OK... If you want lipsynch, you'll need something like they used at DefCon 11 for the CTF contest announcer. Unfortunately, I don't know what it was (google isn't helping this time), and I don't know if it's capable of realtime rendering.
All I know is they used it to pre-record videos of a male newscaster giving announcements. The voice quality was very good, and the graphics were fairly good (facial animation looked like the Half-Life 2 videos I've seen).
Have you seen Ananova? Apparently they're using L&H software (definitely not free, though). I dunno if it can do real-time, either.
MBROLA looks interesting... free (as in beer), lots of voices, runs on lots of platforms.
Only disadv. I can see is it can't read text; you have to give it the phonemes you want it to say, but this means it will say exactly what you want it to (no mis-pronunciation of words not in vocabulary).
As others have mentioned, there are various ways to see when the system rebooted.
If you want to be emailed if the system reboots, put something at the end of/etc/rc.d/rc.local, if you're using something like RedHat (SYSV init, IIRC).
Logwatch will probably let you know if the system rebooted also.
If you want a log of the kernel panic, or something else, that's a lot more complicated, as others ahve mentioned
Basically if my server's in the basement (it is) and I want to have an audio interface to it two floors up in my bedroom, can I do it wirelessly?
Sure, you can legally buy or build a low-power FM audio transmitter that will go 50 feet or more. That's what most cheap "bugs" are, and you can find them for around $20, IIRC. Sound quality may not be great, but it's been a long time since I've played with one.
Best quality would probably come from an "FM Modulator" for a discman or iPod or whatever, if the range is enough.
Or... go to Radio shack... they've got cheap stuff that can do TV. They used to have one called a "Rabbit" for sharing your VCR or cable box or whatever.
Or, of course, you could do 802.11 if you have a PC in the bedroom.
I don't know what they were using at Defcon11 for the CTF contest announcements, but it was nice. It had a 3-d rendered animated head (reminded me of Gordon from HL2), and a very good male voice.
My understanding (from a lecture at Defcon 11 by security consultants) is that power-line baby monitors will work anywhere that is on the same transformer ("typically 8 homes"), so at least neighbors on the same block could eavesdrop on your baby monitors.
X10 probably has the same problem. I doubt they have any encryption.
I suppose you could use an isolation transformer on that electrical circuit, but they are large, heavy, expensive (unless you can get one surplus), and typically are only good for 100watts or so.
I have a 100 or 150w one; it weighs over 75lbs.
Using google, I see there are smaller ones, but they are still expensive ($170+), and I don't know how much isolation they offer.
You might be able to get by with just a simple transformer and/or filter (capacitor or whatever), but IANAEE (I am not an Electrical Engineer).
Googling for "X10 neighbor" finds pages like this: http://www.smarthome.com/solution31.html l ooks like there are some products to reduce "interference" but I don't know how well they'd work.
They say X10 devices should NOT be used to arm/disarm alarms, open doors, etc. due to security problems (someone with a scanner could plug in to an outside outlet and try all the codes in 'minutes').
The X10 stuff is fairly cheap and easy to find. Dunno about the rest.
You can apparently do a whole automation/security system for under $3000... alerting you when someone enters the property, turning on lights, TV, whatever; schedule A/C,...
Just re-write in Perl or Python, and run it anytime there's an earthquake, emailing anyone within X (user definable) miles of the event.
(email addresses, zips, etc in MySQL or PostGres)
I'm still trying to figure out what the whole point of C# is. It's similar to Java, but it is not cross platform, but it's not as quick as a truly native app written in VB or C++.
C# is MS's answer to Java: MS claimed (initially) that C# is totally portable, yadda yadda yadda.
Reality is they're just providing an excuse for MS weenies to justify sticking with MS instead of using Java or even PHP (for smaller projects) or whatever.
The darpa site says there will be roads, dirt roads, and cross-country. Perhaps the cross-country parts will be across lakebeds, etc, where damage would be minimal.
Here's some procmail filters that will at least help. They won't catch everything, but do make a big difference.
