A new website has launched to advocate for the public documentation of the manufacturer's raw format spec's. From the website "We want camera manufacturers to publicly document their RAW image formats -- past, present, and future. The goal of OpenRAW is to encourage image preservation and give creative choice of how images are processed to the creators of the images. To this end, we advocate open documentation of information about the how the raw data is stored and the camera settings selected by the photographer."
At present, the only documented RAW format is Adobe's Digital Negative (DNG). The current problem is that I dont think it's ever actually been implemented in an actual camera. Adobe provides a free converter, which is great, but it's not the same thing.
Personally, I'd like adobe's solution. A single format is easier for developers to work with than the ever growing list of RAW formats (even if they are open). It's this thing called standards.
I always thought that the average of independent guesses produces a surprisingly precise guess (assuming n is high enough).
Sorry I couldn't find a better link
1) Tires that don't go flat! Or, rather, I should say... tires that don't go flat and only cost two or three minimum wage units. $15 US. Yes there are Kevlar tires that are as thin as your thumb and cost $200, hold 100 PSI air pressure, and rarely go flat, but they don't count.
Firstly, those $200 tires go flat just as easily as cheap tires on pavement (i.e. a piece of glass or nail). They are $200 because they're light (by way of having a high thread per inch count) and they're grippy (fancy rubbers and compounds). NOT because they're anymore flat resistant than a cheapo knobby or slick. In fact, I'd argue there more flat resistant for punctures (maybe less for snakebites).
Secondly, if you want a tire that definitely won't go flat, buy a solid rubber tire like your bike had when you were seven. Light, Cheap, Strong - pick two.
Thirdly, tire choice pretty much never affects regular flats (assuming the tire is adequately inflated to begin with). It's the inner tube that goes. Here's a tip, throw a bunch of baby powder in the tire before putting in the inner tube. You're probably flatting because your tire is spinning in the rim and cutting the valve stem.
2) Something to keep the rain and road dirt from putting a big skunk stripe up our backs when riding in wet climates. There are fenders, but they don't work well.
Actually fenders work incredibly well. Just get a set of grandma fenders that cover about half the wheel (less in front) and are really close to the tire. Yeah they look dumb, and your cool seat mounted stick is waay cooler on campus, but you said you want something that works.
3) The ability to fold the frame so that it can fit in the back of a small car or on the bus.
Yeah. This one would be nice. Discs work well here ($$$), and so do Magura's with salmon pads (haven't tried the froggies), but most mechanicals suck. (Except when you pair old canti levers and v-brake arms... that'll stop anything).
5) Tires that don't go flat. So important, I'm saying it twice.
See above.
In fact, I HATE bicycle helmets. Their sole purpose is to show all the people driving around that the person on the bike is middle class, has a car at home, can afford a $100 helmet, and is seriously concerned about saving the environment to the point of actually going out into the public on a bicycle.
At this point I think I'm being trolled, but I'll continue.
There are plenty of ANSI and SNELL certified helmets for significantly less than $100. Hot damn, I even found you one using Canadian Dollars. The Adrenaline 2 is on sale for $20 and is plenty safe. Hardly seems to justify the yuppie status trophy you want to place on it.
Sure helmets aren't cool looking. BFD, neither are life jackets and designated drivers.
I'll leave the skiing one for the next time, but in the meantime, think about what you'd rather land on if dropped from the sky, fresh powder or a lamp-post/ford pickup/car door/concrete curb and when you're done there, remember that traffic (on streets, trails, and parks) move both ways and don't expect to see you there.
Just protects the passwords so you don't have to lock down your whole PDA all the time (I don't really care if someone nabs my schedule/phone list). It works really well, and seems to be written with security in mind (as opposed to ease of use). According to the website, it uses "secure triple-DES encryption using a 112-bit key derived from the password". And the best part: it's open source.
Pick it up here:
http://gnukeyring.sourceforge.net/
This is obviously going against the grain of the response but I've found that writing things out by hand has some real benefits for thoughtful composition (no that's not a tangential joke about slashdot first posts).
