Comment My Ski Mask (Score 1) 359
Will come in handy yet again. Or I can just read the newspaper in its full unfolded neighbor annoying glory.
Submission + - Why Apple's iPhone is like a 1981 IBM PC (zdnet.co.uk)
ZDOne writes: "Apple might have finally come around to allowing third party developers to create applications for the iPhone but only up to a point. ZDNet UK claims Apple is leaving itself vulnerable to the competition and to a loss of lustre
by blocking background tasks on the device.
"Perhaps it doesn't trust application designers or users very much. Perhaps it wants the best software for itself, where it can limit what it can do in order not to upset its telco friends. Whatever the reason, it reflects badly on Apple. The iPhone is not an iPod; it's a smartphone connecting to a universe of fast-changing data on behalf of innovation-hungry users. The sooner it stops pretending to be a 1981 IBM PC, the better it will be for everyone.""
Build Your Own Neighborhood Vigilante 2
While an old meat smoker atop a three-wheel scooter covered in impact-resistant rubber with attached spotlight, infrared camera, loudspeaker and water cannon, may not be Iron Mans new sidekick, it is working for one neighborhood in Atlanta. Rufus Terrill, a bar owner, got sick of the drug dealers, petty thieves and vandals around his downtown location so he built the 4-foot-tall, 300 pound device to fight crime. The robot crime stopper looks imposing but Rufus says that it is quite harmless and that every criminal is given 20 seconds to comply.
Submission + - Computer Scientists Grow a Better Virtual Tree
Reservoir Hill writes: "Stanford computer scientist Vladlen Koltun says the inability of casual computer users to build 3-D objects — you practically have to be a sculptor — is an anchor holding back the promise of virtual worlds and games. "There is a very, very tiny community of people around the world who are skilled at creating three-dimensional objects," Koltun said. "And they are the ones who do it all." Koltun and his team set out to prove that object construction can be sophisticated without being difficult, beginning with trees. Botanists have already cataloged and categorized the trees of the real world in great detail. Koltun's group has incorporated that data into a powerful mathematical engine that creates trees using about 100 different tree attributes, all of them almost infinitely variable. How thick is the trunk? How big the leaves? How are the limbs spaced? The result is a new, intuitive way for individual users to create unique trees by simply using a mouse to seamlessly navigate through the entire "space of trees," changing appearances by changing direction. A gallery of trees and the software to create your own is available for free download."
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