Posts by Eddy Ito

3D printers, one-dimensional enemies

Size, speed & cost

The reality is that people don't do it now is because of the cost. Rapid prototype machines are expensive but that isn't the only reason they aren't cranking out toys like Santa's workshop. The biggest problem is actually time. It is called rapid prototype because it's faster and cheaper than building all the tooling to make a part. Just to clarify I said a part not a few hundred parts, not a few thousand parts and certainly not a hundred thousand parts.

If someone thinks they are going to get rich spinning out a few thousand Mikey Moose toys they can think again. 3D printing is perfect for making a few, perhaps into the tens of parts or even a hundred, if they are small enough to do a dozen or so at a time, but it's still a slow process and it isn't uncommon to kick large parts off just before you tick off the lights and let it run over night. Don't get me wrong, that's a heck of a lot faster than designing molds, making metal chips and firing off the injection molding machine to make _a_ part. That said, once the mold is made the high volume setup is done and parts come out like popcorn. In between, there are CNC machines that are program once and run them for a week and you will have far more parts than you could ever hope to produce on a 3D printer.

There you have it. 3D printers are great when you need a half dozen or so items the next day and if people could have made them suitable for mass production, they would have. This really is the specialty space for those people who make a living doing one-offs. It's for those artists who don't have the manual dexterity to paint the next Mona Lisa and the inventors wanting to do something different.

Lego bricks? At a tick over $20 for over 400 bricks it just isn't worth it. It would cost more in electricity to run the printer.

Our PARIS becomes GLOBAL MEDIA SENSATION

Beauty

Chalk up Hong Kong's International Business Times and India's The Economic Times as well. It's simply a fine thing you lot have done. I can sense this turning into a global scholastic challenge. It won't be long before Carnegie Mellon is snubbing DARPA because it's devoting too much brain power to PIGS* in Space VI

*PARIS Intercontinental Global Sailer of course. Redundant? Yeah En Space, what's it to ya?

Google sacks Eric Schmidt memo leaker

Clearly

Not everyone got a pay raise, perhaps a lump of coal to keep warm while he's on the blacklist.

Australia claims it invented cutting-edge tech before rest of world

At least it worked

Thank goodness they stopped using it or the place would be nothing but a big desert by now.

Disguised impostor clears international flight

Much ado about nothing

Perhaps I'm daft and just can't find it. Can anyone please quote me the statement which declares that this person actually went through security in Hong Kong while in disguise? I see statements that he got on the plane in disguise but as of last year there isn't an ID check at the boarding gate in HK. I can also see where they describe the security setup in HK but I still can't find where it states he actually went through security in costume and didn't put it on in one of the many restrooms in the terminal. You can see in the map of the HK airport, pdf linked below, that security is done at the end of the terminal. Air Canada flies out of Terminal 1

http://www.hongkongairport.com/leaflet/map_facilities.pdf

That said, without such a quote it sounds like CNN trying to bump ratings like the network showing a detailed self breast exam a few days ago.

Cellphone tower data protected by US Constitution

Nice try copper

"... investigators who said there was no reasonable expectation such data is private."

I'd wager most have no expectation that such data exists which puts it with the covert GPS tracking devices or bugs of various types which definitely require a warrant. Where did law enforcement get the belief that any of this would be ok as long as nobody found out about it?

US census takers fight angry Americans for their data

Fundamentally flawed

Ignoring the intrusiveness of the census, it remains a flawed scheme. It starts because the stated purpose is to apportion representation and the flaw is that it tries to count everybody. Most of you will say, "what's wrong with that?" Well, it counts people who can't vote and while it wouldn't be too difficult to determine who is ineligible there is no indication they try to correct the numbers after the fact.

If you can't see the flaw yet; in apportioning representation based on everyone and electing representatives based on voters it thereby over represents the voters who live in places where there are higher numbers of people who are ineligible to vote. I am sure that by living in places such as Los Angeles, where the non-citizen population runs near 12%, a vote gets more weight than one cast in Crittenden County Arkansas whose non-citizen count is closer to 1%, perhaps less. It isn't fair to those who vote and it isn't fair to those who can't.

