For a (mostly Fortran-like) language that has a free compiler, you might also take a look at F as well. (http://www.fortran.com/F/).
Seconded. F is a subset of Fortran95, with all the deprecated syntax options taken out. This promotes good coding style. Any F program will compile with a f95 compiler, so you can get the same code running on much bigger machines very easily.
4) Enjoy 128Kb MP2 recording with no analogue stage
'Enjoy' and '128Kb [sic] MP2 recording' do not go hand in hand, IME, unless the BBC have started using MP2 encoders optimised for lower bitrates.
My preferred solution is to record from the digital audio output of my Nokia Freeview box, although I did get some very minor interference about 11 minutes in:-(
The best quality optics in the world won't get you past the diffraction limit, so the physical size of the CCD matters too. The diffraction limit imposes the condition that cramming ever more pixels into the same area eventually becomes fruitless: there's no more information to be had in that area. You want more information? Increase that area.
That said, I have no handle on how the cost/benefit curve looks assigning funds to improving either the optics or the CCD in different proportions.
Since the only division of Apple making any serious money is iPod/iTunes, I do not think Apple will play nice.
But since the only part of that division making a profit is the part selling iPods, they may be happy to see other companies rushing to make their tunes play on the 'Pod.
They've chosen their resolution figures well. The angular resolution of the human eye is about 1/100 - 1/60 of a degree. The article talks of fields of view of up to 100 degrees. The horizontal resolution of 7,680 pixels is pretty much spot-on the limit of what the viewers' eyes can resolve at the maximum field of view.
If the 'grid' you're referring to is the dead space between the mirrors in a DLP-type projection system, I would hazard that even if the dead space were 10% of the width of the pixel blocks, it would be too fine to resolve.
So what methods do these other compressions algorithms employ?
MS codecs are proprietary, but my eyes tell me there's either wavelet-based compression or wavelet-filtering going on somewhere in there, probably among a lot of other things.
H.264 is a veritable box of tricks, including block prediction for still pictures, complex motion compensation using multiple reference frames, and some high-whizz-factor arithmetic coding algorithm I don't pretend to understand yet.
The biggest problem with H.264 is that it can be horrendously computationally expensive in comparison with MPEG-2 if you want to achieve high levels of compression.
The BBC are to be applauded for many things regarding this project, but simplicity is near the top of my list.
Videogames as we know them might appear to question very little. They create a world with rules, and allow us to interact with that world, to learn about it, and to jump through hoops in order to score more points or progress to new environments. Therefore, they essentially end up reassuring us that we can control and become comfortable within their virtual world. They throw us surmountable challenges, which, when overcome, reassure us of our own abilities to one extent or another. It's like watching a whodunnit and working out who the killer really was; to that extent, they are entertainment.
However, what's really interesting about them is one of the primary things that is questioned: what can be done with the hardware. Since the earliest days of computer science, boundaries have been pushed back by the desire to entertain, the desire to wring ever more thrills out of hardware, both off-the-shelf and custom.
For me, the defining moment was probably seeing JetPac on the ZX Spectrum. Jaw-dropping, manic, and with cartoon-ish graphics, it re-defined what fun was to me; it made me question what was possible, it changed my life forever.
Videogames are a finely balanced blend of art and science for the purposes of entertainment. If you want to find the art in games, think about what they make you question.
I believe this technology was first tried out right here in Manchester. Unfortunately, it was found that lamp-posts acted as very nice broadcast antennae. Now you could put RF filters on all their power connections, but how much else are you going to need to filter?
IP-dependent business couldn't operate on this basis, always having the chance that the rug will be pulled out from underneath them. This is why patents were set up in the first place, so that an inventor would be able to develop an original idea without having the rug pulled out from under them by a competitor stealing their idea. If you re-introduce the possibility of rug-pulling, you negate the whole point of the system.
If people are exploiting the system and succeed in getting plainly obvious ideas patented, then a chage is certainly necessary. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
So You have to steganohide Your content after compressing. But compressed files have much less noise, and that noise is not random noise but has statistical quirks. If You just hide Your content as white noise and add it to the file - thats detectable, because it changes the statistical behaviour of the file!
Not if you XOR it with a random, known bitstream though, surely?
For scientific applications, it would be good to see a Fortran 90/95 compiler which used a GPU to good advantage. Since matrix operations are part of the language spec, this would appear to be an obvious direction to take, especially given the amount of existing code out there.
I thought I remembered quite a bit of info on various "making-of" shows that showed the original models, how they did cutting-edge special effects on a shoestring budget, and the occasional flaws that made it through (like a TIE fighter shadow where the fighter itself had been removed).
Yeah, that was part of a BBC 'Horizon' SFX show from the mid-80s IIRC. Also showed how the shuttle landing on Endor was built up from multiple exposures using computer controlled models. I think The Temple Of Doom was also featured in this programme.
Aren't there also some supremely rare japanese Star Wars documentary Laserdiscs? Someone help me out here!
Heh, a musical instrument with a latency issue. Oh yes, sure, Pros are going to stock up on these things. Not bloody likely.
I know first hand that this is not the only musical instrument with latency: a pipe organ in a large hall has significant latency if you consider the time it takes from when the key is pressed to when the audience first hear the note.
This means that you have to play slightly ahead of the orchestra, and indeed the conductor... who of course you can only see through a mirror anyway. And the latency stays the same even when the tempo changes, so the fraction-of-a-beat by which you have to play ahead changes from movement to movement of a symphony.
