>>they'll have the PR nightmare of suing a poor 12-year-old girl living with a single mom.
If they're so poor as to be living in welfare housing, why do they have a COMPUTER and INTERNET ACCESS? Or are we giving that away with the free food/shelter/check these days, too?
Just wondering. I'd hope that if someone were that broke, they'd focus their priorities (read: "budget") a little better.
What I'd like to see is a doll like this, but with learning capability. In the simple case, you'd just give it USB and download word lists into it. In the complex case, you'd give it WiFi, and hook it up to google, so that it can learn in real-time.
Interested in making this happen? My idea is to add this to an Aibo (Sony's robotic Dog.) Sony has their Aibo SDK (which is moderately difficult to learn), but there's an alternative called Tekkotsu (means "iron bones" in Japanese).
Tekkotsu builds on the basic functionality provided by the OPEN-R operating system. It is written in C++, (like the underlying system APIs) and makes full use of inheritance and templates. There is a delicate balance between ease of programming and speed of execution. Running a significant amount of vision, AI, and motion planning at the same time can easily overwhelm any system, even one as surprisingly powerful as the Aibo.
With Tekkotsu, it's fairly easy to add additional behaviours and switch them on and off via the (very cool) menu system, so I've been investigating adding a reading skill to Aibo by porting available open-source code.
aibOCR would have two components: OCR (optical character recognition) and TTS (Text-to-speech). The OCR engine detects printed text (perhaps only recognize text written in a certain colour which, if detected, triggers OCR engine to keep processing demands low until needed?) The output from the OCR engine is plain text which is then optionally compared to a dictionary (to prevent misspellings) and fed to the TTS engine which converts the ASCII to phonemes, builds the sound stream and sends it to the speaker.
I've been looking at the opensource OCR program GOCR/JOCR (at sourceforge.net) and it might be a candidate for adapting to run on Aibo, but the image processing libraries on which it depends may need rewritten. It's not doing advanced deskewing, sharpening or outlining, and it's not comparing probable matches against a dictionary, so that simplifies the scope of the problem and the install footprint. OCRE is another package which might be suitable.
For TTS, there is surprisingly little out there in the opensource world. "Festival" v1.4.3 from Carnegie Mellon University might work, but for it's very large installation footprint. High quality sound comes at a cost, I suppose.
It's too bad that something simple like S.A.M. (Apple ][, ATARI 400/800) or the original Macintalk (Macintosh) or the corresponding version for the Apple Newton hasn't been opensourced. Either of those packages (designed for 8bit, 1mhz 6502) would be perfect for this experiment.
>his main problem was... the way the BSA raided his company
I don't get it. How is it that a private (e.g. "non-government") agency, in this case the BSA, can "raid" a business? They have no more legal right to enter private property and go pawing through someone's systems & records than I do -- that is to say, none. It seems clear that if the BSA attempt to force their way into private property, then they are trespassing.
Why couldn't Ernie Ball, Inc. simply turn them away when the BSA showed up at the door (and give them a good, swift kick in the pants on the way out)?
>>Strike "Word of Mouth Ruled Illegal", I have another suggestion: >>Slander/Libel law broadened to include "negative and harmful" speech towards economic activity.
Why not? We already have laws that cover hurt feelings. (AKA "hate speech.")
>>I'm sure it will be banned, any day now, yep, right around the corner...
I agree -- it's just a matter of time.
Look how far we've come. Twenty years ago, legalese was rare at the consumer level. Now, it seems like packaging and advertising for every conceivable consumer product includes micro-print disclaimers wordsmithed by a small army of attorneys. As a consumer, you have to question everything and jealously guard your privacy during every interaction with retailers. Our culture is being damaged from this insane structure.
I think that banning commentary is a natural extention of where we are right now. Think about it -- it's not unusual for companies to ban the publishing of benchmark testing results as part of their EULA. *cough*DOTNET*cough* This amounts to a banning of criticism, because it prohibits this dissemination of information, particularly those with objective measures.
