On February 17, 2009 the last analog television signal will be broadcast. I just read about it today but, apparently, everyone in the universe knew about it before I did.
The FCC is mandating a total switch to Digital TV in an attempt to free up broadcast spectrum for public safety communications and for sale to companies offering wireless broadband. Televisions without an internal digital tuner will not pick up signals after the change over.
For you neurotic television watchers, the FCC has a countdown clock available at http://www.dtv.gov/
Monday, December 3, 2007
Amazon's Mechanical Turk
The Turk was an eighteenth century chess playing machine that beat, among other notables, Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. The machine was, of course, a hoax based on having a human hidden inside the apparatus directing the machine.
Amazon has taken the name, and the concept, for its new artificial intelligence engine Mechanical Turk.
There are some tasks which people are much better at solving than computers (even still). The concept of MTurk is that people submit requests called HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks) like "does this picture contain a duck" or "what color is this shoe" and offer a small fee on the order of $.03 for a valid answer. Turkers accept the job and submit the answer. The same job will be taken and fulfilled by more than one person and, if the answers match, the answer is deemed correct and the people are paid. The payment amounts are so small that it's not really a way to make a living - most people doing it are participating instead of playing solitaire or some other mindless game and are thrilled to make $50 in a week.
This article was posted in the SBM forum of Moodle and is an excellent review and commentary on Amazon's newest scheme.
Amazon has taken the name, and the concept, for its new artificial intelligence engine Mechanical Turk.
There are some tasks which people are much better at solving than computers (even still). The concept of MTurk is that people submit requests called HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks) like "does this picture contain a duck" or "what color is this shoe" and offer a small fee on the order of $.03 for a valid answer. Turkers accept the job and submit the answer. The same job will be taken and fulfilled by more than one person and, if the answers match, the answer is deemed correct and the people are paid. The payment amounts are so small that it's not really a way to make a living - most people doing it are participating instead of playing solitaire or some other mindless game and are thrilled to make $50 in a week.
This article was posted in the SBM forum of Moodle and is an excellent review and commentary on Amazon's newest scheme.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Second Life
Second Life is virtual world where you sign up, get an Avatar (computer image) and wander around a user created 3-D world interacting with your surroundings and other Residents (participants). Unlike many online games, the world has been created almost entirely by the users. There is a rich scripting language called Linden Scripting Language which allows Residents to create everything from clothing and houses to motorcycles and wings.
There is no scoring system and you can't "win" so Second Life isn't a game but it's much more than a social interaction tool as well. It has its own economy based on Linden Dollars which can be used to buy things other people have created, invest in real estate, play the stock market or exchange for real U.S. dollars. There are people who make their real life living making items for Second Life. Universities have been offering online degrees through Second Life and some companies even do first round interviews in Second Life.
The Resident's Avatar navigates the 3-D world by walking, flying, riding in vehicles or teleporting. There is a complete physics to the word so things that should fall do and your can't just walk through walls or people. You can interact with other people by chatting with them, trading with them or even shooting them.
Really the world is to huge even to describe in a single blog entry, go check out Second Life. When you are finished being amazed and appalled, check out a spoof site called Get a First Life.
There is no scoring system and you can't "win" so Second Life isn't a game but it's much more than a social interaction tool as well. It has its own economy based on Linden Dollars which can be used to buy things other people have created, invest in real estate, play the stock market or exchange for real U.S. dollars. There are people who make their real life living making items for Second Life. Universities have been offering online degrees through Second Life and some companies even do first round interviews in Second Life.
The Resident's Avatar navigates the 3-D world by walking, flying, riding in vehicles or teleporting. There is a complete physics to the word so things that should fall do and your can't just walk through walls or people. You can interact with other people by chatting with them, trading with them or even shooting them.
Really the world is to huge even to describe in a single blog entry, go check out Second Life. When you are finished being amazed and appalled, check out a spoof site called Get a First Life.
Friday, November 23, 2007
If you haven't heard of Facebook or its primary competitor, MySpace then you've been living under a proverbial electronic rock. They are Social Networking websites where people can give advertisers everything an advertiser would want to know about them - name, address, phone number, email, age, sex, music preferences ... in exchange for telling the world about their new favorite breakfast cereal.
Facebook, created by 23 year old billionaire Mark Zuckerb, is ranked as the sixth most trafficked website in the USA with more than 30 billion page views per month. It boasts 42 million active members, and is expected to exceed 60 million by the end of this year and 200 million by the end of 2008.
Facebook has a rich develpers network with its own, custom Facebook Marked Language (FBML), Facebook Query Language (FQL), API (REST Web Service) and Facebook JavaScript (FBJS). Allowing developers to write full applications inside the Facebook environment. For you database geeks, click here for the Facebook database design.
I think it's a cool concept but before you ask, I do not have an account on either FaceBook or MySpace. I'm just not that excited to have complete strangers know what kind of juice I drink.
