Does TurnItIn perform its document comparisons using only literal word for word checking, or does it also account for synonyms?
If it's also accounting for synonyms, then doesn't such a system eventually risk becoming over-saturated with data, rendering the entire service useless? In theory, such a system could eventually contain every possible method of combining words within the english language.
I actually have some experience in the development of an app that could potentially accomplish just that. The app in question was a sort of "intelligent" find and replace system that could import any text document, run it through a user-customized synonym database, then apply the synonyms in various areas of the document at random. Given a large enough synonym database, the app could have become the ultimate tool for plagerism.
Any organization whose stated mission is to take over the world shouldn't arouse suspicion or surprise when they use leverage to win over those who are weaker than they.
Wow... sounds like Chavez might have been right about Bush after all.
Sadly, this version of the notorious H.I.G. has been perverted to fit Mac OS X. Done correctly, Mac OS X should have been able to fit within most of the constraints set by the original H.I.G.
It seems these "guidelines" focus more on drawing attention to the user's choice of OS, rather than actually doing anything to productively assist the user in their work without becoming an annoyance in the process. Granted, a couple of these rules are borrowed from the original Apple Human Interface Guidelines, but the majority of them actually contradict the ideals Apple tried to enforce back in the early days of the Macintosh. (That's not to claim Apple has been any better about this in Mac OS X, which changes its look in every other major update.)
If you thought Clippy was bad before, just wait until he *becomes* the OS that is Windows Vista.
While I probably won't use iTMS for video content, I have been continuously archiving several hours of various tv shows onto my new 80GB iPod ever since it arrived last week. Not only am I ripping content from DVDs I own, I've also been collecting up several shows onto a digital video recorder and then transferring that content onto my computer for export to the iPod. This has proven to be a great solution for keeping an organized collection of shows you can't otherwise through other sources.
In my case, the bulk of my collected content has been animated shows that are currently very difficult to obtain, such as "Rocko's Modern Life", which have yet to be released on DVD.
However, being an animator myself, having the ability to archive and organize large amounts of animated content serves a purpose beyond simple entertainment. It allows me to access any scene, in any episode, of any show on demand, and then lets me examine the scene in question for ideas that I can use within my own work. This is extremely useful, since I no longer have to interrupt my workflow to locate examples of various techniques used in the industry. As long as I know what episode and approximately where in the episode the scene I need occurs, I can bring it up in a matter of seconds.
I could see this having applications in other fields as well. For example, auto manufacturers could create a video-database of how to repair/replace certain parts of a vehicle, and then allow auto mechanics to store this database locally onto an iPod style device. Then, as the mechanic is working on a vehicle, if something comes up he can't quite figure out, he can simply pull out the device in question, go to vehicle's manufacturer/make/model in the database and bring up video relevant to the problem he's trying to fix. It's definitely not something cool like "augmented reality goggles", but it's certainly a step up from having to climb up out of the pit, and then flip through a 1,000+ page book to locate the needed info.
Few expect truly dedicated gamers to choose the Wii over the PS3 or Xbox.
Maybe not *over* those consoles, but likely to compliment them. Unlike the past generation consoles, the Wii isn't a mirror image of the other two brands. The difference in game design concepts, the strong online potential and the strong focus on social multiplayer gaming make it unique enough to buy the Nintendo Wii, even if you do already own one of the other two consoles.
Aside from that, if we're talking "dedicated" as in hard-core gamers. Chances are they'll be rushing like hell to pre-order one just to not be left out of the "cool" crowd. I'd be very surprised if anyone pre-ordering an outlandishly priced PS3 bundle won't stack a Wii bundle onto their credit card as well. (In fact, this could be part of the reason why EBGames is stalling on opening Wii Pre-Order list. Maybe they're going to launch the Wii and PS3 pre-order lists simultaneously to maximize impulse sales while keeping the supply line for either console in check.)
The Radio Shack/FIRST Vex Robotics Starter Kit is definitely worth a look if you're serious about getting into the field. The long awaited programming module is even available now. The kit can also be upgraded with a wide array of sensors, motors and gear sets available from various dealers around the internet.
Of course, Lego Mindstorms is always good for a quick fix if you want to play around before getting too committed.
Finally, for the wannabe robot expert in all of us, you might consider trying Mind Rover: The Europa Project to create virtual autonomous robots on your computer and make them compete.
So, will the motherboards on our computers need to be sealed in an air-tight environment to keep out dust? I imagine the beams need to be fairly small in diameter to make this practical.
