I remeber hearing about something like this a while back being used to recover laptops.
Some company sold a software product that ran in the background. Periodically, when the laptop was logged onto the internet, this software would check in with a central server for some reason or another. It did this in the background without any formal notification.
Someone stole a laptop and was using it. This software was still running unobtrusively in the background. They were able to trace the laptop back to the ISP that the thief was using to log on and then find the theif and the laptop.
Now this only works if the disk of the laptop isn't wiped, the thief logs on, and no one notices and disables the software but it was still pretty cool.
Looking for the original story, I just found this link to a company that sells a product that claims to do this sort of tracing.
Is it just me or does this seem short sighted? I mean, it's great that there's such free, easy access but how are they going to pay for continuing research to keep it current?
Won't this just lead to the end of the Encyclopedia Brittanica?
These are new and from space. You haven't been able to get commercial 1m resolution images from space before. The stuff on Terraserver are aerial photos from planes.
Basically, OLAP/Data mining/ Ect. are optimizing data bases for analysis (ie, data warehousing) and then applying machine learning algorithms to find interesting, useful bits of information which you werent' aware of before. This process goes by many different names including OLAP, data mining, KDD (knowledge discovery in databases), and intelligent data analysis among others.
While some of this is pure hype, there is some very cool, interesting work going on.
I just remembered that this same sort of situation occured with the Electronic Monk. It's a natural language search engine that was turning you question into a query and then giving it to another engine. The other company (I think it was Alta Vista) started blocking them.
I've often wondered how meta search engines get away with this type of practice. I have noticed that Metacrawler doesn't advertize much, attributes links to the engines that provided them, and seems to sometimes have ads from the other engines that it searches.
Site that try to find the best price for items must pose an even more troublesome problem for online retailers. There's a site that search 20+ online booksellers and returns their prices. A site like this will bring some business to your site but will force you to lower your margins to compete.
The biggest difference with this sensor isn't so much the 1m panchromatic resolution but the availibility of 4m multispectral data. This is considerably higher than the other current options.
Keep in mind too that the target market for the panchromatic data are the people who are used to buying 1 foot planimetric aerial photos and are used to that level of accuracy. The closer you can get to that, the more interested they'll become.
Most satellites used for remote sensing (ie, looking at the earth) are either in geosynchronous orbits or polar orbits. The ones in polar orbits have a regular repeat cycle. For example, the NOAA AVHRR satellites have a daily repeat while the Landsat TM sensors have about a 14 day cycle (more often at the poles). The general rule of thumb is the higher the resolution, the longer the overpass cycle.
This satellites has a polar orbit. They are really intended to be an alternative to aerial photography for planners, foresters, and farmers. They provide regularly updated imagery but not continuous coverage.
The whole privacy/security issue was a big deal when the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor was launched. A number of countries were very concerned. That's part of why the TM sensor has a 30m resolution. The government felt that at this resolution, the military utility was diminished. Hasn't been much disscussion about this with these new satellites.
It is important to realize how much privacy is being invaded both online and off, most the time without the public even realizing it is happening.
There is a possible upside though. There was some discussion a while ago this could dramatically change news reporting in times of war. For example, in the Gulf War, the news agencies wouldn't be dependent on the filtered military briefings. You can have access to almost real time imagery of the action.
This will probably never happen though. There's probably some clause that lets the goverment black out certain areas for national security purposes. Even so, it could make the government more accountable since the data will exist and could be reviewed by the public after the fact.
I think this sort of certification falls into the same category as the 'lite' linux that was being discussed the other day. If people are inclined to tinker, you can get linux up and running on laptops (for example, there this linux on laptops reference ). However, there are many people who just want an operating system which works. They don't want to spend hours trying to figure out why it isn't working. If IBM can provide a system which runs linux off the shelf that's a good thing.
And as long as they are upfront and clear about what is and isn't supported by the "certified" machines, I think this will be good for linux in the long run. If people have sucessful and happy linux experiences, they will be more likely to use linux and to become more sophisticated users.
