How long must this century-old debate continue? There is nothing special about currency backed by gold. Why is paper money worth something? Because people will give you something you want in exchange for it? Why are shiny rocks worth something? Because people will give you something you want in exchange for it. As far as value is concerned, there's no difference between currency backed with gold or not "backed" at all, except that with gold-based currency, your currency supply is un-regulatable, leading to massive inflation if a new gold supply is found. Also, currencies based on precious metals gives the government no way to contract or expand the money supply. And besides, why would switching away from the gold standard allow huge national deficits? The government can't borrow gold?
I don't know about you, but I die more in that game than any other FPS. It made be decidedly not want to join the army, cause it was obvious I would die immediately.
I saw a presentation on this system at a conference a few years ago. However, the most impressive thing about it was the system architecture, not the AI. The AI content seemed like nothing more than a glorified choose-your-own-adventure. But perhaps they've improved it since then.
I had a lot of fun checking out the coal mine and playing with the packet switched-network simulator. Each node on the network is a little button that you can press to take down that node. Then you watch the packets (lights projected from the ceiling) swarm around and find a new route. The Internet exhibit even had a mention of the Free Software Foundation and the EFF.
Speeding up an Internet connection is more-or-less a myth in the first place, you can't make software to cause a modem to go any faster than it goes physically.
I'm not sure how those download accelerators work, exactly, however I imagine they might change Windows' TCP behavior and open multiple TCP connections where only one was opened before. As long as the first uplink isn't the bottleneck, this would get that user more bandwidth, albeit at the expense of others.
Until TCP/IP comes up with a more fair bandwidth sharing protocol, I'm with cutting P2P down.
Since you are the sysadmin, see what you can do with the configuration on your routers. Since nearly all routers on the Internet today use the Droptail queueing discipline, these issues are epidemic. Try reconfiguring your routers to use Fair Queueing or, better yet, Rate Inverse Scheduling. If your router doesn't support these, ask your vendor why not. Since TCP is a client-side protocol, you can never trust the users to use it properly (as Droptail assumes).
MS's scenario is unique because it provides a standard (de facto that is) for developers to make their apps run. For example: If a game company wants to make their game for the PC, they only have to worry about Windows. If Linux were a strong competitor to Windows (in terms of users) then it would spread the game company thin. This has been observed in the console market.
You don't need a monopoly to establish standards. Standards are best created through cooperation and agreement between companies, academics, and individuals interacting through technical associations, such as the ACM, IEEE, or IETF. The standards created by these organizations (TCP, IP, Floting Point representation, any number of other Internet protocols) are widely deployed, well-documented, and freely available for anyone to use. We even have a standard for operating systems (POSIX).
Any "standard" which requires investment in a particular firm's technology is no standard at all. It is lock-in.
In standard English usage, the word "us," being the first-person plural pronoun, necessarily refers to the speaker/writer and at least one other individual. However, "us" in no way implies that the other individual is the reader. Perhaps the author was referring to himself and a member of the bnetd team?
I had the idea a while back of creating a whole fictional community of blogs through which to tell a story. Basically, I would set up a network of sites, one for each character, and they would relate the events of the story from their own points of view. Characters that knew one another would have links to each other's sites, thus informing the reader of the connections. This approach might lead to something more like War of the Worlds and other fictional journalism, as opposed to a fictional diary, as in the proposed work.
Of all the "magic" powers, telepathy is the one I think we'll be able to simulate most accurately, and very soon. Suppose we merged cell phone technology with instant messaging buddy lists. Add a sub-vocal interface and a tiny earpiece and microphone, and you might as well be telepathic. (Albeit, for a limited number of daytime minutes!)
Read a little further down
on
Borrowing ROMs
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
From your link:
(B) This subsection does not apply to -
(ii) a computer program embodied in or used in conjunction with a limited purpose computer that is designed for playing video games and may be designed for other purposes.
If I recall correctly, this company used this same stunt to gain publicity for ShadowMan 1. Perhaps they didn't create enough of a stir last time, I want to try again.
