There is actually a model or two that does split the path. Canon makes a "pellicle" model that sends 2/3 of the light to the film, and 1/3 to the viewfinder. The advantages are:
1) You can see the picture the instant it is taken. Viewfinder does not go black.
2) Shutter can fire instantly. With a traditional SLR, you have to wait over 100mS for the mirror to flip up. This might be useful to take a picture of lightning strikes if you wire up an automated light-activated trigger.
But I will admit that I have only seen these in a catalog, and never actually touched one.
Come on. Give me a break. People into photography HAVE to use flash. If you don't use flash at night, everything is dark! Even during daylight, you can use a fill flash to even out harsh shadows. Indoors, bouncing the flash off of the ceiling will result in more even lighting.
I have a fairly nice SLR (Canon Elan 2E), and I know how to use it. But I thought that a digital would be great for instant gratification.
I got a middle-of-the-road Olympus for around $200 (this was six months ago). The image quality was great, but the darn thing took on the order of 5 seconds just to focus. This is TERRIBLE! I have a 2 year old daughter and a 3-1/2 year old son. Children do not sit still for that long. So this camera turned out to be close to useless! The battery life was also pretty bad, too. I had to take it back, and got hit with a 15% restocking fee. I understand from talking to other people that the focus time issue is rather common.
Lesson learned: consumer mid-level point-and-shoot digitals are not generally adequate for what I need. So, I can either get an entry-level digital SLR ($800), or I can stick with what I have (only cost of film/processing). And $800 will buy a LOT of film processing.
So, I stand fast in my opinion that, if you want to take pictures of children, that you need to spend a LOT of money on a camera, or stick with film. If anybody can point me to a fast-focusing $200 to $300 model with great battery life, please prove me wrong!
I just took a poll of/.ers around me (I am the only one). I am married. That means that in my informal poll, 100% of/.ers are married. Of course, there could be some margin of error with such a small sample size.
It's also worth noting that the friend/foe mechanism has much of this functionality. It allows people to effectively mod up/down certain posters.
Yes, but there is a big difference between knowing that somebody is a moron and telling the rest of the world.
The reason for my sig is that I posted some comments that should have been modded positively (my karma has been pegged at excellent for some time now). But based on my sig (which was a political statement) I got modded down as a troll.
The original Palm ran on a Motorola 68000 series processor. Then they switched to an Arm. But in order to retain compatability with older software, they had to include a 68000 emulator. Apparently some of the basic PIM software is still partially in 68000 code.
When Linux is put on a Palm, I can guarantee that the kernel will be compiled for Arm.
There is a BIG HUGE difference between being able to distinguish from among 50 or so spoken commands and names, and being able to do natural English continuous speech recognition. The first was perfected a decade or more ago. The other is not perfected yet.
What I was referring to was the guy next to you ordering. Or the noise of the radio in the background. Those are TOUGH things for speech recognition to sort out.
Keep waiting. Speech recognition is very hard. Modern computers can mostly handle it because:
1) they have a multi-gigahertz processor. 2) it is not a problem to provide them with a good quality head-mounted microphone in a relative quiet environment
So having speech recognition on a palm is a bad idea. Even if the technology was there, you would still have this:
Memo taken in a restaurant: "Chuck. Please send the proposal to Kelly as soon as possible. We need to get OK. I'll have a number 2, hold the mayo, with fries. this reviewed and faxed by tomorrow."
Memo taken in a car: "Fred. I need to to call Tom back ASAP. This deal could this is KSUX traffic reporting a crash on the freeway."
OK. The above was an exageration, but you get the idea. Even if you had 2GHz in your pocket, ambient noise and signal quality are critical.
To me, this is a good thing. KOTOR was not perfect, but it was pretty darned good. The old saying "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it" comes to mind.
Everything is a matter of taste. Maybe RPGs are not for you? I loved KOTR, and I like RPGs in general. But I am not a fan of FPS. I did not buy Doom 3, but I might pick it up when it is $5 in the bargain bin. Everybody has different tastes.
The problem (from your perspective, I would imagine) is that many RPGs tend to have a strange real-time/turn-based hybrid combat system. In a FPS, you hit the mouse and a shot goes ringing out immediately. In many RPGs (including this one) you give a command, and it is placed in a queue. The combat really is turn-based, but each character is taking their turn at the same time, which gives the illusion of real-time combat. Once your character has had his "swing" for the turn, they just stand around and do nothing while other higher-level characters get their bonus attacks. Being an old dog (Vic 20 anybody?) I am used to turn-based systems. So, for me, falling into a hybrid system like this was easy. Youngsters raised on Doom and Quake, on the other hand, might have a hard time getting used to this.