I can type far faster than I can write, so it is definitely more efficient, but I've found that when typing, the quality of my writing drops and more importantly, the quality of my arguments drops as well. I think it has to do with the time taken to write things out. Difficult arguments take time to think through, and as they become more complex, they take time to explain to the reader (the point of the exercise). It depends of what is being written.
Case in point, the first draft of my master's thesis in art history (yes, the humanities) began entirely typed then I started writing things out (mainly because I couldn't get an available plug at the library). When revising for draft two, I found that the arguments in the handwritten passages were far better constructed and required less revision, while the typed portions were kind of sloppy.
Your input method (writing, typing, speaking) should correspond to the speed with which you can generate the content (if possible, coding or rapping are two examples where this doesn't work). So if you're writing a quick email trying to make arrangements for a party, typing is great. If you're belabouring some convoluted French theorist, you might benefit from handwriting.
The other aspect that should be considered is that of permanence. Typing (on an electronic box of some sort) is completely impermanent. You can erase anything you do, and in most cases you can redo anything you erase (unless you're posting to slashdot). This lead me to spew all kinds of random thoughts out because the energy required was nominal and it wouldn't leave any trace if it was so bad that it could be embarrassing;) Writing (or old fashion hammer-bashing ribbon typing) is there forever (give or take).
Writing also allows for doodling or drawing charts, maps, graphs, whatever. These doodles are completely inaccurate but easy fast, and get the point across. On computers, graphs, charts, and maps are a pain in the arse but are really really accurate. Which is better? Depends on how far you are into the process. If you need to get ideas down, I think the pen and paper route.
It wouldn't be so bad if Sony was consistent--but of the several Sony PDAs at the local stores, no two use the same form factor for anything more than the memory stick.
Something Sony has actually done quite well is maintain consistency across the board. All the sony Clie's (as far as I know, the three I've personally used at least) use the same connector. This IMHO is far more important than the rest of the form factor being the same. Keyboards, chargers, cradles, cables, etc. all use the same connector.
Palm uses the same physical form but changes connectors pretty regularly (or at least they used to), making lots of the expensive accessories obsolete pretty quickly. Screen covers are cheap and can be made yourself.
Sony accessories used to be harder to find when they were first entering the market, but that's just the way it is when you first enter the market. There are plenty of Clie accessories from Sony and third parties now though.
You might want to look into the Sony Clie's. They come with the software to run as a remote and they have a range of about 4.5 metres. Look into specific models though. My wife's T415 is great (easily usable from across the room) whereas my SJ20 is lucky to extend much past two feet. Any of the Sony's that ship with their "Remote Commander" software should do what you're looking for.
Of course, these are palm based solutions, for better or worse.
I completely agree. I read this expecting that they would have used the PDA's and written some summary of their comparative strengths and weaknesses. Instead it reiterating the press releases for each model, and offering to compare the prices for the readers convenience. Here's a sample of the quality research you find:
[snipped from the SJ33 'review']
The PEG-SJ20 CLIÉ(TM) handheld is the older version of PEG-SJ33 which is very affordable if you
do not need a color screen. The battery life is long and the high-resolution color screen shows images and documents in fine detail. [My Emph]
I'm not a programmer, but here's my take (correct me if I'm wrong). There safari interfaces are well-documented and open(ish). Other programmers know how to do this with their browsers and are free to do so. Apple is trying to encourage innovation and a focused effort to develop a browser on their platform that takes advantage of their OS.
I'm not a programmer, but here's my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong). These safari interfaces are well documented and open(ish). Other software programmers know how it works and can do the same thing with their browsers. Apple is trying to encourage greater innovation and a focused effort on their platform.
For those fellow visual arts people out there (tumbleweed and a dancer drift by), this certainly sounds like the work that Douglas Gordon has been doing for the past few years. His 24 hour Psycho is almost identical to this (he screen psycho frame by frame at a rate that take 24 hours to complete).
This strikes me as the same sort of project technically, but with very different outcomes. I haven't listened to this yet, but the descriptions I've read have been reaching for the 'sublime'. Gordon's work tends to reveal the mechanics of film as viewers naturally observe the acting more closely, and editing takes on monumental proportions capable of shocking you. Cinematography and lighting also get there deserved recognition. I think Gordon has a piece in Europe (sorry I don't remember where) that is a public installation of a film that's currently running and should be up for five years.
