Forgot to mention in my previous post, the only downside to the competition was the lack of an autonomous aspect to the competition. The programming environment was not released and so the competition was completely remote controlled. For a UNIX/Linux software guy like me, that was a disappointment. But I understand that the development kit is coming out soon (late summer?) and will include a graphical and C interface.
The competition was amazing. Thousands of 13 - 18 year old nerdy-jocks with robots. How could it get better than that?
The Vex kits are a great fit between Legos and the FRC. It's been mentioned that Vex is an Erector Set with a controller and I think that's an appropriate description. It's a great kit and when you consider what's included, a good value.
The real question here is how this will affect Open Office. Strong integration between Groove products/services and Microsoft Office could be interesting. A good thing would be for OOo to be proactive here and look at groupware concepts/functions that can be provided within Open Office.
Note the description of Firefox as an "alternative" browser. I know IE has ~ 85% - 90% of the browser market. But that just smacks of presumption on the part of Microsoft. The use of the word alternative implies there is "prefered" browser.
Agreed, Tom and Ray Magliozzi are a case in point (both graduates of MIT). My point is that high school society tends to be clicky. This teacher has found a way to bridge the gap between two groups and have them work together where they otherwise might not.
This project shows what an inspired teacher can do with students. Taking 14 - 18 year old kids and have them conceive, design and build this is remarkable. This is what high school education should be - engaging, thought provoking and inspiring.
I have this image of nerds crawling around under the pickup right next to the grease monkeys from shop class.
Actually, I'm pretty happy with the battery life of the stock 4500 battery. But then again, my previous phone was StarTac with at 3 year old battery so my experiences may have tainted my expectations. As for the I/F, my biggest complaint is with the calendar app. Hard to use, hard to get to (voice->scheduler, what's up with that?). As for banners, BitPim will allow you to twiddle with the phone file system and you can replace, or erase, the banner. Check out the Yahoo group on the 4500 at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LGVX4500/.
Oh and the screen isn't transreflective. Problem in the sun.
Get Bitpim and a $20 cable. You can upload/download your contacts, ringtones and wallpapers.
It doesn't have Bluetooth but it does have, IMHO, very good voice recognition and is a speaker phone for car use. Good sound quality too.
r
I want a cell phone with some PDA functions
on
Palmtop Nirvana?
·
· Score: 1
I want a cell phone with *some* PDA funcitons. Size is most important to me as I carry my cell phone *everywhere*. I recently purchased an LG VX4500. Basic phone, reasonably small, clam shell. I've had bad experiences with candybar phones that accidently dial themselves. No camera.
The 4500 hold 499 contacts with multiple email and phone numbers for each. It has a very simple calendar (for some reason that I can't comprehend it's accessed via the 'Voice' menu and is called "Scheduler"). While it's not perfect, it allows me to download and upload my contacts list to/from my desktop directly onto the phone using the open source Bitpim tool and a $20 cable. I can upload my calendar from the phone to the desktop but haven't been able to download. This (mostly) works for me because I mostly need a read-only PDA. I update on the desktop, download to the phone and I have what I need in the size I want always with me.
Smartphones (Winbloz, Palm) tend to be larger than I like and are way too expensive (I paid $60 for the VX4500 with a 2 year contract with Verizon). Saving $$ on the phone allows me to buy a Zaurus 860 Linux palmtop. I'd use the Z at work but don't need at the beach. (I'm not *that* much of a geek!)
The 4500 is about 80% of what I want. Small, a phone 1st with contact and calendar capabilities. If the calendar function was a little more robust and I could get the download from the desktop syncing with Evolution/Mozilla working in Bitpim I would raise my satisfaction level to 90%.
So, let me see if I understand this. It's acceptable and appropriate for the Vice President of the United States to hurl profanities against a United States Senator on the floor of the United States Senate (not in session) but it's not acceptable or appropriate for an actor playing a United States Police Officer to do the same on a PBS TV show.
There are many reasons the recording 'industry' is failing. Not the least of which is cost. Even at iTunes prices of $1/song, it would cost $1300 (assuming 3MB/song) to fill it. A fully loaded iPod with a 40 GB disk would be $13,000! So that's about 5 PCs, 1/2 a car, almost the cost of 1 year room/board/tuition for in state residents at UMass. That's not sane.
But look at it from the record company's perspective. Sell 1 million 40GB iPods, assume they are 1/2 full. That translates to $6.5 billion, gross.
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Forgot to mention in my previous post, the only downside to the competition was the lack of an autonomous aspect to the competition. The programming environment was not released and so the competition was completely remote controlled. For a UNIX/Linux software guy like me, that was a disappointment. But I understand that the development kit is coming out soon (late summer?) and will include a graphical and C interface.
r
Our team participated at Atlanta in the Vex demonstration/competition as the Sharon Eagle Unlimited and Sharon Eagle AngelBots (http://eaglevex.home.comcast.net./ We fielded two bots, numbers 13, aka "Johnny" (http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-robots/vex-robo t-pics-28.jpg) and number 44, aka "Lassie" (http://www.vexlabs.com/images/vex-robots/vex-robo t-pics-33.jpg). We did very well, placing 19 and 29 respectively out of 53 bots. We had the youngest member in the competition (4th grade - go David!) who was the youngest driver in Vex competition.
