If I'm out on a remote trail, my cell phone doesn't work, much less wi-fi. Guess it'll have to cache information until you can sync up with a network connection back at the base camp?
Every so often, something comes along that reminds me that I'm 29, for all intents and purposes old, and probably not cool anymore.
I'm no longer in MTV's core demographic (12-26)
Younger family members think "Take My Breath Away" by Jessica Simpson is such a great, original song.
And now this...Quake is 8, Doom is over 10. It couldn't have been that long ago, right? I got it when I got the first Snoop Doggy Dogg CD...oh, wait...
So what are some applications that need this technology?
I did some research on agent technology when I was in grad school, related to controling mobile robots. I understand why you'd need agents in that context.
I can also see some uses on distributed web searches, information foraging, stuff like that.
But now I'm working for a certain large consulting company that has now decided to branch into making Xbox chips...I've been writing apps for insurance companies, governments, etc. I'm not sure how agent technologies would help in this arena.
So its 'officially' cancelled...I have a hard time believe that the government thought it was important/useful, and now everyone has agreed that we don't need it, and has moved on.
So now there's no offical TIA project...that just means they can hide bits and pieces of it in other projects.
Switch your phone to look for PCS Network Only. This will make it try harder to find PCS signals, and it'll hang on to them a bit harder once it finds it.
I've burned all my music, and carry it around with me on my iBook/iPod. Then, I threw away all the cases, put all the CDs in binders, and put the binder in a box in my basement.
The point is, I want the music for the music...I'm not really interested in whatever packaging it comes in. Thats just something else I have to carry around while I'm travelling.
Ditto to getting burned on iPhoto...except ours was self inflicted. My wife decided she did not like how iPhoto was organizing pictures, so she went ahead and renamed directories and files. Ouch.
As I was reading through Apple documentation trying to figure out how to fix it, they suggest that you regularly back up the Pictures directory. Way to have confidence in your own product, was my feeling about that...
Would be to track the credit cards of people that protest the Virtual McDonalds, and see if they ever eat at the REAL McDonalds. Then send them a letter:
Dear hypocrite:
We see you protested our Virtual McDonalds, then went and gourged on a Big Mac. Please cease and desist your bitching and moaning. That is all
I'm wring a novel. I could give a shit about whether or not I have a DMCA-capable OS. And when I want music, I have my Ipod. Yeah, I ripped my stuff into the Ipod, but they're my CDs, and I did the ripping. What's the big deal? And what does this have to with my DMCA-incapable OS?
The "Big Deal," as I understand it, is that the Content Cartel will team with DMCA-capable OSes so that CDs and DVDs won't be able to even play on DMCA-incapable OSes like MacOS, Linux, BSD. How pissed will you be when you put down $18 for a CD, get home and not be able to run it on your computer?
Or, maybe you'll be able to play it on MacOS, but some hardware encryption between the CD and the CD Drive disallows you from ripping the track to your iPod?
I, for one, would find that extremely disappointing.
Re:Blogging == mental masturbation
on
The Weblog Handbook
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
YOU may not care about my blog...
But my friends and family all over the world DO. I used to send out mass emails to my whole address book. Blog allows me to have a bit richer content, add photos, whatever. The people that DO want to know what I'm up to like it. Thats all I really care about.
Yes, we all know we're being tracked all the time. Its not the tracking that worries me...its the cross-corrolation of all the data on me, and the strong possibility that someone might cross-corrolate something incorrectly and get me into a world a trouble. That scares me.
So...I go to a store and I buy a box of kleenex and a Playboy (totally hypothetical, of course). Am I going to start getting promotions from Adam and Eve?
Still, that's a minor annoyance. Now, what if that puts me on some new gov't database for possible perverts? Or worse yet, what if someone with a similar name has a kiddie pr0n habit, and that somehow gets corrolated to my possible pervert record?
That's the type of thing that most worries me...that I don't know who knows what about me...and who else they're talking to. I have a Playboy subscription (I actually read the articles). Do I care that they sell their subscription list? A little. Do I want someone looking at ALL my habits, making decisions on how I live my life - decisions that might affect my ability to get a loan, or affect my relationship with my employer, or friends, or family?
