This works until you go to a different country and try using a computer there. Every keyboard layout has its symbol keys at different places on the keyboard. This screwed me over once when I tried to check my email from a computer in Japan.
Why not make the GPS device only record the number of miles driven within the state, and not the exact locations the car has been? It would basically be an odometer that only runs while you are within the state borders, and would remember coordinates in memory only long enough to compute distance travelled.
It would make the most sense to do it this way anyway from both a privacy and cost standpoint. A hard drive or large flash card to record one coordinate per second of driving would be a waste -- instead the device would only need less than 1k of memory to keep track of milage indefinitely.
I think there is a real need in the market for a good HDTV DVR device. My ultimate wish is for one that can record HDTV from cable TV, complete with a cable card slot. So far, the only solutions available seem to involve putting antennas on the rooftop.
I've been using mine for a few days now, I and love it. Here's my raves: - 64kps AAC sounds great for npr shows, and the files aren't too big. - After recording, it automatically puts the file into an iTunes playlist, so you just need to dock your iPod each time to get the updated recordings. - You can set the time-shift buffer to any length you want. So at any time you can go back to listen to any broadcast in the last day on a station. - The hardware is solid high quality. - It records even when the application isn't open. It appears to have a daemon process running at all times, still recording to the buffer. - You can preset stations with names, and then switch between them using a dropdown. - The interface is really slick.
Here's what could be improved: - The filenames for repeat recordings should have the date in them to make it easier to pick from multiple recordings of the same show on the iPod. ID3 tags would be nice, too. - There should be an option to record shows only on the weekdays. To record a weekday-only show, you need to set up five identical recordings, one for each day. - The blue/red light on the unit glows like three night lights. Having it in my bedroom lights up the whole room. Where's the dimmer? - It would be a cool feature to be able to schedule recordings remotely without using VNC.
Now if someone would only come up with a good time-shifting TV tuner of this quality for the Mac.
I know what I'm going to do -- write a simple web-based interface to display the current song, and have a button to skip to the next song using the perl module Mac::iTunes::AppleScript.
That way, I can have all the songs served off of the G5 in my bedroom, but control the music from my laptop next to the stereo.
Sealing and Ceiling Census and Senses Cent and Scent Right and Write
And just like Japanese, they are spelled differently (different Kanji == different spelling). As a beginner, you are learning Japanese in romaji and hiragana, but most homonyms are written in Kanji in everyday use, so it's really not a problem. Just because two words are spelled the same using hiragana, doesn't mean they are they same word.
The only chance for confusion comes when the language is spoken, but homonyms usually vary in meaning so much that only one meaning will fit in a given context.
It's not like Sojourner is going anywhere. I'm sure when we've mastered interplanetary flight to the point that it's just routine, we'll probably go back to all the left-behind probe carcasses to do some kind of forensic study and make monuments out of them for the tourists to see.
It was funny watching Enemy of the State on ABC last night. When I first saw it, years ago, it seemed much more based on fiction than it does now. At first, it seemed to be a little paranoid to me, and I didn't actually believe that our government would start passing things like that Patriot Act. Everything in the movie seems so familiar now, almost like they based it on current events.
I wonder at what point do we give up looking for life, and actually try to plant life on Mars? Apparently, there are many bacteria that thrive in Mars-like environments, and if Mars is just a big wasteland, then we might as well try to start terra-forming it in one way or another.
I get nervous that life as we know it seems to be wholly contained on our one little planet, and it might be a good idea to plant the seeds of life on another planet before we possibly completely destroy ours.
What incentive does a company have to contribute back to the open source community when its first responsibility is to protect it's intellectual property?
The only incentive right now is that by submitting bug fixes back to the communal code, the company can avoid having to maintain its own copy of the code, saving time in the future when new version of the software are released.
However, by sharing new feature additions with the community, the company could inadvertantly be also sharing its intellectual property with its competitors, which is bad for its shareholders.
I was up at Mt. Rainier last month and saw a guy on a Segway powering up the mountain. He had an oxygen tank sitting on one of the wheels and had a tube running under his nose. He was already a few miles up when I saw him, I just hope that he had enough battery to get down. Maybe it charges it one the way down?
It's pretty cool that because of the Segway he was able to go to one of the most beautiful places on earth, which he wouldn't have been able to get to normally. It does help that the first few miles are paved from the base of Paradise.
Yeah, but sometimes the reporters give away so many clues, their location is obvious. "I can't say exactly where I am, but we're about 150 miles away from Baghdad at an oil field that is resposible for 30% of the oil production in Iraq."
Uh, yeah. The Iraqis will have no idea where you're at.
Slashdot Mirror
It looks like Tivo will finally offer a dual-tuner HD box next year.
r econfirms-plans-for-an-hdtv-tivo/
http://www.tivoblog.com/archives/2005/11/21/tivo-
This works until you go to a different country and try using a computer there. Every keyboard layout has its symbol keys at different places on the keyboard. This screwed me over once when I tried to check my email from a computer in Japan.
