This guy is on the way to solving the three main problems of personal robotics: 1. Indoor localization (figure out where you are inside) 2. Indoor navigation 3. Table top manipulation
There are already open source software packages for all of these items, but they require very expensive laser scanners (starting at 5K a pop). Most of these lasers only scan one row at a time, which means that for situations where you want 3D, you have to tilt the scanner up and down. This is a hassle and leads to slow scan times, which reduces the responsiveness of the robot.
Is digital stereoscopic vision really that hard to do, or is what you do with the data the real problem? Why is buying a plain web cam, then buying a..... another plain web cam such a problem for the home robotics hobbyist, or is the processing requirement that much greater?
"Viruses/spyware are easily avoided by not being an idiot." "I'm no fanboy either, but having to do IT support all day at work and "free" IT support for friends and family" I call bullshit.
This is about as useful as talking about the finer points of a BMW to a crowd that would turn down a ride in one if offered. If you just want to put your fingers in your ears and drive a Lexus because you already have one, why even enter the discussion?
All this talk about Mac fanboys is overrated. THIS is a fanboy.
"In addition, malware and viruses are prevented with the use of permissions, available on Windows since NT " "My PC has "just worked", out of the box, nary a problem, since Windows 95 (save for Windows ME)."
Until Google actually makes a statement on this, I'm just writing it off as a single Google employee misrepresenting company opinion and a (relatively) small website complaining to a favorable audience instead of doing the appropriate thing and appealing to someone else at Google.
As an experiment, lets copy and paste this s/Google/Microsoft,Apple,Sony,Whatever/g and see if it works elsewhere.
eyetoy is much simpler than kinect so kinect's lag gets a pass?
uh...
We can't keep giving new technology free passes simply because it's more complex. This is just a toy, so whatever, not a huge deal. I just hate the trend of ignoring how new tech sucks more than old tech because... it's new, and sucks faster.
We're in a vacuum where "it's OK, in ten years the new tech will finally be better in every meaningful way than the refined old tech it replaced." Yes, it's often true, if nothing else changed and ten years passed. However, time moves on, we make the same choices and we're in a perpetual usability/convenience hole.
I know, refined _new_ tech is expensive. Maybe if there were more competition it wouldn't be as much.
The required distance from the device is annoying though. The menu system as well, but thats a software problem and can be fixed. Check out the dance game for a great example of an intuitive menu.
This generation of motion based gaming obviously has lots of rough edges in _all_ corners. I hate moving a coffee table for EyePet, but kids love it. The Wii, as gimmicky as most "gamers" think the controls are still has Nintendo's age old secret sauce which is high quality first party games that nail their target demographic. The other consoles continually deal with an identity crisis.
Now,
"but thats a software problem and can be fixed"
This excuse DOES NOT CUT IT ANYMORE. This kind of thinking leads to Tea Party movements.
I would say, if "Netflix is swallowing America's bandwidth" then America bandwidth needs to increase.
Ok, at what point does that start to sound a like "all we need are more highways"
As others have said, this has a price. If demand outpaces gains from efficiency, then the price goes up. Fibre doesn't run itself, and it certainly doesn't get easements on its own. You can already pretty much forget about other costly features like comprehensive fault tolerance with so much pressure for bandwidth.
In radio, studios will have employee's call in to new shows pretending to be the average Joe in order to create the impression of an active product. Newspapers in this respect are no different, in beefing up the numbers.
Everyone needs to keep in mind that anything heard on the radio, seen on the TV or read in print belongs to the entertainment industry.
If you easily confuse Opinionated Loud Mouth [TV|Radio], talk radio and slashdot with "news" then sure, your logic is fine I guess.
If however, you have a few brain cells to spare, but lack the fortitude to watch something like C-SPAN for hours on end, there is actual digestible "news" out there to be had. In print, on TV, and online even. Warning: brain cells required.
_I_ know you're joking, but to the moderators: We have these things called States, and a Constitution that limits the Federal Government's powers, leaving all else to the States.
The only thing they agree on is you shouldn't be able to drive in TX if you owe parking fines in NH. Yay.
BTW, U.S. wouldn't be as powerful as it is in relation to the rest of the world if it were only a bunch of inward looking states. See: Eurasia
So why should customers suffer for the retailers mistake?
What do you mean why should they? Who says they should? The retailer and Microsoft made a mistake. This is not much different than if Microsoft had pushed empty boxes through retail outlets and customers got screwed over. Go return the thing to the retailer, ask for money back, and complain to Microsoft support. The particulars of DRM are insignificant here, and the only thing that matters is how the retailer and Microsoft responds, and if they do it again. Same as if they'd done anything else to inconvenience you.
Slashdot Mirror
It might be a good idea at this point to start looking at other languages.
and
All you'd need is a portable virtual machine for it and you've a rival
really don't belong together.
It is also trivial for maintained, closed source software, and not trivial for unmaintained, open source software.
Whats your point?
This guy is on the way to solving the three main problems of personal robotics:
1. Indoor localization (figure out where you are inside)
2. Indoor navigation
3. Table top manipulation
There are already open source software packages for all of these items, but they require very expensive laser scanners (starting at 5K a pop). Most of these lasers only scan one row at a time, which means that for situations where you want 3D, you have to tilt the scanner up and down. This is a hassle and leads to slow scan times, which reduces the responsiveness of the robot.
Is digital stereoscopic vision really that hard to do, or is what you do with the data the real problem? Why is buying a plain web cam, then buying a..... another plain web cam such a problem for the home robotics hobbyist, or is the processing requirement that much greater?
I want to see something like this with plain webcams =D
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-241532803911842846#
"Viruses/spyware are easily avoided by not being an idiot."
