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When I started, I use to keep a large list of word filters, possibly like you do right now - under Netscape - I then switch to a different tactic, which has worked a lot better:

My main filter tests to see if the TO: field has my email address in it, and if it doesn't, sends it to my SPAM box. I take a few variation - look over your real email to see what you should look for - invariably, SPAM usually has the wrong thing or nothing in the TO: field, so it is the easiest to catch.

I also have filters that look for specific things in the subject line, or the FROM: field - first, because they may or may not be SPAM - things like mailing lists and such, where the TO: field might be filled with "listmembers@list.com" - don't want to trash them.

Finally I have backup word filters, that catch what manages to trickle through.

I still get some highly targetted SPAM though - and I figure if they are that good, maybe I should read it, or just manually delete it.

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

And your SO is geeky enough to accept and appreciate it...

Make an electronic heart - get a piece of perfboard, a bunch of red LEDs (and other assorted electronic parts - bias resistors, etc) - and wire up a electronic heart.

Use red-flashing LEDs for a trippy effect (might be expensive, but so is a diamond ring). If you are really good set it up to make a rotating pattern with the LEDs (like a marquee). If you want to try something even better, get a 16x1 HD44780 based LCD, a PIC stamp - have the PIC drive everything, put the LCD in the center, and put a scrolling message ("I Love You!" or similar) on it. Or put a picture of you in the middle of it...

One thing I did for Valentines day - because my GF isn't as geeky - was I built an automaton - a box with wheels and belts, pulleys, etc - and waving hearts on the top - powered by a little motor. I made it so you could remove the panels - it was all built out of balsa wood, painted - the whole thing - took about a month to construct and tune. She loves it to this very day (that was a few years back).

Really - anything you take time on, given with your heart - is what you want to give. Something that really says "I love you" - it could be as simple as a card you made - or a piece of jewelry, or a romantic evening out. Take the time and thought - and you will have a day to remember...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I recently received a piece of SPAM that said they sent it to me because I opted in on another site. Since I visit so many different sites so frequently, and a few of them I have opted in (I have given up all hope regarding SPAM, because my actual email address I use for day-to-day stuff I have had since 1993, and have posted in USENET, etc - no way to get rid of the SPAM, so I don't worry anymore - I just try to keep my new addresses from being SPAMed). But it sounds exactly like your issue. If I get another, I may check it out...

I do have this to say, and I don't know what the reason is for it, but I am going to go out on a limb and speculate:

I put up a real hairy set of filters under my Netscape mail - about 6 or so filters, hierarchically arranged to dump SPAM in one bucket, good stuff in my inbox. Sometimes good stuff lands in the SPAM box, sometimes I get a real good "targetted" SPAM in my inbox. When I first did this, I was getting around 20 or so pieces of SPAM a day - landing in the SPAM box. Over the weekend (when I didn't check my email as much), my inbox would fill with a lot of SPAM - 70 or more pieces. With the filters, most started going to the SPAM box, which on occasion I would look at, and delete them instantly to the trash (I would look, just in case a real email landed in the SPAM box - which it does on occasion). I originally had the filters set up one way, then I would tweak them, reorganise them, think about the logic - when something got through, I would "step-through" the filters, to see how the spam got by, and twiddle the settings on the filters to capture it next time. All this has been going on for about 4 months or so.

Guess what happenned...

The volume of SPAM that I get has dropped - drastically! Daily, I used to get about 5-10 pieces of SPAM - now I get 2-3 captured by my filters. On weekends, I get maybe 10 or so SPAMs, landing in the SPAM box. In my inbox, maybe one or two targetted SPAMs make it through, which I delete. So what happened - why am I getting less SPAM now?

I used to use SPAMcop, as well as other tactics, to try to lessen the SPAM - all to no real avail. As far as I know, my provider didn't instate a SPAM filter of any kind, so that isn't the answer. My guess?

The majority of my SPAM I didn't look at - in other words, because SPAM can contain web-bugs and other means of identifying when you look at it (such as hitting a web site for an image or something) - I have become (in some eyes) a "non-sell" - or something. This sounds like a reasonable explanation - and I wonder if I switched to using PINE or ELM, or some other text-based reader, whether it would improve further or not.

Part of me says "maybe" - but another part of me says "nah, something else is going on to lessen the spam" - I tend to side with the latter opinion, but for the life of me I can't figure out the "why" of it. But I do know those filters have made my life a lot easier online - my only regret is that I didn't set them up sooner (I am thinking about "packaging" the filters in some way to give to others to use, they work so well)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Windows and other assorted software is only free so long as they don't "yank the chain", so to speak.

Remember, each of these pieces of software (Windows, stuff for Windows) generally has a EULA attached - which basically says "We have all the rights, you have none - and if we say so, you have to give us back the software, delete it from your machine, and oh, by the way, you DON'T get your money back" - read the fine print, and tell me it isn't true. Granted, no one knows whether such "contracts" are enforcable - but I would bet M$ and others would take you to court to prove a point - that they have more money than you (money is the enforcement). If the UCITA passes in all the other states - suddenly EULAs *do* become enforcable - add the DMCA on top of that, the Digital Signatures Act that treats clicking on the EULA button to get Winders installed as a *real* signature - and suddenly you aren't looking at freedom anymore, but at a contract on the way you live. Let's not forget, those same companies rarely if ever show any source to their products - so if they move on to a newer version, and you don't upgrade - or if they completely drop support on a version - you are HOSED (unless, of course, you cough up the tribu-- err, I mean, money - for a new license).