For what it's worth, this is the best KOTOR is the best RPG that I have ever played since Fallout and Fallout 2. The Fallout series is definatley turn-based, but given the limitations of hardware at the time, I think that they made as close to a perfect RPG as has ever been made (except for some strange bugs in FO2). So, since KOTOR is pretty much as good as it gets as far as RPGs go (at least for Star Wars fans), then RPGs probably are not your cup of tea. But that's OK. Not everybody has the same good taste that I do;)
Yup. And a poor person in another country would NEVER want to improve their education by installing a compiler in order to learn C++ or Java. And an electrical engineering student would never want to install SPICE. And I guess this means that there will be no educational software on these things. If you want an education, you have to get on-line. And this is the type of system marketed to people WITHOUT broadband. So this thing will tie up the phone line unless using strictly built-in apps. And I have heard that some areas have a per-minute internet charge.
Yes, the concept is cool. But if the system is completely locked down, then this is nothing more than a glorified internet appliance. And NONE of those survived very long. There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between a computer and an internet appliance. A computer lets you install software. Let me illustrate:
Computer: "What do you want to do?" Internet appliance: "I will tell you what you are allowed to do."
See the difference?
Don't get me wrong. This is still cool. Just not as cool as it could have been. But I must admit that AMD likely did this in order to prevent viruses, worms, and trojans - which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Back in my day, we only had 8-bit graphics. Everything was done in SPRITES. And we LOVED IT. And I had to walk to school, uphill both ways.
I certainly don't mean to sound like a troll, but there comes a point when graphics are good enough. I had loads of fun dumping quarters into Donkey Kong when I was a kid. That that had a processor speed measured in low single digits.
When it comes to 3D, if you can do a certain amount of polygons and apply textures, that is probably good enough. How much eye candy do you need? Certainly walls might look flat without bump-mapping. But you can still tell that it is a wall, and it will still protect you from the enemy on the other side. Anything more makes it LOOK better, but not PLAY better. When I buy a game, I want gameplay. Many people still consider the original Half Life to be fun to play. And the graphics engine is rather dated by now. But if it is still fun, who cares.
I know that there is a point in here somewhere. Oh, there it is. Simply throwing more hardware at a game does not make it a better game. Not that the DS has it made. If anything, the DS has too little graphics, and the PSP has too much. But somewhere in the middle is probably a happy medium that is powerful enough to show you what is going on, but simple enough not to suck batteries. I think that if you gave the DS something about as powerful as a Voodoo 2 or so, you would have a winner. Certainly that would not suck up batteries too fast using modern silicon technologies.
UV is how they work. UV is emitted, which excites the phosphors (white stuff on the tube) to give off visible light. Without the phosphors, a flourecent bulb would look more like a neon Coors sign.
I think that the glass is supposed to block UV, but I could be wrong. Or maybe the glass is not 100% effective.
According to the instruction sheet, it uses holograms. Maybe I misread it. Follow the links in the article to find out.
Also, as far as only needing one, I am not sure that they can do this with a white-light hologram where the source of the light provides the angle information. The only thing that I have ever seen changes the image based on the position of the viewer.
Ooops. Sorry to reply to myself. But I forgot a couple of things.
Back when I had the desktop case (Celeron 466), one time the floppy drive failed. After I replaced it, I tore it apart for the heck of it, and found a penny lodged in the drive. Another time I found a bunch of stickers wedged inside the kids computer (this was afer I built the new one). Locking covers for drives are a VERY good idea.
I also feel that teaching your kids to respect your stuff IS a good idea. My point is just that it is not 100% fool-proof. Now that my kids are all over 2, I do not even lock my drive door any more. They just don't mess with my PC now. But I am still glad that the blinking lights are out of sight...
Bzzzt. Wrong. but thank you for playing. The problem with this is that then you can get into a "power struggle" with the kids. Below a certain age, they just do not understand, as their brains are not developed enough to have any sort of self-control. Above 1 year you might be able to teach them, but they start crawling around 6 months, so that is 6 months of problems. Also, the less that you tell your kids "no", the fewer problems that you will have. It is good to give your kids dicipline, but only fight the fights that you HAVE to (don't run into the street, don't go anywhere with strangers, don't touch the stove, etc). A little preparation now will save you headaches in the future.
I went through this myself (2 kids, currently 2 and 3-1/2), and let me tell you my experience.
My last computer was a Celeron 466 (old, I know, but it is tough to upgrade when supporting a wife and two kids). I had a desktop case (one meant to lay horizontal on your desk. That worked fine, as everything was out of reach.
