From TFA:
"The virtual robots in this study were driven solely by the statistics of their training history and used these statistics as the basis of their correct and subsequent incorrect decisions. Similarly, we believe the human brain generates perceptions of the world in the same way, by encoding the statistical relationships between images and scenes in our past visual experience and uses this as the basis for behaving usefully and consistently towards the sources of visual images."
So the robot vision was created as a model of human vision, and it succeeded at doing so. That's sort of interesting, I suppose, but what does it tell us? That we were right about the way human vision works?
Seems to me that the point here is really that in some ways, human vision is 'broken' and that maybe it isn't the best apparatus for machines to use. If we want to welcome our robotic overlords, we should be improving on the vision model, not trying to give machines the same flawed framework.
Honestly, I don't understand how an internet tax could be levied - we're already taxed and fined by the FCC for use of the phone/cable lines we use to connect, we're taxed on the electricity we use, we're taxed on the hardware we buy, etc.... these things together *are* the Internet.
So I take that to mean he really believes thats what people are saying when they use that phrase.
Not necessarily. I sometimes do the same thing while in super-fast-typing-frenzy mode; sometimes a word will come out with a phonetic analog than the actual word I was trying to type. I think it has something to do with being able to think much faster than it's possible to type, and poor fingers that struggle to keep up. Never seems to happen if I slow down, though.
That's why proofreading is important:)
"As a UK resident I'm disappointed that we didn't get the same plan as the AT&T plan, particularly the free mobile-to-mobile calls."
This has nothing to do with the iPhone and everything to do with your carrier. Virtually all U.S. carriers include unlimited mobile to mobile, iPhone or not.
It's not for me - it's so the other gadgets know which way my head is angled, so when I angle up or down, the position of the GPS grid representation projected in my vision can maintain proper perspective.
Duh!
Well, if I don't have to worry about cavities anymore, the fine grit can be sweet, sweet sugar!
I do exercise regular tooth-brushing... I just wish my teeth cleaning appointment could be substituted with a DIY dremel job.
And the accelerometer's not for me, it's so my other gadgets know which way is up!
Those features are progressive, but not revolutionary. The failed projections I referenced were assertions that the iPhone would 'open up the market.' The iPhone is more restrictive than most, if not all, phones of its price and caliber, not less.
I appreciate the full web browser very much and hope it raises the bar for mobile internet access.
'Visual voicemail' can be emulated by writing an app for your OPEN device that answers the call automatically after X number of rings and and handles the voicemail on the device side, not carrier-side. It plays your message, starts recording, saves it as an MP3 file, and serves it up to you. Your carrier can turn off your voicemail feature on the network if you ask them. This, of course, would only work while the device is on - but you can also ask your carrier to raise the number of rings before going to voicemail, which means you could have the network's voicemail system to pick up after, say, eight rings instead of 5. When your phone is on, it answers after 5 rings, and you get your 'visual voicemail.' If your phone is off, you could still get the voicemail the old-fashioned way.
Now shrink it, and implant it in my cranium.
I'll also take my embedded GPS and compass, accelerometer, laser rangefinder, light spectrometer, infrared/thermal vision, visual magnification, cochlear implant that records everything I hear/say, wireless Internet connection, and optical nerve tie-in for the interface.
And hardened ceramic teeth that can be polished clean with fine-grit polishing compound.
You have your mission, scientists. Go.
Remember when all the fanboys were soapboxing that the iPhone was going to revolutionize the cell phone market and make it more open? Misinterpreting the fact that the phone wasn't going to be subsidized by AT&T as a sign that there would be no carrier lock-in?
Those cynics among us - which oddly were in the minority - predicted that no subsidy meant you're simply paying more for a device that STILL requires a two-year contract, and that Apple's attitude toward developers and users was going to be exactly like every product they sell. Tightly controlled hardware and software.
The braying of the faithful never ceases to amaze me. When people started circumventing the iPhone's locks, they claimed that Jobs *intentionally* made it easy to hack the iPhone. Now this...
Wait for the OpenMoko, kids.
Whoa. Blast from the past!
I was a religious BBSer (my parents can confirmed the perpetually tied-up phone line), and yeah, back then, it was grins, big grins, and very big grins.
Thanks for the reminder!
Thought about it more... it'd be a small program that checks for network connectivity, and if found, checks a file flag you keep on a server somewhere (could be a Googlepages account, or whatever). You alter the file to flag the laptop is stolen... the laptop sees this, sends you an email (or something) with the IP address of the laptop... and promptly loads a windows rootkit with keylogger, network traffic monitor, backdoor, etc. Because if they do wipe the HD they'll most likely replace it with Windows.
