Keep in mind, the Warcraft universe has a highly developed lore - while the story isn't always a major focus in WoW, it's there, it's been explored in novels, comics and other media - I'd expect the movie to be more like this, a telling of the underlying Warcraft story, than an attempt to translate the game into cinema.
The image toolkit TinEye is based on (Piximilar) is far more powerful even than TinEye. Awesome stuff, one of the best commercial CBIR engines I've seen.
If you just want to group near-identical images, which vary only by minor processing - resolution, minor color correction - there are simple, low-end tools that can do this easily. imgseek is open source and works pretty well; I also use the Windows-based VSDIF, which isn't bad for finding duplicates in various formats, scales, and color spaces (I use it for deduplicating image libraries - the corporate edition has a command line interface). Both of these tools have limits when it comes to cropping, non-right-angle rotations, whereas Piximilar and some of its competitors can handle pretty radically modified images, or recognize individual components of larger images.
Definitely not a reliable test - it'll vary significantly by the image content.
There are many cases where the version compressed initially with a lossy encoder and then recompressed with a lossless encoder will be larger than the version just compressed with the lossless encoder. For instance, a simple image of horizontal, solid color lines will compress very well with any lossless encoder; when you run it through a JPEG encoder first (at just about any quality level) it'll add a lot of noise that'll bloat the size once you compress it with a lossless encoder.
Alternately, a noisy source image will have it's noise levels softened by heavy JPEG compression, likely resulting in a *smaller* file when encoded losslessly than the source. But a clean, low-noise source image will behave differently, at least at some JPEG compression levels. Too many variables here for this to be a useful test.
There's no easy solution to this problem, at least not without making certain assumptions about the image source - for instance, if you know all compressed versions came from the same source file, with no additional processing, and were encoded with the same jpeg library then the test can be very simple.
Lossless JPEG and lossless JPEG2000 are both exactly that - lossless. Not perceptually lossless, which is what people often use to refer to high-quality, lossy JPEG/JPEG2000, or JPEG-LS. Lossless JPEG uses a PCM-like encoder, not DCT, AFAIR. Lossless JPEG and lossless JPEG2000 are, in fact, lossless, at least with regards to image data in supported color spaces. This is in part a result of *not* converting to YCrCb, since that conversion is lossy, of course. Not all Lossless JPEGs are 8bit YCrCb.
Accusoft, for one, has a toolkit for building lossless JPEG applications which supports 16bit RGB and greyscale lossless JPEG modes.
The near-lossless JPEG you're thinking of is JPEG-LS, which is perceptually lossless, and guarantees a maximum error rate that is generally neglible for almost all applications. This format gets better compression ratios than Lossless JPEG, of course.
Neither the lossless or near-lossless JPEG modes are common though, outside of niche apps. Lossless JPEG2000 is, however, since almost all JPEG2000 libraries support it alongside the lossy modes.
Wait - I wasn't responding to any of those statements - I was responding to you saying "Apple doesn't seem to want to update Quicktime" by pointing out that Quicktime is on the verge of its biggest update in a number of years.
As for the rest - I don't use RTP/RTSP with QT anymore; it is certainly stable playing MP4 profiles it supports; Quicktime documentation is generally pretty good, I don't know where you get the idea they don't document their APIs; more stable on Mac vs. PC may be true, but I don't see the relevance of that, or why it would be surprising.
Anyway, I wasn't responding to any of those statements when I said you were wrong; you were simply wrong about the fact of updates. Now, whether the updates satisfy all parties - no, historically Apple has dropped support for less mainstream parts of Quicktime (certain codecs, sprite and Flash support, VR hotspot shenanigans, etc) without so much as a heads up to its content creator community, leaving many Quicktime content producers who used to push the limits of the format on constant edge whenever an update is pushed, as it often means an overnight scramble to fix or re-author content that no longer works thanks to dropped features. I'm no Quicktime partisan anymore, but it's certainly not suffering from lack of development right now - Quicktime X is just around the corner, no doubt offering a better consumer experience and, for Quicktime content producers who do more than audio+video, a swift kick in the nuts.
