Posts by Zolkó

Elon Musk vs NASA and the US rocket industry - ding ding!

you forgot the Jupiter program

You forgot to mention that some scientists and engineers from NASA propose an alternative to the Ares program, by re-using most Shuttle components, but removing the Shuttle itself and putting the payload on top of the main reservoir. See:

http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/3778.aspx?image=387

Much like the Ariane V actually, but bigger. With proven and reliable technology. Obviously, not what space-megacorps would want, too obvious, not enough money in it.

Jobs' Lion to marry Mac OS X and iOS

same here

I thought the same here: "wow, Apple re-invented the Linux package manager ?"

CIA used 'illegal, inaccurate code to target kill drones'

Eurofighter = bad !

Where is Lewis Page when you most need him ? He who thinks the UK military should buy yankee stuff instead of expensive UK kit.

Trident delay by the Coalition: Cunning plan, or bad idea?

tanks are easier to use

tanks are easier to use than nukes, no east-european would have believed that the USSR are going to bomb them with nukes. But they DID know - Hungary, Tchekoslovakia - that they could be invaded and shot-at by tanks.

What use if you need to ask the Amis ?

What use would a nuclear deterrent be if you need to ask the permission to use it from another country ? If it was a really British technology (like the French have) then why-not, the thing could be discussed, but another american handover ....

Elon Musk plans new Mars rockets bigger than Saturn Vs

plain stupid

it's plain stupid to want to go to Mars with 1 (one) rocket fired from Earth. It would be so much easier to launch several rockets and assemble them in space. Jeeeeze, why did they build the ISS if no-one uses it ?

Or even better: when you do long-range submarine diving in caves, 1 team goes and leaves spare bottles half-way. That could be easily done to go to Mars, or the Moon: launch several automated vehicles with ion-engines, slow but efficient, containing some raw materials (water, oxygen, petrol, whatever) that will take years to reach target, and *then* launch a high-speed rocket with only the astronauts who can then use those spare materials.

But building 20-store high rockets.... nah. Why not try to build imperial cruisers ? Or a Falcon Millenium ?

Ask.com embraces its inner Jeeves

Actually, I *do* use ask.com

Actually, I *do* use ask.com as my default search engine. I'm no fan of BigBrother-hood, so I tend to avoid Googliasaur & Co. And when sometimes I compare, ask.com is as good as Google.

Apple ads to target your iTunes history

that's why I never take any of these

that's why I never take any of these "loyalty" cards.

It's non-stop fun in Zero Carbon Britain, 2030

peak-oil coming with or without Orlowski

It's not because it's uncomfortable that we won't have to do it anyway. By the end of this century, we Humans will have to live without fossil energies, only using renewable ones. So it's better to get prepared, and true, iPhones don't help.

You're probably right that marketing managers, stress-advisers, credit-default-swap merchants, and other useless jobs will disappear. Will we be missing them ?

Europe approves US mass data grab

bis repetita

The European Parliament has already rejected this agreement before, so it's not entirely unreasonable to hope that they will reject it again.

I mean, how does it help fighting terrorism to know that I have purchased fancy underwear over Internet ? Real terrorists pay in cash anyway.

New prototype US spy satellite rushed into active use

I have a used bridge to sell you...

...if you believe this marketing stuff.

So you think that the Eurofighter is a bad thing but are ready to buy hyperbolic propaganda from warmongers. I suggest you read something about wavelengths and resolution vs. detector size next time before writing about such obvious failures.

Google open codec wins OSI love after patent shield rethink

remember GIF an MP3 ?

Haven't we been here before ? GIF and MP3 have proved that it's not possible to extort money through patented formats on the Internet. It won't work better for H.264. Something was bound to happen. End of story.

But I'm still happy that it happened so fast.

X-51 hypersonic scramjet test: Flameout at Mach 5?

a scramjet would be useless for going to space

To get into orbit, you need to be at 400km and flying at 28000km. Therefore, flying at 20km and 6000 doesn't help you much. In fact, the scramjet engine would be dead weight.

This is entirely a military stuff. Or pure curiosity.

Sorry to spoil the dreams. I'm going to get a beer.

Google open codec 'not open,' says OSI man

"show me the code"

In my understanding, open-source is not so much about license or even less about talks, but about code: "show me the code" is the motto, and Google has shown the code. Once the cat is out of the box, if can't be put back. If the code is good, it will be adopted. Patents or not.

Google open video codec may face patent clash

S. Jobs, we've uncovered you

Sent from your iPhone ?

Software is not patentable in Europe

So H.264 or VP8, it's not really important.

Also, remember SCO going after Linux ?

What's funnier is that Google (via YouTube) is going to encode all their videos in flash and VP8, which will exclude all iPhoneOS devices accessing half of the web. Amusing, isn't it ? One can smell the fear at Jobs&Co.

Steve Jobs issues open letter on Flash

H.264

So, Flash is being banned because it's too proprietary, and replaced by H.264 which is also proprietary.

sure. jeeeez, do I find my iTomagoshi collegues funny.

Adobe clutches chance to bury Steve Jobs 'hog' insult

use FlashBlock

The first thing I install on Firefox is "FlashBlock" that, well, blocks all Flash in Webpages. No nasty ads, everything cool. When I *do* need flash (for a menu, video, game or whatever) I click on that *particular* flash and have it all well.

So what's the big problem with flash ? Once a friend wanted to post a video on his webpage, and with Flash we could do that in 10 minutes.

'Gossips' say Apple will acquire ARM

Monopoly ?

That would not make it past a monopoly inquiry in the EU. Linux couldn't be available for ARM for example. No more Beagleboards. They'd have Nokia, Samsung, TI, Micro$oft, Canonical ... against them.

Actually, that would probably mean the beginning of the end for Apple.

Oracle freshens its VirtualBox

CATIA

I'm running VirtualBox on my Linux OS (Mepis 8.5) on my Mac, to use CATIA (a heavy-duty CAD software) with full 3D OpenGL acceleration. It works flawlessly.

I had tried Parallels on the same machine in Mac OS-X, and it sucks.