This would all be on a bootable USB stick removed from its enclosure and soldered directly to the USB connector on the inside. The USB port itself would be removed and blocked up with, I dunno, a tinted piece of dark plastic that makes it look like an IR port is there.
The existence of the volume can be hidden in Windows.
That way wiping the HD wouldn't do jack.
To disable it they'd have the change the boot order in BIOS so the system doesn't boot up from the stick, but who's going to do that? They don't know there's a removable media device inside that's being booted from.
I'm a hardware technician, not a programmer, so of course my first thought goes to soldering stuff:) Can any software guys point out the holes for me?
Here's a wacky idea.
How about soldering a small USB stick, set to read only, to the inside of one of the USB ports (maybe just replace the port completely) inside the laptop somewhere (if you can find the empty space)?
That would be your boot volume, and would run the 'report home' script, before handing off to your hard disk...
It could be invisible, and unless the thief is checking the BIOS for boot order...
Oh, and I might add:
He actually uses those planes. A lot.
It's not about being 'important.' He flies all over the country on business, all the time. No doubt Google's execs are the same.
If I had the money, I'd do it, too. It'd be worth it to avoid being fondled by the TSA four times a week, wouldn't you agree?
It's not a sign of being "important" or "special." It simply means they can afford it.
People with more money buy more expensive stuff. They merely have a larger budget than most.
I would FAR rather have them spend their money than hoard it. They are supporting industry.
When a wealthy person buys a private plane they create many jobs; development research, manufacturing, pilots...
My boss owns two, stored in hangars at our local municipal airport. Thousands of dollars a month go to the hangar space. His secretary makes a phone call and the plane is prepped, fueled, inspected, and ready to taxi out on the runway by the time he makes it to the airport. Thousands more a month go to his personal pilot.
You do the same thing with your automobile on a smaller scale.
As an aside, I wonder if this agreement was made easier by Google's existing relationship with NASA: here
Slashdot Mirror
From TFA: "The virtual robots in this study were driven solely by the statistics of their training history and used these statistics as the basis of their correct and subsequent incorrect decisions. Similarly, we believe the human brain generates perceptions of the world in the same way, by encoding the statistical relationships between images and scenes in our past visual experience and uses this as the basis for behaving usefully and consistently towards the sources of visual images." So the robot vision was created as a model of human vision, and it succeeded at doing so. That's sort of interesting, I suppose, but what does it tell us? That we were right about the way human vision works? Seems to me that the point here is really that in some ways, human vision is 'broken' and that maybe it isn't the best apparatus for machines to use. If we want to welcome our robotic overlords, we should be improving on the vision model, not trying to give machines the same flawed framework.
Honestly, I don't understand how an internet tax could be levied - we're already taxed and fined by the FCC for use of the phone/cable lines we use to connect, we're taxed on the electricity we use, we're taxed on the hardware we buy, etc.... these things together *are* the Internet.
So I take that to mean he really believes thats what people are saying when they use that phrase. Not necessarily. I sometimes do the same thing while in super-fast-typing-frenzy mode; sometimes a word will come out with a phonetic analog than the actual word I was trying to type. I think it has something to do with being able to think much faster than it's possible to type, and poor fingers that struggle to keep up. Never seems to happen if I slow down, though. That's why proofreading is important :)
So they should have added the feature so it can be turned off?
What I'm saying is that if you want the better battery life, you can turn it OFF. If you want high-speed data, you can turn it ON.
It's about choice. But then, it is an Apple product.
You can turn 3G off on 3G-enabled phones, so that isn't an issue.
"As a UK resident I'm disappointed that we didn't get the same plan as the AT&T plan, particularly the free mobile-to-mobile calls." This has nothing to do with the iPhone and everything to do with your carrier. Virtually all U.S. carriers include unlimited mobile to mobile, iPhone or not.
Damn, my unused mod points just expired a few hours ago.
It's not for me - it's so the other gadgets know which way my head is angled, so when I angle up or down, the position of the GPS grid representation projected in my vision can maintain proper perspective. Duh!
Well, if I don't have to worry about cavities anymore, the fine grit can be sweet, sweet sugar! I do exercise regular tooth-brushing... I just wish my teeth cleaning appointment could be substituted with a DIY dremel job. And the accelerometer's not for me, it's so my other gadgets know which way is up!
Well, I already have the pasty white skin.
Those features are progressive, but not revolutionary. The failed projections I referenced were assertions that the iPhone would 'open up the market.' The iPhone is more restrictive than most, if not all, phones of its price and caliber, not less.
I appreciate the full web browser very much and hope it raises the bar for mobile internet access.
