gracewoo@ml

A few thoughts:

- local motion is straightforward to track using local information
- might want to look into custom filters
- flash is good enough for many simple functions

Use AS3 sockets to export data.

Who would have thought that tabs are one of the best types of tools? :p

http://www.tabsgenerator.com/

What I've done instead of working.

cake mix: 99-cent Jiffy generic chocolate cake mix w/ two eggs

random frosting recipe: non-fat yogurt, a bit of half-n-half leftover, one chocolate bar stolen from a hotel, raspberry filling from another box, powdered sugar ... (basically random stuff in the fridge + sugar).

   

Click here to download:

Chocolate_Frosting.zip (118 KB)

I had this conversation with Inna a while ago about researching technology for special needs. To be completely honest, I've never been really interested in delving into this area. However, she made a strong point that often times, designing for the extreme cases gives strong insight into designing for the average user.

We thought along these lines and there seems to be several examples of this. For example, reading devices for the blind might lead to low-power haptic displays. However, none of them seemed particularly compelling only because I hadn't did any of this type of work myself. Anyway, yesterday, I was shown Dasher, which is an inference-based text input device.

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/

This is really neat! It not only has a strong underlying modeled principle, but also a strong case for using it with people with disabilities. Further, as I can already see, this has really neat implications for working with non-traditional displays like public-signage or PDA input. Anyway, cool stuff!

From Sipser, Theory of Computation, page 218:

1) Living things are machines
2) Living things can self-reproduce
3) Machines cannot self-reproduce

...

"How can we resolve this paradox? The answer is simple: Statement 3 is incorrect. Making machines that reproduce themselves is possible. The Recursion theorem demonstrates how." - Sipser

My python example: child.py,

mom = """print 'mom = ""'+'"'+mom+'""'+'"'
print mom"""
print 'mom = ""'+'"'+mom+'""'+'"'
print mom

... Try ...

python < child.py | python | python | python

... child.py yields ...

Note the peripheral-to-brain ratio. Parts scavenged from lab-cruft.

Although there are a lot of interesting looking machines, there are few machines which have interesting machinery. Out of curiosity, did a quick search for interesting vending machines.

Pizza-making machine

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE52P5JV20090326

Hot-dog machine

http://www.koshervendingindustries.com/

Reverse vending machine

http://www.reversevending.co.uk/

Mixed drinks on demand vending machine

http://www.waterwerkz.co.uk/

Mixed ice cream vending machine

http://www.moobella.com/

I'm sure there are a lot others, and will certainly add them if I get a chance. In the meantime, I particularly like the reverse vending machine.