Contrast all of this with Linux, and GPL'd software (note, I do not say Open Source - that carries a ton of different meanings to various people - many times depending on whether they are trying to make money on code or whatnot): You get the OS, the programs, etc - more importantly, you get the code - you can change it, give it away - burn it, whatever you want to do with it, you can. No worries that if Mr. Torvalds dies you are hosed, no worries if Stallman goes to M$ (hahahahaha!!!), emacs won't be there. No worries that someone can recall or stop supporting the software. No worries at all!

Perhaps there are worries if you are a business (most notably, how can I make money on this new stuff). I just say you haven't figured it out yet.


Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I have one of the old parallel port Zip drives. Yeah, it can be slow, but it really isn't too bad. Sure it only holds 100 MB, and there is the possibility of the click 'o' death (but I hear that is only with the newer drives) - but it has been a great thing to have - and rugged as hell, too.

What I do to make it the most portable, is I carry it in a little case (Zip makes one, but a good sized CD player case, with room for power supply and CDs, will work too, and are cheaper), along with a couple of Zip disks, the parallel cable, the power supply, and the most important part - a DOS floppy with Zip tools. Since the majority of machines I come across are Windows or DOS based, this isn't a problem - hook up the drive, pop the zip tools disk in, and run the mounting program (guest) - and you are set.

Not as simple as a floppy, I'll grant - but very portable - better than hoping to find a scsi mounted or IDE Zip drive on the box. The only problem is that you are limited to DOS and Windows boxes (I currently have my zip drive hosted on my Linux box at home - so I know that Linux supports it, but I don't know if it is possible to build such a simple portable tools disk for Linux - anyone know?).

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

While implementation could be made a crime, I would say that if it is, then a full scale war on the government would have to be the outcome (or war on the corporatat). Bomb-making instructions aren't illegal to possess or distribute - to implement a bomb - probably hazy area (probably illegal), to detonate - definitely illegal if not done on your own property (and providing it is on a large tract of land, etc).

For passing on knowledge, or having it - that would have to be a first ammendment issue - otherwise there would be ton of books at the library banned outright (not to mention encyclopedias, chemistry textbooks, and magazines).

Furthermore, bombs typically serve for nothing more than destruction of property or life - which is why they would be regulated in the manner in which they are. I doubt building a speaker or such could be construed as hurting someone. I fear that if it can, and it is allowed to be viewed that way - it is really time to fight.

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

And building tape decks and amps - even radios - really isn't that difficult. An A/B push-pull cheap amp isn't that hard to build - just a few transistors, some resistors, a few caps, and a couple of transformers (which could be homebrewed as well). Tape decks were originally "wire recorders" - sound was recorded on a steel wire. Fuck 'em if they outlaw steel wire - it isn't that hard (ok, it is pretty damn difficult, but it can be done) to draw your own wire - if they could do it in ancient (and not so ancient) times, it can be done now.

How are they going to take all that knowledge from us? From ME? Maybe they will kill me - that would be one way - but can they kill all of us?

Good luck to 'em - I say to hell with them...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

BTW, my favorite part of this idea is the concept that geeks who are capable of constructing an analog speaker might become the heroes of an underground economy.

I will be the first to do this, if it comes to it.

I tell you something, never did I think, when I was in the 8th grade and wanting a set of 12s and a 100 watt stereo to match (which I eventually got) for my bedroom, that I would ever contemplate using the skills that I learned to build a speaker from the ground up.

In an attempt to get around the cost of the 12 inch 3-way speakers that I wanted (at close to $200 each), I looked into building my own speaker, using construction paper for the cone, a toilet paper tube for the coil form, some old wire from a dead 3 volt hobby motor, a magnet from a busted antenna mount, plus a cardboard box - I managed to munge together a speaker that worked, and gave OK sound, considering the quality of construction and materials used. Never got much bass, though...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

it is actually entitled "Direct Use of the Sun's Energy" by Farrington Daniels, published by Ballantine Books, in 1964 (I guess I was a tad off) - ISBN 0-345-25938-6, Library of Congress Card Number 64-20913.

Excellent book, all the same...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I sincerely doubt you have read any of the writings in the books, that are "separate" from the main information in the books (the books consist mainly of reprinted articles from other magazines, most out of print or impossible to get ahold of - I have a few of the articles in old Pop Sci and Pop Mech mags from the 50's - a few articles are actual informative - ie, non-diatribe - articles that Kurt Saxon wrote, such as info on self-defense, and distilling, among others). If you had, you would know that he isn't racist - he simply doesn't see the worth of lazy, shiftless people - in other words, people who would rather have someone else do it (preferably without cost to them), rather than getting off their butts and doing it themselves! This isn't a racist attitude (unless you make lazy people a "race")...

Those articles aside, the books are chock full of information that CANNOT be found anywhere else, unless you are a MAJOR collector of old science and mechanical magazines (like I said, I have a small collection of mags from the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's - the information is tough to find).

What you advocate is akin to say, deleting all man/info pages simply because there are a few things said in them you don't like - or burning all books because some may contain ideas that you feel are wrong.

Sticking your head in the ground will never make a problem go away - you must confront it head on, learn from it - then move on, and carry the knowledge you learned with you...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Coming back a little late on this (was on vacation, no net connection - but it actually was quite nice)...

Anyhow, thank you for correcting me - I was thinking a CO2 type laser setup, forgetting the IR lasers used in CD players and such...

Sometimes dumb thoughts come out of me...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

You want a real funky source?

Check out "The Survivor" series, published by Kurt Saxon and Atlan Formularies...

