Now, as far as I know from reading these sites, they are nowhere near the point of rolling out production level Maglev. I remember reading somewhere that superconducting magnets are still too costly to produce and operate. They are still working out all these details.
I just got a gut feeling that both German and Chinese are rushing ahead for such a premature technology. This technology is definitely way to go as future transportation system, but not quite yet ready...
It has most of the feature that Nokia 6162 has (memo, calender, etc). In addition, you can customize it: ringer tone, mail receive tone, background picture during stand-by mode, etc. You can download songs off the net, or exchange those data via IR port.
Typing is bit hard, but I guess people get used to it. More and more people are not talking on the phone, but typing email on these little toy! That's amazing.
Joy stick that allows you to move between menu is another plus. It only took me few seconds to learn how navigation worked. Much more intuitive than Nokia's.
At work, we use old PHP version, but handling more than half M hits/day easiley. Here are my tips:
1) separate db server & web server 2) if possible, get some load balancing system for web servers 3) go static! static! static! Avoid hitting MySQL as much as possible 4) mod_auth_mysql is okay, but basic authentication is not well suited for average Joe user (use cookie and session to track logins) 5) tweak MySQL as much as you can 6) buy enough RAM for apache. they eat up alot 7) use fastest HD (don't need to do striping or anything complex cuz that adds more things to worry)
I think (3) is _the_ most important factor. In any possible situation, use batch program to spew out HTML files. Although PHP & MySQL can handle heavy hits, I belive static HTML are more responsive (much quicker to show up on your browser). Many users hate waiting, ya know?
At least DMV's database is _somewhat_ connected with INS from what I heard.
I came to Silicon Valley in March of 1997 with a H1-B. I had Indiana drivers license while I was at Purdue with F-1 visa. In order for me to get a California driver's license, INS had to aprove it. Don't ask me why. When I renewed my Indiana driver's license, they didn't need one.
Anyhow, I did not get my driver's license till October of 1998! That's more a year! DMV's processing was fast, but INS just kept the playing around. In one of the call to an office in Sacramento (don't know whether it was DMV or INS), I was told that they didn't receive the paper work, so I had to go to DMV to re-submit paper work... I think they just decided to delete my record due to overloaded paper work.
All this changed recently with DMV's database getting connected with INS (according to DMV person). Funny thing is that she told me, "We now have database connected. Unfortunately, instantaneous aproval sometimes work. Sometimes not" What is this 'sometimes'?! In my case, this 'instantaneous aproval' didn't go through, so I had to wait for few more month.
Anyhow, this seemed to change recently since I have heard the INS's aproval for DMV processing becoming much quicker than before, few month, not more than a year.
I'm just hoping INS will work hard to improve their system. I only have three more years to get my greencard which processing will start very soon. Wish me luck!
Yeah, this ain't AFJ. In fact, one of my friend from highschool is in the development team. (He never told me much of the detail though...)
Also, from the rumor I heard, it's going to cost something like 200,000yen. About 2grand(US)? Can't confirm on this, but I feel that's about the right price.
Slashdot Mirror
Linear Chuo Express (Japanese)
Railway Technical Research Institute (English) - Lots of cool pics!
Now, as far as I know from reading these sites, they are nowhere near the point of rolling out production level Maglev. I remember reading somewhere that superconducting magnets are still too costly to produce and operate. They are still working out all these details.
I just got a gut feeling that both German and Chinese are rushing ahead for such a premature technology. This technology is definitely way to go as future transportation system, but not quite yet ready...
http://www.sega.co.jp/20001227.html
Nintendo (Japanese)
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/001227.html
This is not the color version which is mentioned in the article. (still, impressive monochrome graphics). Here are links to color versions:
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/i/l ineup/d502i/d502i.html
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/i/l ineup/f502i/f502i.html
It has most of the feature that Nokia 6162 has (memo, calender, etc). In addition, you can customize it: ringer tone, mail receive tone, background picture during stand-by mode, etc. You can download songs off the net, or exchange those data via IR port.
