User: atabotix

Like the Paradox of the Active User

On: Outstanding Objects (Developed Dirt Cheap)

This in part sounds like the "Paradox of the Active User" which sort of simplifies to 'noone wants to read the manual'... http://www.useit.com/alertbox/activeuserparadox.ht ml

http://www.cs.vt.edu/~rosson/papers/paradox.pdf

infobreakfast

On: Web Log 'Word Bursts' Could Identify New Crazes

See http://www.infobreakfast.com/ which does something similar for news items - and has a very terse, wireless-friendly, interface.

Shogi can improve your chess

On: A Shogi Champion Turns to Chess

A few years ago an US IM, Larry Kaufman, learned shogi, became good at it, and reported that it improved his chess. I recall the article in Chess Life & Review but it's hard to find a good web ref to this. This is a stab at it: http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/shogi / auf.html

Use Yahoo IM and Google? Try YIMGoogle

Closing airports & planes in the air?

On: World Trade Towers and Pentagon Attacked

What happens to planes
in in the air when they close
the airports?

I would think the "safe" thing would
be to make them all circle for a while - but
maybe not - do planes just have to land asap?

singular extensions - Re:It's inevitable

On: Brain vs. Computer: Place Your Bets

> Even more important is the fact that we need
> not search the full search tree (indeed Deep
> Blue did not, using instead something called
> singular extensions)

Misconception: Singular extensions still
work with a normal full width alpha beta
search - they just extend the depth
of nodes w/ forcing moves.

Re:Sidenotes to the Deep Blue - Kasparov Match

On: Brain vs. Computer: Place Your Bets

Yeah, but tweaking isn't necessarily good. It's very easy for simple changes to have unintended consequences. With a large enough regression suite it might not even be possible to test changes thoroughly inbetween games [as I thought they had some param tuning exercises that lasted a long time, more than a day].

I have topped them as I've done *zero* click apple

On: One-Click Reprise

I have done a proof of concept "zero click" applet.

Just hold your mouse over the button and amazingly enough, after a few seconds you'll be transported to another screen (the "buy" screen or whatnot) without the bothersome click.

http://www.tropo.com/techno/java/zeroclick/