But then I got the money to upgrade. Being a true geek, I had to build my own computer. HERE is the case that I chose. Yes, it is a little large, but it is great quality, has a great power supply, and it has a locking door over the drive bays and power switch. When this case is locked, the only thing that they can get into from the front is the USB/Firewire ports, which are not that interesting. The door also hides most of the blinking lights, and I can tell you from experience that kids love drive trays. Once kids get past a certain age, cable are boring. But flashing lights and buttons that do things are always interesting.
I have this case wedged between a desk and a small 2-drawer file cabinet, so the cables are mostly out of sight. Throw in a wireless keyboard/mouse combo and you can keep the cables to a minimum.
One more idea: Take an old computer (1 GHz or less) and give it to your kids. Pick up some cheap educational software from your local cheapo-department store or garage sale and throw it on there. Something like Alcohol 120% or similar may be very useful, as they will not ask you to chage CDs or try to do it themselves. Once your kids hit 2, then will start to figure out the mouse and can use it. This will also take the "mystery" of the computer away, so they will feel less of a need to play with yours.
Kids are a blessing. Have fun with them. I am also assuming that you either have a brand-new baby, or will be getting one soon. The older that your kids get, the more fun they are!
Also, you may want to look at the "Comparison and Conclusion" page at the bottom of this page.
You are correct. So,if you mix water and oil and shake them, you get little drops of oil suspended in water -- think Italian salad dressing. That is exactly my point!
If you follow the manufacturers link and then get the instructions, it explains how it works. But here it is in a nusthell (as I understand it).
1) Make holograms of the digits of the time in question (lots of holograms). 2) Take the holograms and cut them into strips. 3) Take some of the strips and glue them back to make one hologram 4) Put a mask with slits in it over the hologram. At a certain time the light will only illuminate the hologram strips that coorespond to the current time.
Slashdot Mirror
There is actually a model or two that does split the path. Canon makes a "pellicle" model that sends 2/3 of the light to the film, and 1/3 to the viewfinder. The advantages are:
1) You can see the picture the instant it is taken. Viewfinder does not go black.
2) Shutter can fire instantly. With a traditional SLR, you have to wait over 100mS for the mirror to flip up. This might be useful to take a picture of lightning strikes if you wire up an automated light-activated trigger.
But I will admit that I have only seen these in a catalog, and never actually touched one.
Come on. Give me a break. People into photography HAVE to use flash. If you don't use flash at night, everything is dark! Even during daylight, you can use a fill flash to even out harsh shadows. Indoors, bouncing the flash off of the ceiling will result in more even lighting.
I would just like to second this opinion.
I have a fairly nice SLR (Canon Elan 2E), and I know how to use it. But I thought that a digital would be great for instant gratification.
I got a middle-of-the-road Olympus for around $200 (this was six months ago). The image quality was great, but the darn thing took on the order of 5 seconds just to focus. This is TERRIBLE! I have a 2 year old daughter and a 3-1/2 year old son. Children do not sit still for that long. So this camera turned out to be close to useless! The battery life was also pretty bad, too. I had to take it back, and got hit with a 15% restocking fee. I understand from talking to other people that the focus time issue is rather common.
Lesson learned: consumer mid-level point-and-shoot digitals are not generally adequate for what I need. So, I can either get an entry-level digital SLR ($800), or I can stick with what I have (only cost of film/processing). And $800 will buy a LOT of film processing.
So, I stand fast in my opinion that, if you want to take pictures of children, that you need to spend a LOT of money on a camera, or stick with film. If anybody can point me to a fast-focusing $200 to $300 model with great battery life, please prove me wrong!
Because the CDs would probably consist of nothing but zydeco and klezmer music -- with a special interlude by the amateur bagpipe band!
Well, this is your solution. Obviously, you can type (along with, I would guess, 99.99% of /.). You also can't talk for very long.
I would imagine that there are some people out there who can talk for hours on end, but can't type.
I just took a poll of /.ers around me (I am the only one). I am married. That means that in my informal poll, 100% of /.ers are married. Of course, there could be some margin of error with such a small sample size.
Yes, but there is a big difference between knowing that somebody is a moron and telling the rest of the world.
The reason for my sig is that I posted some comments that should have been modded positively (my karma has been pegged at excellent for some time now). But based on my sig (which was a political statement) I got modded down as a troll.
The original Palm ran on a Motorola 68000 series processor. Then they switched to an Arm. But in order to retain compatability with older software, they had to include a 68000 emulator. Apparently some of the basic PIM software is still partially in 68000 code.