We all know how MS feels about non-MS operating systems. We all know they're using.NET as a way to lock people into Windows servers and desktops. There's NO WAY they're gonna hang out and let poor Linux play in their reindeer games.
No...they'll go ahead and change their infrastructure so that it doesn't work with open source code.
Can only imagine all the germs on the controllers from snot nozed kids and pimply faced teenagers pawing them up all day. Maybe they'll have someone with Handywipes nearby.
I'll stick to my own joystick, thank you very much...
"When you have circles and ellipses, there is no way you'd be able to do this without a calculator," Jarvis said.
Ok...I know a lot of people don't need to summon Euclidian geometry from memory in everyday life, but the image of a kid in geometry class learning an equation thats been around for over 1000 years, and saying that level of math is impossible without a {graphing calculator, PDA} really saddens me. Especially since geometry is usually taught an at honors level - meaning the kids taking geometry are supposed to be the smart ones, on the fast track to college, etc. It makes me think that with all the technology readily available, kids will stop thinking and imagining and innovating.
I remember being in school when the TI's started to become popular. My feeling then was that ok, I've done these equations by hand...I've got a good handle on how to do that, and sometimes its a real PITA, so maybe sometimes its better to use the automated functions here. I still think that way -- I CAN configure SAMBA by hand, but there's a nice graphical tool that automates it, so that's simpler for me now.
I just hope with all the automation tools and short cuts technology can provide, we're not engineering out the human quality of wanting to know how things work.
So how do you tell kids today that yes, you can live without the latest gadget, and that it is important to master the fundamentals before you learn all the shortcuts?
This is representative of robotics in general. Robots are notoriously BAD at knowing where they are in the real world, or exactly how far they have moved. That's why NASA had a lander and a rover in the Mars Pathfinder mission. The lander had a pan and scan stereo camera that could pretty accurately measure the rover's relative position from the lander (IIRC, cameras were accurate to about 5mm at 5m, but I'd have to review my notes). Without an external view, NASA would have quickly lost the rover - in one sequence of commands, the error in where the rover ended up from where it was commanded to go was as large as the distance it was supposed to move!
One way (I think, anyway) to get around this is to have many rovers all talking to each other and to the lander. Robots are good at sending relative positions, but bad at determining absolute position. So you get each robot to stay in constant contact w/2 other robots, and deterime their positions relative to itself. As long as one robot stays in constant contact with the lander, the lander can do some simple vector math and determine the positions of all the other robots! This would be cool because you can string out the robots in a long line, and you can safely move robots outside of the visual range of the lander. I wrote about it in my thesis.
Making "Write Once, Run Anywhere" a Java mantra was a huge mistake. It should have been more like "Write once, tweak a little, maybe it'll run... But it's easier than porting C code!"
Hmm...that doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
When it works, though, its a pretty awesome thing. I did my thesis in Java - a visualization of some simulations. I did all the development on SGIs, but I gave demos on Windows in another lab. That first time I ran the program on Windows, I was fairly shocked that it worked so well without me having to rewrite a single line.
I'm in a consulting gig...for me it depends more on the client (ie - people that are paying my salary) than on my bosses (people that I report to daily).
Take today, for example. I'd finished all the work I can do last night, and was looking to go home early. My boss said its ok with him, but it may look bad to the client. I guess they'd rather pay $150/hr for me to sit here and read/. Whatever...their money. (Actually, not...its a Government gig...sorry taxpayers!)
Slashdot Mirror
If I'm out on a remote trail, my cell phone doesn't work, much less wi-fi. Guess it'll have to cache information until you can sync up with a network connection back at the base camp?
And now this...Quake is 8, Doom is over 10. It couldn't have been that long ago, right? I got it when I got the first Snoop Doggy Dogg CD...oh, wait...
The nearest state border is about 100 miles for me...so 200 miles round trip would be a long way to go to fill up.
Not all roads are toll roads...most aren't I would wager. No toll roads in the Midwest (outside of Chicago, and a small stretch by Wichita).
