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Fascinating, but I want the next generation platform to evolve, not out of Sun, Microsoft, IBM, HP, Exodus, etc., but out of Mojo Nation, E, Chord, FreeNet, etc.

Open source projects, with ambitious goals for self-healing, self-organizing networks, tolerant of diversity, resistant to any conceivable attack, and free from the manipulations that mega corps inevitably introduce in their unceasing quest to gain monopoly power.

Maybe I've been reading too much about The Semantic Web and some of the other things going on at M.I.T. with Berners-Lee and Dertouzos, but I believe this disparity between hardware capability and software capability will bring about the mythical "Next Big Thing".

Yes, I'm talking about Star Trek. Maybe not the inter-galactic brouhaha, but definitely the human-computer interaction. We already have decent speech-to-text software; now the folks at M.I.T. and Big Blue (and others) are making advances in speech recognition. It won't be too long before your computer can "understand" what you want it to do, act on it, and give you the results--all with a mere fraction of the effort today's "user-friendly" apps require of you.

I'm making the assumption that there will be enough capital to finance this intensive research. If that fails, then the hardware manufacturers can fall back on their current model, which consists of salespersons telling naive consumers that their pc will run MS Word 50% faster with the new Pentium XX chip...

I thought everyone liked things moving constantly in their peripheral vision when they were working.

/me shoots apaperclip across the room with a rubber band in a symbolic gesture

Wait...what am I so excited about? If it's too complicated for Jed , I throw it into StarOffice ...no stupid anthropomorphic office equipment here!

Actually the SharingFIRST site at MIT helped espouse the "Open Source"/Collaborative development approach. sharingfirst.mit.edu

The words are "exobiology", "astrobiology", and maybe "panspermia". Go search.

My jaundiced (and possibly innaccurate) view is that, but for the armlock of the incumbent players, it should be possible to replicate the workflow of journals on a web-based, subscription free basis; that what real costs exist in the system could be funded by the (already tax-payer funded) academic establishments; and that we might get to the stage where publicly funded research results are made available at no cost to the public.

On this score, kudos to MIT for deciding to release their courseware for free.

http://www.ai.mit.edu/docs/articles/good-news/subs ection3.2.1.html

If you're on Windows, there's also Utumno, an isometric roguelike based on Angband. Unfortunately, the project has been dead for exactly three years today (how's that for coincidence?); fortunately, the source appears to be available and it's looking for a new maintainer ...

Not bizarre. Bazaar.

No need to kneel before the altar every month and make offerings of gold. No need to present your machine to the monks when you want it upgraded. Most of all, no need to trust the Cathedral with your private data.

Indeed, you are allowed to commune with the gods of software themselves, who know little of MarketSpeak, but are honest, direct, and often very funny. Moreover, should one be so inclined, one can become one of them (what heresy!), without shaving one's head nor wearing a badge, without even leaving the comfy confines of one's own lair. But if one doesn't want to, one doesn't have to do that, either. Yea, verily, there is even now being made a version of the Penguin specifically for those seeking escape from the Cathedral.

Of course, with this freedom comes responsibility.... but even that can be made easy. But no longer do you have to be dependent on the Cathedral to get your computing fix.

It comes to mind that the last time somebody said you could talk to G-d directly without having to part with your gold at the door of the cathedral they fought several bloody wars over it...

Your stereotype of socially-inept and non-English-speaking students, while true for some percentage of the student body, is a wildly-inaccurate media-driven generalization. What I found at MIT is that in most cases, smart and academically successful people are also good at a lot of other things: successful actors and musicians to All-American athletes. In fact, one of my friends at MIT was recently recruited to play professional baseball for the Cincinnatti Reds!

What truly makes MIT unique is the interaction with these other outstanding and successful people. They force you to think outside of the box and give you an opportunity to have normal conversations every day about things that my public high school peers would not even have an inkling of interest in.

With regards to course materials on the web, this has been mentioned before, but most of it is already on there - particularly in CS. Check out this list and tell me if things are changing much. Also, you can't even fathom how much work it is for most of these classes and how much most students get out of question/answer sessions in recitation. These are things that cannot be replicated on the web, for better or worse, and no amount of openly available course material can change that. For the MIT CS majors who are reading this - ever take 6.111? I got more out of that class than anything else I've taken and a lot of it had to do with spending 60 hours a week in lab for four months.

Students may be able to cheat on exams.
Upkeep may be hellish

Many of MIT's courses are already online in some form or another. Many of these classes distribute old tests ( http://6004.lcs.mit.edu/ is one example that has quizzes from the last 3 terms - other home pages are linked from the course catalog.

