>> This sounds extremely familure to the already-on-market TDA (Tactile Digital assistant).
>> Is this a Microsoft copycat?
This idea is similar but not a copycat. From TFA...
"Current handhelds generally require the use of two hands: device in one hand, stylus in the other. Microsoft hopes to allow future devices to be used with a single hand."
The two UIs created and their research takes into account the limited range of motion of your thumb and designs a UI that can be used with one hand.
Besides, the TDA is still not "already-on-market" as you put it. The article that you linked to mentions that it was considered vapor ware. Even the buy it now page on the Jakito wesbite still lists it as only taking pre-orders.
Of course only use this option at work and not at home, sometimes the search results are fun:-) My favorite example was once I was searching for information about a place I had to travel on business. Funny thing was, Google returned a bunch of wife swapping websites when I searched for "southwood UK".
3) Work with the radio stations so that when they play a new release they can also say, "And dial *1592 with your iTunes phone to buy and download this song now"
This story reminds me of a fascinating interview I heard of Temple Grandin on NPR's Fresh Air. The interview is still available to stream online.
"Temple Grandin is one of the nation's top designers of livestock facilities. She is also autistic. In her 1995 book Thinking in Pictures, she described how her inner-autistic world led her to develop an empathy for how animals cope.
Temple Grandin is currently an assistant professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Her new book is Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior."
Also, from the HDMI website, the faq says:
Is HDMI backward-compatible with DVI (Digital Visual Interface)?
Yes, HDMI is fully backward-compatible with DVI using the CEA-861 profile for DTVs. HDMI DTVs will display video received from existing DVI-equipped products, and DVI-equipped TVs will display video from HDMI sources.
However, to answer the question of the original story "HDMI and What it Will Do for You" I have to say absolutely nothing! This effort is really for the media companies to introduce DRM without the average consumer knowing.
>> Re: Cross-Bronx Expressway
>> Er, I hate to tell you, but that one was built in the mid-60's,
>> and was necessary to link the GWB to New England's I-95.
I realize this. Let me clarify my statement, what I meant was:
the (proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway) and the (Cross-Bronx Expressway)
and NOT:
the proposed (Lower Manhattan Expressway and the Cross-Bronx Expressway)
My point of mentioning the Cross-Bronx Expressway was that the designers "intentionally directed the expressway through poor neighborhoods", see the Wikipedia link.
>> A classic out-of-touch comment, made possible by provincialism and the false concensus effect.
Nice attempt to minimize my point of view, but I am not the only one who has some reservations about this project.
>> Texas is, how shall I put this..."big".
Perhaps I should mention that I currently own a home east of Dallas in one of the proposed areas. Indeed Texas is big, but big does not mean much when your home is in an "optimal path".
>> Confiscation doesn't go over very well down in Texas.
I agree completely with you on this point. I've seen much less ambitious projects get killed in Texas. This one should be no exception.
Most people don't stop to think about the destruction that occurs when building a highway. Indeed interstates are necessary, but they are often planned with little concern for historic preservation or the neighborhoods that they devastate.
Think for a moment if Robert Moses would have been successful in building the Lower Manhattan Expressway. Imagine a NYC with no Greenwich Village, Soho, or Chinatown as we know it today.
Granted we are talking about Texas:-) but I have to wonder what historically significant neighborhoods will be bulldozed to make this interstate happen.
First I want to say that I am not a fan of MS. My main living room devices for the last three years are a hacked Tivo and a PC with various "test" builds of MythTv.
Last month my spouse got tired of me futzing around with the MythTv box and purchased a MCE 2005 PC for the living room. At first I thought I would hate it because of the noted DRM, but after setting it up and using it for a while I have to say that I am impressed. The machine runs smoothly and I now finally have a slick/easy way to browse my MP3 and DVD backups off of my main file server. I am really impressed with how well the box plays DVD backups. After testing about thirty DVD backups I have not found anything that has DVD menus that choke the box (wish I could say the same for my homebrew solutions). The DRM has absolutely no control over my use of the box. I only give the MCE box read only access to the content on my file server, which means that my media library will continue to be safe from being crippled with DRM. I continue to use my favorite apps to rip/move content (audio/video/tivo/dvd) to my collection on my main file server.
The MCR 2005 box is not perfect. I will still continue hack away with Linux and MythTv, but now there is a PC in the living room that my whole family can use to enjoy my media library.
