So true. UI and UX was pretty much figured out around 1999, and the website useit.com (now defunct) by Jakob Neilson and others was the go to for articles and research for web design. How the fuck has it gone downhill since? Fucking bullshit.
Here's one single firefox add-on that displays the full url in a few different ways (href/status bar, mouseover, expanded link):
http://www.longurlplease.com/
J
I agree they've become pretty annoying. But, they sound like they're here to stay, and I've found this to be handy:
http://www.longurlplease.com/
Firefox extension (and others, I think) that gives you options for these shortened urls. Either expand completely, or in the title attr so you can see it on mouseover, of the href so you can see the full url in the status bar.
J
I think the apps are nice, but the major enabling technology is multitouch. Which has been around, but just now is making some (marketing) headway.
Coupled with a large screen it is awesome, but I could see this in several applications. Imagine just the simple touchpad on a laptop being multitouch. You could do a lot of the similar photo manipulations with just that, separate from the screen. Or on pda's or large screen phones (like the iphone).
As for uploading waypoints, I think Google Earth, the paid version, can link to a gps unit. From there I believe it's easy to get it onto google maps. J
It's actually a pretty entertaining and somewhat enlightening video. A few end of the world scenarios- earthquake/tsunami, meteor, supervolcano, pandemic, and a supercollider creating a black hole and destroying the world. Yep, that last one if included. J
If the beacon transmits periodically without you having to transmit a request, your position could still be given away. A listener near by could detect the reflection of the beacon's ping off of your sub. It would affectively be like using active sonar to detect another sub, but you get to stay quiet. In a way it'd be like the semi-active radar of the AIM-7 Sparrow missile.
Then again, you also could detect the reflection ping off other objects that weren't there before. Assuming the surrounding area would have a 'baseline' sound fingerprint, which I would guess the military would try to do.
I haven't emptied my spam box on gmail for the heck of seeing how many spams are in the box in the last 30 days. For most of last year it hovered around 2000-2400. Then over a week it doubled. Right now there's 5700+ unread spams in the spam box.
Pretty crazy seeing the growth first hand. It's an interesting metric to have right there to see how bad things are getting. Plus, I'd say there's 2-6 spams in the inbox each day. I guess that's alright, wouldn't mind none though. J
I'm very curious how the Portland wireless plan will play out. I live here, and in the last month or so I've been seeing these white cones popping up all over the streetlights and traffic lights. They will have to have some decent power to them, because they're barely every two to four blocks. I know with one wall (or more likely a building) between a computer and the AP it will not be the best signal. They'll be getting power from the traffic or street lights.
Maybe I'm mis-reading your post, but it sounds like you're thinking of pattern welding. The true damascus steel was produced in a different way from pattern welding. Because the of the similar appearance of the two steels, pattern welded blades are just called damascus steel nowadays.
Jeez, in the UK it's technically illegal to carry a freakin pocket knife. Only the oldest tool still used by man. Because it might be used as a 'weapon'. Ooooooh, so practical. What next, banning screw drivers?
If you watch the video of the creator, he talks a lot about the science behind it. He also points out Peekaboom, which takes ESP a step further. Now two players are actually identifying what part of the image is a man, or a car, etc. It's pretty fascinating, especially as it might apply to test data for image recognition research. J
They should be doing things right by using a different media ("print") in their CSS. That way they could display ads on the screen, and when people print it's still formatted correctly.
Regular users wouldn't be able to just click the print link to bypass ads, and advanced users could display on screen the print style sheet.
There is a php library called SparkLine that does only, you guessed it, spark lines.
The FAQ on the Sparkline site helps explain why use that library and not just a shrunken down graph or chart. Though I don't see a great need my self I'm sure there are others who may find it interesting.
Amen to whiteboards! I don't know what it is about just being able to scrawl away, starting over, changing this, and that, etc etc. Definately seems to be the quickest brainstorming device to this day.
I would also add a 'portable' whiteboard. I got about a dozen thick laminated white sheets in my mobile bag, plus a few markers. These are great for mobile brainstorming sessions, and really show their use when doing data flow or use cases or UI. Sketch out screen mockup on each, and move them around as you play with the flow.
One thing with whiteboards though- get it down digitally sooner rather than later! Keep the whiteboards clean and your ideas searchable in the computer.
This is also the release of the new website running on drupal as a CMS instead of, um, I think phpnuke or something. Should be a nice clean start from the previously confusing and disorganized setup. J
It took us a really long time, using all kinds of modern computer models and high speed photography, to figure out how exactly a bumblebee flies. So I wouldn't be too concerned that we can't figure out how these things flew from a few fossils and bones left over 65 million years later. The exact way the wing moved, just the right pressures created from the certain flex of the wing, all kinds of unknowns on the exact characteristics of the skin, etc etc. We've got a long way to go and I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet.
