PageRank is fascinating, since it is so easy to explain.
Yet, this is not even half the work. It like a third of the way.
Before you could have invented PageRank, you must think in graphs. That is possible in 1996, but not as widespread as today.
After you invented PageRank, you still need to deploy it. Again, possible but challenging as well. Is Python performant enough in 96? Can you afford more than 4MB RAM?
At least Lego will not sue you for using their bricks to build a server rack in 1996.
> you must think in graphs. That is possible in 1996, but not as widespread as today.
Could you elaborate? I'm a very graph-oriented thinker, and I was never aware this was some kind of declining skill (For context I was not alive in '96).
I think you're misreading it (I did the first time as well). GP is saying "graph thinking" was not as common in 1996 as it is today, so is saying the opposite of it being a declining skill.
> Before you could have invented PageRank, you must think in graphs.
For anyone puzzling over what is the graph-based perspective, there's actually a very elegant and simple mathematical way to derive page rank.
Define the directed graph of web links / citations through its adjacency matrix: web pages as nodes and links as directed edges. Represent a web surfer as a random walker on this graph, and run forth (simulate) the probability distribution of where they might end up.
If you've studied linear algebra you would see an immediate analogy between the PageRank algorithm how the power method is used to find the dominant eigenvector (of the transition matrix, which is a normalized version of the adjacency matrix).
This process is basically equivalent to implementing the diffusion process generated by the discrete graph laplacian. And simulating the random walk to find the long term stationary probability dstribution over nodes is akin to finding the zero eigenvector of this graph laplacian -- because it must generate "zero change" on the fixed point state.
> Since John Hammond "spared no expense", it is fair to say he picked 1GiB version at $3,598 a piece. That would give them 7 GiB of storage for a 2026 equivalent of $33,223.70. In 2026, 7 GiB of HDD would cost $0.49.
Did anyone ever try to estimate storage inflation across time? 7GiB could be one or two pc games in 2026, in 1992 one games likely was 1.4MB.
Depending on tha game you could easily hit 70 gigs on a game today, some over 100. Usually high graphic AAA games. Less HD texture games can still be quite small though.
7GB could very well be less than a game today. I've got only one commercial game on my Mac, MTW2 at 14GiB, and it's on the older side. But AssaultCube is 80MiB :)
> And yes, USB as main connection standard was driven by Apple. But USB as main charging standard was set by the EU.
Hard disagree. Yes, they were quick to say that if you want to connect a device to their computers, you'd better be prepared for it to be USB. But their computer market share simply wasn't there to drive anything. More of a "lead by example" deal.
With phones OTOH, they COULD have driven it, but in the end they had to be whipped by Brussels to adopt standard USB(c).
The difference between today and 30 years ago is that if you are an individual developer, you are at the complete mercy of a single company (Valve), who can force you to do essentially anything they want for the privilege of publishing on their platform, with no meaningful alternative, and zero recourse if they say “no”.
Even if Valve holds a significant market share of the PC Gaming market, this is a harsh conclusion. There are other significantly more expensive and restrictive options, such as the Windows Store for Windows, or the Play Store for Android, or the App Store for iOS and MacOS.
PC has much free-er and more accessible options for indie developers, like itch.io. It's probably the least monopolistic gaming market out there.
The struggle of course is advertising and reach, not sure who the gate keepers for that were with TTD, maybe magazines?
Steam (which I'm guessing you're talking about) is nowhere close of being a monopoly. There are loads of alternatives out there, in wide use by people already. World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Minecraft, Roblox and more are all examples of big time successful games that never been available on Steam.
I would even go further, and say that this logic applies not just for massive games from massive publishers, but platforms like GoG works well as an alternative for indies.
Plus, consider the software distribution situation in the pre-Internet world. There was getting someone to arrange for very-limited-time distribution in physical stores (and paying out the ass for the privilege), or paying to advertise your mail-order distribution, or encouraging BBS operators to distribute your shareware that includes a "Mail $AMOUNT to this address and we'll mail you a full copy." message inside.
Of those options, the BBS one is probably the lowest cost, but -"shockingly"- that option is still available today... and is probably way easier for people to find your software than it was back in the day.
