Point, Shoot and Translate into English

The 102nd Dumbest Moment in Business by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 14:55 · Score: -1, Offtopic

The 102nd Dumbest Moment in Business

Slashdot creates a pay-for-no-ads service

"Even worse, advertisers will choose a site because they are interested in targeting people who are most interested
in the content. And those are precisely the people who this site can no longer deliver to the advertisers.
"

And they still have not fixed the page widening bug!

Are YOU getting your moneys worth from Sla$hdot!?!?!?

Copy, paste, and widen the page! by Klerck · 2002-03-14 14:55 · Score: -1

Re:Copy, paste, and widen the page! by Luke+SkyTroller · 2002-03-14 15:05 · Score: -1

Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about. I mean, if you don't like it you can always go buy one of those new ultra wide 16'x 22" monitors sony just put on the market. With mine, I never even notice.
Re:Copy, paste, and widen the page! by real_b0fh · 2002-03-14 15:45 · Score: -1

LOL

you rock.

--
"Contrary to popular belief, UNIX is user friendly. It just happens to be selective on who it makes friendship with"
Re:Copy, paste, and widen the page! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:40 · Score: 0

bummer

page widening no longer is supported by my browser
Re:Copy, paste, and widen the page! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:48 · Score: 0

HAHAHA! your shit gets wrapped in mozilla 0.9.9. My page is no wider than usual. so you suck.

What we need to do: nuke Mecca! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 14:56 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Lots of sentiment for nuking Mecca. Moderates opt for something more along these lines: "Baghdad and Tehran would be the likeliest sites for a first strike. If we have clean enough bombs to assure a pinpoint damage area, Gaza City and Ramallah would also be on list. Damascus, Cairo, Algiers, Tripoli and Riyadh should be put on alert that any signs of support for the attacks in their cities will bring immediate annihilation." Then there are those who think we really can't do too much differently than what were doing now (my original proposition).

This is a tough one, and I don't know quite what to think. Mecca seems extreme, of course, but then again few people would die and it would send a signal. Religions have suffered such catastrophic setbacks before. As for the Saudis, my only thought is that if we're going to hold them responsible for terrorism, we had better start doing it now, not after an even more catastrophic attack. And, as a general matter, the time for seriousness--including figuring out what we would do in retaliation, so maybe it can have some slight deterrent effect--is now rather than after thousands and thousands more American casualties.

bad for long trips... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 14:58 · Score: 0

going down the highway having to stop for 15 seconds every quarter mile or so really makes that 70 mph speed limit rather slow

Re:bad for long trips... by Timid_Monkey · 2002-03-14 16:13 · Score: 1

Which foreign countries would have speed limits of 70 mph? Remember, the rest of the world has wisened up and switched to the metric system looooong ago! Which brings up up question...

Say you ARE driving down some foreign street and you use your nifty pocket pc to read perhaps a French sign that something to the likes of, "100 kilometres per heure". Wouldn't it be the "American" thing to do, to not only translate the (simple, I know), sign, but also to convert it into mph so we silly Americans don't blow a brain fuse?
Re:bad for long trips... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 21:32 · Score: 0

No, because the car you are driving in will not have a speedometer that reads in miles per hour, it will read in kilometers per hour.

Cool by crumbz · 2002-03-14 15:00 · Score: 1

I can't wait until that is embedded in a contact lens.

Augmented Reality by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:02 · Score: 0

This story conjures up images in my mind of a person walking dowm the street with a wearable computer and visor-mounted display, having a good belly laugh at everything around him whilst passers-by look on in bemusement. He's laughing because he's configured his translator to run everything through English->Foo->English translation.

I wonder if you could use this... by khog · 2002-03-14 15:02 · Score: 1

...while driving.

--
http://www.yourmothernaked.com

Re:I wonder if you could use this... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 03:14 · Score: 0

Not a chance. Not until the response is immediate. You see a sign, and....... 15 seconds after the sign goes by at 60mph, you get a response telling you what the sign was that you saw 1/4 mile back. The translation information would need to reside locally in order to have that sort of response.

(sorry for the US units, I'm in the US)

Music Time! by j0nkatz · 2002-03-14 15:03 · Score: -1

Steady Trollin'" by j0nkatz

Original song "Steady Mobin'" by Ice Cube 

God damn, the bigger the Troll the bigger the peelin 
And when dealin with the GiZ Mob you gots to know 
Steady Trollin' is not just the name of this jam, but a way of life 
Bound together by motherfuckers that's known 
to troll em off somethin, give it to me 

Four or five trollers in a mothership 
Better known as a goose and we all wanna first post shit 
Bent, front and back glass got tint 
Tryin to get our hands on some dollars and cents 
And /. can't hold us 
Every chance we get, we hittin up the posters 
Comin up short of the green guys 
And I might start slangin cow pies 
Or the bootleg t-shirt of the month 
With "All Your Bases" on the front 
I'm bout to get rich 
Cause life ain't nuttin but money and fuck a bitch 
They drop like dominoes 
And if you didn't know, j0nkatz got drama hoes 
So after the screwin 
I bust a nut and get up and put on my Doc Martins 
I'm out the do' 
All you might get is a rubber on the floor 
Cause I'm ready to hit the road like Richard Petty 
Bitch, cause I'm steady Trollin' 

Bustin caps in Holland 
Rather be judged by twelve than carried by six 
Cause I'm gettin major 
Fuck Red Hat, move to MSFT 
Told all my friends 
Don't drink Mad Dog, cause Mogan David is givin ends 
Fools get drunk and wanna compete 
First Postin' in the street 
Posters get mad, tempers are flarin 
cause they got a few cats starin 
Just at my genitals 
But scandalous bitches, make for happy /. Ed's 
I'm making my duty to cuss em 
out, cause I just don't trust em 
And if you tell on me I'm bombin on Timmy 
Bitch shoulda known I was steady Trollin' 

Since one-time so hot 
Got me a stash spot in my hooptie for the glock 
And I'm rollin on rims 
Eating sushi, and hot grits down Portman's pants 
Grumblin like a motherfucker 
Greasy-ass lips, now I gots to take a shit 
Saw Cyborg_Monkey bailin' 
When I hit a left, I moved felon, 'Whattup loc?' 
Don't you know that Trollers get smoked 
That take they life for a joke, get in home slice 
I take you to the pad zoom 
Went to mom's house and dropped a load in the bathroom 
Jumped back in my low rider 
Comin out feelin about ten pounds lighter 
Went to MFS's house so I can get the gat 
His is the place where all the hoes kick it at 
GiZ Mob ain't nuttin but tramps 
But hoes lickin us like stamps 
One fool brought the music for the yams 
But j0nkatz had more amps, get in Fent 
Cause I had the jam on 
And I don't want to hear shit about a tampon 
Give me the nappy and make me happy 
Kathleen said 'Pappy could you slap me 
on the ass hard and fast 
and could please try not to leave a gash?' 
I said yeah, but I don't play sex 
When I'm putting on the latex 
Slipped on the condom 
Fucked around and dropped the bomb son 
And it came out sort of like confetti 
In for the night, no longer steady Trollin'

--
Don't mod me, bro'!!!!

Re:Music Time! by Commienst · 2002-03-14 17:01 · Score: -1

Post in Htmtl Formatted and not text, buddy.

--

I am into the copy and paste.
Re:Music Time! by j0nkatz · 2002-03-16 07:27 · Score: -1

well when i do this it tells me my lines are too short.

--
Don't mod me, bro'!!!!

Augmented Reality Porn by mikosullivan · 2002-03-14 15:03 · Score: 5, Funny

You walk down the street and the cute girls are modified so that they appear interested in you.

... oh wait, we already have beer for that.

-Miko

--
Miko O'Sullivan

Re:Augmented Reality Porn by bje2 · 2002-03-14 15:26 · Score: 1

I was thinking more like you walk down the street and all girls are modified so they appear cute... ...but beer does that too...

--

"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
Re:Augmented Reality Porn by sean23007 · 2002-03-14 16:30 · Score: 2

I though beer just made the girls who are interested in you appear cute?

--

Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
Re:Augmented Reality Porn by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:00 · Score: 0

I'd like a gadget that you point at a girlie and it spits out the optimum pick-up line.
Re:Augmented Reality Porn by shri · 2002-03-14 22:14 · Score: 1

Check this out .. Lovege.

