Decius wrote:
] bucy wrote:
] ] It built fine for me on debian after I installed the
] ] glut-devel packages. Pretty cute.
]
] Hrm... Cute? I ought to go through the rigamoral of
] installing debian on my laptop in order to play with it, cute?
] Or just cute?

Probably "just cute" at this point. It shows promise but doesn't seem terribly useful (to me) at this point.

RE: 3d file browser for linux

] On another occasion in 1996, a Boeing 767 pitched and
] dropped 120 metres before pilots recovered control. A
] passenger using an electronic dictionary was asked to
] turn it off, and the plane's systems returned to normal.
 . . .
] Pilots routinely ask for portable devices to be switched off
] during take-off and landing. because they are too busy to deal
] with problems with interference. But, once in the air, when
] passengers are allowed to switch devices on, pilots have had
] to contend with a range of bewildering malfunctions.

This is a subject I've often been curious about, since I routinely use my Palm Pilot on aircraft. Does this mean that each time that I'm in seat 27C and I flip open my Palm IIIc, that the aircraft's autopilot goes "hmm"? I'd always thought that the signal from anything so small would be inconsequential, or no worse than my seat-mate's digital calculator sports watch (which can't be turned off), and that the main danger was from things such as cellphones or larger devices such as laptop computers.

Now I'm not so sure . . .

Aircraft and 'Portable Electronic Devices'

] Using cellophane to convert a laptop computer screen into
] a three-dimensional display
]
] Keigo lizuka
]
] Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
]
] 35 St. George Street
]
] University of Toronto
]
] Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A4
]
] Abstract
]
] We present a novel, inexpensive, stereoscopic technique
] for generating 3D displays from cellophane and a laptop
] computer screen. Stereoscopy requires independent
] manipulation of the left and right eye views.1 Our
] technique takes advantage of two facts; the first is that
] the light from the liquid crystal display of a laptop
] computer is polarized light 2, and therefore we can
] easily manipulate its transmission with a polarizer
] sheet. The second fact is that a cellophane
] half-waveplate can change the direction of polarization
] of light. The direction of polarization of one half of
] the laptop screen was rotated by the cellophane
] half-waveplate. Two images displayed with orthogonal
] polarization on two halves of the screen become separable
] by wearing a pair of glasses of orthogonal polarization.
]
] A distinct advantage of our technique is its simplicity;
] a laptop screen can be converted into a 3D display with
] minimal knowledge of optics. An additional advantage of
] our technique is that we can eliminate the need for the
] observer to wear special glasses by making the computer
] wear the glasses instead. This is possible because a
] laptop computer normally has only one viewer at a time,
] and the relative orientation of the viewer's head and the
] laptop screen is sufficiently stationary. A futher
] significant discovery is that we verified that
] cellophane (costing mere pennies) proved to be a better
] half-waveplate than a commercial half-waveplate
] (costing hundreds of dollars for the required size) for
] rotating the polarization of white light.

3D displays

] In DIY culture, consumers are the producers, owning the
] tools of production -- a laptop instead of guitar, bass
] and drums. The bedroom is the studio and factory
] machinery moves out of the nightclub onto the Internet
] for millions to access. The media monopolies are fighting
] back, but with the airwaves gobbled up by conglomerates,
] homespun mash-ups may be the people's digital antidote.

Salon on Mash-ups and their IP related problems.

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | The mash-up revolution

] [Ted] Selker is a much-lauded idea man whose prototypes and
] projects have been featured everywhere from Wired to the
] Wall Street Journal to ABC World News Tonight. His most
] famous invention, which he developed as a researcher at
] IBM, is the TrackPoint, the tiny, rubberized mouse button
] in the middle of many laptop keyboards.
]
] These days Selker is focusing on computerized gadgets for
] solving everyday problems. He directs the efforts of
] Counter Intelligence, a research group using computers to
] build the kitchen of the future. He also heads a team
] that is working on

Professor Gadget

I'm blogging from somewhere around Wytheville, VA thanks to FlyingJ's new Wifi service. I have a power inverter, so I've just been leaving my laptop on running MacStumbler. Its a great way to catch truck stops with net access.. You get about as much notice as with a really tall sign.

$1 for 15 min, $1.95 for an hour, $4.95 a day, etc.. Not too bad.

Making lousy time.. After I was about an hour away from where I was staying in Jersey, I had to turn around because I realized I forgot my glasses.. Couldn't find my tape adapter either, no mp3s in car.. Doh!

Flying J Travel Plazas, now with Wifi

] And when they presented them at a forum of chief
] information officers of the country's largest financial
] services companies -- clicking on a single cable running
] into a Manhattan office, for example, and revealing the
] names of 25 telecommunications providers -- the
] executives suggested that Gorman and Schintler not be
] allowed to leave the building with the laptop

Dissertation Could Be Security Threat (TechNews.com)

] Tachi's cloak - a shiny raincoat that serves as a movie
] screen, showing imagery from a video camera positioned
] behind the wearer - is more gimmick than practical
] prototype. Nonetheless, from the right angle and under
] controlled circumstances, it does make a sort of ghost of
] the wearer. And, unlike traditional camouflage, it's most
] effective when either the wearer or the background is
] moving (but not both). You don't need a university lab to
] check it out: Stick a webcam on your back and hold your
] laptop in front of you, screen facing out. Your friends
] will see right through you. It's a great party trick.

What a great Halloween costume idea:)

Wired 11.08: The Super Power IssueBeing Invisible

Where's the really tiny one for Yao Ming to use?

[inside joke]
This is a Randy sized laptop.

Spring Break 2002, baby!
[/inside joke]

omfg Toshiba Satellite P25 is huge lol!

] Jewel entertained at halftime of the Nets-Spurs NBA
] Finals game last Sunday - and did so again about a
] half-hour later.
]
] But she was accompanied by a laptop, not a microphone and
] fellow musicians, for the later performance. On press
] row, 15 feet from the Continental Arena court, the
] Alaskan-born pop star answered live questions online from
] fans on the NBA.com Web site.
]
] Welcome to the 21st century NBA, a league run by a
] commissioner nicknamed "Digital Dave" - Teaneck native
] David Stern - because of his fondness for the latest in
] telecommunications and high-tech gadgets.

Welcome to the 21st century NBA