This might be a bit offtopic, but I have a quick question regarding mp3 files. I like music from foregin bands (Mostly Japan), and as such I download music from the bands and share it online so that someone else might get like it. 40$US to import a CD that costs about 10$US in the native country is a bit steep to end up not liking the band or the music, hence the downloading.
Now heres the quesion: Are US copyright laws, and as such the DMCA applicable to foregin music, or do I get to laugh at the RIAA if they come knocking on my door.
On a side note, how do the US copyright laws apply to foregin bands? I like to download Japanese music to hear new bands, simply because it's about 40$ to import a CD and you are out alot of money if you end up not liking the band.
However, in terms of US bands I can see why the RIAA would be annoyed, but I can also see why their tatics are wrong. In the eyes of the general public they are trying to be the school yard bully in the why the go about "copyright protection".
Software like this seem like it could be an extreamly good teaching tool for young children in some subjects, and also for adults in others. Due to the fact that the software can infer what you intended to do, it could allow you to see the results of what you intened.
However, it could also be a bad thing if the software infers incorrectly and over-rides the human opperator.
My basic question concerning this is two-fold, is this realy needed, and if it is created will we be able to control the techology. With world events the way they are now it seems like one of the last things that we end is a small high yeild weapon that can fall into the worng hands. At least with nuclear weapons there are some means of detecting their presence, but it seems that these weapons will not have the same signature.
From my understanding of the GPL they are giving you permision to make multiple copies, and one would think that if the creator of the software gives you permision to make the copies then that should over ride the copyright laws. In esence, whats the point of making a EULA (or the GPL in this case) in the first place if the federal copyright laws are going to over ride anything that is agreed to?
Also, on a side note, why is SCO making this the focus of the case if the reason for the lawsuit is that they are claiming that code was used without their permision. If that is the focus of the case then they should prove that code was used without there permision - not that the program is distribuited and they don't like the way it is distriuted.
The robots were developed for several purposes, including inspections hazardous areas, and bomb detection/disposal. However, they have more uses, because of their mobility they can be used to find victims trapped in narrow areas where a human or rescue dog might not be able to get at. Plus, robots don't complain about their job.
Judgeing from the artical they might have found a better way to get stem cells for research. However, now instead of having to deal with just people that are anti-cloning or anti-stem cell research, you would also have to deal with the animal rights activists because of the retrevial of the eggs, and the undertermined status of the cells after they are created.
So in the short run it is posibly a better way to get stem cells, in the long run it will raise alot of ethical concerns, as well as the undermined nature of the cell - in short we don't know if they are "true" stem cells in their ablity to grow into any organ. Also, if they do have the potenital to become any organ, we don't know how the human body would react to the foegin DNA (the rabit mitocadria)
Also, the Air Force is moving all network computer logons to the CAC and we are also moing to use the cards for digital signatures to emails, and soon all dorms will use the cards for entry to the dorms.
So I'm still having a hard time seeing how the cards don't have "legal uses".
Some good points have been brought up, so I will take a second to define how I see "pure" and "applied" research real quick.
Pure research I feel is research that is skull sweat, and its found mostly in theroy and mathmatics. In other words I feel that pure research is just thoughts and ideas being kicked around.
Applied research is when you go out with the concepts from the pure research and try to apply them.
*Takes a moment to kick self for not mentioning this*
Now to define (defend) my thoughts, pure research I belive should be unresticted, because by my definition no harm can come from just thoughts and ideas. Now, applied research is different, because of the nature of actively trying out ideas, and seeking ways to apply them. And thus there are somethings that do not need to be researched, and there are some ways that things should not be researched. Of course there also comes into play the problem of when dose something cease to be pure research and becomes applied (active) research, because in some areas - such as computing - the mere point of putting the idea on paper is a form of doing applied research on it.
So in summary, I belive that just sitting around thinking up new ideas and theories should be totaly unrestricted. However, in the nature of applied research, I belive that the scientist should have a good deal of freedom, however I would hope that there would be no need to prevent or to stop a scientists research because what they are doing is unethical or dangerous to people or the enviroment.
However, I am aware what most of what I think is just wishful thinking.
On a side note. Yes, I know that my definitions of pure and applied research are skewed and not the text book definitions, but I tend to be abit unusual in how I view the world:P
True, there is sometime a line at which research ceases to be research, and becomes something else. But for most pratical purposes, most pure research is moral netural.
With any luck these advances can be pointed out to those whom want to ban various froms of research in the future. Hopefully, people can come to realise that no research is "bad" or "evil", it just depends upon how the research is applied.
