I'm almost positive trade secrets have little protection under law, by their very nature. If they are to be protected, they can't be secret. The real question here is not "what can I do with a trade secret I have," but rather, "did I break any laws to get it?"
Trade secrets have been exploited many times, since the information is not patented/copywrited. In this case, as far as I can tell, you did nothing illegal by receiving this data without ever requesting it. In fact, you could argue you received it unwillingly.
Gotta love Intro to Algorithms.. Sitting by my desk right now. You really should include the other authors, tho, since Ronald Rivest (the R in RSA) is one of 'em!
Its called "Introduction to Algorithms," by Cormen, Leiserson and Rivest. It is the definitive algorhythms text book. I know a lot of the people I've worked with keep it on their desks. I do the same. Great book.
No.. see, the random number sent to you is encrypted... it can only be decrypted by your private key. By the time you send it back to the server, its of no use to the sniffer. The next time there will be a different number encrypted and sent, which they can't decrypt since they don't have your private key.
This is an interesting take, and I do appreciate it a lot. Its interesting the things you point out. Most of the comments so far have focused on "outside experience"; ie doing something on my own. Its a tough thing to manage while taking classes and rowing 20 hours a week. I really like your concept regarding thinking about what makes a "good" game. I think a great example is Space Merchant (a new take on an old game). Its a very simple web interface, and is even run on inadequate servers, but the game play is so great that a good portion of my house (about 10 people) play it everyday.
As for my personal qualifications, I like to think that really the one thing I lack is experience. I have no problems working LONG hours. I do it already. I get up everyday at 5:20 and keep going pretty late. I have worked in the web industry, which is also infamous for long weeks. Even as a summer job, I worked many a 10 hour day.
As for teams, I can comfortably say this is NO problem. While many can claim this, I feel that my rowing experience gives me a special claim to it. I spend many hours fighting the toughest mental blocks (ie ignoring the physical blocks!) with them. In rowing everyone must work together. The slightest deviation from the expected plan and technique causes the delicate house of cards (pardon the cliche) to come tumbling down. I guess my real question is how do I get my foot in the door? I'm trying to do some projects on my own, but its tough given my schedule.
As for location, well lets just say I'm from CA and love it. I can't wait to get back!
"Position sensors" are inherently difficult to do. If the glove is to be used anywhere, then it would probably have mechanical (and thus heavy and unwieldy) position sensing.
There are, however, gloves that you simply touch the finger tips to the thumb. I'm not sure if there would be enough combinations for a complete keyboard, since a "keystroke" takes both a finger and a thumb. There are probably ways around this, for example, simply putting pressure sensors and then do all the chording on a table top or something.
I am a student at MIT, and I just thought I'd drop my 2 cents in and say that we certainly are not taught programming languages. In any class that requires a programming language, you are simply expected to learn it on your own.
MIT does rigorously teach the alogorithms, mathematics and problem solving techniques. One of the larger CS requirements (6.170, or software engineering lab) is actually about managing large projects among groups, rather than coding. There are also a lot of classes that include graph theory, data structures and alogoritms (both using classic examples and designing your own), as well as many other techniques to understand how to approach problems. The MIT CS deptartment actually prides itself on the LACK of actual "practical" classes.
I worked in a lab at NASA Ames research center that had something much like a virtual atc tower. It was a HMD setup which was fed near real time data and used an HMD with transmissive optics. The result is that the air traffic was overlayed onto the real world. The purpose is obvious: allow air traffic controllers to "see" planes even when they are obstructed by fog, rain, etc.
Here's the site&l t;/a>
I'm assuming (I haven't done the math) that a hard drive probably couldn't keep up with the capture rate. Thus they have to stick to ram. Maybe some other in between memory might work (flash cards? how fast are they?)
I used one of these in a class at MIT, and the problem with the frame rates > 1000 is that the image is cut down proportionally. So at 3000 f/s, you only get 1/3 the image size (cut in third in one dimension). For 6000, thats 1/6!
We were shooting a pencil breaking, and we could just barely see it clearly at 3000fps, and it was pretty challenging to fit it into the 1/3 screen size.
I am currently taking a class in high speed photography at MIT (6.163, or strobe lab), and the cheaper, but not necessarily easier, way is to use a strobe light to flash the event so that it is frozen in time.
The idea is that your strobe needs to be about 10x brighter than the ambient light (at least). The other alternative is to be in the dark. Then you open the shutter, flash the strobe when you want it, and then close the shutter. The event will be "frozen" when ever you flashed the strobe.
