Square? Not on my old Trash-80! Heady days indeed, populating that 128x48 grid of monochromatic pixels. The aspect ratio really screwed with attempts to generate graphics using trigonometry.
The BBC series "Ashes to Ashes" also finished up over the weekend, and it was a far more satisfying conclusion to both that series and its predecessor "Life on Mars." Well done, and a great send off for DCI Gene Hunt. I highly recommend both BBC series to folks who enjoyed Lost. Avoid the American remake of LoM though...
AR gaming is but one application. AR's real promise IMO is in fusing digital information with the real world to create a richer environment for people to accomplish various tasks more efficiently. The military has used this concept for years with fighter HUDs. There are smart phone apps that overlay real-estate data as you pan the camera across a row of houses. It's not just about games, and there are a lot of very interesting applications that come to mind for different industries if you start thinking outside the box.
It would be better to have asked if the article describes a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) or diffusion burn process. There's a huge difference between them in terms of emissions and thermal efficiency. In the traditional diesel cycle, fuel combusts along a locally "rich" flame front that propagates outwards from the kernel. Since it's locally rich, you get particulate and NOx formulation. In HCCI, you have a uniform (lean) distribution of fuel and air that combusts simultaneously with lower emissions and higher efficiency as a byproduct. Both are compression ignition processes, but one is far more efficient than the other. The trick with HCCI has always been air/fuel ratio and combustion timing control and the large number of variables that can affect both. Playing with inlet conditions including the equivalence ratio, EGR rate, intake temperature and pressure, and adding "exotic" diluents are all potential control options. This system may be using one or more of them to achieve HCCI.
You've forgotten the Google Powermeter project - http://www.google.org/powermeter. It's not a stretch to think that if it gains traction and they put a solid analytics engine underneath all that data, Google would be well positioned to speculate in the power markets. I was puzzling over Google's business case for Powermeter a month or so back - long before the FERC application came to light. It certainly seems like it could be more ambitious than Microsoft Hohm's somewhat modest ad-based model. Enron's actions were somewhat localized. Google's reach could be much larger. I guess we'll see if they truly adhere to their credo...
I'm less interested in the technology's ability to charge mobile devices - I agree with other posters that it seems unlikely to work in a reasonable time frame. I do think it could have potential for powering wireless sensor networks though. Some of these devices require relatively little power, but the present need for batteries (and replacing them) is a show stopper for realistic deployment.
What about embedded software? If I write code to perform a specific function in a physical device and someone else writes their own code to provide the same functionality in their own device then copyright protection is utterly worthless. Software patents for embedded applications (controllers, smart devices, etc.) make a lot of sense IMO.
That's not actually the case w/ the Magic Mouse. It does have an internal button that is used in conjunction with the touch surface to determine if a click is on the left or right. That said, I'm frustrated that the device can't (currently) detect a simultaneous left/right click. There's no good reason why it can't do this - the software just hasn't been written to enable the functionality. Hopefully that will come in a near-term update, as it's the only thing I really dislike about the mouse. The momentum-based scrolling mechanism is fabulous though.
Observing my neighbors and other folks my wife and I interact with here I think it goes beyond not caring. I think it also involves being uninformed. From my admittedly limited observation these people don't read newspapers, substantive periodicals or Internet content. When they do watch television it's almost without exception entertainment programming. It always saddens me when I attempt to have a conversation about national or world events and the people I talk to have zero knowledge on the topics or even the most cursory awareness. I could be mistaken, but I'm not sure people can care about things if they don't know about them. Apathy and ignorance are two of the worst things you can have in a democracy, and the US is burdened with an overabundance of both.
Note that I'm not even commenting on the relative quality of information made available to people by corporate owned media. That's another rotten layer of the onion that must be dealt with as well.