I agree, a good search engine is going to face problems in paying for bandwidth, hosting, ect; and unless you have paid advertising you would be hard pressed to keep it running for long. The only posiblities left would be to have a company pay to host it (which may have problems), or to have user donations keep it running, simlar to PBS.
This seems to me like the/. moderation system, with the pages being ranked based upon how the user feels about the site.
However, I could see some disadvantages to the system depending upon how it is set up, because one person could keep dinging a site to get its score to drop down.
I guess that this is more proof of the old saying that technology is driven by either
a) Man's desire to impress women
b) Man's desire to find a subsitute for women when he is rejected
Ick, sorry about the bad formating, here's a better version:
Using cellophane to convert a laptop computer screen into a three-dimensional display
Keigo lizuka
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
35 St. George Street
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A4
Abstract
We present a novel, inexpensive, stereoscopic technique for generating 3D displays from cellophane and a laptop computer screen. Stereoscopy requires independent manipulation of the left and right eye views.1 Our technique takes advantage of two facts; the first is that the light from the liquid crystal display of a laptop computer is polarized light 2, and therefore we can easily manipulate its transmission with a polarizer sheet. The second fact is that a cellophane half-waveplate can change the direction of polarization of light. The direction of polarization of one half of the laptop screen was rotated by the cellophane half-waveplate. Two images displayed with orthogonal polarization on two halves of the screen become separable by wearing a pair of glasses of orthogonal polarization.
A distinct advantage of our technique is its simplicity; a laptop screen can be converted into a 3D display with minimal knowledge of optics. An additional advantage of our technique is that we can eliminate the need for the observer to wear special glasses by making the computer wear the glasses instead. This is possible because a laptop computer normally has only one viewer at a time, and the relative orientation of the viewer's head and the laptop screen is sufficiently stationary. A further significant discovery is that we verified that cellophane (costing mere pennies) proved to be a better half-waveplate than a commercial half-waveplate (costing hundreds of dollars for the required size) for rotating the polarization of white light.
1. Properties of cellophane
Let us begin by examining the properties of cellophane. Cellophane is fabricated by protruding an alkaline viscose solution through a narrow die into an acid bath. Because of the unidirectional strain during the protruding process, cellophane is an anisotropic material and it behaves like a calcite crystal. The refractive index ny of cellophane measured by a light wave component polarized in the direction of the longer dimension of the rolled cellophane (in the y direction) is larger than nx, measured by a light wave component polarized in the direction of the shorter dimension (in the x direction).
As a result, the component polarized in the x direction propagates through the medium faster than the component polarized in the y direction. After transmission through such a medium, a phase difference arises between these two light wave components. The difference ny-nx in the refractive index and the thickness of the cellophane determine the amount of the phase difference between the components polarized in the x and y directions. A medium that creates a 180o phase delay is a half-waveplate. The phase difference incurred in plain ordinary colorless cellophane (our sample had a thickness of 25 microns was measured to be 170.2o , which is about 95% of the phase delay of an ideal half-waveplate. These measured results are within acceptable limits for a number of practical applications that do not require a precise 180o phase delay. Having demonstrated the feasibility of using cellophane as a half-waveplate, we now examine what a half-waveplate does and how it can be used to create a 3D display.
One of the most important functions of a half-waveplate is its ability to rotate the direction of polarization of the transmitted light. We found that cellophane's performance in rotating the direction of polarization of white light was superior to that of a commercially available half-waveplate designed for a specific wavelength. An added bonus is that cellophane is very inexpensive. Before describing the role of a half-waveplate in generating 3D images, we need to introduce some basic stereoscopic principles.
Using cellophane to convert a laptop computer screen into a three-dimensional display
Keigo lizuka
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
35 St. George Street
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A4
Abstract
We present a novel, inexpensive, stereoscopic technique for generating 3D displays from cellophane and a laptop computer screen. Stereoscopy requires independent manipulation of the left and right eye views.1 Our technique takes advantage of two facts; the first is that the light from the liquid crystal display of a laptop computer is polarized light 2, and therefore we can easily manipulate its transmission with a polarizer sheet. The second fact is that a cellophane half-waveplate can change the direction of polarization of light. The direction of polarization of one half of the laptop screen was rotated by the cellophane half-waveplate. Two images displayed with orthogonal polarization on two halves of the screen become separable by wearing a pair of glasses of orthogonal polarization.
A distinct advantage of our technique is its simplicity; a laptop screen can be converted into a 3D display with minimal knowledge of optics. An additional advantage of our technique is that we can eliminate the need for the observer to wear special glasses by making the computer wear the glasses instead. This is possible because a laptop computer normally has only one viewer at a time, and the relative orientation of the viewer's head and the laptop screen is sufficiently stationary. A further significant discovery is that we verified that cellophane (costing mere pennies) proved to be a better half-waveplate than a commercial half-waveplate (costing hundreds of dollars for the required size) for rotating the polarization of white light.