Why not make the GPS device only record the number of miles driven within the state, and not the exact locations the car has been? It would basically be an odometer that only runs while you are within the state borders, and would remember coordinates in memory only long enough to compute distance travelled.
It would make the most sense to do it this way anyway from both a privacy and cost standpoint. A hard drive or large flash card to record one coordinate per second of driving would be a waste -- instead the device would only need less than 1k of memory to keep track of milage indefinitely.
The Mac Mini is probably not powerful enough to playback the HDTV that the EyeTV 500 records. See the review from EFF:
http://www.eff.org/broadcastflag/eyetv500.php
I think there is a real need in the market for a good HDTV DVR device. My ultimate wish is for one that can record HDTV from cable TV, complete with a cable card slot. So far, the only solutions available seem to involve putting antennas on the rooftop.
I've been using mine for a few days now, I and love it. Here's my raves:
- 64kps AAC sounds great for npr shows, and the files aren't too big.
- After recording, it automatically puts the file into an iTunes playlist, so you just need to dock your iPod each time to get the updated recordings.
- You can set the time-shift buffer to any length you want. So at any time you can go back to listen to any broadcast in the last day on a station.
- The hardware is solid high quality.
- It records even when the application isn't open. It appears to have a daemon process running at all times, still recording to the buffer.
- You can preset stations with names, and then switch between them using a dropdown.
- The interface is really slick.
Here's what could be improved:
- The filenames for repeat recordings should have the date in them to make it easier to pick from multiple recordings of the same show on the iPod. ID3 tags would be nice, too.
- There should be an option to record shows only on the weekdays. To record a weekday-only show, you need to set up five identical recordings, one for each day.
- The blue/red light on the unit glows like three night lights. Having it in my bedroom lights up the whole room. Where's the dimmer?
- It would be a cool feature to be able to schedule recordings remotely without using VNC.
Now if someone would only come up with a good time-shifting TV tuner of this quality for the Mac.
I know what I'm going to do -- write a simple web-based interface to display the current song, and have a button to skip to the next song using the perl module Mac::iTunes::AppleScript.
That way, I can have all the songs served off of the G5 in my bedroom, but control the music from my laptop next to the stereo.
You know, English has Homonyms, too:
Sealing and Ceiling
Census and Senses
Cent and Scent
Right and Write
And just like Japanese, they are spelled differently (different Kanji == different spelling). As a beginner, you are learning Japanese in romaji and hiragana, but most homonyms are written in Kanji in everyday use, so it's really not a problem. Just because two words are spelled the same using hiragana, doesn't mean they are they same word.
The only chance for confusion comes when the language is spoken, but homonyms usually vary in meaning so much that only one meaning will fit in a given context.
It's not like Sojourner is going anywhere. I'm sure when we've mastered interplanetary flight to the point that it's just routine, we'll probably go back to all the left-behind probe carcasses to do some kind of forensic study and make monuments out of them for the tourists to see.
It was funny watching Enemy of the State on ABC last night. When I first saw it, years ago, it seemed much more based on fiction than it does now. At first, it seemed to be a little paranoid to me, and I didn't actually believe that our government would start passing things like that Patriot Act. Everything in the movie seems so familiar now, almost like they based it on current events.
I wonder at what point do we give up looking for life, and actually try to plant life on Mars? Apparently, there are many bacteria that thrive in Mars-like environments, and if Mars is just a big wasteland, then we might as well try to start terra-forming it in one way or another.
I get nervous that life as we know it seems to be wholly contained on our one little planet, and it might be a good idea to plant the seeds of life on another planet before we possibly completely destroy ours.
What incentive does a company have to contribute back to the open source community when its first responsibility is to protect it's intellectual property?
The only incentive right now is that by submitting bug fixes back to the communal code, the company can avoid having to maintain its own copy of the code, saving time in the future when new version of the software are released.
However, by sharing new feature additions with the community, the company could inadvertantly be also sharing its intellectual property with its competitors, which is bad for its shareholders.
I was up at Mt. Rainier last month and saw a guy on a Segway powering up the mountain. He had an oxygen tank sitting on one of the wheels and had a tube running under his nose. He was already a few miles up when I saw him, I just hope that he had enough battery to get down. Maybe it charges it one the way down?
It's pretty cool that because of the Segway he was able to go to one of the most beautiful places on earth, which he wouldn't have been able to get to normally. It does help that the first few miles are paved from the base of Paradise.
Yeah, but sometimes the reporters give away so many clues, their location is obvious. "I can't say exactly where I am, but we're about 150 miles away from Baghdad at an oil field that is resposible for 30% of the oil production in Iraq."
Uh, yeah. The Iraqis will have no idea where you're at.
That's not true. Cingular wireless also uses GSM, and so does AT&T now.
I use T-mobile, my girlfriend uses Cingular, and we have great coverage in most all places we've been in the states.
Has there ever been a documented problem with Amazon's credit card database? I have never heard of one.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3539/looking_skills.h tml