Top 10 mistakes of Bill Gates

Bill Gates is considered as a great man. Many people look up to him. And a lot of people are inspired by his life. But then again like any other human being he also has his own mistakes. Here are the top 10 mistakes of Bill Gates.

1. The man created a software monopoly and in return he got so many lawsuits for it.Bill Gates is still fighting with lawsuits.The source on Wikipedia clearly stated that

2. United States v. Microsoft was a set of consolidated civil actions filed against Microsoft Corporation on May 18, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and 20 U.S. states. Joel I. Klein was the lead prosecutor.The trial started on May 18, 1998 with the U.S. Justice Department and the Attorneys General of twenty U.S. states suing Microsoft for illegally thwarting competition in order to protect and extend its software monopoly.

3. Bill Gates did not consider opensource. His business strategies alwayscounter opensource principles and paradigm.You may be interested in his open-source debate In a Fortune magazine he clearly says that
   

   It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not.
4. The Windows OS made Mr. Gates the richest man in the world. But its latest iteration is bombarded with lots of negative criticisms.
5. He allowed Windows Mobile to happen. Did he run out of innovative ideas so he settled for a miniature Windows OS for mobile phone. He could have put up a team to design the OS from ground up.
6. He let DOS die. It was a promising OS and a very stable one.
7. Bill Gates did not think of cloud computing probably because of his proprietary Windows OS. But this is definitely one of his biggest mistakes.
8. He allowed Windows Millennium edition to be released. The OS was definitely a reflection of the lack of talents from Microsoft. It failed the expectation of the people. It was premature.
9. He ignored search. Look what happened to Google now. Bill Gates already made some moves about search in the end of the 90s and it was definitely a mistake to trash it.Scobleizer once revealed in his post that
   Look at my last post. Now read this one over on Live Side. It’s a short report that Microsoft executives are bragging to MVPs that “we’re in it to win.”

   I don’t think Microsoft is. The words are empty. Microsoft’s Internet execution sucks (on whole). Its search sucks. Its advertising sucks (look at that last post again). If that’s “in it to win” then I don’t get it. I saw a bunch of posts similar to the one on LiveSide coming out of the MVP Summit. I didn’t post any of them to my link blog for a reason: All were air, no real demonstrations of how Microsoft is going to lead.

10. The Microsoft Zune is a mistake. A lot of money poured into its development but yet it did not yield enough profit.John Biggs from Crunchgear had a poetic post on “Who killed Microsoft?”.Some of the extract are as follows:
    

    Who killed Microsoft? Why did all those jobs get lost?

    “Not I,” said the Zune fanboy, “I got Zune, I’m no iToy Sure it didn’t do too much and too bad my girlfriend bought a Touch now we’re iTunes all the way what else do I have to say?”

11. The Xbox on the other hand is too pricey for a gaming console and because of this; people go for other brands- the cheaper ones.This is only reason why Xbox price set to drop in war with  Sony’s PS3 and Nintendo’s top-selling Wii. Those are the top 10 mistakes of Bill Gates. These might be some of the negative side of the guy but these will never take away his greatness.

Top 10 Tallest Buildings in the World

The world is a beautiful place in more ways than one.With the number of people living on earth growing exponential, there’s no room for cities to expand on the ground, especially in the big overcrowded areas, and that’s why architects are planning many ways of expanding through the air. 

No, we’re not talking about flying cities, just about skyscrapers which are architectural and engineering marvels that rise hundreds of meters into the air, overlooking all others.

Here is a list of the Top 10 Tallest Buildings of the modern world.

10. Jin Mao Tower, China

The landmark supertall skyscarper is situated in Pudong, Shanghai, China. The tower features offices, restaurants and observation decks. At the time of completion it was 5th tallest building in the world by roof and 7 th tallest by pinnacle  height. Jin Mao Tower is a part of Pudong skyline and is right next to Shanghai World Financial Center.