When Linux is put on a Palm, I can guarantee that the kernel will be compiled for Arm.
There is a BIG HUGE difference between being able to distinguish from among 50 or so spoken commands and names, and being able to do natural English continuous speech recognition. The first was perfected a decade or more ago. The other is not perfected yet.
What I was referring to was the guy next to you ordering. Or the noise of the radio in the background. Those are TOUGH things for speech recognition to sort out.
Not only that, but the older, slower processor has to be EMULATED. Fun!
Keep waiting. Speech recognition is very hard. Modern computers can mostly handle it because:
1) they have a multi-gigahertz processor.
2) it is not a problem to provide them with a good quality head-mounted microphone in a relative quiet environment
So having speech recognition on a palm is a bad idea. Even if the technology was there, you would still have this:
Memo taken in a restaurant:
"Chuck. Please send the proposal to Kelly as soon as possible. We need to get OK. I'll have a number 2, hold the mayo, with fries. this reviewed and faxed by tomorrow."
Memo taken in a car:
"Fred. I need to to call Tom back ASAP. This deal could this is KSUX traffic reporting a crash on the freeway."
OK. The above was an exageration, but you get the idea. Even if you had 2GHz in your pocket, ambient noise and signal quality are critical.
That ranks up there with "I'll still respect you in the morning" and "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."
To me, this is a good thing. KOTOR was not perfect, but it was pretty darned good. The old saying "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it" comes to mind.
Everything is a matter of taste. Maybe RPGs are not for you? I loved KOTR, and I like RPGs in general. But I am not a fan of FPS. I did not buy Doom 3, but I might pick it up when it is $5 in the bargain bin. Everybody has different tastes.
;)
The problem (from your perspective, I would imagine) is that many RPGs tend to have a strange real-time/turn-based hybrid combat system. In a FPS, you hit the mouse and a shot goes ringing out immediately. In many RPGs (including this one) you give a command, and it is placed in a queue. The combat really is turn-based, but each character is taking their turn at the same time, which gives the illusion of real-time combat. Once your character has had his "swing" for the turn, they just stand around and do nothing while other higher-level characters get their bonus attacks. Being an old dog (Vic 20 anybody?) I am used to turn-based systems. So, for me, falling into a hybrid system like this was easy. Youngsters raised on Doom and Quake, on the other hand, might have a hard time getting used to this.
For what it's worth, this is the best KOTOR is the best RPG that I have ever played since Fallout and Fallout 2. The Fallout series is definatley turn-based, but given the limitations of hardware at the time, I think that they made as close to a perfect RPG as has ever been made (except for some strange bugs in FO2). So, since KOTOR is pretty much as good as it gets as far as RPGs go (at least for Star Wars fans), then RPGs probably are not your cup of tea. But that's OK. Not everybody has the same good taste that I do
Sir. Your ranting about being modded offtopic is offtopic.
And my ranting about your ranting about being modded offtopic being offtopic is offtopic.
Any replies to my ranting about your ranting about being modded offtopic being offtopic being offtopic is offtopic.
Yup. And a poor person in another country would NEVER want to improve their education by installing a compiler in order to learn C++ or Java. And an electrical engineering student would never want to install SPICE. And I guess this means that there will be no educational software on these things. If you want an education, you have to get on-line. And this is the type of system marketed to people WITHOUT broadband. So this thing will tie up the phone line unless using strictly built-in apps. And I have heard that some areas have a per-minute internet charge.
Yes, the concept is cool. But if the system is completely locked down, then this is nothing more than a glorified internet appliance. And NONE of those survived very long. There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between a computer and an internet appliance. A computer lets you install software. Let me illustrate:
Computer: "What do you want to do?"
Internet appliance: "I will tell you what you are allowed to do."
See the difference?
Don't get me wrong. This is still cool. Just not as cool as it could have been. But I must admit that AMD likely did this in order to prevent viruses, worms, and trojans - which is not necessarily a bad thing.
There is more to it than this.
First rule of gaming:
More power != more fun
Back in my day, we only had 8-bit graphics. Everything was done in SPRITES. And we LOVED IT. And I had to walk to school, uphill both ways.
I certainly don't mean to sound like a troll, but there comes a point when graphics are good enough. I had loads of fun dumping quarters into Donkey Kong when I was a kid. That that had a processor speed measured in low single digits.
When it comes to 3D, if you can do a certain amount of polygons and apply textures, that is probably good enough. How much eye candy do you need? Certainly walls might look flat without bump-mapping. But you can still tell that it is a wall, and it will still protect you from the enemy on the other side. Anything more makes it LOOK better, but not PLAY better. When I buy a game, I want gameplay. Many people still consider the original Half Life to be fun to play. And the graphics engine is rather dated by now. But if it is still fun, who cares.
