Hey look Hollywood is giving itself awards for churning out another year's worth of the same old formulaic crap.
There are some real stinkers in this year's nominations, e.g. Gangs of New York, and the unbelievably bad Sprit: Stallion of the Cimarron which made the good move of preventing the horses from speaking, but then gave them pantomime-style human facial expressions.
Initially, I thought it was going to be some kind of system for actually tracking the literal ball that does the writing. THAT would be neat; normal paper, normal ballpoint pen, and recorded to boot.
That wouldn't work though, because a pen can be _lifted_ off the paper.
The special mousepad wasn't essential; anything with a grid on it would work, e.g. 1mm graph paper. We used to switch to graph paper when the pads were getting a bit worn.
There is a differnce in the problem when trying to make an optical mouse and pen. A mouse's new position in a camera frame is assumed to be a small distance from it's last position, with some part of the 2 images overlapping. I can pick up a pen, point it away from the paper, and drop it down 6 inches away; no camera is going to be able to work out where it is now relative to the last penstroke.
One way to write on non-special paper would be to have a highly accurate positional sensor in the pen, relative to some object. You could then use any paper you liked, but would need a special table, board, whatever. I suppose the ultimate for a palm or similar would be to be able to drop the palm down on the sheet of paper, and just start writing, sensing the position relative to the palm
It does feel strange at first, but I found that after a few moments getting used to the interface it started to feel quite natural. I think some clearer indication of which letters had been 'chosen' would be nice; maybe just bolding/changing colour as they 'gain focus'.
It becomes even faster when it gets used to the words that you use often; overall seems like a promising idea for many situations where input is limited to a pointing device.
Note that the Windows version seems to load the sample dictionary on startup, but the Linux version doesn't; make sure you've got a dictionary or all letter chains will have equal weight at first, which makes entry of common words a little more awkward.
A cool idea would be for it to learn as you use it[...]
It does learn as you use it; try starting with an empty model and entering the same few words over and over; it pretty quickly starts favouring those chains of letters.
Re:Perl's had it's day - It's become like COBOL
on
Apocalypse 5 Released
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· Score: 1
I don't know much about the US Patent process, but it's pretty evident that the process being used to grant software patents is a total farce, where almost anything can be patented, no matter how blatantly obvious.
Are there any plans to reform the whole process, before the lawsuits get completely out of hand?
I remember reading about the 'success story' of RealNames soon after it had started; how this entrepreneur was 'revolutionising' the internet. What a leap backword, to go from heirachical domain names, to the equivalent of the AOL Keyword (nowadays they would have patented it of course...).
It seemed like such a bad idea from the start; a similar effect easily achievable (although not necessarily of any use) in the browser itself, like that thoroughly annoying MSN Search junk that appears if you misspell a URL in Internet Explorer (Obviously both this and opennic are slightly different to RealNames, but I still don't feel that RealNames was any more useful).
Also, what happens when someone bumps the music stand and the gadget hits the floor? Do I buy a new one?
For a pianist at least, this wouldn't be a problem.
One huge potential benefit of computer sheet music that you didn't mention could be in page turning; perhaps a footswitch or something to flip pages. Should be much less distracting than worrying if your page turner is going to lose concentration...
Can I get it with wireless IP access? If not, forget it.
This seems like a useful feature, but not essential; why couldn't the sheet music be quickly distributed on CD/memory card/etc. before the gig?
But why is in on Slashdot? Why is it News? Why is it for Nerds? Why is it Stuff? Why does it Matter? You obviously didn't read the article </generic slashdot post>
A roller coaster would have to be top of the list of things that I'd be willing to leave to the professionals; that guy has bags of confidence in his own ability, or he could just be totally off his rocker (roller?).
More than 80 percent of respondents across the country understood how to work a TV better than a computer, something for the computer industry to ponder long and hard.
Only 80%!? Come on, that's a ludicrous statistic; who is going to answer that they understand how to work a Computer 'better' than a trivially simple device like a TV. I know what _every_ button on my TV remote does, but I'm still suspicious about those "Scroll Lock", "Break", and "SysRq" keys on my PC keyboard.
Then there are the 3 percent of Americans who say that when something breaks, they simply buy a new something. This last group may be rich, but it's also smart.
Why is buying a piece of crap product that broke the first time and came with no warranty/tech support smart?
Last year I bought a ViewSonic monitor, and it failed after 2 months. I phoned their tech support, and they shipped me a new one. If they hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to run out and buy a new one. Shoddy Tech support (from the major manufacturers) is a Dilbert-esque cliché.
Someone paid a lot of money to license those marks from LucasArts, and I don't think they did it without conducting at least a little market research. That means that at least a few people out there believe people will buy this. And why not?
Not necessarily a valid assumption; products can bomb even after all the market research possible.