Absolutely - the notion of "submarine patents" rising up, should Theora take off, is not a new idea, and not specific to Apple. By mandating Theora in HTML5, you'd be risking the years of negotiations on the spec on the bet that there are no such patents - a bet I'd be surprised if any good Slashdot reader would take.
As others have pointed out, HTML has never mandated a specific image format reference in an IMG tag; a type of plugin referenced in OBJECT or EMBED; or the type of resource referenced in an A tag; it's outside it's scope. Let the standard focus on its scope, and let the market hash out the rest - it's not the end of the world to not have a single, mandated codec - in fact, I'd argue that having such a thing would unnecessarily limit our options - Theora is, to be kind, not the most efficient codec on the market; and the situation will likely only get worse. Don't hamstring HTML5 by hitching it to any particular codec.
Please, please, won't people on Slashdot please stop repeating this tripe? Corporate leaders have a high degree of flexibility about how their companies are operated; it is not as simple as this stupid mantra that has cropped up here to explain away all misdeeds and bad decisions.
Anyone can be sued. For anything. Doesn't mean it has merit. And there are always countervailing forces to all business decisions - does a short-term move to avoid American taxes actually have hidden long-term costs? Are there ways of considering value beyond immediate quarterly costs vs. earnings? Did you know corporations frequently count "good will" as an asset? Did you know a smart leader can see how patriotism may, in fact, be an asset? Perhaps it means a better chance at contracts with the Federal government; perhaps it simply means helping to maintain the business environment in their single largest market.
That'll dump all editable metadata from a jpg (or tiff, png, and a number of other common formats) using exiftool. if you don't use -overwrite_original then file.jpg is backed up to file.jpg_original before the edit.
Absolutely - aside from basic physical well-being, any workout has the added benefit of leaving you feeling mentally refreshed - not sure if it's just the increased oxygen flow, or other body chemistry, but I've learned to use it as a tool - when I have a difficult project, a paper to write, or just an exhausting work day, working out will help kick your brain into gear... and you sleep much better too.
Ride a bike as much as possible - if you need to run a local errand, hop on the bike. After a few weeks it's easy - often much easier than dealing with a car.
For more regular workouts, 3-4 years ago my girlfriend discovered Yourself Fitness - she hates gyms, is in good shape, but wanted a more structured way to work out at home - like the gym, but in private. Yourself Fitness is an Xbox title - not sure if it runs on Xbox 360 - and is like having a personal aerobics and yoga instructor at home. I was little shy of aerobics in general at first, but once I got into it, learned the various moves without looking like an idiot, I was hooked. In the first year I lost 30 pounds (which was my target) and I felt 1000 times better.
I'm sure similar results could be found with any aerobic exercise, but as someone who hates the gym scene, and for whom time is tight, Yourself Fitness was a godsend.
Both of our old Xboxes are dying, the disc itself is a bit scratched up and sometimes flakey, so we're just hoping for a new release on one of the current consoles. We've got a Wii and Wii Fit too, and like it a lot, but don't think Wii Fit is as convenient - a lot of time just navigating the app, haven't found a really good guided training mode... we use the Wii Fit to break up the routine of Yourself Fitness now and then, and it's a blast too... but at least for us, nowhere near as effective as YF on Xbox - and these days you should be able to pick up both items for $100 or so total.
Actually, Chappaquiddick happened 7 years after Kennedy first joined the Senate. As far as I know, he plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, but was never charged, let alone convicted or murder or even manslaughter.
Kennedy was hardly senior in the Senate when this happened, though of course as a Kennedy he likely had more deference paid than had he been from a lesser known family.
Totally agree - Dreamhost has been the most responsive and responsible vendor I've ever used in shared hosting projects - meaning less than a few hundred bucks per month, no one has come close to them in my experience. Of course, I've not tried every hosting provider out there, but against those I have, Dreamhost is tops.
It's just a bonus that you have a pretty geeky, almost confessional CEO who sends out some fairly amusing newsletters - they certainly provide much better communications about exactly what they are doing than just about anyone I've seen. The comedy can be ignored if that's not your thing.
Never used a self join? I mean I'm no relational database theorist, so maybe you're correct on some level, but one can certainly create relationships between data stored in a single table.