I know, given voter turnout rates, who cares? Don Quixote never had it so good.

Apple coughs to time zone problems

Easy fix

Can we finally just stop playing the foolish head game on ourselves and admit we are actually just getting up an hour later or earlier? Oh I know, it won't work because there are too many businesses that will have to change their hours for the summer, we'll use too much energy and little Willy will have to reset his alarm so he isn't going to school in the dark and be run down in the darkened dark street like a possum in the dark deep blackened pitch that is predawn. Fine, fine I've already worked a compromise. Let's see, the time change is now only in "standard time" for what, 4 months? So, we'll readjust the "standard time" 40 minutes and be done with it. It is just an arbitrary construct after all.

Ok, I guess my blasphemy is complete and the Holy Order of the Temporal Temple can flame away now... or in an hour if they have to wait for their alarm to reset.

Fedora 14: haven for Ubuntu's homeless GNOMEs

Nail

You hit it pretty square regarding development and installers. That's why I always keep O'Suzy and the Fed around. It seems like every time I need to compile this or that, some yahuntu has left something important out of the install because it's such a pita to find in Ubuntu and it's ever so much easier to flip to one of the other majors and just spin it out. I pretty much left languid leotard as it wasn't worth the aggravation of re-re-customizing the install. One of these days I'll load up some vms with the miscreant monkey and fed14 to see if a move is warranted.

Supremes poke Schwarzenegger's 'violent' game ban

Can't be

That can't be a full quote... unless. Are Califuckinya legislators so ignorant as to believe it's possible to kill etc. an image of anything? Here I thought the kids who were supposed to have a problem telling the difference. Then again a four year old might be more mentally developed than most pols.

That said, I can't wait to see the gang bangers going to be saying stupid things like, "daaaamn, jyuo see dat hit? He messed 'at image up!" and "no offisa' dis here is just a image of my boy beatin' the livin' crap outa dat udda image dere."

Airport screeners go for the groin

Is that a gun in your pocket

Or did TSA rub you the right way. What do you mean TSA doesn't stand for Tits, Snatch & Ass?

Now then, "one more time" can we have a Britney icon or if you're old and must at least a Captain & Tennille icon.

PARIS in 89,000 ft climax

Simply...

Gents, thanks so much for the wonderful ride, it was truly splendid. The fact that not everything worked perfectly actually makes it so much better. Let's face it, if you get everything right on the first go there isn't much to prompt another round. Why you might have sparked fires in many readers who are now planning to build their own PARIS in the fine spirit of oneupmanship.

Breathtaking pics, I wish you had another cam in the lift box to capture more of that awesome skyline. Do say you'll do it again. Same time next year? Perhaps a Halloween theme and we'll throw simultaneous global parties to celebrate or something.

Apple to buy Sony? Good one!

Differences

Sony is a manufacturing company that does some design where Apple is a design house that also does software and outsources most it's manufacturing. The net result is you have two companies with vastly different staffing requirements and it shows. Apple has only 34,300 employees while Sony has a bit over 5 times that with 171,900 according to google finance.

It is actually very interesting to compare these two as they are so similar in market sector and yet couldn't really be more different in how they go about doing it. Does Apple want to tie itself down by internalizing its manufacturing? I don't think so and there are probably cheaper plays than buying Sony if it did.

Boffins mount campaign against France's official kilogramme

While we're at it.

Can we just define the mole as exactly 6 x 10e23 and round off all those other nasty constants? Let's face it, does anyone really care if a mole is about 0.37% off it's old number? I thought not, daltons are still daltons and the kilogram has been defined in more absolute terms; at least until something ionizes but who cares as long as they keep their hands off our bulgarian airbags.

419ers threaten terrorism charges

No wonder!

I was wondering where all those laptops and guns the FBI lost a few years ago would turn up. Glad to know they haven't lost any more... hang on...