Wasn't the 'Phantom Menace' license a big turkey for most companies that shelled out for it, largely due to the fact that Jabba-Lucas sold it to everyone and their dog?
"How much revenue does that divert from sales? Likely far less than it generates"
I'm not so sure about that; I download lots of mp3s, but I also buy many CDs. The experience is very different:
On the one hand, I can listen to a clock-radio-quality mp3 through my crappy powered speakers over the noise of my PC's fan. I can even burn it to a cheap, non-durable disk, that'll sound and look equally bad.
On the other hand, I get the anticipation of struggling through the cellophane wrap, dropping a disk into my stereo, and sitting back (in a comfortable non-computer chair!) to check out the inlay booklet while hearing some half-decent quality music, without having to fiddle about with a computer that I spend far too many hours per day in front of.
It's just about the end user experience, and I'm willing to pay for that. That's why cinemas will still exist no matter how many cheesy home cinema systems are sold, because sitting on your own couch with (maybe) a few friends, getting up to answer the phone half way through, trying to block out the light with the curtains, etc., will never quite be the same as going to the movies.
(btw, to improve the experience of playing a CD they should be made from vinyl, a bit bigger to allow for some decent cover art, and do away with all that digital stuff...)
One theory that 'explains' how the universe can be only 6000 odd years old, yet some starlight can have travelled many billions of (current) light-years to reach earth is that the speeed of light is slowing down...
At a company I used to work at, someone noticed that when searching for the company's name on Altavista, my personal web pages were returned as the first hits- seemed I'd added some personal details in the META tags, which were causing it to be ranked much higher.
This still happens with Altavista, even though I don't work there anymore:) Google, of course, ranks me somewhere on the 5th page where I belong.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey look Hollywood is giving itself awards for churning out another year's worth of the same old formulaic crap.
There are some real stinkers in this year's nominations, e.g. Gangs of New York, and the unbelievably bad Sprit: Stallion of the Cimarron which made the good move of preventing the horses from speaking, but then gave them pantomime-style human facial expressions.
But you can fit pr0n in 5K: PixxxelChix - A 5K Porn Site
Net result: three antenna breaks in 6 months, two in-pocket.
And you still haven't learned not to sit on your phone when it's in your pocket? Good example of incompetence.
Initially, I thought it was going to be some kind of system for actually tracking the literal ball that does the writing. THAT would be neat; normal paper, normal ballpoint pen, and recorded to boot.
That wouldn't work though, because a pen can be _lifted_ off the paper.
The special mousepad wasn't essential; anything with a grid on it would work, e.g. 1mm graph paper. We used to switch to graph paper when the pads were getting a bit worn.
There is a differnce in the problem when trying to make an optical mouse and pen. A mouse's new position in a camera frame is assumed to be a small distance from it's last position, with some part of the 2 images overlapping. I can pick up a pen, point it away from the paper, and drop it down 6 inches away; no camera is going to be able to work out where it is now relative to the last penstroke.
One way to write on non-special paper would be to have a highly accurate positional sensor in the pen, relative to some object. You could then use any paper you liked, but would need a special table, board, whatever. I suppose the ultimate for a palm or similar would be to be able to drop the palm down on the sheet of paper, and just start writing, sensing the position relative to the palm
It does feel strange at first, but I found that after a few moments getting used to the interface it started to feel quite natural. I think some clearer indication of which letters had been 'chosen' would be nice; maybe just bolding/changing colour as they 'gain focus'.
It becomes even faster when it gets used to the words that you use often; overall seems like a promising idea for many situations where input is limited to a pointing device.
Note that the Windows version seems to load the sample dictionary on startup, but the Linux version doesn't; make sure you've got a dictionary or all letter chains will have equal weight at first, which makes entry of common words a little more awkward.
A cool idea would be for it to learn as you use it[...]
It does learn as you use it; try starting with an empty model and entering the same few words over and over; it pretty quickly starts favouring those chains of letters.
Paul L Daniels http://www.pldaniels.com
"Now that's Magic!"
"The lovely Debbie McGee"
Sorry...
I don't know much about the US Patent process, but it's pretty evident that the process being used to grant software patents is a total farce, where almost anything can be patented, no matter how blatantly obvious.
Are there any plans to reform the whole process, before the lawsuits get completely out of hand?
I remember reading about the 'success story' of RealNames soon after it had started; how this entrepreneur was 'revolutionising' the internet. What a leap backword, to go from heirachical domain names, to the equivalent of the AOL Keyword (nowadays they would have patented it of course...).
It seemed like such a bad idea from the start; a similar effect easily achievable (although not necessarily of any use) in the browser itself, like that thoroughly annoying MSN Search junk that appears if you misspell a URL in Internet Explorer (Obviously both this and opennic are slightly different to RealNames, but I still don't feel that RealNames was any more useful).
