When I was last involved in adding speech control to an app, I attended a developer workshop at Apple, and found out much to my surprise that my mic wasn't any good. It sounded fine when I used it for voice recording, but for recognition the gain curve was all wrong. When I tried one of the mics that the speech team from Apple provided, the hit rate went from under 20% to well over 90%.
When Kim Silverman demos Apple's speech recognition, he uses a high-quality noise cancelling mic. It makes all the difference.
the idea that for the last couple of years America in particular has been headed for a total repetition of Nazi Germany is a forgone conclusion so utterly obvious that it barely even warrants mention.
If that were the case, then you'd be cooling your heels in a cell somewhere, wouldn't you?
My grandfather did time for protesting a war by handing out leaflets at an induction center in Atlanta. in 1915. If GWB were even as much as an authoritarian as Wilson, let alone FDR, then most of the people denoucing him as a would-be Nazi would be unable to do so. What do you think would have happened to someone who marched down the street in 1944 with a sign that said "FDR = HITLER"?
There are things that this country has done in overreaction to 9/11 which will eventually be reversed, but you're not going to help that process by going off the deep end with rhetoric that makes you easy to dismiss as a fool.
Paris Hilton? We certainly wouldn't know crap about her were she not some rich debutante with absolutely no value to society.
Of course Paris Hilton is an utterly useless twat, and she will most likely piss away her inheritance before she dies. However, the right to endow one's useless grandchildren with enormous amounts of cash is one of the prerogatives of building a business brilliantly, as Conrad Hilton did. I would point out however, that the whore is an aberration, and that it is only the most outrageous rich kids (like the Kennedys) who regularly make the news in this manner.
For every Paris Hilton, there are many more rich kids who either competently continue the family business, or follow other worthwhile pursuits.
While I see what you are saying, I believe it is dumb to remove the incentives of hard work, dilligence, and sacrifice.
What's dumb is expecting a certain standard of living just because you get your ticket punched. I've met plenty of people with master's degrees in fields for which there isn't much demand, and tough shit: nobody owes anyone a job in the job-seeker's chosen field.
Your sister needs to be aware of the market she competes in, and develop the skills that make her employable at the level she desires. Or not. It's nobody else's responsibility to deal with the consequences of her career choices.
I don't think America can turn around. In the Ukraine, election fraud inspires mass protests. In Mexico, the same. But In the US, Gore and Kerry meekly submit.
Why is it that when people bitch about Bush's election, they never offer to rescind the Kennedy administration?
Bush won both elections. He won them by extremely thin margins, but he won. Get over it.
It's the government that should be transparent and open to surveillance
I'm maybe 92% with you on that. Legislation, litigation, and so on should be public activities. The problem though, is how do you prevent bad actors from using monitoring of the cops to evade arrest, for example? Or, when an investigation is underway, do you tell the world and possibly smear someone's good name, whether or not you have enough to indict?
Personally, I rather like the proposals I've seen for sunsets on classification, although there too, I would keep restrictions on things like how to build a nuke.
I don't doubt that the Bush administration decided to go to war to secure resources
Then you are profoundly ignorant of the matter. It's far easier and cheaper to buy oil from the dictators than to do the hard work of toppling them.
Oil is fungible, and is traded in worldwide markets. If Saddam refused to sell any oil to the USA, the net effect is nil. When any buyer gets oil from a particular source, he doesn't have to buy it from another source. If we didn't get any oil from Iraq, then we'd just buy the Nigerian, Mexican, Canadian, North Sea, or US domestic oil that Saddam's buyers weren't buying.
saddam was toppled for the simple reason that he was threatening to sell his oil in euro's not dollars,
Oh, so the two unprovoked invasions of neighboring countries, the use of chemical weapons on both Iranian soldiers and his own people, and his playing chicken with the weapons inspectors had nothing to do with it?
No doubt they are all busy helping repress the freedom fighters in the Iraq and making it part of the American Empire.
You're confused. The last American Empire was the Inca empire, which was conquered by the Spanish in the 1500s. Several European empires later held parts of America. There is no American Empire today.
As for freedom fighters, be clear about to whom you're referring. There are many freedom fighters in Iraq, including Iraqis, Americans, Britons, and people from many other countries. They are in uniform, and they take great care to avoid civilian deaths wherever possible.
There are also a contingent of cowardly, rabid theocrats who are inflicting mayhem on any large crowd of people they can find, in hopes of establishing their particular perversion of religion as a dominant force in the region. If you're referring to the suicide junkies as "freedom" fighters, then you're a blithering idiot.
the military are a joke.
Be glad you live in a country where telling a joke doesn't get you flogged to death for heresy, you ungrateful little twat.
integrated video (where video processing gets offloaded by the Intel video chipset to the CPU)
Guess again. Intel's integrated video parts are GPUs, just like other GPUs. They just don't have their own separate video memory the way that most GPUs on separate cards do.
No, real property is an asset; a mortgage on that property is a liability. What matters is whether the liability exceeds the value of the asset. It doesn't really help anything to make up your own definitions.