'Visual voicemail' can be emulated by writing an app for your OPEN device that answers the call automatically after X number of rings and and handles the voicemail on the device side, not carrier-side. It plays your message, starts recording, saves it as an MP3 file, and serves it up to you. Your carrier can turn off your voicemail feature on the network if you ask them. This, of course, would only work while the device is on - but you can also ask your carrier to raise the number of rings before going to voicemail, which means you could have the network's voicemail system to pick up after, say, eight rings instead of 5. When your phone is on, it answers after 5 rings, and you get your 'visual voicemail.' If your phone is off, you could still get the voicemail the old-fashioned way.
Now shrink it, and implant it in my cranium. I'll also take my embedded GPS and compass, accelerometer, laser rangefinder, light spectrometer, infrared/thermal vision, visual magnification, cochlear implant that records everything I hear/say, wireless Internet connection, and optical nerve tie-in for the interface. And hardened ceramic teeth that can be polished clean with fine-grit polishing compound. You have your mission, scientists. Go.
Remember when all the fanboys were soapboxing that the iPhone was going to revolutionize the cell phone market and make it more open? Misinterpreting the fact that the phone wasn't going to be subsidized by AT&T as a sign that there would be no carrier lock-in? Those cynics among us - which oddly were in the minority - predicted that no subsidy meant you're simply paying more for a device that STILL requires a two-year contract, and that Apple's attitude toward developers and users was going to be exactly like every product they sell. Tightly controlled hardware and software. The braying of the faithful never ceases to amaze me. When people started circumventing the iPhone's locks, they claimed that Jobs *intentionally* made it easy to hack the iPhone. Now this... Wait for the OpenMoko, kids.
"Well, you know that the Roswell incident happened on the 4th of Jul right?"
Yeah! The aliens came on the fourth of July, but Jeff Goldblum uploaded a virus to the mothership using his Macbook Pro.
I'm too tall. :(
Whoa. Blast from the past! I was a religious BBSer (my parents can confirmed the perpetually tied-up phone line), and yeah, back then, it was grins, big grins, and very big grins. Thanks for the reminder!
Why couldn't you test it?
Thought about it more... it'd be a small program that checks for network connectivity, and if found, checks a file flag you keep on a server somewhere (could be a Googlepages account, or whatever). You alter the file to flag the laptop is stolen... the laptop sees this, sends you an email (or something) with the IP address of the laptop... and promptly loads a windows rootkit with keylogger, network traffic monitor, backdoor, etc. Because if they do wipe the HD they'll most likely replace it with Windows.
:) Can any software guys point out the holes for me?
This would all be on a bootable USB stick removed from its enclosure and soldered directly to the USB connector on the inside. The USB port itself would be removed and blocked up with, I dunno, a tinted piece of dark plastic that makes it look like an IR port is there.
The existence of the volume can be hidden in Windows.
That way wiping the HD wouldn't do jack.
To disable it they'd have the change the boot order in BIOS so the system doesn't boot up from the stick, but who's going to do that? They don't know there's a removable media device inside that's being booted from.
I'm a hardware technician, not a programmer, so of course my first thought goes to soldering stuff
Here's a wacky idea. How about soldering a small USB stick, set to read only, to the inside of one of the USB ports (maybe just replace the port completely) inside the laptop somewhere (if you can find the empty space)? That would be your boot volume, and would run the 'report home' script, before handing off to your hard disk... It could be invisible, and unless the thief is checking the BIOS for boot order...
Oh, and I might add: He actually uses those planes. A lot. It's not about being 'important.' He flies all over the country on business, all the time. No doubt Google's execs are the same. If I had the money, I'd do it, too. It'd be worth it to avoid being fondled by the TSA four times a week, wouldn't you agree?
Oh, crabshit.
It's not a sign of being "important" or "special." It simply means they can afford it.
People with more money buy more expensive stuff. They merely have a larger budget than most.
I would FAR rather have them spend their money than hoard it. They are supporting industry.
When a wealthy person buys a private plane they create many jobs; development research, manufacturing, pilots...
My boss owns two, stored in hangars at our local municipal airport. Thousands of dollars a month go to the hangar space. His secretary makes a phone call and the plane is prepped, fueled, inspected, and ready to taxi out on the runway by the time he makes it to the airport. Thousands more a month go to his personal pilot.
You do the same thing with your automobile on a smaller scale.
As an aside, I wonder if this agreement was made easier by Google's existing relationship with NASA: here
Kinda like the Trace Buster Buster!
Yeah, and Mozilla was spawned my AOL. What's your point?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape/
I work for Verizon Wireless.
Verizon was approached by Apple and offered the iPhone before AT&T.
One of the reasons (among many) VZW turned it down was because one of Apple's terms was that the iPhone not be subsidized in any way.
So GP is correct.
Apple has a history of this - not letting retailers discount their products, I mean.
We call this 'price fixing,' and until recently, it was illegal.
But this is a government mandate, so we're back to being against it now, aren't we?