Crude Technologies

Gary Stix, in his March 2006 Scientific American article The Elusive Goal of Machine Translation, writes:

Natrium Nepal Asia legend: The lion, the sorceress, the evil spirit wardrobe "already lack" the evil spirit abstains the trilogy "rich in poetic and artistic flavor, also has not let" the Harley baud "the series novel have the infinite pleasure the undercurrent to be turbulent.

Technorati Tags: AI, translation

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Posted by MVA at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

AP reports that there is a new computer virus that finds files on Winny users' PCs and makes them available to others by sharing them:

The malware, called Antinny, finds random files on Winny users' PCs and makes them available on the file-sharing network. So far, the data leaked have been varied and plentiful: passwords for restricted areas at airports, police investigations, customer information, sales reports, staff lists.

The constantly updated virus seems to have spared no one — airlines, local police forces, mobile phone companies, the National Defense Agency. Even an antivirus software manufacturer has suffered.

Who in their right mind would put file-sharing software on the same machine that has secret investigation documents?

Posted by MVA at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This news is from the last week of May, but we were traveling and didn't get around to posting a link to it. 

Continue reading "Standalone WMV9 advanced profile (WVC1) codecs and encoder available" »

Posted by MST at 06:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A YouTube video (18:08) that narrates the history of the "Amen Break," a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music -- a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures...
watch the video | digg story

I love Digg, but it's depressing how frequently readers get off topic. Digg thought this was saying hip-hop made the beat famous, and digressed into a discussion of the authenticity of hip-hop versus the artistry that came before.

Even the blurb calls this a "video" missing the point that you're listening to an acetate, a transient pressing of an original work likely to last only about 50 plays in the analog world.

If you're interested in his "point", skip to 14:45, and listen to something often discussed on Digg but rarely illustrated so artistically.

Continue reading "Via Digg: A video explains the world's most important 6-sec drum loop (Amen Break)." »

Posted by MST at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Digg says, "A simple little tutorial shows you how you can format ANY harddrive using good ole' Notepad!" -- [ originally dugg article | digg story ]

Well, 1's and 0's in notepad do not binary make. So, for the community at large, here's something that's actually helpful.

Continue reading "Via Digg: Formatting any harddisk using notepad" »

Posted by MST at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

CNET very quietly launched a simple new photo uploading site called AllYouCanUpload last week. At first glance it doesn't appear to be very special or disruptive. But it is.
Via TechCrunch.com -- [ read more | digg story ]

Naysayers are asking, "What's the business model?"

Continue reading "CNET's AllYouCanUpload Is Disruptive" »

Posted by MST at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A current Digg topic asks, "Yahoo releases a beta preview of their new site, and excludes 800x600 viewing without horizontal scroll bars.  Could this set the standard?"

In over 200 comments, the point wasn't made that just when most desktop screens are reaching 1280x1024 sizes, we're seeing a whole new crop of devices with alternative resolutions.

The original poster has an interesting graphic of resolutions at the dugg URL:

SkeyMedia » Blog Archive » Is it Time to Abandon 800×600?

A couple things jumped out at me.  First, people are using HDTV resolutions to surf his site.  Way to go, home theater PCs!  But I also noticed not a single result appears to be in portrait mode.  Could it be that the stats don't know which way someone has their screen turned?

I, for example, have a Gateway convertible.  I use this Tablet PC in "portrait" mode, so it's the same shape and size as a traditional paper pad.  This is comfortable to write on, and even more comfortable to surf the web on.  This puts the horizontal resolution at 768, and vertical resolution at 1280.  Subtract the scrollbar and browser chrome pixels, and an 800x600 site won't fit.  My solution was to install the Opera browser and surf at 90%, but now those sites are just a little less legible, and I spend a little less time there.

Now Microsoft is pushing a new ultra mobile PC (UMPC) platform, and we're seeing resolutions of 800x480 (some real, some simulated).  DVDs are 720x480. The PSP is even smaller.  I've got a QTEK 9100 phone with a 320x240 display.  More and more truly portable devices, designed to take advantage of the web while on the go, will have similar resolutions.

Designers, publishers, listen up:  remember the web is supposed to be device independant.  Table design broke that meme, but XHTML+CSS2 gave it back to us. 

Don't design your site so visitors can only look at a little corner of it, or your site will be relegated to a little corner of the web.

Posted by MST at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)