Re:Personality NOT the same: clone != original pet
on
Re-Pet a Reality
·
· Score: 1
Funny you should say, that, but iirc, fur patterns on cats are not determined genetically, but by how certain cells differentiate in the womb, which may or may not happen the same way twice.
Aparently this "problem" was solved already. From the original article: "GSC has modified their cloning procedure to overcome the resemblance issues demonstrated when the College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M, created CopyCat."
Personality NOT the same: clone != original pet
on
Re-Pet a Reality
·
· Score: 1
The one thing these people are overlooking is that the personality of the pet will NOT be the same. The two pets that I have (and love) are unique because of their strange personality, not because they are "white with black spots in just the right places". A cloned pet will NEVER be the same because the influences that shaped its personality will not be the same.
This whole thing sounds like an emotional disaster waiting to happen for the people who don't realize this.
These people should do themselves a favor, adopt a pet from the local shelter. If they really have $50K burning a hole in their pocket then donate it to the SPCA and the organizations that rescue animals.
Does anyone remember the site sidewalk.com from the mid 90's? It was a great site for local information on what is going on in your city (at the time I lived in NYC). The writing was excellent, eccentric and entertaining.
Then MS sold it to Citysearch. Within a month they got rid of most of their good writers. What was once a fun and edgy site became a boring advert driven portal. It has not been the same since. To this day it has the all excitement of the yellow pages.
I hope I'm wrong, but past experience does not look promising. Oh well, more time to read/. I guess:-)
Oddly enough, the Brazilian translation of that goes something like this...
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like my condo, baby
Right round round round
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like my condo, baby
Right round round round
While I agree that watching video on the tiny screen of your mobile phone is pointless, think of the future when a mobile phone could have a projector built in. Now that could be interesting
I'm just glad that companies in the US are actually pushing mobile devices for more capabilities. Remember that not everything is going to appeal to every user. Those that want a phone that is just a phone will always be able to buy one.
Alas radio, you've died at the hands of top 40, and the funeral march will be performed by top selling artists.
While I agree with you completely on the Clear Channel issue, I don't think that radio is dead as a medium of entertainment. As was mentioned earlier, radio fills the void when doing inane everyday tasks like driving to work, cleaning the house, etc.
Since the take over of the American airwaves by Clear Channel I have noticed that most people have changed their radio listening habits, not decreased them. For example some have moved to satellite radio or Internet radio while others (like myself) have discovered local NPR stations. The overall shift is away from "canned entertainment" like Clear Channel. Radio is a form of entertainment that fulfills a need and is not going away any time soon.
The above being said, I don't think there is a market for this product. Most radio shows that I listen to can be streamed over the Internet on demand for free if I miss them (gotta love NPR for their show archives).
This is not a big deal folks. My spouse works for a financial institution and they block access to Internet based email (e.g. GMail, Yahoo, etc). My current employer blocks ftp access to the outside world. My last employer didn't allow us to bring our cell phones or pagers into the secure computer labs. The computer you use at work is not yours and you can't do with it as you wish. This may be frustrating for us techies but it is the truth. Remember folks that this is intended to be used by corporate users and NOT for home users. This is just a natural progression of companies wanting to make sure that employees don't run off with data that they are not supposed to. Anyone else remember this fiasco?
Slashdot Mirror
I recently saw a GPS locator made for kids to wear...
Wow! I saw a product like that too!
Much more interesting is the ability to render SVG images with hardware acceleration.
The real area for this to make a difference is with mobile devices. This is where an open standard like OpenVG will make things really interesting!
>> This sounds extremely familure to the already-on-market TDA (Tactile Digital assistant).
...
>> Is this a Microsoft copycat?
This idea is similar but not a copycat. From TFA
"Current handhelds generally require the use of two hands: device in one hand, stylus in the other. Microsoft hopes to allow future devices to be used with a single hand."
The two UIs created and their research takes into account the limited range of motion of your thumb and designs a UI that can be used with one hand.
The Jackito-TDA is simply a normal PDA with bigger buttons so you can use two thumbs to operate things.
Besides, the TDA is still not "already-on-market" as you put it. The article that you linked to mentions that it was considered vapor ware. Even the buy it now page on the Jakito wesbite still lists it as only taking pre-orders.
