Tablet PC Rorschach Inkblot Test 140
LPH writes "ESC Technologies just put up a funny series of images that they ran through the Tablet PC recognition software." Perhaps these tablets need a "doodle" setting.
It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. - Voltaire
In related news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In related news... (Score:1)
Re:In related news... (Score:2)
Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:5, Funny)
A: No.
Q: Does the scribble recognition software in the Tablet PC work?
A: The short answer is 'no'. The long answer is 'just barely'.
Q: So does the Tablet PC increase productivity and make busy professionals more reliable at their work?
A: The short answer is 'no'. The long answer is "Does a 12 cylinder car get you from Philly to New York any faster than a 6 cylinder auto?". The answer to that query, of course, is 'no'; all drivers must obey the same speed limit.
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:1)
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:5, Funny)
A: The short answer is 'no'. The long answer is that I know that I'll get modded up on Slashdot as long as I somehow make fun of Microsoft.
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:2)
A: Yes but it was called a pen top at the time.
Q: Know anything about the tablet pc?
A: Microsofts third try a making a pen based system.
Pen Windows: Windows modifyed to run on a pen top...
But makes no practical use of the fact.
WinCE: New os for a low end business system.
Only just now making a dent in the PDA market as Palm os makers move into the mobile internet market.
Tablet PC: Windows XP.
Looks like Microsoft repeated the first mistake... Make the os fit the job.
They also repeated the second but only becouse it's not a mistake anymore.
Low cost... The market wants power not cheap..
And third but yet again not a problem anymore.
Size.. we want pocket sized pen tops... PDAs... we don't want PDAs anymore..
But the question is.. is this a product looking for a market?
If not the pocket pc could be pritty cool.
If so... it's still pritty cool.
I'd get one..
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:1)
More important than cylinder count would be the overall handling of the vehical, which would help or hinder your ability to weave through traffic.
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:1)
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:1)
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:2)
It could, even if you respect the speed limits, a 12 cylinder car can accelerate faster, in fact spending more time in the speed limit. This would make more diference if the speed limit changed a lot in the way.
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:1)
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:2)
You can only accelerate as quickly as the guy in the '77 El Camino in front of you. A Ferrari in stop-and-go traffic is no faster than a Fiesta.
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:2)
Re:Q & A (Pre-Coffee) (Score:1)
A: The short answer is 'no'. The long answer is 'just barely'.
Wrong. I have one, a Viewsonic v1100, and the handwriting recognition works well. Excellent even. Have you even tried one?
Obviously I would rather that these machines had Linux, etc. on them, but I'm extremely happy with mine nonetheless.
No, I don't work for Viewsonic or Microsoft.
Hey, it even capitalised Linux for me.
Re:Illegal under the UCITA and DCMA to test softwa (Score:1)
Uh... He was lost...?
"a series of images" (Score:4, Insightful)
I know it's been said quite a few times, but this really isn't responsible. What if that host pays by the transfer of data? It's saturday, more than likely the admin is not working today and has no way to take the site down to alieviate the massive stress. If slashdot wants to continue this, they really need to find a cache system, this isn't responsible or fair, especially for a weekend.
Mod -1 OffTopic -1 OverRated -1 Troll ... you may mod me however you see fit, but realize that these moderations will not surprise me ....
Re:"a series of images" (Score:1)
Re:"a series of images" (Score:5, Funny)
okay ... here's a FAQ question to add.
Q: Why do you insist on selling crack to children?
A: Simple, children are more likely to get hooked at a younger age and will be less likely to turn us in to the cops.
does this make it inherintly right because it's written in a FAQ?? well ... does it???
Re:"a series of images" (Score:1)
Re:"a series of images" (Score:2)
Re:"a series of images" (Score:1)
But hey, that's just my opinion. The target of the slashdotting can always take their server down temporarily.
Re:"a series of images" (Score:1)
But the point is that it's the weekend, so the admin, is probably not at the office to take it down. Probably at home updating goatse.cx for all we know.
Re:"a series of images" (Score:2, Insightful)
You can't actually be this insane, can you? I find it hard to imagine someone really gets this worked up about the ethics of Slashdot.
Getting past the topic of your crazed ramblings, let's look at the mechanics of your reply. "well
Calm down, Slashdot is just a collection of timely and topical links with jackass rants attached to them. Enjoy it, don't over intellectualize it.
Re:"a series of images" (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh, never mind, you already are.
Re:"a series of images" (Score:1)
If you put something interesting on your site, people wanting to look at it is a risk you just have to take.
