Slashdot Mirror

Actually AT&T did apply results from the labs to the phone system. (They would have been stupid not to, they did way to maximize profit, after all.) In particular, they made huge advances in switching technologies. And how do you know they wouldn't have come out with cell phones?

Advances in switching technology reduced their costs of doing business. They allowed AT&T to replace armies of switchboard operators with inexpensive electronics. Their foray into wireless communication was Mobile Telephone Service. Real cell phone service was first introduced by NTT, in Japan, 4 years before the US. Some argue that slow adoption of cellular in the US was actually due to FCC regulation of the spectrum, but commercial cell service only became available after AT&T was broken up, and it was offered by one of the regional Baby Bells, not by AT&T.

I looked at the press release a bit closer and you can see that it's measuring two things: the number of people in the area and the number of people facing the advertisement. Here's a picture of the unit.

I looked at the press release a bit closer and you can see that it's measuring two things: the number of people in the area and the number of people facing the advertisement. Here's a picture of the unit.

I looked at the press release a bit closer and you can see that it's measuring two things: the number of people in the area and the number of people facing the advertisement. Here's a picture of the unit.

I was wondering, too, so I looked up the original report on NTT's website.

Three cameras are installed on the Keihin Express line at Shinagawa, Yokohama and Haneda Airport stations. There's also one in the Marunouchi Building by Tokyo station and one at their lab in Yokosuka. They'll be testing until the end of March. It seems like the image processing is only being performed at Marunouchi building and Haneda.

I go through Tokyo station on the way home, so I'll post later if I can find the thing.

I was wondering, too, so I looked up the original report on NTT's website.

Three cameras are installed on the Keihin Express line at Shinagawa, Yokohama and Haneda Airport stations. There's also one in the Marunouchi Building by Tokyo station and one at their lab in Yokosuka. They'll be testing until the end of March. It seems like the image processing is only being performed at Marunouchi building and Haneda.

I go through Tokyo station on the way home, so I'll post later if I can find the thing.

In the USA, the only industrial laboratory that still does significant pure research is Microsoft Research. It enjoys an annual funding of about $7 billion, a level that can be provided by only a monopoly.

In Japan, the only industrial laboratory that does signficant pure research is NTT Laboratory.

The management of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation acted appropriately in shutting down the pure-research arm of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL). Although MERL is part of the huge Mitsubishi conglomerate, it is not a monopoly in any industry and cannot afford pure research.

Is it just me, or did they misspell the name of the cipher? The only cipher of a similar name I found was Camellia, developed by NTT and Mitsubishi (and Sony?): http://info.isl.ntt.co.jp/crypt/eng/camellia/index .html I had never heard of it, so I was wondering why the kernel team decided it's worth being included already (both in terms of small user base and unknown security). Turns out it's in the European NESSIE standard, and there's an RFC. More on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_(cipher)

In lessthan two years, magnetic storage will sit aside vacuum tubes and punch cards in the Computing wing at Smithsonian.

Here's one article about a mole robot for digging conduit tunnels.
And another about a robot for laying conduit in sewers.
And those are just the first two hits on a google search for "underground conduit robot."

My gut feeling is:

• Data transmission: maybe, but bandwidth will be low.
• Power supply: won't work

Eye of the Frog writes "Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and its subsidiary NTT DoCoMo Inc. have developed a device that attaches to your PDA which uses the body's conductivity to transmit data at an amazing 10 megabits per second.

MPEG-2 is a lossy codec also, and I can't see any artifacts (e.g. blockiness, etc. - as opposed to limited resolution) with a well-mastered, high bitrate DVD (and that's on a 150" projected screen). It's only on the badly mastered/low bitrate DVDs that artifacts become apparent. I can generally see more in the way of artifacts in most 35mm films (poor Nth generation copies, burn-outs, scratches, etc.)

The resolution (and maximum bitrate) of DVD is pre-defined (and I was taking his reference to DiVX to mean 'at normal resolutions'). In cinema-type systems they are talking about a higher resolution picture: although Raincast don't give out resolution details, here's an example of a 3840x2480 system described as superior to 35mm.

Raincast's system appears to be high-resolution MPEG-4/WMA running at slightly higher than normal DVD (MPEG-2) bitrates (but with a more efficient codec). While it may not be good 35mm quality, it is likely more than usable, especially for hard to reach locales that otherwise might not have a cinema at all.

The difference between this and say, a DVD, is that with traditional media like DVDs is that the information is read bit-by-bit in a one-dimensional fashion. In the case of this application, the laser is beamed into a waveguide, and the convex/concave topology of the waveguide causes the laser to scatter. This scattered light generates a 2D image of the encoded data on a plane parallel to the waveguide, which is 'read' via an image sensor. In other words, the application of the laser will yield an entire plane of data, while a DVD will only give a bit at a time

You are right about it being a multilayer film, with each film being independantly addressable, but they are holograms.. Just a bunch of them stacked up =)

Here is the word from NTT. They talk about using the chips in communications satellites and radar. The expected higher reliability would really be a plus in military and space applications.

