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Haystack: A More Compelling View Of Your Data
Peristaltic writes "MIT's Haystack project has released the source for it's "Universal Information Client", Haystack.
In their words: 'Haystack looks into the use of artificial intelligence techniques for analyzing unstructured information and providing more accurate retrieval.' Unlike some attempts I've seen in the past to pull it all together on my desktop, Haystack shows some promise -- One of it's more useful features allows you to take the information you've been wallowing through, and have Haystack continually refine a 'dynamic hierarchy' until you get what you need. Haystack also performs some neat tricks such as combining Email, IM, web pages, etc. into a single inbox."
Haystack also performs some neat tricks such as combining Email, IM, web pages, etc. into a single inbox
It may just be me, but this is a feature I never want.
I do not want 1 large program to run all of my applications. I do not want to get my email, from where I get my web pages, and my IM. I don't want any of this.
I am quite happy with seperate programs which I can use at my pleasure. I'm happy with the lack of bulk, and the fact I can change an email client without changing a web choice. (although I only use pine anyway.)
Is this just me? Do all of you want your programs shoved together in one large application?
I didn't get any options on my cell phone (like text messaging) because I purchased a cell phone. I wanted a cell phone. To make calls. Nothing else.
http://use.perl.org
From the system requirements:
- Pentium III 700mhz-based computer or better (Pentium 4 2ghz strongly recommended)
- 12 megabytes of RAM (768 megabytes strongly recommended)
s/strongly recommended/REQUIRED/
Wow. Looking at the Haystack site with Mozilla looks awesome! I don't know if it's my version (1.4rc1) or some weird image setting, but the main image on the page stays stationary as I scroll around, but the clipping of the image changes. It's really hard to describe, but looks awesome.
Of course, IE just renders it properly. BOOOORING.
Can it organize 3 gigs of random pr0n?
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
Not too much to ask, it doesn't even need to be truly a filesystem. Just overload all the file access commands (At this point, probably easier to just write a new filesystem)...
Group data by category, content, whatever. "Symlink" to the inodes, and you're off. We don't need AI for that and I think it would be a more complete solution. I don't see an AI engine that can correctly categorize my mp3's, I don't think I'd trust it for all of my data yet. Let's start small and get usable systems.
Spiffy program though, wish it weren't in Java... wish it weren't 42MB... wish it ran smoothly under Linux. I'll stop complaining now.
On a side note, Did anybody else find that scrolling image annoying and mentally confusing. Er, I'll really stop complaining now.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
Can you say SKYNET ?
Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infra-red, How I hate the night.
The ultimate test for such a system is putting my inbox into the information stream. At the end of the day, 99% of it better be trashed automagically.
combining Email, IM, web pages, etc. into a single inbox
Whatever happened to the "does one thing, and does it very well" philosophy? If I sorta remember that I got something in an e-mail, I look in my e-mail. What's the advantage of throwing away that piece of information (where it came from)?
Yes, it's nice to use the computer to do grunt work for us, but there are some things that are better left to the user. Some of us like to come up with little "systems" for organizing things that are unique to us. We've all heard stories of the receptionist who files contacts under 'D' because new contacts are always invited for Drinks. An AI is not going to be any more rational than that, and the kooky system it devises won't be in our heads--it'll be in some obfuscated format that nobody will understand, not even the ditzy receptionist.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I'll believe in their AI when I can type "X free" as a search query and it returns a link to www.xfree86.org instead of a million links to pr0n sites. Does this AI learn what people search for usually ? is it able to determine over time that capital-"X" and "free" in my particular searches are about opensource graphical software, unlike the same query by the dirty old man next door ?
By the way Haystack people, when you use titles and phrases containing "universal", "seeks to bring [...] to the average user", "artificial intelligence" , it trips my PR bullshit meter. I was about to bail out when I noticed the download link.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Isn't haystack the problem that this tries to fix? I think this project should have been called 'needle' or possibly 'findy.'
There was only one measly screenshot in the overview section, and NO screenshots in the screenshot section, so here's another one.
Nothing like slashdotting MIT to make you feel like you've accomplished something! How's your precious class-A IP registry now?
Sincerely
Bunker Hill Community College
Sure would be nice if this ran fluently on other platforms.
It's assumed that if you don't run windows you are inteligent enough to organize your own info.
It's assumed that if you don't run windows you are inteligent enough to organize your own info.
That would be much funnier if it didn't run on Linux.
Wait a minute .....
"and bubblesort just won't cut it"
:D
well, see; that was your problem right there: radix sort!
It does reduce your portability somewhat of course :) I've been getting our app to run using Wine. Internet Explorer in a JVM in Wine on Linux is a bit bizarre, but we haven't seen any major speed problems with it so far.....
for Haystack at LCS recently, and was not that impressed. It is designed to do certain kinds of tasks very well (e.g., editing things that are embedded in other types of information - the tests given were things like "edit this picture that's a part of this entry in your Outlook address book"). Unfortunately, at the expense of making these tasks as close to one-click as possible, other things (versatility the most, but also common sense design) have failed.
I find it easy enough to edit information of the "My Documents" variety without worrying about how it is integrated into other information on my computer, and I'm sure other readers here do, as well.
The best way to actually use this software would be in the case where John Q. has a specific task to do over and over again but isn't ready to tackle a batch process.
