Around 2500 of the intersections in Sydney are linked together and they "marry" and "divorce" each other based on live statistical data as cars flow through the intersections.
It's a self-calibrating system. It has been exported to many countries.
The local intersection controllers measure traffic flows and adjust timings locally and also are linked to regional controllers that share statistics for an area and these regional controllers are all linked to the central monitoring facility in the city.
Google on the Sydney Co-ordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS)
e.g. http://www.traffic-tech.com/pdf/scatsbrochure.pdf
Please read the article before making stupid comments. Lower average intelligence than community radio broadcasters!
ABSTRACT:
This paper describes a method for enhancing the privacy of computer displays in public and semipublic
areas. By operating the display at a higher-than-usual frame rate and alternately displaying frames
of an arbitrary private image and a computed mask image, unauthorized viewers perceive one image,
while authorized viewers with appropriately keyed shutterglasses see an entirely different (and private)
image. Although the technique can be defeated, it provides a measure of privacy against casual and
opportunistic privacy penetrations.
I put all my favourite tools on one 8cm CDR and kept it in my bag so I had it handy wherever I went. Until one day I found the CDR broken in two in the bottom of my bag...whoops
What you're saying applies a little in a studio when recording a CD and the artist is happy to pay megabucks to continually re-record it, but in a live situation the engineer can make or break a performance and have a real effect on the audience's enjoyment of the performance. Getting the right balance between instruments, the right amount of bass guitar at the right time in the song etc.
Ok, you're obviously a guitarist. Now from a sound engineer's point of view.
Unbalanced pickups in guitars SUCK. I have to have a DI box for every channel, muck around with Earth Lifts to reduce the humming, mess around with feeble 1/4inch jacks, etc etc etc.
If only some musicians would put decent balanced pickups in their guitars and a Canon connector straight on the end...
As far as mic'ing the amp - I had a moronic musician once insist that I use a high quality Neumann U87 mic on his amp because a DI box would distort the sound. He then proceeded to play through the most vile distortion effects pedal you could imagine.
I have a permanent modem connection (33kbps) and it cost me $500 to install, $20 per month up to 100MB and then $20/per 100MB after that. Average bill is about $70/month for a measly 350MB!!!!
...and if you think Microsoft doesn't deserve any punishment for its dishonest and bullying practices, have a look at this bullshit comparison between the Pilot and MS PDA:
Email: MS = Yes, Palm = NO ( that is a lie ) Memory: MS = 16-32MB, Palm 8MB max ( But efficiency of RAM use? ) CPU speed: MS = up to 206MHz, Palm = 20MHz or less ( battery saving, efficient OS, etc etc ) Natural Handwriting Recognition: MS = Yes, Palm = No, must learn Graffiti language etc etc etc...
This is bullshit!
They might as well include things like:
How many pins on the CPU chip: MS = 1000, Palm = 208 Battery Terminals: MS = Titanium, Palm = Stainless steel Number of buttons: MS = 12, Palm = 6 CPU Voltage: MS = 3.9v, Palm = 3.0v
it also inherited one of the OS's most annoying traits: it crashes. Just like good ol' Windows 98, this little OS crashes more often than we'd like. Our machine froze four times in less than three hours.
My Palm Pilot has crashed 0 times in three years, and endured through daily sync's and hard use.
What would you choose for your weapon - Four crashes in three hours or none in three years?
About the local loop, bandwidth in Australia $ucks, but one small benefit is that when bandwidth is restricted you learn to use it more efficiently, for example making text based websites instead of littering them with graphics made of text.
I first heard this term a few years ago. I heard someone say that x took 300 man-years to develop. My mind went:
* 300 years is a long time * people don't live for 300 years (anymore) * this seems wrong * uh! I get it - x people for y years = 300 man-years * this is a cool metric because the more $ you have for your project the more time you can buy
I was just reading the story about the likely fate of Iridium (literally burning up 66 satellites). They said it cost $5-7 billion dollars to develop. It took "over 50,000 man-years".
To extrapolate that, say people work from 25 years old to 60 years old - 35 years of paid work per person. 50,000 / 35 = The same value as 1428 people's entire working existence.
So can we now "place a value" on a human life from a business point of view?
Slashdot Mirror
Sydney has had this for the over 20 years.
Around 2500 of the intersections in Sydney are linked together and they "marry" and "divorce" each other based on live statistical data as cars flow through the intersections.
It's a self-calibrating system. It has been exported to many countries.
The local intersection controllers measure traffic flows and adjust timings locally and also are linked to regional controllers that share statistics for an area and these regional controllers are all linked to the central monitoring facility in the city.
Google on the Sydney Co-ordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS)
e.g. http://www.traffic-tech.com/pdf/scatsbrochure.pdf
I'm with you too!
I think one would have to assume it was a bad deal for the taxpayer - otherwise, why would they need to keep it secret?
That was fantastic! I enjoyed reading it.
I recently looked into getting GPRS to use with a laptop. Tel$tra charge $22.00 per MEGABYTE!!!
(offically, 2.2cents / kilobyte)
This is ridiculous.
Please read the article before making stupid comments. Lower average intelligence than community radio broadcasters!
