* Posts by roger stillick

231 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Jan 2012

Page:

FLASH! Aaa-aaah. 3D NAND will save every one of us

roger stillick
Go

Going 3d is a No Brainer...

Been Done b/4 this by Texas Instruments in the early 1970's SR-51A Super slide Rule Calculator, they piggy backed the memory chips to allow more memory than available chips would allow. this thing was the digital replacement for K&E's Log-Log Duplex Decitrig slide rule...Got mine on the advice of the father of one of my data entry clerks whose dad was an Ocean Pilot with a Master's license who used one of these Digital things to bring Navy ships back from Antarctica on summer provisioning runs back to Christ Church NZ. Both of us used slide rules for sight reduction, 3 digit S/R accuracy gives a multiple mile circle of uncertanty... the TI box made the vernier on the Sextant the limiting factor for area of uncertanty (less than 1/2 mile circle)... boxes like the TI was used until GPS boxes replaced everything (still have both my SR-51A and my Sextant)... the American Practical Navigator / Bowdich / HO-9 is long gone as it is now on line and a PDF (some things do change)...RS.

Vodafone poised to ink chumship pact with T-Mobile and get back into US enterprise

roger stillick
Meh

In The USA, Anyone Can Do This...

Here in the USA, the major mobile carriers are permitted by a 2 yo law that allows formation of private mobile networks... buy a block of service up front and pay for it up front= you are golden...gertting your customers to pay for your PMN service is your problem (most offer pre-pay burner fones)... your money problem makes no additional blocks of service a likely event ( you are 1 payday from end of network each lease interval).

IMHO= if Vodaphone wants to join thousands of others who have done this... welcome aboard to a prepaid enhancement of the bottom line of our Mobile Network Barons, they welcome free money...RS.

It was space vs boat at Orion launch. The boat won

roger stillick
Coat

Stationkeeping... Now to be on Mars...

An ancient tradition from cavemen thru roving tribes to the signalling towers along the walls of China moving on to the US Civil War Signal Corps towers spawning countless US Forest Service fire lookout sites onto LEO Russian MIR station and USA Skylab= 20 years later the LEO-ISS is a hopefully start of a permanent station orbiting Earth... a human presense to look around and sound alarms seems to built into our DNA.

IMHO= ORION is NASA's next step to Station keeping beyond Earth... The USA is not alone...China, India, Japan, and Russia all have similar stuff on their planning boards... All are real projects towards placing lighthouse / fire lookout sized stations on Mars... Commercial interests can build the plantations and towns that may follow= the mindset of the folks there is entirely different, station keepers enjoy the isolated, solitary life, and plantation folks / boom towners tend to be agressive colonizers.

Even if the Mars thing goes anywhere there will probably be other stations on other rocks in our Solar System within the Mars time frame...hardware is in the first step... finding huge quanities out there of easily mined fuel and raw material for expansion is going to make it actually possible for robots-anyway.

'Bladerunner' anderoids may be our actual future in space due to Radiation problems that can't be fixed by shielding (hope they remember us)...RS.

Pebble: The brilliant stealth wearable Apple's Watch doesn't see coming

roger stillick
Coffee/keyboard

Pebble... the right stuff....

Since 1984 and the Russian boycott of the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games leaving the surpluss dumping of a ton of souviner canteen watches (Russian pjot chips)... ALL WATCHES are CHIPS / READOUT / BATTERY...except for a few like Ralph Lauren's USD $12,500 masterpieces, and other similar toys.

Wristwatches are (in CE 2014) simply a pretty case and electronics... when Palm Pilots were used as industrial controllers years ago, an arm attachment was available (making a really big Geek Wristwatch).

IMHO= It is beyond me why what is essentially a multi-function TV Remote Control w/ benefits needs a MS-OS of any kind...if the weareable remote control accesses blue tooth, wi-fi, and wireless internet, and maby a cell phone, who cares ?? it's just chips and software= (job no.1 per MS, do your own thing) this Pebble is a natural extension of today's life...WHY MUCK IT UP W/ ARCANE SW ??... Anyone could have made the Pebble and these folks just actually did (without stepping on anyone's toes)... if the other guys stuff just got obsolete, looks like Sue Balls will again determine progress...paradigsm shift or not someone owes me a keyboard, the someone protesting chips in watches...RS.

Sony employees face 'weeks of pen and paper' after crippling network hack

roger stillick
Pirate

Sony makes great Things, Everything else is the Problem...

REF= Wiki, Sony... somehow a manufacturing company becomes a Multi-National Corporation with all kinds of IP and Insurance Policies to sell...Stuff eventually ends up a China maker thingy...on a subsidorary company (PS-4 seems to be just fine) within the Sony Group. Those pesky Blue-Ray and DVD CD's with game, movie and TV shows on them are still needed for the PS-4 to do anything other than Netflix TV ...output to HD monitor and Sonus Sound Bar...NOTE= all of this can be done w/ a single I7 Haswell chip on Intel capable gaming motherboards (whole thing makes excellent Work Stations).

IMHO= Everything else Sony does beside making the PS-4 seems to be hated universally worldwide...someone in Sony Corporate should be working on rehabing their image= being hated doesn't sell much stuff, or make much money.

All= Security needs to be part of IT and Corporate worldwide, simply p/o the Cost of Doing Business, 'CODB', hopefully out of bean-counter's area of responsibility...then nonsense like this Sony Hack will be a lot less common...RS.