1. Properties of cellophane
Let us begin by examining the properties of cellophane. Cellophane is fabricated by protruding an alkaline viscose solution through a narrow die into an acid bath. Because of the unidirectional strain during the protruding process, cellophane is an anisotropic material and it behaves like a calcite crystal. The refractive index ny of cellophane measured by a light wave component polarized in the direction of the longer dimension of the rolled cellophane (in the y direction) is larger than nx, measured by a light wave component polarized in the direction of the shorter dimension (in the x direction).
As a result, the component polarized in the x direction propagates through the medium faster than the component polarized in the y direction. After transmission through such a medium, a phase difference arises between these two light wave components. The difference ny-nx in the refractive index and the thickness of the cellophane determine the amount of the phase difference between the components polarized in the x and y directions. A medium that creates a 180o phase delay is a half-waveplate. The phase difference incurred in plain ordinary colorless cellophane (our sample had a thickness of 25 microns was measured to be 170.2o , which is about 95% of the phase delay of an ideal half-waveplate. These measured results are within acceptable limits for a number of practical applications that do not require a precise 180o phase delay. Having demonstrated the feasibility of using cellophane as a half-waveplate, we now examine what a half-waveplate does and how it can be used to create a 3D display.
One of the most important functions of a half-waveplate is its ability to rotate the direction of polarization of the transmitted light. We found that cellophane's performance in rotating the direction of polarization of white light was superior to that of a commercially available half-waveplate designed for a specific wavelength. An added bonus is that cellophane is very inexpensive. Before describing the role of a half-waveplate in generating 3D images, we need to introduce some basic stereoscopic principles.
2. Stereoscopic principles
Figure 1 explains the basic principle of a 3D display based upon the parallax effect1.
(a) (b) (c)
The observer se
From the artical:
"SCO has not been trying to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt to end users. We have been educating end users on the risks of running an operating system that is an unauthorized derivative of Unix," said the statement.
Correct me if I am worng, but wasn't SCO's problem with Linux not that it is similar to Unix, but that it had "unauthorized propitary code" in it?
I find it hard to believe that DirecTV thinks that the only use for the Smart Cards is to steal satellite TV, when the cards are quickly growing in use on computer networks as a means of user login and digital signatures. In fact the DoD has acquired 2.4 million Common Access Cards (Modified Smart Cards that include a photo ID on the card) that are used on DoD computer networks. (Ref: Government Computer News, Vol 22 Num 14)
Slashdot Mirror
Now heres the quesion: Are US copyright laws, and as such the DMCA applicable to foregin music, or do I get to laugh at the RIAA if they come knocking on my door.
But if the program mimics its users logic does that mean that we will have tech support being called by computers for stupid reasons?
On a side note, how do the US copyright laws apply to foregin bands? I like to download Japanese music to hear new bands, simply because it's about 40$ to import a CD and you are out alot of money if you end up not liking the band.
However, in terms of US bands I can see why the RIAA would be annoyed, but I can also see why their tatics are wrong. In the eyes of the general public they are trying to be the school yard bully in the why the go about "copyright protection".
Software like this seem like it could be an extreamly good teaching tool for young children in some subjects, and also for adults in others. Due to the fact that the software can infer what you intended to do, it could allow you to see the results of what you intened.
However, it could also be a bad thing if the software infers incorrectly and over-rides the human opperator.
My basic question concerning this is two-fold, is this realy needed, and if it is created will we be able to control the techology. With world events the way they are now it seems like one of the last things that we end is a small high yeild weapon that can fall into the worng hands. At least with nuclear weapons there are some means of detecting their presence, but it seems that these weapons will not have the same signature.
Also, on a side note, why is SCO making this the focus of the case if the reason for the lawsuit is that they are claiming that code was used without their permision. If that is the focus of the case then they should prove that code was used without there permision - not that the program is distribuited and they don't like the way it is distriuted.
The robots were developed for several purposes, including inspections hazardous areas, and bomb detection/disposal. However, they have more uses, because of their mobility they can be used to find victims trapped in narrow areas where a human or rescue dog might not be able to get at. Plus, robots don't complain about their job.
Judgeing from the artical they might have found a better way to get stem cells for research. However, now instead of having to deal with just people that are anti-cloning or anti-stem cell research, you would also have to deal with the animal rights activists because of the retrevial of the eggs, and the undertermined status of the cells after they are created.