This, of course, requires a camera with a "bulb" setting so you can leave the shutter open. But its pretty neat. We've done the "shooting the card sideways" shot just recently. Its pretty cool to actually see the event (not just on a photograph!)
Actually, the real source of the $500 hammer is that classification of expenses is poor. The $500 hammer was actually a $20 hammer with $480 worth of expenses from other things, completely unrelated to the hammer, that got grouped with it. Its just bad bookkeeping, and then they divide it up without caring how much sense it makes.
I took it in 1997 being told it was in c++, but alas, it was still in Pascal. Terribly boring, terribly easy. I think we wrote a simple database program for our project. I took the MIT software engineering course (6.170 for anyone who knows). Couple of interesting things here:
The main focus was on engineering the system, not coding. This meant data models and modules dependancy diagrams, thinking before coding.
We worked in teams. This meant you also had to deal with organizational issues. Not fun, but important lesson. It also requires that you develop good specs for others to work with, have a good plan ahead of time, and aren't coding on the fly.
The projects were usually pretty interesting: One year they had Anti-chess (try to lose all your pieces, if you can take a piece you must. Also had optional AI contest), another pinball. My year it was a marbles game called abalone.
Now, I'll admit a lot of these lessons aren't necessary for the AP test. The AP test was pretty easy though (but my school only did the easy one, CS A, I think).
So, suppose it is ruled that deCSS is completely banned in all forms, which is inconceivable, but go with me. This, presumably, would mean that all incarnations (not just the exact source code) would be banned.
This means that DVD's could no longer be encrpyted using it! The code that is in DVD players (or in hardware form in that player) is no different (in terms of effect - it is just a different incarnation) than the DeCSS code. Thus it would be illegal as well!
This simply grew out of old VR HMD's (Head Mounted Displays. The started out with trackers that were included, so that you could also use them as input devices. The classic use is VR, but many adapted to mimic a mouse so they could work with video games. The i-glasses and Forte VFX1 come to mind. The new i-glasses I believe have even better resolution at 3600,000 pixels/eye. The trackers have disappeared, but if you really want to buy something like this, check out the auction sites first. You can probably get away paying only about $300 for something equivalent to the low end model.
So, the feature browsers REALLY need is the ability to disable popup windows. I've been tempted to try and do it myself, but the time and laziness factors have won so far.
As one who has taken his class, and will be working for ArsDigita, I must say, he IS a web designer. He has very specific views on web design. Not to speak for him, but his primary view is one simplicity. He aims to present what the user is looking for as easily as possible. He puts information up front. True, this may not be "artistic," but I don't see that word in the term web designer. He is not making design decisions haphazardly. He has VERY definate opinions. Just because he has a different view of how it should look, don't knock him.
There are several problems with the claims made in this article:
"We found that students who reported playing more violent video games in junior and high school engaged in more aggressive behavior," - One of the first things anyone who does studies MUST learn is that a correlation (ie when a increases, so does b) does NOT indicate a cause effect relationship. The fact that these kids play violent video games and are violent does not imply a cause/effect relationship.
Statistics themselves can be very deceiving. One can find statistics to back just about anything
New movies would be available on the Website after they had played out in cinemas, on cable television and been released on video compact discs (VCD).
This seems to be the problem here.. pirates don't just get the buyer the product, but they get it before the buyer can go to the video store, rent it and copy it. They are proposing to wait until the movies have become old and out on video (and thus copiable). The movie pirates will still be providing new movies before they are release on rental (or even for sale). I have seen movies posted on the net (as well as seen them on others computers) that weren't even on sale at video stores. This is the pirate niche.
It seems to me that there are enough obvious solid, reasonable content that an internet connection limited to only a few domains (say on the order of a few hundred) could be reasonable. Take brittanica.com. This has the Encyclopaedia Britannica online, updated at least yearly (with the yearbooks). There are plenty of other sites that provide similar types of services. One of the major benefits of the web is not only the vastness of the information, but the ability to update, change and fix it rapidly. It would be very difficult (and expensive) for a library to keep buying newer encyclopaedias (and other resources) every year. Instead, they can provide a link to a web site which is updated frequently, and thus keep newer information. You could even very easily develop a forum for libraries to exchange sites they have had success with.
We've been playing this for a while
on
Brainball!
·
· Score: 1
A bunch of my friends and I have been playing a slight variation of this, which we call "couch." A bunch of people sit on a couch. The last one there wins. No getting up for food or any other bodily need. Its gone into double digit hours before..
This seemed to be suggested by the above response, but I thought I would clarify just a bit. I have read about these types of experiments before. The electrode is not planted at specific spot that already has a function. Instead the person who receives the implant goes through a period of training (I have heard it is on the order of years) to learn how to use the electrode.