BlackBerry's turnaround relies on a secret weapon: Its own network

roger stillick
Go

Useable Internet isn't Everywhere, BlackBerry needs it...

Black Berry network still uses the internet for connection (i think)...Rural America still doesn't even have adequate dial-up w/o a 2Gb/month data cap.

USPS gets my data sent to others on USB sticks...entire libraries of data...very secure.

Buy my data sticks on sale at a local office supply store ... they are actually as cheap as RW-DVD's, when you factor in the time needed to burn them... Got a replacement LINUX laptop to replace my XP burner laptop...have yet to do a production DVD (all USB sticks instead) this entire year.

IMHO= BlackBerry is a gold covered Security diamond, something that bean counters and breakup experts need to leave alone...folks like me might need it someday, would be nice to have real security available... just ask POTUS-O, he uses one...RS.

CERN IT boss: What we do is not really that special

roger stillick
IT Angle

CERN IT BOSS= it is that special...

CERN Collider has defaulted to the Worlds Premier MUON Plasma Physics site...making IT there critical to CERN Site Operation- there is simply no other, anywhere... The USA folks have deferred to this site, removed their Equipment and repurposed plant to other fields that are now just computer simulations and really cry for a physical test run on actuall physical lab stuff... YUM.

USA has the National Ignition Facility doing similar work in a different area of Physics... IT work there is crutial to allowing that facility to exist.

IMHO= Proper instrumentation of test runs, Adequate Computer power, and complete computer simulation of Eq being designed is crutial in the Scientific Method being applied sucessfully to exploration of new areas in Science... NO MORE= WAGS... NO MORE= Looks Right... NO MORE= Climb in, buckle-up, Light the fire, and if you can land it we'll figure out how to make it go faster (all a really big WAG)...

And the IT guys get to keep it intact and on track...highly needed if any real Scientific exploration gets to be done...RS.

Renewable energy 'simply won't work': Top Google engineers

roger stillick
Coat

Geothermal energy ?? Ask US DOE...

About 20 years ago the US DOE announced they had developed a ceramic electrically heated drilling head that could sink a shaft through solid rock by melting it... at least that was their claim...part of a stopped magma probe project, Glomar Explorer (actually a ruse to steal a Russian sunken submarine w/lost nukes).

Move foward to a few years ago and the Canadian Tar Sands oil production facilities...similar 100Kw ceramic heaters used for in-place tar sands refining into liquids that can be removed as crude oil.

IMHO= the big question is, can that ceramic electrically heated probe be used to cheaply drill down to hot magma, resulting in a geothermal well ?? Probable answer= only the US DOE knows and the origional use was a cold war ruse...

REF= WIKI, Geothermal energy, there's a lot more out there (X-Files anyone ??)...RS.

Ford's B-Max: Fiesta-based runaround that goes THUNK

roger stillick
Go

Thunk is great, lose the center console...

Have ridden in a Dodge minivan w/ electric side doors for back seat folks for several years now (hobby carpool)... the big doors are no problem if pushing a button opens / closes them.

The center console on a 2010 Prius w/ only aircraft type lighted switches (no internet or trackballs is a safety feature the USDOT / highway safety bureau wanted for 2015 vehicles sold in the USA)... it didn't happen.

The trunk needs an electruc door open / close option...as a USA white van man, the rear side doors would only be opened to get stuff at job site, and, an electric trunk door would really make that camera usefull at loading platforms.

MHO= the 1.0L engine is perfect... whole vehicle is sized OK for work or family... i would buy this in a simplified console version w/3 door electric open / close systems...a Variomatic transmission would be nice too (that 2010 Prius has that, no gears, YUM)...RS.

Webcam hacker pervs in MASS HOME INVASION

roger stillick
Unhappy

Where is "Security for Dummies" ??

IMHO= i blame the folks selling this stuff, all this internet enabled stuff (internet of things) with the caveiat of "Dont Worry, We'll take care of you", and not providing even the simplest of instructions on how to provision, verify operation, and troubleshoot this stuff (after all, we dont want to scare a potential customer)...

So where is my "Security for Dummies" book ?? the last book on security i got at Powell's is 3 1/2 in thick and not in any way usefull to work on any internet of things device...We simply have nowhere to turn as users of this stuff, and now we are told to simply 'do it'...Thanks - but - No Thanks, i do not have enough info to allow me to actually 'do it'...RS.

YOU are the threat: True confessions of real-life sysadmins

roger stillick
Holmes

Monitary Price on Confidentiality ??

The article mentions money as a breaker of classified information, exactly the same as claiming money as a breaker of sexual morals, it is wrongly assumed that everyone has their price, some don't...

Reality is folks getting cleared to work in those sensitive areas neither sell their info or their bodies for any price or favor, and if the truith were actually known= they would willingly rat out anyone being a jerk to the Company's Chief Special Agent...every company larger than a simple partnership has someone responsible for security...let it be their problem, it's what they get paid to do...RS.

The last PC replacement cycle is about to start turning

roger stillick
Linux

Re: The laptop and desktop are dead, pt.2 Python, et all...

Python and a whole bunch of other hi-level SW is needed to manipulate sattellite data sets into useable GIS images to interface w/City, County, State and Federal GIS Maps (essentually making new maps)...use gaming technology that is normally only found in I7 workstations w/ LINUX OS's...also needs several 32 in or larger monitors...