There are astroturfers out there who pretend that Steam is The Worst Thing Ever, but they distribute your game, dev-selected old (and pre-release) versions of your game, promotional materials for your game, and host forums and a news feed... forever. Valve also pretty clearly chooses to distribute games that are in the intersection of what's legal to distribute in the US and what the busybodies at MasterCard and Visa permit them to distribute.
If we lived in a just world, because of MasterCard's and Visa's enormous size, they'd be declared as something like "payment processors of last resort" and required to process transactions for anything that's legal to sell in the US, and subject to enormous fines if they so much as suggest to any merchant that MC/Visa will stop processing that merchant's payments for any reason other than a clear and obvious history of fraud.
Steam has a 75% share of the PC gaming market. The mere existence of alternatives doesn't negate a monopoly. Whether it's a monopoly or not depends on whether Valve uses its market power in a pathological way.
Both Itch.io and GOG are alternative platforms, as is just doing your own thing
Many games I own started their life distributed exclusively through a platform other than steam.
Arguably, you don't even want to approach steam distribution until you've already collected your hype. Steam no longer can surface gems, because it's just far too flooded, so you should seek alternative channels in general.
> Steam no longer can surface gems, because it's just far too flooded...
This hasn't been my experience. I've found that running the "Discovery Queue" a few times once or twice a week brings up an interesting game or two every month. It also brings up a bunch of stuff I'm not interested in, but that's the nature of game development... what you make isn't going to be particularly interesting to most folks.
There's also the "Show me a random game" link, which is fun to hit and see what crap it presents you. [0]
It's 100% possible to publish a game outside of Steam. There used to be a publicity advantage to being on Steam but is that still there now that Steam is 99% slop?
There are successful indie games that only entered Steam late in their lives.
First, usage: Using R for our undergrads in time of LLMs is brilliant. ChatGPT slops out working code for their needs. Not pretty but works better that in 2022.
Second, development: Mastering R is hard, because its kalkül. Tidyverse mediates some of it, but still. This is the perfect breeding ground for slopification. Lets see.
Third, errata: I would love to know the percentage of science built on R to this day. I mean insights and analysis supported by it and it vast packages. What if somewhere, deep down in the stack there is an ancient bug that dented all of this? I think AI might help us here, or review slop will negate this?
>What if somewhere, deep down in the stack there is an ancient bug that dented all of this?
Science is built on libraries with experience, that have been validated extensively against reality. Code often written by people who have retired and died because that exact same code has been validated and pinned to reality for decades. It is of course possible that a load bearing bug survives for a long time conspiring with an incorrect model of reality to give validated results, but wide use tends to eliminate these things.
Things lost to time: The Minolta Dimage A1 had contacts for detecting when gripped, so it could ready itself without any button pressed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minolta_Dimage_A1 (You see it in the pic, but its not described in the article).
Confounders are included and therefore controlled for, and causality can be assumed since the DV is an event/hazard. This is also the reason you end up with the seemingly high average...
Why is Nvidia so central to LLMs? Because they embraced ML a decade ago. Apple did as well, machine learning is central to so many things in the iPhone. Its not so surprising then, that a strong showing in ML sets you up good for LLMs..
Its been years since I felt urged to congratulate someone for their "webdesign", but this is really good. No boring glossy landing picture, but a distinct claim, and the the before / whoisit / after Element is unique, in a good way.
Kidnapper is likely not Deutsche Bahn but a regional subsidairy.
This is an effect of privatization gone wrong, with the national service, the infrastructure, the regional services (each), the network (not in infra), cargo and then some (sub)companies split for privatisation and an IPO that never happened. The highly segmented network is not digitalized in to any standard, so regional trains have to operate in policy frameworks and network cells that favor long distance trains. Its utter chaos on a daily basis.
Yet, this is not even half the work. It like a third of the way.
Before you could have invented PageRank, you must think in graphs. That is possible in 1996, but not as widespread as today.
After you invented PageRank, you still need to deploy it. Again, possible but challenging as well. Is Python performant enough in 96? Can you afford more than 4MB RAM?
At least Lego will not sue you for using their bricks to build a server rack in 1996.