LOST Vulture One PARIS spaceplane FOUND!!!

Have another boys!

Bravo! Well done! etc. etc. Now then, out of curiosity, assuming you have accurate release data, a 6 km jaunt equates to what exactly as a glide ratio?

Bah! It's beer-thirty, lets enjoy another round to celebrate just how sturdy that little craft is. I must say, having seen the LZ, I'm rather surprised to see her in such good condition. Bloody fine work lads.

PARIS launch tomorrow come hell or high water

Splendid!

A right fine you've started. Here's to a successful venture, err, Vulture!

PARIS grounded by whipping wind

And so

with bated breath we wait upon dear sweet Mother Nature to officially bless our beloved PARIS. Perhaps mum is just holding out for some of that splendid tempranillo based ambrosia.

Best of luck on Tuesdays attempt.

Wikileaks outs 400,000 classified Iraq War docs

That's CYA to you

Is this the change to a more open government that everyone was thinking about in the last election? Just goes to show that pols are only interested in covering their own arses. Hell, the administration is probably more concerned this will hurt their chances in the election but really they shouldn't worry and I'm sure there will soon be some, "it didn't happen on our watch" BS.

Geoff & Hillary, the grenade is for you to hold in your mouth. Be careful when you start flapping your gob, you never quite know when that spoon will fly off.

Gosling blows lid off Jobs Java nonsense

Why bother?

"After deprecating Java, the company also announced that applications using deprecated technologies such as Java will not be allowed in the upcoming Mac App Store."

Doesn't this also ban any implementation of Java from the MacAppstore as well? Even if it doesn't, what would be the point if you can't get apps from other places without jailbreaking your McBookends?

That said, I'm starting to think switching to a Win7 laptop instead of getting a Mac IntelBook was a good idea.

Apple hit by iPad sales guessing game

Re: Lucky you

I can count departments full of guys running Pro/E, Autocad, Catia, NX6, etc. that won't be making the switch any time soon. Sure there are sketchers/paint apps so at least the 2 I.D. guys can play, sorta.

OOo's put the willies up Microsoft

A-4king-men

I guessed someone at MS missed that boat. I have to admit, having now been forced to use it at work, it is somewhat beyond infuriating when the help system tells you to push a button that isn't on the ribbon it said it was. Hell, I still haven't found it but thank googlyness for the intarwebs to get useful help.

Google and friends scheme offshore windmill army

Good luck

Perhaps if there aren't too many NIMBY Senators with dreams of ocean views far beyond the horizon in that neck of the woods then perhaps this won't be DOA like the one off Edgartown.

TV numbers sink as iOS usage rises

hippo crate or henhouse fox

"between NBC's Sunday Night Football and ABC's Dancing with the Stars... the number one prime-time show on television, FOX's American Idol."

More compelling evidence that Jobs is correct about the "turn your brain off" aspect of TV does not exist but it does make one wonder why the man tries so hard to get his "hobby" of Apple TV to take flight. Sure, it's easier selling crap to folks when their brains are off... oh wait.

French cops claimed to hold secret, illegal gypsy database

Move along, nothing to see here

What's that? Oh you are moving along, how nice. Feel free to not look again.

eBay Meg still chasing California's top job

oBoy, eBay bids to counter Moonbeam's light

I say keep the bastards in office until they die but instead vote every few years to adjust their power attitude, you know rolled up newspaper on the snout sort of thing. Everyone loves term limits but it only takes one term to get a full pension and all the "retirement" perks for life. We'll see who wants to be governator when they personally have to rotate shifts with garbage collectors and sewer workers on the midnight shift every other Friday night. "Oh yeah, we got a sewer backedup in line 28 running 3 miles from under the ball stadium to a string of taco joints and sports bars, hey gov you're up."

Research links laptops to 'toasted skin syndrome'

begs the question

Does the prolonged heat fry your eggs, as it were. I remember some time back getting advice to avoid setting in a hot tub for too long as it has a way of making a man... less potent shall we say. Then again it may have just been a subtle way of saying "get out, it's my turn."

