Ah yes, do you mean Robots of Death? It's a great episode. I wasn't consciously thinking of it when I posted, but as a long time Dr. Who fan, it may have been lurking in the back of my mind.
I'm in agreement with this article that computer-generated human faces still look creepy. I can't quite place what it is, but computer generated skin (even when done well as it was with Gollum from the LOTR movies) doesn't look right.
Maybe it's that the faces look somehow too regular; maybe it's that they look somehow luminescent.
It's even evident in the little thumnail image at the top of the article.
Until we remember that an idea can be passed from one person to another without diminishing the value of the original idea, like the flame of a candle lighting other candles, the open-source community will have problems communicating with the rest of the world and amongst themselves.
Ideas don't pass so much like candle flames as virii. There are sometimes mutations (for better or worse) as they pass from host to host. Current IP law seems pretty messed up in that one can patent a mutation of an already patented idea in such a way that it will prohibit pretty much anyone from making use of it. I don't think that jives with the original laws' intent, but it often has a big impact on free software.
Ugh, the idea of Newspeak reinvented. The English language has enough problems without being forced through a strainer, too.
If you're going to go this route, I'd prefer to see a neutral language like Esperanto used instead.
The Power of a Newton in the Form Factor of a Palm
on
Palmtop Nirvana?
·
· Score: 1
Something like a Newton with a real hand-held optimized OS, a free software development system, the ability to handle all popular e-book formats (including Newton books, Open E-Books, Palm DOCbooks, etc.), numerous available apps, 802.11g, Bluetooth, 10/100 ethernet, FAX capabilities, and the capability to handle virtual machines for Java, Z-Machine, and Glulx.
Then just squeeze it all down to fit into a Palm-sized case.
It would be nice if they posted a bit more info. Like for example exactly how the figures are tabulated -- is it a straight weekly sum, or are past results worked in somehow either through strict accumulation or a weighted average... Furthermore, do audio books get tossed into the mix (not that one is apt to win)?
It would also be neat to see what formats people were downloading the music in.
It means that it's both on some Activision collection CDs (look for the Lost Treasures of Infocom; there have been a few different releases at least one of which includes HHGTTG) which are at the moment out of print (but still findable here and there and which get rereleased every so often) and available through the web. I seem to recall that Douglas Adams' official site made the release in around the time of his death, and I think it still may be available there. If not, do a Google search for hhgttg.z5, HHGTTG.z5, hhgtg.z5, and other related variations. You'll need Z-machine software to run it, but that's readily (and freely) available for virtually all platforms. Check here for a quick list of links of Z-machine apps by platform. Of course, all this is assuming it's really legal to do so; again I reiterate that I really do believe it was so released... Douglas Adams' official site seems to be suffering from the/. effect right now so it's hard to get the final word.
Activision bought Infocom and occasionally rereleases all the original Infocom titles. However, (please correct me if I'm wrong) I believe that HHGTTG (along with the original three Zorks and "Zork Zero") has a somewhat different status and that it was deliberately released into a status that's not quite public domain but still allows free private usage.
I'm glad the IF version of "Hitchhikers' Guide" is coming back. I hope they take it further and bring back some of his other IF titles. "Bureaucracy" is deserving, and I've not had the opportunity to try "Starship Titanic".
Reminds me of the term "hrair" from Watership Down.
It's been suggested that both license plate numbers and telephone numbers have been limited in size due to typical Western European hrair limits (between two and three times that of the Piraha tribe on the average).
There are different types of "free". There's "free" as in "free speech" and "free" as in "free beer". Some free projects adhere to one or the other, not all to both.
Passive resistance can work wonders (just ask Ghandi) but if one really wishes to effect change with this technique a message would somehow have to be communicated to the powers-that-be telling them what sorts of changes were required.
Who knows? There are definitely some employees out there getting abused by their managers. Possibly this technique (used surgically) could help them get basic rights.
Used haphazardly I suspect that this technique could do a lot of harm.
There are some movies that aren't in IMDB. "Outta Control" is one such example. A terrorist flick taking place entirely in Massachusetts (Saugus, Revere, and East Boston specifically) its biggest moment was the destruction of a Fotomat booth...
