Apple has a huge headstart with Siri because it's already out now in beta form, and so Apple has access to real-world usage data. By the time Majel comes out, Siri will be even more advanced and will have been shaped by its users. It will be interesting to see how Google competes.
I think you're forgetting about the work Google has been doing for years now with Google Voice transcription, voice search, and the text to speech and back again translation products they have.
If anyone can take on Apple in natural language processing, I think it's Google.
How is this different than the plight of software engineers, hardware engineers, or designers that work outside of the IT industry? How is it different than the legions of R&D folks that are listed as exempt employees?
I'm not saying it should happen. Far from it. But the real battle is that technical professions all over have been moved to exempt status and their employees continue to be forced to work exceedingly long days for 8 hours of pay. It's not the IT guidelines that need reform, it's the ones for all technical professions.
Really, it's not. I do stuff like this every day. It looks pretty normal for a 4-6 layer board with a BGA or two on it. TFA needs to learn about what modern design standards are. It's only complicated if you still lay boards out with ruby tape or a sharpie.
The patent for the device is covered in US patent 7735773. It does indeed appear to be a variant of a Voith Schneider Propeller. The claim for autorotation is interesting, and possibly quite valid, as is the claim about flying close to buildings or vertical surfaces, based on the proposed flow mechanics of the 'turbines' (quotes on purpose). My biggest issue is with the "additional power units" to support high speed cruise, which are not shown, and not well described.
Basically, I'll believe it when I see it fly. Until then, it's a Voith Schneider quadcopter demonstration mule. I'm waiting for a person to be transported.
Really. I used to carry around a caribenier full of keys. Literally, 2 dozen. Then I: got out of college (-12 keys, I ran a bunch of student orgs) got my own car (-2 keys for my parents' cars) bought a house (-3 apartment keys, -2 for my parents' house) got married (-2 girlfriend's keys)
I still carry a few on my one keyring: My car Wife's car House Bike lock Office
They all stack nicely into my left front pocket with my change. The right front holds the phone. Left rear is my wallet. The pockets are always the same, as is their contents. It's a system that's worked well. As soon as I stand up, I can instantly tell if something is missing, and it's saved my bacon once or twice. Also, by keeping all my keys on one ring, I can't leave the house or the office or my bike or my car without having the ring with me. It's insurance.
If you were a pilot, you'd know one simple three word phrase:
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.
A pilot's duty is to act in that order. Fly the plane, know where you are, and tell people. That hierarchy saves lives. Drivers could learn a think or two from Pilots in that regard.
Same kind of deal, but I was rewriting embedded code for a data collection system. In Iowa. In February. In the middle of a field. At night, so I didn't disturb the daytime readings. It took 3 days to catch the error in-situ and correct it (off by 1 in some obscure data mangling function as I recall), and I quit the next week when they told me I was going to go out and do it again.
Prof. Jacob is wonderfully knowledgeable on the subject, and his teaching style is easy to follow. Additionally, his book covers a lot more than just the ICs in the title.
Because transmitters, like the iPhone, and like every other cellphone, are held to a different standard.
Also, the "interference" is only harmful if you have a cheap, poorly shielded device. The signals that are causing the problem are fundamental to the operation of the GSM network. The sources of RF are more numerous now, including from cellphones and computers with lame lexan cases, but I wouldn't automatically call it interference.
The TMS link is for a 9U rack of non-volatile DDRRAM, consuming 2.5KW and weighing up to 720lbs, so not quite suitable for the desktop.
It's actually 24U, and it consists of (what appear to be) 8 3U racked computers that each manage 128GB of RAM storage for the network, and have a 4 drive hot-swap array for backup.
eBay holds credit card information to bill users directly for auction insertion and listing fees. That's been done since the late 90s, before the Paypal takeover. They also use it to verify shipping addresses and contact information as I recall.
I think you mean a Faraday cage. Joseph Fourier was a French mathematician and physicist who (more or less) originated the idea that discontinuous functions (like squarewaves) can be represented by a sum of discrete functions (like an infinite sum of odd harmonics for the aforementioned squarewave). He also postulated that gasses in the atmosphere help to trap heat and keep the earth warm. He had effectively nothing to do with RF theory or practice when he was alive, in the time of Napoleon (around the beginning of the 19th century).
I've been using the various incarnations of the Trackman since they were first introduced. My motivation for starting with one was RSI in my right wrist from years of mousing. I'm an electrical engineer, and I spend my days and nights on a cmoputer doing everything from clicking around on/. articles and making posts like this one to doing deep edits on incredibly complex PCB and schematic layouts. The trackball is better for me at those things than any other pointing device, anywhere, ever. This is 15 years as a computer-reliant engineer talking.