Man vindicated for videotaping his own traffic stop

Depends on state

Each state makes their own specific rules. Some allow passing on the right while others don't. Likewise some states define the left lanes as passing lanes and the right lanes as travel lanes so they can ticket you for either traveling in a passing lane, this is worded by some states as an ordinance to keep right unless actively passing. Mostly these are used to generate revenue when the roads are fairly empty as it basically gives a twofer when a car does pass on the right they both get tickets.

Car wrecks rise after texting bans imposed

Shirley you jest

Police departments don't keep any better track. Half the time little dingers that don't stop traffic or require medical attention are brushed aside because there are more important things to do. You know like ignoring those burglary reports, "yes, yes, please come down to the station and fill out fourteen copies of this pointless form that we will misplace in case you call to follow up and we can request you fill out another fifteen copies until you get the fact that nobody else cares unless someone died or we can get some big bucks like confiscating 'drug' property. Half an ice day."

US mainstream media is Apple's bee-atch

Say what you will but...

Back in the day everyone knew how to read Pravda. Pity they don't see any parallels to today.

Apple now world's second-largest company

Re: Dividends?

You start by saying; "Nobody buys shares for the dividends." A pretty big and bold blanket statement which you then refute shortly thereafter with; "Microsoft only started paying dividends to get people to buy their shares."

So which is it? It seems you can't make up your mind. Certainly a lot of people own Microsoft stock and there are roughly 65 million trades each day so they all can't be there for the dividend; but then "nobody buys shares for the dividends". Generally dividends provide minimal risk with price stability along with a modest income but little or no growth. Many mature companies and those that are not in a growth industry pay dividends because they don't plan on a great deal of expansion.

AAPL obviously sees expansion followed by more growth on the horizon and is holding cash to pay for it, hence no dividend in the near future. With five acquisitions in the past year and each in a different field it should be pretty clear that's the plan. The questions that remains is when will they be done shopping and who are they shopping for next. Looking at MSFT they haven't bought anything since December and even then it was all software makers making it very clear they are only interested in software.

That said, with MSFT only having a 5 year dividend yield of 1.8% and a fairly flat stock price is better than most saving accounts nowadays. Needless to say neither MSFT or AAPL is on my shortlist of future buys especially as I recently pulled out of both.

FCC rubberstamps rules for 'WiFi on steroids'

Bah

I'm fairly confident that it will be a joke with high prices and monopigly defined areas. If you're thinking it will be like cable service in the US, you've got the right idea. High prices, frequent outages and claims that it's ten times as fast as DSL, which it is... with a single user.

Sex, lies, and botnets: the saga of Perverted Justice

A bit extreme

Both Raisley and Von Erck could do with a little growing up. I can't imagine anyone reading this and subsequently working with either of them.

Paris because she is so much more mature than these two.

Paris brushes off Japanese ejection over coke bust

Re: Merkins

Just a few things. First, Oriental doesn't mean Japanese any more than Asian does and Asian doesn't exclude the far east or even northern Asia, see parts of Russia. A quick reference to Oxford Dictionaries Online yields the following;

"Usage: In Britain Asian is generally used to refer to people who come from (or whose parents came from) India, Pakistan, or elsewhere in South Asia, while in North America it refers to people from China, Japan, and other countries of East Asia"

"Oriental: noun; often offensive* a person of Asian, especially East Asian, descent"

Second, trust me, it's better to be simply called an Asian by an American than have some Euro-git get it wrong three times only to finally ask how to say my real "Oriental" name. Here's a hint AC, it's Edward. But what did you really expect from a mutt in a nation of mutts?

Now tell me, what is it your fascination with merkins anyway? Did you horribly cut yourself shaving? Perhaps a nice trip to Brazil to have a professional take care of that, apparently not everyone is suited for DIY.