Slashdot Mirror
A new website has launched to advocate for the public documentation of the manufacturer's raw format spec's. From the website "We want camera manufacturers to publicly document their RAW image formats -- past, present, and future. The goal of OpenRAW is to encourage image preservation and give creative choice of how images are processed to the creators of the images. To this end, we advocate open documentation of information about the how the raw data is stored and the camera settings selected by the photographer."
At present, the only documented RAW format is Adobe's Digital Negative (DNG). The current problem is that I dont think it's ever actually been implemented in an actual camera. Adobe provides a free converter, which is great, but it's not the same thing.
Personally, I'd like adobe's solution. A single format is easier for developers to work with than the ever growing list of RAW formats (even if they are open). It's this thing called standards.
Damn, hit the post button early. I wanted to add that for the absurd purpose of finding a 'best album' I agree with you completely.
I always thought that the average of independent guesses produces a surprisingly precise guess (assuming n is high enough). Sorry I couldn't find a better link
1) Tires that don't go flat! Or, rather, I should say... tires that don't go flat and only cost two or three minimum wage units. $15 US. Yes there are Kevlar tires that are as thin as your thumb and cost $200, hold 100 PSI air pressure, and rarely go flat, but they don't count.
Firstly, those $200 tires go flat just as easily as cheap tires on pavement (i.e. a piece of glass or nail). They are $200 because they're light (by way of having a high thread per inch count) and they're grippy (fancy rubbers and compounds). NOT because they're anymore flat resistant than a cheapo knobby or slick. In fact, I'd argue there more flat resistant for punctures (maybe less for snakebites).
Secondly, if you want a tire that definitely won't go flat, buy a solid rubber tire like your bike had when you were seven. Light, Cheap, Strong - pick two.
Thirdly, tire choice pretty much never affects regular flats (assuming the tire is adequately inflated to begin with). It's the inner tube that goes. Here's a tip, throw a bunch of baby powder in the tire before putting in the inner tube. You're probably flatting because your tire is spinning in the rim and cutting the valve stem.
2) Something to keep the rain and road dirt from putting a big skunk stripe up our backs when riding in wet climates. There are fenders, but they don't work well.
Actually fenders work incredibly well. Just get a set of grandma fenders that cover about half the wheel (less in front) and are really close to the tire. Yeah they look dumb, and your cool seat mounted stick is waay cooler on campus, but you said you want something that works.
3) The ability to fold the frame so that it can fit in the back of a small car or on the bus.
These exist in abundance.
4) Brakes that work in the rain.
Yeah. This one would be nice. Discs work well here ($$$), and so do Magura's with salmon pads (haven't tried the froggies), but most mechanicals suck. (Except when you pair old canti levers and v-brake arms... that'll stop anything).
5) Tires that don't go flat. So important, I'm saying it twice.
See above.
In fact, I HATE bicycle helmets. Their sole purpose is to show all the people driving around that the person on the bike is middle class, has a car at home, can afford a $100 helmet, and is seriously concerned about saving the environment to the point of actually going out into the public on a bicycle.
At this point I think I'm being trolled, but I'll continue.
There are plenty of ANSI and SNELL certified helmets for significantly less than $100. Hot damn, I even found you one using Canadian Dollars. The Adrenaline 2 is on sale for $20 and is plenty safe. Hardly seems to justify the yuppie status trophy you want to place on it.
Sure helmets aren't cool looking. BFD, neither are life jackets and designated drivers.
I'll leave the skiing one for the next time, but in the meantime, think about what you'd rather land on if dropped from the sky, fresh powder or a lamp-post/ford pickup/car door/concrete curb and when you're done there, remember that traffic (on streets, trails, and parks) move both ways and don't expect to see you there.
Jeff
Just protects the passwords so you don't have to lock down your whole PDA all the time (I don't really care if someone nabs my schedule/phone list). It works really well, and seems to be written with security in mind (as opposed to ease of use). According to the website, it uses "secure triple-DES encryption using a 112-bit key derived from the password". And the best part: it's open source. Pick it up here: http://gnukeyring.sourceforge.net/
This is obviously going against the grain of the response but I've found that writing things out by hand has some real benefits for thoughtful composition (no that's not a tangential joke about slashdot first posts).