MIT can lose students since they could go to other universities and still learn at their level

MIT is more than just course materials. It is being surrounded by some of the smartest people in a given field. Where else can you take a class on accoustics taught by Bose? Or take a required, introductory biology class taught by one of the principle investigators in the human genome project. Or on a smaller level, email a professor with a question at 2 am, and get a response in a few minutes.

Students may be able to cheat on exams.
Upkeep may be hellish

Many of MIT's courses are already online in some form or another. Many of these classes distribute old tests ( http://6004.lcs.mit.edu/ is one example that has quizzes from the last 3 terms - other home pages are linked from the course catalog.

MIT can lose students since they could go to other universities and still learn at their level

MIT is more than just course materials. It is being surrounded by some of the smartest people in a given field. Where else can you take a class on accoustics taught by Bose? Or take a required, introductory biology class taught by one of the principle investigators in the human genome project. Or on a smaller level, email a professor with a question at 2 am, and get a response in a few minutes.

Students may be able to cheat on exams.
Upkeep may be hellish

Many of MIT's courses are already online in some form or another. Many of these classes distribute old tests ( http://6004.lcs.mit.edu/ is one example that has quizzes from the last 3 terms - other home pages are linked from the course catalog.

MIT can lose students since they could go to other universities and still learn at their level

MIT is more than just course materials. It is being surrounded by some of the smartest people in a given field. Where else can you take a class on accoustics taught by Bose? Or take a required, introductory biology class taught by one of the principle investigators in the human genome project. Or on a smaller level, email a professor with a question at 2 am, and get a response in a few minutes.

Students may be able to cheat on exams.
Upkeep may be hellish

Many of MIT's courses are already online in some form or another. Many of these classes distribute old tests ( http://6004.lcs.mit.edu/ is one example that has quizzes from the last 3 terms - other home pages are linked from the course catalog.

MIT can lose students since they could go to other universities and still learn at their level

MIT is more than just course materials. It is being surrounded by some of the smartest people in a given field. Where else can you take a class on accoustics taught by Bose? Or take a required, introductory biology class taught by one of the principle investigators in the human genome project. Or on a smaller level, email a professor with a question at 2 am, and get a response in a few minutes.

I went to MIT (a while ago now, but still...)

1. Many living groups (dorms, fraternities & sororities) have shelves of "bibles" -- that is, compendiums of quizzes, problems sets, etc. -- often going back years. Having the info on the web will more likely have an equalizing effect that a further polarizing one.

2. MIT practices "needblind" admissions -- although (of course) their idea and your idea of what one "needs" may differ.

I went to MIT (a while ago now, but still...)

1. Many living groups (dorms, fraternities & sororities) have shelves of "bibles" -- that is, compendiums of quizzes, problems sets, etc. -- often going back years. Having the info on the web will more likely have an equalizing effect that a further polarizing one.

2. MIT practices "needblind" admissions -- although (of course) their idea and your idea of what one "needs" may differ.

Abelson rocks! (ps his book with the Sussmans is also great. If only they would put it on the web...!)

Personally I think that this is a great idea. In fact, I've already sent an email to Charles Vest (the MIT president) letting him know that I support the OpenCourseWare initiative.

Perhaps the community could help to contribute to this effort by establishing a means of communication (message boards, etc.) for people working through the online courses.

On a side note, I attend the University of Texas at Austin. While there I've begun to work with some professors on some web based interactive supplements for our Introduction to Electrical Engineering class. You can see what we have so far at http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~ee302sup/

All joking aside, its nice to see one of the better technology schools out there seriously consider sharing, at no cost, what it has to offer. MIT has always been in the forefront of many information-sharing developments, like their Classics archives, which has been around for quite some time, providing easy access to ancient texts at no cost.

There also seems to be something different about the MIT attitude with respect to education. The process seems more communal than at other higher education service providers (just a little joke.) Regardless, I think we're comming to a time where sharing will be the key. The open source software movement has been instrumental with widening the public's perspective on sharing and the advantages it has to development concerning both production considerations as well as knowledge aquisition, and distribution.


yoink

In this interview, AI guru Marvin Minsky says that HAL stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer.

One of the spotlights on MIT's homepage linked to this News Office piece. In addition, a "Lucky" button, a la Google was added next to the "Go" button for the search box. It linked to a close reading of the B.S. song of that name.