This series is filled with a lot of great home power tips and techniques (in addition to a TON of other survival stuff). Many are quite dated, but there are a few articles that you just can't find anywhere else (one was about a plan to "harvest" water from the Sahara using ultra-large concrete condensation systems, bee-hive shaped - never came to fruition - makes you wonder why). A plan was given for building various types of methane digester systems for the home (very complex things). One article details how to build your own solar cells. Various articles explore wind power in many forms.

If there ever was a series of books that are "must have", this is it. I only have one beef with the series: Kurt Saxon puts these little diatribes throughout the book - little anecdotal stories - some are off-putting in that they seem to be racist in character. As you read the stories more, you find that he isn't really racist - he simply hates shiftless bastards who won't get off their duff and do a little work!

That aside, the series is excellent for the amount of information you won't find anywhere else (the closest I ever came to it before was my back issues of Pop Sci and Pop Mech from the 1950's, as well as my Henley's Book of Formulas from the early 1900's)...

There is one other book I can reccommend - if I remember correctly, it is called "Sun Power" - I have it in paperback form. It dates from the early 1970's. What was kind of neat about it is that it detailed how to build a solar parabolic mirror system for cooking, using simple materials you would be able to find in the "bush", in more "modern" villages in Africa. Kinda geared for those going into the Peace Corps or something...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Very true - it makes me wonder if it would be possible to file a "counter patent" by "innovating" with a "visible beam", or get the patent overturned because of validity due to the fact that laser beams are visible...

You are right - the filer is an idiot...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I'm not sure if it has ever been noticed before in earlier postings about this patent on /. - but did you notice the line in the patent that reads:

A method for inducing cats to exercise consists of directing a beam of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser...

Invisible light? Is this the innovation in the patent?

Note that most typical laser pointers project visible light, generally 635 or 670nm, which is a bright red. For a laser pointer to generate invisible light, it would have to be a UV or IR laser.

Does anyone know where I could get a UV or IR laser, in a sleek pen form factor?

Ok, I am being sarcastic (these types of lasers tend to be on the large side of things) - but I have to wonder about the wording of this patent. It really seems absurd...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Well, usually, those two are mutually exclusive - but sometimes you might take two samples, speed one up, slow one down, mix them, then adjust the speed until it sounds just right. This "blending" process is just like mixing paint - there is a lot of steps to go through until it comes out just right - you can't simply say "I need that sound at that speed, this one at this speed - and when I mix them together, what I get will be what I want". It just doesn't work that way.

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

For what you are doing, which sounds like basically an embedded voice-recognition project, I too would probably go with C or C++ (though I suck at both). However, don't be so quick to dismiss Java.

From a developers standpoint, the promise of Java (that has yet to materialize) outweighs that of C - the idea being that you can compile once on one platform, and as long as there is a VM or native execution of Java bytecode somewhere, your app will run. I am not sure why the promise hasn't been fulfilled, but I would imagine it is a combination of the stunt M$ pulled, combined with the control Sun exerts, combined with the slight disimilarities in third-party VMs, that are causing all the problems.

I would imagine, had Sun released a VM under GPL, coded in C/C++, for Linux - and had M$ been less power hungry, greedy, stupid - or just plain didn't exist - there wouldn't be the problems we have today, because porting the VM would be a relatively trivial thing.

With C/C++, however, one must compile (or cross-compile) on/for the platform one is aiming at - you can't just compile once, and run anywhere. Perhaps if someone could create a simple stub routine that somehow could be attached to a data package, such that when the "program" is executed, the stub would fire up a C/C++ compiler, creating a native app from the data package, which would then run - then we would have the power of C/C++ and the freedom of Java.

Java tried to do something similar to what was actually done with a database system known as PICK (starting in 1969). PICK had both native processor and virtual machine implementations (in Unix) for the database structure, and the language (PICK BASIC). It was relatively easy to move a program from one PICK box to another, and have it run (provided you moved the database tables and such). While it didn't support it natively (though it may nowadays), it was perfectly possible to create a system that could "auto compile" programs to the byte code for the VM. All of these implementations, from various companies, worked because they adhered to a "standard" (though I am not sure if this standard was open, or how it was available). PICK is still in wide use to this day.

So, don't disdain over the failing of the promise of Java - it can be done, but I think Java is having problems simply due to greed (both M$ and Sun)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Well, I think you could do positional tracking with hobbyist cameras (X/Y/Z), but I don't know if they have the resolution to do rotational tracking, without placing them close to the subject being tracked. Perhaps a combo could be done, using cameras for one kind of tracking, and a different system for another?

Joseph Gradecki wrote a book called "Virtual Reality Construction Kit" (the ISBN and such are on the site), that detailed various head tracking systems, and whether they could be done at the homebrew level. He presents a couple of projects for head tracking in the book. Many of the projects in the book were nearly straight out of PCVR, the only difference being the drawings looking better.

One head tracking system described in PCVR was actually kinda funky: Imagine a bare room. Now, place the user in the room, and run strings from auto-retract mechanisms placed in the corners of the room. The strings run up the wall, over a pulley and down from the upper corners of the room to meet at a central point on the user's HMD. At this central point are orthogonally arranged potentiometers, to gather yaw/pitch/roll info about the head. So, you have these four strings. Depending on where in the room you are - these strings are extended and retracted by various amounts. It is possible to work out X/Y/Z coordinates of the point at the user's HMD where the strings come together. The article detailed a lot of the math, as well as possible pitfalls - I would love to republish that article.

