February152011
I’m watching the Jeopardy episode with IBM Watson.
I’m not sure this is fair - the human contestants need to convert the sound of Alex Trebek’s voice, or the image of the words on the screen into semantic units (words/phrases/sentences) before they can parse the meaning. Watson gets its questions given as a text file, so it can begin parsing right away. To be fair, Watson should have to rely on an image of the question (which shouldn’t be too hard for it to parse), or the sound of Alex’s voice (which it could probably not parse accurately). That being said, it’s still pretty impressive that it can do what it does.
November232010
noblasters:
He starts to defer responsibility to the officers. They emphasize that no – they have no issue with me and they are only acting on his behalf. It is his jurisdiction. It is policy. They won’t detain me unless he tells them to.
So I emphasize the iPhone again, and ask,” So, if I were to get up, walk through the metal detector, and not have it go off, would you still have them arrest me?”
The Supervisor answers, “I can’t answer that question. That is no longer an option because you were selected for the Backscatter.”
People like these are my heroes, because they can calmly assert their rights (and therefore my rights) in the face of tyranny authority.
BoingBoing.net received word that the TSA plans to announce a new policy that will deny entrance to the airport for anyone who refuses a pat-down.
Source:
noblasters
August122010
This is my brand-new Apple® Macbook Pro.
And this, is my brand-new Apple® iPhone 4.
Ever notice how the Chroma key feature in Photo Booth always looks a little cheesy?
And this, is my 2003 “still-mostly-white plastic” Apple® Wireless Keyboard.
Despite being 7 years old, the keyboard pairs successfully with any device capable of pairing with Bluetooth keyboards. It even pairs with my brand-new Apple® Macbook Pro.
So, now that the iPhone supports Bluetooth keyboards, it only makes sense that I would try to pair them.
So far, so good. *tap* But wait, nothing’s happening. Maybe if I hit enter on the keyboard.
I see that screen for couple milliseconds, and then it’s gone, replaced by this:
I try it a few more times, and I try a few different things, but the same thing keeps happening. When I try Googling for a solution, I’m surprised that Apple admits the keyboard is incompatible, but won’t fix it. The fix, is apparently buying another keyboard for $70.
Or, buying any other Bluetooth keyboard on the planet. Generally, it seems pretty much any keyboard will work… except the one that Apple made in 2003.
