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  1. ATW and Late latching on AMD Enters Virtual Reality Fray With LiquidVR SDK At GDC · · Score: 3

    Here are links for those of you wondering what asynchronous timewarp and late latching are. ATW is a technique for reducing judder. Late latching is a way to insert positional and orientation updates as late into the graphics queue as possible.

  2. Given Name or Official Name on New Chinese Regulations Require Real Name On Internet · · Score: 2

    People don't have "real" names. We are not born with a unique ID burned into our souls; there is no primary key for you in the CosmosDB. Names are what people refer to each other by. My name could as easily be Big Brother as Zheng Wu, both are just as valid. To be entirely too pedantic this OP should have used the term Official Name, i.e. the name the state uses to refer to you in governmental matters.

  3. Re:Does it matter? on Google Quietly Nixes Mandatory G+ Integration With Gmail · · Score: 2

    Mod Parent up. This is true. Google still force you to agree to "Google+ Pages" Terms of Service in order to have a pseudonymic voice on YouTube.

  4. Re:My Windows Skype just booted me during a call! on Skype Blocks Customers Using OS-X 10.5.x and Earlier · · Score: 2

    Many people have petitioned to have the "ring all speakers" re-implemented.

    There is a feature in some versions of MacOS X that allow you to create a logical Multi-Output Device for audio playback. The documentation says: "If you have several stereo output devices, you can have audio play through all of them by creating a multi-output device..." You can create a Multi-Output Device in Audio MIDI Setup.app if the feature exists in your OS. Then you could try setting the new device as the sound effects output in: System Preferences:Sound:Sound Effects:Play sound effects through:. This all presupposes that the Skype app uses the sound effects device for it's alerts and not the regular System Preferences:Sound:Output device. If skype alerts used the regular output and you have regular output set to a Multi-Output, it might be annoying if every speaker and line out is blaring your voice chats in surround sound.

  5. Re:Virtual tour on Fixing a 7,000-Ton Drill · · Score: 1

    Wow! Macaulay's Castle was a favorite picture book growing up. But I don't think I ever read Underground :(

  6. Virtual tour on Fixing a 7,000-Ton Drill · · Score: 5, Informative

    Whether or not Mitsubishi fucked up their cutter head bearing design, or Seattle Tunnel Partners forgot to read the documents that described the exact location of the previous exploratory bore pipe, regardless of if it's even possible to sucessfully extract the cutter head without sinking the current viaduct with all the additional excavation and ground water pumping, this virtual video flythrough from four years ago is my favorite thing to come out of the project.

    And if you enjoy crappy flash web cam software, you can watch the current progress on the cutter head replacement shaft here.

  7. Pupil dilation on Reverse-Engineered Irises Fool Eye-Scanners · · Score: 2

    Ok, so current systems can be tricked with photographs, and that seem pretty silly. But future versions could record stereo images while altering the illumination of the subject's eye. Properly functioning (attached) human eyes should have irises that dilate with extreme changes to illumination. By masking the subjects eye or eyes from the surrounding environment and changing the illumination levels over time, a complex system could measure pupil dilation characteristics to evaluate if the eye before it is valid and alive. Randomly timed flashes would be hard to predict and might cause predictable blinking in most humans in addition to dilation changes. By using stereo images, the system could also verify the 3 dimensional shape of the changing iris, which would be much harder to fake with pictures.

    Add an infrared camera to mesure eye temperature and faking iris with a screen gets even harder.

  8. Obligitory Bond quote on The Link Between Genius and Insanity · · Score: 1

    "The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success." from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

  9. Re:What is it? on Google Wave Preview Opens Up On Sept 30th · · Score: 1

    Wave is the future, but does anybody know the transition plan to move the entire planet from email/IM to wave? Whats the migration path? Is wave backward compatible with email or IM?