If I am unable to get in contact with JG, I might just willy-nilly go ahead and publish - if he has a beef, he can see me then (hey, perhaps this will bring him out of the woodwork!). I may pay a lawyer to get my legal position first.

I wish I could say the contact info in the magazine was valid, but it isn't. You have to remember that this magazine was published in a one-man fashion - a good ole' DIY thing - after getting the magazine wrote up, he went to a printer, printed up some copies (I would guess less then 200 per issue), and mailed them off.

Let's move this conversation off of /. - go to www.phoenixgarage.net to get my main email address, we'll continue to discuss from there, ok?

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

They could easily get them.

Am I talking 1 GHz Athlon systems here? No - we all know that 386's, 486's, and low-end Pentiums abound everywhere for near nothing - sometimes people can't even give them away! So why is it when all of these perfectly useful machines sit and rot, that those with as much money don't take them?

They aren't bright and flashy - that's it - they can't do the lastest stuff, can't load the latest software (never mind the fact that these same people probably couldn't afford the latest software, nor the fact that older software is also floating around out there for the taking). In other words, having an older PC doesn't make you look "rich" - whatever that means.

These people (actually, the majority of people - poor, middleclass, and rich) don't understand that a computer can expand your mind, and allow you to do and learn things, and ways of thinking, that you hadn't dreamed about before. A throwaway C=64 and a couple of magazines can do wonders!

However, if these people did know this, or had an inate feeling for this - they wouldn't be looking for a computer at the first drop of a hat - they would be looking for books (another widely throwaway item) - to read, and expand their minds, and teach them ways and ideas never before explored.

Most homes these days have few books in them. You don't see many homes with large book collections anymore (and those that do have large collections, those are typically in rich people's designer homes, who have the books to look cool - but don't actually read them). It is really apalling.

I actually think, as a whole, American society is becoming more illiterate by the day - there is no reason for this, other than laziness or something - maybe they just don't care. Even the rich are becoming illiterate - they may have the money to buy a book about a subject, but they would rather pay to have someone else tell them about it.

I wonder if we will see a different class structure in the future - literates on one side, and illiterates on the other...?

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

This was a good hack and all, on Hughes' part. I followed this scene for a little while, but quickly became disenchanted when I saw how much time, money and effort was involved, to get free TV, essentially - seemed out of whack to me, so I dropped it long ago (though now I wonder where you can buy just the smart cards to play with - not to steal DSS, but to actually integrate in things - I mean, I can buy the slots all I want from Digi-Key... Anyone have links to real distributors who would sell to individuals?)...

What is scary about this is that Hughes is taking the law into their own hands. It seem innocuous enough - they just "destroyed" several thousand bits of hardware - but what is to stop large companies in the future from "arresting" people for doing things they don't like? How far can this warfare go, when corporate Amerika is able to push through laws like the DMCA, the UCITA, etc? What happens when corporatism becomes the LAW?

This is just the first step - look for M$ to try doing something similar in the future - look for other large companies to try this as well, with all sorts of products - then look for them to really start coming after people...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

You won't find anything on TOMY's site - nor will you find anything if you call them up. I did - boy did I. I tried for three months to find information on getting schematics (a service manual, something!) on my Omnibot 2000. No luck...

They appeared to not even remember to have created and sell such a device (along with a whole host of other wonders, such as the Tomy Armatron). These were they people you expected to bring home real consumer home robots, but alas...it wasn't to be...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I made sounds for a game I created several years back - it just isn't that hard. Most of the sounds I created with my mouth alone. Some sounds were mixed, reversed, sped up or slowed down - sometimes all forms were used.

When I am out and about, I try to listen for cool sounds, or sound locations - where I might be able to get a sound I couldn't get otherwise (one of the labs at MetroTech here in Phoenix has an air conditioner that rumbles like you wouldn't believe - the sound would be perfect for a background ambient loop for corridors in, say, a starship).

The majority of sounds can be had for free - just go and get a good cassette deck, and a good microphone, and have some fun (BTW - try using other things instead of a microphone, like wiring a speaker in reverse - also, remember to use 60Hz hum to your advantage - near a motor, things can get wacky - like a fan).

Getting sounds is the easy part - it's knowing when and where to integrate them into the game that is tough...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

OK - I will try those, and do a little more research on my own for OLEDs...

I don't think that pattern recognition would be needed for more than gesture recognition - the main thing would be using two cameras to track a point in 3D, and working out the X/Y/Z and yaw/pitch/roll of the "part" being tracked. A body suit to track using, say potentiometers or strain gauges would have to be pretty well fitting - but still, you face error issues, because of the way skin (and the suit) would stretch and move about the joints and such (now, maybe if you could mount it to the bones - ouch!). But, it could be cheaper. I figure that if you can already track a single point with cameras, you can track a whole bunch - so just glue those points onto the body. Use 3M reflective tape, and "light" the user up with IR (or near IR) light - and remove any IR filters from the cameras. The points should stand out well.

Thanks for the link and info about JG - I hadn't tried that one. I sent an email to Raytheon asking for information - if he still worked there. If I don't get a response, I will try the school as well.

My hope is to get a CD-ROM or such with all the articles on it, in some document format, that I could turn into PDFs or HTML, and put up on my site for others to use. At minimum, I would like to put up selected articles. But, I have to get permission before I can legally do this (one thing I wonder - if I can never contact him, can I legally re-publish, as long as I can prove that I tried everything I could to contact him? - Ahh, an issue for a lawyer, no doubt)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

What places sell these (OLEDs)? - I wouldn't mind knowing myself...

