That must be because Vista does nothing more than Ubuntu or OS X these days - except spying on the user and forcing useless eyecandy through the GPU. There's simply nothing exceptionally good on Vista, that's why we must pick on the bad things that other operating systems don't suffer from.
Ok, they're pushing "software as a service" now everywhere. They already call upon the "end of operating systems", but I'm asking myself: if they say, the internet IS the OS, what will the internet run on? I don't think Microsoft will switch over to Linux. Or they could build an "OS" that is solely a web browser. IE-OS, anyone?
If this software-as-a-service thing is going to be big in the future, what would they say if anyone would dig up an old machine from this era and find out, that it runs all of it's software without a net connection... Hell, it even BOOTS UP without internet! Awesome stuff, not?
There was one ad for Jet Set Radio Future that I had seen on German TV some years ago, unknowingly what game that might be. I thought it was cool as hell, but I only saw it once and never again. I didn't care for consoles back then, but when I bought my used Dreamcast and got the original Jet Set Radio with it, I remembered the ad and, luckily, found the full-length clip.
That, and the Polaroid: "Resignation" ad were the only ones that kept stuck in my mind long enough to make me search for them years after I initially saw them.
Some months ago, a friend and me participated in an experiment conducted by the TU Graz - we were wired, took some calibration tests and were finally able to play Pong against each other - only with wired caps on our heads. It sort of worked, but was difficult to control without a proper training period.It worked by comparing our brain waves while thinking of moving our left or right arm and mapping the characteristic output to left-right commands. Sometimes it would work quite well but a lot of times the panel just would move utterly weird. I believe that this can work well, depending on how much you're used to it - we only had like one hour of training.
Think about this: if there was no CAPS key anymore, programmers who made these data entry programs would not even get the idea to force someone to use all caps. Of course, some old programs will not get updated anymore. But then again, employees and bosses would both see the neccessity to move to a newer program, once the CAPS key is gone.
Anyway, Slashdot's a bad place to announce a campaign like this, because here you'll encounter far more people that actually have a use for the CAPS key than anywhere else. Think of the countless people who are NOT into programming or data entry.
I might be wrong, but the heat from your mobile phone, when using many functions at once, might come from increased energy consumption and therefore higher battery temperature. Same with your iPod, although the conceived warmth of your mobile phone may also result from radiation energy absorption in your skin (only when making a call, tho).
It's a future possibility to add features for blind users. It's not done right now, but at least it's possible.
You've just alienated the 10% of the web that doesn't have flash.
According to Macromedia/Adobe, it's only 2,3% of all web users who don't have Flash installed. Statistics
Not to mention infuriated the quite potion of the rest that cannot stand site content embedded in unnessesary flash.
1. When Flash becomes part of the site, it's not unneccessary.
2. If they can't stand it, it's their problem. I bet that 97% of all web users don't even notice that it's Flash.
So what? Do you rather want to see totally unreadable, eye-burningly-colored images that you have to identify, or just use Flash?...You just can't please everybody.
Last time I looked, there was a Flash plugin for Linux. Also, companys wouldn't buy a Flash license just for a single custom container, they had some graphics artist made it for them, same with the underlying PHP and MySQL stuff. The container alone is useless. At least it's reusable.
The accessibility can be improved significantly, too, since Flash already offers a lot of stuff for screen reader compatibility. One could, for example, implement a button that speaks out the letters with ease - these things are what Flash was made for.
Given the readership of Slashdot, how does it handle users who aren't on operating systems published by Microsoft or Apple?
Given the current web stats, 97% of all web users are using IE5/6 or Firefox. Konqueror accounts for roughly 0%. I have to admit that I'm not targetting the Slashdot crowd as my audience but rather people in Germany and Austria that might want to see my work. Taking this into account, I'm also locking out pretty much everyone who can't speak German or who is to lazy to use a web translation service. I'm such a crook.:-)
Anyway, I still think that Flash is a good way of blocking bots. It's making good use of today's technology and we all should be thinking forwards. Nevertheless, we should not forget the past - but should not stick to it, either.
Oh, I'm sorry. The first link is wrong, it should go to "/gaestebuch". I changed it to the German expression as first measure against the spam, but that didn't do anything. I thought I changed it back...
Interesting. Just clicking the link gets me to the right page. Anyway, you can get there by clicking "Projekte" and "Effektives Bot-Blocking mit Flash".
I recently implemented a new CAPTCHA system using Flash as "secure container" on my guestbook. The spam immediately and completely stopped. You can see it here.
I also wrote an article about using Flash together with CAPTCHAs to achieve 100% security, which can be found here:
Slashdot Mirror
That must be because Vista does nothing more than Ubuntu or OS X these days - except spying on the user and forcing useless eyecandy through the GPU. There's simply nothing exceptionally good on Vista, that's why we must pick on the bad things that other operating systems don't suffer from.