How long before the MPAA prints something to the effect of "By purchasing and redeeming this movie ticket, you agree to the terms of usage as published at http://www.WeOwnYou.com which may change at any time, without further notice"? Of course, the "agreement" will prohibit the moviegoer from communicating any opinion to a third party regarding the content of the film with the advance written permission of the studio, lest it harm precious sales.
was when I clicked on the link to the screenshot only to be presented with a 444 error: "You do not have permission to access the requested file on this server."
Wow, when it comes to security, these folks aren't kidding around! It's so secure, you can't even look at the images it serves! Now THAT'S tight!
>Anybody else think this way, or am I in the minority?
Well, I see your point but your criticism of this device as overpriced may be undeserved because you're considering using it only in a limited way, and it's capable of much more than playing an hour or two of music. For the applications you've described, a $100 device may be more appropriate, but this item is targeted at a different audience. We're talking about 40 GIGS of storage -- approximately 400 CD's worth of music (12 tracks each), or approx. 250 hours of sound!
Imagine it as the center of your music listening experience -- a device you take with and plug into a home/office stereo or car audio system, or simply listen to it as a portable device. Plus, of course, it's a portable hard drive for moving data from one system to another.
>>In a pocket-sized box, I'd be looking for Wi-Fi rather than a cabled connection.
And in short order, you'd be looking for an electrical outlet to recharge it. The power demands of wifi considered with the size limitations of the device makes the idea of a pocket-sized wifi mp3 player impractical for all but short durations.
The idea is interesting, though allow me to shift into Devil's Advocate role for a moment... wouldn't this device, if it transmits music via Wifi, effectively be a low power radio station? After all, it's broadcasting music, and that requires an FCC license and permission from the "intellectual" property owner, which could give the RIAA an excuse to demand commercial broadcast licenses (e.g. many thousands of $$s) per device.
Even more interesting is this question: How long before Paypal's records are reviewed by the Feds to determine just who donated money for the defense of this (now) confessed terrorist?
At the least, an investigation of those donors is appropriate. Hopefully it will help uncover others who have questionable loyalty to America!
>>Seems to me that such a system really works best on people with nothing to hide - which contradicts the very purpose for which it is intended.
Agreed. However, the system fulfills it's purpose well -- it does precisely what it was designed to do. Those objectives are simply different from the stated goals. "Law enforcement" learned (from TIA) not to tell the public the real purpose of privacy-invading projects such as this unless they wished to suffer the wrath of elected officials threatened with voter backlash.
>>Ok, so what's to stop you from slipping a little piece of airplane-trim-colored tape over the lens... A: The sure-to-follow Federal law against tampering with an aircraft security device. It's just a matter of time.
I'm predicting that within twenty years it will be a Felony to wear any face covering in public that might conceal your identy from Big Brother's Telescreen Network.
That's just knee-jerk enviromental scaremongering. What has a greater enviromental impact: 1) a Halon discharge which prevents a fire, or 2) a house burning to the ground?
Yep, that's what I thought. If you doubt #2 is the correct answer might I suggest that sometime, just for fun, you ask an environmental engineer about the remarkable volume of nasty chemicals, soot and particulates released as a result of burning carpets, padding, insulation, paint and misc. plastics which make up a modern home? That should remove any doubts.
But let's assume for one moment (contrary to scientific evidence) that Halon truly is damaging to the environment. What do you rekon happens to the refrigerant in the air conditioning system when a home burns down? Yes, that's right, it's vented straight into the atmosphere. Well, if you accept the enviro-nazi poposition that Halon is damaging then surely one must also accept the idea that air conditioning refrigerant also damages the ozone layer. So what's worse? A Halon discharge or a big nasty housefire AND a refrigerant gas discharge?