  10. underwater video cameras on Automated Pool System Saves Swimmer · · Score: 1

    According to the article, the lifeguard can't always see beneath the surface due to the glare. Instead of paying some company £65,000 for an automated system, why not have a volunteer or the lifeguard monitor a few underwater video cameras. In this case it was the underwater camera that caught what happened. Humans are much better at analyzing moving imagery anyway. The only problem with human is that we are error prone. Giving the lifeguards monitors would also allow them to watch for shenanegans going on beneath the surface.

  11. In the year 2022... on Tampering with Taste Buds for Better Coffee? · · Score: 1

    By temporarily suppressing or enhancing molecular signals in the taste cells that blanket the tongue, researchers at several centres are devising ways to trick the brain into believing it's eating something that it's not.
    "Soylent green is people" ... but it sure tastes great.
  12. Laser Turntable on Slashback: Bugfixed, Attribution, Atkins · · Score: 1


    A Japanese company makes an analog laser turntable that promises supieror sound via optical scaning of the record surface.

    Although it does not scan the entire surface of the record in one shot, that could be a viable alternative to the laser technology which is still quite expensive coming it at around $10,000.

  13. Inside the mind of spud killer on How to Film a Tornado · · Score: 1

    Lewison tapped on the window of the housing, to draw my attention to its strength. "Supposedly, it will stop a twenty-two," he said. It hadn't yet been tornado-tested, but earlier in the year Lewison had used a homemade potato gun to fire a spud at 160 mph directly at the Lexan-shielded lens. "It didn't do any damage," he reported. "And we got some pretty interesting video."

    Lewison: Check out this tornado camera I made.
    Dude: Hey that's neat, how strong is it.
    Lewison: The guy at the hardware store says it can take a bullet.
    Dude: Lets shoot potatos at it.
    Lewison: Ok.


    That actually sounds more interesting than torn porn. They should use high speed photography so they can make time last longer when the storm hits.

  14. Pointless Mod on Case Mods for G4 Towers · · Score: 2, Insightful
    From the Mac skins FAQ:
    Do the Skinz cover the access handle?

    Yes they do. But since it is rare that you will need to open your case(install RAM?), and the fact that MacSkinz do not attach permanently and come off easily, we chose to hide the handle for a cleaner appearance
    The target market for this case 'skin' is someone who does alot of mods to their case. Not being able to open the case is not an option for a modder.
  15. Light up your house on Fuel-Cell Backup Power Under Your Desk · · Score: 1

    Who wants one under their Christmas tree?
    Sure I have more holiday lights up than the Johnsons, but do you really think my Christmas tree needs to withstand a power outage too?
  16. Car Talk on Onstar Navigation System to Deliver In-Car Spam · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Mod this as off-topic if you want. This week on the NPR radio show CarTalk, The lady who's voice they use for *OnStar(tm) called up and talked with Tom & Ray. Apparently GM buys the OnStar service from another company. The lady spoke about how advanced the voice regognition was and that the text to voice (that uses her voice) does not sound like your average: "At. The. Tone. Deposit. Thirty. Five. Cents." This voice tech seems like the only cool thing that the /. crowd would even care about.

    The lady who called herself "Mary-Mac" said that she was just in Silicon Valley laying down more voice takes for OnStar, in addition to the thousands she has already done. I would not be surprised if they were finishing up this new spam stuff. And while the call was very self promoting, she also agreed with the hosts Click and Clack that you should pull over when using your cell phone. She even nice enough give them an OnStar-ish sound bite.

    You should check out CarTalk, it is on your local NPR stations on the weekends and last week's show can be heard during the week on their website. The hosts regualarly beat up on GM and OnStar, so much so they almost talk about it every week now.

  17. Why use the web on Study Finds Low Use Of Steganography On Internet · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If someone is trying to hide information on the internet why would they use web pages. If I were going to hide information on the web I would do it with a secure webserver not eBay.

    Second of all I would use more obscure protocols and programs than http. I would use things like irc or a propeitary online bbs.