Typing is bit hard, but I guess people get used to it. More and more people are not talking on the phone, but typing email on these little toy! That's amazing.
Joy stick that allows you to move between menu is another plus. It only took me few seconds to learn how navigation worked. Much more intuitive than Nokia's.
http://www.geocities.com/keitaishashin/
Quick Spec:
I want one!
At work, we use old PHP version, but handling more than half M hits/day easiley. Here are my tips:
1) separate db server & web server
2) if possible, get some load balancing system for web servers
3) go static! static! static! Avoid hitting MySQL as much as possible
4) mod_auth_mysql is okay, but basic authentication is not well suited for average Joe user (use cookie and session to track logins)
5) tweak MySQL as much as you can
6) buy enough RAM for apache. they eat up alot
7) use fastest HD (don't need to do striping or anything complex cuz that adds more things to worry)
I think (3) is _the_ most important factor. In any possible situation, use batch program to spew out HTML files. Although PHP & MySQL can handle heavy hits, I belive static HTML are more responsive (much quicker to show up on your browser). Many users hate waiting, ya know?
They are trying hard, but slowly.
At least DMV's database is _somewhat_ connected with INS from what I heard.
I came to Silicon Valley in March of 1997 with a H1-B. I had Indiana drivers license while I was at Purdue with F-1 visa. In order for me to get a California driver's license, INS had to aprove it. Don't ask me why. When I renewed my Indiana driver's license, they didn't need one.
Anyhow, I did not get my driver's license till October of 1998! That's more a year! DMV's processing was fast, but INS just kept the playing around. In one of the call to an office in Sacramento (don't know whether it was DMV or INS), I was told that they didn't receive the paper work, so I had to go to DMV to re-submit paper work... I think they just decided to delete my record due to overloaded paper work.
All this changed recently with DMV's database getting connected with INS (according to DMV person). Funny thing is that she told me, "We now have database connected. Unfortunately, instantaneous aproval sometimes work. Sometimes not" What is this 'sometimes'?! In my case, this 'instantaneous aproval' didn't go through, so I had to wait for few more month.
Anyhow, this seemed to change recently since I have heard the INS's aproval for DMV processing becoming much quicker than before, few month, not more than a year.
I'm just hoping INS will work hard to improve their system. I only have three more years to get my greencard which processing will start very soon. Wish me luck!
I don't know what's their status right now,
but it's worth looking into it.
http://www.li18nux.org/
Here are some links after quick search on the net.
l b iztech/prom/92259
Sorry, only in Japanese. But you should be able
to check out some pics on their site.
Tmsuk Inc. was incorporated by Thames Inc.
Tmsuk Inc: http://www.qbiz.ne.jp/tmsuk/
Thames Inc: http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~thames/index.htm
Images of robot: http://www.qbiz.ne.jp/tmsuk/image_data/tm4_04.htm
NikkeiBP's article: http://biztech.nikkeibp.co.jp/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/
Additional info on this robot.
size:
length - 750mm
width - 600mm
height - 1,200mm
weight - 100kg
# of joints:
head - 2, hip(?) - 1, arm - 7x2=14, hand - 3x2 = 6
mobility:
two individually controled wheels
front and rear supportive wheels
max speed 3km/h
visual:
250,000 pixel CCD camera, horizantal view angle, 114 degrees, 10 frames/s (w/ current PHS setup)
voice:
4 voice (whatever that means)
sensors:
# of proximety sensor - 5
power source:
Ni-Zn battery (1.5 hours of continuous operation)
Controller:
- joy stick controller for fingers (w/ force feed back) = 4 controls x2
- arm control = 6 controls x2
- head control = 2 controls
- wheel control (pedal type) = 3 controls
- network = PHS (64Kbps PIAFS 2.0)
- display = headmount display
Price: 5,000,000yen
Yeah, this ain't AFJ. In fact, one of my friend
from highschool is in the development team. (He
never told me much of the detail though...)
Also, from the rumor I heard, it's going to cost
something like 200,000yen. About 2grand(US)? Can't
confirm on this, but I feel that's about the
right price.