"I'm no fanboy either, but having to do IT support all day at work and "free" IT support for friends and family"
I call bullshit.
This is about as useful as talking about the finer points of a BMW to a crowd that would turn down a ride in one if offered.
If you just want to put your fingers in your ears and drive a Lexus because you already have one, why even enter the discussion?
All this talk about Mac fanboys is overrated. THIS is a fanboy.
"In addition, malware and viruses are prevented with the use of permissions, available on Windows since NT "
"My PC has "just worked", out of the box, nary a problem, since Windows 95 (save for Windows ME)."
You must not remember Win95 very well.
Skype comes out the box?
Until Google actually makes a statement on this, I'm just writing it off as a single Google employee misrepresenting company opinion and a (relatively) small website complaining to a favorable audience instead of doing the appropriate thing and appealing to someone else at Google.
As an experiment, lets copy and paste this s/Google/Microsoft,Apple,Sony,Whatever/g and see if it works elsewhere.
eyetoy is much simpler than kinect so kinect's lag gets a pass?
uh...
We can't keep giving new technology free passes simply because it's more complex. This is just a toy, so whatever, not a huge deal.
I just hate the trend of ignoring how new tech sucks more than old tech because... it's new, and sucks faster.
We're in a vacuum where "it's OK, in ten years the new tech will finally be better in every meaningful way than the refined old tech it replaced."
Yes, it's often true, if nothing else changed and ten years passed. However, time moves on, we make the same choices and we're in a perpetual usability/convenience hole.
I know, refined _new_ tech is expensive. Maybe if there were more competition it wouldn't be as much.
Now you have to wonder, "did he do this on purpose to waste my mod points?"
I'll add..
This isn't research, this is past that and is now a product in hand of consumers. What I said before stands.
They can continuously improve the firmware to make it quite a usable product.
Fuck you and the rest of the software industry for thinking this way.
This dictionary says:
"innovate"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1258229
I say both devices ARE examples of innovation, and I challenge you to a duel, sir.
$2000 dollars is not enough by a long shot. someone might do it for free though.
If I had the skills and time and will to do it for free I would. Then I would collect the $2000 bounty as a reward.
What kind of fucked up world do you guys live in?
but for the most part he's just trolling.
WTF is mostly trolling?
Maybe you just disagree with most of what he said and slandered some random account on the Internet's character?
The required distance from the device is annoying though. The menu system as well, but thats a software problem and can be fixed. Check out the dance game for a great example of an intuitive menu.
This generation of motion based gaming obviously has lots of rough edges in _all_ corners. I hate moving a coffee table for EyePet, but kids love it. The Wii, as gimmicky as most "gamers" think the controls are still has Nintendo's age old secret sauce which is high quality first party games that nail their target demographic. The other consoles continually deal with an identity crisis.
Now,
"but thats a software problem and can be fixed"
This excuse DOES NOT CUT IT ANYMORE. This kind of thinking leads to Tea Party movements.
And the Wright brothers couldn't fly around the world in their first plane either.
Did anyone at the time ever think they would? Dream it, maaaaybe?
THAT is the problem with new technology nowadays, it is oversold, and overhyped.
I would say, if "Netflix is swallowing America's bandwidth" then America bandwidth needs to increase.
Ok, at what point does that start to sound a like "all we need are more highways"
As others have said, this has a price. If demand outpaces gains from efficiency, then the price goes up. Fibre doesn't run itself, and it certainly doesn't get easements on its own. You can already pretty much forget about other costly features like comprehensive fault tolerance with so much pressure for bandwidth.
Every day we live with the fact some random asshat could punch us in the face, but we don't walk around with football helmets on the street do we?
Security isn't black vs. white.
Really? Show me where I can buy a loaded gun.
In radio, studios will have employee's call in to new shows pretending to be the average Joe in order to create the impression of an active product. Newspapers in this respect are no different, in beefing up the numbers.
Everyone needs to keep in mind that anything heard on the radio, seen on the TV or read in print belongs to the entertainment industry.
If you easily confuse Opinionated Loud Mouth [TV|Radio], talk radio and slashdot with "news" then sure, your logic is fine I guess.
If however, you have a few brain cells to spare, but lack the fortitude to watch something like C-SPAN for hours on end, there is actual digestible "news" out there to be had. In print, on TV, and online even. Warning: brain cells required.
Personally I'm not much interested in someone's motivations for committing a crime, only the results and their actual actions.
So you don't care if someone's motivation for killing is self-defense?
Or if they have no intent at all for that matter. GP and moderators are insane.
Unless they are intending to head home immediately anyway, it is quicker, more convenient, and saves gas to eat at the pizza place.
How does it save gas when you have to drive back home anyway?
By not starting the engine twice.
_I_ know you're joking, but to the moderators:
We have these things called States, and a Constitution that limits the Federal Government's powers, leaving all else to the States.
The only thing they agree on is you shouldn't be able to drive in TX if you owe parking fines in NH. Yay.
BTW, U.S. wouldn't be as powerful as it is in relation to the rest of the world if it were only a bunch of inward looking states. See: Eurasia
Carry on.
So why should customers suffer for the retailers mistake?
What do you mean why should they? Who says they should? The retailer and Microsoft made a mistake. This is not much different than if Microsoft had pushed empty boxes through retail outlets and customers got screwed over. Go return the thing to the retailer, ask for money back, and complain to Microsoft support. The particulars of DRM are insignificant here, and the only thing that matters is how the retailer and Microsoft responds, and if they do it again. Same as if they'd done anything else to inconvenience you.
Hmmmm.... installing Linux on my shiny new MacBook Pro that work gave is starting to become more and more attractive.
Yes, please install Linux on a MacBook Pro because Apple Java will someday be replaced with Oracle Java. This makes complete sense.