Vista Feature Presentation

When M$ Vista comes out in 2007, it will be the most advanced OS in 2003:

“Let’s set so double the killer delete select all.”

Speech recognition, regardless of how many academic papers it help produced and how many jobs it help secured, is among the most absolutely hopeless technilogical goals to have been set, let alone to be acheived in the "high" tech industry.

Time again I heard people say "wouldn't it be great if I can use my voice to do this, so I do not need to type it or push the buttoms". The truth is, it will only make everyone an idiot even if it might have half a chance of working properly at all. Imagine in a meeting only 20 people talking to their computers at the same time in a little conference room with 20 cross-firing voices like "delete", "ok", "cancel", "back", "control-alt-delete", "WTF", "my password is ...", "I think the CFO is lying ...", "call my lawyer". Or, in little cute cars yelling "turn on AC", "turn left", "brake", "brake harder", "install updated software", "reboot", "shit"...

I hope other people don't die (refer to “a little bit of echo” later in the quoted paragraps, how robust is this thing, plus M$ software?) because of these corporate people doing this for their own job security. I hope no more children have their career future sucked into this black-hole.

When good demos go (very, very) bad

July 28th, 2006, filed by Eric Auchard Reuters.com

Eleven years after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in his 1995 book “The Road Ahead“ predicted humans would one day talk to their computers rather than have to type, the future appeared to be at hand.

At Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting on Thursday, Vista product manager Shanen Boettcher set out to show just how easy to use the speech recognition technology built into upcoming Windows Vista software will be. Like, for example, dictating aloud a simple, heartfelt letter to mom, and having one’s voice automatically transcribed into a computer.

The result was a disaster.

Several tries at making the computer understand the simple salutation “Dear Mom” was read by Microsoft software as “Dear Aunt, let’s set so double the killer delete select all.” Attempts to correct or undo or delete the error only deepened the mess.

It was not just a perfect refutation of the problems of making machines understand human speech. What other features of Microsoft Windows Vista pose trouble, the audience was left to wonder? “The crashing demo didn’t do a lot to instill confidence in the new Windows product,” one Wall Street analyst, who was present at the demo, said.

Windows Vista, already five years in the making, has been postponed by Microsoft several times. Delays have put off the consumer version of Windows until early 2007 — after the crucial holiday shopping season. Vista is scheduled to ship to corporate customers this November, that is, unless more problems are uncovered.

Later, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer blamed the failed speech recognition product demonstration on “a little bit of echo” in the room, which confused the speech-to-text system. To be sure, a second demonstration during the meeting showed how effectively speech recognition can be for navigating around applications, like Microsoft Outlook.

Structured menus appear to work fine. But recognizing random, natural speech still has quite a ways to go, by all appearances: “Let’s set so double the killer delete select all.”

And they do have history:

Shanghai company starts small with hydrogen-powered car

Enlarge	By Elaine Kurtenbach, AP
Taras Wankewycz, founder of Horizon, prepares for a demonstration of the company's hydrogen-powered model car.

SHANGHAI — It's a dream that's been pursuedfor years by governments, energy companies and automakers so farwithout success: Mass-producing affordable hydrogen-powered cars thatspew just clean water from their tailpipes.

So Shanghai's Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies decided to start small. Really small.....

You Believe It or Not, It Can Fly

So Hot

Things That Might Go Wrong

All went wrong today.

We went to Laguna Seca for the 2006 MotoGP US event in Monterey, can't believe how many things went wrong today.

