We've had this functionality since ~2007 with several generations of Tivo boxes. Yes, you have to rent a cablecard from Comcast, but it's about $1.50 a month per cablecard, times two cablecards. We can afford that. Yes, you have to pay monthly or yearly for Tivo service, but that funds guides and software upgrades and doesn't go into Comcast's pocket. With the 2nd-to-newest Tivo generation (Roamio), we get all our Comcast channels, Comcast on demand, Amazon, Netflix, Vudo, etc. etc., all from our Tivo. The only Comcast equipment in our home is the two cablecards.
This is a solved problem. Buy a Tivo!
We just switched the 2nd of our 2 smartphones from Verizon to AT&T.
Want to inject a tracking supercookie into our web traffic, Verizon? Good luck now that we are no longer your customers, assholes.
The submitter has this all wrong. It's very unlikely that Crown Castle is interested in TV over cell phones. It's far more likely that they're interested in deploying iBurst, a wireless internet service, in the US. They have already deployed this service commercially in Australia.
Actually, you are mistaken. The clone makers, led by Compaq, created and adopted the EISA (extended? industry standary architecture) bus. This was in the era of 386's. VESA came later as a way to get higher bandwidth to video cards in the 486 era.
As you correctly note, PCI relegated both to the dustbin of history. Amen. --jwc
Ok. So I'm a touch typist who learned to type out of a textbook that showed using the index finger of your RIGHT hand to hit the "6" key. All the ergo keyboards I've seen (M$oft, logitech, altkey, etc.) all have the "6" key split on the left side, to be hit by the left index finger.
Does anyone know of an ergo keyboard with the 6 key on the right hand side (or dual 6 keys, one on each side)???? My wrists need an ergo keyboard, but my fingers don't want to re-learn where 6 is! Thanks. --jwc
Hi. I couldn't help but notice several people posting in comments about how they had to install TT on their work machine just to be able to print. A similar number of people complained about only being able to keep paper copies as archival records if Intuit locked them out of this year's TT.
Now, I'm not condoning this ridiculous activation scheme by any means. However, there is a fairly simple way to print from work and/or keep archival copies without needing TT installed either at work or in the future. People with a unix/linux background might be familiar with postscript files. These are files generated by an application program that are ready to go to the printer. If you need to print again at a later date, just bang the postscript file to the printer. No need to even fire up the application. Sound good? Well, you can use these in Windoze too. Simply install a new printer driver. My favorite for this purpose is the Apple Laserwriter II NT (an old postscript-only laser printer). When windoze asks what port it's attached to, answer "FILE:", meaning when you print to it, windoze will prompt you for a file name. Now, fire up TT and print your return to "Apple Laserwriter II NT". You'll be prompted for a filename. Answer "C:\tax" or some such. Windows will print to file and probably add ".prn" to the file name you gave it. That's ok. Rename it to "tax.ps" (for postscript).
Now, if you have a postscript printer at home or work, you can stop there. Send that file directly to the printer and badda-boom-badda-bing, you're done.
If you don't have a postscript printer, the easiest thing to do is to convert the.ps file into an adobe.pdf file. The easiest way I've found to do this under windoze is with ghostscript/ghostview. Install these on your work or home computer. http://www.ghostscript.com/doc/AFPL/get704.htm and look under the "Windows" heading. Download gs704w32.exe and gsv43w32.exe. Now fire up ghostview from the start menu and open the tax.ps file. You should see the output on the screen. To convert to.pdf click File->Convert and select the "pdfwrite" device. Click "Ok" and you'll be prompted for a filename. Type in "tax.pdf". Now you're done. Bring in the tax.pdf file to print from work using acroread or save on your home computer and burn on CDROM in case of future audits. Have fun!
Oh, it is most definitely a non-trivial task. I'll once again remind you that I'm a digital hardware and embedded C coding geek. I'm not an expert on computer graphics, modeling, etc. This is restricting me more than my NDA agreement.;-) Jon, Chris, Mark, Dimetrios, Guy, Dennis, Benedict, any of you guys reading???
Creating a surface from the data points is not that difficult. We're usually dealing with datasets with 1 point every couple of millimeters in the X and Y (left-right, up-down) axes. We did a shrink-fit algorithm to generate the surface. Manually or automagically eliminate outlyer points (often caused by someone walking in front of the scanner, pigeon flying through during one scan line, etc.). Then start with a large piece of virtual saran-wrap covering the whole scene. Shrink it until it hits real data points. Voila.
Stitching multiple 3-D scans together is achieved by having overlapping features between two adjacent scans. If the target being scanned has enough unique and recognizable features that you can easily find those features in the adjacent scans (ie. right foot on Statue of Liberty), then you're set. In the event of something very large and symmetrical (think long run of pipes in an oil refinery), you can add scan targets to the scan to help with the stitching process.
When I was still working there, stitching multiple scans together was something relatively easily but also manually done once all the data sets were sitting in a PC running Cyra's CGP (now Cyclone) software. Cyclone, which was in alpha/beta test when I was still working there, may have tools to automate this process somewhat.
