>> is Zynga doing God's work? Is Facebook doing God's work?
Yes, Nathan, you're doing a lot of wonderful work. But that doesn't excuse *how* you're getting your money these days. Your business practices are hurting the entire industry, and putting a big crimp on innovation. The end does not justify the means.
Anyone who has not yet listened to This American Life's episode on Mr. Myhrvold really ought to:
Well, as other posters have pointed out, there is little value in mapping the surface of the oceans (at least with this technology).
If you think that land north of 60N and south of 56S represents a major portion of the earth, you need to stop using Mercator projection maps. and graduate to something like the Gall-Peters projection.
Having said that, it's absolutely true that the SRTM data set does not cover Iceland, most of Norway and Sweden, northern Russia, etc... It's not that NASA doesn't like Nordic people, it's just a limitation due to the space shuttle's orbit.
We're planning on an Android port this year. Blackberry is another possible platform, but we're very small and on a shoestring budget, so we have to stay focused.
You can run the app on an iPod, in case that's relevant... No GPS, though.
Good point. I have corrected the article to reflect this. Thanks for pointing it out. Unfortunately I can't correct the part of the article that is in Slashdot, but I think civilization will endure anyway.
To answer your original question -- all the screenshots in the article are from our iPhone apps, which cover about 20 U.S. states so far. They come with many layers, one of which is the SRTM data limited to (typically) 180-meter resolution, because you only have so much storage on a phone. The 30-meter resolution data is obviously even better than what I showed (nine times better, in fact:-)
"ASTER Global DEM (GDEM) data are subject to redistribution and citation policies. Before ordering ASTER GDEM data, users must agree to redistribute data products only to individuals within their organizations or projects of intended use, or in response to disasters in support of the GEO Disaster Theme."
Part of what makes SRTM data so great is that anyone can use it for any purpose. That makes a huge difference. I wish government agencies (especially state and local in the US) would follow the lead of NASA and USGS on this. You can create far more value by making the data available to the general public than by trying to control it. Sometimes I think the bureaucrats are afraid that someone will actually make something useful or (gasp) profitable from it.
Take a look at Quantum GIS (http://www.qgis.org/), it's really good. It reads raw SRTM data directly, along with a huge list of other formats, raster and vector. It's free and it does a superb job. It's not ESRI, but it's excellent.
The "fuck-wit" has indeed read the book, understood it, and happens to have his own opinion. Thanks for for your positive contribution.
I used "religious orders" because the review is primarily aimed at people who have not read the book, and that's the closest thing I could come up with. Do you have something better?
-- Max the intellectual liteweight [sic]
Re:Halfway through the book, and ...
on
Anathem
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· Score: 1
>> And for God's sake, who doesn't love the word 'speelycaptor'?
Count me in that number. But then again, I never learned Klingon or Elfin.
-- Max
Re:have a problem with made up words?
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Anathem
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· Score: 1
Grok is a great word for a concept that had no good name. It's so good it's become part of the English language. And it's only one word. In the case of Anathem, I don't see the point of renaming everyday things, it just gets in the way.
Just my $0.02
-- Max
Re:Very disappointing review.
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Anathem
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· Score: 1
Agreed on the research -- I didn't criticize the substance of the book, which is impressive in its breadth. But my objections stand. Give this to a good editor, chop out 400 pages, and the end product will be much better. I guess Stephenson didn't have enough time to write a shorter book...
-- Max
Re:Stephenson's later stuff
on
Anathem
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· Score: 1
>> He really needs to think about filtering his mind-to-"written word" interface
That's called an editor. Unless Stephenson is the Mozart of literature (and I don't think he is), he needs to get one, or listen to him/her a lot more.
Maybe that's the bottom line -- Mr. Stephenson, if you're reading this (as if), we'll buy your next book if you promise to rein in your logorrhea. Your writing can be great, but that's no excuse to let it run out of control. I like the suggestion of 500 pages or less. You can do it. Really!