IMHO= this is only 1 of many things that will never be done on simple pc's either Laptop or Desktop, do not even think about a cell phone... gaming boxes / technology, along w/HD TV monitors and multi-TB USB storage devices make quasi-workstations, just dump MS-OS and rebop w/a useable LINUX setup...RS.

The Toyota Aygo is PARKtastic ... but it is very much a City slicker

roger stillick
Happy

Toyota Aygo a City slicker ??, Ref= Suzuki Cultus...

3cyl 1.0L Ohc EFI (even better Turbo'd) engines are very definately for cross-country freeway use, and only the public mind set of big powerful vehicles being the only thing proper for cross-country travel makes them questionable...

IMHO= downsizing was necessary for no-hassle Airplane travel (minimum luggage), the same is now probably true for no-hassle Auto travel...we tend to forget the VW beetle era when 3 folks could travel 24x7 for a really long time if they packed right... as a 1960's Gi, made many trips Georgia-Oregon, diagonally across the entire USA, average time= 80 hours, using Corvairs or Vw's...30 years later, Geo Metro's were able to do the same stuff (just use a small backpack)... foward to today= our Prius XW30 at 52 mpg over the last 4 years makes my '92 base Geo's 43 mpg about equal (new crate motor 3 years ago) in cents/mile useage...what can Toyota actually do ??

2014 Toyota Yaris, in the USA, uses the Prius Atkinson cycle hi-effiency 1.5L 4cyl engine (same mileage as 1.0L engines) so a freeway hauler can do can have a Toyota badge, at least here...

2014 Toyota Aygo has no real back seat, but at 98 mph per factory make it actually faster than my Prius or the USA Yaris...but only for 2 folks, a really nice freeway mileage maker for today...yea...RS.

roger stillick
Happy

3cyl 1.0L engines for cities ?? and 6.2L diesel 3/4 ton crew-cab 4WD V8's for all else ??

Nonsense= the 3cyl ohc engines will run their entire life making 75mph on USA's freeways w/4 persons in the car... folks riding in mine think it's a 1.6L Twin-cam... i just smile...RS.

FCC: Gonna need y'all to cough up $1.5bn to put broadband in schools

roger stillick
Meh

It's a chrisis, many Rural towns do not even have dial-up...

IF the money is used to put internet sattellite dishes in ALL Schools n Libraries for free, got my vote, otherwise forget it...it becomes just another boondoggle...RS.

Pre-digital computer 'cranks out' Fourier Transforms

roger stillick
Pirate

MIT Radiation Labs WW2 harmonic analyzer used levers...

MIT Rad Lab vol.27 'Computing Mecanisms and Linkages' by Antonin Svodoba constructed costal tide harmonic analyzers using multiple pantographic arms and linkages to make 2 dimensional tide charts for an entire coastline by having each data point be a pantograph arm of a size equal to the shape of the point on the coastline where a table reading is needed (whew, couldn't simpifly this).

At least the entire WW2 Pacific Theater needed tide tables to do any troop landings... the US Coast and Geodesic Service did maps and Hydro readings (tide tables)...location and eq. facilities are still not public record...RS.

ZZZAP! Climate change means getting hit by lightning is likelier

roger stillick
Big Brother

175 lightning storms each year= no problem...

Except for that RS DX-302 needing a trip back to DFW factory for updated shottky clamps on new front end MOSFETS...added a co-axial lightning bug in the outside wall mounted Windom Antenna lead-in box w/2.5 mh transmitting rf choke as ant box static drain to a really good 6ga. ground wire n rod... RG-8u coax to receiver... so my SWL site works after each storm, and done.

Caveiat= St.Elmos fire preceeds a strike, only saw that at Ft. Benning GA (green fire off fingers, almost an ACTS Ch2 experience)...RS.

FCC: You, AT&T. Get over here and explain this 'no more gigabit fiber' threat

roger stillick
Facepalm

AT&T Gigabit Fiber ?? who cares ?? Fiber to The Hub (FTH) has jumped over it...

Fiber to the Hub is simply cheaper and more diverse than either pure Copper or Cable systems...

Gigabit fiber (TV Service), 7 to 100 MB internet service, Plain Old Telephone Service, and leased T-1 service for PBX's can all be accomodated on a Fiber to the Hub System... the fiber / data backbone runs in a 1/2 ring or full round robin ring with every apartment complex, business park, office buillding, marina, and rv park having a hub w/local copper on short runs to customers... Plug in ckt eq is simple and converts from a running by data stream to what ever is needed for the customer... did i mention that it is cheaper than Copper or Cable ??

IMHO= Telcos like Century Link have been running w/ this for a year or so now and each area that gets it becomes a cash cow that can be milked for a long time without doing any harm to their customers... the key is remotely programmable network eq. operated w/ AI operating systems that predict and correct most failures... the customer premis eq is simply a data interface... overall cheaper than Copper or Cable, making it a no brainer (AND needs no FCC consessions to get it installed).

Caveiat= for the 4th time (enough already !!)... Money is simply everything, Costs control what gets installed, and FTH is simply lhe current paradigsm...RS.

PROFESSORS! PROFESSORS! PROFESSORS!

roger stillick
Happy

Re: Thank *God* the Drought is over!, Pt.2= MIT.EDU.

Harvard U endowment dollars, YEA !!... however, MIT.EDU has just about everything they have FREE on their website, ALL their Courses...did i mention free ??

