That's exactly what this technology will allow them to do. And the gaming commission whould make it illegal. Why?
Because the House can use preferential shuffling determined from the exact counting of each card exactly and spit out a statistical model crunched in a computer (something even rainman can't do).
This doesn't just effect card counters! it effectively reduces the odds of winning for every one whether they count cards or not, its just that the card counters are the only ones who are going to notice.
A good pit boss can all ready indentify a card counter quite quickly. And any attempt by the card counter to hid his strategy will reduce his pay out and make winning a painfully slow process.
I don't have a problem with this technology as long as they ban preferential shuffling. Essentially card counting by the house and in my mind cheating.
I think it should be pointed out that this is a proof of concept only and without further evidence no should except this as the true method that the ancient egyptians uses.
However it is important that many of the excepted theories on ancient egyptian construction methods are not based on very convincing evidence either. Most of them do not even have a simular proof of concept experiment (at least a successful one)to verify thier validity.
I once saw a documentry on the subject where many estabalised egyptologists where given the opportunity to verify excepted theories aswell as their own pet theories on egyptian construction using low-tech techniques. As I saw it not a single one even came close to being successful. It was very obious that the egyptologists were academics and not engineers. No matter how badly thier experiment failed none of the egyptologists would let go of their theories.
A few of their failed theories included the "oblelix up the ramp, to a hole with sand in it" the sand is drained out and poof the obelix falls into place. Even with much scaled down version of their obelix and a little aid from modern equipment - no luck what so ever. Another one was the contention that the obelix's were inscribed using stone tools. They had a guy pound on the obelix for over a 3 weeks, he had at least another 12 weeks to go before he would have dotted an "i". According to the egytologists timeline the obelix was inscribed within 3 months using stone tools. From the results of his own experiment that strikes me as being extremely unlikely.
So does their experiment prove the egyptians used kites, No, but at least there is a proof of concept here, which is much more than can said for many of the accepted theories on egyptian construction methods.
(Note: I have no real expertise in visiual perception, I am just applying some common sense)
I can't say I a agree with the authors proof that we can percieve 60fps+. His simple experment involved human perception of flicker NOT animation. Yes it is true that most people can perceive flicker up to about 72Hz. But what we are talking about is a cycle between to completely different states, the moniter screen is blank for 1/120 of a second it is on for 120th of a second (ok this is over simplifing but you get the point).
This is completely different from animation. Animation is a gradual change from one scene to the next. It is much more difficult to distinguish subtle changes from one scene to the next then is to tell if something is on or off.
Imagine looking at a painting for a moment and looking away, then looking back a again. Would you notice a subtle change in the scene? Probably not (we are talking fractions of a second here). Now imagine you look at the painting, look away, look back and it is completely gone. Then I am certain you would notice. The two example are COMPLETELY different situations.
What is the human threshold of perception for fps. I really don't know but I would say it is well below 72fps or even 60fps. I would estimate it to be somewhere between 40 and 60 fps. Any thing more is a waste of CPU cylcles.
Personally I would gladly trade 60+ fps for better image quality or resolution.
(Note: many posters have also pointed out the difference between average and peak fps, so I feel no need for further comment on that here)
I'm seeing a lot of posts along the lines of what's the point 133mhz calculator or is it a calculator or a PDA. In truth it sounds more like a PDA than a calculator. So why not get a PDA in stead?
Many reasons
1. Interface
The Palms interface is optimised for use as an organisor, not a handy interface to use in a 3-hour math exam.
2. Software
I am probably among a select few people in that I know almost all of the HP48's fuctions (and used them for usefull purposes in my engineering classes). The HPs software is easly worth the cost of the calculator, now with the 49G and more symbolic stuff this is even more true. Would you want to load your MathCAD, Maple and Mathlab on you palm.
Why do I want this? I see this as being an all purpose data collector and field analysis tool. For me to do some field work requires both a calculator and a laptop. A PDA optimised for engineering use would kill two birds with one stone. Right know I thinking I could port or program specialized engineer software to it and be able to design revisions quickly and accurately in the field. Another use for this device is a data collector (ala survey total stations and GPS) the HP48GX is still a industry standard in this deparment but is getting too old and slow to be used in new inovations, like real time GIS data while you survey.
I don't know about anyone else but if a site asks me for my email address I almost always use a fake one. Apparently I am very justifed in doing so. The only time I use a real name/email address is if it is absolutly necessary (my bank or broker).
Oh and rememeber if you have a permanent IP (cable/DSL) address *USE* the proxy server - it obscures your identity and speeds your connection (ie. caching squid proxy)
I think Loki will likely become a *game publisher* rather than a game developer. Providing there name, contacts, technical expertise and marketing skills to contracted game developers. I imagine the technical expertise they would provide would include - cross platform developement tools, APIs and open source game engines.
