Yeah, the Bronco II was based on the Ford Ranger, but even the Ford Ranger is funky. I currently own a 1979 Bronco (400M block baby!), and on the fender it says "Ranger". In fact, if you look at the old Ranger pickups from the late 60's through most of the 70's - the "Ranger" *was* an F-150 (typically you would see it as the "Ranger F-150"). Something changed later, so that the Ranger became the small truck we see today. I tend to think early small Rangers and Bronco II's were built on the same chassis - but I haven't seen enough of both to know for certain. F-150's and up went on to be the "full size" trucks.
As far as the rollover thing is concerned, I am glad I learned about it now. My wife wants me to get her a small Bronco II after she drove (and liked) the Bronco I got (but it was too "big" for her otherwise)...
I can guarantee you that a fully immersive HMD (with 3DOF tracking) doesn't exist at a price-point 3D gamers would pay. There are several issues that get in the way of each other: size, weight, FOV (both horizontal and vertical) and resolution. Current LCD technology doesn't have a high enough resolution to create an immersive environment (60 degrees Horz x 30 degrees Vert *minimum*). You would be lucky to get 800 x 600, 640 x 480 would be more likely. Due to needing immersion, the pixels would be blocky. Ok for a fast action game (Virtuality's Visette 2 was pretty nice - but pricey), but not for any other task, where resolution would be important. You could probably get an HMD, today, that would do what you want for around $5000.00 (which isn't bad considering the price for such a thing 7-10 years ago). You would still need to add on a tracking system - currently around $500 - $1000 more, depending on type. Finally, there is the whole lawsuit issue when the first person hurls or suffers some other form of simulation sickness after putzing for an hour.
I wish things were different, too - but I don't expect things to improve anytime soon for a fully immersive desktop computing environments. We will likely see AR environments before then (simply because the simulation sickness issue is less) - but until the resolution goes way up for LCDs, or OLEDs become mass market and run well, it is going to be a while...
Something you may want to consider is the possibilty of homebrewing your own fuel cell. I think such a thing is entirely possible using off-the-shelf materials, provided one knows what to look for.
For this homebrew effort, I personally think that the "sacraficial anode" type of fuel cell is one that could be done most easily. In these types of fuel cells, a metal anode is decomposed in an electrolyte solution, and it is this decomposition that is used to convey the charges, thus creating the voltage potential. First, take a look at this link. This is from the fuel cell store website which was mentioned by the submitter. This link show a product that the store carries which is a sacraficial anode fuel cell. The anode in this case is magnesium-based, the electrolyte is salt water. The cathode is a so-called "diffusion cathode", which performs an oxygen-interface with the surrounding air, via a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane is such that oxygen is allowed in, but the salt water inside stays inside.
Now, this company that supplies this cell to the fuel-cell store gives a good explanation of what is going on. However, it is different from what I remember. I remember that they used to sell a different such fuel cell - one in which the sacraficial anode was alluminium, not magnesium. I can't remember what the chemical reaction was, but it was nearly identical to what goes on with the magnesium based cell. Seeing this, I realized that such a homebrew cell might be possible.
The question is, what to use for materials? Here's the answer I have come up with:
1. Get a piece of PVC pipe with an end cap. Drill a bunch of holes in it, in a pattern of some sort. The more holes, the better, but make sure it is left structurally sound. Install the end cap.
2. Construct a cardboard tube such that its diameter is approximately 1-2mm less than the inside diameter of the PVC pipe.
3. Around this cardboard tube wrap a single layer of stainless steel mesh cloth. Around this wrap a single layer of polyethylene or polypropylene plastic.
4. Slide this inside the PVC pipe. This is your diffusion cathode.
5. In the center of another end cap, attach an alluminium rod. This is your anode.
6. Fill the pipe with a mostly saturated-salt water solution. Insert alluminium rod and cap. The rod should not touch the sides, but instead should hang down the middle of the pipe. Keep the pipe vertical, leave room for air circulation.
7. Profit?
Now, I don't know if this will work. I have not tried it. But I think somewhere in it is gem of truth on how a homebrew fuel cell could be made. The hardest (and most expensive) portion of a fuel cell is the membrane. I think something like cling wrap or plastic freezer could supply the membrane - some kind of plastic that "breaths", and lets air through.
So, could a homebrew fuel cell be made? Try it, and see!
If some of these don't contain silver - what would be the best thing to use in this kind of experiment (or would it even work?):
I have had the idea to try (though I haven't had the time yet) to make a copper-oxide solar cell, but instead of using the typical salt-water electrodes, I was thinking about silvering the backside, and then creating on the frontside using silver paste a grid of lines to act as the other electrode.
Would this even work? Is there something else I should try (ideally, if there was a way to homebrew deposit a clear electrode on the front - could silver nitrate be used, or something similar)? Basically, copper oxide cells are easy and cheap to make, but the saltwater electrodes make them impractical to use for anything other than experiments...
Yes, Atari - same people who made Pong and the 2600!