Quantum Physics affirms we already use it and did i mention free ??...

my favorite book= 'the Road to Reality' by Roger Penrose (the math behind visualizing / mapping the observable universe in 4 diminsions).

Caveiat= my mentors / handlers encouraged reading non-fiction and scientific stuff, once the classics were read... treating all sciences as SCI-FI until you find out if it works or not is a warm and fuzzy comfortable spare time use...SPIE, here i come...RS.

SCREW YOU, net neutrality hippies – AT&T halts gigabit fiber

roger stillick
IT Angle

Re: Obama Plan for Internet?? - Nooooo!, pt.2= CompuServe was dialup...

By 1987 in the pacific NW (OR, WA) the local ISP was Pacifier at USD $9.00 per month or USD $60.00 per year for 56kb dial-up of a Portland OR, or a Vancouver WA telephone number (PTSN LD charges maxed out at USD $1700.00 per month when you actually used the internet a lot)...this was the DARPA / Sprint internet on long haul fiber down the Columbia river to Portland hub where it peered to PNB and GTE..

IMHO= CompuServe failed to thrive in the USA mostly because dial-up rates for ATT long distance were mostly cheaper considering the long haul telco routes were fed by 4E digital switches since 1984 on all fiber routes where data was transported... this allowed business standard 9.6 and 19,2 Kb data service on any leased line and 56 kb data on LD dial up over the PTSN...anywhere there were 4E switches (ATT is using the switches today, 30 years later - MOO, milkin the cash cow)... back in 1984 my Grid laptops and Commodore 64's had 300 or 1200 baud dial up modems and EVERYONE had Bulletin Boards on the PTSN (mine was on a dual floppy C64, manually run w/attendent)... i believe CompuServe and Yahoo were bulletin boards back in 1984...RS.

CERN: 2015 restart causes tech rethink

roger stillick
Pint

CERN 2015 and the X-Planes

Nice to know that the instrumentation and the Computer power can only monitor a snapshot view of the working CREN device...what is actually happening in the collider is unmeasureable and not storeable due to equipment and computer under engineering...

NASA / DARPA recently said the very same thing with their X-Plane program... instrumentation and computers were no way up to the task... most of the science was a WAG... testing consisted of kicking the tires, climbing in, strapping on, lighting the fire, and go !!... hopefully to return...eg= the X-3 was never tested - just flown and after crashing the first test plane, NASA found the second identical plane had flight control surfaces that could not allow either flight or landing= an instant Museum Piece (i's beautiful)... this went on thru the X-15 that was capable of flying to space or failing randomly due to some unknown factors ( a really expensive, dangerous WAG of a plane).

IMHO= CERN 2015 is precisely the NASA / DARPA X-Plane Program with different stuff to try and not blow up... so i asked my son the Scientist if 'not blowing things up' was any part of the scientific method, suprisingly he said as long as documented, it is... SMALL PROBLEM= CERN 2015 is neither properly instrumented or documented when running (a snapshot of a h-bomb test tells you nothing other than one occured). what is needed is a mulligan of CERN 2014 with no increas in power until 100 percent documentation of what occurs is possible... Then Just Do It, beer time (sorry NIKE)...RS.

Obama HURLS FCC under train, GUTPUNCHES ISPs in net neut battle

roger stillick
Boffin

Re: Nice, but that's what GIS is for...

Every City or Town or County here in the USA is mandated to maintain a single GIS map that places ALL facilities of any type either above ground, ground level or below ground, as built... these records are used by locators to mark what is above or below ground.

IMHO= big storm sewers make ideal fiber runs...RS.

roger stillick
Facepalm

Re: Granny Smith and Pink Lady, IMHO= no difference..

Home and Business service is the same in the USA per the FCC universal service policy... all except Static IP's are the same... Home gets single dynamic IP as default... it goes from a single to 5 statc IP's for either Home or Business internet ( recommended 2 up, 2 down, and 1 maint port IP for servers)... apparently Business subsidises Home as Home is always cheaper for like service.

caveiat= as a retired Telco type, be assured it is NOT any Telco's policy in the USA to not offer customer service out of hours - it simply isn't done... if anyone hare experienced this, a documented call to your repair service supervisor will get you a return letter telling what happened and why... a copy to your State PUC will end that nonsence (eg= E9-1-1 is not a daytime only service, and you pay for it to be 24x7-365)...RS.

roger stillick
Coat

FCC= Title II for everyone... They are all the same...

Here in an average corner of Suburban USA....

1.= Telco is fiber to the node...

2.= Cable is analog fiber to the curb...

3.= Verizon is wireless broadband / TV / phones...

4.= ATT is wireless broadband / TV / phones...

suprise, they all manage to charge a lot for their services even if only item 1. (telco) is title II...even if telco's TV service is DIRECTV... the State PUC will rubberstamp any telco rate for service if Telco sez they need it to maintain universal servfice...

Q= can someone tell me how the other 3 services manage to have rates that no one either State or Federal gets to look at all (extremely good unfettered business plans)...??

caveiat= in 1987 the local Cable company got us all new remotely controlled set top boxes, and celebrated that by denying service from Dec.20 to Dec 31 if the currant month's bill was not on their desk by Nov 31st...small problem, those of us that paid the under USD $20 monthly bill every other month weren't notified...calls to everyone by the thousand of us who had the Christmas Season ruined was to no avail... the Cable company was sold the next year w/1k less customers, we all cut a 10 ft piece out of the incoming pole-house drop and wrapped it around the set top box and returned both to the cable co's service desk... cable is not an option here...RS.