Ok, they're pushing "software as a service" now everywhere. They already call upon the "end of operating systems", but I'm asking myself: if they say, the internet IS the OS, what will the internet run on? I don't think Microsoft will switch over to Linux. Or they could build an "OS" that is solely a web browser. IE-OS, anyone?
If this software-as-a-service thing is going to be big in the future, what would they say if anyone would dig up an old machine from this era and find out, that it runs all of it's software without a net connection... Hell, it even BOOTS UP without internet! Awesome stuff, not?
You mean this?
There was one ad for Jet Set Radio Future that I had seen on German TV some years ago, unknowingly what game that might be. I thought it was cool as hell, but I only saw it once and never again. I didn't care for consoles back then, but when I bought my used Dreamcast and got the original Jet Set Radio with it, I remembered the ad and, luckily, found the full-length clip.
That, and the Polaroid: "Resignation" ad were the only ones that kept stuck in my mind long enough to make me search for them years after I initially saw them.
Some months ago, a friend and me participated in an experiment conducted by the TU Graz - we were wired, took some calibration tests and were finally able to play Pong against each other - only with wired caps on our heads. It sort of worked, but was difficult to control without a proper training period.It worked by comparing our brain waves while thinking of moving our left or right arm and mapping the characteristic output to left-right commands. Sometimes it would work quite well but a lot of times the panel just would move utterly weird. I believe that this can work well, depending on how much you're used to it - we only had like one hour of training.
Think about this: if there was no CAPS key anymore, programmers who made these data entry programs would not even get the idea to force someone to use all caps. Of course, some old programs will not get updated anymore. But then again, employees and bosses would both see the neccessity to move to a newer program, once the CAPS key is gone.
Anyway, Slashdot's a bad place to announce a campaign like this, because here you'll encounter far more people that actually have a use for the CAPS key than anywhere else. Think of the countless people who are NOT into programming or data entry.
Actually, it does exactly this on my system. I used Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to remap this and some other buttons.
I might be wrong, but the heat from your mobile phone, when using many functions at once, might come from increased energy consumption and therefore higher battery temperature. Same with your iPod, although the conceived warmth of your mobile phone may also result from radiation energy absorption in your skin (only when making a call, tho).
It's a future possibility to add features for blind users. It's not done right now, but at least it's possible.
You've just alienated the 10% of the web that doesn't have flash.
According to Macromedia/Adobe, it's only 2,3% of all web users who don't have Flash installed. Statistics
Not to mention infuriated the quite potion of the rest that cannot stand site content embedded in unnessesary flash.
1. When Flash becomes part of the site, it's not unneccessary.
2. If they can't stand it, it's their problem. I bet that 97% of all web users don't even notice that it's Flash.
So what? Do you rather want to see totally unreadable, eye-burningly-colored images that you have to identify, or just use Flash? ...You just can't please everybody.
Last time I looked, there was a Flash plugin for Linux. Also, companys wouldn't buy a Flash license just for a single custom container, they had some graphics artist made it for them, same with the underlying PHP and MySQL stuff. The container alone is useless. At least it's reusable.
The accessibility can be improved significantly, too, since Flash already offers a lot of stuff for screen reader compatibility. One could, for example, implement a button that speaks out the letters with ease - these things are what Flash was made for.
Given the readership of Slashdot, how does it handle users who aren't on operating systems published by Microsoft or Apple?
Given the current web stats, 97% of all web users are using IE5/6 or Firefox. Konqueror accounts for roughly 0%. I have to admit that I'm not targetting the Slashdot crowd as my audience but rather people in Germany and Austria that might want to see my work. Taking this into account, I'm also locking out pretty much everyone who can't speak German or who is to lazy to use a web translation service. I'm such a crook. :-)
Anyway, I still think that Flash is a good way of blocking bots. It's making good use of today's technology and we all should be thinking forwards. Nevertheless, we should not forget the past - but should not stick to it, either.
Oh, I'm sorry. The first link is wrong, it should go to "/gaestebuch". I changed it to the German expression as first measure against the spam, but that didn't do anything. I thought I changed it back...
Interesting. Just clicking the link gets me to the right page. Anyway, you can get there by clicking "Projekte" and "Effektives Bot-Blocking mit Flash".
I recently implemented a new CAPTCHA system using Flash as "secure container" on my guestbook. The spam immediately and completely stopped. You can see it here.
I also wrote an article about using Flash together with CAPTCHAs to achieve 100% security, which can be found here:
Effektives Bot-Blocking mit Flash (Original German)
Effective Bot-Blocking with Flash (Babelfish-translated)
The article outlines the technical implementation, it's advantages and disadvantages and even discusses future hacking possibilities.
A camera that could Auto-focus without any moving, mechanical parts
I'm not sure if that would work.
Maybe not with this kind of technology, but it's already been done: Light Field Photography with a Hand-Held Plenoptic Camera. Check out the videos at the bottom of the page - digital refocusing of still images is just awesome.