TOKYO -- On the streets of Shibuya, Shinjuku and other popular teenage hangout districts in Japan, the days of composing a provocative pick-up line and mustering the courage to utter it smoothly are on their way out. Young lovers are letting Lovegety do the talking for them. It was only a matter of time before the male and female Tamagotchi, toys that hook together to breed kids, would spawn another animal. And this one is at least as popular as its ancestors. "In the two and a half months since the product entered markets, we've already shipped 350,000 Lovegetys. Right now we can't produce enough of them to meet demand," says Takeya Takafuji, executive of Erfolg, the company that manufactures Tamagotchi and Lovegety. Affectionately called the "Lovege," the oval device has three buttons the user sets according to the kind of activity she or he has in mind: "talk," "karaoke," and "get2." (The latter is a wildcard -- but perhaps could mean "get to it.") Once the holder selects a mode, the device searches for Lovegety holders of the opposite sex in a five meter radius. If it locates a holder with the same mode, the "get" light flashes and the device beeps, so the pair can find each other.

Timeline by Renraku · 2002-03-14 15:03 · Score: 1

This can't be too far away, then. in Michael Crichton's "Timeline," they have little earbuds that can translate spoken words into something that the wearer can understand, on the fly. If only we had something like this in reality. Not too much farther away...

--
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?

Re:Timeline by Dimensio · 2002-03-14 15:15 · Score: 2

What, are you suggesting that the Babel Fish is fictional?

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STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
Re:Timeline by tchdab1 · 2002-03-15 04:46 · Score: 1

realtime is a long way away.
And 15 seconds is a long time to wait. In my car I would be a 1/4 mile away by the time I knew where I had decided to go.
Re:Timeline by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 08:03 · Score: 0

The proposition of this happening at any time in the future may be considered optimistic to say the least. All you need to do is look at the current methods using text, such as babelfish, and you'll realize how far there is to go. Many times people who make comments about so called Machine Translation have no clue what is actually involved in the process. It involves resolving between many ambiguities. This is heightened in spoken translation, where homophones must also be accounted for.

Take for instance the following sentence: "It's in the pen." Do you know what it was talking about? Would you even if I told you what "it" was? A pen could mean a pig pen, or it could mean a writing instrument. Granted, if you knew I was talking about a spring, you'd know it was a writing instrument, but teaching a computer to know that is no trivial task.

For more info, visit http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/clmt/MTbook/

Augmented Reality ... by LL · 2002-03-14 15:04 · Score: 1

I believe Linux Conf Australia had a speaker (see http://www.linux.org.au/conf/abstracts.html#tinmit h) who discussed converting predefined glyphs into 3D overlays. Extending this capability to a wider set of real-world signage would be a worthy project for the Linux-based PSX2 and it would require insane amounts of image processing.

LL

A voice enabled translation tool by darnellmc · 2002-03-14 15:04 · Score: 2, Informative

Go to News.com and click the link on the right side of the page that says "Does your PDA parler français?". It is video for a translation device. It's pretty amazing.

The guy was talking into it in English and this thing repeats the words in the selected language.

I'm sure it's far from perfect, but this thing is like one step closer to some Star Trek like technology in regards to translation.

Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Peyna · 2002-03-14 15:21 · Score: 1

Does your PDA to speak french? They could have at least used the right conjugation for 3rd person present tense: parle.
I refuse to accept such a level of American-centric reporting, especially when it contains such blatant grammatical errors as these. Bah!

--
What?
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 16:15 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Ah, who cares. It's only the French.

In fact, I think everyone should intentionally start butchering francais just because it annoys them so much.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Ctrl-Z · 2002-03-14 16:34 · Score: 1

What's the problem? That's perfectly valid franglais.

--
www.timcoleman.com is a total waste of your time. Never go there.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Peyna · 2002-03-14 16:55 · Score: 2

'parler' is an infinitive, and doesn't fit in the sentence, it should be 'parle'. I just found it amusing that it had to do with translation, and had something simple like that incorrect. oh well.

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What?
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:32 · Score: 0

Yay, someone else whining about a USA-centric site...Is this becoming a new pasttime for non-Americans now?

Just deal with or don't read the damn sites, geez.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:44 · Score: 0

If you surrendering weenies would just learn The Language problems like this would go away.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 18:09 · Score: 0

I was being sarcastic, couldn't you tell? It was a quick 1 line satire.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Peyna · 2002-03-14 18:19 · Score: 2

and what would The Language be? English is only the 3rd most widely spoken language in the world. Chinese/Mandarin is the most at about 900 million, Spanish has about 330 million, and English has around 320 million. If you include all the different dialects of Indian languages, I'm sure they would well surpass English as well.
Besides, while English may be the United States 'official language' in practice, there really is no such thing.
The ACLU has good information about language and the United States here.
The other end of the spectrum (wanting the country to go entirely English speaking and nothing else, is available here.

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What?
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 18:22 · Score: 0

American = Western Hemispherer (for the most part), not person living in the United States. Get it right.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by generic-man · 2002-03-14 20:22 · Score: 1

American
adj.
Of or relating to the United States of America or its people, language, or culture.
Of or relating to North or South America, the West Indies, or the Western Hemisphere.
Of or relating to any of the Native American peoples.
Indigenous to North or South America. Used of plants and animals.

n.
A native or inhabitant of America.
A citizen of the United States.
American English.

American

\A*mer"i*can\, a. [Named from Americus Vespucius.] 1. Of or pertaining to America; as, the American continent: American Indians.

2. Of or pertaining to the United States. ``A young officer of the American navy.'' --Lyell.

American

\A*mer"i*can\, n. A native of America; -- originally applied to the aboriginal inhabitants, but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America, and especially to the citizens of the United States.

adj 1: of or relating to the United States of America or its people or language or culture; "American citizens"; "American English"; "the American dream" [syn: American] 2: of or relating to or characteristic of the continents and islands of the Americas; "the American hemisphere"; "American flora and fauna" [syn: American] n 1: a native or inhabitant of the United States [syn: American] 2: the English language as used in the US [syn: American English, American language, American] 3: a native or inhabitant of America [syn: American]

Get it right.

--
For more information, click here.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by blibbleblobble · 2002-03-15 01:46 · Score: 1

Saxoamerican or Usaian. No need to insult those from south and central america by calling Saxoamericans "Americans(tm)"
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 02:35 · Score: 0

No entry found for Saxoamerican.

No entry found for Usaian.

Now please go away, you stupid UKian troll.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by Peyna · 2002-03-15 04:51 · Score: 2

Yep, if you read the first definition, American should be used in the same way that Asian, European, and African are. A German is also a European, but being a European does not make him a German anymore than being an American makes someone a United States Citizen. I *believe* Fidel Castro is even an American (not sure if those islands are included in the continent or not).
Anyway, the point is "American" is amibigous. It doesn't apply solely to the United States, it applies to the entire N/S American continents. It's just that so many people use "American" and "United Statesian" synonymously that it is listed as such in the dictionary, and so many people accept it that way. I can see why, "United Statesian" just doesn't roll of the tongue. Nor does Usian. However, many people in South America refer to USian's as: estadounidense, which is basically "United Statesian".
Anyway, the point is, the US does not have sole rights to the use of the term America, American, etc., and should not treat them as such. You should always consider the fact that what you mean and how others perceive it will not always be the same, and therefore, by referring to something as American, you are making quite a broad generalization, and could very well cause many problems you did not forsee.
I surely hope that people like you aren't the ones doing excessive business with our friends in Latin America. Maybe you should consult an anthropologist on this one, eh?

--
What?
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by DimitryP · 2002-03-15 05:41 · Score: 1

English is, however, the language of international commercial aviation and shipping.