The Senate does not have the power to impeach. That power rests with the House of Representatives. The Senate is involved once articles of impeachment are passed. That said, I don't believe the House has the political will to take a vote on articles of impeachment for Bush, Cheney or Gonzales. I've asked myself time and again, exactly how bad do things have to get before the House calls for proceedings. Sadly I've been left to conclude that the Executive will do as it pleases and they've successfully marginalized the other two branches. I try not to let it bother me any more, but I refuse to be complicit. My family and I are quitting. I'm hopeful about a future - elsewhere...
I was quite fond of CodeTek's Virtual Desktop. http://codetek.com/ctvd/ It made me feel right at home when jumping between my Linux desktop and the Mac. Lots of real-estate, some nice customization features, and mouse focus behavior I preferred to OS X's. Sadly, the application hasn't been properly supported for a while. It does work, mostly, but isn't as flawless as it once was. I recently had to turn it off because of some misbehaviors with Firefox.
So if I apply for a marriage license I'll be asked if I intend to have children? When I say no I'll be denied a license? Vasectomy? No marriage for you! That argument just doesn't wash with me.
What about "domestic partner benefits" like hospital visitation, end of life decision making, etc. that are denied gay and lesbian couples because their unions aren't formally recognized?
I do live in what you'd probably consider a "rural" area of the country. I guess I just keep to myself and have a fairly small circle of people I communicate with. As an above poster commented, I'm more used to hearing the equally offensive "That's so gay!" It's all just so bizarre.
I don't disagree w/ you at all. Calling it a corporatocracy is perhaps a euphemism that provokes less knee-jerk close-mindedness in discourse. It's easily argued that the electorate is so polarized by distracting wedge issues that there's no point in euphemism though.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I'd completely forgotten about those pads of paper!
Square? Not on my old Trash-80! Heady days indeed, populating that 128x48 grid of monochromatic pixels. The aspect ratio really screwed with attempts to generate graphics using trigonometry.
This older story comes to mind whenever I see a new article about military robots.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki/
The BBC series "Ashes to Ashes" also finished up over the weekend, and it was a far more satisfying conclusion to both that series and its predecessor "Life on Mars." Well done, and a great send off for DCI Gene Hunt. I highly recommend both BBC series to folks who enjoyed Lost. Avoid the American remake of LoM though...
AR gaming is but one application. AR's real promise IMO is in fusing digital information with the real world to create a richer environment for people to accomplish various tasks more efficiently. The military has used this concept for years with fighter HUDs. There are smart phone apps that overlay real-estate data as you pan the camera across a row of houses. It's not just about games, and there are a lot of very interesting applications that come to mind for different industries if you start thinking outside the box.
It would be better to have asked if the article describes a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) or diffusion burn process. There's a huge difference between them in terms of emissions and thermal efficiency. In the traditional diesel cycle, fuel combusts along a locally "rich" flame front that propagates outwards from the kernel. Since it's locally rich, you get particulate and NOx formulation. In HCCI, you have a uniform (lean) distribution of fuel and air that combusts simultaneously with lower emissions and higher efficiency as a byproduct. Both are compression ignition processes, but one is far more efficient than the other. The trick with HCCI has always been air/fuel ratio and combustion timing control and the large number of variables that can affect both. Playing with inlet conditions including the equivalence ratio, EGR rate, intake temperature and pressure, and adding "exotic" diluents are all potential control options. This system may be using one or more of them to achieve HCCI.
Shame on you. You made me backwash...
You've forgotten the Google Powermeter project - http://www.google.org/powermeter. It's not a stretch to think that if it gains traction and they put a solid analytics engine underneath all that data, Google would be well positioned to speculate in the power markets. I was puzzling over Google's business case for Powermeter a month or so back - long before the FERC application came to light. It certainly seems like it could be more ambitious than Microsoft Hohm's somewhat modest ad-based model. Enron's actions were somewhat localized. Google's reach could be much larger. I guess we'll see if they truly adhere to their credo...
I actually saw a kiosk for "electronic cigarettes" at a local mall last week. Definitely a WTF moment.