It's extremely popular in some market segments and I'd bet most of those Java programming jobs are for people who write apps for Java app servers, not swing apps for desktop or mobile use. If we're going to talk about Java I think it's important to make such distinctions.
In LA many of theold theaters have late shows of classics - I've been to at least 100 such showings, with everything from Casblanca to 2001 to a Jackie Chan double-feature. In every single case I already owned the films on DVD. In many cases the directors, or even some random extras, showed up to answer questions. Trivia games, prizes, all add to the event.
Nothing can beat a fun time out - whether at a fun, interactive movie screening or a live concert, and piracy won't touch these. In fact, in this day of more home theaters, I think people will also crave new reasons to go out. Sitting in a shitty corporate theater watching some forgettable blockbuster isn't enough - make it an experience and people will show.
There is, and has always been, a mechanism for deauthorizing all the computers for a given iTMS ID so you can reauthorize another 5 machines. The process has gotten much easier than in the beginning, but it was always possible, and is easy today. As long as you know the ITMS account info to authorize new machines you're fine; once you lose that account, of course, you're screwed.
I hate DRM myself, just trying to clarify that this problem is not as bad as you suggest.
You assume such criminals are 1) highly organized and 2) intelligent. The reality is thieves are often opportunists who get away with their crimes pretty easily because of the sheer size of the world we live in. They will keep using eBay as their fence as long as it remains one of the easiest ways for all kinds of sellers - legit and otherwise - to connect with purchasers in a pseudonymous way.
I had a laptop stolen in transit back to Apple; it just disappeared before making it's way onto the DHL truck. I eventually got a free, fully loaded, much upgraded replacement, and as I was shipping the machine I had already dumped all personal data from it. A few months later I got a mysterious call from someone asking for my password as the machine he bought from me was prompting him for it... wow! I called Apple, and local law enforcement (in LA where I live as well as Arizona where the call came from) and got no interest in helping! So one followup call led me to the eBay ID of the seller, which lead me eventually to the unpurged sales page on eBay - where the laptop was featured in multiple pictures, and was verifiably mine because of the desktop image still showing (not only did I shoot the image, my login - a play on my fullname - was watermarked in the bottom corner!). Anyway, long story short, eBay wouldn't help, so I ended up tracking the seller down through a lot of Googling and a bit of good fortune. I ended up with a dossier on the seller, including pictures of him, his girlfriend, his car, his employer - the shipping drop where the whole thing started! - and tons of other data. I got his AOL screenname and still have him on my Buddy List to this day. I had a letter from the buyer - a scared-to-death kid in the military, afraid of getting in trouble - as well as the transaction records, and a bullet-proof sequence of evidence connecting him to the theft and the sale. Yet after all of that, law enforcement still wasn't interested! Oh, and the kid had clearly been doing this for a while - he had 200+ sales on eBay, most of which consisted of brand new phones and laptops, and had only just turned 18!
Color me surprised when a full year after the theft the LAPD finally calls... no idea if they'll ever do anything about it. It's not my laptop anymore - I signed away my rights to it when I got the replacement, so it's Apple's loss at this point - but it still bugs me that they were so willing to let him slide. Even when I spoke to the detective he indicated it probably wouldn't go any further, even though the kid was still working at the same shop, and still running his scam on eBay.
Yes, the cult of celebrity is obnoxious in all forms, but it's a fact of human life. Get over it.
However, you're generally wrong that the assumption is these people *know* more than others, or in fact that the public assumes they do; the primary reason celebrities become activists is the simple fact that as a well-known personality, they are far more easily able to communicate with a huge audience on their issues of choice. Other than Tom Cruise I don't know of many celebrities who go around claiming they *know* more about a given issue than most; their reasons for going public are largely the same as anyone's - they feel passionately about an issue and want to help push for change, and they have the added motivation that they know they have far more power in their hands to advance those changes than the typical Joe, or even well informed technocrats.
Slashdot Mirror
So if I'm otherwise a male - have a penis, for instance - but cannot produce sperm at all due to a physical abnormality, I'm not a male?
Keep in mind, the Warcraft universe has a highly developed lore - while the story isn't always a major focus in WoW, it's there, it's been explored in novels, comics and other media - I'd expect the movie to be more like this, a telling of the underlying Warcraft story, than an attempt to translate the game into cinema.
