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Comment: Re:Win 8 a contributing factor, not the main culpr (Score 3, Informative) 564

by thoper (#43437921) Attached to: Why PC Sales Are Declining

we couldn't find any laptop vendor supplying 3rd generation i7 powered laptop that runs Windows 7

i'm not sure if i missundestood you, english is not my primary language, but srsly?!?!


took me 60 seconds, first stop.

Comment: a suggestion i didn't see. (Score 1) 687

by thoper (#43233457) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Is a Reasonable Way To Deter Piracy?

Many suggested an easy way to pay, so put in the apple store and play store an 5$ app that gives the registration number based in the identity of the buyer.

This has several advantages, easy to pay, ubiquitous, trusty, and if the buyer loses the key, he can always re-download the app you already purchased.

Host yourself the app and dont ask for any info for the download,

Comment: Re:This is blindingly obvious (Score 1) 183

by thoper (#43001761) Attached to: Lessons From the Papal Conclave About Election Security
At one time, I too thought of a similar system, but the "One big problem" is precisely the verifiability of your vote. E.g. Imagine your employer demanding you vote for a certain candidate, he can now verify that you indeed voted for that candidate, or someone buying votes can confirm that the vote was indeed for the proper candidate. Or a political party/church doing the same. It's a bad system

Comment: not new (Score 5, Interesting) 71

by thoper (#42615169) Attached to: Intel Demos Optical Data Transfer For Servers

relevant wikipedia:

A claimed advantage of optics is that it can reduce power consumption, but an optical communication system will typically use more power over short distances than an electronic one. This is because the shot noise of an optical communication channel is greater than the thermal noise of an electrical channel which, from information theory, means that more signal power is required to achieve the same data capacity. However, over longer distances and at greater data rates, the loss in electrical lines is sufficiently large that optical communications will comparatively use a lower amount of power. As communication data rates rise, this distance becomes longer and so the prospect of using optics in computing systems becomes more practical.

and a more interesting article from 2010.

Today computer components are connected to each other using copper cables or traces on circuit boards. Due to the signal degradation that comes with using metals such as copper to transmit data, these cables have a limited maximum length. This limits the design of computers, forcing processors, memory and other components to be placed just inches from each other. Today's research achievement is another step toward replacing these connections with extremely thin and light optical fibers that can transfer much more data over far longer distances, radically changing the way computers of the future are designed and altering the way the datacenter of tomorrow is architected.

Comment: Re:America leader on clean energy, not Europe (Score 1) 341

by thoper (#42075013) Attached to: The World Falls Back In Love With Coal
Well, to be fair, after a short google expedition, America does seems to be an accepted name for the United States of America, but it is so ONLY in the United States of America. remember, in the Americas there are about 911 Million persons, including the 315(35%) Million currently in the USA

+ - Ask Slashdot: What book(s) you read that has significant impact on your life? 5

Submitted by gspec
gspec writes "A little background about me: 36-yr old computer engineer working in the Bay Area. While I bring in about 100k annually after tax (actually, in the Bay Area this is not as much as it sounds), I consider my self as an underachiever and my career is stagnant (I have only been promoted 4 times in 12-yr career). I have led a couple projects, but I am not in any leadership/management position.
I realize I need to do something to enhance my career, and unfortunately at this point going back to school is not an option. I believe I need to read more quality books.
My question: Which books, any type/genre, that you have read and has significant impact on your life? Thank you all."