One of the spotlights on MIT's homepage linked to this News Office piece. In addition, a "Lucky" button, a la Google was added next to the "Go" button for the search box. It linked to a close reading of the B.S. song of that name.

One of the spotlights on MIT's homepage linked to this News Office piece. In addition, a "Lucky" button, a la Google was added next to the "Go" button for the search box. It linked to a close reading of the B.S. song of that name.

Yeah, well now it;'s the Conspiricy of Britney Spears
sorry, couldn't resist the lame gag...

I highly recommend looking at the MIT STS.035 syllabus. I took this class and loved it. STS.034, a complementary class, covers the prehistory of computing. Check the MIT Course Catalog to get in touch with the professor who's teaching it next term.

I highly recommend looking at the MIT STS.035 syllabus. I took this class and loved it. STS.034, a complementary class, covers the prehistory of computing. Check the MIT Course Catalog to get in touch with the professor who's teaching it next term.

Does anyone remember what happened last year on April fools day on Slashdot? Was it really this bad? For a bunch of nerds (readers included) with nothing better to do, I was hoping for something better than my own lame excuses for April fools jokes.

By God, even MIT (those nerds) had pretty funny stuff on their front page. Most hilarious pictures (and article) ever.

---

Does anyone remember what happened last year on April fools day on Slashdot? Was it really this bad? For a bunch of nerds (readers included) with nothing better to do, I was hoping for something better than my own lame excuses for April fools jokes.

By God, even MIT (those nerds) had pretty funny stuff on their front page. Most hilarious pictures (and article) ever.

---

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Does anyone remember what happened last year on April fools day? Was it really this bad? For a bunch of nerds (readers included) with nothing better to do, I was hoping for something better than my own lame excuses for April fools jokes.

By God, even MIT (those nerds) had pretty funny stuff on their front page. Most hilarious pictures (and article) ever.

---

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Does anyone remember what happened last year on April fools day? Was it really this bad? For a bunch of nerds (readers included) with nothing better to do, I was hoping for something better than my own lame excuses for April fools jokes.

By God, even MIT (those nerds) had pretty funny stuff on their front page. Most hilarious pictures (and article) ever.

---

http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/int-prop /heckel-debunking.html

There are several ways of using a mouse without actually using a mouse. MIT's wearable computing department has a link to the eyemouse.

the eyemouse

Akamai shares a block with the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science. Recently, there was a despicable, unprovoked snowball attack on innocent MIT graduate students by Akamai customer care thugs. (Well, okay, there's a little more to the story... :-) But anyway, differences will be settled in a mathematical/theoretical computer science shootout on the evening of April 3. Should be fun.

MIT has some research on some kind of electric ink - it looks like an ordinary paper but you can light [the equivalent of] pixels. Last I heard, they only had greyscale.

A few links:
Salon article
E-Ink
More info should be available at www.media.mit.edu, but it seems to be down for the moment.

First off, don't neglect the British --- Williams tubes (early CRT memories), index registers, and demand paging from Manchester alone; the first well documented subroutine library, first commercial use of a computer in business (Lyons LEO), and a very influential textbook from the EDSAC group at Cambridge. (It's interesting to note that the word "page" was already used at Manchester for a unit of physical memory block-transferred to backing storage --- magnetic drum --- in Alan Turing's manual for the commercialized Manchester Mk. I).

Second, emulators are available for a lot of historical systems --- Bob Supnik has his SIMH suite of emulators for most of the PDP computers, and a few other early minis from IBM, DG, and so forth. Historical Unix (v5, v6, v7) is generally available and does boot on the PDP-11 emulator. He's still working on the PDP-10, for which see also Tim Stark's ts10, also in alpha, but already booting TOPS-10; TOPS-20 and ITS are on the todo list. (The annoying thing is that working PDP-10 emulators do exist, but are not available to the public).

There's a limit to the versimilitude here --- virtual tape never kinks up, the virtual card readers never jam, and the emulators often run an order of magnitude faster than the real machines on modern hardware. But they can still help give student a feel of the environments that people had to deal with thirty and forty years ago.

As someone who stares out the window at these buildings every day, I can attest to the fact that the models generated by this system are excellent (I should also point out that, although I met Seth Teller once, I don't recognize any of the other names on the page, so I'm not tooting my own horn). They work great for blocky buildings, which are prevalent around Tech Square, but I'll reserve judgment until I see how well they do with the Stata Center designed by Frank Gehry (which right now is a big hole in the ground, but in a year or two should be an ugly wart on the corner of Vassar St.). 4 or 5 years ago there was a student (Ig) in a nearby lab who designed a CCD camera whose output, rather than being the brightness of the object being imaged, was the motion of that object. Unfortunately I don't think anyone in the AI lab picked up on the design; it would make these sorts of models much easier to generate.

