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Comment Re:Headache (Score 2) 70

by e133tc1pher (#46599717) Attached to: MIT Researchers Bring JavaScript To Google Glass
No joke, that was seriously tedious and took me hours to get right (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQSn6s3DPTSg). The real point of the video was to show that we made a cheap eye tracker ($25) add-on for Glass along with a better pupil detection algorithm than was previously available (https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fwearscript%2Fwearscript-eyetracking). We're working with accessibility labs to use it as an input device for users who can't use the touchpad on Glass. The goal is to make it widely available for people to hack on so that everyone benefits as opposed to $10k proprietary systems that have bad support for modern software/devices. Adding in Mario was just an easy point of reference, everyone knows the relative complexity of that as opposed to a synthetic test.

Comment Re:Ph.D.? (Score 5, Interesting) 70

by e133tc1pher (#46599657) Attached to: MIT Researchers Bring JavaScript To Google Glass

I didn't know soldering some electronics together and porting a language to a platform is Ph.D. level work.

Agreed. This is my research http://scholar.google.com/cita... . WearScript is a tool that helps us in our current research (which is an extension of this https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3F... ). When you do research you can either use tools that already exist or you can take a detour and invest in making better tools so you can do more effective research, that's what this is.

Comment Re:Rainbow Six & Ghost Recon (Score 1) 1120

by Hockney Twang (#28854269) Attached to: Which Game Series Would You Reboot?

He's not kidding. It ruined the story of the game completely. Also, while you're dodging missiles, wave after endless wave of enemies coming pouring down from the roof of the building to assail you. But luckily they're so horrible that killing them is only a distraction, they're definitive mooks. The only way I've beat it is co-op, with both players carrying heavy machine guns (yes, I realize how awful that is).

But other than that, it's not a terrible game. Multiplayer is great.

Comment WWDC'09 Pictures and Panorama (Score 1) 770

I took a bunch of pictures at WWDC and made a panorama of the Moscone center http://msca.me/1J . Click around it's pretty neat. I think brian lam from gizmodo might be in there on the right. The WWDC'09 has been great so far, but what is up with the matte case that was floating around previously, was that a hoax or what? I could have sworn it was for the $100 one (which ran out in all the stores I've checked).
Censorship

Why Doesn't the IWF Notify Those Whom They Block? 203

Posted by kdawson from the silence-nothing-but-silence dept.
Frequent Slashdot contributor Bennett Haselton writes "What if the IWF notified site owners when it added their content to the UK's national 'child pornography' blacklist? Besides the blocking of the Virgin Killer cover art on Wikipedia, we don't know how many mistakes there might be on the IWF's list. But we would have a better idea, if content owners were notified of the IWF's determination and had the opportunity to challenge it publicly." Read on for Bennett's analysis.
Transportation

FAA Greenlights Satellite-Based Air Traffic Control System 138

Posted by samzenpus from the no-clouds-in-the-sky dept.
coondoggie writes "As one of the massive flying seasons gets underway the government today took a step further in radically changing the way aircraft are tracked and moved around the country. Specifically the FAA gave the green light to deploy satellite tracking systems nationwide, replacing the current radar-based approach. The new, sometimes controversial system would let air traffic controllers track aircraft using a satellite network using a system known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), which is ten times more accurate than today's radar technology. ADS-B is part of the FAA's wide-reaching plan known as NextGen to revamp every component of the flight control system to meet future demands and avoid gridlock in the sky."
Windows

HP's Fury At Vista Capable Downgrade 499

Posted by kdawson from the made-for-xp dept.
More documents are coming out in court proceedings over the Vista Capable debacle. Internetnews.com has good coverage of HP's fury over Microsoft lowering the requirements for a Vista Capable sticker, at Intel's request. "Intel officials may have been pleased that Microsoft lowered standards for obtaining the company's Windows Vista Capable logo program sticker, but the same can't be said about HP's execs. 'I can't be more clear than to say you not only let us down by reneging on your commitment to stand behind the [device driver model] requirement, you have demonstrated a complete lack of commitment to HP as a strategic partner and cost us a lot of money in the process,' said one e-mail from Richard Walker, the senior vice president of HP's consumer business unit, to [Microsoft executives]." PCPro.co.uk follows the trail of accusatory emails inside Microsoft from there: "HP's email prompted then Microsoft co-President, Jim Allchin, to send a furious email of his own to company CEO Steve Ballmer. Allchin's email suggests the decision to lower the requirements was made in his absence by Ballmer, following 'a call between you and Paul [Otellini, Intel CEO].' 'I am beyond being upset here,' Allchin wrote to Ballmer. 'What a mess. Now we have an upset partner, Microsoft destroyed credibility [sic], as well as my own credibility shot.' Ballmer, in turn, blamed another Microsoft executive, Will Poole, in a rather erratically typed reply to Allchin."
Television

Scientists Claim Breakthrough On Holographic Display 123

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the rampant-optimism dept.
SpuriousLogic writes to tell us that University of Arizona researchers claim to have broken a barrier in holographic technology by creating an updatable, three-dimensional display with memory. While the existing model is only able to update once every couple of minutes, and isn't particularly suited for 3d images, it is certainly a step in the right direction. "Peyghambarian is also optimistic that the technology could reach the market within five to ten years. He said progress towards a final product should be made much more quickly now that a rewriting method had been found. However, it is fair to say not everyone is as positive about this prospect as Peyghambarian. Lecturer in Electronic Engineering at Bangor University in Wales, Dr Justin Lawrence, told CNN small steps were always being made on technology like 3D holograms, but, he couldn't see it being ready for the market in the next ten years."
Games

Ask Blizzard Employees About Things That Matter 504

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the opportune-moment dept.
In just a few days, some of us will be making the trek to this year's Blizzcon event in Anaheim, CA. In addition to the interesting announcements, sneak peeks, and other distractions, we will be sitting down with several Blizzard employees to answer any questions you might have. So far we have scheduled some time with Chris Sigaty, lead producer on StarCraft II; Jeffrey Kaplan (aka Tigole), game director for World of Warcraft; Leonard Boyarsky, lead world designer on Diablo III; and Paul Sams, Blizzard COO. Please address your questions to one (or several) of these candidates and try to keep them civil and on topic. Questions about Diablo III's art style will most likely be omitted since we have limited time and that dead horse has already been beaten into submission. The usual Slashdot interview rules apply, but beyond that, the sky is the limit.
United States

Voters In Many States Must Register By October 6 182

Posted by kdawson from the there-is-no-late dept.
Will F. Johnston writes "Voters in AK, AR, AZ, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IN, KY, LA, MI, MS, OH, PA, TN, TX, and VA must register to vote by tomorrow, October 6, in order to vote in November. Other deadlines coming up soon: IL and NM are October 7. MT is Oct. 6, but you can do same-day registration at the elections office. UT is also Oct. 6, but you can register in person until the 20th."
Operating Systems

Netbook Return Rates Much Higher For Linux Than Windows 663

Posted by Soulskill from the old-dogs-new-tricks-etc. dept.
ivoras writes "An interview with MSI's director of US Sales, Andy Tung, contains this interesting snippet: "We have done a lot of studies on the return rates and haven't really talked about it much until now. Our internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don't know what they get until they open the box. They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it's not what they are used to. They don't want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks.'"

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