The scenario I have heard is that the user spends time looking at the signal coming from the electrode, and "tries" to control it. This is similar to how one can learn to control their own heart rate, another involuntary function.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm almost positive trade secrets have little protection under law, by their very nature. If they are to be protected, they can't be secret. The real question here is not "what can I do with a trade secret I have," but rather, "did I break any laws to get it?"
Trade secrets have been exploited many times, since the information is not patented/copywrited. In this case, as far as I can tell, you did nothing illegal by receiving this data without ever requesting it. In fact, you could argue you received it unwillingly.
Gotta love Intro to Algorithms.. Sitting by my desk right now. You really should include the other authors, tho, since Ronald Rivest (the R in RSA) is one of 'em!
Its called "Introduction to Algorithms," by Cormen, Leiserson and Rivest. It is the definitive algorhythms text book. I know a lot of the people I've worked with keep it on their desks. I do the same. Great book.
No.. see, the random number sent to you is encrypted... it can only be decrypted by your private key. By the time you send it back to the server, its of no use to the sniffer. The next time there will be a different number encrypted and sent, which they can't decrypt since they don't have your private key.
Its actually a requirement for my graphics course! =)
This is an interesting take, and I do appreciate it a lot. Its interesting the things you point out. Most of the comments so far have focused on "outside experience"; ie doing something on my own. Its a tough thing to manage while taking classes and rowing 20 hours a week. I really like your concept regarding thinking about what makes a "good" game. I think a great example is Space Merchant (a new take on an old game). Its a very simple web interface, and is even run on inadequate servers, but the game play is so great that a good portion of my house (about 10 people) play it everyday.
As for my personal qualifications, I like to think that really the one thing I lack is experience. I have no problems working LONG hours. I do it already. I get up everyday at 5:20 and keep going pretty late. I have worked in the web industry, which is also infamous for long weeks. Even as a summer job, I worked many a 10 hour day.
As for teams, I can comfortably say this is NO problem. While many can claim this, I feel that my rowing experience gives me a special claim to it. I spend many hours fighting the toughest mental blocks (ie ignoring the physical blocks!) with them. In rowing everyone must work together. The slightest deviation from the expected plan and technique causes the delicate house of cards (pardon the cliche) to come tumbling down. I guess my real question is how do I get my foot in the door? I'm trying to do some projects on my own, but its tough given my schedule.
As for location, well lets just say I'm from CA and love it. I can't wait to get back!
"Position sensors" are inherently difficult to do. If the glove is to be used anywhere, then it would probably have mechanical (and thus heavy and unwieldy) position sensing.
There are, however, gloves that you simply touch the finger tips to the thumb. I'm not sure if there would be enough combinations for a complete keyboard, since a "keystroke" takes both a finger and a thumb. There are probably ways around this, for example, simply putting pressure sensors and then do all the chording on a table top or something.
I am a student at MIT, and I just thought I'd drop my 2 cents in and say that we certainly are not taught programming languages. In any class that requires a programming language, you are simply expected to learn it on your own.
MIT does rigorously teach the alogorithms, mathematics and problem solving techniques. One of the larger CS requirements (6.170, or software engineering lab) is actually about managing large projects among groups, rather than coding. There are also a lot of classes that include graph theory, data structures and alogoritms (both using classic examples and designing your own), as well as many other techniques to understand how to approach problems. The MIT CS deptartment actually prides itself on the LACK of actual "practical" classes.
I worked in a lab at NASA Ames research center that had something much like a virtual atc tower. It was a HMD setup which was fed near real time data and used an HMD with transmissive optics. The result is that the air traffic was overlayed onto the real world. The purpose is obvious: allow air traffic controllers to "see" planes even when they are obstructed by fog, rain, etc.
Here's the site&l t;/a>
I'm assuming (I haven't done the math) that a hard drive probably couldn't keep up with the capture rate. Thus they have to stick to ram. Maybe some other in between memory might work (flash cards? how fast are they?)
I used one of these in a class at MIT, and the problem with the frame rates > 1000 is that the image is cut down proportionally. So at 3000 f/s, you only get 1/3 the image size (cut in third in one dimension). For 6000, thats 1/6!
We were shooting a pencil breaking, and we could just barely see it clearly at 3000fps, and it was pretty challenging to fit it into the 1/3 screen size.
I am currently taking a class in high speed photography at MIT (6.163, or strobe lab), and the cheaper, but not necessarily easier, way is to use a strobe light to flash the event so that it is frozen in time.