So what are some applications that need this technology?
I did some research on agent technology when I was in grad school, related to controling mobile robots. I understand why you'd need agents in that context.
I can also see some uses on distributed web searches, information foraging, stuff like that.
But now I'm working for a certain large consulting company that has now decided to branch into making Xbox chips...I've been writing apps for insurance companies, governments, etc. I'm not sure how agent technologies would help in this arena.
So its 'officially' cancelled...I have a hard time believe that the government thought it was important/useful, and now everyone has agreed that we don't need it, and has moved on.
So now there's no offical TIA project...that just means they can hide bits and pieces of it in other projects.
If they want the data, they'll get it.
Also...what do people do when they have to browse an IE only web site?
I know...web sites SHOULD be standards compliant, but fact is they're not.
What about Jython? Sort of Python...Sort of Java. Does that count?
In for a dime, in for dollar...or a Trazillion dollars...how much are they asking for again?
Switch your phone to look for PCS Network Only. This will make it try harder to find PCS signals, and it'll hang on to them a bit harder once it finds it.
I've burned all my music, and carry it around with me on my iBook/iPod. Then, I threw away all the cases, put all the CDs in binders, and put the binder in a box in my basement.
The point is, I want the music for the music...I'm not really interested in whatever packaging it comes in. Thats just something else I have to carry around while I'm travelling.
What I do care about is:
* Fast Downloads
* Price
This might be the stupidest thing I've heard all week...
How about guns? Terrorists use guns...is our military going to stop using guns too?
How about toilet paper? Do any terrorists use toilet paper? If so, will our GIs start receiving the Sears catalog instead?
Ditto to getting burned on iPhoto...except ours was self inflicted. My wife decided she did not like how iPhoto was organizing pictures, so she went ahead and renamed directories and files. Ouch.
As I was reading through Apple documentation trying to figure out how to fix it, they suggest that you regularly back up the Pictures directory. Way to have confidence in your own product, was my feeling about that...
Would be to track the credit cards of people that protest the Virtual McDonalds, and see if they ever eat at the REAL McDonalds. Then send them a letter:
Dear hypocrite:
We see you protested our Virtual McDonalds, then went and gourged on a Big Mac. Please cease and desist your bitching and moaning. That is all
I'm wring a novel. I could give a shit about whether or not I have a DMCA-capable OS. And when I want music, I have my Ipod. Yeah, I ripped my stuff into the Ipod, but they're my CDs, and I did the ripping. What's the big deal? And what does this have to with my DMCA-incapable OS?
The "Big Deal," as I understand it, is that the Content Cartel will team with DMCA-capable OSes so that CDs and DVDs won't be able to even play on DMCA-incapable OSes like MacOS, Linux, BSD. How pissed will you be when you put down $18 for a CD, get home and not be able to run it on your computer?
Or, maybe you'll be able to play it on MacOS, but some hardware encryption between the CD and the CD Drive disallows you from ripping the track to your iPod?
I, for one, would find that extremely disappointing.
YOU may not care about my blog...
But my friends and family all over the world DO. I used to send out mass emails to my whole address book. Blog allows me to have a bit richer content, add photos, whatever. The people that DO want to know what I'm up to like it. Thats all I really care about.
Maybe instead of zero force, they USE the Force. They've got thousands of Midocholorians trapped in the pad...
*waves hand* You will open Mozilla to Slashdot...
Yes, we all know we're being tracked all the time. Its not the tracking that worries me...its the cross-corrolation of all the data on me, and the strong possibility that someone might cross-corrolate something incorrectly and get me into a world a trouble. That scares me.
So...I go to a store and I buy a box of kleenex and a Playboy (totally hypothetical, of course). Am I going to start getting promotions from Adam and Eve?
Still, that's a minor annoyance. Now, what if that puts me on some new gov't database for possible perverts? Or worse yet, what if someone with a similar name has a kiddie pr0n habit, and that somehow gets corrolated to my possible pervert record?
