You may be right on the MPEG-2 numbers. I saw the setup I described in a friends lab and they may have been using something else for the compression or taking advantage of the proximity to their broadcast equipment.
Seriously, using MPEG-2 and compressed HDTV, the bandwidth currently used by one analog channel can support 24 standard definition or 6 high definition broadcasts.
Leaving out a few of the extra compressed channels and you have a nice data stream for interactive content.
Consider a sporting event broadcast this way:
One HD feed for the packaged broadcast
One HD feed for the wide field shot
One HD feed for the current action close up
11 standard def feeds for 11 more cameras
One data stream containing all team stats plus real time stats on the game.
A TV that lets you manage all feeds and display them in your favorite layout.
This is currently possible with the bandwidth available for one broadcast channel and would be a very good use of the spectrum.
One other thought: consolidating on sats/cable could have the nasty side effect of eliminating local programming altogether.
I work at a biotech where Windows is the platform on every scientists desktop. Additionally, all the software provided with the instruments (plate handlers, HPLC, Mass Spec, NMR, etc) is Windows DLL/ActiveX based.
Python is a great solution for mixing open source development tools with Windows based vendor tools. All of our applications are written in Python using wxWindows as the GUI toolkit. Most applications use 3rd party ActiveX controls. We have had no problems integrating these with the open source tools.
Python also has the advantage of a very powerful scientific environment, SciPy and Numeric, both of which we use for all our data processing.
The one caveat is that occasionally a little C/C++ hacking may be necessary to work around COM issues. In one instance, I did have to implement a COM method call in C and call it via a Python function (eg, callCOMMethod(comObj, args...)). Also, for performance reasons, a little C hacking can be useful when dealing with large data sets.
Ok, so this isn't quite a geek novel, but rather more a literary mystery. However, it's easily the best book I've read in a long time - and I just finished Pattern Recongnition and Cryptonomicon.
The story takes place against the backdrop of a liberal arts college in New England and follows a group of ultra intelligent greek students as they experiment with ideas from ancient Greece and end up murdering a local in an attempt to recreate an old ceremony.
The characters are explored in depth and are very much like many 'geeks' I have known, with the study of Greek substituted for science.
Donna Tartt has a great command of english and an incredible talent creating metaphors. Many times, I found myself rereading passages just to fully appreciate them.
I rarely venture away from the traditional geek fare, but this one was well worth the time.
As for the other books mentioned, Pattern Rec. was a shadow of Neuromancer, only worth reading in a quick sitting. Crypto was Tom Clancy-esq with cryptology and monetary theory standing in for submarines and airplanes (though there are some of those, too). A good read.
After investing in a reciever, antenna and subscriptions for HD content, I've decided to give up on HD for now and sell it all. 1080i on a 32" 4x3 TV was just underwhelming.
I can't even imagine why I'd want to use my 15" or 21" VGA monitors.
...in our conference rooms. They're really nice for presentationns and software demos, though anything that requires precision will suffer a bit.
I find that when I'm using them, I'll use them in the floating mode (they also have a roller and work on flat surfaces) even if I'm sitting down. Waving the mouse seems more natural than sliding it around the surface, especially when you're using a screen the size of a wall (ie, projector).
Switching between waving the mouse and typing on a keyboard does require setting down/picking up the mouse, so it's not practical for cases where you're doing a lot of mousing and typing.
"And of course in having an excessively large testing team by commercial standards, testers out-numbers codes by huge ratios..."
This is probably the most profound statement about OSS I've seen in this discussion.
OSS projects are not better because the coders are more talented or devoted than closed source projects. They are better because they actually have QA resources that cannot be matched by close source projects.
Stop and think about this: put a team of 1000 testers on a project who actually understand the software and do not test by a following a checklist of requirements but actually try to use the software and give them direct access to the developers (ie, remove the management/marketing layers that filter bugs). I suspect in this case a closed source project could have the success of an open source project.