>> The problem with "factory built" homes, at least old-style, is that they were all the ... antiseptic
:-)
>> same model, and tended to be a bit
Actually there is a lot of interesting activity going on with prefab homebuilding. It seems the whole modern movement is pushing the limits of good design and prefab.
But don't worry, if you find modern design "antiseptic" there will still be plenty of McMansions available in the US
If you are really that worried about it, then turn on SafeSearch Filtering under Advanced Options.
:-) My favorite example was once I was searching for information about a place I had to travel on business. Funny thing was, Google returned a bunch of wife swapping websites when I searched for "southwood UK".
Of course only use this option at work and not at home, sometimes the search results are fun
3) Work with the radio stations so that when they play a new release they can also say, "And dial *1592 with your iTunes phone to buy and download this song now"
You mean something like this?
I have seen the demo for this on a S90 device and it is very cool. Too bad we will have to wait forever until it is available in the US
What about Carly's feelings? A human being has lost their job today - let's not forget that!
I know this was intended as a joke, but I hardly feel sorry for someone who makes comments like this:
"There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore", Carly Fiorina
Considering the move by HP to dump Carly I *MIGHT* start buying HP products again.
This story reminds me of a fascinating interview I heard of Temple Grandin on NPR's Fresh Air. The interview is still available to stream online.
"Temple Grandin is one of the nation's top designers of livestock facilities. She is also autistic. In her 1995 book Thinking in Pictures, she described how her inner-autistic world led her to develop an empathy for how animals cope.
Temple Grandin is currently an assistant professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Her new book is Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior."
I recently bought a Sony projection TV and had the same problem. Reading up on things I doscovered that Type A HDMI is backwards-compatible with the single-link Digital Visual Interface (DVI). The cables for it are expensive (about $150 USD) but it works just fine for me. You still have to feed audio over a separate wire however.
Also, from the HDMI website, the faq says:
Is HDMI backward-compatible with DVI (Digital Visual Interface)?
Yes, HDMI is fully backward-compatible with DVI using the CEA-861 profile for DTVs. HDMI DTVs will display video received from existing DVI-equipped products, and DVI-equipped TVs will display video from HDMI sources.
However, to answer the question of the original story "HDMI and What it Will Do for You" I have to say absolutely nothing! This effort is really for the media companies to introduce DRM without the average consumer knowing.
>> It talks, giving feedback as they write and draw
This does sound cool, but I have to admit that when I read the above line it immediately reminded of how damn annoying clippy is.
The last thing I want is for my pen to talk to me while I am trying to compose a letter. But then again this thing is for "children".
>> Re: Cross-Bronx Expressway
>> Er, I hate to tell you, but that one was built in the mid-60's,
>> and was necessary to link the GWB to New England's I-95.
I realize this. Let me clarify my statement, what I meant was:
the (proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway) and the (Cross-Bronx Expressway)
and NOT:
the proposed (Lower Manhattan Expressway and the Cross-Bronx Expressway)
My point of mentioning the Cross-Bronx Expressway was that the designers "intentionally directed the expressway through poor neighborhoods", see the Wikipedia link.
>> A classic out-of-touch comment, made possible by provincialism and the false concensus effect.
Nice attempt to minimize my point of view, but I am not the only one who has some reservations about this project.
>> Texas is, how shall I put this..."big".
Perhaps I should mention that I currently own a home east of Dallas in one of the proposed areas. Indeed Texas is big, but big does not mean much when your home is in an "optimal path".
>> Confiscation doesn't go over very well down in Texas.
I agree completely with you on this point. I've seen much less ambitious projects get killed in Texas. This one should be no exception.
>> What's wrong with Interstates?
:-) but I have to wonder what historically significant neighborhoods will be bulldozed to make this interstate happen.
Hearing people make comments like this always reminds me of Robert Moses and the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway and the Cross-Bronx Expressway.
Most people don't stop to think about the destruction that occurs when building a highway. Indeed interstates are necessary, but they are often planned with little concern for historic preservation or the neighborhoods that they devastate.
Think for a moment if Robert Moses would have been successful in building the Lower Manhattan Expressway. Imagine a NYC with no Greenwich Village, Soho, or Chinatown as we know it today.
Granted we are talking about Texas
First I want to say that I am not a fan of MS. My main living room devices for the last three years are a hacked Tivo and a PC with various "test" builds of MythTv.