Re: Yeah, but

I take it you've never seen any of the "Idol", "Got Talent" genre of unreality TV. Did the whole formula [boy,girl] bands pass you by as well?

Portable, rapid DNA analysis tech developed

Fixed

"Our goal... is to transform today's DNA identification process... into a misunderstood, moron run process that likely gets it wrong in less than an hour"

Intel trials downloadable CPU upgrades

Got to ask

Does this mean they will pay me to throttle it back?

Netizens now Facebook more than they Google

Orkut and Buzz and Google Me? Oh my.

Finally the GOOG catches on and starts talking to the game makers but what is with their naming engine? Talk about sucking sewage through a straw. First they have fish Orkut bait followed by an irritating sound made by blood sucking insects and now Google Me? What the hell is that, Millennial edition, Moose & elk, Mostly excrement? Call it "Google Spot" and you've got a short version folks are bound to remember. Why they'll come again and again exploring every niche it has to offer. Heck, it could even have a little side bar so visitors could... well, play with each other. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Good luck getting that domain though.

HP sues Hurd to keep secrets from Ellison

That's all folks

HP has gone round the bend in its pursuit of... screwing Hurd. Ok, maybe he isn't the best guy walking the face of the earth but seriously to what ends will they go? Perhaps they just have a thing about cutting the head off their own snake or they really want a female at the top to blame when something goes sideways. Either way, the board has a way for picking people who really don't want the job and perhaps the shareholders should put in a vote of no confidence in the board at the next possible opportunity.

'Copyright troll' seeks $150,000 from republican candidate

See icon

"The group is seeking possession of her domain name, sharronangle.com..."

Uhh... Ok, this I gotta see.

Jobs moves to the heavens with Apple TV

Who Lou?

I can actually see Steve's point. There isn't much (any?) TV/video content actually worth owning. The only question that remains is will people continue to pay for one more given the current buffet already there?

Twitpic pulls 50 Cent bum burger snap

50 cent

I guess that means he's no two bit gangsta. The pic certainly explains why he's worth a nibble but I have to wonder why he didn't go for the whole byte.

Apple files chip block stack patent

Uhh, ok.

Prior art abounds since this really isn't any different from a voltage divider, comparators, reset and a flip flop all on the same substrate. Oh, they went up in a stack, BFD watch me dead bug a pair of triple nickle timers with some hot glue. Be careful, it's a bit astable.

Just 5% of workers ever truly leave the office

compensate much?

Does the 5.9% who work from anywhere compensate for the remaining 94.1% that duffs off while actually at work?

Apple to reveal musical something on September 1

Judging from the pic

It's an iCoustic guitar.

The one with a igil in the pocket, thanks

Japanese press step into execution chamber

Not a deterrent at all

Far from being the ultimate deterrent, it is more the ultimate punishment as once it is done, there isn't anything else. The reason it isn't now and never was a deterrent is that criminals don't plan on getting caught. It's also why imprisonment isn't a deterrent.

How many "bad guys" actually plan ahead and calculate the odds of getting caught, convicted and punished? Not too many more than none.

PARIS gets doped up

More! More! We're still not satisfied!

Ah the first snaps of PARIS in the raw, taut skin so soft and supple... mmmm. Oh yeah, so, when are the best pics coming, from full frontal to blushing bashful beauty... you know what we want. ;)

DARPA orders VTOL robots for 'covert payload placement'

A mere pretender

With vertical takeoff, gps, spy camera and much quieter PARIS will take this toy to school. Oh being paper PARIS is not only recyclable but a few seconds with a match will dispose of any nasty spy plane evidence leaving the covert operative with nothing more than tourist gear and a cozy fire for toasting marshmallows.

Apple eyes kill switch for jailbroken iPhones

Dear Steve

I have a friend who says customers are like tofu. You can hold more in open gentle hands than a tightly closed fist.

PA school district avoids charges over webcam spy scandal

Much better

"Like the Brit's (and most all other countries), the USA believes that the public at large is automatically guilty."

Now it's more accurate if not exact.