So in the short run it is posibly a better way to get stem cells, in the long run it will raise alot of ethical concerns, as well as the undermined nature of the cell - in short we don't know if they are "true" stem cells in their ablity to grow into any organ. Also, if they do have the potenital to become any organ, we don't know how the human body would react to the foegin DNA (the rabit mitocadria)
But I realy am god!
So I'm still having a hard time seeing how the cards don't have "legal uses".
Pure research I feel is research that is skull sweat, and its found mostly in theroy and mathmatics. In other words I feel that pure research is just thoughts and ideas being kicked around.
Applied research is when you go out with the concepts from the pure research and try to apply them.
*Takes a moment to kick self for not mentioning this*
Now to define (defend) my thoughts, pure research I belive should be unresticted, because by my definition no harm can come from just thoughts and ideas. Now, applied research is different, because of the nature of actively trying out ideas, and seeking ways to apply them. And thus there are somethings that do not need to be researched, and there are some ways that things should not be researched. Of course there also comes into play the problem of when dose something cease to be pure research and becomes applied (active) research, because in some areas - such as computing - the mere point of putting the idea on paper is a form of doing applied research on it.
So in summary, I belive that just sitting around thinking up new ideas and theories should be totaly unrestricted. However, in the nature of applied research, I belive that the scientist should have a good deal of freedom, however I would hope that there would be no need to prevent or to stop a scientists research because what they are doing is unethical or dangerous to people or the enviroment.
However, I am aware what most of what I think is just wishful thinking.
On a side note. Yes, I know that my definitions of pure and applied research are skewed and not the text book definitions, but I tend to be abit unusual in how I view the world
True, there is sometime a line at which research ceases to be research, and becomes something else. But for most pratical purposes, most pure research is moral netural.
With any luck these advances can be pointed out to those whom want to ban various froms of research in the future. Hopefully, people can come to realise that no research is "bad" or "evil", it just depends upon how the research is applied.
I agree, a good search engine is going to face problems in paying for bandwidth, hosting, ect; and unless you have paid advertising you would be hard pressed to keep it running for long. The only posiblities left would be to have a company pay to host it (which may have problems), or to have user donations keep it running, simlar to PBS.
This seems to me like the /. moderation system, with the pages being ranked based upon how the user feels about the site.
However, I could see some disadvantages to the system depending upon how it is set up, because one person could keep dinging a site to get its score to drop down.
I guess that this is more proof of the old saying that technology is driven by either
a) Man's desire to impress women
b) Man's desire to find a subsitute for women when he is rejected
Using cellophane to convert a laptop computer screen into a three-dimensional display Keigo lizuka
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
35 St. George Street
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A4
Abstract
We present a novel, inexpensive, stereoscopic technique for generating 3D displays from cellophane and a laptop computer screen. Stereoscopy requires independent manipulation of the left and right eye views.1 Our technique takes advantage of two facts; the first is that the light from the liquid crystal display of a laptop computer is polarized light 2, and therefore we can easily manipulate its transmission with a polarizer sheet. The second fact is that a cellophane half-waveplate can change the direction of polarization of light. The direction of polarization of one half of the laptop screen was rotated by the cellophane half-waveplate. Two images displayed with orthogonal polarization on two halves of the screen become separable by wearing a pair of glasses of orthogonal polarization.
A distinct advantage of our technique is its simplicity; a laptop screen can be converted into a 3D display with minimal knowledge of optics. An additional advantage of our technique is that we can eliminate the need for the observer to wear special glasses by making the computer wear the glasses instead. This is possible because a laptop computer normally has only one viewer at a time, and the relative orientation of the viewer's head and the laptop screen is sufficiently stationary. A further significant discovery is that we verified that cellophane (costing mere pennies) proved to be a better half-waveplate than a commercial half-waveplate (costing hundreds of dollars for the required size) for rotating the polarization of white light.
1. Properties of cellophane
Let us begin by examining the properties of cellophane. Cellophane is fabricated by protruding an alkaline viscose solution through a narrow die into an acid bath. Because of the unidirectional strain during the protruding process, cellophane is an anisotropic material and it behaves like a calcite crystal. The refractive index ny of cellophane measured by a light wave component polarized in the direction of the longer dimension of the rolled cellophane (in the y direction) is larger than nx, measured by a light wave component polarized in the direction of the shorter dimension (in the x direction).