I think for the full body thing you could get by with a better QuickCam type device doing 640x480 - maybe use multiple ones on USB and custom software. Or, have a video capture card (like a WinTV or similar), and some kind of video switcher to swap between cameras. Your biggest issue is once again, the software needed to make it work (two cameras could track a point in 3D space, though - in theory).

The link you gave to the Images Company seems neat - I will have to go over that site with a fine-toothed comb, later...

My HMD is a cheapo Stuntmaster - my original one cost me $250.00, open-box item at Best Buy - I bought it in late 1993, when it first came out. You can now sometimes get them on Ebay and other places for less than $50.00 (my other two cost me less than $50.00 for both). It isn't great, but boy is it cheap! The optics and LCDs from the other system I got from Halted a couple of years back (www.halted.com). When Victormaxx went out of business, Halted bought a bunch of the parts, which were quickly snatched up. I managed to get some, enough to build a single HMD. It is also possible to build a fairly good quality HMD using hand-held TVs and such. Takes a lot of work, but is supposedly worth it in the end (PCVR ran quite a few articles on doing this).

I didn't get the email you sent me: Did you send it to the right address? Remember to take out the NOSPAM (some people forget)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

It actually is an advancement over the tech used in the Matrix. It is pretty cool, too - too bad I am not a huge football fan by any means.

Essentially, in the Matrix still cameras were used, all fired in sequence, aranged "around" the point of action. This "in action" panning strip was then enhanced/scrubbed with a computer to make it cleaner, and more presentable.

What is being done in the Superbowl is similar - but replace each still camera with a video camera, and feed the frames in a computer. Now, as the action is going on at the "action point", you have 33 streams, all from different angles, running and capturing frames. Now, think of these strips of frames - if you played all 33 in sync (so that frame 1 of strip A is played at the same time as frame 1 of strip B), and switched "along" the sequence of the 33 cameras, you could get full video along those points, at any angle. Or, you could show various angles (as seen from camera 27). Pan from 1 to 33, while moving the video forward, or reverse, and you have full motion panning, through time, along an arc.

Then, the CBS engineers go one step further - they have mounted all of these video cameras on robotic pan/tilt/zoom platforms - very precise platforms - all working in concert to all point at the same 3D coordinate in the stadium. I would imagine the software to be quite complex to manage all of that, to manage the calculations, the control, the capture, playback, review, etc. The system to store the video frame streams would have to be pretty huge as well, to do it all in real time, at TV quality, for over 30 streams. I mean, for one stream at 16 bit quality - 30 fps - say 640x480 video - for one second of video that would be 17 MB! Over 30 streams would be half a gig - every second! I would imagine a parallel video RAID-like system for this, to get a few seconds of video. Entirely doable, very custom, I would imagine.

I am sure these cameras can also be used in "teams" as well, or individually. I think (I could be wrong here) that the motion of the streams would cancel out the need to do real-time interpolation of the images as was done for the Matrix (which was done because the raw strip of images was very jumpy). I might be wrong about that, though (depending on how far apart the cameras are spaced would determine the jumpiness as well)...

All I can say, if what I am thinking is correct - is wow!

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

F...ing slashcode! There is supposed to be no blank space between the P and E on that second link...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

http://www.the-labs.com/Video/
http://rnvs.inform atik.tu-chemnitz.de/~jan/MPEG/MP EG_Play.html
http://www.dcc.uchile.cl/~chasan/ (this guy supposedly had a Java player, but it isn't there anymore)

And of course:

http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/index.html

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

While I doubt it is free, you might look at ClipStream, which is a Java based streaming system (so it can be done - now, is there an open source solution, and better yet, GPL'd?)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Couldn't some form of an applet on the client side handle this? Sure, it couldn't be very big images, but I would think it would be possible. You might have to come up with some custom streaming format, or use one currently available. I would imagine it depends on what you are trying to stream (a talking head, or an advertisement, or something else), to determine what kind of quality you want in the end. I think it would be possible though to write some server code and a java applet that could handle it all (though only at a low to medium quality).

I thought I remember seeing this done a long while back, when applets were everywhere, Real was just starting out, and streaming video was still an "idea" for later...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Very interesting column - I think that is the first I have heard about using UV to ionize the air - can this info on Tesla using it with klieg lights be verified in any way (I have the major Tesla books, so if somebody can give me a reference)...

I have heard about building a funky "smoke-ring" gun, that shoots ammonia gas rings, thereby setting up a path to "shoot" a branch of lightning down with a Tesla coil.

As far as the voice-to-skull (VTS) tech is concerned - I ran across this, and started investigating what I could dig up on the net - NASA has done research on it, and I read about the modulated microwave experiments, and there are patents out for ultrasonic versions (in which ultrasound acts as the carrier wave, and the ultrasounds is attenuated and stripped from the sound source via the skull).

Some strange stuff out there they don't want you to know about!

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PCVR was a very small magazine - though they did start to get "slick" towards the end (even had a full color front and back!). Like I said, good luck in finding it. I will look at the address you sent, but I have probably already tried to contact it. I did a very deep search...

Yeah, I started looking into Waldern/Virtuality connection - they are still in business - as CyberMind (http://www.cybermind.co.uk/).

From what I understand, there are transmitting "antennas" (basically each is a loop antenna, probably several turns) in the base of the unit, and each sensor has three orthogonally aligned coils in it (very small, many hundred turn coils). Each antenna is "pulsed", and each coil in the sensor is read to get a reading. The phase angle of the pulse in each coil indicates the orientation of the sensor, while the strength (amplitude) of the pulse indicates distance from that particular coil. At minimum, three pulses are required for a full reading (where all three of the orthogonal coils are read at one time), or maximum, nine pulses are required (three from each base coil to each coil in the sensor). Then a ton of math is performed to determine the distance from the base coil to the sensor, and orientation. Someone once sent me some math for my "idea" at implementing this - I may have it up on my site (maybe)...

