Indeed, that would be awesome. There is a place for voice acting, but most of the lines in adventure/RPG games could be left to machines. One of the reasons re-making Larry is taking $500K on Kickstarter is that they have to record thousands of lines of speech, most of which probably wouldn't even be heard by the majority of players on the first play-through.

Because of expenses like that, I sometimes wish the dialogues were un-voiced (as in Fallout 1/2); however, a TTS engine would be a good alternative to that.

It's clear you know nothing about music making.

Developing virtual instruments brings down the cost of music production, but controlling, say, a virtual violin to get the same kind of articulation as an actual violinist would, in real time, requires - essentially - a violin as a controller, with all the skills necessary to play it.

We already have sample libraries that fit the bill to make demos and a wide variety of music. We have hybrid synths/samplers. Doing it on the GPU won't revolutionize music.

What if can revolutionize is sound generation in virtual environments - e.g. the sound a collapsing building would make in a shooting game. However, it still requires more processing power than even the GPU can handle.

You must be one of those guys who complains about ATM machines, PIN numbers, PC computers, and such. I guess the people working for the IRS service are just not like that.

The twist is that Washington Post is actually owned by the buffet you're going to.

Well, turning yourself in is admitting guilt and is psychologically hard. This way, he is not directly admitting guilt (he does the same thing 90% of people in the neighborhood are doing), and there's a chance they won't get him, so it probably is much easier to (effectively) turn oneself in this this way.

What should they be worried about? A crazy hobbyist running around with a dangerous laser in his garage? A chainsaw is more dangerous in terms of power, speed and portability, and good old gasoline canister is a greater fire hazard.

I thought lasers stopped being scary after everyone played with a laser pointer. Or a CD/DVD drive. Or a laser mouse. Or a laser barcode scanner in a store. Or after the Star Wars style laser weapons didn't exactly materialize after all the years of research and investment. As for CNC machines, waterjet systems are more powerful (try cutting stone with a laser), and turret/punch systems are, IMO, more dangerous (things are actually slamming around). I always thought that you'd use laser when you need the extra precision that laser CNC gives you, not the "dangerous" power. As for the fire hazard - try setting a block of wood on fire with a magnifying glass. In general, you would use a laser CNC to cut wood, not to set it on fire (and it cuts nicely indeed). It seems like all the issues the summary talks about are not the real reason why DIY laser cutters aren't abundant. The real reason - talked about in the article - is that commercial cutters are already available for less money than even this kickstarter is asking for (you get a smaller, but metal-framed and fully assembled device).

First of all, you don't need to install the PC suite. You can download your maps on the phone, and I have downloaded mine on my computer directly (the list of direct download links available here).

From my experience, their PC suite was stable, I never had any problems. I just never have to use it for anything. And I don't know what the hell you are talking about when you speak of automatic deinstallation.

I should also note that, at least on my Nokia 5230, Nokia suite is not required for file transfer or tethering. It simply installs itself as a USB modem (or flash drive) if you connect via USB, or detects as a Bluetooth modem (same speed, but eats up battery faster).

Actually, Nokia gets it right and Android doesn't. Nokia's maps are free, and you can pre-load the whole continent on your cellphone, and use your GPS and naviagation offline (helpful for hiking in most of the US where there's no signal, to say nothing of data connection). Nokia also offers turn-by-turn navigation with text-to-speech in real time, while many cheaper navigation devices don't. In short, you can't even compare Nokia Maps to Google Maps; the latter is much better for looking POI, but for navigation Nokia Maps takes the cake.

I bet he was embarrassed because he had no idea what he was doing in that abstract algebra class, and had nothing to say to you. Then he felt even more dumb for not knowing about green tomatoes. The lack of social skills topped it off. I wish I could get green tomatoes here :)

Thanks for the information!

Indeed, that would have been the best. Also, how is living in an RV treated with respect to having a residence?

Why, are you saying a person without a permanent address shouldn't vote?

There's a Russian social news website called D3 that I frequent, and they even have a special member there to express precisely this sentiment.

Well, rather, he've been saying it for so long (modulo guillotine/firing squad substition), that people just refer to it as experov's Method when news like this get posted there. It's mildly surprising to see how similar the thinking is on both sides of the pond.

The counter-argument, of course, is that you don't know who will be running the guillotine - and likely, the same people will - and your head will roll first. History has many examples, but, specifically, the New Russia's government apparatus is full of the Soviet cadre - Comrade Putin of KGB being the most visible example.

...since I use it extensively as a GPS/navigation aid, as do many other people. It allows me to focus on the road more when I am driving in unfamiliar places.

For many, it is also a music player (which has been a standard component in cars for decades). I doubt that hitting a "play" button to launch a playlist with thousands of songs *once* provides more distraction than going through a CD wallet every hour.

On the other hand, SMS messaging has been present on pretty much cell phones since the beginning, and you could access the WAP web over GPRS from an old Siemens over a decade ago.

My point is that many people use smartphones in a car in a way that doesn't make their driving any more dangerous, whereas you could use an old phone in a way that does. Don't blame the device, blame the activity (e.g. communicating by text while driving). While the article actually delivers this point, the title of the article (and the post) does not. The title should have been Using social networks while driving is more dangerous than alcohol.

I am typing this comment during calc recitation. During the quiz.

On the other hand, it feels good to be the recitation TA at times like this.

More on the subject, I only use my laptop during lectures as an e-book reader, and sometimes for note-taking (live-TeXing is quite hard); and I have only seen other students use it in the same manner. But then again, that's grad school; no electronics might be an effective measure in some intro undergrad courses.