Guinea pigs are the best pets to get if you are looking for something rodent-sized. They have been domesticated nearly as long as the dog, and so get along great with people. Their advantages are many:
Personality: They know who you are and make lots of interesting noises (squeaks and purrs). It is easy for a human to understand a guinea pig's mood.
Trainable: Guinea pigs can be trained to use a litter box, not to bite, and to get off your lap if they need to go to the bathroom.
Docile: A guinea pig loves to sit in a warm lap for hours, just sleeping. They are fine to take outside without a leash since they don't run that fast. They are easy to catch.
Cost: After you buy a cage, the costs of supplying a GP's needs are minimal. Just some hay, pine chips, and fresh veggies every now and then.
atleast not before doing their master's thesis in a university.
Actually, at the early level is when calculators and other graphing aids are *most* useful. In my experience, the further along I got in math, the less I used my calculator (and the smaller the books got). I see calculators as a memory aid, sort of like the periodic table. A long-time mathematician doesn't need to turn to his graphing calulator to see what a sine curve looks like, just like a long-time chemist doesn't need to look up the atomic weight of nitrogen. Those things are a crutch for beginners.
While explaining why something is fun to someone else is nearly impossible, I'll give you a few hints towards enjoying the Sims.
1) Play with more than one person in the house. Many hardcore gamers tried to "win" the game right off by trying to create a Bruce Wayne-esque playboy, power-levelling through the career ladder. This is probably the most boring way to play the game. A lot of the fun comes from putting your Sim household through all manner of interesting situations. You need to have several house members to do this. Inviting people over doesn't provide enough interaction.
2) Be creative. Try to create theme houses. For example, after the first expansion came out, I tried to re-create the 80s New Wave band "The Police." I created three characters: Gordan, Andy, and Stewart, put them all on the musician track and bought two guitars and a drum set. I held concerts for the neighbors. Eventually, I got Gordan and Stewart to start beating the crap out of each other. Basically, I amused myself by telling a story.
The Sims is a game that takes a lot of personal investment into having fun. The game won't entertain you without your involvement. In this way it is a lot like table-top D&D. You only get out of it what your imagination puts in. The game is only there to make that imagination a little more tangible and to put some structure into the creation of your vision.
Well, yeah. Also, the original Star Wars movie borrowed from "The Hidden Fortress" by Akira Kurosawa, 1930s radio serials, and tv westerns. Art builds on the art that comes before it. Nothing is truly original.
This has been going on in mathematics for a long time. The most famous example is Hilbert's list of 23 problems from 1900. This list lead to advancements in mathematics such as Godel's Incompleteness Theorem and a formal definition of algorithm (Church-Turing thesis). Some of the problems are still open, IIRC.
As more people become semi-educated in science in our society, people are shifting their traditional taboos to equally superstitious, but scientifically inspired ones. Dirt and bacteria is a prime example of this. Previous generations believed that certain types of animals, places, and people were inherently dirty. Usually these were things that did not fit into the culture's prevailing worldview. Dirt was "things out of place." Now, people are starting to get away from that sort of thinking, but instead are latching onto bits of misunderstood science. Bacteria is a good example. People sit in their high school biology classes and learn all about little "germs" that live all over everything, just waiting to make you sick. This is reinforced by television commercials for anti-bacterial dish soap and aerosol disinfectants. In fact, such ambient bacteria are really only dangerous to those with severely weakened immune systems. For healthy people, this bacteria is harmless and potentially helpful since the immune system is strengthened by regularly fighting off this kind of bacteria. Still, culture is a powerful thing. Think about how you would feel eating a french fry you had dropped on the edge of a toilet seat. According to this study, it's cleaner than your desk, but most people still wouldn't eat it.
Actually, sometimes Senators can only resolve their issues through violence. This even has a precedent in US history:
"Two days after the speech, Brooks walked into the Senate chamber, and began beating Sumner with a heavy cane. His legs trapped beneath the desk bolted to the floor, Sumner wrenched it loose as he stood up to try to defend himself, where-upon Brooks clubbed him so ferociously that Sumner slumped forward, bloody and unconscious....The caning of Sumner was the worst of several instances of North-South violence or threatened violence on the floor of Congress in the l850s, pre-saging the violence on the battlefields of the 1860s." LIBERTY EQUALITY POWER, page 495.
