troymc

83 ms·

871.
by troymc 14y ago
Kevin Kelly's book What Technology Wants defines technology very broadly, so that it includes just about anything invented by humans (i.e. not already in the cosmos prior to humans), including language and sewing machines. That makes a lo
872.
by troymc 15y ago
There's a lot of activity in this space, e.g. see http://www.mendeley.com/ and http://academia.edu/
873.
by troymc 15y ago
Mobile devices are the future, both in terms of total units in use, and total dollar spent on software. Therefore, the top paid games on the iTunes app store are a good indicator of where the true "future of gaming" lies.
874.
by troymc 15y ago
The top paid game apps in the iTunes app store right now are: Draw Something, Angry Birds Space, Clear Vision, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, TETRIS, Bejeweled, Skylanders Cloud Patrol, and Cut the Rope. None of those games would be improved by
875.
by troymc 15y ago
Some thoughts: - If you pay $50/year for Google Apps, you can use your own domain name, so you can change your mail server without changing your email address, and you also get access to customer service from Google. I have Google Apps and
876.
by troymc 15y ago
It's a two-part joke: 1) The video talks about forking code, pair-programming with spooning, and knifing (pull requests): fork, spoon, and knife. I just wondered if they have a chopsticks version, for people who prefer using chopsticks. 2)
877.
by troymc 15y ago
I wonder if they have a chopsticks version. Actually, never mind: that's pair piano-playing.
878.
by troymc 15y ago
I was thinking about a related issue yesterday: In 100 years, which free web services, where I can post content, will still be around, with high probability? Wikipedia is one, but most of my edits will probably be buried by then. My Wikim
879.
by troymc 15y ago
Maybe ICANN should allow multiple parties to manage the assignment of domains that aren't country-specific. For example, let Nominet UK, auDA, InteretNZ, and CIRA manage some .com domains. Why not? As far as I can tell, the current arrangem
880.
by troymc 15y ago
I'm with Tsiolkovsky: "A planet is the cradle of mind, but one cannot live in a cradle forever." usually cited as "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever."
881.
by troymc 15y ago
The Aldrin cycler requires fuel to keep it going around the sun (with periodic flybys of Earth and Mars). In principle, each Earth flyby is used to rotate the orbit so that it goes to Mars, but the problem with the Aldrin cycler is that the
882.
by troymc 15y ago
It's easy to guess why there has been a lot of skepticism towards this approach to doing the science, i.e. gathering data from a bunch of people in different situations doing different things... it's just so unlike the standard approach of
883.
by troymc 15y ago
There was still some demand for the printed books, and apparently it was enough to generate some profit. They really are beautiful-looking books. You couldn't decorate your study with Encarta. On a related note, according to Wikipedia (!):
884.
by troymc 15y ago
It's already being done. I stumble across books like that in Amazon from time to time. The reviews usually give it away.
885.
by troymc 15y ago
Oh dear, how embarrassing. I really should have done more research on pink ponies before making a comment. Lesson learned!
886.
by troymc 15y ago
I know a couple who uses Groupon in this way. They get to try a new restaurant or experience, and they feel like they got a deal too!
887.
by troymc 15y ago
That pink pony has a striking similarity to another: http://www.djangopony.com/
888.
by troymc 15y ago
This brings many of Google's stores under one brand, but the Chrome Web Store remains separate. (It has web apps, extensions, themes, etc.)
889.
by troymc 15y ago
Lockheed's Skunk Works comes to mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_Works Google has its so-called X Lab: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_X_Lab Xerox PARC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_PARC If you want to read a great
890.
by troymc 15y ago
or recall all CPUs and replace them with new repaired ones. That's what they do in Wonderland. :D On a more serious note, I wonder what auto manufacturers do. (There are many CPUs in modern automobiles, and auto manufacturers are often comp
891.
by troymc 15y ago
Indeed, this was the promise of C, and it was largely realized: there are C compilers for almost every platform. (You can even use Emscripten to "compile" C to JavaScript, but don't expect miracles.)
892.
by troymc 15y ago
Wow, there are two cables running from northern Norway to Longyearbyen, on the island of Svalbard! According to Wikipedia, "Longyearbyen has approximately 2,060 inhabitants (at the end of 2007..." The total population of Svalbard is not muc
893.
by troymc 15y ago
It's not exactly what you outline, but The Geek Atlas by John Graham-Cumming lists many places that would fit the description "hacker tourism." It's a travel guide... but it's published by O'Reilly! http://shop.oreilly.com/product/97805965
894.
by troymc 15y ago
I looked up 'punk' as a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary, and found that there several ways that it has been used as a verb over time. The definition that most closely matches the usage here is, "Chiefly in African-American use: to hum
895.
by troymc 15y ago
In a recent talk, Bret Victor gave a demo of an animation program where you could just click on an object (a leaf in his demo) and drag it around, and the software would record the object's position as a function of time. (His demo actually
896.
by troymc 15y ago
If the lion just waits, I bet the tamer will die of dehydration first.
897.
by troymc 15y ago
Having the two categories SQL and NoSQL is a bit like having the two categories "books" and "non-books." The latter category includes giraffes, planets, feelings, and windmills. Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but NoSQL databases still make
898.
by troymc 15y ago
Using this tool, a student would get a visceral sense for what the stack and heap are, from experience (even if nobody had mentioned those words before). e.g. "Pointers point at stuff on the heap." Teachers and students have been drawing pi
899.
by troymc 15y ago
Yeah, the idea of "seeing" things normally invisible reminded me of Geordi La Forge's visor in Star Trek TNG.
900.
by troymc 15y ago
Did you try turning your car off and then back on again?

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