I never had one of these as a kid, but I managed to snag one at a garage sale for 50 cents! Basically, it was a color organ for your TV (think of it as a very early hardware sound visualization device). You hook it up to your TV and stereo, and it puts up pulsing, changing pixelated (big Atari 2600 style pixels) colored pulses/shapes, beating to the music. Has a bunch of buttons and knobs on the front, in classic 70's colors - avocado, rust, gold - black vinyl covered case and wood panel sides - knobs were silver.
I am not sure, but it doesn't seem like many were made, and fewer still exist.
Just when are we going to actually use or see this tech in use?
It seems like on a regular occasion, we here on/. hear about wireless broadband this, blimp-based that. We have been hearing about it for what? At least 5 years. Yet the only wireless broadband I know of in my market (Phoenix, AZ) is Sprint's Broadband (ie, what was SpeedChoice), and they aren't accepting any new customers (not that I would use them - my friend down the street got it before they locked, and his upload rate is HORRIBLE).
Come on, what is taking so long? Does the rollout for getting space on a tower somewhere really take this long? Does it really take this long to get licenses and such in place? Does is take this long to get an airship into the sky?
Or is this all some kind of a ploy to grab money from stupid VCs who don't realize the.com bubble burst?
You are right - what they don't understand, is that such a system would fundamentally break the internet as we know it. The internet was always designed to be "dumb in the middle, smart on the fringe". It is what has allowed it to become what it is today. Indeed, all successful networks seem to exhibit this behavior. Other topologies suffer from fatal flaws that cause them in the end to either die, or stop growing. To place a different such topology on the already large growth internet would probably kill it as a network. Would this be worth it?
I think you can get bricks with LEDs or lights from Pitsco-Lego Dacta, and I know you can get the metal-strip flat brick pieces. Plus, extra cables, sensors, motors, pneumatics (but unfortunately, for some reason, they don't sell the BLUE TANK), and other funky things from them...
I, too, have noticed these seemingly random words that seemed to have nothing to do with the main text of the spam. I have also noticed the "gibberish words". One of my thoughts was that it was for defeating or bypassing bayesian filters - and likely, that is the case. But my thoughts turned to another possible use...
What if spam and the spammers software - was actually being used by a third party in a surepticious manner to send/receive messages? Kinda like plaintext stego. Maybe the software used by spammers is backdoored by this third party - he sends instructions to the machine(s), maybe via a virus or something simpler, the spammers send their messages, but "unknown" to them the spams have this garbage at the end. The spammer doesn't really care, maybe he bitches at whatever passes as tech support for the spam software. Most people who recieve the spam see the stuff as garbage, or filter busters. But a certain group of the third party's friends - they have special email software that downloads these spams, and strips the garbage out, decodes it, and reassembles it into the real message. Maybe each spam only contains the equivalent of a couple of characters after decoding (maybe the garbage is actually packets telling order in the sequence, and other info to reconstruct the message) - but over a week or so, an entire message could be sent...
What is the possibility of that? Occam's Razor suggests otherwise, and filter busters are probably what the stuff is - but...what if...?
But not only are there the Mindstorms kits, there are also "special order" educational kits available. Lego sells specialized kits (some are electronic and can be connected to a PC or Mac for data collection or robotics) - to educators across the country (K-12). Will these kits still be available for those educators?
In a similar vein, as a kid I used to play something I termed "jump car" - I would build this insane nearly vertical (so I could get good air, but still have some forward momentum) quarter-pipe type construction using large books and a piece of cardboard or something, all held together with tape and such. The object was to build a "car" with a minifig inside that could be launched (ie, hurled with rapid force down the hallway) toward the ramp, up and over it, and survive landing in the hallway, hopefully still rolling.
Needless to say, I busted many wheel hubs on that game, plus a few lego pieces. The most spectacular "failure" (it was all about failing) I had the car launched and landed perfectly, but then in a slow but quickly building cascade effect fell apart into many individual lego pieces scattering across the floor. The fate of the minifig? Instant death it was declare: head/torso/legs all separated - not a pretty way to go at all...
You will likely run into same/similar problems that besieged Charles Babbage (as well as earlier/later mechanical computer pioneers) - that of accurately transmitting the power, while still being able to "do it". That is, when transmitting the power among the components, you are able to do so without causing said components to fail (teeth breaking off gears is the most common thing to happen). As well as having the power transmitted accurately so as to allow the machine to function properly (meaning values and data carry through the calculations correctly).
If you want to pursue this idea, try to get in contact with the guy at this site:
Check out the images album link on the right hand side - this guy at one time was planning/building a lego based computer. He had various components built, but hadn't tied all of it together. The images area shows some interesting details/designs...