I currently own 4 Nintendo systems (NES, 64, GBA, Cube), 2 PCs and a Mac. I play almost all my games on the NES, GBA, Cube and Mac.
For consoles, nothing beats sitting on my couch, playing Tetris, Metroid, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Sunshine, Eternal Darkness, Rouge Leader and the others on a nice TV with full surround (ok, so I'm just doubling the L/R channels on the rears for the older games). It completely blows away the PC gaming experience. The new games especially are just beautiful. The UI designers (for the most part) actually put some effort into making sure the game is playable within the constraints of the controller.
Most importantly, I can sit down after a day at work, fire up a console and not have to wait minutes for it to boot up and worry about it crashing or not refreshing fast enough for my hardware: everything just works (which is also why I gave up PCs in favor of Macs).
PC games became pretty dull after the advent of the FPS and RTS genres. For the most part, every new game is a variation on those themes. As far as gameplay is concerned, networked Doom was the peak for FPS and Unreal brought the genere up to 'current' graphic standards (until DNF is released, of course). On the RTS side, my favorite has always been Total Annihilation. Both Unreal and TA are available on the Mac now, which is where I play them.
Two comments on the last platform I play daily: the GBA. First, the platform has forced designers back to simpler games that must be compelling to get played. Gameplay is important and flashy graphics are not. Second, Advance Wars (probably one of the top 5 video games ever developed) has made travelling a very pleasant experience. 12 hours to Sydney, 5 nice battles, didn't even notice the time go by.
Given my experience with games, I'm not at all suprised that platforms are more important than PCs. They offer just more convenience and creative features than a PC can for the casual gamer.
And a quick comment on the costs of a console system compared to a PC: Sony Wega HD $1400-2000, + Game Cube $150, + Sony Surround in a Box (not the best, but gets you started) $300, + Lazy Boy $400: ~$2500. There's no way to get a PC setup that comfortable for that price.
-Chris
Important Step?
on
Awari Solved
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
From the article:
"The research is an important step forward in a research area within Artificial Intelligence, to solve games with increasing complexity"
I don't quite understand why a big lookup table is an important step for AI. Humans don't play games by checking every possible move and picking the best one and never will.
The AI community really needs to stop looking for tricks that allow computers to solve problems in ways that humans never could and instead spend their time trying to understand how intelligence actually works.
Hint: scrap predicate logic (and in doing so the Turing machine) as the model for intelligence. Instead, define a model from which predicate logic can emerge (Reginald Cahill has more or less done this, but I'm not sure if he realizes it yet: Process Physics.).
Seriously, I don't use most 3rd party tools because they don't let me use my favorite text editor. By combining a bad text editor with development tools and making it hard to use an external editor (most IDEs), you're going to alienate many developers. Development tools need to integrate into my workflow easily and not get in the way. My editor is a big part of my workflow, don't make me change it. The only exception is for tools that are just too useful. I'll suffer a bit, but the payoff needs to be large.
TogetherSoft is the only development tool company I can think of that really succeeds here. I've use Together for Java, C++ and Python development and always coded in Emacs. Everything in the model updates as you expect it to.
Development tools also need to be easy to use. And by this I don't mean saying they're easy to use in the marketing packet. Do some usability studies and make sure they're easy to use! If I have to spend more than an hour figuring out a new tool, odds are its not worth it. Of course, there are exceptions here for very useful tools (odds are yours does not fit this category).
Finally (and most importantly), tell the truth!!! If your marketing info makes a claim, it better be true. As soon as I hit the first false claim when trying out a tool, I stop using it. It's not worth my time to figure out what is fluff and what is real.
Get these right and you won't need clever marketing to get to me.
Fortran is only still alive because that's the only language that scientists and engineers (other than CS people) are taught.
Just like the speed of light is still considered constant becuase that's what we were all taught.
-Chris
Slashdot Mirror
You may be right on the MPEG-2 numbers. I saw the setup I described in a friends lab and they may have been using something else for the compression or taking advantage of the proximity to their broadcast equipment.