These things cost on the order of USD$100k for the hardware, more for the modeling software.
And these have been used in several movies. If you remember Starship Troopers from several years ago, the ending scene with the 2 humans captured in a cave with about a zillion "bugs". The initial Cyrax prototype system was used to scan and model the cave (a real life set made from styrofoam). With the computer model of the meatspace cave, the computer animators could add the bugs and not have them hanging in mid-air or their legs halfway buried in the floor, etc.
A 1st generation Cyrax (model 2400) was used to model the sharks in Deep Blue Sea. It was also used for the climax scene in some circa 1999 Arnold movie, whose title escapes me. There were several other movie uses that also escape me. Some disney/Robin Williams flick I think.
How do I know? I used to work for Cyra Technologies (www.cyra.com) from Aug 1998 to Apr 2000.
Cyra and several surveying companies that own Cyraxes (cyraxen?) do rent them out and rent out operators and modelers. Cyra and possibly others also provide training to cyrax customers.
As for the obligatory linux question, I'm sorry to disappoint you. The Cyrax 2500 runs a real time OS from ATI (no, not that ATI) called Nucleus on an embedded PowerPC processor. (Note: website appears to be down right now). There are other embedded processors also in the system. How do I know? I designed the initial versions of 3 circuit boards boards and 2 FPGAs for the Cyrax 2500. The PC-side modeling software runs under windoze NT (probably now 2K/XP--dunno; I left in 2000). The modeling software was originally prototyped on SGI boxes under opengl. It was ported to windoze before the first commercial release of a Cyrax.
All hope is not lost, however. One of the hats I wore while working there was linux sysadmin. We had 3 linux servers to run e-mail, web, and file servers for the firmware engineering and manufacturing groups. I don't know if this setup still exists after Cyra was bought by Leica Geosystems in early 2001.
I think you're overestimating the cost of this technology. I worked for the company that manufactures this laser scanner (Cyra Technologies, www.cyra.com) from 1998 to 2000. Now, mind you, I was an electronics engineer, not one of the modelers that do the scans and manipulate the data sets. But I'll nonetheless provide some guesstimates.
For something like the Statue of Liberty that's not overly big and that you can scan from the ground, 1 or 2 people could probably do the ~10-20 scans it would probably need in about a day. All you would need to do would be to rope off the area immediately around the scanner (ie. no need to close the Statue of Liberty while they're doing it). A Cyrax 2500 I believe sells for the order of ~100 US kilobucks. Rental on it for a day or two, you can estimate as well as I can.
As for computing power to process the scans, all you need is Cyra's software running on a high end PC. For something like the Statue of Liberty, say 10-20 scans, simple stitching together, you're talking one skilled modeler working on it for maybe a day. Definitely not more than 1 person-week.
I won't claim that all US landmarks would be this straightforward to scan, but this technology is very fast, very accurate, and cheap to use. Using old fashioned techniques (ie. photogrammetry), yes, this would cost a fortune. Photogrammetry would require scaffolding, closing the site, cutting and pasting photos, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
I work for money and job satisfaction. I've been doing this in Silicon Valley since 1998. This is a newsflash to some people??
We've had this functionality since ~2007 with several generations of Tivo boxes. Yes, you have to rent a cablecard from Comcast, but it's about $1.50 a month per cablecard, times two cablecards. We can afford that. Yes, you have to pay monthly or yearly for Tivo service, but that funds guides and software upgrades and doesn't go into Comcast's pocket. With the 2nd-to-newest Tivo generation (Roamio), we get all our Comcast channels, Comcast on demand, Amazon, Netflix, Vudo, etc. etc., all from our Tivo. The only Comcast equipment in our home is the two cablecards. This is a solved problem. Buy a Tivo!
We just switched the 2nd of our 2 smartphones from Verizon to AT&T. Want to inject a tracking supercookie into our web traffic, Verizon? Good luck now that we are no longer your customers, assholes.
http://www.arraycomm.com/gpm/australia.htm
http://www.arraycomm.com/news/pr_detail.htm?id=82
http://www.iburst.com.au/site/news/newsview.php?id =27
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2Barraycomm+ %2B%22crown+castle%22
Disclaimer: I'm a former employee of Arraycomm who worked on iBurst hardware. I own stock in Arraycomm.
As you correctly note, PCI relegated both to the dustbin of history. Amen. --jwc
Does anyone know of an ergo keyboard with the 6 key on the right hand side (or dual 6 keys, one on each side)???? My wrists need an ergo keyboard, but my fingers don't want to re-learn where 6 is! Thanks. --jwc
Now, I'm not condoning this ridiculous activation scheme by any means. However, there is a fairly simple way to print from work and/or keep archival copies without needing TT installed either at work or in the future. People with a unix/linux background might be familiar with postscript files. These are files generated by an application program that are ready to go to the printer. If you need to print again at a later date, just bang the postscript file to the printer. No need to even fire up the application. Sound good? Well, you can use these in Windoze too. Simply install a new printer driver. My favorite for this purpose is the Apple Laserwriter II NT (an old postscript-only laser printer). When windoze asks what port it's attached to, answer "FILE:", meaning when you print to it, windoze will prompt you for a file name. Now, fire up TT and print your return to "Apple Laserwriter II NT". You'll be prompted for a filename. Answer "C:\tax" or some such. Windows will print to file and probably add ".prn" to the file name you gave it. That's ok. Rename it to "tax.ps" (for postscript).
