That's it, the real world is over. Everyone go home now.
If The Matrix really existed, it would probably have to be a quantum simulator. The fictional computer in that story can create virtual worlds indistinguishable from the real one and project them into people’s minds. But the real world includes quantum phenomena, something ordinary computers can’t fully simulate.
Now physicists have created a rudimentary prototype of a machine that simulates quantum phenomena using quantum physics, rather than using data kept in a classical computer. While the new device can't make people fly like the Matrix does, it demonstrates a technique that could enable physicists to create, in the virtual world, materials that don't yet exist in nature and perhaps figure out how to build, in the real world, superconductors that work at room temperature, for example.
The name of the supercomputer is literal: Each of its microchips has been programmed to act just like a real neuron in a real brain. The behavior of the computer replicates, with shocking precision, the cellular events unfolding inside a mind. "This is the first model of the brain that has been built from the bottom-up," says Henry Markram, a neuroscientist at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the director of the Blue Brain project. "There are lots of models out there, but this is the only one that is totally biologically accurate. We began with the most basic facts about the brain and just worked from there."
Gen. Cartwright says it looks like the military's stated goal, of busting up the satellite's tank full of toxic hydrazine, was reached. "We've got a fireball. Given that there's no fuel, that would indicate that there's a hydrazine fire. We have a vapor cloud that formed. That again would be likely to be the hydrazine. We also have some spectral analysis from airborne platforms that indicate the presence of hydrazine after the intercept." But the military won't know for sure, for another 24-48 hours...
3. Before blogs... there were 'zines. If you wanted to delve in the world of personal publishing in the early 90's, it was pretty spendy. Desktop publishing with Adobe Pagemaker required investing big bucks into a high-end Mac and a state-of-the-art laser printer. Most young people stuck to cutting and pasting scraps onto blank paper and then xeroxing the final product.
5. Before blogrolls and comments... there were web rings and guest books. Sites on similar subjects used link out to each other in a promotional circle jerk called a "web ring." Guestbooks used to be the hot way to leave comments, until bots were developed to harvest the e-mail addresses for the the worst kinds of spam imaginable.
11. Before Craigslist... there was the men's room wall. Local newspapers would only publish "vanilla" dating ads. So, how did geeks and other shy people manage to hook up? The restroom wall, of course! Gay guys would post phone numbers and set meeting times for man-to-man encounters. Straight dudes would post the numbers of their ex's and innocent girls they wanted to harass.
Toshiba put HD-DVD out of its misery today. Reuters confirmed this afternoon that it will cease manufacturing HD-DVD equipment, following earlier reports from Japan's NHK public broadcasting network.
This leaves Blu-Ray as the presumptive victor in the irrelevant optical disk format war. It now must face up to the real competition: the continuing success of DVD and the growing popularity of downloads, both on the internet and on-demand cable TV.
Wanna know what sucks the most? HD DVD has the potential to be a better format than Blu-Ray. The format wasn't completed unlike Blu-Ray which was at its peak. HD-DVD movies already came with more features, and the possibility was there for larger capacity after it was finalized. But in todays world money speaks louder than consumers who didn't even know those facts..
iPhone: Yay I was the coolest thing ever in 2007 nuvifone: Guess what I can do? iPhone: I have visual voicemail. What cool useless features do you have? nuvifone: 3.5G GSM HSDPA, Google local search, Garmin online services to look up traffic, weather, fuel prices, hotel discounts, etc. GPS navigation on the road or in pedestrian mode. IM, text, email, internet and I'm a phone too. iPhone: ...Fuck Garmin: nuvifone
Divx players could play DVDs, but they could also play Divx discs, which were promoted as a something between a rental and a true purchase. The discs themselves were cheap, and allowed for the viewing of the film in a 48 hour period once you started it. You could then unlock the disc permanently for an additional "purchase" fee that took into account what you had already paid. The strangest part about it was probably the modem - yes, a modem - that it used to manage its DRM. I don't think we were using the term DRM in 1998, but that's how we would have described it. Divx was at the center of the first real flamewar I had seen online, citing things privacy concerns and the limitations it placed on the consumption of media. I'm not sure it was ever going to work. The idea that you could never really own these discs was a strong point of contention, but even with a DVD (called "Open DVD" by advocates at the time) your ownership isn't exactly absolute.
It may be that some people are really excited by devices like the Apple TV, certainly the device has seen improvements, but whenever Steve Jobs starts talking about this thing I go instantly into a coma. The duration of this coma is exactly the length of time that he discusses it, and once he moves on to something that is useful or important I am rejuvenated. It is funny, or perhaps sad, but the almost universally reviled Divx format was actually more lenient than today's digital downloads. The partial, limited-use, occluded ownership of the iTunes model is now so engrained that these rentals can be worse than bad, and no one remembers.
There is something about watching Tears Of The Sun in high def on my dads new Blu-Ray player and 40" Sony Bravia 1080i LCD after a few Shiner Bocks and sashimi that makes my life rule. After watching something in HD, real life seems so... standard def, it hurts my eyes. It's only a matter of time before we start wearing glasses that upscale the real world to something past 1080.
By the way, the movie isn't that great. It's your a-typical hero shooting from the hip hollywood infused crap. But man in 1080i is that crap presented on a beautiful plate. Watch the Thin Red Line if you want a good war movie.
"This is an amazing opportunity" It's a fucking $4.5k Laptop you douche nothing more.
Just listen to this guy speak. He is not only the biggest tool I've ever seen or heard but he sounds like he is sooo into Warcraft yet has no idea who the character on the poster is. Note the quick jab at an "unnamed" computer company who puts "way too much money in packaging a product", yet he spends a good 2+ mins describing the attractive and intriguing packaging.
And on a side note, I'm not liking how it bunches lines text together when I post a video and place "< center >" tags around it.
I've never been a fan of girls in bikinis on the hoods of tricked out civics, or on the back of choppers. But I can look at pictures of hot women with some kind of gadget or piece of technology all day. Throw in some sex and you've got my attention for sure. Check out Gizmodo for a few more, the above one is the best though.
Maybe ill have to post some Macenstein "Mac Girl of the Month" pictures...
That's it, the real world is over. Everyone go home now.