-Chris
Seriously, using MPEG-2 and compressed HDTV, the bandwidth currently used by one analog channel can support 24 standard definition or 6 high definition broadcasts.
Leaving out a few of the extra compressed channels and you have a nice data stream for interactive content.
Consider a sporting event broadcast this way:
This is currently possible with the bandwidth available for one broadcast channel and would be a very good use of the spectrum.
One other thought: consolidating on sats/cable could have the nasty side effect of eliminating local programming altogether.
-Chris
I work at a biotech where Windows is the platform on every scientists desktop. Additionally, all the software provided with the instruments (plate handlers, HPLC, Mass Spec, NMR, etc) is Windows DLL/ActiveX based.
Python is a great solution for mixing open source development tools with Windows based vendor tools. All of our applications are written in Python using wxWindows as the GUI toolkit. Most applications use 3rd party ActiveX controls. We have had no problems integrating these with the open source tools.
Python also has the advantage of a very powerful scientific environment, SciPy and Numeric, both of which we use for all our data processing.
The one caveat is that occasionally a little C/C++ hacking may be necessary to work around COM issues. In one instance, I did have to implement a COM method call in C and call it via a Python function (eg, callCOMMethod(comObj, args...)). Also, for performance reasons, a little C hacking can be useful when dealing with large data sets.
-Chris
Ok, so this isn't quite a geek novel, but rather more a literary mystery. However, it's easily the best book I've read in a long time - and I just finished Pattern Recongnition and Cryptonomicon.
The story takes place against the backdrop of a liberal arts college in New England and follows a group of ultra intelligent greek students as they experiment with ideas from ancient Greece and end up murdering a local in an attempt to recreate an old ceremony.
The characters are explored in depth and are very much like many 'geeks' I have known, with the study of Greek substituted for science.
Donna Tartt has a great command of english and an incredible talent creating metaphors. Many times, I found myself rereading passages just to fully appreciate them.
I rarely venture away from the traditional geek fare, but this one was well worth the time.
As for the other books mentioned, Pattern Rec. was a shadow of Neuromancer, only worth reading in a quick sitting. Crypto was Tom Clancy-esq with cryptology and monetary theory standing in for submarines and airplanes (though there are some of those, too). A good read.
Enjoy.
-Chris
After investing in a reciever, antenna and subscriptions for HD content, I've decided to give up on HD for now and sell it all. 1080i on a 32" 4x3 TV was just underwhelming.
I can't even imagine why I'd want to use my 15" or 21" VGA monitors.
-Chris
It's been said before and I'll quote it again:
3D is just bad 2D.
Save for games, I have yet to see an application where 3D doesn't make things worse.
-Chris
...in our conference rooms. They're really nice for presentationns and software demos, though anything that requires precision will suffer a bit.
I find that when I'm using them, I'll use them in the floating mode (they also have a roller and work on flat surfaces) even if I'm sitting down. Waving the mouse seems more natural than sliding it around the surface, especially when you're using a screen the size of a wall (ie, projector).
Switching between waving the mouse and typing on a keyboard does require setting down/picking up the mouse, so it's not practical for cases where you're doing a lot of mousing and typing.
-Chris
Help avert war with Iraq?
It's easy: turn off your computer and conserve energy rather than letting it suck power when you're not using it.
-Chris
"And of course in having an excessively large testing team by commercial standards, testers out-numbers codes by huge ratios..."
This is probably the most profound statement about OSS I've seen in this discussion.
OSS projects are not better because the coders are more talented or devoted than closed source projects. They are better because they actually have QA resources that cannot be matched by close source projects.
Stop and think about this: put a team of 1000 testers on a project who actually understand the software and do not test by a following a checklist of requirements but actually try to use the software and give them direct access to the developers (ie, remove the management/marketing layers that filter bugs). I suspect in this case a closed source project could have the success of an open source project.