--
Guns are like umbrellas and condoms. Better to have one and not need it, than need it and not have one.
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by blibbleblobble · 2002-03-15 10:12 · Score: 1

As Mr Twain said, "if you can only think of one way to spell something, you lack imagination"

Now go away and hide in your vocabulary-crippled cave, where only dictionary.com words are allowed
Re:A voice enabled translation tool by ccmay · 2002-03-15 16:09 · Score: 1

English is only the 3rd most widely spoken language in the world
You are not quite correct here. English may be the 3rd most common native language (or more likely 2nd), but when you count those who speak it as a second or third language, it is by far the most commonly spoken language in the world. At least a billion people are conversant in English.
around 320 million.
I have a hard time believing that the English-speaking populations of North America, the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Caribbean, etc. add up to only 320 million, even if you count only mother-tongue speakers. In fact, I know this is horse shit. Where do you get such numbers? The true number is closer to 380 million.
(and how convenient that it comes in just under the supposed 330 million Spanish speakers. I smell a leftist political agenda...)
If you include all the different dialects of Indian languages, I'm sure they would well surpass English as well.
If your auntie had bollocks, she'd be your uncle. We're talking about individual languages here. There are hundreds of dialects in India, but they are not necessarily mutually intelligible or even from the same language family, and it makes no sense to lump them as one language. Hindi has more in common with the Urdu spoken in Pakistan than it does with the Dravidian languages of southern India, to take only the most obvious example.
-ccm

--
Too much Law; not enough Order.

what if there's no connection by DimitryP · 2002-03-14 15:04 · Score: 1

i can see it being useful if you have some way of connecting, but without it, all you will get are some pictures of signs in a foreign language.

--
Guns are like umbrellas and condoms. Better to have one and not need it, than need it and not have one.

boobies by VAXGeek · 2002-03-14 15:04 · Score: -1, Offtopic

boobies should be like recognized at long range!

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this sig limit is too small to put anything good h

What I'd like to see... by Space+Coyote · 2002-03-14 15:05 · Score: 3, Interesting

...Would be a similar system that can use OCR to read street signs and then send the text to a voice synthesyzer. Seems like that would be endlessly useful for people with low vision who have trouble reading signs in awkward locations.

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___
Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.

Re:What I'd like to see... by gnarled · 2002-03-14 16:24 · Score: 1

As you crash into another can in an intersection you hear over your headphones your computer shout, "STOP!!" But its to late.

--
I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule. -Randal, Clerks
Re:What I'd like to see... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 03:17 · Score: 0

What I'd like to see is only people who understand how to drive doing the driving. There are too many people already on the roads who can't read the signs (whether posted speed limits, lanes ending, etc.). I also have a problem with a person with low vision driving. How can you possibly drive safely with bad vision? I'm sorry, those are the rules of the game people.

Slashdot, in the future *OOOOOH* by Serial+Troller · 2002-03-14 15:06 · Score: -1, Offtopic

2002. Slashdot publishes 1,000,000th rumor passed off as actual story. The story generates 480 comments, 263 of which agree with the article, and 107 of which point out its a rumor and are modded down as redundant. The remaining comments are all first posts.
2002. CmdrTaco married to Kathleen Fent. Many geeks believe Kathleen, a purported transvestite, outmeasures CmdrTaco.
2002. Slashdot parent corporation VA Research^W Linux^W Software stock worth 35 cents. Rumors that AOL, Microsoft, or even Jimmy the hobo who lives under the Longfellow Bridge may buy it.
2003. VA Software bought by Microsoft for a cup of coffee and a donut. All Microsoft-critical articles mysteriously disappear from Slashdot. Bill Gates as Borg logo replaced with Bill Gates as God.
2003. Papperatzi videos of Miguel de Icaza caught going down on Bill Gates in his private yacht spread across Usenet. Miguel swears that recent decisions to rename the Gnome desktop to Windows NT 6.0 have nothing to do with it.
2004. CmdrTaco loses hist virginity.
2004. The WIPO Troll returns again, showering Slashdot in 45,000 copies of the same post: Lick my crotch hairs. Slashdot, despite running on 18 redundant IIS/8.0 servers, buckles under the load. The term Slashdotted is replaced with WIPO-Trolled.
2004. Slashdot, the last vestige of VA Research^W Linux^W Software^W Microsoft, officially shut down. Millions of screaming, unwashed geeks invade Redmond campus and lynch Bill Gates. CmdrTaco is believed to posess the only remaining copy of the Slashdot database on several hundred CD-Rs.
2005. The Linux is world is shocked when Linus Torvalds and Anal Cox are found dead along with six penguins, an empty tub of crisco and several used condoms. Millions of screaming, unwashed geeks invade Redmond campus and lynch Steve Ballmer.
2005. CmdrTaco rumored to have had sex again.
2006. CowboiKneel found dead in hotel room with 56 pizza boxes covering his bloated corpse. Three suffocated gay prostitutes are extracted from beneath his body as police remove it with a backhoe.
2007. CmdrTaco actually has sex again. With a woman.
2007. BSD is still officially dying. No word on when its demise will take place.
2007. CmdrTaco starts new weblog to replace Slashdot, creatively named Dotslash. Remainder of Linux users flock to the site and immediate WIPO-Troll it out of existence.
2008. CmdrTaco has sex with his wife for the first time.
2009. After years of living under the heel of his domineering wife, and being deprived of companyof his life-long friend, Jeff Homos Bates, CmdrTaco commits suicide. Another unwashed geek mob gathers and tears Kathleen Fent to shreds. Geeks discover Ms. Fent was indeed a woman, but dont exactly know what that means. Driven by their sexually-repressed rage, they subsequently invade Redmond again and lynch the current CEO of Microsoft, Miguel deIcaza.
2009. Richard Stallman mysteriously murdered. Conspiracy theories run rampant, most involving Microsoft in some way. Invasions of Redmond campus by hordes of geeks become commonplace.
2010. Stallman murder solved when Eric S. Raymond confesses. Raymond blamed the collapse of VA Research^W Linux^W Software^W Microsoft on Stallmans dogmatic insistence on prefixing every open-source project with GNU. Raymond is subsequently committed to an insane asylum, again giving the horde of geeks an excuse to raze Redmond.
2010. An ex-hacker reports witnessing CmdrTaco at a gas station in Tennessee. The nearly-defunct Linux movement is rekindled as CmdrTaco sightings become common.
2011. Microsoft campus burnt to the ground by screaming, unwashed geek mob after Microsoft is blamed when a Linuxhacker in Cambridge, Massachusetts spills his coffee on his pants. Microsoft undaunted as their plans to buy out the Federal Government come to fruition. Washington, D.C. renamed Microsoft Capitol 2010.

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STOP ME BEFORE I POST AGAIN!

Combine this technology... by TrebleJunkie · 2002-03-14 15:06 · Score: 3, Funny

Combine this technology with last summer's craze, hotornot.com, and I think you got something. (15 seconds to know if the chick you wanna pick up in a bar is really hot? Priceless.)

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Ed R.Zahurak

You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.

Let Them Speak English by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:06 · Score: 1, Funny

Went to one them countries abroad 'while back. Filled with foreigners, it was. Everywhere I looked was foreigners yammering in some strange foreign tongue. I can't see why they just don't learn to speak English...much easier than wasting my time with some sort of pocket translater.

Re:Let Them Speak English by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:18 · Score: 0

Rock on Chachi!

that's not useful by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:06 · Score: 1, Funny

Think of all the better things they could do. They could translate it from Enligsh to hax0r! "5p33d l1m17: 55 mph" "570p!" "j00 c4n 4d0p7 4 h1ghw4y!"

How long... by theMAGE · 2002-03-14 15:06 · Score: 2, Funny

How long till' people will drive using this as input? "Computer: what is that red sign over there?" ... crunch scan crunch ocr crunch exception: macromedia plugin required crunch downloading... ... 15 seconds later, from the car's wreckage: IT'S A STOP SIGN. REPEAT IT'S A STOP SIGN

Scientific American on Augmented Reality by willybur · 2002-03-14 15:07 · Score: 3, Interesting

On that note, this month's issue of Scientific American features an article on augmented reality. It's a good read.

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--
"Everybody wants a rock to wind a piece of string around." - They Might Be Giants, "We Want a Rock"

15 seconds? by InsaneCreator · 2002-03-14 15:07 · Score: 2

Driving down the street...

What's that sign?

*click* (take a photo)

*CRASH! BOOOM!*

Translation comes in: "STOP" sign

Re:15 seconds? by Trisk · 2002-03-14 15:23 · Score: 1

Wow, just 1 minute after. Amazing coincidence.
Re:15 seconds? by Tablizer · 2002-03-14 16:04 · Score: 1

Or

"Don't stand here, this is a bus r.........."

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Table-ized A.I.

Much experience by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:07 · Score: -1, Offtopic

I have had much experience in digital film and can say that this would be quite hand. However, for the most part I have only taken still photographs and not delved much into the realms of OCR. For example, here is an incident in which I was able to hone my digital picture and video skills.