If you are going to work with a manufacturer to build these things (the OLED displays), are you thinking of building a whole "ton" of them - in order to get the cost down (ie, this is not homebrew VR at this point, it is commercial R&D in VR)?

The camera/digitizing system could be used for full body VR interaction, and has seen a little bit of homebrew use (look into the Mandela system - IIRC - and there was also a game controlled by movements seen by a Quickcam). Most of the expense would be in writing the software to interpret the motions, but it can be done with reasonably powerful hardware.

Force feedback at the hand level is complicated, simply because of the bulk. I am sure, homebrew wise, it would be cheap enough to try a piezo/muscle wire combo to product feedback.

Regarding needing the hardware before the software - that was my dillema - I had the hardware, but no way to get the VGA signal to the HMD (I going old-skool route here). I finally picked up an Averkey iMicro, and it works great with my HMD (currently a hacked Stuntmaster, but later will be trying the Halted specialty - ie, Cybermaxx optics and displays, all canned in a custom HMD - I am also toying with the idea of taking two Stuntmaster displays, and building one HMD). Now that I have a display, I want to put together the rest of the hardware (including an interesting sourceless head tracking device that I have planned), so I can do the coding for...

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And would be praised by amateur astronomers (and probably a few professionals as well):

Turn off a few (actually, many) of those damn lights in cities and towns!

I live on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona, and the glow from the light in the city is INSANE. All night long, lights are on. Most of these are unneeded - security lights that don't really provide security, merely the illusion of it. Lights that point up onto billboards, instead of down from above. If these lights were installed and designed in a proper manner, fewer could be used to achieve the same desired result, at a savings of energy at night.

How about using LED lights for stop lights? How about designing homes for the environment (ie, small windows on the south/east/west sides - solar cooling, etc)? How about using more fluorescent lights and other energy efficient lights?

Really, the thing is to use less light, not more - we get all kinds of free light most days in most areas, yet we still light up the insides of offices with electricity! Does anyone remember the fiber optic light pipes used in Japan? From sun tracking collectors on the roof, sunlight could be piped into rooms via fiber. Solatubes work in a cruder, though less expensive, fashion.

I know this isn't the complete answer, and I don't want to do away with electric light. I am sure there are a bunch of other things that could be done, but using less electric lights would go a long way...

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Good luck in find PCVR - if you are ever able to track down the publisher (Joseph Gradecki), let him know about me, and that I am interested in talking with him about republishing PCVR. Like I said, I have all the copies, but no legal ground to stand on trying to republish. I sent a letter to his last known address (I got it from his publisher of a recent book on network gaming he did), and received it back "return to sender".

I am not sure if you can distribute the database this way or not (via an RMI model). Sure sounds like it would be worth pursuing. Really what you are talking about is building a distributed database model, and miniturising the interface hardware (by this I mean the hardware and software that works on the world model).

The pods you speak of (Waldern-style? Never heard of it, but sounds suspiciously like W Industries former design - is that where the W comes from?) are not designed that way so much for tracking, but for keeping the participants from hurting themselves. It is actually a nice design. But the tracking doesn't rely on the pods. You see, there are sensors placed on the HMD, the glove/handheld wand/joystick, and perhaps even the fanny pack (though this is unlikely, as the player doesn't really need to know which way their body is oriented, only the head and hand(s)). These sensors contain coils that sense electromagnetic pulses, and based on the orientation and distance of the sensor, and some complex math, determine the yaw/pitch/roll and x/y/z of the sensor. It doesn't matter if you do the calculation on the body or off the body, though if you could put everything on the body (like an ultimate wearable), then you would only need one link to the outside - wired or wireless.

I don't think you will be able to build what you are asking for what you are asking. A lot of the professional HMDs use an optical system known as LEEP - which, from what I understand, manages to give a bright and wide FOV, with low distortion. It is a very high-tech set of optics, and they don't come cheap. Those that don't use this system, still use fairly expensive optics. If you want to know what professional optics cost, take a look sometime in an Edmond Scientific Optics catalog, and be amazed. A high quality prism can set you back $20-50 dollars easily!

BTW - how were you going to use OLEDs? Do they make these in panels? Or only single "lights"? If it is the latter, then you will be facing the challenge of either building your own panel (good luck), or making a scanning system. Either way will be too expensive.

Powergloves are hard to come by - I actually think the glove paradigm is only good for a few special cases (mainly where you need to manipulate things), though such devices hold promise of acting as a good interface (ie, hand/finger signals). You could build your own glove, and even build your own sensing system - perhaps using IR sensors, or using a camera and digitising software, or other means. The camera system would be good from the standpoint that it is the most lightweight - you would probably not have to wear anything to use it - or at worst, a colored lycra glove.

I really don't think the main costs are in the designing of the hardware for homebrew VR. While the upfront costs of these components can be expensive, what really will cost is the software. VR is very much a multi-displined art right now - to participate, one must, almost without exception, be a deft with a soldering iron as one is with code. This is only because there is so little off-the-shelf hardware and parts to incorporate easily in the design, and what little there is, may not work with your platform of software (ie, the Powerglove is meant for the Nintendo - but it has to be hacked for the PC, and only there will it work up to a 486 - because the drivers have hard-coded timing loops, due to the bit-banger interface - one would have to recode for this, or build a hardware interface, like the Menelli box).