I don't know how it is in CS but in some fields, it is MUCH easier to get funded as a Ph.D. student than as a masters student. It can also be easier to get on a research grant rather than TAing. The research will probably be much more interesting than teaching lab sections and grading.
SO even if you only want a masters, it may be better to apply to the Ph.D. program and then opt out with a masters (which has been paid for) rather than paying for a masters yourself.
If the department is very well funded (which I assume top tier CS departments are), this may be a moot point.
One thing I forgot to mention will follows from my comment above.
In the end, as a grad student, you advisor will probably make a much bigger difference than what school you attend. This is more true if you are planning on staying in academics. It you want to go out and work when you are done, this may be less true.
One thing that will definitely help you is to get known by the professor(s) you want to work with when you get to grad school. Send them email, explain you intestest. If you can meet with them.
It is not like the undergraduate application process. If there is a professor who wants you and they have funding for you, you WILL be accepted. Guranteed.
In any case, if you have some one who recognizes your name and is willing to pull for you in the admission discussions it will help you get in.
If you haven't talked to people in the department, it can become a real crap shoot. In academics, relationships (s/relationships/politics/g) can be an important, unavoidable (although annoying) factor. Realizing this early can save headaches later and help you get in to the program you want to attend.
I think California recently passed a law which treats digital signatures as legally binding. I'm not sure if this only applies to written digital signature (ie, when you sign on the UPS pad) but even if it does, it might provide a precident for using other forms of digital "signatures."
Slashdot Mirror
I remeber hearing about something like this a while back being used to recover laptops.
Some company sold a software product that ran in the background. Periodically, when the laptop was logged onto the internet, this software would check in with a central server for some reason or another. It did this in the background without any formal notification.
Someone stole a laptop and was using it. This software was still running unobtrusively in the background. They were able to trace the laptop back to the ISP that the thief was using to log on and then find the theif and the laptop.
Now this only works if the disk of the laptop isn't wiped, the thief logs on, and no one notices and disables the software but it was still pretty cool.
Looking for the original story, I just found this link to a company that sells a product that claims to do this sort of tracing.
Is it just me or does this seem short sighted? I mean, it's great that there's such free, easy access but how are they going to pay for continuing research to keep it current?
Won't this just lead to the end of the Encyclopedia Brittanica?
These are new and from space. You haven't been able to get commercial 1m resolution images from space before. The stuff on Terraserver are aerial photos from planes.
A good example of how vulnerable the physical infrastructure of the net is the accidental cutting of some key lines by backhoes last week.
This is one of the best references I've seen for OLAP terminology.
Basically, OLAP/Data mining/ Ect. are optimizing data bases for analysis (ie, data warehousing) and then applying machine learning algorithms to find interesting, useful bits of information which you werent' aware of before. This process goes by many different names including OLAP, data mining, KDD (knowledge discovery in databases), and intelligent data analysis among others.
While some of this is pure hype, there is some very cool, interesting work going on.
There's another rebuttal of this article here
I just remembered that this same sort of situation occured with the Electronic Monk . It's a natural language search engine that was turning you question into a query and then giving it to another engine. The other company (I think it was Alta Vista) started blocking them.
I've often wondered how meta search engines get away with this type of practice. I have noticed that Metacrawler doesn't advertize much, attributes links to the engines that provided them, and seems to sometimes have ads from the other engines that it searches.
Site that try to find the best price for items must pose an even more troublesome problem for online retailers. There's a site that search 20+ online booksellers and returns their prices. A site like this will bring some business to your site but will force you to lower your margins to compete.
Try username: slashdoted
pass: slashdot
I though I heard this too. A couple weeks ago wasn't it?
The biggest difference with this sensor isn't so much the 1m panchromatic resolution but the availibility of 4m multispectral data. This is considerably higher than the other current options.
Keep in mind too that the target market for the panchromatic data are the people who are used to buying 1 foot planimetric aerial photos and are used to that level of accuracy. The closer you can get to that, the more interested they'll become.