After picking up my Star Wars tickets this morning, I decided to stay a little later and see Spider-Man (with a hyphen) as well, especially since I had already taken the whole morning off work.
I'm a long time Spider-Man fan, so I was looking forward to/dreading seeing it made into a film. The best praise I can give it is that it was very accurate. The story of the original Green Goblin was told just as I remember it from the comic books, with a few exceptions which aren't really worth getting into.
The greatest thing about it isn't so much that the plot is accurate, but that the characters are. The first scene with J. Jonah Jameson captured the man's essence perfectly. Does he really think Spider-Man is a menace or does he just want to sell more papers? Norman Osborne is very well done, which is good since he gets the majority of screen time, after Parker. His personality-changing rage is reminiscent of the Incredible Hulk, but more devious. His interactions with Harry are are nice as well. You can already see the personality flaws and fatherly abuses that will eventually lead Harry to his own fate.
Despite the film's strong characterization and fantastic special effects, I didn't leave the film completely awed as I did with other films. It was all excellent, and polished, but it was missing a sense of wonder. Most of the film has been done before, just not all at the same time. Regardless, I think the film was successful. Hardcore Spidey fans won't be shocked by any heresy, action fans will be impressed by the web-swinging, and even those who prefer love stories won't be disappointed.
But does Morrowind include all the DM tools that Neverwinter Nights does? You get everything Bioware used to make their in-game content, included in the box. Unfortunately, that software only runs in Windows (unlike the game itself).
Sorry. I guess I should have posted it as anonymous. Usually I don't do whore-like things like this, but I started seeing the "database error" messages and thought I should post it. At least I did take the time to get it formatted nicely.
Didn't you ever wish that you could just sit back and browse the web like it's made to be done? Didn't you just want to lie back and make your eyes do the talking and clicking for you? Well then, if you're like me, you will be looking for everything possible to make your time on the computer and on the internet, much more efficient and easier. As an American, I like doing things the easiest way possible. People have dreamed for a long time for something to make using the computer easier. When the mouse came along, that was a godsend and people were gracing it as the ultimate usability tool for the computer but now that we've progressed through high stages of computing, the mouse has remained relatively the same except for some laser technology. In comes the NaturalPoint TrackIR, which is a tool which supplements "not replaces" your mouse with something much better... your forehead. The concept is so simple that it's almost a crime to market and sell it off when most of us has been dreaming of things like this for years but to give credit where credit is due, NaturalPoint took it upon themselves to actually take the time to developing something like this and market it.
Here's how it works, the TrackIR has 2 basic parts that make it work. The first is a camera that mounts on the top of your computer and second part is silver dots which you stick on your forehead, hat, etc... that catch the attention of the camera so that the cursor moves along to the movements your head makes. The dots have a cloth backing so you can stick it and remove it many times. The camera is sensitive enough to detect the silver dots and it will only detect those dots and calculate how it moves and translate it to cursor movements. So when the dots are on your head and you move your head left, the camera sees the dot moving to the left and therefore the cursor moves left. Actually, this isn't really a camera because all it can basically make out from everything else is the silver dots; it will not do anything like take pictures of your friends or of the city. The camera sends out infrared signals and the silver dots bounce the signals back to the TrackIR. The camera is connected to the desktop or laptop through USB. The cable is pretty short (good for laptops) and therefore it comes with a 4 foot long USB cable extension. Also, it has extra rubber pads for use with laptops. A good feature of this is that the device is powered by the USB port and therefore doesn't require any external power.
The device comes in three flavors: the "standard" which has the camera, cord, software, and the dots...the "EG" (ergonomics) which has a clear case camera, two finger rings, and a breakout cable, this is meant to fully replace your mouse... and finally, the "AT" (assisted technology) model which helps out disabled people with special software. What I will be reviewing today will be the standard model.
