So basically we're finally catching up to the audience voting technology from America's Funniest Home Videos from the 1990s. Or is it more advanced like "Ask the Audience" from Who Wants to be a Millionaire with crazy coloured bar graphs and one guy that always votes for the most obviously wrong answer?
I can't speak for the newer Sony stuff but I do know that the old "handycam" line was built like a tank. I have a DCR-7000 (Digital 8 not mini DV) that just keeps on ticking after being through more than its fair share of use and ski accidents. It also seems to handle moisture really well (like melting snow after a tumble). I've also heard excellent things about the Sony VX-1000 that has been a staple of digital videographer setups for years now. It is MiniDV and can be had now used for <$1000. This camera's a good balance of picture quality (it's a 3 CCD), ruggedness, and cost while lacking some of the modern features (not necessities) like night vision.
It will be interesting to see if this player will be sold in Canada and if so, whether the CPCC Blank Media Levy will be charged. I don't understand why Apple doesn't include some demo track on the iPod to get around this $25 levy in Canada.
Just my 2 bits (~1.6 bits US)
I remember seeing this in one of the old DIY robot books from TAB Publishing. I believe the author referred to it as a 'Ramera' and actually goes through the steps to disassemble a chip. While this approach would work to some degree, the images that are captured aren't very pretty.
Anyone else read that as 'Nebulon'?
on
2003 Nebula Awards
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Anyone else read that as the "Nebulon" Awards? As in "get out of here Nebulon, no one likes your style." -- S.B.
The SICK laser range scanners (LMS-XXX) are more on the order of $5K each and are pretty much the world standard in laser scanner instrumentation. The interesting thing is that the DARPA Grand Challenge has put a noticeable strain on the supply of these units. The only reason the project I work with was able to get one in the last few months was some surplus refurbished units turned up in Germany after an order was cancelled.
It is a common misconception that electrons move quickly through conductors. This, however, is not the case. When an electric field is applied to a conductor (e.g. from a battery), the random motion of the electrons in the material gain a small drift velocity. In copper (a relatively good conductor), this drift velocity is on the order of 10^-5 m/s to 10^-4 m/s (much less than c=3E8 m/s). The reason that conductors work the way they do is that the information is carried by the electric field rather than the individual electrons. A good analogy here is to think of a tube filled with ball bearings. Stuff one more bearing in the tube at one end and one pops out of the other "instantaneously". While the inserted bearing didn't travel the distance, it did have an effect at the end of the tube.
Another common error is raised by the parent post. Transmission rate and bandwidth are completely different concepts. The transmission rate refers to the number of bits of information that can be transmitted down a pipe without loss (i.e. the capacity). Bandwidth, on the other hand, is a frequency domain concept and refers instead to the range of frequencies that the pipe can support. While it is true that a system with greater bandwith usually has greater capacity, it is a gross generalization.
Reminds me of the Seinfeld where Jerry has trouble sleeping because of the red glow of the neon sign from the Kenny Roger's Chicken across the street.
Your colour vision would go all out of whack as you move from room to room with the different colour schemes never mind what will happen when you go outside for some sunlight (that rat fur hat might even look good).
2 reasons:
1. The IGVC has been around since 1993.
2. DARPA is by no means the main sponsor. The competition is held by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (http://auvsi.org) that also hosts an air and underwater competition in addition to the this ground event.
I've competed in the last three IGVCs and plan on being there again this summer. Until the announcement of the DARPA Grand Challenge (and the subsequent IRRF spinoff), the IGVC was really the only choice for land-based autonomous robotic competition. While the problems presented by this competition are challenging and tend to get more difficult each year, the 'only game in town' mentality is reflected in the way that the whole competition is organized. The venue and activities have remained relatively unchanged (albeit when the competition is held in Orlando in conjunction with the AUVSI Robotics Symposium) . Going on experiences at a variety of other North American engineering competitions, one would expect boasting prominent sponsors and judges from the likes of GM, Ford, and the US DOD TACOM that some industry tours and media attention would be organized. With teams spending thousands of dollars and travelling great distances to participate, such things would bring even more meaning to this important competition.
In terms of the actual IGVC events, it's important to note that they are heavily software based. Very little emphasis is placed on mechanical design or aesthetics and for this reason entrants have actually submitted milk crate and plywood based vehicles and other such contraptions that have zero real-world utility.