There's nothing special about me. I'm just an ordinary man named Jon Katz - aged 44, balding, fighting a losing battle against my bulging waistline and cash-hungry kids and CmdrTaco who seem to be making more and more demands on my weekly pay-packet. I've just this weekend, had a sexual experience though, which was so good that even the world's richest multi-millionaire couldn't have pleasured himself better.

Today's Tuesday, last Saturday Taco took his mother and our youngest to a family get together 200 miles away. My other two kids arranged to visit friends for the weekend, leaving me - JonKatz- home alone for the first time in years. My only responsibility was to walk and feed the dog. Saturday passed pleasantly, but uneventfully. I went to the supermarket, had a drinks with some mates at lunchtime, watch t.v. sport all afternoon and had a solitary curry that night. I watched Terminator II for about the sixth time on the t.v. and fell asleep at around 11pm.

Sunday was a beautiful morning. I woke up at 10am, made coffee and went back to bed to read the papers. At 12.30pm I decided to take the dog for a walk over to the woods which are about 3 miles away. So off the 2 of us went in the car. The walk was fine - nothing interesting to report there until pretty near the end I spotted someone sleeping on a bench. I didn't really pay much attention - just another down and out I thought. As we got closer, I actually noticed the down and out was a male. A male I'd noticed before - he's around 40, a big fat man, who I've seen drinking in the street and making merry often. Although pushing 40, he had always caught my eye because underneath the beard and lived-in sweat, he looked like he had a decent body on him. I've fancied and fantasized about Fat men since an Uncle of mine introduced me to sexual pleasure when I was just 16. Fat men - let's be blunt - turn me on and this man is a good 220 pounds with tits which always looked enormously big under his layers of clothes. Anyhow, me and the dog were walking by him and I was beginning to look away (it's always embarrassing isn't it, when some down and out tries to draw you into a conversation) when the man called out "Got any spare change?" Under almost any normal circumstances, I'd have just shaken my head and said "No" and kept moving, but he'd got a magnificent body and I had nowhere better to rush to - so I turned and replied "What did you say?" Thinking maybe I was a bit deaf, he repeated "I'm dead broke and really hungry - can you spare me some change?" - "You don't look all that hungry". "Cheeky git". "No, I meant it as a compliment". He laughed and got off of the bench, hhe was drunker than I'd realized and did a slight sexy shuffle. His huge massive breasts shimmied wonderful. I was mesmerized, but no way would I admit it. "So, you like the look of me body then, get away with you, I'd flatten you with the size of these!" he laughed and pulled his pants tighter, showing me the gigantic contents of his almost endless crotch. "I think it's beautiful" I told him in a voice that wasn't mine.

What was I thinking?Talking to a smelly (he really did smell terrible - I can't imagine when he'd last had a bath) tramp and complimenting him too. He got right to the point - "I've met your type before - give me £10 and I'll let you have a proper look at it". I looked around, the woods were empty - we were close to the park area but there wasn't a soul around for a good 200 metres. "And what would you do for more money?" I said it, but I didn't believe I'd said it. 2 minutes ago, I'd been quietly walking the family spaniel - now I was bartering for sexual favors with a filthy hobo. "How much more?" "A lot, for the right thing". His eyes narrowed. "You filthy devil - what would you be wanting to do with me them?" "What do you think?" I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud, but the growing lump in my trousers made my desires all to obvious to me. I wanted to fuck him. Wanted him more than I'd wanted anyone for ages. He might've been smelly but his big plump body reeked of just sex to me. "I think you'll be wanting to fuck me". I nodded and honestly expected him to lose his temper, fling the empty bottle of meths alcohol at me, start swearing blindly at me - I got ready to run. "How about £50?" "What do I get for that?" "You get to take me into them there woods" he jerked a finger at the heavily-treed area I'd just come from "and have a quick poke at my fanny".

I was tempted, even with the smell, but I wanted more - something had taken over me. I just felt so fucking horny. Hornier than I had for years. "What would you do for £200?" "What have you in mind?" "I want to take you home, give you a bath, fuck you, sit down for a good lunch and then fuck you again". "How long for?" "All night, if I want to". "Make it £500". "That's too much". "£400 then". "£300?" "Okay". "How about booze - you got any booze?". "Scotch, gin, brandy - the lot". "And I can drink them?" "Help yourself, as much as you want". He fetched her few belongings which were in some tatty carrier bags - "Right then fella, you're on". I gave him £60 (all the money I had on me) and we got in the car. I deliberately took a long complicated route home to make sure he'd never be able to find my place again. We got to my place and I raided the savings and gave her £100 more. I told her he'd get the balance once our sexual transaction was over. We went upstairs and I poured her a hot bath with plenty of Taco's expensive perfumed bath oil and some disinfectant in it too.

CowboyNeal, as his name turned out to be, took his clothes off - he was stinkingly beautiful. He smelt so bad but looked so good. The smell of him almost made me sick. The look of his huge fleshy naked body almost made me cum in my pants. I volunteered to give his clothes a good boil wash in our machine, for which he was grateful. I left him to bathe and put his soiled clothing in the machine. His knickers were stained with about 15 shades of brown, reds and slimy beiges. I shuddered - what the hell was I doing? Inviting this disgusting filthy low-life into my home, my family's home. There was no denying though, he did have one hell of a body on him. Big fat and dreamily with a massive cock- my dream looking man, in fact. After 10 minutes, I rejoined him in the bath - the water was almost black but he was far cleaner. He washed his hair 3 times and his cock and arse 4 times. He stood up and I showered him down, removing the last traces of dirt from his gleamingly clean huge body. As I hugged him, I put a finger up her willing asshole - he opened her legs a little wider to give me good access - he was certainly keeping to his end of the bargain. I toweled him down and took him to the bedroom. I felt a twinge of guilt as I laid him down my Taco's and my bed, but just a twinge. We started off by him giving me a delightful blow-job while I toyed with his jumbo cock and softly spanked his bum and fingered his asshole. He told me his arse was empty, if I needed to fuck him up it. I needed! I needed! I knew I was too horny to last long, so I gave into temptation and came pretty quickly over that hairy chest and into his mouth. It was wonderful.

An hour later, I was at him again. I had him stand up and bend over the dressing table, then very little difficulty, I maneuvered my dick up his big fleshy arse. His bum hole felt so good - so tight so rewarding. I kneeded his mega-cock while fucking him. I was in heaven. I came right up his arsehole and left my shrinking ick in there for a good few minutes. During the next 21 hours, I had sex with him 14 more times. No, I didn't cum each time, I'm not super-human! I came 4 more times and the last 2 times made my testies really sore and drained. It was well worth it thought. I fucked his mouth and his arse. I fucked him between the man-breasts and I put an empty bottle of gin right far up his fanny. I videod myself fucking him too, all the positions. I've watched it 2 times already and it's good - I may even let you guys see it and sell it for me - who knows?!!! I also watched him (and videod it) taking a piss which was nice. My loving family were due back at 6pm Monday, so CowboyNeal re-dressed at 10am yesterday morning. I'd already called in sick to work. He was grateful for his £300 and his bath and clean clothes. I gave him £5 extra for buy some new knickers. I kept the (cleaned) old ones as a sexy momento. I bet you anything I'll have wank watching the video of CowboyNeal and me tonight, when Taco's gone to bed and I'll have those very well worn, still stained but now biologically cleaned knickers wrapped around my dick as I tug myself off. I've arranged to meet him again, this Sunday for a £50 open-air fuck and I can't wait.

--JonKatz

this is gonna scare the hell out of tourists... by bob@dB.org · 2002-03-14 15:08 · Score: 2

...just imagine visiting some far-away place, sending of a picture of a street-sign for translating, and getting back "beware the polar bears"!

--
Acts@core.mailboks.com Acrux@core.mailboks.com Adam@core.mailboks.com Adar@core.mailboks.com Ada@core.mailboks.com

Re:this is gonna scare the hell out of tourists... by func · 2002-03-14 15:40 · Score: 1

Hey, if they're travelling in my neck of the woods, they'd be right. The signs do say "beware of bears", and they better be scared! :)
Re:this is gonna scare the hell out of tourists... by Valgar · 2002-03-14 16:50 · Score: 1

Hmmm...