Also, could the removal of electronic pathways in place of lasers result in a much cooler running system, since there won't be heat generated by electronic resistance?
Hmm... I was under the impression it required conductive impurities in the air itself to function. (Kind of like trying to "boil" distilled water in a microwave vs standard tap water. The tap water releases the energy gradually due to conductive impurities, while the distilled water will simply continue to store the energy applied until a conductive material comes into contact with it, creating a violent release of all the stored energy instantly.)
I figured this was one of the key reasons why they remove air impurities from fabrication rooms in the first place.
How will they be addressing the uneven weighting this sort of addition will create? Unless they counter-balance it with an equally weighted "slug" on the opposite side of the disc, it could potentially render devices sensitive to disc wobble unable to read the data stored on these discs.
Would one of these still work in a fabrication room setting, where there's less than 1 dust particle per million or so... or does it require a "dirty" air supply to actually move any air by itself?
I highly doubt your coin superheated. The chances that a pool of 5300F melted coin just made small flames seem vanishingly small...
Yeah, this was mostly a figure of speech, rather than literal. After I submitted the parent post, I realized then that someone was probably going to bring this up.
Playing around with my new 80GB iPod, I've learned quite a bit about everything involved in producing efficient rips of data stored on protected media like DVDs. Depending on the intended use of the content in question, you may actually find it more efficient in terms of time vs cost to simply buy iTunes video content than to attempt a rip yourself.
I've been sampling different methods of DVD ripping since yesterday and have discovered the most efficient way to rip a DVD while retaining overall data quality is to go through a series of three different applications... at least on the Macintosh side of things.
It seems there is a huge issue with trying to rip directly from the optical drive that often results in several hours of time used to obtain potentially buggy and incomplete data from a DVD. By using this utility to copy the raw DVD data directly to your hard drive, you'll find your DVD ripper will function much faster and much more reliably in a single pass, than it would with ripping straight from the DVD media itself. A 90 minute movie can be copied in about 10 minutes, and then ripped in realtime... rather than taking upward of three hours to obtain the same results.
This utility converts raw DVD data to a Quicktime-compatible format of your choosing. To ensure easy compatibity with the iPod, try out the new Instant Handbrake software. Despite being a bit buggy and in the beta stages, the results it produces are impressive. When used with raw dvd content stored on a fast hard drive, you can achieve a complete conversion in realtime or faster.
This utility simplifies the process of ensuring your ripped files are in a format that conforms to iPod-playable standards. Depending on the intended use (portable viewing or viewing on a TV screen) you can store a full 90 minute movie using H.264 encoding within 250-500MB of space with very little loss in visual quality. This may add about 2 hours to the ripping process, but is easily worth it for the assurance you've performed the process correctly on your first attempt.
All three of the above utilities are freeware/open source and readily downloadable at any time.
As for CDs though, the ripping process is so trivial, there's no point in not buying a CD of a band you like, when you might well end up spending just as much on the individual DRM-infected tracks.
Why discriminate by brand and/or type of hardware being used? Any battery can be rigged to explode into flame simply by creating a short circuit. I learned this the hard way several years ago after sticking a coin into a AA battery port on one of those electronic kits. The coin super heated and starting making small flames near the batteries as the current flowed directly from the batteries and back without a load.
I've been concerned about this issue for some time. Sure there are "options" out there, such as Javascript and the freebie Macintosh developer tools that come with each new system. However, trying to put object-oriented concepts into a form that children can easily adapt to seems a lot more difficult than one might believe. Even something like RealBasic is a bit tricky to follow if you aren't familiar with how object oriented code works.
There needs to be some kind of readily available interpretive programming language that allows people to start out programming in linear fashion, and later eases them into object-oriented coding.
Personally, I started out on the Apple II using the built-in basic programming language, and eventually moved up to working in machine code. However, despite the advances I achieved with the Apple II, it took me nearly five years to grasp how object oriented programs work. If someone with years of programming experience has this kind of difficulty following OOP, how can we expect children to instantly pick up on it without learning the most basic fundamentals of writing executable code?
In my case, it was Macromedia Director 5's "Lingo" programming language that finally made it possible for me to "connect the dots" enough to understand what exactly is going on under the hood. Since then, I've adapted to OOP far enough to use RealBasic, Perl and Javascript with any level of reliability. (Eventually, I'd like to get some variant of C under my belt.)