• I got a ticket passing a pickup on Highway 17 at the end of an uphill stretch with a perfect blind spot for cop hideout.
• I forgot my wallet in the car when I parked the car offsite and took the bus to Laguna Seca, me and my wife had to rely on a $20 bill for the entire day.
• A track worker gave me the wrong direction and we ended up walking all the way around the infield area just to get pass the VIP-only area to get to turn 9-10, which should have been a 100-metre walk under the sun.
• The race was good, lasted about 50 minutes. But we waited for 2 hours when there was absolutely nothing going on on the track. Kind of strange for a Laguna Seca event.
• After the race, 100,000 people packed in lines waiting to get out under to summer afternoon sun of California, for 3 straight hours without any explanation. In the meantime, 3 helicopters flew dozens of flights lifting VIPs from the track VIP suites to their hotels.
• 6:30pm, 3 hours after the end of the GP race, people finally started boarding the promised buses, before that half a dozen have passed out and dragged out of the anxious crowd waiting to get out.
• 7:00pm, 3 and half hours after the end of the GP race, we started driving home from Monterey, only to hit a major traffic jam on north-bound Highway 1 only 1 minute after taking off. Traffic goes about 2mph all the way to 156, where thousands of the cars switch to 156 and immediately created a total gridlock on 156-101.
• Traffic did not stay well for long. About 5 miles to the 1-17 exchange at Santa Cruz, traffic came to a grinding halt - close to zero mile an hour. Thousands of cars inched to the 17 on ramp, only to find that 17 is completely stuffed up, at 9:00pm!
• We had bad experience on 17 before getting stuck in a traffic jam because there is absolutely nowhere to go except falling off the mountain. So we quickly decided to switch to Highway 1 north, going on a dark and winding costal highway is much better than imagining a restroom in a 10-mile deadlock on 17.
• But things did not go smooth after that either. As we went past 84 and heading towards 92 for the final switch to 280 back home, there was an amber alert on AM1610. We tuned in the radio, there were rocks falling off the hills on Highway 1 only 10 miles north of 92 and it is closed. Now all cars, northbound and sourthboud, turn to 92, which is another absolutely hopless road for a traffic jam - nowhere to go.
• At 10pm, traffic on northboudn Highway 1 came to another halt as we approach 92. Half Moon Bay, a quite little seaside town, now becomes stuffed with converging traffic and thousands of angry, tired drivers, pissed motorcyclists and dozens of police cars running sirens for no apparent reason. Total chaos.
• We filled up with gas and decided to head back to 84, a more challenging alternative to 92 where we hope not many drivers would dare to consider on a pitch-dark night. It turned out to be as we wished, there were only a handful of vheichles taking 84 and the drive was fast and peaceful, until a van cut in front of me at the only stop sign at Skyline Blvd. For the first time ever, I did the drive on 84 East downhill to Woodside without braking, at 1/3 of the speed limit. I had to think about wierd things to keep myself from falling asleep behind the brake lights of the "moving" van.
• Back home at 11:40pm, more than 8 hours after we packed and left at the end of the GP race. 8 hours is enought time to drive to Mexico, or a ROUND trip to Tahoe. We had sub-1-mph traffic jamS in every section of the route. That's the result.

Santa Cruz Police Department is harvesting revenue today. There were like dozens of speed traps all around the major road heading towards Laguna Seca and people are getting pulled oever all the way. Because they figured that there will be 100,000 people coming to this event and most of them are out of state. I have not seen that many pullovers in the past YEAR. However when people passed out due to dehidration waiting 3 hours for the bus, the officer only told us to wait it out.

They (whoever they are who organized the event) do not have a clue on how to handle a big event in a small place. They closed all gates of the track and left only one, 6 feet wide temporary bridge, as the only way into and out of the entire Laguna Seca area (except for the helicopter rides for VIPs, of course). They sold the tickets, they know how many people are coming on which day, and they have absolutely no excuse to claim that they under-estimated the flow. Toward the end of the 3rd stright hour wating under the sun with another 99,999 people, there was almost a riot because every person was frustrated and angry. The organizer gave no explaination of the 3 hour heldup.

We are not going to another Laguna Seca event again.

Someone Really Did the Research on It

http://www.omninerd.com/2005/11/11/articles/41

Figure 12. Maximum economically justified hypothetical hybrid sticker price vs hypothetical hybrid gas mileages for various gas prices

Google Map Starts Sucking?

Like someone's comment in the groups says, it the project manager having too much time? Why change something good for worse?