The meat of the IGVC is in the Autonomous Challenge. It consists of an obstacle course that the robot must navigate without leaving a defined lane or displacing an obstacle. This event has yet to be completed by a robot since it was overhauled a few years ago and made much more difficult with increased complexity and the introduction of a variety of traps.
This post is not intended to put down the IGVC or its competitors. The competition is an excellent way of getting some academic experience in the field of autonomous robotics without the enormous time and dollar committment of something like the DARPA Grand Challenge. At the same time it is important to recognize that there is room for improvement at the IGVC and that other competitions should be encouraged as this field matures.
I had a Rex too. While the small size of that product and this one from Citizen makes it ultra-portable, it also greatly increases the chance of loss or breakage. No matter how careful I was with my Rex, it met its inevitable end in the washing machine.
And the reason for all the above? Statistical Mechanics!
When dealing with a characteristic of a substance, you're looking at a whole distribution (e.g. Maxwellian distribution of velocities in an ideal gas). So ya, there's a chance that pretty much anything can happen when dealing with huge numbers of particles.
That's why water sitting on your desk evaporates. It's not because it's reached it's boiling point, it's because the distribution of velocities of the water molecules includes some high energy ones capable of escaping.
MS-SQL certainly wasn't the problem according to election.com's Earl Hurd. In a CBC TV scrum-style interview, he was quick to blame the problem on a malicious 'hacker' that had logged into the voting system. When asked by the media if such an attack could reoccur, he replied "unless the creative individual died in the last five minutes as a result of my evil thoughts, then there is a chance that another attact is possible".
Slashdot Mirror
sorry, it's the first thing that sprang to mind upon reading the headline
So basically we're finally catching up to the audience voting technology from America's Funniest Home Videos from the 1990s. Or is it more advanced like "Ask the Audience" from Who Wants to be a Millionaire with crazy coloured bar graphs and one guy that always votes for the most obviously wrong answer?
I can't speak for the newer Sony stuff but I do know that the old "handycam" line was built like a tank. I have a DCR-7000 (Digital 8 not mini DV) that just keeps on ticking after being through more than its fair share of use and ski accidents. It also seems to handle moisture really well (like melting snow after a tumble). I've also heard excellent things about the Sony VX-1000 that has been a staple of digital videographer setups for years now. It is MiniDV and can be had now used for <$1000. This camera's a good balance of picture quality (it's a 3 CCD), ruggedness, and cost while lacking some of the modern features (not necessities) like night vision.
I'm still waiting for a levy reimbursement on an iPod purchased last year before the levy deemed illegal. I guess I'll keep dreaming.
It's official: According to news.com, IBM has sold their PC business...
I guess they're looking to focus on that lucrative mainframe business at last!
The highlight of the story for me is the fine example of eastern European cycling prowess ("scooturo") or as she calls it, a "son of a ditch".
Of course, I would love one!
ScooturoIt will be interesting to see if this player will be sold in Canada and if so, whether the CPCC Blank Media Levy will be charged. I don't understand why Apple doesn't include some demo track on the iPod to get around this $25 levy in Canada.
Just my 2 bits (~1.6 bits US)
Rainier Wolfcastle (As he is hit by a tidal wave of acid) : "My eyes...the goggles do nothing!"
Episode: Radioactive Man (Season 7)
I remember seeing this in one of the old DIY robot books from TAB Publishing. I believe the author referred to it as a 'Ramera' and actually goes through the steps to disassemble a chip. While this approach would work to some degree, the images that are captured aren't very pretty.
Anyone else read that as the "Nebulon" Awards? As in "get out of here Nebulon, no one likes your style." -- S.B.
The most UNWIRED? The wording almost makes that sound like a bad thing. Intel should have gone with CowboyNeal's headline.