IIRC, I was working at my first "professional" programming job, small mom n pop company (under 20 employees), insurance claims management software. This was about 10 years ago. Anyhow, I was doing some testing on a live client's system (no, we didn't have dedicated live and test systems at client sites - big mistake number 1) - building and rebuilding and testing three different tables on the database - each of which had similar names. However, I was doing all of this originally using three identical tables, but prefixed with the word "TEST_" - just to be safe. Between each test, I would delete the tables. Well, you can guess what happenned next after doing this a few rounds: I typed in the delete command for one of the LIVE data tables. Just as it completed, I realized what I just did. My head went into my hands, I moaned a loud "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo....!!!!" - and all the phones in the (small) office started ringing at once, as our client (at the time, one of the largest insurance carriers in AZ) was frantic, wanting to know where their data just went (and I imagine the code was blowing chunks, plus they were doing data entry, etc)...
That was my big mistake. Of course, it was compounded: They didn't have a very recent backup (about a week old). After a stern talking from the president/ceo/owner of the shop, my supervisor and I spent a VERY late evening restoring the data from the backup, rebuilding what we could from the leftover two tables (due to the way the system was structured, a lot of the data for this one table could be gleaned/inferred from the other two tables - had I screwed up one of the other two - I would have been even more hosed), and the rest the client had to rekey.
In all, it caused this company to lose about a day's worth of work, a half day or more of employee downtime/productivity, and untold dollars. Lesson learned?
ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK WHAT YOU TYPE BEFORE PRESSING RETURN - ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE PERFORMING A DELETE COMMAND.
Invest in a few solar panels, a charge regulator, and some deep-cycle batteries. These systems are relatively easy to set up, and require little maintenance afterward. They will provide you with either 12 or 24 VDC (go with the higher voltage if you can - for longer wire runs you won't need to use thicker wire).
A small system for powering a cabin can be had fairly cheaply - under $5000.00 for a decent system (a very decent system), if you install it yourself. Most of cost will be in the panels and batteries. You won't be able to run a washer/dryer or anything large like that, but if you set up LED lights or compact flourescents, you can have a nice solution for the cabin, to provide lighting, run a small TV or radio, maybe a few small RV/boat appliances (they make appliances specifically for RV's and boats that run off of 12 or 24 volts) - plus a laptop.
If you have steady wind, a small wind generator or two could be handy as well, as long as you are in a clearing or can get it above the treetop level (just make sure to ground it for lightening strikes).
If you just need some quick and cheap power for lighting, a small solar rig can be easily cobbled together from a small panel or two, one or two small old UPS batteries (like the small desktop UPSs use), a diode (for reverse current protection of the panel), and some wire plus a fuse. I built such a small rig to run a flourescent light in my tent at Burning Man this year - ran great at night, charged it during the day - didn't spend a dime on the batteries, the panel was from a yard sale (think I spent $10.00 on it or something).
I recently came under a fit of nostalgia...
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First Computers
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I dug out my first two computers - a TRS-80 Color Computer 2 and a Tandy Color Computer 3 (which I recieved when I was 10 and 13 years old, respectively). I currently have the CoCo 3 set up with floppy drive next to me, along with its CM-8 monitor. I have a project going to transfer the floppies I have kept to a PC running Jeff Vavasour's emulators for the CoCo 2 and 3. I just want to get my old data off the floppies and on to something a little newer. I built a null modem cable between the PC and the CoCo for the transfer - I am also planning on playing around with using a 5 1/4" floppy drive in the PC for the transfers (though Jeff told me that there are problems with the inner tracks getting corrupted).
So far it has been a fun and interesting project. Looking at my old code has been a joy and a laugh. I hope to be able to get OS-9 running on the emulator as well.
One thing I want to put out here - in case anybody knows anything: I have a copy of Diecom Software's "Gates of Delerium", which was an early Ultima clone for the CoCo - my main disk seems to be bad. If anyone has a copy or knows anything, please contact me via my website. I have already spoken with Dave Dies (he has a company now called Cosmic Infinity that makes handheld games and such) - he has no problem on the copyright issue - not enforcing it. I am wanting a copy of the game, to get it transferred over to the emulator. My copy errors out, and I haven't found my backup yet. If anyone has any interest in the project, let me know...
True, the site mentioned is a fake site, a work of fiction (and interesting in its own right). But behind this veil of deception lies intriguing truths!
As already has been mentioned, there were "robotic" devices in the Victorian era and before! De Vaucanson's duck was only one such marvel of the era. There are the Droz family automata (which are real close to actual robots, the devices are able to be "re-programmed" via cams and levers, though such changes are very difficult to make). There is another automata, I forget the maker's name, which is a silver swan that moves with a very smooth grace. Lastly, there really was a steam-powered two-legged walking machine - it used a small steam engine, exhaust came out it's head, and a steam whistle in its mouth. It used a rotating cam/crank mechanism to allow it to walk stiff-leggedly around in a circle, via a long arm attached to a central pivot point.
Automata during the Victorian period and before served to fuel the imagination of quite a variety of characters - Babbage himself became interested in a variety of automata of the period, including Kempelen's Turk chess player (more on this in a bit). Mary Shelly saw the Droz automata, which has been said to be one of the sparks for Frankenstein.