Think about it.
-Chris
I currently own 4 Nintendo systems (NES, 64, GBA, Cube), 2 PCs and a Mac. I play almost all my games on the NES, GBA, Cube and Mac.
For consoles, nothing beats sitting on my couch, playing Tetris, Metroid, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Sunshine, Eternal Darkness, Rouge Leader and the others on a nice TV with full surround (ok, so I'm just doubling the L/R channels on the rears for the older games). It completely blows away the PC gaming experience. The new games especially are just beautiful. The UI designers (for the most part) actually put some effort into making sure the game is playable within the constraints of the controller.
Most importantly, I can sit down after a day at work, fire up a console and not have to wait minutes for it to boot up and worry about it crashing or not refreshing fast enough for my hardware: everything just works (which is also why I gave up PCs in favor of Macs).
PC games became pretty dull after the advent of the FPS and RTS genres. For the most part, every new game is a variation on those themes. As far as gameplay is concerned, networked Doom was the peak for FPS and Unreal brought the genere up to 'current' graphic standards (until DNF is released, of course). On the RTS side, my favorite has always been Total Annihilation. Both Unreal and TA are available on the Mac now, which is where I play them.
Two comments on the last platform I play daily: the GBA. First, the platform has forced designers back to simpler games that must be compelling to get played. Gameplay is important and flashy graphics are not. Second, Advance Wars (probably one of the top 5 video games ever developed) has made travelling a very pleasant experience. 12 hours to Sydney, 5 nice battles, didn't even notice the time go by.
Given my experience with games, I'm not at all suprised that platforms are more important than PCs. They offer just more convenience and creative features than a PC can for the casual gamer.
And a quick comment on the costs of a console system compared to a PC: Sony Wega HD $1400-2000, + Game Cube $150, + Sony Surround in a Box (not the best, but gets you started) $300, + Lazy Boy $400: ~$2500. There's no way to get a PC setup that comfortable for that price.
-Chris
From the article:
"The research is an important step forward in a research area within Artificial Intelligence, to solve games with increasing complexity"
I don't quite understand why a big lookup table is an important step for AI. Humans don't play games by checking every possible move and picking the best one and never will.
The AI community really needs to stop looking for tricks that allow computers to solve problems in ways that humans never could and instead spend their time trying to understand how intelligence actually works.
Hint: scrap predicate logic (and in doing so the Turing machine) as the model for intelligence. Instead, define a model from which predicate logic can emerge (Reginald Cahill has more or less done this, but I'm not sure if he realizes it yet: Process Physics.).
-Chris
First, make your tools compatible with Emacs. :)
Seriously, I don't use most 3rd party tools because they don't let me use my favorite text editor. By combining a bad text editor with development tools and making it hard to use an external editor (most IDEs), you're going to alienate many developers. Development tools need to integrate into my workflow easily and not get in the way. My editor is a big part of my workflow, don't make me change it. The only exception is for tools that are just too useful. I'll suffer a bit, but the payoff needs to be large.
TogetherSoft is the only development tool company I can think of that really succeeds here. I've use Together for Java, C++ and Python development and always coded in Emacs. Everything in the model updates as you expect it to.
Development tools also need to be easy to use. And by this I don't mean saying they're easy to use in the marketing packet. Do some usability studies and make sure they're easy to use! If I have to spend more than an hour figuring out a new tool, odds are its not worth it. Of course, there are exceptions here for very useful tools (odds are yours does not fit this category).
Finally (and most importantly), tell the truth!!! If your marketing info makes a claim, it better be true. As soon as I hit the first false claim when trying out a tool, I stop using it. It's not worth my time to figure out what is fluff and what is real.
Get these right and you won't need clever marketing to get to me.
-Chris
Fortran is only still alive because that's the only language that scientists and engineers (other than CS people) are taught. Just like the speed of light is still considered constant becuase that's what we were all taught. -Chris
All those geeks refreshing every 5 seconds to get first post...