But keep the imagination alive! That's what makes all this stuff fun. J
How about getting to the beep for leaving voiocemail faster? Some people have the fucking longest greeting, and then the provider's voice adds options for other bullshit never used. Christ, say your name and get it over with, get to the beep, let me leave a meaningful voicemail and get on with our goddamn lives. This beer won't drink itself.
I think for verizon you can press the pound key to skip all that. But what about cingular and such?
With slashcode not responding, I haven't seen it yet, but I hope the 'lite' version also improves with the css overhaul. I've only read the site in the lite version, and it always jolts me when I periodically see it's full drab look.
Yeah yeah, user style sheets are doable, but not yet terribly convenient. At least while things are beta.
If they're not returning a domain not found message, and instead going to a webpage, then it's not really fixed/blocked it would seem. The ISP has just started doing what verisign is doing. Probably not collecting data from these mis-types, but it's still breaking DNS.
Hmmm... that might be correct, that after one is built it's not nearly as big to build another. But if one does go down, whether from sabotage or accident, I can't imagine it would be just annoying.
Man, I can't imagine at all what would happen if something bad happened to one of these. If the center of mass if at geostationary orbit, would it fall over? spin off to space? Slowly fall and drag over a couple continents?
I dunno, but it would be a bit more than annoying would be my guess... j
Typical american reponse to anything. "I'll drive this big thing because WHEN I get in an accident I might survive." Akin to "Doctor, I'm sick, make me feel better." "Have you thought about not eating like a pig and exercising more than once a month?" "No! I'm american! Just fix me so I can go on being an idiot!"
Do americans ever think about traits that help AVOID an accident in the first place? Better handling, shorter braking, better visibility, driving with half a brain?
Would be interesting if one day people thought about preventing things (accidents, illnesses) instead of whining about the obvious results of carelessness.
It is kinda interesting that now China is aiming for the moon, and the US decides (kinda outta right field) to bring back the system the got them to the moon long ago. Maybe a hint of jealousy?
Slashdot Mirror
So true. UI and UX was pretty much figured out around 1999, and the website useit.com (now defunct) by Jakob Neilson and others was the go to for articles and research for web design. How the fuck has it gone downhill since? Fucking bullshit.
Here's one single firefox add-on that displays the full url in a few different ways (href/status bar, mouseover, expanded link): http://www.longurlplease.com/ J
I agree they've become pretty annoying. But, they sound like they're here to stay, and I've found this to be handy: http://www.longurlplease.com/ Firefox extension (and others, I think) that gives you options for these shortened urls. Either expand completely, or in the title attr so you can see it on mouseover, of the href so you can see the full url in the status bar. J
I think the apps are nice, but the major enabling technology is multitouch. Which has been around, but just now is making some (marketing) headway.
Coupled with a large screen it is awesome, but I could see this in several applications. Imagine just the simple touchpad on a laptop being multitouch. You could do a lot of the similar photo manipulations with just that, separate from the screen. Or on pda's or large screen phones (like the iphone).
Anyways, could be kinda cool in the future.
J
Actually it's February 11th.
J
All the answers are at gps information.
As for uploading waypoints, I think Google Earth, the paid version, can link to a gps unit. From there I believe it's easy to get it onto google maps.
J
Horizon- End Day
It's actually a pretty entertaining and somewhat enlightening video. A few end of the world scenarios- earthquake/tsunami, meteor, supervolcano, pandemic, and a supercollider creating a black hole and destroying the world. Yep, that last one if included.
J
If the beacon transmits periodically without you having to transmit a request, your position could still be given away. A listener near by could detect the reflection of the beacon's ping off of your sub. It would affectively be like using active sonar to detect another sub, but you get to stay quiet. In a way it'd be like the semi-active radar of the AIM-7 Sparrow missile.
Then again, you also could detect the reflection ping off other objects that weren't there before. Assuming the surrounding area would have a 'baseline' sound fingerprint, which I would guess the military would try to do.
J
I haven't emptied my spam box on gmail for the heck of seeing how many spams are in the box in the last 30 days. For most of last year it hovered around 2000-2400. Then over a week it doubled. Right now there's 5700+ unread spams in the spam box.
Pretty crazy seeing the growth first hand. It's an interesting metric to have right there to see how bad things are getting. Plus, I'd say there's 2-6 spams in the inbox each day. I guess that's alright, wouldn't mind none though.
J
I'm very curious how the Portland wireless plan will play out. I live here, and in the last month or so I've been seeing these white cones popping up all over the streetlights and traffic lights. They will have to have some decent power to them, because they're barely every two to four blocks. I know with one wall (or more likely a building) between a computer and the AP it will not be the best signal. They'll be getting power from the traffic or street lights.