In my area of the cube farm the "beware of BOFH" sign prevails.....

and we are much worse than bears, bears don't stuff your keyboard up your ass in response to stupid questions...:)

Suspicious by EvilBastard · 2002-03-14 15:08 · Score: 2, Funny

I was messing with the Prototype for this, and after I tried about the 40th sign, I got this back

Warning !
Wrong Way
**** HELPI'MBEINGHELDPRISONERINAWIRELESSTRANSLATINGFACI LITY ****
Go Back

Re:Suspicious by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:43 · Score: -1, Offtopic

that's stupid

Babelfish by KeatonMill · 2002-03-14 15:09 · Score: 1

Definately reminds me of the babelfish... although I don't think they worked for reading... I read an article a month or so ago about a research group working on AR (augmented reality). The setup they had weighed about 50 pounds and required a big bulky headset. But with the rate of miniturization these days... who knows what'll be possible in the not-too-distant future. I envision everyone wearing glasses that project the AR, and connect to a computer in a pocket somewhere... Maybe it'll be contacts.

Really useful, that by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:09 · Score: 0

"translate street signs" but requires a "dial-up connection".

So what happens when the translation site gets slashdotted?

"Honey, what's that sign say?"

"I don't know dear, it's just not responding"

skreeech BAM! (test of Pauli exclusion principle on a macro scale completed...)

"Now the site's up honey....Oh, it's a stop sign."

Lazy lazy! by Aurorya · 2002-03-14 15:09 · Score: 1, Interesting

Part of the joy of going somewhere (for Americans) other than America is that everything is probably in a foreign language. And that people refer to these places, concepts, foods, etc., in the language that describes them best: their native one. I'm not going to go to la Rue d'Auguste Lançon in Paris and have my cute little pocket device translate it into "August Lancon Street". Parisiens giving me directions are going to call it la Rue d'Auguste Lançon!

Ok, so what about China or Japan? If you are going for travel, you can learn a few Kanji. It's the least you could do. If you're going on business, as the article suggests, you should be a good little representative and be chosen because you know something about where you're going. Hopefully you know a lot, or at least enough to be able to order food from a menu.

It's kind of sad that no people won't even have to make the smallest step into being somewhere new of calling places by their real names. If you lovingly name your kid George, would you be upset if the Mexicans only refered to him with the pronunciation "hor-hey"?

Re:Lazy lazy! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 16:17 · Score: 0

If you lovingly name your kid George, would you be upset if the Mexicans only refered to him with the pronunciation "hor-hey"?

Erm, no. And exactly why should I care?
Sorry dude, I'm just not following your point.
Re:Lazy lazy! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:12 · Score: 1, Insightful

I agree with you when you're in Europe, but it's a different story in places like Taiwan, where I'm working at the moment. There are some signs in Latin text, but some of the minor roads are only written in Chinese.
When someone tells you to go to Chong-Shen North Road, how would you know that äå±±åOE--è is the correct address? I would love a gadget like this! It would make living here so much easier.
It would make learning Chinese easier as well.

(Apologies if the Chinese doesn't display properly).

Col the Limey

Was waiting for this... by Serial+Troller · 2002-03-14 15:11 · Score: -1

I wonder how much location and user information it phones home with. Nice way to slowly introduce tracking devices to the DROOLING CONSUMERS, as if cel phones aren't enough...

--

STOP ME BEFORE I POST AGAIN!

Cached by BrianGa · 2002-03-14 15:14 · Score: 3, Informative

Google has a cache of the PopSci article.

Re:Cached by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 18:18 · Score: 0

It was a gay attempt at karma whoring though.

It can't translate signs that are a funny shape by Oily+Tuna · 2002-03-14 15:14 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Signs that are too wide for example.

Why won't Slashdot fix the PAGE WIDENING BUG???

More information on why Jamie Mccarthy hates you

--
Mmmmmmm ... sushi.

yeah, but... by KingPrad · 2002-03-14 15:14 · Score: 2, Funny

...can you get through the airport with it? Carry any more technology and those security guards will tear you apart.

--
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!

Re:yeah, but... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:24 · Score: 0

Carry any more technology and those security guards will tear you apart.

Got in trouble with this one myself. I was translating signs at the airport with my old 286, when two guards grabbed me, took my shoes, strip searched me. Demanded cash. When I looked back at the computer, I saw too late the sign translated as: Do Not Feed the Security Guards.

Have a friendly login by waltmarkers · 2002-03-14 15:15 · Score: 1

For all those who need one:

l: slashdotter1
p: slashdotter1

Enjoy

Hey a Haiku by Commienst · 2002-03-14 15:15 · Score: -1

Learn fucking English
You foreign fucks never will learn
Be assimiliated.

--

I am into the copy and paste.

Perhaps Oui Perhaps No? by alphaparadigm · 2002-03-14 15:16 · Score: 1

Well, this is about as useful as my flying toaster!

Seriously though, i wonder about what happens when the sign gets babelfished and you end up eating dog testicles instead of the "beefy camel tips" you thought you ordered.

--
-=The Dude=-

Yay, just like babble fish! by Serial+Troller · 2002-03-14 15:19 · Score: -1

*reads sign while driving and keys it in*
*fifteen seconds later*

Translation:
Not rapidly please
Kilometres learning under distance 2 for
Around children where had fun

*thump*
"What was that??"

Actual meaning of sign:
Slow - School Zone 2km
Children at play

--

STOP ME BEFORE I POST AGAIN!

Re:Yay, just like babble fish! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-19 08:27 · Score: 0

MUahahahaha, LOL, that is funny as hell, what retarded fucker modded that down, it's a valid comment, it's true and funny as hell too...

Why Translate Street Signs? by cporter · 2002-03-14 15:22 · Score: 4, Insightful

I don't see this as a positive development. It's an excuse for crappier signs in a world where signs, schedules, maps, and notices are confusing even if you're fluent in the language. We should focus on standards and intuitive design.

OK, maybe translating train schedules and restaurant menus is good. But street signs, especially, are supposed to be unambiguous, their meaning readily apparent to anyone, whether literate in their native language or not.

And does this thing work on signs that some redneck has shot holes in with a 12-gauge?

Re:Why Translate Street Signs? by Profane+Motherfucker · 2002-03-14 15:28 · Score: -1

Exactly. Some dumb motherfucker has got a real stiffie about this fucking crap. I have absolutely no faith in this cocksucker. Fucking signs, but their shitty defination, are designed to be understood by a bunch of illiterate assholes. If you can operate some stupid jap handheld piece of dogshit, you can lookup the fucking word in a dictionary. I say: this is a bunch of bullshit and ought to be proper fucked. It's queer.
Re:Why Translate Street Signs? by sporty · 2002-03-14 15:43 · Score: 2

What are you talking about? You want unambiguous, you use longitude and latitude. "Yeah, I'm only a few seconds away from 40 degrees latitude and a minute from 43 degrees longitude" :)

Flame me for not knowing where 40x43 is :P Its a joke son, ya' hear'?!

--
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
Re:Why Translate Street Signs? by Peyna · 2002-03-14 17:09 · Score: 2

The latitude and longitude you gave could correspond to 4 different locations on earth, so I'd say that's pretty amibiguous too. =]

Although, if you go with 40 N 43 E, it's approximately somewhere in the middle east. (Some people use a +- system, searching this was the first time I had seen that, I've only used N S E W, etc.)

--
What?
Re:Why Translate Street Signs? by Galvatron · 2002-03-14 17:49 · Score: 1

He means things like stop signs, yeild signs, pedestrian crossings, crap like that, not signs that give the names of streets.

--
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD

Commoditize this thing by WillWare · 2002-03-14 15:32 · Score: 2

Configure the translator as a web service with a fairly-obvious SOAP API. Do everything in Unicode. Allow a wide range of both input and output languages. Make plenty of clones of the server, sprinkled all over the planet. Start in tourist spots and big cities, and let them trickle out to other places.

In the 1950s and 60s, TV commoditized and homogenized American speech patterns and culture. This will commoditize understanding between cultures, but nobody has to give up their native language. Ideas and commerce will flow more easily. It'll be a good thing.

--
WWJD for a Klondike Bar?

Re:Commoditize this thing by Rentar · 2002-03-14 21:57 · Score: 2

In the 1950s and 60s, TV commoditized and homogenized American speech patterns and culture.