I know that there is a point in here somewhere. Oh, there it is. Simply throwing more hardware at a game does not make it a better game. Not that the DS has it made. If anything, the DS has too little graphics, and the PSP has too much. But somewhere in the middle is probably a happy medium that is powerful enough to show you what is going on, but simple enough not to suck batteries. I think that if you gave the DS something about as powerful as a Voodoo 2 or so, you would have a winner. Certainly that would not suck up batteries too fast using modern silicon technologies.
UV is how they work. UV is emitted, which excites the phosphors (white stuff on the tube) to give off visible light. Without the phosphors, a flourecent bulb would look more like a neon Coors sign.
I think that the glass is supposed to block UV, but I could be wrong. Or maybe the glass is not 100% effective.
According to the instruction sheet, it uses holograms. Maybe I misread it. Follow the links in the article to find out.
Also, as far as only needing one, I am not sure that they can do this with a white-light hologram where the source of the light provides the angle information. The only thing that I have ever seen changes the image based on the position of the viewer.
Like THIS. If it can survive military use the the desert, it might be able to survive an 18-month-old!
Ooops. Sorry to reply to myself. But I forgot a couple of things.
Back when I had the desktop case (Celeron 466), one time the floppy drive failed. After I replaced it, I tore it apart for the heck of it, and found a penny lodged in the drive. Another time I found a bunch of stickers wedged inside the kids computer (this was afer I built the new one). Locking covers for drives are a VERY good idea.
I also feel that teaching your kids to respect your stuff IS a good idea. My point is just that it is not 100% fool-proof. Now that my kids are all over 2, I do not even lock my drive door any more. They just don't mess with my PC now. But I am still glad that the blinking lights are out of sight...
Bzzzt. Wrong. but thank you for playing. The problem with this is that then you can get into a "power struggle" with the kids. Below a certain age, they just do not understand, as their brains are not developed enough to have any sort of self-control. Above 1 year you might be able to teach them, but they start crawling around 6 months, so that is 6 months of problems. Also, the less that you tell your kids "no", the fewer problems that you will have. It is good to give your kids dicipline, but only fight the fights that you HAVE to (don't run into the street, don't go anywhere with strangers, don't touch the stove, etc). A little preparation now will save you headaches in the future.
I went through this myself (2 kids, currently 2 and 3-1/2), and let me tell you my experience.
My last computer was a Celeron 466 (old, I know, but it is tough to upgrade when supporting a wife and two kids). I had a desktop case (one meant to lay horizontal on your desk. That worked fine, as everything was out of reach.
But then I got the money to upgrade. Being a true geek, I had to build my own computer. HERE is the case that I chose. Yes, it is a little large, but it is great quality, has a great power supply, and it has a locking door over the drive bays and power switch. When this case is locked, the only thing that they can get into from the front is the USB/Firewire ports, which are not that interesting. The door also hides most of the blinking lights, and I can tell you from experience that kids love drive trays. Once kids get past a certain age, cable are boring. But flashing lights and buttons that do things are always interesting.
I have this case wedged between a desk and a small 2-drawer file cabinet, so the cables are mostly out of sight. Throw in a wireless keyboard/mouse combo and you can keep the cables to a minimum.
One more idea: Take an old computer (1 GHz or less) and give it to your kids. Pick up some cheap educational software from your local cheapo-department store or garage sale and throw it on there. Something like Alcohol 120% or similar may be very useful, as they will not ask you to chage CDs or try to do it themselves. Once your kids hit 2, then will start to figure out the mouse and can use it. This will also take the "mystery" of the computer away, so they will feel less of a need to play with yours.
Kids are a blessing. Have fun with them. I am also assuming that you either have a brand-new baby, or will be getting one soon. The older that your kids get, the more fun they are!
Also, you may want to look at the "Comparison and Conclusion" page at the bottom of this page.
You are correct. So,if you mix water and oil and shake them, you get little drops of oil suspended in water -- think Italian salad dressing. That is exactly my point!
If you follow the manufacturers link and then get the instructions, it explains how it works. But here it is in a nusthell (as I understand it).
1) Make holograms of the digits of the time in question (lots of holograms).
2) Take the holograms and cut them into strips.
3) Take some of the strips and glue them back to make one hologram
4) Put a mask with slits in it over the hologram. At a certain time the light will only illuminate the hologram strips that coorespond to the current time.
Pretty neat, if you ask me (too bad you didn't).