If only 0.006% care about BLOOD-SOAKED METAL ... why are we spending all this cash?

roger stillick
Joke

Fair Trade confused w/ Free Trade ??

Joke Alert= if the US Republicans hate Dodd - Frank, then it must be a good thing...so,

Fair Trade= a way for farmers to get paid for their products everywhere on the planet...or,

Free Trade= no one gets paid for their work fairly w/ all the money kept by the traders...and,

World Bank= that only allows austery thru out the lands where prosperity once prevailed...see ??,

Greece and Spain being punished for once being a great place to live...more to come...so,

IMHO= if the 1 percent Free Traiders gets to keep 99 percent of the money on this planet, and

we gotta end... Dodd - Frank and Fair Trade promptly along w/ learning to be the 99 percent,

Neo Surf / Peasents, only this time we don't get protection from the Manor House...2014 reality,

OMG i just wrote a KOAN...RS.

caveiat= written while watching "Rocky Horror Picture Show" on the telly...

Newly public dot-dentist flogger Rightside's shares jump on strong domain sales

roger stillick
Devil

Holding my website ransom... good business??

My webmaster died, taking his server's encription with him... a local hosting server company was rebuiding it from the clone on a web ring of like stuff and then one of these wonderful folks filed on my .org site name and offered it back to me at 4 times what Yahoo domains charged...5 years later my one attempt at a real website is again available - but i'm not...RS.

Ex-NSA lawyer warns Google, Apple: IMPENETRABLE RIM ruined BlackBerry

roger stillick
Facepalm

NSA is a Black Agency (no published budget)...

So is the CIA... Q= what does the IG do ?? it seems to be everywhere... budget ?? (black).

Skunk Works... Aera 51...Hughes Tool n Die...DARPA.

The list goes on if anyone cares, seems us Americans like Black Ops when they do stuff (SR-71, yea !!), no one ever complained about the USD $30B black agencies of the 1960's that are now USD $50B black agencies of the new millenium (possibly good value for the money)... BTW= the black agencies HAVE oversight, unfortunately the US Congress is not privy to it (IG's report only to the POTUS) and no one can do anything about that without rewriting how US gov is structured.

(end of USA)...

IMHO= when the Boeing Space Plane takes us to whatever will be up there in a cloud of plasma to allow the external combustion engine enable the electrostatic steering control systems we just smile and think= Black built that, yea !! When the POTUS gets tired of the NSA, he can pull the fuses any time, until then= rocky ride ?? depends on what side you are on.

caveiat= this has been discussed several times b/4 the whistle blower NSA contractor started copying everything he could get his hands on... got severely downvoted then, still believe i'm right, gotta post this for the good of everything here on this little blue ball...RS.

BBC clamps down on illicit iPlayer watchers

roger stillick
Coat

BBC Pay TV on RSS ?? Q= Why can't the world simply subcribe like Netflix ??

Here in the USA Netflix is per month USD= $19.00, per my daughter... so if BBC per month were USD= $10.00 to $30.00 it would be a bargain for extra-watchable TV...

IMHO= but there's no commercials... who really cares ?? only the local channels here have actual ads anyway, all the national channels carry their own local ads that when viewed from afar are just hi-camp comix... our sports shows are just 'roid rage exploits and unwatchably boreing when things are 'normal'...

BBC just might want to morf into something different= a money making corporation and loose the stupid lock on your radios n tv sets... no one cares anymore, (we all just want to watch your stuff), BBC needs a new paradigsm ...RS.

Verizon and AT&T sitting in a tree, V-o-L-T-E: Duo vow to hookup by 2015

roger stillick
Facepalm

get rid of legacy audio ?? ( it's free nowdays)...

Here in the USA, AT&T, GSM + Lte, and Verizon, CDMA + Lte, can get together on a premium Lte service...both win, customers may get high quality echo-free audio, but unfortunately customers are going to end up paying data rate for PTSN calls (technical term is hosed).

Actual TV channels imbed stereo audio within their video stream...this won't be happening here as it can't be charged for...or wanted as wireline video is very expensive so Actual TV is mostly p-p dish n sky stuff.

IMHO= we were promised video phones 30-40 years ago, it didn't happen in any way someone could just use it... hopefully this is a start of cost efficient videophone 2.0 (it could happen), at not too premium a price...RS.

Forget eyeballs and radar! Brits tackle GPS jammers with WWII technology

roger stillick
Black Helicopters

eLoran, GPS jammers, Unsymmetrical Warefare ??

Tried Decca inn the 1960's on east coast USA... map accuracy was 1/4 mile zone of uncertancy, as it was a hyperbolic ststem, accuracy changed by location, could be factored out "if you knew where you were in the first place" 3 axis GPS can locate all 4 legs of a mountain top microwave tower...Decca can't be effectively jammed...gps goes away w/brute power jamming... this means unsymmetrical warefare= a cheap device will disable all shipping in a limited area... a terrorist dream or a chapter out of the Art of War.

REF= a free on line book by the US GOV, Bodich - the American Practical Navigator... or HO-5 from Annapolis press, single volume, large size.

IMHO= no one who is in charge of navigaqting any marine vessel should be without it and understand all of it... in the middle of the night with power out and the only remaing RDF taped to the chart table w/a candle burning in the center of the loop antenna and...you still made port... tied up, coffee break, bed, GN.