The image toolkit TinEye is based on (Piximilar) is far more powerful even than TinEye. Awesome stuff, one of the best commercial CBIR engines I've seen.
If you just want to group near-identical images, which vary only by minor processing - resolution, minor color correction - there are simple, low-end tools that can do this easily. imgseek is open source and works pretty well; I also use the Windows-based VSDIF, which isn't bad for finding duplicates in various formats, scales, and color spaces (I use it for deduplicating image libraries - the corporate edition has a command line interface). Both of these tools have limits when it comes to cropping, non-right-angle rotations, whereas Piximilar and some of its competitors can handle pretty radically modified images, or recognize individual components of larger images.
Definitely not a reliable test - it'll vary significantly by the image content.
There are many cases where the version compressed initially with a lossy encoder and then recompressed with a lossless encoder will be larger than the version just compressed with the lossless encoder. For instance, a simple image of horizontal, solid color lines will compress very well with any lossless encoder; when you run it through a JPEG encoder first (at just about any quality level) it'll add a lot of noise that'll bloat the size once you compress it with a lossless encoder.
Alternately, a noisy source image will have it's noise levels softened by heavy JPEG compression, likely resulting in a *smaller* file when encoded losslessly than the source. But a clean, low-noise source image will behave differently, at least at some JPEG compression levels. Too many variables here for this to be a useful test.
There's no easy solution to this problem, at least not without making certain assumptions about the image source - for instance, if you know all compressed versions came from the same source file, with no additional processing, and were encoded with the same jpeg library then the test can be very simple.
Lossless JPEG and lossless JPEG2000 are both exactly that - lossless. Not perceptually lossless, which is what people often use to refer to high-quality, lossy JPEG/JPEG2000, or JPEG-LS. Lossless JPEG uses a PCM-like encoder, not DCT, AFAIR. Lossless JPEG and lossless JPEG2000 are, in fact, lossless, at least with regards to image data in supported color spaces. This is in part a result of *not* converting to YCrCb, since that conversion is lossy, of course. Not all Lossless JPEGs are 8bit YCrCb.
Accusoft, for one, has a toolkit for building lossless JPEG applications which supports 16bit RGB and greyscale lossless JPEG modes.
The near-lossless JPEG you're thinking of is JPEG-LS, which is perceptually lossless, and guarantees a maximum error rate that is generally neglible for almost all applications. This format gets better compression ratios than Lossless JPEG, of course.
Neither the lossless or near-lossless JPEG modes are common though, outside of niche apps. Lossless JPEG2000 is, however, since almost all JPEG2000 libraries support it alongside the lossy modes.
Just one minor correction - Vivendi is no longer Blizzard's parent; Activision Blizzard is.
Wait - I wasn't responding to any of those statements - I was responding to you saying "Apple doesn't seem to want to update Quicktime" by pointing out that Quicktime is on the verge of its biggest update in a number of years.
As for the rest - I don't use RTP/RTSP with QT anymore; it is certainly stable playing MP4 profiles it supports; Quicktime documentation is generally pretty good, I don't know where you get the idea they don't document their APIs; more stable on Mac vs. PC may be true, but I don't see the relevance of that, or why it would be surprising.
Anyway, I wasn't responding to any of those statements when I said you were wrong; you were simply wrong about the fact of updates. Now, whether the updates satisfy all parties - no, historically Apple has dropped support for less mainstream parts of Quicktime (certain codecs, sprite and Flash support, VR hotspot shenanigans, etc) without so much as a heads up to its content creator community, leaving many Quicktime content producers who used to push the limits of the format on constant edge whenever an update is pushed, as it often means an overnight scramble to fix or re-author content that no longer works thanks to dropped features. I'm no Quicktime partisan anymore, but it's certainly not suffering from lack of development right now - Quicktime X is just around the corner, no doubt offering a better consumer experience and, for Quicktime content producers who do more than audio+video, a swift kick in the nuts.
Absolutely - the notion of "submarine patents" rising up, should Theora take off, is not a new idea, and not specific to Apple. By mandating Theora in HTML5, you'd be risking the years of negotiations on the spec on the bet that there are no such patents - a bet I'd be surprised if any good Slashdot reader would take.
