basic.design.simple.methods.
There were two interesting articles I found on Digg and you should give each a good read because if you are on my website and reading this, you will definitely want to know how the world wide web and internet can become in a very near future.
Continue reading ‘The net as we know it to end; end of the last frontier?’
I just finished reading this article on the New York Times called ‘Trolling for Trouble in the Red Light District’ which can be read here. It was an interesting read about how ineffective red light cameras at intersections were. At the same time, I have to agree with the article that these devices do not actually prevent accidents; whether it be running these red lights or making a right turn on red. So if it is not here for our safety, then what it is, is to gain more revenue for the city, the state, etc. After all, a red light camera is not intelligent, it cannot tell the different between a blatant red light traffic offender or an accidental one where a driver was caught and had to make a turn after the light turned red. An example would be during heavy traffic congestion or an oncoming driver trying to beat the yellow light thus making the driver trying to turn miss their opportunity at green and turning on a red.
So over the weekend, I started using some profile pictures of people to try to manipulate them, either from removing normal blemishes, losing weight, etc. I decided to go for a more extreme and found a photo online that gave me an interesting time trying to manipulate the photo in photoshop. How extraordinary is with a few filters, some skewing, adding some hair and color, a person can totally look different.
Continue reading ‘Photo manipulation, practically is reconstructive surgery.’
Yep. I called it in the last post at half-time of game four of the Western Conference finals. I already knew that the Lakers were going to win games 4 and 5 and voila! We are back in the NBA Finals. Finally, I don’t have to hear any more about the Spurs.
Its halftime, the score is 53-47 with the Lakers up by 6. Kobe just made a jumper over Ginobili. One thing is for sure, the Spurs are one of the most annoying teams. Just watching a single half; I cannot stand the team. They are too sheltered by the media where all the broadcasters just seem to love the Spurs. All game long, all the analysts and commentators talk about how poised these Spurs are, how Parker is unstoppable, how Ginobili is due for a great game because he is a competitor and how Duncan has been bored in the regular season and needs a challenge that comes with the playoffs. Screw that! The Spurs are just protected by the referees and the NBA organization.
Continue reading ‘Ref’s deteriorating the game, screw the Spurs!’
Having more bandwidth is costly, having a lot of bandwidth is expensive! For this one week event, I brought in a 6 mbps link through Covad Wireless for $3,000. The $3,000 gives me this 6 mbps ethernet drop off with a full Class-C of IP’s for one month. What type of speeds did I actually get?
I was fortunate to get an inside look at the annual ICRA event, known as the International Conference on Robotics and Automation. It is a gathering of about 1200 engineers, about 98% male is the demographic, who spend an entire week listening in on intense workshops based on published essays, a couple nice lunches and dinners combined with a student party and a gravel pit where you have robots perform on the terrain. I was a bit let down because the robots at the conference were more about education or the Mar’s rover type of robotic vehicle. I was hoping for more artificial intelligence robots like the Honda Asimo of sorts.
For about $60 to $80 per month, you are able to get high speed internet access at home via DSL, cable or now FIOS through Verizon (limited to certain areas). To the right, you can see a speed test I conducted on a DSL connection at home. Sure it is a decent download speed but the upload is a bit slow. That’s the problem with most home connections, the download is fast but upload is slow. Even with typical cable providers of internet access, you have this as well. I think most DSL and cable access have download speeds of about 5-6 mbps and upload speeds up to 1 mbps.