Perhaps something along the lines of Macromedia's authorware (now defunct) would provide a good starting point, by giving people a visual programming interface (flowcharting with user defined properties), which can eventually be set to an advanced mode, allowing more confident users to modify the code directly, once they understand the basics.
A critique of this game at this point is pretty far behind the times and not really all that relevant now that there have already been two additional iterations released since then (We Love Katamari & Me and My Katamari). If anything, the sequels are in more need of critiquing than the original. There is much wrong in the sequels that have a direct negative effect over the gaming experience, when compared to the original Katamari Damacy.
The author should probably start focusing attention on the new "innovative" games, like Okami and Loco Roco, rather than drudging up old news about an otherwise great game.
Oh and furthermore... the parallels between Vietnam and now are blindingly obvious. The only difference, is that our shell shock has left us thinking Charlie is hiding in the trees of our own back yard. Our trigger fingers are so itchy now, that we'll slaughter our rights like innocent women and children, only to regard them as necessary casulty of a war we will never win.
Instead, those involved have simply left us so messed up in the head that we end up terrorizing ourselves. We've become obsessed with finding an enemy we can't see, turning over every rock on the ground, just in case. We see monsters in our closets and under our beds, when they're really nothing more than shadows that make us feel a little uneasy in the dark.
The best way the terrorists can win, is to simply not show up ever again. As long as there is no closure... no justification for our own irrational behavior, we'll continue to degrade ourselves until there is nothing left to defend.
People just need to get over it and accept that they can be wrong. The terrorists got the best of us, and our instinct is to take on a "never again" attitude. Until we lose this mindset, we'll just continue to scare ourselves into submission.
For anyone that hasn't yet done it, check out the Nintendo Wii page and watch the demo videos of the system interface. Amazing stuff and surprisingly intuitive. Combined with a decent web browser, this could not only be a killer game console, but could well be that perfect balance between entertainment center and household information hub.
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Does TurnItIn perform its document comparisons using only literal word for word checking, or does it also account for synonyms?
If it's also accounting for synonyms, then doesn't such a system eventually risk becoming over-saturated with data, rendering the entire service useless? In theory, such a system could eventually contain every possible method of combining words within the english language.
I actually have some experience in the development of an app that could potentially accomplish just that. The app in question was a sort of "intelligent" find and replace system that could import any text document, run it through a user-customized synonym database, then apply the synonyms in various areas of the document at random. Given a large enough synonym database, the app could have become the ultimate tool for plagerism.
Any organization whose stated mission is to take over the world shouldn't arouse suspicion or surprise when they use leverage to win over those who are weaker than they.
Wow... sounds like Chavez might have been right about Bush after all.
Too easy... A Mac IIfx might prove more fun, due to the weird memory type it used.
Of course, my favorite setup has to be the Quadra 840av.
ResEdit... R.I.P., my dear friend.
Sadly, this version of the notorious H.I.G. has been perverted to fit Mac OS X. Done correctly, Mac OS X should have been able to fit within most of the constraints set by the original H.I.G.
The user should never feel condescended to, blamed, or intimidated.
You mean Vista is doing away with DRM?!
About damned time!
It seems these "guidelines" focus more on drawing attention to the user's choice of OS, rather than actually doing anything to productively assist the user in their work without becoming an annoyance in the process. Granted, a couple of these rules are borrowed from the original Apple Human Interface Guidelines, but the majority of them actually contradict the ideals Apple tried to enforce back in the early days of the Macintosh. (That's not to claim Apple has been any better about this in Mac OS X, which changes its look in every other major update.)
If you thought Clippy was bad before, just wait until he *becomes* the OS that is Windows Vista.
While I probably won't use iTMS for video content, I have been continuously archiving several hours of various tv shows onto my new 80GB iPod ever since it arrived last week. Not only am I ripping content from DVDs I own, I've also been collecting up several shows onto a digital video recorder and then transferring that content onto my computer for export to the iPod. This has proven to be a great solution for keeping an organized collection of shows you can't otherwise through other sources.
In my case, the bulk of my collected content has been animated shows that are currently very difficult to obtain, such as "Rocko's Modern Life", which have yet to be released on DVD.
However, being an animator myself, having the ability to archive and organize large amounts of animated content serves a purpose beyond simple entertainment. It allows me to access any scene, in any episode, of any show on demand, and then lets me examine the scene in question for ideas that I can use within my own work. This is extremely useful, since I no longer have to interrupt my workflow to locate examples of various techniques used in the industry. As long as I know what episode and approximately where in the episode the scene I need occurs, I can bring it up in a matter of seconds.