As a result, the component polarized in the x direction propagates through the medium faster than the component polarized in the y direction. After transmission through such a medium, a phase difference arises between these two light wave components. The difference ny-nx in the refractive index and the thickness of the cellophane determine the amount of the phase difference between the components polarized in the x and y directions. A medium that creates a 180o phase delay is a half-waveplate. The phase difference incurred in plain ordinary colorless cellophane (our sample had a thickness of 25 microns was measured to be 170.2o , which is about 95% of the phase delay of an ideal half-waveplate. These measured results are within acceptable limits for a number of practical applications that do not require a precise 180o phase delay. Having demonstrated the feasibility of using cellophane as a half-waveplate, we now examine what a half-waveplate does and how it can be used to create a 3D display.
One of the most important functions of a half-waveplate is its ability to rotate the direction of polarization of the transmitted light. We found that cellophane's performance in rotating the direction of polarization of white light was superior to that of a commercially available half-waveplate designed for a specific wavelength. An added bonus is that cellophane is very inexpensive. Before describing the role of a half-waveplate in generating 3D images, we need to introduce some basic stereoscopic principles.
Using cellophane to convert a laptop computer screen into a three-dimensional display Keigo lizuka Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering 35 St. George Street University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A4 Abstract We present a novel, inexpensive, stereoscopic technique for generating 3D displays from cellophane and a laptop computer screen. Stereoscopy requires independent manipulation of the left and right eye views.1 Our technique takes advantage of two facts; the first is that the light from the liquid crystal display of a laptop computer is polarized light 2, and therefore we can easily manipulate its transmission with a polarizer sheet. The second fact is that a cellophane half-waveplate can change the direction of polarization of light. The direction of polarization of one half of the laptop screen was rotated by the cellophane half-waveplate. Two images displayed with orthogonal polarization on two halves of the screen become separable by wearing a pair of glasses of orthogonal polarization. A distinct advantage of our technique is its simplicity; a laptop screen can be converted into a 3D display with minimal knowledge of optics. An additional advantage of our technique is that we can eliminate the need for the observer to wear special glasses by making the computer wear the glasses instead. This is possible because a laptop computer normally has only one viewer at a time, and the relative orientation of the viewer's head and the laptop screen is sufficiently stationary. A further significant discovery is that we verified that cellophane (costing mere pennies) proved to be a better half-waveplate than a commercial half-waveplate (costing hundreds of dollars for the required size) for rotating the polarization of white light. 1. Properties of cellophane Let us begin by examining the properties of cellophane. Cellophane is fabricated by protruding an alkaline viscose solution through a narrow die into an acid bath. Because of the unidirectional strain during the protruding process, cellophane is an anisotropic material and it behaves like a calcite crystal. The refractive index ny of cellophane measured by a light wave component polarized in the direction of the longer dimension of the rolled cellophane (in the y direction) is larger than nx, measured by a light wave component polarized in the direction of the shorter dimension (in the x direction). As a result, the component polarized in the x direction propagates through the medium faster than the component polarized in the y direction. After transmission through such a medium, a phase difference arises between these two light wave components. The difference ny-nx in the refractive index and the thickness of the cellophane determine the amount of the phase difference between the components polarized in the x and y directions. A medium that creates a 180o phase delay is a half-waveplate. The phase difference incurred in plain ordinary colorless cellophane (our sample had a thickness of 25 microns was measured to be 170.2o , which is about 95% of the phase delay of an ideal half-waveplate. These measured results are within acceptable limits for a number of practical applications that do not require a precise 180o phase delay. Having demonstrated the feasibility of using cellophane as a half-waveplate, we now examine what a half-waveplate does and how it can be used to create a 3D display. One of the most important functions of a half-waveplate is its ability to rotate the direction of polarization of the transmitted light. We found that cellophane's performance in rotating the direction of polarization of white light was superior to that of a commercially available half-waveplate designed for a specific wavelength. An added bonus is that cellophane is very inexpensive. Before describing the role of a half-waveplate in generating 3D images, we need to introduce some basic stereoscopic principles. 2. Stereoscopic principles Figure 1 explains the basic principle of a 3D display based upon the parallax effect1. (a) (b) (c) The observer se
From the artical: "SCO has not been trying to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt to end users. We have been educating end users on the risks of running an operating system that is an unauthorized derivative of Unix," said the statement. Correct me if I am worng, but wasn't SCO's problem with Linux not that it is similar to Unix, but that it had "unauthorized propitary code" in it?
I find it hard to believe that DirecTV thinks that the only use for the Smart Cards is to steal satellite TV, when the cards are quickly growing in use on computer networks as a means of user login and digital signatures. In fact the DoD has acquired 2.4 million Common Access Cards (Modified Smart Cards that include a photo ID on the card) that are used on DoD computer networks. (Ref: Government Computer News, Vol 22 Num 14)