Very interesting

Moravec's approach is a classic example of the SMPA (sense-model-plan-act) approach to mobile robotics. A lot of people think this is a dead end - not least among them Rodney Brooks, who advocates what is called the behavior-based approach. Behavior-based robotics basically relies on integrating several independently operating reflexes into a robot, which is much more lifelike. A nifty intermediate approach is taken by Ronald Arkin, who seems a little more pragmatic (and less dogmatic).

You can read some superficial information about all of these guys (and others) in the book Robo sapiens.

A review of Robo sapiens can be found here.

While on a tour of the MIT AI labs i was shown a project they were working on, which has similair components to this. Essentially what they were doing was, creating a system in which they could point to a part of the room (with their hand) and vocally tell the computer to project some image there. The project is called Hal The Next Generation Intelligent Room

I have a site which I developed in 1998, wanderlist which has been growing at a glacial pace ever since. ;)

While it wasn't released to the public until November 8th, I conducted some 'focus group' style meetings earlier that year, the first of which was in March.

I have notes from this session and could receive affidavits from some of the participants. I'd be pretty bummed if I had to increase the size of the hole in to which I'm throwing money on account of ponying up for an MS tax.

That asside, I'm certain that we can find prior art for polls and voting in much deeper pockets than mine. Hasn't MIT beein using online voting for elections since at least 1996.

Please let me know if you plan to organize any formal retort to this clearly erroneous patent.

In general you don't look on the journals' and conferences' pages, you look at researchers' pages to track down those references. The ACM Digital Library has a number of useful papers, but a lot of the papers were scanned in as bitmaps and so they look terrible.

If you take Hannum's code, unwrap
that macro, and run it through
c2eng, you get 92 lines of English.
Small enough for a t-shirt.

Yes, people who make software and business models do real work, but that doesn't mean the way that work should be encouraged is by granting it patentability.

See the LPF page on software patents, particularly the now-somewhat-dated position paper Against Software Patents.

See the LPF page on software patents, particularly the now-somewhat-dated position paper Against Software Patents.

http://smg.media.mit.edu/projects/

And then click on "Curly" on the left menu section.

They've just blocked Direct access to those pages.

If (lastpage_seen=slashdot){
&bugger off;
}
else {
&Let_them_in;
}

There have been a number of dual-mode proposals. The most practical one was a scheme for equipping buses with the ability to run on rails, so they could have their own trackway, narrower than a road lane, in freeway medians. This was proposed back when freeways had medians instead of barriers.

My idea for personal transportation is automated parking. You drive to your destination, select "auto park", and get out. The car contacts the net, finds and reserves a slot in a parking garage somewhere nearby, goes there, slowly (maybe 15MPH top speed, flashers blinking), and parks. When you want your car back, you call it on your cell phone, and it comes and picks you up.

The way to get this going would be to put it in rental cars, and have airports wired for the auto guidance system. Rental car return then consists of driving up to the terminal, getting out, and letting the car turn itself in. That alone would be a big seller. Over time, common business destinations like convention centers and hotels could be added to the system, so at those places you get automated parking. Once the infrastructure is in place for rental cars, private owners can use it too. That's how auto map displays were deployed; the first installations (by Etak, in the 1980s) were in rental cars, and the consumer version came later.

The advantage of this approach is that cars can be parked a mile or two from their destinations, instead of a block or two. This allows concentrating car parking into big multistory garages near downtown areas, instead of spreading it all over the place in little lots and on the street.

A key idea here is that top speed in auto mode is so slow that most problems can be dealt with by doing an emergency stop. You don't have to have a system smart enough to drive its way out of trouble. You're going to get failures that cause an emergency stop and a stalled vehicle now and then, but the infrastructure should detect this and dispatch a tow truck, while routing other vehicles around the problem.

April 6, 1992, according to this obituary.

Dude, there's a whole book you should buy then, that catalogs excellent 90's hacks. Cathedral in Lobby 7, police car on the dome, a bunch of great stuff happened in the last decade.

The book is titled "Is This the Way to Baker House?". You can see the description at MIT Press

I believe the webcams at MIT's TNS research group may have been first. I seem to remember viewing the TNS people remotely in 94, but you may want to double check on that. The TNS Technology Demonstrations page has been up for many many years.