Installation
When getting ready to install the device, you will see many, many notices in the packaging telling you to install the software before installing the hardware and this is a very important factor in getting this to work properly. I would've gone and tested what would happen if I installed the hardware first but I don't think that I would like to have taken that risk. After installing the software, you will need to reboot, then connect the hardware to the computer. The camera was meant to sit on a monitor or something pretty high up and level to your head or wherever you wish to place the dots. The camera has a metal base which can be bent to stabilize itself on any surface: monitor edges, desk edges, etc...The camera has a roughly 25 degree field of view which is quite adequate because it will most likely be positioned in front of you. Installation was fairly simple and straightforward, just like many USB webcams and devices. Of course here comes the tricky part or so it seemed: the software.
System Specs
AMD Athlon 1.2GHz
Soyo Dragon +
256MB Crucial PC2100DDR
MSI GeForce2 Pro
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Maxtor D740X 60GB Hard Drive
Plextor 12/10/32A IDE CD-RW
Pioneer 16X DVD-ROM
Microsoft WindowsXP
Software
The TrackIR doesn't work at all without the software running because it is not a native windows device like a mouse or a keyboard but making the software run on start-up isn't a big hassle. You'll know when the device is on and working when you see the green light on the top of the camera turns on. The software works with everything in the system and is basically like one of the apps everyone used to have that would move your mouse around a bit every couple of seconds to fool the AllAdvantage program. When you move the real mouse, it would disable the TrackIR program until the mouse stops moving. The software itself reminds me of the mouse control panel in Windows, it lets you control cursor speed, sensitivity, smoothness, etc...Smoothness is unique, when you set it to maximum smoothness, you get a very fluid movement from the cursor but also it seems to lag a bit...I like it because your head can be shaking quite a bit and the cursor would be steady, sort of like the Sony Handycam's Steadyshot. In constrast, minimum smoothness results in jerky and jittery movements of the cursor. Other functions include a double speed function in which the cursor moves at double the speed. Also, the gravity function lets you hit the hard to hit targets of the close, minimize, maximize, etc...buttons, they snap to a button when the cursor gets close to it so you can easily get the cursor close to the close button and the software automatically positions the cursor over the close button, where it thinks you intended to put it.
The "Game Mode" function overrides the game's mouse controls so the TrackIR can be used for games. But in games, I found that precision and speed is lacking compared to a mouse and it would pretty difficult to be a champion while using the TrackIR as a game controller. These comments are for FPS and RTS games but for flight simulations, I've come to the conclusions from many reports that this is a good choice because of the ability for you to view out of the cockpit with the TrackIR and how it's a less point and click dependant genre than FPS or RTS.
At this point you might be wondering how you click the mouse, both left and right click can't be done with your eyes blinking, I'm sorry but I don't think that function will ever be implemented, unless you would like to stick a few silver dots on your eyelids. Clicking is done through pressing designated keys on the keyboard, so you can have an almost hands free experience, notice the keyword being "almost".
Common Usage
What can I say about this device in terms of things I normally do such as browsing the web and checking email? The TrackIR can easily move the cursor as well as a mouse can and it's much easier moving your head than it is moving a mouse so I cant argue with it's ease and laziness factor. The only major problem that I think people will hit is that it takes time getting used to it. It takes time to adjust to the speed you move your head, the angles of visibility, and the range, and if you play games, those too. Also, the TrackIR catches onto many things that are bright...not just the silver dots. If you have a silver ring, there's a good chance it'll see that as a dot and track according to that. The bottom line is that you probably wont save any time by using the TrackIR but it's a good break from the standard mouse and also adds just a little bit to the human laziness factor.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Works like advertised
Makes life a bit easier
Comes with many replacement dots
Cons
Lack of precision
Wearing something that has silver dots on it
Other shiny objects can throw off the camera
Conclusion
I'll give it to you, it's pretty cool to say that all you have to do to use your computer is look at the screen and move your head around a bit but considering everything up to this point, is it worth it? It would be if you could get 100% used to using the TrackIR but it's harder than it seems but the sensitivity and speed options do help. NaturalPoint has done a good job programming the software so that it makes the user have an easier time getting adjusted to the TrackIR. Once properly modified, the TrackIR can be one cool toy but it probably will not be put out for mainstream use or adopted by any OEM's because overally, it will take longer to do things with the TrackIR then it will with a simple mouse. If you're into cool toys that have functionality, give this a try but don't rely on it outside of simple tasks, such as deathmatches.