    And third I would use things that would be easier to hide information in than pictures. Movies are ideal because you have a large amount of space to hide your data and it would introduce less entropy (or whatever).

    Terrorist and bad people aren't going to go out of their way to comunicate right under our noses, just like they'd never use encryption with backdoors.

  18. What are you listening to on ClearChannel Plays It Safe · · Score: 1

    First of all I can't stand radio advertisements. This is the reason I installed a CD player in my car. I could listen to the radio but why should I waste time losing my hearing to crappy music.

    At home I listen to NPR mainly for the news. The real bonus, no ads. And the BBC has a good world perspective.

    If I am bored enough and I'm listening to crappy radio, I feel sickened when I find out that I have been listening to a clear channel station because you don't even know what state it was produced in.

    I agree, this is a case of censorship because some censor at CC chose to blacklist the songs, but who cares if nobody is listening.

    ian c,
    not listening since 1999.

  19. If you are a Smith fan. on Review: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back · · Score: 1

    You should stay to see the end of the credits

    'nuff said

  20. Dyslexic on ESR Writes About O'Reilly and FSF Differences · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I am dyslexic and it wasn't until I re-read the op-ed peice that I realized ESR was talking about made up people and software.

  21. Re:Why does it Hertz so much. on BSD User's Review Of OS X · · Score: 2, Informative

    Hertz is Hertz.

    It means times per second. It refers to a full clock cycle, up down and back around, including rising and falling edges.

    Worst rumor ever. And I only use a mac at home.

  22. Re:Taboos on Roasting Sacred Cows · · Score: 1

    But pedophilia is by no means worse than murder.

    While this may be true, murdering a child would be worse than killing an adult. In this way we see why people hate pedophelia so much. Crimes against children and little fluffy animals are considered much worse by American culture.

    While some people argue that in certain cultures pedophila was/is a commmon/accepted practice, in america this is not the view. Also, the word is associated in America with a crime/perpatration and not a common social practice. When I think of the word it brings conotations of mental scarring and abuse (like rape) and not a mutual relationship which it (possibly, but highly unlikely) could be.

    This comedian is taking a justifiable stab at some of the irrational fear associated with the crime. This does not mean he condones it, which is obviously where idiots get tripped up.

  23. Computer Science Lab on Select or Lock Hard Drives... With a Key · · Score: 4

    Just thought I would say that the Computer Science Dept here at CU is installing some computers with these type of hard drives in them. The setup is for the operating systems class.

    Each monitor/keybord is hooked up to two computers using a switch to choose which computer you are looking at. Then you can check out a couple hard drives and schedule time on one of the computers. The idea is you can setup each of your 2 computers however you want and explore things like making your own server/client programs and so on.

    The whole thing is behind a firewall to protect from people messing with the rest of the lab. Its really weird to see a computer where you can just pull its disk right out. The bios is setup so it'll just boot of that drive. They are also thinking about putting linux on a CD-ROM so people without a hard drive can still use it to surf.

    I wish I had these when I took OS but we learned on BSD not Win2k like next semester

  24. So let me guess, on Solar RISCOS Computer · · Score: 1


    This is going to be a Sun computer.

  25. Colorado DMV on Colorado May Map Drivers' Faces · · Score: 1

    I live in colorado and just recently got a drivers license. Compared to Washington state, the CO licenses have way more information associated with them. On the back you have a barcode like scan and a magnetic strip. At Safeway they swipe your license whenever you write a check. When you get the license the picture is taken on a computer and they scan your right index finger (or thumb I forget). They take your Social Security Number and you can choose whether or not to have it displayed on the card.

    This is different from WA where the pictures are taken on film (poloroid) and there are no fingerprint scans or magnetic strips.

    Now with facial re-cog. CO will have even more technology to track me all in the name of my safety.

    And now that /. has cookies I fear the black helicopters will be here in no time.