• Height: 421 meters or 1,380 ft
• Roof height: 370.0 meters or 1,214 ft
• Floors: 88
• Floor area: 278,707 m sq
• Completion: 1998
• Designed by: Skdimore, Owings and Merrill.
• 
  

9. Trump International Tower & Hotel, United States

Trump International Hotel and Tower also known as Trump Tower Chicago and simply Trump Tower is named after its owner Donald Trump who is a real estate developer. It is situated in downtown Chicago Illinois. This condo-hotel sits adjacent to Chicago river and has a four or five star rated restaurant &  it includes,from the ground up, retail space ,spa, a parking garage, a hotel, and condominiums and is currently the tenth tallest building in the world.

• Height: 423 meters or 1,388 ft
• Roof Height: 356 meters or 1170 ft high
• Floors: 96
• Completion: 2009
• Estimated cost: USD $ 847 million
• Floor area: 2,600,000 sq ft
• Designed by: Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Bovis Lend Lease
• 
  

8.Guangzhou International Finance Center, China

The building is situated in Zhujiang Avenue West in Tianhe District at Guangzhou, China. The construction started in 2005 and is expected to finish this year (2010). First 66 floors will be used for office purposes, floor 67 and 68 will be used for mechanical equipment whereas 69 to 99 will be used as hotel. 99th and 100th floor is observation deck and the lobby of hotel is at 70th floor.

• Height: 440.2 meters tall or 1,444 ft
• Roof height: 432 meter or 1417 ft
• Floors: 103
• Completion: Will be completed in 2010
• Floor area: 285,000 m sq (3,068,000 sq ft)
• Designed by: Wilkinson Eyre
• Topped-out: 2008

7. Willis Tower, United States

The building is situated in Chicago, Illinois. At its time of construction it was the tallest building in the world (in 1974) surpassing World Trade Center in New York. Former name of the building was Sears Towers which in 2009 was changed to Willis Tower. This building is currently the tallest building in America and 5th tallest free standing structure in the world.

In 2006 seven men were arrested by the FBI. Their plan was to destroy this building. They were sentenced to 13 1/2 years in prison.

• Height: 527 meters or 1,30 ft
• Roof height: 442 meters or 1,451 ft
• Floors: 108
• Elevators: 104 elevators with 16 double decker elevators
• Floor area: 4.56 million sq ft
• Completion: 1974
• Designed: Bruce Graham

6. Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, China

The building is situated in Nanjing,China. The building has offices in the lower floor and restaurant and observationdecks near the top. The observation deck is on the 72th floor of the tower. This building is second tallest building in china and was 5th tallest in the world at the time of completion.

• Height: 450 meters or 1,480
• Roof height: 339 meters or 1,112 ft
• Floors: 89
• completion: 2010
• Designed by: Adrian Smith and Marshall Strabala
• 
  

5. Petronas Towers, Malaysia

Patronas Towers are located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Building is also known as Twin Towers and are the tallest twin towers in the world. Patronas Towers were also the tallest towers from 1998 to 2004. The towers also feature a double story bridge which the highest 2 story bridge in the world. It is not attached to the mainframe but instead is slide in and out in order to protect it from being destroy in high winds.

• Height: 451 meters or 1,482 ft
• Roof height: 375 meters or 1230 ft
• Floors: 88
• Completion: 1998
• Elevators: 78
• Estimated cost: USD $ 1.6 billion
• Designed by: Cesar Pelli
• 
  

4.International Commerce Center, Hong Kong

The building is located in West Kowloon, Hong Kong. The formal development name of the building is Union Square Phase 7 as it is a part of Union Square project on top of Kowloon station. After completion it is the tallest building in Hong Kong and building with 3rd tallest roof. It also features a restaurant Ritz-Carlton which happens to be the highest restaurant in the world and it occupies the top 15 floors of the building.

