Pseudo Sentient Computing
Posted by mcummings
I'm a geek. I don't sit back and toss out obfuscated C when the mood hits me, but by all accounts I'm a geek (even scored in the upper 90's on that geek quiz that went around a few months ago - which says nothing since it was biased anyway). But I think one of the things that a lot of geeks my age wish for is a computer that is as responsive as the ones in <insert FAVORITE SCI-FI SHOW HERE>.
For a while, I thought that this meant we'd need to wait until A.I. (the technology, not the movie) was a reality. But you know, that's not really the case. Because what we all want isn't a computer that thinks as fast as we do (or thinks at all for that matter), we don't want our computers to make choices for us, decide what it will and won't do during its boring day while we're at work. What we want is a computer that seems like its alive, that seems to respond with that personal touch.
All of this is stuff I had thought of before, like the rest of you I'm sure, but I was reminded of it when I picked up an old copy of Rob Heinlein's Number of the Beast - and was reminded by old GD about all of this. To sum up for those not interested in the read, GD is a car/thing who's owner has tricked it out so that it responds with random phrases, etc., under the guise of seeming to be a real person.
And that's what most geeks (at least us superficial geeks) really want - not a computer that can think for itself, though I'm sure we'll join the bandwagon for "Equal Rights for Equal Minds" until said minds rise up in rebellion and oppress us all in giant human battery cells, but a computer that can respond and act like it's our girl friday (or male equivalent) - maybe even with some nifty voice activation - but that's really just a programmed random response to a wide variety of tasks.
Now it strikes me, the tools are finally around to at least get started on something like this. Festival comes to mind, along with a handful of ancillary tools and functions, so with a little glue and a lot of duct tape (or at least some perl and bash) we should be able to whip something up...right?
Google blogsearch
Posted by mcummings
Since everyone else and there brother is tossing in a plug for it, I figured I'd take a quick peek at google blogsearch. Biggest surprise? I searched my name and it came up 
Moods
Posted by mcummings
I find myself in a mood this weekend. Overtakes me about this time each year, as the air starts to hint at crispness we haven't felt since summer began its onslaught.
I feel like I want to write again.
Opening window to the soul
I used to write. Nothing great, to be honest, though my wife thought it was nice. Mostly an outlet for the creative side of the mind - short stories, numerous attempts at long fiction, nothing really to speak of to be honest. For the last few years I shunted that side this time of the year - heck, cvs logs might even verify this, but I'd shuck aside these desires, telling myself that writing ebuilds and patches was still writing. Probably not, but it worked.
But this year I have no convenient excuse (yeah, it was an excuse). So I find myself thinking that maybe this year I should fire up a word processor again and see what comes out. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised
stop the inSANity!
Posted by mcummings
heh, couldn't resist. was listening to this week's perlcast interview with Casey West. Looks like you can't keep a good thing down - in the spirit of CPAN, we can now add openjsan, the open JavaScript Archive Network. Oh dear me, where is BSAN? (Bash Script Archive Network...hey...dan, are you reading this? *hint* *hint*)
(Pod)casting
Posted by mcummings
OK, so I'm always the last one to a party, you know? I don't own an ipod - really can't justify the expense - but I recently fell in love with the mp3 files called podcasts. I know its probably an abuse on your eyes, but I've added a new set of links on the top right of some of the podcasts I've started listening to. That's right, shaemlessly and perhaps a bit to revealing, but I'm using datanode.net these days to both host my blog and as a mobile bookmarks page. I've been using my muvo a lot more as a result - and definitely want to upgrade past the 128 megs that I thought was so much when I bought to something in the gig range - just not enough room for everything I want to cart around with me these days This morning I tried out using the ipaq rx3115 as a substitute player, but with mixed feelings.
I originally bought the ipaq without doing any form of proper research, expecting to be able to log into handhelds.org, pick up a linux distro, and then reformat the sucker (mind you, part of the motivating factor was its built in 802.11b functions - I had visions of being able to ssh from anywhere in the house in the palm of my hand). When I bought it, I also splurged and got a whole 128 meg SD card (what is it with me and 128 megs anyway??). Well, long story short, turns out you can't really easily put linux on this particular model, I'm having issues using synce to get it to connect to the laptop, and all in all its a paperweight most of the time. But it's a wireless paperweight. So last night I had the bright idea, i'd download some mp3 podcasts to it, and this morning I coud listen to them. That's when I was forced to recall the tribulations of not having synce working, and instead had to rely on a dodgy wireless connection to download everything. It worked out ok, but not the ideal way to do it, especially not if I want to listen to this stuff, like, daily or something. So much work for just an hour or two of sound bytes.
So, for now, I think I'm going to script something up so I can just pop the muvo onto a usb port and get everything each day (cron'd builds, just need to remember to plug it in . And when I have a bit more cash in ye olde budget for things I could really live without but why bother, I think I'd like to get a 1 gig sandisk player (with radio of course!).
Bah. Man I want more toys.