Frankly if anything I made was
Re:"a series of images" (Score:3)
But what I find more interesting is that technology has existed for some time [bitconjurer.org] that could all but eliminate the problem.
The Internet is comprised of logical peers. Why are we using a purely client/server model for web sites?
Once a packet has been downloaded, it's then available to be served to other systems. All you really need is a method of co-ordinating it all.
Bit torrent has tremendous potential - imagine serving hundreds of copies of a gigabyte file per day, with decent transfer rates - over a 128k DSL line.
It's possible! (and no, I didn't write it, or even know who the guy is)
When the porn hosters discover this one out, it just might become a standard!
Security, please. (Score:2)
Once a packet has been downloaded, it's then available to be served to other systems. All you really need is a method of co-ordinating it all."
No, you'd need much more. Look at DNS. It is fairly decentralized via caches and lookups that move up a hierachy, rather than always directly connecting to a remote host. But that opens up the possibility of DNS highjacking. The DNSSec standard is still being constantly rewritten on top of this. It doesn't look good.
Who do you trust? Do you trust the internet at large? Do you trust your ISP? All good ISPs should already offer an optional proxy, probably Squid, which is linked to a set of other caching servers. This way the caching servers themselves are arranged in a hierarchy, where everyone configures their servers to only trust one or two upstream providers. But, as with DNS, this ends up with a centralized point for attackers to inject bad content for ALL websites, rather than just one or two.
Plus, if your ISP A trusts B, and B trusts C, is it true that ISP A trusts C? Implicitly maybe, but if you talked to the managers and marketting people, they might have something else to say about it.
This isn't as trivial a problem as you make it out to be. Decentralization leads to complexity of organization that hasn't been studied like typical client-server relationships have.
Re:Security, please. (Score:2)
apposiite, but it is not appropriate to the bittorrent
solution, which is what you are responding to.
You are clearly a knowledgable and intelligent
person. You owe it to yourself to do a bit of
research on modern peer and mesh network
techniques.
In reponse to the grandparent:
I believe the release of swarmcast predates that
of bittorrent by a small amount.
Re:"a series of images" (Score:1, Funny)
Sir, I admire your noble fight against the tyranny of moderation. Your elloquent statement will serve to catalyze the revolution against our moderating overlords.
Your brave and stoic acceptance of the moderators' injustice will surely martyr you and make you the symbol of our fight against the oppressive moderating elite.
Let the blood of moderators water the tree of free speech!
I stand behind you, SuperDuG.
handwriting recognition... (Score:5, Informative)
As far as "it needs a doodle setting", the apps that I used saved things as digital ink by default, and only converted to text when you specifically told it to.
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:3, Funny)
Was that a typo, or bad handwriting recognition?
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:4, Insightful)
Remember, not all information can be easily typed in in vi.
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:3, Troll)
The MS TabletPC is obviously just another way to sell the MS Windows OS since it really doesn't solve any problems that were not already solved by cheaper tools. Maybe a Handera 330 with WiFi or Bluetooth( or the new Palm with Bluetooth ) could get the wireless connectivity solution in there too?
LoB
LoB
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:3, Interesting)
Or how about the parent post is obviously just another way to bash Microsoft on a topic that a
Wait, what am I saying?? Blearhg, it's just Micro$haft up to it's old ways, trying to screw us over and make us BUY things!
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:1, Troll)
LoB
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:2)
since i lack the capacity to assault you with witty verbal abuse, I just wanna let you know I'm REALLY REALLY MAD instead.
-- a typical slashdot moderator
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:2)
Have you actually tried to do this in a meeting?
The screen estate is so small you have to flip between multiple screens. In one 15 minute meeting I'd got 10. Thats just stupid.
Secondly the processor is so woefully underpowered that as soon as you start using the pen really fast (as in, this guy is speaking and I need to get the notes down almost as quick fast) then the quality gets very poor and curves start coming out as jagged lines because the processor can't keep up.
Thirdly the resolution is rather poor so often small writing is just plain unreadable. However if you make it bigger, you lose even more screen estate for diagrams.
So yes, the Palm did do it first. However thats not much to brag about when you can't actually use it for anything more than a couple of words written at a fairly sedate speed.
First isn't necessarily better.
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:1, Troll)
That really would be foolish to think the Palms processor could do handle something which might require a 800MHz+ x86 CPU. Saving line drawings with some text doesn't take much.