The competition was amazing. Thousands of 13 - 18 year old nerdy-jocks with robots. How could it get better than that?
The Vex kits are a great fit between Legos and the FRC. It's been mentioned that Vex is an Erector Set with a controller and I think that's an appropriate description. It's a great kit and when you consider what's included, a good value.
The real question here is how this will affect Open Office. Strong integration between Groove products/services and Microsoft Office could be interesting. A good thing would be for OOo to be proactive here and look at groupware concepts/functions that can be provided within Open Office.
r
Note the description of Firefox as an "alternative" browser. I know IE has ~ 85% - 90% of the browser market. But that just smacks of presumption on the part of Microsoft. The use of the word alternative implies there is "prefered" browser.
Prefered by who? Why?
And on what/whose authority?
Grrrrrrrrrr!!!
r
So I get to pay Microsoft for software that fixes security problems that they created by not fixing their OS to begin with?
I think not.
r
Agreed, Tom and Ray Magliozzi are a case in point (both graduates of MIT). My point is that high school society tends to be clicky. This teacher has found a way to bridge the gap between two groups and have them work together where they otherwise might not.
This project shows what an inspired teacher can do with students. Taking 14 - 18 year old kids and have them conceive, design and build this is remarkable. This is what high school education should be - engaging, thought provoking and inspiring.
I have this image of nerds crawling around under the pickup right next to the grease monkeys from shop class.
Bravo.
Actually, I'm pretty happy with the battery life of the stock 4500 battery. But then again, my previous phone was StarTac with at 3 year old battery so my experiences may have tainted my expectations. As for the I/F, my biggest complaint is with the calendar app. Hard to use, hard to get to (voice->scheduler, what's up with that?). As for banners, BitPim will allow you to twiddle with the phone file system and you can replace, or erase, the banner. Check out the Yahoo group on the 4500 at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LGVX4500/.
Oh and the screen isn't transreflective. Problem in the sun.
r
Get Bitpim and a $20 cable. You can upload/download your contacts, ringtones and wallpapers.
It doesn't have Bluetooth but it does have, IMHO, very good voice recognition and is a speaker phone for car use. Good sound quality too.
r
I want a cell phone with *some* PDA funcitons. Size is most important to me as I carry my cell phone *everywhere*. I recently purchased an LG VX4500. Basic phone, reasonably small, clam shell. I've had bad experiences with candybar phones that accidently dial themselves. No camera.
The 4500 hold 499 contacts with multiple email and phone numbers for each. It has a very simple calendar (for some reason that I can't comprehend it's accessed via the 'Voice' menu and is called "Scheduler"). While it's not perfect, it allows me to download and upload my contacts list to/from my desktop directly onto the phone using the open source Bitpim tool and a $20 cable. I can upload my calendar from the phone to the desktop but haven't been able to download. This (mostly) works for me because I mostly need a read-only PDA. I update on the desktop, download to the phone and I have what I need in the size I want always with me.
Smartphones (Winbloz, Palm) tend to be larger than I like and are way too expensive (I paid $60 for the VX4500 with a 2 year contract with Verizon). Saving $$ on the phone allows me to buy a Zaurus 860 Linux palmtop. I'd use the Z at work but don't need at the beach. (I'm not *that* much of a geek!)
The 4500 is about 80% of what I want. Small, a phone 1st with contact and calendar capabilities. If the calendar function was a little more robust and I could get the download from the desktop syncing with Evolution/Mozilla working in Bitpim I would raise my satisfaction level to 90%.
r
So, let me see if I understand this. It's acceptable and appropriate for the Vice President of the United States to hurl profanities against a United States Senator on the floor of the United States Senate (not in session) but it's not acceptable or appropriate for an actor playing a United States Police Officer to do the same on a PBS TV show.
I fail to see the logic of that.
r
Funny, I remember everyone calling Kansas "Corporate Rock" when I was in high school.
;)
But I still liked the music.
r
There are many reasons the recording 'industry' is failing. Not the least of which is cost. Even at iTunes prices of $1/song, it would cost $1300 (assuming 3MB/song) to fill it. A fully loaded iPod with a 40 GB disk would be $13,000! So that's about 5 PCs, 1/2 a car, almost the cost of 1 year room/board/tuition for in state residents at UMass. That's not sane.
But look at it from the record company's perspective. Sell 1 million 40GB iPods, assume they are 1/2 full. That translates to $6.5 billion, gross.
It's all about the $$$. They can't see past that.
r
One word:
Momentum.
As in ship that (mostly) followed the laws of physics.
Another word, missiles.
r