Also, what happens when someone bumps the music stand and the gadget hits the floor? Do I buy a new one?
For a pianist at least, this wouldn't be a problem.
One huge potential benefit of computer sheet music that you didn't mention could be in page turning; perhaps a footswitch or something to flip pages. Should be much less distracting than worrying if your page turner is going to lose concentration...
Can I get it with wireless IP access? If not, forget it.
This seems like a useful feature, but not essential; why couldn't the sheet music be quickly distributed on CD/memory card/etc. before the gig?
Who would be responsible for policing .com websites, to ensure that they remain adult-content free?
.prn?
.kids, .family or something domain name, that was guaranteed 'clean' from the start?
If someone posts a linke to goatse on a kiddie's chatboard, would that site be 'relegated' to
I wonder if they understand the scope of this problem; there are so many grey areas.
Would it be easier to set up a
"The capacity of a system or machine to operate: a vehicle that runs under its own power." (from http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=power )
So if Apache gives a web site the capacity to operate, then the site would be "Powered by Apache"
But why is in on Slashdot?
Why is it News?
Why is it for Nerds?
Why is it Stuff?
Why does it Matter?
You obviously didn't read the article
</generic slashdot post>
A roller coaster would have to be top of the list of things that I'd be willing to leave to the professionals; that guy has bags of confidence in his own ability, or he could just be totally off his rocker (roller?).
Enough; I need sleep.
More than 80 percent of respondents across the country understood how to work a TV better than a computer, something for the computer industry to ponder long and hard.
Only 80%!? Come on, that's a ludicrous statistic; who is going to answer that they understand how to work a Computer 'better' than a trivially simple device like a TV. I know what _every_ button on my TV remote does, but I'm still suspicious about those "Scroll Lock", "Break", and "SysRq" keys on my PC keyboard.
Then there are the 3 percent of Americans who say that when something breaks, they simply buy a new something. This last group may be rich, but it's also smart.
Why is buying a piece of crap product that broke the first time and came with no warranty/tech support smart?
Last year I bought a ViewSonic monitor, and it failed after 2 months. I phoned their tech support, and they shipped me a new one. If they hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to run out and buy a new one. Shoddy Tech support (from the major manufacturers) is a Dilbert-esque cliché.
"The company used _his_ credit card?"
Not really that unusual for an employee to spend their own money and then claim it back 'on expenses' (e.g. business trips).
Sucks to have the compeny not pay you back though
Someone paid a lot of money to license those marks from LucasArts, and I don't think they did it without conducting at least a little market research. That means that at least a few people out there believe people will buy this. And why not?
Not necessarily a valid assumption; products can bomb even after all the market research possible.
Wasn't the 'Phantom Menace' license a big turkey for most companies that shelled out for it, largely due to the fact that Jabba-Lucas sold it to everyone and their dog?
Those guitars are some ugly, cheezy, crap.
Is there really that big a market for a product that caters to star wars obsessed guitarists?
I nominate this for worst-use of a "revolutionary computer-controlled process".
I'm not so sure about that; I download lots of mp3s, but I also buy many CDs. The experience is very different:
On the one hand, I can listen to a clock-radio-quality mp3 through my crappy powered speakers over the noise of my PC's fan. I can even burn it to a cheap, non-durable disk, that'll sound and look equally bad.
On the other hand, I get the anticipation of struggling through the cellophane wrap, dropping a disk into my stereo, and sitting back (in a comfortable non-computer chair!) to check out the inlay booklet while hearing some half-decent quality music, without having to fiddle about with a computer that I spend far too many hours per day in front of.
It's just about the end user experience, and I'm willing to pay for that. That's why cinemas will still exist no matter how many cheesy home cinema systems are sold, because sitting on your own couch with (maybe) a few friends, getting up to answer the phone half way through, trying to block out the light with the curtains, etc., will never quite be the same as going to the movies.
(btw, to improve the experience of playing a CD they should be made from vinyl, a bit bigger to allow for some decent cover art, and do away with all that digital stuff...)
The original article is talking about the Motif X Window Toolkit, not the early Web Browser...
If it's the same T'Pau who almost "presided at Spock's amost-wedding", she didn't age too well[sherylfranklin.com], shudder...
I wonder why people wear them in bars too... (is that just a sign that I'm getting old?)
One theory that 'explains' how the universe can be only 6000 odd years old, yet some starlight can have travelled many billions of (current) light-years to reach earth is that the speeed of light is slowing down...
At a company I used to work at, someone noticed that when searching for the company's name on Altavista, my personal web pages were returned as the first hits- seemed I'd added some personal details in the META tags, which were causing it to be ranked much higher. This still happens with Altavista, even though I don't work there anymore :) Google, of course, ranks me somewhere on the 5th page where I belong.
Yes, the cache can be invaluable at times. Anyone got any ideas as to how much space Google's cache takes up?