These people and many others were influenced by these machines in very profound ways. They caused many "top" people of the day to pause and ask themselves and others "can a machine be alive - can it think for itself?" - no doubt the Turk, though not truely a robot, was a very advanced form of automata commanded by a hidden operator (it was no simple puppet - it was more like a remotely operated robot in action). Robots like the Turk caused much discussion about the possibility of machines being intelligent, and indirectly led to the questioning of whether we humans are nothing more than intelligent meat machines. Shelly's Frankenstein questioned the morality and desires behind the need to create machines (and the blending of a created man with human parts) - and what happens when that machine seeks companionship and answers to its own life.
These themes continue to resonate with us to this very day - it is what is driving the human race to create ever more advanced robots and androids. These themes are seen in various AI research, game programming and development (to make the characters in the world more believable - virtual robots, if you will), and other simulations.
Victorian-era "robotics" are only one stage (and really, a middle stage) in the development of machines to automatically (and intelligently) do our bidding (hopefully alongside us)...
It isn't so much that computers are "general purpose" devices - they are, but they are so, so much more.
Most people, and that includes a fair number of geeks as well - don't understand what a computer truely is. It is a machine which runs software. But that isn't quite it, either. Computers are software made physical - and this is the cruxt of it all.
You see, software is nothing more than ideas and algorithms expressed as a special series of ones and zeros, interpreted sequentially. This sequential nature is very powerful. Alan Turing showed via his ideal Universal Turing Machine - that such a symbol manipulation device could emulate and perform the same functions as any other Turing complete architecture. With computers made a reality (because during Turing's time, the machines available, while powerful at their tasks, weren't any where near advanced enough to be Turing complete), software can simulate hardware, and hardware is made of software. For example, think about FPGA's: Designed and developed on a computer, programmed and simulated via a computer, simulation complete, download it to the FPGA.
A piece of hardware embodying the soul of software.
Many of the technologies we take for granted today on automobiles were first utilized by Preston Tucker. Padded dashboards, airbags, disc brakes - so many others - were things that Preston Tucker was ultimately responsible for implementing into an automobile.
Ultimately, the Big Three (and arguably the US Government) brought him down - but they had no problem incorporating his designs into their automobiles (all in due time, of course), and calling them their own.
Check out Preston Tucker's life story - and prepare to be amazed (the video is highly recommended, but I also suggest you read the various books, and period magazine articles about his car. Finally, if you get the chance, take a look at one of his 50 cars, which are still around, among the rarest of automobiles in history, and marvel at the vehicle compared to others of the same period)...
I doubt you will see (at least in the near future) 3D projection, and you will probably never see a VR HMD setup.
Back in 1995, when the Sega Genesis was all the rage, along with the hope (hype?) of VR, Sega actually had a prototype HMD system. Everyone in the homebrew and consumer VR realm was a-goggle, with the idea of a cheap and hackable VR HMD with full 3DOF mag-tracking capabilities. It never saw the light of day (though some people own the prototypes today). Why?
Mainly, one word: liability.
HMDs present one obstacle that has yet to be overcome, that of "simulator sickness". A large percentage of the population cannot deal with the images their eyes and brains are receiving (the movement, etc), and sounds - conflicting with the fact that they are sitting down. Some get nausea, some so bad they, ahem, puke. Then there are the morons who will try to stand up and walk around, then fall or trip...
All of this would eventually get the manufacturer (ie, in the old case, Sega) sued. Other manufactures tried (and continue to try) to sell HMDs to the masses (ie, Forte VFX-1, Phillips SCUBA, IO-Glasses, Victormaxx's Stuntmaster), but they all flop(ed) (either due to cost, lack of demand, simulator sickness, resolution/field-of-view issues).
Resolution and FOV issues aside, the issue of simulator sickness is always going to be there. There have been notable attempts to minimize or eliminate it. Two come to mind:
The Flogiston Flostation was a chair/projector unit devised by a guy in Texas using a grant from NASA to design a VR system for training astronauts. The main feature was the special chair which reproduced the feelings of weightlessness by reducing body pressure points in a special reclined position. This weightlessness feeling helped to divorce the head from the body, so that simulator sickness was reduced. This, coupled with a full wraparound screen (a high-resolution rear projected sphere that fitted over the users head), high-powered sound system, and on a few prototypes, a full-motion platform system - provided for a very nice (from what I have read) virtual experience.
The other system I remember about was a type of "helmet" that saw beta testing, that stimulated the vestibular system via electric currents. Using a patented technology based on earlier, less advanced medical systems used to treat vertigo patients - the device would sit on your head, electrodes place on the forehead and just behind each ear would contact the skin. Computer software (and the beta of it was to develop games using the SDK provided) could control how you "felt" in the game or simulation - whether you were tilted, moving, falling, etc - in effect, stimulating you (virtually) the same as the simulation did, removing one of the major component problems which causes simulator sickness. I can't remember the name of the company, it went under (one of the early VR/.COM busts) - and I don't know what happenned to the beta units. The patents should still be available, though. I also know that I posted on Slashdot around 1998-2000 when the company was still around regarding this tech, so you might look it up.