Last month my spouse got tired of me futzing around with the MythTv box and purchased a MCE 2005 PC for the living room. At first I thought I would hate it because of the noted DRM, but after setting it up and using it for a while I have to say that I am impressed. The machine runs smoothly and I now finally have a slick/easy way to browse my MP3 and DVD backups off of my main file server. I am really impressed with how well the box plays DVD backups. After testing about thirty DVD backups I have not found anything that has DVD menus that choke the box (wish I could say the same for my homebrew solutions). The DRM has absolutely no control over my use of the box. I only give the MCE box read only access to the content on my file server, which means that my media library will continue to be safe from being crippled with DRM. I continue to use my favorite apps to rip/move content (audio/video/tivo/dvd) to my collection on my main file server.
The MCR 2005 box is not perfect. I will still continue hack away with Linux and MythTv, but now there is a PC in the living room that my whole family can use to enjoy my media library.
Also, writing add-ins is very easy, there is a good sized developer community and the SDK is a free download.
Funny you should say, that, but iirc, fur patterns on cats are not determined genetically, but by how certain cells differentiate in the womb, which may or may not happen the same way twice.
Aparently this "problem" was solved already. From the original article: "GSC has modified their cloning procedure to overcome the resemblance issues demonstrated when the College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M, created CopyCat."
The one thing these people are overlooking is that the personality of the pet will NOT be the same. The two pets that I have (and love) are unique because of their strange personality, not because they are "white with black spots in just the right places". A cloned pet will NEVER be the same because the influences that shaped its personality will not be the same.
This whole thing sounds like an emotional disaster waiting to happen for the people who don't realize this.
These people should do themselves a favor, adopt a pet from the local shelter. If they really have $50K burning a hole in their pocket then donate it to the SPCA and the organizations that rescue animals.
Does anyone remember the site sidewalk.com from the mid 90's? It was a great site for local information on what is going on in your city (at the time I lived in NYC). The writing was excellent, eccentric and entertaining.
/. I guess :-)
Then MS sold it to Citysearch. Within a month they got rid of most of their good writers. What was once a fun and edgy site became a boring advert driven portal. It has not been the same since. To this day it has the all excitement of the yellow pages.
I hope I'm wrong, but past experience does not look promising. Oh well, more time to read
Of all places, Dallas has had this for years.
Oddly enough, the Brazilian translation of that goes something like this ...
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like my condo, baby
Right round round round
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like my condo, baby
Right round round round
While I agree that watching video on the tiny screen of your mobile phone is pointless, think of the future when a mobile phone could have a projector built in. Now that could be interesting
I'm just glad that companies in the US are actually pushing mobile devices for more capabilities. Remember that not everything is going to appeal to every user. Those that want a phone that is just a phone will always be able to buy one.
Alas radio, you've died at the hands of top 40, and the funeral march will be performed by top selling artists.
While I agree with you completely on the Clear Channel issue, I don't think that radio is dead as a medium of entertainment. As was mentioned earlier, radio fills the void when doing inane everyday tasks like driving to work, cleaning the house, etc.
Since the take over of the American airwaves by Clear Channel I have noticed that most people have changed their radio listening habits, not decreased them. For example some have moved to satellite radio or Internet radio while others (like myself) have discovered local NPR stations. The overall shift is away from "canned entertainment" like Clear Channel. Radio is a form of entertainment that fulfills a need and is not going away any time soon.
The above being said, I don't think there is a market for this product. Most radio shows that I listen to can be streamed over the Internet on demand for free if I miss them (gotta love NPR for their show archives).
Now everyone on slashdot can have a girlfriend!
That's okay, I already have all I can afford.
Microsoft Comic Chat still lives on
This is not a big deal folks. My spouse works for a financial institution and they block access to Internet based email (e.g. GMail, Yahoo, etc). My current employer blocks ftp access to the outside world. My last employer didn't allow us to bring our cell phones or pagers into the secure computer labs. The computer you use at work is not yours and you can't do with it as you wish. This may be frustrating for us techies but it is the truth. Remember folks that this is intended to be used by corporate users and NOT for home users. This is just a natural progression of companies wanting to make sure that employees don't run off with data that they are not supposed to. Anyone else remember this fiasco?
No, this is the most pathetic thing ever ...
... I swear I have to stop following the links in people's slashdot signatures :-)
Imaginary Girlfriends "Real Girls, Imaginary Relationships"