Geek stuff Archive

Computers of the future could be controlled by eye movements, rather than a mouse or keyboard. Scientists at Imperial College, London, are working on eye-tracking technology that analyses the way we look at things. The team are trying to gain an insight into visual knowledge - the way we see objects and translate that information into actions. Read the report at BBC News.

"Day after day since 1984, teams of programmers, linguists, theologians, mathematicians and philosophers have plugged away at a $60 million project they hope will transform human existence: teaching a computer common sense. They have been feeding a database named Cyc 1.4 million truths and generalities about daily life so it can automatically make assumptions humans make: Creatures that die stay dead. Dogs have spines. Scaling a cliff requires intense physical effort." Read the interesting article over at CNN.

What the future holds? "The director of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab says the age of smart, mobile machines is already beginning. You just have to know where to find them—say, in oil wells." Read the Q&A with Rodney Brooks at TechReview. "Computer scientists are developing systems that can enhance and enrich a user's view of the world. What will computer user interfaces look like 10 years from now?" Read the interesting analysis at ScientificAmerican.

"Canadian scientists have opened a powerful computing lab they said will help speed up research into diseases like cancer and diabetes by allowing researchers to view three-dimensional models of cells in a room similar to the holodeck in the Star Trek television series. The $3.7 million University of Calgary facility is a step ahead of the handful of other virtual-reality labs used in such research because users for the first time can build models on their own computers, rather than be tied up for days or weeks programming at the site, officials said." Read more about the Java3D-based system at ZDNews.

From ArsTechnica: "...I figured I'd show you guys what next-generation, avante garde computer design would probably look like were Jobs and Co. to be swallowed up in an earthquake or choke on their granola or something. Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on these monstrosities: Intel's Concept PC Gallery , part of their Ease of Use Initiative. The fellow Mac user who sent me these aptly quipped, "Looks like they were designed people who were laughed straight out of Infinite Loop during their job interviews." A few of them actually look like they were designed by Georgia O'Keefe. (Ok, I'll concede that there are one or two interesting designs in there.)"

Saw that linked over from GeekNews: "Yes, that computer you see in the christmas tree is the actual one serving this web page and music! It is a Pentium 100 with 64MB RAM, running Red Hat Linux 7.2." Another interesting mini-report at Geeknews was about the ex-3Dfx employees, their loyalty and support (by releasing new drivers, working on them on their spare time!) to the history of 3Dfx and the never-released Voodoo5-6000 model, which had 128 MB of SDRAM on it.

The well known to 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' fans, Wil Wheaton (the 'Wesley Crusher' actor) is being interviewed by Slashdot. Wil talks about TNG, his relationship with computers and the Free Software, his work at NewTek (makers of the 'Lightwave' 3D application) and the legendary "Shut up Wesley!". Great to see an actor turned to a computer geek rather a geek (or singer/model/housewife/fisherman) turned into an actor!

Aqua-Soft is a non-profit company which creates Windows software which looks like MacOSX's. You do not need additional skin applications like WindowBlinds, as the Aqua Soft applications themselves are written in such a way to resemble MacOSX, 'natively'. Among the most interesting software found in that web page is of course the 'Aqua Finder'.

First official shots released from the new upcoming Star Trek TV series (which will be airing in September 26 from UPN in USA), named 'Enterprise'. For all the trekkies out here, the new Enterprise series will be set around 2150, 150 years before the era of Kirk and Spock and it will feature the first contact with Klingons (which it will be disasterous, resulting in 200 years of hostility) and other species and places that later in time Star Trek series are taking for granted. The series is also set before the creation of the Federation (but rumors want it to be the final aiming/outcome of the series), but the Starfleet Academy already exists and run by Vulcans and humans. The computer panels in the new series are not exersizing the well-known LCARS Computer System, but they are a bunch of "old"-styled buttons coupled with some small LCD screens at places, resembling mostly mechanical parts than being fully digitized.