These factors... allow one to imagine a world where maybe they won't need a desktop, or laptop...
Sounds like the Newton MessagePad 2000 or 2100. Pity they're not still being made. Imagine what the Newton would be like today if its development cycle hadn't been broken...
Isn't the problem described much larger for commercial outsourcing? These days most software used in the U.S. is partially written outside the U.S. At least with the open source software people concerned about security can build from source and perform an inspection on the source. With commercial software, no such precautions are available.
I see the Borg as being pretty heavily Cyberman-inspired anyway. All the stuff with biological entities being semi-mechanized, losing their individuality, having their culture wiped out, etc. was all treated by the earliest of Cyberman episodes.
While I'm hardly a trekkie (so any trekkies out there please feel free to correct me on these points) I see only a few differences between Cybermen and the Borg:
The Cybermen throw away more organic matter in the transformation process and thus look more mechanical.
The Cyber process is completely irreversable, even when it isn't too far along.
While Cybermen are definitely hive type creatures the Borg are more so.
In the Doctor Who Universe, the Cybermen are not particularly successful and are generally considered abominations to be hunted down by all other life forms while in the Trek Universe the Borg do pretty well for themselves.
There have been a few appearances of Daleks outside of Doctor Who (although in many cases the Doctor Who label has been added after-the-fact).
Terry Nation wrote at least one Dalek story sans Doctor; I believe it was meant for kids. The company Big Finish has released two series (and is currently releasing a third) of audio dramas featuring the Daleks without the Doctor. There are of course countless cameos ranging from comedy shows to the classic '80s game "Paradroid").
More interesting to me is how much control Terry Nation's estate seems to exert over Dalek usage -- by all accounts of the time Dalek creation was a collaborative effort; much of what people think of when hearing the word "Dalek" had nothing to do with Terry Nation...
They can be reconciled easily enough. Davros tinkered around and made the original Daleks, but by the time period of the first Dalek episode they (and the Thals) had forgotten that bit of history.
Just a day or two after mentioning it, it seems that Newton's Library has returned with around 200 books that can be freely downloaded in the Newton book format.
Slashdot Mirror
Nope, sorry. The images still don't look real to me. Even the thresholds between different objects look wrong somehow.
Ah yes, do you mean Robots of Death ? It's a great episode. I wasn't consciously thinking of it when I posted, but as a long time Dr. Who fan, it may have been lurking in the back of my mind.
I'm in agreement with this article that computer-generated human faces still look creepy. I can't quite place what it is, but computer generated skin (even when done well as it was with Gollum from the LOTR movies) doesn't look right.
Maybe it's that the faces look somehow too regular; maybe it's that they look somehow luminescent.
It's even evident in the little thumnail image at the top of the article.
Only when they afflict VMS systems...
Ideas don't pass so much like candle flames as virii. There are sometimes mutations (for better or worse) as they pass from host to host. Current IP law seems pretty messed up in that one can patent a mutation of an already patented idea in such a way that it will prohibit pretty much anyone from making use of it. I don't think that jives with the original laws' intent, but it often has a big impact on free software.
Ugh, the idea of Newspeak reinvented. The English language has enough problems without being forced through a strainer, too.
If you're going to go this route, I'd prefer to see a neutral language like Esperanto used instead.
Something like a Newton with a real hand-held optimized OS, a free software development system, the ability to handle all popular e-book formats (including Newton books, Open E-Books, Palm DOCbooks, etc.), numerous available apps, 802.11g, Bluetooth, 10/100 ethernet, FAX capabilities, and the capability to handle virtual machines for Java, Z-Machine, and Glulx.
Then just squeeze it all down to fit into a Palm-sized case.
It would be nice if they posted a bit more info. Like for example exactly how the figures are tabulated -- is it a straight weekly sum, or are past results worked in somehow either through strict accumulation or a weighted average... Furthermore, do audio books get tossed into the mix (not that one is apt to win)? It would also be neat to see what formats people were downloading the music in.
I believe the giant link works appropriately for MS-Win, Mac OS, and Linux/X86 systems. I know it currently doesn't work for Solaris/SPARC...