From http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/media_feeds.ht m
On Saturday, March 13, DARPA will provide same-day coverage via satellite of the Grand Challenge start and highlights at the following times:
Live coverage of the start: 6:30 - 8:30 Pacific/9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Eastern
Video news release: 11:00 - 11:30 a.m. Pacific/2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Eastern
Coordinates for both feeds:
Satellite: AMC 9, Ku, Transponder 03
Space is: 36 MHz
Downlink Frequency: 11760.000
Downlink Polarity: Vertical
Hopefully someone will record these feeds and make them available online for all of us without satellite
The SICK laser range scanners (LMS-XXX) are more on the order of $5K each and are pretty much the world standard in laser scanner instrumentation. The interesting thing is that the DARPA Grand Challenge has put a noticeable strain on the supply of these units. The only reason the project I work with was able to get one in the last few months was some surplus refurbished units turned up in Germany after an order was cancelled.
It is a common misconception that electrons move quickly through conductors. This, however, is not the case. When an electric field is applied to a conductor (e.g. from a battery), the random motion of the electrons in the material gain a small drift velocity. In copper (a relatively good conductor), this drift velocity is on the order of 10^-5 m/s to 10^-4 m/s (much less than c=3E8 m/s). The reason that conductors work the way they do is that the information is carried by the electric field rather than the individual electrons. A good analogy here is to think of a tube filled with ball bearings. Stuff one more bearing in the tube at one end and one pops out of the other "instantaneously". While the inserted bearing didn't travel the distance, it did have an effect at the end of the tube.
Another common error is raised by the parent post. Transmission rate and bandwidth are completely different concepts. The transmission rate refers to the number of bits of information that can be transmitted down a pipe without loss (i.e. the capacity). Bandwidth, on the other hand, is a frequency domain concept and refers instead to the range of frequencies that the pipe can support. While it is true that a system with greater bandwith usually has greater capacity, it is a gross generalization.
Reminds me of the Seinfeld where Jerry has trouble sleeping because of the red glow of the neon sign from the Kenny Roger's Chicken across the street.
Your colour vision would go all out of whack as you move from room to room with the different colour schemes never mind what will happen when you go outside for some sunlight (that rat fur hat might even look good).
2 reasons:
1. The IGVC has been around since 1993.
2. DARPA is by no means the main sponsor. The competition is held by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (http://auvsi.org) that also hosts an air and underwater competition in addition to the this ground event.
In terms of the actual IGVC events, it's important to note that they are heavily software based. Very little emphasis is placed on mechanical design or aesthetics and for this reason entrants have actually submitted milk crate and plywood based vehicles and other such contraptions that have zero real-world utility.
The meat of the IGVC is in the Autonomous Challenge. It consists of an obstacle course that the robot must navigate without leaving a defined lane or displacing an obstacle. This event has yet to be completed by a robot since it was overhauled a few years ago and made much more difficult with increased complexity and the introduction of a variety of traps.
This post is not intended to put down the IGVC or its competitors. The competition is an excellent way of getting some academic experience in the field of autonomous robotics without the enormous time and dollar committment of something like the DARPA Grand Challenge. At the same time it is important to recognize that there is room for improvement at the IGVC and that other competitions should be encouraged as this field matures.
that should read "as an exercise to the reader". Goddamn final exam burnouts.
Hint: New = nu (Greek letter for frequency)
The rest is left to an excercise to the reader.
I had a Rex too. While the small size of that product and this one from Citizen makes it ultra-portable, it also greatly increases the chance of loss or breakage. No matter how careful I was with my Rex, it met its inevitable end in the washing machine.
And the reason for all the above? Statistical Mechanics!
When dealing with a characteristic of a substance, you're looking at a whole distribution (e.g. Maxwellian distribution of velocities in an ideal gas). So ya, there's a chance that pretty much anything can happen when dealing with huge numbers of particles.
That's why water sitting on your desk evaporates. It's not because it's reached it's boiling point, it's because the distribution of velocities of the water molecules includes some high energy ones capable of escaping.
Torrent is back http://www.gametab.com/files/torrents.php?fuse=18
Unfortunately, the Developer isn't available for comment.
What version of Quicktime are you using? Version 6.1.1 and a iBook 800 with 640MB of RAM can't handle it.
MS-SQL certainly wasn't the problem according to election.com's Earl Hurd. In a CBC TV scrum-style interview, he was quick to blame the problem on a malicious 'hacker' that had logged into the voting system. When asked by the media if such an attack could reoccur, he replied "unless the creative individual died in the last five minutes as a result of my evil thoughts, then there is a chance that another attact is possible".