Developing games in house would be just too risky.
Linux is not ready for the office desktop at the moment. I don't think anyone denys this since office desktop = MS (word, excel powerpoint). Yes, there is Staroffice and Corel Wordperfect Office (very soon now)... but everyone uses MS applications for office work.
Unless MS Office is ported to linux I don't think corporate desktops will be moving to linux any time soon. BUT what if there was a revolution in how office productivity apps are used. A revolution towards XML.
Have you ever paid close attention to how people use apps like word, excel, powerpoint - they spend 10% of there time making the content and about 90% of there time formating it. Doing ridiculas things like changing a font size/type here and there and then fiddiling with it again. The result is no two document of the same type in organisation ever have exactly the same style.
If productivity apps stopped acting like sophisticated typewriters - and concentrated on creating logical content, people could be much more productive. Have you ever used LyX - this program lets concetrate on your documents content and logic - the computer (LATeX) worries about the details. This same philosophy can be applied just as easily to XML as to LATeX.
Linux desktops like KDE and GNOME are just as far along in making a XML based office desktop as MS is. We need to take full advantage of this. In fact Open Source office products (KDE and GNOME) have one advantage over MS. They can assume you have access to all components of the desktop. Like a DBMS (MySQL of PostGRES) backend and all of the other apps and CORBA services. MS can't do that because MS office products are sold separetly as well as in a suit. Word can't assume that Access is on your system.
A paradigm shift in Office productivity apps is coming - its XML and CORBA - Linux can use this as opportunity to make headway into the office desktop
Looking at how some online courses are setup, and the skills, culture and technology required - The linux community could create its own online university. Check out ZDNet University, a site like/. could easily set up a superior environment for learning. The community is all ready motivated and organized and educating and informing each other, just look at any linux newsgroup or the LDP. In fact the whole open source philosophy is modelled after the academic philosphy used in scientific research. The problem right now is that there are many of us out here that don't currently have the skills to dive in and make a usefull contribution to any open source project. We need some hand holding and guidance to reach our full potential. As well, it would be helpful that some of the contributions and learning we do with linux would be recognized in some official way (to add to a resume or count towards a degree)
How would it work? First a website dedicated to organizing and coordinating classes and communication would be created. Then members of the open source community that have proved there superior knowege could act as professors. Assistants could be appointed to these professors to take much of the work load off of them. Students of simular abilities would be grouped together to follow an established program that has been documented. Ideally peer cooperation and competion would provide a productive learing environment with professors and thier assistants only interfering to keep the class on the right track.
Lower level cources could include things like Linux installation, basic UNIX admistration, Introduction to C (Java, Python, ect). Projects in higher level cources would require contribution to Open Source projects.
Who benifits? Ideally everybody. Students get a free education, with guidance from the leading minds in the field. Appointed professors would gain from prestige, passing on there knowlege (philosophes, work ethic), finding new recruites to hire or contribute to there project and possibly even make some cash from selling text books to students. The whole community, by bringing everyone together, making everyone more knowlegeable and smarter and increasing the number of skilled Open Source Contibutors.
Who would pay for it? There are may ways the university could potencially be funded. Sale of text books and documentation - ideally these would be available in electronic form for free but some people will desire a hard copy anyways. A better way would to have cooperate sponsors pay for it (like RedHat). For examble a linux distribution would stand to gain so much in terms of recruiting more Open Source developers that they would be fools not to fund such an endevor.
Would it be recognized? Properly organized the education quality of such a university could be quite high. Again a corporate sponsor such as RedHat could make a deal with a real university to recognise credits from the Linux University (or maybe GNU U).
All of this could eventually evolve into more than just a geek college but you have to start somewhere. I think the Open Source community has the level of organization, technological skills and community values to make something like this work. The philosophies of Open Source all ready closely model that of the academic science community, an online university for geeks by geeks is the next logical step.
Hope you found this interesting. Tell me what you think.
For $200 using a dreamcast as an MP3 player would be a convient and reletively cheap solution.
As I understand it dreamcast can run other OS's like WinCE off a bootable CD. So it is likely that a linux port to dreamcast hardware could run as well.
So here is the idea include a minimalist linux dist. on a dreamcast boot cdrom along with a collection of MP3s as well as an MP3 decoder (mpg123).
Yet another idea is to use a cd with WinCE, a MP3 decoder and a collection of MP3s. Licensing issues would probably make this illegal.
A third idea (and likely the simplest) would be to port an MP3 decoder (again mpg123) to the built in dreamcast operating system. Then have a burned CD that contained an MP3 collection an MP3 decoder and possible an interface (so you could select songs from your controler)
Not a bad idea, at least one these ideas is possible. I have no doubt that someone will eventually port linux to dreamcast. Using WinCE is likely simple but as I said before including the code on your burned cd is probably illegal. Porting a MP3 decoder directly to the dreamcast operating system is probably the best solution.