Of course, more complex equipment is needed, but today there is no question, whether we can design it and send it millions of kilometers away from home - the answer is "yes". The problem is that we are picky now and want to have a whole laboratory there to make every test possible so that one trip is enough to make a conclusive enough result. In 1975 it was ok to get just a couple of pictures (of course, there have been some other results from Venera 13 mission and even these pictures are extremely valuable for science, but anyway), today we want to find life or prove that it is not there. Similarly, 100 years ago it was enough to cross Antarctica, today we aim to solve the mysteries of the Earth climate or find life in the long-abandoned deep lake Vostok. It's not that our capabilities are not growing, it just is that our ambitions grow as fast or even faster. ;)

Regarding the pictures, AFAIR, the problem was with slow transmission speed (from the lander to the orbiter), remember, it was the age when 300 baud modems were considered blazinlgy fast. And they didn't use any compression, just raw image transmission. Hopefully, today we can do better, but again, today we become frustrated (I know I do) because we can't get hours-long DVD-quality video from Mars rover.

Regarding the whole thing, one idea that I can think of right now is to get using a disposable probe (or at least a telescopic hand) the samples inside a protected chamber. We will soon have the technology (diamond semicondustors - check the figures) to build electronics capable of working at Venus without cooling or insulation (and without melting). We definitely have the tech today to send the spacecrafts to Venus (logistically Venus is just another Mars, but closer to the Sun).

But since the space race is over, space lost a lot of its coolness and even Venus doesn't look so hot. :) But every day the potential mission to Venus becomes easier and easier. Eventually we will see no more reason to procrastinate and the tech will be there to do it quickly, efficiently, and with invaluable results.

Broadband via cable TV is available, but cable modems are a fairly new thing over there and many apartments don't have the cable lines anyway. (Take a look at any apartment building in Japan and you'll see dozens of those mini satellite dishes perched on the balconies.) However, if you want cable TV and broadband Internet, you can get a pretty good deal by combining the two -- about 80 USD/month. You might need a local friend to help you, though, because most cable providers don't have English-speaking customer service.

If you just want the Internet access, a better option is ADSL, which has exploded in popularity over the last couple of years. Before ordering, you first need to decide whether you want land-line (as opposed to cellular) phone service. If you want a land line, get ADSL Type I, which includes phone service and Internet access. If you plan to get a cell phone in Japan, choose ADSL Type II, which provides Internet access only, but for a lower price.

The cheapest ADSL service is probably Yahoo! Japan BB, but they don't provide any English support, not even for sales. You're better off going with a company that has a dedicated English-speaking support line such as Global OnLine or eAccess. Unfortunately, these providers usually serve only the larger metropolitan areas, so if you're in a suburb or a smaller town, your only choice might be good old NTT. All you have to do is call the English-speaking sales line for NTT (the number depends on whether you live in the east or in the west) and tell them you want ADSL Type II. They'll be happy to hook you up for about 25 USD/month, and you can rent an ADSL modem from them for another 5 USD/month. Important tip: NTT will send you a CD-ROM containing PPPoE drivers that only work with the Japanese version of Windows, so you should download the freeware program RASPPPOE before you go and bring it along with you. It's compatible with NTT's ADSL modems.

There's another catch: Because NTT only provides the physical ADSL connection, you'll need to find an ISP that supports ADSL. I got mine through OCN for about 20 USD/month. They offer sales and support in English.

The Macintosh has about the same percentage of market share in Japan as in the U.S. (in other words, not much), so you can expect the same level of support and availability over there that you'll find here. I expect it's entirely possible to hook up your Mac to a Japanese ADSL modem, but don't expect much technical support if things go wrong. (I had no trouble connecting through my Linux laptop once I got the Roaring Penguin configuration set up right.) As for 802.11b, coverage is almost non-existent, although just about everyone over there does email wirelessly through their cell phone. Text messaging and services like DoCoMo are far more popular than the Internet in Japan, at least for now.

You should visit the ISP Japan FAQ for more details. You might also want to check out my Japan page for tips on living and working in Japan.

Man, you have a lot to learn. An article by Jon Katz should fill you with foreboding - what sort of trollfest is about to erupt? And sure enough, check out the highest moderated comments - what beautiful trolls!

When not even the Nat'l Academy of Sciences or the head-in-the-sand Bush administration denies the reality of Global Warming, it would take a masterly writer to come up with "Do You Believe?" (The f*** it matters whether or not you believe anyway.) And sure enough the trolls respond. I don't even know why I bother to read the comments mostly, except that a few like this one keep me coming back for more.

My advice, if you're a newbie, is stop, look, and listen, and please don't shoot your mouth off except where you are an expert. You'll feel clean that way.