UK School testing Face Recognition for class attendance

Creepy. Joseph this might be similar to the project you asked me about tho!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/06/uk-college-begins-testing-facial-recognition-attendence-system/

Sam

Re: Kindle on iPhone / iPod Touch, plus geoDefense

Ars on the lack of an in app purchasing capability on Kindle for iPod:
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/03/ars-hands-on-kindle-for-iphone.ars

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 8:47 AM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc2009034_069800.htm

Kindle on iPhone / iPod Touch, plus geoDefense

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc2009034_069800.htm

I installed the Kindle reader on my iPod touch this morning, and
logged in to their Kindle Store via the web and bought two books,
Stephen King's UR and William Gibson's Neuromancer. I'm a huge fan of
King and this book was the only mass market book by him I didn't have
yet (it's a Kindle exclusive, and is sorta about a Kindle like device)
and have always intended to finish reading Neuromancer, which I
started reading back in the 90s and never finished. Neuromancer is
the book that coined the term Cyberspace, and the genre it created
spawned things like The Matrix and Johnny Mnemonic. The interface is
not bad, but I don't know how long I could stare at the device without
a break. I also don't like that you have to go to a web browser to
buy new books, it's a total fail to not be able to buy new books with
Amazon one click inside the app itself. Perhaps in Rev 2.0... Also
the books are all DRM wrapped which sucks, but there are thousands of
public domain classic books also available which is nice. I approach
this the same way I did iTunes: Lets see the vendors make a great
experience and trust that the rights stuff will all work out in the
end. It worked for music, I can now get all DRM free music from
Amazon and Apple, it's only a matter of time before that happens with
Books and Movies too. Apple sucks in that they want several hundred
bucks from me to 'upgrade' my iTunes tracks to DRM free and doesn't
make an easy interface for me to pick and choose which ones that might
actually be worth it for me to do so on, but that's a story for
another day.

I also haven't checked out Stanza, but I will install that later today.

Also, a few books I wanted to buy on Kindle weren't available for the
device yet. I've heard interesting things about David Foster
Wallace's 'Infinite Jest' but that one isn't in the store yet for
whatever reason.

Speaking of the iPod Touch: If you own one (or the iPhone) and want
to try an amazing but HARD game, spend the 99 cents and download a
game called geoDefense. It's a vector based Tower Defense game that
is like a combination of Chess, Tower Defense, and Asteroids. No
playing in class! =)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_game

Re: Microsoft's Vision 2019

Two more:
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/cool-videos-microsoft-surface-physics.ars
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/cool-video-iphone-and-microsoft-surface-mashup.ars

I actually got to play with Surface at the Ice Bar in Las Vegas when I
was out there last year. It sucked. Really. It has potential tho!

Sam

On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 9:20 AM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
> More on what Microsoft Research is up to.  Lots that relate to the Vision video.
>
> http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/microsoft-research-techfest-2009-a-glance-at-the-road-ahead.ars
>
> On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 1:42 AM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
>> http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090228/microsoft-office-labs-vision-2019-video/
>>
>> Required viewing, we will discuss on Tuesday!  Watch both the short
>> and long versions please!
>>
>> Sam
>>
>

Re: Microsoft's Vision 2019

More on what Microsoft Research is up to. Lots that relate to the Vision video.

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/microsoft-research-techfest-2009-a-glance-at-the-road-ahead.ars

On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 1:42 AM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090228/microsoft-office-labs-vision-2019-video/
>
> Required viewing, we will discuss on Tuesday!  Watch both the short
> and long versions please!
>
> Sam
>

FW: [IP] Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy capital of the world

Update on the British Surveillance we discussed.

Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 3/3/2009 10:44 AM
Subject: [IP] Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy capital of the world

It is fitting for the UK to have the most camera. After all it was the 
home of  George Orwell and "1984" Long live Big Brother.  djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk>
Date: March 2, 2009 12:57:46 PM EST
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy 
capital of the world

Hi Dave:

 From today's (UK) Guardian, for IP if you so wish.

cheers

Brian

=====

Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy capital of the 
world

Visitors from around the world come to marvel at Westminster CCTV system

Millions of people walk beneath the unblinking gaze of central 
London's surveillance cameras. Most are oblivious that deep under the 
pavements along which they are walking, beneath restaurant kitchens 
and sewage drains, their digital image is gliding across a wall of 
plasma screens.

Westminster council's CCTV control room, where a click and swivel of a 
joystick delivers panoramic views of any central London street, is 
seen by civil liberty campaigners as a symbol of the UK's surveillance 
society.

Using the latest remote technology, the cameras rotate 360 degrees, 
365 days a year, providing a hi-tech version of what the 18th century 
English philosopher Jeremy Bentham conceived as the "Panopticon" - a 
space where people can be constantly monitored but never know when 
they are being watched.

The Home Office, which funded the creation of the £1.25m facility 
seven years ago, believes it to be a "best-practice example" on which 
the future of the UK's public surveillance system should be modelled.

So famed has central London's surveillance network become that figures 
released yesterday revealed that more than 6,000 officials from 30 
countries have come to learn lessons from the centre.