. The downside is that if something goes wrong, the repairs come out of your own wallet, but remember that landlords are making a profit by renting to you, and they have mortgage, taxes, insurance and repairs to worry about as well.
It's not quite that simple. When you buy a house with a mortgage, you're making a very highly leveraged investment. If its price rises, that's dandy, but if it falls you can easily owe more on the loan than the asset is worth.
Landlords aren't necessarily making a profit, just because they're collecting rent.
This is precisely why GNUStep gets no traction: the Linux crowd actually believes that a cross-platform abortion like Qt is acceptable. Of course, this isn't surprising for a community that still hasn't admitted to itself what an abomination X11 is.
Yes, I read TFA, and the first sentence proves my point: OpenDarwin was originally created with the goal of providing a development environment for building and developing Mac OS X sources as well as developing a standalone Darwin OS derivative.
Too bad their dreams did not work out, but frankly, they will not be missed.
They really missed the point. Darwin was never intended to be yet another open-source UNIX derivative like Linux or the BSDs. Its whole purpose was to make life a bit easier for people writing drivers for Mac OS X, so when they started beating their chests about how Apple was oppressing them, those of us in the Mac community bascially said: "Umm, who the fuck are you anyway, and why aren't you just using Mac OS X or Linux like a normal person would?"
I sometimes wonder why this isn't an ongoing project like Wine.
Well, basically, it's like this: the people who know enough to work on it are, for the most part just using Mac OS X, and most of the Linux crowd can't really tell the difference between GNUStep and Gnome (ie, they actually believe Gnome is good enough).
The upshot is that the contributors to GNUStep are a very small number indeed, and it's amazing how far they've gotten with so few people working on it.
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When I was last involved in adding speech control to an app, I attended a developer workshop at Apple, and found out much to my surprise that my mic wasn't any good. It sounded fine when I used it for voice recording, but for recognition the gain curve was all wrong. When I tried one of the mics that the speech team from Apple provided, the hit rate went from under 20% to well over 90%.
When Kim Silverman demos Apple's speech recognition, he uses a high-quality noise cancelling mic. It makes all the difference.
-jcr
the idea that for the last couple of years America in particular has been headed for a total repetition of Nazi Germany is a forgone conclusion so utterly obvious that it barely even warrants mention.
If that were the case, then you'd be cooling your heels in a cell somewhere, wouldn't you?
My grandfather did time for protesting a war by handing out leaflets at an induction center in Atlanta. in 1915. If GWB were even as much as an authoritarian as Wilson, let alone FDR, then most of the people denoucing him as a would-be Nazi would be unable to do so. What do you think would have happened to someone who marched down the street in 1944 with a sign that said "FDR = HITLER"?
There are things that this country has done in overreaction to 9/11 which will eventually be reversed, but you're not going to help that process by going off the deep end with rhetoric that makes you easy to dismiss as a fool.
-jcr
Paris Hilton? We certainly wouldn't know crap about her were she not some rich debutante with absolutely no value to society.
Of course Paris Hilton is an utterly useless twat, and she will most likely piss away her inheritance before she dies. However, the right to endow one's useless grandchildren with enormous amounts of cash is one of the prerogatives of building a business brilliantly, as Conrad Hilton did. I would point out however, that the whore is an aberration, and that it is only the most outrageous rich kids (like the Kennedys) who regularly make the news in this manner.
For every Paris Hilton, there are many more rich kids who either competently continue the family business, or follow other worthwhile pursuits.
-jcr
So the fact that people went where they thought the money was, and failed is proof that this is the way to go?
Well, yes. Their failure shows that jumping on a bandwagon may not always be a winning strategy.
-jcr
While I see what you are saying, I believe it is dumb to remove the incentives of hard work, dilligence, and sacrifice.
What's dumb is expecting a certain standard of living just because you get your ticket punched. I've met plenty of people with master's degrees in fields for which there isn't much demand, and tough shit: nobody owes anyone a job in the job-seeker's chosen field.
Your sister needs to be aware of the market she competes in, and develop the skills that make her employable at the level she desires. Or not. It's nobody else's responsibility to deal with the consequences of her career choices.
-jcr
I don't think America can turn around. In the Ukraine, election fraud inspires mass protests. In Mexico, the same. But In the US, Gore and Kerry meekly submit.
Why is it that when people bitch about Bush's election, they never offer to rescind the Kennedy administration?
Bush won both elections. He won them by extremely thin margins, but he won. Get over it.
-jcr
These ideas are not communist.
Once you decide that anyone has a right to the product of another person's labor, yes, it's communist.
-jcr
It's the government that should be transparent and open to surveillance
I'm maybe 92% with you on that. Legislation, litigation, and so on should be public activities. The problem though, is how do you prevent bad actors from using monitoring of the cops to evade arrest, for example? Or, when an investigation is underway, do you tell the world and possibly smear someone's good name, whether or not you have enough to indict?
Personally, I rather like the proposals I've seen for sunsets on classification, although there too, I would keep restrictions on things like how to build a nuke.
-jcr
Those ignorant of history are condemed to repeat it,
:)
Go look up Neville Chamberlain.
those who study it can win most arguments
That's why you're looking so ridiculous.
