Well, it's a bait bucket, but it's still cute.
Posted on 01/28/2009 10:29:13 AM PST by Domandred
Transportation officials in Texas are scrambling to prevent hackers from changing messages on digital road signs after one sign in Austin was altered to read, "Zombies Ahead."
Chris Lippincott, director of media relations for the Texas Department of Transportation, confirmed that a portable traffic sign at Lamar Boulevard and West 15th Street, near the University of Texas at Austin, was hacked into during the early hours of Jan. 19.
"It was clever, kind of cute, but not what it was intended for," said Lippincott, who saw the sign during his morning commute. "Those signs are deployed for a reason — to improve traffic conditions, let folks know there's a road closure."
"It's sort of amusing, but not at all helpful," he told FOXNews.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I feel your pain.
LOL!!!
I never wait for. I get my stuff together and go for it.
If it starts trilling and becomes indestructible, run.
I hope nobody will tell me about it.
Well, all packed and ready to go. 18 hours until we are scheduled to push back from the gate...
I do not envy you one scintilla.
It’s got its good and its bad. A whole lot easier just to stay home but I suspect that, like my late father-in-law, when it comes to an end I’m going to miss the travel.
I would suspect that the speed of communication will continue to advance remarkably, while the speed of travel will remain stagnant.
Eventually, virtual travel will be regarded as better and more efficient for most purposes.
Then real travel will be reserved purely for the sake of being able to say, “Yes, I was really there, and I saw it.”
For those of us who wear glasses, if seeing the world through a display device very like our glasses were a possibility, it would be very easy to fool us.
Then the next step is bringing the other senses along. Hearing is obvious and easy, but others are rather muted. Their physicality can be relatively easy to simulate.
Virtual travel will seem real enough when simulated reality gets enough bandwidth.
Something times for me it is better to have been there than going there.
It's happening already. Teleconferences are becoming more more common. Video-conferencing was tried at my site a few years ago, but apparently deemed inadequate because I don't see it being used any more. The "speed of travel" has been pretty well fixed for a long time, for those of us lacking Concorde budgets.
BUT all that said, all the "virtual meeting" arrangements to date are really deficient. I hate conducting Internet classes -- sure it costs much less than traveling, but you miss tons of feedback from the class. Sharing a powerpoint over the Internet doesn't give you visual feedback on their reception of the material, participants tend to be less ready to raise their (virtual) hand and ask a question...
When virtual travel gets to the point where surfing the web in the virtual class carries the same penalties as surfing it in a physical-presence class, then I might say it's arrived.
** “When virtual travel gets to the point where surfing the web in the virtual class carries the same penalties as surfing it in a physical-presence class, then I might say it’s arrived.” **
This happens, depending on the degree of immersion.
One of the reasons cell-phones are dangerous is because people lose track of where they are and what they are doing, blithely sauntering or driving into danger.
Just as a surfer might be blithely unaware of the circling Great White.
Better immersion techniques will exacerbate this problem. I recommend virtual reality chambers for recreation and for remote presence participation. In such a chamber, you would don a suit designed to feed you with information about the remote location and its occupants, and capture motions and facial expressions, as well as speech that you might produce.
In such a chamber, one might well “pace” back and forth while “presenting” information on a “stage”.
Or one could simply relax and observe while someone else does that, and look around at the other participants to see what their reactions are.
The easy configuration is to have everyone seated. Then you only need to put on a jacket with data-gloves, and a visor-type helmet or cap.
BTW I keep an obsolete computer around just to fly FU2 and ATF NATO with my obsolete visor type helmet (VFX1).
You build up a tolerance but until they solve the inner ear and focus distance problems VR headsets will remain pukey.
Just ain't gonna work for meetings. Covers too much face anyhow.
Lots of screens and cameras (1 face following camera plus 1 screen for each remote location for each participant) are all all ready available, but add up to $ and bandwidth.
For games/sims and demos of short to moderate duration VR's day will come.
I wouldn't want to get near a public VR chamber as you describe. They don't make disinfectant strong enough or electronics tough enough. Just ew. (How did they clean the Holodeck in Trek universe?)
A well-designed visor, which reflects to the wearer a different image to each eye, and tracks the head position as well as facial contortions, would provide everything needed for a virtual meeting.
That it covers a portion of the face would not be a problem, because the face will be reconstructed for the viewing of the other participants based upon a database of facial information as well as inputs from the visor.
It could easily show amusement, distraction, or confusion.
There is no reason to believe it would cause spatial distortion, especially if the chamber in which it is used is in relative darkness. The visor inputs would provide illumination for the virtual meeting, showing documents and charts in front of the participant, as well as the displayed faces and postures of other participants.
Some minor participant training might be required initially, but that’s why they put games on the computers to teach folks how to use a mouse.
They never let Wesley Crusher use it.
Why else would his only holodeck recording be labeled Crusher One?
Eh. Still not gonna fly, ‘Bob. Except for the few chrome domes, and MilSpec buzz cuts around the office, nobody’s down with the whole helmet thing, because the completely unenviable result is: “helmet hair”. One early morning Directors meeting would leave the entire upper echelon preening in the washroom mirrors for a full hour following, trying to fix their matted down hair.
And, try this grueling schedule on for size:
7:30am -— Executive Meeting
8:30am -— Hair Appt
10:00am -— Sales Meeting
11:00am -— Hair Appt
1:00pm -— Production Meeting
2:30pm -— Hair Appt
4:00pm -— Meet w/Accounting RE: Expense Reports
That’d go over like lead balloons in any economy.
That reminds me - I need a haircut.
Well, it's a bait bucket, but it's still cute.
"And, try this grueling schedule on for size:Wow! I had no idea you were working with the John Edwards staff!
7:30am -— Executive Meeting
8:30am -— Hair Appt
10:00am -— Sales Meeting
11:00am -— Hair Appt
1:00pm -— Production Meeting
2:30pm -— Hair Appt
4:00pm -— Meet w/Accounting RE: Expense Reports"
I would be happy to work with anyone to design a "visor" which would be more acceptable. Perhaps you may picture a tiara instead, or a green eyeshade.
The principle is to have something which can monitor your facial expressions, the tilt and direction of your head, and present a screen for viewing to each eye. Seeing what has been done with miniaturizing microphones in the last forty years, I think we can do it.
I would have expected someone to object to wearing gloves as well. These devices are only for data capture or presentation. They should not intrude into one's awareness.
I’m sure your hair looks great, Bob!
My hair looks like a monk’s fashion statement.
When I had more of it, if I tried to let it grow long, I would start to look like Bozo, or maybe Carrot-top.
Gentlemen of mature years look best with short hair. Unless they’re Indians - then long, iron-gray braids are okay.
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