They include police with the job of keeping order in the most 
dangerous cities on earth, from São Paulo in Brazil to Baltimore in 
the United States, as well as law enforcement officials from countries 
with a notorious disregard for the rights of citizens, such as China.

A delegation of foreign visitors turns up at Westminster's 
subterranean CCTV control room on a monthly basis. The FBI has paid a 
visit, as have - more recently - police forces from South Africa, 
Japan and Mexico.

The UK, whose police forces pioneered experiments with the technology 
in the 1960s, leads the world in surveillance of its people.

Exactly how many CCTV cameras there are in the UK is not known, 
although one study four years ago estimated 4.8m cameras had been 
installed.

What is rarely disputed is that the UK has more cameras per citizen 
than anywhere else.
. . .
----
Full story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/02/westminster-cctv-system-privacy

--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL =
http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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Introducing Siftables

Check this out, I saw this on the TED podcast and knew you guys would dig it!

http://siftables.com/

Microsoft's Vision 2019

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090228/microsoft-office-labs-vision-2019-video/

Required viewing, we will discuss on Tuesday! Watch both the short
and long versions please!

Sam

What is this Pirate Party all about?

Ars on what it all means and the struggles they face.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/rick-falkvinge-is-the-face.ars

FW: [IP] Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

From Professor Farber's IP list.  I remember reading the original story and sharing it with my IT100 class at the time...

Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 2/24/2009 12:43 PM
Subject: [IP] Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk>
Date: February 24, 2009 12:01:22 PM EST
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

Hi Dave:

For IP if you think it is appropriate:

> A NEWCASTLE professor watched Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire - 
> not realising he was the inspiration behind the movie.
>
> A decade ago Professor Sugata Mitra knocked a hole through the wall 
> of his laboratory in New Delhi, India, so children in the adjoining 
> slum could play on one of his computers.
>
> The experiment, to see whether unschooled children would teach 
> themselves how to use the internet if left to their own devices, was 
> intended as an educational tool.
>
> But it eventually inspired the film which swept the Oscars on Sunday 
> night.
>
> As he celebrated the film's success, original author Vikas Swarup 
> said he wrote Q&A, which was adapted for the screen by Simon 
> Beaufoy, as a direct result of hearing about street children using 
> Professor Mitra's computer.
. . .

Full story at:

http://tinyurl.com/czcd32

See also:

http://markkobayashihillary.computing.co.uk/2009/02/a-niit-at-the-movies
.html

cheers

Brian

--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL =
http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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DISCLAIMER:
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OK, so maybe 2 hours on the Credit crisis was a bit much

Here's a BRILLIANT animated recap of the problem in 10 minutes
http://www.crisisofcredit.com/

Sam

NYT introduces a new way to skim an online newspaper

Check this out, it's pretty damn slick and few ads.
http://prototype.nytimes.com/gst/articleSkimmer/

The Ascent of Money

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/featured/watch-full-program-the-ascent-of-money/24/

Absolutley fascinating documentary. I have always considered the
whole concept of money to be bull from the start and they go into why
that is and isnt true and why it doesnt matter, and then on to how we
got into this housing mess and where we go from here.

Watch the whole thing PRINT OUT a 2 paragraph review and I'll give
credit worth 1 weekly assignment.

Kindle 2 offiicial, I'm still yawning

For exactly the reasons Giz and its commenters list:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5149814/giz-explains-why-kindle-2-isnt-a-big-step-forward-for-voracious-readers

http://i.gizmodo.com/5149704/does-the-kindle-2-pass-the-applebraun-design-test

http://i.gizmodo.com/5149696/confirmed-kindle-coming-to-cellphones-and-how-to-get-a-kindle-2-firstest

Apple is smart in ignoring text, but if they ever do turn their eyes
to the printed word you can bet it won't be this boring.

Monmouth U is closed BUT we will still continue online!

One of the blessings and curses of the internet age is that we can
continue our work and learning remotely even when physical locations
are shut down. By now you should have heard from MUs emergency
notification system that the school is closing at 2:30. We will do a
number of things ASYNCHRONOUSLY so that our learning continues almost
at pace as if we had the actual class. This means you can do this
assignment at your own pace, you don't have to do it from 6-715 but
since you already have that time blocked out, that might be a good
time to do it!

First, you can catch up with all the lecture notes at:
http://zorak.monmouth.edu/~posten

Download and go through all of them through 'Storage'

Then do the following:

Read up on the Dr. Math talks Binary:
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54311.html

Read How Stuff Work's article on Bits and Bytes:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bytes.htm

For extra info, check out Joel Spolski's intro to Unicode for programmers:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html

What's inside my computer?
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/inside-computer.htm
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/motherboard.htm
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/compuspeed90.html
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer-memory.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/pc.htm

Be ready to discuss the different parts of a computer, the different
types of memory, how much faster computers are today than just a few
years ago, how we rate computer speed and memory capacity, and the
difference between primary and secondary storage. Let me know if you
have any questions!

Sam