I could see this having applications in other fields as well. For example, auto manufacturers could create a video-database of how to repair/replace certain parts of a vehicle, and then allow auto mechanics to store this database locally onto an iPod style device. Then, as the mechanic is working on a vehicle, if something comes up he can't quite figure out, he can simply pull out the device in question, go to vehicle's manufacturer/make/model in the database and bring up video relevant to the problem he's trying to fix. It's definitely not something cool like "augmented reality goggles", but it's certainly a step up from having to climb up out of the pit, and then flip through a 1,000+ page book to locate the needed info.
Few expect truly dedicated gamers to choose the Wii over the PS3 or Xbox.
Maybe not *over* those consoles, but likely to compliment them. Unlike the past generation consoles, the Wii isn't a mirror image of the other two brands. The difference in game design concepts, the strong online potential and the strong focus on social multiplayer gaming make it unique enough to buy the Nintendo Wii, even if you do already own one of the other two consoles.
Aside from that, if we're talking "dedicated" as in hard-core gamers. Chances are they'll be rushing like hell to pre-order one just to not be left out of the "cool" crowd. I'd be very surprised if anyone pre-ordering an outlandishly priced PS3 bundle won't stack a Wii bundle onto their credit card as well. (In fact, this could be part of the reason why EBGames is stalling on opening Wii Pre-Order list. Maybe they're going to launch the Wii and PS3 pre-order lists simultaneously to maximize impulse sales while keeping the supply line for either console in check.)
The new defense for the evils of all mankind:
"The internet made me do it."
Guess this means the devil can resume his duties as President of the United States now.
The Radio Shack/FIRST Vex Robotics Starter Kit is definitely worth a look if you're serious about getting into the field. The long awaited programming module is even available now. The kit can also be upgraded with a wide array of sensors, motors and gear sets available from various dealers around the internet.
Of course, Lego Mindstorms is always good for a quick fix if you want to play around before getting too committed.
Finally, for the wannabe robot expert in all of us, you might consider trying Mind Rover: The Europa Project to create virtual autonomous robots on your computer and make them compete.
So, will the motherboards on our computers need to be sealed in an air-tight environment to keep out dust? I imagine the beams need to be fairly small in diameter to make this practical.
Also, could the removal of electronic pathways in place of lasers result in a much cooler running system, since there won't be heat generated by electronic resistance?
Hmm... I was under the impression it required conductive impurities in the air itself to function. (Kind of like trying to "boil" distilled water in a microwave vs standard tap water. The tap water releases the energy gradually due to conductive impurities, while the distilled water will simply continue to store the energy applied until a conductive material comes into contact with it, creating a violent release of all the stored energy instantly.)
I figured this was one of the key reasons why they remove air impurities from fabrication rooms in the first place.
How will they be addressing the uneven weighting this sort of addition will create? Unless they counter-balance it with an equally weighted "slug" on the opposite side of the disc, it could potentially render devices sensitive to disc wobble unable to read the data stored on these discs.
Would one of these still work in a fabrication room setting, where there's less than 1 dust particle per million or so... or does it require a "dirty" air supply to actually move any air by itself?
It sounds like a configuration issue. I'd recommend giving Instant Handbrake a trial run. Less setting adjustments involved.
Also, as I mentioned in the parent post, I strongly recommend using MacTheRipper first so you aren't getting lag issues from the optical drive.
I highly doubt your coin superheated. The chances that a pool of 5300F melted coin just made small flames seem vanishingly small...
Yeah, this was mostly a figure of speech, rather than literal. After I submitted the parent post, I realized then that someone was probably going to bring this up.
Playing around with my new 80GB iPod, I've learned quite a bit about everything involved in producing efficient rips of data stored on protected media like DVDs. Depending on the intended use of the content in question, you may actually find it more efficient in terms of time vs cost to simply buy iTunes video content than to attempt a rip yourself.
I've been sampling different methods of DVD ripping since yesterday and have discovered the most efficient way to rip a DVD while retaining overall data quality is to go through a series of three different applications... at least on the Macintosh side of things.
- Mac The Ripper
It seems there is a huge issue with trying to rip directly from the optical drive that often results in several hours of time used to obtain potentially buggy and incomplete data from a DVD. By using this utility to copy the raw DVD data directly to your hard drive, you'll find your DVD ripper will function much faster and much more reliably in a single pass, than it would with ripping straight from the DVD media itself. A 90 minute movie can be copied in about 10 minutes, and then ripped in realtime... rather than taking upward of three hours to obtain the same results.