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That's exactly what this technology will allow them to do. And the gaming commission whould make it illegal. Why?
Because the House can use preferential shuffling determined from the exact counting of each card exactly and spit out a statistical model crunched in a computer (something even rainman can't do).
This doesn't just effect card counters! it effectively reduces the odds of winning for every one whether they count cards or not, its just that the card counters are the only ones who are going to notice.
A good pit boss can all ready indentify a card counter quite quickly. And any attempt by the card counter to hid his strategy will reduce his pay out and make winning a painfully slow process.
I don't have a problem with this technology as long as they ban preferential shuffling. Essentially card counting by the house and in my mind cheating.
I think it should be pointed out that this is a proof of concept only and without further evidence no should except this as the true method that the ancient egyptians uses.
However it is important that many of the excepted theories on ancient egyptian construction methods are not based on very convincing evidence either. Most of them do not even have a simular proof of concept experiment (at least a successful one)to verify thier validity.
I once saw a documentry on the subject where many estabalised egyptologists where given the opportunity to verify excepted theories aswell as their own pet theories on egyptian construction using low-tech techniques. As I saw it not a single one even came close to being successful. It was very obious that the egyptologists were academics and not engineers. No matter how badly thier experiment failed none of the egyptologists would let go of their theories.
A few of their failed theories included the "oblelix up the ramp, to a hole with sand in it" the sand is drained out and poof the obelix falls into place. Even with much scaled down version of their obelix and a little aid from modern equipment - no luck what so ever. Another one was the contention that the obelix's were inscribed using stone tools. They had a guy pound on the obelix for over a 3 weeks, he had at least another 12 weeks to go before he would have dotted an "i". According to the egytologists timeline the obelix was inscribed within 3 months using stone tools. From the results of his own experiment that strikes me as being extremely unlikely.
So does their experiment prove the egyptians used kites, No, but at least there is a proof of concept here, which is much more than can said for many of the accepted theories on egyptian construction methods.
(Note: I have no real expertise in visiual perception, I am just applying some common sense)
I can't say I a agree with the authors proof that we can percieve 60fps+. His simple experment involved human perception of flicker NOT animation. Yes it is true that most people can perceive flicker up to about 72Hz. But what we are talking about is a cycle between to completely different states, the moniter screen is blank for 1/120 of a second it is on for 120th of a second (ok this is over simplifing but you get the point).
This is completely different from animation. Animation is a gradual change from one scene to the next. It is much more difficult to distinguish subtle changes from one scene to the next then is to tell if something is on or off.
Imagine looking at a painting for a moment and looking away, then looking back a again. Would you notice a subtle change in the scene? Probably not (we are talking fractions of a second here). Now imagine you look at the painting, look away, look back and it is completely gone. Then I am certain you would notice. The two example are COMPLETELY different situations.
What is the human threshold of perception for fps. I really don't know but I would say it is well below 72fps or even 60fps. I would estimate it to be somewhere between 40 and 60 fps. Any thing more is a waste of CPU cylcles.
Personally I would gladly trade 60+ fps for better image quality or resolution.
(Note: many posters have also pointed out the difference between average and peak fps, so I feel no need for further comment on that here)
I'm seeing a lot of posts along the lines of what's the point 133mhz calculator or is it a calculator or a PDA. In truth it sounds more like a PDA than a calculator. So why not get a PDA in stead?
Many reasons
1. Interface
The Palms interface is optimised for use as an organisor, not a handy interface to use in a 3-hour math exam.
2. Software
I am probably among a select few people in that I know almost all of the HP48's fuctions (and used them for usefull purposes in my engineering classes). The HPs software is easly worth the cost of the calculator, now with the 49G and more symbolic stuff this is even more true. Would you want to load your MathCAD, Maple and Mathlab on you palm.
Why do I want this? I see this as being an all purpose data collector and field analysis tool. For me to do some field work requires both a calculator and a laptop. A PDA optimised for engineering use would kill two birds with one stone. Right know I thinking I could port or program specialized engineer software to it and be able to design revisions quickly and accurately in the field. Another use for this device is a data collector (ala survey total stations and GPS) the HP48GX is still a industry standard in this deparment but is getting too old and slow to be used in new inovations, like real time GIS data while you survey.
Just my two cents worth.
I don't know about anyone else but if a site asks me for my email address I almost always use a fake one. Apparently I am very justifed in doing so. The only time I use a real name/email address is if it is absolutly necessary (my bank or broker).