-- Max
Re:Made up words? After Finux are you surprised?
on
Anathem
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· Score: 1
Harsh words! I wouldn't go as far. Anathem has a lot of interesting ideas. My critique was aimed at the writing and structure more than the substance of the story. But I think you have a point.
-- Max
Re:two nitpicks with the review
on
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· Score: 1
Good points -- allow me to respond.
I used the term "religious order" because that's the closest thing for people who haven't read the book. I understand that they are not really religious.
Made-up words : I have no problem with them when they add to the story, in this case I felt that most of them were pointless. Why not use made-up words for everything?
A made-up word is good if it describes something that doesn't exist in real life, or if it helps create a foreign mood. Most in this book were an unnecessary distraction.
-- Max
Re:Don't give up on the made-up words
on
Anathem
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· Score: 1
Maybe that's a fundamental distinction -- there are people who will use these made-up words in their geeky conversations, and people who won't. As XKCD said: "Except for anything by Lewis Carroll and Tolkien, you get five made-up words per story."
Being French myself, I had no difficulty understanding these words -- I just found them pointless and annoying. New words make sense if you're describing concepts or objects that do not exist in real life, or if you're trying to create a certain atmosphere. It didn't work for me.
-- Max
Re:Halfway through the book, and ...
on
Anathem
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· Score: 1
Sure, but there was a point to them -- describing concepts and objects that do not exist in real life. Here Stephenson is describing everyday objects (convents, movies, cell phones, etc...). I'm not opposed to made-up words, just to their pointless proliferation.
-- Max
every time I enter e.g. www.yahoo.fr -- maybe a pop-up that informs me that the URL I have just entered contains copyrighted material, and that I have to pay the fee or face infringement penalties.
The future looks bright!
Clearly, ISO invented the use of "US" for United States and "UK" for United Kingdom. They deserve to be rewarded for their creativity.
Isn't that what IntelliJ does already? I use it as my main IDE, and it has an amazing understanding of Java -- it allows you to refactor just about anything. When working in it, you feel like you're not just editing Java -- you're editing the fully integrated structure of your software.
Re:he has some good points, but also overlooks a f
on
Fooled by Randomness
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· Score: 2, Informative
The problem with market data is that, unlike, say, the weather, there is a feedback loop for the knowledge. So let's say you discover the Great Equation that in fact does predict the market. How long do you think it's going to work ? The answer is : not very long, because you're now going to affect the market by using this knowledge (plus it's most likely not going to remain a secret for very long). The markets are not random in the same way as rolls of dice are random, but they are chaotic and ultimately unpredictable. My contention (and Taleb's) is that anyone trying to derive meaning from the noise is fooling him/herself. The only way I will be convinced otherwise is by someone who is consistently (over a decade or more) making money using an algorithm/model/equation.
Taleb mentions that the long-term winners like Soros tend to have a trait in common : they hold no pre-conceived ideas, and will swing with the market. In other words, they accept the facts as they are, instead of trying to fit them into theories.
That was Napoleon's opnion too -- given a choice, he'd rather have a lucky general than a good general. I think that may have something to do with the fact that he dealt mostly with extremely rare, high-risk events (i.e. battles). But then again, how do you define lucky ? And we all know that luck is not a real quality to begin with (although, when you look at e.g. De Gaulle and the number of assassination attempts he survived, you start wondering).
Slashdot Mirror
Listen to This American Life's episode on Myhrvold, seriously. It really makes the hypocrisy obvious:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack/
>> is Zynga doing God's work? Is Facebook doing God's work?
Yes, Nathan, you're doing a lot of wonderful work. But that doesn't excuse *how* you're getting your money these days. Your business practices are hurting the entire industry, and putting a big crimp on innovation. The end does not justify the means.
Anyone who has not yet listened to This American Life's episode on Mr. Myhrvold really ought to:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack/
If you think that land north of 60N and south of 56S represents a major portion of the earth, you need to stop using Mercator projection maps. and graduate to something like the Gall-Peters projection.