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Yeah - I heard about this a while back, and my GF's friend's daughter ('s barber's cousin's brother...) has it. That is the only install of it I have seen in the entire valley. The picture is good (same as COX Digital), but the menuing options and other things aren't as refined.

There is no advertisement that I have found anywhere in the valley for this service. I am not even sure why they offer it...

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While this is a good thing and all for Linux advocacy to the unwashed masses of PHBs, it really is only as good as the announcement.

I won't consider Compaq, Dell or any others to be truely supporting Linux until:

a. Linux is an option in paper catalogs.
b. A server w/Linux pre-installed costs less than the equivalent NT version.

I only say this because I would think PHBs and CTOs look more at paper catalogs than anything online (ooh - glossy paper)...

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I would have to say, during my high school years, was a man by the name of Peter Schwartz (I think that is the spelling). He was my high school physics teacher, during my senior year (at Bakersfield High School, in 1990-91). I don't say he was my best teacher because he helped me in any particular way (not that he helped me to learn difficult physics concepts - he did), but how I saw him act as a teacher.

He was a "strange" individual - and he truely was an individual, going against the grain in every respect. He tended to wear strange clothing (one day he came in with two different color socks - both were a hideous orange and green plaid, but a different pattern on each). He was a vegetarian (he once had for lunch a brocoli and garlic yogurt - one guy in our class said he tried it, and it wasn't bad - but it didn't sound good). He rode his bike to school - every day - no matter how cold, rainy or foggy it was. He would help students any time of the day, and stay as long as was necessary to help a student (even to 9 or 10pm!), then he would ride his bike back home. He was a dedicated teacher. He always made experiments in physics interesting - it was always hands on (one experiment he helped us to do, at the end of finals - was quantitatively figuring out the mass of an electron - using an old ocilloscope and some other equipment and algorithms. I remember that the mass that was found was only off by a couple of magnitudes - which is not that big of a deal, given the equipment we had to work with). He was a very dedicated teacher.

I don't think one student left that class without learning something - from the smartest individual, to the dumbest (or least interested).

He only taught there for that one year, as a break away from his work on his doctorate (I believe) thesis involving plasma physics (using a Tokamak at PPL) - from what he told us, he couldn't complete his work because someone fried the startup capacitor bank. He had the incomplete thesis in class - huge thing. From what I understand, he had degrees from both MIT and Princeton, had done the Peace Corp thing - and was teaching us. His age: 25.

Our school lost a great individual when he left after that year. It was truely a loss. I caught up with him later via email at the PPL - he told me he was doing reseach in Materials Science. Don't know what he is doing now.

If you read this Mr. Schwartz - I thank you for the impact you had on all of us. Good luck in your future life...

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Ok, this is understandable - but something must be done to keep that list from being used as a mailing list (or resold as a mailing list)...

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It has absolutely nothing to do with copying - it's whole reason for existance is for content control. The only part they never mention is that it wouldn't have teeth if not for the DMCA and in the future, if more states pas it, the UCITA...

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The Robin Hollands book is actually one of the better ones out there. It is really too bad that you can't get back issues of PCVR anymore. I have all of them, and the info available in them is nothing short of amazing.

Even with those specs, the PSC1000 is still just a small CPU - it sounds like it would make a great system for robotics, though. I imagine you could build a dedicated VR system, but it will be a TON of development work. You state it would be tailored to the task, but in the end, it is a VR system running on the CPU. You say it would be better than VR->Windows->DOS->i386, but the fat of the matter is I wouldn't build a VR system that way anyhow. An ideal VR system will have multiple boxes: One handling input, one handling video, one handling audio, a controller box, and a backend DB server. Emphasis would be placed on the graphics, controller, and DB server. I would put an RTOS on the graphics, audio, and input servers, the rest could be normal OS machines. Have them all communicate via 100BaseT ethernet over a switch. Essentially a distributed processing system.

High-end HMDs are expensive mainly due to the resolution and optics used - were talking quality stuff here. I consider an HMD high-end when it starts to cost over $1000.00 - maybe a bit higher (some of the mid-range HMDs have come down in price). Consumer HMDs can't compare.

LCDs aren't outdated for homebrew HMDs. A couple of nice TFT LCDs from a couple of hand-held TV's can actually give great results, much better than what was affordable in 1991. It is also possible to get small full color CRT displays for a resonable price. Even shutter glasses can be good, once you start homebrewing your own CAVE system (not that I have ever done such, but it is possible).

I can see using the device as part of a system - maybe as one of those "boxes" I mentioned, since you could actually make it real-time or near real-time with custom coding. With enough of them, your final box might very well be the backend DB server, and the graphics display box (I am thinking something like a 1 GHz machine with a very nice 3D accelerator on it). Doing calcs for some of the hard stuff would be nice too, to get the data as a serial stream in regular ASCII format. But for triangulation, you obviously don't need to use something like this - the Powerglove gave the information in units properly, and it didn't need such a processor. I would say a PIC would suffice for that stuff.

If you manage to create anything interesting, let me know - I would love to learn more about it...

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I hate spam (gee, can you tell?) - but so far we have to live with it. The only spam I allow to go through is that in which the TO: contains my real email address. And half the time, that gets deleted as well.

Send only text messages - I hate adverts that have to spend time download crap from another site.

Put [adv] in the subject line, so that those who want to filter for advertisements can.

Put a real return address on it, and honor the requests from people who ask to be removed from the list - and actually remove them - don't just set a flag saying they were removed. Don't build up a second list, either.