Now, if you have a postscript printer at home or work, you can stop there. Send that file directly to the printer and badda-boom-badda-bing, you're done.
If you don't have a postscript printer, the easiest thing to do is to convert the .ps file into an adobe .pdf file. The easiest way I've found to do this under windoze is with ghostscript/ghostview. Install these on your work or home computer. http://www.ghostscript.com/doc/AFPL/get704.htm and look under the "Windows" heading. Download gs704w32.exe and gsv43w32.exe. Now fire up ghostview from the start menu and open the tax.ps file. You should see the output on the screen. To convert to .pdf click File->Convert and select the "pdfwrite" device. Click "Ok" and you'll be prompted for a filename. Type in "tax.pdf". Now you're done. Bring in the tax.pdf file to print from work using acroread or save on your home computer and burn on CDROM in case of future audits. Have fun!
Creating a surface from the data points is not that difficult. We're usually dealing with datasets with 1 point every couple of millimeters in the X and Y (left-right, up-down) axes. We did a shrink-fit algorithm to generate the surface. Manually or automagically eliminate outlyer points (often caused by someone walking in front of the scanner, pigeon flying through during one scan line, etc.). Then start with a large piece of virtual saran-wrap covering the whole scene. Shrink it until it hits real data points. Voila.
Stitching multiple 3-D scans together is achieved by having overlapping features between two adjacent scans. If the target being scanned has enough unique and recognizable features that you can easily find those features in the adjacent scans (ie. right foot on Statue of Liberty), then you're set. In the event of something very large and symmetrical (think long run of pipes in an oil refinery), you can add scan targets to the scan to help with the stitching process.
When I was still working there, stitching multiple scans together was something relatively easily but also manually done once all the data sets were sitting in a PC running Cyra's CGP (now Cyclone) software. Cyclone, which was in alpha/beta test when I was still working there, may have tools to automate this process somewhat.
And these have been used in several movies. If you remember Starship Troopers from several years ago, the ending scene with the 2 humans captured in a cave with about a zillion "bugs". The initial Cyrax prototype system was used to scan and model the cave (a real life set made from styrofoam). With the computer model of the meatspace cave, the computer animators could add the bugs and not have them hanging in mid-air or their legs halfway buried in the floor, etc.
A 1st generation Cyrax (model 2400) was used to model the sharks in Deep Blue Sea. It was also used for the climax scene in some circa 1999 Arnold movie, whose title escapes me. There were several other movie uses that also escape me. Some disney/Robin Williams flick I think.
How do I know? I used to work for Cyra Technologies (www.cyra.com) from Aug 1998 to Apr 2000.
Cyra and several surveying companies that own Cyraxes (cyraxen?) do rent them out and rent out operators and modelers. Cyra and possibly others also provide training to cyrax customers.
As for the obligatory linux question, I'm sorry to disappoint you. The Cyrax 2500 runs a real time OS from ATI (no, not that ATI) called Nucleus on an embedded PowerPC processor. (Note: website appears to be down right now). There are other embedded processors also in the system. How do I know? I designed the initial versions of 3 circuit boards boards and 2 FPGAs for the Cyrax 2500. The PC-side modeling software runs under windoze NT (probably now 2K/XP--dunno; I left in 2000). The modeling software was originally prototyped on SGI boxes under opengl. It was ported to windoze before the first commercial release of a Cyrax.
All hope is not lost, however. One of the hats I wore while working there was linux sysadmin. We had 3 linux servers to run e-mail, web, and file servers for the firmware engineering and manufacturing groups. I don't know if this setup still exists after Cyra was bought by Leica Geosystems in early 2001.
For something like the Statue of Liberty that's not overly big and that you can scan from the ground, 1 or 2 people could probably do the ~10-20 scans it would probably need in about a day. All you would need to do would be to rope off the area immediately around the scanner (ie. no need to close the Statue of Liberty while they're doing it). A Cyrax 2500 I believe sells for the order of ~100 US kilobucks. Rental on it for a day or two, you can estimate as well as I can.
As for computing power to process the scans, all you need is Cyra's software running on a high end PC. For something like the Statue of Liberty, say 10-20 scans, simple stitching together, you're talking one skilled modeler working on it for maybe a day. Definitely not more than 1 person-week. I won't claim that all US landmarks would be this straightforward to scan, but this technology is very fast, very accurate, and cheap to use. Using old fashioned techniques (ie. photogrammetry), yes, this would cost a fortune. Photogrammetry would require scaffolding, closing the site, cutting and pasting photos, etc.