ABSTRACT: This paper describes a method for enhancing the privacy of computer displays in public and semipublic areas. By operating the display at a higher-than-usual frame rate and alternately displaying frames of an arbitrary private image and a computed mask image, unauthorized viewers perceive one image, while authorized viewers with appropriately keyed shutterglasses see an entirely different (and private) image. Although the technique can be defeated, it provides a measure of privacy against casual and opportunistic privacy penetrations.
Can't they make the change more slowly?
Currently I am allowed to download 19.5GB for my $75/Month. (roughly $0.003/MB)
On the new plan, 3GB/Month for $80 is about $0.026/MB
That's about an ***EIGHT-fold*** increase in one change!
The example press release with the company names changed:h tml
http://www.cio.com/archive/010102/hype_sidebar_1.
The real press release:
http://www.trueadvantage.com/press_04.htm
Original article headline:
North Magnetic Pole could be leaving Canada
Slashdot article headline:
North Pole is leaving Canada
I put all my favourite tools on one 8cm CDR and kept it in my bag so I had it handy wherever I went. Until one day I found the CDR broken in two in the bottom of my bag...whoops
The sound samples they have provided are very basic, not utilising the full spectrum... and IMNSHO, they sound poorer than the MP3 equivalents.
What you're saying applies a little in a studio when recording a CD and the artist is happy to pay megabucks to continually re-record it, but in a live situation the engineer can make or break a performance and have a real effect on the audience's enjoyment of the performance. Getting the right balance between instruments, the right amount of bass guitar at the right time in the song etc.
Ok, you're obviously a guitarist. Now from a sound engineer's point of view.
Unbalanced pickups in guitars SUCK. I have to have a DI box for every channel, muck around with Earth Lifts to reduce the humming, mess around with feeble 1/4inch jacks, etc etc etc.
If only some musicians would put decent balanced pickups in their guitars and a Canon connector straight on the end...
As far as mic'ing the amp - I had a moronic musician once insist that I use a high quality Neumann U87 mic on his amp because a DI box would distort the sound. He then proceeded to play through the most vile distortion effects pedal you could imagine.
I bought my first Palm in 1997 and am now onto my second one. I has NEVER locked up on me* and I have never lost any data. Simple and reliable.
* I have intentionally locked it up when mucking around with some alpha software, but that is understandable.
I hope nobody ever dies from the safety hazards in that case.
...on creating the recording?
All the barcode 'readers' which are small transaction terminals that 'sync' to their host.
There are probably more of these in existence than Palm Pilots and WinCE devices combined.
So where can one hide when they do de-orbit them?
Just put an Enter key on the phone.
When prosthetic eyes are better than the standard eye, people will be ripping out their good eyes to get 'enhanced' eyes.
This would also lead to the manufacturer putting non-ignorable advertisements in your vision!
Imagine the type of virtual billboards you could have!
I have a permanent modem connection (33kbps) and it cost me $500 to install, $20 per month up to 100MB and then $20/per 100MB after that. Average bill is about $70/month for a measly 350MB!!!!
...and if you think Microsoft doesn't deserve any punishment for its dishonest and bullying practices, have a look at this bullshit comparison between the Pilot and MS PDA:
e .asp
http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/compar
Email: MS = Yes, Palm = NO ( that is a lie )
Memory: MS = 16-32MB, Palm 8MB max ( But efficiency of RAM use? )
CPU speed: MS = up to 206MHz, Palm = 20MHz or less ( battery saving, efficient OS, etc etc )
Natural Handwriting Recognition: MS = Yes, Palm = No, must learn Graffiti language
etc etc etc...
This is bullshit!
They might as well include things like:
How many pins on the CPU chip: MS = 1000, Palm = 208
Battery Terminals: MS = Titanium, Palm = Stainless steel
Number of buttons: MS = 12, Palm = 6
CPU Voltage: MS = 3.9v, Palm = 3.0v
MicroBloatwareBullshitSoft!
it also inherited one of the OS's most annoying traits: it crashes. Just like good ol' Windows 98, this little OS crashes more often than we'd like. Our machine froze four times in less than three hours.
My Palm Pilot has crashed 0 times in three years, and endured through daily sync's and hard use.
What would you choose for your weapon - Four crashes in three hours or none in three years?
that'll be the day that I die...la la la
There is an article in the Australian Financial Review today about the Federal Court requiring Tel$tra to share its cable network with other players. http://www.afr.com.au/cont ent/000328/invest/invest1.html
About the local loop, bandwidth in Australia $ucks, but one small benefit is that when bandwidth is restricted you learn to use it more efficiently, for example making text based websites instead of littering them with graphics made of text.
RE: Man-years
I first heard this term a few years ago. I heard someone say that x took 300 man-years to develop. My mind went:
* 300 years is a long time
* people don't live for 300 years (anymore)
* this seems wrong
* uh! I get it - x people for y years = 300 man-years
* this is a cool metric because the more $ you have for your project the more time you can buy
I was just reading the story about the likely fate of Iridium (literally burning up 66 satellites).
They said it cost $5-7 billion dollars to develop. It took "over 50,000 man-years".
To extrapolate that, say people work from 25 years old to 60 years old - 35 years of paid work per person.
50,000 / 35 = The same value as 1428 people's entire working existence.
So can we now "place a value" on a human life from a business point of view?