Provide real contact info on the email - Name of company, address, phone numbers - in short, make it look like a professional piece of correspondance. Anything less is just crap.

Now, if you did this, and sent the email to me - would I like it, as it is obviously SPAM? Probably not, unless you were really selling something I wanted. But I would be more respectful toward the way you handled it than if you didn't...

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I can't remember the title, but it was for the Atari 2600 - I played it as a kid on my uncle's system.

I remember that you were a dot or something, and you went around these "rooms" collecting treasures and avoiding traps. There were so many treasure, like a diamond, and things - and each room was like a maze, or a trap - with walls, etc. I remember one room had these walls that if you didn't time it right, would crush you between them.

It was called "Treasure of the ???" or something similar (maybe it was a single word?).

I know this is very vague and all, but if someone could tell me, or give me a "possibles" list (or links to screenshots, maybe) - that would be real helpful. I have been searching for this game for a loooong time, and maybe this guy has it?

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The article noted that the idea of creating a spherical motor has been around for a while, but that the placement of the magnets was what was holding it back. They go on to say that the key was equidistant placement of the magnets...

This sounds wrong to me - they have great minds working on this, but no one in a long time thinks about placing the magnets equally distant from each other (sorta like, uh, I don't know - like a NORMAL AXIAL MOTOR?)...

They also go on to say that the math to equidistantly place the magnets was difficult, but did anyone see that the pattern looked similar to that of the vertices of a geodesic sphere? The math for creating geodesic spheres has been around for quite a while...

I am not saying this couldn't be a useful invention - but something just seems odd that it took so long to create (looking at it, I bet you could build one yourself using parts from a hardware store, All Electronics, and the pet store - for hamster play balls)...

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Basically, this chip is a 32 bit CPU - so you are asking how you build VR hardware out of a CPU? Short answer is, you don't - you need a whole lot more than just a CPU (though it might make for an interesting starting point).

Cheap VR hardware isn't built from the ground up in this fashion. While it is feasible to build cheaper HMDs in this manner, you would still be using mostly OTS (off the shelf) hardware for the display electronics. Building your own display (I am not talking the optics, etc - just the display) is a possibility, but you will spend a bit of money and time doing it (it is simply the scale of manufacturing - it is always more expensive to build just one, than it is to build a whole mess, and this savings really is passed on to the customer, in an OTS item - like an LCD TV - that you would use in a VR system).

I am not trying to discourage you - if you have the money and the time, by all means go for it. But what you are asking would be akin to asking "Hey guys, I have this bolt here - how do I go about building a car with it?".

In closing, I would like to add that if you are really interested in cheap, homebrew VR techniques, check out my site. I have a ton of collected information there, that you would probably find very useful in pursuit of low-cost VR.

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While production costs between hardbacks and softbacks aren't much different, you do get more value with a hardback. Typically, hardbacks use a better paper, and of course the binding is better, plus the hardbacking protects the book more.

If it is a book you are likely to keep a long time (more than 5 years), get it in hardback. While paperbacks last that long and longer, I have seen some go yellow inside that time (though I do have paperbacks from the 50's that look just fine, go figure). Typically, a hardback book will litterally last a lifetime (and longer).

Actually, if I had my choice, some of the books I have would be on vellum with hard leather or wooden covers (such as my hardback copies of Tolkien). However, since I am not rich and can't get the custom printing and binding done, this will probably be forever a dream...

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Ah, so that's what happened. I just say this because one of my former employers used to have a Prime mini-computer cabinet - big thing - they used it mainly as a rack mount cabinet. Was beige, with a red strip across the top in front, with white lettering reading "Big Red" - I still don't know what that means...

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You got modded up as "Insightful" - can you explain you comment? Exactly how does it bypass the "need"? Are you saying this because you can hook it up to a monitor (potentially higher res)? Or for some other reason?

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this...

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One guy I have talked with who is supposed to be getting one of these boxes lives in Argentina - and he says the PAL standard there is different from the European standard. I haven't been able to find anything that says whether the PAL standard on the box will work in Argentina. Does anyone have any experience with this?

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I have given it some thought, but the whole reasoning behind going with an open source, Free OS was so my contact could sell off his boxes, without the Liberate/VxWorks stuff on board (he said it was because of contractual reasons/licensing concerns). However, maybe getting that demo to work would be good - if we can get it onto a hard drive - and transfer it over to the flash ram (the device doesn't have a floppy drive - except for some funky one that plugs into the parallel port, which I haven't seen yet)...

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Thanks for the info - would you care to write up something I could stick in the FAQ - or could I just pop what you wrote in? This is definitely going to have to be something I try later on.

I guess why people think only a dual-NIC solution will work is because people are used to thinking in terms of "pipes" - forgetting that it can go both ways on a network. A one NIC firewall/router - now I am definitely going to have to set one up...

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I saw about four MicroVaxen (I don't know if they were the II or not - big boxes, though) down at Apache Reclamation here in Phoenix. They were all wrapped in plastic, and looked nearly brand new. On top of each was what I guess was a system console - a TRS-80 Model IV...

I wished I could have bought one of those, but at the time I was in an apartment, and it would've taken up my entire office. That, and the fact that I had no way to unload it off my truck...

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From what I understand (and I haven't had a chance to verify it yet), if you boot it with it plugged into a TV only, it will activate the TV, otherwise only the monitor is activated only.

Also, when using the monitor, yes - you can view TV signals (so yeah, I guess this would be a way of using your monitor as a TV)...

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