linux chief calls for FAT-free Microsoft diet

Mark Pipes

FAT needs to stay, even though it sucks

The real issue here is Software Patents. FAT needs to become an open standard. Problem is, as pointed out by many above that there are a lot of third party/embedded things that *ONLY* understand FAT, and they must continue to support FAT because of the majority of Window$ machines out there. If Linux loses FAT, then I can no longer read the SD card from my camera, nor can I put files onto my MP3 player. Also, I would be prevented from taking files from a Window$ box, stuffing them onto a thumb drive, and importing them into a Linux box, or vice/versa.

It may even be possible that FAT has pre-Micro$oft roots.

MySpace wins record $230m judgement against spammers

Mark Pipes

Fines are fine, but this should be CRIMINAL, not civil.

$4.7 Million for Lawyers is OBSCENE. These clowns should be in jail until the sun freezes solid, plus another 100 years. Preferably somewhere that makes Devil's Island look like the Ritz Carlton. Vlad Tepes had the right idea.... ;)

That would be Vlad the Impaler, aka Vlad Dracula......

Apple buys chip maker

Mark Pipes

hope???

Maybe there is a low-power P5 (or P6) laptop in the future? Maybe??

Would be a "Good Thing" to see Apple revive the Power line of machines, even if only for higher-end/special order boxes. Intel hardware is much to sluggish.

IBM smacks rivals with 5.0GHz Power6 beast

Mark Pipes

apple

I want a P-6 Mac!!

Apple may have had a good reason to go with (ugh) Intel, but they should have kept

Power PC available for special order!

Imagine a Mac with a dozen or so of those 5GHz P-6 processors in.....

Next time you go to the loo, bring your locked laptop with you

Mark Pipes
Flame

drastic measure

disable usb boot as per above. Wite chassis switch to fuse of large thermite charges. One surrounding the RAM, the other the Hard drive. Open the door without the proper key to disarm, and the hd and ram go away, along with all of the data. Drastic, but secure.

Windows better off closed, says Microsoft

Mark Pipes

opening

All M$ *really* needs to do is open, and STRICTLY COMPLY WITH, the BIOS calls, the API calls, and file structures/formats. With that information, any compliant OS would be able to run Windows apps, and any compliant app would run on windows.

UK supercomputer probes secrets of universe

Mark Pipes

stupid question

How do we know there is an excess of matter over anti-matter??

If the matter and anti-matter flew off in different directions during the expansion (opposite charges, remember) there would probably be no way to determine at a great distance what type of matter an object is.

Am I missing something here? In close proximity, a photon will decay into an electron and positron, then recombine into a photon. With enough energy would not the particles and anti-particles go in potentially different directions? Feynman, on the other hand, demonstrated that a positron would be indistinguishable from an electron moving back in time.

Einstein says that time stops for an object moving at the speed of light. Photons, by definition travel at the speed of light, so are they everywhere at once???

Software glitch hits Heathrow T4 baggage system

Mark Pipes

luggage

Let them send your bags, counter to counter, on another carrier, at *THEIR* expense. Then you just collect them at the counter at the distination airport; or better still have them courrier them to your final destination. You get to your hotel, etc; and the bags are waiting for you.

Hah. Better for them to sodomize their passengers.

Star Trek XI release knocked back to 2009

Mark Pipes
Alert

History

Chekhov wasn't assigned to the Enterprise until season 2.

Spock was First Officer under Capt. Pike, and presumably in service while the rest were still at the acadamy. Kirk had a posting as a Lieutenant on another ship, 11 years prior to serving on the enterprise (cf 'Obsession'). There is also the impression given in 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' that the crew was meeting for the first time, being newly assigned to the Enterprise.

So, for 'Star Trek Acadamy Days', who plays Fonzie, Potsie, etc?

If you are going to do a prequel, DO YOUR FLIPPING HOMEWORK!!!

Watch the old series. Read the books covering the time prior to the series.

DO NOT REPEAT THE ERRORS OF THE PAST!!

'Enterprise' was full of revisionist history.

<end rant>

Solar Cycle 24 is go: Official

Mark Pipes

The return of the bands!

Hooray! The bands will open, QRP Forever!! :+)

Amazon's $399 folly book reader

Mark Pipes

prs-500

I also use the prs-500. I will probably *NEVER* buy an e-book, unless the cost drops well below the copy of the real paper book, and no silly drm. I have over 600 books I downloaded from Project Guttenburg, as well as a fair collection of pdf files I have loaded into the sd card. Having a large library in the small box is sa good thing. It has great battery life. Many of the books I have on mine are things I want to read that are either out of print, or difficult to find, or both.

Creative Zen media player

Mark Pipes

Software- We don't need no software

I have a Creative Zen Nano. I just plug it into the USB connector, and it looks liks a USB drive. I can then copy files to my heards delight. It works well on both my Linux and OS-X boxes. I am, blessedly, windows-free, and intend to stay that way. :)