The idea is that your strobe needs to be about 10x brighter than the ambient light (at least). The other alternative is to be in the dark. Then you open the shutter, flash the strobe when you want it, and then close the shutter. The event will be "frozen" when ever you flashed the strobe.
This, of course, requires a camera with a "bulb" setting so you can leave the shutter open. But its pretty neat. We've done the "shooting the card sideways" shot just recently. Its pretty cool to actually see the event (not just on a photograph!)
Actually, the real source of the $500 hammer is that classification of expenses is poor. The $500 hammer was actually a $20 hammer with $480 worth of expenses from other things, completely unrelated to the hammer, that got grouped with it. Its just bad bookkeeping, and then they divide it up without caring how much sense it makes.
- The main focus was on engineering the system, not coding. This meant data models and modules dependancy diagrams, thinking before coding.
- We worked in teams. This meant you also had to deal with organizational issues. Not fun, but important lesson. It also requires that you develop good specs for others to work with, have a good plan ahead of time, and aren't coding on the fly.
- The projects were usually pretty interesting: One year they had Anti-chess (try to lose all your pieces, if you can take a piece you must. Also had optional AI contest), another pinball. My year it was a marbles game called abalone.
Now, I'll admit a lot of these lessons aren't necessary for the AP test. The AP test was pretty easy though (but my school only did the easy one, CS A, I think).So, suppose it is ruled that deCSS is completely banned in all forms, which is inconceivable, but go with me. This, presumably, would mean that all incarnations (not just the exact source code) would be banned.
This means that DVD's could no longer be encrpyted using it! The code that is in DVD players (or in hardware form in that player) is no different (in terms of effect - it is just a different incarnation) than the DeCSS code. Thus it would be illegal as well!
This simply grew out of old VR HMD's (Head Mounted Displays. The started out with trackers that were included, so that you could also use them as input devices. The classic use is VR, but many adapted to mimic a mouse so they could work with video games. The i-glasses and Forte VFX1 come to mind. The new i-glasses I believe have even better resolution at 3600,000 pixels/eye. The trackers have disappeared, but if you really want to buy something like this, check out the auction sites first. You can probably get away paying only about $300 for something equivalent to the low end model.
So, the feature browsers REALLY need is the ability to disable popup windows. I've been tempted to try and do it myself, but the time and laziness factors have won so far.
As one who has taken his class, and will be working for ArsDigita, I must say, he IS a web designer. He has very specific views on web design. Not to speak for him, but his primary view is one simplicity. He aims to present what the user is looking for as easily as possible. He puts information up front. True, this may not be "artistic," but I don't see that word in the term web designer. He is not making design decisions haphazardly. He has VERY definate opinions. Just because he has a different view of how it should look, don't knock him.
New movies would be available on the Website after they had played out in cinemas, on cable television and been released on video compact discs (VCD).
This seems to be the problem here.. pirates don't just get the buyer the product, but they get it before the buyer can go to the video store, rent it and copy it. They are proposing to wait until the movies have become old and out on video (and thus copiable). The movie pirates will still be providing new movies before they are release on rental (or even for sale). I have seen movies posted on the net (as well as seen them on others computers) that weren't even on sale at video stores. This is the pirate niche.
It seems to me that there are enough obvious solid, reasonable content that an internet connection limited to only a few domains (say on the order of a few hundred) could be reasonable. Take brittanica.com. This has the Encyclopaedia Britannica online, updated at least yearly (with the yearbooks). There are plenty of other sites that provide similar types of services. One of the major benefits of the web is not only the vastness of the information, but the ability to update, change and fix it rapidly. It would be very difficult (and expensive) for a library to keep buying newer encyclopaedias (and other resources) every year. Instead, they can provide a link to a web site which is updated frequently, and thus keep newer information. You could even very easily develop a forum for libraries to exchange sites they have had success with.
A bunch of my friends and I have been playing a slight variation of this, which we call "couch." A bunch of people sit on a couch. The last one there wins. No getting up for food or any other bodily need. Its gone into double digit hours before..
This seemed to be suggested by the above response, but I thought I would clarify just a bit. I have read about these types of experiments before. The electrode is not planted at specific spot that already has a function. Instead the person who receives the implant goes through a period of training (I have heard it is on the order of years) to learn how to use the electrode.
The scenario I have heard is that the user spends time looking at the signal coming from the electrode, and "tries" to control it. This is similar to how one can learn to control their own heart rate, another involuntary function.
A company called Virtual Space Devices has developed an Omni-directional Treadmill. It is a pretty neat concept. Check it out at www.vsdevices.com
Does anyone know if this will work with the DXR3 decoder card? I inadvertantly received one with one of the kits (it said it included a DXR2)