Slashdot Mirror
How long must this century-old debate continue? There is nothing special about currency backed by gold. Why is paper money worth something? Because people will give you something you want in exchange for it? Why are shiny rocks worth something? Because people will give you something you want in exchange for it. As far as value is concerned, there's no difference between currency backed with gold or not "backed" at all, except that with gold-based currency, your currency supply is un-regulatable, leading to massive inflation if a new gold supply is found. Also, currencies based on precious metals gives the government no way to contract or expand the money supply. And besides, why would switching away from the gold standard allow huge national deficits? The government can't borrow gold?
Sure. Algebra. Admiral. Algorithm. Assassin. Arsenal. Almanac. Artichoke. Azimuth. Azure.
I'll let you do the rest of the alphabet.
I don't know about you, but I die more in that game than any other FPS. It made be decidedly not want to join the army, cause it was obvious I would die immediately.
I saw a presentation on this system at a conference a few years ago. However, the most impressive thing about it was the system architecture, not the AI. The AI content seemed like nothing more than a glorified choose-your-own-adventure. But perhaps they've improved it since then.
I had a lot of fun checking out the coal mine and playing with the packet switched-network simulator. Each node on the network is a little button that you can press to take down that node. Then you watch the packets (lights projected from the ceiling) swarm around and find a new route. The Internet exhibit even had a mention of the Free Software Foundation and the EFF.
I'm not sure how those download accelerators work, exactly, however I imagine they might change Windows' TCP behavior and open multiple TCP connections where only one was opened before. As long as the first uplink isn't the bottleneck, this would get that user more bandwidth, albeit at the expense of others.
Since you are the sysadmin, see what you can do with the configuration on your routers. Since nearly all routers on the Internet today use the Droptail queueing discipline, these issues are epidemic. Try reconfiguring your routers to use Fair Queueing or, better yet, Rate Inverse Scheduling. If your router doesn't support these, ask your vendor why not. Since TCP is a client-side protocol, you can never trust the users to use it properly (as Droptail assumes).
You don't need a monopoly to establish standards. Standards are best created through cooperation and agreement between companies, academics, and individuals interacting through technical associations, such as the ACM, IEEE, or IETF. The standards created by these organizations (TCP, IP, Floting Point representation, any number of other Internet protocols) are widely deployed, well-documented, and freely available for anyone to use. We even have a standard for operating systems (POSIX).
Any "standard" which requires investment in a particular firm's technology is no standard at all. It is lock-in.
In standard English usage, the word "us," being the first-person plural pronoun, necessarily refers to the speaker/writer and at least one other individual. However, "us" in no way implies that the other individual is the reader. Perhaps the author was referring to himself and a member of the bnetd team?
I had the idea a while back of creating a whole fictional community of blogs through which to tell a story. Basically, I would set up a network of sites, one for each character, and they would relate the events of the story from their own points of view. Characters that knew one another would have links to each other's sites, thus informing the reader of the connections. This approach might lead to something more like War of the Worlds and other fictional journalism, as opposed to a fictional diary, as in the proposed work.
Of all the "magic" powers, telepathy is the one I think we'll be able to simulate most accurately, and very soon. Suppose we merged cell phone technology with instant messaging buddy lists. Add a sub-vocal interface and a tiny earpiece and microphone, and you might as well be telepathic. (Albeit, for a limited number of daytime minutes!)
(B) This subsection does not apply to -
(ii) a computer program embodied in or used in conjunction with a limited purpose computer that is designed for playing video games and may be designed for other purposes.