Do not even bother to post screenshots, because it really sucks. Just c/p my post in groups:

The new printout is useless. I have a few points to make.

1. The assumption that text is easier to read than maps is wrong. Of
coz if you print everything on the map the streets/road would be so
small that they are very hard to read. But the good thing about old
Google map is that you can adjust the zoom level and print out exactly
the part you want, which can be just as big or small as you want. In
fact, image is much easier to read than text when time is limited
(driver needs to keep focus on the road, not the text).

2. The maps on the new printout is useless. The "overview" is for
astronauts and cannot be used for guidance unless you are guiding a
cruse missle. The "start" part is irelevant, because most of the time
it will be yes, your starting point, which is either your office or
home area, and you know it so well you do not need any help. The "end"
is too small to be helpful.

3. More on the last statement in (2): the end part is the most
important. Because big roads in the middle of the route are much
simpler, and harder to miss, than the final miles down to the small
local roads, which the driver probably has never been to (otherwise who
needs a map?).

4. I think the ideal direction printout should be:

- text directions, but mostly for reading BEFORE the trip.

- let user select rectangle areas on the map for printing, this could
include major exchanges and tricky parts of the route, the printing
resolution depends on the user's selection.

Am I on the Cover?

I guess the white MCS in the middle could very possibly be mine. This is the recently-updated page of the Big MINI Day event, which I went in May 2006 and was (probably) the only one pepper-white /black roof MCS without any mods, assuming they Photoshoped off the license plates.

Galileo Hacked

Jason Koski/University Photography

Mark Psiaki, left, professor of mechanical andaerospace engineering, hooks up an experimental GPS/Galileo digitalstorage receiver and patch antenna with the assistance of graduatestudents Todd Humphreys, center, and Shan Mohiuddin in Rhodes Hall. Copyright © Cornell University

July 7, 2006

Cornell sleuths crack secret codes of Europe's Galileo satellite

By Thomas Oberst

Members of Cornell's Global Positioning System (GPS) Laboratory havecracked the so-called pseudo random number (PRN) codes of Europe'sfirst global navigation satellite, despite efforts to keep the codessecret. That means free access for consumers who use navigation devices-- including handheld receivers and systems installed in vehicles --that need PRNs to listen to satellites.