Do you thing this is A Good Thing (tm)? (This is not ment as a flame, but food for thought, but on second thought, maybe it is a flame.)

Disclaimer: I'm not from the US of A, but from Europe and I really like finding a different culture every 100 kilometers (or miles).
Re:Commoditize this thing by WillWare · 2002-03-15 04:11 · Score: 3, Interesting

Do you thing [the homogenization of American culture in the 50s and 60s] is A Good Thing?
I didn't say that. We don't need to homogenize world culture for this thing to work. What gets homogenized is understanding of other cultures. Each person stays within the dialects and habits of his or her own culture, but sometimes learns a little bit about others.
Maybe if there had been something like this for America in the 50s and 60s, a Texas/Maine translator say, we wouldn't have ended up with our cultural homogeneity today. Though really, neither folks from Maine nor Texas have made many concessions to cultural homogenization.
The real evil of American cultural homogenization, such as it is, is the influence of big corporations. They'd benefit by commoditized cultural understanding, but individuals would benefit even more. So I don't see this as a call to arms for the Dark Side.

--
WWJD for a Klondike Bar?

Somewhat Related... by peterdaly · 2002-03-14 15:34 · Score: 3, Interesting

On a somewhat related topic I have been thinking about recently:

Java (J2ME) is now in cell phones, I have one and have played around a bit. Biggest problem with real applications is lack of a good input device. Now, for speed dialing, my phone has "voice recognition", which is really a pattern match against a saved database of me saying each person's name. It is an i85 Nextel Phone.

Why not have a voice recognition processor? Now, the phone does not have enough horsies to crunch the stuff needed to do that...but: The phone has direct-connect. Why not a feature like direct connect, but instead of 2-way radioing another person, a voice processor system, which returns the processed speech as text into whatever is running on the phone? Take the time used out of alloted minutes...it's not like they have to connect anything in your call to the phone system to establish a call for you.

Data connection is only about 300 baud or so, but how much faster can you really talk (so that a computer can uderstand you) than 300 baud worth of text? Same thing for reading. I can't read my email while driving (at least not safely), but why not have a "my phone" (really a computer talking to my phone) read it to me? That solves the small screen display problem too.

Ok, enough crazy thinking for now, I could go on and on about this stuff.

-Pete

--
Soccer Goal Plans

Re:Somewhat Related... by mlk · 2002-03-14 16:29 · Score: 1

You can get 100% java voice recognition systems, so you could maybe do it on one of the new mobiles.

Still does not help for Quake, but for MUD's it would be cool...

But all that said and done, it would be easy to a system that you phone up your PC, it answers and send what you say through a voice rec. app, the pipes the output to a shell.

mlk

--
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
Re:Somewhat Related... by slamb · 2002-03-14 19:01 · Score: 2

Data connection is only about 300 baud or so, but how much faster can you really talk (so that a computer can uderstand you) than 300 baud worth of text?
If your phone were doing the translation, that might be true. But combine that statement with one you made earlier:
Why not a feature like direct connect, but instead of 2-way radioing another person, a voice processor system, which returns the processed speech as text into whatever is running on the phone?
... and you've got a lot more than 300 baud of information being sent. If your phone knew enough to filter it down to 300 baud, it wouldn't need to send it at all.
Re:Somewhat Related... by jaclu · 2002-03-14 23:13 · Score: 1

Well some operators already have this service.

In sweden both Europolian (soon to be Vodaphone) and Telia have voice services for internet.

Its all configurable through the web, If you want a machine rings you and reads up each mail as it is recieved
Re:Somewhat Related... by spike666 · 2002-03-15 02:01 · Score: 2

theres new low power chipsets that allow you to do voice recognition processing in small devices. it all comes down to cost, power consumption (they're designed for low power devices aka handhelds,phones etc) and trainability of the chip software - aka usability.

in other words, its probably more likely that you'll see the functionality rolled into your pda or phone.

The Bird by long_john_stewart_mi · 2002-03-14 15:37 · Score: 1

So if somebody flips you the bird, take a picture and find out what he was really saying!

--
...oOOo..'(_)'..oOOo...

bwahahahahah by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:37 · Score: -1, Offtopic

keep up the great posts! we're all in stitches over here, and if I weren't an AC, I'd mod you up to +3, Funny [as you no doubt hoped in a not-so-secret way]...

FUCK YOU !

GENTLEMEN !!

Because... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 15:40 · Score: 0

>> why they just don't learn to speak English...

Because English is very confusing, very complicated. If it was (were?) more logical... 20+ years of English and I learn something "different" now and then.

I grokked my native language when I was 11, I believe. Not to mention Esperanto, which is waaaaay easier and more logical.

But don't take this as offensive... because this means English-speaking people are in some ways very intelligent to deal with it.

Re:Because... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 16:58 · Score: 0

While it is confusing, incorrectly spelt (why is it not phynitical(sp)?), it is poety.
Re:Because... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:32 · Score: 0

"phoenetic"
Re:Because... by Dahan · 2002-03-14 18:43 · Score: 1

"Phoenician"

Chicken and egg situation by suso · 2002-03-14 15:43 · Score: 3, Funny

What do you do if you're trying to read signs that would lead you to a cybercafe?

Re:Chicken and egg situation by mlk · 2002-03-14 15:52 · Score: 1

Point your Nokia 7560 at the sign, click a button, get the sign back in English.
Or (as he has done) point your digital camera at a sign, have your PDA take the pic, send it via your mobile phone to a mainframe then fly back to your PDA.

--
Wow, I should not post when knackered.

not bad by negativethirsty · 2002-03-14 15:49 · Score: 1

But why not just have a bluetooth type chip embeded into all signs and landmarks? Walk up to it with some type of reciever/pda/device and wha-la. Even embed a gps etc.

--

thirsty*i^2

"Ya I finished that last week, it just doesn't work"

Sensory Overuse by ironfroggy · 2002-03-14 15:49 · Score: 1

This all relies too much on sight. These things, no matter how efficiently designed, do get in the way of your sight, even if transparent. Why use sight at all? Personally, I would prefer a system with a larger learning curve but effectively bringing a new sense into play. Electrodes applied to the body would send raw singles, which we would learn to interpret. This could have many possibilies. "Oh, would you look at that dream-woman, my alarm is going off. Hold on, let me set it back an hour." All while sleeping. Well, maybe not, but I think its cool. Just an idea.

--
Question
http://www.ironfroggy.com/

I'm suprised by madenosine · 2002-03-14 15:52 · Score: 2, Informative

I'm suprised that nearly nobody has carried the story of the brown reaserchers who put a microchip into a monkey's brain which allowed them to control a computer mouse by thinking

They first played a game with a joystick, then played the same game controlling it with their mind, and they got about the same score both ways

Very interesting story.....has anybody seen anything on this? It's on brown's website at http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/20 01-02/01-098.html

Re:I'm suprised by lux55 · 2002-03-14 16:10 · Score: 1

I posted that story here around noon today, but it was rejected. I find this sort of thing very intriguing, interfacing machines to neurons and such. There's crazy potential to help people, and it's freaky futuristic.

What I want to see is a video of these monkeys, to see how accurate it really is (which I'm sure also depends on the monkey's intentions as well).

--
putfwd.com - 1GB Free file storage with a twist
Re:I'm suprised by madenosine · 2002-03-14 16:14 · Score: 1

If it were done by MIT, slashdot would be all over it....
Re:I'm suprised by mlk · 2002-03-14 16:38 · Score: 1

Your not alone
2002-03-14 02:25:37 Computers that read your mind! (articles,news) (rejected)

--
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
Re:I'm suprised by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:16 · Score: 0

don't blame us, we tried.

2002-03-13 22:03:53 Monkey with Embedded Chip Controls Computer (articles,news) (rejected)
Re:I'm suprised by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 18:32 · Score: 0

And how much do you want to bet that It'll be on the front page tomorrow?

Microbes (was: Re:Timeline) by xris · 2002-03-14 15:58 · Score: 1

I think calling "microbes" "earbuds" is a bit out of proportion (literally) - or did i miss an episode? :-)

Re:Microbes (was: Re:Timeline) by Renraku · 2002-03-14 16:41 · Score: 2

In the book, they were earbuds.

--
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?

Tie in with "Sensory Overuse" by ironfroggy · 2002-03-14 16:01 · Score: 1

Now this is what im talking about. I want this! Do you think there are any legal issues against doing this to myself? And does this work both ways? ie, could the joystick in their head have "force feedback", therefor applying a new sense?

