Recent Comments:
Hyundai Automotive Group scandal heightens {Autoblog}
Apr 16th 2006 10:42PM To #6
I'm sorry, but what world have you been living on for the last decade? To say Hyundai is in a downfall is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, have you even seen any of the models they've been making? Downfall was during the Excel crisis in the late eighties, it has been an uptrend since. The fact the issue has been caught is proof enough for me of progress.
Unfortunately, from a consumer standpoint GM can't turn out a product that matches the reliability and interior fit and finish of the new Sonata and Azera; that is purely pathetic in my mind. Every American car I've owned have had these small but niggling noises, switchgear problems, and they seem to remain in the same amount despite new model development. They need attention, I think work ethic and expectation for benefits are problems with unions here; you won't find that much of an issue in other countries.
I also don't understand your comment about managers being treated like dirt by citizens; this is not consistent with the country's improving work ethic. Take a look at Samsung and LG for an example of large reforms in corporate systems.
Saying GM needs a failure to take scrutiny away from them is only fooling ourselves; the company has crawled like a turtle and repeatedly fumbles at fixing their issues even with all this attention. Such incompetence and lack of compromise from the unions is embarrasing for American industry; if imminent death and public outcry is not enough, then what is?
Bill Gates runs like a girl {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Jan 24th 2006 11:57PM I am appalled that anyone is linking to something from G4, that Steve impersonation was simply trash; not only was the accent wrong (there should be none) but it was an amateurish performance, nothing like the still not so astounding SNL impersonation. I'd rather watch Bill Gates do that run from elsewhere or not at all.
Another brilliant TV ad from Honda U.K. {Autoblog}
Jan 23rd 2006 2:08PM The UK Civic is loads better than the American model, I mean the new Civic is ugly period. But I think the US civic is still a lot uglier with its bubbly headlights and abruptly notched rear. The interior is also a lot more refined, suspension is tighter, engine choices offer much more efficient diesels. It has got the torque, highway efficiency, and handling that a Prius can't match at all.
Don't ever believe that hybrid is more efficient than a diesel, I regularly go from PA to SC on one tank driving at 70 mph on I-95 in a 2003 VW Jetta, that's 600 miles with a 2 gallon margin.
Hack your 4GB iPod nano to 8GB? {Engadget}
Jan 13th 2006 1:06AM To number 27:
Figure out your basic binary concepts before you attack.
#23 Used GB not Gb, that's GigaBytes, and he never went to bits, he was only dealing with the differences between the decimal and binary definitions of a GigaByte, so the conflict has absolutely nothing to do with 1 byte = 8 bits.
40GB = 40 x 10^9 bytes = 40000000000 bytes = 320000000000 bits
40GB = 40 x 2^30 bytes = 42949672960 bytes = 343597383680 bits
Why is the latter the way programs see it?
First, you need to realize that a byte is not a quantity at all, it is a distinct combination of 8 numbers. Now you can have a quantity of bytes (i.e. 4 bytes) but these are not sequential digits; 4 bytes means 4 DIFFERENT bytes.
In one particular byte, there are 8 binary digits as you see below:
0000 0000, this offers 256 distinctly different bytes.
At this point, a bit is totally irrelevant since a byte is always made of 8 bits, that never changes and a bit in itself is meaningless datawise.
The nearest approximation to 1000 possible distinct types of bytes in powers of two (since binary is a base-2 counting system, meaning it increments in 10's every 2 digits) is 1024 (or 2^10). Sure, we could have wanted it 1000, but bytes are dealt with by programs that count in base-2, and to them:
1000 = 11 1110 1000. Surely not a squarish number to us.
1000 may be easy for us to compute, but since none of us will ever look at the binary, why not leave it a squarish binary number to make it more orderly?
Thus, it happens that 1024 = 100 0000 0000 = 2^10, called 1 KB.
Hence we need to square the amount of distinct bytes to get to 1 MB, or
2^20 and again to get 1 GB, or 2^30 distinct bytes.