As others have pointed out, HTML has never mandated a specific image format reference in an IMG tag; a type of plugin referenced in OBJECT or EMBED; or the type of resource referenced in an A tag; it's outside it's scope. Let the standard focus on its scope, and let the market hash out the rest - it's not the end of the world to not have a single, mandated codec - in fact, I'd argue that having such a thing would unnecessarily limit our options - Theora is, to be kind, not the most efficient codec on the market; and the situation will likely only get worse. Don't hamstring HTML5 by hitching it to any particular codec.
Well, you're wrong. There's a major release coming up.
Please, please, won't people on Slashdot please stop repeating this tripe? Corporate leaders have a high degree of flexibility about how their companies are operated; it is not as simple as this stupid mantra that has cropped up here to explain away all misdeeds and bad decisions.
Anyone can be sued. For anything. Doesn't mean it has merit. And there are always countervailing forces to all business decisions - does a short-term move to avoid American taxes actually have hidden long-term costs? Are there ways of considering value beyond immediate quarterly costs vs. earnings? Did you know corporations frequently count "good will" as an asset? Did you know a smart leader can see how patriotism may, in fact, be an asset? Perhaps it means a better chance at contracts with the Federal government; perhaps it simply means helping to maintain the business environment in their single largest market.
exiftool -overwrite_original -all= /path/to/file.jpg
That'll dump all editable metadata from a jpg (or tiff, png, and a number of other common formats) using exiftool. if you don't use -overwrite_original then file.jpg is backed up to file.jpg_original before the edit.
Absolutely - aside from basic physical well-being, any workout has the added benefit of leaving you feeling mentally refreshed - not sure if it's just the increased oxygen flow, or other body chemistry, but I've learned to use it as a tool - when I have a difficult project, a paper to write, or just an exhausting work day, working out will help kick your brain into gear... and you sleep much better too.
Ride a bike as much as possible - if you need to run a local errand, hop on the bike. After a few weeks it's easy - often much easier than dealing with a car.
For more regular workouts, 3-4 years ago my girlfriend discovered Yourself Fitness - she hates gyms, is in good shape, but wanted a more structured way to work out at home - like the gym, but in private. Yourself Fitness is an Xbox title - not sure if it runs on Xbox 360 - and is like having a personal aerobics and yoga instructor at home. I was little shy of aerobics in general at first, but once I got into it, learned the various moves without looking like an idiot, I was hooked. In the first year I lost 30 pounds (which was my target) and I felt 1000 times better.
I'm sure similar results could be found with any aerobic exercise, but as someone who hates the gym scene, and for whom time is tight, Yourself Fitness was a godsend.
Both of our old Xboxes are dying, the disc itself is a bit scratched up and sometimes flakey, so we're just hoping for a new release on one of the current consoles. We've got a Wii and Wii Fit too, and like it a lot, but don't think Wii Fit is as convenient - a lot of time just navigating the app, haven't found a really good guided training mode... we use the Wii Fit to break up the routine of Yourself Fitness now and then, and it's a blast too... but at least for us, nowhere near as effective as YF on Xbox - and these days you should be able to pick up both items for $100 or so total.
Actually, Chappaquiddick happened 7 years after Kennedy first joined the Senate. As far as I know, he plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, but was never charged, let alone convicted or murder or even manslaughter.
Kennedy was hardly senior in the Senate when this happened, though of course as a Kennedy he likely had more deference paid than had he been from a lesser known family.
I don't let garbage like that in my home theater - it's purely intended for first season Webster.
Totally agree - Dreamhost has been the most responsive and responsible vendor I've ever used in shared hosting projects - meaning less than a few hundred bucks per month, no one has come close to them in my experience. Of course, I've not tried every hosting provider out there, but against those I have, Dreamhost is tops.
It's just a bonus that you have a pretty geeky, almost confessional CEO who sends out some fairly amusing newsletters - they certainly provide much better communications about exactly what they are doing than just about anyone I've seen. The comedy can be ignored if that's not your thing.
Never used a self join? I mean I'm no relational database theorist, so maybe you're correct on some level, but one can certainly create relationships between data stored in a single table.