I can type far faster than I can write, so it is definitely more efficient, but I've found that when typing, the quality of my writing drops and more importantly, the quality of my arguments drops as well. I think it has to do with the time taken to write things out. Difficult arguments take time to think through, and as they become more complex, they take time to explain to the reader (the point of the exercise). It depends of what is being written.
Case in point, the first draft of my master's thesis in art history (yes, the humanities) began entirely typed then I started writing things out (mainly because I couldn't get an available plug at the library). When revising for draft two, I found that the arguments in the handwritten passages were far better constructed and required less revision, while the typed portions were kind of sloppy.
Your input method (writing, typing, speaking) should correspond to the speed with which you can generate the content (if possible, coding or rapping are two examples where this doesn't work). So if you're writing a quick email trying to make arrangements for a party, typing is great. If you're belabouring some convoluted French theorist, you might benefit from handwriting.
The other aspect that should be considered is that of permanence. Typing (on an electronic box of some sort) is completely impermanent. You can erase anything you do, and in most cases you can redo anything you erase (unless you're posting to slashdot). This lead me to spew all kinds of random thoughts out because the energy required was nominal and it wouldn't leave any trace if it was so bad that it could be embarrassing ;) Writing (or old fashion hammer-bashing ribbon typing) is there forever (give or take).
Writing also allows for doodling or drawing charts, maps, graphs, whatever. These doodles are completely inaccurate but easy fast, and get the point across. On computers, graphs, charts, and maps are a pain in the arse but are really really accurate. Which is better? Depends on how far you are into the process. If you need to get ideas down, I think the pen and paper route.
It wouldn't be so bad if Sony was consistent--but of the several Sony PDAs at the local stores, no two use the same form factor for anything more than the memory stick.
Something Sony has actually done quite well is maintain consistency across the board. All the sony Clie's (as far as I know, the three I've personally used at least) use the same connector. This IMHO is far more important than the rest of the form factor being the same. Keyboards, chargers, cradles, cables, etc. all use the same connector.
Palm uses the same physical form but changes connectors pretty regularly (or at least they used to), making lots of the expensive accessories obsolete pretty quickly. Screen covers are cheap and can be made yourself.
Sony accessories used to be harder to find when they were first entering the market, but that's just the way it is when you first enter the market. There are plenty of Clie accessories from Sony and third parties now though.
Clearly no one has a friggin' clue what that means...
You might want to look into the Sony Clie's. They come with the software to run as a remote and they have a range of about 4.5 metres. Look into specific models though. My wife's T415 is great (easily usable from across the room) whereas my SJ20 is lucky to extend much past two feet. Any of the Sony's that ship with their "Remote Commander" software should do what you're looking for. Of course, these are palm based solutions, for better or worse.
I'm not a programmer, but here's my take (correct me if I'm wrong). There safari interfaces are well-documented and open(ish). Other programmers know how to do this with their browsers and are free to do so. Apple is trying to encourage innovation and a focused effort to develop a browser on their platform that takes advantage of their OS.
I'm not a programmer, but here's my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong). These safari interfaces are well documented and open(ish). Other software programmers know how it works and can do the same thing with their browsers. Apple is trying to encourage greater innovation and a focused effort on their platform.
For those fellow visual arts people out there (tumbleweed and a dancer drift by), this certainly sounds like the work that Douglas Gordon has been doing for the past few years. His 24 hour Psycho is almost identical to this (he screen psycho frame by frame at a rate that take 24 hours to complete).
This strikes me as the same sort of project technically, but with very different outcomes. I haven't listened to this yet, but the descriptions I've read have been reaching for the 'sublime'. Gordon's work tends to reveal the mechanics of film as viewers naturally observe the acting more closely, and editing takes on monumental proportions capable of shocking you. Cinematography and lighting also get there deserved recognition. I think Gordon has a piece in Europe (sorry I don't remember where) that is a public installation of a film that's currently running and should be up for five years.