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Comment Form over Function (Score 2, Insightful) 510

by Miros (#32433890) Attached to: HTML5 vs. Flash — the Case For Flash
The biggest advantage that the new technologies have that flash has been trying very hard to get into is the ease with which interactive applications that integrate well with the browser and backend services can be developed without having to pay huge scaling licensing fees to anyone. The designers are certainly critical in making applications look good, but they don't get to decide what technologies the system is built on, they have to work with what they are given. If the requirements are that the webapp does X, Y and Z which flash cannot do, then it doesn't really matter what the designer would prefer to work with. They will be forced to work with what they are told to work with. If the need for good tools is great enough than the development of said tools will inevitably follow.

Comment Re:Misses the point (Score 1) 510

by Miros (#32433770) Attached to: HTML5 vs. Flash — the Case For Flash
True, but HTML5 can attack flash from below and gradually, somewhat inevitably, displace it from each of the applications mentioned. I don't dispute that he was arguing flash has an advantage, but I don't think it is as safe from the new threat as he suggests that it is. How long do you think flash has? Two years? Five? The relevant question that the piece suggests but does not address is not if, but when!

Feed Engadget: I2T security camera generates searchable text transcript in real-time (engadget.com)

From feed by feedfeeder
Researchers in California have developed a prototype camera called I2T that can capture video, parse out the background, analyze the action, and then export the content to a text file "that can be searched using simple text search," according to Song-Chun Zhu, lead researcher and professor of statistics and computer science at UCLA. Using a database of over two million images, the system is pretty good at annotating surveillance footage, which generally relies on a static camera. Before the technology can be commercialized, however, they need to significantly expand the database. "If set loose on random images or videos found online," writes Technology Review, the camera would "struggle to perform." If Song-Chun Zhu is interested, we have a library of Greatest American Hero images we can donate to the cause (they're left over from our other blog, GreatestAmericanHeroFanfiction.blogspot.com). Check out the links below to see it in action. [Warning: PDF source link]

I2T security camera generates searchable text transcript in real-time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PermalinkTechnology Review (article), (video) | UCLA |Email this|Comments

Submission + - John Chen: What's Behind SAP's Sybase Buy (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Since the merger announcement, Sybase has not granted interviews to the press. But in March, before rumors about the merger began circulating, John Gallant, Chief Content Officer for IDG Enterprise, and Eric Knorr, Editor in Chief of InfoWorld, sat down with Chen for an hour-long chat as part of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series. The interview explores how Chen was able to pull Sybase back from the brink and establish the company as a key mobile enterprise player. The result is a discussion rare in its frankness — one that provides retroactive insight into the real reasons SAP found Sybase so attractive.

Comment Re:This is crazy, but not surprising. (Score 2, Interesting) 670

by Miros (#32431854) Attached to: iPad Bait and Switch — No More Unlimited Data Plan
Yes you are correct, it is really just a difference in terminology though, we mean the same thing. If the service they are providing becomes effectively commoditized and they begin competing on price their profit margins will shrink dramatically, possibly even to a level where they will not be able to afford to perform dramatic network upgrades as frequently as they are now. Of course, if that were to happen it would probably only be after the networks provided sufficient bandwidth to satisfy pretty much everyone or a new superior technology had emerged which did not require the massive infrastructure and spectrum investments that the entrenched firms have already made to reach the consumers.

Comment Re:no, that's not what it's for (Score 1) 375

by Miros (#32431164) Attached to: Google's Chrome OS To Launch In Fall
Two thoughts. One, the risk with checks is much more of a "you can get ripped off" risk than a "your privacy could be invaded risk" although I suppose both risks do exist. In terms of the government getting into your business, well, that's always been an issue with government. Even without all these fancy tools that consolidate your information into one neat little pile that they can just pick up on their way to lunch they have always had the ability to know everything they want to know about you (including searching everything you have) if they had any real reason to be curious (I mean, what is a search warrant other than a piece of paper certifying their curiosity as justified?)

Comment Re:Compete with Windows?! (Score 1) 375

by Miros (#32430914) Attached to: Google's Chrome OS To Launch In Fall

But if the adoption rates for Google Apps (e-mail service specifically) are any indication, we're getting there, and faster than some people think. E-Mail is a highly sensitive service all things considered from a data security perspective, but companies have already proven surprisingly willing to migrate to hosted third party services -- even before the emergence of Google Apps (lots of hosted exchange providers out there). Sure not many big firms have done it, but an increasing number of large universities have. Large universities are not that unlike large companies (at least as far as data security goes, the e-mail accounts of school or university staff members are filled with all kinds of sensitive information about students among other things).

I agree with you, we are not there yet. But in the not too distant future...

Comment Re:This is crazy, but not surprising. (Score 1) 670

by Miros (#32430760) Attached to: iPad Bait and Switch — No More Unlimited Data Plan
But in the case of broadband wired service providers and power companies cases where they actually compete directly in the same markets are rare. At the end of the day with power you're paying a big "delivery" charge which is for the maintenance of the grid which brings the power to your actual house, you dont have a choice when it comes to that, there is no real competition. When you consider broadband wired service providers there is usually only one in your area in any given class of bandwidth and service, not two or more. In places where there are similar products they do actually compete quite fiercely on price (FiOS / cablevision in the NYC metro area, comcast and FiOS in other areas).

Comment Re:Compete with Windows?! (Score 1) 375

by Miros (#32430698) Attached to: Google's Chrome OS To Launch In Fall
What about standard office productivity tasks? What percentage of the world's windows computers do you think sit on people's desks at work? That's where the real money is anyway. Sure there will be certain applications for which the browser is just not a good substitute for a client application but do those applications cover the vast majority of use cases?

Comment What I want (Score 5, Interesting) 375

by Miros (#32430568) Attached to: Google's Chrome OS To Launch In Fall
What I want is the ability to save my browser session back to google somehow "in the cloud" or whatever so that I can close my browser on one computer, start up a generic copy of chrome somewhere else, login, and get my entire session restored. If that happened the whole system would just become much more useful, particularly if you are in a landscape littered with what are effectively thin terminals. Imagine that kind of functionality with a mobile device like the iPad or something (ignoring all of the limitations that exist today). Close out on my desktop, transfer to my portable device, go to meetings and w/e without missing a beat or having to take the time to open things on one device that I was already interacting with on another.

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