Oh and rememeber if you have a permanent IP (cable/DSL) address *USE* the proxy server - it obscures your identity and speeds your connection (ie. caching squid proxy)
I think Loki will likely become a *game publisher* rather than a game developer. Providing there name, contacts, technical expertise and marketing skills to contracted game developers. I imagine the technical expertise they would provide would include - cross platform developement tools, APIs and open source game engines.
Developing games in house would be just too risky.
Linux is not ready for the office desktop at the moment. I don't think anyone denys this since office desktop = MS (word, excel powerpoint). Yes, there is Staroffice and Corel Wordperfect Office (very soon now) ... but everyone uses MS applications for office work.
Unless MS Office is ported to linux I don't think corporate desktops will be moving to linux any time soon. BUT what if there was a revolution in how office productivity apps are used. A revolution towards XML.
Have you ever paid close attention to how people use apps like word, excel, powerpoint - they spend 10% of there time making the content and about 90% of there time formating it. Doing ridiculas things like changing a font size/type here and there and then fiddiling with it again. The result is no two document of the same type in organisation ever have exactly the same style.
If productivity apps stopped acting like sophisticated typewriters - and concentrated on creating logical content, people could be much more productive. Have you ever used LyX - this program lets concetrate on your documents content and logic - the computer (LATeX) worries about the details. This same philosophy can be applied just as easily to XML as to LATeX.
Linux desktops like KDE and GNOME are just as far along in making a XML based office desktop as MS is. We need to take full advantage of this. In fact Open Source office products (KDE and GNOME) have one advantage over MS. They can assume you have access to all components of the desktop. Like a DBMS (MySQL of PostGRES) backend and all of the other apps and CORBA services. MS can't do that because MS office products are sold separetly as well as in a suit. Word can't assume that Access is on your system.
A paradigm shift in Office productivity apps is coming - its XML and CORBA - Linux can use this as opportunity to make headway into the office desktop
The problem right now is that there are many of us out here that don't currently have the skills to dive in and make a usefull contribution to any open source project. We need some hand holding and guidance to reach our full potential. As well, it would be helpful that some of the contributions and learning we do with linux would be recognized in some official way (to add to a resume or count towards a degree)
How would it work?
First a website dedicated to organizing and coordinating classes and communication would be created. Then members of the open source community that have proved there superior knowege could act as professors. Assistants could be appointed to these professors to take much of the work load off of them. Students of simular abilities would be grouped together to follow an established program that has been documented. Ideally peer cooperation and competion would provide a productive learing environment with professors and thier assistants only interfering to keep the class on the right track.
Lower level cources could include things like Linux installation, basic UNIX admistration, Introduction to C (Java, Python, ect). Projects in higher level cources would require contribution to Open Source projects.
Who benifits?
Ideally everybody. Students get a free education, with guidance from the leading minds in the field. Appointed professors would gain from prestige, passing on there knowlege (philosophes, work ethic), finding new recruites to hire or contribute to there project and possibly even make some cash from selling text books to students. The whole community, by bringing everyone together, making everyone more knowlegeable and smarter and increasing the number of skilled Open Source Contibutors.
Who would pay for it?
There are may ways the university could potencially be funded. Sale of text books and documentation - ideally these would be available in electronic form for free but some people will desire a hard copy anyways. A better way would to have cooperate sponsors pay for it (like RedHat). For examble a linux distribution would stand to gain so much in terms of recruiting more Open Source developers that they would be fools not to fund such an endevor.
Would it be recognized?
Properly organized the education quality of such a university could be quite high. Again a corporate sponsor such as RedHat could make a deal with a real university to recognise credits from the Linux University (or maybe GNU U).
All of this could eventually evolve into more than just a geek college but you have to start somewhere. I think the Open Source community has the level of organization, technological skills and community values to make something like this work. The philosophies of Open Source all ready closely model that of the academic science community, an online university for geeks by geeks is the next logical step.
Hope you found this interesting. Tell me what you think.
For $200 using a dreamcast as an MP3 player would be a convient and reletively cheap solution.
As I understand it dreamcast can run other OS's like WinCE off a bootable CD. So it is likely that a linux port to dreamcast hardware could run as well.
So here is the idea include a minimalist linux dist. on a dreamcast boot cdrom along with a collection of MP3s as well as an MP3 decoder (mpg123).
Yet another idea is to use a cd with WinCE, a MP3 decoder and a collection of MP3s. Licensing issues would probably make this illegal.
A third idea (and likely the simplest) would be to port an MP3 decoder (again mpg123) to the built in dreamcast operating system. Then have a burned CD that contained an MP3 collection an MP3 decoder and possible an interface (so you could select songs from your controler)
Not a bad idea, at least one these ideas is possible. I have no doubt that someone will eventually port linux to dreamcast. Using WinCE is likely simple but as I said before including the code on your burned cd is probably illegal. Porting a MP3 decoder directly to the dreamcast operating system is probably the best solution.
Tell me what you think.