Much better to develop VORTAC sites at each harbor and former lighthouse sites... the current ground and onboard kit is cheap, solid state, and relatively free of brute force jamming possabilities...best part= no additional charts needed, only note the facilities...RS.

Snapper's decisions: Whatever happened to real photography?

roger stillick
Linux

REAL photography ?? try Darktable...

i hate to be one of those obnoxious folks that yell try LINUX everytime something like this photography article cones along, yes - you are being dumbed down and ripped off with no path to to professional work... so just maybe there's new stuff out there...

REF= Wiki, darktable, download and print / save to file the WIKI 'pedia entry...

Want to Go Pro ?? don't buy that funny little video camere (everyone's got one)...<< read about darktable instead>>... find someone who is doing the online light in photography program and take it... become proficient in GIMP, buy the book... at this point it will be obvious that pro photographers use camera teathering on a laptop and external strobe lights are also teathered... finally you get to buy a camera that can be teathered (by this time the darktable folks will be helping you) and the learning can begin.

IMHO= you do not become a pro race driver by buying random rides off a car lot, and you do not become a pro photographer by buying cool looking cameras... you must have a plan to capture light, manipulate that light and have an output that someone wants... darktable can be a major advance in your light capture routines...RS.

SHOW ME THE MONEY! Ballmer on Amazon: 'They're not a real biz, they make NO cash'

roger stillick
Stop

Re: Anyone care to explain Ballmer's math? look at GE...pt.2

Steve Todd= according to Forbs they still pay little or no taxes due to creative accounting...

Most of the profit went to 'projects' (just a little different way of reinvestment, or, they were political contributions, who knows ??)...RS.

roger stillick
Happy

Re: Anyone care to explain Ballmer's math? look at GE...

R O T= look at GE, they and everyone else that is not grooming a company for sell off does this...Pre tax is close to zero...

IMHO= they just don't brag about it as it would scare their investors...RS.

roger stillick
Go

Re: Can't believe that I agree with Balmer, pt.2 there is no end game...

Thomas Wolf= There is no End Game for AMZN... in the Japanese Business mindset, a business can go on forever as long as it continues to grow...business established in the 16th and 17th century are still thriving in Japan, even after being totally defeated in WW2...Jeff's AMZN is a newcomer in this never ending game and he looks like he can be winning long time...RS.

roger stillick
Boffin

Show Me the Money...There is No Money...

Years ago the Wife n i attended a US Gov SBA (small business administration) seminar on getting your DBA, going into business and understanding 'Yes, i Can be Sued'...SBA 504 loans, Non-Profit filings, and how to show a profit to qualify for a loan, or a Corporation Startup...and buy needed stuff.

Something uniquely American showed up right away... almost 100 percent of the seminar attendees admitted they had never shown much profit and rarely, if ever paid actual income taxes (The USA has NO VAT)...Everyone operated above the line of being declared a hobby by making USD $1.00 at least once in a 3 yr period...per the SBA= 'even GE (General Electric) does this'...

So the Seminar was really about how to rearrange your money to show enough profit to qualify for a SBA 504 loan if wanted or how to satisfy a group of investors if you want to go public...and the way to get taxed profit converted into needed tools, vehicles, and plant (tax money can be leagally rearranged / allocated for untaxed stuff needed to make the business work) or don't build your basement sauna from company funds...but a nice 1 ton diesel crew cab PU w/ company logo on the doors is ok to sit in your home driveway if you do callouts off hours...Nothing i have commented on is illegal here in 2014 USA...

Enter Amazon as a USA stock market item... suprisingly Jeff Bezos does way better than GE so it is a better rated stock than GE (an old school Blue Chip stock).

IMHO= sorry folks elsewhere, Amazon is simply amazing and Jeff has a winner (he used to be a NY stock market GURU)... nothing has changed, his business plan is golden...RS.

US court shuts down 'scammers posing as Microsoft, Facebook support staff'

roger stillick
Unhappy

These folks are like playing wack a mole, just keep coming...

US courts are wasting their time, these folks will never stop as long as other folks answer their phone calls... this kind of spam can only be ended by ending the wired telecom system, something that isn't going to happen any time soon.

note= the old Rockwell voice, fax, modem had a pbx type voice calling firmware that allowed codes to be passed b/4 the actual phone rang...WIN-98 was the last supported kernel for this type of modem activity, Viruses n Malware needed firewalls that stopped the feature...the hard drive would store messages if phone didn't ring...stupid Euro Firewall bricked the modem the minute my DSL cable got hooked up to the Ethernet card (to keep malware from calling home over the unused modem)...end of dial '0' to ring my phone...RS

Unchanging Unicorn: Don't be disappointed with Ubuntu 14.10, be happy

roger stillick
Linux

UNchanging Unicorn: 14.10, be happy... Q=why no updates for 13.10 LTS ??

the LTS thingy was one of the reasons my newest machine didn't get Mint 15...

after 1st beta of 14.10, no further updates have came out daily... perhaps it's my fault, but still no updates for a highly touted LTS version.

IMHO= i kinda like Gnome/under Ubuntu 13.10 once i hobbled zeitgist (ugly AI-waste of machine time)...and went to classic Gnome (looks like mint)...

Mint has a much better software system for aps than UBUNTU (sorry, nice idea, zieitgist is stupid).