It's extremely popular in some market segments and I'd bet most of those Java programming jobs are for people who write apps for Java app servers, not swing apps for desktop or mobile use. If we're going to talk about Java I think it's important to make such distinctions.
What are you smoking? Windows has less DRM than Mac OSX and Linux, and THAT'S its main competitive edge? Oh-for-two.
In LA many of theold theaters have late shows of classics - I've been to at least 100 such showings, with everything from Casblanca to 2001 to a Jackie Chan double-feature. In every single case I already owned the films on DVD. In many cases the directors, or even some random extras, showed up to answer questions. Trivia games, prizes, all add to the event.
Nothing can beat a fun time out - whether at a fun, interactive movie screening or a live concert, and piracy won't touch these. In fact, in this day of more home theaters, I think people will also crave new reasons to go out. Sitting in a shitty corporate theater watching some forgettable blockbuster isn't enough - make it an experience and people will show.
There is, and has always been, a mechanism for deauthorizing all the computers for a given iTMS ID so you can reauthorize another 5 machines. The process has gotten much easier than in the beginning, but it was always possible, and is easy today. As long as you know the ITMS account info to authorize new machines you're fine; once you lose that account, of course, you're screwed.
I hate DRM myself, just trying to clarify that this problem is not as bad as you suggest.
You assume such criminals are 1) highly organized and 2) intelligent. The reality is thieves are often opportunists who get away with their crimes pretty easily because of the sheer size of the world we live in. They will keep using eBay as their fence as long as it remains one of the easiest ways for all kinds of sellers - legit and otherwise - to connect with purchasers in a pseudonymous way.
I had a laptop stolen in transit back to Apple; it just disappeared before making it's way onto the DHL truck. I eventually got a free, fully loaded, much upgraded replacement, and as I was shipping the machine I had already dumped all personal data from it. A few months later I got a mysterious call from someone asking for my password as the machine he bought from me was prompting him for it... wow! I called Apple, and local law enforcement (in LA where I live as well as Arizona where the call came from) and got no interest in helping! So one followup call led me to the eBay ID of the seller, which lead me eventually to the unpurged sales page on eBay - where the laptop was featured in multiple pictures, and was verifiably mine because of the desktop image still showing (not only did I shoot the image, my login - a play on my fullname - was watermarked in the bottom corner!). Anyway, long story short, eBay wouldn't help, so I ended up tracking the seller down through a lot of Googling and a bit of good fortune. I ended up with a dossier on the seller, including pictures of him, his girlfriend, his car, his employer - the shipping drop where the whole thing started! - and tons of other data. I got his AOL screenname and still have him on my Buddy List to this day. I had a letter from the buyer - a scared-to-death kid in the military, afraid of getting in trouble - as well as the transaction records, and a bullet-proof sequence of evidence connecting him to the theft and the sale. Yet after all of that, law enforcement still wasn't interested! Oh, and the kid had clearly been doing this for a while - he had 200+ sales on eBay, most of which consisted of brand new phones and laptops, and had only just turned 18!
Color me surprised when a full year after the theft the LAPD finally calls... no idea if they'll ever do anything about it. It's not my laptop anymore - I signed away my rights to it when I got the replacement, so it's Apple's loss at this point - but it still bugs me that they were so willing to let him slide. Even when I spoke to the detective he indicated it probably wouldn't go any further, even though the kid was still working at the same shop, and still running his scam on eBay.
Not if it's a robotic witch duck. Those fuckers float.
Well it's not in the US, and even if it was it's not on Starbucks' menu... how is the "x" pronounced in the French form?
Yes, the cult of celebrity is obnoxious in all forms, but it's a fact of human life. Get over it.
However, you're generally wrong that the assumption is these people *know* more than others, or in fact that the public assumes they do; the primary reason celebrities become activists is the simple fact that as a well-known personality, they are far more easily able to communicate with a huge audience on their issues of choice. Other than Tom Cruise I don't know of many celebrities who go around claiming they *know* more about a given issue than most; their reasons for going public are largely the same as anyone's - they feel passionately about an issue and want to help push for change, and they have the added motivation that they know they have far more power in their hands to advance those changes than the typical Joe, or even well informed technocrats.