Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:Real Time? (Score 2) 169

Obviously on the fly translation is only possible in exceptionally small cases. The point I was trying to make, however, is that if the speaker is speaks more than a single sentence, the software should be smart enough to begin translating the completed sentence while the speaker continues to talk, thus minimizing the lag. People don't always communicate back and forth with single sentences...

Comment Real Time? (Score 1) 169

I think the use of the phrase "real time" is a bit sensational. To me, that suggests that the translation is being heard on the recipient's end while the speaker is still speaking.
Obviously there has to be some delay in order to account for sentence structure differences between languages, but the fact that the speaker basically has to complete a paragraph and then wait for it to go through makes it seem like their software is "simply" taking the output of dictation software, piping it into Google translate, then piping it into a speech synthesizer, and then making both parties wait for it to finish speaking. It looks like a promising start, and I'm sure it's not a trivial feat.
Star Trek, I suppose, has given me high expecations for how a universal translator will work...

Comment Probably Gnome from the options (Score 1) 611

All I know is I've been terribly dissapointed with Unity. It looks like it's trying to be hip and cool, but feels so clunky that I give up after using it for more than 5 minutes.

I haven't given KDE much of a chance yet. It seems to be getting high marks from the crowd here, so Maybe I'll try it out.

I'd like to see a Desktop Environment modeled after OpenStep. It just worked and felt light without feeling cheap. Ah, the good old days...

Comment Re:Episode V! (Score 1) 457

One of the most interesting parts, I thought, of the behind the scenes for Episode IV was the part where they show the footage Lucas used to model the dog fights in space. He spliced footage from old WWII films, and when watching the spliced footage (that they copied nearly frame for frame) I knew exactly what part it was portraying in Episode IV. Star Wars is certianly heavily influenced by WWII films.

Comment Re:Episode V! (Score 1) 457

New, as in, nothing like it visually had been seen on the cinema screen. So many films have common themes that I dare say there is no such thing as a new idea as any can be traced back to something that's been done before in cinema, theater, or literature. But for me, I can't think of anything pre Star Wars that really compares in how the story was told.

Comment Re:Episode V! (Score 4, Insightful) 457

Yeah. Why fly down the trench? It goes all around the entire death star! Just go directly to the exhaust port... It's true though, the movies are more about conveying a story than being an accurate representation of what military tactics and government would be in that setting.

Comment Episode V! (Score 5, Insightful) 457

At the time of writing this, there are 0 votes for any of the prequel trilogy! That's what I would have hoped for, but not what I expected. Of course, then I noticed that only 19 votes had been cast... Episode 4 was amazing because it was such a well-executed, new idea. Episode 5 was amazing because of the actors' chemistry, the additional special effects, and the twists and surprises. The rest are just money-grabs...

Comment Re:Sorry (Score 1) 192

It's almost entirely caused by the "avoid peanuts during pregnancy" self-fulfilling prophecy (if you do so, chances are the next generation will be more allergic to peanuts).

That's interesting. During my wife's first pregnancy we ate peanuts all the time, and lived on peanut butter sandwiches. The kid nearly died when we first fed him straight-up peanut butter, and had to go to the ER by ambulance and give him steroids and epinephrine.

We've now been living in a peanut-free environment for the second child, yet the second child has no peanut allergy.

Obviously blanket statements like yours are ignorant. People develop allergies for various reasons, not just environment, or not just genetics.

Comment Re:Feed your kids, people (Score 2) 192

Unheard of != did not exist.

Of course things were less well known back then, but there were also smaller communities, so there were less chances of running into people with allergies. Now we have social sites where we see the communication of thousands of people we've never met in real life. I only know 4 people will peanut allergies personally, and only live near 2 whom I see on a regular basis, yet in this thread, I've already read posts from 10 or more people with the allergy. My point is, just because we didn't hear about it as often back 50 years ago doesn't mean it wasn't a frequent occurrence. Other factors have to be accounted for.

Secondly, I've always wondered if a reason for less prevalence of allergies in the past was due to kids with allergies dying from the allergy without the allergy ever being diagnosed...

Slashdot Top Deals

You know you've been spending too much time on the computer when your friend misdates a check, and you suggest adding a "++" to fix it.

Working...