motters

49 ms·

481.
by motters 16y ago
I tend to use GPL for fairly pragmatic reasons. If I've written some software - typically voluntarily and without payment - and put it out there for others to use then I would rather that the code remain in the public domain where improvem
482.
by motters 16y ago
It's equivalent to in the pre-internet era asking a job applicant to hand over all their private snail mail so that a prospective employer can read them and approve or disapprove of their private life and personal or political opinions.
483.
by motters 16y ago
This is the first time that I've heard about "Persona Management Software", and I think it raises some serious questions. Taken to its logical conclusion systems like this could be used to influence the outcomes of elections and other kind
484.
by motters 16y ago
From where I'm standing I don't see any evidence that a technology bubble is taking place (actually the reverse). Perhaps there will be a bubble emerging in the next few years, but that's always hard to forecast.
485.
by motters 16y ago
I doubt that there will be many, if any, implications. As a narrow AI system Watson is unlikely to have wider applicability or scalability. It's the classic dilemma of narrow AI. People asked similar questions after the famous Kasparov de
486.
by motters 16y ago
This is easy to answer: no. Watson doesn't represent a big advance, it's another narrow AI system, and this article is a good example of how the capabilities of such systems are always over-interpreted or misunderstood. The classic problem
487.
by motters 16y ago
This is amusing in the light of Microsoft's attempts in recent years to cosy up to open source and pretend that they're embracing it via Codeplex, Mono, MPL, etc. I think this shows what their true values are.
488.
Information and the Interactive Society(pespmc1.vub.ac.be)
1 points by motters 16y ago|0 comments
489.
Introduction to Cybernetics(pespmc1.vub.ac.be)
1 points by motters 16y ago|0 comments
490.
by motters 16y ago
It depends upon how the outsourcing is managed. By outsourcing you're adding extra complexity, unknowns and unmeasureables to the problem - increasing the variety in cybernetic terms. Unless you have a sufficiently good way of managing th
491.
LibreOffice at FOSDEM(youtube.com)
1 points by motters 16y ago|0 comments
492.
by motters 16y ago
But I don't want to live in another walled garden where I can be spied on or herded as a cash cow. What's needed are open protocols, like IRC or Wave.
493.
by motters 16y ago
I've had a web site since 1995 and a blog since 2005. I never really thought of it as marketing, but of course it is. Online presence has some importance in terms of finding out who your peer group are and acting as a starting point for d
494.
The INDECT debate(youtube.com)
1 points by motters 16y ago|0 comments
495.
by motters 16y ago
It sounds sufficiently vague that the company could claim that your extra-curricular IP belongs to them if they want to take it.
496.
by motters 16y ago
Yes. All of the technology hurdles had been overcome five years ago, and I've been ranting about the imminent arrival of practical consumer telerobots for quite some time. Today the technology is a no-brainer, as this video shows. There
497.
by motters 16y ago
If the floor is flat then yes, probably. The main advantage of the balancing mechanism is in moving over bumps. The Anybot is so expensive because it's a first generation kind of device manufactured in low volumes, and probably uses high
498.
by motters 16y ago
It's a good demonstration that the balancing complexity of the Anybot is really unnecessary in a domestic kind of situation with a flat floor. I expect telerobots to become quite commonplace, and as this video shows quite well building one
499.
Nokia's 15-year tango to avoid Microsoft(theregister.co.uk)
2 points by motters 16y ago|0 comments
500.
by motters 16y ago
I recently came up against this sort of nonsense in a job interview. I do a lot of technological stuff in my spare time, so as soon as they mentioned that I would have to agree to stop engaging in such extra-curricular activities I ended t
501.
by motters 16y ago
I have used versions of Photoshop in the distant past, but now use GIMP. As a general rule, if it doesn't run on Linux I'm not all that interested.
502.
by motters 16y ago
The difficult part is always what comes after a revolution. Having the military in charge isn't necessarily a good thing, and whether Egypt does get a democratic government will now depend upon how the military behaves.
503.
by motters 16y ago
This wouldn't work for me. I own a mobile phone, but I only use it for specific purposes and don't carry it around with me routinely. Mobile phones are not something that I care about to any significant extent.
504.
Twitter 'in early talks with potential buyers Facebook and Google'(guardian.co.uk)
5 points by motters 16y ago|1 comments
505.
by motters 16y ago
For large solar factories micrometeorites would become an issue.
506.
by motters 16y ago
See https://github.com/appleseedproj/appleseed/blob/master/_docu...
507.
Space Solar Power System(usef.or.jp)
31 points by motters 16y ago|11 comments
508.
by motters 16y ago
That's ok provided that you have a local library. In the UK at present there is a concerted campaign on behalf of the government and local councils to shut libraries down.
509.
by motters 16y ago
Firstly, I thought the official term for this was "crapware". Secondly, there is a technological solution to the crapware menace. It's called a Linux installation CD (or USB drive).
510.
by motters 16y ago
If you really want email privacy: Plug computer + web server + email server + https + a webmail gui Once set up costs close to $0/year. For anything which needs to be uber-private you can use pgp, as usual, with next to no chance of Google

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