LoB
I don't care about handwriting recognition (Score:1)
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:1, Troll)
The tablet PC's are a niche product and always will be. There will be people who can used them and because I say they are dumb and a MS marketing ploy to make it look like there is actually ANY innovation coming from Microsoft, doesn't mean some guy in some corner of the world can't find them useful. THEY ARE ALREADY BEING USED and MICROSOFT DIDN'T INVENT THEM.
Come on, the PalmOS is eating Microsofts lunch and they took the idea of a big PDA and said Microsoft invented it. BFD.
BTW, they PARENT poster said he thought combining text input with line drawings was really cool. I just wanted to get the point across that you don't need a big expensive tablet to do that. If you must run a full blown office suite for taking notes at a meeting, then you are stuck using a Windows PC of some format as long as MS Word/Office is your suite.
I've used a PDA and a portable keyboard for tons of work and then brought it into my desktop for formating later. It all fit in my pockets( well, kinda ).
Did you even see that I mentioned using the SmartPad for drawing input? And if your eyes are so bad you can't read text on a PalmOS screen then go ahead and do whatevery you want. Me, I don't carry a laptop around anymore because either a PalmOS device does what I need or my Sharp Zaurus does the rest. Everything else gets done on the desktop.
This kinda stuff fightens Microsoft because if the PDA's start doing too much, the Windows based desktop stops becoming the center of the world for most people. Go ahead and carry a MS TabletPC around, and use your MS Xbox, and your MS Windows XP desktop, your MS PocketPC. That's what Microsoft wants so you can start getting all your news and entertainment from MS XXXXX and MS YYYYYY.
LoB
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:2)
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:1, Redundant)
LoB
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:2)
LoB
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:2)
We got it.. you like Sieko, you dont like tablet pcs.
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:1, Troll)
The multiple responses were because they applied to different comments and I don't have the default view set to flat. sorry bout that.
LoB
price point (Score:1)
Re:handwriting recognition... (Score:5, Funny)
The tablet's advances in handwriting recognition is not the result of better software, but actually due to including a wireless internet connection. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is configured by default to send your handwriting in real-time to their MS Transcription Services
This new facility is a key instrument for Microsoft solidifying its hold on the Indian market since it employs so many.
So really, it is no surprise at all that your latest experience with handwriting recognition is so good. Enjoy it while it lasts. Unfortunately, this is just another example of a Microsoft product that doesn't scale.
it's smoke and mirrors (Score:3, Interesting)
The handwriting recognition on the Tablet PC is better than the kinds of hacks that the Palm, Newton, and many other "commercial" systems have used before, but the technology isn't particularly new.
Much of what it does is by using a lot of dictionary constraints. Try writing some nonsense words, and you'll see that it will turn them into whatever word seems most similar.
As far as "it needs a doodle setting", the apps that I used saved things as digital ink by default,
Applications like Word, Excel, etc. running on Tablet PC don't use digital ink by default, and the integration of ink into those applications is pretty lousy in my opinion. That's particularly ironic given how much Microsoft has bragged about the supposedly good job they have been doing on integrating ink into applications.
Fastest. Slashdotting. Ever. (Score:4, Interesting)
Incidentally, they had a demo at my school (University of Michigan) last month, and I must say that the detail captured by the touchscreen is pretty amazing. Gabe from Penny-Arcade has been using it instead of a sketchbook [penny-arcade.com], and the picture speaks for itself. Now, whether it's worth $2300 is a different story.
IMHO, this is yet another technology that could be very cool and convienant, and all it needs a killer app and a critical mass in the marketplace, but it doesn't look likely
Re:Fastest. Slashdotting. Ever. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Fastest. Slashdotting. Ever. (Score:1)
Re:Fastest. Slashdotting. Ever. (Score:1)
Email L33 (at) umich; he's the microsoft student liason thing, and he'll add you to the email list. They also provide free stuff for "educational purposes": OS's, IDE's, any software for which you can make up a development project, and any book published by Microsoft Press.
Mirrored Images (Score:5, Informative)
Linking to a PHP forum right on the Slashdot main page isn't generally a good idea... :)
ESC did know ... (Score:1, Informative)
For all the yappers. This link was a test to see if the servers could handle it. The test is a success because -- the servers couldn't handle the traffic !
OK. Back to networking 101
But seriously, the person who posted (aka ME) this wanted to see if PostNuke, MySQL, and Apache on a GNU/Linux server hosted by a company back east could handle the traffic. ESC Technologies didn't know that I submitted the link up there until last night. They were a bit concerned
And the company who submitted the story to whatisnew.com is inkwalker.com. So - go there and see what is all about !