#1 -- this will catch anything with the "MailScanner" header that sobig uses. #del sobig worms & sobig worm notifications:0h: * ^X-MailScanner\: Found to be clean$ * ^X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook #/dev/null $BACK/sobig_worms
#2 This one moves ALL bounces to a specific address (help@domain.com) to a folder. Note that this is not a very good idea, but is helpful if you have 1 or 2 addresses that are recieving most of the crap.
#delete bounces to help (stupid sobig worm):0h: * ^TOhelp * ^Subject:.*(DELIVERY FAILURE\:|Returned mail|Warning\:|Failure|Vacation|Out|System Error|AutoReply|Undeliv|delivery|auto-repl|Auto Response|virus) $BACK/help_bounce
Re:random thought of the day
on
Java vs .NET
·
· Score: 1
The patented formula uses carbon tetrachloride... VERY toxic and carcinogenic stuff. It used to be used as a cleaning agent until the FDA banned it in the 70's, IIRC.
So you have a setup like mine: PC with 500W supply, monitor, printer, speakers...
My monitor eats maybe 50W, and my PC consumes 500W max: 550W worst-case.
Your power supply's max rated output is 500W. Switching power supply's are around 75-80% efficient, so your computer could be drawing 666W continuous, maybe even more peak.
Of course, I doubt you have enough components in the computer to actually use 500W, but thought I should mention it.
Also, a lot of bigger monitors draw 75-150W. (I don't know what you have though.)
Slashdot Mirror
Old pantyhose streched across the front grill will catch most of the dust, with very little restriction on airflow.
Of course, that means they may interfere with each other.
Still, I think hospitals are being ridiculous to tell people they can't use their phones in the lobby.
OK... If you want lipsynch, you'll need something like they used at DefCon 11 for the CTF contest announcer. Unfortunately, I don't know what it was (google isn't helping this time), and I don't know if it's capable of realtime rendering.
All I know is they used it to pre-record videos of a male newscaster giving announcements. The voice quality was very good, and the graphics were fairly good (facial animation looked like the Half-Life 2 videos I've seen).
Have you seen Ananova? Apparently they're using L&H software (definitely not free, though). I dunno if it can do real-time, either.
heheh...
see my other comment about MBROLA... it has lots of voices.
Only disadv. I can see is it can't read text; you have to give it the phonemes you want it to say, but this means it will say exactly what you want it to (no mis-pronunciation of words not in vocabulary).
If you want to be emailed if the system reboots, put something at the end of /etc/rc.d/rc.local, if you're using something like RedHat (SYSV init, IIRC).
Logwatch will probably let you know if the system rebooted also.
If you want a log of the kernel panic, or something else, that's a lot more complicated, as others ahve mentioned
Sure, you can legally buy or build a low-power FM audio transmitter that will go 50 feet or more. That's what most cheap "bugs" are, and you can find them for around $20, IIRC. Sound quality may not be great, but it's been a long time since I've played with one.
Best quality would probably come from an "FM Modulator" for a discman or iPod or whatever, if the range is enough.
Or... go to Radio shack... they've got cheap stuff that can do TV. They used to have one called a "Rabbit" for sharing your VCR or cable box or whatever.
Or, of course, you could do 802.11 if you have a PC in the bedroom.
I don't know what they were using at Defcon11 for the CTF contest announcements, but it was nice.
It had a 3-d rendered animated head (reminded me of Gordon from HL2), and a very good male voice.
You're no fun... You need a HAL9000 voice:
Open the garage door, HAL.
I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that...
My understanding (from a lecture at Defcon 11 by security consultants) is that power-line baby monitors will work anywhere that is on the same transformer ("typically 8 homes"), so at least neighbors on the same block could eavesdrop on your baby monitors.
l ooks like there are some products to reduce "interference" but I don't know how well they'd work.
X10 probably has the same problem.
I doubt they have any encryption.
I suppose you could use an isolation transformer on that electrical circuit, but they are large, heavy, expensive (unless you can get one surplus), and typically are only good for 100watts or so.
I have a 100 or 150w one; it weighs over 75lbs.