PLEASE= who ever is doung UBUNTU 14.10... please make conversion aps to allow the... cell phone / smart phone / tablet size ?? / gaming machines / TV sets / touch screens / stylus screen / whatever...be implemented WITHOUT hobbling a KBD / screen combo i/o device that most of us use, over n over again...make U 14.10 a desktop distro, keep the APS store (it's been around for a really long time, at the very heart of UBUNTU), just stop trying for all the fad devices to, out of the box, run your stuff and make separate conversion distros for them...PLEASE...RS.

Happy 2nd birthday, Windows 8 and Surface: Anatomy of a disaster

roger stillick
Joke

Re: What is "the Windows client"?'Forget it' is correct...

Joke Alert= IBM stuff came with 'Forms' that folks 'data-filled' the open boxes... folks maintaining IBM stuff had a way to modify those forms w/ boxes (some called the boxes windows)... MS was at DOS 2.5 ?? (the one B/4 DOS 3.0) running mostly on clerks desktop machines and the UNIX folks were quietly laughing...

Some of us UNIX folks tried helping the IBM folks move around and modify the boxes and we quickly found the whole thing was tied to a proprietary IBM combination of spreadsheet and database written to by a left handed typing program, or, = 'this is stupid, i'll pass'... back to my UNIX.

MS had some very smart folks that looked at the IBM forms stuff and rightfully concluded that if they did it right, they could make desktop DOS into a universally simple forms / Windows screen that wouldnt scare any office worker just trying to use a computer as the boss hates paperwork... soon hand written forms morfed into a copy machine making 2 extra copies of the computed, printed out slowly, document...soon the output of entire paper mills was for copy paper for a growing number of in-house filing cabinets...

Joke Alert= Governments worldwide discovered they could just seize the files and fishing expedition / troll the data for possible criminal behavior... MS client-server stuff ended this with central data storage... desktops got new windows systems as the older systems kit filled up w/ no data retention wanted locally by company folks burnt by too much bad stuff found in local filing cabinets...Big Iron, Big Data, the Cloud all make sure no local filing cabinets ever start to fill up, ever again, done.

IMHO= MS had 16-bit Zenix (UNIX clone), and a really well made NT Kernals from 3.1 to 5.2... then Kernal 6.0 (Vista, failed to be loved by anyone) and later went in too many directions to be usefull to anyone... MS is still in this failure mode and the company directors are simply too close to the problem to see the results of their honest effort as worthless for any ongoing use...REF= WIKI, Comparison of Microsoft Windows versons.

caveiat= this will be my last MS-WIN comment as i've finally acheived my Y2K goal of Running no MS stuff, in any form on anything i have, using only UNIX / C stuff..LINUX... i really tried NT kernel stuff, MS didn't support their own kernel...Absolutely World Class Failure...RS.

Trips to Mars may be OFF: The SUN has changed in a way we've NEVER SEEN

roger stillick
Joke

Re: Magnetoplasma propulsion, pt.2...

VASMIR isn't an engine burning fuel, it is a less than 100 percent efficient power conversion process that produces thrust by chucking off stuff opposite the direction u want to go...

IMHO= burning Lithium in a fusion engine makes more sense (we just can't do it yet)...RS.

You can crunch it all you like, but the answer is NOT always in the data

roger stillick
Happy

Data as THE answer, Expert Systems and AI are suspect over this...

Solutions to real life problems and verification of real life answers will never be 100% correct as data sets are only really good for the time they are taken (sort of a Quantum problem) and real things might have occured B/4 the data set was stored, and now, much later, the actual data set might be not even there...

RTOS UNIX type systems used current data for decision making ( not any part of this article).

IMHO= good luck with your big-data thingy... try drilling down on current data for a better answer...RS.

Carbon tetrachloride releases still too high, says NASA

roger stillick
Facepalm

Re: Carbon Tet ?? banned since the 1950's... I thought...Pt.2

So after 2 months of not using chlorine bleach in my front loader, all my clothes faintly smell like dirty gym towells, or 'Back to the Bleach' ( carbon-tet generated cleaning)... they win, i give up, i need clean smelling clothes as my friends are starting to ask if i'm ok... i'm not= no clean clothes...RS.

DVLA website GOES TITSUP on day paper car tax discs retire

roger stillick
Go

Bewildered in the USA, but Smiling...

After reading thru 3 pages of comments, I get it... there is a tax on gas guzzlers for every day they are on the road 'In Their Entire Life'.

Way to go !! wish we had this here in the USA (our 'gas guzzler' tax is added on,only once by the car manufactuer, at time of origional new vehicle sale)...so the USA ideal car is now a 350hp full-time 4wd Crossover SUV that has the gas mileage of a 3/4 ton V8 HD crew-cab pickup truck...and all is well with the American Driving public (we have cheap, road-taxed, gas).

caveiat= this has been noted by American TV car shows that conclude the crew-cab PU is the better buy for a passenger hauling highway vehicle...RS.

Austrian telco trials G.fast as 'interim solution'

roger stillick
Go

100 Mbs service being turned up in Portland Or, USA...

Some Telcos have Fiber to the Node as default standard w/ 7 Mbs service... some Telcos barely have dial up 56kbs service WITH a 2Gb DATA CAP and proud of it, so:

IMHO= ALL of Austria !00 Mbs ?? NO, probably the low hanging fruit in a city or two that is willing to pay the install fees...RS.