I think these two technologies, if they could be made cheaper, would go a long way to bring VR into the home. Unfortunately, right now probably the cheapest the whole system (HMD, chair, and stimulator) could be sold would be around $2000.00 - and you still haven't put in the cost of the reality simulator console and software...
True, true - I have been trying to get FreeDOS working on this old box I am building - haven't had too much success with it (I don't think it is ready yet) - so I installed a copy of Caldera's OpenDOS on it (back when it was free there was 5 disk set that was excellent). My plan is to set it up to be use a TRS-80 Color Computer 3 emulator, and get all of my old software and such transferred over to it (so, I don't really care what DOS I use, though I am trying to avoid MS-DOS out of pure spite).
That sucks big time - I am very sorry to hear what happenned to you.
This problem, though, is bad for even those who are true sex offenders. Whether it is the lists on websites or elsewhere published, or these face recog cameras, all of it amounts to a "scarlet letter" being placed upon them.
These people (and as per your example, it can quickly be anyone) serve their time - but they never are let alone afterward to become good citizens, they are continually punished, hounded for the rest of their lives like some Frankenstein creature.
These lists and databases are not any form of deterence, they are simply lists for shunning, and in some certain worse cases, vigilante mobs or people to use to beat them up or kill them. As a civil society, we should not have these lists.
Finally, many times there are people who have these urges, and want to seek treatment, but by the stigma of the issue, they are even unable to do that! Sometimes the laws prevent it, sometimes they can't get treatment because of other issues. So, the fester, try to control it themselves, sometimes they fail - many either get caught (even though they didn't want to do anything in the first place and wanted treatment), others end up killing themselves.
This abuse at the hands of the system needs to end.
If your GF can't stand the sound of the mouse clicking, get her some of those foam earplugs. No, I am serious. They are pretty comfortable to wear at night, and will cut all the sound (I wear some at times because my wife likes to watch TV when we go to sleep). I doubt you will find anything, simply because it is such a niche product. Plus, there are the HID (human interface design) issues - the click is both a tactile and audible feedback for the user, without it, you might feel "odd", as if something is out of place, and uncomfortable, when using it (kinda like how those rubbery chicklet keyboards never caught on)...
Slashdot Mirror
As far as the rollover thing is concerned, I am glad I learned about it now. My wife wants me to get her a small Bronco II after she drove (and liked) the Bronco I got (but it was too "big" for her otherwise)...
I wish things were different, too - but I don't expect things to improve anytime soon for a fully immersive desktop computing environments. We will likely see AR environments before then (simply because the simulation sickness issue is less) - but until the resolution goes way up for LCDs, or OLEDs become mass market and run well, it is going to be a while...
For this homebrew effort, I personally think that the "sacraficial anode" type of fuel cell is one that could be done most easily. In these types of fuel cells, a metal anode is decomposed in an electrolyte solution, and it is this decomposition that is used to convey the charges, thus creating the voltage potential. First, take a look at this link. This is from the fuel cell store website which was mentioned by the submitter. This link show a product that the store carries which is a sacraficial anode fuel cell. The anode in this case is magnesium-based, the electrolyte is salt water. The cathode is a so-called "diffusion cathode", which performs an oxygen-interface with the surrounding air, via a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane is such that oxygen is allowed in, but the salt water inside stays inside.
Now, this company that supplies this cell to the fuel-cell store gives a good explanation of what is going on. However, it is different from what I remember. I remember that they used to sell a different such fuel cell - one in which the sacraficial anode was alluminium, not magnesium. I can't remember what the chemical reaction was, but it was nearly identical to what goes on with the magnesium based cell. Seeing this, I realized that such a homebrew cell might be possible.
The question is, what to use for materials? Here's the answer I have come up with:
1. Get a piece of PVC pipe with an end cap. Drill a bunch of holes in it, in a pattern of some sort. The more holes, the better, but make sure it is left structurally sound. Install the end cap.
2. Construct a cardboard tube such that its diameter is approximately 1-2mm less than the inside diameter of the PVC pipe.
3. Around this cardboard tube wrap a single layer of stainless steel mesh cloth. Around this wrap a single layer of polyethylene or polypropylene plastic.
4. Slide this inside the PVC pipe. This is your diffusion cathode.
5. In the center of another end cap, attach an alluminium rod. This is your anode.
6. Fill the pipe with a mostly saturated-salt water solution. Insert alluminium rod and cap. The rod should not touch the sides, but instead should hang down the middle of the pipe. Keep the pipe vertical, leave room for air circulation.
7. Profit?
Now, I don't know if this will work. I have not tried it. But I think somewhere in it is gem of truth on how a homebrew fuel cell could be made. The hardest (and most expensive) portion of a fuel cell is the membrane. I think something like cling wrap or plastic freezer could supply the membrane - some kind of plastic that "breaths", and lets air through.