Parts Express is an excellent souce for all things A/V and audio. I've been a loyal customer of theirs for over a decade, and their house brand cables, by and large, are most excellent values.
They are, to some extent, but the danger is still there and very real. It's also not uncommon for a plane to take off with the 'remove before flight' cover still on the pitot tube. Radar altimiters aren't any good over a few thousand feet, and are really just ground proximity warning devices. GPS altitude isn't quite as perfect with a 3-sat lock as a calibrated Kollsman altimiter is, but A) I've only ever seen a 3-sat lock on a GPD in bad circumstances, and all of my driving, flying and timebase use of GPS is something more like 6-13 sats, and B) aviation GPSs use more stringent tracking requirements before deciding that data is good. Given the choice to choose between GPS and analog altimiter data on a bright, sunny VFR day at FL5 will always push me to analog, but in bad weather, IFR, icing, or high altitudes, give me both, and make sure the GPS is easily visible.
Unfortunately, the Starburst edition DVDs are now out of print as well. If you run across a 1.2 Starburst set, let me know, my wife wants it BAD. Existing stock is all that's left for most of the DVDs.
10 - will you trust a grease monkey to fix an H2 powered engine? (no offense to my many talented automotive engineering friends) Do you have any idea what it might take to fix an engine like this? can it even be repaired at the component level safely?
Hmm...how will it be all that different from the propane conversions done to normal engines? OK, the fuel tank will be different, but everything from there to the motor will be the same as a propane car, and even a garage monkey can do that conversion safely. Working on the engines is the same as with gas...open the pressure relief bolt, pop a line to purge the lines, and get to work, avoiding the cigarette break, sparks, and open flames.
This is especially promising, considering that the US used to intentionally degrade its own GPS signals available to civilians, for fear that it'd be used by "terrorists".
Unfortunately, the military still gets better data than civilians. The degraded civilian signal is dead for now, but the normal accuracy civilian signal is still a lot worse than the normal military and licensed surveying GPS solutions can get, which are accurate to inches (1-18) instead of yards (2-10).
Er...I think you mean short distances for component. Composite can't handle the bandwidth for HD without some insane changes in the hardware on TVs. Short to me is a meter or so. Most cheap cables aren't good for HD data rates at anything over that. If you can manage to get it to work, more power to you, but things like 100% braided shields, teflon foam dielectric, and solid center core cables are needed to make it work for thing in the 3M+ range. Currently my video sources are about 25' from my TV, and I had to do quite a bit of testing to find cables that wouldn't degrade the signal over that distance. Thankfully, I'm an EE, and had the tools and the sources to try a lot of different kinds of cable. In the end I made my own (for everything but HDMI), and it works great, but I don't recommend it to everyone.
As for magtape, I was thinking more of the 12" reels that were used in the 60s. Finding a machine that can read the low rate data from those is getting pretty hard. Composite and RF interfaces are equally old, and equally encumbered by decades of acceptance.
Sorry, you're delusional. Asking for HD output on a commodity composite connector is like asking for GB ethernet on a cat3 cable.
Component can only do 1080p over short distances without the addition of expensive repeater boxes or expensive cables.
VGA is the same.
An F connector could, if you got people to change to expensive high grade coax and got all the TV manufacturers to put GOOD ATSC tuners in their sets.
DVI is dead as a consumer A/V interface. It's still great for computers, but it offers no A/V connection capability. People don't like dealing with a mountain of cables. Yes, the change to HDMI was industry driven, but it was also consumer driven. It was generally good thing, despite the inferior connector that HDMI came with.
If you're really intent on complaining about the HDMI/DVI issue, spend $20 over at Parts Express and get a DVI to HDMI adapter cable. I use two, they work just fine.
Honestly, your bitching and whining post struck me like someone asking their computer to support dual layer DVDs and magtape at the same time. It's just lame and uneducated.
I'm not going to get into the DRM argument, but suffice it to say that for the short term, if you want 1080p, you need a digital connection. That means DVI or HDMI. You don't get any other choices. Put up or shut up.
Or just call the dealer you bought the car from, give them the VIN, and they'll give you the code over the phone. I've been doing this off and on for a decade, and haven't had to give them anything else.
I agree, the Wikipedia article is pretty crappy, but the actual TRIZ process is pretty f'n cool.
BUzzwords aside, the core idea, innovation is not a unique quality, is still something I've yet to see scientifically refuted. I've seen the dumbest and most me-too PHBs come up with GOOD patentable stuff with TRIZ. If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is.
Slashdot Mirror
Apple has a huge headstart with Siri because it's already out now in beta form, and so Apple has access to real-world usage data. By the time Majel comes out, Siri will be even more advanced and will have been shaped by its users. It will be interesting to see how Google competes.