Finally, consider that in many states pressure-treated wood is considered toxic for purposes of disposal, requires special handling, and cannot be placed in a landfill. Burning it simply releases those toxins into the air. SO when that deck goes up in flames, it releases mercury, arsenic, and a host of other nasties.
The real risk of a Halon system not environmental -- the risk is *suffocation* due to an accidental discharge. Halon, being an invisible, odorless gas, will choke the life out of the homeowner nearly as well as it chokes out a fire. It's a system which requires regular professional inspection, testing and maintenance.
No, in this age of state budgets exceeding revenue, it means is that State tax collectors are going ask DoNotCall.gov for a list of email addresses from their area code. From there, the taxman will ask eBay for a list of all sales from each email address along with description of items and amount.
Next, that information is used to demand back taxes + penalty fees, and potential criminal prosecutions for those who have not reported their eBay sales as "income."
Remember, it's only called a conspiracy *theory* until it happens.
Slashdot Mirror
>>it's safe, it seats six, and has a trunk big enough to easily fit three dead hookers. More, if you chop 'em up and put them in bags.
Chop 'em up? Why, I never would have thought of that!
You know, it's just that sort of practical use-it-every-day knowledge that keeps me coming back here to Slashdot! Thanks, guys!
>>they'll have the PR nightmare of suing a poor 12-year-old girl living with a single mom.
If they're so poor as to be living in welfare housing, why do they have a COMPUTER and INTERNET ACCESS? Or are we giving that away with the free food/shelter/check these days, too?
Just wondering. I'd hope that if someone were that broke, they'd focus their priorities (read: "budget") a little better.
>>The only thing that was missing was the fact that she wasn't in a wheelchair.
That's BRILLIANT! Put her in a wheelchair, push he into court and let the RIAA make her to cry in front of the jury. Who could convict her? Nobody!
Result? Instant court precident!!
>> Even typing into xterms seems faster.
Hey, just wait 'till 2.6 Release is available -- The case fan will spin faster, the speakers will be louder, and the "on" LED will glow brighter, too!
that's 2^96 = 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 hosts... minus 2 for the broadcast and the network address. Um...No thats not right.. damn cisco.
Actually, it's minus three. You forgot to allow for the Evil bit.
"NASA will be inviting the public to help decide what areas on the red planet to photograph."
Why? NASA asking the public for advice about planetary exploration is like, well, Nerds asking Slashdot for relationship advice.
Awsome! It looks like it'll be a perfect fit. Thanks for a great lead and a tip 'o the virtual hat to you.
What I'd like to see is a doll like this, but with learning capability. In the simple case, you'd just give it USB and download word lists into it. In the complex case, you'd give it WiFi, and hook it up to google, so that it can learn in real-time.
Interested in making this happen? My idea is to add this to an Aibo (Sony's robotic Dog.) Sony has their Aibo SDK (which is moderately difficult to learn), but there's an alternative called Tekkotsu (means "iron bones" in Japanese). Tekkotsu builds on the basic functionality provided by the OPEN-R operating system. It is written in C++, (like the underlying system APIs) and makes full use of inheritance and templates. There is a delicate balance between ease of programming and speed of execution. Running a significant amount of vision, AI, and motion planning at the same time can easily overwhelm any system, even one as surprisingly powerful as the Aibo. With Tekkotsu, it's fairly easy to add additional behaviours and switch them on and off via the (very cool) menu system, so I've been investigating adding a reading skill to Aibo by porting available open-source code.
aibOCR would have two components: OCR (optical character recognition) and TTS (Text-to-speech). The OCR engine detects printed text (perhaps only recognize text written in a certain colour which, if detected, triggers OCR engine to keep processing demands low until needed?) The output from the OCR engine is plain text which is then optionally compared to a dictionary (to prevent misspellings) and fed to the TTS engine which converts the ASCII to phonemes, builds the sound stream and sends it to the speaker.