- Handbrake
This utility converts raw DVD data to a Quicktime-compatible format of your choosing. To ensure easy compatibity with the iPod, try out the new Instant Handbrake software. Despite being a bit buggy and in the beta stages, the results it produces are impressive. When used with raw dvd content stored on a fast hard drive, you can achieve a complete conversion in realtime or faster.
- iSquint
This utility simplifies the process of ensuring your ripped files are in a format that conforms to iPod-playable standards. Depending on the intended use (portable viewing or viewing on a TV screen) you can store a full 90 minute movie using H.264 encoding within 250-500MB of space with very little loss in visual quality. This may add about 2 hours to the ripping process, but is easily worth it for the assurance you've performed the process correctly on your first attempt.
All three of the above utilities are freeware/open source and readily downloadable at any time.
As for CDs though, the ripping process is so trivial, there's no point in not buying a CD of a band you like, when you might well end up spending just as much on the individual DRM-infected tracks.
Why discriminate by brand and/or type of hardware being used? Any battery can be rigged to explode into flame simply by creating a short circuit. I learned this the hard way several years ago after sticking a coin into a AA battery port on one of those electronic kits. The coin super heated and starting making small flames near the batteries as the current flowed directly from the batteries and back without a load.
I've been concerned about this issue for some time. Sure there are "options" out there, such as Javascript and the freebie Macintosh developer tools that come with each new system. However, trying to put object-oriented concepts into a form that children can easily adapt to seems a lot more difficult than one might believe. Even something like RealBasic is a bit tricky to follow if you aren't familiar with how object oriented code works.
There needs to be some kind of readily available interpretive programming language that allows people to start out programming in linear fashion, and later eases them into object-oriented coding.
Personally, I started out on the Apple II using the built-in basic programming language, and eventually moved up to working in machine code. However, despite the advances I achieved with the Apple II, it took me nearly five years to grasp how object oriented programs work. If someone with years of programming experience has this kind of difficulty following OOP, how can we expect children to instantly pick up on it without learning the most basic fundamentals of writing executable code?
In my case, it was Macromedia Director 5's "Lingo" programming language that finally made it possible for me to "connect the dots" enough to understand what exactly is going on under the hood. Since then, I've adapted to OOP far enough to use RealBasic, Perl and Javascript with any level of reliability. (Eventually, I'd like to get some variant of C under my belt.)
Perhaps something along the lines of Macromedia's authorware (now defunct) would provide a good starting point, by giving people a visual programming interface (flowcharting with user defined properties), which can eventually be set to an advanced mode, allowing more confident users to modify the code directly, once they understand the basics.
A critique of this game at this point is pretty far behind the times and not really all that relevant now that there have already been two additional iterations released since then (We Love Katamari & Me and My Katamari). If anything, the sequels are in more need of critiquing than the original. There is much wrong in the sequels that have a direct negative effect over the gaming experience, when compared to the original Katamari Damacy.
The author should probably start focusing attention on the new "innovative" games, like Okami and Loco Roco, rather than drudging up old news about an otherwise great game.
Oh and furthermore... the parallels between Vietnam and now are blindingly obvious. The only difference, is that our shell shock has left us thinking Charlie is hiding in the trees of our own back yard. Our trigger fingers are so itchy now, that we'll slaughter our rights like innocent women and children, only to regard them as necessary casulty of a war we will never win.
Instead, those involved have simply left us so messed up in the head that we end up terrorizing ourselves. We've become obsessed with finding an enemy we can't see, turning over every rock on the ground, just in case. We see monsters in our closets and under our beds, when they're really nothing more than shadows that make us feel a little uneasy in the dark.
The best way the terrorists can win, is to simply not show up ever again. As long as there is no closure... no justification for our own irrational behavior, we'll continue to degrade ourselves until there is nothing left to defend.
People just need to get over it and accept that they can be wrong. The terrorists got the best of us, and our instinct is to take on a "never again" attitude. Until we lose this mindset, we'll just continue to scare ourselves into submission.
Their "science" may be predictably flawed time and time again... but they're interesting.
I like it when stuff explodes for the sake of seeing something explode.
For anyone that hasn't yet done it, check out the Nintendo Wii page and watch the demo videos of the system interface. Amazing stuff and surprisingly intuitive. Combined with a decent web browser, this could not only be a killer game console, but could well be that perfect balance between entertainment center and household information hub.