I think you're forgetting about the work Google has been doing for years now with Google Voice transcription, voice search, and the text to speech and back again translation products they have.
If anyone can take on Apple in natural language processing, I think it's Google.
How is this different than the plight of software engineers, hardware engineers, or designers that work outside of the IT industry? How is it different than the legions of R&D folks that are listed as exempt employees?
I'm not saying it should happen. Far from it. But the real battle is that technical professions all over have been moved to exempt status and their employees continue to be forced to work exceedingly long days for 8 hours of pay. It's not the IT guidelines that need reform, it's the ones for all technical professions.
Really, it's not. I do stuff like this every day. It looks pretty normal for a 4-6 layer board with a BGA or two on it. TFA needs to learn about what modern design standards are. It's only complicated if you still lay boards out with ruby tape or a sharpie.
The patent for the device is covered in US patent 7735773. It does indeed appear to be a variant of a Voith Schneider Propeller. The claim for autorotation is interesting, and possibly quite valid, as is the claim about flying close to buildings or vertical surfaces, based on the proposed flow mechanics of the 'turbines' (quotes on purpose). My biggest issue is with the "additional power units" to support high speed cruise, which are not shown, and not well described.
Basically, I'll believe it when I see it fly. Until then, it's a Voith Schneider quadcopter demonstration mule. I'm waiting for a person to be transported.
Really. I used to carry around a caribenier full of keys. Literally, 2 dozen. Then I:
got out of college (-12 keys, I ran a bunch of student orgs)
got my own car (-2 keys for my parents' cars)
bought a house (-3 apartment keys, -2 for my parents' house)
got married (-2 girlfriend's keys)
I still carry a few on my one keyring:
My car
Wife's car
House
Bike lock
Office
They all stack nicely into my left front pocket with my change. The right front holds the phone. Left rear is my wallet. The pockets are always the same, as is their contents. It's a system that's worked well. As soon as I stand up, I can instantly tell if something is missing, and it's saved my bacon once or twice. Also, by keeping all my keys on one ring, I can't leave the house or the office or my bike or my car without having the ring with me. It's insurance.
If you were a pilot, you'd know one simple three word phrase:
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.
A pilot's duty is to act in that order. Fly the plane, know where you are, and tell people. That hierarchy saves lives. Drivers could learn a think or two from Pilots in that regard.
Same kind of deal, but I was rewriting embedded code for a data collection system. In Iowa. In February. In the middle of a field. At night, so I didn't disturb the daytime readings. It took 3 days to catch the error in-situ and correct it (off by 1 in some obscure data mangling function as I recall), and I quit the next week when they told me I was going to go out and do it again.
Agreed. ANYONE but Mrs. Warrior. She sucks!
Analog Integrated Circuit Applications
Prof. Jacob is wonderfully knowledgeable on the subject, and his teaching style is easy to follow. Additionally, his book covers a lot more than just the ICs in the title.
Because transmitters, like the iPhone, and like every other cellphone, are held to a different standard.
Also, the "interference" is only harmful if you have a cheap, poorly shielded device. The signals that are causing the problem are fundamental to the operation of the GSM network. The sources of RF are more numerous now, including from cellphones and computers with lame lexan cases, but I wouldn't automatically call it interference.
That's a crater of some sort, not a mountain. Check out the Google Terrain.
The TMS link is for a 9U rack of non-volatile DDRRAM, consuming 2.5KW and weighing up to 720lbs, so not quite suitable for the desktop.
It's actually 24U, and it consists of (what appear to be) 8 3U racked computers that each manage 128GB of RAM storage for the network, and have a 4 drive hot-swap array for backup.
Source: http://www.texmemsys.com/files/f000225.pdf
eBay holds credit card information to bill users directly for auction insertion and listing fees. That's been done since the late 90s, before the Paypal takeover. They also use it to verify shipping addresses and contact information as I recall.
I think you mean a Faraday cage. Joseph Fourier was a French mathematician and physicist who (more or less) originated the idea that discontinuous functions (like squarewaves) can be represented by a sum of discrete functions (like an infinite sum of odd harmonics for the aforementioned squarewave). He also postulated that gasses in the atmosphere help to trap heat and keep the earth warm. He had effectively nothing to do with RF theory or practice when he was alive, in the time of Napoleon (around the beginning of the 19th century).
I've been using the various incarnations of the Trackman since they were first introduced. My motivation for starting with one was RSI in my right wrist from years of mousing. I'm an electrical engineer, and I spend my days and nights on a cmoputer doing everything from clicking around on /. articles and making posts like this one to doing deep edits on incredibly complex PCB and schematic layouts. The trackball is better for me at those things than any other pointing device, anywhere, ever. This is 15 years as a computer-reliant engineer talking.