• Height: 484 meters or 1587 ft
• Floors: 118
• Completion: 2010
• Elevators: 30 elevators 14 shuttle lifts and 2 VIP lifts
• Designed by: Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd, Belt Collins & Associates, Kohn Pedersrn Fox Associates

3. Shanghai World Financial Center, China

It is located in Pudon  Shanghai,China. The building features hotels, offices, conference roomsand observation decks. The hotel Park Hyatt Shanghai was the highest hotel at the time of completion and contains 178 room and is on the 93rd floor. It was surpassed by Ritz-Carlton. At the time of completion it was second tallest building on the world with the highest occupied floor and tallest roof in the world. Its observation deck is 474 meters high which is the highest observation deck in the world.

• Height: 494.4 m (1,622.0 ft)
• Roof height: 487 m (1,599 ft)
• Floors: 101
• Completion: 2008
• Elevators: 91
• Floor area: 381,600 m sq (4,107,500 sq ft)
• Estimated cost: USD $ 1.2 billion
• Designed by: Kohn Pedersrn Fox Associsutes
• 
  

2. Taipei 101, Taiwan

The building marks the identity of  Taiwan. It is located in Xinji District,taipei,Taiwan. Due to the remarkable engineering it was ranked as Seven New Wonders of the World (by Newsweek magazine 2006) and seven Wonders of Engineering (by Discovery Channel). The design of the building reflects the evolution of technology and local culture and traditions. Its was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010. It also received Emprois Skyscraper Award. It is also design to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. It is a mixed used tower offering offices, fitness centers,  restaurants.

• Height: 509.2 m (1,670.6 ft)
• Roof height: 449.2 m (1,473.8 ft)
• Floors: 101
• Completion: 2004
• Elevators: 61
• Floor area: 412,500 m sq (4,440,100 sq ft)
• Estimated cost: USD  $ 1.8 billion
• Designed by: C.Y. Lee & partners
• 
  

1.Burj Khalifa, UAE

The tallest man made structure sit in the heart of UAE, Dubai. Its former name was Burj Dubai but was changed when the president of Abu Dhabi (Khalifa Bin Zayed) loaned Dubai $ 10 billion since Dubai has been drastically effected by the recession. The name was changed in his honor. Getting and office would set you back a staggering $ 43000 per sq m.

• Height: 828 m (2,717 ft)
• Floors: 160
• Completion: 2010
• Floor area: 464,511 m sq
• Estimated cost: USD $ 1.5 billion
• Designed by: Adrian Smith

Special Mention

This building is a little out of the time range, as it is scheduled to be completed way after 2010, but it worths being mentioned, being by far the tallest structure, with an estimated height of 1001 m(3,284 ft).

Burj Mubarak al-Kabir, part of the Madinat al Hareer (City of Silk), massive complex that is going to be built in Kuwait over the next 25 years, containing the tower, a new airport, a natural reservation and many business and entertainment centers.

A graphic sketch of the final project is shown in this picture, and I can’t wait to see what are the enginners going to achieve in their tasks of building a tower higher than 1 km.

Human and Robots: Visions of the Future

The future is not written yet and who knows whether robots are dangerous or not. What is for sure is that humans, being the curious beings, will develop new advanced generations of robots.

It happens so that people and robots go together in this life side by side, in some spheres of life they are even interchangeable and who knows into what this opposition “Human and Robots” will translate. Robots and humans that live and prosper together…Or robots will realize they don’t need that much…

For now it is up to out fantasy to express what we think will happen in human-robot relations in the future. This is a collection of 3d computer generated images of various creative 3d artists that shows their vision. 

The level of detail of these computer graphics shows that our technology will lead us to the point where these fantastic photographs will be the reality.

PERSONAL ROBOT 04, AUTHOR: FRANZ STEINER (SOFTWARE: 3DS MAX)

Who will win in this game of chess? When there is the opposition of the mechanical creature and the human intellect it is not easy to predict the outcome of the game. You can make books, but you will never be sure about the results, they are unpredictable.

PERSONAL ROBOT 08, AUTHOR: FRANZ STEINER (SOFTWARE: 3DS MAX)

In the process of the humming work robots can be of a great use for people. With them less time would be spend for the most complicated tasks and the crunch times would take place not so often. The only question that is left – to find such a robot.