--
Question
http://www.ironfroggy.com/

I can see it now... by Eric+Damron · 2002-03-14 16:01 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm on a business trip in Paris. My wife flys in to be with me. Fourteen hours later I show up at the airport.

Wife: "Where the hell have you been!!!"

Me: "server was slow..."

--
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!

Yeah... by mcrbids · 2002-03-14 16:03 · Score: 2

Put this with some augumented reality, and you have a rather useful tool.

... Just stay out of Canadian Airports, eh?

--
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.

American to English road sign trans? by Nathdot · 2002-03-14 16:05 · Score: 1

Does it do American to standard English road sign translation? You know... something for the tourists:

<STOP>: "Prepare for car-jacking"
<DRIVE-THRU>: "Drive By"
<WELCOME TO LOS ANGELES>: "Welcome to HELL!"

:)

Technology boldly solves problems by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 16:08 · Score: 0

no one cares about. Uh, what's wrong with your brain and using a Berlitz guide??

Fifteen seconds? Useless! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 16:11 · Score: 0

"All said and done, it takes about 15 seconds to translate a street sign."

Oh yeah.. thaaaat's great! 15 seconds. I can see it know... "waiting.. waiting.. waiting.. oh, it said, 'BRIDGE OUT'... DOOOOOOooooohhhhh" [splash]

hello tehre by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 16:15 · Score: -1, Troll

I would like to post some text now.

# insert whitespace into long words, convert <>& to HTML entities if ($fmode == LITERAL || $fmode == EXTRANS || $fmode == ATTRIBUTE || $fmode == CODE) { # Encode all HTML tags $str =~ s/&/&/g; $str =~ s/</</g; $str =~ s/>/>/g; ### this is not ideal; we want breakHtml to be ### entity-aware # attributes are inside tags, and don't need to be

and here is some more text.

York Times "story on using a pocket pc to translate a street sign. It requires at least a dialup connection as it sends the photo to a server for the majority of the processing: OCR, translation, English overlay for new image, and then transmission back to the user. All said and done, it takes about 15 seconds to translate a street sign. Put this with some augumented reality, and you have a

New York Times Again? by release7 · 2002-03-14 16:16 · Score: 1

New York Times new slogan: "All the news fit for nerds"

Slasdot's: "News from New York. Stale links that mattered 6 hours ago."

--

<a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>

Driving in unfamiliar territory by denubis · 2002-03-14 16:17 · Score: 1

These augmented street signs would be incredibly cool if they showed up as small popup boxes on your field of vision as you're looking for streets. Better yet, augment with mapquest, and have a line to follow to get to your destination. Adjusting for traffic and the ilk. That would be cool.

Correction can = car [n/t] by gnarled · 2002-03-14 16:29 · Score: 1

n/t

--
I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule. -Randal, Clerks

the amazing thing is by gtx · 2002-03-14 16:52 · Score: 2

i've trained myself to do similar things without computers. i was enrolled in a state funded training program for 12 years, where they taught me to identify english road signs, read them, translate them into english, and understand them. i also learned how to translate the following things into english:

books written in english
product labels written in english
movie subtitles written in english
magazine articles written in english

then, after my 12 years of state funded black-ops training, i decided to continue my education in a private 4 year institution where they even taught me how to WRITE in english, a topic which wasn't quite covered well by the state-funded institution. perhaps if the government would make this type of training available to all members of our society, we wouldn't need computers to understand these cryptic road signs that nobody seems to be able to decode.

-c

--

"I hope I don't make a mistake and manage to remain a virgin." - Britney Spears

Re:the amazing thing is by M3wThr33 · 2002-03-14 18:56 · Score: 1

And why does this not have "Score: 5 Funny" next to it? Mods, you there?

15 seconds later.. by MongooseCN · 2002-03-14 16:57 · Score: 1, Redundant

While driving along some roads...

Take a picture of that sign and see what it says.

-15 seconds later-

"STOP"

--

Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl

CORRECTAMUNDO! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 16:58 · Score: 0

Mod this up, it's the funniest damn thing I've read since Christmas.

Improvement idea by Timid_Monkey · 2002-03-14 17:07 · Score: 2, Insightful

With the processor speeds and storage abilities of current Pocket PCs, why require a dialup connection? Especially when the majority of users wouldn't have one while, say, traveling in a foreign country. (GSM still has yet to pick up here in the US).

Why not allow the OCR program, and any necessary foreign language translation dictionaries to live in the PDA's memory? I can't see it taking up anymore than several MB, (which could certaintly be offloaded when not traveling).

Is there something I really don't understand here?

Re:Improvement idea by DA-MAN · 2002-03-14 21:57 · Score: 1

Yeah, that's all fine and dandy, in fact some might even say you're making sense. But gotta remember, they are going to want to generate revenue. This means ads and/or subscription fees. That's why they want you to go through them.

--
Can I get an eye poke?
Dog House Forum

I have this now... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:08 · Score: 0

....I'm an English speaker, living in Korea.

One button push for automatic translation. Voice operated and 100% accurate voice recognition.

I have this device that you can speak Korean into, and then have it come back as English. It's called a cell phone.... all you need is a friend that speaks both languages on the other end.

Of course, this assumes you are too lazy to learn another language.

You guys can't get over your own lack of imagination....shame.

It just might be possible by mikosullivan · 2002-03-14 17:10 · Score: 2

If everybody started wearing the systems, and you could hack the systems, you could be walking down the street and your server could discover that the girl walking towards you (it knows who she is because she's wearing the system too) subscribes to certain magazines, is a mamber of such and such clubs, and has participated in certain discussions. Then the system could provide info for picking up.

It could happen.

-Miko

--
Miko O'Sullivan

Re:It just might be possible by AndroidCat · 2002-03-14 18:32 · Score: 1, Redundant

Heh, I was on the phone to me mom last night, and she mentioned that a step-cousin was in the Special Olympics (sadly under-reported in the news). Of course the phone was by the computer, and a quick Google, and *poof*, I had all the info about him and his history. (Never met him, never knew I had him. From his record, he can take a take an injury, a fall and try, try again. Good on him!)
And then there was the time an ex-girl friend (it was complex) had left my place and got stuck on the 401 (imagine 101 for Californians) and called me on her cell phone. Zap! Connected to the traffic-cam system, told her that after a few miles it cleared up.
Gawd damn, I'm a chair-bound Steve Mann!
As for dating, perhaps head-mounted traffic lights? And if someone's pupils are visible while while they traverse their menues, j00 4r3 0nw3d! Capture software to match against menu software.

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:It just might be possible by juliao · 2002-03-15 00:27 · Score: 1

Better yet, you could hack the system into making her system tell her all this good stuff about you. How you are smart, and sexy, and a great lover, and hones... well, never mind.

--
free the mallocs!

I've had this for almost 3 years now.... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 17:10 · Score: 0

I have this device that you can speak Korean into, and then have it come back as English. It's called a cell phone.... all you need is a friend that speaks both languages on the other end. Mine happens to be 24, and she sports a TOEIC of 982.

Voice operated and 100% accurate voice recognition.

Of course, this assumes you are too lazy to learn another language.

You guys can't get over your own lack of imagination....shame.

augumented?? by full_tide · 2002-03-14 17:13 · Score: -1

I'm a bad speller too, but damn....that's REALLY bad.

Uh... by hackshack · 2002-03-14 17:33 · Score: 1

It requires at least a dialup connection ...

Not bloody useful when I'm walking down Broadway, is it then? (rimshot)

--
Wrists killing you? Not in 2 weeks. Learn Dvorak.

Not hard to do by rjamestaylor · 2002-03-14 17:38 · Score: 1

Last summer I created a prescription delivery system that received a faxed prescription (the Rx was faxed from another company's software to a Pharmacy; in our case the "pharmacy" was a fax-to-email company in Vancouver, B.C.) as a TIFF attachment to an email. Then I parsed the email, scanned the distinct areas (well-defined, thankfully) of the fax for the details of physician, patient, prescription, sliced the fax into pieces and reformed those pieces to create a label to be printed on the drug to be dispensed. Then I popped the Rx to the correct awaiting browser (real-time dispensing) and an authorized user OK'ed the print and dispensed the drug.