If I recall correctly, this company used this same stunt to gain publicity for ShadowMan 1. Perhaps they didn't create enough of a stir last time, I want to try again.
Guinea pigs are the best pets to get if you are looking for something rodent-sized. They have been domesticated nearly as long as the dog, and so get along great with people. Their advantages are many:
Actually, at the early level is when calculators and other graphing aids are *most* useful. In my experience, the further along I got in math, the less I used my calculator (and the smaller the books got). I see calculators as a memory aid, sort of like the periodic table. A long-time mathematician doesn't need to turn to his graphing calulator to see what a sine curve looks like, just like a long-time chemist doesn't need to look up the atomic weight of nitrogen. Those things are a crutch for beginners.
While explaining why something is fun to someone else is nearly impossible, I'll give you a few hints towards enjoying the Sims. 1) Play with more than one person in the house. Many hardcore gamers tried to "win" the game right off by trying to create a Bruce Wayne-esque playboy, power-levelling through the career ladder. This is probably the most boring way to play the game. A lot of the fun comes from putting your Sim household through all manner of interesting situations. You need to have several house members to do this. Inviting people over doesn't provide enough interaction. 2) Be creative. Try to create theme houses. For example, after the first expansion came out, I tried to re-create the 80s New Wave band "The Police." I created three characters: Gordan, Andy, and Stewart, put them all on the musician track and bought two guitars and a drum set. I held concerts for the neighbors. Eventually, I got Gordan and Stewart to start beating the crap out of each other. Basically, I amused myself by telling a story. The Sims is a game that takes a lot of personal investment into having fun. The game won't entertain you without your involvement. In this way it is a lot like table-top D&D. You only get out of it what your imagination puts in. The game is only there to make that imagination a little more tangible and to put some structure into the creation of your vision.
Well, yeah. Also, the original Star Wars movie borrowed from "The Hidden Fortress" by Akira Kurosawa, 1930s radio serials, and tv westerns. Art builds on the art that comes before it. Nothing is truly original.
This has been going on in mathematics for a long time. The most famous example is Hilbert's list of 23 problems from 1900. This list lead to advancements in mathematics such as Godel's Incompleteness Theorem and a formal definition of algorithm (Church-Turing thesis). Some of the problems are still open, IIRC.
As more people become semi-educated in science in our society, people are shifting their traditional taboos to equally superstitious, but scientifically inspired ones. Dirt and bacteria is a prime example of this. Previous generations believed that certain types of animals, places, and people were inherently dirty. Usually these were things that did not fit into the culture's prevailing worldview. Dirt was "things out of place." Now, people are starting to get away from that sort of thinking, but instead are latching onto bits of misunderstood science. Bacteria is a good example. People sit in their high school biology classes and learn all about little "germs" that live all over everything, just waiting to make you sick. This is reinforced by television commercials for anti-bacterial dish soap and aerosol disinfectants. In fact, such ambient bacteria are really only dangerous to those with severely weakened immune systems. For healthy people, this bacteria is harmless and potentially helpful since the immune system is strengthened by regularly fighting off this kind of bacteria. Still, culture is a powerful thing. Think about how you would feel eating a french fry you had dropped on the edge of a toilet seat. According to this study, it's cleaner than your desk, but most people still wouldn't eat it.
Dr. Villanueva's letter is more like the Aquinas' Summa contra Gentiles than the Summa Theologica.
"Two days after the speech, Brooks walked into the Senate chamber, and began beating Sumner with a heavy cane. His legs trapped beneath the desk bolted to the floor, Sumner wrenched it loose as he stood up to try to defend himself, where-upon Brooks clubbed him so ferociously that Sumner slumped forward, bloody and unconscious....The caning of Sumner was the worst of several instances of North-South violence or threatened violence on the floor of Congress in the l850s, pre-saging the violence on the battlefields of the 1860s." LIBERTY EQUALITY POWER, page 495.
I'm a long time Spider-Man fan, so I was looking forward to/dreading seeing it made into a film. The best praise I can give it is that it was very accurate. The story of the original Green Goblin was told just as I remember it from the comic books, with a few exceptions which aren't really worth getting into.