July 7th TH

Thunderhill 7/7/06 Driver List
NO	FIRST_NAME	LAST_NAME	GROUP	YEAR	MAKE_MODEL	COLOR
1	George	A	Instructor	1998	Mazda Miata	Red
2	Hsin	F	Instructor	2006	Acura TSX	White
3	George	F	Instructor	1997	Mazda Miata	Green
4	Andrie	H	Instructor	TBD	TBD	TBD
5	Peter	H	Instructor	2003	BMW 330i	Red
6	John	H	Instructor	2006	Porsche Cayman S	Black
7	Jay	H	Instructor	1997	BMW M3	Black
8	Travis	L	Instructor	2000	Porsche 911	Black
9	Philip	L	Instructor	2005	Lancer Evolution	Silver
10	Allen	L	Instructor	TBD	TBD	TBD
11	Dave	M	Instructor	1997	BMW M3	Silver
12	Steven	N	Instructor	2001	VW GTI 1.8T	Silver
13	Bob	P	Instructor	1997	Mazda Miata	Red
14	Matt	R	Instructor	TBD	TBD	TBD
15	Jared	R	Instructor	2002	Corvette Z06	Silver
16	Vanessa	S	Instructor	2002	Subaru Impreza WRX	Blue
17	Jim	B	Red	1993	BMW 325is	White
18	Seth	B	Red	2005	Porsche 911 GT3	Grey
19	Jeff	B	Red	1997	BMW M3	Blue
20	Dick	C	Red	1988	BMW M3	White
21	Todd	F	Red	2002	Honda S2000	Silver
22	Benjamin	H	Red	1997	BMW M3	Blue
23	Chris	L	Red	1992	Porsche 968	Black
24	Ron	M	Red	2000	Porsche Boxster	Black
25	Robert	O	Red	1969	Chevy Camaro	Grey
26	Elmer	S	Red	2002	Corvette Z06	Silver
27	Christopher	S	Red	2001	Acura Integra	Silver
28	Marco	S	Red	1998	BMW M3	Silver
29	Raza	U	Red	1998	BMW M3	White
30	James	B	Yellow	1995	Honda Civic CX	White
31	Jordan	B	Yellow	2004	Audi S4	Blue
32	Nathan	B	Yellow	1975	Porsche 914-4	Red
33	Joseph	C	Yellow	1987	Porsche 944	Blue
34	Albert	C	Yellow	1972	Porsche 914	Blue
35	Bob	D	Yellow	2003	Radical SR3	Red
36	Ted	F	Yellow	1989	Porsche 911	Silver
37	Barry	F	Yellow	2005	Audi S4	Grey
38	Tim	G	Yellow	1997	BMW M3	Silver
39	Gabriele	G	Yellow	1999	BMW M3	Red
40	Steve	K	Yellow	2003	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo	Silver
41	David	L	Yellow	2003	BMW M3	Red
42	Tsalani	L	Yellow	2006	VW GTI	Black
43	Brian	S	Yellow	2004	Audi S4	Blue
44	Hung	V	Yellow	1998	Acura Integra	White
45	Matthew	B	Green	1985	Ford Mustang	Silver
46	Mike	B	Green	1991	BMW M5	Silver
47	Edmund	E	Green	1993	Ferrari 348/TB	Red
48	Roger	E	Green	1986	Porsche 944 Turbo	Red
49	Gene	G	Green	2003	Corvette Z06	Blue
50	Eric	G	Green	2004	Honda S2000	Silver
51	Miao	H	Green	2005	MINI Cooper S	White
52	Christy	H	Green	1990	BMW 325i	Silver
53	Thomas	H	Green	1998	BMW M3	Blue
54	Frank	J	Green	2003	Honda S2000	Red
55	Yash	K	Green	1995	Chevy Corvette	Red
56	Younggon Eric	K	Green	2003	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo	Silver
57	Shelliam	L	Green	2004	Subaru WRX Sti	Blue
58	Frank	M	Green	2000	Subaru RS	White
59	Richard	V	Green	1995	BMW M3	Black
60	Cindy	W	Green	1988	BMW M3	White
61	Cindy	W	Green	1988	BMW M3	White

The End of Formula1

Micros**t to Supply Electronics to Formula 1

http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/07/05/2357227.shtml

"... begginning in 2008, Micros**t will be the sole supplier of Engine Control Units to Formula 1..."

By year 2009, Formula 1 will cease to exist in motorsport, because 90% of drivers will be killed and the rest 10% sued by M$ for using illegal copies of software from their teammates.

Blogged with Flock

Fyre It Up

x' = sin(a * y) - cos(b * x)
y' = sin(c * x) - cos(d * y)

I Knew This Is Going To Make International News

Shanghai's signature knock-off market shuts doors

Fri June 30, 2006 11:51 AM ET SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Xiangyang Road Fashion and Gift Market, Shanghai's most famous street market for cheap imitation goods, was shutting up shop Friday, the victim of city government plans to redevelop the area. Stall owners said they had been told by authorities to vacate the area completely by late Friday night -- though some die-hard hawkers were merely moving operations to apartments in nearby residential buildings, and soliciting customers on the street. At its height, Xiangyang attracted thousands of foreign tourists and local residents to its cramped, muddy aisles. It offered ultra-cheap legitimate products -- clothes, sports equipment and shoes -- beside a wide range of counterfeit branded goods, from scarves and handbags to watches and pirated DVDs. Vendors said the business environment had worsened somewhat in recent months as China, under pressure from foreign trading partners, had taken sporadic steps to crack down on trademark violations. The redevelopment of the downtown Xiangyang area, which will include a metro line and possibly an up-market commercial project, sealed the market's fate.