I've been looking at the opensource OCR program GOCR/JOCR (at sourceforge.net) and it might be a candidate for adapting to run on Aibo, but the image processing libraries on which it depends may need rewritten. It's not doing advanced deskewing, sharpening or outlining, and it's not comparing probable matches against a dictionary, so that simplifies the scope of the problem and the install footprint. OCRE is another package which might be suitable.
For TTS, there is surprisingly little out there in the opensource world. "Festival" v1.4.3 from Carnegie Mellon University might work, but for it's very large installation footprint. High quality sound comes at a cost, I suppose.
It's too bad that something simple like S.A.M. (Apple ][, ATARI 400/800) or the original Macintalk (Macintosh) or the corresponding version for the Apple Newton hasn't been opensourced. Either of those packages (designed for 8bit, 1mhz 6502) would be perfect for this experiment.
String the last two 'default' headlines together and whaddaya get?
"New Longhorn Screenshots Leaked. Sobig. Worst Is Yet To Come."
Yep. That just about says it all!
>his main problem was ... the way the BSA raided his company
I don't get it. How is it that a private (e.g. "non-government") agency, in this case the BSA, can "raid" a business? They have no more legal right to enter private property and go pawing through someone's systems & records than I do -- that is to say, none. It seems clear that if the BSA attempt to force their way into private property, then they are trespassing.
Why couldn't Ernie Ball, Inc. simply turn them away when the BSA showed up at the door (and give them a good, swift kick in the pants on the way out)?
>>Strike "Word of Mouth Ruled Illegal", I have another suggestion:
>>Slander/Libel law broadened to include "negative and harmful" speech towards economic activity.
Why not? We already have laws that cover hurt feelings. (AKA "hate speech.")
>>I'm sure it will be banned, any day now, yep, right around the corner...
I agree -- it's just a matter of time.
Look how far we've come. Twenty years ago, legalese was rare at the consumer level. Now, it seems like packaging and advertising for every conceivable consumer product includes micro-print disclaimers wordsmithed by a small army of attorneys. As a consumer, you have to question everything and jealously guard your privacy during every interaction with retailers. Our culture is being damaged from this insane structure.
I think that banning commentary is a natural extention of where we are right now. Think about it -- it's not unusual for companies to ban the publishing of benchmark testing results as part of their EULA. *cough*DOTNET*cough* This amounts to a banning of criticism, because it prohibits this dissemination of information, particularly those with objective measures.
How long before the MPAA prints something to the effect of "By purchasing and redeeming this movie ticket, you agree to the terms of usage as published at http://www.WeOwnYou.com which may change at any time, without further notice"? Of course, the "agreement" will prohibit the moviegoer from communicating any opinion to a third party regarding the content of the film with the advance written permission of the studio, lest it harm precious sales.
>>If I'm working for a cash rich company, why can't I use the free toolkit and pocket the extra money set aside for "tools"?
Oh, I dunno, let's see, maybe because that would be EMBEZZLEMENT?
was when I clicked on the link to the screenshot only to be presented with a 444 error:
"You do not have permission to access the requested file on this server."
Wow, when it comes to security, these folks aren't kidding around! It's so secure, you can't even look at the images it serves! Now THAT'S tight!
>Anybody else think this way, or am I in the minority?
Well, I see your point but your criticism of this device as overpriced may be undeserved because you're considering using it only in a limited way, and it's capable of much more than playing an hour or two of music. For the applications you've described, a $100 device may be more appropriate, but this item is targeted at a different audience. We're talking about 40 GIGS of storage -- approximately 400 CD's worth of music (12 tracks each), or approx. 250 hours of sound!
Imagine it as the center of your music listening experience -- a device you take with and plug into a home/office stereo or car audio system, or simply listen to it as a portable device. Plus, of course, it's a portable hard drive for moving data from one system to another.
>>In a pocket-sized box, I'd be looking for Wi-Fi rather than a cabled connection.
