Comment Re:Luckily.... (Score 4, Funny) 85
The Kinect SDK will also have a state of the art sarcasm detector.
Comment Re:Well done, Gearbox (Score 1) 288
In other news, Next will release Taligent this year shortly after Microsoft WinFS (Cairo) ships.
Comment Hu's on first (Score -1, Redundant) 313
Hu's on First
By James Sherman
(We take you now to the Oval Office circa 2003)
George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The Chinaman!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya' asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China.
George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That's the man's name.
George: That's who's name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars. Now get on the phone. (Condi picks up the phone.)
Condi: Rice, here.
George: Rice? Good idea. And a couple of egg rolls, too. Maybe we should send some to the guy in China. And the Middle East. Can you get Chinese food in the Middle East?
Comment My favorite paper on "proofs" (Score 1) 700
Social Processes and Proofs of Theorems and Programs by DeMillo, Lipton, and Perlis. Let the social process begin.
Comment Re:Hit them back (Score 1) 783
Corollary: The reason government is corrupt is the same reason we need it in the first place.
Comment Re:It would be very interesting ... (Score 1) 219
Errors, yes. But no hoaxes!
Comment Re:So let's see: (Score 0) 94
Also, http://x264dev.multimedia.cx/archives/377 for a VP8 tear down.
Comment Re:See! (Score 1) 997
It's deeper than just the hours vs. the compensation. It sounds like your boss has no vision. What is the problem being solved? What are your customers either asking for or complaining about? Simply adding "features" without any connection to the customer is pointless. It sounds like your PHB has read Spolsky out of context and has no clue.
8-Year-Old Receives Patent 142
Knile writes "While not the youngest patent recipient ever (that would be a four year old in Texas), Bryce Gunderman has received a patent at age 8 for a space-saver that combines an outlet cover plate with a shelf. From the article: '"I thought how I was going to make a lot of money," Bryce said about what raced through his brain when he received the patent.'"
Comment Mondrian (Score 2, Interesting) 347
Mondrian was a TopView clone created by Dynamical Systems Research, a company formed by Nathan Myhrvold and Chuck Whitmer. Microsoft bought them because Mondrian was arguabley smaller and faster than the IBM product. The team of engineers went to work in the WIndows team and were a good part of the reason that Windows 3.0 emereged as the "good enough" GUI to dominate the industry efver since.
Comment A bit more history ... (Score 2, Informative) 384
Windows 1 was developed by people that had been with Microsoft and worked on MSDOS 1-3. IBM's Topview was considered to be the real competition, so Microsoft bought a company named Dynamical Systems (Nathan Myhrvold and Chuck Whitmer). This company had created a TopView clone named Mondrian that was smaller and faster than IBM's product. These are the guys that drove the effort that eventually became Windows 3.0, generally acknowledged as the first one that was good enough to use.
Comment Ergo .... (Score 1) 233
If you build a better mousetrap you'll evolve a better mouse.
Comment Data point of 1 (Score 2, Interesting) 130
I was in Best Buy last weekend and they were demonstrating the Kinect. My 9 year old daughter, who doesn't like to play console based video games, started playing one of the demos. It was sort of like Breakout, but you kicked or punched the balls instead of using a remote. I had a hard time getting her to leave.
Comment Re:Dick Lipton (Score 1) 147
Lipton was one of the co-authors of a great analysis called "Social Processes and Proofs of Theorems and Programs" (http://www.cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/BLOGPAPERS/social.pdf). It points out how a very complex proof is only as valid as the community of scientists who believe it. There are great risks for subtle lapses of logic in a 90 page proof and at best, a distinguished team of reviewers can only agree that they have not found a flaw. That said, the P != NP proof is great in that it has started a new social process that will undoubtedly uncover more good things.
Officials Use Google Earth To Find Unlicensed Pools 650
Officials in Riverhead, New York are using Google Earth to root out the owners of unlicensed pools. So far they've found 250 illegal pools and collected $75,000 in fines and fees. Of course not everyone thinks that a city should be spending time looking at aerial pictures of backyards. from the article: "Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC, said Google Earth was promoted as an aid to curious travelers but has become a tool for cash-hungry local governments. 'The technology is going so far ahead of what people think is possible, and there is too little discussion about community norms,' she said."