It's difficult - damn difficult - to compensate for this and not screw up the whole performance... a pipe organ's not exactly subtle at the best of times, it's not going to be missed if you're not getting it right. At least DJs have the advantage of headphones so they can hear pretty much what the audience does... an organist has to rely on the conductor (or a headphone feed if you're at a recording session).
Short version is that if they don't sort out those latency issues, I really can't see it's any use to anyone serious. But then as has already been said, it's not anyone serious that this is aimed at.
Sort out the latency and I'd love to try one though...
I wouldn't say they lacked transparency, but perhaps your yardstick is longer than mine. As for physical contact noise problems, I'd anticipate that affecting any headphones which 'seal' across the entrance to the ear canal as these are supposed to... do you know otherwise?
Not noticed any efficiency problems when the ear canal seal is properly made, but certainly have when it's not... you also get an almost complete lack of bass and an overall very tinny sound if they're not fitted properly.
Slashdot Mirror
Morex 3677 mini-ITX case Silver
The words butt and ugly leap to mind, would anyone seriously consider that monstrosity over a Mac mini?
note that the Mac mini has a slightly faster CPU (and i'm willing to bet the G4 will out-perform the Via Eden in most cases).
You could say that, considering the VIA CPU doesn't have so much as a floating point unit IIRC.
Matt....
Seconded. F is a subset of Fortran95, with all the deprecated syntax options taken out. This promotes good coding style. Any F program will compile with a f95 compiler, so you can get the same code running on much bigger machines very easily.
Matt...
Any word on how much the upgrade is likely to be?
Matt...
Or something like that anyway. The good people over at the Doom9 Forums will probably be able to help you further.
Matt...
Matt.
'Enjoy' and '128Kb [sic] MP2 recording' do not go hand in hand, IME, unless the BBC have started using MP2 encoders optimised for lower bitrates.
My preferred solution is to record from the digital audio output of my Nokia Freeview box, although I did get some very minor interference about 11 minutes in :-(
Matt...
That said, I have no handle on how the cost/benefit curve looks assigning funds to improving either the optics or the CCD in different proportions.
Matt...
But since the only part of that division making a profit is the part selling iPods, they may be happy to see other companies rushing to make their tunes play on the 'Pod.
Or not.
Matt...
Heh, over here in right-pond land, we already knew this. But then, we've been here before anyway.
Matt...
If the 'grid' you're referring to is the dead space between the mirrors in a DLP-type projection system, I would hazard that even if the dead space were 10% of the width of the pixel blocks, it would be too fine to resolve.
Dr. Matt...
MS codecs are proprietary, but my eyes tell me there's either wavelet-based compression or wavelet-filtering going on somewhere in there, probably among a lot of other things.
H.264 is a veritable box of tricks, including block prediction for still pictures, complex motion compensation using multiple reference frames, and some high-whizz-factor arithmetic coding algorithm I don't pretend to understand yet.
The biggest problem with H.264 is that it can be horrendously computationally expensive in comparison with MPEG-2 if you want to achieve high levels of compression.
The BBC are to be applauded for many things regarding this project, but simplicity is near the top of my list.
Matt...
However, what's really interesting about them is one of the primary things that is questioned: what can be done with the hardware. Since the earliest days of computer science, boundaries have been pushed back by the desire to entertain, the desire to wring ever more thrills out of hardware, both off-the-shelf and custom.
For me, the defining moment was probably seeing JetPac on the ZX Spectrum. Jaw-dropping, manic, and with cartoon-ish graphics, it re-defined what fun was to me; it made me question what was possible, it changed my life forever.
Videogames are a finely balanced blend of art and science for the purposes of entertainment. If you want to find the art in games, think about what they make you question.
Matt...
Matt...
At least they're not making complete fools of themselves by trying to enforce licensing in the places where these PCs will end up...
Matt...
Matt...
Matt...
If people are exploiting the system and succeed in getting plainly obvious ideas patented, then a chage is certainly necessary. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Matt...
Not if you XOR it with a random, known bitstream though, surely?
Matt...
Matt...
Matt...
Yeah, that was part of a BBC 'Horizon' SFX show from the mid-80s IIRC. Also showed how the shuttle landing on Endor was built up from multiple exposures using computer controlled models. I think The Temple Of Doom was also featured in this programme.
Aren't there also some supremely rare japanese Star Wars documentary Laserdiscs? Someone help me out here!
Matt...
I know first hand that this is not the only musical instrument with latency: a pipe organ in a large hall has significant latency if you consider the time it takes from when the key is pressed to when the audience first hear the note.
This means that you have to play slightly ahead of the orchestra, and indeed the conductor... who of course you can only see through a mirror anyway. And the latency stays the same even when the tempo changes, so the fraction-of-a-beat by which you have to play ahead changes from movement to movement of a symphony.
It's difficult - damn difficult - to compensate for this and not screw up the whole performance... a pipe organ's not exactly subtle at the best of times, it's not going to be missed if you're not getting it right. At least DJs have the advantage of headphones so they can hear pretty much what the audience does... an organist has to rely on the conductor (or a headphone feed if you're at a recording session).
Short version is that if they don't sort out those latency issues, I really can't see it's any use to anyone serious. But then as has already been said, it's not anyone serious that this is aimed at.
Sort out the latency and I'd love to try one though...
Matt...
Matt...
Matt...
Not noticed any efficiency problems when the ear canal seal is properly made, but certainly have when it's not... you also get an almost complete lack of bass and an overall very tinny sound if they're not fitted properly.
Matt...