LPH
Holy Cookie Monster, Batman! (Score:2)
That's a heck of a hosting plan ya got there...I had to refuse four cookies just to look at some pictures...
Re:Mirrored Images (Score:1)
Damn, we're good.
I like the interpretation of the laptop (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I like the interpretation of the laptop (Score:3, Funny)
My face, its food? (Score:2, Funny)
Just a slashvertisement (Score:2)
Check out what it did to a pic of slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
http://guh.nu/temp/slashdot.html [guh.nu]
Now does the abbreviation stand for F.irst P.ost or F.irst P.icture? Can anyone else come up with some neat translations? (I guess it would be easier if more people had access to the software...)
Re:Check out what it did to a pic of slashdot! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Check out what it did to a pic of slashdot! (Score:1)
Seems the website is running on a Tablet PC, (Score:2)
Re:Seems the website is running on a Tablet PC, (Score:1)
Re:Seems the website is running on a Tablet PC, (Score:2)
A New Form of Steganography? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's official, Microsoft supports terrorism! (muah-ha-ha)
Re:A New Form of Steganography? (Score:1)
When machines don't know what they are doing? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:When machines don't know what they are doing? (Score:1, Funny)
Hmm... (Score:1)
Since when... (Score:1)
Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you really think they don't have one?
This article (-1 Troll) (Score:2)
The TabletPC does have a "doodle setting". Rather, it will only recognize the portions that you want it to convert to text, leaving the rest as "digital ink".
First, if you don't know anything about a product, you should shut up rather than making snide remarks.
Second, exactly how stupid do you have to be to realize that the very motivation for a product like this is the ability to easily capture "doodles", etc as part of your notes?
This is not a Palm Pilot. Maybe you should spend some time playing with the product or reading about it to try and understand what it is before you talk about it.
Re:This article (-1 Troll) (Score:4, Informative)
a) doodle.
b) select the doodle
c) tell the handwriting engine to try to recognize their doodle as text.
d) laugh when it can't
Did you really expect to be able to draw a picture of a book and have it come back as the text "book?" What's next? Computer pictionary?
but it *is* a problem with the handwriting recog (Score:2)
If you give it anything, it picks whatever seems closest among a dictionary of known words. That is really an indication that the recognizer makes up for a lack of shape recognition performance through a limited vocabulary. And the problem with that is that it has a hard time with words it doesn't know.
A good recognizer should reject junk that is fed to it rather than hallucinating meaning into it in an effort to pretend that it's better than it actually is.
Other humorous M$ software errors (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Other humorous M$ software errors (Score:1)
Rorschach test? (Score:2, Funny)
How long after something passes the Turing test do we start psychoanalyzing it?
Rorschach Summary Link (Score:1)
--YerSex [tilegarden.com]
IN SOVIET RUSSIA (Score:3, Funny)
I don't get it.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Seriously, though, they had a demo of this thing at my school, and it was really impressive. They turned on the debug mode for us where the handwriting engine would show in realtime what it thought the words were, and which words were parts of which sentences, etc. I couldn't even read this guy's handwriting, and the Tablet was humming right along, perfectly matching what he was writing, even as he wrote at an angle or on a curve! My Palm can't do that...
Re:I don't get it.... (Score:1)
Another test thrown at the Tablet PC here (Score:1, Offtopic)
Tablet PC Horshack Test [collectinghollywood.com]
How is it funny? (Score:2, Informative)
What exactly would you expect by running a recognizer on such drawings? Garbage in, garbage out...
The only thing that seems weird is that is would seem possible for the recognizer to know that the approximation he found was really far fetched.
When I wrote a C# grafitti application a couple months back, if the gesture didn't match any letter close enough, the recognizer would not try to match it at all. So if you write a non-sense letter you don't get any result back.
Maybe the Tablet recognizer could have had something similar. But on the other hand the user is given a chance to fix whatever the Tablet recognized, so the current model seems fine.
The Tablet seems like a great product, if only I could get the one that I want (it's backordered everywhere in the US). I just wonder why isn't there more reviews and comparisons and testimonials all over the web (like there is for the iPod for example).
Are users happy with them? What do they use them for (browsing, reading divx, playing mp3,...)?
See you,
Dumky
Other funny rorschach test -- on AIM (Score:1)
Last Post! (Score:1)
"Where shall I begin, please your Majesty ?" he asked.
"Begin at the beginning,", the King said, very gravely, "and go on
till you come to the end: then stop."
-- Lewis Carroll
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...
Re:Open Sores Software Strikes Again! (Score:2)