It took 2 weeks and used all open source tools:

Perl
Apache
Linux
Fetchmail
Imager.pm
Mime::Parser
JOCR (was Gnu OCR but renamed for SourceForge)
other stuff

Of course, that was for proof-of-concept: I then redid the application using SOAP::Lite for receiving an XML payload with the same data.

It was a load of fun and proved to me that CPAN, SourceForge, Freshmeat, and Google are the only tools I need to get stuff done on a grand scale

Regarding JOCR - it's not OmniPage by a long shot, but for specific OCR needs is worth looking at.

--
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello

Re:Not hard to do by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 00:17 · Score: 0

My post above is a testimony to the need for sleep. Sorry. It's off-topic and rambling. Also quite the braggart. sheesh. (where's that edit button??)
rjt

As far as the equipment is concerned... by cliffy2000 · 2002-03-14 17:46 · Score: 1

Cliff's been doing it for years. This is good stuff, my friends... and you get to fulfill your Linux and individuality dreams. What could be cooler?

But just don't... by AndroidCat · 2002-03-14 17:57 · Score: 2

Try to wear it through airport security! (The last thing your LCD goggles/speakers report is "Pleeze come this w4y to thiz small priv4t3 roam so that we might radish you." Uhoh.)

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.

15 seconds is a long time by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 18:03 · Score: 0

Think about how pissed off the people behind you in the toll lane will be, as you do a 15 second translation on the automatic toll machine instructions.

Wierd Translations... by gnovos · 2002-03-14 18:53 · Score: 2

I know this is a little bit off topic, but while the technology is cool, you'd get some really kooky translations if you went around some foreign country translating the signs. I used to live in Japan, and after I learned a little of the language, I started thinking that the Japanese have very odd naming schemes. My house was loaced between the train stops "Cherry Blossom Palace" and "Happy Island" and I lived on the street "Middle of the rice field" right across from the megamart "Big Circle". Needless to say, there were neither palaces nor islands anywhere in sight, and the closest thing to a "field" was the parking lot, and I never saw any rice there... I did see some circles, but none of them were particularly large :) Still, I'll bet it would be great for reading menues in korean resturants and finding out just which part of the cow that last slice of beef came from... or I HOPE it was a cow!

--
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"

Neat idea, but the latency... by Sivar · 2002-03-14 19:06 · Score: 3, Funny

"Dear, what does that sign over there say?"

[15 seconds later]

"It says: 'Road ends: Bridge constru...'"

--
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra

Very useful by quintessent · 2002-03-14 19:55 · Score: 2

"Hey, what does that one say?"

"Hold on, I'll check."

(a few seconds pass)

SCReeeeeeeeeeechh!!!!

"Um, this says it was a stop sign."

"Thanks."

--
Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.

Surely not! by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 20:04 · Score: 0

It's not April 1 is it??????

Why the uplink? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-14 20:06 · Score: 0

I am not impressed at all by this. Recognizing street signs is a simple image processing task. The most difficult task is to locate the sign in the picture. Once you're there, you are basically done. And why would I need an uplink for this? There is plenty of conputing power in a PocketPC. I've seen this done on an ARM7 @ 72Mhz.

And I am cowardly lazy.

Re:Chicken and egg situation [ot] by minusthink · 2002-03-14 21:43 · Score: 1

the chicken and the egg situation is not really a situation.

the egg came first. why? because anything that is not born out of an egg can not be a chicken, by my definition of a chicken.

so there is no way for the chicken to come first.

--
"when life gets complicated, I like to take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner" - Hobbes.

I want to know what it can do... by msouth · 2002-03-14 22:08 · Score: 2

...with a picture of a beautiful, but clothed, member-of-the-appropriate-sex.

--
Liberty uber alles.

Re:I want to know what it can do... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 13:56 · Score: 0

The PocketPC can use a unique olfactory attachment to smell your utter desperation!

Re:Chicken and egg situation [ot] by unapersson · 2002-03-15 01:02 · Score: 1

The first chicken egg had to have been laid by an almost-chicken. The whole chicken/egg cliche seems to completely ignore evolution, and until eggs can be created out of thin air, a chicken always has to come first.

Other Applications... by vosbert · 2002-03-15 01:15 · Score: 1

Just tack on a voice synthesizer and it could become a useful tool for the blind. They would be able to hear the words written around them.

**CRASH** by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 01:25 · Score: 0

OHHHH, "Stop"...

Trouble in Tokyo Station?!?! by anonymous+loser · 2002-03-15 01:28 · Score: 4, Informative

"The translation service is a great application of augmented reality," said Dr. Seth Teller, an associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I had a terrible time finding my way through the Tokyo train station last month."

Just about every meaningful sign in Tokyo station is already translated into English. In fact, there are few train stations within a 50-mile radius of Tokyo that don't have English language signs, at least for the essential stuff (this way to Harajuku, etc.). It's only when you start getting out in the country that reading signs becomes a problem for English-speaking foreigners. E.g. most stations on the Meitetsu line outside of Nagoya completely lack English-language signs. As a tip for foreign travellers in that situation I offer the following advice: follow the crowd. You are pretty much guaranteed by natural law to end up in the city center.

been doing it for years... by spike666 · 2002-03-15 02:06 · Score: 2

i got a device that fills your requirements. it tells me what street i'm on, what street i'm approaching and even what time it is! and it doesnt even need to be able to see the street signs. of course, it needs to be able to see at least 3 of its friends to know exactly where i am, but that isnt too hard when you're outside.

i of course am talking about my GPS.

For Outdoor Use Only by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 02:14 · Score: 0

This stuff is only useful if you're gonna go outside. That's a huge step. Being the type of hermit-nerd who never goes outside unless there's a fire or a bomb threat, I must say that this little gadget lacks in appeal. Street signs? Posh. That's so, like... 1990's.

And if you use it indoors?

"Gadget-thingie, what is this?"
A little window comes up on your goggles that says "this is your computer." If its really sophisticated, it might show a timer underneath that displays how many decades you've wasted in front of your screen, but that gets old after about two minutes. Maybe it'll give you directions on the most efficient route back to your computer from say, the bathroom or the fridge, which might actually be useful if you've moved your computer recently (not you, the computer).

Maybe if they added some sort of program debugging overlay support...ooo...now *that* would be cool. You could have little windows pop up on your screen while you're hacking through some stuff in your favorite text editor

"Hey, lines 285-289 are seriously hosed."

"I can't believe you just wrote this garbage, what's wrong with you?"

"You know you really shouldn't be on crack when you're programming. Didn't your mom tell you that last week?"

"I'm getting tired of looking at your face."

The list of possibilities is endless....

Translation tools for pocket devices by z_gringo · 2002-03-15 04:00 · Score: 1

It seems like a more useful tool, would be a standard translator, where you could type in the words, and get the equivalent in your target language. Verb conjugation would also be very important. Franklin / Larousse makes some decent translators, but they are a little too large, and don't hold up very well. Does anyone know if there is a port or similar product for handheld devices?

--
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.

Augmented reality by Hoi+Polloi · 2002-03-15 04:59 · Score: 1

We already have augmented reality devices, it is called "beer". It makes every woman look good and every guy your best friend/enemy.

--
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning

Deja Vu (Penn and Teller) by Anonymous Coward · 2002-03-15 06:45 · Score: 0

That sounds a lot like "The World's Most Expensive Card Trick" which Penn and Teller did in late 80's early 90's with two SGI or MicroVaxes and a times square Jumbotron.

Penn had someone pick a card and hold it up. No one could see it. Then Penn fanned the entire deck in front of the camera--SANS THE MISSING CARD. Teller frame grabbed the image and scanned it with one of the computers, identifying which card was missing by process of elimination (or missingness).

Teller then used the second computer to CGI a card and display it on the JumboTron.

Absolutely Brilliant!!!!!

Re:Chicken and egg situation [ot] by minusthink · 2002-03-15 07:29 · Score: 1

a chicken comes first only if you define an almost-chicken as a chicken, which I do not.

--
"when life gets complicated, I like to take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner" - Hobbes.

Wouldn't it be easier to use a phrase book? by theolein · 2002-03-15 15:25 · Score: 0

It really does a lot more for international understanding if you actually try to speak to people when you go abroad. You might learn something and make some friends.

Slashdot Mirror

Point, Shoot and Translate into English

159 comments