Sunbird is the calendar component of the Mozilla application suite, much as Firefox is the browser component and Thunderbird is the e-mail component.
It's a pity that Sunbird isn't given any sort of prominence along with Thunderbird... it's already very usable and fills its niche nicely.
It means that it's both on some Activision collection CDs (look for the Lost Treasures of Infocom; there have been a few different releases at least one of which includes HHGTTG) which are at the moment out of print (but still findable here and there and which get rereleased every so often) and available through the web. I seem to recall that Douglas Adams' official site made the release in around the time of his death, and I think it still may be available there. If not, do a Google search for hhgttg.z5, HHGTTG.z5, hhgtg.z5, and other related variations. You'll need Z-machine software to run it, but that's readily (and freely) available for virtually all platforms. Check here for a quick list of links of Z-machine apps by platform. Of course, all this is assuming it's really legal to do so; again I reiterate that I really do believe it was so released... Douglas Adams' official site seems to be suffering from the /. effect right now so it's hard to get the final word.
Activision bought Infocom and occasionally rereleases all the original Infocom titles. However, (please correct me if I'm wrong) I believe that HHGTTG (along with the original three Zorks and "Zork Zero") has a somewhat different status and that it was deliberately released into a status that's not quite public domain but still allows free private usage.
I'm glad the IF version of "Hitchhikers' Guide" is coming back. I hope they take it further and bring back some of his other IF titles. "Bureaucracy" is deserving, and I've not had the opportunity to try "Starship Titanic".
Reminds me of the term "hrair" from Watership Down.
It's been suggested that both license plate numbers and telephone numbers have been limited in size due to typical Western European hrair limits (between two and three times that of the Piraha tribe on the average).
There's more about hrair limits on the Wikipedia.
There are different types of "free". There's "free" as in "free speech" and "free" as in "free beer". Some free projects adhere to one or the other, not all to both.
You can read about the GNU Free Software philosophy for more information on the former.
Passive resistance can work wonders (just ask Ghandi) but if one really wishes to effect change with this technique a message would somehow have to be communicated to the powers-that-be telling them what sorts of changes were required.
Who knows? There are definitely some employees out there getting abused by their managers. Possibly this technique (used surgically) could help them get basic rights.
Used haphazardly I suspect that this technique could do a lot of harm.
There are some movies that aren't in IMDB. "Outta Control" is one such example. A terrorist flick taking place entirely in Massachusetts (Saugus, Revere, and East Boston specifically) its biggest moment was the destruction of a Fotomat booth...
Sounds like the Newton MessagePad 2000 or 2100. Pity they're not still being made. Imagine what the Newton would be like today if its development cycle hadn't been broken...
Isn't the problem described much larger for commercial outsourcing? These days most software used in the U.S. is partially written outside the U.S. At least with the open source software people concerned about security can build from source and perform an inspection on the source. With commercial software, no such precautions are available.
I see the Borg as being pretty heavily Cyberman-inspired anyway. All the stuff with biological entities being semi-mechanized, losing their individuality, having their culture wiped out, etc. was all treated by the earliest of Cyberman episodes.
While I'm hardly a trekkie (so any trekkies out there please feel free to correct me on these points) I see only a few differences between Cybermen and the Borg:
There have been a few appearances of Daleks outside of Doctor Who (although in many cases the Doctor Who label has been added after-the-fact).
Terry Nation wrote at least one Dalek story sans Doctor; I believe it was meant for kids. The company Big Finish has released two series (and is currently releasing a third) of audio dramas featuring the Daleks without the Doctor. There are of course countless cameos ranging from comedy shows to the classic '80s game "Paradroid").
More interesting to me is how much control Terry Nation's estate seems to exert over Dalek usage -- by all accounts of the time Dalek creation was a collaborative effort; much of what people think of when hearing the word "Dalek" had nothing to do with Terry Nation...
They can be reconciled easily enough. Davros tinkered around and made the original Daleks, but by the time period of the first Dalek episode they (and the Thals) had forgotten that bit of history.
The Doctor Who audio series doesn't seem to be affected, only the BBC. Here's just one current example.
Just a day or two after mentioning it, it seems that Newton's Library has returned with around 200 books that can be freely downloaded in the Newton book format.