Most satellites used for remote sensing (ie, looking at the earth) are either in geosynchronous orbits or polar orbits. The ones in polar orbits have a regular repeat cycle. For example, the NOAA AVHRR satellites have a daily repeat while the Landsat TM sensors have about a 14 day cycle (more often at the poles). The general rule of thumb is the higher the resolution, the longer the overpass cycle.
This satellites has a polar orbit. They are really intended to be an alternative to aerial photography for planners, foresters, and farmers. They provide regularly updated imagery but not continuous coverage.
The specific of the ikonos satellite, including orbit info, can be found here on the Space Imagine Inc. Home page .
This applet shows the orbit and ground track for ~100 different satellites. It's really useful for visualizing the orbits.
The whole privacy/security issue was a big deal when the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor was launched. A number of countries were very concerned. That's part of why the TM sensor has a 30m resolution. The government felt that at this resolution, the military utility was diminished. Hasn't been much disscussion about this with these new satellites.
It is important to realize how much privacy is being invaded both online and off, most the time without the public even realizing it is happening.
There is a possible upside though. There was some discussion a while ago this could dramatically change news reporting in times of war. For example, in the Gulf War, the news agencies wouldn't be dependent on the filtered military briefings. You can have access to almost real time imagery of the action.
This will probably never happen though. There's probably some clause that lets the goverment black out certain areas for national security purposes. Even so, it could make the government more accountable since the data will exist and could be reviewed by the public after the fact.
Well, the opponents relaxing imports have gotten their PR machines rolling. This BBC article doesn't say much other than reiterate the old terrorist and criminals argument. Same old BS.
Don't tell a Scot their not a minority though!
I think this sort of certification falls into the same category as the 'lite' linux that was being discussed the other day. If people are inclined to tinker, you can get linux up and running on laptops (for example, there this linux on laptops reference ). However, there are many people who just want an operating system which works. They don't want to spend hours trying to figure out why it isn't working. If IBM can provide a system which runs linux off the shelf that's a good thing.
And as long as they are upfront and clear about what is and isn't supported by the "certified" machines, I think this will be good for linux in the long run. If people have sucessful and happy linux experiences, they will be more likely to use linux and to become more sophisticated users.
Why not make the number of moderator points a function of the number of comments?
Congradulations on being the 2ND post! Stunning accomplishment!
I think it's capped now at about 16-18k but I've heard of engineering grad students making up to 20K.
I don't know how it is in CS but in some fields, it is MUCH easier to get funded as a Ph.D. student than as a masters student. It can also be easier to get on a research grant rather than TAing. The research will probably be much more interesting than teaching lab sections and grading.
SO even if you only want a masters, it may be better to apply to the Ph.D. program and then opt out with a masters (which has been paid for) rather than paying for a masters yourself.
If the department is very well funded (which I assume top tier CS departments are), this may be a moot point.
One thing I forgot to mention will follows from my comment above.
In the end, as a grad student, you advisor will probably make a much bigger difference than what school you attend. This is more true if you are planning on staying in academics. It you want to go out and work when you are done, this may be less true.
One thing that will definitely help you is to get known by the professor(s) you want to work with when you get to grad school. Send them email, explain you intestest. If you can meet with them.
It is not like the undergraduate application process. If there is a professor who wants you and they have funding for you, you WILL be accepted. Guranteed.
In any case, if you have some one who recognizes your name and is willing to pull for you in the admission discussions it will help you get in.
If you haven't talked to people in the department, it can become a real crap shoot. In academics, relationships (s/relationships/politics/g) can be an important, unavoidable (although annoying) factor. Realizing this early can save headaches later and help you get in to the program you want to attend.
I think California recently passed a law which treats digital signatures as legally binding. I'm not sure if this only applies to written digital signature (ie, when you sign on the UPS pad) but even if it does, it might provide a precident for using other forms of digital "signatures."
Is it just me or does this bring the now (happilly) defunked DIVX system to mind?
I think this is more commonly understood although the media may not portray it that way. Just look at the health news: Every new study makes the news.
Check out: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn
He show's quite nicely that the questions asked and answers found by science are focused by the paradigms that are currently accepted.