PERSONAL ROBOT 02, AUTHOR: FRANZ STEINER

I’m not sure that it is more pleasant to work in the company of robots, but it definitely has certain advantages. One of the main is the high efficiency of the process of work, furthermore not a lot of time is spent for the idle talks, spreading silly rumors and gossiping.

PERSONAL ROBOT 06, AUTHOR: FRANZ STEINER (SOFTWARE: 3DS MAX)

This robot looks like a housekeeper who takes care of everything around. In its duties are household activities and it copes with all the everyday duties without any difficulties in a short time and without procrastinations.

MECHA, AUTHOR: TINYPANTS

This robot looks like the one that was made either in correspondence to the model of a human being or using the human’s corpus as the basis. A little bit creepy and at the same time intriguing. Anyway, the excellent model and the great work!

I’M ROBOT,  AUTHOR: WIDYANTARA

Some time ago, when I was a human being I was dreaming about the perennial youth, the thoughts that were so peculiar for every woman. My dreams turned into life immediately after my death and I have obtained the desired eternity: now I’m a robot.

PERSONAL ROBOT 07, AUTHOR: FRANZ STEINER (SOFTWARE: 3DS MAX)

When you touch gently the lips of your beloved your heart begins to beat speedily, the mind is hazed with pleasant feelings and you fly away. These minutes can fly not so that you’d notice, but they are so sweet and inimitable.

PERSONAL ROBOT 05, AUTHOR: FRANZ STEINER (SOFTWARE: 3DS MAX)

Love is a curious thing, one never knows when it happens so that you will be overtaken with this feeling and who will be the matter of your sleepless nights. It can be a bonny girl from the next door, a handsome boy from the night-club or even a caber creature.

New Pressure-Sensitive Electronic Skin Gives Robots the Sense of Touch

Robotics has made tremendous strides in replicating the senses of sight and sound, but smell and taste are still lagging behind, and touch was thought to be ‘The Impossible’…until new pressure-sensitive electronic skin came along.

The electronic skin is made out of germanium and silicon wrapped around a sticky polyimide film. The prototype measures about 7.6 square inches and can detect different pressures between 0 and 15 kilopascals, which is the range of pressures one might encounter while typing on a keyboard or holding a small object. The skin does this thanks to its rubber skin, which changes its thickness in response to changes in pressure, which is then measured and controlled by built-in capacitors.

Design team member Ali Javey explains why a robot with a well-developed sense of touch is so crucial to expanding robots’ usefulness:

“Humans generally know how to hold a fragile egg without breaking it. If we ever wanted a robot that could unload the dishes, for instance, we’d want to make sure it doesn’t break the wine glasses in the process. But we’d also want the robot to grip the stock pot without dropping it.”

And the same logic is true outside of the household, of course, but it’s worth remembering how many simple activities human take for granted would defeat current robots. Even something as basic as getting dressed or reading a newspaper requires a fairly intuitive sense of touch and pressure, and this new skin puts those abilities within robots’ grasp.

This is definitely a breakthrough, but sensing a range of pressure is hardly a good substitute for the extremely sophisticated sensors we have built into our skin. We don’t just sense pressure, but other linked sensations like heat, pain, and others. Of course, once we perfect one type of artificial sensor, we could make pretty much any other type of sensor we want, giving robots the ability to detect anything from radioactivity to biological agents purely by touch. That would greatly increase the usefulness of robotic probes in areas humans can’t venture.

Even better, this artificial skin could one day help restore sensation to humans that have lost feeling in parts of their body, although research leader Zhenan Bao says that’s still a ways off:

“Connecting the artificial skin with the human nerve system will be a very challenging task. Ultimately, in the very distant future, we would like to make a skin which performs really like human skin and to be able to connect it to nerve cells on the arm and thus restore sensation. Initially, the prototype that we envision would be more like a handheld device, or maybe a device that connects to other parts of the body that have skin sensation. The device would generate a pulse that would stimulate other parts of the skin, giving the kind of signal ‘my (artificial) hand is touching something’, for instance.”

Via io9