That's the type of thing that most worries me...that I don't know who knows what about me...and who else they're talking to. I have a Playboy subscription (I actually read the articles). Do I care that they sell their subscription list? A little. Do I want someone looking at ALL my habits, making decisions on how I live my life - decisions that might affect my ability to get a loan, or affect my relationship with my employer, or friends, or family?
Yeah...I don't like that...
Can't do that...Jennifer Lopez would sue for both Copyright infringement of her name and defamation (by telling her to go).
Personally, I'd tell her to go just so I can watch her walk away.
Damn it...I can never keep up!
Sorry guys, but I might have to like them again when the network package for PS2 comes out in a couple weeks. And online Madden 2K3...
Mmmm...Madden...
We all know how MS feels about non-MS operating systems. We all know they're using .NET as a way to lock people into Windows servers and desktops. There's NO WAY they're gonna hang out and let poor Linux play in their reindeer games.
No...they'll go ahead and change their infrastructure so that it doesn't work with open source code.
Can only imagine all the germs on the controllers from snot nozed kids and pimply faced teenagers pawing them up all day. Maybe they'll have someone with Handywipes nearby.
I'll stick to my own joystick, thank you very much...
"When you have circles and ellipses, there is no way you'd be able to do this without a calculator," Jarvis said.
Ok...I know a lot of people don't need to summon Euclidian geometry from memory in everyday life, but the image of a kid in geometry class learning an equation thats been around for over 1000 years, and saying that level of math is impossible without a {graphing calculator, PDA} really saddens me. Especially since geometry is usually taught an at honors level - meaning the kids taking geometry are supposed to be the smart ones, on the fast track to college, etc. It makes me think that with all the technology readily available, kids will stop thinking and imagining and innovating.
I remember being in school when the TI's started to become popular. My feeling then was that ok, I've done these equations by hand...I've got a good handle on how to do that, and sometimes its a real PITA, so maybe sometimes its better to use the automated functions here. I still think that way -- I CAN configure SAMBA by hand, but there's a nice graphical tool that automates it, so that's simpler for me now.
I just hope with all the automation tools and short cuts technology can provide, we're not engineering out the human quality of wanting to know how things work.
So how do you tell kids today that yes, you can live without the latest gadget, and that it is important to master the fundamentals before you learn all the shortcuts?
This is representative of robotics in general. Robots are notoriously BAD at knowing where they are in the real world, or exactly how far they have moved. That's why NASA had a lander and a rover in the Mars Pathfinder mission. The lander had a pan and scan stereo camera that could pretty accurately measure the rover's relative position from the lander (IIRC, cameras were accurate to about 5mm at 5m, but I'd have to review my notes). Without an external view, NASA would have quickly lost the rover - in one sequence of commands, the error in where the rover ended up from where it was commanded to go was as large as the distance it was supposed to move!
One way (I think, anyway) to get around this is to have many rovers all talking to each other and to the lander. Robots are good at sending relative positions, but bad at determining absolute position. So you get each robot to stay in constant contact w/2 other robots, and deterime their positions relative to itself. As long as one robot stays in constant contact with the lander, the lander can do some simple vector math and determine the positions of all the other robots! This would be cool because you can string out the robots in a long line, and you can safely move robots outside of the visual range of the lander. I wrote about it in my thesis.
Making "Write Once, Run Anywhere" a Java mantra was a huge mistake. It should have been more like "Write once, tweak a little, maybe it'll run... But it's easier than porting C code!"
Hmm...that doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
When it works, though, its a pretty awesome thing. I did my thesis in Java - a visualization of some simulations. I did all the development on SGIs, but I gave demos on Windows in another lab. That first time I ran the program on Windows, I was fairly shocked that it worked so well without me having to rewrite a single line.
I'm in a consulting gig...for me it depends more on the client (ie - people that are paying my salary) than on my bosses (people that I report to daily).
/. Whatever...their money. (Actually, not...its a Government gig...sorry taxpayers!)
Take today, for example. I'd finished all the work I can do last night, and was looking to go home early. My boss said its ok with him, but it may look bad to the client. I guess they'd rather pay $150/hr for me to sit here and read