The greatest thing about it isn't so much that the plot is accurate, but that the characters are. The first scene with J. Jonah Jameson captured the man's essence perfectly. Does he really think Spider-Man is a menace or does he just want to sell more papers? Norman Osborne is very well done, which is good since he gets the majority of screen time, after Parker. His personality-changing rage is reminiscent of the Incredible Hulk, but more devious. His interactions with Harry are are nice as well. You can already see the personality flaws and fatherly abuses that will eventually lead Harry to his own fate.
Despite the film's strong characterization and fantastic special effects, I didn't leave the film completely awed as I did with other films. It was all excellent, and polished, but it was missing a sense of wonder. Most of the film has been done before, just not all at the same time. Regardless, I think the film was successful. Hardcore Spidey fans won't be shocked by any heresy, action fans will be impressed by the web-swinging, and even those who prefer love stories won't be disappointed.
But does Morrowind include all the DM tools that Neverwinter Nights does? You get everything Bioware used to make their in-game content, included in the box. Unfortunately, that software only runs in Windows (unlike the game itself).
Sorry. I guess I should have posted it as anonymous. Usually I don't do whore-like things like this, but I started seeing the "database error" messages and thought I should post it. At least I did take the time to get it formatted nicely.
So here's the text of the article.
Introduction
Didn't you ever wish that you could just sit back and browse the web like it's made to be done? Didn't you just want to lie back and make your eyes do the talking and clicking for you? Well then, if you're like me, you will be looking for everything possible to make your time on the computer and on the internet, much more efficient and easier. As an American, I like doing things the easiest way possible. People have dreamed for a long time for something to make using the computer easier. When the mouse came along, that was a godsend and people were gracing it as the ultimate usability tool for the computer but now that we've progressed through high stages of computing, the mouse has remained relatively the same except for some laser technology. In comes the NaturalPoint TrackIR, which is a tool which supplements "not replaces" your mouse with something much better... your forehead. The concept is so simple that it's almost a crime to market and sell it off when most of us has been dreaming of things like this for years but to give credit where credit is due, NaturalPoint took it upon themselves to actually take the time to developing something like this and market it.
Here's how it works, the TrackIR has 2 basic parts that make it work. The first is a camera that mounts on the top of your computer and second part is silver dots which you stick on your forehead, hat, etc... that catch the attention of the camera so that the cursor moves along to the movements your head makes. The dots have a cloth backing so you can stick it and remove it many times. The camera is sensitive enough to detect the silver dots and it will only detect those dots and calculate how it moves and translate it to cursor movements. So when the dots are on your head and you move your head left, the camera sees the dot moving to the left and therefore the cursor moves left. Actually, this isn't really a camera because all it can basically make out from everything else is the silver dots; it will not do anything like take pictures of your friends or of the city. The camera sends out infrared signals and the silver dots bounce the signals back to the TrackIR. The camera is connected to the desktop or laptop through USB. The cable is pretty short (good for laptops) and therefore it comes with a 4 foot long USB cable extension. Also, it has extra rubber pads for use with laptops. A good feature of this is that the device is powered by the USB port and therefore doesn't require any external power.
The device comes in three flavors: the "standard" which has the camera, cord, software, and the dots...the "EG" (ergonomics) which has a clear case camera, two finger rings, and a breakout cable, this is meant to fully replace your mouse... and finally, the "AT" (assisted technology) model which helps out disabled people with special software. What I will be reviewing today will be the standard model.
Installation
When getting ready to install the device, you will see many, many notices in the packaging telling you to install the software before installing the hardware and this is a very important factor in getting this to work properly. I would've gone and tested what would happen if I installed the hardware first but I don't think that I would like to have taken that risk. After installing the software, you will need to reboot, then connect the hardware to the computer. The camera was meant to sit on a monitor or something pretty high up and level to your head or wherever you wish to place the dots. The camera has a metal base which can be bent to stabilize itself on any surface: monitor edges, desk edges, etc...The camera has a roughly 25 degree field of view which is quite adequate because it will most likely be positioned in front of you. Installation was fairly simple and straightforward, just like many USB webcams and devices. Of course here comes the tricky part or so it seemed: the software.