I'm less interested in the technology's ability to charge mobile devices - I agree with other posters that it seems unlikely to work in a reasonable time frame. I do think it could have potential for powering wireless sensor networks though. Some of these devices require relatively little power, but the present need for batteries (and replacing them) is a show stopper for realistic deployment.
Armor
Thank you! We can get Steakley's Vampire$, but not Armor? The mind boggles...
What about embedded software? If I write code to perform a specific function in a physical device and someone else writes their own code to provide the same functionality in their own device then copyright protection is utterly worthless. Software patents for embedded applications (controllers, smart devices, etc.) make a lot of sense IMO.
That's not actually the case w/ the Magic Mouse. It does have an internal button that is used in conjunction with the touch surface to determine if a click is on the left or right. That said, I'm frustrated that the device can't (currently) detect a simultaneous left/right click. There's no good reason why it can't do this - the software just hasn't been written to enable the functionality. Hopefully that will come in a near-term update, as it's the only thing I really dislike about the mouse. The momentum-based scrolling mechanism is fabulous though.
Observing my neighbors and other folks my wife and I interact with here I think it goes beyond not caring. I think it also involves being uninformed. From my admittedly limited observation these people don't read newspapers, substantive periodicals or Internet content. When they do watch television it's almost without exception entertainment programming. It always saddens me when I attempt to have a conversation about national or world events and the people I talk to have zero knowledge on the topics or even the most cursory awareness. I could be mistaken, but I'm not sure people can care about things if they don't know about them. Apathy and ignorance are two of the worst things you can have in a democracy, and the US is burdened with an overabundance of both.
Note that I'm not even commenting on the relative quality of information made available to people by corporate owned media. That's another rotten layer of the onion that must be dealt with as well.
The Senate does not have the power to impeach. That power rests with the House of Representatives. The Senate is involved once articles of impeachment are passed. That said, I don't believe the House has the political will to take a vote on articles of impeachment for Bush, Cheney or Gonzales. I've asked myself time and again, exactly how bad do things have to get before the House calls for proceedings. Sadly I've been left to conclude that the Executive will do as it pleases and they've successfully marginalized the other two branches. I try not to let it bother me any more, but I refuse to be complicit. My family and I are quitting. I'm hopeful about a future - elsewhere...
Oh shoot. I forgot to mention another app that I use a lot, Cyberduck. http://cyberduck.ch/ Great little FTP client.
I was quite fond of CodeTek's Virtual Desktop. http://codetek.com/ctvd/ It made me feel right at home when jumping between my Linux desktop and the Mac. Lots of real-estate, some nice customization features, and mouse focus behavior I preferred to OS X's. Sadly, the application hasn't been properly supported for a while. It does work, mostly, but isn't as flawless as it once was. I recently had to turn it off because of some misbehaviors with Firefox.
Props to my old friend Lance Woods who has been working towards this in Indiana for years.
Crystal draino, aluminum foil, and water FTW! FYI, the reaction is exothermic and makes scads of hydrogen so use caution.
This is news? The Yes Men have been doing this for a long time. http://www.theyesmen.org/ Pure genius. :)
So if I apply for a marriage license I'll be asked if I intend to have children? When I say no I'll be denied a license? Vasectomy? No marriage for you! That argument just doesn't wash with me.
What about "domestic partner benefits" like hospital visitation, end of life decision making, etc. that are denied gay and lesbian couples because their unions aren't formally recognized?
I do live in what you'd probably consider a "rural" area of the country. I guess I just keep to myself and have a fairly small circle of people I communicate with. As an above poster commented, I'm more used to hearing the equally offensive "That's so gay!" It's all just so bizarre.
That's similar to the comments I was referring to. "That's so Jewish!" Seems to be a new general purpose putdown. I don't get it. Simply bizarre...
There's been some really nice anti-semitism in Ogrimmar's general chat and trade channels on my server as well.
I don't disagree w/ you at all. Calling it a corporatocracy is perhaps a euphemism that provokes less knee-jerk close-mindedness in discourse. It's easily argued that the electorate is so polarized by distracting wedge issues that there's no point in euphemism though. :)