Haystack is an interesting idea, but I have a hard time distinguishing what it does from what, say, Lotus Notes does. And Lotus is _terrible_.
I like the idea of bringing all my information together in one place. I don't like the idea of only having it in that one place. What I would like would be an application that can watch how I use the computer, then bring those applications together to make it more seemless.
For example, I have about four different calendars in my life: the work calendar, the one on the cell phone that I use for stuff that I can't miss, the calendar that schedules airplane rentals, and (of coursE) my girlfriend's calendar. So how do I bring those all together, and yet still be making entries in them separately?
The same is true for information. I have a primitive blogging system (really just a bunch of text files that are date coded), I have work documents that I use regularly, I have web pages that I monitor (sometimes a little too often) and I have textbooks that I'm reading (instrument flying at the moment). So how do I get all these forms of information - or at least an index into them - together in one place? But again, without changing the current organization scheme.
This is the tool that will make the computer a lot more useful - an actual organizational tool.
Rudy
1. 2.
A file system with the power and flexibility of a relational database ceases to be a file system. What are things like "cp" supposed to mean? How do you transfer "a row" through a serial connection? What kind of transactional guarantees is it going to make; if it's going to make DBMS guarantees, it's too slow for many file system applications, and if it's not going to do that, is it really a DBMS?
I didn't say "relational database" -- I said "relational filesystem." As in, finding documents that are related to some other entity. I enjoy messing around in the Gimp. Sometimes I do work related images, other times it's just for fun. I'd like to put every image under $HOME/gimpwork. However, I like to find out which ones are for work and which job, for fun, etc.
I'd like to be able to say "ls --category=work $HOME/gimpwork" and show only those files. This doesn't require a database, it requires a few meta flags.
File copying is the same, ls is the same, everything is the same. Maybe just a wee bit slower.
If you want a database, just use a database. MySQL and various embedded databases are widely available on Linux now; no need to clutter up the kernel.
You wouldn't have to clutter the kernel. A system that I am envisioning could reside purely ontop of any existing filesystem. It could have a DB backend (but that would be overkill)
There are some logistics problems that would make it easier to be in a kernel module -- but assuming everybody would use the proper set of commands, it could keep everything in sync just fine without mucking in kernel space.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
Six Degrees by Creo is another attempt to do this same sort of thing, except that it's commercial and it's been available for Mac OS X and Windows for several months.
I've been waiting for this for a few weeks now. I've been looking for a PIM that has email, calendar, and tasks. Apart from Outlook, what product has that? I have recently tried:
Outlook
OSAF's Chandler PIM
Haystack
Pogomail (not a PIM)
Eudora (not a PIM)
Mozilla
I am now using Mozilla because it has bayesian spam filtering built in and because it has a calendar plug in.
I have decided not to use Haystack. It is simply not production ready, and I'm sure the guys at MIT wont mind me saying so. It crashes. It locks up. It doesnt have undo!!!! I cant tell you how many times I screwed up one of the panels and couldnt get it back. I also couldnt figure out how to delete spam. I get about 200 emails per day, of which 8 arent spam. I could use a pop filter, but I have an emap client too.
However, I am very impressed by this software and it is absolutely the way forward. I *want* my information integrated. I want my tasks to automatically reference the people I need to do them with and the web pages I used for reference and the dates in my calendar. I want my contacts to appear in many different categories, instead of as a different copy in each category all of which I'd have to update.
I want email and calendar and tasks to be like a light switch or a tv. I want to just turn it on and it all be there. This software is fabulous and you would all benefit from giving it a test drive, even if you ultimately uninstall it.
Scopeware Vision is similar but better than this. It only requires 128 megs of ram!
Try the 30 day free trial. It rulz!
From the Design Principles:
"...provides a single, uniform interface for manipulation of e-mail, instant messages, addresses, web pages, documents, news, bibliographies, annotations, music, images, etc."
"...attempts to match a user's own focus on objects in view and what can be done with them. An operation (such as spellchecking, sending an e-mail message, or rotating an image) can be invoked at any time on any object for which the operation "makes sense" (i.e. a blob of text, a person, or an image respectively)."
Back in the heady days of the PPC 601 and the Newton, one of Apple's software groups was working on this problem exactly. While I don't think OpenDoc could organize your information, it was certainly a uniform interface for manipulating stuff, with the focus on the stuff, and not the application in use. At that point, about seven years ago, I naively believed that one day OpenDoc would provide an environment in which I could edit a web page and all elements (including raster and vector images) without having six applications loaded. Ha!
doesn't mean it's actually a properly framed idea. The market pressures of usability have pretty much spelled out the answer long ago... different functionality calls for discrete apps in this instance. There's simply not enough synergy between IM and Email being in the same place to make it worthwhile... it's just cluttered. It would have happened long ago and been successful if it were useful because it's not technically very difficult to accomplish. Blah. Some ideas that come out of that place are pretty weak (and others rock.) Oh well.
What I think would be cool would be a multidesktop type of environment. No, I'm not talking about multiple virtual desktops either.
You could have a different desktop for each project. You might have several emails for the given project, a few documents and spec sheets, some pictures, and some code. Keep the hierarchical file system underneath. Everything on the desktop is a link to something in the filesystem. Make it easy to copy, manipulate and navigate between different desktops. Basically, this would be an alternative hierachy, independent of the filesystem hierarchy.
No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
http://www.enfish.com
Same thing -- hard to make it fast enough.