System Specs
AMD Athlon 1.2GHz
Soyo Dragon +
256MB Crucial PC2100DDR
MSI GeForce2 Pro
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Maxtor D740X 60GB Hard Drive
Plextor 12/10/32A IDE CD-RW
Pioneer 16X DVD-ROM
Microsoft WindowsXP
Software
The TrackIR doesn't work at all without the software running because it is not a native windows device like a mouse or a keyboard but making the software run on start-up isn't a big hassle. You'll know when the device is on and working when you see the green light on the top of the camera turns on. The software works with everything in the system and is basically like one of the apps everyone used to have that would move your mouse around a bit every couple of seconds to fool the AllAdvantage program. When you move the real mouse, it would disable the TrackIR program until the mouse stops moving. The software itself reminds me of the mouse control panel in Windows, it lets you control cursor speed, sensitivity, smoothness, etc...Smoothness is unique, when you set it to maximum smoothness, you get a very fluid movement from the cursor but also it seems to lag a bit...I like it because your head can be shaking quite a bit and the cursor would be steady, sort of like the Sony Handycam's Steadyshot. In constrast, minimum smoothness results in jerky and jittery movements of the cursor. Other functions include a double speed function in which the cursor moves at double the speed. Also, the gravity function lets you hit the hard to hit targets of the close, minimize, maximize, etc...buttons, they snap to a button when the cursor gets close to it so you can easily get the cursor close to the close button and the software automatically positions the cursor over the close button, where it thinks you intended to put it.
The "Game Mode" function overrides the game's mouse controls so the TrackIR can be used for games. But in games, I found that precision and speed is lacking compared to a mouse and it would pretty difficult to be a champion while using the TrackIR as a game controller. These comments are for FPS and RTS games but for flight simulations, I've come to the conclusions from many reports that this is a good choice because of the ability for you to view out of the cockpit with the TrackIR and how it's a less point and click dependant genre than FPS or RTS.
At this point you might be wondering how you click the mouse, both left and right click can't be done with your eyes blinking, I'm sorry but I don't think that function will ever be implemented, unless you would like to stick a few silver dots on your eyelids. Clicking is done through pressing designated keys on the keyboard, so you can have an almost hands free experience, notice the keyword being "almost".
Common Usage
What can I say about this device in terms of things I normally do such as browsing the web and checking email? The TrackIR can easily move the cursor as well as a mouse can and it's much easier moving your head than it is moving a mouse so I cant argue with it's ease and laziness factor. The only major problem that I think people will hit is that it takes time getting used to it. It takes time to adjust to the speed you move your head, the angles of visibility, and the range, and if you play games, those too. Also, the TrackIR catches onto many things that are bright...not just the silver dots. If you have a silver ring, there's a good chance it'll see that as a dot and track according to that. The bottom line is that you probably wont save any time by using the TrackIR but it's a good break from the standard mouse and also adds just a little bit to the human laziness factor.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Works like advertised
Makes life a bit easier
Comes with many replacement dots
Cons
Lack of precision
Wearing something that has silver dots on it
Other shiny objects can throw off the camera
Conclusion
I'll give it to you, it's pretty cool to say that all you have to do to use your computer is look at the screen and move your head around a bit but considering everything up to this point, is it worth it? It would be if you could get 100% used to using the TrackIR but it's harder than it seems but the sensitivity and speed options do help. NaturalPoint has done a good job programming the software so that it makes the user have an easier time getting adjusted to the TrackIR. Once properly modified, the TrackIR can be one cool toy but it probably will not be put out for mainstream use or adopted by any OEM's because overally, it will take longer to do things with the TrackIR then it will with a simple mouse. If you're into cool toys that have functionality, give this a try but don't rely on it outside of simple tasks, such as deathmatches.
SLRating: 7/10