So, could a homebrew fuel cell be made? Try it, and see!
I have had the idea to try (though I haven't had the time yet) to make a copper-oxide solar cell, but instead of using the typical salt-water electrodes, I was thinking about silvering the backside, and then creating on the frontside using silver paste a grid of lines to act as the other electrode.
Would this even work? Is there something else I should try (ideally, if there was a way to homebrew deposit a clear electrode on the front - could silver nitrate be used, or something similar)? Basically, copper oxide cells are easy and cheap to make, but the saltwater electrodes make them impractical to use for anything other than experiments...
I never had one of these as a kid, but I managed to snag one at a garage sale for 50 cents! Basically, it was a color organ for your TV (think of it as a very early hardware sound visualization device). You hook it up to your TV and stereo, and it puts up pulsing, changing pixelated (big Atari 2600 style pixels) colored pulses/shapes, beating to the music. Has a bunch of buttons and knobs on the front, in classic 70's colors - avocado, rust, gold - black vinyl covered case and wood panel sides - knobs were silver.
I am not sure, but it doesn't seem like many were made, and fewer still exist.
It seems like on a regular occasion, we here on /. hear about wireless broadband this, blimp-based that. We have been hearing about it for what? At least 5 years. Yet the only wireless broadband I know of in my market (Phoenix, AZ) is Sprint's Broadband (ie, what was SpeedChoice), and they aren't accepting any new customers (not that I would use them - my friend down the street got it before they locked, and his upload rate is HORRIBLE).
Come on, what is taking so long? Does the rollout for getting space on a tower somewhere really take this long? Does it really take this long to get licenses and such in place? Does is take this long to get an airship into the sky?
Or is this all some kind of a ploy to grab money from stupid VCs who don't realize the .com bubble burst?
You are right - what they don't understand, is that such a system would fundamentally break the internet as we know it. The internet was always designed to be "dumb in the middle, smart on the fringe". It is what has allowed it to become what it is today. Indeed, all successful networks seem to exhibit this behavior. Other topologies suffer from fatal flaws that cause them in the end to either die, or stop growing. To place a different such topology on the already large growth internet would probably kill it as a network. Would this be worth it?
I think you can get bricks with LEDs or lights from Pitsco-Lego Dacta, and I know you can get the metal-strip flat brick pieces. Plus, extra cables, sensors, motors, pneumatics (but unfortunately, for some reason, they don't sell the BLUE TANK), and other funky things from them...
...or Extra Crispy?
The oldest PC monitor I have is an old Acer model from 1994 - it still works great, too...
Think McDonald's - or, MickyD's. Not two syllables, but still a radical shortening of the name...
What if spam and the spammers software - was actually being used by a third party in a surepticious manner to send/receive messages? Kinda like plaintext stego. Maybe the software used by spammers is backdoored by this third party - he sends instructions to the machine(s), maybe via a virus or something simpler, the spammers send their messages, but "unknown" to them the spams have this garbage at the end. The spammer doesn't really care, maybe he bitches at whatever passes as tech support for the spam software. Most people who recieve the spam see the stuff as garbage, or filter busters. But a certain group of the third party's friends - they have special email software that downloads these spams, and strips the garbage out, decodes it, and reassembles it into the real message. Maybe each spam only contains the equivalent of a couple of characters after decoding (maybe the garbage is actually packets telling order in the sequence, and other info to reconstruct the message) - but over a week or so, an entire message could be sent...
What is the possibility of that? Occam's Razor suggests otherwise, and filter busters are probably what the stuff is - but...what if...?
But not only are there the Mindstorms kits, there are also "special order" educational kits available. Lego sells specialized kits (some are electronic and can be connected to a PC or Mac for data collection or robotics) - to educators across the country (K-12). Will these kits still be available for those educators?
Needless to say, I busted many wheel hubs on that game, plus a few lego pieces. The most spectacular "failure" (it was all about failing) I had the car launched and landed perfectly, but then in a slow but quickly building cascade effect fell apart into many individual lego pieces scattering across the floor. The fate of the minifig? Instant death it was declare: head/torso/legs all separated - not a pretty way to go at all...
If you want to pursue this idea, try to get in contact with the guy at this site:
Lego Computing
Check out the images album link on the right hand side - this guy at one time was planning/building a lego based computer. He had various components built, but hadn't tied all of it together. The images area shows some interesting details/designs...
That was my big mistake. Of course, it was compounded: They didn't have a very recent backup (about a week old). After a stern talking from the president/ceo/owner of the shop, my supervisor and I spent a VERY late evening restoring the data from the backup, rebuilding what we could from the leftover two tables (due to the way the system was structured, a lot of the data for this one table could be gleaned/inferred from the other two tables - had I screwed up one of the other two - I would have been even more hosed), and the rest the client had to rekey.
In all, it caused this company to lose about a day's worth of work, a half day or more of employee downtime/productivity, and untold dollars. Lesson learned?
ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK WHAT YOU TYPE BEFORE PRESSING RETURN - ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE PERFORMING A DELETE COMMAND.
To this day, I am amazed I wasn't fired...
A small system for powering a cabin can be had fairly cheaply - under $5000.00 for a decent system (a very decent system), if you install it yourself. Most of cost will be in the panels and batteries. You won't be able to run a washer/dryer or anything large like that, but if you set up LED lights or compact flourescents, you can have a nice solution for the cabin, to provide lighting, run a small TV or radio, maybe a few small RV/boat appliances (they make appliances specifically for RV's and boats that run off of 12 or 24 volts) - plus a laptop.
If you have steady wind, a small wind generator or two could be handy as well, as long as you are in a clearing or can get it above the treetop level (just make sure to ground it for lightening strikes).
If you just need some quick and cheap power for lighting, a small solar rig can be easily cobbled together from a small panel or two, one or two small old UPS batteries (like the small desktop UPSs use), a diode (for reverse current protection of the panel), and some wire plus a fuse. I built such a small rig to run a flourescent light in my tent at Burning Man this year - ran great at night, charged it during the day - didn't spend a dime on the batteries, the panel was from a yard sale (think I spent $10.00 on it or something).
So far it has been a fun and interesting project. Looking at my old code has been a joy and a laugh. I hope to be able to get OS-9 running on the emulator as well.
One thing I want to put out here - in case anybody knows anything: I have a copy of Diecom Software's "Gates of Delerium", which was an early Ultima clone for the CoCo - my main disk seems to be bad. If anyone has a copy or knows anything, please contact me via my website. I have already spoken with Dave Dies (he has a company now called Cosmic Infinity that makes handheld games and such) - he has no problem on the copyright issue - not enforcing it. I am wanting a copy of the game, to get it transferred over to the emulator. My copy errors out, and I haven't found my backup yet. If anyone has any interest in the project, let me know...
As already has been mentioned, there were "robotic" devices in the Victorian era and before! De Vaucanson's duck was only one such marvel of the era. There are the Droz family automata (which are real close to actual robots, the devices are able to be "re-programmed" via cams and levers, though such changes are very difficult to make). There is another automata, I forget the maker's name, which is a silver swan that moves with a very smooth grace. Lastly, there really was a steam-powered two-legged walking machine - it used a small steam engine, exhaust came out it's head, and a steam whistle in its mouth. It used a rotating cam/crank mechanism to allow it to walk stiff-leggedly around in a circle, via a long arm attached to a central pivot point.
Automata during the Victorian period and before served to fuel the imagination of quite a variety of characters - Babbage himself became interested in a variety of automata of the period, including Kempelen's Turk chess player (more on this in a bit). Mary Shelly saw the Droz automata, which has been said to be one of the sparks for Frankenstein.
These people and many others were influenced by these machines in very profound ways. They caused many "top" people of the day to pause and ask themselves and others "can a machine be alive - can it think for itself?" - no doubt the Turk, though not truely a robot, was a very advanced form of automata commanded by a hidden operator (it was no simple puppet - it was more like a remotely operated robot in action). Robots like the Turk caused much discussion about the possibility of machines being intelligent, and indirectly led to the questioning of whether we humans are nothing more than intelligent meat machines. Shelly's Frankenstein questioned the morality and desires behind the need to create machines (and the blending of a created man with human parts) - and what happens when that machine seeks companionship and answers to its own life.
These themes continue to resonate with us to this very day - it is what is driving the human race to create ever more advanced robots and androids. These themes are seen in various AI research, game programming and development (to make the characters in the world more believable - virtual robots, if you will), and other simulations.
Victorian-era "robotics" are only one stage (and really, a middle stage) in the development of machines to automatically (and intelligently) do our bidding (hopefully alongside us)...
Most people, and that includes a fair number of geeks as well - don't understand what a computer truely is. It is a machine which runs software. But that isn't quite it, either. Computers are software made physical - and this is the cruxt of it all.
You see, software is nothing more than ideas and algorithms expressed as a special series of ones and zeros, interpreted sequentially. This sequential nature is very powerful. Alan Turing showed via his ideal Universal Turing Machine - that such a symbol manipulation device could emulate and perform the same functions as any other Turing complete architecture. With computers made a reality (because during Turing's time, the machines available, while powerful at their tasks, weren't any where near advanced enough to be Turing complete), software can simulate hardware, and hardware is made of software. For example, think about FPGA's: Designed and developed on a computer, programmed and simulated via a computer, simulation complete, download it to the FPGA.
A piece of hardware embodying the soul of software.
I'll tell you who: Preston Tucker.
Many of the technologies we take for granted today on automobiles were first utilized by Preston Tucker. Padded dashboards, airbags, disc brakes - so many others - were things that Preston Tucker was ultimately responsible for implementing into an automobile.
Ultimately, the Big Three (and arguably the US Government) brought him down - but they had no problem incorporating his designs into their automobiles (all in due time, of course), and calling them their own.