Facebook, created by 23 year old billionaire Mark Zuckerb, is ranked as the sixth most trafficked website in the USA with more than 30 billion page views per month. It boasts 42 million active members, and is expected to exceed 60 million by the end of this year and 200 million by the end of 2008.
Facebook has a rich develpers network with its own, custom Facebook Marked Language (FBML), Facebook Query Language (FQL), API (REST Web Service) and Facebook JavaScript (FBJS). Allowing developers to write full applications inside the Facebook environment. For you database geeks, click here for the Facebook database design.
I think it's a cool concept but before you ask, I do not have an account on either FaceBook or MySpace. I'm just not that excited to have complete strangers know what kind of juice I drink.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Wikipedia
I heard on NPR that there's a great site http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/ created by a CIT grad student, Virgil Griffith, which allows you to see who made changes to Wikipedia articles and what changes have been made.
For example (from the article)
A person from Wal-Mart made this change:
Original:
Wages at Wal-Mart are about 20% less than at other retail stores. Founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.
New:
The average wage at Wal-Mart is almost double the federal minimum wage (Wal-Mart). However, founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.
I'm going to go check out what Haliburton has changed ...
Read the NPR article here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12823729
For example (from the article)
A person from Wal-Mart made this change:
Original:
Wages at Wal-Mart are about 20% less than at other retail stores. Founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.
New:
The average wage at Wal-Mart is almost double the federal minimum wage (Wal-Mart). However, founder Sam Walton once argued that his company should be exempt from the minimum wage.
I'm going to go check out what Haliburton has changed ...
Read the NPR article here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12823729
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Vault
Up until recently, I have been opposed to source-code management tools. A source-code management tool is used by groups of programmers working on a single project.
Without source control, the project is divided up into files and a single person is given the responsibility for that "file." That is not to say that a single person will do all of the work on a file but a single person is responsible for coordinating the work on that file so that someone making changes a) makes changes to the most up to date version of the file and b) doesn't over-write anyone else's changes. This system works great in small teams of responsible people but breaks down in larger or less disciplined groups.
Source control software allows the entire project to be "checked in" to a central repository. There are several versions of source control available. The simplest is the "check out" method where a single person signs out the file and works on it. While it is checked out, other people can read the original version but cannot edit it until it is checked back in. This solves both the newest version problem and the over-write problem. Unfortunately, it limits file edits to a single user at a time which can be problematic for large files or under tight deadlines.
Another common type is the edit-merge-commit model. When you want to edit a file, you get the latest version from the repository but it doesn't get locked. When you are done with the file, you check it back in. If someone else has also made changes to the file, the software shows you both versions side by side with the changes from each person highlighted. If there are no line level conflicts, you can just merge the two files together incorporating changes from both people. If there are line lever conflicts (both people edited the same section of code) you have to manually choose which changes to keep.
Recently, our group started working on the largest project we have ever attempted. All five programmers are working on the same project and, often, the same section of code. We chose to use Vault as our Version Control software and I have been slowly warming to it.
Without source control, the project is divided up into files and a single person is given the responsibility for that "file." That is not to say that a single person will do all of the work on a file but a single person is responsible for coordinating the work on that file so that someone making changes a) makes changes to the most up to date version of the file and b) doesn't over-write anyone else's changes. This system works great in small teams of responsible people but breaks down in larger or less disciplined groups.
Source control software allows the entire project to be "checked in" to a central repository. There are several versions of source control available. The simplest is the "check out" method where a single person signs out the file and works on it. While it is checked out, other people can read the original version but cannot edit it until it is checked back in. This solves both the newest version problem and the over-write problem. Unfortunately, it limits file edits to a single user at a time which can be problematic for large files or under tight deadlines.
Another common type is the edit-merge-commit model. When you want to edit a file, you get the latest version from the repository but it doesn't get locked. When you are done with the file, you check it back in. If someone else has also made changes to the file, the software shows you both versions side by side with the changes from each person highlighted. If there are no line level conflicts, you can just merge the two files together incorporating changes from both people. If there are line lever conflicts (both people edited the same section of code) you have to manually choose which changes to keep.
Recently, our group started working on the largest project we have ever attempted. All five programmers are working on the same project and, often, the same section of code. We chose to use Vault as our Version Control software and I have been slowly warming to it.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Axminster Palm Nailer
I spent the last three days working on my house extension. Mostly, I'm just grunt labor and my friend, Geoffrey, is the real brains. He's a toy freak and the newest toy he brought to play with is a pneumatic Palm Nailer. It works on air pressure like a pneumatic nail gun but instead of driving the nail in one blow, it hammers the nail in. "Why, then, " you ask, "don't you just use a nail gun?" I'm so glad you asked. A nail gun is only so accurate. We were nailing Joist Hangers and trying to get through those tiny little holes with a nail gun is well beyond my skill.
A Palm Nailer has a magnet in it so you just place the nail in it and push it into where-ever you want. A smidgen slower than a nail gun but loads more accurate and easier than hammering 32x4 nails by hand.
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