From that page linked above there's a and what they expect on the first go-around. Downtown, with the taller buildings, doesn't seem to get much power spread out. The east side however, which is the better half anyway, will get better coverage.
I'm looking forward to it.
Maybe I'm mis-reading your post, but it sounds like you're thinking of pattern welding. The true damascus steel was produced in a different way from pattern welding. Because the of the similar appearance of the two steels, pattern welded blades are just called damascus steel nowadays.
Jeez, in the UK it's technically illegal to carry a freakin pocket knife. Only the oldest tool still used by man. Because it might be used as a 'weapon'. Ooooooh, so practical. What next, banning screw drivers?
If you watch the video of the creator, he talks a lot about the science behind it. He also points out Peekaboom, which takes ESP a step further. Now two players are actually identifying what part of the image is a man, or a car, etc. It's pretty fascinating, especially as it might apply to test data for image recognition research.
J
They should be doing things right by using a different media ("print") in their CSS. That way they could display ads on the screen, and when people print it's still formatted correctly.
Regular users wouldn't be able to just click the print link to bypass ads, and advanced users could display on screen the print style sheet.
J
There is a php library called SparkLine that does only, you guessed it, spark lines.
The FAQ on the Sparkline site helps explain why use that library and not just a shrunken down graph or chart. Though I don't see a great need my self I'm sure there are others who may find it interesting.
J
Amen to whiteboards! I don't know what it is about just being able to scrawl away, starting over, changing this, and that, etc etc. Definately seems to be the quickest brainstorming device to this day.
I would also add a 'portable' whiteboard. I got about a dozen thick laminated white sheets in my mobile bag, plus a few markers. These are great for mobile brainstorming sessions, and really show their use when doing data flow or use cases or UI. Sketch out screen mockup on each, and move them around as you play with the flow.
One thing with whiteboards though- get it down digitally sooner rather than later! Keep the whiteboards clean and your ideas searchable in the computer.
J
This is also the release of the new website running on drupal as a CMS instead of, um, I think phpnuke or something. Should be a nice clean start from the previously confusing and disorganized setup.
J
It took us a really long time, using all kinds of modern computer models and high speed photography, to figure out how exactly a bumblebee flies. So I wouldn't be too concerned that we can't figure out how these things flew from a few fossils and bones left over 65 million years later. The exact way the wing moved, just the right pressures created from the certain flex of the wing, all kinds of unknowns on the exact characteristics of the skin, etc etc. We've got a long way to go and I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet.
But keep the imagination alive! That's what makes all this stuff fun.
J
How about getting to the beep for leaving voiocemail faster? Some people have the fucking longest greeting, and then the provider's voice adds options for other bullshit never used. Christ, say your name and get it over with, get to the beep, let me leave a meaningful voicemail and get on with our goddamn lives. This beer won't drink itself.
I think for verizon you can press the pound key to skip all that. But what about cingular and such?
J
With slashcode not responding, I haven't seen it yet, but I hope the 'lite' version also improves with the css overhaul. I've only read the site in the lite version, and it always jolts me when I periodically see it's full drab look.
Yeah yeah, user style sheets are doable, but not yet terribly convenient. At least while things are beta.
Just a couple cents.
J
If they're not returning a domain not found message, and instead going to a webpage, then it's not really fixed/blocked it would seem. The ISP has just started doing what verisign is doing. Probably not collecting data from these mis-types, but it's still breaking DNS.
Just a thought.
J
Hmmm... that might be correct, that after one is built it's not nearly as big to build another. But if one does go down, whether from sabotage or accident, I can't imagine it would be just annoying.
Man, I can't imagine at all what would happen if something bad happened to one of these. If the center of mass if at geostationary orbit, would it fall over? spin off to space? Slowly fall and drag over a couple continents?
I dunno, but it would be a bit more than annoying would be my guess...
j
Typical american reponse to anything. "I'll drive this big thing because WHEN I get in an accident I might survive." Akin to "Doctor, I'm sick, make me feel better." "Have you thought about not eating like a pig and exercising more than once a month?" "No! I'm american! Just fix me so I can go on being an idiot!"
Do americans ever think about traits that help AVOID an accident in the first place? Better handling, shorter braking, better visibility, driving with half a brain?
Would be interesting if one day people thought about preventing things (accidents, illnesses) instead of whining about the obvious results of carelessness.
J
It is kinda interesting that now China is aiming for the moon, and the US decides (kinda outta right field) to bring back the system the got them to the moon long ago. Maybe a hint of jealousy?
This could be cool.
J
oh fuck, why didi I just read that as something like "bukkake.com"?? too mcuh poron.
plua, I'm drunmk. Fuck.
I hate t6hese fuck ing keyboatrds that don't know how to speroll. fucking micoroesoft.
J