Check out Preston Tucker's life story - and prepare to be amazed (the video is highly recommended, but I also suggest you read the various books, and period magazine articles about his car. Finally, if you get the chance, take a look at one of his 50 cars, which are still around, among the rarest of automobiles in history, and marvel at the vehicle compared to others of the same period)...
Back in 1995, when the Sega Genesis was all the rage, along with the hope (hype?) of VR, Sega actually had a prototype HMD system. Everyone in the homebrew and consumer VR realm was a-goggle, with the idea of a cheap and hackable VR HMD with full 3DOF mag-tracking capabilities. It never saw the light of day (though some people own the prototypes today). Why?
Mainly, one word: liability.
HMDs present one obstacle that has yet to be overcome, that of "simulator sickness". A large percentage of the population cannot deal with the images their eyes and brains are receiving (the movement, etc), and sounds - conflicting with the fact that they are sitting down. Some get nausea, some so bad they, ahem, puke. Then there are the morons who will try to stand up and walk around, then fall or trip...
All of this would eventually get the manufacturer (ie, in the old case, Sega) sued. Other manufactures tried (and continue to try) to sell HMDs to the masses (ie, Forte VFX-1, Phillips SCUBA, IO-Glasses, Victormaxx's Stuntmaster), but they all flop(ed) (either due to cost, lack of demand, simulator sickness, resolution/field-of-view issues).
Resolution and FOV issues aside, the issue of simulator sickness is always going to be there. There have been notable attempts to minimize or eliminate it. Two come to mind:
The Flogiston Flostation was a chair/projector unit devised by a guy in Texas using a grant from NASA to design a VR system for training astronauts. The main feature was the special chair which reproduced the feelings of weightlessness by reducing body pressure points in a special reclined position. This weightlessness feeling helped to divorce the head from the body, so that simulator sickness was reduced. This, coupled with a full wraparound screen (a high-resolution rear projected sphere that fitted over the users head), high-powered sound system, and on a few prototypes, a full-motion platform system - provided for a very nice (from what I have read) virtual experience.
The other system I remember about was a type of "helmet" that saw beta testing, that stimulated the vestibular system via electric currents. Using a patented technology based on earlier, less advanced medical systems used to treat vertigo patients - the device would sit on your head, electrodes place on the forehead and just behind each ear would contact the skin. Computer software (and the beta of it was to develop games using the SDK provided) could control how you "felt" in the game or simulation - whether you were tilted, moving, falling, etc - in effect, stimulating you (virtually) the same as the simulation did, removing one of the major component problems which causes simulator sickness. I can't remember the name of the company, it went under (one of the early VR/.COM busts) - and I don't know what happenned to the beta units. The patents should still be available, though. I also know that I posted on Slashdot around 1998-2000 when the company was still around regarding this tech, so you might look it up.
I think these two technologies, if they could be made cheaper, would go a long way to bring VR into the home. Unfortunately, right now probably the cheapest the whole system (HMD, chair, and stimulator) could be sold would be around $2000.00 - and you still haven't put in the cost of the reality simulator console and software...
True, true - I have been trying to get FreeDOS working on this old box I am building - haven't had too much success with it (I don't think it is ready yet) - so I installed a copy of Caldera's OpenDOS on it (back when it was free there was 5 disk set that was excellent). My plan is to set it up to be use a TRS-80 Color Computer 3 emulator, and get all of my old software and such transferred over to it (so, I don't really care what DOS I use, though I am trying to avoid MS-DOS out of pure spite).
This problem, though, is bad for even those who are true sex offenders. Whether it is the lists on websites or elsewhere published, or these face recog cameras, all of it amounts to a "scarlet letter" being placed upon them.
These people (and as per your example, it can quickly be anyone) serve their time - but they never are let alone afterward to become good citizens, they are continually punished, hounded for the rest of their lives like some Frankenstein creature.
These lists and databases are not any form of deterence, they are simply lists for shunning, and in some certain worse cases, vigilante mobs or people to use to beat them up or kill them. As a civil society, we should not have these lists.
Finally, many times there are people who have these urges, and want to seek treatment, but by the stigma of the issue, they are even unable to do that! Sometimes the laws prevent it, sometimes they can't get treatment because of other issues. So, the fester, try to control it themselves, sometimes they fail - many either get caught (even though they didn't want to do anything in the first place and wanted treatment), others end up killing themselves.
This abuse at the hands of the system needs to end.
If your GF can't stand the sound of the mouse clicking, get her some of those foam earplugs. No, I am serious. They are pretty comfortable to wear at night, and will cut all the sound (I wear some at times because my wife likes to watch TV when we go to sleep). I doubt you will find anything, simply because it is such a niche product. Plus, there are the HID (human interface design) issues - the click is both a tactile and audible feedback for the user, without it, you might feel "odd", as if something is out of place, and uncomfortable, when using it (kinda like how those rubbery chicklet keyboards never caught on)...