Microsoft, Docker bid to bring Linux-y containers to Windows: What YOU need to know

roger stillick
Boffin

No crucifix, was a Square hole plug pulling key...

Usually had 2 on a neck lanyard, they clanked togethed, giving off a loud chime, where we would chant 'DB'...didn't have robes, had oversized vests (to go over our mandated company logo'd rugby shirts)...what A/C we had was for eq so it was always too cold to work or 125 degrees F... always thoght the Boss hated us...still use code sheets, i'm lazy... and at age 71 finally got a crew cut (it's growing out)...really miss UNIX stuff, the fact that all software comes w/ C is just not enough.

so actually, i guess we did our best to drive the Boss nuts (some kinda were)...RS.

Scientists skeptical of Lockheed Martin's truck-sized fusion reactor breakthrough boast

roger stillick
Happy

hi_robb has Wiki ref for this article...

Ref= Wiki, High beta fusion reactor...

IMHO= looking at thw Wiki article, Dr. Thomas MCGuire has described a jet engine sized device that has RF Magnetic power output which using circulator / isolator components remove rf power FROM the device to external AC power conversion equipment for mains standard 3 phase power or power to a ducted fan aircraft propulsion moter...

from an ancient 1960's book (Atomic Age Physics by Semat and White) neutrons can be captured / blocked / converted by simple inorganic chemicals... Or, on a plane wing ?? sure, why not.

caveiat= i am a Buddhist tecno historian, hopefully this article isn't all SCi-Fi nonsense...RS.

Coughing for 4G, getting 2G... Networks' penny-pinching SECRETS REVEALED

roger stillick
Coat

Re: Stations, precisely...

The USA wireless folks do not have a monopoly on lack of needed radio facilities to provide actual good service...

hint= Verizon is not one of these miserly folks, but, they are also are the most expensive as they actually provide service...everywhere they are in the business of wireless services.

caveiat= i am both a Centurylink and a Verizon customer... both 'Get It'...RS.

roger stillick
Joke

4G, 3G, 2G, who cares ?? there is no service...it costs $$...

Joke Alert= the wired telephone foks here in the USA are required to monitor overloaded interoffice trunk lines and MUST add more virtual trunk lines as needed... not so for the wireless folks, physical radio equipment is needed to augment anything other than messing w/ the codecs...

Having a wireless world is a great idea... most long time wireless areas are served by remenants of the wired telephone world with an entirely different set of equipment and service values / mind sets. hint= old time service areas really don't expect much wireless use so they provision wireless sites and test stuff accordingly ( for no service)...no problem, coffee time.

3rd World places and China / South Korea expect all service to be wireless and engineer for a 100% solution, every time ( for lots of wireless service)...no problem, coffee time.

IMHO= folks in old time big cities and populated suburbs arre getting quietly hosed by the wireless folks who sell everything up to and including network TV on the wireless networks that actually overload several times each day with just phone traffic... the oher stuff is handeled by using other paths for data / TV... still the IP overhead is huge and overloaded... i have no idea how to fix this except by spending serious $$ on radio stuff, sompthing wireless carriers in most places simply do no do ( milking the cash cow is the only possible solution).

Joke Alert= i await folks saying all sorts of radio faciities are available everywhere for customers to happily use...RS.

Vanmoof Electrified Bike: Crouching cyclist, hidden power

roger stillick
Go

500W recumbant trike w/26in rear wheel and extra 48v battery...

Have it tomorrow, in stock at stores in Portland, OR and Chicago, IL... except for one small problem...

Life on the street b/4 being stolen= 15 miutes less than this year's Chev Corvette .

IMHO= fix that and mine will have yellow frame w/ white rain shield and road mud plate...the next day after the stolen thingy gets fixed...and probably licensed as a scooter, who cares?? i don't.

caveiat= my 3cyl Geo Metro fun car is as new and needs a new home, this would be my new sports car...RS.

Secret U.S. 'space warplane' set to return from spy mission

roger stillick
Coffee/keyboard

Re: I find this report...still have Glonass and Magellan...

Messing w/ Russian and French GPS systems are a first Strike Act of War that gets you green glass - real quick, followed by a revenge strike from China...

IMHO= no one is that dumb...RS.

Shh! Bose and Apple ink secret deal to settle 'noise-cancelling' suit

roger stillick
Happy

Re: When ?? try 1970 when Marine SSB Radio became std...

Early 1970's the Technical Material Company - TMC - offered a SSB solution to AT&T for upgrading their Costal -Harbor radio telephone systems to world standards (ssb)...

included was an English discrete Vocoder and an optional IF-shift noise canceller, Plessey later made an Analog Vocoder chip for mobile use... all Plessey chips were used in the AN/PRC-25 Manpack, a portable SSB military radio B/4 secure radio...

Dr. Bose had the idea of getting the noise signal NOT from the signal itself but from the place it is being listened to / at...and THAT is very much a new idea and very much patentable... Bose proceeded from there to develop the external noise cancelling system thru all their line of stuff and offered to license it to anyone who wanted to use it... everyone came and used it, there are USD $30 Japanese headphones, and there are USD $500 German headphones, all licensed and blessed by Bose.

Beats Audio / Apple Industries naturally passed, the rest of the World just Laughed and waited for these 2 deadbeats to blink, (and They Just Did)...

IMHO= to play in a World market you need to always play well with others...Beats / Apple is learning...RS.

Page: