Knowing your distance (or speed/time) is one thing, but in order to have a complete outlook of the exercise, you also have to have the heartbeat. If you're in shape, you'd be able to run further and faster, but with less effort than a mare amateur. Measuring your effort (directly derived from heartrate) is very important in order to achieve results.
Nevertheless, it does seam like a good product to me. I may even buy it:)
I thought a bit more about the topic, and IPaq is better. Costs only 65$ to replace, and it does not have the "Graffiti(TM)" area at the bottom of the digitizer/screen.
I should have thought about it before sending the first comment, sorry...
This is a great idea. The only problem that I have with this piece of HW is that price of the LCD screen.
If all I need is the ability to control the HTPC while there is a large screen that outputs the real DVD image, then using a PDA touch screen might be a good idea. Buying a PDA replacement digitizer/screen at GetHighTech is 60$ for B/W Palm Vx and 75$ for Color Palm130M (100$ for the 515).
These digitizers are of high quality, and instead of just showing the desktop and pointing with the mouse, one can draw buttons on the display, and touch it!!! In this case, there is no need for other buttons on the computers, just create a program that performs all the actions from the touch screen printed buttons.
This can build the ultimate HTPC, since there is no need for keyboard or mouse. We just have to create programs that control the digitizer, and choose what you want to do (like the interface of the new copy-machines that lets you control everything from different "tabs" on the touchscreen.
It could be a nice OS project, that will give Linux another edge (since nobody will have to know what OS powers the HTPC, the regular MS-Windows interface will not matter!). Serious people that want to build HTPCs will choose Linux.
A nice addition to the packaging systems used today, is to add rsync support as a downloading method. Thus, if I already have an older package, and assuming that the packages do not change a lot between releases, all I hvae do download is the binafy diffs of the PACKAGES.
It would be a great advantage, and I don't think that it would take too much time to implement. Someone might have already done that. I should check it.
Scene: It's a fine sunny day in the forest; and a rabbit is sitting outside his burrow, tippy-tapping on his lap top. Along comes a fox, out for a walk.
Fox: "What are you working on?" Rabbit: "My thesis." Fox: "Hmmmmm. What is it about?" Rabbit: "Oh, I'm writing about how rabbits eat foxes." (incredulous pause) Fox: "That's ridiculous! Any fool knows that rabbits don't eat foxes!" Rabbit: "Come with me and I'll show you!"
They both disappear into the rabbit's burrow. After a few minutes, gnawing on a fox bone, the rabbit returns to his lap top and resumes typing. Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the hard working rabbit. (Tippy-tap, tippy-tap, tippy-tippy-tap).
Wolf: "What's that you are writing?" Rabbit: "I'm doing a thesis on how rabbits eats wolves." (loud guffaws). Wolf: "You don't expect to get such rubbish published, do you?" Rabbit: "No problem. Do you want to see why?"
The rabbit and the wolf go into the burrow, and again the rabbit returns by himself. This time he is patting his stomach. He goes back to his typing. (Tippy-tap, tippy-tap, tippy-tippy-tap).
Finally a bear comes along and asks, "What are you doing?" Rabbit: "I'm doing a thesis on how rabbits eats bears." Bear: "Well that's absurd!" Rabbit: "Come into my home and I'll show you."
SCENE: Inside the rabbit's burrow. In one corner, there is a pile of fox bones. In another corner is a pile of wolf bones. On the other side of the room a huge lion is belching and picking his teeth.
MORAL:
It doesn't matter what you choose for a thesis topic.
It doesn't matter what you use for your data.
It doesn't even matter if your topic makes sense.
What matters is who you have for a thesis advisor.
I didn't write it, but it does have some truths in it (but do try to choose a subject that interest you...)
When was the last time you spent some time in a modern hospital?
Nowadays all the information is transferred over the network. Our products cannot work unless connected to the hospital network.
You should do some reading in the subject before writing about it: Read about PACS and DICOM . I'm sure that there are better links to either of those, but I'm not at the office right now and took those from google.com.
I work as a programmer for a medical imaging company.
My experiance shows that the hospitals test each new product at least two weeks before perofming operations on animals and then humans anyway.
The staff at the hospital does not have the time to get to know the packages. If the product was not well tested before and/or it is not FDA approved, they will simply won't tauch it!
There are some safty concerns that I'm not sure all OpenSource programmers are aware of.
Something else to consider...what would you trust more, software developped by volunteers where no-one is making money or software developped by a commercial firm who might feel pressure to push a product onto the market quickly. Or worse yet,would you trust systems from a commercial company that may produce mediocre software, but have a fantastic marketing team?
How can a medical company rush to marketing, when it has to go through about a year of FDA related procedures?!?!?
The company cannot afford to release another version while in the FDA approval process, since the process has to begin from the beginning!
Another problem is that only a paid Q.A team, that its manager spends WEEKS/MONTHS designing testing plans can perform all the needed testing.
I work as a programmer for a medical imaging company, and we spend A LOT of time ensuring that our software/hardware runs without flaws. I do not think that OpenSourced project will be able to enforce all the needed procedures.
Another point is that FDA approval takes time. We have special people that all they do is interact with the FDA. I do not think that OpenSourced project's members will have the time/knowledge to interact with FDA.
I work as a programmer for a Medical Imaging company (InSight Therapeutics), and I feel exactly as you are.
Before a medical device is FDA approved, it has to go through a lot of testing, the fact that millions of users COULD HAVE tested it is not enough. There has to be defined testing schemes/plans, and extensive documentations of the testing results, bug reports, bug fixes, etc...
Each new component has to go through a design review before implementation, and then an extensive code review. If either of those reviews is not satisfactory, you'll have to redo your work. Those reviews are not easy, and a lot of time a programmer has go back and reimplement some part of the code.
All the work has to be documented for regulatory porpuses, incl. all the formal/informal meetings, and we even have to save our notebooks. How will you collect all this information from the harddrives of 10s of the people that helped that OpenSourced project? How will you enforce them to save all the papers they sketched on?
Moreover, the workers should have a lof of knowledge in computer science, mathematics and physics. My boss interviews 100s of job applicants a year, but we only accept one new member in few months. In OpenSourced project you cannot check the background of every new programmer/alg. designer and confirm that he/she knows what he/she is doing.
We spend a lof of time talking to M.Ds, trying to understand their needs, going to operations, and trying to invent new MMI components that will work best in ORs. I'm afraid that OpenSource members won't be able to reach those Doctors. I'm not saying that it will be impossible, or that people that participate in OpenSourced projets are not as intelligent as people who work for software companies (hell, most of them do work at a software company), only that I'm not sure whether the doctors will work with them. I KNOW that if I had to set the meetings with the M.Ds myself, I would not have met anyone since I don't have the time for all the administrative work needed to perform those meetings.
Before working for InSight Therapeutics I worked as a system programmer/administrator for Unix machines, and used a lot of open sourced software and helped some too. I just do not think that medical software is the right niche for OpenSource. I am a big OpenSource fan, my home computer has only Linux (Debian) installed, and most of the programs I use (all but two) are OpenSourced.
Half a year ago we had to choose the platform for our next product. I enthusiastically offered Linux, and after a long discussion it was decided not to use it since the FDA might not approve the product.
BTW, is there an FDA approved product that works on Linux (I'll be able to use it as an argument for the next time we have this discussion).
Anyway, there are a lot of opensourced projects that need more help. If you have some time on your hands help those instead of statring new ones.
Lets hope that none of us will have to actully see the devices I work on in OR...
When reading those benchmarks I always wonder whether the integer results and the floating point results are in the same scale.
If they are on the same scale, would not it be much better to do all the calculations in float? (If you've got huge numbers, you loose some accuracy, and you cannot use floating point in the kernel, but what about the rest?)
You've just taken the wind out of the sails of everyone proposing that just because music can be digitally encoded, it is therefore "information," and should be free.
I don't see your point. The fact that music can be digitally encoded does not mean that it is information. On the other hand, a lot of the OpenSource products you use may be considered art and those are free too.
It might be the time that music artist, like computer professionals, started giving something back to the community. Music can be either information, art or both, but that does not mean that we have to pay a lot for it!
I really enjoyed reading his article, and I agree with most of what he had to say. I do have one problem with the following paragraph:
MP3s also blur the lines between music, information and data. I don't have any problem thinking of music as data, but it takes a lot of the art out of the concept.
The fact that mp3 is a binary data does not mean that it is not an art. When I program I don't feel that I do ordinary work like a salesman or a bank teller. I feel that I create new things, and this is some sore of art.
Moreover, there are some sorts of music that cannot live without mp3 (like Techno -- since it is computer generated music mp3 is the format most of the creators use, and then if they are successful they might distribute also on CDs) are those not considered art?
Is creating binary images with The Gimp of Photoshop not considered art?
That fact that binary data files are easily reproducible does not necessarily mean that the content is not considered art.
Slashdot Mirror
Knowing your distance (or speed/time) is one thing, but in order to have a complete outlook of the exercise, you also have to have the heartbeat.
:)
If you're in shape, you'd be able to run further and faster, but with less effort than a mare amateur. Measuring your effort (directly derived from heartrate) is very important in order to achieve results.
Nevertheless, it does seam like a good product to me. I may even buy it
I should have thought about it before sending the first comment, sorry...
Liran.
If all I need is the ability to control the HTPC while there is a large screen that outputs the real DVD image, then using a PDA touch screen might be a good idea. Buying a PDA replacement digitizer/screen at GetHighTech is 60$ for B/W Palm Vx and 75$ for Color Palm130M (100$ for the 515).
These digitizers are of high quality, and instead of just showing the desktop and pointing with the mouse, one can draw buttons on the display, and touch it!!! In this case, there is no need for other buttons on the computers, just create a program that performs all the actions from the touch screen printed buttons.
This can build the ultimate HTPC, since there is no need for keyboard or mouse. We just have to create programs that control the digitizer, and choose what you want to do (like the interface of the new copy-machines that lets you control everything from different "tabs" on the touchscreen.
It could be a nice OS project, that will give Linux another edge (since nobody will have to know what OS powers the HTPC, the regular MS-Windows interface will not matter!). Serious people that want to build HTPCs will choose Linux.
Is it doable?
Liran.
A nice addition to the packaging systems used today, is to add rsync support as a downloading method. Thus, if I already have an older package, and assuming that the packages do not change a lot between releases, all I hvae do download is the binafy diffs of the PACKAGES.
It would be a great advantage, and I don't think that it would take too much time to implement. Someone might have already done that. I should check it.
Fox: "What are you working on?"
Rabbit: "My thesis."
Fox: "Hmmmmm. What is it about?"
Rabbit: "Oh, I'm writing about how rabbits eat foxes."
(incredulous pause)
Fox: "That's ridiculous! Any fool knows that rabbits don't eat foxes!"
Rabbit: "Come with me and I'll show you!"
They both disappear into the rabbit's burrow. After a few minutes, gnawing on a fox bone, the rabbit returns to his lap top and resumes typing. Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the hard working rabbit. (Tippy-tap, tippy-tap, tippy-tippy-tap).
Wolf: "What's that you are writing?"
Rabbit: "I'm doing a thesis on how rabbits eats wolves."
(loud guffaws).
Wolf: "You don't expect to get such rubbish published, do you?"
Rabbit: "No problem. Do you want to see why?"
The rabbit and the wolf go into the burrow, and again the rabbit returns by himself. This time he is patting his stomach. He goes back to his typing. (Tippy-tap, tippy-tap, tippy-tippy-tap).
Finally a bear comes along and asks, "What are you doing?"
Rabbit: "I'm doing a thesis on how rabbits eats bears."
Bear: "Well that's absurd!"
Rabbit: "Come into my home and I'll show you."
SCENE: Inside the rabbit's burrow. In one corner, there is a pile of fox bones. In another corner is a pile of wolf bones. On the other side of the room a huge lion is belching and picking his teeth.
MORAL:
What matters is who you have for a thesis advisor.
I didn't write it, but it does have some truths in it (but do try to choose a subject that interest you...)
Liran.
When was the last time you spent some time in a modern hospital?
Nowadays all the information is transferred over the network. Our products cannot work unless connected to the hospital network.
You should do some reading in the subject before writing about it:
Read about PACS and DICOM . I'm sure that there are better links to either of those, but I'm not at the office right now and took those from google.com.
Liran.
For example, how many of you know what DICOM is?
There are a lot of other examples, but I don't want to waste your time...
Liran.
I work as a programmer for a medical imaging company.
My experiance shows that the hospitals test each new product at least two weeks before perofming operations on animals and then humans anyway.
The staff at the hospital does not have the time to get to know the packages. If the product was not well tested before and/or it is not FDA approved, they will simply won't tauch it!
There are some safty concerns that I'm not sure all OpenSource programmers are aware of.
Liran.
Something else to consider...what would you trust more, software developped by volunteers where no-one is making money or software developped by a commercial firm who might feel pressure to push a product onto the market quickly. Or worse yet,would you trust systems from a commercial company that may produce mediocre software, but have a fantastic marketing team?
How can a medical company rush to marketing, when it has to go through about a year of FDA related procedures?!?!?
The company cannot afford to release another version while in the FDA approval process, since the process has to begin from the beginning!
Another problem is that only a paid Q.A team, that its manager spends WEEKS/MONTHS designing testing plans can perform all the needed testing.
I work as a programmer for a medical imaging company, and we spend A LOT of time ensuring that our software/hardware runs without flaws. I do not think that OpenSourced project will be able to enforce all the needed procedures.
Another point is that FDA approval takes time. We have special people that all they do is interact with the FDA. I do not think that OpenSourced project's members will have the time/knowledge to interact with FDA.
Liran.
I work as a programmer for a Medical Imaging company (InSight Therapeutics), and I feel exactly as you are.
Before a medical device is FDA approved, it has to go through a lot of testing, the fact that millions of users COULD HAVE tested it is not enough. There has to be defined testing schemes/plans, and extensive documentations of the testing results, bug reports, bug fixes, etc...
Each new component has to go through a design review before implementation, and then an extensive code review. If either of those reviews is not satisfactory, you'll have to redo your work. Those reviews are not easy, and a lot of time a programmer has go back and reimplement some part of the code.
All the work has to be documented for regulatory porpuses, incl. all the formal/informal meetings, and we even have to save our notebooks. How will you collect all this information from the harddrives of 10s of the people that helped that OpenSourced project? How will you enforce them to save all the papers they sketched on?
Moreover, the workers should have a lof of knowledge in computer science, mathematics and physics. My boss interviews 100s of job applicants a year, but we only accept one new member in few months. In OpenSourced project you cannot check the background of every new programmer/alg. designer and confirm that he/she knows what he/she is doing.
We spend a lof of time talking to M.Ds, trying to understand their needs, going to operations, and trying to invent new MMI components that will work best in ORs. I'm afraid that OpenSource members won't be able to reach those Doctors. I'm not saying that it will be impossible, or that people that participate in OpenSourced projets are not as intelligent as people who work for software companies (hell, most of them do work at a software company), only that I'm not sure whether the doctors will work with them.
I KNOW that if I had to set the meetings with the M.Ds myself, I would not have met anyone since I don't have the time for all the administrative work needed to perform those meetings.
Before working for InSight Therapeutics I worked as a system programmer/administrator for Unix machines, and used a lot of open sourced software and helped some too. I just do not think that medical software is the right niche for OpenSource.
I am a big OpenSource fan, my home computer has only Linux (Debian) installed, and most of the programs I use (all but two) are OpenSourced.
Half a year ago we had to choose the platform for our next product. I enthusiastically offered Linux, and after a long discussion it was decided not to use it since the FDA might not approve the product.
BTW, is there an FDA approved product that works on Linux (I'll be able to use it as an argument for the next time we have this discussion).
Anyway, there are a lot of opensourced projects that need more help. If you have some time on your hands help those instead of statring new ones.
Lets hope that none of us will have to actully see the devices I work on in OR...
Enjoy (healthy) life,
Liran.
Hi.
When reading those benchmarks I always wonder whether the integer results and the floating point results are in the same scale.
If they are on the same scale, would not it be much better to do all the calculations in float? (If you've got huge numbers, you loose some accuracy, and you cannot use floating point in the kernel, but what about the rest?)
Thanks,
Liran.
You've just taken the wind out of the sails of everyone proposing that just because music can be digitally encoded, it is therefore "information," and should be free.
I don't see your point.
The fact that music can be digitally encoded does not mean that it is information. On the other hand, a lot of the OpenSource products you use may be considered art and those are free too.
It might be the time that music artist, like computer professionals, started giving something back to the community. Music can be either information, art or both, but that does not mean that we have to pay a lot for it!
Liran.
I really enjoyed reading his article, and I agree with most of what he had to say. I do have one problem with the following paragraph:
MP3s also blur the lines between music, information and data. I don't have any problem thinking of music as data, but it takes a lot of the art out of the concept.
The fact that mp3 is a binary data does not mean that it is not an art.
When I program I don't feel that I do ordinary work like a salesman or a bank teller. I feel that I create new things, and this is some sore of art.
Moreover, there are some sorts of music that cannot live without mp3 (like Techno -- since it is computer generated music mp3 is the format most of the creators use, and then if they are successful they might distribute also on CDs) are those not considered art?
Is creating binary images with The Gimp of Photoshop not considered art?
That fact that binary data files are easily reproducible does not necessarily mean that the content is not considered art.
Liran.