Parts Express is an excellent souce for all things A/V and audio. I've been a loyal customer of theirs for over a decade, and their house brand cables, by and large, are most excellent values.
They are, to some extent, but the danger is still there and very real. It's also not uncommon for a plane to take off with the 'remove before flight' cover still on the pitot tube. Radar altimiters aren't any good over a few thousand feet, and are really just ground proximity warning devices. GPS altitude isn't quite as perfect with a 3-sat lock as a calibrated Kollsman altimiter is, but A) I've only ever seen a 3-sat lock on a GPD in bad circumstances, and all of my driving, flying and timebase use of GPS is something more like 6-13 sats, and B) aviation GPSs use more stringent tracking requirements before deciding that data is good. Given the choice to choose between GPS and analog altimiter data on a bright, sunny VFR day at FL5 will always push me to analog, but in bad weather, IFR, icing, or high altitudes, give me both, and make sure the GPS is easily visible.
Ever flown and lost the vacuum system or had a bug splatter over the pitot tube or static port? I have. Give me a GPS backup any day, thanks.
Unfortunately, the Starburst edition DVDs are now out of print as well. If you run across a 1.2 Starburst set, let me know, my wife wants it BAD. Existing stock is all that's left for most of the DVDs.
10 - will you trust a grease monkey to fix an H2 powered engine? (no offense to my many talented automotive engineering friends) Do you have any idea what it might take to fix an engine like this? can it even be repaired at the component level safely?
Hmm...how will it be all that different from the propane conversions done to normal engines? OK, the fuel tank will be different, but everything from there to the motor will be the same as a propane car, and even a garage monkey can do that conversion safely. Working on the engines is the same as with gas...open the pressure relief bolt, pop a line to purge the lines, and get to work, avoiding the cigarette break, sparks, and open flames.
I think that sound is your argument deflating.
This is especially promising, considering that the US used to intentionally degrade its own GPS signals available to civilians, for fear that it'd be used by "terrorists".
Unfortunately, the military still gets better data than civilians. The degraded civilian signal is dead for now, but the normal accuracy civilian signal is still a lot worse than the normal military and licensed surveying GPS solutions can get, which are accurate to inches (1-18) instead of yards (2-10).
Er...I think you mean short distances for component. Composite can't handle the bandwidth for HD without some insane changes in the hardware on TVs. Short to me is a meter or so. Most cheap cables aren't good for HD data rates at anything over that. If you can manage to get it to work, more power to you, but things like 100% braided shields, teflon foam dielectric, and solid center core cables are needed to make it work for thing in the 3M+ range. Currently my video sources are about 25' from my TV, and I had to do quite a bit of testing to find cables that wouldn't degrade the signal over that distance. Thankfully, I'm an EE, and had the tools and the sources to try a lot of different kinds of cable. In the end I made my own (for everything but HDMI), and it works great, but I don't recommend it to everyone.
As for magtape, I was thinking more of the 12" reels that were used in the 60s. Finding a machine that can read the low rate data from those is getting pretty hard. Composite and RF interfaces are equally old, and equally encumbered by decades of acceptance.
Sorry, you're delusional. Asking for HD output on a commodity composite connector is like asking for GB ethernet on a cat3 cable.
Component can only do 1080p over short distances without the addition of expensive repeater boxes or expensive cables.
VGA is the same.
An F connector could, if you got people to change to expensive high grade coax and got all the TV manufacturers to put GOOD ATSC tuners in their sets.
DVI is dead as a consumer A/V interface. It's still great for computers, but it offers no A/V connection capability. People don't like dealing with a mountain of cables. Yes, the change to HDMI was industry driven, but it was also consumer driven. It was generally good thing, despite the inferior connector that HDMI came with.
If you're really intent on complaining about the HDMI/DVI issue, spend $20 over at Parts Express and get a DVI to HDMI adapter cable. I use two, they work just fine.
Honestly, your bitching and whining post struck me like someone asking their computer to support dual layer DVDs and magtape at the same time. It's just lame and uneducated.
I'm not going to get into the DRM argument, but suffice it to say that for the short term, if you want 1080p, you need a digital connection. That means DVI or HDMI. You don't get any other choices. Put up or shut up.
Or just call the dealer you bought the car from, give them the VIN, and they'll give you the code over the phone. I've been doing this off and on for a decade, and haven't had to give them anything else.
I agree, the Wikipedia article is pretty crappy, but the actual TRIZ process is pretty f'n cool.
BUzzwords aside, the core idea, innovation is not a unique quality, is still something I've yet to see scientifically refuted. I've seen the dumbest and most me-too PHBs come up with GOOD patentable stuff with TRIZ. If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is.