Using google, I see there are smaller ones, but they are still expensive ($170+), and I don't know how much isolation they offer.
You might be able to get by with just a simple transformer and/or filter (capacitor or whatever), but IANAEE (I am not an Electrical Engineer).
Googling for "X10 neighbor" finds pages like this:
http://www.smarthome.com/solution31.html
They say X10 devices should NOT be used to arm/disarm alarms, open doors, etc. due to security problems (someone with a scanner could plug in to an outside outlet and try all the codes in 'minutes').
The X10 stuff is fairly cheap and easy to find. Dunno about the rest.
...
You can apparently do a whole automation/security system for under $3000... alerting you when someone enters the property, turning on lights, TV, whatever; schedule A/C,
And easy, actually. I've done some proximity-based searching for a store locator, and it is simple if you have the data (ZIP to lat/long db).
Algorithms and ASP code here:t ml t ml t ml
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/010500-1.sh
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/040100-1.sh
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/010500-2.sh
Just re-write in Perl or Python, and run it anytime there's an earthquake, emailing anyone within X (user definable) miles of the event. (email addresses, zips, etc in MySQL or PostGres)
Free 2000 data at: http://www.census.gov/tiger/tms/gazetteer/
Cheap ($29) data at: http://www.zipcodedownload.com/index.aspx
More expensive data at: http://www.GreatData.com/
Checkout GNU Mailman or Sympa. ...).
Both are free; Mailman comes with RedHat, but Sympa is more advanced (choice of databases,
C# is MS's answer to Java: MS claimed (initially) that C# is totally portable, yadda yadda yadda.
Reality is they're just providing an excuse for MS weenies to justify sticking with MS instead of using Java or even PHP (for smaller projects) or whatever.
I've literally seen them (UPS) THROW things 10-15 feet at our door.
Yeah, here in CA, I've seen one that says "Y2K BUG".
A coworker of mine reported this gem:
Painters came in to paint the office, and put dropcloths over everything, including the servers and network rack.
The managed switches and CSU/DSU all overheated and self-destructed.
I don't know who was stupider; the painters or the engineers that designed something that can kill itself that easily.
The darpa site says there will be roads, dirt roads, and cross-country.
Perhaps the cross-country parts will be across lakebeds, etc, where damage would be minimal.
On some of their laptops, Dell is (only) offering a USB "Port Expander" instead of a docking station.
This would probably be standard enough, but you'd still need to plug the monitor in too.
Here's some procmail filters that will at least help. They won't catch everything, but do make a big difference.
:0h:
:0h:
#1 -- this will catch anything with the "MailScanner" header that sobig uses.
#del sobig worms & sobig worm notifications
* ^X-MailScanner\: Found to be clean$
* ^X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook
#/dev/null
$BACK/sobig_worms
#2
This one moves ALL bounces to a specific address (help@domain.com) to a folder.
Note that this is not a very good idea, but is helpful if you have 1 or 2 addresses that are recieving most of the crap.
#delete bounces to help (stupid sobig worm)
* ^TOhelp
* ^Subject:.*(DELIVERY FAILURE\:|Returned mail|Warning\:|Failure|Vacation|Out|System Error|AutoReply|Undeliv|delivery|auto-repl|Auto Response|virus)
$BACK/help_bounce
That sounds more like a DOG fight.
Yep, and the main reason most DAT drives only recorded at 48KHz was to prevent us from making digital copies of our CDs.
There's movement all over the place!
shudder
The patented formula uses carbon tetrachloride... VERY toxic and carcinogenic stuff. It used to be used as a cleaning agent until the FDA banned it in the 70's, IIRC.
My monitor eats maybe 50W, and my PC consumes 500W max: 550W worst-case.
Your power supply's max rated output is 500W. Switching power supply's are around 75-80% efficient, so your computer could be drawing 666W continuous, maybe even more peak.
Of course, I doubt you have enough components in the computer to actually use 500W, but thought I should mention it.
Also, a lot of bigger monitors draw 75-150W. (I don't know what you have though.)