And in short order, you'd be looking for an electrical outlet to recharge it. The power demands of wifi considered with the size limitations of the device makes the idea of a pocket-sized wifi mp3 player impractical for all but short durations.
The idea is interesting, though allow me to shift into Devil's Advocate role for a moment... wouldn't this device, if it transmits music via Wifi, effectively be a low power radio station? After all, it's broadcasting music, and that requires an FCC license and permission from the "intellectual" property owner, which could give the RIAA an excuse to demand commercial broadcast licenses (e.g. many thousands of $$s) per device.
Since the devices support MP3 (in addition to Ogg Vorbis), the manufacturer must pay a license for the MP3 decoder.
Even more interesting is this question: How long before Paypal's records are reviewed by the Feds to determine just who donated money for the defense of this (now) confessed terrorist?
At the least, an investigation of those donors is appropriate. Hopefully it will help uncover others who have questionable loyalty to America!
>>now they are fucking with tivo and that just will not stand.
Agreed! I rate them "three thumbs down."
>>Seems to me that such a system really works best on people with nothing to hide - which contradicts the very purpose for which it is intended.
Agreed. However, the system fulfills it's purpose well -- it does precisely what it was designed to do. Those objectives are simply different from the stated goals. "Law enforcement" learned (from TIA) not to tell the public the real purpose of privacy-invading projects such as this unless they wished to suffer the wrath of elected officials threatened with voter backlash.
>>Ok, so what's to stop you from slipping a little piece of airplane-trim-colored tape over the lens...
A: The sure-to-follow Federal law against tampering with an aircraft security device. It's just a matter of time.
I'm predicting that within twenty years it will be a Felony to wear any face covering in public that might conceal your identy from Big Brother's Telescreen Network.
>>ozone depleting Halon
That's just knee-jerk enviromental scaremongering. What has a greater enviromental impact:
1) a Halon discharge which prevents a fire, or
2) a house burning to the ground?
Yep, that's what I thought. If you doubt #2 is the correct answer might I suggest that sometime, just for fun, you ask an environmental engineer about the remarkable volume of nasty chemicals, soot and particulates released as a result of burning carpets, padding, insulation, paint and misc. plastics which make up a modern home? That should remove any doubts.
But let's assume for one moment (contrary to scientific evidence) that Halon truly is damaging to the environment. What do you rekon happens to the refrigerant in the air conditioning system when a home burns down? Yes, that's right, it's vented straight into the atmosphere. Well, if you accept the enviro-nazi poposition that Halon is damaging then surely one must also accept the idea that air conditioning refrigerant also damages the ozone layer. So what's worse? A Halon discharge or a big nasty housefire AND a refrigerant gas discharge?
Finally, consider that in many states pressure-treated wood is considered toxic for purposes of disposal, requires special handling, and cannot be placed in a landfill. Burning it simply releases those toxins into the air. SO when that deck goes up in flames, it releases mercury, arsenic, and a host of other nasties.
The real risk of a Halon system not environmental -- the risk is *suffocation* due to an accidental discharge. Halon, being an invisible, odorless gas, will choke the life out of the homeowner nearly as well as it chokes out a fire. It's a system which requires regular professional inspection, testing and maintenance.
>>Oh good, they can start using a more logical radix. All that logic will certainly cut the aggression and wars there.
Not to mention a bountiful supply of nourishing food.
Is there anything Kofi can't do? My Hero! <roll eyes>
Yes, I was. Thanks for making that clarification.
No, in this age of state budgets exceeding revenue, it means is that State tax collectors are going ask DoNotCall.gov for a list of email addresses from their area code. From there, the taxman will ask eBay for a list of all sales from each email address along with description of items and amount.
Next, that information is used to demand back taxes + penalty fees, and potential criminal prosecutions for those who have not reported their eBay sales as "income."
Remember, it's only called a conspiracy *theory* until it happens.