Having said that, it's absolutely true that the SRTM data set does not cover Iceland, most of Norway and Sweden, northern Russia, etc... It's not that NASA doesn't like Nordic people, it's just a limitation due to the space shuttle's orbit.
You can run the app on an iPod, in case that's relevant... No GPS, though.
Good point. I have corrected the article to reflect this. Thanks for pointing it out. Unfortunately I can't correct the part of the article that is in Slashdot, but I think civilization will endure anyway.
To answer your original question -- all the screenshots in the article are from our iPhone apps, which cover about 20 U.S. states so far. They come with many layers, one of which is the SRTM data limited to (typically) 180-meter resolution, because you only have so much storage on a phone. The 30-meter resolution data is obviously even better than what I showed (nine times better, in fact :-)
"ASTER Global DEM (GDEM) data are subject to redistribution and citation policies. Before ordering ASTER GDEM data, users must agree to redistribute data products only to individuals within their organizations or projects of intended use, or in response to disasters in support of the GEO Disaster Theme."
Part of what makes SRTM data so great is that anyone can use it for any purpose. That makes a huge difference. I wish government agencies (especially state and local in the US) would follow the lead of NASA and USGS on this. You can create far more value by making the data available to the general public than by trying to control it. Sometimes I think the bureaucrats are afraid that someone will actually make something useful or (gasp) profitable from it.
Take a look at Quantum GIS (http://www.qgis.org/), it's really good. It reads raw SRTM data directly, along with a huge list of other formats, raster and vector. It's free and it does a superb job. It's not ESRI, but it's excellent.
I used "religious orders" because the review is primarily aimed at people who have not read the book, and that's the closest thing I could come up with. Do you have something better?
-- Max the intellectual liteweight [sic]
Count me in that number. But then again, I never learned Klingon or Elfin.
-- Max
Just my $0.02
-- Max
-- Max
That's called an editor. Unless Stephenson is the Mozart of literature (and I don't think he is), he needs to get one, or listen to him/her a lot more.
-- Max
-- Max
-- Max
I used the term "religious order" because that's the closest thing for people who haven't read the book. I understand that they are not really religious.
Made-up words : I have no problem with them when they add to the story, in this case I felt that most of them were pointless. Why not use made-up words for everything?
A made-up word is good if it describes something that doesn't exist in real life, or if it helps create a foreign mood. Most in this book were an unnecessary distraction.
-- Max
-- Max
Being French myself, I had no difficulty understanding these words -- I just found them pointless and annoying. New words make sense if you're describing concepts or objects that do not exist in real life, or if you're trying to create a certain atmosphere. It didn't work for me.
-- Max
Sure, but there was a point to them -- describing concepts and objects that do not exist in real life. Here Stephenson is describing everyday objects (convents, movies, cell phones, etc...). I'm not opposed to made-up words, just to their pointless proliferation. -- Max
Not having a SQL interface closes so many avenues... For a nifty (and remarkably solid) light-weight database, take a look at McKoi.
Max
Sometimes IP laws *do* work as intended.
-- Max
The future looks bright!
Clearly, ISO invented the use of "US" for United States and "UK" for United Kingdom. They deserve to be rewarded for their creativity.
[walks away shaking his head]
-- Max
Isn't that what IntelliJ does already? I use it as my main IDE, and it has an amazing understanding of Java -- it allows you to refactor just about anything.
When working in it, you feel like you're not just editing Java -- you're editing the fully integrated structure of your software.
Taleb mentions that the long-term winners like Soros tend to have a trait in common : they hold no pre-conceived ideas, and will swing with the market. In other words, they accept the facts as they are, instead of trying to fit them into theories.
That was Napoleon's opnion too -- given a choice, he'd rather have a lucky general than a good general. I think that may have something to do with the fact that he dealt mostly with extremely rare, high-risk events (i.e. battles). But then again, how do you define lucky ? And we all know that luck is not a real quality to begin with (although, when you look at e.g. De Gaulle and the number of assassination attempts he survived, you start wondering).