-jcr
Secular, my ass. The Ba'athists worshipped Saddam, the same way that commies worshipped Stalin.
-jcr
I don't doubt that the Bush administration decided to go to war to secure resources
Then you are profoundly ignorant of the matter. It's far easier and cheaper to buy oil from the dictators than to do the hard work of toppling them.
Oil is fungible, and is traded in worldwide markets. If Saddam refused to sell any oil to the USA, the net effect is nil. When any buyer gets oil from a particular source, he doesn't have to buy it from another source. If we didn't get any oil from Iraq, then we'd just buy the Nigerian, Mexican, Canadian, North Sea, or US domestic oil that Saddam's buyers weren't buying.
-jcr
saddam was toppled for the simple reason that he was threatening to sell his oil in euro's not dollars,
Oh, so the two unprovoked invasions of neighboring countries, the use of chemical weapons on both Iranian soldiers and his own people, and his playing chicken with the weapons inspectors had nothing to do with it?
You ignorant putz.
-jcr
Make no mistake,
Good advice, but you've already ignored it.
there are NO American, British, or people from any other country than Iraq who are in Iraq fighting for freedom.
Oh, so you know the motives of every man and woman there? You must be psychic or something. Or just psychotic.
Iraq is a mission of oil profits,
Bullshit. If we just wanted the oil, we could have just kept buying it from Saddam.
-jcr
No doubt they are all busy helping repress the freedom fighters in the Iraq and making it part of the American Empire.
You're confused. The last American Empire was the Inca empire, which was conquered by the Spanish in the 1500s. Several European empires later held parts of America. There is no American Empire today.
As for freedom fighters, be clear about to whom you're referring. There are many freedom fighters in Iraq, including Iraqis, Americans, Britons, and people from many other countries. They are in uniform, and they take great care to avoid civilian deaths wherever possible.
There are also a contingent of cowardly, rabid theocrats who are inflicting mayhem on any large crowd of people they can find, in hopes of establishing their particular perversion of religion as a dominant force in the region. If you're referring to the suicide junkies as "freedom" fighters, then you're a blithering idiot.
the military are a joke.
Be glad you live in a country where telling a joke doesn't get you flogged to death for heresy, you ungrateful little twat.
-jcr
integrated video (where video processing gets offloaded by the Intel video chipset to the CPU)
Guess again. Intel's integrated video parts are GPUs, just like other GPUs. They just don't have their own separate video memory the way that most GPUs on separate cards do.
-jcr
No, real property is an asset; a mortgage on that property is a liability. What matters is whether the liability exceeds the value of the asset. It doesn't really help anything to make up your own definitions.
-jcr
Quartz is NOT even remotely a decent design.
Show me something better. That's Ok, I'll wait.
-jcr
. The downside is that if something goes wrong, the repairs come out of your own wallet, but remember that landlords are making a profit by renting to you, and they have mortgage, taxes, insurance and repairs to worry about as well.
It's not quite that simple. When you buy a house with a mortgage, you're making a very highly leveraged investment. If its price rises, that's dandy, but if it falls you can easily owe more on the loan than the asset is worth.
Landlords aren't necessarily making a profit, just because they're collecting rent.
-jcr
Didn't get what? That Apple wasn't interested in community contributions/support for Darwin?
Reading comprehension really isn't your long suit, isn't it? Go back and read that part that I marked with bold text.
-jcr
Qt is internally a work of art
This is precisely why GNUStep gets no traction: the Linux crowd actually believes that a cross-platform abortion like Qt is acceptable. Of course, this isn't surprising for a community that still hasn't admitted to itself what an abomination X11 is.
-jcr
Yes, I read TFA, and the first sentence proves my point: OpenDarwin was originally created with the goal of providing a development environment for building and developing Mac OS X sources as well as developing a standalone Darwin OS derivative.
That last part shows that they didn't get it.
-jcr
Too bad their dreams did not work out, but frankly, they will not be missed.
They really missed the point. Darwin was never intended to be yet another open-source UNIX derivative like Linux or the BSDs. Its whole purpose was to make life a bit easier for people writing drivers for Mac OS X, so when they started beating their chests about how Apple was oppressing them, those of us in the Mac community bascially said: "Umm, who the fuck are you anyway, and why aren't you just using Mac OS X or Linux like a normal person would?"
-jcr
[Re: GNUStep]
I sometimes wonder why this isn't an ongoing project like Wine.
Well, basically, it's like this: the people who know enough to work on it are, for the most part just using Mac OS X, and most of the Linux crowd can't really tell the difference between GNUStep and Gnome (ie, they actually believe Gnome is good enough).
The upshot is that the contributors to GNUStep are a very small number indeed, and it's amazing how far they've gotten with so few people working on it.
-jcr
There just isn't enough energy hitting the roof of even a moderate office block to power the aircon irrespective of the price of solar cells.
There's probably enough energy to drive a ground-loop heat pump. There's more than one way to cool air.
-jcr
Looks like you don't know how to read an earnings report. Apple's showing rather amazing year-over-year growth these days.
-jcr